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Early Risers.


Mr.S.corn78
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Morning all. French toast and crispy bacon with maple syrup enjoyed. Big yellow thing hanging in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t. Cotton woolly bits floating past intermittently.

 

Agenda for the day includes a little cleaning and tidying but nothing too challenging. Mother’s service has been finalised. Cars arranged. It’s all been surprisingly easy. SWMBO and myself are visiting the house next Saturday to look through more things.

 

Neither of us is a fan of the idea of multi-storey floating hotels. Very much a case of horses for courses. We would rather have a cottage on the clifftops and watch the ships of all shapes and sizes sail past in the distance. The distinction, when I was growing up in a Cornish fishing village a boat was anything which put to sea from the village from a rowing tub to deep ocean trawlers. A ship was the Isles of Scilly passenger ferry which sailed from Penzance. As was the Torrey Canyon which famously grounded off Lands End with catastrophic consequences for miles of shoreline, countless thousands of fish and birds and devastating the environment in general.

 

Coffee is required. I’ll be back later.

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I (and Mrs NB) weren't fans of cruise ships after our honeymoon experience. It was a Carnival ship and formerly the Empress of Canada that worked Southampton-Montreal, so wasn't suited at all to cruise duties and did feel a bit cramped.

Those were the days of fixed dining seats and times. It was also full of US youth on "Spring Break", so lots of stupidity about.

 

Our silver wedding cruise last year was a totally different experience and far exceeded our expectations - so much so that we did another as part of the recent trip.

 

Having experienced the 1400 passenger Holland-America "Volendam" last year and the 3000 capacity Crown Princess, we're both drawn back to the Holland America line for the level of service.

Despite those large numbers, the current ships have plenty of deckspace to spread out and apart from embark and disembark, there was no sense of feeling crowded.

 

Cruise lines, much like hotel brands, you get what you pay for. For example - the Intercontinental Hotel Group have many brands including Holiday inn, going from the very expensive to a lot cheaper......

Carnival Corporation have their own Carnival, Cunard, P&O, Seabourn, Princess and Holland America lines and others and they all have their different standards of service. (Carnival is the younger end of the market and H-A is aimed at the "more mature" groups.....)

 

Cheers,

Mick

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Heh, heh, heh, Aha and Eureka! I think I've come up with a cunning plan to thwart Debs and her awl.

If I recall correctly the "ban" of certain photos on here refers to model railway locomotives and suchlike.

I submit for your perusal a model roadway locomotive.

 

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post-5890-0-71930900-1518953282_thumb.jpg

 

Those of you who have ever taken note of my ramblings on here may notice that the vehicle is in the livery of the company I started work for in 1966 and continued with for 38 years  (albeit through a couple of takeovers) until I retired. I was quite pleased to find this on the bay of E last week.

 

R.Pike-Baldrick

 

 

 

 

P.S. By the time I started working for them the steam wagons had been phased out.  :yes:

 

 

 

 

 

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Morning all,

 

The little oak tree has been mentioned again by Mrs Stationmaster so I can see where my day will be heading but I have noticed that some of the smaller birds do like the higher up branches of the tree (which won't save my efforts).  But it was good to notice last night that the very nearby street lamp is now providing more illumination of our front path.  

 

Biggest ships I have been on were the late 1960s new build Harwich - Hook ferries and the Hurtigruten MS Nordlys which has a capacity of almost 700 passengers but is now designated as an 'Expedition ship' (which means you spend more time ashore 'doing things'),  she was quite large enough for us.  Strangest commercial vessels have travelled on are probably the train ferries - including one while in a sleeping car (Dover - Dunkerque) and one containing a few wagons of Dangerous Goods among among those with more mundane loads but the latter was an official trip for work reasons to look at train ferry operations (but the catering was far better than on most of the contemporaneous short see crossing ferries!).

 

Anyway back to solid land and a trip is required to Tesco before I get out cutting - so I'm told. Oh and mushrooms for lunch but sorry Debs they will be sautéed and no risotto - just on toast and with a bit of added cream.

 

Have a good day one and all

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' Morning all from red dragon land.

Sun shining.

 

Ships are known as "boats" to them that worked on 'em. As in when meeting an old shipmate in a bar in a far flung port the 1st question was "what boat are you on now?"

 

 

 

Not where I worked!  Boats are the little things that people 'mess about in', or submarines.

 

 

Coming out of sailing dinghies, we had three yachts in turn, swapping the 21footer for a 27footer, then another 27footer which had standing headroom.

I called each one "the boat." 

 

Not sure which is the largest vessel - being diplomatic here  :jester:  - I have been on, so I will let those in the know decide for themselves:  ferries to Guernsey and France; and the fast cat to Dun Laoghaire. I can also list smaller ones such as the "Balmoral" (from Caernarfon to Liverpool return); I took Mum on the Menai Strait's "The Queen of Sea"; and had a short sail (positioning move off and back onto the pier) aboard Bangor Uni's research vessel, "Prince Madog", and a rowing boat at Alton Towers - to keep the kids happy cos I don't like big rides.

 

The next item may not be suitable for some audiences.

Debs...look away, now...Oh! and get well soon.

 

Much prefer life on "the loco" these days, speaking of which, we went to the big r***way, yesterday, and had a ride behind 6430.   Now, that has got injector valve handles at a height that a young lady* can reach without going on tippy toes or getting out the step ladder!  So, will I get to drive one....?  Pretty please.   :tender:   :locomotive:

 

* young lady - I frequently get called this down at the track...I sure don't know why...  :scratchhead:   :jester:

but I like it!   :imsohappy:

:spruceup:  

 

Enjoy your day, everyone.

 

EDIT.  Just remembered that we got invited onboard for a guided tour of the RV Discovery at Lowestoft when Ray had to go over there for work. Fantastic and that reminds me, I also visited HMS Belfast with mum & dad, a Naval vessel at the Boat Show, and a Thames passenger ferry took us around the cheese dock on a school trip.  :stink:  :bad:

I think I ought to stop....before it gets too bad...

:bye:

Edited by southern42
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I think the largest floating vessel I have been on is the P&O Ventura. It is a bit longer than Cunard' s Queen Elizabeth. The widest ship ( and it was still floating then) was USS Texas.

We did look out for assorted US and Russian military ships while we were on Med cruises. We never saw the big US carrier and the Russian one had to nip into somewhere in N Africa to recoal or whatever it used to produce its noticeable plume.

When we went to St Petersburg photography at the cruise port was strictly forbidden. However from the relatively small cruise ship there were clear views as we passed the Kronstad naval base. I assume the rust and grime was a stealth coating.

Tony

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 I'm only going to allude to the fact that there are various plastic and metal components on the dining room table along with some lining paper. 'nuff said. ;)

 

 

TMI!

 

Your name will be added to the list.

 

You should be warned that there is going to be a rather thorough purge in the next few months.

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TMI!

 

Your name will be added to the list.

 

You should be warned that there is going to be a rather thorough purge in the next few months.

 

I think one of our number may be trying to do that today. A case of "Action, Lights, Camera..... ?"

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TMI!

 

 

You should be warned that there is going to be a rather thorough purge in the next few months.

Next few months? Mine starts at 2pm. 4 litres of osmotic laxatives to be consumed by 8pm.

Tony

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Nicki's just phoned asking what's for dinner. On being informed about the steak pies she has just advised us that Gemma became a vegetarian last Monday!

 

Ooh! That means there will be one left over that I can have!  :yes:  :imsohappy:  :dancer:

 

Plan B for Gem has now been put into action.

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Afternoon awl, inner temple here.

 

Back to boats or in this case to be technically correct 20ft yeoman keelboats.

 

Wind south to south westerly, from nothing up to, about 15mph.

Sunny with scattered clouds. Tide coming in for the first half of the race, going out for the second.

Today is the Tino Trophy or more correctly the Martin Dugdale Trophy, in memory of Tino who died At a sailing event some years ago. His widow, daughter and grandchildren children were present as usual for the race.

This is a single long race although the there are different class starts all worked out on handicap afterwards.

 

Course. 4p 1p 2p dinghies starting 5 minutes after the Yeomans but all in the same race on timed handicap.

 

The race it was a very tight start with the boats manouvering around, we didn't come out well starting second to last and very soon became last.

 

Soon it became evident two boats had got away, while we were back in the pack. Tacking our way up to the bend, we slowly worked our way through so by the bend we were up to third but were well behind the first two.

 

Round the bend and up to black horse broad was a single long tack close to the right hand bank. Which we made, just then round buoy 4 and haul up the spinnaker which sometimes collapsed as the wind was a little to close to windward. The others stayed close behind as we chased the leaders. Going onto a full spinnaker run down the straight to the club.

Then drop the spinnaker and go close hauled. To buoy 1 with the 4th place boat close on our heels. Gybe round then close hauled again to buoy 2 and the next lap.

 

We tacked our way up the straight slowly getting a distance ahead till the bend, we rounded the bend OK but the fourth place boat got a big lift and came charging up behind us and gained a small overlap to windward of us. The wind then dropped we both drifted on for a distance. Then the wind came back. Because of the overlap we got a lot of wind in the foresail but nothing in the main this pushed us onto the bank where we bounced along the wooden quay heading slowing us dramatically. So we dropped to forth by a long way.

 

The rest of the lap was follow the leader although we did get back right behind the third place boat.

 

Places stayed the same but the wind started dropping, the lead boats got that, then us in the middle, then those at the back. This meant the entire fleet concertinered up, although we were still 200 yards behind the first pair. Then one of the lead pair made the same mistake as us and bounced on the bank. By the time he recovered boat 3 was tight behind them and us behind boat 3. So we rounded buoy 4 and spinnakers up again.

 

With us behind blocking the wind, no one was getting away. Come the bend, we took the inside whereas the other two took the more normal middle to outside course.

It was the correct decision, we swept level with the other two then half way down the river we cut across, coming out in front. At one point we were three abreast blocking the wind and the lead boat lost speed. So we were now in second place, but then got a small overlap on the lead boat at the Swan Inn corner. Then into a tacking match with the lead boat, but we didn't have enough overlap so they got away.

We rounded buoy 1 then 2 and looked back to see boats 3 & 4 getting in each others way with boat 5 bearing down on them. boat 5 managing to get up to 3rd and the boat that spent a long time in second down to 5th.

 

The rest of the race was follow the leader, very closely, on the way back from buoy 4 we saw a laser dinghy also hit the bank, but then was unfortunate enough to get blown into someone's dinghy dyke. It took him quite a while to get out.

 

So we finished second in our fleet behind a lady helm.

 

When the results for the Tino Trophy were given out on handicap, the first 10 boats were within 3 minutes of each other. A laser was first, a yeoman second, a laser 3rd and us in a Yeoman 4th just under 30 seconds behind the winner after a nearly 2 hour race.

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In Barrow submarines are built as boats, surface vessels are ships.

Good morning from a less windy Wellington. A big cyclone ..Gita is about to whack into New Zealand on Tuesday. We are due to be on the train to Hamilton on Tuesday morning..it i going to be very wet and there is talk of issuing a state of emergency here. If it's like anything else we have seen the Kiwi will just see it as another day.

 

Off for breakfast and then...a bit of walking about.

 

And, for your own knowledge bank the NZ wines we buy in Britain cost the same here as it does in places like Moreasons back home. Not bad for something transported around the world. And Vat is 5% higher in the UK than GST is here.

Sleep well!

Baz

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Nicki's just phoned asking what's for dinner. On being informed about the steak pies she has just advised us that Gemma became a vegetarian last Monday!

 

Ooh! That means there will be one left over that I can have!  :yes:  :imsohappy:  :dancer:

 

Plan B for Gem has now been put into action.

Good for Gemma!

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Evening all from Estuary-Land. The trip to the E&O went well today despite our late arrival at Ongar. First off there was a serious accident at the Treacle Mine junction (just down the road from Tony's abode). This resulted in traffic going towards the A130 being directed down past Tony's road and via Benfleet Station and Canvey Island. Having collected my friend and his son we decided to go via Raleigh Weir only for there to be roadworks on the way there with traffic lights controlling one way working. This meant that we were an hour later than intended but this was made up IMHO by the motive power, Metropolitan 'E' class No. 1. There was an interesting selection of buses, mostly London red buses and we managed to catch a ride on Volvo Ailsa V1 and a Greenway which is a rebuilt Leyland National. I would have liked to have had a ride on some of the other buses including FRM1, an RMA, RP and several other rare and unique types.

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Evening all from Estuary-Land. The trip to the E&O went well today despite our late arrival at Ongar. First off there was a serious accident at the Treacle Mine junction (just down the road from Tony's abode). This resulted in traffic going towards the A130 being directed down past Tony's road and via Benfleet Station and Canvey Island...

The Treacle Mine is near Grays on the way to Lakeside. The junction near my house is Tarpots. Both sticky I suppose.

Tony

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Evening everyone

 

Well today’s been another day when we’ve not done an awful lot. This morning Sheila had a text message from Mike asking if he and Sarah could drop by around dinner time so that they could use our shower, as their boiler was broken and they had no hot water. He’d mentioned it on Friday when he was here and I offered them the use of the shower. Anyway we didn’t see the point of starting anything major as we’d have to stop once they arrived, so we both sat and read u TIL they turned up at just after 12:30. We offered to make them some dinner, but both declined. So by the time we’d all had a chat and they’d both had a shower, it was gone 2:00 before we got our dinner, which meant that it wasn’t worth starting anything then either, so again we sat and read. It’s all been rather nice really, we should do it more often. The only down side is that the to do list isn’t getting any shorter.

 

The weather currently is awful, persisting it down.

 

I can remember the name of the ship I sailed on when we went to Canada in the 60’s.

I’ll have to look it up on the internet.

 

Goodnight all.

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I've been trying to work out why the whipper-in at The Kimblewick kept staring at me on Thursday. I think it might be that they've never had a non-white rider before. I remember getting similar stares back in 1998 when I hunted with The Clare in Ireland. By 1999 they all remembered who I was and didn't have to stare anymore.....

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And, for your own knowledge bank the NZ wines we buy in Britain cost the same here as it does in places like Moreasons back home. Not bad for something transported around the world. And Vat is 5% higher in the UK than GST is here.

Sleep well!

Baz

Scottish export Whisky used to cost less in Nukualofa than it did in the UK

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Good to hear from Debs via John and Jen.

 

Ice hockey watched tonight  - a bit different from the last two game we saw in Florida.

 

1-0 up, 1-3 down, 3-3, 3-5 down, 5-5 with less than two minutes to go and then 5-6. Despite the best efforts, a loss for The Hawks tonight.

Not helped by the player/coach/defenceman getting carried off after only 5 minutes after being hit the face by a flying puck. He's already posted a selfie on his facebook account with a huge gap in his top lip. He may also have a broken cheekbone - ouch!

 

MRI tomorrow afternoon for my back/sciatica. Never had a MRI scan before but I can guess that it's a bit more comfortable than Tony's procedure.

 

Have a good week folks.

 

Cheers,

Mick

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