Early Risers.

[chrisf]

It was on the national news this morning. 

 

If it is any comfort to those caught up in the melee, the Germans do not excel at replacement buses either.  On 3rd January the line between Cologne and Aachen was blocked.  DB appeared to think that one road motor would accommodate all intending passengers from an ICE.  DB were wrong.

 

Chris

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a bright and sunny village where small bits of white stuff have floated down but are mow hardly visible, perhaps it's manna.  

 

First of all I hope that your day goes well Rick without too much weather disruption.   Also thoughts are with Debs and Mal that the rad may continue in the right direction.

 

DM, glad that you have finally got back into employment.

 

Yesterday for us was a strange day, several visitors, friends from the village and church as well as the brides who came to pick up the cake.  At least that saves my waistline.   Beth spent much of the day in email and phone contact with her brothers about funeral details.  The one who is currently in Tenerife is being a tenesmus ( That's what comes of being married to a lady who used to be the secretary to a bowel surgeon, it means and unspecified pain in the rectum).   He's arguing about such things as to who sits in which funeral car and who sits where in the church and who walks behind who.   All things that I think have absolutely no meaning but are terribly important to him.   All I can do is sit on the sidelines and be supportive.

 

Today Beth is off to spend the morning with her step mum picking up certificate and things like that.  I'm trying to persuade her to have a day out and away from such matters as she's had 3 very stressful and intense days.   I've got various tasks such as the ironing and some phone calls to make.  Then some parcels to post and hopefully an pleasant evening at the club playing with little trains.   

 

Brian.your system for the cellar contents sounds to be the same one that I am trying to use as we clear each room.   I fully understand the thing about some decisions being well above the pay grade of a mere male.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Glad to hear that Debs continues to improve. I've found my passport and am looking at various travel deals in case I need to make a quick exit before she comes to deal with me. 

Some white stuff has fallen and given us a very light dusting. One or two flakes still coming down. I predict Armageddon on the roads and rails.

Somewhat late up this morning after a brilliant and boozy day yesterday for Abbie's 19th. My headache is now receding. 

Lots of noise from next door as roofers are currently repairing the er ...roof. Picked a great day (for them) to do it.

We're off back to Nicki's later for lunch as there was a bit of a food surplus yesterday.

Have a good one,

Bob.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

We had a slight dusting of snow overnight and it has started snowing again just now. We don't have to go anywhere so can just stare at the snowflakes and comment on how pretty the crocus and daffodils look.

 

Jamie. I don't recall ever that anyone was difficult about who sat where or went in which car at family funerals. At FiL's funeral ten years ago Matthew had to replace me as a coffin bearer as I was rather taller than the others.

 

Tony

[45156]

Morning All

 

Chilly, not as frosty as expected, though.  A much needed fodder replenishment run is needed today as we had a lot less at home in the freezer than we thought.  We must have eaten more than planned!

 

Generic greetings are, of course, on offer all round. 

 

I am in a bit of a quandry as to what to do with a real bargain that I picked up, a good copy of "Decline of Steam" by Colin T Gifford.  Picked it up in an antique center's book room, where it was buried under piles of the more usual carp and generic rubbish which frequents these places.  Price inside cover was £3.50 - I read it three times to be sure it wasn't the more likely £35, But it was £3.50.  Now do I try to sell it for a decent profit, keep it, or keep this one and try to sell the earlier, but tattier copy.  Decisions, decisions, decisions.

 

Back tomorrow, as I still have my homework from the writing class to do.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[New Haven Neil]

Morning.

 

Wow Jamie, Beth certainly needs some support this week.

 

GDB, I too have had a veiled threat, and have sent non-train photos to Our Lady of the Collies to try to regain brownie points.  Donk to the rescue!

 

Just back from the GP's,  no work for another 3 weeks :-(  Still, having come this far it would be daft to break something whilst the bones are still vulnerable with the ex-screw holes not yet being filled.  To be fair I was warned at the outset this was a 2 year process, we're only half way and ahead of the game apparently.

 

So, no more Olympics, back to Homes under the Hammer.....ZZZzzzzzzz

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Lack of frost, still somewhat chilly and some desultory snow showers which aren't settling - I think I shall blame it on the Good Doctor who arrived from the east late yesterday evening (at least she didn't bring the Maltese rain with her).  I'm told 'early shopping' might not be a bad idea in view of the weather - the sunshine??

 

Stewart you might care to adopt my approach which is that if I get a better condition copy of whatever I use it to upgrade my collection and the poorer one goes - although I must admit to retaining several duplicates of some postcards.

 

Have a good day one and all

[Simon G]

Morning all,

 

Thanks for all the thoughts etc for me.

 

This weekend has been pretty awful for me as the chemo nausea was much worse than last time. The change in anti sickness drugs clearly didn’t work. All I managed to eat in two days were two ginger biscuits and half a slice of toast, and that all came back along with everything I had drunk. This all resulted in a visit to hospital yesterday evening severely dehydrated to get some different anti sickness drug, which was injected into my rear. They wanted to keep me in overnight, but I didn’t fancy that and came home. The injection seems to have worked as I haven’t been sick since, and actually managed to eat a little breakfast and drink some tea this morning. I need to discuss a Plan C with the consultant before the next chemo cycle!

 

The rugby didn’t go too well for me either with Wales and England both losing, but I fully agree with others that neither deserved to win. On this weekends showing, I can see Ireland achieving a Grand Slam.

 

Thoughts still with Debs and Beth and others who may be suffering.

[Tony_S]

I thought I should check our local weather forecast again as last time I looked it wasn't too bad. The reason I looked is that C2C will cease running trains at 9pm. Forecast is 2cm of snow and -2 overnight.

Tony

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

As Sheila is at her Zumba class, I had made good use of an empty kitchen and I have made a tea loaf, which has just come out of the oven and the aroma (the cinnamon in particular) is just wonderful. I’ve also made some courgette, potato and cheddar soup, which we will be having for tonight’s tea.

 

We had no frost when we got up this morning, but we did have a flurry of snow around 8:30 but that didn’t last long and we’ve got lovely sunshine at the moment.

 

Time to sit back and have a muggertea.

 

Back later.

[TheQ]

 

 

Yep they are cancelling trains in East Angilia at any excuse again,

 

Meanwhile here I'm glad I have my own A/C and doors to the lab..... they are changing the big roller shutter doors to goods in today...

 

White stuff is falling from the sky at the moment, I'm glad I'm in the landrover, not directly because of the snow, but because of all the cockwombles that will fall off of the road / block the road because they've seen a snowflake I may have to take to the verges / fields to get past again..

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Its snowing sun shining snowing this morning. No sign of any snow at 07:00 this morning but quite heavy half an hour later. I mentioned some of my purchases yesterday but nothing like what my friend purchased at a rock bottom bargain price. It was a Dinky toys 'Silver Link' set in good condition. This particular model was introduced by Dinky pre-war and consisted of a push along diecast A4 and a couple of coaches in roughly N scale. Pre-war models, finished in silver are now very rare and much sought after. This was one of the few models re-released just after the war but in LNER garter blue with brown (teak) coaches, this is the model that my friend acquired. The model had the cabside number cast onto the cabsides and the letters LNER cast onto the tender. Come nationalisation the cast numbers and letters were removed and the locomotive was painted green and the coaches 'blood and custard'. I remember this appearing in the Dinky catalogues until the mid 50's.  My friend only paid £5 for it! Green with envy, moi, of course I am.

[Horsetan]

Never heard of paint stripper...............?

 

Why, is that available in yellow nowadays?

[Happy Hippo]

 

  'The one who is currently in Tenerife is being a tenesmus ( That's what comes of being married to a lady who used to be the secretary to a bowel surgeon, it means and unspecified pain in the rectum).   He's arguing about such things as to who sits in which funeral car and who sits where in the church and who walks behind who.'

 

People like that make my p*ss pickle.

 

if he is so concerned about all this, then I'd suggest he get's off his fat/scrawny (delete as applicable) a*se and get back to the UK pdq and sort it all out. 

 

 

 

 

[jamie92208]

 

People like that make my p*ss pickle.

 

if he is so concerned about all this, then I'd suggest he get's off his fat/scrawny (delete as applicable) a*se and get back to the UK pdq and sort it all out. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for that Richard, the thoughts of the other two siblings and me exactly.  I didn't know whether to tick agree or thanks as both apply. He's arranged to come back 48 hours before the funeral and his wife goes back out the day after.  I had predicted that there would be trouble with him when Will died and have been proved correct. There is still the will to come.

 

I used to count Christmas a success if I didn't slot him.

 

Jamie

(Trying to keep out of things and dodging the fallout.)

[Gwiwer]

Welcome back. Some updates.

 

Neighbour (Upstairs) was brought home during the morning and is described as having “half a pharmacy” of things to take. I have swapped messages with flatmate and who tells me G. is sound asleep after a troubled night.

 

Having returned from the House of Fun I can report as follows. Heavy and prolonged snow showers occurred causing enwhitenment of the platfom staff. It was cold. Very cold. Even wearing seven layers of clothing. Various issues are affecting services including a broken rail closing the line at Bracknell and an electric train emitting large amounts of acrid smoke from the motors which was terminated at Clapham Junction as I signed off but which is (or was) blocking the Down and Up Main Slow lines until deemed safe to move.

 

Many routes will close early tonight to avoid undue risk of stranding passengers on board in severe weather. Any and all routes (though mainly in the south and east) might close without warning if much more snow falls. There was snow settling on platforms and in the ballast as I left. Inbound customers reported snow covering the sleepers at East Croydon.

 

Best advice would be to avoid all non-essential travel. If you must travel then leave early, anticipate disruption and monitor the various service operator’s apps.

 

The snoozepapers are already making headlines out of trains being cancelled due to bad weather before any snow has fallen; these are the same snoozepapers which would equally have a field day if passengers became trapped in snowdrifts or were stranded in cold dark trains which had lost power.

 

Stay warm. Stay prepared for a week of winter weather. And spare a thought for those of us who choose to work oudoors in these conditions hoping to keep things moving for you.

[AndyB]

The growl of a twin exhaust heralded a c@ckwomble in a Jaguar f type jockeying for positoon on the A31 this morning.

 

We all watched as he jinked from one Lane to the other for 7 miles as a gap appeared. I almost admirevery people who are that keen to get to work on a Monday morning. Almost. But not quite!

 

Funny thing was that after 7 miles of this he was still level with me. This sort of leads me to suggest that 1. sticking in the same lane makes sense. And 2. there is a higher power that looks down and evens things up a bit.

 

Blizzard around 10 o'clock gave way to blue skies.

[southern42]

' afternoon all from red dragon land.

Cold but sunny.

 

Thoughts with Simon and the good ladies, Debs and Beth, and all who are poorly or troubled.  Hope your day goes well.

 

I had an excellent weekend m*d*lling  [Posted on GWRd #1052 to save me posting on here - our good lady may be lurking, I believe!    ].  I am not necessarily referring to the end result, just that I had a relaxing time doing it and that must be good!  I was also satisfied that the model turned out OK and was not just a load of rubbish.  If you have not done so already, you will have to goto GWRd #1052 to appreciate that little "joke".  

 

Pre-dodgy weather shop, later.  Lunch first.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Edited February 26, 2018 by southern42

[Gwiwer]

Just confirmed that all ticketing restrictions (other than morning peaks) have been lifted for all operators who are closing service esrly tonight and for tomorrow and Thursday which are expected to be severely disrupted. That allows everyone to go home early and not have to wait for the post-peak period. Operators Anglia, C2C, London Overground, Great Northern and South Eastern have so far lifted restrictions. Other operators and/or days may be added. TfL buses around London may not run overnight nor on any route at any time serving hills and ungritted roads.

Edited February 26, 2018 by Gwiwer

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from a bloomin' cold LBG. The wind is biting today. It was snowing in the downstairs foyer of the new LBG - I guess it was drifting down the escalator wells. It's been snowing on and off all morning but not settling here. It had started to settle in Sidcup before I left but at that stage there had not been anything worth writing about.

 

I see there are mixed tidings; good news from Debs and Mal, but condolences to Jamie and Beth

 

As Mal said in a post yesterday - stay warm!

Edited February 26, 2018 by The Lurker

[bbishop]

Back home off a busy duty. COPD patients are suffering big time. Quick catch up before visit to tooth doctor.

 

Bill

[Tony_S]

Back home off a busy duty. COPD patients are suffering big time. Quick catch up before visit to tooth doctor.Bill

When I was in the recovery ward after being sedated last week every time a nurse came to check me they would look at the beepy buzzy machine and ask if I had COPD. I informed them that I had not,they asked me to take a couple of deep breaths , and went away happy with the result.

[Ian Abel]

Miscellaneous congratulations and commiserations as needed, I'll attempt to go back through the posted from the weekend as best I can...

 

Monday is welcomed.

 

A long weekend here encapsulated;

Easy trip home from JFK, though there had been 7 inches of snow Thursday night that I didn't know about, so very fresh on the ground.

Saturday the Mrs needed a lot of consoling as the week had taken its toll, and we had a very nice family dinner at Jemmas to cap the day - she wanted to get our immediate family together for her comfort.

Jemma, Trevor, Meagan and all three dogs, we picked Trevor and Meagan up as it was supposed to snow during the late afternoon/early evening.

Snow it did - another 7 inches by Sunday morning.

 

Sunday just after 9AM Julies mum passed away and they called to let her/us know.

Sunday spent going to church, then the apartment so Julie could spend a little alone time there to reflect and process it all.

Much of the rest of Sunday being comforted by family and friends calling and she certainly is now rather less stressed.

 

Here's how the front path looks now, after the accumulation of another 14 inches of snow, we're now almost right on the average for the year at about 38 inches so far;

 

-7 and sunny this morning, but expected to be +4 for a high and some melting taking place as a result.

 

Hope your week gets off to a good start.

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon all,

 

Tesco had a remarkably high cockwomble quotient today for some reason - perhaps they'd all read the 'papers were concerned about an impending snowmageddon.  In the meanwhile the weather forecast for the coming few days has changed several times today - presumably an indication that what is really expected is 'changeable' other than forecasts of quite nippy 'feels like' temperatures.  The wind here certainly has a bite to it but other than that things aren't too bad at all thus far.  

 

It never used to worry me outdoor railway wise until it got cold enough to start permanently freezing pointwork or there was enough snow to jam points, and it definitely doesn't look like getting that bad yet although conductor rail icing could well be a risk in these conditions.  Nowadays, with modern switch heaters, temperatures are hardly likely to get low enough to cause problems on heated pointwork and you really need about 4 - 6 inches of hard driven snow to cause any sort of problems.   Back in 1978 in the West of England with drifts up to 16 feet deep and ordinary laying snow (which hadn't drifted) up to my thighs we still managed to keep a pretty good level of service running mainline wise although various branches were completely blocked and lots of shunt moves had to be forgotten so short distance local trains were cancelled or drastically altered.  Mind you out at night trying to unfreeze points in the London area in the '78/'79 winter when the overnight air temperature was -12/14C. wasn't exactly what I'd call fun but all part of the job back then..

[The Stationmaster]

Condolences Ian to you and your family.