Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Popped in to the garage that services my car and booked in this afternoon for a diagnosis of the fault. When I got home I noticed that the engine fault light had gone out. So a quick check, ignition on, fault indicator lights up, start engine and it goes out, everything as it should be. Checked with the garage and they said whatever the fault was it had cleared itself and not to bother as nothing will show up now on a diagnosis. In fact I suspect it must have cleared itself on the way to the garage as I caught a whiff of petrol on the way there that was gone in a few seconds. I too had a parcel arrive today, a job lot of old Matchbox, Minix and other makes of diecast. The four Minix cars are worth more than I paid for the whole lot so well pleased.

[AndyID]

Morning all (just),

 

Tune in next week when our intrepid anti-hero books a taxi to take him to Willesden and ends up in Wilmslow... 

Wilmslow, Arizona?

[Ozexpatriate]

I'm a little envious of the rain many of you are enjoying.  I don't remember when we had our last decent rain here. Perhaps it was in June, but it feels like a distant memory. Spring was delightfully sunny. Now that it is full summer (traditionally dry), I'm not expecting any rain for a while.

 

Sunrise this morning was an angry red light. As forecast, smoke from wildfires in the east is now affecting air quality here and the sunrise through the layer of wildfire smoke glowed a very orange/red colour. Today will again be hot, though less so than yesterday.

 

One of the unofficial indicators used for Portland summers is the number of days above 90°F / 32.2°C. The average is supposed to be somewhere around 11 (depending on how the summer is measured*), with a record of 25 total and 10 consecutively. By my count we've had 13 so far in July, with a couple in June for good measure.

 

* Either June, July, August or Solstice to Equinox.

[New Haven Neil]

We had an inch of rain yesterday, and showers today - all of which has hardly made any difference but it is cool now at 15c. Feels freezing!

[TheQ]

Evening Awl, inner temple here.

All previous posts rated.

AVOs do have fuses, I was standing working on the next rack of equipment when there was blue flash and lots of swearing. The ****** on the next rack, managed to weld two AVO probes on to the rack, thanks to fuses the AVO survived. The ****** only just survived the ear bashing from the RAF instructor..

 

Today went fairly peacefully, the morning was however very wet, this did not stop the sailors maybe nearly 50 were out.

Most tourists did as they were asked and stay close to the right hand bank. I heard of only one incident when a mating ritual occurred between two competing boats, the one beneath receiving some damage..

I've had my sausage and chips, now being washed down by cider. Bingo is due to start, it gets very silly.

Meantime I'm going to look on the internet for my local traction battery agent.

 

Cheers.

[New Haven Neil]

AVOs - there's a memory.  Got one some where, and yes it has a fuse, in one of those screw in button things IIRC.  Can't think when I last used it, they are so heavy!  #thinks# About 1995!

[lightengine]

Morning all (just),

Tune in next week when our intrepid anti-hero books a taxi to take him to Willesden and ends up in Wilmslow... 

At least you can get a taxi to Wilmslow. According to ITV main news tonight its hard to get a Northern Rail service there.

[81C]

Evening Peeps

Had a pleasant afternoon my new combi controller for the Indian Hill Rly turned up sooner than expected, I soldered 2 wires to a length

of track and sat watch my little Baldwin truddlng up and down mesmerized by it's tiny valve gear what a super little model it is, it pulled it's

small train up a 1:30 with ease, I will start ordering in more track and a polystyrene cutter once I popped into Wickes for the base board bits. 

 

Samosa Muncher

[Barry O]

Night to some, afternoon to others and good morning to a few!

 

Baz

[Horsetan]

It's a French thing...….

...you wouldn't understand:

 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone

 

By the time I actually got outside it wasn’t really worth starting any big jobs, so I just did a bit of general tidying up. So I dead headed some of the buddlea, replaced some of the wire that runs along some of the fencing and supports the roses and pilled together some stuff to go to the tip later in the week.

 

After dinner I spent the afternoon in the workshop, again just tidying and sorting out stuff. But whilst I was in there the heavens opened up and we had about 45 minutes of heavy rain, but it stayed quite warm though. By teatime the sun was back out, but we did get a few dark clouds coming over.

 

After tea I went to Salford Quays for a swim, tonight I managed 5 laps (2.5k) entirely front crawl, in 65 minutes, that averages out at 13 minutes a lap. I’ve not swum that that sort of distance since I was at school. To celebrate tonight’s achievement, I had a glass of Robinson’s Trooper when I got in!

 

Goodnight all.

Edited July 30, 2018 by BSW01

[andyram]

Good evening fellow ER's. Another quick check in before bed at the end of a busy day. Today we headed off to Cromer. We intended to visit the zoo and the town, but spent so long at the zoo that the town will have to wait until another day. 

 

 We have visited Amazona Zoo a few times in the past and not too much has changed. Sadly their big cat contingent has halved since our last visit with just a single Ocelot, Jaguar and Puma instead of pairs of each. It was still a nice visit although the wet stuff put in another prolonged appearance. We sheltered in the cafe, and after a short while managed to get a table for lunch. Clearly the cafe could not cope with the number of people who wanted to lunch at the same time and a long wait ensued. Fortunately it kept us out of the rain and it had stopped by the time we came to go out again.

 

 This evening we went out to the arcades again, and Amber enjoyed some time shell collecting on the beach. A very nice day indeed. The mood remains good, although the patience with an excitable 6 year old has got a little thin at times I have to admit. Still - things are much better and I feel a lot more relaxed than this time last year when in Brixham.

 

 Sadly, there is no sign of the North Norfolk lifting the steam ban. It could mean that the line will be missed this year. I was hoping that the recent wet weather might have changed the situation, but at the moment this does not seem to be the case. Naturally they have to do what is best and the ban is totally understandable.

 

Best wishes

 

Andy

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[newbryford]

AVOs - there's a memory.  Got one some where, and yes it has a fuse, in one of those screw in button things IIRC.  Can't think when I last used it, they are so heavy!  #thinks# About 1995!

 

An early part of my working life (1979-80)  was in the calibration department at Ferranti's Cairo Mill in Oldham.

We had a calibration room with stabilised temperatures, but nowhere near on the scale of Mr Q's...

 

Half of our time was spent trying to locate recalcitrant AVOs that were supposed to be allocated to certain departments and personnel but about 1 in 5 were "difficult to find" [*] before performing the calibration procedure every 3 months. (It was a factory that produced Mil standard stuff - even the soldering irons were checked monthly)

8 Mk3s were the most common but a few Mk5s were starting to appear and there were a handful of Avo 7s

 

The internals were incredibly strong and well designed, but the Mk3 cases had a few weak points. I rebuilt quite a few cracked cases with Araldite using sellotape as a former!

 

Cheers,

Mick

[*] mostly tucked away in cupboards because they were never used between calibration periods........... 

Edited July 30, 2018 by newbryford

[BR60103]

In the three weeks we've been in northern Michigan, the grass has moved from a yellowish-brown shade to variations of green as we've had odd bits of rain.

We checked at an rv store (Eng: caravan) for microvaves (did i mention ours has gone on strike?). They had one in stock and gave me measurements to confirm that it would fit. Back home I removed the 4 screws from the trim ... And couldn't get it out of the cabinet. No idea how it was mounted. So we're going to wait to get back to home base and see someone who knows what they're doing.

Had beard trimmed back today. More expensive than home and that before currency conversion.

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It is another bright morning in this part of the world.  Still no sign of a cool down.  37°C forecast for today.

 

Avo meters - now there's a memory.  Personally, I hated the things!  I don't know what it was, but they seemed to have something against me, such that I could never get an accurate reading.  I never had any problems with other analogue multimeters.

 

Have a good day everyone...

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

The car has been cleaned - not by me, I hasten to add, but by the valeting department of the dealership.  The sight of it in shining, glistening white instead of its weathered condition was quite a shock but as it is destined to spend just over a week on a campsite a return to normal is virtually guaranteed.  The recent extreme heat has demonstrated the advantages of having a nominally white car.  It was too much to expect that a suitable place to park near the house would be available when I got home.  Fortunately one has become available today so that the car may be loaded with camping gear, luggage and the rest of the clobber.

 

Andyram, carry on relaxing in North Norfolk.  The benefits are self-evident.

 

Tomorrow’s tract will be the last in the present series, for I will be off to Sidmouth at stupid o’clock on Thursday.  Warm thoughts to all in distress or missing.

 

Chris

[TheQ]

At the moorings Awl, Inner Temple here.

 

I don't think we have any AVOs left at work, but they do have a line up of them in the RAF Radar museum (a couple of miles from The Bure Valley Railway in Hoveton) . The MRC has one which I use occasionally, I have a box of ex RAF odd items from the MRC, which was once an RAF MRC. Finding missing bits of small items for calibration is always a problem.

 

Well it's a more relaxed morning as the buoys are left in the dory overnight, and the signs are left out as well. I've topped up the fuel tanks, put all the equipment by each dory and once this first Muggacoffee is finished I'll install it all.

The cleaner our only paid member of staff is bustling around. I'd better retreat to a safe distance...

[NGT6 1315]

Mawnin‘ awl. Scorchio is the motto of the day. There’s a tradition, eh?

 

Outside thermometer read 29C around 2320 hours last night, so I guess I needn‘t say more... Today may be even a bit hotter yet, as a result of which contingency plans have been made by us to seek cool places.

 

Hope you’re all coping well if similarly affected, or should I say, afflicted?

 

Later...

[Barry O]

Hey ho, hey no, it's off to Ampleforth I go.

 

A day of umpire observation/assessment.

Fingers crossed we get a sunny but cool day.

 

Enjoy your day everyone

Baz

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

The sun is shining here but it has been raining. In fact according to The Boss there was a thunderstorm earlier but I didn't hear a thing as I slept like a log again. Still aching in hip and knee but I suspect some of the domestic duties scheduled will help loosen me up.

An enyoyable time spent yesterday in the railway room with my new toy. It is a beauty and ran smoothly straight out of the box and is now run in. The sounds are quite good although bearing in mind I never saw or heard the real thing in action I don't know how close they are. The only slight hiccup was that one of the little hooks and a link from the front chains were detached but I found them in the box and by some sort or miracle have managed to re-attach although I can't close the link up. However you need a magnifying glass to see the gap.

Once domestics are done I will be running trains again!

Have a good one,

Bob.

[jamie92208]

Morning all, a quick visit only. It's al happening at once. The roofer who was meant to be here on July 1st has turned up to replace the tiles on the 1st floor bedroom, our friend plus dog arrived for 3 nights yesterday and the guy who cuts the grass (Son of neighbour across the road) has arrived to cut the grass. Fortunately the do has been out before the machinery arrived. It could be a busy day so I will wish you all a cordial good morning.

 

Jamie

[Black Marlin]

Greetings all, and hello to Jason Isaacs.

It's month end, which means the usual mad rush to get stuff out the door. Today, however, the office is subdued. A former colleague, who retired last year, died at the weekend of a heart attack; his funeral is today. Many will be going. 

Weather here cool and cloudy. Found a couple of big toads in the garden last night: I think they're particularly pleased at the heatwave breaking! Speaking of which, if you're an expert in amphibians, how do you delight your granddaughter? You name a new species of tree frog after her.

Kind regards climbing the trees to ribbet their good wishes in the ears of the yearning;
Tinkety-tonk, etc.
Gavin

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

Breakfast has been consumed, tea has been drunk and the sun is out. Shortly Sheila will be off to get her hair done, meanwhile I’m off to do the weekly Sainsbury’s Grand Prix. After that, I maywell load up the car and get rid of some old bits of concrete that are now getting in the way in the garden.

 

This time last year (31st July) I was getting ready for my last day at work, where did that go? Have I missed it, not one jot! I also feel much more relaxed than when I was a year ago, so that’s another plus.

 

Chrisf. Enjoy your week in Sidmouth.

 

Back later.