Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Had a good nights sleep last night despite the sciatica which hasn't manifested itself this morning, probably due to the co-codamol I took before going to bed. Jamie, I hope you can cope with the autistic teenager, my friends daughter (also 16) is also autistic, I was going to say they are difficult but challenging is perhaps a better description. Muggatee awaits, be back later.

[newbryford]

Work to be worked.

 

Catch up later.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Good to hear the hospital found nothing serious Chris, always best to check especially as the years roll on.

 

Now custard and trifle.  Back in the '90s I was off sick with something relatively stupid and a rather important meeting came up which I really needed to attend so it was held at our house in Tilehurst and an RfD colleague who lived in Reading ferried the various attendees from the station - including three French chaps one of whom was definitely something of a wine expert (really) and rather fussy about 'funny English food' although he had never come across English home cooking from the kitchen of an expert like Mrs Stationmaster.  The trifle was duly demolished and extra helpings of creme anglais were called for, particularly by this chap.  So done properly these 'traditional' foods really ought to pass 'the French test' and doubt Beth managed the same; what the French don't like is the more traditional British restaurant ideas of such dishes - and one can hardly blame them.

 

Not sure what today holds as all the vacuum was duly cleaned yesterday but the garden bin still needs to be tackled and i have an appointment with the good Count's daughter this afternoon to produce a sample of red stuff in order that the lab can ascertain if such liquid is still in post alcohol inspired orbit.

 

Have a good day one and all

[Gwiwer]

Rick,

 

Was she pregnant when she boarded the Green train?

 

Bill

I do hope so. If not there might be some quite revealing CCTV footage

[grandadbob]

Back from "Lidling" at last.

Made the mistake of going to the one at Morden and not knowing that today is some sort of Muslim festival. For those who don't know Morden has possibly the largest mosque in Europe (built on the site of the old Express dairy) and I believe can hold up to 10000 worshippers. They all seemed to be parking, unloading cars etc while we tried to get through. At least the police were there and there was some control over the traffic. Morden Park is used as a car park and there was a sea of vehicles and people there, some of whom were already praying before they went over the road. People were still turning up on our way back and the traffic was rather heavy.

The Boss was quite pleased with our purchases and the cost but I will reserve judgement until I've sampled them. There are some things I refuse to change so there was a slight difference of opinion in places. I am willing to try new things out but some are cast in stone. 

Edited August 22, 2018 by grandadbob

[BoD]

Morning all

 

Still can't get used to hearing the phrases 'President of the United States' and 'former porn star' in the same sentence. Wonder if Pence will be #46 before the next elections

 

Mal

Apparently when Trump was asked what to do about Cambridge Analytica he replied 'pay her off'.

[Horsetan]

...Still can't get used to hearing the phrases 'President of the United States' and 'former porn star' in the same sentence. …

 

There may yet come a time when the two are one and the same.

[NGT6 1315]

There may yet come a time when the two are one and the same.

Apparently when Trump was asked what to do about Cambridge Analytica he replied 'pay her off'.

You guys made my day.

 

Cheers, folks. The forecast says we‘re into the final two days of scorchio. Certainly hoping they’re right... Migraine yesterday, so if the predicted weather change had anything to do with it, the forecast may well be accurate.

 

Not a lot else to report, so thoughts and congrats as appropriate...

[andyram]

Morning fellow ER's. Apologies for my recent absence. The black dog came back at the weekend with great gusto and I had a very difficult few days. Things are settling a little bit now, but I know that the door to the kennel is not firmly shut.

 

 On Monday we all went over to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park for a much needed family day out. It really is a wonderful place and the day was very relaxing. I took plenty of photographs and there are a few that I am very pleased with. It was also great to see the recently arrived Brown Bears, rescued from dreadful conditions in China. If you have been watching Channel 5's "Big Week at the Zoo" you will be familiar with their story.

 The above television show was filmed at various zoos in the country, but the presenters "studio" was at YWP. The footage was filmed last week which meant I missed Helen Skelton by a mere week. Now she really would ease the presence of the black dog!

 

 I am pleased to hear that ChrisF took the advice and went to the A&E. Good to know it was nothing serious. Supportive wishes to all others in need.

 

 Sad to see the latest RMWeb war of words has sparked up on the Colas "Merl Evans" thread. All over spring loaded buffers! For professional reasons I am keeping well out of it. I have some of these models to sell!!!

 

Take care.

 

Best wishes

 

Andy

[NGT6 1315]

I think we may be ready to depart on our trip to the Far East, well Far East of Austria. Luxembourg tomorrow then Munich on Thursday then almost all the way to Slovenia on Friday. I always think for motoring holidays in Europe that they only begin once we are on the Eurotunnel shuttle! I don’t think the delays are as bad as they were when Dick travelled with his grandchildren recently. All our map apps and car sat nav are recommending a route through France to Luxembourg rather than via Belgium so who am I to argue. The French route is toll free allegedly and I am sure we have been that way before anyway.

Tony

Wishing you both a pleasant trip! Do drop me a note should your itinerary allow for a diversion through this-here area at any point.

[newbryford]

 

 

 Sad to see the latest RMWeb war of words has sparked up on the Colas "Merl Evans" thread. All over spring loaded buffers! For professional reasons I am keeping well out of it. I have some of these models to sell!!!

 

 

 

 Oooohhh - must go and have a look...……

 

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

p.s. Pendon diesels is a better bunfight and the fare dodger one got a bit heated.

Edited August 22, 2018 by newbryford

[jamie92208]

I do hope so. If not there might be some quite revealing CCTV footage

I know that the green trains can be delayed but a 9 month delay would really mess up the stats, the Daily Wail would have a field day.

 

Jamie

[Gwiwer]

To reduce the pain of plantar fasciitis, try these self-care tips:

 

1. Maintain a healthy weight.

2. Lose weight if you're overweight or obese to minimize stress on your plantar fascia.

3. Choose supportive shoes. Avoid high heels. ...

4. Don't wear worn-out athletic shoes. ...

5. Change your sport. ...

6. Apply ice. ...

7. Stretch your arches.

I copied that to a friend in Cornwall who regularly suffers. Her reply would be unprintable here in part. But salvaging what is repeatable:

 

1. I’ve been trying for nine years to lose the weight I put on while pregnant. I lost 5lbs and a lot more £££ at Slimming World among other efforts;

2. See 1;

3. I work on my feet in flat shoes. I’m a single mum who’s on her feet when at home in flat shoes;

4. See 3 - lucky if I can even afford Aldi shoes on my income;

5. See 3 - being a single working mum isn’t sport it’s hard graft. No time for sport even if I could afford it.

6. Only on days when the freezer is working;

7. See 3 - they are very stretched.

 

And her final words : “Someone needs to get real. The rest of us have lives to live, have pennies not pounds to our name and don’t flounce around in heels or posing at the gym.”

 

Just saying ......

 

And waiting for Parcel Farce to arrive who assured me they would be here between 12 and 1pm. Ironically waiting to go to the sorting office to collect another parcel And Puss McPussface needs some new crunchies.

 

Best wishes all. Hope the darker canines can stay kenneled.

[jamie92208]

I missed Helen Skelton by a mere week. Now she really would ease the presence of the black dog!

 

 

Best wishes

 

Andy

Be careful, if you had met her you might have something other than the canine to worry about, knives in the back can be tricky.

 

Jamie

[andyram]

Be careful, if you had met her you might have something other than the canine to worry about, knives in the back can be tricky.

 

Jamie

 

 

Knives? What knives???

[iL Dottore]

Afternoon All,

 

First things, first. Unravelled will be joing the "Brains Trust" at the Princess on Friday, September 14. So, with the exception of M. Jamie"leRosbif"92208 we will be complete.

 

....Now custard and trifle.  Back in the '90s I was off sick with something relatively stupid and a rather important meeting came up which I really needed to attend so it was held at our house in Tilehurst and an RfD colleague who lived in Reading ferried the various attendees from the station - including three French chaps one of whom was definitely something of a wine expert (really) and rather fussy about 'funny English food' although he had never come across English home cooking from the kitchen of an expert like Mrs Stationmaster.  The trifle was duly demolished and extra helpings of creme anglais were called for, particularly by this chap.  So done properly these 'traditional' foods really ought to pass 'the French test' and doubt Beth managed the same; what the French don't like is the more traditional British restaurant ideas of such dishes - and one can hardly blame them....

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with British Cuisine - be it English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish (sounds like a TOC )  However, and this is a big however, you need two things: good quality ingredients (even when we are talking about offcuts and offal - there's good and there's bad...) and the ability (and knowledge) to cook well. Anyone can make a trifle (to use the Stationmaster's example) from tinned fruit, tinned custard and shopbought cake - which may or may not be edible (I have been known to have a soft spot for Bird's custard - so there you go). But making a trifle with a homemade, slightly thickened creme anglais, fresh and home poached fruits and a homemade cake base - well it becomes sublime.

 

Whilst on the subject of food, I am utterly amazed at some MP getting bent out of shape about Jamie Oliver promoting "jerk rice" and saying that it was "cultural appropriation". Firstly, one would think that a MP would have better (and more important) things to worry about than whether or not a commercial, factory made, product is ethnically appropriate. And secondly, cooks have been "borrowing/appropriating" each others recipes/cuisines for centuries - it makes for interesting food. However, if we have to go down that road, then may I be the first to be professionally offended at the cultural appropriation of my native Bologna's superb Ragú alla Bolognese as the ghastly "mystery minced beef and a tin of chopped tomatoes" SpagBol made infamous by British unversity students and others insensitive to the nuances of fine Italian food.

 

No wonder the UK seems to be stumbling from crisis to crisis if this is the calibre of your politicians

 

There may yet come a time when the two are one and the same.

 

Quite possibly.

 

When the film Idiocracy (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy) first came out, it was very much a delightfully crude broad brush satire. Now it's starting to look much more like a documentary...

 

Well, that's enought nonsense from me for the day. Off to watch the bun fights elsewhere on ER. Should be fun (generally I am very anti blood sports, but somehow watching the apoplectic, self appointed, virtue signalling denizens of the respective threads hack themselves to shreds is faro too much fun not to observe)

 

Stay Frosty Guys

 

iD

Edited August 22, 2018 by iL Dottore

[AndrewC]

 

No wonder the UK seems to be stumbling from crisis to crisis if this is the calibre of your politicians

 

 

Well, that's enought nonsense from me for the day. Off to watch the bun fights elsewhere on ER. Should be fun (generally I am very anti blood sports, but somehow watching the apoplectic, self appointed, virtue signalling denizens of the respective threads hack themselves to shreds is faro too much fun not to observe)

 

 

Sadly the calibre of our politicians is such that it isn't possible to fire them out of cannons into the sun. 

 

Bun fights on here are like watching car crashes in slow motion. You know what's coming, you can see it coming, but it takes sooo long before the big bang, and you just can't seem to look away. These are gentle compared to the flame wars on the old news groups like rec.hobbies.model.railroad and similar. I still remember one long running saga that started when someone referred to the paint department at Bachmann as the "Big Dipper". (before there was a Bachmann UK that is) 

[Horsetan]

….When the film Idiocracy (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy) first came out, it was very much a delightfully crude broad brush satire. Now it's starting to look much more like a documentary...

 

Its director, Mike Judge, when asked about predicting the future, reportedly remarked, "I'm no prophet, I was off by 490 years."   

[Simon G]

Greetings from a wet Wales. Knowing that the rain was coming, we got to the NationalTrust property Penrhyn Castle early, arranged an early bird castle tour, had an hour to walk round the gardens, just when the rain was starting. By the time the rain worsened we were inside the castle, followed by its railway museum. All in all, a pleasant half day despite the rain. Now back at our cottage preparing dinner for my aunt.

[Happy Hippo]

My brother has just sent me a photo of a steam locomotive.

 

I nearly had a fit of apoplexy...

 

It had SOUTHERN written on the tender.

 

I'll now have to go and lick all my pannier tanks to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

Edited August 22, 2018 by Happy Hippo

[Horsetan]

….I'll now have to go and lick all my pannier tanks to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

 

Whatever turns you on   

[Ozexpatriate]

Still can't get used to hearing the phrases 'President of the United States' and 'former porn star' in the same sentence. Wonder if Pence will be #46 before the next elections.

Apparently when Trump was asked what to do about Cambridge Analytica he replied 'pay her off'.

There may yet come a time when the two are one and the same.

Our 'no politics' rule discourages me from making further comment, though I do have a genuine question. I was musing to myself yesterday whether the French press ever made puns involving POTUS-45 and the verb tromper?

Edited August 22, 2018 by Ozexpatriate

[roundhouse]

We kept Number 45 news to a minimum whilst in the states for the last two weeks. We almost exclusively had the waether channel on when in hotel rooms.

 

Film scanner fixed as a short negative strip had got stuck in it. Grass cut busehs pruned. A loco bought in the silent auction at teh NMRA convention in Kansas City now has body removed so I can decide what sound decoder to fit.

 

Now to pick other half up from the station.

[TheQ]

Afternoon awl,

The second to last 10% off at the big orange shed was used, I suspect it will be heaving next Wednesday.

 

Some absolutely urgent stuff came in from the USA, pity the references for them are away at their own calibration, probably for another month...

 

Coming home one Cockwomble was lined up on the roundabout for the roundabout exit that I was leaving. Then changed his mind and carried on round, stopping 1.5tons of Land Rover with 1/2 ton of building materials on board was interesting.

 

Later on, on our road I could see someone didn't stop in time. Single track country road, big skid marks from a lorry, facing a long set of car skid marks, big pile of windscreen glass in the middle. Did someone not have their seat belt on?

 

Yesterday at around 20:00 I ordered a load of Stainless screws and a big pile of wet and dry sandpaper, from toolstation.. They arrived today at 15:00...now that's service...

The wet and dry is for the boat, I expect I'll be getting to the sand down and fill stage..

 

Eyelid inspection beckons, I'll be back to annoy you sometime in the future...

[Ian Abel]

Morning all.

 

Yesterday memorial service was a great tribute to a friend and local musician, very uplifting for such an event.

The evening saw us at a nice "happy hour" gathering so all-in-all a good day.

 

Re: Shoes off on a plane (sounds like a good title for a movie?!?!?! ) Whilst I understand the possible need, loosening shoes is probably a better plan, mostly in light of what Jemma will ALWAYS say when asked about the subject;

"I KNOW what's been on the floor of the aircraft in the CABIN, let along the bathrooms, I'll NEVER take my shoes of in ANY PLANE!"

 

 

Quiet day again today and pleasant outside, if I get the chance to partake.

12 and sunny this morning, firsts time in months it's been that cool early on, may make 27 apparently.

 

Hope you day proceeds well, or at least as expected...