Early Risers.

[45156]

 

I did my C*****mas shopping on Friday. 

That late, we do ours in the January sales, when most things are half price - and we have done for about 20 years or more.

 

Morning All

 

So sorry that I've been absent for a couple of days, I haven't really, I was just lurking, and all posts have been read and rated - and generic greetings are on offer again to the worthy.

 

It's currently raining here, but we will still be visiting Gresgarth Hall gardens this morning.  A nice cuppa and a cake served by the folk of Hornby St Mary's Church, and a wander round the grounds.

 

Not a lot more to report this end.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[Happy Hippo]

That late, we do ours in the January sales, when most things are half price.

 

 

Stewart

I was going to write likewise.  My nephews' stuff being a prime example.

 

I have just spent the last 10 minutes picking an iron on sticker off a T shirt.

 

It's quite addictive as to how much one can remove as a single piece.

 

The Obergrumpenfuhrer likened it to the picking of an old scab.

 

She is getting ready for church, whilst I am preparing to copy Jamie and do some soldering and gluing.

 

After yesterday's  efforts at tidying up in the office I am off to generally wreak havoc in the garage, which is a lot emptier now that the PH has shifted most of his kit to his new abode.

Edited September 9, 2018 by Happy Hippo

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Sunny here.

We are off to Enfield this evening. Two of Aditi’ Uncles are visiting MiL at the moment. They have spent a few days in the West End (of London, not Enfield) and they are returning to MiL’s for,a few days before they head to the Lake District.

Tony

[lightengine]

Enfield has some lovely parks & lakes. I hope they enjoy.

 

A cloudy day has dawned here in sunny Teignmouth.

 

Today I will further investigate travel options between here and Bruxelles around the Christmas period. To fly or to train? To fly from Heathrow (or the Row of Heath) as one of our compatriots would put it or Bristol or Cardiff or Manchester or Birmingham? What you lose on the travelling time you lose on the fares or some such equation. Flight times one way are not as good as flight times t'other. It all adds up to much fun as timetables are scanned, fares perused and thoughts such as trains not running on certain dates are carefully considered.

[AndyB]

Morning all, gluing must be a theme today, as I've just popped in from the garage whilst some glue dries. 

 

Didn't make it to Woking this weekend as I elected to spend the time working on my own layout. A return of the modelling mojo, at last. The downside was not having the pleasure of saying "hello" to GDB & 81C. Maybe Aldershot next month.

 

I noticed that Jamie mentions watching Strictly over in Charente. Whilst accepting that it seems to be impossible to get away from that show over the autumn period, I was curious how one picks up BBC transmissions abroad? Reception in this part of Hampshire can be a little weather dependent - less than 50 miles from Londres. 

 

Meanwhile, been busy at work; 'nuff said. 

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Yesterday was busy from the off - my labourer arrived ion the dot of 08.00 and I was prepping to get step building within 10 minutes.  The idea of the steps is to improve access to the veg patch and greenhouse as they are currently approached via a brassy slope and a single step - the new route will be shorter and perchance 'safer'.  Definitely safer than yesterday when after a little gentle rain the grass was somewhat damp and I duly slipped down it whilst carrying various tools.  A knee, fortunately the already dodgy one, collided with something hard and aches a bit although it is improving but the big surprise was to find - when stripping later for a shower - that I had acquired a multi-coloured big toe with various shades of red and a very fetching purple encircling it.  

 

But nothing ventured definitely nothing gained so step construction got underway plus long delayed extension of the veg path where, fortuitously, my labourer can kneel which was handy when I cant' due to my 'dodgy' (arthuretical)  knee so he did the concrete top surface.  three step faces and some extension of the side wall were constructed over the day plus around half a tonne of concrete was deposited on said path and into two of the newly created steps plus some to part height in the next step up.  Over all good day of achievement plus the labourer was kept busy on a couple of other tasks whilst I was step building.  Much remains to be done but a good start has been made and now I need a load more material so Jewsons will be receiving a visit on Monday seeking a Wednesday delivery.

 

With two good events on offer this weekend - Steam and the Great Cockcrow gala weekend - the possibility of an outing still remained for today but 'shopping' is needed urgently and my knee will no doubt benefit from not spending an hour or so driving so Steam will be missed for the second year running (=money saved, yippee) and the Great Cockcrow will still be there next weekend and a couple more this year.

 

A boiled egg has now been consumed and the third muggatea is gradually going in the same direction.  Have a good day one and all

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all, gluing must be a theme today, as I've just popped in from the garage whilst some glue dries. 

 

Didn't make it to Woking this weekend as I elected to spend the time working on my own layout. A return of the modelling mojo, at last. The downside was not having the pleasure of saying "hello" to GDB & 81C. Maybe Aldershot next month.

 

I noticed that Jamie mentions watching Strictly over in Charente. Whilst accepting that it seems to be impossible to get away from that show over the autumn period, I was curious how one picks up BBC transmissions abroad? Reception in this part of Hampshire can be a little weather dependent - less than 50 miles from Londres. 

 

Meanwhile, been busy at work; 'nuff said. 

BBC1 is available on iPlayer which is one way of getting it although Jamie might get a decent live signal or via satellite.  Many of the Belgian people I worked with back in the 1990s watched BBC 1 regularly and they preferred it to Belgian tv (which anybody who has watched Belgian tv would probably agree with, it's almost as bad as Italian tv or Norwegian tv).

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I seem to recall Jamie mentioning a satelite dish so I assume thats how he gets British TV. When I spent a Christmas in Ostend many years ago the hotel TV's were all tuned in to British TV stations, the best reception was from Anglia and BBC East. I went on a trip to Brugge on Boxing Day though the day is a normal working day in Belgium though, I liked it so much that I have paid several return visits. Thats it for now, muggatee awaits, be back later.

[Tony_S]

I turned the tv on in our Austrian hotel once to see if it had a hotel info channel and for the second time to watch the F1 GP from Monza. There was a choice of ORF or RTL for the motor racing. There may have been an Italian channel too but I didn’t get that far down the channel list. Italian was definitely the second language there. The office staff and senior waiters all spoke English. When on the first night the head waiter asked if we would like German or English menus I said it didn’t matter. So he asked if I were Norwegian or Swedish! Some of the translations on the English menu were confusing so we had the German or Italian menus and sneaked a look at Google translate for regional terms.

Tony

[lightengine]

 I noticed that Jamie mentions watching Strictly over in Charente. Whilst accepting that it seems to be impossible to get away from that show over the autumn period,

Not impossible Andy. Just say No. We have never watched it ever and last night my missus watched part of that music murdering drivel on ITV, turned it off part way through and said it won't be viewed again.

[jamie92208]

Morning all, gluing must be a theme today, as I've just popped in from the garage whilst some glue dries. 

 

Didn't make it to Woking this weekend as I elected to spend the time working on my own layout. A return of the modelling mojo, at last. The downside was not having the pleasure of saying "hello" to GDB & 81C. Maybe Aldershot next month.

 

I noticed that Jamie mentions watching Strictly over in Charente. Whilst accepting that it seems to be impossible to get away from that show over the autumn period, I was curious how one picks up BBC transmissions abroad? Reception in this part of Hampshire can be a little weather dependent - less than 50 miles from Londres. 

 

Meanwhile, been busy at work; 'nuff said. 

 

Satellite is the answer.  We've got a satellite dish that points at the Astra 3 (IIRC) that Sky use and also Freesat.  We've never had Sky but you can use a Sky box over here though apparently you give Sky a UK postcode.  We bought a Freesat box and it works fine.  I'm probably going to get a Freesat Plus box so that we can record things.   You have to put a UK postcode into the Freesat box when you tune in so I get Look North Leeds news and weather.  It's a hard life but someone has to look at Lisa Gallgaher and Abbie Dewhirst on a morning. iPlayer is a bit strange and a lot of the content is UK specific.  The website obviously picks up our French IP address and adds annoying adverts and stops certain videos playing.   Funnily enough Test Match Special comes via a live link on You Tube.

 

Jamie

 

The plus about Strictly is that it gives me a perfect excuse to bob across to the shed.   There is a rumour that she's found that X Factor is on, I feel the rate of loco production is going to rise.

Edited September 9, 2018 by jamie92208

[Happy Hippo]

 

The idea of the steps is to improve access to the veg patch and greenhouse as they are currently approached via a brassy slope.

As one would expect from a Swindon style garden!

 

No doubt copper capped chimneys adorn the sides of the paths as planters.

 

And the grass?  Well it's obviously a particular shade of green.

[JohnDMJ]

Morning all,

 

" to my 'dodgy' (arthuretical)  knee

 

Time to reprise the Mary Poppins joke, "My friend said he knew a man with a wooden leg named Smith.

So I asked him, "What was the name of his other leg?"

 

So one of your knees is named Arthur and it is arthritic? ... (Theoretically)

 

Not impossible Andy. Just say No. We have never watched it ever and last night my missus watched part of that music murdering drivel on ITV, turned it off part way through and said it won't be viewed again.

 

Anything 'Strictly', 'X', 'Celebrity' or 'Big Brother' is STRICTLY avoided (along with any similar offerings) in this household, as are soap operas (Archers, Neighbours, East Enders, Hollyoaks, Emmerdale plus others) and most other drivel the numerous providers of tv programmes choose to offer.

 

Tip: if you have freesat, as I do, my most frequent search is for 'RAI'; spot the common link between tRAIn and RAIlway!

Edited September 9, 2018 by JohnDMJ

[andyram]

Good afternoon fellow ER's. Generic greetings, congrats and commiserations as appropriate. You may have noticed that I have been away from these pages for a few days. Nothing sinister - just things have been very busy. My login details for the online assessor position was sorted last weekend and a mere 40 assignments dropped into my inbox. More and more have arrived during the week and so I have been very busy battling through them all. It has meant a lot of time spent online in the shop, and more time in the evening. I have managed to clear the backlog by this morning and the head is back above water. I believe the massive influx of assignments in one go has been because an assessor has left. 

 

 The assessor's role is on a "pay per pass" basis. Sadly I have had to fail a number of students so will need to await their resubmission before I will earn money from them. However, in the week just gone, I have managed to earn a decent amount and that should, I hope, help to replace the teacher wage that has now come to an end.

 

 The shop has been progressing well, and the reputation seems to be building locally. It will take some time, as I expected, before I can rely on it but at least I can keep it open whilst I earn money via the assessor role. The website is undergoing some alterations over the next few weeks and hopefully that will speed things up.

 

 All in all - the last few days have been busy, challenging but enjoyable. I am pleased to say that the black dog is firmly in the kennel and long may it stay there.

 

Best wishes

 

Andy

[lightengine]

Have spent the morning looking at websites with such words as Cardiff, Bristol, Birmingham, Heathrow, FlyBMI, Brussels Airlines and Trivago. Have consulted with railway employed niece regarding possible engineering works at Christmas. Have re-weighed all the weighed up pros & cons, have re evaluated the previously evaluated considerations and have reconsidered previous possibilities (yes, there are possibly double negatives or some such English language failures there). After 3 days of timetable considerations I have now booked Eurostar! Hurrah. No luggage weight constrictions with them. No seating surcharge. No early morning only flights. No need for hotel (at present).

 

PHEW!

 

Weight,

Mind,

Off.

[Coombe Barton]

The good news from Debs continues, despite an NHS lunch, one ingredient of which she described as cremated. She's much more cogent. I have had to speak sternly to her regarding her thinking that it's too much trouble ans that she doesn't want to be a nuisance.

 

However there will have to be more interventions, this time to correct the side effects of her main treatment.

 

Getting there, albeit slowly.

Edited September 9, 2018 by Coombe Barton

[Tony_S]

Have spent the morning looking at websites with such words as Cardiff, Bristol, Birmingham, Heathrow, FlyBMI, Brussels Airlines and Trivago. Have consulted with railway employed niece regarding possible engineering works at Christmas. Have re-weighed all the weighed up pros & cons, have re evaluated the previously evaluated considerations and have reconsidered previous possibilities (yes, there are possibly double negatives or some such English language failures there). After 3 days of timetable considerations I have now booked Eurostar! Hurrah. No luggage weight constrictions with them. No seating surcharge. No early morning only flights. No need for hotel (at present).

PHEW!

Weight,

Mind,

Off.

You didn’t consider Flixbus?

[The Stationmaster]

Now here's something a bit different.  Yesterday morning with, probably a brick or two to cut I couldn't find my bolster so popped down to Jewsons to get a new one and just before I left a single fast aircraft passed over slightly to teh north and low,  Read arrows hawk.  while bricklaying some more Hawks (judging by the sound, they were obscured from my b viewpoint by trees) passed.  Later we had a B17 heading south west which later returned on a reciprocal heading (and passed over again about 30 minutes ago on the same reciprocal).  They were all connected with an event at Downton Abbey Highclere Castle.

 

The next oddity - visible so way off ti the east was a group of biplanes, a single monoplane and a couple of unusual looking biplanes but indistinct as they were quite a way off and flying quite slowly  They were turning onto a heading for White Waltham and a 'net search today has revealed that I saw the Great War Display Team, probably enroute from Highclere or more likely doing a wide circuit after refuelling at Waltham and heading back there;  presumably the unusual looking biplanes were actually triplanes courtesy (originally) of Messrs Sopwith and Fokker.

 

http://www.greatwardisplayteam.com/the-team-aircraft.html

[AndyB]

You didn’t consider Flixbus?

 

Sounds more like one of these new-fangled entertainment media rather than a form of transport?!

[Rugd1022]

This just in from the back garden, only two of them are ours... 

 

 

Time for tea!

 

 

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl, inner Temple Here,

As usual 5 hours sleep, then dozing on the sofa...

 

This missive is later than normal, because during dozing I thought of an aspect of keel design and then spent some time researching it on line. So after taking Ben the Border Collie, for his morning patrol, it was straight out to boat building.

 

The first hour was spent removing the last of the tufnol,

Then the inner cassette unit, was trimmed down to the new size of the rudder case. Clamped into place and the gaps between cassette and rudder box filled /bonded from below. The gaps being 1/4inch all round, the thickness of the tufnol.

 

After that it was off to Cromer hospital for today's thread theme.. Knees.. Not mine, SWMBOs. She had an appointment for X-ray's at 12:30, she's been having problems for some time.

 

We set off and once on the main road we had the sight of many Lycra clad cyclists at intervals heading in each direction, a time trial I guess.

After about 5 miles we lost them as they went off down a side road... We arrived in plenty of time, I parked up as SWMBO went in. She was back before her official appointment time, having been seen early.

Home, sarnie and coffee, then back to boat building. As the bottom filler had set, I poured in Some liquid resin from the top to fill the inaccessible gaps from above.

Then some measurements of the tabernacle were taken, after that, back to the rudder case and more trimming followed by more bonding at the top.

 

NExt week clamps removed, the final trimming and bonding should happen. This will first require jacking up the front of the boat so I can fill the back bottom of the rudder box with liquid resin, where the hull bottom sweeps up to the stern.

 

Just had sausage and mash, SWMBO is Watching a film, I'm lying on the Bed, Ben is lying on the floor beside me, all is right with the world.

Time to hit the snooze button...

[Barry O]

Easy drive to East Didsbury then Partington. Met up with loadspeople I haven't seen for a while. Great to catch up!

 

Bought some specialist items to support the items we can't talk about.

 

Now awaiting a decision on what we are to have for tea!!

 

BAz

[lightengine]

You didn’t consider Flixbus?

Does it take 96 hours?

[Purley Oaks]

Evening all

 

Absent for a couple of days preparing for book/dvd/cd sale in our coffee-morning-in-the-afternoon for Maggie's Cancer Centre yesterday. A good afternoon - we've raised around £900 so far which is great!

 

Nice airport but didnt enjoy Jet2.com bucket seats and delay due to squeezing in more seats leading to no room for carry on bags. WIll use the airprot again but not the airline.

yep, Jet2 seats are carp, possibly because they often take them out every night and use the planes for freight. So not made for comfort - think part of the problem is that the armrests are half the usual length.

 

 

More progress has been on the L1, I’m a lot happier with the way the body and chassis fit together and I’ve been working on the boiler back-head. This had already been painted, so today I made a start on fitting pipework and painting gauges etc. As I don’t have a clue as to what should go where, it will all just have to be guesswork, but by the time the crew are in, most of it will be obscured anyway.
 

Have good memories of Tri-ang's L1 and, as I mention very often, wish they'd make an updated version. Problem is that none exist anymore.

 

Raining here again just now. Tomorrow we get more stuff packed in boxes for storage to make our house look as minimalist as possible for sales viewing in a week or so. Cripes!

 

Hope your week goes well

 

Mal

Edited September 9, 2018 by Purley Oaks

[roundhouse]

Masterpiece by Falcon Figures, per chance?

My  B4 now has crew from Masterpiece puchased today  but yet to be put in the cab.