Early Risers.

[TheQ]

Evening awl,

Just back from the MRC, the work I planned was done, one of the more superannuated members has decided to reduce his kit mountains. There were several large boxes which members raided. I've got 14 4mm kits model railway , and a 1/32 spitfire .

The left over kits will be sold off next week at our show, I believe a dealer will be taking most. The majority of the kits date from the 1970s...

http://s643945335.websitehome.co.uk/annual-exhibition/

During the evening I decided to single up some of the lines on the layout to make it more Highland. This will require changing a tunnel entrance from double to single. The one 2mm kit in the kit mountains... A pair of tunnel Mouths....

 

 

Have Good night everyone and especially Debs...

[newbryford]

Golf today was OK on a personal level. On a team level it was good - very good - we won.... I'm now the owner of a bottle of Bells. Not being a whisky drinker, this may get traded for a bottle of vodka or find itself donated as a raffle prize.

 

The last hole had a spot prize for the longest drive (on the fairway). We were the last fourball and I middled it to a good 20 yards past the previous best marker. Then a fellow team member put his another 30 yards on. I though mine was a good drive, but his was brilliant.  (Mine is visible ahead of the marker, his, a few yards to the left and further on - well done KF)

Quite a view to finish a round. Hindley Hall was built on the proceeds of coal and canals.

 

 

We both parred the last to set up the winning team score.

 

Back to work tomorrow through to next Thursday - not a bad life being paid to build Tim Horn's excellent laser cut baseboards........

As well as catching up customer support emails - no doubt a few will involve a polite  RTFM reply.

 

Some playing with bits of metal and plastic will make up the rest of today.

 

Have a good Saturday folks.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

 

 

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[Tony_S]

Aditi and her Mum are coming over tomorrow. Lunch will be easy. Aditi will send me a list of items to remove from the freezer. MiL wants to come via a Marks and Spencer as she wants to buy presents for her youngest granddaughter’s birthday. This is th e child that made sure her Dad was up early this morning to travel down to Enfield. Today we learned thar the slightly larger of the tiny nieces is getting fed up of getting awards at school as they have to be presented,on the stage. This was a “Flash of Briliance” award. I don’t think I ever got awards at school. Aditi went to a traditional girls grammar that had prize days. There were various subject categories. She once won the “non subject category” prize which the girls called the “teachers pet” prize.

[southern42]

' Evening all from red dragon land.

 

Thanks all for the updates on "missing" members.  I, too, miss them.

 

Glorious sunshine today and any hopes of a restful day soon disappeared into the garden with disgruntled words coming through the door: "There are weeds all over the decking"...my treasured ivy leaved toadflax had escaped the drystone wall at the top of the garden and had headed down to the shed.  I pulled a lot of it up a month ago not that you would have guessed by the amount that went into a bag for the recycle yard, today.  It was definitely on the rampage.  Then I went across to the other side to begin heavy pruning on the dying (due to the summer hot dry spell, no doubt) fuschia bushes requiring loppers and saw.  Next came a call for a mugatea - I did not need to be asked twice.  

 

After lunch it was back to some virtual m*d*lling.

 

All for now.

' Night and nos da.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone

 

Well we ended up staying at the Trafford Centre a lot longer than planned, but a start has now been made on present buying for both birthdays and Christmas. We have 3 birthdays just before Christmas so, we end up getting quite a bit, we also do Michael’s present shopping too, as he has no clue what to get them. So consequently we were late getting to the butchers and I missed out on a pastie, however, I arrived just in time for the second batch of pork pies, so one of those was substituted instead, well someone’s got to eat them!

 

The evening was rounded off with a nice bottle of merlot. Up early tomorrow to pick up the girls then the morning will be spent at the Trafford Centre again.

 

Goodnight folks

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Tony's comments about school awards reminded me that I found my old school report book the other day. It made interesting reading, in the first term I was top of the class but after that it was downhill all the way. Not quite downhill as I was 'promoted' to the next higher stream where I bobbed along in midstream for the rest of my schooling. At the end I achieved four O levels so I didn't do to bad.  

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BR60103]

We went to Niagara Falls museum today to try to present them with an artifact -- a Trip Log book between Chippawa and Buffalo dated 1849. I think it was railway trips, but I may be biased. That's just about 20 years after railways started in Britain.  The book, however, has been used as a scrapbook ca. 1871 -- older than my garandparents even, so we don't know who did it. The museum will assess it and decide whether they can use it.

 

I went to a new high school and we were the senior class 2 years in a row. I led the math contest with best score in the school both years. First year I received a lapel pin. Second year was a huge brass gong on an orange ribbon.

My mother said that at their school, any award like that would have been presented over and over at any gathering.

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

Yesterday was exceptionally unproductive.  The spasmodic dropping out of my broadband first thing in the morning and the frustrating telephone call to the Indian sub-continent together wasted over an hour.  Later the phone rang twice, each with an audio text.  The second of these told me that I would need an engineer.  When I rang the number to make an appointment I was told that one had already been made, for today.  Had I been asked first I would have said that it would be unsuitable as I will be out from 12 noon at one of two concerts.  Another appointment was made for Monday between 8 am and 1 pm.  Late on the afternoon Ms Indian Sub-Continent rang again to say that the engineer could not come until Monday afternoon.  For an organisation whose business is communications this performance is unimpressive to day the least.

 

Today should be better.  I am going to two concerts, both at The Stables.  In the afternoon I will see the Demon Barbers, who have successfully insinuated break dancing into folk and are worth catching for that reason alone.  In the evening Jimmy Aldridge and Sid Goldsmith, who impressed at Sidmouth 2017, will be launching their new CD.  Between the two gigs there is a gap.  I wonder how I shall fill it?

 

Andyram, hope you feel better today.  I wouldn’t rush to get any more antidepressants.  John Coombe Barton, thanks for the update on Debs.  Warm thoughts to all in distress and those who are missing.

 

Chris

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple Here,

5 hours sleep in bed plus 1 on the sofa, pain in the shoulder again, not good when I have a long drive today.

Looking online for traffic I had a minor panic to see a road closed, but further inspection shows its overnight road works which should be open twenty minutes ago, I Won't Leave for an hour and then there will be a while before I get there..

 

School prizes, the first 3 schools I attended didn't give prizes, at the fourth I was totally mystified when a teacher came and apologized for me not being given any prizes. What prizes? In fact they changed the rules so I didn't win any after only 3months there. There was, it turned out, a prize in every subject and I would have won all except Gaelic in which I'd of scored zero.. They changed the rules to most improved pupil that year..

 

It wasn't that I was good, it was the school was that bad, shortly after I was transferred to my next school requiring a 12hour journey each term, where I was promptly in the middle of most classes. That school wasn't streamed as such you just went to SCE O or Higher classes you were taking.. Oh that school didn't give prizes either.

 

Time for a Muggacoffee then morning patrol before I go.

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Dry start with a fairly clear sky and it should be a fine day.

Today is P-Day. The Boss has reached a significant milestone in her life although she is not impressed with the number so I won't mention it. (You can probably guess!)

There is much to do before the festivities start. My first task will be to go the baker to collect fresh bread. The bulk of the catering etc is being done by children and grandchildren and they will be here from about 9.30 onwards.

I will be left to organise the bar. Having been brought up in a pub and worked in one part-time many years ago I have been passed as suitable for this task by the kids. Apart from that The Boss and I have been told to keep out of the way.

The first lot of guests (family & close friends) will be arriving at 4.00pm for "afternoon tea. " The rest are due from 7.30 onwards for the main party and I suspect will be here for some time.

I may pop back later when (or if) I have been released from my duties,

Have a good  one,
Bob.

Edited September 29, 2018 by grandadbob

[AndrewC]

Travelintrev was in Nigeria...

Torr Gifford went to live on a narrow boat after his wife died

EMT_911 was last on here in January this year but doesn't respond to emails or PMs..

 

there are a lot of others...

 

Night awl!

 

Baz

The downside of a virtual clubhouse is you never see people wandering out the door, so no chance to say goodbye, ask what's wrong, or to ask when they are popping back in for a muggasilliness. 

 

Greetings all from the boring borough. Action stations this week and weekend. First we had to finish emptying our storage lockup and get everything back into the shed temporarily. This is to save another month rental which has gone up by £9/week. That meant taking the back seats out of the Land Rover. (they don't come out naturally, but there is a way to do it thanks to a downloaded shop manual) Older brother & SiL are just about to board a plane from Reykjavik to Heathrow. I'll be "enjoying" 108km each way of the M25 this morning. That means the seats have to go back in. We'd planned on doing that last night but SWMBO had to work late. Guests for the weekend and the offspring with his squeeze will be popping by later for a big BBQ. The house is still a shambles in parts but at least the bedrooms are habitable.

 

Speaking of the offspring, I've received several begging texts from him needing a ride to Gatwick on Friday. Sure I said, what time I asked. Be there for 4am he said. WTF I replied. Sleep is overrated I keep saying to myself. 

 

Time to get my poop in a group. Latte, bacon & egg bagel, car seats, butcher, pick up propane (Note, propane is only for the secondary bbq used like an oven. The main one is wood fired), airport, large drink. 

 

Enjoy the day. 

[Barry O]

Happy Birthday Mrs GDB! Hope the celebrations go well!

 

It is also the birthday of her indoors. She made a mugatea for me while I organised a small pile of cards and presents from her friends and relations. We are going out for a meal tomorrow as the Herbert's can't get here today (youngest Herbert is playing hockey, Dr Eldest Herbert has a visitor at his new flat.)

 

It has been decreed that today is a normal day....whatever that is.

 

Time for the mugatea!

Stay calm, have a great day everyone.

Baz

[Legend]

Good morning from just west of Crianlarich. The morning sprinter on the Oban line has just gone through.

[grandadbob]

Happy Birthday to Mrs Baz! 

[jamie92208]

Morning all from Alcatraz. Only 3 days left. Hurrah. However yesterday was not wasted. One small snag is that somehow the

Standard lens on my camera has got damaged and won't extend. It's well out of warranty and a replacement is below my insurance excess so I've 2 alternatives. 1 to buy another and 2 to gently take the existing one apart and see if I can fox it. I wondered why I'd bought some small screwdrivers with me. However I still have a fairly versatile 40-150 zoom so all is not lost.

 

There are major roadworks near us and most mornings we go for a coffee at a little café on a corner in the middle of them where the major diversionary route ends. Watching the traffic chaos at a 4 way give way crossroads provides immense fun. After that it was down the the beach and much trainspotting was done. I finally managed to get a reasonable photo of one of these.

Anchored in the bay was another floating bock of flats. Today it was partially obscured by some much more elegant means of floating.

There was obviously some sort of race for the smaller yachts but the big ones just seemed to be stooging round the bay.

However whilst waiting for a train that never came I saw this little bit of streetlife on the Cote. Two drivers just wanted a chat so double parked at some lights totally blocking the left turn lane. The motorcyclist obviously couldn't wait and ignored the solid white lines.

Today will probably be a repeat of yesterday as we are promised sun today then cloud and sun till we go.

 

Bob, I hope tat the party goes well, just keep away from the ice pick.

Thanks for the news about Debs, John.

Chrisf I hope that you enjoy your concerts.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

As an aside as I forgot to mention them above. I found my school reports when we were emptying the house and I was consistent in French. 23rd or 24th out of 24 all the way to O level (Grade 6 pass) However I did manage 3 prizes in my O level year, they were all book tokens so I spent them wisely on a copy of "Bulleid Last Giant of Steam" by Sean Day Lewis, a book I still treasure.

 

 

Jamie

Edited September 29, 2018 by jamie92208

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Just a quick hello as I'm off to the Brentwood toy fair shortly. Happy birthday Mrs Baz and Mrs GDB.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Sunny here. It may or may not be warm. I have not been out.

I am just about to search the freezer for food as Aditi and her Mum will be here for lunch.

Happy birthday to Mrs Bob and Mrs Baz.

 

Tony

[Coombe Barton]

Off for the annual flu jabs

 

[EDIT] just checking I spelt "annual" correctly

Edited September 29, 2018 by Coombe Barton

[grandadbob]

Walk to the little local baker proved fruitless (and breadless) as they've decided to take the weekend off!      Ended up as usual at Sainsbury's instead.

 

Now need to investigate a problem with the bloody drains. Just what I needed today. 

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Happy birthday to Mrs GDB and Mrs Baz - hope the weather stays fair for those celebrating the occasion outdoors.

 

Sunshine here again and teh G word has been mentioned and there are certain elements of smaller trees and shrubbery which need attention - among many other things of course - and the bin is empty so no excuses.

 

Have a good day one and all

[roundhouse]

Morning from a Czech Pendolino.

 

We had a very pleasant day wandering round Ostrava seeing what had changed since our last visit including the new shopping centre built on the site of a steelworks. Then it was off to the adjacent Ostrava Stred station that hasn't changed much apart form overhead wires now strung up but we didnt see a single electric locos or unit. Plenty of diesels locos on both freight and passenger workings.

 

Back to the new shopping centre for pour yourself beer at your table in the PUB, a chain of Pilsner Urquell pubs across the country. My other half didn't try pushing the glass washer with her hands sans glass this time so we remained free of water all over us!

 

Two first class singles from Ostrava to Plzen was under 30 quid each. Not bad for over 5 hours travel across the country. They have draft beer on the Pendolinos but we are staying off beer till later. Currently about 10 late with a 15 minute connection at Prague so may be a very tight change or an hour wait for the next one to Plzen.

 

This morning our trian arrived just as a stram special was backing into Ostrava main station so didn't see what loco it was. There was a queue for the modelshop in the station when it opened so that was probably a blessing in that if I did see something that I wanted then I wouldn't have had time to pay for it so saved me some cash. Its a good shop though and now they take credit cards. We will be back at some point