Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

Afternoon all.

We went on a coach tour of La Palma this morning. Visited a few attractive locations. Saw some dump trucks and diggers rebuilding the coast road. There was a nice view from the coach while we waited.

We came back to the ship and had lunch and then walked into Santa Cruz just to see what the town looked like. Very quiet, interesting balconies.

Lunch was enlivened by appearance of the rude person one meets at least once on a cruise. Imagine the deaf lady from from Fawlty Towers but from Edinburgh rather than the Home Counties. She had started by criticising her husband for placing her wheelchair in a less than ideal place. Aditi offered to move to help and got glared at. Then later Aditi coughed ( breadcrust touched back of her throat), and got a remark about contagion. I just remarked it wasn’t contagious, she had a problem with the back of her throat after a bronchoscopy some years ago. The woman then said she had to be very careful about infection as she had multiple sclerosis. Instead of wondering why on earth she had come on a cruiseship, I just repeated that she should be pleased that she wasn’t sitting next to someone contagious. At lunch you can choose a shared table or a table for 2. I suspect the only reason she wanted to share was to be bossy. Her husband was quite mellow but he had been on a rum tasting experience.

Tony

[grandadbob]

That's the main reason that Chris and I won't share and always opt to sit by ourselves.

 

 

Or as Chris puts it "It'll stop you having an argument and getting into a fight with someone!"

 

Moi? That couldn't possibly happen.  Well maybe, depends on the attitude of the other party. 

Edited November 7, 2018 by grandadbob

[Ozexpatriate]

And on the TV, those elections... and the woman says, "and there is news from the rest of the world, so we go over too" who promptly spends the first half of his bit talking about those elections...

You're complaining about those elections? he says incredulously! Every broadcast and news network had no alternative programming all night last night from early evening to late night.

 

Fortunately I was tired, and curled up under the covers and turned the lights off at 10:00pm (two hours before my usual bedtime). This was great because I had a 3:30am alarm to get up in time for a 6:15am flight so I got enough sleep to function today.

 

Today is a blessed relief. No more of those interminable, execrable, electioneering advertisements, back to back to back at every commercial break.

 

Sometimes the juxtapositions are funny when you get "Candidate A is the right choice for yourstate", immediately followed by "We can't trust Candidate A" - but it's only mildly amusing the first time.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Despite the cold easing somewhat today I'm still a bit sniffy so I'm giving the model railway club a miss tonight.

[Coombe Barton]

There was a discussion along the lines of me having some sort of addiction and possibly needing counselling but I said I could get enough of that on here.    I'm still holding my trump card which I may have to play at some time which is to remind her that if I gave up model trains I would possibly have to take up smoking again and she knows that that costs a lot more money! 

 

 

You could go live steam and have both

[grandadbob]

Feeling rather full up as we went out for an afternoon tea earlier courtesy of a voucher that Chris got for her birthday. Got another one to go plus one for an evening meal as well. Couldn't eat it all and ended up bringing four cream cakes home in a doggy bag  box. Diet? What diet?

 

On top of that Bobby is a very happy bunny tonight as an eagle a windfall has now landed.   

 

Time to open another beer. 

Edited November 7, 2018 by grandadbob

[81C]

Feeling rather full up as we went out for an afternoon tea earlier courtesy of a voucher that Chris got for her birthday. Got another one to go plus one for an evening meal as well. Couldn't eat it all and ended up bringing four cream cakes home in a doggy bag  box. Diet? What diet?

 

On top of that Bobby is a very happy bunny tonight as an eagle a windfall has now landed.   

 

Time to open another beer. 

 

Eyes bigger than your belly. as usual.

 

Bob GD Tolworth is looking hopeful I drove today in rush hour and my mind was in control all the time, it might be the first outing of

the walking stick just to assist in standing for any length of time.

 

SWMBO and I went out in a charbanc today for a trip around the Vale of White Horse then onto to Wantage market and Millets farm in

Abingdon, in Wantage we had a breakfast in a café  even her remark it was nice to have one cooked by someone else, them useful

items were purchased HER a tin Peacock, yes bloody full size thing much to the amusement of the other passengers on the coach I on

the other hand got a torch for using under the layout and a new pair of walking shoes as the plates started to ache halfway through the day.

 

Anyway coffee time me thinks then to watch TV. 

 

BTW I will be naming the station on my Indian Hill Rly Bunda Vara  any takers on translating it. 

[Happy Hippo]

That's the main reason that Chris and I won't share and always opt to sit by ourselves.

 

 

Or as Chris puts it "It'll stop you having an argument and getting into a fight with someone!"

 

Moi? That couldn't possibly happen.  Well maybe, depends on the attitude of the other party. 

Generally we have found the vast majority of fellow diners to be quite interesting.

 

Where they are obnoxious,for what ever reason, The Obergumpenfuhrer and I just become horribly sarcastic towards the offending party.

 

I told one old witch I had a bad case of Gonhorrhea. The table looked rather shocked at this statement. 

 

The Obergrumpenfuhrere's follow up line was ;

 

'Yes he was in the Royal Artillery, and his hearing isn't very good!'

 

After all we don't have to sit with them again

Edited November 7, 2018 by Happy Hippo

[jamie92208]

Evening all, a good day has been had, the Tax Fonciere got paid, eventually.  The lady did suggest that I got to the Danglies of St John to sort the names out, I had to point out that she had told me to do the same thing in early October and that I had been, twice and it was allegedly sorted, she did agree to take a cheque.  I then had the misfortune to pass some railway related items en route to pick the bed up.   The place that I sort of passed, after a little detour was a maintenance base for the new TGV line to Bordeaux, situated where the new line crosses the old line with various interconnecting tracks. The first thing I saw was a big yellow thing that I'm sure will excite Mick (NB).

There were also some locos around that are equipped to work on the LGV

And also two of these interesting looking machines, I've no idea what they do but look like something out of a Dr Who episode.

.

Then back home, a nice lunch of Moules then dog walking and picking up rocket sticks for future muddling projects.  An hour or so soldering tonight has rounded off a good day.

 

Jamie

 

[bbishop]

Bill I have a war gamer brother in law..I can ask him if it would help?

 

Baz

 

Thanks Baz,

 

I'm carrying out a recce at Christmas, taking my camera, and will find out what there is.

 

Bill

[roundhouse]

A god evening awaiting my other half. Luckily she worsk in an office where they genrally all use Thameslink so are accustomed to the daily issues with the new service, so she left at 4.30pm. Still took her well over an hour and a half to get to our local station but at least she was on the train by the time it reached LBG where it was a struggle for passengers to actually get on it.

 

Even more delays now so she was very lucky to leave when she did.

 

Can you tell me more about the incidents?
- The 11:34 Gatwick Airport to Bedford service developed a fault at City Thameslink, unable to obtain power. Upon inspection, a tree branch was found to be caught around the pantograph (this is the equipment from which the train draws power from the overhead power line). This branch was removed, and the train moved forward to Farringdon, however other objects were then found to be caught in the overhead wire itself. These objects were discovered to be dried weeds which had fallen from a bridge onto the power lines. To enable Network Rail specialists to remove these, the power to the lines needed to be switched off.

The line towards St Pancras was blocked for approximately 90 minutes, and during this time Thameslink were able to use alternative platforms, however as a consequence of this we had to reduce our services through the affected area.

- At the same time, the 11:08 Brighton to Cambridge service also developed a fault at London St Pancras International. The fault on this service unfortunately couldn't be rectified and was therefore taken out of passenger service and moved to one of our depots for further investigations.

- A passenger was taken ill on board the 12:49 Bedford to Brighton service. This train was held at Kentish Town for approximately 15 minutes whilst awaiting an ambulance to assist the individual from the train and provide further medical care.

[Gwiwer]

Evening all.

 

My apologies for not having read more than cursorily through the past couple of day's worth.  Things have been demanding so far this week.  Today was no exception.  It began very wet which caused these knees to be very stiff and painful in the early hours.

 

After yesterday's main-line meltdown with platforms 7-10 out of use at Waterloo for much of the day (track circuit failures) today began with suburban shenanigans.  Platform 1 at the Big Glasshouse was unavailable owing to a points failure which then affected other platforms at random intervals until around 9am.  This threw the entire peak service into disarray with many cancellations and severe overcrowding.  Things had no returned to normal when we were made aware of a GSMR "All Stop" call at 10.30.  Every train in the vicinity of Clapham Junction was required to make an emergency stop or remain where it was if stationary.  

 

The problem was quickly identified as a trespasser in the Putney area which meant most trains could move again within a few minutes.  But a 6-7 minutes delay on lines which have a service every 3 minutes causes a huge domino effect of trains back down the lines.  We then had word that two of the four Windsor lines had reopened, some trains were moving again but very quickly stopped.  What ever had taken place had become our second person-versus-train incident in that area in three days.  All Windor-side lines were blocked until around 1.30pm.

 

The service is still disrupted now and will be until at least close of play tonight.  If trains are in the wrong place overnight and / or crews have insufficient rest then there will be knock-on effects tomorrow too.

 

It's all in a day's work but it become very challenging when you are basically giving the same reason to the same people for the same problem on a different day.  And the greater the disruption the harder it is to offer alternatives.  Today we had the added mater of the Central and Waterloo&City Lines being closed due to industrial (in)action; only the latter really affected us but when it came to redirecting folk towards Windsor and Heathrow with any option making use of the Central Line to Ealing Broadway out of the equation .......

 

Hey ho.  

 

I also had a difficult journey home with all my trains cancelled so ended up waiting for a Shepperton train (and only one of the four required on that service was still running at that stage) then walking in from Fulwell.  Had a lovely chat with Neighbour (Upstairs) over a lunchtime cuppa before setting off once more to the sorting office where SWMBO had an item to be signed for and collected.  Supermarket and butcher both delivered as planned and the cupboard is now far from bare.  

 

In conversation with my sister this evening she mentioned that she has recently become the custodian of a dark-coloured canine probably as both cause and effect of all the stress she has been under with the demise of both parents and the consequent house clearance and (hopefully) sale.  I shall be in Brighton on hobby-related business next Saturday so there's an opportunity to drop in for a chat and see how things really are.

 

In other news ..... the sun still shines and I'm upright and breathing.  I wish all ERs a good night and an equally good Thor's Day.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. The fireworks outside have ceased, there is quite a large Hindu population hereabouts and today is the principle day of Diwali hence the fireworks.

 

Eyes bigger than your belly. as usual.

 

Bob GD Tolworth is looking hopeful I drove today in rush hour and my mind was in control all the time, it might be the first outing of

the walking stick just to assist in standing for any length of time.

 

Good luck with the walking stick. You will find it very useful at exhibitions. You will find that if you hold it between 20 and 30 degrees from the vertical its ideal for removing haversack wearers when they shove said haversack in your face. A quick whack across the shins keeps them out of the way.

[Gwiwer]

 

 

Diwali

Thank you.  You have answered our question as to why - two days after the actual event - Guy Fawkes was being celebrated continually for so long.  There have been fireworks continuously since around 8pm ; far more than for 5th November.

 

Locally Upon the Hill I doubt if Diwali means much to anyone.  It is noticeable that this is a nearly all white community.  While skin colour does not offer a guide to belief or religion there are also no Hindu temples nearby which might be a clue.  Within firework-earshot there are very significant Hindu populations in the Kingston and Hounslow areas however and no doubt a good many in the much closer areas of Whitton, Twickenham and possibly Hampton Hill.

[Barry O]

Goodnight all!

 

Baz

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone

 

As seems to be the norm, the pool was fairly quiet I don’t think the amount of swimmers got into double figures! I managed somewhere in the region of 100 lengths, as I lost count about half way. I was averaging 10 lengths in around 6 1/2 minutes. I also did just short of 1 1/2 lengths underwater without coming up for air.

 

The afternoon was quite, until the grandkids arrived, then it was bedlam as usual. Tonight’s tea was bangers and mash, which was chosen by Charlie. He didn’t chose a dessert, so I surprised them with a white chocolate cheesecake, with a hint of caramel. It seemed to go down really well, by the fact that it all went!

 

Evie came with one of her usual funny comments. She asked what a vegan was, so we explained exactly what it meant, ie no meat, dairy or any other animal related food stuffs. Her reply was “What is wrong with these people?”

 

Goodnight all

[The Stationmaster]

 

 

And also two of these interesting looking machines, I've no idea what they do but look like something out of a Dr Who episode.

PB073720.JPG.

 

Jamie

 

The 'thing' in the bottom photo is a BROOM which for once is a remarkably clever acronym and pun - seems that the French sense of humour must be improving.  Anyway in French its full title is  Bimoteur Rapide d'Observation et d'Overture par la Maintenance so it is basically a high speed (160kph) observation vehicle.  The pun bit comes in as instead of the normal use on an LGV of a TGV ECS to do the morning sweeper run before passenger trains commence on this new LGV that task is being contracted out to MESEA and they will use their two BROOMS to do the sweeper job - so a clever combination of acronym and pun.

 

You'll find some info on this page -

 

http://frenchrailwayssociety.org/index.php?p=1_25

 

http://www.mesea.fr

[andyram]

Good evening fellow ER's. Generic greetings, good wishes and congrats and commiserations as appropriate. Thanks for the good wishes.

 

Now the end of the season has set in I have opted to close the shop on a Wednesday as well as a Monday. However I was off out this morning to view a collection that had been offered to me. The drive back was through dreadful weather. 

 

 The afternoon saw me out at the Post Office sending out a number of online and phone orders before I got stuck into the marking. Not only was it pleasing to be dealing with so many orders, it was also good to catch up on my personal marking targets and I am now back on track there.

 

 This evening saw Amber's parents evening. She received a glowing report from her class teacher. We are delighted, and proud to hear that she is exceeding in all areas, and is behaving impeccably in class. She was rewarded with a meal out of her choice - so our evening meal was at McDonalds. That was the first, and only part of the day, that the black dog emerged. I am pleased to say that his appearance did not last long.

 

Best wishes.

 

Andy

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[AndyID]

According to Black's of Greenock,

 

"Now is the winter of our discount tents".

[pH]

Why did the salmon cross the road?

 

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2018/11/06/salmon-swim-across-road-lc-orig.cnn

[Ozexpatriate]

Why did the salmon cross the road?

To get it's groove on?

[Gwiwer]

According to Black's of Greenock,

 

"Now is the winter of our discount tents".

Now? At a quarter to four in the morning?

 

Welcome to Thursday where the big yellow thing is forecast to appear in the blue stuff a little later.