Early Risers.

[iL Dottore]

Morning All

Evening all.   It;s not been a bad day today and the sun did appear.  Beth and I had a good walk this morning with Teddy. He's a lovely dog and much easier company than some of the house guests that we've had.

Here he is out on patrol in the fields behind the house today.

PB083728.JPG

 

Jamie

What a lovely houseguest. If one wants good company I think that there is nothing better than a dog or two. They have many advantages over humans:

• They don't insist on changing you to fit "their" idea of what you should be like ( © any wife or girlfriend)
• They won't give you a bollocking if you fail to live up to expectations (e.g. arrive home late, drink a bit too much, feel unsociable, etc.)
• They enjoy your company without feeling the need to fill it with "noise" (be that peurile conversations or moronic TV or ghastly pop music blaring in the background)
• They won't drink your 21 year old Single Malt Whisky
• They won't smoke your prized Cuban cigars (your breakfast sausages, however, may not be safe)
• They won't complain that they are, yet again, having the same dish for supper.
• They are enthusiastic assistants when you are in the kitchen "inventing" a dish involving any kind of meat product and will happily tuck into the final result with no concerns about allergies, intolerances of food fads.
• They don't have hidden agendas. WYSIWYG!
• They demand comparatively little but give back so much
• They are good for your soul and your body

Despite having two lovely dogs, I still miss my "Hairy Houseguest" Jordi (the now deceased Border Collie mix we hosted when the owners went on holiday [see previous posts I've made]). A lovely lad.

 

Anyway, gotta dash. Gotta complete some work for a client.

 

Have a great day!

 

iD

Edited November 9, 2018 by iL Dottore

[TheQ]

•They don't insist on changing you to fit "their" idea of what you should be like ( © any wife or girlfriend), no they are sneaky Throw the ball throw the ball...
•They won't give you a bollocking if you fail to live up to expectations (e.g. arrive home late, drink a bit too much, feel unsociable, etc.) But they are experts at giving you the dirty look..when they don't like it..
•They enjoy your company without feeling the need to fill it with "noise" (be that peurile conversations or moronic TV or ghastly pop music blaring in the background) Throw the Ball throw the ball..
•They won't drink your 21 year old Single Malt Whisky, True but given the chance He'll have your pint...
•They won't smoke your prized Cuban cigars (your breakfast sausages, however, may not be safe) I don't want your cigars either
•They won't complain that they are, yet again, having the same dish for supper. But he'd rather have, what you're having
•They are enthusiastic assistants when you are in the kitchen "inventing" a dish involving any kind of meat product. or Chips
•They don't have hidden agendas Throw the  ball Throw the Ball
•They demand comparatively little but give back so much, The Ball
•They are good for your soul and your body Very Very True   :no:        

Edited November 9, 2018 by TheQ

[iL Dottore]

•They don't insist on changing you to fit "their" idea of what you should be like ( © any wife or girlfriend), no they are sneaky Throw the ball throw the ball...

.....

•They enjoy your company without feeling the need to fill it with "noise" (be that peurile conversations or moronic TV or ghastly pop music blaring in the background) Throw the Ball throw the ball..

•....

•They don't have hidden agendas Throw the  ball Throw the Ball

•They demand comparatively little but give back so much, The Ball

 

Very true words. But at least with dogs it goes without saying that "ball throwing" is part and parcel of a contented canine companion's lifestyle (mind you not all dogs chase balls. Schotty has his blue ball, but Lucy has an orange kong on a rope which has become her "rabbit" which she charges after, catches and then "shakes to death").

 

Furthermore, though without spoken language, dogs are fairly easy to understand (with some practice, I do admit). Unlike human females whose utterances have to be decoded and like with software installation "unpacked" and expanded (so, for example "Saturday, Tesco" has to be unpacked and expanded to "Saturday we are going to Tesco where we can get some of that nice Chablis that they have to take with us to Bill and Jane's dinner party on Sunday, but we mustn't spend more than a tenner as the last time Bill and Jane came to us they brought some cheap plonk from the off-licence").

 

Need I go on?

 

iD

Edited November 9, 2018 by iL Dottore

[New Haven Neil]

Morning.

 

Blowing a hoolie here, ferries off, UK cut off from civilisation etc etc.

 

Off to the OF's bike club soon, unfortunately our last at the current venue at least for now as the owners (local authority) made the renewal of the lease unrealistic for the current couple running it (café in local swimming pool).  As they are Chinese the menu is full and varied, from full English (Manx....) to all the usual white man's Chinese food.  Another place in town (too small for us as a club) recently suffered the same move, then we see the original lessee is back next month after the property owners failed to get anyone to take on their unrealistic charges!  Greed.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

The weather today is very much the same as yesterday’s, dull but dry and forecast for rain later. This morning I’m off on my own to the Trafford Centre, so I won’t be out as long as when I’m accompanied! As usual I call at the butchers on my way home and collect our weekly meat rations and hopefully a pastie as well!

 

There are no plans as yet for the afternoon so maybe I’ll get to the workshop, if not, there’s always something I can do in the cellar.

 

Back later

[81C]

Bunda sounds like the Hindi word for monkey. Not sure about Vara

 

Bunda was used by Indians living in Southall their translation was Ass/donkey

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I was feeling better yesterday evening so I went to the SERES (South Essex railway enthusiasts society) track night to test a few locomotives. They have a large test track oval catering for 00, 0 and 1 gauge. The test track will be set up at the Southend exhibition tomorrow week. Not a lot else to report, be back later. 

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

It isn't raining - yet so we might have a dry trip over to Pangbourne to order the Christmas meat and pies (we need to settle a debate about the correct size of pie so best settled by looking and of course it. creates an excellent opportunity for some shopping at a very good butchery).  Much forecast rain indicates a bonfire is unlikely this weekend but of course will also do for the G word although there are two geraniums to plant out which will involve a fair bit of ground clearance in the intended site.

 

Have a good day folks and good to hear that Chris' counselling will be getting underway.

[Barry O]

shopping ,, done

breakfast ..eaten (moreasons are now doing proper poached eggs not reheated pre prepared ones

very grey overhead still but no rain as yet..good!

 

Now off the do a bit more mudelling

 

Baz

[andyram]

Good morning fellow ER's from a grey, damp and quiet Matlock Bath. I am expecting today will be a day of marking and shop sorting rather than dealing with customers. Either way, I will still be earning money.

 

I offer the usual round of generic greetings to each and everyone of you, with special wishes to ChrisF. It was very remiss of me not to comment on the reappearance of your own dark hound. I am pleased to hear that you are moving forward with the counselling and I send particular supportive wishes in the Bedford direction.

 

 My own dark mutt has retreated a little in the last day or so. A good run on the marking has cleared the workload that had built up whilst I was spending some time with the family during half term. That backlog has now eased and I am actually (whisper it quietly) ahead of schedule! I am pleased to say the business continues to progress well and I am slowly getting used to balancing things out.

 

 Sleep remains a bit of an issue. Two sleepless nights have preceded today. Last night was not of my own making though. Amber has succumbed to a sickness bug that has been sweeping her school. It meant plenty of time spent ferrying sick buckets and cups of water. She wanted company so I ended up bedding down on her bedroom floor in. sleeping bag. Even after the vomiting had ceased, I found sleep limited and rose with a bad back. Sarah knew nothing of all this, she slept through the lot!

 

 Despite last night's events, I do feel a little more positive. I can reflect on one sign that the change of employment direction has been the right decision. In times gone by, I would have ended up quite stressed at being robbed of sleep if Amber was ill. The thought of facing a class full of children and the stresses of school after little rest would have certainly raised my stress levels. Last night, I just got on with it and had no thoughts about the effects the evening would have on work. I have to admit I feel quite good about that change! Small steps forward!

 

Have a good day.

 

Best wishes

 

Andy

[tetsudofan]

Good morning from the far south east corner of the country. Weather is not quite sure what its going to do today.

 

Am going on a rail tour tomorrow, the first once since my teens when I went on an Ian Allan Special hauled by City of Truro and Midland 1000. One of the problems of living down here is that most rail tours start from London and head further away from London with early and late departure/arrival times sometimes requiring overnight accommodation in London.

 

Tomorrows tour is The Victory Javelin using two class 395 units both with Poppy livery adornments (one with last year's guise, the other in this year's guise) with representatives of the Royal British Legion on parade at St. Pancras from where the tour starts. After leaving St. Pancras the train heads down HS1 to Ashford International (where we can join the train) and then heads back towards London on the classic line to Tonbridge, Redhill, Horsham, Pulborough, Bognor Regis, Barnham, Havant, Portsmouth Harbour and Southampton on track not normally used by the Javelins.

 

One downside of trip is that there are only four toilets on the train so passengers are asked to take full advantage of station facilities before departure and at station stops. The habitually bibulous are respectfully urged to exercise moderation!

 

The upside is that when the tickets arrived it was mentioned that the Cl.395s forming the charter will run as a special service from Ashford International fast to St. Pancras and we can use this train should we so wish. As I've not done Ashford International to St. Pancras non-stop its an offer difficult to not turn down even if it does mean an early start from here!! If we want we can return on the charter to St. Pancras and then travel back to Ashford International on the ecs……..

 

People say that it does not rain but it pours and this seems to have happened with charters around the south east. The following Saturday they are running "The Return of the Short Haired Bumblebee" which runs from Victoria to the Isle of Grain and to Dungeness to visit these freight-only branch lines. The organisers market this tour as involving neither an early start or a late finish something which suits to a tee!!

 

Having prevaricated time and time again as to whether or not I should go on the tour I finally decided to go and booked a ticket. This tour I'll be doing on my own and, as a Cxxxxxxxs  pressie to myself, decided to go the whole hog and booked First Class Dining.... Somewhat different to the trolley service to be provided on the Javelins tomorrow!!

 

In case you are wondering what the Short Haired Bumblebee, the tour is dedicated to "bombus subterraneus" a species of short haired bumblebee thought to have become extinct in the 1980s but recently reintroduced to the nature reserves of Dungeness.

 

Keith

[grandadbob]

New printer obtained, doctor visited and fresh prescription issued and then on my return home a largish pannier tank turned up,

 

Now, what shall I unwrap first?

 

I may be gone for some time.   

[Gwiwer]

Afternoon all.

 

A very quick visit to record the fifth consecutive day of major disruption somewhere affecting maters at the House of Fun.  Today it was Putney's turn (again) to cause chaos with a major signal and points failure preventing normal operations and requiring over half the morning peak service to be cancelled or altered.

 

On a brighter note Mr Management (Miss Management is on her rest day ) was in a generous mood and provided - with no expense spared - a free cup of tea or coffee for all staff.  Thanks.  I know the franchise is considered impecunious and a coffee is better than nothing but no word of thanks and no senior staff in sight let alone out there supporting the troops and assisting customers.  One of the first things I always did in a former more senior role was to don the hi-viz over the suit and get out there at times of service disruption.  Good customer service took precedence over everything except safety.  It should still do so to my mind.

 

A quick round of Domestic Engineering is now required as we are expecting Visitors, Various during the afternoon.  Neighbour (Upstairs) will drop in with her hamster which I am caring for in her absence over the weekend.  Friends from Penzance have managed to arrive in London before wild weather closes the railway later today and will be joining us for dinner.  

 

I leave you with this thought.  As I sat performing natural functions around midnight last night the thought occurred to me that this was a case of "Same s**t, different day".  And so it proved!  

[Tony_S]

Afternoon all.

 

A very quick visit to record the fifth consecutive day of major disruption somewhere affecting maters at the House of Fun.  Today it was Putney's turn (again) to cause chaos with a major signal and points failure preventing normal operations and requiring over half the morning peak service to be cancelled or altered.

 

On a brighter note Mr Management (Miss Management is on her rest day ) was in a generous mood and provided - with no expense spared - a free cup of tea or coffee for all staff.  Thanks.  I know the franchise is considered impecunious and a coffee is better than nothing but no word of thanks and no senior staff in sight let alone out there supporting the troops and assisting customers.  One of the first things I always did in a former more senior role was to don the hi-viz over the suit and get out there at times of service disruption.  Good customer service took precedence over everything except safety.  It should still do so to my mind.

 

A quick round of Domestic Engineering is now required as we are expecting Visitors, Various during the afternoon.  Neighbour (Upstairs) will drop in with her hamster which I am caring for in her absence over the weekend.  Friends from Penzance have managed to arrive in London before wild weather closes the railway later today and will be joining us for dinner.  

 

I leave you with this thought.  As I sat performing natural functions around midnight last night the thought occurred to me that this was a case of "Same s**t, different day".  And so it proved!

 

Tidying up for the hamster is very good. I like hamsters. Our hamster showed her attitude well when we first brought Robbie home as a puppy. She urinated in her wheel and span it round to spray him. She kicked sawdust in his face. He was very content for Coco to be senior pet.

Tony

[shortliner]

Some printer companies could give the printers away and just charge for ink going by the refill costs.

Some companies practically do!!!

[grandadbob]

Printer installed and working in spite of poor instructions.

Pannier tank installed and working in spite of 2 buffers having to be re-attached.

Pills installed and hopefully will work at some stage.

Now time to install some tea and cake. (No instructions needed) 

[NGT6 1315]

Cheers, folks. A bit of a sniffle here but holding up so far!

 

I took note of Tony and Aditi having visited the Canary Islands on their cruise. We‘ll be on Lanzarote in about a month ourselves, which will be Annika’s first flight, too. Quite looking forward to it as Lanzarote also was the first destination we flew to in 1993!

 

Night shift coming up, followed by a weekend off. Other than that, not a lot happening here, truth be told.

 

I may be able to look in again later, but just in case, may I dispatch a round of congrats and commies as appropriate.

 

[The Stationmaster]

Printer installed and working in spite of poor instructions.

Pannier tank installed and working in spite of 2 buffers having to be re-attached.

Pills installed and hopefully will work at some stage.

Now time to install some tea and cake. (No instructions needed) 

 

Must go to Specsavers as I read one of those words as 'piles' 

 

Om a brighter note - butcher at Pangbourne duly visited so it will be some of their sausages for dinner tomorrow evening; the  Christmas order was duly placed.  The return trip was not enlivened by a several very slowcoachwombles but at least I didn't suffer too much from the idiots who seem to be congenitally incapable of getting themselves into the correct lane well before they get onto Caversham Bridge, alas a couple of other drivers were held up[ by the clowns trying to get into the lane they realised they really wanted (and both of the twits subsequently turned off for fairly local destinations!)

[roundhouse]

Afternoon.

 

Been a busy morning.

 

Yesterdays trip to Banbury went well depsite there being:

Trespass at New Street

Operational incident cancelling a Chiltern service

Trespass at Leamington not long after I departed to Banbury

Signalling issues

Lots of apologies over P.A. system - where have I heared all this a lot before!

 

Luckily I was waiting for freight whilst the platforms at Banbury filled up - should have seen the queue for the cafe on the station bridge!

 

Then it was off to numerous drinking establishements including the Reindeer where Hooky Mild was a fresh barrel and went down well.

 

As services returned to normal I caught a loco  hauled back to Marylebone and met up with my other half in a bar next to Monument before heading home. They had Rogue Dead Guy - a superb Oregon beer and first time I have had it on draft in Uk as far as I can recall.

 

This morning I went out to photo freight near to home so it was a short walk  and an hour on the footbridge before three very loud teenagers, probably bunking off school decided ot sit on the steps so I decided that I didnt want their attention and moved elsewhere.

 

Back home, the old shed is now closer to its future location and out of any possible flooding that we sometimes get right at the back of the garden in very bad weather thats forecast for later. The proposed new shed will be elevated.

 

Been in side the rest of the day working on HO stock and fitting more resistors ot N scale wagons.

Edited November 9, 2018 by roundhouse

[lightengine]

We didn't see any young ones begging in Madeira. A few older ladies have small stall selling bunches of small flowers but they left us alone in Funchal 6 weeks ago.

 

Baz

Back in the 70's everybody and their dog used to buy cane furniture in Madeira. It used to be craned aboard in quite large quantities, cane seats and cane bars were pretty favourite. Another great Madeiran export we got offered was quite sexually explicit postcards being sold by little old men that came aboard. Edited November 9, 2018 by lightengine

[Barry O]

Afternoon.

 

Been a busy morning.

 

Yesterdays trip to Banbury went well depsite there being:

Trespass at New Street

Operational incident cancelling a Chiltern service

Trespass at Leamington not long after I departed to Banbury

Signalling issues

Lots of apologies over P.A. system - where have I heared all this a lot before!

 

Luckily I was waiting for freight whilst the platforms at Banbury filled up - should have seen the queue for the cafe on the station bridge!

 

Then it was off to numerous drinking establishements including the Reindeer where Hooky Mild was a fresh barrel and went down well.

20181108_140819.jpg20181108_135959.jpg

 

As services returned to normal I caught a loco  hauled back to Marylebone and met up with my other half in a bar next to Monument before heading home. They had Rogue Dead Guy - a superb Oregon beer and first time I have had it on draft in Uk as far as I can recall.

 

This morning I went out to photo freight near to home so it was a short walk  and an hour on the footbridge before three very loud teenagers, probably bunking off school decided ot sit on the steps so I decided that I didnt want their attention and moved elsewhere.

 

Back home, the old shed is now closer to its future location and out of any possible flooding that we sometimes get right at the back of the garden in very bad weather thats forecast for later. The proposed new shed will be elevated.

 

Been in side the rest of the day working on HO stock and fitting more resistors ot N scale wagons.

Hooky Mild  .. lummy long time since I have had a pint of that...

 

Baz

[Tony_S]

Back on board. The coach tour received a message to bring us back 30 minutes late as they had to move the ship along the dock due to some mooring problem. So we saw a bit more of Madeira. Tomorrow we will wander round Funchal probably have a trip on the cable car. I don’t thing we will toboggan back this time. I have only recently recovered from bashing the end of my spine falling down the stairs at home recently!

It is still pleasantly warm here.

Tony

[Barry O]

Tony

 

coffee at The Ritz?  Madeira at Doliverias? Try the wine with the man/fish on it - the red is nice as is the white...

 

Enjoy Funchal!

 

Baz

[jamie92208]

Evening all from a hotel in Orleans that does have wifi. Thsnks to ID for his comments about Cannines. I can certainly see the attractions and am thorougly enjoying having Teddy but still prefer cats. The day has gone well. A good train trip this morning. Then an hour on the station. I then explored the modern tramway syatem which was excellent then back to Les Aubrais station and the hours flshed by. I got talking to some retired railwaymen who are also going to the show tomorrow.fascinating conversation. Then to the hotel by tram followed by a meal at the Jspanese restaurant round the back then back here. Goodnight all.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I mentioned this morning about the SEERS track night. This is held in Leigh-on-sea, normally half an hours drive including collecting my friend and son. Last night it took over an hour, the reason was roadworks everywhere. Apparently they are going to continue for the next few weeks, oh joy.