Early Risers.

[Ozexpatriate]

Today (Monday) is the observed Federal Holiday for "Veterans' Day" (as opposed to Armistice Day). Unless you are employed by the Federal Government, for most this is a work day. Veteran's Day commemorates all those who served. The Sundays around Veterans' Day are co-opted by the likes of the NFL as themed "Salute to Service" days, with flyovers and sideline people dressed in olive drab and camouflage but the less said about that institution the better.

 

Memorial Day is intended to remember the fallen, but as this tradition has it's roots in the Civil War, (now >150 years distant) it ends up being the unofficial first day of summer and a good day for a barbecue. Consequently the solemnity of the Anzac Days that I remember and the Armistice Days that are commemorated in other places does not really take place in the US.

 

Nevertheless, there are sometimes thoughtful reflections on Armistice Day. The PBS News Hour ran a story on Friday compiled by freelance British journalist Malcolm Brabant about his great grandfather: a Metropolitan Railway yard shunter and later, Royal Fusilier who survived the Somme but fell in September of 1918.

 

I don't know if the video will play for you, but you can find it, and a transcript here. You will all find it a more familiar view of the 100th anniversary of the armistice, than most of what passes for Veterans' Day commemorations in the US.

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a rather damp piece of France.  Happy birthday to Ian (OD) who is a few miles north of here.   

 

Yesterdays ceremony was very different from a British one but also very moving.   We gathered at the town hall and then walked down to the war memorial.  One guy carried a tricolour and the mayor had her sash on.  Altogether there were 26 of us outside the church which out of a permanent population of about 50 is a good turnout.  First of all the church bell was rung, not very well, with the male ringer being advised by 3 females (including the mayor's two daughters). Beth's comments later were amusing, she used to be a bell ringer at Batley. The Mayor read out all the names on the memorial and we all repeated "Mort pour La France" after each.   Then we sang the Marsellaise before Helene(The Mayor) read out a message from President Macron that ended with the reading of the names of the 3 French Soldiers who have been killed in Mali and Iraq in the past year, again with responses.  After that we moved into the cemetery and words were said in front of each grave of a soldier from WW1. Apparently their names are not on the memorial.    After that we walked slowly back to the town hall where we had nibbles and a choice of either Pineau or Ricard.   All in all a very impressive.   We were al given a light blue sticker which is the French equivalent of a poppy.  Apparently it represents a corn flower.  Anyway after that the dog was walked and Beth's friend arrived back.   She leaves, with Teddy, later this morning.

 

Anyway the G word has been cancelled due to the rain so I plan to spend some time in the shed getting trains running for later in the week.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[Purley Oaks]

Morning all!

 

Jamie, the French remembrance ceremony sounds very touching; it's easy to forget that citizens from many ex-French colonial territories fought and, like the UK, many are still fighting in faraway places.

 

A day for catching up with phone calls to lawyers because the sale letter, sent 1st class on Wednesday from their office about two miles from here, eventually arrived Saturday. And to arrange a couple of viewings elsewhere in town and around.

 

Yes, happy birthday Ian OD.

 

Anyone seen or heard from 60103 lately? That moniker doesn't appear in the members' list anymore.

 

Think we're off to see Widows this evening at the cinema. Did anyone watch They Shall Not Grow Old on BBC2 last night? Loved the way that the old footage has been restored to normal speed - and thought the colouration was superb. Ordinary blokes doing very extraordinary and horrific things day after day after day. Have we fully learned the lessons? It's on iPlayer for a week, I think.

 

Hope your days are extraordinary in the most wonderful ways!

 

Mal

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

We are in Vigo. We don’t have a tour organised, we will just wander about. The main tour from here is Santiago de Compostela but we have been there before.

It is much cooler than the previous days.

The ship leaves here for Southampton, arriving Wednesday morning.

I hope everyone has a good day.

Tony

[TheQ]

A couple of pictures from the weekend's sailing, pictures courtesy Snowflake Sailing Club.

 

 

This one didn't need rescueing!!

 

 

 

This one Did, I'm in the background in yellow /blue on the other rescue boat heading for the one on a lee shore.

..

 

Normally we would be mixing it with these guys in the bigger boats (Yeoman Class)

Edited November 12, 2018 by TheQ

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

The sun is shining and there looks to be a bit of a breeze too. Today Sheila doesn’t have a Zumba class as her tutor is away until this afternoon. So we will soon be heading north to Colne to visit a large discount warehouse as Sheila wants a new pair of trainers along with a few other bits no doubt. Whilst we’re there, I think I’ll look for a new pair of trainers myself, saves another visit.

 

OD. Happy birthday

 

Back later

[Robert]

Happy Birthday to Ian!

 

There's an interesting rumour going around this morning.  By all accounts, IAG, the parent company of British Airways are in discussions to be considered an exclusively Spanish Company.  Currently, the head office is in London, and the registered office in Madrid.  Interesting, if true.

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Happy birthday Olddudders and to occasional visitor Beast (in respect of yesterday I believe).  A bit of information for Jamie in the link I hope I'll remember to attach below about le bleuet, very much the equivalent of the poppy in this country but with two different stories about its origin one of which related to the post 1914 French army uniform when pale blue as an overall colour replaced red trousers worn with either a pale blue (in some units) or dark blue (most units) jacket.   As Jamie found the French still take Armistice day very seriously (it is a public holiday as well) with numerous commemoration ceremonies and they also have services of commemoration at all the various memorials, often just a plaque on a wall, where people were shot by the Germans in WWII.   Armistice Day is also a public holiday in Belgium so. like France, many trains are cancelled on that day as we found out in Ypres some years ago.

 

Currently sunny but very wet earlier and more to come but the G word has only been mentioned by the management for the management - I like that idea!

 

Have a good day everybody

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleuet_de_France

[jamie92208]

Morning all,

 

Happy birthday Olddudders and to occasional visitor Beast (in respect of yesterday I believe).  A bit of information for Jamie in the link I hope I'll remember to attach below about le bleuet, very much the equivalent of the poppy in this country but with two different stories about its origin one of which related to the post 1914 French army uniform when pale blue as an overall colour replaced red trousers worn with either a pale blue (in some units) or dark blue (most units) jacket.   As Jamie found the French still take Armistice day very seriously (it is a public holiday as well) with numerous commemoration ceremonies and they also have services of commemoration at all the various memorials, often just a plaque on a wall, where people were shot by the Germans in WWII.   Armistice Day is also a public holiday in Belgium so. like France, many trains are cancelled on that day as we found out in Ypres some years ago.

 

Currently sunny but very wet earlier and more to come but the G word has only been mentioned by the management for the management - I like that idea!

 

Have a good day everybody

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleuet_de_France

 

Thanks for that info Mike. I had guessed that it was linked to the colour of the uniforms.   Thinking about it the statue in our local market town is light blue.   And yes they do take it very seriously.   Our village was in the occupied area throughout the war and La Rochelle was only liberated after the German surrender in 1945 after a very difficult last few months, including executions.   Memories are still raw.   Apparently the station at Ruffec was on the demarcation line between the occupied zone and Vichy France.  There are several road side memorials locally to resistance and FFI who were killed. I pas one regularly.  

 

Jamie

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Almost shaken off the lurgi, took a 'Micky Finn' last night and went out like a light. Both my grandfathers survived the war though my paternal grandfather was gassed, which probably caused his poor health in later life. C&C's to those who require them and happy birthday to OD.

[Gwiwer]

A Happy Birthday to Ian

 

What a wet morning that was. And not at all as foretold by the seaweed wranglers. We were expecting a dry day broken only by a 30% chance of a lunchtime shower. It tipped down for the entire morning peak and then some.

 

Ah well. It’s lunchtime. The uniform has been removed for the day. See you some more.

[Barry O]

Sunny this morning, then chuckditdarn..now sunny again.
All of my weathering kit sorted. Extra box added for additional lighting for Warley.

Time to fix some broken locos.

Baz

PS BA may as well be Spanish. The CEO is Spanish and his idea of customer service is carp. When things go wrong he sends out texts and tweets to staff. Shame that Jet2.com couldn't provide a service between Leeds and Heathrow instead of Boeing Allways. The BA flights are badly programmed and mean you can't use them to connect with transcontinental flights through LHR anymore. Good service for a City 3rd largest in Britain! Error!

Edited November 12, 2018 by Barry O

[newbryford]

M

 

Anyone seen or heard from 60103 lately? That moniker doesn't appear in the members' list anymore.

 

 

 

Do you mean BR60103?

He was on RMweb earlier today.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[roundhouse]

Sunny this morning, then chuckditdarn..now sunny again.

All of tmy weathering kit sorted. Extra box added for additional lighting for Warley.

Time to fix some broken locos.

Baz

PS BA may as well be Spanish. The CEO is Spanish and jis idea of customer service is carp. When things go wrong he sends outtextsand tweets to staff. Shame that Jet2.com couldn't provide a service between Leeds and Heathrow instead of Boeing Allways. The BA flights are badly programmed and mean you can't use them to connect with transcontinental flights through LHR anymore. Good service for a City 3rd largest in Britain! Error!

Each time that we have tried to book BA the website has locked up then when we do get on the price has gone up so we just don’t bother anymore with them. Virgin generally much better but prefer flights out of Gatwick. However that didn’t work out for this years

Xmas avoider trip so it’s to Heathrow we head.

 

Now fitt d around 195 resistors to the N scale stock. A few more ore tomorrow and that will have to do for the weekends trip to Portsmouth with the layout then it’s full attention on the Czech HO for Warley.

 

It’s now Beer o’clock

[grandadbob]

We are in Vigo. We don’t have a tour organised, we will just wander about. 

 

I've been there Tony.Just up the road from Brands Hatch isn't it?  Mind you, I don't remember seeing any cruise ships there!  

 

In other news,as suspected my knees are killing me. Spent about 4 hours in total at Nicki's, emptying out the room, lifting existing carpet, screwing down various loose floorboards etc. Got the underlay sorted and first few rows of flooring laid but by then my knees had had enough and Steve had to go to work, We will reconvene tomorrow.

 

Must be about beer o'clock here as well. 

Edited November 12, 2018 by grandadbob

[AndyID]

I've been there Tony.Just up the road from Brands Hatch isn't it?

 

I was about to make a silly comment about invigorating, but I thought better of it - oops.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I seem to have recovered from the lurgi but still feeling a bit weak so I think an early(ish) night tonight.

[grandadbob]

I was about to make a silly comment about invigorating, but I thought better of it - oops.

 

I have spent a lifetime making silly comments. The older I get (and the more time I spend on this forum) the sillier they become. 

Edited November 12, 2018 by grandadbob

[newbryford]

I have spent a lifetime making silly comments. The older I get (and the more time I spend on this forum) the sillier they become. 

 

And more dangerous......

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Gwiwer]

The afternoon has been punctuated by the occasional thap of clunder.  Or is that a thumble of runder?  Either way there was no lashing of flightning.

 

I am slowly getting to grips with some requirements of 12-volt electrickery the detail of which would see me lanced with an awl.  

 

It is almost time for bed.  Good Knight, Awl.  

[New Haven Neil]

Evening.

 

Well, I am now edumocated about bell ringers it would seem!  Thank you Baz for reminding me of the phrase 'change ringing' - I knew there was a name for it but it would not surface in my forgettory (copyright Foren, C).

 

Christmas rush really kicking in at work now, hand to mouth all day but we managed to hit the target.

 

Having a battle with the main PC at home as backup has ceased working, investigation on the interweb reveals this to be a Windoze common failure, without much in the way of fixes available - they just don't care presumably.  An alternative utility has been downloaded and worked with no hassle, obviously not a Mircrosoft product.....

[Ozexpatriate]

The afternoon has been punctuated by the occasional thap of clunder.  Or is that a thumble of runder?  Either way there was no lashing of flightning.

So "bundertholts and frightening, very, very enlightening, me" ... (from your recent visit to the cinema to see Rohemian Bhapsody).

[Purley Oaks]

Evening all

 

Great news! Edinburgh's C*******s goes live this Friday. Yep, that's the big wheel and the German market on Princes Street. Whoop-de-doo!

 

Happy Birthday to Ian!

 

There's an interesting rumour going around this morning.  By all accounts, IAG, the parent company of British Airways are in discussions to be considered an exclusively Spanish Company.  Currently, the head office is in London, and the registered office in Madrid.  Interesting, if true.

Can't think why Robert...

Do you mean BR60103?

He was on RMweb earlier today.

 

Cheers,

Mick

Thanks Mick.

 

Have a good night

 

Mal

[Barry O]

Watched England women playing in the cricket T20 tonight. Glad to see someone I umpired twice this year be awarded player of the match.

 

Sleep well All!

Baz