Early Risers.

[Rugd1022]

Post midday 'morning all',

 

Another 'go' at doing the Battersea stone job again today which went much better than last week's untidy affair, managed to get the train there on time without being wrong routed, catching fire or falling off! One of the nice things about this particular turn for me is the working on the maze of lines and junctions south of Latchmere Junction, each time I traverse the route I try to imagine what it must have been like in the last few decades of steam, with Maunsells, Uries and Bullieds of various types scuttling about in all directions, interspersed with seemingly endless green liveried EMUS at every turn, probably with very little headway between each one. A fascinating prospect if ever room and resources were available to model it all, or something like it. Despite being in the middle of massive clearout of railway books, I must confess there are some Southern books I'd still like to buy.

 

In a city of eight million people you'd think the odds of bumping into one of our London office staff on the tube would be very low, but this morning I did just that, tis a small world and no mistake.

 

Stay safe all.

Edited November 15, 2018 by Rugd1022

[bbishop]

BREAKING NEWS

 

Bill Bishop re-elected to Diocesan Council of Trustees.

 

In the big world, I doubt if Liam Fox will resign - too many free dinners to enjoy. Fayling may resign at a later date, but not un-til his staff have re-writ-ten the Brex-it file in-to words of one syl-le-ble. so that he doesn't meet diff-I-cult words. 'Spose someone will still have to read it to him.

 

Bill

[The Stationmaster]

Post midday 'morning all',

 

Another 'go' at doing the Battersea stone job again today which went much better than last week's untidy affair, managed to get the train there on time without being wrong routed, catching fire or falling off! One of the nice things about this particular turn for me is the working on the maze of lines and junctions south of Latchmere Junction, each time I traverse the route I try to imagine what it must have been like in the last few decades of steam, with Maunsells, Uries and Bullieds of various types scuttling about in all directions, interspersed with seemingly endless green liveried EMUS at every turn, probably with very little headway between each one. A fascinating prospect if ever room and resources were available to model it all, or something like it. Despite being in the middle of massive clearout of railway books, I must confess there are some Southern books I'd still like to buy.

 

In a city of eight million people you'd think the odds of bumping into one of our London office staff on the tube would be very low, but this morning I did just that, tis a small world and no mistake.

 

Stay safe all.

 

Not to worry Nidge,  I bumped into one of my Drivers on a station platform one day - Köln HbF, which was an awful long way from our 'home shed' in London.  Not quite in the same league as going down to breakfast one morning in the Great Western Hotel in Exeter and finding myself sitting down at the next table to one of our Eurostar Drivers.   However the ultimate was walking into a café in Sydney NSW after a meeting one evening to find a former boss of mine in the queue immediately ahead of me;  he had been flown out there for an interview with the concern I was doing consultancy work for and my colleague and I advised him to turn down the job if he had a successful interview the following day - it would have been a right poisoned chalice as they were looking for a fall guy and we knew it.

[roundhouse]

Car trouble yesterday aswell. Our layout shifter started making a bit of noise when turned nag but got really bad when leaving Mums after unloading the layout. This morning I took it to the garage and 10 minute walk back home to then take other car to mums to set up the layout and do a bit of tweaking on the semaphores. Good news is that more of them are now working nicely but not so good for the car as it needs a new steering rack. Luckily the oil that had drained has been topped up and garage reckons that we ar ok for the Portsmouth show this weekend.

Hopefully it will still be OK for NEC the following weekend if the part doesn’t arrive in time. At least we will have a back up plan in time for that show..

 

Talking about bumping into people you know unexpectedly a long way from home, which was on the same tour bus going around Ayers Rock back in 1992,

[Barry O]

Apart from some fatchy pog trip over to Barrow uneventful. But...the green hut wasn't open at Kirby Lonsdale shock, horror probe! Had to wait till I got to Barrow for an excellent bacon sandwich from a Bakery off Ainsley Street. Our builder has done a great job of sorting out the house which is now up for sale. (But we await the bill from the builder..gulp!)

 

Trip back was also lovely and sunny. Stopped at an antiques place in Ingleton. No purchase made.

 

Got home walked to the Doctors to see Sister Dracs little helper.

Blood Pressure excellent. Hb1ac has gone up after reducing my metal forming dose. Pah!

 

Sister Drac to phone me....

 

I met a couple of Yorkshire CCC members we know in a bar in Rotarua this year. I even conned a beer out of them.

 

Enjoy the rest of the day everyone!

 

Baz

[tetsudofan]

Talking about meeting people unexpectedly reminds me of my time in Hong Kong back in 1967, went on a hike over Lantau Island and was sitting on the top of the mountain chatting to the girl sitting next to me who turned out to be the daughter of one of my teachers at school.

 

Keith

[The Stationmaster]

Apart from some fatchy pog trip over to Barrow uneventful. But...the green hut wasn't open at Kirby Lonsdale shock, horror probe! Had to wait till I got to Barrow for an excellent bacon sandwich from a Bakery off Ainsley Street. Our builder has done a great job of sorting out the house which is now up for sale. (But we await the bill from the builder..gulp!)

 

Trip back was also lovely and sunny. Stopped at an antiques place in Ingleton. No purchase made.

 

Got home walked to the Doctors to see Sister Dracs little helper.

Blood Pressure excellent. Hb1ac has gone up after reducing my metal forming dose. Pah!

 

Sister Drac to phone me....

 

I met a couple of Yorkshire CCC members we know in a bar in Rotarua this year. I even conned a beer out of them.

 

Enjoy the rest of the day everyone!

 

Baz

 

Baz,  

 

You could have the pills I was supposed to take if you want to reduce the diabetes number.  i took four (4) out of a two months supply then gave up on them but my number dropped very nicely back to the level where it used to lurk.  However I think the process of losing something a bit over half a stone in weight played a more significant part than those pills.  

[Tony_S]

Afternoon.

I was very efficiently transported to and from Whitechapel by C2C and TfL. Consultant was very pleased. He seemed happy that they now have have my medications sorted. I have to return in six months but had some blood tests before I came home. The phlebotomist was so good I didn’t feel a thing. I have had rather a lot so I can consider myself to be an authority on being punctured!

The consultant wants me to see a dermatologist for a skin scan, due to a possible problem with sunlight and some of my medication. He did say what he could see of my skin looked fine though.

Tony

[TheQ]

Talking about bumping into people you know unexpectedly a long way from home, which was on the same tour bus going around Ayers Rock back in 1992,

A friend of mine (a Teacher in Norfolk ) was on her honeymoon and climbing Ayers Rock, when she heard the words.. Miss! MISS!

 

I met someone who I trained with in the RAF in Weston super mare , in the street in London about 4 years later, he later joined the same company as me but on a different site.

 

Someone I knew at school in Ludgershall, wilts, in 1971 I met in a bank in Weston super mare in 1975 85 miles away.

Someone I knew at school in Inverness, in 1974, I met in a bank In 1983 on Benbecula in the outer hebridies..

 

The model railway in inherited in 2017 was built by a man on the isle of Tiree in the period 1968 to 2014. In 1975-1976 I was training in the same company same trade...

 

Oh and a sailing dinghy I sailed against in Norfolk in about 1982, I sailed against in Saudi in 1996-1999. It still had it's Norfolk broads tax disc.

 

I'm surprised I haven't come across someone I've met, outside of model railways, on this forum.

[roundhouse]

Talking about meeting people unexpectedly reminds me of my time in Hong Kong back in 1967, went on a hike over Lantau Island and was sitting on the top of the mountain chatting to the girl sitting next to me who turned out to be the daughter of one of my teachers at school.

 

Keith

Did the bus up to the big Buddha. My brother lived in Discovery Bay for a while with a waiting list for a golf buggy as transport and fast ferry to work .Hes now in the New Territories

[lightengine]

Went to Cuba in 2009 and met a couple who also lived in West Sussex.

Discovered last year whilst doing some genealogy that some of her ancestors married into my family in North London 200 years ago.

Discovered yesterday that my Grandfather and one of her ancestors were in the 3rd Enfield Boys Brigade together back in the late 1910's.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I spent Christmas at a hotel in Ostend about 1978 with my parents. When we arrived there were two mates of mine from a local (Romford) mens club sitting in the bar. They had been spending Christmas's there in the same hotel for several years. They pointed my dad and myself in the direction of Trappist beer which I have had a taste for ever since. Also staying at the same hotel was a young lady who I had met on a singles holiday the year before, she had tilted her cap at me but I wasn't interested. Luckily she was there with her fiancee so I didn't have to hide.

[New Haven Neil]

Evening.

 

A bit cheesed off about my old work, (I was office manager of our Youth Justice Team - like a young offenders team in the UK) we won two awards in my time there, a great team that got great results in reducing offending. 4 years later it has been disbanded due to failing after a 22% increase in offending.  Words fail me, that's for sure.  There is a certain person I would like to see held responsible for their part in all that, but they never will be. Completely gutted all that work has been thrown away, because 'someone' doesn't like the police working together with social services.  Success is apparently not enough to overcome some people's closed minds and vision.

 

Away from that rant, I once paid off a ship in Singapore, and went for a quick (cough) beer while waiting for a flight and sat next to a lad I was at college with!

[Barry O]

Neil

 

I know how you feel. Many years ago I set up a team to do a project. They worked well together..I was moved up and someone else took over looking to make a name for himself..result ..within 3 months 5 of the team of 15 had left.. then he left as he suddenly realised he didn't want the job... still not a happy bunny about that but still keep in touch with "my" team whenever I can.

 

 

Sleep well all!

 

baz

 

PS my head is still a bit sore...

[newbryford]

 But...the green hut wasn't open at Kirby Lonsdale shock, horror probe! H

 

 

You must have been early.

The caravan on Devils Bridge used to be a very regular stop in my biker days or work trips north.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[newbryford]

Very ER tomorrow to take Junior to the airport to go Stateside. She will soon return with small circuit boards and speakers to fit inside plastic mouldings that also contain large metal castings on wheels just under 17mm apart.

 

There is a plan to go back to bed for an hour or more before going to work.

 

G.night.....

 

Cheers,

Mick

[The Stationmaster]

I have come across several people I knew outside model railways on the forum.  Hilariously the first to make contact, like me, uses a screen name instead of his own name and PM'd me to ask if I was who he thought I was on the same day that I PM'd him to ask him if he was who I thought he was.  

 

Another PM'd me having become fairly sure that I am who he thought I was and thanked me for not giving him a job (on promotion) back in 1994.  I'd told him to wait back after the interview and when the interviews were over had a long chat with him to explain why he hadn't got the job and suggest to him that he really needed to think about the direction in which he wanted his future to go as he'd looked to make quite a leap in railway terms which suggested to me that he was looking for broader horizons.  He did indeed make a subsequent, very considerable, career change, partly as a result of our conversation - hence his thanks for my not giving him the job.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone

 

It’s been a glorious day here in the northwest, this afternoon I was able stand at the kitchen window and watch several blackbirds eating the berries of some of the shrubs in the garden, which is always nice to watch.

 

This morning’s trip to Altrincham was quite successful, in that I made a couple of purchases at Walton’s, mainly comestibles. However, my journey to Waitrose took me past a Machine Mart, so I called in there as well and further purchases were made, again mainly comestibles. After which i finally got to Waitrose, where I purchased the few items we can’t buy locally. Whilst there, I spotted that they had an offer on “Doombar” so I took advantage of the generosity and restocked my beer supply. The steak and ale pie which I picked up from the butchers went down well! But the fact that I’ve called at the butchers today, has meant that all evening we’ve thought today was Friday.

 

Goodnight all.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Mog and fist outside at the moment, so its time for bed, night all.

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[BR60103]

One year we went up to visit a couple I'd known at university. On the ferry to northern Ontario, I recognized a family (I usually don't recognize people) and it was her older brother who had been at the university the same time.

 

We were in a restaurant in Brampton and Dayle spotted the mayor and started a conversation. (there were barely more than 3 of us there). When we introduced ourselves, he asked "Are you related to Mac Youngs?"  He's my father. He said that my father was responsible for his being mayor of Brampton as he didn't give him a teaching job in our small town, so he taught in Brampton instead.

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

My appointment with Professor Oncologist was at 11.15 yesterday morning.  Thanks to buses connecting with one another for once I arrived at the hospital a good half hour early.  The Prof saw me almost immediately because, I think, another patient had cancelled.  My PSA reading is up to 2.6 from 1.9.  He is not unduly worried and so I should not be.  He reckons that the increase is due to reduced dosage of the drug that counteracts the hot flushes.  I used to find them reassuring because they made me feel that the injections were working.   He took the trouble to remind me that moving about on a long flight helps to prevent blood clots.  Wasn’t that kind?

 

Today I shall make my way gingerly to south west London, where I have a hotel room booked.  This will enable me to attend a gig, albeit not the one I had in mind, and give me a head start on the road to Portsmouth on Saturday morning so I will not post again until Sunday.  Against this, the state of the motorway network on a typical Friday is such that I would not normally contemplate using it, but needs must.  For what it’s worth, Portsmouth is one of my favourite one day shows and well worth the effort of travelling there.  On the way home tomorrow I shall pause in Weybridge for a brief encounter with an old friend and on past form we shall put the world well and truly to rights over dinner.

 

Warm thoughts to all in distress and those who are missing. 

 

Chris

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

We have another autumnal morning.  The temperature is around 5°C and it's overcast.

 

I was somewhat surprised to see Raab C Brexit depart yesterday.  "Man in charge of negotiating deal, leaves because he doesn't like the deal" - Strange philosophy.

 

 

Completely gutted all that work has been thrown away, because 'someone' doesn't like the police working together with social services.  Success is apparently not enough to overcome some people's closed minds and vision.

 

That is a tragedy, Neil.

 

Have a good day everyone...

Edited November 16, 2018 by Robert

[pH]

My wife, born and brought up in the West of Scotland and living just outside Vancouver, has just met a new member in her bridge club - a lady born in Newcastle-on-Tyne. This lady has done quite a bit of family research. Her mother came from the same village in the Churnet Valley in Staffordshire as my wife's grandfather! My wife's family name appears in a couple of places in this lady's family tree. There's a reasonable chance they are nth cousins.