Early Risers.

[AndrewC]

19 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

At Ebbsfleet. The traffic wasn’t too bad considering we left during school run hours. 

Trains seem ok. 

Tony

Have a good trip. 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A bit dull this morning but dry. I see the brown arrow rating thingy has disappeared from the top right corner of posts that have achieved five or more ratings. Next door have almost finished, I can tell by the reduction of noise and the smell of paint. Thats it for now, be back later.

[The Lurker]

6 hours ago, chrisf said:

 I remembered that there is a meeting of one of the LGBT groups on Friday!  Oh, and I still haven’t bought the custard powder.

 

 

Goodness, what do they get up to the Methodist hall

[bbishop]

Afternoon awl,

 

Feeling better but not 100%; so just about vertical.  Today will be organising the house for the big gas pipe change out.  Tomorrow will be a new pipe from road to meter, Friday is the whole road changeout.  I do not expect things to work smoothly!  Appointments have been cancelled!! They would have been anyway because of the flu.

 

Bill

[bbishop]

3 minutes ago, The Lurker said:

Goodness, what do they get up to the Methodist hall

 

One can have all sorts of thoughts about what cakes Chris could be making for the meeting, but they're not particularly PC.

Bill

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from LBG

 

I am glad to read Bill is feeling a little better. Good luck with the gas main work. I was glad that they postponed our work from the week before Christmas 2017 to the summer time. The postponement was riven by the intermingling of water and gas mains throughout parts of Sidcup, Albany Park and Lamorbey, which meant water got in the gas mains and appliances of 1000's of houses. I'd been more concerned about the effect of the work on our dodgy central heating. But that decided to give up the ghost entirely, following a leaking immersion tank and had to be replaced any way.

 

Good luck to dseagull for the analysis. It looks like you have got to a stage where a "label" is the thing you need to access help for your boy.

 

Best wishes to others who are suffering, John and Sandy, Mal, Rick.

 

And I hope Tony and Aditi enjoy their trip

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon all,

 

Have a good trip Tony and Aditi,  you should be clear of the lad - who sallied forth on the 06.54 from St Pancreas this morning for a meeting in Paris, heck of a time of day to start for a day trip as he left here just after 04.00 (I believe).  Our gas main replacement work was done several years ago and all went remarkably well except for some of the backfilling which was skimped and teh results can still be seen.  Fortunately it was a plastric to plastic connection for our supply as we had only been connected when this house was built.  Oh and the guys doing the job actually sorted out what we had long suspected might be a very small leak on the connection to our (outdoor) gas meter so a very helpful job all round from our viewpoint even if it meant about 6 different contractors to do different parts of the job.

 

I have attended the Good Count's daughter this morning and she was additionally very helpful in dealing with a remnant of a splinter in one of my fingers - she pointed out that for once I had taken the full allotted 10 minutes for an appointment, no - the clock then turned to the 11th minute, bonus point time.

 

Next job is to write a scathing letter to the ;local 'paper about people who live next to railway lines and don't like train horns being sounded at a level crossing which was there before their house was even built.

 

Have a good day one and all.

 

 

[Barry O]

On an HST to London.. let the walkabout begin

[Tony_S]

In our hotel. It has been a hotel since 1850 and before that a convent built on the site of Henri IV ‘s hunting lodge. No much forest now. Rooms are like being in a Poirot set, all Art Deco. 

My metro tickets purchased in 2015 still worked, which was nice as the queue of confused tourists was quite long. 

One thing confused me. We had seat reservations on Eurostar but had to wake someone up who was in our seat. Same happened to another couple who had their seat taken while they went to get a snack. Are some tickets sold without seat reservations?

9C and sunny here.  

Tony

[AndrewC]

6 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

In our hotel. It has been a hotel since 1850 and before that a convent built on the site of Henri IV ‘s hunting lodge. No much forest now. Rooms are like being in a Poirot set, all Art Deco. 

My metro tickets purchased in 2015 still worked, which was nice as the queue of confused tourists was quite long. 

One thing confused me. We had seat reservations on Eurostar but had to wake someone up who was in our seat. Same happened to another couple who had their seat taken while they went to get a snack. Are some tickets sold without seat reservations?

9C and sunny here.  

Tony

All pre-booked tickets have a seat reservation. That doesn't stop lazy idiots taking any seat they want though. I do believe some limited on the day tickets are sold without but the purchaser is expected to use the vestibule jump seat. It is not uncommon for us to have to shift some d-bag who grabbed the first convenient seat at St Pancras. Normally on the return they announce that people must be in their correct seats as passengers will be boarding at Lille. There is always a mad seat shuffle there. 

[Tony_S]

Aditi’s “so sorry to wake you” didn’t have her usual sincere tone of voice. 

[Gwiwer]

58 minutes ago, Barry O said:

On an HST to London.. let the walkabout begin

The walkabout included a talkabout. Ah the technology which allows two people to hold a conversation while one is moving at a fairly respectable speed and without requiring wires, smoke signals or other physical means beyond a small hand-held device. 

 

Doctor was duly consulted this morning and has determined that I have a lingering cough. No disrespect but whoopy-flippin’-doo, no s**t Sherlock, I could have told her that. Actually I did when she asked the reason for consulting her. 

 

I was examined, questions were asked and I came away with a form requesting a chest X-ray, a follow-up appointment, an appointment at the specialist clinic (to be cancelled if not required) and a prescription for an inhaler and some antibiotics. 

 

Had a conversation with Former Neighbour (Upstairs) last night who those with good memories might recall is a severe asthmatic and whom we had to have blue-lighted to hospital twice because of the severity of her attacks. She knows a thing or two about those inhalers and shared some information and tips for my benefit. I knew there would be something good to emerge eventually from a friendship with a 21-year old blonde student!!   

 

So it’s welcome to the puffer club for the time being and off to the hospital tomorrow for a commendably swift x-ray appointment. 

 

If all goes well I only need the follow-up with the GP. If the x-ray shows anything or if the condition has not improved significantly in response to medication then it’s off to the specialist. 

 

The shift at the House of Fun was short but eventful. Most unusually I arrived late due entirely to the cancellation of several early morning trains caused by the Orange Army taking longer than planned to do something. I then had a sick passenger to deal with who, after delaying his train and several behind it, declined to alight and requested medical assistance at Waterloo. I notified Waterloo but what happened then was beyond my knowledge. Suffice to say the return working of said train was cancelled “owing to a passenger being taken ill”. 

 

There were issues across the board with our duty medics virtually running from one job to the next. And when a passenger became so irate about his train being delayed that he made threats to staff the BT Police were called. Which of course only added to the delays!  

 

Having arrived late I had to leave early to make up for it. Saw doc, came home and not long after had SWMBO knocking the door having suffered a panic attack at work and been brought home in an Uber. 

 

It never rains but it pours. As residents of Townsville, Qld., will tell you. 

 

Thoughts with Gabe and Mal, also our other absentees, and thanks to Baz for taking time out on his travels to ensure I was well (enough) with an electronic chat. 

 

Back later. 

[The Stationmaster]

2 hours ago, AndrewC said:

All pre-booked tickets have a seat reservation. That doesn't stop lazy idiots taking any seat they want though. I do believe some limited on the day tickets are sold without but the purchaser is expected to use the vestibule jump seat. It is not uncommon for us to have to shift some d-bag who grabbed the first convenient seat at St Pancras. Normally on the return they announce that people must be in their correct seats as passengers will be boarding at Lille. There is always a mad seat shuffle there. 

There is in fact a legislative requirement to have reserved seats on Eurostar as a passenger manifest is required for Channel Tunnel purposes as part of the Channel Tunnel legislation and that requires absolutely accurate details of passenger numbers.  I don't know if things have changed but originally passengers could only be booked into the jump seats if all other accommodation was booked.

 

The trick in the past was to get a look at the on-train staff's reservation list and then ask nicely if you could have a particular place by quoting the seat number but of course that won't work on heavily booked trains.  The lad is returning on the 17.07 from PNO but unlike the kit we had  20 years ago (a BR  Computing programme called P2,  guess the background picture) Real Time Trains seems ignorant of train running details on SNCF so maybe the link to various BR (as they were) systems has been disabled by NR?

 

As for having reserved seats snaffled I had the immense pleasure at Frankfurt one Sunday of entering the coach in which I had a reservation to find the only seats occupied were the two at the table at which I had my reserved seat.  Regrettably the two male persons sitting there feigned (?) not to understand German but they very definitely understood English and not only got up but moved to another coach; I have a feeling the DB Ticket inspector probably also had 'an enjoyable time' when he came across them. 

[Barry O]

No problem Rick.

 

Trains ran on time today. Staff excellent but London Needs Electric Railways HSTs are really showing their age.

 

Back soon,

 

Baz

[Ozexpatriate]

The long threatened snow materialized, 24 hours later than forecast.

 

There may have been about 1" of snowfall with less accumulation on surfaces that took longer to freeze like roads. Hopefully this small amount will mitigate the pandemonium that is the Portland metro area whenever it snows. Knowing the temperature would rise from below freezing I started my work day from home and will head in soon. The melt has begun.

 

Here's a shrub in the front yard with pictures taken a couple of hours apart.

 

Now I know how to insert pictures the new way. Clearly I should have been more careful to resize these photographs to match. I don't have time to do that right now.

 

Have a good day one and all. Thoughts for Mal, Debs and Sandy are never far away.

[AndyID]

Burglar-all melting here.  It's -5C and snowing :)

[dseagull]

Few answers and more questions - no ADHD diagnosis, instead we are looking at very high functioning Autistic Spectrum Disorder and severe anxiety. More waiting lists. 

 

Not the answer he was hoping for, but it is, at least, a step in the right direction.

[New Haven Neil]

Evening awl.

 

Steady day at work, not too many SFQ's.  Several damaged G Scale locos, they had been put in the packaging facing the wrong way....factory failure. You pay peanuts.....

 

My foot was really having a go this afternoon, worst its been for ages - closely followed by a monsoon of torrential rain, presumably a sudden drop in pressure caused my pain.  I was OK after an hour or so, but I was having a bit of a flap as I haven't had pain of that intensity for some time. 

[laurenceb]

Night awl 

[JohnDMJ]

8 hours ago, The Lurker said:

Goodness, what do they get up to the Methodist hall

 

Probably best not to go any further on this!

 

6 hours ago, Tony_S said:

 

My metro tickets purchased in 2015 still worked, which was nice as the queue of confused tourists was quite long. 

One thing confused me. We had seat reservations on Eurostar but had to wake someone up who was in our seat. Same happened to another couple who had their seat taken while they went to get a snack. Are some tickets sold without seat reservations?

9C and sunny here.  

Tony

 

I have metro tickets from before that which are unused!

 

There are some lazy b*****s who do not respect seat reservations, although one is needed to board.

 

6 hours ago, AndrewC said:

All pre-booked tickets have a seat reservation. That doesn't stop lazy idiots taking any seat they want though. I do believe some limited on the day tickets are sold without but the purchaser is expected to use the vestibule jump seat. It is not uncommon for us to have to shift some d-bag who grabbed the first convenient seat at St Pancras. Normally on the return they announce that people must be in their correct seats as passengers will be boarding at Lille. There is always a mad seat shuffle there. 

 

Between St P. and Ebbsfleet, there are usually announcements to ensure that you're in the correct seat but, if you're asleep, then how do you hear these?

[Dave Hunt]

Had a productive day in the workshop today but not nearly as productive as it would have been had I remembered some bits I needed at the Stafford show on Sunday. Hence much of my time today was spent cutting 2.5 mm wide strips out of 15 thou nickel silver. Not the most interesting and exciting pastime. Must remember to make a list next time..... doe that mean I should now make a list of things to do like making lists?

Ah, well, another small libation of Scottish falling down water before bed.

Night night awl.

 

Dave

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, dseagull said:

Few answers and more questions - no ADHD diagnosis, instead we are looking at very high functioning Autistic Spectrum Disorder and severe anxiety. More waiting lists. 

 

Not the answer he was hoping for, but it is, at least, a step in the right direction.

Our son was happy with the Ed Psychologist. As were we, and the school special needs teacher. At the end of the meeting you could see the psychologist having to restrain herself from evaluating the class teacher and deputy head.  They just preferred to do nothing, label Matthew as disruptive and us as pushy parents. 

 

[Simon G]

A frustrating day here today for medical reasons.  Yesterday I tried to get a nurse practitioner appointment at the GP practice, only to be told that there were none available, but to call back at 8 this morning.  I tried to do this but they were permanently engaged for half an hour, then I got through only to be told that there were no appointments today, and first available was in about a month’s time.  Just for a nurse appointment, not even a GP one!!  They then said the best thing to try was to arrive at the surgery (3 miles away!), at about 7.50 tomorrow morning to try and get an appointment ahead of those on the phone.  Really annoying, but I don’t have much choice.

 

On a more positive note, we had a cancer support group meeting today and there were 4 new members, one of whom was an old friend, with whom I used to coach a junior rugby team 15 years ago.

[lightengine]

Once through security at Eurostar there is nothing to stop you boarding a different train to the one that your ticket is for. The time before last that we travelled there were passengers waiting for 3 trains.  No further ticket check is held.

The on-board staff walk through doing a head count. Perhaps a head count has to match with a boarding list.

[Gwiwer]

Evening all

 

I believe the Eurostar headcount is similar to those now required by shipping operators. It is to ensure all aboard can be accounted for in the event of emergency. Specifically an emergency deep beneath the water and some miles from land. 

 

The only way it seems possible to board any train other than that booked is if one happens to be in the adjacent platform and open for boarding. Which is not normally the case. Even if it were one might end up in Brussels rather than Paris. 

 

It is, incidentally, a requirement of travel on British domestic trains that when a seat is reserved (usually with a discounted ticket) that seat is occupied and no other. This has been largely unenforced and we have reached the point where passengers regularly take which ever seat they fancy or any seat they can find. Often to the exclusion of others. It has been noticeable however that GWR on-board staff will remove labels from unclaimed seats as they pass through the train checking tickets. This has the effect of releasing seats for thise boarding farther down the line. It isn’t so easy with the new-generation electronic reservation systems however.