Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 Better not navigate too closely, I've heard that the sound can give one cancer.

 

(Trying not to be too political.)

I was quite amazed at how much noise was generated when a windmill was working properly. This was when we were in the Netherlands at Kinderdijk. They had a restored one working that day. All the many windmills were eventually replaced by a single Archimedes Screw pump. Can’t remember what powered it though. 

[bbishop]

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

We have received the info about our forthcoming trip on the briny - on current order of batting Week 1 has six passengers (including us) of whom 4 are female.  Just to restore the balance Week 2 has seven passengers (including us) of whom 5 are male, both the ladies have the same first name but we managed to get it right last year when they were aboard on the same week as us   One cabin vacant on each week at present but late bookings do happen so that could change.  We would seem to be going from Harwich to Harwich so i have a feeling that we might be spending several nights off Margate and will be generally around the outer Thames Estuary - which will be fresh territory for us.

 

Is anyone called Richard Montgomery?

 

Bill

[Coombe Barton]

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2019/04/09/sandys-chemo-day-105-of-147/

[AndyB]

7 minutes ago, bbishop said:

 

Is anyone called Richard Montgomery?

 

Bill

Wondering if the female passenger is called Caroline.  

[JohnDMJ]

37 minutes ago, bbishop said:

 

Is anyone called Richard Montgomery?

 

Bill

 

28 minutes ago, AndyB said:

Wondering if the female passenger is called Caroline.  

 

There's bound to be some folk somewhere with those names, but whether they'll be on the same trip is another matter!

Edited April 9, 2019 by JohnDMJ

[The Stationmaster]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

When I was at university, Margate was considered to be a good place to go out for a day. 

Many years ago when I was a Management Trainee I was given the enviable task one day of being the 'courier' on a mystery excursion from Cardiff - part of my passenger commercial training.  That took me to Margate for my first and only visit.  The courier was one of the very few people who knew in advance where the train was going as the job was charged with giving the passengers some brief information about the place just before arrival and telling them at what time the return train would be leaving plus trying to make sure they were all back aboard (not that we waited for them if they weren't).

 

The dangerous part of the job was dealing with the 'regulars' who were invariably ladies of a certain age and who seemed to be determined, almost as soon as the train left Cardiff, to find out where it was going,  and who gave the impression of being prepared to stop at nothing in order to find out.  It was reasonably safe walking past groups of them, not quite so safe to stop for too long talking to them, and distinctly dangerous (I had been warned) to sit down among them and engage in a conversation with them as they were not above setting to and groping any luckless male courier who couldn't evade their clutches.  Fortunately I arrived at Margate more or less unscathed and managed to get back to Cardiff one piece.

 

Unlike the servicing ships we never get too close to wind farms as the ship's only interest in them is any warning buoys, and many are removed once the farm is well established - we removed three that had been adjacent to one of the North Wales wind farms a couple of years back.  It would be interesting to see a whole wind farm actually generating some electricity as I think we've seen far more of the windmills not working than we have working.  It is quite good fun trying to get an end on pic of a line of them - the view below is from 2016 up on the west coast near barrow when we were on the way to the Ravenglass area.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 9, 2019 by The Stationmaster

[Tony_S]

45 minutes ago, bbishop said:

 

Is anyone called Richard Montgomery?

 

Bill

There are buoys to maintain there so perhaps Mike will get a close up view. There are trips out from Southend to the wreck and a fort. I haven’t been. 

Tony

[Gwiwer]

Evening all

 

Good to see pictures of the Palace of Attendance. How many hours have I spent beneath that great green dome?  And at the various other points of entry / exit. The model shop in the basement is Hearns.  Quite a comprehensive general model shop but with quite eye-watering prices.  

 

It was bitterly cold in the damp of the morning today at the House of Fun. So cold that I was waiting for penguins to blow in. Instead seals were spotted in the Thames apparently indicating it is getting warmer .....  

 

Judgement reserved. 

 

G’night all 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Had a pleasant surprise this afternoon. Last year when we visited Railex at Stoke Mandeville I placed my vote for best layout and thought no more of it. Apparently there was also a raffle the prize being a pair of tickets for this years show, and I'm the lucky winner. I still have quite a few modelling tokens from the PPI payment so I can indulge.

[81C]

All

Just blown in, I've had a few rotating moments today so give up trying to sit here upright to type something this AM however modelling has been done an Oxford

6 wheeled toad was re-lettered and put back together well almost much the same tomorrow I'm not sure I'll be posting I'm going to have a lay as here kept me

awake last night it kept throwing the duvet over me I get hot and wake up it's as good as a 24 hr nightmare living with Her. 

                                                                                                                                                             enjoy the next bit. Tota Lybolluexed 

[BoD]

29 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Had a pleasant surprise this afternoon. Last year when we visited Railex at Stoke Mandeville I placed my vote for best layout and thought no more of it. Apparently there was also a raffle the prize being a pair of tickets for this years show, and I'm the lucky winner. I still have quite a few modelling tokens from the PPI payment so I can indulge.

 

Raffle?  That's what they told you.  In reality the traders clubbed together to buy you tickets.

[Barry O]

Goodnight all!

Baz

[newbryford]

On 08/04/2019 at 22:12, Coombe Barton said:

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2019/04/08/sandys-chemo-day-104-of-147/

 

Jules Verne.

Brilliant!

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, bbishop said:

 

Is anyone called Richard Montgomery?

 

Bill

Fortunately we'll be a bit further out than 'him' (her?) - I think we're more or less east of a line drawn between Whitstable/Herne Bay and the seaward end of Foulness/Mersea Island.  Mind if he decided to go 'pop' we might get a rather choppy bit of sea for a while but I think Tony would be more likely to suffer broken windows than the ship.  The buoys up that far are, I think, maintained by the PLA or whatever it's called nowadays or its contractors so we won't be around that area.

1 hour ago, AndyB said:

Wondering if the female passenger is called Caroline.  

No Caroline (unless she's a late arrival at the party ) but there will be a lady who legally changed her surname to that of the site of a lighthouse because she was rather taken with the area when she visited it quite a few years ago.  She is something of a lighthouse fan and she recommended an excellent book about the Eddystone when we were chatting last year - Mrs Stationmaster managed to get a copy on Amazon and it's a really interesting read.  But I doubt we'll be venturing to any lighthouses on this trip.

 

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

This morning’s dull and cloudy weather change to glorious sunshine, but there was a bit of a breeze which made it feel cooler than the 13C. Sheila got home just before 11:30, so I managed to complete the Sainsbury’s Grand Prix before dinner. 

 

The cellar wall which faces the stairs has a small door, which is slightly offset from the centre and is about 3ft 6in above floor level. This gives me access to the under floor area of the front half of the house. Below it there was an old chest freezer which I use to gain access. It died a few years ago, but remained in place until recently for continued access. I got rid of it a few weeks ago and since then I’ve had to use a set of step ladders which, due to the nature of step ladders, can be a bit tricky. So, I decided to design a set of permanent foldaway steps to gain access to the door. 

 

Once I’d completed the design, I did a little tiding up in the large cellar room, as it had gotten a wee bit dusty from the work I’d been doing in the smaller room.

 

My package didn’t turn up today, but to be fair, the delivery was given as Tuesday/Wednesday so I expect it will arrive tomorrow, but as it happens Sheila is expecting a parcel herself.

 

Like a few others, I have my own personal hair dresser, she goes by the name of Vidal Baboon. I’ll hasten to add that I didn’t give her that name!

 

Goodnight all 

[newbryford]

Re: US tax returns.

My niece is at college in the US and helps out on certain lessons, taking notes for those that don't have English as a primary language.

She actually earns money for doing this and had worked out that she was due $17 tax rebate and as such hadn't filed for it.

Then somebody informed her that there is a grant for doing such work and it was worth filing her tax returns.

She now has $1017......................

 

 

Maybe I can get her to buy a present for her favourite uncle/mixed doubles golf partner of something that runs on two parallel bits of metal and has any of the following in the description? GP, SD, U23, dash-8 or CW44?

 

As it is, there are a couple of packages heading her way to be brought home in a few weeks time.

 

Have a good Wednesday folks - mine will be very busy as my "apprentice" of three months has just handed his notice in today.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

 

 

 

 

 

[laurenceb]

Night awl 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[PeterBB]

2 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2019/04/09/sandys-chemo-day-105-of-147/

Absolutely superb work by Sandy and great to see that it is continuing.

Edited April 9, 2019 by PeterBB
Spelling

[JohnDMJ]

8 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Many years ago when I was a Management Trainee I was given the enviable task one day of being the 'courier' on a mystery excursion from Cardiff - part of my passenger commercial training.  That took me to Margate for my first and only visit.  The courier was one of the very few people who knew in advance where the train was going as the job was charged with giving the passengers some brief information about the place just before arrival and telling them at what time the return train would be leaving plus trying to make sure they were all back aboard (not that we waited for them if they weren't).

 

The dangerous part of the job was dealing with the 'regulars' who were invariably ladies of a certain age and who seemed to be determined, almost as soon as the train left Cardiff, to find out where it was going,  and who gave the impression of being prepared to stop at nothing in order to find out.  It was reasonably safe walking past groups of them, not quite so safe to stop for too long talking to them, and distinctly dangerous (I had been warned) to sit down among them and engage in a conversation with them as they were not above setting to and groping any luckless male courier who couldn't evade their clutches.  Fortunately I arrived at Margate more or less unscathed and managed to get back to Cardiff one piece.

 

Unlike the servicing ships we never get too close to wind farms as the ship's only interest in them is any warning buoys, and many are removed once the farm is well established - we removed three that had been adjacent to one of the North Wales wind farms a couple of years back.  It would be interesting to see a whole wind farm actually generating some electricity as I think we've seen far more of the windmills not working than we have working.  It is quite good fun trying to get an end on pic of a line of them - the view below is from 2016 up on the west coast near barrow when we were on the way to the Ravenglass area.

 

 

 

 

 

I've often wondered about these turbines; if there's a power surge, will Britain take off?

 

Edited April 10, 2019 by JohnDMJ

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[BR60103]

7 hours ago, grandadbob said:

The Boss has just informed me that we will not be buying hot cross buns this year as she is making them. If they're as good as the ones she made a couple of years ago Bobby will be a very happy Bun-ny!

What do you get when you pour boiling water down the rabbit hole?

Hot, cross bunnies.

 

 

 

[jamie92208]

19 minutes ago, BR60103 said:

What do you get when you pour boiling water down the rabbit hole?

Hot, cross bunnies.

 

 

 

Where oh where has that much requested groan button got to.

 

Jamie

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It is a damp morning today.  Quite mild, but we have had heavy rain overnight.

 

8 hours ago, Tony_S said:

There are buoys to maintain there so perhaps Mike will get a close up view. There are trips out from Southend to the wreck and a fort. I haven’t been. 

Tony

 

There are actually several forts in the Thames Estuary.  One of which can be seen in Mike's picture of the windfarm.  It is in the right hand side of the picture and looks like a square blob on legs.  That's Redsands - one of Maunsells Army Forts.  There were comprised of living quarters, a searchlight tower, and various anti-aircraft gun towers. 

 

Originally, there were three army forts, Nore, Redsands and Shivering Sands.  Nore was demolished after a ship collided with it.  Shivering Sands is still standing, but is in a rather sorry condition and is significantly further from the shore.  Redsands is currently being restored by a team of volunteers.

 

In additions, there were four navy forts.  Roughs Tower, Sunk Head, Tongue Sands and Knock John.  Knock John is still standing, but living on borrowed time.  Sunk Head was blown up and Tongue Sands collapsed.  Most famous is Roughs Tower which is better known as the Principality of Sealand.

 

They were of course made famous by Pirate Radio in the 60s - which is primarily where my interest in these structures stems from!

 

Have a good day everyone...

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

What's this?  Another uninterrupted night's sleep?  Perhaps the chemical warfare is starting to work at last.  It would have worked even better if I had remembered to take my penicillin capsules with me yesterday.  I'm not free of the coughing fits yet but feel better than I did.  I had a reasonable day in the shed where the layout lives but found that I need to replenish some consumables in the various toolkits - or, perhaps, learn to be less untidy so that I know where things actually are.  What part of Utopia do you come from, Chris?

 

Robert, when you talk pirate radio you talk my language.  Keep talking!

 

I need to prepare for various forthcoming expeditions so that's an hour or two on the interweb before tackling the ever-present ironing.  I thought that next week was going to be crazier than it is but there are still some daft entries in the diary.  Yesterday I remembered that I will need breakfast in Exeter ahead of Pride next month.  Speak to me not of the Travelodge breakfast box, for there will be at least one outpost of the Wetherspoon empire in that intriguing city!  Let the selection process begin.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris