Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, tetsudofan said:

 

The Hastings Diesel people have arranged some buses to be waiting at Oulton Broad North to take punters to and from the EATM. I won't be taking that option as I visited the EATM last September and saw the newly restored Hastings trolleybus although it hadn't been completed at that time. Certainly looks a handsome beast:

 

Pity that the other one (No. 3 Happy Harold) now has a diesel engine. My grandparents used to live at St. Leonards and I was able to ride on No. 3, when it was electrically powered.

[chrisf]

I hate technology.  For the past 20 minutes or so I have been typing a reply, only for it to disappear into the ether without a hope of retrieval.  This will not do.   I will try to remember what I was writing and have another go later but there are more important things to do.   Chris 

[45156]

Morning All

 

Apologies for absence - I have managed to back read, and have managed to rate most posts - a lot of ER water under the bridge, and belated condolences to Big Jim on the passing of his mum - also RIck, hope the missus is improving a bit.  Generic greetings to everybody else who has been ailing, celebrating, and if I have missed anything significant, then I'm sorry.

 

Not a lot been happening here, TBH.  Went to LASAR twice last week, and FINALLY managed to get a print at Barclays on Saturday, and it needed a lot of checking. 

 

LASAR again this morning.  Probably doing disposal of the unwanted books to we buy books, or to the recycling place.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[pH]

The moss got its first hack today. Son and daughter-in-law brought their Christmas present to us - a couple of Adirondack chairs - and assembled them for us. We knew they'd got them, but said they would wait till the better weather arrived to bring them. The garden looks nicer than it did this morning.

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple Hare,

Six hours sleep last night, but unusually it was not sleeping at the start that cut the time, My brain wouldn't shut up.

 

DIsney let all his animals escape again, first a flock of pea hens from the old vicarage, then a small deer, then a barn owl, then a squirrel, then another barn owl and that was all in the first 3 miles...

 

The East Anglian transport museum at Carlton Colville, is definately worth a visit. We've been twice with various visitors, three  or four years ago, SWMBO's late Uncle was amazed to find one of the trams he had actually driven in there..

 

IF you are heading to London from Norwich or the other way today, you'd probably be better off going the A12 or A140 today as the A11 is shut due to a major accident ( The radio reports will be shut for most of the day). All those Furriners from london with their weekend  homes up here will be late for work and all the supermarkets will have empty shelves as just in time delivery, isn't.

 

My back is surprisingly good this morning, howvever I am expecting it to be bad tomorrow, it seems it take a day for the aches and pains to work their way through.

 

I've  got one major equipment scheduled to work on this week, it however is not in it's normal home due to the building works, I'm not sure I can get all the required test equipment into the space left, so I may have to drag it into my lab.

Also I must have another attempt at getting to see someone in HR as I still can't get access to my online annual objectives etc as I'm still locked out of the account.

 

Time too, head for the labs...

 

 

 

 

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Grey skies this morning over the North West Leeds Highlands. 

 

This should be our last week of house turmoil. Painting should be finished on Thursday. Time to see the carpet man!

Have a great say, best wishes to all who ail and to those that are missing

Baz

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

S-Day minus 1 brings sunshine and blue skies with some clouds. It should stay dry with temperatures rising to a heady 18°C.

Rugby watched and enjoyed. Worcester overcame Gloucester to ensure their Premiership survival which leaves Newcastle as favourites for relegation with only the faintest hope of overhauling Leicester who are 9 points ahead of them. F1 highlights also partly watched but I dozed off....

Sainsbury's require a visit I'm told and after that I shall (hopefully) blockade the parking space outside one neigbour's house to ensure plenty of room for tomorrow's shed delivery. Neighbour the other side is leaving a spare car key so I can move one of their cars if necessary. I'm lucky that we are a friendly bunch here.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

Edited April 29, 2019 by grandadbob

[roundhouse]

1 minute ago, grandadbob said:

 

S-Day minus 1 brings sunshine and blue skies with some clouds. it should stay dry with temperatures rising to a heady 18°C.

 

 

Must be a good time to build sheds. Mine commences tomorrow aswell. Spoken with the flats mangeress and Ok to unload via there but one car cant be moved as they are away so a little juggling and care will be required.

Once the base is in this week I will commence building the shed itself. Might build the roof first (just rafters and underfelt)  then it can protect the timber base and materials then be lifted into place once the walls are up. Cant wait ot get it built now.

 

Might be a quite a few shed photos looming!

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

The sun is shining, but there are a few clouds around, I’m hoping that it will stay dry today. The weather is predicted to be cloudy all day, with no rain and it’s currently 8C but expected to rise to around 14 later this evening. Sheila is currently getting ready and will be setting off shortly for her Zumba class. Once she’s gone, I will make a start on dismantling the 2 pallets that are currently resting against the bins in the front. The resulting pile of timber will then be taken round the back, which will probably take a couple of trips with the wheelbarrow. Once it’s all round the back, a start can then be made on making the stands I’ve drawn up, which will probably take up the rest of the day.

 

Enjoy the day, back later. 

[chrisf]

2 hours ago, chrisf said:

I hate technology.  For the past 20 minutes or so I have been typing a reply, only for it to disappear into the ether without a hope of retrieval.  This will not do.   I will try to remember what I was writing and have another go later but there are more important things to do.   Chris 

 

Now then, where was I?  Good morning one and all

 

When I woke this morning there was residual weariness from a round trip of 300+ miles to and from Staplegrove.  The car must have thought I was tired for on the way home it flashed up a suggestion that I should take a break. Highlights of the day included the fried bread at Harry Ramsdens, the price of petrol at Taunton Sainsburys, the pasty I had for lunch and of course the Staplegrove event itself – always worth making the effort to attend.  It was particularly good to meet Rick properly, at last, and Southern Region Steam, aka Jam, for the first time.  On the way home I called on my aunt in Sea Mills and invited her to lunch in July when I am next in Bristol.  I owe her big time for what she did for me last August, which was to be there for me when I came out.  I’m not sure what she was implying by suggesting that I take a walking stick when I march at Pride In London!

 

My phone was not exactly the star of the show yesterday.  It took over 20 minutes to persuade it to let me make a phone call, which after all is what it is for, and I am grateful to Naturol for trying to help.  Did I say that I hate technology?

 

There’s a fair bit on this week.  Tomorrow I shall send the booking form and deposit for my Christmas and New Year trip to Switzerland.  Wednesday is May Day in Ampthill, when there is a new morris side to watch ahead of breakfast in the pub with my friends.  I hope they will join me afterwards for our usual quality control of local real ale.  On Thursday morning I will vote for ward councillors and a mayor before getting the bus back to Ampthill to collect the car.  That evening Grace Petrie is in concert in the unlikely setting of Cecil Sharp House – dead cultural!  On Friday Sam Sweeney, late of Bellowhead, is in concert at The Stables.  Then comes the Bank Holiday weekend, when there is nothing in the diary and I hope to make a dent in the list of jobs that need doing.

 

Today there is ironing.  Some things never change.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[BlackRat]

Lie in with a cup of tea as seemingly caught a minor bout of man flu.

 

Busy catching up with the pics of yesterday's events at the annual SWAG do at Taunton. Always a great event, even better this year and I feel you haven't yet been, I suggest a trip down west to say hello.

 

Spent most of the day nattering, and the ex copper branch managed to keep one or two entertained, including the stories of one lady of the night called Lisa, a very large Zulu princess who used to entertain a young BR in the White Hart pub in Cardiff docklands by flashing him ( and other members of the Cardiff 4mm group) her ample assets, both upper and lower deck.

 

Luckily Brian R was on hand to confirm the tale and Brinkley has offered to edit (censor) our forthcoming memoirs......

 

A great day and thanks to all involved.

 

[tigerburnie]

Morning all, well I shalln't be trying top BlackRats tales( I possibly could but would most likely be banned from here for ever), the weather is calm but dull, I got up early with the intention of going up the Glens looking for Adders again, but no sun means no snakes, so maybe I will go later if it brightens up(in case you're wondering I'm an amateur wildlife photographer who gets a few pictures published in the Scottish Field magazine), have a nice day all.

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, chrisf said:

I hate technology.  For the past 20 minutes or so I have been typing a reply, only for it to disappear into the ether without a hope of retrieval.  This will not do.   I will try to remember what I was writing and have another go later but there are more important things to do.   Chris 

I had a phase like that!

 

I ended up typing any reply on the computer's word  processing function.

 

Then, copied the stuff to the notepad and finally pasted the scribblings into the forum.

[Happy Hippo]

20 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

 I got up early with the intention of going up the Glens looking for Adders again, but no sun means no snakes, so maybe I will go later if it brightens up

Here's a photo I took a few years back in Florida.

 

It's a Canebrake/Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake hybrid.

 

 

It was about 5 feet in length.

 

I am fascinated by reptiles especially snakes, but this close I'm glad that there was a sheet of glass between us!

[TheQ]

Good Job Harry Potter wasn't around...

[Kingzance]

Good morning ERs. Decidedly grey in North Herts and assorted diggers over the fence attempting Flamenco / the Paso Doble - or at least the ground movements are akin to that. Sadly there is no Darcy Bustle to lighten my mood. SWMBO asked what I had planned for the day as I delivered her first muggertea in bed. My response of "perhaps a walk and some modelling" was met with the kind of stoney silence that suggests other ideas are as yet undisclosed.
 

Re sheds and the proliferation of same, shouldn't there be a sub-thread entitled something like "a shed for all seasons" or "sheds we have known and loved"? When we moved in here, it was certain that we would need a shed for garden items, having downsized from a three shed and one greenhouse manor (no, they weren't all painted in that colour reminiscent of Land Rover Green). I had a wooden base constructed from sturdy and well-treated timbers which was placed upon a levelled brick base. Atop that now sits an 8x6 shed made of recycled plastic, secured by a box of 6mm screws, erected by me myself and one other in around half a day. Yes, I know, hurricanes hardly happen in Hertfordshire but we have has some decent winds over the past year that have resulted in many local fences and a few trees failing to remain erect but my shed has survived all such challenges. It is not, however, suitable for a model railway being single-skinned and somewhat humid with significant internal temperature variations. Kingzance is in the integral garage occupying the far one third as I chickened out when attempting to negotiate more of the space.

 

May all your plans come to a successful fruition. I'm awaiting the new orders as she has now appeared dressed and primed.

 

[81C]

Morning All

Aching like hell from yesterdays events Her doesn't know when to stop with working on the house I'm fit for FA today.

 

I might grin and bear it later to get Her  off my back, earlier I had a delve into the on-line BRM mags on this gold thingy after some intervention

by the goodly Mr. York this AM all seems to be well, it well stop me wasting time playing computer games when I get bored.

 

Her is on "get the cases ready to-go" mission so seriously no peace for the next few days I was tempted or to get the gaffer tape out and do a gagging job

on her but I would like my body parts left intact. 

                                                                                             Have a good day Welland Truli-Bolleuxed 

                                                              

Edited April 29, 2019 by 81C

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I get regular updates from a website called Travelzoo, a sort of remainder shop for holidays and days out. I received a list from them this morning that included a trip to a brewery. The brewery in question is the Brentwood brewery, one that I'd never heard of despite it being 'local'. For those that may be interested its a micro-brewery and its on the Ongar Road. Thats it for now, be back later.

[grandadbob]

Returned from Sainsbury's without mishap and I have put the parking blockade into action. Now all I have to do is wait for about 22 hours. 

Meanwhile The Boss is visiting friends in the next road to invite them round for drinks at some stage in the near future. Knowing how much Maureen talks I suspect she may be gone for some time.

Time for some coffee I think.

Edited April 29, 2019 by grandadbob

[BSW01]

So far, it’s been a de constructive day, both pallets are now disassembled and residing around the back. During the process I only broke one board, so I’m pleased with that. I even found time to tidy up the front a bit and do some light weeding whilst I was sweeping up the mess from the pallets.  Currently sat at the kitchen table having a quick 5 minutes with muggertea No2. 

 

Some of the wood wood from the pallets is a bit too wet to cut, so as it’s warming up nicely now, I think I’ll do a bit of gardening in the back for the rest of the day.

[SouthernRegionSteam]

And yet again I must make my apologies for another prolonged absence!
Surprisingly though, the reason is actually because I've been working non-stop on the layout. "Here on ERs, Sacrilege!" I hear you say 

First though, my congratulations and commiserations to those as applicable; I'm sorry I haven't had the time to pop in and chat recently, but hopefully things will slowly start to calm down a little!

With regards to losing replies; ever since I lost a lengthy post once, I've always typed in a notepad file on my desktop before transferring it across to any forum. It has no doubt saved many-a-tear.

The SWAG event yesterday in Taunton (or "Tannton" as my sat-nav delightfully proclaimed) was probably the highlight of my last 6 years; not even kidding!

The layout ran well (aside from the turntable in the fiddle yard which needs adjustment with the wiper contacts, but it didn't really impact too badly), and I could not believe the sheer number of compliments from fellow members about Sandy Shores. I've had invite after invite, tons of photos of the layout taken, had an interview, and maybe I'll even get my first magazine feature.... we'll wait and see!

So yes, thoroughly enjoyed myself! I've got our model show this coming weekend to prepare for, and then maybe, just maybe; I'll be able to continue transferring the layout over to RMweb from NGRM.

[Joseph_Pestell]

The last couple of weekends here have been taken up with constructing three "barrels" to be used for glamping (that's a word that I detest). Bonus is that their design is such that there is a lot of good timber left over at the end. Even the crates they were transported in had quite a lot of 4mm ply. So been out this morning on the table saw and mitre/chop saw creating suitable bits for future layout projects. Unfortunately I had to fess up to SWMBO about my intentions. She is not impressed and wondering (as am I actually) quite where I am going to store it all.

 

Could be some spare timber left over therefore if anyone round here wants some. Some rough 4 x 1 (with staples) and various dimensions of planed softwood, especially good for someone who likes to build L-girder baseboards.

[Joseph_Pestell]

4 hours ago, chrisf said:

 

Wednesday is May Day in Ampthill, when there is a new morris side to watch ahead of breakfast in the pub with my friends.  I hope they will join me afterwards for our usual quality control of local real ale. 

 

I thought that ale was compulsory with Morris.

[Tony_S]

Afternoon all.

I have had an “on the phone” morning. Booking the car in to have its software upgraded was simple. I think the dealership call centre must be in Scotland as whenever I ring the person answering has a Scottish accent. Fairly certain there isn’t a huge Scots colony in Chelmsford. 

Reporting a scratch to my car minor damage insurance people was ok after I gave up using the phone. One of those where, when you get get to the front of the queue you get cut off. They did in one of the messages suggest their new web based reporting system. That worked well.

We didn’t go to Leigh on Sea yesterday. We are going this afternoon. After I ordered my multi bodging tool from John Lewis, Aditi ordered a dress from them but that wasn’t due to arrive until today. Aditi ordered the dress after I told her about an ER’s Facebook post alerting people to a sale. Aditi didn’t buy anything in the sale (Seasalt, a seller of frocks and things to ladies and children) but she did order one of their products full price from John Lewis. So in addition to all the other tasks John Colby performs we now have fashion advice. 

Tony

[81C]

3 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

I thought that ale was compulsory with Morris.

Why bother with Morris anyway if you have the ale, I can't see the attraction of men dressed in silly outfits acting the goat most of them only do it to ponce free beer of the crowd watching them PAH.