Early Risers.

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all!  This is Chrisf, more or less live from Bedford after an evening in a club on Shaftesbury Avenue which was difficult to find.  The occasion was notable for having two rainbow ties on show in one place.  One was mine, the other sported by Peter Tatchell.  It was the same one that he was wearing on the Victoria Derbyshire programme which was presented by someone other than Victoria Derbyshire.  It was an interesting evening for the right reasons.  I got to meet some nice people, not too close an eye was kept on the supplies of white wine and I learned a few things about the origins and history of Pride.  Earlier an old friend had led me willingly to the bookshop that featured in the magnificent film "Pride" before we repaired to a cheap and cheerful Chinese restaurant near Kings Cross station.

 

Today I need to round up what I will need tomorrow - sunscreen, sunglasses, water bottle and probably a relief set of footwear.  I'm not confident that the new boots will be sufficiently broken in to last all day on my long suffering hooves but having rediscovered a very thick pair of socks I will have the boots on my feet for most of today and will see what happens.   I sent the photo of them to e-friend Harry which resulted in our first conversation for a month.  He now works for Amazon somewhere in London and it seems that his life is no longer his own.  To think that he left teaching to find a less stressful job. 

 

Bill, the latest communique from Pride HQ suggest that the ETA of the individuals' group at Trafalgar Square will be between 5 pm and 6 pm.  I have been told to arrive at the back of Broadcasting House between 12 noon and 12.45, there to be corralled for a good hour with little to do except admire the long row of portaloos alongside BH, wish everyone else in the group "happy Pride" and generally exchange pleasantries.  I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow because I will have achieved an ambition, simply by walking for a mile and a bit through the streets of London with others of like mind.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Sunshine and blue sky here with another fine day forecast and temperatures possibly reaching 26°C.

My other two parcels turned up as promised yesterday so I now have a cover and tools for the BBQ that didn't arrive. Following that we went to Sainsbury's and bought copious amounts of food for BBQing and normal use. Booze supplies were also topped up for the planned BBQ. Guess who is going be a very unhappy bunny if the star of show doesn't turn up as promised today?

Went to the shed for and hour in the evening and ran some locos up and down and all seems to working fine. It was pretty hot in there as it had been shut all day.

Today, apart from parcel waiting, I have been asked (tasked) with assisting in domestic cleansing operations. Hopefully The Knee will not play up too much although earlier it was protesting and all I was doing was reading about Brian's day followed by his daily mile swim!  It's been a long, long time since I've swum anywhere let alone a mile. If I remember rightly it was 53 lengths in Mitcham Baths but I was in my teens then.

Tea has been taken up to Her Bossness who is now up and about and I suspect ready to bark commands although she's not in the same league as RSM Brittain.

 

 

or even Dicky Attenborough!

 

 

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited July 5, 2019 by grandadbob

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a sunny village.  It is alleged to be going to be 34 degrees later today.   Yesterday a lot got done and in the afternoon the trailer was taken to the tip with a lot of rubbish from here, plus the remains of the circular saw and it's bench.  In the evening Beth and I went to our usual monthly quiz, about 10 miles north of here and returned with a bottle of bubbly.  We got 72 and the two winning teams got 73, so we were quite pleased.   

 

Today Beth is off to a local town, about 35 miles away, with a friend and I'm off to the dentist for part 2 of the root canal/crown procedure.    No doubt model railways will be talked about at some point.   This afternoon not a lot will be done but no doubt some unspecified pottering.   This evening we plan to spend time assembling a joint set of our holiday photos as some friends, who are coming for dinner on Saturday, have asked to see them.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Just a follow on from Brian's post above.   One of RSM Brittain's replacements was a certain Roy Foster who later joined Leeds City Police.   He was one of the duty inspectors at Elland Road one busy Saturday afternoon.   I was on duty in the detention area in the bowels of the west stand.  The Desk Sgt was also an ex Coldstreamer.   2 PC's brought a stroppy and shouting young lad in for public order offences.  It was soon discovered that he was a serving Soldier in the Coldstream Guards.  The Sgt had a word with Roy Foster who was nearby.   Roy went bright red and started putting the young man through his paces.  I'm sure that he could be heard outside above the roar of the crowd.  Within a couple of minutes the young man had been reduced to an abject quivering wreck and not a hand had been laid upon him.   Just the power of the voice and Roy's presence.   It was quite a sight and sound.  I believe that Roy had been trained by RSM Brittain.

 

Jamie

[roundhouse]

Good morning form a cool shed in a sunny Surrey. With the amount of insulation i have put in the walls floor and roof it doesn't get that hot in here even when locked up.

 

I suppose this warm weather is preparing us for the next few weeks as its in the 30's in Salt lake City where this years NMRA convention is being held. Plenty of new brewpubs to visit since our last trip there. Just ordered the currency and will go collect this morning. Important things such as passports driving licenses camera and gadgets packed but clothes yet to be packed. Wont take long as we only take a few days worth of clothes and wash them each day. They soon dry out in the aircon. helps keep the weight of our bags down so they can be carried and no check in baggage which saves time at airports. Not planning on buying much at the trainshow a week today as trying to clear stuff rather than add but we shall see. I suspect that my other half will buy more locos than I do as per last year.

 

Out for first Friday of the month meet up for lunch with the On30 local module group not that I have any modules (yet).

[Happy Hippo]

All Guards Drill Instructors were members of the SS!

 

The Shouty School.  They have a number of set phrases which are deemed to be excellent in the Woodentops Book of bile and humiliation, but sometimes, just sometimes, they can be left speechless and walk away snorting under their breath.

 

One such incident occured when I was at Sandhurst:  The officer cadet standing next to me at the muster parade was deemed to be 'in bad order' and the drill sgt tore into him verbally and ended up placing his pace stick just under the young mans nose and screaming: 'There's a piece of sh*t at the end of my pacestick!'

 

'I can't see it this end, Staff' was the reply!

 

I think it was worth the week of show parades he was given.

 

 

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

The weather in the northwest is dull and grey, currently 15C but expected to get into the low 20’s later. 

 

It’s Friday, so that means a trip to the Trafford Centre, this moi will be accompanied, so that means that I’ll we’ll be there a lot longer than normal. Our return journey will be via the butchers where I’ll pick up the weekly meat rations and hopefully a pastie for my dinner. 

 

There’s not a lot planned for the rest of the day, although that may well change as the day progresses.

 

I think I’ve got time to hang my wetsuit out on the washing line to dry, whilst Sheila is getting herself ready. 

 

Enjoy the day, back later. 

[Kingzance]

Mawning from a sunny and warm Channel Island. Shopping done as planned yesterday then SWMBO and her sister taken to the seafront at Sandown so they could be two old biddies having a cream tea at the seaside. On our return, the remaining couple of the party, who had spent the day sweltering at Hampton Court Flower Show, called to say they were on an earlier boat so the planned eyelid inspection was cancelled and yours truly went to act as a point scout for them.

Barbecue then ensued and I discovered that, compared to SWMBO and me, they have prodigious thirsts so an emergency visit to that regal wine store’s outlet at Wootton will be required. Later we are heading to Ventnor and The Spyglass Inn for a leisurely late lunch and then maybe a drive along the southwest coast towards The Needles. I expect we shall be back at base early evening as the emergency wine stocks will need to be assessed for quality and effectiveness. Bread, cheese, grapes, celery, olives and a selection of biscuits will see out the catering for the day. We (or rather they) shall decide on plans for tomorrow once the wine has been poured but I hope it will be a day of walking down to the beach, taking a light brunch and perhaps a supper at one of the cafes along the sea wall between Ryde and Seaview.

RSMs were something never to be found in any position of command in the Merchant Navy. We did however have a CPO who attempted to get us to behave to his ideals whilst wearing doeskin uniforms, naval officers’ caps and well polished shoes - not boots and certainly with no hobnails - during our basic training although where we would ever put group marching to use on a ship with a crew of 30 or less could never be determined. Chiefy Tozer was almost a caricature of himself, part Jon Pertwee from the Navy Lark, part Windsor Davies from a later tv series about a concert party the name of which escapes me. Three of our intake did use the impressed skills as they were called to represent the MN at the Annual Remembrance Day ceremonies in London and they now rightly look back on that with pride. I never made the cut on tidiness or erectness grounds!

Have a nice day one and all, take care in the heat!

[lightengine]

Another breezeless day in sunny Teignmouth. The wispy clouds, what there are of them, are static.

 

Yesterday I noticed that the flying ants seem to be readying for flight. I didnt see any take off but there was action in the burrow.

 

Activity goes on in Teignmouth for the inaugural airshow. Car parks are closed, road parking is banned in certain streets, vessels cannot leave the harbour without permission tomorrow, an exclusion zone has been set up in the sea adjacent to the town beach and and the fair is in town.

 

An amusing item in the news from Worthing. Southern Water employed hawks to chase gulls away from part of the beach to stop water pollution from gull poo (I prefer the word pooh).  A few years ago the council here in Teignmouth wanted the "under pier nesting birds" removed as they poo in the sea.  I understand blue flags are nice to see for quality of water but next we will be harpooning sea creatures for defecating in the sea and lambasting small children who wee near the waters edge. Come on Southern Water/ South West Water, it might be better if firstly you stopped polluting beaches with your bad waste management.

 

Anybody any ideas from which station this sign may have come from?

 

[TheQ]

23 minutes ago, Kingzance said:

Mawning from a sunny and warm Channel Island. Shopping done as planned yesterday then SWMBO and her sister taken to the seafront at Sandown so they could be two old biddies having a cream tea at the seaside. On our return, the remaining couple of the party, who had spent the day sweltering at Hampton Court Flower Show, called to say they were on an earlier boat so the planned eyelid inspection was cancelled and yours truly went to act as a point scout for them.

Barbecue then ensued and I discovered that, compared to SWMBO and me, they have prodigious thirsts so an emergency visit to that regal wine store’s outlet at Wootton will be required. Later we are heading to Ventnor and The Spyglass Inn for a leisurely late lunch and then maybe a drive along the southwest coast towards The Needles. I expect we shall be back at base early evening as the emergency wine stocks will need to be assessed for quality and effectiveness. Bread, cheese, grapes, celery, olives and a selection of biscuits will see out the catering for the day. We (or rather they) shall decide on plans for tomorrow once the wine has been poured but I hope it will be a day of walking down to the beach, taking a light brunch and perhaps a supper at one of the cafes along the sea wall between Ryde and Seaview.

RSMs were something never to be found in any position of command in the Merchant Navy. We did however have a CPO who attempted to get us to behave to his ideals whilst wearing doeskin uniforms, naval officers’ caps and well polished shoes - not boots and certainly with no hobnails - during our basic training although where we would ever put group marching to use on a ship with a crew of 30 or less could never be determined. Chiefy Tozer was almost a caricature of himself, part Jon Pertwee from the Navy Lark, part Windsor Davies from a later tv series about a concert party the name of which escapes me. Three of our intake did use the impressed skills as they were called to represent the MN at the Annual Remembrance Day ceremonies in London and they now rightly look back on that with pride. I never made the cut on tidiness or erectness grounds!

Have a nice day one and all, take care in the heat!

Oh Dear, How Sad Never Mind....It ain't half Hot Mum.. Lovely Boy..

[lightengine]

No update from The Stationmaster re an early morning parking/blocking manouevre this morning? I see the fight for the 4 spaces outside our place daily. 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. The cars and even the van obstructing my drive had disappeared by late evening, a bit unusual as one of the cars and the van are usually there overnight. LE, I seem to recall a similar sign on Liverpool Street station (suburban side). On the subject of RSM's, I used to work with a former RSM named Len Williams. He originally signed up in 1925 for 15 years but due to the war stayed on until 1946 when he joined the Essex police. When he retired from the police he became a bailiff for the same council that I worked for. He passed away aged 98 only just before I retired.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

I don’t think I and the other cubs got shouted at much when we went on parades. 

My father despite being rather short had a loud voice when necessary but never aspired to “shouty” ranks during his army career. He did say he was used as a substitute shouter when the sergeant major had lost his voice mid parade. Dad said his impersonations of various people must have reached official recognition.  

[Northroader]

My primary school had a teacher who had been a sergeant in WW2, fighting in North Africa and up Italy. He would come up to us, nine year old kids quivering in our desks, shove his nose about a foot away, eyes staring, veins on his forehead bulging, little ginger moustache bristling, and then snarl, “you little gentleman, you!” and we thought he was great.

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Two cars duly parked out in the road by 08.00 so start of the day ok.  I do however have to take our visitors to the station at c.12.00 so car No,3 will be deployed to occupy part of the space I vacate.  Hopefully departing passenger numbers won't be too great around midday and Real Time Trains has kindle kept me up to speed with the STP changes for today although the difference isn't too bad.   Yesterday's rumoured visit by the Red Arrows (which if anything would have been an overflight during a positioning move to Farnborough never really took place although two Hawks passed  a mile or two west of us and were turning in a Farnborough direction when they actually briefly came into view to the south.

 

Now LE's sign question.  Well it's obviously a WR sign which narrows the field.  So where were there buffets, licensed or otherwise, on an overbridge?   The only one that immediately comes to mind was in the rebuilt version of Banbury but there was a refreshment room of some kind on the upper level at Birmingham Snow Hill although as far as I can find out it appears to have gone in 1940 following bomb damage and there were refreshment rooms on the platforms in any case.  Alas I can't find any pictures from the right part of Banbury station from the era when that sign might have been there and I rarely passed through let alone visited that station back then.

 

I'm racking my ageing brain to try to think of any other WR station with a bridge or similar structure which would have had room for a buffet on it and I can't summon one up although somebody else might manage something?

 

Off to the station shortly and no doubt a visit to Tesco for the 'paper after that plus whatever shopping is required, but the food stocks are still holding up and no proper breakfast this morning ...  grr

 

Enjoy the rest of your day one and all.

[Tony_S]

When I was at Keele studying for a post grad cert ed there was a mature chap studying for some sort of masters. He was always pleasant and I am sure he knew everyone referred to him as “The Major”.  Some of us were chatting to him at the end of the year and he said he was aware of this but it was actually Colonel. 

When Aditi graduated she was in the middle of what appeared to be a full dress combined operations day out. King’s College has a big war studies department and it was their graduation day too. 

[TheQ]

Hmm. Keele... I remember the stink from the biology labs..

[Joseph_Pestell]

4 hours ago, lightengine said:

Another breezeless day in sunny Teignmouth. The wispy clouds, what there are of them, are static.

 

Yesterday I noticed that the flying ants seem to be readying for flight. I didnt see any take off but there was action in the burrow.

 

Activity goes on in Teignmouth for the inaugural airshow. Car parks are closed, road parking is banned in certain streets, vessels cannot leave the harbour without permission tomorrow, an exclusion zone has been set up in the sea adjacent to the town beach and and the fair is in town.

 

An amusing item in the news from Worthing. Southern Water employed hawks to chase gulls away from part of the beach to stop water pollution from gull poo (I prefer the word pooh).  A few years ago the council here in Teignmouth wanted the "under pier nesting birds" removed as they poo in the sea.  I understand blue flags are nice to see for quality of water but next we will be harpooning sea creatures for defecating in the sea and lambasting small children who wee near the waters edge. Come on Southern Water/ South West Water, it might be better if firstly you stopped polluting beaches with your bad waste management.

 

Anybody any ideas from which station this sign may have come from?

 

 

Mike (Stationmaster) thinks this is WR but its coming out more LMR Maroon on my screen.

[Northroader]

I was two minds whether the sign was brown or maroon, if the latter, Wigan Wallgate comes to mind.

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

And as usual, generic greetings are on offer to all celebrating and ailing, with apoligies that I have not singled out any particular post or offering.  Though I am follwong Chrisf's coming out with a lot of interest and admiration - and the wearing of the Pride paraphernalia (tie, boots etc) and participation in so many marches in such a short time is amazing,

 

Fodder run was achieved yesterday, and other than one small shelf which is sitting on the bed in the back bedroom now. the cupboard changing marathon is now over - and it is a damned good job that the new Clark's cabinet was rehung, as the glass plates were a bit too weak, and have now been doubled, and also two of the wall plugs were iffy - one was out and the screw was actually in the wall, not the plug - largely due to the fact that all my masonry drills were blunt, and all were at least ten years old - so the new ones which are made by Erbaur (a Screwfix brand I believe) are amazing, and have meant that the holes were drilled accurately. 

 

Well then, what has 45156 been up to today?    Well, a trip to the vet's for Lily's annual innoculations, health check and six monthly supply of flea and tick medication, and womers.

 

Then home, and the G word was mentioned, as Lily has a hidey hole where she can hide behind the fence and bark at the passers by, and which is almost competely hidden by the jungle undergrowth.  So it has been cleared now - rest of the garden may follow at some stage.

 

Tomorrow it's tidying the garage, then going to the annual garden party in the next village.  Sunday is standing the A6 car boot followed by a visit to the Littledale Light Railway, which is having its one and only open day this year for the lifeboats, and the garden in which it runs is also well worth a visit - and admission is a fiver, including a cream tea, with a trip round the garden at another quid.

 

So probably not back now until Monday.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[lightengine]

GWR have created a slalom type queueing course outside the station entrance. With about a quarter of the car park taken up by this winding queueing space, Airshow watchers travelling home will be able to stand in the sun for a while in between trains. I can envisage over heating, fisticuffs, queue jumping, fainting and any other number of problems.  

Three aircraft flew over earlier in what looked like practice flights for tomorrow.  Wouldn't know what types, 2 had small wings on the fuselage in front of the wings. The other jet had delta wings. They were the whizzing through the sky very fast type of aircraft.

Edited July 5, 2019 by lightengine

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. After some mugs of tea its load the car up with a few bits for the exhibition, a fish and chips dinner then off to the venue. Still no sign of the cars and van returning to obstruct my drive here's hoping they don't.

[TheQ]

Dropped into Tescos for a present for Ben the border collie.... Its Wimbledon so they have cheap tennis balls for sale.. 

 

I've just blown Ben's mind and deposited 48 on Ben's bed. 

 

I also dropped into the sailing club, and signed on for rescue boat duties for regatta week.  I mentioned the parking problems,  they've got new gates fitted since last week .

 

Jets with little  wings at the front.. Probably typhoons

 

 

Edited July 5, 2019 by TheQ

[lightengine]

If you laugh only once this week, laugh at this.

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/17745148.hawks-are-used-to-stop-gulls-messing-on-beach/

[NGT6 1315]

Cheers, folks. Long time no see again, but maybe it'll get a bit better for the next few weeks.

 

This is due to having got myself signed of sick for a bit following a pair of threatening incidents caused by aggro specimens of pre-pond life, which didn't harm me physically but left my nerves sufficiently maimed to warrant a bit of a timeout and post-incident counselling. I might elaborate a bit further on this in due course, but I hope you'll understand I intend to calm myself down a bit first thing.

 

In other news, we continued packing up things for the move, which is looming ever closer, too. We booked the same company which had handled our move to Leipzig six years ago and which had done a splendid job at it.

 

I think it's bedtime for Annika now, so I'll try to catch up a bit later tonight. See y'all…