Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

51 minutes ago, newbryford said:

Nearly 800 miles courtesy of three legs

Handy for the Isle of Man then...

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

To get the best results you might try to find a source of newly roasted beans. Most of the roasted beans we get in the supermarkets here have been hanging around for a long time and they are not very good.

We have a bean to cup machine. When we first had it we tried all sorts of (not the ones that have been through civet cats though) roasted beans. We now just buy the same brand consistently, buying tins of it when on offer! 

I don’t recall ever seeing green beans locally though it sounds an interesting thing to try.

Tony

[Debs.]

8 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

........(not the ones that have been through civet cats though).......

 Make mine a frothy-kitty-latte. 

[Coombe Barton]

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2019/09/26/sandys-treatment-day-282/

[AndyID]

32 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

 

I don’t recall ever seeing green beans locally though it sounds an interesting thing to try.

 

 

They're not available here either. I get them from an outfit in California. It helps that green beans have a long shelf life.

[Ozexpatriate]

49 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I don’t recall ever seeing green beans locally though it sounds an interesting thing to try.

 

9 minutes ago, AndyID said:

They're not available here either. I get them from an outfit in California. It helps that green beans have a long shelf life.

A colleague who lives in British Columbia presented me with his personal Vienna roast a couple of weeks ago. I am enjoying it.

 

I'm not sure where he procures his green coffee beans.

[Tony_S]

7 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

They're not available here either. I get them from an outfit in California. It helps that green beans have a long shelf life.

They seem to be available from various online sources here. I suspect if a “celebrity” chef included home roasted beans on a TV programme they would appear very quickly. Instead of trying it myself I may try to persuade Aditi’s sister’s husband to take it up. He has phases of really getting keen on some food or drink product. At present it is fermentation. Not to make alcoholic beverages but things based on tea or dairy products. There are jugs containing bubbly liquids everywhere. Aditi’s sister seems very tolerant of it all. 

Tony

[Andrew P]

2 hours ago, grandadbob said:

PS Neil - welcome to the Grandad club, the best club in the world.

And so is the GREAT Grandad Club,

4 Children plus Husbands / Wives, 6 Grand Children, plus Wives / Husbands / Partners,  and 8 Great Grand Children.

 

DON'T MENTION CHRISTMAS, And a Birthday almost every other week.

[Dave Hunt]

Evening all,

 

After a blood pressure raising morning dealing with an airline whose online check-in system was designed by a half wit and whose so-called customer service department is staffed almost exclusively by his relatives, followed by trying to get some sense out of a travel insurance firm run by ex-employees of the airline who were dismissed for incompetence, rounded off with trying to convince some pillock that I have no intention of having a smart meter and would his firm please stop trying to convince me otherwise, I decided after lunch to take Baz's advice to sieze the day (even though what I really wanted to sieze was somebody's throat) and thought, 'The hell with it, muddling time'. Hence I cast aside all ideas of dealing with any of the other niffnaff and trivia that needs attention and spent the afternoon and some of this evening making lengths of parallel pieces of steel strip joined by wooden crosspieces. Sadly during all this I forgot about the rugby match I was going to watch but hey, ho you can't have everything and the dark canine stayed at home so all-in-all a good day.

 

Have a good night everyone.

 

Dave

[bbishop]

Dave,  I don't suffer with the black dog, However, I have had a couple of crises in the last year and each time I have has support from the ER community.  This included a supportive phone call from France, when the caller was coping with his own problems.  Do make use of us.

 

I'm off to Birmingham tomorrow to help at the ERA show; carrying tables, crawling round with the electrics, providing first aid.  I'm not the youngest, but may be the only one without metal hips and knees.

 

Bill

[Dave Hunt]

You are so right Bill; I've had supportive posts and PMs from ERs that do help. Fortunately my black dog isn't as vicious as I know are those some others have to deal with and doesn't often get loose so I'm quite lucky really. Maybe subscribing to ERs should be on the NHS?

 

Dave

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

I took delivery of our new freezer this morning, I’d bee given a slot of between 11:02 and 13:02 and it arrived just after 11:25. They brought it to the door on a 2 wheel trolley, but apparently they aren’t allowed to bring these through the house, so had to carry the freezer in instead. As they unpacked it outside the front door, I hastily removed the temporary ramp that I’d installed over the cellar stairs. Once they’d left, I put the kettle on (it didn’t suit me) and read the operation manual, honestly! Whilst waiting for the freezer, I ordered a pair of heavy duty drawer runners, which should arrive early next week. I then went back downstairs and continue working on the final stair riser and the under stairs drawer. As the final large item has now been brought down the stairs, I fitted the main upright, the handrail and all the spindles to the stairs. Below are a couple of photos of the finished staircase. It all looks a lot different to what it did earlier in the year. 

 

 

 

After dinner it was more of the same until I packed up just before 4 o’clock. I then had another muggertea which was followed by a spot of eyelid inspection. 

 

After tea I went swimming in Salford Quays, the water is starting to cool down again, the temperature tonight was just under 17C, but it’s getting dark quite early now, but I managed to get a mile completed in 33 minutes again. Once home, I hung my wetsuit up in the cellar to dry and then poured myself a bottle of Doombar.

 

Goodnight all. 

[Barry O]

I must go back to Beamish. Great place to visit. Last time I went I did a bit of clippie mat work for the museum "demonstrator" ..she was well unimpressed!

 

They do talk strange though.. not like us pit yacker lads from the coast!

 

Time for some sleep..goodnight all!

 

Baz

 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Just had a very enjoyable evening at SEERS. Members slide and film show starting off with Leipzig trams. The narrator visited the city in January this year and included in his pics the last Tatras in service as wellas the very latest stock. Of particular interest to me was that in the local rail terminus one platform is used for storing museum stock. There was a steam locomotive, type unknown as it was not possible to take a photograph. An electric locomotive that appeared to date from the 1920's and best of all no less than the Flying Hamburger railcar. Hopefully Dom can fill in the details when he's next here on ER's. Earlier this evening the speaker on my computer was getting very crackly and faint but it seems to be OK now.

[tetsudofan]

Here's a pic of the railcar:

 

 

and something more modern on an adjacent platform:

 

 

….and a pic of two ERs taken by another ER:

 

 

Pics of the other museum items must be on the original smart media card.... if I can find it.....

 

Keith

[PhilJ W]

Thanks Keith, I thought the Flying Hamburger had been scrapped, but apparently not (unless its a replica). 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[The Stationmaster]

The steam loco at Leipzig Hbf is (unless it's been changed over) a BR52  Kriegslok built in 1943  - seen here in 2003 on my 'grand tour whilst I was en-route from Dresden to Jenbach

 

The DMU is - according to Wiki but it checks out generally with other info an SVT137 diesel electric set which was one of the four sub- series of designs which drew on the original SVT 877 'Flying Hamburger' design but with a number of modifications and various differences between the four sub-groups.  This particular unit went to DR post-war and remained in use until 1975 after which it was preserved and restored to its original 1930s livery.

 

G'night all.

 

[Gwiwer]

Evening all.  Or rather good morning as it is now 00.43 o'clock.  24.43 in Melbourne's possibly unique system whereby a shift which began before midnight but continues after is shown as though the hour does not revert to 00:00 at midnight and simply keeps going.  Thus if one signs on at 18.30 for an eight-hour shift the finish time is 26.30.  Such times are shown in all internal and operational documents but not on public timetables - those still use the 12-hour system Australia-wide.

 

Another rather wet day has passed Upon the Hill of Strawberries.  I wasn't planning on venturing forth anyway as the agenda was well filled.  In the event a very poor night's sleep (or possibly a good night's lack of it) meant I was slow starting and had to shake off a persistent headache.  We were woken at 2am by Neighbours (Upstairs) returning from their Student Union bar.  Feet on stairs were louder than they might have been and voices were definitely so.  Then there was coming and going up and down the stairs and in and out of the upstairs flats quite frequently until 4.30am.  Having managed to doze off at one point I was promptly woken again by the sounds of baby-making practice from above.  Not of itself unduly intrusive but when sleep is already broken and the brain probably half awake anyway ..... 

 

An email was sent off to the property manager during the morning for information as the tenancies contain a clause stating that no noise may be made between 11pm and 7am which disturbs other tenants.  I specifically asked that no action be taken for now as I can talk to the people concerned over coming days.  But it's on file in case the disturbance becomes a regular thing.  

 

Having got over the night what was left of the day had to be devoted to Domestic Engineering.  Our dinner guests, a Scots / Australian couple, duly arrived having flown in from Nice.  Yours Truly managed to produce four starters, four mains, breads, chutneys and desserts all of which were much enjoyed.  Most of the dishes were cooked from scratch though I will admit to using a couple of jars of sauce; I can't make a curry base as good as they can!  

 

SWMBO had asked that I dress for dinner on this occasion so I did.  I trust this doesn't give anyone nightmares!  Sleep well.  Or as well as your circumstances allow.  Night all.

 

 

 

[AndyID]

6 hours ago, Tony_S said:

 I may try to persuade Aditi’s sister’s husband to take it up.

 

Unless he wants to test all his smoke alarms he better warn his neighbours and do it outside. Roasting the beans generates a lot of smoke, particularly for espresso. The aroma is quite pleasant and it travels a long way.

[AndyID]

3 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

The steam loco at Leipzig Hbf is (unless it's been changed over) a BR52  Kriegslok built in 1943  - seen here in 2003 on my 'grand tour whilst I was en-route from Dresden to Jenbach

 

 

No copper capped chimney on that then Mike.

 

It has a overhead electric warning flash on the smokebox door which reminded me of a question: Why did BR ban steam under the wires? Was it because of the danger to crews getting too close to the HT conductors, steam causing "flash-overs", or something else?

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It is another damp morning today.  We had rain overnight and it is still showery.

 

Yesterday we had our annual team event - which was quite a pleasant day out. 

 

There isn't a lot else to report, so I guess it is time for a coffee!

 

Have a good day everyone...

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

In what should not have been an idle moment yesterday I worked out how to connect RMweb to my mobile phone.  In the depths of the laptop I came across an e-mail to myself, sent when I last changed my password.  That magic combination of symbols is worryingly memorable.   As you know, Bill set up a Prague bureau for the duration of our stay and lo, we were in touch with the outside world.  Although he encouraged me to contribute to the despatches, and although I quite enjoyed being a special correspondent for a few minutes, it is not something I wish to do with any degree of regularity.  I am saying this here and now because on past form I will succumb to the lure purely because I can and the slope facing me looks rather slippery.   It is just as well that there is no icon to tap, or whatever it is you do to icons, because that really would make the process too easy. 

 

Today I need to assemble the contents of an overnight bag to see me through my stay in Aylesbury.  Scaleforum is at Stoke Mandible stadium tomorrow and Sunday.  There must be worse reasons than that to go to Aylesbury. 

 

Until Monday, best wishes to all

 

Chris 

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

No copper capped chimney on that then Mike.

 

It has a overhead electric warning flash on the smokebox door which reminded me of a question: Why did BR ban steam under the wires? Was it because of the danger to crews getting too close to the HT conductors, steam causing "flash-overs", or something else?

As far as I know it was the potential for flashovers and many classes had big yellow diagonal stripes on the cab sides to remind crews that they couldn't work under the wires. Eventually some experiments were done to determine a safe distance and allowable clearances were reduced.  However  it appears that the documentation from those tests can't be found and that is causing some problems in the modern world.

 

Jamie

Edited September 27, 2019 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

Morning all from the Charente.  Beth is doi g well and we are gradually  working out what she can and can't do. Movi g on crutches is causing other problems due to sciatica in her good leg.   Various mobility aids have been dug out of storage and we are worki g out which can fit through which door.  The problem of getting i to the shower was solved with a high stool.  It's all good fun.  

 

Yesterday the builder cracked on and got a lot of the blockwork done on the en suite.  At some point we will have to change bedrooms while the doorway is cut and sorted.

 

Anyway i've got to go back to the hospital to pay our bills today other tasks will be completed no doubt.  

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie