Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

Amber Thunder warning now. The radar shows the leading edge of it over Brighton now. I should get a hobby instead of looking at weather forecasts. Perhaps something to do with model railways...

 

[roundhouse]

Good evening from a soggy Stafford. Was a nice day earlier when we travelled to Carlisle and Dumfries for a beer. First time that I have carried an old Triang Jinty and two L & B coaches to Scotland!!

Tam O Shanters in Dumfries is a great little pub with very good ale.

 

Now in the The Sun out of the rain in Stafford drinking the superb Titanic Plum Porter. Could drink it all night but food required and plenty of other places to visit.

[45156]

1 hour ago, roundhouse said:

Tam O Shanters in Dumfries is a great little pub with very good ale.

 

Now in the The Sun out of the rain in Stafford drinking the superb Titanic Plum Porter. Could drink it all night but food required and plenty of other places to visit.

Yes it is a very good pub - haven't been there for a couple of years.

And yes, Titanic beers are pretty good as well. though wnen Keith Bott was brewing for Lancaster brewery, he brought some of the yeast from Titanic, and it just did not work away from it's home enironment, and mutated in a way which made the beers quite unpleasnt.  They sterilised the brewery, and all the equipment, and then started again with some yeast obtained from Thwaites, which has mutated into something rather good, and has helped make Lancaster brews into what they are today.

 

Evening All

 

Apart from a special mention for John and Sandy, which goew without saying, it's also great to see Pete again, and also Gordon, who has also been missed - and Debs, just keep right on posting.  So it has to be generic greetings to all the ailing and celebrating ERs again.

 

A session at LASAR this morning, then picked 30747 from work, and had to explain that yet again, Barclays IT has let us down with an inability to generate a statement.

 

Fodder run tomorrow.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[grandadbob]

Evenin' each from Soggy Sutton.

Been raining off and on all day but no thunder....yet.

I've spent a few hours in The Shed and some track (not much) has been laid and wired and works.... so far. I'm doing the awkward bit over the drop down flap at the moment. I know damn well that it will end in tears. In a fair bit of pain as The Knee has not reacted favourably to lots of standing and crawling about under the boards. Only slight damage to The Head though. 

Ibuprofen, Hobgoblin and Aussie Shiraz have been deployed in turn.

[TheQ]

With apologies to any solicitors here,  I've never found a good  one,  everything touched by them involving me or any of my friends have turned into a pile of carp. Divorces or house sales. 

 

We've now been given an Amber warning,  40mm rain expected in 1 to to hours...  It's chucking it down out there.. 

 

My main annual pension assessment has arrived from BAE/GEC/Marconi. if I were to retire tomorrow I would lose 1600 pounds on retiring at 65 it's projected date, more interestingly that plus my RAF pension mean I could do it if I wanted to..

 

I feel like standing outside mouth open,  anything to cool my throat... 

Edited October 14, 2019 by TheQ

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Persisting down outside but no sign of the leak in the flat roof. I suspect that its been driven in by strong wind so its going to be a job to find the exact spot were the leak is. Time for dinner, be backlater.

[jamie92208]

We used q very good and efficient solicitor to do the paperwork  for the purchase of the MRC freehold.  She did a very good job. She's now serving 8 years for defrauding client accounts. 

 

Jamie

Edited October 14, 2019 by jamie92208

[Gwiwer]

10 hours ago, AndrewC said:

How does the Oyster work if you don't touch out at a zone 6 station? Wondering as I'll be in a similar situation in 45 months. My current payg Oyster and SWMBO's season ticket Oyster will both take a daily cap fare off the card if we fail to touch out. The extension split ticket change is something Southeastern is learning to hate. The "hack" has been spread widely on passenger forums. Buy a season ticket to New Cross or New Cross gate instead of London Terminal. 

Evening all. It has continued to be wetter than a wet thing and your scribe failed to stay dry at the House of Fun

 

Oyster will indeed charge the daily cap for any “incomplete journey” if it cannot determine both touch in and out points and is unable to compute a fare. However in many cases this cap would be the same as the charged fare so the customer does nit lose out. 

 

There is no means by which a “smart” card can tell that you have crossed an artificial line on a map and at that point have changed between non-compatible ticketing systems. 

 

I get this all the time at work. Customers arriving from (usually) points in Sussex and wishing to touch in a card to complete a journey. Or those who have touched in within the zones but are travelling to a point beyond and need to touch out. 

 

The only way is to take the hike to the barrier line, exit, double back and enter using the other system. Very far from ideal. But this is a limitation of such non-compatible systems. The same is true for those using The Key (Southern’s smart card) which will not work within London. 

 

Occasional travellers remain better off purchasing a point to point paper ticket where this is possible. But this is not possible at TfL stations nor on London buses or trams. The Oyster and the same-fare PAYG option using your own payment card are multimodal. The Network Rail system is not unless one purchases the Travelcard add-on. And that is now available only in Zone1-6 format with the Zone 1/2 and 1-4 options having been withdrawn a few years back. 

 

It is possible to purchase a limited range of paper tickets at Underground stations to points on the NR network but there are no staffed ticket offices and the range available from machines is very limited. 

 

For those travelling to or from Gatwick Airport, which is well beyond London zones, it is possible to use Oyster or contactless PAYG to or from any location - and indeed any TfL bus - within all zones (including those few in Z7-9) and be charged the point-to-point fare for a one-way journey or appropriate daily cap if making a round trip. You must however have sufficient funds available before touching in and the fare will be rather more than the Z1-6 daily cap!

 

 

[Coombe Barton]

Not much more they can do.

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2019/10/14/sandys-treatment-day-300/

[roundhouse]

Southerns Key is anything but Smart and won't go near it ever again. Much the same with a registered Oyster as Underground confiscated it from me saying it was stolen which wasn't but just that my credit card associated with the Oyster card had expired and renewed. I just use a bank card to buy tfl tickets these days. How's er there was an issue with zoster a few years ago where it charged more than the paper tickets.

UK transport companies need to sort out all these systems if they want people to trust them properly. Today it was way cheapertto but separate tickets for various segments of the journey than one return ticket and also to not buy them via Virgin trains website or their ticket offices yet they are valid on their trains. How does the occasional traveller work this out though.

 

 

Now drying out drinking Joules Slumbering Monk and a fresh barrel put on for us. Very nice

Edited October 14, 2019 by roundhouse

[Gwiwer]

11 hours ago, AndrewC said:

How does the Oyster work if you don't touch out at a zone 6 station? Wondering as I'll be in a similar situation in 45 months. My current payg Oyster and SWMBO's season ticket Oyster will both take a daily cap fare off the card if we fail to touch out. The extension split ticket change is something Southeastern is learning to hate. The "hack" has been spread widely on passenger forums. Buy a season ticket to New Cross or New Cross gate instead of London Terminal. 

Evening all. It has continued to be wetter than a wet thing and your scribe failed to stay dry at the House of Fun

 

Oyster will indeed charge the daily cap for any “incomplete journey” if it cannot determine both touch in and out points and is unable to compute a fare. However in many cases this cap would be the same as the charged fare so the customer does nit lose out. 

 

There is no means by which a “smart” card can tell that you have crossed an artificial line on a map and at that point have changed between non-compatible ticketing systems. 

 

I get this all the time at work. Customers arriving from (usually) points in Sussex and wishing to touch in a card to complete a journey. Or those who have touched in within the zones but are travelling to a point beyond and need to touch out. 

 

The only way is to take the hike to the barrier line, exit, double back and enter using the other system. Very far from ideal. But this is a limitation of such non-compatible systems. The same is true for those using The Key (Southern’s smart card) which will not work within London. 

 

Occasional travellers remain better off purchasing a point to point paper ticket where this is possible. But this is not possible at TfL stations nor on London buses or trams. The Oyster and the same-fare PAYG option using your own payment card are multimodal. The Network Rail system is not unless one purchases the Travelcard add-on. And that is now available only in Zone1-6 format with the Zone 1/2 and 1-4 options having been withdrawn a few years back. 

 

It is possible to purchase a limited range of paper tickets at Underground stations to points on the NR network but there are no staffed ticket offices and the range available from machines is very limited. 

 

For those travelling to or from Gatwick Airport, which is well beyond London zones, it is possible to use Oyster or contactless PAYG to or from any location - and indeed any TfL bus - within all zones (including those few in Z7-9) and be charged the point-to-point fare for a one-way journey or appropriate daily cap if making a round trip. You must however have sufficient funds available before touching in and the fare will be rather more than the Z1-6 daily cap!

 

 

[brianusa]

Sorry about all your rain, we've not had any for ages here in the PNW but its scheduled for this week.  Its not been that cold either, just lovely bright, crisp, Autumn weather.  Winter will be long enough!!

     Brian.

[jamie92208]

Evening all from a rather wet part of the Charente.  The thunder has passed over but Orange gave us a weather warning.   Much has been achieved today but this afternoon I had to go to a large village funeral.  This was for the matriarch of the largest farming family in the village and the church was filled with as many people standing outside.   I didn't stay for the interment and managed to get home before the rain started.  I was able to pay my respects to Old Claude Marchet who has lost his wife. He's a lovely old guy who drives round the village each day at about 5 mph inspecting all their crops.  he also makes some appalling rose wine that can only be drunk when laced with pamplemouuse syrup.   

 

I now have to crave indulgence from the lady of the awful awl.   A most important event took place in that young Emily Lancaster (5.5 months and counting) was introduced to model railways in general and Lancaster (Green Ayre) in particular.

Here are Rachel and Laura, plus young Emily watching a train go past.  She was captivated by it and smiled broadly.

Then there obviously had to be the staged photo opportunity.

Me trying to be grumpy with Rachel and Emily and of course the layout sign in the background.

 

Jamie

[tigerburnie]

G'night all.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all (yet again) from Estuary-Land. After reading Johns blog I am lost for words but I'm glad that Kerry was able to see her mistress. I haven't contacted my brother yet to find out how his dialysis is going, thankfully my own kidneys though not 100% are still doing their job. I can confirm that I will, all being well, be going to Warley next month. I just have to nip down to the bank tomorrow to transfer funds.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Well what a day, but I’ve actually done nothing! As I’m an individual and not a trade member at Costco, I can’t go in the store until after 11 o’clock. However, I decided to set off a little earlier than I originally planned, as I wanted call in at the big orange DIY shed for another tin of undercoat (I’ve almost finished the tin I bought a couple of months ago!). When I got there, the roads for some reason were very busy, so busy it took me 10 minutes to travel about 700 yards! Anyway when I finally got into Costco to book my car in, I was told that there was a 3-4 hour wait! But as the repair needed doing, I left it with them and walked across to the Trafford Centre. There not only did I get the few items I’d been tasked with getting, I also picked up a click and collect order, that had come in a day early (which now saves me going there tomorrow). These tasks only took about 30 minutes and the thought of another 3 1/2 hours in the Trafford Centre didn’t appeal at all, so I decided to walk the 2 1/2 miles home, getting back just in time for dinner. After dinner I decided to have a short rest was in order, so a couple of sudoku puzzles were completed. I then set off to walk the 2 1/2 miles back to Costco, which took me just over 30 minutes. When I got there I was pleased to find that the car was ready and that they were able to repair the puncture all for the princely sum of £9.99. I then drove home, getting back just after 4 o’clock, just in time for a late afternoon muggertea. Whilst the kettle was on, I put back all the few items that I’d taken out of the boot this morning and within a few minutes it started to rain and it’s still raining now. So although I didn’t get any of the jobs I’d hoped to tackle done, I’ve  managed to walk well over 6 1/2 miles today!

 

Thoughts as ever with John and Sandy. 

 

Goodnight all

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[AndyID]

4 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Me trying to be grumpy with Rachel and Emily and of course the layout sign in the background.

 

Maybe it's just me, but Emily seems to be more concerned about that thing growing on your upper lip.

Which reminds me. I really need to trim my beard.

[BR60103]

20 hours ago, TheQ said:

LNER is state owned, they don't have to try to win your business, the government will pay (or to be more precise the users and the tax payers), you'll probably soon be served a BR sandwich by them...

 

Does someone still have a stock of BR sandwiches?   Will they have improved with age?

 

[BR60103]

We were out on the Waterloo Central Railway today as they had steam running.

That's Dayle in front.  

They put us down at a farmer's crossing with strict warnings to stay on the track and definitely not get into the crops or on the grass -- there is a tractor track that runs beside the railway.

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all Canadians.

 

[AndyID]

23 minutes ago, BR60103 said:

Does someone still have a stock of BR sandwiches?   Will they have improved with age?

 

 

The sandwiches have probably deteriorated quite a bit by now, The real question is would BR have deteriorated any faster?

 

Answers in a stamped, self-addressed envelope, including a ten bob note to:

 

Minnie Balustrade

c/o Goon Show, BEEB

[Gwiwer]

Morning all. 

 

SWMBO has had several bad days and failed to sleep last night. She has arranged to see her consultant today at short notice. Updates may follow. 

 

Thoughts with John and Sandy. Our trials are very minor in comparison. 

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all, with warmest thoughts to John and Sandy.

 

I have nothing to report on Chris v I-player as I found myself occupied with many other things yesterday.  Today could be interesting as I have some vouchers to spend at Debenhams.  A mate of mine is singing the praises of his new slow cooker and it would be rude not to go and check out what is available.  I've looked up train times to get me to Uckfield on Saturday and it looks as though I will be having breakfast in London again.  I wish I could remember how I did it last year!  I have an Oyster card but find a Travelcard plus add-on more suitable for this journey.

 

In a month or so I will be having my annual brief encounter with a friend in Weybridge on my way home from the Portsmouth show.  In the past we have dined at the Cafe Rouge but I understand that it has closed.  On a couple of occasions I managed to obtain a discount there with my senior railcard.  If you don't ask, you don't get.

 

Tonight I am looking forward to the 12 mile drive to St Neots to see Jim Causley, a fine singer from Devon.  Yes, he is a distant relative of the poet Charles Causley and has set many of the latter's poems to music.  I should be telling the world of this via Facebook and may well remember to do it later.  The trouble is that there is so much piffle and dross on FB these days that it tends to swamp the important stuff.

 

On that happy note, best wishes to all

 

Chris

[AndyID]

Latest episode in PCB milling. Looks a lot like the last Aztec stuff, but it's a bit more consistent over the area. I have not tried it yet but this might be one way to produce very accurate loco mainframes.

 

I wish I had some comforting words for John.

 

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

I am back in the office this morning after a short autumn break.  We didn't do very much - it was a quiet few days, and then I was motivated to do a job that I have been putting off for some time and installed a new water pump in the cellar.

 

The weather is fairly autumnal this morning, but was an unseasonable 26°C yesterday afternoon.

 

Thoughts are with John and Sandy.

 

Have a good day everyone...