Early Risers.

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It's rather chilly again this morning - but a degree warmer than it was yesterday and it doesn't actually feel as cold (at least, I didn't think so).

 

Nice work there Brian - SMDs aren't easy to solder!

 

Have a good day everyone...

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

The opportunity to fit in a blood test presented itself yesterday morning.  For once I did not have to wait very long to have a hole drilled in my arm.  I then had to take time out to ensure that my subscription to Railway Bylines would continue uninterrupted.  It appears that the subscription agency has been taken over and somewhere in the process the letter reminding me to renew did not reach me.  We shall see whether both Irwell magazines – they are too good to be called comics! – turn up on the right day in about three weeks’ time.

 

I think I have devised a slow cooker recipe using sausages and tinned tomatoes among other things.  There is only one way to find out and that is to try it.  As some know, I am not all that adventurous where food is concerned and it was through strange circumstances that I found myself eating lasagne in the Black Horse at Sidmouth back in August.  I would do so again, and if needs must I would have chicken tikka masala again.  Some dishes remain a step too far: I have not so far been able to bring myself to eat moules marinieres in Belgium, which is a bit sad as it is the national dish, and do not mention macaroni cheese!  Off the top of my head I do not recall what the national dish of Ireland is but Irish stew somehow seems a bit obvious.  I dare say I will find out when I get there.  On the subject of Ireland, I am indebted to John Coombe Barton for a great idea as to where I might stay.  It could be fun sorting it out but it’s certainly worth a shot.

 

On the subject of ‘saut du mouton’, or possibly not, the World Famous Hammersmith Morris Men perform a leapfrog dance which they call the Hammersmith Flyover.

 

I viewed the Channel 4 documentary about Amazon last night.  It worried me and not just because I have a friend who works there.  There is more to it than typical Channel 4 scaremongering.  Oh, Harry, what have you done?

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple Hare, 1118 /699.

A very good nights sleep of 4 hours + 3 hours in bed, plus some dozing on the sofa, amazing what some amber liquid will do..

 I feel a lot better this morning.

 

The Alternative for Irish stew is Colcannon., which I haven't had for ages.. must make some soon..

 

Full moon, not a cloud in the Sky, So Ben the I'm scared of the dark Collie decided it was a good morning for a patrol, It was however somewhat chilly standing there in the cold northerly breeze. Damp gloves from loading / unloading the sandbags yesterday didn't help they are sitting in front of the monitor for the day. to air, instead of being stuffed into my coat pocket.

 

I saw on TV they are reckoning central and east coast of the USA is going to get record cold spell and heavy snow shortly..

 

Finally I got approval for the last two major equipments from the boss, so the users are now happy. But it's likely I'll have two major equipments again this week.  One of which is well under way, the boss promised he'd put the current one on it's automatic run over night as he had the test equipment in use by him during the day.. we shall see..

 

Time to .. wander down to the lab and do a 1 G ohm Resistor needed for a new product sale.

[Ozexpatriate]

47 minutes ago, chrisf said:

I have not so far been able to bring myself to eat moules marinieres in Belgium, which is a bit sad as it is the national dish

It is delightful.

47 minutes ago, chrisf said:

... and do not mention macaroni cheese! 

Meh! You're not missing much. It is highly variable in its preparation, though lobster mac can have an appeal. My opinion may have been influenced by having to make it out of a box for children.

 

Chris, if moules are 86*, I assume that sushi is not an option.

 

* Meaning not on the menu.

[Ozexpatriate]

8 minutes ago, TheQ said:

I saw on TV they are reckoning central and east coast of the USA is going to get record cold spell and heavy snow shortly..

Well underway in the midwest. Our correspondent in Minneapolis reported very cold temperatures earlier today. 

15 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

We had about an inch of snow yesterday, that's mostly blown away and it's now COLD

 

-10 sunny with a stiff breeze getting the paper, supposed to be a high of only -7 then down to -15 overnight - a little brisk!

A Sunday evening NFL football game in Wisconsin ended during accumulating snow. This is not particularly unusual for Lambeau Field in Green Bay - they don't call it the frozen tundra for nothing. 

 

Edited November 12, 2019 by Ozexpatriate

[big jim]

Cold this morning in north london, just had my premier in breakfast and now off to bed for the day! 

[TheQ]

For the cheeseheads that's hardly surprising, a very open to the elements stadium, oldest continuous use in the NFL. 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

Here in the Pacific Northwest are forecast to have a grand total of 0.1" (2.5mm in new money) of rain tomorrow. While rain was rumoured in the area yesterday, where I live there was little more than dampness evident on the ground. We are well into what is usually the wettest month of the year with very little in the rain gauge (apparently 0.24" at the airport, but I've seen none of that) and are now more than 3" behind what is "normal" since the beginning of October.

 

Unlike the 75% of the US that will experience wintry weather tomorrow, here in the Northwest we are expecting a high of around 15°C. 

 

It has been delightful Autumn weather, but it is odd. Hopefully the mountain snow will come. We drink and bathe in this in August.

 

Edited November 12, 2019 by Ozexpatriate

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Dull at the moment but a bright and breezy morning with spells of sunshine forecast followed by rain and strong winds later.

Still hobbling about but back is not quite so painful after a reasonable night's sleep.

Today I will be returning a #### for inspection. It has been intimated that I should have test run it before fitting the chip so I'm fully expecting to be told that it's all my fault. The supplier is one of the most respected firms around so I hope I'm wrong. As the chip fits in the tender and the problem is obviously in the loco I'm not sure what difference that makes. The other problem is that I only have a DCC set up at the moment so couldn't run it on DC.  My sole DC controller is buried somewhere amongst about 20 boxes of "stuff"scattered about the house.

Have a good one,

P.E.S. Simist.

[Stubby47]

7 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Another option would be an event under the auspices of RMweb.

Might I venture to suggest the annual SWAG event in Taunton?

 

I know many of the ER's are regular or occasional visitors and contributors,  and despite the somewhat south-westerly location of the venue ( or North easterly depending on your viewpoint)  the day/weekend does attract forum members from the wilder parts of the UK.

[Mike Bellamy]

7 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Another option would be an event under the auspices of RMweb.

 

There have already been two RMweb Members' Days in Derby - in 2007 (the first ever) and again in 2010. Whilst the first was well supported despite the low number of members at that time, the attendance at the second was rather disappointing even though there were about 10 layouts there plus demonstrations - including John (Coombe Barton) who brought his workbench. There have also been the Stafford events that Andy organised, and the SWAG meeting in Taunton goes from strength to strength. I was pleased to learn of the proposal to come to Derby on the weekend of our show - however that may mean I can't be there as Treasurer's duties see me locked in a classroom for most of the weekend !!

 

Mike

[Happy Hippo]

10 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

Actually, Mrs A. was party to the selection of the new product. She approved as it was one of those we considered at the first selection, actually is the nicer product in the end also, which is a plus

 

Ian,

I'm glad to see that Mrs A appreciates the superiority and aesthetic brilliance of Swindon products.

When will you be offering up for sale your items of less salubrious origin?

[Kingzance]

The sun shines and a decent breeze blows in a cool NEHerts, at least we don’t have the fires that affect much of NSW and Queensland nor the floods along the Don (other mid country rivers are available). If the NE seaboard of the US gets a big dumping, we will usually get something as a result but whilst they cope with one to two feet of snow, we stop if that exceeds half an inch! I wonder how the family’s Cavapoochon will take to getting his undercarriage frozen? My Barnet no longer looks like that of the Honourable Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip. I seem to have acquired something of a sniffly nose, I hope it doesn’t develop into anything more. After SWMBO’s attempt to light a fire on Sunday, a local chimney sweep squeezed us in to resolve our issue. She was remarkably efficient and not too expensive either. SWMBO had a fire last night to prove it works but of course that will need cleaning now.

 

Muggertea made and delivered. Food shopping for the visit tomorrow is on the cards plus a farm visit for eggs and vegetables. Today being Tuesday, it is normally a day when I purchase various fish and shellfish materials from Ian, the travelling purveyor. As our friends will be here tomorrow and she can’t eat dairy or gluten containing products, Ian will not be getting as much business from me this week. His fresh mussels are very good, little beard and easy to scrape plus full of flavour and it is not unknown for me to eat a bag full! Tuesday also means taking grandsons to their golf lesson but this may only be one of them as the level of stupidity of the other suggests that he shouldn’t be allowed to disrupt the group. After that, I have the Sports & Social Club redevelopment team meeting and maybe a little cribbage and ale to conclude the day.

 

Be good, be careful and enjoy your day with thoughts to those ailing or caring for them.

Edited November 12, 2019 by Kingzance
Seaboard, not seabird!

[Happy Hippo]

15 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

Might I venture to suggest the annual SWAG event in Taunton?

 

I know many of the ER's are regular or occasional visitors and contributors,  and despite the somewhat south-westerly location of the venue ( or North easterly depending on your viewpoint)  the day/weekend does attract forum members from the wilder parts of the UK.

Plus it is an established event which has the added benefit that the organisers are on top of the event planning, rather than another new venue where whomever organises it, may very well be starting from scratch and trying to get a date that is acceptable to the majority might be somewhat frustrating.

 

 

[roundhouse]

9 minutes ago, Mike Bellamy said:

 

There have already been two RMweb Members' Days in Derby - in 2007 (the first ever) and again in 2010. Whilst the first was well supported despite the low number of members at that time, the attendance at the second was rather disappointing even though there were about 10 layouts there plus demonstrations - including John (Coombe Barton) who brought his workbench. There have also been the Stafford events that Andy organised, and the SWAG meeting in Taunton goes from strength to strength. I was pleased to learn of the proposal to come to Derby on the weekend of our show - however that may mean I can't be there as Treasurer's duties see me locked in a classroom for most of the weekend !!

 

Its not so easy when exhibiting layouts as any meet around lunchtime is when we are swapping our operators to go  for lunches hence why I have not made meets at either Ally Pally or Warley.

 

Morning all

 

A nice sunny but cold morning here in Surrey. Boiler being serviced this morning so fingers crossed that's all it requires.

 

I was in the shed at 4.30am putting the last few decals on the Victor bomber - must be well over a hundred of them added over the last few months, so will be good to complete it in the next few days. I can then clear the box etc and it will be the first plane to be hung up on the shed rafters although I ought to get the high level test tracks in place around the perimeter of the shed first. 

 

Must start collecting all the items that I am taking to Warley for DCC decoder demo such as soldering iron magnifier, heat shrink and of course decoders and locos. I have just taken the lighting pelmet up to the shed for a spruce up as that is going on a friends Swiss layout whilst he concentrates on hanging the overhead wires  and detailing the layout.

 

After Warley the new 009 layout boards for 'Blackmoor (Gate)' will be started before the weather gets much colder. I can then work on them in the warmth of the shed.

 

Tonight is beer - Harveys Old and hopefully they still have Bonfire Boy.

[Kingzance]

49 minutes ago, TheQ said:

For the cheeseheads that's hardly surprising, a very open to the elements stadium, oldest continuous use in the NFL. 

 

That Stadium and the club are owned by members of the community I believe, not by an individual with big pockets. The team has had a very good run under Aaron Rodgers too.

[Happy Hippo]

I must now leave my warm seat and get ready for the trip to the fang farrier for an inspection.

 

Then it's off to Llandrinio for the monthly Borders MRC running day.

 

Regular viewers of my posts are aware that this traditionally includes the consumption of copious amounts of tea and cake.

 

I also have to pay for the Christmas feast and order up a load of rail for my attempt at the GOG small layout competition 

 

(Sane people enter something they have already built, but I am not so smart and so am starting from scratch.)

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Outdoor garden pool topped up by the rain overnight.

 

It was not my intention to organise layouts etc for a ERs meet up.  More a get together where we can talk ( after all we do seem to like ..talking)

 

Being able to attend something else as well, if people want to) is a bonus ..hence the idea of being in Derby.

 

GCR could be visited for those wanting to but we would have to find somewhere else to meet up.

 

It has to be somewhere easily accessible, cheap (free) room hire, have catering at sensible prices and easy to find affordable accommodation. 

 

RMWeb lead events cover all sorts of modelling..my idea was to have a chance to put faces to names in a relaxed atmosphere.

If you are really interested and could come along pm me asap please as between now and the possible date is only 6 months and I have 3 of those months committed to doing other things.

Baz

 

 

Edited November 12, 2019 by Barry O

[AndrewC]

 

Greetings from the boring borough. The universe is slowly returning to normal. Brother and SiL safely delivered to LGW yesterday morning after a 5 day visit as part of their 2 1/2 week UK trip. Sadly SiL had one of her dizzy spells on Thursday and so apart from a couple of short pub outings we remained at home. Probably the most quiet down time any of us has had in at least a year. Much BBQ was prepared, many old memories shared, my bierkeller decimated. Fortunately for me the Uiltjes of Haarlem are shipping replacements for said beer. 

 

Back to work and the same old clusterfork going on. We managed to lose 2 people in the week I was off. (no they aren't hiding behind the sofa, smartarses) Seems the previous practice manager his now out of his 6 month no poaching clause and is snapping up people that are less than impressed by the new world order. I'm giving this management lark a few months to see how it goes. So far so good but I've only been doing it for 65 minutes. 

No response from the builder yet. Not surprising and somewhat expected. Will send off another email at the end of today with a deadline for contact. If I haven't heard by next Monday, it will be High Court Enforcement for him. 

 

Extra coffee at the ready. 8 hours of technical workshops starting at 9. Repeat for the rest of the week. 

 

Enjoy the day. 

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Like most places in the country, we are experiencing a bit of rain, quite a bit of it to be honest, but it has eased off a little over the past half hour or so. Breakfast has been consumed and I’ve finished making the fruit tea cake I left soaking overnight, that is now in the oven and should be ready just after I get back from the Sainsbury’s Grand Prix. Once that cake is done, I will make a small carrot cake for tomorrow evening’s tea, as that is what Evie requested last week. I’m hoping to get a bit of kit making done today, but I’ll have to see if I get the time or not. 

 

Enjoy the day, back later. 

[Mike Bellamy]

53 minutes ago, Barry O said:

 

It was not my intention to organise layouts etc for a ERs meet up.  More a get together where we can talk ( after all we do seem to like ..talking)

Being able to attend something else as well, if people want to) is a bonus ..hence the idea of being in Derby.

 

 

 

I agree. I put a lot of effort into organising those events and to find that so few attended the second meeting was really disappointing especially as I had also arranged for our clubrooms to be open as well. Take out the organisers, exhibitors, club members and their friends, then only a handful actually made the effort to be there.

 

Mike

[AndrewC]

43 minutes ago, Mike Bellamy said:

 

I agree. I put a lot of effort into organising those events and to find that so few attended the second meeting was really disappointing especially as I had also arranged for our clubrooms to be open as well. Take out the organisers, exhibitors, club members and their friends, then only a handful actually made the effort to be there.

 

Mike

I share your frustration. A group of us tries tried to have regular get togethers around our common interest in beer and in our work skills. Basically a geek & beer night. The last one had something like 20 people due to attend. Tables were booked at a local hostelry with a paid deposit. 4 of us actually showed up. Haven't had one since, but the 4 of us met up again a couple of times afterwards. 

[Debs.]

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

Ey up!

Outdoor garden pool topped up by the rain overnight.

 

It was not my intention to organise layouts etc for a ERs meet up.  More a get together where we can talk ( after all we do seem to like ..talking)

 

Being able to attend something else as well, if people want to) is a bonus ..hence the idea of being in Derby.

 

GCR could be visited for those wanting to but we would have to find somewhere else to meet up.

 

It has to be somewhere easily accessible, cheap (free) room hire, have catering at sensible prices and easy to find affordable accommodation. 

 

RMWeb lead events cover all sorts of modelling..my idea was to have a chance to put faces to names in a relaxed atmosphere.

If you are really interested and could come along pm me asap please as between now and the possible date is only 6 months and I have 3 of those months committed to doing other things.

Baz

 

 

May I offer my 2d worth?

 

Baz has kindly suggested this and is clearly generously sorting the arrangements (which is no inconsiderable trouble, as others will attest!)....so, all 'we' have to do, is speak up; turn up on the day and enjoy ourselves. 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Happy birthday Dudders and many more of them. Bright and sunny if a bit cold this morning but predicted to cloud over later. Not much else to report, be back later.

[jamie92208]

Bon apres midi to you all.  Life is still busy here but Beth and Joan are getting on very well and being mutually supportive.  We are all waiting for phone calls today. Joan for the Gendarmarie with the PM result and Beth for the surgeon with a decision about her treatment.  I've been out shopping for food and also the builders merchant.  The sun is shining.  The mud is drying out and we have washing on the line.  It is time for a bit of relaxation.  

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie