Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

most dangerous animals in Africa are hippos

After mosquitoes.

[Ian Abel]

Whoops...afternoon here already!

 

POETS yesterday and nothing to report at all - pedestrian day and quiet evening.

 

Today, a few errands to run, then off to dinner at our travelling companions place, with some wine and games thrown in - also so correcting of the world problem - so long as the ladies aren't in earshot

 

-14 and sunny here, expected to reach -8.

We've a winter storm watch in effect through sometime tomorrow with the suggestion of 3-6 inches of snow in the area overnight through early morning.

Major portion of the storm expected to stay south of us, but may still hamper travel slightly tomorrow, a pain in the arse since I'm off to NY again in the evening

 

Enjoy the day everyone.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Time to move on from Dunedin. We shall be travelling south to pounawea.

 

Roads suffered from flooding last week so we need to drive carefully.

 

Hhave a nice evening 

 

Baz

[Coombe Barton]

38 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Fortunately, the wiring went  so much better than expected,  I can start on the final turnout on the board tomorrow.

 

Awl! Incoming!

 

[TheQ]

I can see see of you are suffering from wind..  Up to 79mph

 

At the moment  we've got 9mph..

 

Most of us have a yellow rain Warning and orange wind warning.. 

 

Highland Park sofa.. Settled.. 

 

 

Incoming!!!!!! 

Edited February 8, 2020 by TheQ

[81C]

Afternoon All 

Can any one recommend a cruise company that floats it's boat up round Norway that takes in the Northern Lights and viewing the whales at close quarters.

Pleased with the painting today the hallway is white instead of sh!te the light blue will be put on tomorrow, several of the new neighbours have stuck their head

in the door with the usual like that (magnolia Queens) it's really turned the place around the bedroom is next I'd like to get that done before I have people staying over.  

 

BTW where is the High Priestess of the "Awl" our lovely Debs, can't have Neil getting away with todays post. 

Stomach to brain food please, better get on Starv Imarvin

[Tony_S]

10 minutes ago, 81C said:

 

Can any one recommend a cruise company that floats it's boat up round Norway that takes in the Northern Lights and viewing the whales at close

Our only Norwegian cruise was in Summer and on P&O. No lights or live whales spotted. I would suggest looking at Hurtigruten cruises. They are no longer just ferries with passengers. They have some new ships which will still be able to cruise fjords when the rules about emission control start in Norway. Aditi liked Norway as for years she had taught about its geography but hadn’t been there. 
The nearest we got to whales in Norway was in the market. 
Tony

Edited February 8, 2020 by Tony_S

[Ozexpatriate]

12 hours ago, AndyID said:

English is pretty weird.

Made me think of this tee shirt / coffee mug slogan:
 

English is weird. It can be understood through tough, thorough, thought though.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. By all accounts the show went well today. It certainly did if the number of people coming through the door is anything to go by, at times it was quite crowded. I purchased a few second hand books from the B17 society stand. Not all of them railway books either. One was a booklet entitled 'Southend then and now' published in 1994 so its more a case of then and then. Time to put the dinner on, be back later. 

[TheSignalEngineer]

On 03/02/2020 at 19:08, The Stationmaster said:

BTW - a note for ChrisF - your pharmacist is supposed to discuss with you at least once every year the medication you are on and how you are getting on with it.  At the Tesco pharmacy we have to sign a form confirming that has been done by their pharmacist - apparently it is nowadays some sort of requirement that pharmacists do this and the level of compliance by pharmacists is monitored by some sort of health quango.

Never get this done by my pharmacist or GP. My condition and medication is reviewed twice a year by the hospital specialist. The GP just signs the repeat requests from the pharmacy unless the hospital tell her different.

[TheSignalEngineer]

11 hours ago, polybear said:

a Bear is for Life, not just for Christmas.

I remember a slightly non-PC joke based on that line.

[Ozexpatriate]

53 minutes ago, 81C said:

Can any one recommend a cruise company that floats it's boat up round Norway that takes in the Northern Lights and viewing the whales at close quarters.

 

42 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Our only Norwegian cruise was in Summer and on P&O. No lights or live whales spotted. I would suggest looking at Hurtigruten cruises. They are no longer just ferries with passengers. 

Would there be cruises that offered side trips in smaller whale watching boats as an optional extra? (I believe this is popular in Alaskan/Canadian inside passage cruises.)

 

Based on my North American west coast understanding, whale watching is done from much smaller vessels (varying in sizes in the approximate range of 48' to 85'). The adventurous use sea kayaks but there are reported incidents where these are upset by breaching whales. (Research suggests that this is not intentional at least by grey whales.)

 

I wouldn't want to be associated with a cruise line that deliberately sought out pods of whales and intentionally sailed close to them.

[BoD]

3 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Talking of dangerous.

 

 

Your grass needs cutting.

Oh, hang on......  that’s not the garden layout is it?

 

[TheSignalEngineer]

1 hour ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

I remember a slightly non-PC joke based on that line.

By the reactions it looks as if a few others remember it as well, but I shall not revive it as I fear The Wrath of The Awl. 

[leopardml2341]

Goodnight all.

 

Hope there's not too much wind overnight - interpret that how you will

[jamie92208]

We've cruised several times with Holland America and the captain on our Alaskan trip got us a lot of wildlife sightings including, Orca's, humpbacks, sealions, grizzlies and bald eagles. At one poi t he turned the 70,000t ship round in circles so that all of us could see the wildlife. However  as mentioned above the small tours provided the best whale watching experiences  for us both in Alaska and off Vancouver Island.

 

Jamie

[Andrew P]

6 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

We've cruised several times with Holland America and the captain on our Alaskan trip got us a lot of wildlife sightings including, Orca's, humpbacks, sealions, grizzlies and bald eagles. At one poi t he turned the 70,000t ship round in circles so that all of us could see the wildlife. However  as mentioned above the small tours provided the best whale watching experiences  for us both in Alaska and off Vancouver Island.

 

Jamie

Do they now do Duke and Wife watching off Vancouver Island?

[brianusa]

US and Canadian authorities are now getting serious about whale watching especially those who abuse the rules.  The local pods are losing their numbers due to lack of food and engine noise from boats that are too close.  Also one of the older orcas has succumbed to probably old age and he was a prodigious parent, which doesn't bode well for any increase in numbers soon

    Brian.

[The Stationmaster]

Evening all,

 

Getting a bit gusty outside but the really strong stuff is promised for tomorrow with gusting up to Full Gale strength (and the national rail network already into positive planning for once).  The lad doesn't return from Albania until Monday  and having seen his pics of Tirana on Farcebook I definitely won't be adding it to my bucket list although it might suit those who dont like crowds and can tolerate abysmal attempts at architecture.  The Good Doctor will be making her way home from Oxford - off a night shift - in the morning but fortunately she isn't driving  as she's still getting used to night turns.

 

As far as Norway is concerned I would tend to go for Hurtigruten because you get to see a lot of places, sometimes not for very long, and the not so huge vessels are relatively small but with space to keep clear of the herd (usually a herd of US widows from what we saw0.  Only problem at present, but with some exceptions to come, is that the only way to get onto one is to fly to Bergen or get there overland.  But once aboard I found the trip really enjoyable - we saw a pod of whales (twice - once going northbound and again coming back south), we saw the Northern Lights (for about 5 minutes - blink and you'd have missed them).  We went slap bang on the Spring Equinox so we had equal length days & nights plus it snowed every day we were north of the Arctic Circle and tipped down with rain the day we got back to Bergen although we'd had good weather there on the day we arrived.  We did four excursions - dog sledding plus the ice hotel on one;  Sea Eagle watching from a much smaller boat to which we transferred with both vessels underway, great fun;  a concert at the Arctic Cathedral in Tromsø which was superb; and a visit to the Arctic Museum then a bar listening to a local storyteller.  We loved just about every minute of it except the need to get there & back in a cramped airborne cigar tube. Once our regular ship goes out of traffic in a couple of years from now we certainly fancy going again sometime.  Possibly on one of their sailings from England which has a benefit of avoiding the aviation bit but has the disadvantage of missing the numerous coastal stops with the ship's forklift trucks dashing about loading and unloading cargo.   Lovely country but it costs a mint for everything except reindeer soup (which I thoroughly recommend).

[Gwiwer]

Evening all,

 

The wind is getting up now.  I apologise for having that kebab earlier

 

The fricken gate is still banging but every time I go out to latch it someone makes use of it a few minutes later leaving it swinging in the breeze.  Born in a barn, some folk.  Others are just too lazy ..... 

 

G,night.  Stay safe.  Keep your hair on. 

[Dave Hunt]

Still god du lurgy. Gud dight ebberyone. 

 

Dave

[Tony_S]

3 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 

 

I wouldn't want to be associated with a cruise line that deliberately sought out pods of whales and intentionally sailed close to them.

The cruise lines we have been on that offer whale watching are from ports in smallish boats. We have been on cruises where if a whale was spotted an announcement to look was made. Recently our cruise to Canada was subject to speed limits to protect whales.

The  Norwegians still hunt them though I am sure their new boats are very eco friendly. 

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Laundry has been laundered tidying up has been done and the wheelie bins have been corralled and secured together with quite a few cable ties and are positioned behind the garden wall, so hopefully they will stay put overnight. 

 

A bit more progress has been made on the circuit boards, but I’m still awaiting the delivery of some bits, this has mostly been cutting up veroboard to the sizes required, I’ve done enough for about 30 boards altogether today, all that needs doing is the edges require dressing. For the electronic bits and pieces, I’ve ordered them from a company that I haven’t used before and if this is any indication as to what their reliability and speed of delivery is, I doubt I’ll be using them again. 

 

Goodnight all 

[laurenceb]

Getting breezy!

Night awl