Early Risers.

[leopardml2341]

Mornin'

 

Back at t'mill......

 

For the first time in the nearly 20 years I've lived in Willington, the road to Repton is closed.

[jamie92208]

29 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I've just seen the proposed points based system for migration into the UK.

 

When do I get deported?

I've already deported myself to save them the trouble.

 

Jamie

[Coombe Barton]

Yesterday was spent trying to contact absent students 

 

Today has started off with a visit from the chimney sweep, then I'm off into work.

 

e-correspondence with the wielder of the awl suggests that her sense of humour is unabated.

[Shedman5]

Morning, Grey cloud prevails but its dry at the moment.  Off to the dentist for a hygienist appt later this morning. Alas its not the beautiful dentist  I see who is well worth the pain endured! However that will be rectified on Monday as I have an appointment with her for a check up.

 

Have been given a small  list of provisions to obtain on the way back other than that its going to be a quiet day I think.

 

Enjoy yours

 

Alan

 

 

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

A grey day outside, but at least it’s dry. This morning I had a text message from my GP surgery asking me to make an appointment to review a request I put in for some medication. So I’ve just got off the phone and come away with an appointment for Friday afternoon! My next task is to get onto PayPal and start a case about the company who (allegedly) sent the missing electronic components requesting a full refund!

 

Back later. 

[southern42]

16 hours ago, Ref44 said:

A bright start to the day has deteriorated to some showers, although no heavy rain. A mystery of a missing Amazon delivery has been solved; the residents 3 doors down have just handed over the parcel. It would help if the tracking info showed which letterbox they had stuck the packet into!

 

Totally agree, Mike.

I ordered a wool jumper to help keep me warm while playing driving tr**ns during the winter.  Tracking by Slow-Delivery-Service-Co. said it was delivered through the letterbox - but it sure was not my letterbox.

By the time I received it, and after several phone calls to supplier and SDS, the jumper had been returned to SDS and put through yet another letterbox - again, as before, round the corner!  Weeks down the line it was finally delivered by the postman (Royal Mail not SDS, so guessing it was put in the postbox!), but not before a replacement was received by the supplier who included a postage paid label for the spare one to be retuned - well done Supplier's customer services.

To be fair to neighbours of said letterboxes, they probably have no idea who or where we are as we are just part of a terrace on an old footpath (right of way), not a road!  I've been here decades and I don't know who or where everyone is.   People come, people go.  The village is bigger... And no corner shop post office anymore to get to know each other.

 And, maybe, to be fair to the SDS delivery driver, his/her satnav probably placed my postcode in the middle of a field!  It happens.  

So it looks like any door number that matched mine was fair game!  

End of sob story.

___________

Polly

[grandadbob]

Back from the jewellers. Many tokens spent but many Brownie points in the bag and one very happy Boss. This is going to be an expensive few days as Abbie will 21 next week and Joe is 18 three days later.

I've just come out in a cold sweat and need to lie down! 

NURSE!

 

P.S. Chemist also visited and didn't have all of my prescription as apparently there is a shortage but it's coming in after lunch and he will deliver the balance this evening.

Edited February 19, 2020 by grandadbob

[grandadbob]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

 I am not aware of any floods around here. 

 

Don't know how far you are from Little Baddow Tony but Steve came back from a long weekend near there on Monday and had to drive down a flooded road where there were 2 or 3 abandoned cars, however his Velar didn't have any problems getting through.

 

Edit. Wrong place name!

Edited February 19, 2020 by grandadbob

[Tony_S]

39 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

 

Don't know how far you are from Little Baddow Tony but Steve came back from a long weekend near there on Monday and had to drive down a flooded road where there were 2 or 3 abandoned cars, however his Velar didn't have any problems getting through.

 

Edit. Wrong place name!

About 17 miles south of Little Baddow. It is quite close to the River Chelmer. The Velar probably has the same wading capability as my Evoque. EDIT Just checked, Velar is 65cm not 50 like my car. 

Aditi didn’t get to Brentwood this morning. Her car wouldn’t start. I have put it on to charge now. It did start after 10 minutes charge but by then she had postponed her appointment. Her battery is 8 years old,and she hasn’t used the car much this week.No lights had been left on. The top of the battery looked grubby and damp so I have cleaned it but I suspect it is just getting old. 
Tony

Edited February 19, 2020 by Tony_S

[TheQ]

The daffs are out,  it's definitely not been a cold winter... So far.. 

 

No real flooding round here,  but this part of Norfolk is semi flooded permanently anyway. 

 

43 years ago today my cousin Glen Stewart got in his mini in Australia and drove out from home, he and the car were never seen again. 

[The Lurker]

12 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Had a very good talk from Adrian Wright on GER branch lines at SEERS this evening. A broad subject indeed with some interesting facts. One of the branchlines covered was the North Woolwich branch. The only branch line in the country to have four tracks. (up and down passenger and up and down goods. Another interesting fact is that Stratford is the only railway station in the world with four different current collection systems used by trains using the station. OEL, third rail, four rail and underrunning third rail.

This was part of an answer to the London Reconnections Christmas quiz - they recounted all the traction systems, past and present.

 

"Question 11

This was a question about the station with the greatest number of electric traction systems past and present. We reckon the answer is Stratford.

The post-World-War-2 Shenfield electrification programme brought 630V fourth rail on the Central line and 1500V DC overhead on the Liverpool St – Shenfield service. The Shenfield service was then converted to a combination of 6.25kV and 25kV AC overhead with the lower voltage applying in the Stratford area. When it was realised that required clearances required for AC traction were less than originally mandated a decision was made to convert all 6.25kV systems to 25kV.

In addition Stratford used to have the North London line extended North Woolwich and that ran on 750V DC third rail. Finally, it is served by the DLR which is also 750V third rail but this is a 750V third rail bottom-contact system completely incompatible with the other 750V third rail system."

 

I hasten to add I did not get all of this! In fact I did not get much of the quiz!!

[roundhouse]

5 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

As it does year round, or at least glaciers. Our local 11,000' peak looked stunning in the sunshine today.

 

I never got to see Mt. Cook when I passed by what I presume is that spot* on a cloudy day. I passed by on a bus from Christchurch to Queenstown.  Why the bus?

 

 

 

I have stood on top of the glacier. I didn't make it to the bottom of the glacier beforehand as my leg was very painful and it took me as long to walk to the viewpoint by the care park as it took the fiends that I was with to walk up to the glacier but I was determined to get in the helicopter and out on top.

 

Afternoon all. Bene in the shed finishing off weathering three On30 locos. Another five to commence but at least some crust earning done this week.  Back to continue working on the layout after lunch and maybe tomorrow a trip to Leamington and Banbury depending on the weather if the GW Worms are behaving which they weren't yesterday for my other half - her morning service was cancelled all the way form Horsham to Peterborough due to problems at Welwyn City and much the same for her coming home.

[The Lurker]

5 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 

 

My Mum has wanted to see Milford Sound since she was young. She and dad took a summer cruise from Brisbane to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.  The itinerary was to circumnavigate New Zealand touching at Milford Sound on the return leg. Due to reported weather conditions, while off the east coast of New Zealand the captain made the decision to turn back. Mum has yet to see Milford Sound.

 

My parents visited it a good 20 years ago. A few years later, my Mum, a very mild mannered lady, was shushed in Tunbridge Wells cinema when watching one of the Lord of the Rings film, for suddenly saying "Oh, there's Milford Sound"!

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from LBG where it is raining.

 

Not a lot to report from here, so have a good day all

[tigerburnie]

4 hours ago, leopardml2341 said:

Mornin'

 

Back at t'mill......

 

For the first time in the nearly 20 years I've lived in Willington, the road to Repton is closed.

It used to happen quite often in the 1990's when we lived in St.Michaels Close.

[The Stationmaster]

Afternon all,

 

A little bit of flooding round here but unless you're newspaper reporter or recent incomer it's nothing at all to worry about and it's no different from much of what happened most winters/springs when i were a lad.  The river is also flowing well so boating is not recommended - for anybody let alone the faint hearted.

 

Yesterday we had a visit from our friend who lives in Ealing.  Making use of his Freedom Pass he travelled by Class 345 Crossrail 'thing' between Ealing Broadway and Twyford and duly pronounced what awful trains they are and extremely uncomfortable to sit on for any length of time (by which I think he meant any length of time longer than 30 microseconds.  We dined at home on an excellent lasagne prepared for lunch by the management - which gave her an opportunity to try out the new parmesan cheese grinder disc in the Magimix, you definitely don't want to get your fingers in that!  And afternoon tea consisted of homemade scones with some of Rodda's best plus jam.  After that lot retirement to any sort of seat on which to rest was compulsory.

 

Enjoy the rest of your day one and all and may any lurgification be of minimal impact.  Time for mushrooms and bacon I think.

[Ian Abel]

Morning all - HUMP day already

 

Busy the last few days, with what I'm not exactly sure, but managed to not find time to visit ERs <sigh>

Monday was a semi- public holiday here so I took the day off as the client all where AWOL. Semi-public in that it's a Federal holiday and banks, schools and the PO and various other institutions are closed but many "workers" don't get the day off.

 

Valentines dinner was excellent as usual, though it was rather cold out, so the short walk to/from the car park was brisk indeed.

 

Decided to start planning a small garden railway line over the weekend, to get my G-Gauge stuff actually running! To that end managed to win 30ft of track for a reasonable price on eBay. It's a start, but that track is pretty pricey so I'm watching for more that I can maybe win reasonably.

 

We've had more snow here and temperatures on a wild ride from -teens to +5. No sign of winter disappearing from here any time soon.

 

-19 this morning and cloudy expected to reach -11 for the high

 

Carry on.

[J. S. Bach]

Good morning owl from the Piedmont.

 

12 hours ago, chrisf said:

 ...snip...

I spent much of yesterday morning on Booking.com in search of a hotel in Bristol over the second weekend in July when Bristol Pride happens.  Where I stayed last year, out at Cribbs Causeway, would have been ideal had it not burned down three days after my stay.  This time I sought a billet closer to the city centre and thus to the action. ...snip...

Best wishes to all

Chris

I had a similar problem trying to find a room at Strasburg, PA for the up-coming O-scale show on 18APR20; no luck, at least at a room rate that I could afford. I ended up solving the problem by staying with a friend who is also going and lives about a two hour drive away. See, very simple after all; although a good lunch at Lyndon's Diner will be added to the bill!

Edited February 19, 2020 by J. S. Bach

[Simon G]

Afternoon all, back after another absence due to travelling abroad, this time to the warmer climes of Fuerteventura for a week.  While there, we walked about 130km, if the Fitbit is correct, so plenty of exercise was had.  We had flown from Manchester Airport, and the journey down was sheer hell thanks to storm Ciara, as a 3 hour trip ended up taking about 6 hours, due to the M6 being closed as a result of flooding.

 

On our return home, storm Dennis has had an impact, I was unable to get the car up the drive, as just about the only tree in our garden had been blown over, and was blocking the drive (picture below).  Yesterday morning was spent clearing the tree from the drive, and I am now slowly sorting it out with most of it being cut up for use on the woodburner next winter.  The problem with it is that the tree is a Sea Buckthorn, which has just about the most vicious thorns imaginable, so careful handling is needed.

 

we are also having problems with power cuts.  Yesterday morning, the power went off and back on again after a few seconds for a countless number of times, until it went off for a longer period as the engineers tried to fix it.  It came back on after a couple of hours.  Imagine our annoyance this morning, when the same problem starts all over again, with the power going off about 10 times in a 15 minute period, then went off for 3 hours.  It came back on just after I had decided to light the woodburner as it was getting pretty cold.

 

The weather here today is pretty carp, with heavy rain and strengthening winds.  We have this forecast for about the next 4 days.  If it is the same in Wales and the Midlands, then the flooding in the River Severn and Wye areas could get still worse.

 

All in all we are wishing that we had had a second week in Fuerteventura!

 

Edited February 19, 2020 by Simon G
Forgot to add photo.

[tigerburnie]

Afternoon all, been train spotting in my local village, this B1 slid by with some empty fish wagons on their way back to Aberdeen, my camera isn't that good, this looks just a model railway, not sure how that happened...…...…………………………………………….

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. The weather seems a lot quieter this afternoon. Little wind or rain so over the next few days I'm going to clear the shed while the skip is still here. There are a few of my dads old tools down there I might be able to rescue if the damp hasn't got to them.

6 hours ago, grandadbob said:

 

Don't know how far you are from Little Baddow Tony but Steve came back from a long weekend near there on Monday and had to drive down a flooded road where there were 2 or 3 abandoned cars, however his Velar didn't have any problems getting through.

 

Edit. Wrong place name!

Its on the River Chelmer between Chelmsford and Heybridge and that area is a flood plain so its no surprise that its flooded. 

[81C]

Morning All 

I have had a busy day got woken up out of bed by the unruly builder who repaired the roof before I moved in I told him he will have to wait while I got changed he was nice as pie this time 

I had complained about his rudeness last time round when he tried to pull the wool over my eyes he was embarrassed to find out I was in the building trade still the new leak has been dealt with

water came in only when it was blowing a hoolie coming up under a siting board I just hope that is the last of it the new kitchen gets fitted in a few weeks time. 

My Babes ex husband snuffed it this morning didn't wake out of his sleep I just felt sorry for the son who lives with her, #hit happens, I didn't know him she never mentioned him apart from saying

she was glad to see the back of him.

Zeus made me laugh today he ate 6 eggs, shells and the box it was hard to tell he had done it apart from the egg shell on his snout. 

Well its dinner time so I.M. Starvinn 

[The Stationmaster]

Fascinating how flood warning seem to work.  Our stretch of the river was on a red warning at 08.50 this morning but has  been 'reduced' to an orange alert this afternoon - sounds fair enough.  Until you look at the river level indicators, which show the river level has only dropped by 1 (one) mm since the red warning was changed to and orange one.  The upstream levels on the Thames are little changed the level - at the next lok up has risen by 1mm so far today and the next lock above that has dropped by 1 mm (although I expect George Clooney's lawn is probably still flooded).  However the level of the Loddon at Twyfprd has fallen by 7mm today and although that area still has a red warning it does mean there will be less water coming down our way from that source.

 

Unless something unusual is being done to control the flow I don't think it will reach it's maximum round here for a day or two but again it is nothing particularly significant although the warning this morning referred to it equalling 2009 levels - which is when I took this picture.  The water level under the bridge at midday yesterday was virtually the same as this, probably a little higher but only by an inch or so and nothing exceptional by the standards of years ago.

 

[Gwiwer]

8 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

A lot of people kill their cars when driving through modest amounts of flood water by going too fast, so then having to lift off the throttle.

 

When the throttle is closed a partial vacuum is created so there is suck back through the exhaust into the engine.

 

Water being incompressible,  makes getting  it into the cylinder block via the exhaust ports a bit of  a problem due to the detrimental effect to the engine.

 

A petrol-engined vehicle should never challenge water deeper than tyre depth for that reason.  A diesel stands more chance but must be carefully driven with minimal throttle at entry to the water and a steadily increasing pressure being applied.  Not so as to accelerate through the water but to avoid aspiration via the tailpipe.  Only a skilled driver should even think about taking the plunge; it doesn't take more than a couple of inches of water to cause most cars to lose grip and float which usually has terminal consequences.   Stop; assess; if you proceed start in second gear (held on an automatic) and don't attempt to change it.

 

As a former professional driver we were aware of the regular spots which could be relied upon to flood in particular conditions.  A bus would normally get through when driven carefully by a driver who knows the road well.  I have tackled quite a few "regular" floods including on one occasion stopping to pick up a local resident unable to wade through and dropping her on the other side.  Free of charge, of course!  If it looked to be more than six inches deep, or was flowing, or there was evidence of mud and stones washed off the fields, then it was a case of checking astern before applying the backwards gear and finding another way ..... 

 

On one occasion I was in charge of the early morning bus from St. Ives into Penzance during the tail-end of a big storm.  All went well enough until the final approach which is where the road rises along a low cliff with the railway between it and the sea.  It can often be a bit lively along there in a southerly but on this occasion we had a high tide, a southerly at Force 10 and the sea was brown with silt and white with anger.  It was breaking up and over the railway.  One of my passengers even exclaimed "Look at that SEA!" and as she did so a huge wave crashed over, most of its contents being dumped on the ROOF of the bus, seaweed, shingle and all.  That did for the engine which promptly cut out when deluged with so much water from an unusual direction.  Luckily it cut back in again while I was still moving and whilst the electrics didn't recover I made it to the relative safety of the bus station before requesting a replacement from the yard.  No electrics meant no indicators, lights or anything much else.  And I also discovered a cracked window probably the result of shingle impacting it.  

 

Today's wanderings have been less dramatic.  After the House of Fun I ventured off into the wilds of Wembley and sleepiness of Sudbury in my quest to travel over all of London's bus routes.  A little more Terra Incognita has become "inked in" on the map.  

 

SWMBO is out to dinner tonight with a work colleague.  I am awaiting the supermarket delivery and cannot venture forth to the fission-chip emporium but this being (the outer fringes of) London they deliver too.  I'll see you in the after-haddock.  

[Barry O]

8 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I've just seen the proposed points based system for migration into the UK.

 

When do I get deported?

 Will the points system apply to all MPs?  

 

I am safe I know fail the limit ...

 

Baz