Early Risers.

[Sir TophamHatt]

Morning all!

 

A busy week of travelling around the network for me.

Since Tuesday, I've travelled more on trains than in any other time in my life.

 

Pretty good though.

Seen lots of nice new places. Feet hurt though!

 

Another warm day too.

Have noticed the garden has been getting out of hand so trying to fix that at the weekend.

 

And test out the replacement Class 66 Hattons sent. I have a feeling it's a customer return but the wobble isn't that bad and it doesn't appear to have the greasy problem when starting from cold.

 

Cheerio.

[AndyB]

Morning all.

Will I never learn.

It all started when my mind turned to the need for a FY on the layout. 

After a week or so the idea of it being a scenic FY had germinated and, like bindweed, had firmly entangled it's way across my mind as being amother station. 

Now, as my office now occupies one corner of the garage the idea started to blossom and very soon the FY Treminds had morated into a through station which could go behind my laptop and join the rest of the layout. 

I ad written nothing down.  Not even a sketch. I'd not uttered a word.

After 15 (?) years of marriage I should have known. Swmbo's psychic abilities detected my thought at 50yds and I was rumbled.

"Are you planning on joining those two bits up and making me limbo under that thing?"

"Erm..." as a defence may not stand up in court!

[Dave Hunt]

1 minute ago, AndyB said:

 

"Are you planning on joining those two bits up and making me limbo under that thing?"

 

Have you explained to her the concept of a lifting section?

 

Dave

[AndyB]

14 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Have you explained to her the concept of a lifting section?

 

Dave

Never approach a lit firework.

[Erichill16]

8 hours ago, newbryford said:

 

I shouldn't suggest this, but can you add laxatives to her scrip?

 

She’s so full of sh!t she probably needs some!
Robert

[Rugd1022]

Morning all, hope all's well,

 

Just had a look at today's job diagram and realised I'll be driving over Harringworth viaduct in daylight, something I've not done for ages and a rare treat!

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I might not be posting so much here as I had a message this morning when I opened up that the cooling fan on this computer is not working properly and it will shut down if it overheats so don't worry if I don't post. It seems to be OK at the moment nothing getting warm and the fan only seems to operate when the battery is on charge.

2 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

I don't understand why cricket should be delayed so long. There is less contact than in football and the crowds for most four-day championship games can easily be socially-distanced.

 

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

Soccer is deemed necessary to make "the people" believe everything is back to normal, cricket isn't.  

Of course soccer is also big money and the premiership players will be feeling the pinch. The players are still testing positive but the show must go on......

 

Baz

Apparently international cricket (in the UK) is to start on July 8th. But only at certain grounds where there is hotel accommodation attached. This means that both teams can stay isolated at the ground where there is a lower risk. This could be the reason for the delay in county cricket. Limiting the physical contact with the outside world. Whereas footballers play their matches and usually go home afterwards cricket matches are often played over a number of days and going to and from hotels would increase the chances of infection.

[Simon G]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Mrs iD,  who is Swiss, is very demanding in her definitions of what constitutes a true mountain. Recently we watched that most enjoyable film with Robert Redford and Nick Nolte, “A Walk in the Woods“, based on the Bill Bryson book. In the film, when the characters referred to the “ mountains” that they encountered on the Appalachian Trail, Mrs ID snorted in derision. “They are NOT mountains“ opined Mrs iD with emphasis “mountains do NOT have trees on the top of them“. Despite this topographical quibble, Mrs iD (and yours truly) enjoyed the film.

 

I am 100% in agreement with Mrs iD on this.  Part of the attraction in climbing a mountain is to get a view from the top, so if it is covered with trees, the view is usually non existent.  The mountains in the Lakes may be tiny by Swiss standards, but they don’t have trees on top!

 

Another sunny not day in prospect here, so I am about to venture into the garden and see what today’s tasks are.

[Joseph_Pestell]

38 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I might not be posting so much here as I had a message this morning when I opened up that the cooling fan on this computer is not working properly and it will shut down if it overheats so don't worry if I don't post. It seems to be OK at the moment nothing getting warm and the fan only seems to operate when the battery is on charge.

 

Apparently international cricket (in the UK) is to start on July 8th. But only at certain grounds where there is hotel accommodation attached. This means that both teams can stay isolated at the ground where there is a lower risk. This could be the reason for the delay in county cricket. Limiting the physical contact with the outside world. Whereas footballers play their matches and usually go home afterwards cricket matches are often played over a number of days and going to and from hotels would increase the chances of infection.

 

Some of the counties have accommodation on site to reduce costs.

[Joseph_Pestell]

Having a full-on hayfever attack after taking on the "garden" (half-acre wasteland) this morning.

 

A guy came a couple of months ago with a 6 tonne digger and pulled out the brambles that had been allowed to take over most of it. I seeded grass back then and been waiting for it to establish well enough to be mowed. I probably left it a week too long because there has been a massive growth of thistles, nettles and brambles in the last few days despite the record dry weather. But the new mower and strimmer are doing quite well at hacking through it and then hopefully the grass roots will stifle growth of the other weeds. I prefer to avoid weedkiller if possible.

 

Unfortunately the guy with the digger also managed to cut through the armoured 6mm cable which feeds the camping pitches. Not his fault as it is far too close to the surface and has no protective marker tape over it. Fortunately, it was turned off at the main switch. 

[Barry O]

58 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I might not be posting so much here as I had a message this morning when I opened up that the cooling fan on this computer is not working properly and it will shut down if it overheats so don't worry if I don't post. It seems to be OK at the moment nothing getting warm and the fan only seems to operate when the battery is on charge.

 

Apparently international cricket (in the UK) is to start on July 8th. But only at certain grounds where there is hotel accommodation attached. This means that both teams can stay isolated at the ground where there is a lower risk. This could be the reason for the delay in county cricket. Limiting the physical contact with the outside world. Whereas footballers play their matches and usually go home afterwards cricket matches are often played over a number of days and going to and from hotels would increase the chances of infection.

The ECB are giving an alternative view. The I CC run test cricket and they are on another planet

 

Baz

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Late on parade today, had a lie-in and got straight onto painting the front door frame first thing. That's now done so I'm about to enjoy muggertea No2 before starting on the arbour. 

 

Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later. 

[Tony_S]

Good morning all.

Facebook announced Mrs C’s birthday to me before Andrew did but one can never have too many greetings so Happy Birthday and I wonder if Andrew is barbecuing a cake?

There may possibly be some parcels today. Otherwise a day of not doing a lot at all. Perhaps some more assembly on the 1/32 Ford Fairlane (1956 version) I am attempting to paint and build. 

There may be some bird watching too. They have not returned to the large numbers that used to visit 30 years ago but the sparrow population here seems to be increasing.  I really like seeing them hopping and flying about feeding in our garden. We don’t have any bird seed for the feeders at the moment  but I think we have more visitors eating insects than usual. I know this isn’t a popular opinion but I enjoy seeing the grey squirrels leaping about in the trees.

Tony

 

[Tony_S]

Mountains. 
We were staying in Austria near the Zugspitze and we were chatting away with other guests after dinner and Aditi mentioned that she really liked being near mountains and wondered if it was because she had lived near mountains as a small child although she couldn’t really remember them. A new guest came over and started mocking her for being English and how could she even think she could see a mountain as nothing could be called a mountain in England.  The rude man was Dutch but Aditi didn’t use that in her argument (all the other Dutch guests were not amused by his mocking ) but gently pointed out that the European Alps are  not quite as big as the Himalayas. Until she was 4 her Dad worked in Simla but they lived somewhere looking down on it. It was only when he came to the UK in 1958 that MiL moved with Aditi and her sister to Delhi.

Tony

 

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from the fold in the hill  which is currently bathed in glorious sunshine. I am all in favour - long may it continue.

 

Work has been very busy, trying to extract ever moving forecast figures from a system that does seem to have the requisite information at the right time. Explaining your numbers to external consultants when they have different and possibly more up-to-date info than you do is never a great feeling. 

 

What hasn't helped is IT issues - looks like our internet connection is being flaky; it completely went down earlier and has caused me problems since yesterday afternoon, which does not help matters.

 

We now know that Younger Lurker will be going to school Monday - Thursday next week 9.30 - 2.30. Mrs Lurker will do 9 - 2 but is expected to be in earlier, so I will be taking him in the car; there are stringent rules around "bubbles" that mean it is not really practical for him to wait in his classroom for his teacher to appear. As we live around 4 miles from the school, it means she  will walk to school, I will drive him over, leave the car and walk back. There is a cut through Foots Cray Meadows that I will take.

 

The following work it is back to home school, and then back the week after. He will be in a class of 10 and not mix with others at all while at school.

 

In many ways it will do him good socially, but I am sure he is not looking forward to it too much. Home school has been a dream for him - his own words

 

 

 

 

[The Lurker]

Mountains - I have been to the Rockies and the Cascades, and I was going to say I had never been to any mountains in Europe (we did go down the Rhone Valley on a sleeper train) but then I remembered I had up and around Mt Etna. Definitely no trees at the top of that one!

I have also been through the Taurus mountains in Turkey (the Asian bit of Turkey).

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

First a little gem of a film which iD might enjoy (if he can find it) and which Mrs iD might regard as sacrilege (does that man have the gonads to play such a video in her presence we ask?).   So here you go Flavio

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112966/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/englishman-Went-Hill-Came-Mountain/dp/B0006VYEBY

 

Once again we have a sunny day with few clouds in sight although the contrail quotient appears to have increased of late.  We have noticed an increase in birds in the garden when it comes to the physically smaller species but Blackbird, Starling, Pigeon, and Dove numbers are fairly constant.  Red Kites do seem a bit more prolific at present and  but that might be because they know where they can find a meal - we had considerable amusement the day before yesterday with Poppy sitting on the ground watching the Kits swoop in for bits of chicken remains within a few feet of her, the pigeons don't take any notice of her either .  Whether it is the lack of aircraft noise or simply the lack of aircraft but it does seem that the natural world of our garden is more atrractive to birds without that constant procession of over-grown, over-stuffed, cigar tubes making a near constant racket overhead.

 

I think Mick will soon get used to a his 6-speed gearbox, definitely didn't take me long on my Peugeot and no problem remembering the gate even tho' I often drive the Good Doctor's Corsa with its 5 speed box.  And the 6 speed is definitely a bit handier than a Triumph 2500 I regularly drove many years ago which had a 7 speed box thanks to overdrive on 2nd, 3rd, and 4th;  it was rather fun to go through all the gears because they were brilliantly spaced in a progression of ratios and the overdrive was easy to flick in and out.

 

The garden still needs attention but it all depends if the weather will allow me a chance to get to it without wilting.    Have a good day one and all and stay safe even if far too many other folk are no longer doing so.

[Happy Hippo]

16 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Mountains. 
We were staying in Austria near the Zugspitze and we were chatting away with other guests after dinner and Aditi mentioned that she really liked being near mountains and wondered if it was because she had lived near mountains as a small child although she couldn’t really remember them. A new guest came over and started mocking her for being English and how could she even think she could see a mountain as nothing could be called a mountain in England.  The rude man was Dutch but Aditi didn’t use that in her argument (all the other Dutch guests were not amused by his mocking ) but gently pointed out that the European Alps are  not quite as big as the Himalayas. Until she was 4 her Dad worked in Simla but they lived somewhere looking down on it. It was only when he came to the UK in 1958 that MiL moved with Aditi and her sister to Delhi.

Tony

 

Having visited the country on more than one occasion, I can assure readers that in the Netherlands, a mountain is anything above sea level!

[Happy Hippo]

3 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

I think Mick will soon get used to a his 6-speed gearbox, definitely didn't take me long on my Peugeot and no problem remembering the gate even tho' I often drive the Good Doctor's Corsa with its 5 speed box.

Thank you for the astute observation.

 

Out to you.

 

Hello Mick,

 

Remember it's a double H gate.

 

You can now think of me every time you change gear

 

HH

[PhilJ W]

Computer hasn't shut down (yet) but battery is getting low. On the subject of gearboxes. My car like most others today has a 5 speed gearbox. I did have occasion a few years ago to drive a Transit minibus with a 6 speed box. The only problem I encountered was that the Transits 6th gear was in the same place as reverse on my car and on a couple of occasions I selected that thinking it was reverse, no damage done, only a stalled engine.

[Tony_S]

3 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Having visited the country on more than one occasion, I can assure readers that in the Netherlands, a mountain is anything above sea level!

Dutch scenery is quite amazing though.

The other Dutch people said surely the fact that the Austrian Alps were full of Dutch cars, motor homes and caravans showed that they too liked mountains but the man insisted that English people were delusional about them. 

[Tony_S]

7 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

 

Computer hasn't shut down (yet) but battery is getting

 

Hopefully I am not telling you something you already know but there are a couple of things you could try. 
Can you force a shut down? Modern computers don’t have a reset button but hold the power button down for 15 to 20 seconds. 
As you mention it is a laptop you could then remove the battery. 
Wait a while. 
Insert the battery 

Plug in , turn on. 
If it still hangs you may need the shop appointment still. 

[81C]

Morning All

 Back in Farnborough last night had an appointment for a bladder & kidney scan this morning that out of the way demolition of the remaining tiles will commence this afternoon after lunch 

I will miss my egg & bacon brunch done daily by my Dearheart, I've inherited 2 dogs now Alfie a Poodle and Oscar a Sh!tsu both of them have taken to me over the past week quiet cute little

things far removed from the giant Zeus.

Stay safe and enjoy your day B Woodhouse 

[Simon G]

7 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Dutch scenery is quite amazing though.

The other Dutch people said surely the fact that the Austrian Alps were full of Dutch cars, motor homes and caravans showed that they too liked mountains but the man insisted that English people were delusional about them. 

Had he said that to me, I would have been tempted to invite him on a gentle walk up Great Gable in December.  I suspect that might alter his opinions.  I recall a descent off Great Gable in the snow many years ago.  It was exhilarating and not for the faint hearted - basically running down a snow covered scree slope.

[Tony_S]

18 minutes ago, 81C said:

had an appointment for a bladder & kidney scan this morning that out of the way demolition of the remaining tiles will commence

I have always used a bolster chisel or pry bar to remove tiles ...