Early Risers.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[southern42]

' night all and nos da

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Evening all,

No impromptu dust storms today, thankfully. It was actually vaguely pleasant out today, so I went outside. Everything is very green, despite the lack of rain. The trees are looking nice as well. My Stuart Oscillator I believe is currently winging its way across the Atlantic, and I think I might cancel the motorization scheme for the Meccano crane, and just build the engine into a stationary steam plant. Can’t decide wether or not to do a wood or Meccano-marine style base for it. We had some looting last week here, but that’s subsided. The wind is still quite high, but nothing like yesterday.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[pH]

My dad taught me to double-declutch and heel-and-toe while I was learning to drive (1965), and it became quite routine to do it. I got quite a few sideways looks from my driving examiner and once we had finished and he told me I‘d passed, he asked me where I had learned to do those things.
 

 

[J. S. Bach]

Good night owl from the Piedmont.

[AndyID]

11 hours ago, Tony_S said:

his brother was awful. He only cut hair in the winter as he had an ice cream van during the summer.

 

 "A little ice cream sir? Sorry, I should have said Brylcreem."

[AndyID]

5 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

So, dual-fuel (electric and coal) with generator and traction engine hidden under the boiler?

 

Clever piece of kit.

 

 There was a gigantic immersion heating element in the boiler. Effective but terribly inefficient.

[AndyID]

5 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

I wonder if the armoured cars Rolls Royce made during WWI had walnut dashboards?

Robert

 

There's a walnut tree on our other lot. We don't get many of the walnuts because the flipping squirrels pinch them before they are ripe. The tree could do with a bit of a trim. Would the wood (see what I did there) have any value?

[AndyID]

5 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

 

I believe that’s a an equalizing beam for the first two axels, works on the same basic principle as a beam engine. A lot of engines of that vintage had them, but much smaller.

 

the one below is on a LCDR Small Scotchman

 

What's going on under the rail? Is it some sort of point rodding?

[Florence Locomotive Works]

6 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

What's going on under the rail? Is it some sort of point rodding?

Not entirely sure actually.

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

The prognosis for walking into a shop and buying a face mask turned out to be poor.  I went straight for back-up by ordering a pair from *m*z*n, which is the last thing I wanted to do.  The delivery date – 30th July, I’m told - is too far away for the wretched things to be of immediate use, so I am left with my college scarf, my rainbow bandana and my balaclava if I can remember where I put it.  Those who know what they are doing would either have gone straight to a pharmacy as soon as they perceived the need for a mask or raided their scrap boxes of knicker elastic and old socks to construct one themselves.  I’ve not tried Boots yet - the shop, that is, not the footwear – but I can only take so much shopping on one day.  As I explained to the checkout lady yesterday, I hate shopping.  Well, I would, wouldn’t I?  I’m a man.

 

The jungle has produced four strawberries.  They were delicious but I doubt that there will be more.

 

I am suitably flattered that Aditi describes my doodlings about Nice and Monaco/Monte Carlo as plans.  I suppose that if I were a highly paid consultant I could pass them off as a feasibility study.  Apart from Christmas and New Year in Switzerland, the top priority for my trips remains Dublin in June 2021, all being well.  Everything else that I doodle up will just have to take its turn.

 

All I know about Fiat is that it stands for “Fix it again tomorrow”.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, AndyID said:

There was a gigantic immersion heating element in the boiler. Effective but terribly inefficient.

Well, ... it is a kettle.

 

Unless les kettles belges sont pour les frites.

Edited June 11, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[jamie92208]

6 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

No, it’s just a slightly Ute looking 70s sports car, I though the same thing when my dad bought it.

In 71 I worked for a while at the BP research site at Sunbury on Thames, a sort of gap 8 months. They had all sorts of cars allegedly on test re lubricants. One was a black Europa in the JPS livery , i wanted one sooooo badly. Just didn't have a driving licence. I still think that they are cool. In those pre VAT days they still came in kit form. They also had one of the 2.8 l Jaguar XJ 6's, however it had power bulges in the bonnet, allegedly it had one of the first V12 engines in it.  I had a pushbike and could get through the traffic faster than either of them.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Good moaning to all, and sundry of course.  Builders finished yesterday and I spent a lot of the day taking excess materials back. So far I'm €515 to the good.  More of that to do today.  The decorator started but is treading on dangerous ground. He suddenly  demanded paying in cas at 7pm last night. Then Beth discovered that not only were there paint splashes on a wood floor but someone had used her face flannel to clean up paint.  Words will be had when they arrive.  Apart from that it's grey and damp.

 

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Tried to understand the ECB guidance on recreational cricket last night. It must have been written by a Sir Humphrey! Outcome is..we organise junior set ups so play their games as we need the money.

 

Today is more painting and decorating. I have a plan to finish emulsion and gloss painting today. I then have a bathroom and the kitchen to do..Hurrah!

 

The only car I have ever really desired was a Brooklands Green Bentley Mulsanne Turbo R. 9 mpg and goes quite quickly. The new ones are plug ugly and the next version will be a hybrid.

 

Her indoors is  off shopping at moreasons so I had better shake a leg and start decorating.

Have a great day! 

Positive thoughts to al ERs especially any who are ill or missing.

Baz

[AndyID]

All the chat about France stirred up a few memories. I think our first trip to the Med must have been in 1959. The Frejus Disaster happened not long after we passed though there which is why it sticks in memory.

 

My mum and dad knew this gent quite well - I think he was in Irvine for a while. I was too young to really appreciate what he had done when we visited him in Paris. I should have taken a lot of notes. Hindsight is always 20/20.

[iL Dottore]

16 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Pop up knob in my car...

That sounds like you need a medicated cream

14 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

...Further modified by "Three on the tree" referring to a steering column mounted shifter and "Four on the floor".

It’s amazing how educational ER can be. Whilst I had heard of “four on the floor“ I’ve never heard of “three on the tree“. Mind you, this newly acquired knowledge is purely academic as I switched to a fully automatic gearbox many decades ago.

13 hours ago, Chris116 said:

Educational holiday for a 16 year old!

So was a Club Med holiday near Nice when I was in my early 30s! (yes, yes I know! But I was a very sheltered young man: either working or studying and thus totally oblivious to the weird, wonderful and sometimes wicked world out there).

11 hours ago, polybear said:

 

I worked for a few months at Agusta Helicopters near Milan, back in 1987.  In those days there were no speed cameras etc. etc,  I was young, foolish and invincible and Hire Cars were fair game.  Whilst doing about a hundred and ten on the Autostrada a car came up behind me like I was going backwards.  I had nothing more to offer so had to let it pass.  The car had the words "Maserati Biturbo" on the back....

 

LP500S?  You are a man of obvious taste, style and finesse.  For me it's a door thing:

 

As to how you get in and out of it when parked in a garage is a question though.....

 

In case you fancy one then money may be an issue:

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1125955

Unless you happen to be a relatively flexible (no, strike that: very flexible) old geezer, then Lamborghini and Ferrari are very much the province of those rich young individuals between the ages of, say, 25 and 45.  At my age, whilst I might appreciate the power of such, my ageing and completely knackered body (the result of many years of dissolute living [no, really ])  no longer allows me to contort myself to such a degree that I could get into such a car.

Now, a Maserati, that’s a completely different kettle of fish. Disregarding, if you will, for a moment my long held infatuation with the marque; you have to admit that the current generation Maseratis manage to combine total utter luxury with all the grunt you would ever need on motorway, autostrada or autobahn.  Their top of the range model, the Maserati Quattroporte, has a Ferrari engine and that is likely to be fast enough for most trips down to Waitrose, Harrods or Poundland (as the case maybe). 
As for cars with “alternative” door opening mechanisms, as a long term MB aficionado, there is only one worth considering: the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL.  However, given the price a pristine alloy version recently got at auction (somewhere around the $4 million mark), for the same money I would be able to buy one  of each of the Maserati family AND a 1956 Bentley S1 

9 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

I wonder if the armoured cars Rolls Royce made during WWI had walnut dashboards?

Robert

I wouldn’t know, but given the differences in quality of accommodation, uniform, food etc. provided to officers and to “other ranks” of the period, I wouldn’t be surprised.

9 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The CoViD-19 backlash seems to be underway.

 

A gubernatorial candidate in Utah (John Huntsman, who is well known in US politics) has declared he has CoViD-19. Additionally athletes from 10 prominent southern and mid-western universities known for their (American) football programs have tested positive. 

 

Meanwhile, the President's reelection campaign has announced they will shortly be holding mass rallies again. I'm starting to think the second wave will be next week's big news story. I hope not.

 

Meanwhile, China. Best not say more.

Although this may sound totally callous and very, very cynical, the problem is COVID-19 is really not lethal enough to permanently change the behaviours (or even temporarily change the behaviours) of the intellectually challenged and the politically zealous. Whilst clearly tragic and sad for the families involved, a few hundred thousand excess deaths worldwide really makes absolutely no difference to us as a species. There are, however, some viruses out there that really ARE nasty. There is one, fortunately presently restricted to one very small geographical area and which has (so far) infected only a very few humans, which has a mortality rate of 80% to 90%. Unsurprisingly, it was a virus that originated in bats; although, frighteningly, it entered humans not by any human (mis-) behaviour: according to the report I read (BBC News, if I recall correctly), bats infected with the virus roosted in trees under which pigs snuffled and ate what they could find – including infected bat droppings. Once resident in this local pig population, the virus then jumped to humans.
Ultimately, I firmly believe that there will be significant long-term effects, mostly negative, on our species. Although I think that these will tend to be social and economic consequences, rather than medical/health, and will be for the most part self-inflicted.
 

iD

[AndyID]

37 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Mind you, this newly acquired knowledge is purely academic as I switched to a fully automatic gearbox many decades ago.

 

Wimp!

 

(Mind you, I think the last "stick" I had was a VW VR6 Gti. It was more than ridiculous.)

Edited June 11, 2020 by AndyID
Moinfo

[Ozexpatriate]

20 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Whilst clearly tragic and sad for the families involved, a few hundred thousand excess deaths worldwide really makes absolutely no difference to us as a species.

Numerically speaking, that goes without saying. Even a million excess deaths in a population of 7 billion is less than 0.02%, but I'd prefer I wasn't one of them.

 

The 66 million excess deaths in WW2 made essentially no dent in the population growth of the 20th century and arguably triggered an increase in population growth with the baby boom - except in the Soviet Union where the population took some time to recover.

 

Edited June 11, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

A strange news day today.

 

NASCAR has banned Confederate flags. NASCAR!!! This might not seem like a big deal (and there are presently no fans at NASCAR races in the wake of the pandemic anyway) but National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing events (mostly held south of the Mason-Dixon line) are usually an ocean of Confederate battle flags. This feels monumentally symbolic to me.

 

A few days ago the USMC banned the use of or any image of the Confederate battle flag. The USN decided to follow suit.

Meanwhile the US Army decided they will rename bases presently named after Confederate generals like Robert E. Lee, Braxton Bragg and A.P. Hill. However, the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Bunker inspector-in-chief declared that this will not be permitted.

 

The streaming service HBOmax decided that the film "Gone With the Wind" would not be available until they can provide some context. A late night wag noted that HBOmax's response to people objecting to this decision could be found here. The Walt Disney company had already long decided to bury (the possibly even more racist) "Song of the South" and withhold it from the Disney+ streaming service.

 

It wasn't a good day to be a statue of Cristóbal Colón either. Apparently some of them "fell" over.

 

Interesting times.

 

Edited June 11, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[roundhouse]

1 hour ago, chrisf said:

  As I explained to the checkout lady yesterday, I hate shopping.  Well, I would, wouldn’t I?  I’m a man.

 

 

My other half hates shopping nowadays so not just men. She now much prefers Amazon like me. We would both rather support a local retailer but I don't see that happening for some time. She is after a pair of new walking shoes for our proposed trip to Exeter so she needs to wear them in before we walk form St Davids via the City basin, canal and on to Topsham, a 5.5 mile walk. I tried to order them on Amazon yesterday via my mobile but the site kept locking up so that's a job for this morning now that we have power back on. They restored the power at 11.40 last night.

 

The rain has been welcome as hopefully the garden will get a bit greener again.

[AndyID]

6 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

A strange news day today.

 

NASCAR has banned Confederate flags. NASCAR!!! This might not seem like a big deal (and there are presently no fans at NASCAR races in the wake of the pandemic anyway) but National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing events (mostly held south of the Mason-Dixon line) are usually an ocean of Confederate battle flags. This feels monumentally symbolic to me.

 

A few days ago the USMC banned the use of any use or image of the Confederate battle flag. The USN decided to follow suit.

Meanwhile the US Army decided they will rename bases presently named after Confederate generals like Robert E. Lee, Braxton Bragg and A.P. Hill. However, the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Bunker inspector-in-chief declared that this will not be permitted.

 

The streaming service HBOmax decided that the film "Gone With the Wind" would not be available until they can provide some context. A late night wag noted that HBOmax's response to people objecting to this decision could be found here. The Walt Disney company had already long decided to bury (the possibly even more racist) "Song of the South" and withhold it from the Disney+ streaming service.

 

It wasn't a good day to be a statue of Cristobal Colon either. Apparently some of them "fell" over.

 

Interesting times.

 

That horrible flag is no more than a Swastica. Germany sorted itself out but the US is still in denial.

[bbishop]

28 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

It wasn't a good day to be a statue of Cristóbal Colón either. Apparently some of them "fell" over.

 

 

isn't he off playing golf?  Or have I got my anatomy wrong?  Bill