Early Risers.

[Dave Hunt]

A friend of ours discovered that her great aunt was killed in the first ever air raid on London in 1915 by a Zeppelin. Just a point on the sound of WW2 German bombers' engines, mostly they weren't radials but the characteristic noise was the asynchronous beat described by HH.

 

Yesterday was fairly quiet at Hunt House (mind you, it's been a while since it was anything else really) with just the sounds of various cleaning implements being wielded in the morning (I was on the bathrooms and vacuum detail) then an extended period in the kitchen receiving and disinfecting supplies. There was a welcome break when our tame gendarme telephoned from la Belle France for a chat then in the afternoon there was the sound of a soldering iron being wielded for a couple of hours before I joined an online POETS happy hour with ten or so ex-RAF colleagues from my days at Wildenrath in the late 70s/early 80s. Main event of the evening was an hour of Springwatch on TV together with a Telegraph crossword and some reading before the nightly eyelid inspection from which we surfaced about forty five minutes ago. Currently muggocoffee is being consumed before the commencement of another action packed day.

 

I hope that the above hasn't been too exciting for those of a nervous disposition. To quote General MacArthur (as long as that isn't unacceptable in these days of rampant stupidity political correctness), "I shall return."

 

Have a good weekend everyone.

 

Dave

 

And very many congratulations to the GDBs, welcome to the select club.

 

Edited June 13, 2020 by Dave Hunt
failure of the forgettery

[AndyID]

9 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

I hope that the above hasn't been too exciting for those of a nervous disposition. To quote General MacArthur (as long as that isn't unacceptable in these days of rampant stupidity political correctness), "I shall return."

 

I prefer to think of it as political correction. At my age my opinion has burglar all to do with anything. My only hope is that future generations will do a better job. I suspect they will.

[Dave Hunt]

1 minute ago, AndyID said:

 

I prefer to think of it as political correction. At my age my opinion has burglar all to do with anything. My only hope is that future generations will do a better job. I suspect they will.

 

If they are given a chance by the current mob in charge.

 

Dave

[Barry O]

Dave

My brother in law was at Widenrath (Engines). He was supposed to work on Harriers but wangled his way onto the Pembroke and Dove flight. By that time he new a lot of ins and outs in the RAF)

 

The basement in the block of flats they lived in was a bar..complete with cam net wall and ceiling coverings and a bar.  He kept feeding me beer at a party there. A 15 year old Baz hoovered it up..he was duly impressed but..it was free and I was used to ir due to post rugby match drinks.

Baz

[bbishop]

About to do my first CFR duty for three months, as an observer as there are a lot of PPE protocols to learn.  Wish me luck.  Bill

[Simon G]

Happy Anniversary to Mr and Mrs GDB, and many more of them.

 

Yesterday was a damp squib, as it started raining every time I ventured outside, at least until the evening.  This enable me to complete part of the layout control panel, the part that enables switching between DC and DCC, and also allows trains entering the goods yard to be controlled in DC by either of the controllers for the two main loops, and then switched to the yard controller for shunting.  Next task is wiring the main panel, which controls points and isolated sections.  Part of it is done, ie all the feeds, so now I just need to wire up all the outputs.

 

My late evening ramble was the longest yet in lockdown, and included a brief section of path I had never used before.  It has recently been created as part of the Cumbria Coastal Way, although there are no signs yet to say that it is a footpath.

[Sir TophamHatt]

Morning all!

 

5th wedding anniversary today. What a weird but brilliant few years it's been. Buying a house, having a baby... proper adulting!

 

Today's tasks: feed plants in the garden, mow the lawn, chip a loco, cook tea (or dinner, depending on where you live! ).

 

Glad it's stopped raining too! The grass is looking great though. Fed and mowed it just before the rainy week and barely a week later, needs a mow again!

 

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

SWMBo had passed me her digital watch given to her when she was 17, it's been sitting in a box for years.  She wants me to find new batteries for it.  It says 104125 or 106125 or 108125 Duracell,  which I haven't been able to find even on Duracell cross-reference sites.. 

If it's been sitting for years with a dead battery in in, you will probably find that the small whisker terminal is badly corroded.

 

I had a Seiko quartz pocket watch which was left like this and is now u/s.  It got sent to Seiko for a service and was returned as unrepairable.

 

It must have been bad as they were quite happy to take well over £100 to service the other watch that went back with it.

 

Now I buy cheap watches, and change the batteries pdq when they pack up, or leave them with the batteries removed.

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

then in the afternoon there was the sound of a soldering iron being wielded for a couple of hours

In the GDB household such sounds would include, yelps, screams and good old fashioned cursing.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Happy anniversary to Bob and Mrs GDB. 

It is a fluffy cloud and blue sky sort of day at the moment. Aditi plans to wield the mower. She did intend to do it yesterday but rain at one point caused a delay and then in the afternoon a neighbour had a bonfire. I have no idea what he was burning but I suspect plastic from the sooty black smoke and big flames.  We had to shut our windows. At one point a fire engine came along the road but called at another house, so just a coincidence. 
Tony
 

[southern42]

11 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Spot on HH. When Pete Kibble and I used to take his Severn Mill S7 layout to shows we used positively to encourage youngsters to come round to the operating side and have a go. One year at Guildex we had one boy of, if I remember correctly, eight or nine who took to it like a duck to water and when his Dad said that he wanted to move on the lad asked if he could stay with us. The chap asked us if that would be OK and we said no problem, so off he went. When he came back an hour later he was amazed to see his son operating the layout while Pete and I took it in turns to work the fiddle yard and deal with the couplings. By the end of the day the lad had spent at least three hours operating and his Dad had practically to drag him home. I'd like to think that lad is now an experienced railway modeller and that we helped to enthuse him.

 

Dave    

 

That reminds me of the days when we exhibited our shunting layout, Avago.  As the name implies, the viewer did the operating - three buttons for Forward, Stop, Reverse and toggle on/off switches to select the sidings. At one of the National Quarry Museum, Llanberis, February Half Term events, in the freezing cold, a young lad of about eight or nine was captivated by it and returned the next day, accompanied by his Dad, just to give me a picture he had drawn of it in felt tip pens of the loco shunting the wagons on the rails.  Forget the scenery, just capture the action!  Brilliant! Another railway modeller who will go far.  We sold the Layout but I still have that boy's picture.  Girls were often the better operators, especially at working out a strategy, but more likely than having a go themselves, directed their younger brothers!  How often do we underestimate the ability of a child, I wonder?

 

Ah, well, ' morning all from red dragon land before I forget!

 

Sunny, at least until lunch time so bike ride on the terrace planned for this morning.

Then a bash at playing some notes on the new fife - brain and fingers have already been told to behave, today!  My cleaning rod turns out to be too wide for this one, so I have found an old knitting needle hoping Ray can modify it down in the shed! 

Hopefully, I will make progress on the headboard, having redesigned the lettering, again!  I think next time, if there is one(!), I will try and do it with transfers!  Maybe, I should have thought of that before...

 

Fitt  and   Elfie plodding on.

 

Take care and play safe

_________

Best wishes

Polly

 

 

 

 

[Oldddudders]

Morning all. Congrats to Grandad Bob, and I hope the celebrations pass without accident or injury! 

 

Just a Dudders drive-by, on a day when the virus impacts me seriously. No, I am not ill, and nor is anyone close to me in either geographical or emotional terms, but today sees a sports event cancelled, or allegedly postponed. By now, Sherry and I should have been sitting in the Members' Grandstand at Le Mans, less than 4 hours before the flag drops to start this year's 24 hr race. It is hoped to run it in late September, but it will then feel quite different, due to a much longer night and cooler temperatures, of course. This race, if it takes place, will be my 23rd attendance. Late first wife Deb and I first attended in 1997. 50 years ago today, the 1970 race was one of the most exciting ever, with Porsche steamrollering Ferrari, to the extent that for 1971 the Ferrari effort was not much more than token, and they have never competed at the top level of sportscar racing since. A bit of a comedown for the team that won every year 1960-65. I wasn't there to see it, but a fairly major event took place in my life that same day - I took delivery of my first Nikon, an F Photomic FTn. At £270 it was no small purchase in 1970! No doubt there were plenty of those in use at Le Mans that year.

 

Sherry and I remain separated by virus considerations, but a daily Zoom shortens the distance between Devon and Sarthe by a little. France opens its borders - even to the UK - on Monday, but Boris seems to be going in the opposite direction where incomers are concerned. I hear Eurotunnel are up in arms about the complexity of requirements suddenly placed upon its staff. With Brittany Ferries resuming at the end of the month, Sherry may venture over here. Our respective health needs, in the form of meds, are a major consideration.

 

Today - yes, a Saturday - cleaner Alison hopes to see an avocat, to clarify her situation vis a vis her ex. He moved out 6 years ago, has never contributed a bean to the upkeep of their three sons, yet claims he owns half the 17-acre property. A contends he only paid the deposit, which she later refunded him, and the whole purchase price was paid by her. She had been a highflyer with a 6-figure salary in Scotland, and Ben was an employee. He has now been awarded a doctorate and has an income stream well worth depleting, but all the time he is holed up in his native Aberystwyth France can't do anything. In the meantime her affair with farmer François rumbles on. He lived with her for three months - and then went back to his wife and farm. Divorce is in the air, but his utter fecklessness in procuring a lawyer is implausible.  After more than 7 years of 'seeing each other' A feels entitled to more. 

 

I hope your weekend passes peacefully and healthily.

[Happy Hippo]

As a matter of interest how many of the ER community get asked 'What do/Do you know about...........?'

 

In the community that surrounds the hippodrome, a conversation that starts in this way is invariably a request for something that is broken or not working to be assessed, and usually repaired.

 

This week has been no different:

 

Freeing a jammed bit from a socket.

Repairing a garden chair

Making a replacement cushion base for an easy chair

Sorting out a washing machine 

Repairing two food mixers.

 

 

The rewards have been:

 

Bottles of cider.

Home made cordial and various pickles and preserves.

Wine.

Cake.

 

Today's task is to  start to turn my old bench grinder into a sharpening and polishing station for knives and turning chisels. Although plane blades and standard chisels will still requiring sharpening by hand on the oil stone. (They require a flat face on one side).

 

This is a job I've been planning on doing ever since I had a long chat with one of the craftsmen that work at the Ironbridge Gorge museum having seen the way they sharpen knives and chisels.

 

 

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

44 minutes ago, southern42 said:

 

I will make progress on the headboard, having redesigned the lettering, again!  I think next time, if there is one(!), I will try and do it with transfers!  Maybe, I should have thought of that before...

There I was thinking that Il Dottore's monogrammed  and hand stitched smoking jacket was the height of decadence, and yet here we have a named headboard for the marital bed!

 

What will it say?

 

His and Hers,  to delineate whose side of the bed one has landed on?

 

Is it a return to the windscreen sticker style of the 70's............ eg Narcissus & Narcissus?

 

Will it be covered by the TV series  Fantasy Homes in the back of beyond?

 

Nosy sods Your adoring fan base needs to know more.

Edited June 13, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Well blow me down, the sun us shining but we were forecast rain. Off outside to continue Sanding the bench, hopefully I'll have it done by dinner time, then I can start painting it again. 

 

GDB Happy anniversary and a happy birthday to Gemma too. 

 

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

[Coombe Barton]

3 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Also can't believe this was 50 years ago:

 

Please note - no plasters or bandages 

 

[EDIT] No visible ones, anyway

Seriously, congratulations.

Edited June 13, 2020 by Coombe Barton

[Gwiwer]

13 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

may have a strange sensation in the head tomorrow morning.

 

Morning all.  A not-very-good night's attempt at sleeping was had that's for sure.  I suspect that I rolled onto my back at some point and woke up everyone for miles around with the volcanic snoring that is alleged to cause.  I've never heard anything, mind, so is it a case of "pictures or it didn't happen"?  The inside of all the tubes feels as though sandpaper has been roughly applied to them all night though there is no hint of the strange hangover sensation sometimes caused by residual alcohol and dehydration.  

 

SWMBO however has complained of slight dizziness again today which is an affliction that troubles her on occasions.  We believe it to be a hangover (there's that word again ..... ) from her labyrinthitis some years ago or if not it is a slight change to her BP which is managed by medication.  She can call the surgery for advice but they cannot take her BP by that method.  I keep a watch on her when this happens in case it flares into something more serious but it typically goes away without intervention.

 

After some decent rainfall yesterday accompanied by a single clap of Thor's hammer the gardens around the Hill of Strawberries are looking well.  Spring flowers are all but over and the summer ones are coming on nicely.  Roses have been dead-headed, mulberries are being harvested and there are dwarf beans and round courgettes almost ready.  The raspberries are starting to blush.  

 

New Neighbour (Next Door) has introduced herself and tells us she "loves all the flowers" in an accent I am not quite familiar with but which may be north-west Canadian.  It seems we have another respectfully quiet neighbour who we shall invite to join us for tea outside some time soon.  There remain several vacant flats Upon the Hill of Strawberries some of which have been viewed but so far as we are aware not claimed.  With the uncertainty of what it happening next university term there may be fewer students rushing to move out of halls and into the community.  That could be a good thing or a bad thing.  Students are only here for a year or two so a bad lot will be gone within a short time.  A permanent tenant who turns out to be a right PITA is another matter.  

 

I need to turn my attention to matters small, frustrating and electrical.  I know not what I am doing nor can anyone come over and put me right but I must press on with matters which are now holding up the ongoing creation of the next small world.  I also have a shelf project in mind upon which to perch some Scottish items and possibly with a view to use as a static exhibition piece or a simple layout with a bolt-on micro-yard.  I discovered to my surprise that I own a spare portable controller which would be a handy starting point in more senses than one.  Now - where in an already-filled flat do I find fir such a thing to live?  Two metres by about a half is what I have in mind ..... answers on a postcard, please, as they used to say.  

 

Enjoy your weekend.  Stay safe.  

[Gwiwer]

RMW has just decided to show me the past few hours' worth of posts.  

 

I must add my congratulations to Mr & Mrs GDB and to Mr & Mrs SirTH for their anniversaries.  I'll be raising a glass of something for you all later.  

[JohnDMJ]

I have a problem.

 

There are many 'coded' messages hereon.

 

2 hours ago, bbishop said:

About to do my first CFR duty for three months, as an observer as there are a lot of PPE protocols to learn.  Wish me luck.  Bill

 

TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) are great for the informed. PPE i kinda get as 'Personal Protection Equipment' but 'CFR' leaves me out in the cold! LAS, I have worked out as London Ambulance Service, given your location and role.

 

With respect, some TLAs my not be obvious to outsiders.

 

CFR?

Edited June 13, 2020 by JohnDMJ

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Happy anniversary GDB, and happy birthday to Jemma. Not much planned for today, a trip down to the farm shop which is not far from Homebase so I might pop into there as well for a few bits, I need a new wheelbarrow, the old one which was a freebie is on its last legs. Hay fever this morning so little if anything will get done in the garden though if either of the two establishments mentioned above have their garden centres open I'm going to have a look at some plants for the garden.

[Gwiwer]

5 minutes ago, JohnDMJ said:

TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) are great for the informed. PPE i kinda get as 'Personal Protection Equipment' but 'CFR' leaves me out in the cold! LAS, I have worked out as London Ambulance Service, given your location and role.

 

With respect, some TLAs my not be obvious to outsiders.

Agreed John.  

 

Not all of us are au fait with the TLAs used by others naturally in the course of their lives.  

 

CFR : Chicken Fried Rice?  

[Coombe Barton]

Certified first Responder?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFR

[Barry O]

happy Anniversary Lady and SIr Topham Hat!

 

It is not sunny and still freezing here up in the North West Leeds Highlands. PAH!!

 

 

Been spreadsheeting this morning.. glad to finish that! Now, lunch and then gearboxes!

 

Baz

 

 

[Tony_S]

Community First Responder.

 

[Tony_S]

All 3 of the paramedics I know (not local though) have had Covid 19 antibody tests recently, two positive, one negative. The two positive hadn’t had any symptoms except for recalling that food had tasted odd. This was before the lack of taste was identified as a possible symptom.