Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[The Stationmaster]

Happy birthday to Eric - looks like having all those Es in your name plus a bit of signal engineering in the blood is good for longevity.

[TheSignalEngineer]

14 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

a bit of signal engineering in the blood is good for longevity.

My Great grandfather who lived to 96 was a signal installer and Lineman at New Street for over 40 years. My Grandfather with whom I spent my first six months at work was on the signal department for 49 years including 20 years as Lineman at Proof House. He lived into his 80s, having survived being wounded whilst serving in the Rifle Brigade at Aubers Ridge.

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Just because the topic was bad smells there is no need to drag this forum into the gutter . Mind you, I got some funny looks once during a coffee break at a meeting in San Diego when I said to a Brit colleague, "Oh him. Yes, he was the best hooker we had then." Not half as many looks as I got in a crowded bar though, also in San Diego, when I asked my mate who was a little way off in a loud voice, "Can I bum a fag?" The place went quiet until an American colleague said, "He's a Brit - means something different over there." We still left soon afterwards though.....

 

G'night all and a belated happy birthday to Eric as well as congratulations to GDB's Gemma.

 

Dave

 

PS, for Douglas and other colonials, the phrase meant, "Can I scrounge a cigarette?"

 

Similar here where 'root' has a different meaning to what Americans mean when they say they are "Rooting for you", "Rooting for the whole team" etc.

 

We had a newly arrived young Canadian secretary where I used to work who we had to convince not to go out drinking in  her T-shirt  from the "Roots" clothing company which had the brand name in huge letters across her front.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[J. S. Bach]

Good night owl from the Piedmont.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Evening all,

 

First off happy birthday to Eric and congrats to GDB family.

 

A few days ago I given by my grandmother a barely used tin of Fortnum & Mason Royal Blend Breakfast Tea. Which amazingly, you can get at some of the very fancy cookery stuff shops here in Tulsa. And well it's certainly an improvement over the standard Yorkshire brew, Apologies to Baz. I've actually been to Fortnum & Mason's, and stood out in the London rain to watch the clock. It didn't make much of an impression on 7yr old me, except for the seemingly ludicrous amounts of jam and jelly which were neatly stacked inside of it.

Everything is packed up for, err, "the big push", tomorrow, and all emails have been read and there stated actions carried out. Mask has been washed, and uniform located. Mind you I haven't had to voluntarily urinate in my shoes to be able to walk in them. thankfully. And I even got my school ID card. The other big news is that the lamp finally arrived to day, pretty much completing the Weeden model powerstation. Next up to get is a boiler feed pump, driven by the giant hand when needed. A new gasket was also fitted to the cylinder end cap, made from wick material, loads of high grade steam oil and graphite shaving. Sounds strange, but works a treat.

 

stay healthy,

 

Douglas

Edited August 21, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[TheQ]

11 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

A friend of mine who grew up in Stewartby said the smell was not that bad there. I think that the height of the chimneys mean that you don't get the smell if you are close by.

Not always,  I went to a sailing event at stewartby sailing club, https://www.swsc.org.uk/ a very cold light wind morning and a temperature inversion.  You could see the smoke come out of the chimneys and drift down over the lake. Luckily the wind came up and blew it away for the actual racing. 

Edited August 21, 2020 by TheQ

[TheQ]

8 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

Sounds like that boat Gibbs built in Ncis.

 

Mark Harmon the actor playing Gibbs,  supported himself as a carpenter before his acting became a success.  Although he didn't build the boats in the programme.

[TheQ]

6 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Same here! Especially as I know absolutely NOTHING about Rugby; well, just how to spell it.

Rugby union is like American football, except. 

Remove the body armour, 

Remove the quarterback so no forward throws, 

No one can be forward of the ball. 

You can't tackle / block anyone who hasn't got the ball. 

To touch down,  you actually touch the ball down on the ground. 

Team size 15 +8 substitutes, but once taken off you can't normally go back on. 

The match is two halves of 40minutes, only additional time for injuries,  so it's all over in under 2 hours total.  Not going on and on and on for 5hours plus.. 

 

I used to like watching American football,  but only recorded matches not the 5hour live matches... 

[TheQ]

Mooring awl inner Temple Hare, 

You may have noticed I'm awake,  1.hour+2hours+1hours+2hours+1hours sleep, a bit interuppted. 

 

The only common thing is my hands and finger joints are throbbing. Since we are not forecast rain, it suggests this is being caused by the rapid pressure drop as this storm goes over. 

 

Plans for today,  concrete the new alleyway entrance.  Repair and maybe carry on building the barbeque area. 

 

But before that I fancy a BLT  that's as in food not there termination of bits of parallel metal... 

 

Time to head for the kitchen. 

 

[Tony_S]

4 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Mask has been washed, and uniform located.

My neighbours grandson has been staying with them but will be returning to start 6th form (age 16-18) at school in Wales. The uniform  is “business suit”. This has been obtained (two actually) but now the uniform has changed to washable clothes. 

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all!  I slept in a bit and have surfaced unharmed by the experience.  Belated birthday greetings to Eric SignalEngineer and warm thoughts to all with young people who have emerged, scathed or otherwise, from the exams debacle in the UK.

 

I don't believe I thanked Q for the news that my former billets in the Fifers Lane UEA residences are no more.  We ungrateful students knew them as Horschwitz.  It was good for the soul to walk aross the grass to the main block wherein was to be found Mrs Reeder, her kitchen and breakfast.  We relied on a shuttle bus to and from the campus, which was divided between University Village and University Plain, and became accustomed to the cry of Charlie the bus driver of "Whip 'em out!  Tickets I mean". Oh, happy and long gone days.

 

Even further back in time than that was my candidate for stinky surroundings.  Down by the River Thames in Hammersmith was, and maybe still is, the Bemax factory.  When we Latymerians were sent out on a "round the river" cross-country run we ran out of country on the final stretch along the north bank.  Having already negotiated the plant where Cherry Blossom shoe polish was made, fortunately without detectable odour, our bursting lungs were confronted with the pong given off by wheat germ being processed.  There was nothing for it but to take a very deep breath and keep running.  Round the river?  Yes.  Left out of the back entrance to the school, behind Hammersmith town hall, across Hammersmith Bridge, hug the Surrey bank of the river, across Barnes Bridge and along the Middlesex bank until school hove into view.  I could not do it now.

 

Other burning issues can wait.  Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from The Charente.  The fence is now up but needs a few finishing touches and I need to build a wicket gate to allow us to maintain the outside wall of the shed.  A very pleasant evening was spent with friends who are having to return early to the UK so that they can quarantine before various appointments.

 

Today we are hosting a BBQ as a memorial to our friend thatvdied last year. Most of the people coming were here forva similar event last year and John was at that one so we will raiseca glass or couple in his memory.  Before that it's Model Raulway club meeting so all in all a good day lies ahead.

 

Happy birthday to Eric and congratulations  to Gemma.

 

Jamie

[Andrew P]

For those of you that may know Peter Midwinter, His Wife Wendy phoned me on Tuesday to say that sadly he passed away on Monday of this week.

She has put an announcement in his last Topic = The Final Dream, 

At Christmas  time he had half a leg amputated after complication with his diabetes, he also contracted sepsis at the time and was in a bad way for a short while, but recovered and was at their home  in Wales overlooking Anglesey. He had recently had a new Railway Room built in which he was starting to join up his many large OO Exhibition Layouts, including, Great Tunsleydale, Bridge of Muir, Glen Gillie, Connel Ferry Bridge, and a couple of others.

There is nothing in the Obituary Thread at the moment, but I will speak to Wendy later, as obviously at the moment she has enough to sort out.

 

My heart felt condolences go out to Wendy, and their Daughters Toni and Zoe, and other Family and Friends.

[TheQ]

I must admit I found staying in the 1980s at the  the UEA accommodation built in the 1960s at the UEA, https://www.uea.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/accommodation/options/standard-single-ziggurat a bit strange,  single rooms but everything was bare breeze block,  the power in each room was a single 5amp  old type round pin socket, which I was used to with ancient RAF blocks,  but it caught a few out. Note I was in the main wall of accommodation not the ziggurats.

 

Of course since the demolition of the Fifers lane accommodation more has been built at the UEA main site.  All eco freindly of course with the UEA reputation. 

 

Just been cutting out Blue Moons name to form  a stencil, only Blue has gone missing,  I'll have to reprint that along with her number which arrived yesterday. 1260... Pity I didn't get 1250, as MOD/RAF 1250, is the ID card. 

More complicated is cutting out her name in Arabic, it's all curves. 

 

I notice travel agents and tourists complaining they had no notice of the Croatia travel. Ban,  all. Saying it was sudden and they didn't know it was coming... I think they must have been hiding in the Antarctic not to have seen the reports over the last couple of weeks it was likely .

 

Need a hair dryer..  Just stand outside,  dry sunny windy and warm... 

Edited August 21, 2020 by TheQ

[roundhouse]

10 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Evening all.  A lovely day from start to finish - weather wise.  In other ways it was a bit of a curatic egg.

 

I received a message from Friend (Australian) very early in the morning asking about an incident at the House of Fun which was, apparently, broadcast on their local news.  Yes there was an incident but apart from reporting the facts of it occurring the rest is currently under police investigation so we are not permitted to comment further.  Two members of the public were involved in an argument about face-coverings which led to one punching the other so hard that he was rendered unconscious.  A member of staff was also involved verbally but not physically.  I can say that frustrations are rising generally and that "self-policing" is being taken much too far by a few people who are acting more like self-appointed vigilantes.  Such things are very much the exception but under the extremes of circumstance which this year has offered strange things can and do happen.

 

Speaking of which we had an attempted ending-of-life during my watch.  Several of us spotted the individual sitting in a precarious position and all of us responded per training.  The short version is that he was engaged in conversation by a colleague (exactly as per training) until the police arrived and escorted him to a place of safety.  Which might or might not have come with a piece of paper referring to the Mental Health Act.  All in a day's work.

 

 

We noticed when travelling on West Midlands trains last week that many younger people and particularly in the BAME community were not wearing face masks on the trains nore in new Street station. There was one older Asian bloke who got off at Sandwell & Dudley with the face mask around his chin the whole journey. Sandwell has a spike in infections and parts of Birmingham may go under further restrictions. We even saw some young blokes vaping on a train and of course no face masks. The whole four days there wasn't a single ticket check on any train (West Midlands, Chiltern, XC) but the trains were quiet enough that it didnt worry us as we were a long way from those with no masks on. On our only tram journey there were plenty of people not wearing masks and that was a bit closer to normal loadings. However our journey wasnt even 15 minutes, so the risk was lower to us. All the pubs we visited, customers were abiding by the guidelines.

 

A few years ago I was standing on the Glasgow bound platform beyond the canopy at Lancaster station when a member of platform staff came up and started to chat with me. I soon realised that he was checking up as to how I was but once he realised I was an enthusiast and saw my camera he wasnt so concerned.

 

A very breezy day here but hopefully it will remain dry when we go to our local brewery that has outside seating with only a few tables under cover. This will be the first time that we see a long time friend since early January, assuming that his drive down from Cheshire is goes to plan.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Belated birthday wishes Eric.

 

Off for breakfast befoe we set off home".. and I don't mean the North West Leeds Highlands

Have a good day.

 

Baz

[Joseph_Pestell]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

Rugby union is like American football, except. 

Remove the body armour, 

Remove the quarterback so no forward throws, 

No one can be forward of the ball. 

You can't tackle / block anyone who hasn't got the ball. 

To touch down,  you actually touch the ball down on the ground. 

Team size 15 +8 substitutes, but once taken off you can't normally go back on. 

The match is two halves of 40minutes, only additional time for injuries,  so it's all over in under 2 hours total.  Not going on and on and on for 5hours plus.. 

 

I used to like watching American football,  but only recorded matches not the 5hour live matches... 

 

But if you only watch the highlights, when do you get beer, hot dogs, doughnuts and popcorn?

[Joseph_Pestell]

34 minutes ago, TheQ said:

I must admit I found staying in the 1980s at the  the UEA accommodation built in the 1960s at the UEA, https://www.uea.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/accommodation/options/standard-single-ziggurat a bit strange,  single rooms but everything was bare breeze block,  the power in each room was a single 5amp  old type round pin socket, which I was used to with ancient RAF blocks,  but it caught a few out. Note I was in the main wall of accommodation not the ziggurats.

 

 

 

A friend of mine lasted less than a term at UEA. As I recall, it was the accommodation that got her down so badly.

 

After a few months working as a PA in London to the Barclay brothers, she went on to further education in London and was much happier and successful.

[New Haven Neil]

Morning.  Boy is it wet!

 

Belated congrats to Eric Sig. May your boards always be off.

 

Condolences to Andy's friend's family, diabetes is an awful thing, and should always be dealt with the greatest respect.  Non-diabetics so often do not realise how destructive it is, I suppose that having being in the past a manager of a podiatry department I had a greater awareness of the issues when I was diagnosed, but I have a friend who deals with theirs very badly - it catches up.... it can decimate the body, and most diabetics actually die of cardiac issues, so there's another area to keep an eye on.  Lecture over.

 

Old farts bike club meeting this morning will be local and not a bike run, as a submarine would be more appropriate transport here today!  It's wild and wet, ferries off (UK cut off  ) and thoroughly nasty.  Arthur Itis is making himself felt, hips foot and new on the scene (I blame Q) in two fingers of the left hand.  Atmospheric pressure is very low, and it fell quickly, which usually means a bad day for me. 

 

Good luck today Douglas!

[New Haven Neil]

Also just realised, today is the first official day of the rest of my life - I is now retired!

[Andrew P]

5 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Also just realised, today is the first official day of the rest of my life - I is now retired!

Do you mean, = I now get a State Pension Retired, OR I can now take orders from someone else type of retired, OR, ?

[New Haven Neil]

Just now, Andrew P said:

Do you mean, = I now get a State Pension Retired, OR I can now take orders from someone else type of retired, OR, ?

 

No, not state pension yet, but no intention of working for anyone else again, bar 'the boss'!  And yes, I'm decorating.....

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

We've had quite a bit of overnight rain and everywhere is wet and it looks likely to rain again soon. Breakfast has been consumed and I’m now waiting for my car to be collected for its MOT and service, this could be anytime between 8:30 and 11:30, but I will be called by the driver when he is on his way, so I should get a 15 minute warning. These were originally due in April but the current pandemic has delayed them both. In the meantime I will tidy up some of the stuff I was using on Wednesday and get the paint etc needed and ready for next weeks job of re-painting the bathroom. If the rain holds off, I may get a bit of gardening done, if it does rain, then I may apply filler to the few areas where this is needed in the bathroom. 

 

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

 

Brian