Early Risers.

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from Sidcup where the sky is grey but it is reasonably warm outside. Work continues, one step forward two steps back it seems at times. Younger Lurker still continuing to settle into the new school. Today is the day that Mrs Lurker does not work so she is dropping him off and taking him which is probably why i have had a brief moment to post on here.

 

have a good day all

[AndrewC]

53 minutes ago, BoD said:

There is always snow on the A66.

You don't know snow. 

This was July. Outside temp was around 25c. Altitude around 1800m. 

 

This would all be gone by the end of August, just in time for it to start snowing again. 

[Barry O]

Furniture delivered.. contents of various draws etc have been transferred.. 

 

I drove back from Lulworth on e Wednesday night. I left at 5pm. For some reason the roads were very quiet.. I got to our clubrooms in Leeds 3.5 hours and 300 miles later.. just in time for a committee meeting...

 

I couldn't do it now as there are loads of traffic cameras and more traffic...and i would need a stop for a comfort break after 2 hours.....

 

Baz

[simontaylor484]

I once drove from kinloss home in one hit leaving at 5pm arriving home at 130pm i had to use the coast road via Aberdeen rather than the A9. I tried to get a Travelodge room all i could get was either scotch corner or ferrybridge. So i thought i may as well carry on scotch corner to ferrybridge used to be 56 miles to the side of the power station before rerouting of the A1.

Needless to say it was the longest 56 miles on Earth.

[Tony_S]

I have driven  over a few mountain passes, I think some over 2500m. In the old days cars with carburettors used to bang and knock terribly. We once hired a terrible Hyundai Getz that had a choice of neutral or first going up through the summer snow to the Franz Josef Hohe on the Grossglockner. Though there is lot less snow (and glacier) nowadays than when I first went there when I was 12.

Tony

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Earlier this afternoon I spotted a couple of mushrooms growing in the garden. They're edible (shaggy inkcap) but I'm going to leave them until they're ready to spoor then I'll put them down in the wildlife corner. Tidied up the patio while I was out there, the weeds need no encouragement to grow. Muggatee now awaits, be back later.

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon all,

 

Back along I regularly used to drive down to Falmouth earlyish on the morning of the Sunday before the weekend before Spring Bank Holiday - b various country roads to get me to the A304 3 at Andover then straight through to Exa and thence westward via the southern side of Dartmoor and into Cornwall at Saltash.  Always drove non-stop apart from the essential halts at things like traffic lights and road junctions and I maintained a moving average speed log/target for the entire trip often aiming to beat the previous year's time.  Usually an enjoyable drive although by around St Austell the traffic started to build up and was not so much fun as various empty country roads nearer this end.  Coming back was invariably hellish as it was normally the wekend after the bank holiday so it coincided with the first emet evacuation eastwards of the year  - occasionally so bad that I actually came up the motorway instead of turning onto the A303 off the Exeter bypass.

 

Very different the last time I went down a few years ago - train to Truro including a nice cooked meal and collect a hire car at the station there.  Drive around Cornwall fo however long we were there then return teh hire car to Truro station and catch the train home.   Much more restful than even an early start long distance drive down to Cornwall.

 

Last night  Mrs Stationmaster and I watched the latest tv incarnation of the James Herriot stories and she was distinctly unimpressed.  I had also watched the first prat last week and am prepared to give it a chance but honestly it really seems to fall short of any previous on-screen incarnations, including the film version in which Simon Ward played Herriot.   Some of the characters come over as distinctly wooden although MrsHall is a very lively soul and obviously thoroughly in charge of Siegfried while Sam West is trying is hardest in the latter role.  But there it seems to stop and Diana Rigg was awful as Mrs Pumphrey.  I might give it a further chance but, Mrs Hall apart, I find it difficult to seee much hope for it.  Other of course will have their own opinions.

 

Met Office weather forecast has been pretty accurate today.  i don't know anything about current BBC weather forecasts as I gave up submitting myself to their tv news programmes a couple of years ago and I don't pay much attention to the radio news and weather forecasts either.  And while they're not much use to us living a long way from the coast I have found the Met Office shipping forecasts, including the extended Outlook which goes about 4 days ahead, to be fairly accurate.

 

Enjoy the rest of your day everybody.  A wedding recepytion will be taking place across teh road at the weekend with, as far as they can, good social distancing in force and as much as possible taking place out in the garden.

[New Haven Neil]

eeyup.

 

Not a very satisfying day, accompanied Mrs NHN to lunch with an old work colleague of hers, 4 hours of old work gossip...ZZZzzzzz.

 

I use this weather radar page, I find it good.

 

https://www.netweather.tv/live-weather/radar

 

 

[pH]

7 hours ago, AndrewC said:

We used to drive to Seattle for a long weekend. That was just under 1300km.

I’ve driven Edmonton to Vancouver in a day - once! That’s 1150km, and any time I did it after that, I split it, usually at Kamloops.

 

3 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

So i thought i may as well carry on scotch corner to ferrybridge used to be 56 miles to the side of the power station before rerouting of the A1.

Needless to say it was the longest 56 miles on Earth.

That was the thinking that got me doing Edmonton-Vancouver in a day. Kamloops by about 7pm - well, you can’t stop for the night at that time, can you? Next civilization (using the term loosely) on the road is Hope, but that’s less than 150 km from home, so you have to keep going. But that’s the busiest stretch of the whole road, and doing it in the dusk and darkness after that distance was not fun.

 

I regularly drive 640 km into the Interior of BC to visit family. In summer, I can do that quite happily in a day, with usually 4 stops on the way for food, toilets and gas. But at other times of the year, we split it over 2 days. It’s not the stress of driving, it’s the possibility of encountering large and stupid things on mountain roads in the dark. (The wildlife can be dangerous, too!)

[Ian Abel]

Afternoon all <sigh>

Been gone too long, however very little to report or remark on from here.

 

Battle with the hip/thigh/bursitis is being won although slowly. I was able to help Trevor install a storm door at their new house over the weekend, major achievement!

Been very busy with the planning for our annual fundraiser, which has taken all the spare time outside of work - fortunate in a way as it's all on Zoom etc., relieving me of stressing my hip at all.

Work continues to be "continual", which is certainly good. Otherwise I've been somewhat lacking for enthusiasm for much.

 

Weather here, since we passed the "Labor Day holiday" threshold has managed to become instantly autumnal, we're only at 8 for a high today with light rain.

 

 Hope everyone is managing through the latest "restrictions", some pandemic spikes occurring here again.

[Andrew P]

Good to see you back Ian.

[Tony_S]

Aditi’s uncle who lives in California phoned today for a chat to see how I was and we also had a chat about the fires. He said he and his house are safe but there is so much smoke that the sun is dull orange in a dark sky. 
Tony

[simontaylor484]

I haven't caught up.with the second episode of all creatures yet,that will be left for another day.

Not much happening been a quiet day just district nurse this morning

[Gwiwer]

33 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Aditi’s uncle who lives in California phoned today for a chat to see how I was and we also had a chat about the fires. He said he and his house are safe but there is so much smoke that the sun is dull orange in a dark sky. 
Tony

I  can totally relate to that.  Even though we were not in Australia for the catastrophic fires of last season we were there through many others including Black Saturday.  Thick smoke, weird orange skies and sunrises / sets were a regular feature.  

 

On one occasion we were driving back towards Melbourne from the Gippsland Lakes.  We were aware that a major fire had started in the area we had to drive through whilst we were away and were prepared for a lengthy diversion around the coastal road.  In the event we were not diverted where I expected but allowed up the Princes Freeway as far as Morwell where we were directed off  towards the town due to active fire across the road ahead.  We approached the town centre into thickening orange smoke and that weird glow which accompanies bush fires and knew it must be pretty close.  The way into town was blocked.  Several drivers remonstrated with the officials at the road-block saying we had been sent that way from the other road block.  We were told to go back but after more representations as to the uselessness of that advice one road-block made contact with the other and we were allowed through.  

 

Unable to drive straight ahead owing to visible fire within the town we were turned right towards the hills and drove along a street where everyone was out of their homes watching, some hosing down, and with very thick smoke blowing across the road.  At one point we were under direct ember attack but kept going as turning back then wasn't an option.  We came through the embers and finally through the smoke to find ourselves north of the fire and beside it.  It was huge.  It was burning in the open-cast brown-coal mine as well as through the bush.  We finally cleared the area and continued safely home.  Shortly after arriving home we learned from the news that most homes on the road we were sent down were lost not five minutes after we were there and sadly not everyone lived to see the next day.  

 

That's not an experience I would choose to repeat.  Failure to communicate between locations on a fireground, failure to understand the situation and implications when the freeway was first closed and failure (at the time) to make use of the unaffected but much longer coastal route could all be levelled at the various authorities.  They no doubt acted under instruction and things change very fast in those circumstances but thinking back they actually put us at greater risk than was necessary.  

 

On the other hand having watched the catastrophe of Black Saturday unfold before my eyes we were at least grateful to have come through with no more than dead embers and ash decorating the car.  The residents of Kinglake (among others) were given conflicting information on Black Saturday as to their "safe" escape options which resulted in several vehicles meeting head-on in thick smoke whilst fleeing in opposite directions with multiple fatalities.  Having seen the area at close quarters a few days later in the line of work it was both immensely sobering and a surprise that anyone survived up there at all. 

 

In other news it is time to hit the hay.  Another day has not been the very best ever but sleep may improve our mental states and refresh us to being again in the morning.  Stay well.  Stay safe.  

 

[Coombe Barton]

55 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

dull orange in a dark sky

Sounds like the title of a novel

[Erichill16]

Evening, Not much  to report. As hoped a little more paperwork done, managed to balance the books. 
Don’t know what tomorrow will hold, not had an indication from SWMBO so I’ll just have to wait and see. Glad to see Ian’s back but do feel it’s been a bit quite here of late. I hope everyone’s safe and sound especially those missing .

Dropping asleep as I type this so I’d better wish everyone a goodnight,

Robert

[tigerburnie]

Pleasant day, lots of the "G" word in the morning followed by a lazy afternoon, car MOT in the morning, so earlier night for me.

G'night all.

[polybear]

Bear here....

The longest drive I did was as follows:

The dept head came up to me one morning, asking if i'd co-drive with a.n. other to deliver some kit to a place near Stranraer (from Stevenage).  Only the kit wouldn't be ready until 9pm.  Sure, says I.

Boss then tells me to go home, and if i'd not received a call by 6pm the job was off and i'd had a free afternoon off.

Phone rings at five past six.  Job is still on. but kit not ready until 11pm - was I still up for it?  Sure, says I - no problem.

So kit collected and off we went, the other guy driving first; Bear trying to sleep a bit.  By 1am Bear is aware that matey boy is running the cats eyes left and right of the carriageway, as he starts to fall asleep....

So i suggest a swap, as i was quite keen to make Stranraer in one piece.  I ended up driving the rest of the way; kit delivered around 5am then on to the nearby North West Castle (?) Hotel for about an hour's sleep, shower and late brekkies.  I ask the other guy (I didn't know him well at all) what he'd like to do for the day (we were booked in for two nights).

He asked if I'd seen the news on telly - I had; he then said if I was up for it he'd rather like to go back home

That was the night the Piper Alpha Rig blew up; it turns out my co-driver used to be the Radio Man on it, and had a few mates there - including his Best Man at his wedding.  No further discussion required - straight back we went.

I've never asked him any further details.....

[Coombe Barton]

... and California wildfires from the ground ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/09/09/another-task/

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Glad to see Ian back and I hope we hear soon from the other missing ER's. Arthur Itis is still hanging about, he seems to like the humidity, hopefully the seaweed twirlers are right about a hot dry weekend. Bin day tomorrow so I've got to get them out for tomorrow morning.

[Barry O]

Goodnight all!

Baz

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone

 

Nice to see Ian popping in again. 

 

The sun continued to shine all day and the temperature was very pleasant indeed, I was able to sit on the bench outside the workshop and enjoy my mid morning muggertea, the first time I’ve been able to do that for well over a week!

 

Today I’ve had a very productive day. My first task was to remove the doors from the bathroom cabinet, I then marked a pencil line one each door to indicate how much needed to be removed. I then set up one of my portable work benches outside the shed and sanded both doors. Once happy with how much had been removed, a quick wipe down and then everything was then taken back to the cellar. There I applied a coat of quick drying primer, whilst that was drying I headed off to the workshop. I then set about making 4 brass bushes, one for each of the turntable wheels. The kit wheels were a bit too sloppy on the supplied axles and they each had a very visible wobble as the turntable operated. The axle is approximately 2.5mm diameter, the hole in the wheel was around 2.8mm diameter, hence the wobble. This was cured by making a brass bush, just over 4.7mm diameter, 3mm long and with a 2.5mm hole through the centre. I then enlarged the hole in the wheel to 4.7mm and pushed the bush, which is an interference fit into the whole, the result is no discernible wobble now and they are also very free running. I managed 3 before dinner leaving one to do after dinner. 

 

I went in for dinner a few minutes early so I could top coat the cabinet doors. After dinner I gave the doors a second top coat and then carried on making then fitting the bushes.

 

Wheel with bush fitted. 

 

I packed up for the day a little early so I could re-fit the cabinet doors, which now open and close a lot easier and no longer stick, Sheila is delighted.

 

I used to love driving when I was younger, even up-to a few years ago I didn’t mind it at all, but towards the end of my working career, it became less enjoyable. Possibly because the roads were a lot busier, or maybe there were just lots more idiots, I’m not sure. I could regularly clock up 600 miles in a normal week, on one occasion I managed to clock up just over 1000 in 5 days, I definitely don’t miss driving that much now! It’s now just over 3 years since retired, in that time my car (which I bought new) hasn’t yet clocked up 6500 miles!

 

Goodnight all. 

 

Brian

Edited September 9, 2020 by BSW01

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[Dave Hunt]

About the longest straight-through (I.e., only stops for fuel and calls of nature) drives I've done were both about 500 miles - San Francisco to San Diego and Lossiemouth (along the coast to the east of Inverness) to Coningsby near Lincoln. Both resulted from aircraft going u/s with no spares available and the need for me to be back at base the next day and both were knackering. At least in those days I was young and fit; today's shambling wreckage couldn't contemplate such a thing.

 

Have a quiet and peaceful night all.

 

Dave

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Shock midweek post!

 

Thought I might break radio silence to show what has been going on in “the back yard.” There’s a house having a serious rebuild down the way, a costly endeavor as they are adding on a significant amount. For whatever reason they didn’t bother to demolish the split level inside of it, the floor plan of which will soon be rendered obsolete. The house next to us, with the big hole where a fence should be is also getting redone. A new proper hedge will soon be there. To add to this, the chain link fence which is ours is to be pulled down, and hopefully a portable O gauge Bassett-Lowke railway can go inside where it is now.
 

stay healthy,

 

Douglas