Early Risers.

[DaveF]

This morning is nice and sunny and not cold, unlike Saturday.

 

Yesterday I went to Beamish as it is the steam event with traction engines, steam rollers, old cars as well as the railways operating at the pit village this weekend.  It was quite an easy journey there through the Tyne Tunnel though the overall standard of driving is not good.  I dislike people driving close to the back of my car just because I will not go over the pseed limit.  There were even people speeding in the tunnel, where there are active speed cameras.  I hope they got caught.

 

At Beamish the parking was easy and they had a shed set up outside at the entrance so people with Friends membership or annual passes did not have to queue which waas very welcome.  Then I walked down to the pit village and spent an enjoyable morning wandering about.  Why do some people have to shout when they talk these days?  While I was there I met some friends which was good.

 

The weather was worse than forecast with rain on and off.  I had to leave at lunchtime as I was expecting a parcel in the afternoon and to be honest I'd got wet enough.  As I am a Friend of Beamish I can go as often as I like so I shall start going again during the week when it is quieter after Easter.

 

The journey home was uneventful apart from idiot drivers, including the one who stopped in the roght hand land at a roundabout and then went left.  The parcel, which was railway books and maps, arived about half an hour after I got home which was good timing.

 

If I get the photos sorted out after lunch I will post a fe where later on.

 

Later in the afternoon I fell asleep and didn't do much after tea either - just music and TV.

 

David

[BSW01]

Good morning afternoon everyone 

 

Late on parade today due to having a bit of a lie in and breakfast in bed. Then it was straight outside to do some work in the garden, mainly re-potting some house plants for Sheila, earning a few brownie points at the same time. I'm currently sat on the bench under the workshop window having a well earned muggertea and listening to music, volume turned up enough yo drown out the numpty next door who's throwing a tantrum. I wouldn't mind so much, but the kid is 14 not 4! It's about time he fecking grew up. 

 

Back later. 

 

Brian 

[jjb1970]

It was stinking hot with 100% humidity and no breeze at all today, a day to stay indoors. It's amazing how much difference even a light wind makes, it's always warm and always humid here but it's normal to have a light wind which makes it surprisingly pleasant once you acclimatize. However when the air is completely still it is awful and within seconds of being outside I find myself soaked. Luckily it's easy enough to stay indoors in air conditioned spaces or even ventilated spaces with roof fans. I find roof fans very effective, they don't make rooms any cooler but the air movement makes it feel much more comfortable. 

[AndyID]

26 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

It was stinking hot with 100% humidity and no breeze at all today, a day to stay indoors. It's amazing how much difference even a light wind makes, it's always warm and always humid here but it's normal to have a light wind which makes it surprisingly pleasant once you acclimatize. However when the air is completely still it is awful and within seconds of being outside I find myself soaked. Luckily it's easy enough to stay indoors in air conditioned spaces or even ventilated spaces with roof fans. I find roof fans very effective, they don't make rooms any cooler but the air movement makes it feel much more comfortable. 

 

Bit like Southern Arizona. They liked to say "but it's a dry heat" which was true until the monsoon season. That started in early July and lasted into September. If the A/C in your house konked-out you were in a motel PDQ.

[Coombe Barton]

... Domestics - where the **** do I start? Probably by taking the rubbish out so that I can fill the bin again ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2023/04/02/zoe-still-downwards-but-totals-still-significant-and-spotting-the-next-one/

[polybear]

4 hours ago, PupCam said:

Interesting website from @TheQ.   There will be another few hours lost later on then!

 

 

It fails to mention the Radar that A Certain Bear spent many moons working with.....

....nor the infamous Blue Circle Radar...🤣

 

3 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

........as I found a sawn off shotgun there. 

 

Do you still have it by any chance?  Just askin' for a friend....😉

 

2 hours ago, grandadbob said:

I think my back problems started three or four years after moving into this house when I got rid of a garage......

 

Bear is strugglin' to understand this bit....

You HAD a Garage BUT GOT RID OF IT??

😭

 

2 hours ago, grandadbob said:

 

P.S.  Back in the 80s. IIRC 6yd skips cost me about  £36.  In 1966 when I started work we supplied them and the charge was just £6 each!

 

If a 6 yarder is the "normal" Builder's Skip size they're about three hundred quid a go now.

 

 

[PupCam]

6 minutes ago, polybear said:

It fails to mention the Radar that A Certain Bear spent many moons working with.....

....nor the infamous Blue Circle Radar...🤣

 

Ah!  The Blue Circle radar.  Very robust although somewhat lacking in efficacy I seem to recall 🤣

[jjb1970]

31 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Bit like Southern Arizona. They liked to say "but it's a dry heat" which was true until the monsoon season. That started in early July and lasted into September. If the A/C in your house konked-out you were in a motel PDQ.

 

There's a huge difference between dry and wet heat. The temperature here seldom gets that hot (high 20's - low 30's is normal) but the humidity is constant. However, it is very pleasant on a breezy day. 

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

It was stinking hot with 100% humidity and no breeze at all today, a day to stay indoors. It's amazing how much difference even a light wind makes, it's always warm and always humid here but it's normal to have a light wind which makes it surprisingly pleasant once you acclimatize. However when the air is completely still it is awful and within seconds of being outside I find myself soaked. Luckily it's easy enough to stay indoors in air conditioned spaces or even ventilated spaces with roof fans. I find roof fans very effective, they don't make rooms any cooler but the air movement makes it feel much more comfortable. 

 

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

 

Bit like Southern Arizona. They liked to say "but it's a dry heat" which was true until the monsoon season. That started in early July and lasted into September. If the A/C in your house konked-out you were in a motel PDQ.

Reminds me of Barbados, Stepping off of the aircraft was like walking into a sauna. I soon adjusted to it but some of my fellow holidaymakers spent most of their time in their air conditioned rooms complaining of the heat. What did they expect holidaying in the tropics, snow! 

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

 

There's a huge difference between dry and wet heat. The temperature here seldom gets that hot (high 20's - low 30's is normal) but the humidity is constant. However, it is very pleasant on a breezy day. 

Darwin is the same. It doesn't have Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring but instead has the Wet season and the Dry season. I've spent time there in both periods, the temperature is always 32 to 35C all year round but in the dry season it's lovely, in the wet season it's horrendous, humidity in the high 80s and 90s.

 

During the height of the wet season the place is pretty much deserted, tradies won't work, tourists in the know don't go there, many places are shut. Most dwellings and restaurants have outside ceiling fans under verandahs and deck roofs, the slight breeze they make does make a difference but it's still horrible.

The night time makes no difference, it's just dark and humid rather than light and humid.

 

Because cricket and Aussie rules share the same ovals and cricketers refuse to play in the wet season like they are meant to, they play in the dry and the footy players get to run up and down in the humidity and heat.

I went to a game when I was up there and it was hellish just sitting in the stand in the shade, hats off to the players tearing around in the sun out in the middle.

Edited April 2, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Like Brian I was laying in bed this morning until late. The arthritis/sciatica is not troubling me at all at the moment, the advantage of the sunny weather. The cold nights at this time of year make no difference to the joints, just the humidity. One of my favourite holiday destinations was Malta. Very dry for most of the year and only extremely hot in midsummer (late July/August). Even in winter the temperature rarely drops below about 20C. and the rain only lasts for about an hour but can be very heavy.

[Dave Hunt]

2 hours ago, PupCam said:

 

Ah!  The Blue Circle radar.  Very robust although somewhat lacking in efficacy I seem to recall 🤣

 

Having briefly flown with a blue circle radar I can vouch for it’s fairly poor performance. To be fair, though, it was only when the aircraft were being delivered that they actually flew with the concrete noses and quite quickly the real Foxhunters were installed. Mind you, a few of the early

ones weren’t much better than the blue circles and it took until stage 2 before things perked up.

 

Dave

[polybear]

15 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

One of my favourite holiday destinations was Malta. Very dry for most of the year and only extremely hot in midsummer (late July/August). Even in winter the temperature rarely drops below about 20C. and the rain only lasts for about an hour but can be very heavy.

 

That's one place (of rather a lot, actually) that Bear has never been - but I'd quite like to.  Is there a best place to go?  (Bear doesn't "do" Beaches, by the way).

 

 

 

[Dave Hunt]

Looking through some back pages of ERs I saw some pictures of Donk and realised that I’d never introduced Pengy. She is about 40 years old and has several times visited her kinfolk in the Falklands where she is revered as the world’s first, and possibly only, supersonic penguin. She has about 100 flying hours in fast jets and a similar amount in transports.

 

 

Dave

Edited April 2, 2023 by Dave Hunt

[DaveF]

A few photos from Beamish Museum in County Durham yesterday.  The ones with trains will appear in my photo thread.  It's only just over 40 minutes from home.  Can anyone identify the cars, I forgot to make any notes?

I always try to have as few "modern" people in the photos as possible but a few are unavoidable.

 

 

Newly rebuilt farm at Beamish

 

Veteran car

 

Replica bus

 

Aveling and Porter steam roller and old car

 

Garrett steam lorry

 

Another car

 

Sunderland tram and old car

 

David

Edited April 2, 2023 by DaveF

[Gwiwer]

Afternoon all. 
 

Well that’s that. A lot of driving for two nights and almost teo days in the woollier parts of Devon nestling beneath Dartmoor. 
 

Dr. SWMBO has gone on to stay with our friends in Cornwall in order to spend the day being (we hope) recruited for a new role down there. Yours Truly has returned to the Hill of Strawberries to feed the cat and to return at a very early hour to the House of Fun

 

You know how Google’s journey time estimates are usually very optimistic?  I left Exeter Services noting the Big G suggested I would arrive home 2 hours and 56 minutes later. Very optimistic, I thought, knowing the ways of the A303. 
 

But I got a good start without having to make any stops (very unusual around that roundabout) and was on the Honiton by-pass in under half an hour. No sooner had I reached the single-lane road through the Blackdown Hills (where the speed limit drops from 70 to 50) than I joined the back of a very long tailback moving at 15 - 20mph. Around 10 miles further on I finally got past the offending tractor who had refused to pull in at any of the available spots and could resume a better pace. 
 

Short version - I was not required to come to a stop for any purpose (though came close at a couple of roundabouts) until arriving home. And that was in 2 hours 57 minutes. Just one minute outside the Google estimate despite losing perhaps 10 minutes following the tractor. 
 

And at no point did I exceed the speed limits other than notional 71-72 mph in places to “go with the flow” or overtake a slower vehicle. 
 

Exeter to London non-stop. Not even a “signal stop”. GWR can’t manage that!!!  
 

Some views from our morning coffee stop at Widecombe-in-the-Middle-of-Nowhere. After which we parted company with one car heading west and one east. Neither carried Uncle Tom Cobbley and All - they remain firmly astride Tom Pearce’s grey mare. 
 

 

 

 

 

And one arty shot of sunrise glinting on the car-roof dew 

 

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl,

Most of the day at the moorings, first 20 minutes was spent sponging out  BM, about a gallon in there, but split between several separate zones, some difficult to get at.

 

Then mast was taken down most of the way to about 30 degrees from horizontal. The foot trapped under the foredeck, just below the mast exit sat on the tabernacle.

 

I tried the new jib sheave it was about a millimetre too fat, a little fileing soon sorted that. Very very careful fitting it. As it's 19mm by 6 mm with a 5 mm pin through, which is held by a circle split ring, all being tiny, and reaching up high over the water...

 

Then the old jib halyard was removed, fitting the new one was more difficult, especially, down at the bottom sheave exit. The new rope needed to be pushed through a small hole, and then persuaded to turn 90 degrees round a sheave to exit.

The main halyard was then replaced, fortunately the in mast length, is actually in the mast groove, so you can feed it in fairly easily. The only worrying thing is you have to remove the top sheave to feed the rope in... Even higher over the water!!!. 

The ropes were left uncut until they could be properly fitted in the boat.

 

The topping lift was then rerouted as it was twisted .

 

The mast was then put back up.

The ropes were then fed through the sheave blocks I'd installed on the hull at the bottom of the Tabernacle. Then to the centre console. 

What's missing from the above explanations is the repeated rerouting of ropes due to errors or just changing my mind as to the best route.

 

Then I looked at the vang, it wasn't operating very well, partly due to crossed ropes in between the blocks, and partly due to incorrect angles between vang, mast and boom. 

 

So the mast end was moved back onto the tabernacle, the ropes were removed, and re-fed through the blocks ( twice). It required an extension to the rope by a couple of feet, but the knot doesn't get in the way.

 

 The jib sheets that hold the jib club out, were refitted, and a new eye loop fitted behind the jammer, to which the sheet is tied. That means it won't pull out, and is held in a position where I can grab it.

 

Then all the ropes were all set to their minimum position at the console, bobbles tied on, and the spare tails cut off.

 

 

During the day the weather went from cold and drizzly. To sunny and warm, unfortunately I couldn't take off my salopettes  as early on there was a ripping sound and the seam of one leg of my normal trousers let go crotch to knee. So I got somewhat warm...

 

 

And how long did this long did take?

 5 hours excluding breaks...

[Barry O]

Laws of Cricket... remembered 

Changes to the Laws .. now understood.

 

Only took 6 hours to get through it all.

 

How time flies etc....

 

Baz

[Barry O]

First flight of our trip.. 

Manchester to Changi..

 

One Singapore Airlines had just arrived and we were sat in the lounge with some..champagne.. as one does

 

Baz

[PupCam]

56 minutes ago, DaveF said:

Can anyone identify the cars, I forgot to make any notes

 

 

 

Another car

 

 

 

Cars ........

 

#1     Oldsmobile

#2     Humber

#3     Arrol Johnston

#4     Crestmobile

 

I could keep quiet and amaze you all with my vintage and veteran car recognition skills.

 

Or I could just fess-up and tell you the DVLA vehicle data website has its uses 🤣   (Never even heard of the last two!)

 

TTFNQ

 

[Rich_F]

Afternoon all! Don't often post in the Early Risers but had such a wonderful walk on the North Downs (& saw others posting their nature shots) I thought I'd share that even close to London there's stunning landscape views! 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 2, 2023 by Weeny Works

[Ozexpatriate]

Tested the hypothesis that wearing rain gear will stop it from raining. And,

 

With rain falling when I was preparing to go out, I didn't get a drop of rain while walking and actually needed sunglasses (which I didn't bring). The sunshine was bright from above and bright from below, reflecting off wet pavement.

 

Now in the late morning it is dark and raining. Yesterday saw a number of relatively brief but heavy showers on and off through the afternoon, often with small hail. Much snow in the mountains though, despite temperatures much lower than 'normal', I don't think we'll see snow falling in the valley even though the forecast suggests that it is possible.

[pH]

Yesterday we had heavy rain, snow, sleet and hail. None of the white stuff lay for any length of time. Now there’s a dusting of snow on the hills across the inlet from us, and it’s still falling in showers. There’s been no precipitation here, though.

[Ozexpatriate]

8 minutes ago, pH said:

Yesterday we had heavy rain, snow, sleet and hail.

Sounds like Spring! 😉  (In the Pacific Northwest.)

 

Edited April 2, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[TheSignalEngineer]

On 02/04/2023 at 10:58, grandadbob said:

Underneath the garage I found another concrete slab which I think was the base of an Anderson shelter.  Ended up having to hire a compressor to get that b#gger out. 

That sounds reminiscent of where we lived about 40 years ago. Leafy suburb but heading approximately north from about half a mile away, in running order, Velocette motorcycles, Lucas lamp factory, Tyseley loco shed, BSA gun factory and Bordesley marshalling yard. Carry on a bit further and you had Lawley Street Goods, Saltley shed, 3 gas works, nechells power station and Washwood Heath yard and a Spitfire factory. Our area was popular with German pilots heading south who had overshot their target and wanted to get rid of some excess weight. The house two up the road had been destroyed as had several others in the area. 

Our house was occupied by the builder who had built several of the properties along the road so decided he was not for killing. I had found a mound at the end of the garden and decided to get rid of it. A few inches below the top I hit concrete. I cleared a trench to its edge and found it was 9 inches thick. Below it were steps down to an entrance and engineering brick walls 13 inches thick. Inside there were still wooden bunk beds. The whole air raid shelter was about 2/3 below ground level and covered by what had been excavated to protect it. 

I decided that removal was unlikely without serious effort so shovelled in the rubble that was waiting for a skip, recovered the top and landscaped it with a rock garden. Looking at Google Earth I think it has now been converted into a raised patio.😃

Edited April 4, 2023 by TheSignalEngineer