Early Risers.

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from the Charente. It is still cool but the logs are burning well. The cuting and transport of the logs give me a good amount of un programmed exercise.  One of the good counts daughters,namely Dominique,has just been to gather some red liquid from Beth. She was in great form and accepted a coffee with milk.  

 

This mornings schedule starts with the ironing then a start will be made on fixing the new TV bracket. 

 

As to septic tanks, ours is now a modern one that very rarely needs emptying.  The water waste gives us a luxuriant front weed patch even in the height of summer. 

 

Jamie

Edited January 10 by jamie92208

[Winslow Boy]

3 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

On microplastics in sea water, that is a topical issue at IMO and there is much talk of regulation. The problem is that without wanting to deny that ships are a source of microplastic discharges to sea their contribution is pretty much insignificant relative to discharges from land based sources yet many member States are happy to pontificate about shipping while refusing to countenance moves to address land based discharges.

 

Very similar to plastic litter, it's already illegal (and has been for a long time) for ships flagged to a party of the MARPOL Convention to dump trash, throw plastic over the wall etc. It'd be naïve to imagine it doesn't still happen but it's a marginal issue for ships, and the contribution of ships to general litter at sea is statistically trivial yet to listen to some you'd think every bit of litter you see on a beach or out at sea came from a nefarious ship. Lost fishing nets is a bigger issue, that's not a commercial shipping issue so I don't get involved but I am guessing that given the price of large nets that fishing vessels don't just throw the things into the sea.

 

It always amazes me when countries pontificate and demand more regulation to address stuff which is already illegal under international regulations those same countries are supposed to have implemented and be enforcing. It's the same as land based legislators, the answer to every issue is more law despite the fact the issue under question is already illegal. We need to make it doubly illegal and hope nobody asks the question -if enforcement agencies couldn't be bothered to enforce the existing laws which already fully address the matter why is another law the answer? 

As you will probably know already politicians love to talk and to be seen to be 'doing' something. Unfortunately it has spread to every day life as well. 

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Frosty start with blue sky and some sunshine here and it should stay dry today.  Cold * at -1°C and might reach 5°C.

 

* Cold for the Land of Sutt, those oop North will smile at that statement whilst those in Canada and Minnesota will laugh their heads off.

 

No pain but I was awake all night.  From 5.15 yesterday morning until 5.30 ish today the only time I slept was when I was anaesthetised.  I'd planned on going to bed at 22.30 and @iL Dottore popped a couple of pills at 21.30 so they'd be taking effect just in case they were needed.  Still wide awake so stayed up watching recorded rugby and the first episode of the new "Reacher" series.  Went to bed at 12.50 still not feeling tired and couldn't get to sleep.  I normally start off on my LH side but that was not very comfortable so had to lay on my back and that never works for me.  Got up at 2.30 and headed down for a muggatea and decided to pop another couple of pills.  Went back to bed at 03.00, the pills helped and after about an hour I could at least lay on my side but still couldn't get to sleep.  Combination of things I think as I was using the back bedroom so as not to disturb the Boss so a different bed although I've never had a problem sleeping on it before.  Multiple fluid intakes of water, tea and a coffee through the evening so the caffeine wouldn't have helped and of course (unusually for me) a couple of visits to inspect the plumbing were needed.  On top of that the foxes were making a racket and next door (adjoining) are dog sitting a couple of yappy spaniels who joined in with the foxes at about 04.00.  Great!  Eventually dozed off a couple of times after 05.30 but woke at 07.30 as The Boss was getting up.  She offered to bring me up a muggatea but I decided enough was enough and followed her

downstairs.  Been sitting around and (mis)typing this, drinking tea and trying to plan my day.  It won't be very strenuous and as it looks slippery on the pavements I might not bother with a walk until it clears up a bit.

Time to wrap myself in clingfilm and try to shower without getting the dressing wet.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

Further edit:  Missing letters.

Edited January 10 by grandadbob
I'm fairly sure I type all the right letters but not necessarily in the right order.

[Hroth]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Good moaning g from the Charente. It is still cool but the logs are burning well. The cutgi g and transport of the logs give me a good amount of u programmed exercise.  One of the good counts daughters,namely Dominique,has just been to gather some red liquid from Beth. She was in great form and accepted a coffee with milk.  

 

This mornings schedule starts with the ironing then a start will be made on fixing the new TV bracket. 

 

As to septic tanks, ours is now a modern one that very rarely needs emptying.  The water waste gives us a luxuriant front weed patch even in the height of summer. 

 

Jamie

 

You ought to convert the "luxuriant front weed patch" into a reed bed system to act as a waste water purifier.

 

Chester Zoo have a small one that handles the output from the Elephant enclosure...

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1658217

 

Edited January 10 by Hroth
Extra!

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, roundhouse said:

Or as my other half calls them Satzumas and the GWR ones Marrows🙂

 

good luck.

I know (and use) both terms.  

Satzoomers. Because you have sat on them and they zoom. 
 

Marrows because they are long, dark green with yellow bits, rather hard and not many people like them. 

[Andy Hayter]

6 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Yes, and definitely in the marine food chain. And not just the nylon 'fleece' but any fibres that make stretchy comfortable clothes including undies and 'stretch' denim.

 

There were experiments in wild waterways in Oregon. Micro-plastics were detected upstream of any potential human sources - suggesting they are in the precipitation cycle.

 

Sullage to the sea and back as rain or snow.

 

I struggle to see how micro or nano plastics can be part of the precipitation cycle.  I can however imagine that these particles can be carried on the wind from a washing line or even from someone just wearing an item outdoors.  Whether that then get carried up high into the atmosphere to form a nucleus for a raindrop seems reasonable but that does not really form part of the conventional precipitation cycle.  

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

After a couple of days where we had sunny, but frosty start, today is dull, but no frost. As is the norm at the moment, I’m doing mostly domestic duties, but yesterday, I over saw Sheila self administering the eye drops, as she’ll have to do that on Friday, as I’ll be out of the house for around 6 hours having my bone scan. I also got a date for my CT scan, 15 February, the day AFTER my consultation where they plan to discuss the test finding! 
 

Anyway, bestgetamoveon, back later.
 

Brian

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Very cold first thing this morning and now just creeping to above zero but at least there is no precipitation. The foxes were 'at it' last night, very noisily, one lot in the back garden and another pair on the front doorstep, they soon moved when I opened the front door. I have seen the dog fox marking his territory and only the other day I saw him strutting down the street but a few minutes later he met a dog walker going the other way which resulted in a lot of barking and a reddish brown streak flashing past and disappearing around the corner.

[Barry O]

10 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

I know (and use) both terms.  

Satzoomers. Because you have sat on them and they zoom. 
 

Marrows because they are long, dark green with yellow bits, rather hard and not many people like them. 

Whatever you call them they are carp! Seats.. poor. No toast available as no space for a toaster 9 car diesel/ electric set) run by very poor company.. (change of ownership but its the management who are clueless. Staff very dispirited..)

 

Not helped by an awful interior colour scheme which is very dreary...

 

Now 30 minutes late.. and my coach has a few minor wheel flats as ride is "bumpy"

 

Baz

 

Edited January 10 by Barry O

[monkeysarefun]

19 hours ago, Barry O said:

At least the New Zealanders don't have snales or venomous spiders.. they do have ... the Kiwi...which attacks your shins in the dark when you can't see them.... well, apart from the albino one...

 

Baz

 

 

But they do have the "Poor Mans  Cockatoo",  the Kea...

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

Good moaning one and all,

 

A brightness has come across the Distant (Signal) West though the Big Yellow Heater has yet to make its appearance.  Outside reamins cold.  Inside remains the place to be.  

 

Tasks today include another assault on Australian bureaucracy attempting to extract my superannuation funds.  Both are making it terminally difficult by rejecting every offer of "Proof of ID" on the apparently spurious grounds that the authorising person is "Not within Australian jurisdiction".   Today's effort will involve consular staff at Australia House and a very stiffly-worded letter from a solicitor (a friend of Dr. SWMBO as it happens) who lives and practices in Australia.  "Unreasonably withholding funds" is being alleged.  

 

It is also Club Day and a visit to Trelowarren Street in Camborne is required to collect some offerings more expensive than pasties.  

 

The farm shop is offering 2-for-1 sausages by the Pound which is too good an offer to miss given that I shall also be passing their door.  

 

And the Little Red Driving Box has four door protectors, small stick-on rubberised patches in the same colour as the body, to be fitted if the car-wash is open; I'm not going to attempt sticking anything onto the veneer of local mud it currently carries.  These should help protect both its own paintwork and that of any nearby car it happens to be parked beside when doors are opened.  And one each for the wing mirrors too.  An £8 investment to possibly save tens or hundreds of £££ if anything were to happen.  

 

A new smoke alarm has been installed just inside the front door to protect our main exit route in case of need.  I was going to replace the other one - at the top of the stairs, and the heat alarm in the kitchen but have discovered they are hard-wired and will need a sparky to remove them.  Or to replace the units which are both marked "Replace by 2016" but work when tested.  I need the sparky for a couple of other little jobs so that will be added to the list.  

 

Muggercoffy had.  Custard donut had.  And there's a bacon, brie and cranberry baguette for lunch in due course.  Today shouldn't be all bad then!  

[DaveF]

Quite a good night's sleep last night, got up had, breakfast and cleaned the kitchen.  Then I decided to go to the tip to get rid of the junck I sorted out last week.  I found two new sets of roadworks with traffic lights on the way, one just beyond the end of my road and one by the tip.  The ones near me are for the gas company, so far the road works consist of holes in the grass surrounded by barriers and a van parked by the road with traffic lights at each end of it.  Presumably sometime someone will come and dig up the road.

 

The tip was quiet so once I got there it didn't take long to put the things in the correct skips and containers, after that I drove home via the beach.  Just as I parked the car the rain stopped for a few minutes so I had a quick walk.  It wasn't too cold, 5C here this morning with rain on and off and a few bits of blue now and then.

 

I have a number of small bits and pieces to sort out today which will involve phone calls, thankfully to local firms which still employ local people so it shouldn't be too difficult.  One is to the roofers who haven't sent me a bill for the work they did before Christmas.  I suspect it may be another cae of "it was a small job which only took a few minutes so it's not worth sending a bill".  That has happened to me and a number of people I know in the past,  It is a very old fashioned way of doing business but it makes me more inclined to contact them if I ever need a big job doing.

 

David

[Gwiwer]

19 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Whatever you call them they are carp! Seats.. poor. Not past available as no ace for a toaster 9 car diesel/ electric set) run by very poor company..

The same is true for the green ones which come in our general direction.  

 

Dr. SWMBO is over the near 6-hour trek each way on an ironing-board where there should be a seat offering reasonable comfort.  She is over the harsh eye-searing white LED lighting which causes nausea.  She is over the almost-certain delay of 30 - 120 minutes on each and every trip but has at least claimed for Delay Repay and had her refunds processed fairly quickly.  And she is over the absence of any form of on-train catering.  

 

It is a disgrace that a major rail business fails to provide even drinking water for such long trips.  There "should be" a trolley service but eight trips out of ten there isn't and on the others it might come through once in over 5 hours.  They can't serve anything more than cold drinks and nibbles because they have no chilling (so no sandwiches) and seldom more than enough hot water for one coach-load of thirsty coffee drinkers.  

 

On-board staff are empathetic and agree (if you can get them to discuss anything at all) that the service is woeful.  They can't do any more than pass on feedback.  

 

At least the Late and Never Early Railway ones have buffet counters and at-seat service (most of the time) even if the range offered is pretty minimal compared to BR days.  GWR sets have full kitchens which are never* used but occupy half a carriage but no buffet service at all.  

 

* Other than for the four Pullman dining trips each weekday which can each serve no more than 17 passengers.  

[TheQ]

20 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

But they do have the "Poor Mans  Cockatoo",  the Kea...

 

 

 

Is that,

a KEA on a KIA?

[Flanged Wheel]

On Monday, we caught a train. It arrived on time, was spotlessly clean, and had comfy seats (even in our basic carriage). Eight hours later, we reached our destination precisely on time, having been supplied by a very reasonably priced coffee cart on countless occasions. The staff were incredibly friendly and smartly turned out and the whole thing was an absolute pleasure.

 

So if you want a decent train journey, it appears that you may have to come and join us in Indonesia…

 

(Mind you, it does appear that all members of the population and their pets are issue track passes at birth. The finest moment was seeing cows being merrily herded between the running lines with trains passing in both directions).

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

Tasks today include another assault on Australian bureaucracy attempting to extract my superannuation funds.  Both are making it terminally difficult by rejecting every offer of "Proof of ID" on the apparently spurious grounds that the authorising person is "Not within Australian jurisdiction".   Today's effort will involve consular staff at Australia House and a very stiffly-worded letter from a solicitor (a friend of Dr. SWMBO as it happens) who lives and practices in Australia.  "Unreasonably withholding funds" is being alleged.  

 

 

 

Probably a  by-product of Howard-era  Anti-terrorism laws that assumed  that if we want to transfer more than $10,000 anywhere outside Australia  we are obviously terrorists and up to no good. 

 

Championed by one-time PM Tony Abbott along with a heap of proposals to capture all the metadata from emails we send on the basis of "if you have done nothing wrong then you have nothing to fear!" bullsh!t reasoning.

 

Decency came back to bite him though   when he got reported to the cops  by karma crusaders for  flouting COVID restrictions for not social distancing on the beach. Instantly went into whiney mode about how its Un-Australian to dob people in . But reading their emails isn't?   Now in the UK as some kind of bizarre Brexit / pro-global warming fan ("less people die from heat than cold" )  where he will hopefully stay.

 

Not missed - one star.

 

 

 

Edited January 10 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Flanged Wheel said:

On Monday, we caught a train. It arrived on time, was spotlessly clean, and had comfy seats (even in our basic carriage). Eight hours later, we reached our destination precisely on time, having been supplied by a very reasonably priced coffee cart on countless occasions. The staff were incredibly friendly and smartly turned out and the whole thing was an absolute pleasure.

 

So if you want a decent train journey, it appears that you may have to come and join us in Indonesia…

 

(Mind you, it does appear that all members of the population and their pets are issue track passes at birth. The finest moment was seeing cows being merrily herded between the running lines with trains passing in both directions).

 

 

I know way more than I will ever need to know about Indonesia due to it being spruiked as our major trading partner in the 70's and thus a chief subject to get taught about at school. 

 

I learned about the 4 main islands, Sumatra....    hmmm...... oh,  Borneo........ .and .....................the  other two.     (it was a long time ago! ) and the only language course the NSW public school system offered  in the 70's/early 80's was was French, German  or Indonesian. 

 

 We also did Indonesian cooking classes in home economics.

 

  Paradoxically as well as us being groomed  to consider it as our major trading and cultural partner we were also always being warned that it was  THE major threat to Australia's security in the 90's and  early 2000's, but apparently our F-111's would keep us safe.

 

Indonesia seems to have since retreated in the nations threat level list   -  China with its smarmy cosying up to everyone around here has since taken its place as scary country number one.

[Hroth]

12 hours ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

Think I can justify this as industrial archaeology...

 

My problem with that sort of industrial archeology is that its evidence of a waste of time, effort, money, and national infrastructure.  Though it doesn't almost reduce me to tears and want to find a baseball bat as "Before and After" railway photo books do. One about the remains of the Great Central Railway really annoyed me...

 

[New Haven Neil]

No trolley service here either, and the seats were a plank in the van.  Cold morning made for nice steam trail though.

 

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

I know (and use) both terms.  

Satzoomers. Because you have sat on them and they zoom. 
 

Marrows because they are long, dark green with yellow bits, rather hard and not many people like them. 

 

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

Whatever you call them they are carp! Seats.. poor. Not past available as no ace for a toaster 9 car diesel/ electric set) run by very poor company.. (change of ownership but its the management who are clueless. Staff very dispirited..

 

Not helped by an awful interior colour scheme which is very dreary...

 

 

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

The same is true for the green ones which come in our general direction.  

 

Dr. SWMBO is over the near 6-hour trek each way on an ironing-board where there should be a seat offering reasonable comfort.  She is over the harsh eye-searing white LED lighting which causes nausea.  She is over the almost-certain delay of 30 - 120 minutes on each and every trip but has at least claimed for Delay Repay and had her refunds processed fairly quickly.  And she is over the absence of any form of on-train catering.  

 

It is a disgrace that a major rail business fails to provide even drinking water for such long trips.  There "should be" a trolley service but eight trips out of ten there isn't and on the others it might come through once in over 5 hours.  They can't serve anything more than cold drinks and nibbles because they have no chilling (so no sandwiches) and seldom more than enough hot water for one coach-load of thirsty coffee drinkers.  

 

On-board staff are empathetic and agree (if you can get them to discuss anything at all) that the service is woeful.  They can't do any more than pass on feedback.  

 

At least the Late and Never Early Railway ones have buffet counters and at-seat service (most of the time) even if the range offered is pretty minimal compared to BR days.  GWR sets have full kitchens which are never* used but occupy half a carriage but no buffet service at all.  

 

* Other than for the four Pullman dining trips each weekday which can each serve no more than 17 passengers.  

Ah yes, the glory that once was the railways in Britain…

 

I was wandering around YouTube (as one does, as one does) when I came across a video by a British railway enthusiast (definitely knowledgeable and definitely an anorak) who was reviewing the unsuitability of various UK train-sets for certain routes…. Basically, the video can be summarised as “the TOC wanted to change/upgrade/modify the rolling stock to adapt it to the new role and the DfT said “No”).
 

I am slowly arriving at the conclusion that as much as incompetent management, bolshy unions and meddling ministers have all played their part in b******g up Britain’s railway - the real culprits - the ones waving the gas axes in the direction of what remains of Britain’s railways - are the Mandarins and faceless functionaries at the DfT.

 

If the Japanese successfully privatised their railways (and the Japanese are the first to admit their railway debt to Britain), why couldn’t the British (who privatised after Japan) do it properly? The UK could have learnt a lot from the Japanese. Could it be that the combination of the British attitude of not trusting Johnny Foreigner and the Cult of Incompetence that currently bedevils the UK prevented those privatising the railways from learning how best to do it?
 

Ironically, much of the (justly) maligned rolling stock is built by companies that produce comfortable and well laid out rolling stock for many European countries. But there again European rolling stock is not built down to DfT requirements…

 

A final (cynical) thought: were a government to prohibit DfT staff from coming to work by private vehicle (including the top Mandarins), would the UK suddenly experience a renaissance of public transport?

[monkeysarefun]

46 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

My problem with that sort of industrial archeology is that its evidence of a waste of time, effort, money, and national infrastructure.  Though it doesn't almost reduce me to tears and want to find a baseball bat as "Before and After" railway photo books do. One about the remains of the Great Central Railway really annoyed me...

 

 

 

 

There are a lot of disused tunnels around here as the original railway routes were finessed and / or replaced due to  improved 19th century engineering techniques overcoming  the harsh topography .

 

Southern Sydney has several disused tunnels  along the Illawarra escarpment on the original coastal route, and there is one  next door to my work as part of the second version of the  western  line which replaced an original zig-zag  before the current line was opened.  

 

I used to jog along the original route at lunchtimes and always wondered at a deep mineshaft about 3m in diameter that was located just off of the track route. I assumed it was an exploration shaft looking for coal or shale-oil  and I did look into old newspapers etc, but the only mention I found of it was in reports about a serial killer who was plying his serial killing exploits during the gold rush, which in itself took over my investigation effort.

 

He would advertise in the Sydney papers for "New Chums" (ie those just arrived in the colony to seek their fortune)  to join him  on the  journey west to the goldfields of the  Bathurst district. They would camp for the night at Glenbrook -  where the Blue Mountains commence  - and he  would kill them in their sleep and  hide their bodies in the scrub, then take their belongings and savings.

 

He did this 4 or 5 times  before the concerns started going out for the victims welfare, I don't recall what gave him away, but I do remember reading a very lurid description in the Sydney Morning Herald of the day    about the recovery of one body which had been  discovered shoved under an overhanging rock ledge and covered in leaves.

 

Word got out that the body was to be disinterred once the police had arrived by train from Sydney and  a huge crowd gathered with picnic baskets and so on in anticipation. The newspaper story takes great delight in describing the malodourous sickening stench and the shrieking and fainting of the women present as the body was removed from its hiding place, after spending several days decomposing in the summer heat. 

 

Apparently the killer was an American citizen who  escaped to New York via ship but was chased by NSW police's finest in a following ship and was arrested on arrival in the USA, completing what was possibly the worlds longest, or slowest, police chase. Either way the story would make a great podcast or mini-series IMHO.

 

Second tunnel story!

 

 

 

There is a tunnel near here at Picton, now disused but once part of the southern line before it was bypassed:

 

 

A woman using it as a shortcut in the early years of last century was killed by a train so it is therefore haunted by her.

 

These days the cutting has been dug away somewhat  but the tunnel and mouth are still there.

 

 

I did a ghost tour of Picton with my son on a cold dark winters night in about 2005 and once our  group had visited the tunnel they left, but for some reason myself and my son lingered at the mouth, at an angle that we couldn't see into the tunnel, but we both saw a bright blue glow start to emanate from it for several seconds, getting very bright   and spilling out into the area outside the tunnel mouth, before slowly fading away.

 

Was it a ghostly thing?  I didn't stay to investigate further but we both hurried to rejoin  the  rest of the ghost party making their way back down the track!

 

 

Edited January 10 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

55 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Ironically, much of the (justly) maligned rolling stock is built by companies that produce comfortable and well laid out rolling stock for many European countries. But there again European rolling stock is not built down to DfT requirements…

 

 

 

Here its the opposite. The aging inter-urban V-set  EMU's built by Comeng in Newcastle NSW are just lovely.  Comfortable, smooth, super -nice  leather seats etc. 

 

The previous government (who live on the side of politics that says union workforces are bad, as is local manufacturing for some reason) outsourced their replacements to South Korea and Spain.

 

Meant to be up and running by 2019,  we still don't have them. The Korean ones turned out to be too wide for the Blue Mountains line because they didn't actually measure stuff,  so it cost a fortune to shave bits off the platform edges  with a giant rasp or something.

 

The Spanish ones have been plagued with fails like inadequate legroom, poor and unsafe lighting levels, an intolerably  bumpy ride but the major issue is a driver-monitored camera replacing guards, a system that has already been demonstrated to be a danger to the travelling public. 

 

Delays,  contract  disagreements, , renegotiations and legal   costs have been mental - sometimes it is just easier,  cheaper and better to use local unionised  labour rather than go all out trying to kill it off.   Attempted privatisation/union busting - 0 stars.

Edited January 10 by monkeysarefun

[Flanged Wheel]

 

When we visited New Zealand in November, we happened to come across* the world’s most southerly railway tunnel, part of the former Catlins River Branch railway. It was very atmospheric and peaceful.

 

*My wife suggests that it was not a coincidence that the lay-by that I picked for lunch just happened to be next to the footpath to the tunnel and that my apparent surprise when I found that we were lunching next to some old railway infrastructure was entirely fake. Such an accusation is, of course, scurrilous, outrageous and completely true.

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

why couldn’t the British (who privatised after Japan) do it properly?

Because privatisation was absolutely nothing to do with the railways. It was ideological.  Many other publicly owned services were sold off at the same time. Gas, electricity and water for example. Schools and medical services endured financial cutbacks. There was no interest in instituting the kind of systems developed for running national infrastructure in other European and Asian countries. 

[jamie92208]

6 hours ago, Flanged Wheel said:

 

When we visited New Zealand in November, we happened to come across* the world’s most southerly railway tunnel, part of the former Catlins River Branch railway. It was very atmospheric and peaceful.

 

*My wife suggests that it was not a coincidence that the lay-by that I picked for lunch just happened to be next to the footpath to the tunnel and that my apparent surprise when I found that we were lunching next to some old railway infrastructure was entirely fake. Such an accusation is, of course, scurrilous, outrageous and completely true.

Why does that happen to us much maligned railway enthusiasts.  Beth saw the model Railways in the sitting and dining rooms of my house the first day she met me but still expressed surprise when there  were Railways in sight of the motels we stopped in on our honeymoon.  My protestations of innocence were not believed. 

 

Jamie

Edited January 10 by jamie92208