Early Risers.

[Winslow Boy]

4 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

 

I remember a health and safety manager (he was actually pretty senior, not just H&S manager for the plant but for the generation portfolio in Britain) who went out and berated some scaffolders who might have been described as 'rough diamonds' and was literally floored, oh dear.... He was one of those H&S people who seemed incapable of personal interaction without sounding like he was speaking down at others and rather pompous. I did warn him and offered to speak to them (we were watching a couple of them chatting without having their hard hats on) but he saw his opportunity for glory and took it. I know I shouldn't, but it counted as some of the best entertainment I had in electricity generation as I watched it unfold in slow motion.

I think after agriculture/farming it has one of highest fatality rates in the UK and a know HSE take an almost vindictive delight in persuing them.

Edited January 24 by Winslow Boy

[jjb1970]

39 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Rheinmetal  and BAe Systems plus new subies/ suppliers we got rid of for CR2 could have an impact.

 

Baz

 

Rheinmetal strike me as a good example of Roger Ford's seventh law:

 

The attractiveness of technology is directly proportional to the square of the distance of its factory of origin from London

 

Or maybe I am too cynical. Their Puma IFV was advertised as the mightiest IFV in the world, which makes it all the less surprising that the thing has become something of an embarrassment for the German army.

[DaveF]

It's still very windy here so am staying indoors for now, it should start to improve in an hour or so.  It is fairly sunnny and feels mild,about 7C.  I've been outside and made sure the house is still in one piece, the fences have also survived.  2 neighbours will have to do some work on their shed roofs.

 

There's nothing much planned for today so I intend to read and relax a bit along with some modelmaking.  I will probably have a day off from photographs.  If the wind drops I may go out for a while but a number of roads seem to have problems with fallen trees so perhaps not.

 

I had one of the usual e mails from Amazon this morning sugesting boks I might like to read.  For once it was of interest with offerings from Simenon,  Donna Leon and Andrea Camilleri.  I would buy some if I didn't have so many unread books in the house.

 

David

Edited January 24 by DaveF

[PhilJ W]

38 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Can't remember if you had to contribute to a Civil Serpants pension or whether 'we' the tax payer paid it. As Mamar was one, for a short time I shouldn't complain I suppose.

Yes, you do have to contribute but the rules were changed about thirty years ago allowing employees to opt out. This applied to all public services except the police which at one time was none contributory but that may have been brought in to line with other pensions. The contributions varied from 5% to 8% but have risen since I retired. The best pension scheme is that enjoyed by MP's surprise, surprise, (not).

[Hroth]

6 minutes ago, DaveF said:

I had one of the usual e mails from Amazon this morning sugesting boks I might like to read.

 

I get two of their Amazon/Kindle "suggested reading" emails every day...

 

If I'm going to buy a book, ie that its something that I want to read,  then I'll get the physical version, so I have something that I can either keep after reading, or I can pass on to someone else or a charity shop.  I'm very resistant to Kindle books that are priced at a pound or so less than the hardcopy version.

 

Kindle purchases are those priced at what I'd call "charity shop" level, 99p to 2 quid. At that price, I'll sometimes duplicate books that I have in hardcopy for instant gratification on my android tablet rather than hunting it down off a bookshelf.  Others are by authors that I've enjoyed in the past but haven't read, such as the Cicero trilogy by Robert Harris that popped up the other day at 99p each, £2.97 for all three.  The "set" is back up to £9.99 today...

 

The kindle library is handy for holiday reading!

 

[PhilJ W]

36 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

 

I remember a health and safety manager (he was actually pretty senior, not just H&S manager for the plant but for the generation portfolio in Britain) who went out and berated some scaffolders who might have been described as 'rough diamonds' and was literally floored, oh dear.... He was one of those H&S people who seemed incapable of personal interaction without sounding like he was speaking down at others and rather pompous. I did warn him and offered to speak to them (we were watching a couple of them chatting without having their hard hats on) but he saw his opportunity for glory and took it. I know I shouldn't, but it counted as some of the best entertainment I had in electricity generation as I watched it unfold in slow motion.

I was trained in H&S by my union. My boss's were aware of this and tried to use me as an unpaid H&S manager. I told them that they should appoint a full time H&S manager. The person they employed didn't have a clue and his favourite saying when admonishing someone was "It's in the H&S regulations." My answer to that was show me. He often tried to bluster his way out of it by claiming he hasn't got a copy of the regulations to hand. My answer to that was "here's mine (but I want them back)." At which point he realised that he was wanted elsewhere.

[grandadbob]

A walk has been walked in the sunshine and a mile and a quarter managed today without mishap or being blown away as it's still quite breezy out.  The Boss has just gone to visit a friend but I suspect she'll be back very shortly as I've just had a phone call from said friend trying to put her off as her daughter has Covid.

 

Having spent 38 years in the building trade I can confirm that scaffolders and roofers are a breed apart and you should certainly take care in your dealings with them.  I've had a couple or several run ins over the years,  mainly disagreements about the fact that we weren't a self service organisation and you came and paid for the stuff before you got loaded by our staff.

Back in the early 70s, before the current H & S culture a friend who was a scaffolder and his mates made The Evening Standard doing a balancing act on the tubes they were erecting around the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral.  Absolute nutcases, all of them!

Edited January 24 by grandadbob

[tigerburnie]

7 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I was trained in H&S by my union. My boss's were aware of this and tried to use me as an unpaid H&S manager. I told them that they should appoint a full time H&S manager. The person they employed didn't have a clue and his favourite saying when admonishing someone was "It's in the H&S regulations." My answer to that was show me. He often tried to bluster his way out of it by claiming he hasn't got a copy of the regulations to hand. My answer to that was "here's mine (but I want them back)." At which point he realised that he was wanted elsewhere.

I too was trained by my union in H&S and did all the other courses too, ended up doing courses run by Ruskin College Oxford and was offered a degree course in politics and trade unions, had to turn it down along with the degree in H&S at Edinburgh too, couldn't afford to be a full time student.

[Gwiwer]

3 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

aging 1980's expat through the gumtrees, on its way to the romantic central west  town of Dubbo.

Well to each their own.  

 

I never found anything romantic about, nor did I find any romance in, Dubbo.  In my defence I was left unsupervised and I was an aging expat.

 

On the other hand the XPT is an Australian-built (by Commonwealth Engineering a/k/a Comeng) train with the power cars derived from the British HST design.  They are significantly reworked for Aussie conditions.  The trailers are all-Aussie.  

 

I have enjoyed quite a number of XPT rides between Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Sydney - Dubbo.  They once ran with 8 trailers one of which was a sleeper / sitter convertible with the berths becoming bench seats for day use.  Sydney - Melbourne still supports both a day and a night train daily largely because each diagram is a 24-hour out-and-back working.  Services to northern NSW and over the border to Brisbane are more complex but basically the XPT only reaches the Queensland Capital in the very small hours of the morning arriving around 3am and leaving about 90 minutes later.  

 

The trains now normally only include 5 trailers these days.  Dubbo has always been a shorter formation usually 4 trailers and does not include the sleeper.  The "spares" are used on a rotating basis to keep mileage lower and as a pool of spare parts.

 

They travel more slowly than their British counterparts because of numerous local factors.  Australian railways were built cheaply, lightly and are steeply graded through surprisingly hilly territory.  Both Brisbane and Melbourne routes feature complete spirals on stiff gradients.  The climate makes it less safe to run at higher speeds such as are common in other nations.  A complete rebuild of the railways would be required to significantly reduce journey times.  Air travel wins every time Capital to Capital.  Melbourne - Sydney is one of the busiest (at times the busiest) domestic air corridor in the world.  Three to five flights every hour are on offer taking around 75 minutes.  Two trains a day taking around 11 hours cannot compete.  There is modest intermediate traffic with only a small number of medium-sized towns and cities served.  Some stops (timetabled as "on request") are at tiny settlements such as Gunning, Henty, The Rock and Kyogle.  

 

New trains are planned.  One of the issues is the politics of Australia where such things are run state-based whereas the main lines cross borders.  Victoria and Queensland don't see much need to co-fund New South Wales' trains.  

 

Federal funding seldom reaches the rails.  

 

 

Edited January 24 by Gwiwer

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

Rheinmetal strike me as a good example of Roger Ford's seventh law:

 

The attractiveness of technology is directly proportional to the square of the distance of its factory of origin from London

Except where items of hobby interest are concerned.  

 

Perhaps this should be "Bachmann's Exemption"  

[Gwiwer]

41 minutes ago, DaveF said:

There's nothing much planned for today

In which case I can offer you some of my tasks.  Shopping, tip run, cooking, cleaning and persuading laundry to dry (unsuitable for the grumble-dryer) 

 

And that's before I find time to head off to club and play with parallel strips of nickel-silver.  

[Smiffy2]

Mild but a bit windy here in Carshalton-sur-Mer. Whelkmen still abed, their spokesman said they are 'tired'. It's an exhausting life. Coracles vying with trampolines in the general flying-about stakes.

 

 

You'll be heartened to know that I am still chimping. Today I completely farked the new pickguard for Spud's guitar - managed to cut it inside the line on the new bandsaw, jumped (in shock) and jammed the blade which then shot across the plastic and then sensibly parted company with the wheels. Plastic blank ruined, which is annoying as it is extra-large and I can't find the spare sheet...

Bandsaw now reset and I'm having a little sit down and calm down...

 

Duties later include taking Julie to the dentist and then to a jeweller to get a ring embiggened.

 

And possibly chimping...

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Not a bad night last night just a couple of call outs from bladder control. My house insurance jumped by 60% for next year so I did no more than hunt around for a new insurance quote. I had a letter this morning confirming my cancellation of the old policy and asking me to reconsider, not much hope there. 

[Hroth]

I was just browsing through the depths of my hard disk, and came across this "Model" related google ad that was included in these august pages back in April 2017, when RMweb was first introducing adverts.

 

 

Looks like something that might be available from Noch/Preiser to enliven a layout...  🤔

 

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

New trains are planned.  One of the issues is the politics of Australia where such things are run state-based whereas the main lines cross borders.  Victoria and Queensland don't see much need to co-fund New South Wales' trains.  

 

 

If I had a cut of every $10 million study they keep doing  into the feasability  of High Speed rail from Sydney to Melbourne, to Newcastle, to Canberra, to Wollongong etc, I'd be hanging out in the cordoned off VIP section of RMWeb with Rod Stewart and Michael Jordan.  

 

Where the railways come into there own here is bulk ore and coal traffic, its on another level. 895 million tonnes of iron ore and 338 million tonnes of coal last year  for starters, in total 778billion tonne/km . 

In contrast non-bulk freight  is still largely road transported, though the Federally funded inland rail project currently being built from Adelaide to Brisbane is hoping to tip that back  into rails favour. 

 

 

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

I never found anything romantic about, nor did I find any romance in, Dubbo.  

 

 

You didnt book a "Hippo Encounter " at Western Plains  zoo?!

 

 

Edited January 24 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, grandadbob said:

Having spent 38 years in the building trade I can confirm that scaffolders and roofers are a breed apart and you should certainly take care in your dealings with them. 

Here massive South Pacific Islanders dominate the scaffolding profession though they are a friendly bunch on the whole.

Edited January 24 by monkeysarefun

[Hroth]

9 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

You didnt book a "Hippo Encounter " at Western Plains  zoo?!

 

 

 

I'm not that sure I'd like to be that close to the front end of a hippo, but if it suddenly started to turn around.....

 

😬

 

 

[Gwiwer]

17 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

You didnt book a "Hippo Encounter " at Western Plains  zoo?!

Unless you count my occasional incursions to the Night Mail then no 🤣

[Gwiwer]

6 minutes ago, Hroth said:

I'm not that sure I'd like to be that close to the front end of a hippo, but if it suddenly started to turn around.....

 

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, grandadbob said:

Absolute nutcases, all of them!

My brother mentioned that the people who climb broadcast towers to install equipment are an interesting bunch of chaps too. In the UK my brother was mainly concerned with the stuff at the bottom of the tower but when he worked overseas the opportunity to go to the top of the towers and repair stuff was,part of to job. . These were I think only 400ft towers. Though he must have been up some towers in the UK as whenever we are out with him, he will point out a microwave tower and tell.us what a lovely view it has from the top. 

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

 

 

The underwater one was "interesting".

 

People peeing in a swimming pool is bad enough!

 

 

[PhilJ W]

59 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

My brother mentioned that the people who climb broadcast towers to install equipment are an interesting bunch of chaps too. In the UK my brother was mainly concerned with the stuff at the bottom of the tower but when he worked overseas the opportunity to go to the top of the towers and repair stuff was,part of to job. . These were I think only 400ft towers. Though he must have been up some towers in the UK as whenever we are out with him, he will point out a microwave tower and tell.us what a lovely view it has from the top. 

My nephew was a crane rigger, assembling and dismantling tower cranes, some as high as 600 feet. A lot of hanging from ropes was involved.

[Ozexpatriate]

RE: Climbing jobs

 

Arborists here have a challenging work environment. Lumberjacks have a dangerous job but for the most part they are not climbing the trees. To remove them, arborists have to climb immensely tall Douglas Firs and cut them down bit by bit from the top.

 

There was one in a Portland suburb that was on the news. A tree "fell" in last week's wind/sleet storm but only canted at an angle, being propped up by adjacent trees, threatening a nearby house. It had to be removed but many arborists passed on the job suggesting that cranes or even a helicopter would be required. Apparently one company took the job with news footage of a guy in the tree with his chainsaw cutting it into chunks. I imagine he was at least 50-60' in the air.

 

I've seen them use cranes. There's a guy in the tree. They secure the top part of the tree to the crane and then cut through the tree high in the air and lift off the top half of the tree and over the house in front to the street where the crane is. It looks very expensive. Lots of people and equipment, not just the big crane.

[Hroth]

I'm pleased to report that this years Cadbury Creme Eggs are the same weight (42g) as last years Creme Eggs and so are not suffering from "shrinkflation".  However, I suspect that the price for an individual "egg"/box of 5 "eggs" has probably been increased, but at least that's honest!

 

[Tony_S]

2 hours ago, Hroth said:

I'm pleased to report that this years Cadbury Creme Eggs are the same weight (42g) as last years Creme Eggs and so are not suffering from "shrinkflation".  However, I suspect that the price for an individual "egg"/box of 5 "eggs" has probably been increased, but at least that's honest!

 

I have never eaten a Cadbury Creme Egg. When I was very young I saw a similar mini egg product in a shop window . Mum got me one. I was spectacularly sick on the way home. Never really fancied one since. I don’t think it was actually a Cadbury product. It would have been mid 1950s.