Early Risers.

[iL Dottore]

10 hours ago, rockershovel said:

I've eaten some shocking rubbish from street stalls, particularly in Africa. Had some nasty squitters too. 

Perhaps I’ve been lucky, but the street food I’ve had in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Japan has been pretty good to amazing.

 

I’ve eaten where the locals eat in Tunisia, but it was a café not a street stall and was rather good (with no after effects). Would I eat from street stalls elsewhere in Africa? Not sure.

9 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Another lovely early Autumn day here. It really is my favourite time of year.

Me too. Early to mid autumn seems to have the best weather: pleasantly warm during the day, cool - but not cold - at night. Even rainstorms are enjoyable - unlike summer storms (hot and sticky) or winter storms (icy and bitter)

9 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Morn...oh.  Well I was busy, honest.

 

Took Mrs H to be Pilated…

I read that as “to be plated” and for a moment I thought that the one true High Priest or DONK of The Royal Ramsey Enclave of The Sage and Venerable Priest Warriors of Donk had resorted to cannibalism.

Speaking of which, what’s happened to Donk? Has he come down with polybearism (Morbus PB) like Dronk? Has he gone to join that enclave in the sky?

2 hours ago, BR60103 said:

I did the smoke detectors today.

Smoke alarms don’t seem to be widely used here in the domestic setting, or at least I haven’t noticed them in evidence. During our house hunt, we saw a number of apartments of various ages and none had smoke detectors that we noticed. I suspect that very high building standards, quality materials, strict implementation of relevant safety laws and by-law-required monitoring of electrical systems during the lifetime of the property may have something to do with it (every 5 or 10 years, I forget which, you must get your property’s entire electrical system - from where the mains power enters the house down to each socket and switch must be inspected by an independent and qualified electrician and any company that has done any sort of electrical repairs to the property is disqualified because of potential bias).

 

Of course house and apartment fires do happen, but very rarely it would seem (and whilst I don’t know the stats, but I suspect “human error” [the Swiss equivalent of the chip pan fire, perhaps] was the cause in most cases).

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Beware County Durham! The daft lad returns!!!

 

Looks like dry but cool weather should great us. Great!

 

We have various mains (with battery backup) smoke and CO detectors.. it forms part of the building regs. (Gained from experience). Electrical work has to be signed off by a competent electrician (who needs to pass a test of skill and knowledge) and gas work must be done by a competent Gas safe qualified person.

 

Despite all of this we still get the odd fire .. people chose the cheap route not the best route.

 

Good day yesterday for Yorkshire Cricket. Gained promotion but, unfortunately,  no Yorks v Lanvs county derby's next year as Lancs have been relegated. 

 

Unfortunately the SAFC lads played like doilums and lost....pah!

 

Time to finish packing and get ready to go.

 

Her indoors has opened her cards and pressies so is in a cheery mood.. long may it last!

 

Stay safe!

Baz

 

Edited 9 hours ago by Barry O
Spellung

[jjb1970]

28 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Perhaps I’ve been lucky, but the street food I’ve had in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Japan has been pretty good to amazing.

 

 

I find the street food and hawker centre food of SE and East Asia tends to be very good. At it's best it is superb and rivals high end restaurant food. In Singapore it's seen as a courtesy to take a guest to your favourite hawker stall for lunch.

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,

A better night of 5 solid hours sleep,  short awake, 2 hours sleep.

 

Blue welkin, not a lot of wind, can't tell if it's dew or left overs from yesterday's rain on the ground, roads still damp.

 

I Feel lot better than yesterday, so I'll proceed to the sailing club after breakfast, there might be some bailing to do after recent weather.. you just can't stop rain hitting the mast and running down into the hull...

I've just checked, racing is on the river at the club, it's low tide near the start of the racing, so there will be an increasing tide coming in during the day. Also the wind is supposed to increase but we won't get the maximum till midnight or slightly later and nowhere near as strong as our south western correspondent will get..

 

Still having the side effects of the is it or isn't it pill after 6 days so it's increasingly like it is.

 

Time to start getting ready.

 

 

 

[polybear]

3 hours ago, BR60103 said:

Our current units are hard-wired into the mains with battery backup.  The batteries usually come out with over 9v still in them.  I have a building on my layout that has a 9v lighting feature, but I still have a large  supply of barely used batteries.

 

Bear doesn't swap the batteries every year - I see it as a waste of money, resources and increasing waste.  All smoke alarms have low battery warnings plus a test feature.  However, most of Bear's S.A. have 10-year batteries fitted - though they seem to fail long before that; fortunately the manufacturer doesn't argue and sends out a replacement in the post after confirming the serial number (though I have had instances where the replacement has failed as well - and because the unit it replaced would now have been 10+ years old they won't replace it).  It's the same make/model that the Fire Brigade install as freebies to vulnerable people, incidentally (Fire Angel).

 

3 hours ago, BR60103 said:

Our detectors are in the ceiling, one at the bottom of the basement stairs and the other at the top, outside the bedroom door. CO detector is in a socket outside the bedroom.

 

Bear Castle has 9 S.A. (including inside the Airing Cupboard as there's leccy stuff in there), a Heat Alarm** in the Kitchen, a C.O. Alarm plus numerous Flood Alarms (6?).

 

**Apparently S.A. in the kitchen are a no-no because the sensor can get damaged by airborne cooking particles - as well as being a PITA.

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

I’ve eaten where the locals eat in Tunisia, but it was a café not a street stall and was rather good (with no after effects). Would I eat from street stalls elsewhere in Africa? Not sure.

 

Street Food?  Depends - especially overseas;  first thing I look at is if they have hand washing facilities and does the "chef" look like someone who wastes their hands** after they've been for a wee (or worse)....

 

(**The number of so-called intelligent people working for The Great Empire who would fail this basic test would amaze you....🤢)

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Of course house and apartment fires do happen, but very rarely it would seem (and whilst I don’t know the stats, but I suspect “human error” [the Swiss equivalent of the chip pan fire, perhaps] was the cause in most cases).

 

I find it amazing that with all the rules & regs in a country like Switzerland there seem to be none for compulsory smoke alarms 😲

[polybear]

Bear here....

 

Up at the disgracefully late time of 0646....

Today WILL see Bear sort that Sh.... er, Workshop Wood....

I also need to check whether or not the current G & L deal is ok (the prices go up v. soon apparently 🤬), some ironing to do 😒, a choo to test (still....), a watch to charge and perhaps a second attempt at reducing what's in Momma Bear's Wardrobe Drawers.....😢).

 

ION.....

 

Bear put the Gas Fire on this morning 😲 - oh, the shame of it....

It'll not be on for too long though - there's something about the idea of Deltics disappearing up the Chimney that Bear doesn't like....

 

TTR

 

BG

 

[DaveF]

I was awake a bit too early this morning at 04.30, for no particular reason, I eventually went back to sleep and then woke with the alarm at 07.00 to give time for breakfast, putting photos on the web phone calls before I go to church.

 

Not too much is planned for today, the things I bought yesterday need to be put away so they can be used when I start on the modelling jobs they were bought for.  

 

There was an orange red sunrise, the cloud has now returned so it is a uniform grey but the forecast predicts a lot of sun.  

 

One photo I put on flickr yesterday - the one I put on here of the waves has been selected for flickr explore so it is getting a lot of views.

 

David

 

[rockershovel]

2 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

 

The Convention is a legally binding Treaty and international law. It does not concern itself with details such as standing patrols but places obligations on contracting parties which include the UK and EU countries. SAR coordination and response are addressed in the SAR Convention, another legally binding Treaty forming international law. Whether or not contracting parties fulfil their obligations does not alter those obligations under international law. 

But the French aren't taking anyone to court for, in effect abandoning these "mariners" and no-one, on either side is making any serious attempt to control the situation. 

 

I would hardly be surprised to see HM Govt prosecute individual members of HM Coastguard or Border Force for declining to assist, though. 

 

What is NEEDED is a concerted effort to control the driving factors. I suspect that an immediate moratorium followed by a long term policy of reducing benefits to the general European level for incomers would soon grasp thst nettle. 

[rockershovel]

Since Singapore was mentioned with approval, I'll offer Iran in return

 

Some years ago I was working in Central Iran - which has a border with Afghanistan. Its a common sight in the NE of the country to see cars burned out by the roadside, half a mile or so from the road. This is the work of the Drugs Police (Iran has multiple police forces). 

 

Some of the drivers must be arrested, because they are occasionally the subject of public executions.

 

Iran doesn't appear to have a drugs problem, insofar as the press can be regarded as bearers of impartial truth.....

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, from a dull but dry rock, where a soaring 12C is on offer.  Breezy, but.

 

Chateau NHN boasts a mains/battery smoke detector, that has recently proved the air fryer circulates a lot of particles, it's (the air fryer - d'oh) next to the cooker hood and we normally turn that on when using the fryer, but....someone.....#cough#....forgot to turn it on one day this week. CO2 detector too, down by the boiler.

 

Donk?  Last time we saw him he was driving trams at Crich, after a planning session with Dink and Camping Bear.

 

 

 

No doubt he will re-surface after the post-holiday hangover clears.  Some say the reason the wood burner was lit for the first time this autumn last night, was a fur-drying session, we couldn't possibly comment.

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by New Haven Neil

[jjb1970]

48 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

I would hardly be surprised to see HM Govt prosecute individual members of HM Coastguard or Border Force for declining to assist, though. 

 

 

That would be a matter for the competent enforcement and prosecuting authorities, but certainly I would hope severe action would be taken against such individuals. It is not the role of any member of the emergency response or law enforcement agencies to ignore their terms of service and statutory responsibilities and make their own decisions who they will or will not assist.

[Two_sugars]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

Ey up!

 

Beware County Durham! The daft lad returns!!!

 

Looks like dry but cool weather should great us. Great!

 

 

Her indoors has opened her cards and pressies so is in a cheery mood.. long may it last!

 

Stay safe!

Baz

 

Howay, lad . .. .be realistic . . . yer bringing her to HORDEN!!!!!!!

 

The sun is even trying to shine through as a welcome . . . 10c and still grey but dry.

 

Keep smiling all . . 

 

John

 

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

A dull, grey, but (currently) dry start to the day here in the northwest corner of England. Today will be pretty much the same as yesterday, although I’m expecting a package from Rails today, due anytime before 7pm! The contents were originally ordered from Hattons ‘exclusive’ range, long before they shut up shop. Rails took over ownership of these products and they arrived in the country a couple of weeks ago. I initially thought they’d arrive sometime next week, but an email last night said they’d be here today! 
 

Max is due to call round for a modelling session, we’ll see if he remembers this week! 
 

Back later.

 

Brian 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Didn't get up until nearly eleven this morning. I woke up around seven thirty and decided it was too early on a Sunday so I rolled over and went back to sleep again for another three hours. Must have had at least ten hours sleep, only thing is that the arthritis and bladder control made up for it this morning.

[jamie92208]

Good afternoon from the Charente.  Apparently we are not going to a Broccante this afternoon so plans have changed.  The market has been visited and a friend has been pressganged into helping me get the steps out of the pool.  As it's only about 16 degrees I will be in there for as, little time as possible. 

 

Jamie

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, rockershovel said:

What is NEEDED is a concerted effort to control the driving factors. I suspect that an immediate moratorium followed by a long term policy of reducing benefits to the general European level for incomers would soon grasp that nettle. 

The driving factor is the criminal gangs organising the boats. Not all of the illegal immigrants head for the UK, far more prefer Germany for example and many prefer other countries in Europe. So much so that border checks are being reintroduced in the EU. At least the new government is taking steps to short circuit the flow by processing immigrants in Albania following the lead of the Italian government.

[iL Dottore]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

 

I find it amazing that with all the rules & regs in a country like Switzerland there seem to be none for compulsory smoke alarms 😲

Apparently not https://lenews.ch/2024/03/22/recent-swiss-fire-deaths-prompt-calls-for-fire-detectors/#:~:text=Ireland and UK%2C homes must,Europe there are no requirements.

 

It would be interesting to find out why this is so. Could it be for historical reasons? Wood fires instead of coal fires? Enclosed fires (kachelofen) opposed to open grates? Central heating (at least since the late 1890s for many apartment blocks) vs a fire in each room.

 

I read somewhere (but I have no idea if it is true or not, but it sounds plausible) that Britain has the Americans to thank for central heating and indoor plumbing. Apparently, at one point during the Victorian era, impoverished aristocrats were marrying the daughters of rich American industrialists (the aristo got cash, the Americans got titles [indirectly] and access to high society). So the happy bride turns up at the ancestral pile only to find no heating and no plumbing - the aristocratic family relying on an army of servants who, despite working their fingers to the bone, couldn’t keep the house truly warm*, deliver hot enough water for baths and provide for comfortable ablutions. The American newlyweds soon did something about that…

 

And once High Society adopted heating and indoor sanitation, the “middling classes” soon followed, with the working class (as usual) at the end of the queue. I think that it’s only relatively recently that Britain started building dwellings with CH as standard.

 

* I recall visiting my Great Aunt in the mid-sixties; her bungalow was built about 1910 and there were only two oases of warmth in the whole place: the living room (the “front room”) and the kitchen, everywhere else was unheated. Bedrooms had a one-bar fire switched on shortly before bedtime (and turned off at bedtime) whilst the bathroom had two infrared ceiling lamps to ensure that the water actually didn’t freeze when you were in the bath. The WC wasn’t heated at all (though being inside it didn’t actually freeze). Apparently when built the house featured “all modern appointments”…

[iL Dottore]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

Bear put the Gas Fire on this morning 😲 - oh, the shame of it....

It'll not be on for too long though - there's something about the idea of Deltics disappearing up the Chimney that Bear doesn't like....

But turning the heating on/off, on/off, on/off is a recipe for burning money. Each time you †urn the heating on it has to burn energy to get the temperature up to a comfortable level and as it gets colder and colder, the amount of energy needed to “warm up the place” increases. But when you heat the place and keep the heating ticking over, instead of turning it off, then you are burning a lot less energy as you are just replacing the heat that is lost through normal use of the house (assuming that you have some degree of insulation)

 

Schloss iD Mk 2 is quite well insulated and modernising the roof and replacing the double glazing with triple glazing will certainly improve things further. We also have fernheizung - hot water for heating and other domestic use comes from a huge central plant that serves the entire estate. And as the estate was designed to have fernheizung from the start, piping, boilers etc are all very well insulated and so efficient in delivering heat (and hot water)

[Coombe Barton]

... Domestically things are at best limping along, and will probably continue at the same pace. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/09/29/postcards-from-home-2024-32-covid-impact-is-complex/

[jamie92208]

36 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Apparently not https://lenews.ch/2024/03/22/recent-swiss-fire-deaths-prompt-calls-for-fire-detectors/#:~:text=Ireland and UK%2C homes must,Europe there are no requirements.

 

It would be interesting to find out why this is so. Could it be for historical reasons? Wood fires instead of coal fires? Enclosed fires (kachelofen) opposed to open grates? Central heating (at least since the late 1890s for many apartment blocks) vs a fire in each room.

 

I read somewhere (but I have no idea if it is true or not, but it sounds plausible) that Britain has the Americans to thank for central heating and indoor plumbing. Apparently, at one point during the Victorian era, impoverished aristocrats were marrying the daughters of rich American industrialists (the aristo got cash, the Americans got titles [indirectly] and access to high society). So the happy bride turns up at the ancestral pile only to find no heating and no plumbing - the aristocratic family relying on an army of servants who, despite working their fingers to the bone, couldn’t keep the house truly warm*, deliver hot enough water for baths and provide for comfortable ablutions. The American newlyweds soon did something about that…

 

And once High Society adopted heating and indoor sanitation, the “middling classes” soon followed, with the working class (as usual) at the end of the queue. I think that it’s only relatively recently that Britain started building dwellings with CH as standard.

 

* I recall visiting my Great Aunt in the mid-sixties; her bungalow was built about 1910 and there were only two oases of warmth in the whole place: the living room (the “front room”) and the kitchen, everywhere else was unheated. Bedrooms had a one-bar fire switched on shortly before bedtime (and turned off at bedtime) whilst the bathroom had two infrared ceiling lamps to ensure that the water actually didn’t freeze when you were in the bath. The WC wasn’t heated at all (though being inside it didn’t actually freeze). Apparently when built the house featured “all modern appointments”…

The very caring Midland Railway did actually install double glazing at the Stationmasters house in Dent, the highest in England, on 1876 when the line was built.   It was very caring, in 1900 it installed electric lights in it's estate agents house and office at Bradford but not in the rest of the properties that it owned.

 

Jamie

[rockershovel]

33 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Apparently not https://lenews.ch/2024/03/22/recent-swiss-fire-deaths-prompt-calls-for-fire-detectors/#:~:text=Ireland and UK%2C homes must,Europe there are no requirements.

 

It would be interesting to find out why this is so. Could it be for historical reasons? Wood fires instead of coal fires? Enclosed fires (kachelofen) opposed to open grates? Central heating (at least since the late 1890s for many apartment blocks) vs a fire in each room.

 

I read somewhere (but I have no idea if it is true or not, but it sounds plausible) that Britain has the Americans to thank for central heating and indoor plumbing. Apparently, at one point during the Victorian era, impoverished aristocrats were marrying the daughters of rich American industrialists (the aristo got cash, the Americans got titles [indirectly] and access to high society). So the happy bride turns up at the ancestral pile only to find no heating and no plumbing - the aristocratic family relying on an army of servants who, despite working their fingers to the bone, couldn’t keep the house truly warm*, deliver hot enough water for baths and provide for comfortable ablutions. The American newlyweds soon did something about that…

 

And once High Society adopted heating and indoor sanitation, the “middling classes” soon followed, with the working class (as usual) at the end of the queue. I think that it’s only relatively recently that Britain started building dwellings with CH as standard.

 

* I recall visiting my Great Aunt in the mid-sixties; her bungalow was built about 1910 and there were only two oases of warmth in the whole place: the living room (the “front room”) and the kitchen, everywhere else was unheated. Bedrooms had a one-bar fire switched on shortly before bedtime (and turned off at bedtime) whilst the bathroom had two infrared ceiling lamps to ensure that the water actually didn’t freeze when you were in the bath. The WC wasn’t heated at all (though being inside it didn’t actually freeze). Apparently when built the house featured “all modern appointments”…

British towns and houses generally are unsuited to central heating ... there are almost NO District Heating Schemes in the European or American fashion, for one thing. Britain is an island made of coal and for a long time, produced considerable amounts of shale oil, paraffin, coal gas from coke production and the like. 

 

Until the 1960s, coal and its by-products were pretty much the universal heating and cooking medium; cheap, abundant and available not far from wherever you happened to be. Gas was widely used for lighting, because it was probably produced not far away. It was widely used for cooking and a huge national project was carried through by which the Natural Gas produced in the North Sea was used as a cooking medium, and still is.

 

Gas was also introduced for heating water, and proved highly popular. Every home had a "geyser" which popped and roared on the wall and produced a thin stream of scalding water... unless the pilot light had gone out... 

 

Another resource Britain has in abundance is bricks. This led to the notorious "night storage heaters", essentially a stack of bricks with heating elements between them. Heat 'em up at night, let 'em radiate by day. NOT a good way to heat the house in the evening but at a time when most families had only one wage earner, the house was warm(ish) all day. Also, no smoke or fumes. 

 

The thing about the British climate is that it may often be wet and miserable, but the harsh cold of the Baltic coast or Scandinavia isn't a problem. Nor do we have the extremes of the American or Russian interiors. 

 

So these half-cocked approaches, combined with a certain robust attitude to the whole business, served us well into the 1980s. 

 

Even now, most of our hotel chains and new build housing doesn't have AC. I don't know about Holiday Inn, but it's rare for Premier Inn to have it. You never find it at a Travelodge. No 1 Son lives in a new-build house on a development where even houses costing £450k upwards don't have it. He has a pillar fan which cost £20 or so on Amazon... 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

9 hours ago, rockershovel said:

Further reading turns up the interesting fact that RNLI act upon instruction from HM Coastguard in these matters. So, an RNLI vessel mobilising to French waters to intercept a RIB is, for all practical purposes acting as an unpaid government agent (since HM Coastguard ARE a government agency)

The RNLI always act and operate under the direction of the MCA (Maritime and Coastguard Agency) commonly referred to as “The Coastguard” 

 

The RNLI is very keen to maintain its position as a charity who save lives at sea and explicitly do not want to become a paid Government agency. They feel they are freer to operate as they see fit how they are and not tied to the purse-strings and bureaucracy of Whitehall. 
 

They are tasked and their SAR operations ultimately overseen by the MCA but once at sea the coxswain is in charge. Not an MCA agent remote from events nor an anonymous bureaucrat miles away.
 

Long may that remain the case.
 

I an not much up to speed on English Channel operations other than what is broadcast on news media. But I suspect certain lifeboat crews will be a little hacked off at the thought of being tasked with constant patrols or daily “shouts” to uplift casualties.
 

There are other agencies who should be doing such things.
 

It is a gross over-simplification of a complex problem to suggest we should be managing the cause and not the symptoms. But that is where some of the issues lie.
 

In a worst-case scenario - and on a day such as today with high winds and high seas - if lifeboat resources are fully committed to “border security” rescues and a large commercial vessel gets into difficulties someone has to make some very unpalatable choices. Who to rescue. Who to leave. 
 

No RNLI crew would ever choose to leave anyone at sea if they could be saved. See my earlier comments re the Penlee Disaster. But these are local seamen, volunteers in their communities and not skilled and qualified border guards. 
 

In other news early this year we did spot an empty RIB drifting around Lands End. She was recovered by Sennen Cove lifeboat. There are still enquiries going on over that. A Frenchman claimed ownership but was not able to explain why his unattended vessel had drifted apparently unnoticed all the way from France across one of the busiest of all shipping lanes. The RIB remains impounded by the MCA. 

[Andy Hayter]

@rockershovel

 

Why would you want AC?  Even working close to the French Med. the factory and almost all shops did not have AC, which would only be used for a few weeks per year.  It was only when I travelled south to our plants in Spain and Italy that offices were equipped with air to air heating and cooling.   And then the dual use was what made sense for the installations.  (It can get very cold in Italy and much of Spain for the couple of months of winter.  My boss turned up for a February meeting in Italy with just a sports jacket to keep warm.  He doesn't speak Italian but he did catch "stupido inglese".  It was minus eleven.)

Edited 2 hours ago by Andy Hayter
clarification

[Gwiwer]

8 minutes ago, Andy Hayter said:

Why would you want AC? 

It really depends on where you are. 
 

In Australia, where temperatures could reach the lower-forties Celcius, it was a godsend. Everyone who didn’t have it at home spent all day in the air-conditioned shopping malls. 
 

In the Tropical north where humidity is often close to 100% with temperatures above 30C no amount of sweating will cool you down. Air-con does. So does a cold shower but you might not be able to sit in one of those all day for months! 
 

In London where more than 100 years of moving passengers below ground in tube trains has now caused the London Clay to warm alarmingly the first air-conditioned deep-level tube trains will arrive later this year. That should help to reduce the heat stress of tube travel where it can be well over 30C on platforms and aboard trains even when the air outside is half that. 
 

For private homes in the UK?  Probably not necessary as such but the advent of the “heat-pump” to replace the gas boiler will effectively bring air-conditioning to many homes. The heat pump is no more nor less than the “split-system” air-conditioner many Aussie homes have.  Blowing cool in summer and warm in winter. Ours was superb and once set needed no fiddling - it adjusted itself and we had a near-constant 20C indoors what ever was happening outside
 

 

[45156]

Afternoon All,

 

Sorry, been AWOL for various reasons.

 

The deed is done, and the 00 collection has been exchanged for a fair amount of folding stuff - which in turn will be exchanged for some TT stuff in due course - if I get my way - 30747 has other ideas.  The dealer, who is a local bloke (not one of the nationally known traders) might have offered a little less, but came right away, did the deal on a Friday night, and came back on Monday morning,  when he helped me to clear the cabinets, identify the items, box, and put into bigger boxes - I doubt that many of the better known woud have done that - AFAIK they want everything listed, then make an offer, and the owner boxes and ships.  This way was a lot better, albeit I probably lost about £100 against a possible higher offer.  And the dealer went away happy.  I then put the wall display cabinets on Ebay -  buyer collects and both went for the price I wanted within two days - one went locally, the other buyer is coming from Manchester tomorrow.

 

Other than that, not a lot happening here.

 

Regards to All

Stewart