Early Risers.

[polybear]

1 hour ago, DaveF said:

Many thanks for the thoughts on what I can do with the various pictures etc in my loft. I am going to have a good think and first make sure I don't want to swap any of the pictures round I have on my walls of which there are a lot - pictures not walls that is.

 

Talking of pictures....

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c07nm512l3do

[Grizz]

16 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Awake at 03:08 🙁 but at least I got a snap of the permanent way people at work.

Not the greatest photograph coming being taken with an iPhone on zoom.

 

Thinking about it, I don’t think that the various Japanese railway companies do much in the way of closing entire sections of track to traffic for days at a time. They even shifted an entire platform and track at Shibuya station overnight.

 

 

 

14 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

That can't be Grizz can it! He'd have mentioned it if he was going to be on an away day.

 

はい、それは私でした。私は架線マストに一番近い、白い帽子をかぶったオレンジ色の服を着た男です。

 

Hai, sore wa watashideshita. Watashi wa kasen masuto ni ichiban chikai, shiroi bōshi o kabutta orenji-iro no fuku o kita otokodesu.

I should add that, what with all this long distance commuting, I am exhausted. 🥱 

[monkeysarefun]

The seasonal end of Friday night AFL left me at a loose end after 24 weeks of having something to watch.

 

However, wandering the backblocks of Amazon I discovered they have a secret stash of Australian movies of the late 70's and early 80's. 

 

Now I am going to put on my Australian cultural attache hat at this point, to give you a quick rundown on the Australian movie oeuvre.  

 

Basically we had a bloke called Gough Whitlam who became PM in 1973 or so who wanted to improve us culturally, so he offered generous tax concessions to those who invested in the arts.

 

Which was meant to cover ballet and writing thick books and so on but ended up mainly  going to anyone who wanted to make a movie because anyone with a camera could do that. So as a result there's a whole genre of movies called "ozploitation  movies" that were produced.  Most of these stumbled along  the fine line between   splatter movies and soft porn, but there were a few gems among them. The highpoints of this period were Mad Max and Road Games, the lowpoints were Turkey Shoot, Alvin Rides Again, Pacific Banana  and Howling 3 - The Marsupials.

 

Most of these movies were pretty dire  because they were made for the tax incentives rather than the story but one huge  fan was a young  Quentin Tarantino, who credits these Australian movies as the reason for him getting into film making -  so thank us for Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs etc.

 

One controversial feature of these movies was that low-level nudity was allowed for 5 seconds - any   more than that and the office of film classification poked their nose in and the producers had to put up an argument that it was necessary on artistic grounds, but the film makers made the most of the time by expecting every leading lady to have a topless shot  whether it helped the plot or not. 

 

Happily for the film makers we had a thriving drive-in culture so distribution wasn't an issue because the drive-ins sucked in everything that could be distributed.  The screens were meant to be angled away from casual viewing but in the suburbs this was pretty hard to do so it was not uncommon to be driving past Bass Hill Drive-in or the one at Narellan and see a huge b00by appear in your peripheral vision which was somewhat distracting, but probably harder for those with young kiddies in the car who were curious about what they were seeing while sitting there  waiting for the lights to go green.

 

Anyway this is a long introduction to saying that  I watched  "The Money Movers",  which was a Bruce Beresford heist movie from 1978 which did use the 5 second allowance to advantage.

 

 

But I did not totally waste my time, because while watching it I simultaneously finished off  the CAD of another 3D model destined for the printer, a small shop with interesting details from Richmond in Melbourne.

 

 

 

 

Now I just need to print it and paint it!

 

Edited 9 hours ago by monkeysarefun

[Cowley 47521]

4 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

At a guess you're near Ballowal and the hill on the right horizon is Chapel Carn Brea, the most westerly hill in England.

Absolutely spot on. Very good!

[PupCam]

Afternoon

 

A good result from a follow-up hospital consultation yesterday so that's a very big tick.

 

Monty was out of salts the other evening when we went out.    He didn't sound very lively on the starter and wouldn't start.     He seemed to recover yesterday after having his battery charged.     Although it's been a bit nippy lately we're not in the "really giving the battery a pasting when starting" territory yet and so it appears that the battery is very close to end-of-life.   So this morning I treated him to a nice shiny new one.     He'd better start when I next go out otherwise Puppers could get grumpy! 🤣

 

Could I find the code to reset the radio after replacing the battery?    Yes you've guessed correctly.   Never mind, thank goodness for the internet and YouTube, problem solved.  Who'd want to nick a bog-standard Mondog radio anyway? 😀

 

This afternoon I have for the for the first time been using a product from Railtec to put small, mostly white markings onto a bauxite coloured mobile box.   Seemed to work well.      Now I just need to be patient whilst any remaining Dihydrogen Monoxide used in the process evaporates before proceeding to trying to make the mobile van look like its been dragged around Britain's railway network for years.

 

TTFN

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by PupCam

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. I recently picked up a few volumes about items that run on parallel steel rails. I'm not sure now if the newly obtained volumes don't duplicate some I already have. So now I'm going to check if they do, I might be some time.

[Coombe Barton]

... The Guardian review of Unleashed by Boris Johnson – memoirs of a clown really does sound like me marking undergraduate work ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/10/04/postcards-from-home-2024-37-spread-of-covid-xec/

 

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Basically we had a bloke called Gough Whitlam who became PM in 1973 or so who wanted to improve us culturally, so he offered generous tax concessions to those who invested in the arts.

 

Which was meant to cover ballet and writing thick books and so on but ended up mainly  going to anyone who wanted to make a movie ...

And a Jackson Pollock painting.

 

I don't believe I ever watched "Alvin Rides Again" or ever will.

[Tony_S]

3 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

don't believe I ever watched "Alvin Rides Again" or ever will.

I am glad I have been informed about it. I might have expected it to be a wholesome cartoon about singing chipmunks. 

[Tony_S]

I have installed a security camera on the back of the house today. It had a little solar panel so it didn’t need a power supply and it connects wirelessly for images and sound. 
First job was to release the ladders secure fixings. This required squirting with oily stuff. A couple of years ago I found I couldn’t lift the ladders but was fine today so the tablets must be working! Screwing the camera and solar panel to the wall was easy, modern drills make light work of our bricks. Then it became IT problems. I had tested the camera and it had connected to the WiFi mesh disc in the dining room. When on the wall outside it still tried to connect to that one but it was a weak signal. The internet help system wasn’t helpful about forcing a device to use another nearer WiFi disc but I remembered when all else fails “turn something on and off” so I turned off the WiFi disc in the dining room, the camera found a better signal and I could turn the disc back on again. 
We had been using an internal camera in the dining room to observe the back garden but I moved that in to the utility room to  observe the back door. 
The loft was entered briefly to put a leak sensor in place under the tank that leaked earlier this year. 
 

Edited 6 hours ago by Tony_S

[DaveF]

I didn't go far today, I decided to do some sorting out in the house.  A lot of unwanted greeting cards have been thrown out along with some other papers, then I moved things round a bit in the living room and did some extra cleaning.  I ended up using the "spare" vacuum cleaner which lives in the garage and is usually used in the car as it is smaller than the Shark but powerful so some corners and underneath things got very well cleaned.  I found a number of things I had lost misplaced.

 

I finished planning my funeral, got it typed up and took a copy to the undertakers to be kept with my funeral plan.  I also put a copy in my file of other important documents.  Two of my neighbours each have a letter saying where the important documents file is kept for when the time comes.

 

I called at Homebase while I was out to get some new hosepipe fittings and a length of hose to make it easier to fill watering cans and for connecting the long hosepipe.  I found they had ready made short lengths with fittings cheaper than buying the bits.   I also did a bit of other shopping.

 

The window cleaner came so the windows are no longer covered in salt and very fine grains of sand, it is nice to be able to see out again and I am sure there is more light in the house.

 

David

[Ian Abel]

'allo 'allo 'allo..

Well, this week went pear-shaped in a hurry!

 

Busy Monday with work, then the Mrs didn't feel well enough to go to the Jeff Lynne ELO concert in the evening, so Trevor went with me. We had a great time.

 

Tuesday MRs tested positive for COVID and I was negative but had plenty of symptoms including simply feeling like CARP!

That continues through today, though I feel good enough to pound out rubbish on RMWeb at least 😒 Mrs still testing +ve and me -ve!

 

Weekend obviously will be full on nothing but sleeping/naps/taking meds and feeling less that "wonderful" it seems.

 

Weather has been very nice though - 12c first thing sunny and expected to only reach 20c - not that we can enjoy the outside anyway <pah>

 

Hope everyone can get a good start on their weekend.

[PupCam]

17 minutes ago, Ian Abel said:

....... go to the Jeff Lynne ELO concert in the evening, so Trevor went with me. We had a great time.

 

I bet that was good!

 

 

[Debs.]

5 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

So as a result there's a whole genre of movies called "ozploitation  movies" that were produced.  Most of these stumbled along  the fine line between   splatter movies and soft porn, but there were a few gems among them. The highpoints of this period were.....Road Games.....

Its 2015 namesake is one of my favourite niche films; directed by Abner Pastoll and featuring: Andrew Simpson, Barbara Crompton, Joséphine de La Baume, Frédéric Pierrot and Féodor Atkine.

Part in French, part in English, though filmed in Kent and full of suspense twists and surprises and with an inspired musical score (especially the "Hang 'em All" Carpenter Brut drone chase finalé).🙋‍♀️

 

 

[Barry O]

After finishing War and Peace my notes from last night I then has several emails about various things cricket, followed by some lengthy phone calls. I went to my favourite local Council gardens.  This meant I had a late lunch but it did life my spirits.

 

Since then..  muddling undertaken..which turned into a crock of carp. PAH!

 

Time to relax a bit more...

 

Baz

[Sidecar Racer]

8 hours ago, Grizz said:

 

はい、それは私でした。私は架線マストに一番近い、白い帽子をかぶったオレンジ色の服を着た男です。

 

Translation .

 

 Yes, that was me, the guy in the orange suit with the white hat closest to the overhead mast.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[BoD]

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

muddling undertaken..which turned into a crock of carp. PAH!

Today I discovered that when a rake of uncoupled wagons is hit hard enough, the basic principles of Newton’s cradle apply.  Even in 4mm scale. Just saying.

 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by BoD

[Sidecar Racer]

14 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I was guessing they might have been the Seikan ferries. Their service did end in 1945. The major freight was coal.

 

 

 Thanks for making me get my Geoguessr habit going again .

 

 Looking at the Hakodate port I see there is an active container area , the thing that stands out

as a possible docking area for the train ferry's is that there is a section of three rail tracks that

would likely be about right for the ferry's  layout and the alignment looks right . I know we are

talking 80 years ago but some things can be adapted rather that fully changed .

 

 I may be totally wrong but here is the Google overhead view . Zoom in and out for clarity .

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@41.800714,140.7184829,213m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTAwMi4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

 

 

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I don't believe I ever watched "Alvin Rides Again" or ever will.

 

 

Not even with  Abigail in it....?

 

 

[TheQ]

Evening Awl,

Every single visitor to the history room wanted the full tour today , luckily of the dozen visitors , that included 4 couples.

I was still talking at closing time...

I did manage to build a gymnasium, the changing rooms for it, the ministry of public building and works, workshop and garage.  Oh and the Type 14 radar garage.

All in 1:1000 scale of course..

 

At the MRC things didn't go well , at the moment I have to remove one board of the unmentionable to allow others access  a small room while I'm not there. It took about 5 attempts to get it lined up today. So while a significant amount of work was done , it wasn't as much as I'd hoped.

 

Early on at the MRC I tweeked my back again, lots of pain at the moment.. not sure how much movement I'll have in the morning.

 

Our lane is now brown coloured, they are potato picking at the moment.

The house they extracted from the undergrowth on the way to the MRC, has now got a big digger in the garden , which suggests planning permission has been granted for some thing.

 

Should be sunny tomorrow which good because a front and back side light on the land rover have failed, investigation is required..

 

Muggachoccy gone,

Goodnight Awl.

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, Sidecar Racer said:

Translation .

 

 Yes, that was me, the guy in the orange suit with the white hat closest to the overhead mast.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Really. When I googled it it came back about not letting his daughter wear that dress. Out of decency to @Grizz I thought better than to query it. Live and let live and everything.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Just a pizza for dinner this evening, a Crosta & Mollica one. Its what came up on the use-by-date bingo. I've been watching back editions of the railway architecture program on the box this evening.

[monkeysarefun]

 

Tis a long weekend in NSW, its Labour Day  where we celebrate the introduction of the 8 hour working day here back  in 1856 by having a no hour working day.

 

The forecast is sunniness and 28 to 29 degrees for it, although there is a cloud or two about at the moment. 

 

Its also daylight savings start on the east coast except for Queensland who don't believe in it. Traditionally it is also the beginning of the "the state is a tinderbox!" media stories as bushfire season approaches but except for some regions the place in general is still green and lush from the years of rain, rather than  scorched and dry, which is good.

Edited 58 minutes ago by monkeysarefun

[Winslow Boy]

Early night for me. Been running up and down ladders and then moving them four feet in order to 'finish' cutting a beech hedge. So a bit knackered.

 

It's still not done - it's a long, long hedge, but no more laddering needed so at least that'll be easier.

[Tony_S]

6 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

not letting his daughter wear that dress.

Recently Aditi’s Mum told her that her cough was probably due to not wearing enough clothes. Aditi was quite amused and told her Mum that she was nearly 71 years old not 17.