Early Risers.

[Ozexpatriate]

@88C, may I extend my condolences for your loss.

 

Today brought news that I (and I suspect others in the ER fraternity) have been privately dreading and hoping for other, happier news.

 

If I may speak for others, we have already been missing Chris and will continue to do so.

 

RIP Chris, you were the man you were born to be.

 

Posts in the Obituary thread for Chris make me wonder whether he did find the time to drop his Christmas cards in the post. In some of his later posts, he had shared his struggles to get his new printer functioning to create mailing labels for them. If I remember correctly he did get them done eventually.

 

It puts me in mind of my cousin using her Mum's Christmas card list to inform those correspondents regarding her Mum's passing a little more than a year ago.

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

Here's how the current spindles are attached:

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

Stainless steel wire is also a thing, opens it right up.

My spindles are black steel tubular posts with a square cross section. They open the space like the more industrial-looking tensioned wire rope, but without the industrial look. 

 

They have covers (shoes) at the (base and top) to make them presentable so no carpentry is required. They are pre-finished and no painting is (ever) required.

 

The shoes look like this.

Other finishes are available. I like the way they turned out. Slightly wider spindles (there are a couple of different sizes) looked better.

 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

Stainless steel wire is also a thing, opens it right up.

 

 

If only - and not just the wire.....

 

50 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

A couple of years back a scrote, Dale Crugan?, killed two coppers with a hand grenade.

 

Dale Cregan - the nastiest of nasty; it's a bluddy good job he handed himself in afterwards.  He'd actually effectively killed both Officers with a hail of bullets even before the grenade.

Now serving a whole-life sentence - an ideal candidate for a short drop methinks, rather than waste oodles of Taxpayers money looking after him.

 

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/bravest-cops-cowardly-killer-awful-25016324

[Ian Abel]

Looks like we're getting some white stuff overnight/tomorrow...

[Ozexpatriate]

7 minutes ago, Ian Abel said:

Looks like we're getting some white stuff overnight/tomorrow

Looks like parts of northern Wisconsin will get really clobbered. Better that than the tornadoes they had in Texas (et al) yesterday.

 

The sun has broken through fog here. It's nice to see it.

[polybear]

And in other news......

I got a call earlier from NNNND (a young couple with young rugrat) to ask if I had leccy - yes; it seems they didn't, yet the Consumer Unit hadn't tripped out.  Bear goes to investigate (Hubby isn't that way inclined) - a quick squint at the C.U. using a Volt Stick** soon established that no wigglies were arriving at the input to the house, which is good news for them cos' it means someone else has to fix it and it won't cost them anything.

Of course this is small consolation for Mrs. NNNND - who was already horrified at the prospect of not having any heating overnight; I did casually mention what it must be like for many in Ukraine at the moment, though I'm not entirely sure she got my drift.

Anyway Hubby then reported it to the Leccy people who were on the case; the latest update was that it should be fixed by late evening.

When I was but a very small Cub C.H. didn't exist (in our street at any rate) and Winter saw ice on the inside of the windows....

 

**A Bear term; basically a gadget that looks like a fat pen that glows red whenever it's placed next to a live cable, plug, socket, switch, leccy fitting etc.  Cheap to buy and easy to use, though I still confirm with other methods (such as a neon screwdriver) before stickin' paws on bare wires etc.)

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Its b-l-o-o-d-y cold outside so I'm not going to risk taking the bin bags out, its too slippery and I don't want to risk slipping. Most of what needs to go out is the pink sacks, the black sack and the food waste are only half full so they can wait until next week. I had some cold hard boiled eggs (still in their shells) in the fridge and I have on previous occasions put them in the microwave without any problems but this morning one exploded. Fortunately it was already cooked and it was easy to clean up the mess but next time I'll crack the shells.

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

After the sad news of Chris’s passing, only positive comments tonight.

Well my 12 year old Vito van passed it MOT earlier this week with two cautionary notes, both are easily sorted. Though it’s 12 years old it’s only done 45k miles so hopefully it will last a bit longer as it would be difficult to justify replacing it. I bought it to transfer ‘models of landscapes with bits of parallel bit of steel on’ to and from exhibitions but in the intervening years I haven’t actually built one, but the vans  been damn useful for carting garden waste about. 
I have balanced the books for November and have completed the vat return but will check it tomorrow before submitting it. I need the money back before the end of the month as corporation tax is due on the 1st.

What else positive, can’t think of anything  so hope this  this picture of Sydney(R)and Hovis (L) will suffice.

Goodnight, Robert 

[Gwiwer]

8 minutes ago, polybear said:

When I was but a very small Cub C.H. didn't exist (in our street at any rate) and Winter saw ice on the inside of the windows...

Likewise. And also when not so small. 
 

Coal fires were the norm in the living rooms but of course took a lot of work to lay in, light, heat the room and clean out. But burning rocks was the way of the world then.  The coalman delivered weekly. The kitchen had an anthracite stove for heating the water and boosting the background warmth elsewhere. 

There were also paraffin stoves but because of the smell and oily smoke (like coal didn’t smell or make smoke?) they were only for the conservatory or if the “leccy” was off. 

 

Bedrooms, which were very rarely heated at all, had a portable electric device with a curved shiny backing to wiggly wires that glowed. If you got very close they also felt warm. 
 

One home didn’t have open fireplaces and we were obliged to use electric fan-heaters. 
 

The first place I lived in with CH was my university hall of residence. 
 

 

 

[polybear]

12 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

 

That's a pretty good Paddington Bear stare from L.H. Doggie

[Erichill16]

3 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

That's a pretty good Paddington Bear stare from L.H. Doggie

That’s Sydney, looks like he’s contemplating the consequences of having his half sister come and live  with ‘his’ favourite aunt and uncle. We’re giving Sydney plenty of affection and feeding him first so he doesn’t feel pushed out.

To be truthful they are getting on very well together,  no fighting or barking and they can be left alone together.Unfortunately Hovis doesn’t know how to ‘play’ and Sydney just can’t understand why she won’t run around or chase him. We were hoping that Hovis would be a good companion for Syd but in truth she tends to ignore him and his and her toys.  Hopefully things will change as Hovis feels more integrated into ‘the family’. 

[PhilJ W]

I had an open fire in my cottage in Burnham-on-Crouch. The two downstairs rooms had been knocked into one and it was sufficient to warm the whole ground floor. The fire also had a plate that could hold  a small kettle but I preferred the electric one. One Christmas  the family was round and I'd got hold of some chestnuts and these were placed on the plate to roast after nicking the shells with a knife. My niece and nephew were only small then but they liked the freshly roasted chestnuts. There were some left over not roasted but my nephew decided he wanted some more so he sneaked some onto the plate. A few minutes later they started exploding like hand grenades. My nephew got a ticking off but he was allowed to have the chestnuts.

[PupCam]

Subdued Evening All.

 

I was going to tell you about my cold but busy and productive day today but that all seems rather insignificant now I've caught up with ERs.

 

So for now I'll just say what dreadfully sad news it is about our Bedfordian representative and pass on my sincere condolences to his family and friends and hope that all the signals are clear for his journey (even if the locos are the wrong shade of green).

 

RIP Chris.

 

Alan

[PeterBB]

13 hours ago, 88C said:

Sadly I have to give bad news about @chrisf, he was found collapsed on his living room by the police. This morning I had a call from a lady at the coroner’s office to inform me of his death. I can’t remember when she said the police attended but for some reason they didn’t get back to me sooner. At the moment I can’t give any more details, I will have to leave it to the local authorities to do what has to be done and the coroner’s will keep in touch.

 

Brian

Thank you for letting us know.  Chris's missives had been missed by us on ER because he kept in touch even when, on the rare occasions, when he did not have much to say.  Thoughts with your  families.  His wit and music blogs were both interesting and often amusing.  Fortunately had also met him 'in the flesh' and had a very pleasant conversation with him.

[PeterBB]

3 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Well, they've  never found out if Rod Hull was pushed!

As he was on a ladder at the fateful moment.

[PeterBB]

First visit for some time tonght and had skimmed and had in mind comments on other issues e.g. the 'bread' ' big first cars' and the Queensland Police tragedy sections but that went on finding that Crisf, whose comments I eagerly looked for, had passed.  Its some years now but he really came alive once he came out and became 'the man he wanted to be'.

 

Time away spent at Great Central Railway as a Santa - very enjoyuable and now still working to provide mor einsulation and storage in the 'loft' section is taking more lut of me than previously thought. The installation of an 'old' but still viable strip-light has helped - its use will not justify the cost of replacement with an LED strip.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

When I went downstairs to the cellar this morning, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. So my first task was to sand all the joints and edges on my 1/2 scale signal, it’s now ready for painting. But as it’s too cold to do any spray painting outside, it was put back in its packaging and stored away for when we get some warmer weather. 

 

After that, I decided to give the walls that I’d recently filled holes in the underfloor storage area a coat of paint. I managed to get two coats on, the first before dinner and a second coat after dinner. Once done, I decanted what was left of the paint, which was in a 50Ltr drum, into a smaller empty tin, the empty drum will go to the tip in the future. 

 

In between the painting, I finally got round to replacing the plastic wheels on 4 of my older R-T-R Bachmann Bulleid coaches. There’s still a bit more work to bring them up to modern day standards, but at least it’s a start. Once I’d finished for the day, i came upstairs and got changed, then I finished making the spiced tea loaf, that I’d left soaking overnight. 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

The forum is slow this morning as ìs our local Internet..  probably caused by low temperatures?

 

I am struggling for mojo at the moment. Loads of things to do.. no drive to do it.. pah!

 

A visit from the lady of the awls was noted yesterday.. I suspect she lurks on here occasionally while undertaking her top secret ER scanning duties.

 

Time to get moving.. but first my mugatea awaits.

Stay safe!

 

I note that the levels of flu in the UK are still going up.. get your free jabs now if you  haven't had it.. covid 19 is steady apart from in the NorthEast.. get your boosters!

 

Baz

[Barry O]

And it's double posting!

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, from a rock that has soared up to 2c.  ugh.

 

The post from @Debs. was noted here too, I miss her input on the forum.  When looking at the stairs with the stainless steel wires suggested for Poly I thought she could get a tune out of that, as a harpist.

 

Not much on the agenda today, keeping warm then a session of drivelling I think is about it.

 

Chris is still in my mind a lot, I too will so miss the tales of Mrs Electric-Chair and the hessian bag, interspersed with The Strawberry, not to mention his erudite long captions in magazines about rare DMU's and their activities.  Quite maudlin about it, in fact.

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,

 Went to leave work yesterday and it was lightly raining... Trouble was cars were already below freezing, definitely ice cube time.

Took pink pills due to left knee and right ankle last night so fell asleep an hour early, then slept solidly for the first 5 hours, then 1 hour, then 2 hours  a good total but I still feel knackered.

 

Made lunch this morning, then realised, I should be home for it, so it's in the fridge.

 

Ben the woofing in his sleep Collie, had a very good patrol, finding a very interesting scent, he was very slow and careful following it around the garden.

 

 We had hail / snow just before I went to sleep so we definitely do have snaa this morning, a huge half inch.. Enough to mean I only arrived at work just on time , having taken 1 hour for a 35 minute journey. Very rarely saw tarmac as it had landed and frozen on top of the salt.

 

 Years ago , I was at the University of East Anglia and they were boarding up the glass sides to the stairs in the public areas... Seemingly the female students objected to the view the male students were getting..

 

Cleared my drawers, book shelf and packed the radio in here.

4.25 working hours left..

Just have to go raid the company internet and down load a few email addresses.

 

Time to down load those addresses as I'm waiting for two systems overnight runs.

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Quite chilly here at the moment, my phone apps are claiming -5°C!  Still icy on the path and road outside and I nearly had a hair raising moment when I slid whilst putting the bins out.  (I say nearly because as you all know I haven't actually got much hair to raise!)  Some sunshine is forecast but it will be a dry and cold (for this part of the world) day with temperatures not getting much above freezing point.

As mentioned already all bins are deployed and also Sainsbury's are due at 09.00.  Only one sub and one unavailable item this week on what is, for us, quite a large order because of the extra supplies for the festivities which are are actually starting this weekend here at GDB Towers.  Apparently the missing item is an essential so I will be deployed to Asda later.

Apart from that nottalot to do except further domestic engineering duties which I'm told I am extremely talented at, particularly Shark wielding.  My excitement knows no bounds.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

[TheQ]

Email addresses obtained for those I wish to be able to contact in the future and emailed to myself at home.

Edited December 15, 2022 by TheQ