Early Risers.

[PhilH]

Morning all another bright sunny day tea and toast then on with the days chores.

 

I remember chores.

 

Got a gizmo from Eon to set up today. I was amazed when I saw it that they are giving these things away for free. It's an electricity use monitor consisting of a clamp which fits round the cable from the meter, this plugs into a transmitter. This sends to an LCD monitor from which you can see exactly how much the various electrical devices in your house cost to run. There is also a computer program with which you can set up graphs etc. to see where to make savings. It looks to be a high quality piece of kit.

 

The blurb goes on about reducing carbon footprint etc., etc.

 

I got it because it was free.

[Tony_S]

I remember chores.

 

Got a gizmo from Eon to set up today. I was amazed when I saw it that they are giving these things away for free. It's an electricity use monitor consisting of a clamp which fits round the cable from the meter, this plugs into a transmitter. This sends to an LCD monitor from which you can see exactly how much the various electrical devices in your house cost to run. There is also a computer program with which you can set up graphs etc. to see where to make savings. It looks to be a high quality piece of kit.

 

The blurb goes on about reducing carbon footprint etc., etc.

 

I got it because it was free.

 

 

 

I wonder if Eon will give me one for my gas meter? Our old refrigerator must have used loads of electricity. The replacement is apparently so efficient I'm surprised it isn't selling electricity back to the grid. We really did notice a reduction in our bills so I don't know what the old one was doing, probably responsible for all those odd East Anglian global warming data.

 

 

[PhilH]

I wonder if Eon will give me one for my gas meter? Our old refrigerator must have used loads of electricity. The replacement is apparently so efficient I'm surprised it isn't selling electricity back to the grid. We really did notice a reduction in our bills so I don't know what the old one was doing, probably responsible for all those odd East Anglian global warming data.

 

Apparently reliable domestic gas use monitors are still being developed, but I think that Eon will dish them out as they become available.

 

I've just set the thing up and it's amazing. I've dialled in my unit cost and now can see exactly how much everything costs to run (plus vat of course)

 

I'll soon get bored with it.

[45156]

Got a gizmo from Eon to set up today. I was amazed when I saw it that they are giving these things away for free.

 

I get my gas and electric from E-On, and they haven't sent or offered me one of these - I'll need to have a moan to them - should be fun. I'll try their website when I get off of here later, and see if I can find one.

 

Great to have the forum back to speed - all things considered, we were without this for a very short time, and also had to suffer the tweaking hiatus for an equally short time, and considering the size of the site now and the level of activity, I really believe that Andy and the lads have played a blinder.

 

Hopefully Jam is now off on his travels and getting loads of compliments on his new layout - from his blog and other threads, it does look like a very accomplished job - when I was assisting with the management of exhibitions, I always asked exhibitors to put up a note saying that the layout was still "work in progress" if there were any imperfections that might cause the punters to complain - but in Jam's case, I don't think it will be necessary.

 

Robert - that's a nice Mini - I'm so pleased that it's a real one and not one of the ersatz BMW jobbies - but I have to say that even with disc brakes and servo assistance, they do take some stopping - a diver's boot on the brake foot was often recommended by the car mags of the 1960s and 70s when referring to the Mini's braking prowess, and my Cooper 1275 (196x vintage) had diabolical brakes which could only be relied on to get you into trouble at anything above abot 50 mph.

 

Great to hear from Pete - I was worried that he would be blown away by the hurricane - sounds like the US weather people are as prone to over-stating the situation as ours now.

 

Here today, it's actually quite bright but has turned cloudy, and we now have a full covering of 8/8 cloud which might ot might not leak on us. I'm coming to terms with the news that my recovery is a bit slower than anticipated, but it can't be helped, and the specialist did say that if I push things too fast, I could wind up with more problems - so crutches/zimmer/up and down stairs by b*m is still the order of the day.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[PhilH]

I get my gas and electric from E-On, and they haven't sent or offered me one of these - I'll need to have a moan to them - should be fun. I'll try their website when I get off of here later, and see if I can find one.

 

All about it here. You have to pay by direct debit and manage your account online to qualify (which in itself saves me over £20 off my quarterly gas and electric bill)

[45156]

All about it here. You have to pay by direct debit and manage your account online to qualify (which in itself saves me over £20 off my quarterly gas and electric bill)

Thans Phil - just found out that myself - Mrs 45156 not happy with online billing - give her time!

[PhilH]

What? - I do everything online now (no smut please). It's easier, safer and doesn't waste my life with things like parking and queuing. Tell her about the managing account online discount - 10%. That was £23 for me last quarter, plus you get Tesco Clubcard points

 

It's the only way!

[Robert]

Robert - that's a nice Mini - I'm so pleased that it's a real one and not one of the ersatz BMW jobbies - but I have to say that even with disc brakes and servo assistance, they do take some stopping - a diver's boot on the brake foot was often recommended by the car mags of the 1960s and 70s when referring to the Mini's braking prowess, and my Cooper 1275 (196x vintage) had diabolical brakes which could only be relied on to get you into trouble at anything above abot 50 mph.

 

Thanks!

 

Both my parents had Mini's at various times - my Mum had one as her first car, and drove a Clubman in the late 70s/ early 80s. Then my Dad had a 70s round nose in the mid 80s for going to the station. Of course, all of these had drums all round and consequently required quite a lot to stop them. Having said that, none were as bad as the Fiat 126 my Mum had - the chap who ran our village filling station used to call it "The runaway shoebox" on account of the fact that the filling station was right at the bottom of a pretty steep hill and the brakes were usually starting to fade by the time she pulled into the garage to fill up with 2*

 

The Clubman used to be filled up with 3*, but my Grandad's Triumph Vitesse required 5* - Good heavens! The things you remember...

 

To be fair, the later Mini's really did have much better brakes. When I replaced one of the wheel bearings on mine, I needed to bed the brake pads in again because they were making a terrible noise due to the strange wear pattern that the worn bearing had caused. I took her up to 130kph and did an emergency stop on a clear bit of straight dual carriageway - it was actually quite impressive. She pulled up in a straight line, and fairly rapidly - although there was a strong smell of brakes

 

I am not anti Bini, or MINI as I believe I expected to write it. However, I don't really believe they really capture the spirit of the original - as a friend of mine said, "I thought they were more or less the size of the old Mini - you forget just how small they were!". They are a capable modern car though - and not everything about the original was good. In the same way that I am sure that the owners of the new Fiat 500 would also be somewhat pleased that they have less of a propensity to burst into flames!

[NGT6 1315]

Overall, I agree with the statement that the classic Mini looks more, well, original. In fact, I did consider one way back in the late 90s, but eventually decided against it as I felt it would be better if I got a car with a larger boot.

 

One nice thing about autumn is that there are more fresh mushrooms available - in fact, we just got some fresh chanterelles which we'll use for dinner tonight . However, I only like fresh chanterelles - canned ones are just bleh . I know mushrooms are something you either love or hate - I'm very fond of them, however.

[Tony_S]

Everywhere we went this summer in Germany the menu of the day special was "with Pfifferlinge."

[NGT6 1315]

Everywhere we went this summer in Germany the menu of the day special was "with Pfifferlinge."

 

I think many of those which you get over here are actually imported from eastern Europe - Latvia and thereabouts, to be more precise.

[SouthernRegionSteam]

Hopefully Jam is now off on his travels and getting loads of compliments on his new layout - from his blog and other threads, it does look like a very accomplished job - when I was assisting with the management of exhibitions, I always asked exhibitors to put up a note saying that the layout was still "work in progress" if there were any imperfections that might cause the punters to complain - but in Jam's case, I don't think it will be necessary.

That is very kind of you to say that - thank you very much Stewart. The day went much better than I'd anticipated and quite frankly I don't know why I was worrying! Got loads of compliments and heard stories from people who witnessed the cocooned Princess flying boats that were at Calshot. Was the last one to arrive but the first one packed up! (Oh the joys of a 'small' layout).

As far as I could tell people were genuinely impressed when I told them it only took 2 months to build and really liked what I had achieved so there were smiles all round. It was unfortunately very quiet but there was good company to be had! I'll try and put up a show report on my blog soon.

I even came away with one, possibly two invites

I expect John will post up some photos later

[NGT6 1315]

Good to hear that, Jam! I am quite sure this must have given you some additional motivation to put on those finishing touches which you could not complete before the show, because something which already is that good can only get better, I dare say.

[Robert]

Great news Jam - glad it went well.

 

I really must take some time to read your blog!

[PhilH]

Just seen a photo of the likely lads down at the Kernow/YMR show - looks like they're having a good time. Beer is being drunk whilst a pig is being cooked.

[Andel]

330 pages?

 

that.

 

Yeah, I'm around - just fairly busy. I have one task I really need to do - where's that mark all as read button gone...

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

I wonder if anyone has actually read all the pages of ERs - apart from those of us who are around all the time. I think to sit down and read the whole lot would probably result in the person going mad. A kind of "Earlyriseritis".

 

It looks to be a nice sunny day here - blue sky, few clouds and a bit of a nip in the air (autumn is fast approaching).

 

Have a great day everyone!

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

 

It would appear to be a rather pleasant morning here. We are off to Enfield today for lunch with MiL. I'll put some of her paintings up while we are there. These are the paintings that Matthew and I wrapped up when she moved from Nottingham earlier this year.

 

Tony

[NGT6 1315]

Morning all...

 

Yes, it is nice and sunny ...and I think a calm day beckons. Brewed some coffee and hope I'll be more awake soon! Dreamed something rather bizarre...cannot recall all the details, but part of it had to do with racing cars. I wonder if this might have been triggered by my having read an article on the death of Jochen Rindt which occurred on 5 September 1970?

 

Cheers!

[skipepsi]

Morning all back to work tomorrow so the weather is bound to improve.

[PhilH]

Morning all, not very bright down on the South Coast, quite a lot of rain overnight. Today's agenda includes making a crunchy topped spiced apple cake, guitar noodling, PS3 playing, maybe working out how to put pickups on my O2 chassis and a visit from my daughter and grandson whilst SiL is away playing with helicopters.

 

Phew, that lot sounds exhausting - think I'll just have one more cup of tea.

 

To those who are back to work tomorrow after a longish break, good luck - it must be horrible to go back after a long while away. I'm absolutely dreading it already although it's still a long way off. As we went through before I've just had enough of it.

[Guest Max Stafford]

Once you're through that first shift it'll at least be a bit more bearable Phil. I've just come off the night shift for three days break . Not wishing to waste any of my free time, I've decided to eschew bed and have a nice morning in the shed with an O gauge A3 and a Bachmann A1 for company! Just on my second mug of tea following a couple of scrambled egg muffins. It's always very quiet round here on a Sunday morning though with a lively breeze today, I'm getting a curious medley of sounds blowing in from further away including a PWay gang hammering merging with almost psychedelic bell-tolling from the cathedral and the shouting of excited footballers from the Sheepmount pitches. (These two features can readily be seen in photos of the Eden bridges, a popular vantage point for rail photters visiting Carlisle since the 1950s!)

 

Dave.

[BoD]

maybe working out how to put pickups on my O2 chassis

 

I know you like having a few guitars but that is taking it too far.

[45156]

Morning All

 

Dull but dry here today - as usual stuck at home, and looking at the threads about the Kernow show, wishing I was somewhere else (aout 300 miles South would do) to see some of the excellent layouts that our RM Webbers, and others have taken.

 

Phil - I had a look at the thread about the show, but I didn't see the photos of the social event - are they on a thread on here? Odd that both my brother and I have similar mobiity issues to you, and we seem to find a bit of guitar playing is very therapeutic. My bro was saying that he has just rooted out his Harmony Sovereign and started to seriously practice, and I'm trying to get an hour or so on the Taylor each day.

 

Jam Great news. I'm delighted that the exhibition went so well - I said you were worrying too much (and being far too self critical) - shame about the low turnout - everybody was probably in Cornwall - keep modelling and impressing the managers, and we might well see you at Warley 2013. If I were running exhibitions, I'd book you just on the strength of the photos you've posted on here.

 

Had a most odd Saturday evening - was just settling down to watch a movie on TV when I got a phone call from my manager just to I've enquire after my health. Very surprising, but nonetheless encouraging, as it does mean that I've not been forgotten.

 

Then after the movie had ended, Mrs 45156 let the dog out for a piddle, and there was an anguished shout from the kitchen, as the dog decided to bring in a little friend to keep her company in the night - a baby hedgehog which she carried in most gently in her mouth, and deposited it in her basket. Mrs 45156 managed to get it back out with a bit of oral encouragement from me, and the dog then spent the next half hour rooting round her basket looking for her new found company. We finally managed to get the dog to come upstairs to her normal sleeping quarters, and she sulked for most of the night, then this morning, started the search again. She's been a bit agitato about something in the garden for nights, and now we know what - oddly, she's never shown any inclination at all to trying to mother anything - although she has been a mum on a couple of occasions when she was a lot younger - but we thought that at ten, and having been spayed, that her maternal days were over.

 

I'll call back later to see who's doing what.

[BoD]

We need new housephone(s)

 

I thought easy choice, no problem.... then I looked in the Argos catalogue. Forty or so pages of the ruddy things. Aaarrrghh.

 

All I want to do is to be able to talk to the person at the other end. This isn't mentioned as one of the features of any of the phones.