Early Risers.

[Horsetan]

A £6000 scrappage allowance isn't a sufficient inducement....

 

I think you'd have to want to shell out on a brand-new car pretty badly to make use of the scrappage scam scheme.

 

There really isn't any point getting rid of a perfectly good car anyway, and today's cars seem to last a lot longer on average than their predecessors did in the 1980s and earlier - the Bora TDi is already 14 years old, has covered about 131,000 miles, and looks fit to do another 14 years. It does, however, need a rather serious valeting session due to all the accumulated horsehair over the years.....

[PeterBB]

A day of washing and ironing has been completed thankfully.

 

An early start tomorrow for my first day back and I have a feeling that it will be one of the infamous long ones.

 

Night all.

 

Unfortunately from your previous tales I have to add that I think it likely ... but hope it will not be so.

 

Cheers Peter

[Happy Hippo]

Morning all,

 

Somewhat soggy outside but at least no more is currently descending from the heavens.

 I'm ashamed to say that there is a magazine piece by me where I not only slightly erred but the editor (Chris Leigh as it happened) also missed my error - because it sounded right (and it wasn't), and it was about a GWR loco class 

 

Yes, I remember reading that piece on 5605 getting up to 128 mph across Walnut Tree viaduct on an up mineral working.

 

I thought at the time I was sure it was closer to 130!

[Barry O]

new job.. I am now the DC KIts -Judith Edge Kits box transportation operative.... well at least today I am!

 

A bit of ironing, a bit of loco fixing, a trip to look at the new room on offer at our Club rooms - its a big square room about the same size as our current rooms.

 

Tea cooked an eaten so now to get ready for a quick Club Committee meeting.

 

C u later

 

Baz

[Happy Hippo]

I got back from Kent this afternoon having spent the last few days living just under the point where aircraft turn onto final approach to runway 10 at Headcorn airfield.

 

Our hosts did apologize about the the noise, but I am of the opinion that if you buy a house knowing there is an airfield nearby then you should appreciate that this noise is going to be there!

 

Having lived in fast jet low level areas as well as having the delights of the students of the Defence Helicopter Flying School regularly overflying the hippodrome we didn't feel that a bunch of Cessna and Piper monoplanes counted as serious noise and this was soon ignored apart from one................. Which was the Rolls Royce Merlin they had stuck on the front of some old two seat Spitfire which was giving (expensive) rides to some very lucky people.

 

What was not so funny was watching the Cessna Caravan operated by the local parachute club turn onto final only to have to go around when a gaggle of microlights arrived at lower level and turned in onto their final approach directly in front of him.  The Caravan pilot quite rightly powered up and turned away and went around again to land a few minuted later, but I'll bet there were a few words in some ears when he got back on the ground.

 

There was more Spitfire activity down at Dover (single seater this time) which may have been connected with the Battle of Britain memorial at Capel Le Ferne, but I was too busy inspecting North Foreland lighthouse to get a more than a glimpse.

 

We also had a tour around a cider making establishment which included the opportunity for tasting samples as well as purchasing the product afterwards.

 

Sadly it doesn't keep and we had to drink it all on Saturday night, which led to a rather late start the next morning.

[BSW01]

Good evening all

 

As the weather today was dry, but it had rained quite heavily over night, I decided to do the work in the garden that I couldn't do yesterday, due to the inclement weather. The task was to breakup and remove the old concrete block that the water butt used to stand on. So I set about it with my electric drill and a mason art bit, drilling holes in so that I could then smash it up with a hammer a chisel. But it's been one of those days when everything I touched seemed to break. As I was using the drill it suddenly it stopped working, the motor was going, but the chuck remained static. So I stripped it down and found that the motor bearing had come adrift. So I refitted the bearing and hey presto, everything was back to normal.

 

I then went to fill my watering can from the water butt, but I noticed that it was leaking slightly. So the butt was emptied and the water was stored in several buckets and found that the outer flange on the tap had spilt. So I made a couple of plastic washers out of 2mm plastic card and glued them to the old flange. This was then left to set whilst I went in and had my dinner. After dinner I refitted the tap onto the water butt and tested it to see if it leaked, that too was fine.

 

By this time it was mid afraid I didn't see any point in starting another big job, so I went inside to shred some old documents. However, I then found that the shredder had decided to stop working properly. I knew the motor was ok as it would work when switched to reverse, it just wouldn't run in forward mode. So that too was stripped down and I found that one of the wires on the forward/stop/reverse switch had burnt off. So a small strip of thin brass was soldered across the break and when it was re-assembled, that too was put back into working order. At that point I decided that any modelling was out of the question, as I did't want that to break either.

 

Chrisf. The ExpoEM North is usually a good show, I do hope your journey up the M6 is uneventful, but with the amount of roads works being completed on it, but I'm sorry to say, I doubt it! I'll be there on the Saturday with my youngest grandson.

[New Haven Neil]

Aaagh type of day. Bitty. Some difficult things to deal with too.

 

ChrisF, as I said, I find great interest in copious information in captions, which I really enjoy reading and absorbing. That they should be accurate is of paramount importance, so the sharing of knowledge to correct inaccuracies is important to me - so thanks again, from me and (railway) society!  The repetition of inaccurate 'facts' is a particular sore point.

[Coombe Barton]

Administration day today - and working from home tomorrow.

 

Only one cockwomble - someone in a VW who went at a fast rate past my nearside when I'd slowed to let the police car ahead, which he obviously hadn't seen, make a right turn. The right turn was not completed, and a certain amount of straight ahead motion with boot to floor and a number of lights being activated.

 

A little further up the road a pointed conversation was being had.

[Horsetan]

The owner of the Citroen CX reports that he's still in Southern France......

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. It seems that being chucked off a Facebook moderating team is not such a bad thing after all. I now spend only half the time  on Facebook than I used to. As to cars, my car which I purchased brand new is now over nine years old (08 reg.) but as I have only completed 22,000 miles in that time and it has been serviced regularly, only needing a replacement clutch and tyres I see no need to replace it yet.

[Horsetan]

.....I now spend only half the time  on Facebook than I used to. ....

 

I spend absolutely no time on it. 

[Gwiwer]

Evening all.

 

Atrocious attempt at a night's sleep having turned in at near midnight then awoken by Nature at 01.30.  Returned to bed only to have cat leap at me from a darkened corner of the duvet, misjudging his distance and landing with his rear feet across my face.  More surprise than harm actually but in the dark of the night it wasn't fun.  Lay awake until 03.30 at least feeling there was some sort of disturbance in the Force that I couldn't quite put my finger on but which troubled the brain somewhat.  Woken at 06.30 by the alarm in order to alert SWMBO (who is very poor at hearing and responding to such things) and felt like I had a severe hangover.  

 

After another couple of hours of intermittent sleep I surfaced in time to head out into the mizzle and gloom of the morning in search of a grey train.  The first re-skin (not a repaint any more, sadly) into SWR dull and uninspiring scheme which I might refer to as The John Major Livery.  Watched the unit emerge from Womble-town Park depot and head off up the District Line towards Point Pleasant from where it would take the right-hand turn to Waterloo.  While the formal launch was in progress I returned to Richmond and a brief lunch stop in order to watch the unit return across the Thames there.  This would be one of the few places where it is possible to see almost all of a class 444 (5x23m coaches) broadside on without obstruction.

 

A selection of rather indifferent photos were taken, the odd sensation which had lasted through the morning also faded with the sensation of hangover and I finally returned home mid-afternoon feeling a little better.  While the new MD and his "suits" were no doubt thrilled to see the Grey Train the closure of two out of five platforms on the Windsor side for an hour resulted in some seriously late running and cancellations to his timetabled service which had already been disrupted during the morning peak - again.  Not really a good way to start a franchise in my opinion.

 

This evening has required the collation of papers (electronic files these days of course) and distribution of agendas for Sunday's committee meeting.  I also have very early starts Wednesday and Friday so apologies for absence in advance if I'm not around then.

 

There is a collection of dirty dishes in the kitchen and I have been reminded that they don't wash themselves.  Wonder where the dish-fairy is tonight

All the best.  See you all soon.  

 

 

 

[Barry O]

Rick

 

I wonder how much it cost to design that train livery on the back of a fag packet with a black biro???

 

Baz

Night to most, Afternoon Pete!, Morning to others!

 

baz

[BoD]

Evening all.

 

No live rugby tonight so I watched a re-run of the All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final which I missed yesterday afternoon (your fault again Baz). A most enjoyable game. I understand other sports were on TV tonight too.

[Gwiwer]

Rick

 

I wonder how much it cost to design that train livery on the back of a fag packet with a black biro???

 

Baz

 

 

I have posted elsewhere that they probably couldn't afford Ray Stenning

http://www.best-impressions.co.uk

 

[laurenceb]

Mornin' all, dull and damp at The Waterway to The World after a soggy Sunday. Belated birthday greetings to Tony and even more belated congratulations to Dom and Elise.

 

During the last week we received a final diagnosis that Martyn is autistic, although not with Asperger's as we'd thought. We don't have the full report yet but it means that his college can justify and if necessary increase the learning support he gets. He also enrolled for year 2. His first year results mean he needs to retake year I of his maths A level, so he may be there for 3 years. His Computing result was good though, which is his main focus.  Mrs mole had the second cataract removal and is on 'light duties' for a month. It didn't stop her going to a handfasting in the New Forest on Saturday, but there were nurses among the guests if she had had a problem.

 

 

Pete

When I was diagnosed earlier this year the letter I got stated that the term Aspergers is no longer used

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

We've just sat and watched a programme about an incredibly talented 11 year old girl who's written an opera AND had it performed in Vienna. Absolutely amazing!

 

Goodnight all.

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[BR60103]

How many of us see corrections in the magazine and then dig out the 6-month old issue and correct it?

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Dry start with a bit of rain possible, brightening up this afternoon and then maybe more rain later.

I sprung into action at 4.15 (well crawled actually) and made it to the car to take The Boss to work. However my back has now eased somewhat so I'm feeling a bit happier. Not a lot 'cos apparently I'm a MOG and don't do happy very often. The Boss seemed quite cheerful as she has now decided that she will not wait until the end of the year to retire but will go earlier. That's fine by me. I can't wait. 

New energy supplier has been selected so naturally enough the current one comes up with a "new" offer which is virtually the same as the new people.  Tough - I've put the wheels in motion now. Next job on the list is car insurance.

Still no muddling done in the last few days - I really must extract that particular digit. 

Have a good one,

Bob.

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

Welcome to another Tuesday.  The fodder run awaits, as does yet more ironing.  Neither can be described as the highlight of the week.  I’m guessing that the roadworks on the M6 are on the bit that I cannot avoid if heading anywhere near Manchester but I must try not to fret about them until Saturday.

 

It is kind of so many to encourage me to keep correcting the captions.  It has to be said that I write more letters than appear in print.  Some editors are more amenable than others to admitting that errors have been made and the biggest blunders appear to occur in magazines that do not admit them.  One particular corker appeared in Steam World about three years ago.  There was a gorgeous photo of the Castle named after G J Churchward.  The clot who wrote the caption seemed to think that he was its designer.  We know better, or should do.  Now it so happens that I know the name of said clot but you may count on my discretion.  For now …

 

One of the overnight news bulletins on Radio 5Live ran the item about as python found in a toilet bowl, followed immediately by a report on the tennis from Flushing Meadows.  Ho, ho.

 

Best wishes and felicitations to all in distress and recovery

 

Chris

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It is a somewhat cloudy morning here, but a little warmer than it was yesterday at the same time.

 

Let's see what the day brings, but first it is time for a coffee!

 

Have a good day everyone...

[AndyID]

VW (I think) eventually offered compensation to US buyers, but not to UK ones.

 

Yes, they did, and we have one of them. We have the option of giving it back to VW next year for a chunk of change, or keeping it after they have fixed the firmware and receiving a smaller chunk of change. It's a 2013 model with only 40,000 miles so we've decided to keep it.

 

VW definitely tried to pull a fast one and it has cost them big-time, but it's an interesting situation. They finessed the firmware (I suspect it was really Bosch, and they have to send us money too) to maximize fuel economy and performance. That firmware actually reduces CO2 emissions (good), but it increases NOx emissions (bad), but NOx isn't a greenhouse gas (good) but it does create short-term smog in high concentrations as in cities like London and LA (bad).

 

Beats me!