Early Risers.

[roundhouse]

The back of our garden floods once in a blue moon hence the shed was built above the level that floods. However the local water authority has cleaned the land drains recently so we may not have this issue again plusI have built up the ground around the shed.

 

Its been such a nice but cold morning and with plenty of freight / RHTT services I have been out but a start was made on the Station building.

 

 

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from a bright but cold LBG. It sounds like Bob had a good birthday, despite his recent scare. I hope he recovers, along with all others who are suffering including AndrewC and Dom and his family.

 

The weekend saw Younger Lurker sit exams at the school we'd like him to go to; they're billed as entrance exams but I think they are more akin to the banding tests that some of the state schools around us insist applicants sit so that they can recruit a broad spectrum of pupils. During that time, we visited the sorting office, where BBQ Barn were having a large delivery and then Carnivore to order the  Christmas provisions. We seem to have acquired some very nice sausages too!

 

Other than that the weekend passed fairly quietly - no sonic booms for us - although we had a small power cut last night which caused the house alarm to go off and woke me up. I then had very strange dreams in which the clock radio alarm had changed to a trumpet call which I could not turn off, the bay window of our bedroom no longer let in any light and in which our inner and outer front doors had been swapped, the latter showing signs of an attempted break in. Maybe I should avoid the blue cheese!

[polybear]

17 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I had a tutor group at the sixth form college I worked in. I asked a couple of my students what they had been doing over the weekend. It was apparently their ATC Arctic survival training. They had been to Norway and had to survive in a small tent. They failed at catching their dinner but Flt Sgt threw a bunny in for them to eat. They seemed to enjoy the experience. 

 

I recall a story which made the nationals 10+ years ago.  It was all about Dartmoor(?) Survival Training (Royal Marines?) - the troops were kicked out, told to survive on their wits and not get caught by those trying to find 'em.

One enterprising individual phones his missus on reverse charges, gets her to book him into a hotel on full board.  Bright lad.

Only not bright enough to keep his big gob shut in the bar at night - someone overheard him and bubbled him....

The powers that be said that there were no grounds to discipline him (survive on wits 'n all that); however he WOULD be repeating the course.

I've a feeling that they made it as difficult for him as possible.

[TheQ]

4 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

As one of those officer types I can vouch for the fact that sleeping in such things as Seco huts, 16 man rooms, QRA (quick reaction alert) shacks and even tents has often been a way of life irrespective of rank but it just goes with the territory. Bivouacs whilst on jungle, arctic or desert survival courses was great fun too. Sleeping (or trying to) in the cockpit of a fighter when on what was called slingshot, I.e., waiting on the ground to be launched at less than a minute's notice, was quite uncomfortable but I have to confess that partially flooded ditches didn't feature - the closest I got to that was when I was air liaison officer with 3rd Royal Tanks and spent a few nights in what HH would immediately recognise as a muddy hollow. 

 

Dave

Seco huts were SWMBOs experience of RAF single accomodation outside of training. RAF Boulmer was promised their replacement in 1973... they were demolished in 2003. Overhead heating pipes the insulation had long since fallen off of.. Damp in the corners where the damp crept in between the flaking concrete panels etc.. They were the permanent accomodation from ww2 till then, for single personnel for all ranks. ( except when they ran out of room and put some singlees in the married quarters some distance away.)

 

Never got abroad in the RAF, camped out in Sherwood forest, Dartmoor and the Brecon Becons, All 3 in the ice.. in a sanger at Moreton on Lugg at least that was in  a nice dry summers few days..

Slept under / inside radars, with 50,000 volts just 5 ft above your head (when lying down). or on a store room shelf with the radar turing the fluorescents on every 15 seconds..

and of course in a drill hall in Erith during the firemans strike..

 

Locked in, snow bound for several days, working on radar or patrolling during the day, snow clearing during the night, sleeping on chairs or the floor..(having landrover snow plough on the military driving licence means at least I wasn't shovelling) that happened several times at different camps .  Note accomodation on most radar sites was several miles away from the work site..

 

Often watched the Tanks down on Salisbury plain, cycling to school between them. Granddad was CSM of the 4th RTR then later RSM of the 7t RTR.

Edited December 2, 2019 by TheQ

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Had to rush off a bit earlier to take the car in for a new clutch cable to be fitted. Just spoken to the owner/landlord of the house next door, the tenants are moving out on the 22nd of this monthand I'm not the only one who will be happy to see them go. Just had a call, the cars ready, be back later.

[newbryford]

10 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 

 

My parents still use their one car garage. Quite how they (Mum and Dad) managed to reverse their 1974 Holden Kingswood station (estate) wagon up the two strips of concrete and through that narrow doorway without any reversing aids besides eyeballs and not losing the mirrors (it might have happened once) is beyond me.

 

 

My wife was quite proud that she'd reversed the car out of the garage this morning.

 

Problem was - I reversed it in the night before...…………..

 

(Mrs NB doesn't read RMw….)

[Kingzance]

7 minutes ago, newbryford said:

 

My wife was quite proud that she'd reversed the car out of the garage this morning.

 

Problem was - I reversed it in the night before...…………..

 

(Mrs NB doesn't read RMw….)

Just you are happy in the knowledge that Mrs NB doesn’t access this, I only breath because Mrs KZ doesn’t either 

[81C]

Afternoon All 

Went out the front door at 8am this morning the car said it was 0-C hit the Climate button and it was frost free in a minute flat put the seat heater on as well while I wiped the condensation

off some of the windows and mirrors and safely drove off down the road with a warm butt.

Slapped #rse was here while I was out she wants to know why have I written her name wrong,  Jacqui instead of Jacky I said I had not that is someone else that will p!ss her off

no doubt I will get the remarks about having phantom friends again.  

I have a date tomorrow with the new lady I can't wait so I will start getting things ready as it is a dash home from the dog to get changed and off out with this new darling soon after.

I noticed Debs is warming the AWL up I wonder who is going to mention the word "railway" first. DOH.  

 

Enjoy your day and stay warm it was taters walk round the damp woodland this morning he didn't pull much having taken a new route he was unsure of. W.O. R'nout 

[Tony_S]

A friends parents got a new car. The wife got out to give her husband advice about putting it in the garage. He ran her over, drove through the garage, crushed the chest freezer, demolished the rear wall of the garage and stalled in the back garden. 
My friend started by telling me his Mum had broken her hip.

I asked how it had happened...

Edited December 2, 2019 by Tony_S

[Ian Abel]

Moaning awl.

 

Busy weekend punctuated with plenty of snow, not sure the final count but using the Mk1 eyeball seems to be about 7-8 inches on the ground.

 

Saturday a "quick" replacement of my smart thermostat involved running a new wire to the furnace (5 wires for the smart thermostat, only 4 used originally).

Piece-of-cake, RIGHT!! Join new wire to old, pull through and viola. Was a little tricky getting it to feed through, but eventually made it. Excellent.

NO SO FAST clever-buqqer, dealing with home-maintenance sods law here... while threading wire around obstacles in basement, tripped on wire and managed to pull the 18 inches "spare", deliberately left dangling, down far enough to disappear inside the wall

New hole created at appropriate height on the wall, and I now have an additional power outlet on the wall essentially covering up the hole I had to make to find the blqqdy wire! Finally sorted and new thermostat in place and working but NOT without a lot of extra work and aggravation

 

Sunday up with the lark (except they were all still in bed keeping warm!) as the choir singing two services for the beginning of Advent.

Sunday afternoon, to tired to do much of anything but sit in the warm and do the Sunday crosswords.

 

Back working today, and we've a concert to attend this evening.

 

-13 getting the paper, sunny, no snow in the forecast for now, heading for a blamy -4 as the high.

 

Bon chance all

[tigerburnie]

59 minutes ago, Ian Abel said:

Moaning awl.

 

 

 

Saturday a "quick" replacement of my smart thermostat involved running a new wire to the furnace (5 wires for the smart thermostat, only 4 used originally).

Piece-of-cake, RIGHT!! Join new wire to old, pull through and viola. Was a little tricky getting it to feed through, but eventually made it. Excellent.

NO SO FAST clever-buqqer, dealing with home-maintenance sods law here... while threading wire around obstacles in basement, tripped on wire and managed to pull the 18 inches "spare", deliberately left dangling, down far enough to disappear inside the wall

New hole created at appropriate height on the wall, and I now have an additional power outlet on the wall essentially covering up the hole I had to make to find the blqqdy wire! Finally sorted and new thermostat in place and working but NOT without a lot of extra work and aggravation

 

on chance all

Been there and got one of those t-shirts lol, in a former work place there's an office with a nice clock hanging over one of those holes.

[Barry O]

Baz 2 gearboxes...nil!  A result!!

 

Baz

[roundhouse]

I remember many years ago when I was a teenager trying to put a plug in a wall socket) both right type 240 V) but the plug would not go in so I booted it. Ever since then there was a dent in the drylined wall on the landing. It was still like that nearly 40 years later when mum moved out. Dad was not one for spending money on the house after it was built.

[jamie92208]

Afternoon all.  Ian A are you by any chance related to GDB.  Meanwhile I have had a good day. Contact was made with No2 son and he may be joining us for a curry this evening. Then off to see an old Model Railway friend and hus wife. Then park at New Pudsey avoid the Monty Python connection and caught a brand new class 195 i nto Leeds.  On alighting had a chat with the driver who had some very harsh words about the way the cab is designed.  Then a very pleasant 2 hours watching trains.  Many new ones of various ckasses, 195, 331, 800, 801 and 68.  However the catch of the day was 37424 hauling 3 coaches, presumably towards Neville Hill.  It's my very kast class 37 and has been avoiding me for over 25 years. It sounded good as well.  Supplies of Eccles cakes were replenished  at Asda on the way home. All in all a good day.

 

Jamie

 

Now to await the wrath if the Awl for mentioning forbidden subjects.

[Coombe Barton]

At the command of the Great Awl
 

Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2019/12/02/sounds-of-the-season-2/

[polybear]

4 hours ago, TheQ said:

Slept under / inside radars, with 50,000 volts just 5 ft above your head (when lying down). or on a store room shelf with the radar turing the fluorescents on every 15 seconds..

 

 

 

So you must glow like the Readybrek kid then?

 

[monkeysarefun]

15 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

When I surfaced this morning, there was no evidence of wintry precipitation last night. It was raining when I went to bed. No wintry precipitation is expected tonight and the overnight temperatures are expected to be less cold during the week.

 

The Baltimore game versus the 49ers is tipped as a possible SuperBowl match-up. It was one of two broadcast games nationally this morning. Two more games were broadcast - one in the afternoon and one in the evening.

 

It's always entertaining to see snowy NFL games. They have to go to great lengths to remove snow from the all the lines, (sidelines, ten yard lines, yardage numbers, and the hedges - the hash line every yard).

 

 Earlier this year  it snowed for the first time ever (I think)  at an AFL match when the West Sydney Giants played Hawthorn at Manuka Oval in Canberra.

 

Compared to the long pants, jerseys, helmets  and padding of the NFL, the AFL strip doesn't seem to be designed with snow conditions in mind.

 

[The Stationmaster]

Evening all,

 

Phew what a chilly day.  A good hard frost here this morning and as travel by train with various changes was involved it was not only wear a winter shirt but roll down the sleeves and then add a thin fleece before donning the wax jacket - suitably cosy in consequence even hanging around on station platforms.   I knew before leaving home that the 06.43 Nottingham had left New St 21 minutes late so my , er 21 minute, connectional margin in Southampton was at considerable risk to say the least.   So I sent an email to the organiser predicting a 12.18 arrival instead of 11.52.   As it turned out the 06.43 Nottingham gained a minute or two and then ended up losing a lot more to the extent that it left Reading so late it even delayed departure of the 06.22 York which was supposed to leave at 10.20.  No problem as I had by then adopted Plan B which involved changing to an SWR train at Winchester, fortunately somebody heading for the same lunch happened to ask me about onward trains and so also changed at Winchester instead of carrying on to Southampton and turning up an hour late.   The first course was not even delayed and we wren't the only ones we got there on the 12.18 arrival - SWR's 'strike service' did us proud as the service we needed was running during the day and got me back to Winchester this afternoon for my XC connection.

 

The lunch wasn't bad and with plenty of gravy on it the turkey was definitely a bit better than its usual cardboard consistency and taste.  And just to prove I went to Pompey I had a quick stroll in the dockyard after lunch before train time and managed to see about half of the ship from one viewpoint (I could see the stern half from the station but by then was rushing for the train so no pic - crikey these things are big, very big, even if you remember the RN's last fleet carriers.

 

Sorry to hear you family are keeping the medical fraternity over-employed Dom - may they all recover as quickly as possible.

 

[New Haven Neil]

Evening. Busy at work, one staff member off poorly so a little fraught at times, there's a bug going around Peel at the moment with huge absence at the schools.  'Peel Plague'.

 

We used to do OK for hotels as an orrificer in the Merch, generally joining or leaving a ship involved some hotel time, our ships very seldom visited the UK, I often flew from or to Japan, Singapore, Honkers, USA, the bl**dy Gulf, the Gulf, the bl**dy Gulf......I was on LPG Tankers then, so the voyages were mostly from Saudi or similar to Japan. Boring mostly, but Japan is brilliant.

[Tony_S]

Ian’s report about cables coming out of  the ceiling reminded me that earlier this year my brothers dangling wiring for new ceiling lights was helpfully pulled down by his rather large ginger cat. Fortunately he is very fond of the cat. 
Tony

[Ozexpatriate]

44 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

... long pants, jerseys, helmets  and padding of the NFL ...

Actually they wear knee-length knickerbocker trousers and the jersey sleeves are only barely long enough to cover the shoulder pads.

 

In cold weather some players will wear long sleeved undershirts but many of them will be sleeveless. The real difference is on the sidelines. They have hot air furnace blowers and warm waterproof capes which they wear to stay warmed up while off the field. They can't perform at the same level when their bodies cool down too much. The benches have heating as well. There are blowers to dry out and warm the helmet interiors too.

 

The bigger problem for NFL players is playing in the hot weather of late summer during the pre-season and the early regular season. In that case the blowers blow cold mist and they have iced towels.

 

Money is no object in the NFL.

 

It is much worse for non-pros. Every year there are high-school football players who die from heatstroke due to the combination of oppressive heat and more oppressive coaches during pre-season summer training. 

 

Edited December 2, 2019 by Ozexpatriate

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Car clutch cable duly replaced and bank account lowered by £230. It was to be £250 but it didn't take as long as expected and thats why the charge was less. And thats why I have been taking my car to the same place since it was new 11 years ago. The clutch feels a lot lighter now but I soon got the hang of it and didn't kangaroo once. Best wishes Dom that your family medical issues will be sorted soon.

4 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

Moaning awl.

 

 

Saturday a "quick" replacement of my smart thermostat involved running a new wire to the furnace (5 wires for the smart thermostat, only 4 used originally).

Piece-of-cake, RIGHT!! Join new wire to old, pull through and viola. Was a little tricky getting it to feed through, but eventually made it. Excellent.

NO SO FAST clever-buqqer, dealing with home-maintenance sods law here... while threading wire around obstacles in basement, tripped on wire and managed to pull the 18 inches "spare", deliberately left dangling, down far enough to disappear inside the wall

New hole created at appropriate height on the wall, and I now have an additional power outlet on the wall essentially covering up the hole I had to make to find the blqqdy wire! Finally sorted and new thermostat in place and working but NOT without a lot of extra work and aggravation

 

 

You have to draw blood first to qualify for the GDB school of DIY.

[grandadbob]

Absolutely but I really don't do it as often as is mentioned here.....

.......however yesterday whilst wielding carving knife & steel prior to dissecting roast beef there was a very slight inter-action between my thumb and the blade resulting in a very very minimal drop of red stuff being shed.  

Edited December 2, 2019 by grandadbob

[PhilJ W]

1 minute ago, grandadbob said:

Absolutely but I really don't do it as often as is mentioned here.....

.......however yesterday whilst wielding carving knife & steel prior to dissecting roast beef there was a very slight inter-action between my thumb and the blade resulting in a very very minimal drop of red stuff being shed.  

More gravy?

[Kingzance]

2 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

Absolutely but I really don't do it as often as is mentioned here.....

.......however yesterday whilst wielding carving knife & steel prior to dissecting roast beef there was a very slight inter-action between my thumb and the blade resulting in a very very minimal drop of red stuff being shed.  

You did suggest that the meat was medium rather than rare so I fully understand your action