Early Risers.

[AndyB]

Evening all.  Just a brief note to thank-you all from your supportive comments. Much appreciated. Andy 

 

[grandadbob]

Evenin' each, 

Rugby match in Paris watched and I quite enjoyed it, much more than the one in Edinburgh yesterday.

It's been chuckinitdown and blowing a lot all day but has just eased off.

Visited local 'Spoons many times over the years,  OK and cheap, but just lately they seem to have really gone down hill and the last couple of visits have resulted in me walking out because of lack of staff and queues at the counter. Don't think I'll be going back any time soon.

Just heard that eldest grandaughter Abbie is stranded in Essex. She's been at a friend's house for the weekend and a 21st birthday party. No trains home from there and no trains are running to our local stations until tomorrow. She got a cab (it was going to cost £60-£80!) but the QE bridge was closed so traffic being routed through the tunnel and that was rammed and there was an accident on the M25. Cab driver said it could take 3 hours or more  so she phoned her friend and went back there for the night. They work near St. Paul's Cathedral so will go to work together in the morning....providing the trains are back running.

Bloody glad that I'm retired.

 

Edited February 9, 2020 by grandadbob

[The Stationmaster]

Evening all,

 

Weather is, weather with wind and rain and even a bit of thunder and lightning earlier on.  Alas the railway industry seem to be covering itself in good old fashioned total lack of communication because after some pretty good prior information they seem to be doing nothing to actually update various usual web sources with any comments about what is actually happening or, more pertinently. what isn't happening.  The only decent source is Real Times Trains and a spot of educated guesswork which led to me driving the Good Doctor over to Reading after divining from information there was on RTT that the 17.15 Reading to Birmingham XC service would actually run because there was a train in the platform to form it.  So at least no reliance on non-information from NR or GWR about what was, or more likely wasn't, happening between Reading and Paddington.  Her Good Doctorship joined the train over 20 minutes before departure and it was already full and standing, probably because the GWR Paddington - Oxford service 30 minutes earlier hadn't materialised.

 

We drove over in what seemed uncannily like the eye of the storm - no rain and very little wind.  But coming back I ran into what might politely be described as 'rain coming down like stair rods' before I'd even got out of Reading and the wind was back again - all rather peculiar for this part of the world I thought.  It is of course now back to blowing about and raining but the wind is not as strong as it was earlier and is now much more westerly than it was earlier  when it was coming from the south/sou' sou' west.  Oddly (??),  and except in Reading, the roads weren't particularly quiet although probably not quite as busy as they usually would be at that time on a Sunday but Reading was pretty bereft of car  traffic.

 

An OFs (railway style) group I belong to regularly meets in a Wetherspoons in Exeter and the service isn't bad although we did shift our pre-Christmas lunch to 'The Ship Anson' at Portsmouth this Christmas just past because some of our number weren't too happy at Exeter the previous Christmas.  But we get good service at The Imperial and the fact that they could serve 22 cooked but not overdone/dried up meals as near simultaneously as the layout of our private room allows is in their favour.  But it was odd last autumn that they couldn't go out and buy any eggs when their delivery failed.  The staff however are good - probably because Tim Martin is a regular visitor to that branch and does talk to customers.

 

Talking of OFs' lunches etc we have an 'over 60s' club in the town which reportedly does quite a reasonably priced lunch on weekdays.  I'm not at all sure what 'over 60s' means - does it mean over 60, or over that decade?  Anyway whenever I pass by it seems to be full of old folk so we're not much inclined to try it, whatever 'over 60s' means.    Lunch today was my usual of sautéed mushrooms and grilled bacon on toast and dinner this evening - just for the two of us - is SMOG, so cold sausages around tomorrow and no fighting with the offspring over the OG (onion gravy).

 

Enjoy the rest of the evening and may everything which is meant to stay in one place remain there while the wind does its worst.

[Happy Hippo]

For those who post the forbidden  in ERs, here is a way of making your own self flagellation tool.

 

Once you've made one, you can post with confidence, knowing you can now give yourself a  good poke to remind you about the error of your ways!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et5XFXcIBsc

Edited February 9, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[Din]

Well, the wind and rain was 'orrid here in normally Sunny Swad.

 

So much so, that it ripped most of the plastic covering I had on the fascia along the roofline to stop having to re-mortar it has been blasted off for the most part.

 

Ho Hum.

[Kingzance]

32 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

For those who post the forbidden  in ERs, here is a way of making your own self flagellation tool.

 

Once you've made one, you can post with confidence, knowing you can  now yourself a  good poke to remind you about the error of your ways!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et5XFXcIBsc

Awl's well that ends well I believe - apologies to Debs.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Hope everyone is ok. Noticed that Jet2 were landing at Leeds but others weren't. 

 

The road we drove down yesterday had been under over 2 feet of water this week. No problem to the Kiwis. No panic..just get on with checking it's OK and reopening.

 

The Southland were battered by tremendous rain storms..everyone went out to help neighbours.  Roads were closed but reopened as soon as possible. Perhaps UK PLC needs to see how others react to storms?

 

Witherspoonso has an inthreshing business model. Senior staff are on a very finite timescale so less likely to be positive with customers.  Some are ok others can be iffy.

 

Now it's time for breakfast then off to Nugget Point.  

 

Sleep well ERs

Baz

Still clinging on down under

 

 

[Tony_S]

Looking at the traffic news I am glad I didn’t want to go anywhere today. Our C2C trains seem ok but lots of roads affected by roofs or trees about to fall. Neighbours who returned from Wales yesterday went to Morrison’s on Canvey Island and shopping trolleys were roaming about the car park. Another neighbour drove to Maldon and there were lots of branches in the road. Neighbours daughter in Wales said the rain was coming through the walls of her house. Nothing like that here though. 
Hopefully the tyre Aditi ordered will arrive at the tyre shop tomorrow so we can go and get that replaced. I think the wheel is ok but if not we will replace that too. Ford still make that wheel. Another example of cheaper to buy a new one than some used damaged one on EBay. 
Tony 

[tigerburnie]

Evening, just driven back from Perth, wind now dropping rain subsided and not too much debris on the roads, saw a Barn Owl on the hunt, always like to see those. Grand kids were mostly behaving and this weeks movie at the flicks...…...Dr Doolittle was weird but sort of enjoyed. Need to try and catch up on the gossip, probably won't watch the recorded rugby, just glad the Calcutta Cup is back where it should be after it's holiday.

[PeterBB]

2 hours ago, Din said:

Well, the wind and rain was 'orrid here in normally Sunny Swad.

 

So much so, that it ripped most of the plastic covering I had on the fascia along the roofline to stop having to re-mortar it has been blasted off for the most part.

 

Ho Hum.

Welcome to the forum and welcome to see us on any Tuesday evening from 1900 hours.  Hope not too much damage was done - we have a few small trees knocked over but hopefully we will be able to sort them.  Locally other areas were difficult to access, particularly Measham this morning.

 

Cheers Peter BB

Edited February 9, 2020 by PeterBB
Spelling correction

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Wind has subsided and the clouds are thin enough for a bit of moonlight to get through. No evidence of damage except for the twigs from the shrub I mentioned earlier. The show went well yesterday, we have eleven people interested in joining, some of whom were unaware of the societys existance until yesterday. No tickets were issued so the number through the door is uncertain but going by the receipts at the door I would guess at about 200-250 plus quite a number of under 16's who were not charged. Thats it for now, be back later.

[PhilJ W]

I'm glad I wasn't on this flight today. >>

 

Edited February 9, 2020 by PhilJ W

[Sidecar Racer]

At least he got it down and kept it down , unlike this one ,

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-51438230/storm-ciara-plane-struggles-to-land-in-strong-winds-at-heathrow-airport

[Coombe Barton]

Mum - and plans

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/02/09/daisy-colby-1914-1994/

[Coombe Barton]

14 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I'm glad I wasn't on this flight today.

Almost sideways at one point

[laurenceb]

4 hours ago, Din said:

Well, the wind and rain was 'orrid here in normally Sunny Swad.

 

So much so, that it ripped most of the plastic covering I had on the fascia along the roofline to stop having to re-mortar it has been blasted off for the most part.

 

Ho Hum.

Wellcome to the madhouse Din

Night awl

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Storm Ciara seems to have left us with no material damage, but as I’ve not been outside at all today, only a good look tomorrow will confirm that. Thankfully, unlike some, we’ve had no power outages, or any other type of outage today. We’ve had lots of rain though and some very strong gusts of wind. It then went very quiet just before dinner time when the wind died down, the sun came out and we had blue skies for a while. However, an hour or so later we again had some very heavy rain again which was followed by some thunder and lightning around 4 o’clock. All seems a lot quieter now, but we are still experiencing the odd strong gust or two, but nothing like those of last night or earlier today.

 

Apart from the laundry that has required doing, I’ve had quite a lazy day, spending most of it on the old laptop amending the art work I’d drawn up for the circuits that I’ve been building recently, they’re all done now.

 

Din, welcome to ER’s, we’re a friendly bunch.

 

Goodnight all 

[Barry O]

Cracking the flags down here..well it about 19°C and sunny. Hope the storm has moved on

Goodnight ERs 

Baz

[Ozexpatriate]

I hope the inclement weather blows over for all of you in the UK.

 

Here we had our nicest day in many weeks. It was slightly cooler (as the sun sets it is around 6°C) but the afternoon has seen cloudless skies and bright sunshine. It was pleasant to be outside in the sunshine and I was motivated to do some light gardening and weeding.

 

The Oscar telecast is on. I cannot quite explain why I am watching it. It's more like background noise as I type this and they award the supporting actor award. The sun has just set but the evening sky is still blue and cloudless.

[The Stationmaster]

5 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

For those who post the forbidden  in ERs, here is a way of making your own self flagellation tool.

 

Once you've made one, you can post with confidence, knowing you can now give yourself a  good poke to remind you about the error of your ways!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et5XFXcIBsc

Trouble with those former colonials across the ocean is that they just can't spell, so alas -

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeERupuicHE

 

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, Sidecar Racer said:

At least he got it down and kept it down , unlike this one ,

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-51438230/storm-ciara-plane-struggles-to-land-in-strong-winds-at-heathrow-airport

It was on the BBC News At Ten - looked even worse on their film of it!

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[pH]

On 08/02/2020 at 18:17, AndyID said:

 

I don't remember that but it looks like the DE has an online archive. Did you look there?

 

I've tried looking in that archive. Maybe I'm using the search wrongly, but I can't find any cartoon strip, never mind a 4 D Jones one. It just seems to contain the text of articles.

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

Early reports seem to indicate that we have weathered storm Sabine fairly well.  (Ciara changed her name when she reached Germany!)  The journey into work was also easier than expected.  We only saw one fallen tree, but that was on a side road so didn't present a problem.

 

There was a very interesting film doing the rounds on Twitter yesterday - apparently the Hastings Lifeboat got called out to rescue (would you believe it?) a surfer.  For those that know the area, he was surfing at Rock-a-Nore and was initially declared missing, but was able to swim ashore on his own at Pett Level.  (That's about seven miles along the coast)!

 

It should be possible to view this link without logging in: https://twitter.com/Lee_k100/status/1226575269705789440

 

I hope the Surfer concerned sees fit to make a sizeable donation to the RNLI!

 

Have a good day everyone...

Edited February 10, 2020 by Robert