Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. I missed the bit about the 'tourist train' being like HST. I may be wrong but the stock looks as if its Mk. II stock. I see that they have 2+1 seating with tables. I hope the seats and tables are better than those I have experienced on Mk. I stock on a couple of preserved lines. The tables were fixed and extended to the width of the seats with a single support leg at the outer end. The problem  was that the seats had a raised peice at the end five or six inches higher than the cushion. The gap between this end piece and the edge of the table is only a few inches which makes it for me difficult to get into the seats due to limited movement of my hip and leg joints. In service not all BR coaches had tables and some only half tables.

[J. S. Bach]

Hmmm, I just noticed a new "rating" button selection, a pair of clapping hands; if that can be inserted, why not a "groan" button???

Edited July 21, 2020 by J. S. Bach

[Ian Abel]

Pah!

Yesterday I must've "overdone" it somehow - hardly seems possible as all I'm doing is walking/stumbling between the office, kitchen, bog and back again

Hip/thigh complaining bitterly all evening until the complaints were fought back with a sensible lashing of G&T

 

Up closer to normal hours today and taking it very easy with pauses between each room-to-room excursion.

Little else to report, the contractor started o-crack-sparrow which is good, means we're moving ever forward towards having the living space in the basement finished, AGAIN!!

 

Hissing it down all early hours also, so Whitney wasn't that keen on venturing outside for her morning duty <sigh>

 

17 and heavy rain first thing, forecast for 26 and thunderstorms "some heavy" for the day - yay!!

 

Tally ho...

[iL Dottore]

Afternoon all,

I see the “debate“ about masks has spilled over to ER as well. Without going into a lengthy explanation (“getting on my soapbox“ according to Mrs iD), I would just like to point out three things:

1. This coronavirus is a rather unusual one, even by coronavirus standards, Unlike other diseases which have been around for centuries (such as tuberculosis) and are very well defined: biologically, chemically and medically; our knowledge about how CoVID-19 is transmitted, how lethal it is, what are the long term sequalae of infection, etc. is constantly evolving. And as our knowledge increases and the conclusions we draw from that knowledge change, so does advice to the public.
2. As has been reported frequently on ER, sometimes you can’t go 5 yards in the UK without tripping over some clueless, brain-dead, selfish cockwomble. Knowing this, the initial advice about not wearing masks was primarily issued to prevent our favourite subtype of human from buying up and hoarding the PPE necessary for people on the front line. Now that supplies are more guaranteed and the emerging data are supporting airborne transmission being the primary vector for infection, it makes sense to issue advice to wear masks.
3. Finally, wearing a mask is not really about protection, it is about reducing risk: to yourself (from breathing in airborne droplets) and to others from yourself should you be asymptomatic (and are breathing out virus laden airborne droplets). Even the sort of whole-body, enclosed-with-own-air-supply, protective hazmat suit, (as seen in the film “Contagion“ and similar) is not a 100% ironclad guarantee of safety (a personal note, if I may, I have had to wear masks in the course of my duties often for a number of hours at a stretch, you do get used to it. In comparison to wearing a mask for a number of hours in the OR, wearing one for 25 minutes whilst shopping is child’s play)

Oops, I did go on a bit, but more “on my soap packet” rather than “on my soapbox”

 

I noticed, thanks to Johann Sebastian‘s post (above) that we have a new emoji that we can utilise to provide a quick comment on posts. Sadly, in his infinite wisdom, AndyY didn’t see fit to include the much requested “Groan Button“

 

Thinking about it other, potentially useful, emoji buttons that could be added to for us to use could include: a target with a question mark - to advise posters that they are at risk of being a target for the almighty “Awl of Debs”; A little walker with a hiking pole - to inform the poster that the post did ramble on a bit; and a little man, tied to a stake atop a pile of burning railway paraphernalia – to inform the poster that they have committed the most egregious heresy of talking about R*****y M*******g on ER. I suspect that my fellow ER posters can also come up with other desirable emojis.
 

With Mrs iD and the Wolfpack off in the Holiday Hovel, I am at a bit of a loss as to what I will cook tonight for my dinner. My stomach (and brain) is informing me that it would like to enjoy a hot meal instead of the usual charcuterie, whereas the rest of me, responsible for actually cooking the food, is out on strike due to the unreasonable demands of the “running dog, capitalist toadies“ (as you may guess, parts of me still retain the youthful Marxist idealism of my mid teens).  So the dilemma facing me is whether or not I should order a takeaway to “break the strike“ and thus face lifelong animosity, hostility and opprobrium from my arms and legs.

 

Truly, life can be difficult (and not a little bizarre...)

 

Cheers 

iD

[Barry O]

48 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Hmmm, I just noticed a new "rating" button selection, a pair of clapping hands; if that can be inserted, why not a "groan" button???

I agree whole heartedly,,, we need a "GROAN" button....

 

Baz

[roundhouse]

Today we should have been in Portland OR having a riot of a time. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately we are not joining in with those doing such. All UK citizens are banned from going to the USA (apart from Mr Farage).

However we have had a few USA brews today in Norwich Brewdog.

 

Most banks that we have walked past in the last few days have had long queues outside. Even near closing time. Luckily we have no need to go on one.

 

I am disappointed that I am not able to practice singing Disney songs in this pub in Norwich but my other half is quite pleased about that as I suspect other customers are.

 

 

[iL Dottore]

3 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I saw that this morning. They described it as the UK's first ever 'Tourist train'. Really? I can think of a few others, Kyle of Lochalsh for instance, (and that was steam hauled).

Where did they say that, Phil?. I am genuinely curious, because when I tracked down the BBC News report all it said was they hoped that the train will kick start tourism for the area. Which is somewhat different from it being a tourist train, at least in the way that the Orient Express, The Highland express or any number of the Japanese Special Trains define “Tourist Trains”

 

I am very much a fan of the various “Tourist Trains“ created by the various Japanese railway companies (and as seen on NHK World’s Japan Railway Journal) and I hope to be able to travel on at least one of their wonderful hotel trains before I kick the bucket. Assuming that we have an affective COVID-19 virus vaccine available in the not too distant future and that I am able to build up a nice little “retirement celebration“ pot, then a two or three week trip to Japan to sample the food and the railways is definitely going to be high on my agenda.
 

Having said that, and considering that flying to distant countries will be a lot more reduced in future, perhaps creating a Japanese style “tourist train“ for Britain could be a project that a suitable entrepreneur (or maybe even a consortium of ER members) could take on. Obviously, it would not be a slavish copy of a Japanese tourist train (and I think we can safely do without all the little cutesy cartoon characters the Japanese love), But it would incorporate the Japanese essentials: unique service, in a uniquely kitted out train, providing a great food experience and travelling through the best part of Britain’s, often gloriously beautiful, countryside.....

 

Cheers

iD

p.s. If we have to have cutesy cartoon characters on the train, I nominate Happy Hippo and the PolyBear

[roundhouse]

5 hours ago, Barry O said:

Enjoy the Picnic Polly!

 

Cut our "lawns", done my bit of the tidying up..now what should I do?

Baz

Picnic Polly has a certain ring to the phrase.

 

What should you do... Go to the pub.

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. I missed the bit about the 'tourist train' being like HST. I may be wrong but the stock looks as if its Mk. II stock. I see that they have 2+1 seating with tables. I hope the seats and tables are better than those I have experienced on Mk. I stock on a couple of preserved lines. The tables were fixed and extended to the width of the seats with a single support leg at the outer end. The problem  was that the seats had a raised peice at the end five or six inches higher than the cushion. The gap between this end piece and the edge of the table is only a few inches which makes it for me difficult to get into the seats due to limited movement of my hip and leg joints. In service not all BR coaches had tables and some only half tables.

Ex Anglia Mk 3s judging by their appearance  - Eastern Rail Services have a number of them in their hire fleet which they acquired recently.  So while 'HST' is not strictly accurate 'like an HST' certainly would be 

[newbryford]

4 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Ex Anglia Mk 3s judging by their appearance  - Eastern Rail Services have a number of them in their hire fleet which they acquired recently.  So while 'HST' is not strictly accurate 'like an HST' certainly would be 

 

They are (externally grubby) ex Greater Anglia Mk3a Open First - which were originally  WCML stalwarts. So will have passed this way many years hence on S&C routed diversions.

The staff coach is a Mk2D BFK that has passed through a few hands previously.

 

All vehicles are currently part of the LSL empire under Jeremy Hosking.

[The Stationmaster]

47 minutes ago, Barry O said:

I agree whole heartedly,,, we need a "GROAN" button....

 

Baz

And an 'awl button'. (Although maybe 'somebody' has been given a personal one which only she is permitted to use?)

 

Talking of access to banks the Good Doctor this morning visited ours to pay in the FIT cheque for Mrs Stationmaster (FIT = Feed In Tariff which we earn for generating our own electrickery through solar panels).  The GD sent a text to her mum advising that there had been a large queue in the bank so she had subsequently adjourned to a public house to refresh herself with a suitable pint of something alcoholic.   She sent a pic from her 'phone to confirm her visit although alas it was the town's ultimate grockle tavern, The Angel On The Bridge.  It acquired the latter part of its name. i.e. '.. On the Bridge', in order to distinguish it from 'The Little Angel'   which is less than 100yds beyond the opposite end of the bridge.  It had 'Little' formally added to its title a good while back to distinguish it from the one  at the town end of the bridge although it had long been known by locals as 'The little Angel'.  Regrettably for us locals these re-namings robbed us of considerable fun in the grockle season when some poor innocent grockle would ask where the The Angel pub was or came out looking very puzzled when the people they went to meet weren't in the pub they said they'd be in.  We could then ask them in which county they were intending to meet their friends as the two Angels had completely different postal addresses as they were in different counties. 

 

The one on the bridge also had a small part in the film version of  'Three Men In A Boat'. but was once infamous locally for the outrageous prices charged by a past landlord at Regatta time.

 

The Jessops package contained exactly what was ordered (yesterday) and it is amusing to note that if you buy the relevant accessory pack for this particular camera (heftily reduced in price on the special offer I took up) you actually get a proper neck strap whereas the camera itself only comes wuth a wrist strap.  You also get a spare battery, which might sometime be handy - although you do face the slight hurdle that the battery has to be in the camera to be recharged 

[Tony_S]

I had a look to see what the hand clap icon was defined as. It is “Round of Applause” not sarcastic slow hand clapping! So it is a nice icon. The disagree and don’t understand post ratings went ages ago. 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

1. As has been reported frequently on ER, sometimes you can’t go 5 yards in the UK without tripping over some clueless, brain-dead, selfish cockwomble.

 

Sometimes??

[NGT6 1315]

Cheers all .

 

I certainly tried taking the last couple of days slowly and peace of mind is beginning to reestablish itself, thankfully. Weather has been a bit unsteady today, going from nice and cool in the morning to warm and windy by noon, which made me curl up on the sofa!

 

Made us tarte flambée for dinner...

 

 

...accompanied by some ale. Yes, it’s not typical, but I can’t stand most wines!

 

Störtebeker are a brand from Stralsund I got a taste for during our recent stay on Rügen. They actually have a variety of types aside from this ale, so maybe you might sample them if you should end up on the Pomeranian coast.

 

Stay safe and sound, everyone...

[Barry O]

Dom

 

Looks interesting.  Do they export it at all??

 

Bas

[Coombe Barton]

... from the centre of England ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/07/21/the-sea-2/

[NGT6 1315]

36 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Dom

 

Looks interesting.  Do they export it at all??

 

Bas

Dunno off the top of my head, Baz. They’re not a tiny business in any case, so it’s a possibility at least!

 

Rügen is also a location known for products made from sea buckthorn berries, I should add.

[New Haven Neil]

Evening.

 

Nice day, that's summer over then.   

 

Trying to set up whatsapp on my phone, I need a teenager.  I wouldn't bother but it's the only way two young relations will communicate.....#sigh# 

 

 

[Andrew P]

3 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Evening.

 

Nice day, that's summer over then.   

 

Trying to set up whatsapp on my phone, I need a teenager.  I wouldn't bother but it's the only way two young relations will communicate.....#sigh# 

 

 

Yeah, My Grandson had to set mine up, frightening init

[Sir TophamHatt]

I knew I wouldn't get round to transferring the strawberries!

 

Vets took nearly an hour what with the social distancing lark. Came back and cleaned the dishwasher.

 

Got to grips with the signalling and after finding out the most difficult to reach control board is faulty, I replaced it with the spare one and all is working fine. A little underwhelmed with them but another layer of realism I suppose.

 

Yorkshire Farm programme on this evening - Channel 5, 9pm. Jealous I don't live that sort of lifestyle.

 

Back to work tomorrow.

Anxious but need to get back into it properly.

[tetsudofan]

Seeing that the site is "offline" tomorrow better post what I was going to post tomorrow now '

 

This time 25 years ago I was still living in Japan and very rarely returned to the UK during the summer months, normally returning home in spring and/or the autumn. 1995 was a special year when I reached the grand old age of 50 and returned home for dinner with the family:

 

 

Where have the last 25 years have gone?  I don't know.

 

OK, I had more hair then ( got a no.1 soon after returning home in 1999) and was into Irish coffees (think that is what they were called) but I still have the shirt I was wearing 25 years ago. 

 

Maybe the shirt will get an airing tomorrow!

 

Keith

 

 

[Andrew P]

56 minutes ago, tetsudofan said:

Seeing that the site is "offline" tomorrow better post what I was going to post tomorrow now '

 

This time 25 years ago I was still living in Japan and very rarely returned to the UK during the summer months, normally returning home in spring and/or the autumn. 1995 was a special year when I reached the grand old age of 50 and returned home for dinner with the family:

 

 

Where have the last 25 years have gone?  I don't know.

 

OK, I had more hair then ( got a no.1 soon after returning home in 1999) and was into Irish coffees (think that is what they were called) but I still have the shirt I was wearing 25 years ago. 

 

Maybe the shirt will get an airing tomorrow!

 

Keith

 

 

Many happy returns for tomorrow / Wednesday.

 

We need new pics of you and the Shirt please.

[Gwiwer]

Goodnight all.  A happy Hump Day in advance as we seem to be going into self-isolation again.  I'll see how things are later tomorrow.  

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Didn't get any gardening done today after all. Spent most of the afternoon on eyelid inspection. The sores on my ankle are not troubling me as much but they're still a bit sensitive, just touched it and it was like a red hot needle. Many happy returns for tomorrow Keith.

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Where did they say that, Phil?. I am genuinely curious, because when I tracked down the BBC News report all it said was they hoped that the train will kick start tourism for the area. Which is somewhat different from it being a tourist train, at least in the way that the Orient Express, The Highland express or any number of the Japanese Special Trains define “Tourist Trains”

 

I am very much a fan of the various “Tourist Trains“ created by the various Japanese railway companies (and as seen on NHK World’s Japan Railway Journal) and I hope to be able to travel on at least one of their wonderful hotel trains before I kick the bucket. Assuming that we have an affective COVID-19 virus vaccine available in the not too distant future and that I am able to build up a nice little “retirement celebration“ pot, then a two or three week trip to Japan to sample the food and the railways is definitely going to be high on my agenda.
 

Having said that, and considering that flying to distant countries will be a lot more reduced in future, perhaps creating a Japanese style “tourist train“ for Britain could be a project that a suitable entrepreneur (or maybe even a consortium of ER members) could take on. Obviously, it would not be a slavish copy of a Japanese tourist train (and I think we can safely do without all the little cutesy cartoon characters the Japanese love), But it would incorporate the Japanese essentials: unique service, in a uniquely kitted out train, providing a great food experience and travelling through the best part of Britain’s, often gloriously beautiful, countryside.....

 

Cheers

iD

p.s. If we have to have cutesy cartoon characters on the train, I nominate Happy Hippo and the PolyBear

The BBC breakfast program is usually live and in a typical 3 hour program they would go back to the same place to interview several people. The recorded item that is shown later is edited from at least three separate items. I watched one of the earlier items and that bit was probably edited out. Possibly due to a complaint from a 'Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells' variety.

[pH]

We’ve been having quite a few wasps flying around the house for the last couple of weeks. It took some time to track down where the byke was, but we finally realized the entry was where a beam projects from an outside wall. So the whole area around that was sprayed yesterday evening with ‘nasty to wasps’ spray. We now have quite a few wasps staggering around the house, but none flying. Perhaps another spray application this evening, just to make sure.