Early Risers.

[Andrew P]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Morning all,

It’s amazing the amount of erudite knowledge available on ER to the casual browser. I think the only thing that has not been discussed with any degree of detail or professional insight on this thread is the law. I would’ve thought, given the broad spectrum of humanity that ends up doing railway modelling, that we would’ve had at least one “legal eagle“ in our midst. The absence of representatives of said profession on ER could mean, possibly, one of two things: firstly, practitioners of the law have no interest in model railways or, secondly, they are here amongst us but keeping a low profile (although I don’t know why they would want to keep a low profile, any legal type that does do railway modelling and also follows ER is obviously a good egg and a top notch chap/chappess unlike many of their fellow professionals).

 

I look with envy on the posts of Mr Stein and others on the subject of engineering, although I can pontificate at length about Crispr technology, attenuated viruses, platinum-based chemotherapy doublets and the like, my knowledge of engineering is limited to “hit it with a hammer“ and my knowledge of applied engineering is limited to “hit it with a hammer – hard“.

 

Mrs iD and the Wolfpack are back from the Holiday Hovel but are planning to head over the border to Germany for the August 1st weekend (with me in tow). August 1st is the Swiss National Day, usually marked by big fireworks displays run by each Gemeinde. However, due to the restrictions on large assemblies due to the pandemic, the public fireworks displays have been cancelled. THIS has resulted in an unprecedented increase of firework purchases by Joe Public, which in turns means that the August 1st weekend will be a nightmare - what with the local cockwombles setting off firecrackers every 2 minutes or so (as an aside, why do cockwombles always buy firecrackers and the like, and I wonder what you’d call a cockwomble in Swiss German [apart from the obvious Arschloch]?). Even the normally tranquil “Holiday Hovel” will be surrounded by explosive pyromaniacs this year.

 

As you can imagine, all these explosions are most distressing to the dogs and this year, in absence of public fireworks, things will be even more mental than usual. So an excursion to the Black Forest to a dog friendly and firework free hotel beckons.

 

But first, to work. The daily commute (from sitting room to home office) awaits, as does a heated discussion with the Managing Director (me) about the justification for buying a Dyson Ventilator for the Science Division (also me)

 

Enjoy POETS day

 

iD

My Wife and our Greyhounds were always petrified of the over excessively loud BANGS from todays Fireworks, I would imagine they are more like real live Ammunition's than just a pretty scene in the sky.

Consequently we have gone to Bala in Snowdonia for 10 days for many years to get away from the Guy Fawkes celebrations over here. Where we lived in South Derbyshire, they would start early October and generally go on until mid to end of November.

We have signed many petitions to try and get the sale of them banned from sale to Mr and Mrs Public, but to no avail.

Ex Service Personnel with PTSD must be affected, as are a lot of old people, and their pets, like Cats and Dogs that are outside, especially when your sitting at home, nice and quiet, and suddenly some moron lets off a device or Rocket close to home.

We don't have a problem with organized displays as we can get away in the car for an hour or two, and they are at least advertised in advance.

It will be interesting to see how bad it is, now that were back in the Souf, I would imagine it will be no different.

 

RANT OVER, for now at least.

Have a good weekend, stay safe and well.

[Barry O]

Fireworks in this area during the day means "another consignment of drugs is ready come and buy it" apparently..

 

Baz

[Andrew P]

41 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Fireworks in this area during the day means "another consignment of drugs is ready come and buy it" apparently..

 

Baz

We were told the same around Swad.

 

Lots are imported Fireworks, and probably illegal in this country anyway.

 

RANT 2 over.

[New Haven Neil]

Morning - dry and sunny for old farts bike club day - yay!  Run out to Laxey for brunch planned.  Then we'll talk the sort of stuff we do on here.  We have today for the run out, (all retired or ish, bar the TV guy who is a young fart) a marine engineer, a TV producer, an import/export company owner, a senior policeman, a road traffic manager, a campervan manufacturer and an airport firefighter.  But no lawyer.

 

 The other 20 members won't actually come on bikes (it is a breakfast club, bike ownership not necessary but are the 'core business') so will stay in the big cafe where we meet up!  An talk....crepe, like us.

[Northroader]

5 hours ago, TheQ said:

Mathematics I can cope with slowly,  you need it in my job,  but,  it's so long since calculus came into it the tracks are very rusty.  Our everyday calculations use calculus and other mathematical functions,  however once it's all programmed into the spreadsheets you never "see" it again unless changes to the spreadsheet are needed. 

My great niece  at secondary school absolutely hates maths and regularly complains about it on facebook,  I keep meaning meaning to find the most complicated formula we use a post it on her thread.. 

 

 

Try her on some of these:

https://www.ijeas.org/download_data/IJEAS0404017.pdf

Edited July 24, 2020 by Northroader

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Another dull start to the day, we appear to have had some overnight rain, but as the patio is almost dry, it must have stopped some time ago. Not a great deal planned for today, once my deliveries have arrived, so weather permitting, I’m hoping to get a couple of hours done in the garden, we shall see. 

 

Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later. 

[Tony_S]

48 minutes ago, 81C said:

've something worthwhile to talk about there are better things to do than to read the illness moaning's of other people sorry to be blunt I think a sick note sub-page would be useful a to

keep it off the main pages.

I am sorry that my occasional mention of trips to clinics or exciting trips overseas to Canvey Island to have blood taken isn’t worthwhile content. I have posted on ERs in this version since the first day of this version and for quite a while on earlier versions. 
 

Bye Bye.

 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Mathematics was my best subject at school, I was always at the top of the class in that subject, pity most of the other subjects did not follow suit. I found my old school report book a couple of months ago, it made interesting reading. I had forgotten that in my first term at secondary school I came top of the class. I was then moved up to the next stream where I spent the next five years bobbing along mid stream. I've only just realised in the last few years the reason for this ability, I'm mildly autistic! A feature of autism is a need to have everything in order which in my case manifested itself in a talent for making rapid mental calculations. It also showed up in the other subject I was good at, technical drawing. I am in good company, it is now thought that Isaac Newton was autistic. Apparently with autism the brain is 'wired' differently but in mild cases such as mine people can go through life without they or anyone else realising that they have autism. I only realised that I was autistic when a mother explained that her young sons actions were due to autism. The lad wasn't misbehaving in any way at all but was playing in a little world of his own, much the same way that I did when I was the same age. 

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, 81C said:

.... better things to do than to read the illness moaning's of other people sorry to be blunt I think a sick note sub-page would be useful a to

keep it off the main pages....

 

I Say! That's a bit harsh, dear fellow.

 

Yes there are people who do, perhaps (and only perhaps), "overshare" some things (and there are one or two posters who do seem to be a bit, how can I put it, "tone deaf"), but overall ER is a font of erudite discussion. Just looking over the posts over the past few days, we have touched upon:

• Vets and social distancing
• Tourist Trains (or not, as the case may be) on the Settle- Carlisle Line
• Tables in carriages
• Benjamin Britten
• Long Term Marriage
• The joys of modern printers
• Sumo Wrestling
• Applied Engineering
• O Levels
• Birds in Flues
• The diminished seventh/augmented ninth in music
• Quality (and choice) of New Potatoes
• and so on....

Hardly a litany of ailments (and certainly I don't count things like "yesterday I spent 45 minutes holding up a 20Kg X, today my back is knackered")

[southern42]

' morning all from red dragon land.

Wey hey...the sun is out. 

 

It was a long day, yesterday.

There was only an 8pm slot for click n collect from Tess Coe so, by the time all the items were sorted, it is was getting on a bit.  

Thankfully, the next few booked slots are at a more reasonable hour!

 

On 23/07/2020 at 00:03, BSW01 said:

Good evening everyone

 

snip

 

I’ve never lived near the sea, but I was born just a mile or so from the river Mersey, I love water. When we lived in Canada, were lived by the St Lawrence river and regularly swam in during the summer. I like swimming, especially open water, I’ve really missed that this year and would love to be near the sea!

 

Goodnight all. 

 

OK, then.  Bringing the seaside to you and all.  

 

 

Race you to the water's edge!

 

Or, maybe, you would prefer a paddle in the muddy hollow in the adjacent field...

 

or walk on them thar hills or even lament the loss of the 5-car SuperDuper to get you here - or to Dublin across the Briny.

 

Some catching up to do on here...in the meantime...

 

Fitt  and  Elfie coming along swimmingly.

 

Take care and play safe.  

_________

Best wishes

Polly

Edited July 24, 2020 by southern42

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, 81C said:

Morning All

Back in an overcast Farnborough 

The stupid Edge page shows RMweb off line it sums Microsoft up for what it is a bad start to the day.

I spoke to GDB he's alive and kicking but has lost his mojo with Wheel Tappers an easy thing to do lately the quality of the postings are lacking thought, I won't post every day now unless 

I've something worthwhile to talk about there are better things to do than to read the illness moaning's of other people sorry to be blunt I think a sick note sub-page would be useful a to

keep it off the main pages.

I'm off for a dump enjoy your day and mind the gap.I.M.Ightbebach

 

You forgot people talking about their sex lives.

[polybear]

3 hours ago, Andrew P said:

My Wife and our Greyhounds were always petrified of the over excessively loud BANGS from todays Fireworks, I would imagine they are more like real live Ammunition's than just a pretty scene in the sky.

 

 

All those BANGS could just be the perfect cover for shooting one (or even better, several...) of the little b'stards.....

 

 

 

[TheQ]

1 hour ago, Northroader said:

 

Try her on some of these:

https://www.ijeas.org/download_data/IJEAS0404017.pdf

That's a bit simpler than some in my books..

 

Mooring Awl, inner Temple hare,

Very busy morning at work so, the general report is a bit late, not that there is much to report. 

Lots of small current shunts measured this morning, they don't have much warm up time , But now I've a couple of 20 ampers to do they have 15 minutes warm up time each.

 

I shall venture to our little Tes and co on the way home it will be interesting to see what the mask count is..

 

Brain is going round and round the steering gear design  loop , I think I have to commit to two, 1 inch  holes in the cockpit combing for the support bracketry this weekend. I don't want to make more..

 

2 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

You forgot people talking about their sex lives.

What are they?

 

Ah first 15 minute warm up complete

 

Time to start measuring.

[tetsudofan]

1 hour ago, 81C said:

Morning All

Back in an overcast Farnborough 

The stupid Edge page shows RMweb off line it sums Microsoft up for what it is a bad start to the day.

I spoke to GDB he's alive and kicking but has lost his mojo with Wheel Tappers an easy thing to do lately the quality of the postings are lacking thought, I won't post every day now unless 

I've something worthwhile to talk about there are better things to do than to read the illness moaning's of other people sorry to be blunt I think a sick note sub-page would be useful a to

keep it off the main pages.

I'm off for a dump enjoy your day and mind the gap.I.M.Ightbebach

 

 

That's good news.......

 

Keith

[tetsudofan]

removal of duplication

Edited July 24, 2020 by tetsudofan
duplication

[polybear]

1 hour ago, 81C said:

I won't post every day now unless I've something worthwhile to talk about there are better things to do than to read the illness moaning's of other people sorry to be blunt I think a sick note sub-page would be useful a to keep it off the main pages.

 

And then......

 

1 hour ago, 81C said:

I'm off for a dump enjoy your day......

 

 

At which point the case for the defence rests M'Lord.......

 

(p.s. I'm not a lawyer.... )

[Coombe Barton]

Just got back from Sainsbury's

 

Everyone was wearing a mask.

 

Just a question ...

 

What was so difficult about doing it last week?

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

... I think the only thing that has not been discussed with any degree of detail or professional insight on this thread is the law. I would’ve thought, given the broad spectrum of humanity that ends up doing railway modelling, that we would’ve had at least one “legal eagle“ in our midst. The absence of representatives of said profession on ER could mean, possibly, one of two things: firstly, practitioners of the law have no interest in model railways or, secondly, they are here amongst us but keeping a low profile (although I don’t know why they would want to keep a low profile, any legal type that does do railway modelling and also follows ER is obviously a good egg and a top notch chap/chappess unlike many of their fellow professionals)...

'Horsetan' occasionally contributes on the LNER Forum.

 

I would imagine that the 'skidmarks ahead of the skunk' joke explains much of  why anyone working in law might be reluctant to reveal that aspect of their life. Declared politicians, merchant bankers, journalists are in short supply too.

[Coombe Barton]

An engineer dies and goes to Hell. He's hot and miserable, so he decides to take action. The A/C has been busted for a long time, so he fixes it. Things cool down quickly. The moving walkway motor is jammed, so he unjams it. People can get from place to place more easily. The TV was grainy and unclear, so he fixes the connection to the satellite dish, and now they get hundreds of high def channels.

 

One day, God decides to look down on Hell to see how his grand design is working out and notices that everyone is happy and enjoying umbrella drinks. He asks the Devil what's up? The Devil says, "Things are great down here since you sent us an engineer." "What?" says God. "An engineer? I didn't send you one of those. That must have been a mistake. Send him upstairs immediately." The Devil responds, "No way. We want to keep our engineer. We like him." God demands, "If you don't send him to me immediately, I'll sue!" The Devil laughs. "Where are you going to get a lawyer?"

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

It didn't rain yesterday evening when it was supposed to and it isn't supposed to rain today but it wouldn't surprise me if it does as I walk to/from the chiropractor.  I wonder if today he'll require me to wear a mask too?

 

Now to fireworks and sorry to say Andy that if your bit of the south is anything like our bit of the south welcome to a fusillade which puts the start of the Battle of El Alamein in the shade for noise.  Good old British made fireworks seem to have been superseded by far noisier Chinese made ones and if the bloke up the road carries on letting them off in his garden which is far too small for such things it will be fun watching the fire engine, especially if - as usual - some clown who doesn't even live in this road has parked on top of the nearest fire hydrant.   When we had two stone deaf cats it didn't matter but now we're back to cats with fully working hearing the panic the bangs lead to is not nice to see.   Not only time to finally ban private sale of fireworks but to properly enforce the law about when they can be let off - we get them for up to 2 weeks around 5 November, occasionally at Duwali (although at least they obey the law), not unusually at Christmas, and inevitably at New Year (which apparently lasts several days in some folks' diaries).  Retire from rant mode, I think.

 

Some of us are familiar with some parts of the law because of past work involvement but 'elf & safety isn't everybody's cup of tea, nor are Railway Byelaws, although employment law might occasionally be useful as might the question of repeater signs/lack of on roads where the national speed limit does not apply   But all that apart we do seem to manage a pretty useful mix of experience and knowledge from our past and present areas of employment or  original extra mural research.  (although again I  suspect the development of Signalling Regulations on the GWR/BR is a long way from being the top of everybody's list?).  So yes - where we can contribute direct original knowledge and experience it's great to have the opportunity to share it and read about it.  And while some things might not be everybody's muggatea it can get very interesting and it's part of what makes ERs fun.  But if I want (horror of horrors) to look up something on Wikiwhatsit I'll do it for myself thank you, as part of a more general trawl through books and the 'net.

 

Currently the lad's WFH room, aka the dining room, is in use as the sewing room but will later be converted to the test track room (if I can get away awl free by mentioning such a parallel strips of metal equipped item?).

 

Enjoy the rest of your day one and all

[Barry O]

watching and listening to a live stream of the Yorkshire v Lancashire "friendly". Visuals are fine, the commentary does have interesting moments.. as in words are not as clear as they could be.. seems like they have a microphone which picks up creaks and groans not much in the way of real commentary. BUT it is good to see cricket other than Test Matches.

 

 

Warning.... Their is panic buying of 2" by 1" planed  softwood going on.. tried 3 wood yards this morning.. none available.. PAH!!

 

Nice clean air day here.. mugadecaf ready.. lunch time beckons!

 

Baz

[chrisf]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I am sorry that my occasional mention of trips to clinics or exciting trips overseas to Canvey Island to have blood taken isn’t worthwhile content. I have posted on ERs in this version since the first day of this version and for quite a while on earlier versions. 
 

Bye Bye.

 

 

Tony, I beg you to reconsider.  What is and is not worthwhile content is not easy to define but it must be a matter of individual taste.  If we were ever all to have the same opinion it would indeed be a sad and tragic day.  Speaking personally, I have good reason to be extremely grateful to ERs for having allowed me to share my thoughts and preoccupations and for the kindness and support shown by so many who post here.  Tony, I know that you and Aditi feel the same.

 

Chris    

Edited July 24, 2020 by chrisf
To correct nonsense

[roundhouse]

Afternoon. On our long walk of the week.

I think it's the first time that we have walked over the M25.

 

I love this humourous thread on FB

 

https://newsthump.com/2020/07/24/eight-dead-as-anti-facemask-campaigners-suffocate-during-weekly-shop-at-tesco/

[laurenceb]

My thought is that if this gent dont like what he is reading in ER he dos'nt have to come in. As far as I know there is no rule that you have to visit ER. Dont like to rant but he gets on my nerves

[PhilJ W]

12 minutes ago, roundhouse said:

Afternoon. On our long walk of the week.

I think it's the first time that we have walked over the M25.

 

I love this humourous thread on FB

 

https://newsthump.com/2020/07/24/eight-dead-as-anti-facemask-campaigners-suffocate-during-weekly-shop-at-tesco/

I have Newsthump delivered by e-mail, very funny satire.