Early Risers.

[skipepsi]

Morning all, chilly but clear here just the dripping of condensation. Not inspired today walking the dog sounds a good plan.

[gordon s]

Morning all...

 

Off to the local snooker club this morning to try and take a few shillings off my brother. If it weren't for my bad back/knees/shoulders and any other bodily function, I might just beat him for a change....

[DonBradley]

Good morning ERs.

A change, though not radical, in my usual morning forecast. Weather forecast said "partly cloudy" but looking out and up

reality says "thoroughly cloudy". Still bright but virtually no blue bits visible. No wind luckily so mild temperature (25C).

Happy day to you all whatever you will be doing.

[sixoh8sixoh]

Morning all. Looks like a nice day here though I think there's haar out in the Forth.

 

Plan for the day: go to work, try to summon up energy for a solo run after work, go home and collapse in a heap.

 

Have a good Thursday all! One day more of work to go after today then I have a week off!

[DDolfelin]

"no blue bits visible"

 

Until very recently, many blue bits were visible here.

Forecast to warm up a bit today though.

[Tony_S]

i

...

Off to the local snooker club this morning to try and take a few shillings off my brother.

Snooker is yet another activity at which I display great incompetence! Some years ago we stayed in a holiday cottage with a snooker table and Matthew consistently won. As he can't tell many of the colours of the balls apart and isn't the most coordinated of persons I just added it to my list of games I don't play.

[DDolfelin]

Money seems to improve my (rare) games of snooker.

I learned as a kid using bent cues at the Church Youth Club.

Baize? What baize? We had speed bumps instead.

[Guest Max Stafford]

Ha ha Tony, one hand tied behind his back and the boy still beat you! Yeah, that's time to give it up!

One 8 Okta-size shiny blue bit overhead this morning. Just about to hang out a wash, get some breakfast. Abi is at the outlaws as I'm at the dark place now until Sunday night, but I can't go to the park this morning due to the Sky bloke coming to fit the new box. I'll get some modelling in the shed done before I have to go though!

 

Dave.

Edited March 22, 2012 by Max Stafford

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all and a nice sunny day thus far. Butwe're having a break from blackberry bramble, and other garden detritus, clearance today so it will be a Waitrose trip this a.m. followed by auction lot sorting this afternoon (although I doubt any railway ephemera will turn up today), all interspersed by bouts of RMwebbing and tea drinking.

[trisonic]

Morning, people. NYC forecast to be 78f and Sunny be a bit cooler in the 60's next week.

Eyetest today.

 

Best, Pete.

[Sidecar Racer]

Morning all ,

 

dry here at the moment , high thin cloud with the sun coming through at times .

 

Plans for today include finishing the paint jobs on a couple of kit built loco's , the big

question is wether to weather . I've never tried it on a loco and dont really want to risk

spoiling them by getting it wrong .

 

But before that starts a trip out to the shops to get the papers and any food stuff

required to top up supplies .

 

Have a good day one and all .

[Tony_S]

As Dave said I don't even bother competing with Matthew especially on computer games. I sank his fishing boat on an Age of Empires network game when he was little and he never forgave me. Every time he got a new game after that "Dad, have a go" was a prelude to humiliation! At least he didn't partake of triumphalism, I just had to become aware of my uselessness at such things.

Apart from the shopping there don't seem to be any other household tasks today. Aditi was up at 4 this morning and as she couldn't sleep went and did most of the things I was also planning today (except the model railway and dog related tasks).

 

Mike (sidecar racer). Have you considered weathering powders for a first attempt on your locos?

[Rugd1022]

Morning all and a nice sunny day thus far. Butwe're having a break from blackberry bramble, and other garden detritus, clearance today so it will be a Waitrose trip this a.m. followed by auction lot sorting this afternoon (although I doubt any railway ephemera will turn up today), all interspersed by bouts of RMwebbing and tea drinking.

 

"...bouts of RMwebbing and tea drinking"

 

Oh I heartily approve Sir, yes indeedy

 

Mind you, it's so nice outside and not working for a few days means I ought to get on with a few jobs. The old Rover's spare needs replacing, I found out this morning it's been on the car since 1988!

Edited March 22, 2012 by Rugd1022

[45156]

Morning well Afternoon by the time I hit enter.

 

Bright, sunny, and me here til 20.00 tonight - day off tomorrow though.

 

Debs pleased that your funeral was not overly bad - I tend to find them quite uplifting sometimes, and you often look back on them and there's some very funny moments - one that sticks in my memory was 30747's uncle, who was in his 80s, never married, and was until the end of his day a motor bike enthusiast in a big way. Many of his mates turned up on their bikes, and all were wearing their leathers - a great moment, and one which will stick with me. Unfortunately, at the time of his passing, there were no motor bike hearses, though I've seen them since and they really seem a good way to say goodbye to a keen biker.

 

I just experienced a very slick bit of near-con on my mobile - I had a text from the provider (O2) saying I was entitled to a free coffee at Caffe Nero - which is my regular Thursday morning coffee haunt. So I showed the manager the message, and was told I need a code - nowhere in the message was that mentioned or shown. I reread the message and it prompted to send a text to a number to "activate" the offer - did that (chargeable as I have pay as you go) and got a text back directing me to a mobile website - tried to access that from my mobile, and got a message saying that "data access for today will cost £1.00" - at that stage I gave up, as my "free" coffee would have cost my £1.11 at £1.00 for the data and 11p for the text - a regular coffee in Nero is £1.95.

 

Nice to see that the gang's all here.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

Edited March 22, 2012 by 45156

[NGT6 1315]

Feeling a bit flakey after the bad night's sleep I had, so I guess I should stay clear of caffeine this time around. I spent the morning sorting out some paperwork for school which the LEA told me they needed on top of what I had already filled out.

[The Stationmaster]

"...bouts of RMwebbing and tea drinking"

 

Oh I heartily approve Sir, yes indeedy

 

Mind you, it's so nice outside and not working for a few days means I ought to get on with a few jobs. The old Rover's spare needs replacing, I found out this morning it's been on the car since 1988!

 

Currently RMwebbing (obvious innit) and tea drinking (Yorkshire Gold for those that are interested), Waitrose visit scrubbed - nowhere to park anywhere in town (will now be an 'early' job tomorrow) so went to Tesco instead and son subsequently sent to bank for the little job I couldn't do there. Otherwise as planned - so far!

 

And I think it really is about time you had a look at that spare Nidge.

 

And dafty of the week - tomorrow my son has an interview at FGW, Swindon but have they sent him a ticket to help him get there )and it's FGW trains throughout) - no way!! Looks like one nice aspect of BR has vanished in the modern approach to staff selection

[Sidecar Racer]

 

Mike (sidecar racer). Have you considered weathering powders for a first attempt on your locos?

 

Hi Tony ,

 

I have tried some of the Green Scene powders on some buildings and did'nt get on very well , I have a spare

pannier bidy I could give then a go on though , the problem is I dont reaaly know the best place to start from

or how far I want to go , I'm doing a Buffalo pannier tank , so I would like it looking 'used' but not at the end of

it's life .

 

I suppose powders are the way to go as I assume they can be cleaned off if it go's a bit wrong . I'll have to bite

the bullet and slap some on .

[The Stationmaster]

Hi Tony ,

 

I have tried some of the Green Scene powders on some buildings and did'nt get on very well , I have a spare

pannier bidy I could give then a go on though , the problem is I dont reaaly know the best place to start from

or how far I want to go , I'm doing a Buffalo pannier tank , so I would like it looking 'used' but not at the end of

it's life .

 

I suppose powders are the way to go as I assume they can be cleaned off if it go's a bit wrong . I'll have to bite

the bullet and slap some on .

 

Or you could try a very slow build up with heavily diluted acrylic weathering colours?

[trisonic]

Mike, Can you elucidate for those of us who have not used a train in the UK since it went private?

 

Who makes Yorkshire Gold by the way?

 

Cheers, Pete.

 

ref: post 22676

Edited March 22, 2012 by trisonic

[45156]

Who makes Yorkshire Gold by the way?

 

Taylors of Harrogate - it's a good tea - served in all Betty's tea rooms which are (surprise) owned by Taylors of Harrogate

[Tony_S]

Looks like one nice aspect of BR has vanished in the modern approach to staff selection

I'm sure I recall being offered travelling expenses for education jobs but this was last century when schools were firmly in the Local Government sector. I'd be quite surprised if that happens now. My brother-in-law applied for a job as a hospital doctor in New Zealand and had to fly out at his own expense for the final interview. It was a successful interview otherwise it would have been an expensive long weekend.

[DDolfelin]

I bet Debs plays Snooker to Championship level too.

She can do everything else.

[45156]

I bet Debs plays Snooker to Championship level too.

She can do everything else.

Is she married? - if not, she'll be innundated with proposals from here

 

BTW - I see that we've 4 to go to reach 15,000 members - it seems no time at all since we reached 10,000. I know the membership count is not strictly accurate, but it gives a good idea how quickly we're growing as a site.

Edited March 22, 2012 by 45156

[Tony_S]

I bet Debs plays Snooker to Championship level too.

I suspect that may be something the collies do. Friends with collies are known for remarking on their intelligence.

I think the joke about dogs and light bulbs goes like

 

A collie will change the bulb and give a quote for new wiring

A Jack Russell will do it while running on the ceiling

A labrador will have already eaten the replacement bulb

A cocker spaniel will be overcome with excitement at being asked

etc

[The Stationmaster]

Mike, Can you elucidate for those of us who have not used a train in the UK since it went private?

Who makes Yorkshire Gold by the way?

Cheers, Pete.

ref: post 22676

Tea - already answered and it is superb stuff, they also make some verrrrry nice cake

 

Ticket wise th esituation always was with BR that if you called to attend an interview they gave you a free ticket (it didn't apply if the Labour Exchange sent you for an interview) thus for my interview when I first started I got a free ticket to Paddington. My son Rob is travelling to Swindon tomorrow for an interview and the Standard Class return ticket, for an approx 50 mile journey is costing him 60 quid because he has to travel at peak time to get there for the 09h30 start of interview, tests, and 'meet the staff/see the job' session which will last c.5 hours and almost lumber him with a peak hour trip home.

 

It will be interesting to see if they refund his expenses - as some interviwers do or take the approach of others and work on the 'if you want you pay to get here' line. But overall it strikes me as odd that a rail company doesn't spend nothing by giving interviewees a ticket to get there if they live on a route that company serves - in his case the trip will be 100% FGW as there's no rail alternative. Anyway it's fingers crossed as he seems his dad's experience in the railway industry hasn't been enough to put him off! (and at least the hours and pay would be much better than he is suffering in broadcasting)