PhilJ W

Goodnight all.

When I went out to my car lunchtime it was still thickly coated with frost. The frost on the roof showed evidence of quite a scuffle obviously a couple of birds fighting. Fortunately there were no marks on the paintwork where the scuffle had taken place only the remains of what looked like breadcrumbs.

When I visited the states back in 1978 I came across a roundabout in Gettysburg that at that time was reckoned to be one of only two or three in the whole USA.

There is a well known 00 layout set around D-day that makes use of a 1/96 scale destroyer model that does not look badly underscale. The only thing that gives it away are some of the smaller anti aircraft guns.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Our bins are two days late this week and next week and a day late the week after and then the usual Thursday collection. The local council usually sends round a flyer giving the collection days in November which for the first time in who knows how many years I have not lost it by the time C*******s arrives. As usual the stores are clearing some of the Christmas stock and I spotted in Tesco's 50 LED lights for £3 complete with batteries, I might purchase some for model use.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A tad nippy this morning but preferable to the wet stuff. Thoughts are with Debs, Rick and Simon at this time. Now time for the second mugatea, be back later.

Or importing one of the Sentinels that were still operating in Peru/Chile until recently (although converted to diesel).

Goodnight all.

Thats the Haflingers bigger brother the Pinzgauer. Here is the two together >> And heres the Haflinger on its own >>

They built about a dozen 'Twini Mokes' and they were even tested by the US army but they were simply too complicated. Its a pity that the Austin Ant (ADO19) wasn't continued with. It was intended as a replacement for the Mini-Moke based on the 1100/1300 with a higher ground clearance and it was intended to produce a 4X4 version but with just one engine/transmission.

I do not make calls to 09XXX numbers, if they want my custom they can give me a freephone number to call.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Best wishes to Debs and Rick, thinking of you. The snow has just started decending but as yet isn't settling, probably because the wind is moving it about too much for it to grab hold. When I visited my brother yesterday I received my Christmas pressie from him, a copy of 'Mapping Britains lost branch lines' by Paul Appleby. Reading through it I spotted a real howler, in the item about the Hadleigh (Suffolk) branch there was a picture labeled Hadleigh Castle. I was not aware that Hadleigh in Suffolk ever had a castle and on studying the picture I realised that it was the Hadleigh Castle in Essex that was pictured. Thats it for now, be back later.

Goodnight all.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Venturing out this morning I did not see very much cockwomblery but plenty of evidence it over the previous 48 hours. Near my street is a mini roundabout with railings to protect the footpaths, someone had tried to form them into a modern sculpture with their car. This afternoon I went to pay a visit to my brother and as I neared a sharp dog-leg I noticed that the board with the chevrons pointing to the right was crumpled having been hit by a vehicle coming from the right. A few yards further on on the roundabout for the hospital there was a wrecked BMW buried in the hedgerow with a 'police aware' notice on it. It might be something to do with the police helicopter buzzing around late last night.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Dry and bright here this morning if a bit on the chilly side, will venture out later to get a newspaper. I was tempted to step on the scales this morning but the screams for mercy were pitiful so I'll leave it for another day. Glad to hear the news of Deb's dad now I hope that Debs herself gets better soon.

Goodnight all.

It wouldn't make a great deal of difference with a diesel as a diesel and petrol engines operate in different ways. A petrol engine when you press the accelerator goes faster. Every diesel engine has a governor which is effectively a brake and engine speed is increased by gradually releasing the brake (governor). If a diesel engine governor fails the engine will continue to accelerate until it destroys itself. In this case the guy did the right thing and stuffed a rag into the inlet.

You caught me out, mind you it was on an empty Motorway very early in the morning in May 1976. It would be difficult to find an empty Motorway under any circumstances today.

I was taught the same thing, but so as to make effective use of engine braking. Such as descending a steep hill always select the same gear as you would use to climb the hill and then lift your foot off the accelerator at the top of the hill. An added bonus is by using engine braking effectively makes a marked improvement to your fuel consumption.

The fastest I have ever driven a car on the public highway was 105 mph. This was done legally I might add before the 70 mph limit was introduced. The car was a standard Vauxhall FD Victor with the 1600cc slant four engine. Even more remarkable was that it was well and truly laden with the driver (me) and four passengers.

A happy Christmas morning from Estuary-Land. I bought a stollen cake about six weeks ago but I only started on it Saturday evening and half of it seems to have gone already. Only a light lunch as Christmas dinner will not be consumed until this evening, most of it is ready to go and despite small portions of things such as potatoes it looks as if I will have to use one of the larger dinner plates. Best wishes to Debs and her parents and all others who are afflicted and also those who are called on duty today.

Goodnight all.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Sad to hear about Debs and her dads health problems, wishing you all the best and get well soon. I done even better in the mince pie stakes than Roundhouse, a dozen for 55p marked down from £5. They had no sell by date, a printing error but the girl doing the down pricing informed me that they came from a case marked sell by 02/01/2018. There were several packets off them with no sell by date but they soon disappeared needless to say. I have assembled the components of Christmas dinner ready for tomorrow but no Yorkshire puds or Brussel sprouts, not that I don't like either but theres more than enough of the other items to consume. It only now remains for me to wish you all A MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Thoughts and best wishes to Debs. Ventured out to Tesco's, got what I required plus a couple of items that I'd forgotten I'd need. A massive queue to get to the parking places in front of the store (i.e. nearest to the entrance) so I went around the back where the car park is actually beneath the Pitsea flyover and plenty of empty places. Most of those places were filled when I left less than an hour later passing all the traffic queuing to get in. Wot no limbo bars for when the hen/cockwombles park so close you can't open your doors?

Most people take level crossings slowly with the engine barely ticking over. If there is a hump or incline at a level crossing this can slow a vehicle down even more resulting in the engine being more likely to stall. But in this case as stated the engine had a problem and failed in the wrong place.