PhilJ W

That reminds me of two incidences involving cats, both ginger toms. The first was when I lived in Romford, the back of the house faced due south and by the back door was a box bush. I was hosing the garden and I thought the said bush was looking a bit dry and dusty so I gave it a blast with the hose. A rather damp and bedraggled ginger tom shot out from under the bush where he had been sleeping. The second occurence was when I lived at Burnham-on-Crouch in a Victorian 2 up 2 down cottage. At the rear was a single story scullery with a pitch roof. I was sweeping the yard when I espied a ginger tom resting on the roof of the scullery with just his tail and his b0ll0cks hanging over the edge. In my hands I had a stiff broom and I couldn't resist poking the round objects with the bristles. Did you know a cat is quite capable of jumping six feet vertically upwards from a supine position? He then spent the afternoon further up the roof licking his offended appendages and glaring in my direction. The wartime Bren Carriers had a steering wheel, they were steered by twisting the tracks.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Got to be out a bit sharpish this morning to get the tyre sorted, then to Tesco's to change an LED lightbulb that I purchased yesterday, somehow I picked up one with a screw fitting instead of a bayonet fitting. All I can say is that I took them out of the same box. Not a lot else to report, be back later.

Goodnight all.

Yesterday I had a puncture and due to my age I am unable to change the wheel by myself so I enlisted the help of a retired RAC man. My car is almost 9 years old and he told me that he's seldom seen a car of that age so well mantained. I've had the car from new and always had it serviced by the dealer I purchased it from.

Its then you get to know who does all the work that the manager is paid for, many a time I've seen staff go leaving their manager in a blue funk. On one occasion I know of someone who left leaving behind a couple of 'booby traps' for his unsuspecting boss. That boss got the sack and was replaced by the person who had left. The boss who was sacked should never have been in the post anyway, she was only given the job because the person making the appointment was a chum of hers.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. It looks as if I will need a new tyre, the cause of the puncture was a screw thats gone in on the shoulder, added to which the car was in an awkward, possibly dangerous place so I had to drive it a couple of hundred yards to a safe place, I'll be taking it into the tyre place tomorrow. Not a lot to do today except catch up on a few things that were penciled in for yesterday. Thats it for now, be back later.

Goodnight all.

The first URL comes up as 'not found'.

A very interesting photograph, one of the locomotives on a pre-delivery test perhaps? The clues are 1). The locomotive has had three link couplings added, as built and throughout their working lives they only had buckeye couplings. 2). The buffers are small round ones which were replaced by larger oval ones when in service. 3). It has the single headlight as built and lastly there seems to be a profusion of 'official bowler hats'. One last thing, thats an interesting looking brake van behind the locomotive can anyone give more details please?

About half an hour ago while I was talking on the phone there was a loud bang from the patio doors. Obviousely a bird had flown into the patio door glass and going by the size of the mark and a few scattered feathers it was probably a young pidgeon. No sign of the bird however so it must have survived the collision but I don't think a concussed pidgeon is going to survive for long in an area where cats and foxes abound.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Made it to the show at Galleywood, quite an enjoyable show and quite a few layouts that are new to me. I saw and said hello to Tony but the nature of the exhibition, spread over two buildings and a marquee meant that we didn't see each other again. Purchased a few more Oxford diecasts and a second hand book on paddle steamers. Problem was when it was time to go home I found that I had a flat tyre so I called the RAC after a 25 minute wait they answered and after the details had been sorted they said it would be about three hours before a patrolman would be available. This was about 2:45 pm. So I settled to having to stay at the exhibition for the afternoon. However an hour or two later I was talking to a chap on one of the layouts when I told him I was waiting for the RAC he told me that he was a recently retired RAC man and he offered to help me change the tyre. I managed to get home just after six where there was a message on my answerphone from the RAC saying that they would not be able to attend to me before 6:30. I did call back and informed them that it was dealt with and cancelled the callout.

Talking of rare cars there were a few factory built Vitesse estates made for use by management IIRC. There are some about but conversions from saloons using the Herald estate body.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. As I'm not getting plastered this morning I thought I might go to the exhibition mentioned by Tony. Problem is in the Railway Modeller guide all it gives is the name of the venue and the post code, which is ok for sat-nav users but I do not have a sat-nav. I think I can find the place using a good old fashioned map fortunately. GDB, would a dog be acceptable to the authorities? A friend of mine has a Jack Russel that absolutely hates cats and who now avoid her territory. So long for now, be back later.

Goodnight all.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I voted last week by post, we have a new councillor I am certain as the previous councillor was UKIP. I have been informed that the plasterer won't be able to do the job until next week so a slight adjustment of the calendar will be required. The rumtopf sounds good, perhaps we could open up a recipe thread on Wheeltappers?

And once they'd been stripped the remains were pushed over the side. The bed of the North Sea must be littered with old Ladas.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Best wishes to Horsetan and BR and hope all goes well. Not a lot to report today, the plasterer is due tomorrow to do the shed ceiling, shouldn't take long as its less than two square metres. When measuring up for shelves I discovered I have a Workmate sized space beneath one of the shelves, so one item has a home. Thats it for now, be back later.

Goodnight all.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I'm surprised that there has been no mention of the Bexley Beer Festival here on ER's especially as several ER's hail from those parts. It opened today and runs until Saturday. Also in the news, Tomorrows World is coming back, no further details as yet but I'm keeping an eye open.

Best time to vote is when Coronation Street/Eastenders* is on the box. *Other soaps are available.

So the Dook of Edinberer is going to retire at 96, few of us will be lucky enough to reach such an age. As Dave said I was also glad to retire, at 59.

I have both the revised edition and the original 1988 of the Bonnici/Cassar book. The authors are quite an authority on Maltese transport history, in another publication on the Maltese buses they cover the tram system which was the reason for the demise of the original railway company as it duplicated part of the railway into Valletta. The tramway itself only lasted a year or two beyond the railway before it closed due to bus competition.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Not a lot to report this morning except that the foxes raided my bin bag last night and left the contents scattered across the front garden. Managed to collect most of it up and rebag it, except a couple of stale bread rolls that I left for the birds who obviously had had a good go at already. The only wheelie bin provided by the council is the garden and kitchen waste, and the rule is no cooked food hence the stale rolls in the black bin. Judging by the noise that the foxes were making the other night I thought that they would have been otherwise occupied. Thats it for now, be back later.

Goodnight all.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Happy birthday Stewart and many more of them. Having lived on my own for nearly half my life I've gotten used to it, I do have periods of feeling lonely but not very often. I suppose this is down to me being a 'glass half full' sort of person. I was surprised yesterday when I received my replacement copy of 'Railway Bylines' as the original arrived at the same time. Upon examination I realised that I hadn't received the May edition and the one I had been reading was the April edition. Another subscription magazine had arrived on that day and I must have got things mixed up, senile or what?