PhilJ W

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Back problem seems to be over and done with now but I don't intend to be running any marathons soon. Weathers dry at the moment but the forecast is for more rain. As for 4472, I've always felt that its a bit like Trigger's broom and restoring it is a waste of money that could have been better spent elsewhere. I would have prefered the money be spent on digitalising the many records held by the NRM, generating income for years to come.

Goodnight all.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Glad to say that the back problem has cleared itself up, helped by a couple of ibuforin tablets. I also identified the cause, a muscle 'spasm', as when I laid flat on my back it felt as if I was laying on a rolled up newspaper under my spine. A quick check of my back muscles and they felt stiff and 'frozen'. I've had the problem before and ibuforin is the best medicine together with a bit of gentle exercise to loosen up the muscles. Don't get me started on parking its a real pain around here, mine is the end house and my drive is only about 5 yards from the end of the road but the idiots still insist on parking in that 5 yards rather than park around the corner and walk another ten yards. The odds on winning the jackpot on the lottery is 49 million to one, I don't think I'll bother. This is because Camelot increased the number of balls, before they did so it was only 14 million to one.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Woke up yesterday morning with a slight backache, it soon cleared so I thought nothing of it until I was running my bath last night when one slight movement and it felt as if I'd been stabbed by a very large knife. A long soak in the bath eased it somewhat and I was able to sleep last night but it came back this morning with a vengance. Its eased off a bit now and I've discovered if I keep moving (slowly and carefully) it eases it considerably, if I remain still and then move its very painful. I'm not sure whether to book an appointment with my GP as I probably wouldn't get one until next week or the week after and its certainly not serious enough to go to A&E. As sciatica is the chief suspect all I can do is keep taking the paracetamols.

Traces of the line from Great Chesterford to Six Mile Bottom are still visible, that line was closed over 160 years ago.

We have the same problem with potholes on my street. There is now one enormous pothole that was 'marked' for repair but because of delays the marks have been swallowed by the pothole. A couple of years ago a pothole had opened up and it was almost a perfect circle, this was 'repaired' with a square patch of tarmac that didn't quite fill the circle leaving a small gap just where the traffic would be heaviest. Needless to say that small gap opened into another pothole within days.

That is a conventional skeletal trailer with a 'dolly', a short trailer with a fifth wheel between it and the tractive unit. Oxford now make a drawbar unit with a three axle trailer that can be modified to represent a container trailer. This has the advantage of having the correct towing bar that attaches to the towing vehicle near to the back axle.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Best wishes to Jock and any others in the hands of the medics. Breakfast awaits, be back later.

Goodnight all.

You'll have to rob that bank in the next few days then, your fingerprints will soon grow back.

Afternoon from Estuary-Land. Glad to hear that Rick's neighbours daughter is O.K., the way some employers treat staff, or would be staff is appalling. If I was in the situation as described by Tony I would discuss with the others ways in which we could screw them up good and proper. There was one particular head of department who had a habit of presenting other peoples ideas and suggestions as his own, until someone fed up with their 'intelectual property' being purloined presented a plausible idea/suggestion which was grabbed by the head of department and presented as his own work. Of course it all went 'pear shaped' and the head of department looking very stupid. On the subject of property, when I went out to do a bit of shopping this morning I noticed a house in the next street to mine with an estate agents board outside. It interested me as the house was (as built) identical to my own house. Further more as the house had belonged to an elderly gent who had passed away last year, and even before his death it wasn't mantained to well and it had not been modernised very much (only partial double glazing). I decided to call in to the estate agents just to get an idea of the value of my own house. My own estimate of the value of mine was about £160,000 and I would on that basis estimate the value of this house at £130,000 at best, it is on the market at £200,000 .

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Sorry to hear of your neighbours daughter Rick, it must be very worrying for her parents and family. I am with the Co-operative energy as well and like Mick I am paying a lot less for my energy supplies and for that reason alone I am willing to tolerate the odd glitch that came with their new computer billing services, I do find their new system harder to navigate though, on the old system it was easy to compare meter readings with previous readings, I can't even find the old readings on the new system. AndyB, Thats fascinating about the black holes so if your interested there is an item on 'white holes' in the current 'New Scientist' magazine. Basically a white hole is created when a black hole gets to such a size that it explodes, the energy released can create a new universe and its suggested that the 'big bang' was just such an event. EDIT The talk of moving to hot climes reminded me of when I went to Barbados for a holiday back in 1978, stepping off the plane was like walking into a sauna, but fortunately after a couple of days I had acclimatised to the conditions, mind you returning home from the tropics in November you notice the difference.

Mel's difficulty in finding the deeds for his fathers house reminded me that when I moved to Burnham-on-Crouch back in 1983 there was a great wodge of paperwork for the cottage I purchased, some of it dating back to the 1890's or before. A bit of subsequent research revealed that the cottage was built in 1862. The paperwork also revealed that as built it was simply a 'two up, two down', the scullery extension, which had become the kitchen had been added just before or after WW1 and the bathroom about 1950. Before that there was no bath and the toilet was an outhouse in the back garden. My one regret is that I didn't take copies of them (if it was legal to do so). Regretably after five years and wearing out two cars in the daily commute and a few other factors I decided to move closer to work and sold up, fortunately I was able to sell the cottage at almost three times what I had paid for it. This was due largely to the 'sparks effect' when the Southminster branch was electrified a year or two after I moved there.

Same here.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Weather is not to bad at the moment but due for a haircut so a trip into town beckons, probably tomorrow. I was going to get a haircut before Christmas but the barbers was packed out so I decided to give it a miss. Commiserations and congratulations where neccessary, be back later.

Goodnight all.

Has anyone heard from any of our missing ER's? I noted that Railsquid had posted on another thread recently but no sign of some of the others.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Found the missing key, in my shoe! when I put them on to go out. As I usually keep my shoes 'ready for use' under my armchair I assume it must have slipped out of my pocket when I sat down. Fish pie with sweet potatoes and broccoli for dinner tonight but no desert in defference to the recent excesses of Christmas. I do like fish and I read somewhere that a 'piscean' diet is even healthier than a vegetarian diet. I wonder sometimes if our distant ancestors didn't have fish as their main source of protein as when I used to follow programs such as 'Time Team' they often found evidence of high fish consumption in ancient populations.

I too use my rear fog light in heavy spray, if due to the spray I can't see other cars rear lights clearly I assume that the same applies to my rear lights and the rear fog light goes on. What really annoys me is the numties who don't increase their braking distance in such conditions, but then they are probably the same ones who don't leave themselves a safe braking distance anyway.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Quite bright here at the moment hopefully it will stay that way, or at least until I've been and got the newspapers. I actually feel sorry for the guy with a 13.5 inch #####, I once knew someone who was 'well endowed' and he kept complaining about how inconvenient and uncomfortable it was, so when it was his birthday we arranged a strippagram girl for him. I've lost a key to my front door, its a spare that I keep in my jeans pocket so it must have fallen out. Its got to be indoors somewhere as I used it last night to turn the double deadlock after putting the rubbish bags out for the dustman and I haven't been outside since. DD I hope MiL is OK, at least she's in the best place. Jock, glad to hear everything is progressing as it should be and you will no longer need to do a John Wayne impression.

Goodnight all.

She last posted on the 9th December.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Rather damp and miserable this morning so I'll stay in today. On Facebook a ballasting spreader was shown that can be pulled behind a model locomotive together with a glue applicator, >> http://www.proses.com/a1hobbyshop/just click on 'Ballast spreaders, gluer's' and its about halfway down the page. I've also saved it on my Facebook page where you can see it in action. Found a film of it in action on Youtube >>

Goodnight all.

They are car bodyshells in the first pic and RSJ's in the second.