PhilJ W

Morning all from a damp and soggy Estuary-Land. It certainly poured down here last night it actually woke me up sometime in the early hours but after doing my bit to add to the liquids I was able to get back to sleep again. I didn't mention that I had a pleasant surprise on Saturday, as I mentioned before I had to shoot home lunchtime and I just caught the postman who had a parcel for me from Hong Kong. The surprise was that I had only placed the order that Monday and the delivery notice was second week in November. The two diecasts I had ordered were a bargain as well, other traders had them priced at about £18 each, I paid £12 for the pair post free. Commiserations to all those who are ailing and Jock in particular, it must seem like being on a roller coaster at times. Nearly forgot, best wishes to Ian and Sherry on their 'welding' tomorrow.

Goodnight all.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Rather soggy despite the forecast for dry and sunny weather hereabouts this morning. Sorry to hear of your tribulations Jock and I hope its sorted soonest. As Jock pointed out Lurkers MiL is staying over Haloween, so I'll ask the question that everyone wants to ask. Where does she park her broomstick?

Goodnight all.

The only similar thing I recall was a Datsun dealer in Cyprus. When the Turks invaded the dealership found itself right on the 'Green Line' that divided the island in two. The actual building where the cars were stored in the basement was on the Greek side of the boundary but the only vehicle access was on the Turkish side. I think that the vehicles were eventually recovered, after about 35 years in their 'prison'.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Mel, hope the chemo has the desired result and I agree about the early dark, why we have to have this ritual I don't know especially as there is a jump in road accident figures every time the clocks go back. Talking of road accidents, Dom, would your employers consider fitting cameras to the trams to record such incidents as you mentioned? Been nice and sunny this afternoon and according to the delightful Wendy it won't get too cold tonight.

Morning from Estuary-Land. Commiserations and congratulations where neccessary, haven't got round to reading the last couple of pages of ER's yet. Just recovered from Saturdays exertions, I had intended to go directly from the toy fair at Brentwood to the exhibition at Chelmsford, until someone I met at Brentwood reminded me that the Chelmsford venue had changed this year. Needless to say I didn't have anything with me about the new venue or even a map so I had to go home to check. As it turned out there were a few signs directing people to the new venue but as Essex C.C. are a bit sniffy about such signs (elfin safe tea is the reason claimed) I didn't want to chance it. I managed to pick up a few bargains at the toy fair including a plastic bus kit for £3 (normally about £10-12), at the exhibition I only purchased a few items but they were giving away free Humbrol acrylic paint. Not of the usual model stuff anyway, its marked 'All crafts stamping paint' and it appears to be a bit thicker than the usual model paint. Colour choice was a bit limited consisting of four shades of blue, 'lavender', gold and a more useful green, brown and white. You were not allowed to choose which colours, it was all or nothing but I was given some extra of the white when I asked.

Goodnight all.

Start price 99p, some people have more money than sense.

You mean tree rats don't you?

I discovered a way to keep some cats away from the garden quite by accident, a hosepipe, a squirt of cold water can be very effective. The only problem is they do come back after a few weeks and you have to get the hosepipe out again. Berberris cuttings are far more effective than rose cuttings, more spikes and they're longer and thinner.

Good morning from Estuary-Land. No problems with the clocks going back as everything in the house and car is done automatically. After yesterdays exertions I needed the extra hour anyway. I purchased my current car new from a local company who was at the time was the local Hyundia dealer which is a family firm. After about 3 years the franchise was given to a national network and I received a deluge of letters asking me to take my car to them for servicing, I decided to stick with the family firm and by all accounts that was the right decision as the servicing costs from the new company are 20-25% higher. I have always found the original company to be more than satisfactory so why change? I clicked on that and my computer froze, the only way to 'unfreeze' it was to switch off power. It then ran an ad then froze again, I clicked on the 'X' to delete it, still nothing happened so I switched off again and when I switched on it had disappeared. I should not have had the ad as I have Adblock which is only disabled on RMweb and another 'free' site that relies on ads for revenue. I have just checked and the Adblock has disappered completely!

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Bit of a tiring day today as both places I visited involved a fair bit of walking but I found a few bargains at the toy fair and the Chelmsford show was worth the visit. On the subject of fast cars, not a car but a coach. A friend of mine who is sadly no longer with us drove coaches for a small company, the boss of this company prefered AEC's over any other make. Pride of place went to an almost new AEC Reliance with an AH760 engine (almost 13 litres) and a 6 speed gearbox, and boy could that move. My friend said it was easily capable of doing 100 mph though I took that with a pinch of salt, although I had travelled on it at a recorded 80 mph (this was before the 70 mph limit). Even at those speeds there was still the idiots who would sit right behind the coach flashing their lights to pass. My friends 'trick' in such circumstances was as he pulling over was to pull out the cold start button, the equivelent of the choke on a petrol engine. This resulted in a lot of 'clag', enough to put a class 37 to shame, on one occasion it was a white Mercedes sports car left with an oily mark along the side.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Earlier riser than usual as there are two events today I wish to attend. Bit dull and overcast but the rain that is predicted for later is now even later so I might just miss it. Commiserations and congratulations where neccessary, be back later.

Goodnight all.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I had thoughts of becoming a teacher during my latter days at school but my English grades weren't good enough, jobs were very easy to come by in 1964 anyway so I wasn't all that peturbed. I did find that during my career that I was a 'people person' which smoothed the way very well and often diluted trouble before things got out of hand. Though on some occaisions similar to those above I have told some people to 'go forth and multply' including a union branch secretary. On that occaision I knew very well that I was in the right and being also a rep of the same union (but a different branch) the senior official of the union who had to deal with his complaint knew both of us and when the circumstances were explaned to him he tore the branch secretary off a strip.

An accident black spot by all accounts.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Left a message for Debs this morning passing on all your good wishes, I also passed on the offers of BMI but if she was able to take them all up the ecnalubmA they'll need will be one of those specially reinforced ones. A bit dull and overcast here at the moment but its predicted to stay dry. The trip across to Gravesend that I put off last week has now been put off until next Saturday (31st) as on checking the exhibition diary I see that there is an exhibition on in Gravesend on the same day. 'Double events' for the next three Saturdays then, Brentwood toy fair/Chelmsford, Gravesend pre-Christmas shop/exhibition and then Rainham/Romford exhibitions.

Goodnight all.

Evening from Estuary-Land. Debs has written on Facebook that they have tested her BMI index and it is 18.3! so they are now feeding her up. My BMI is about twice that so if she wants I have plenty to spare.

Not with it this morning, just realised that I've missed a whole page of ER's, that means that my previous missive makes no sense, not that it did anyway.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Thursday, that strange limbo between HUMP day and POETS day. Is it Hoets day or Phump day, or is there another word to describe it? Enough of my ramblings, there was a news item this morning involving Basildon on the BBC Breakfast program, on many such news items they show a satellite view of the part of the country and 'home in' on the place in question. In this instance they started with a picture of the greater London area and then 'homed in' to the north west (somewhere in rural Bucks) and showed an open area of countryside duly labelled 'Basildon'. Don't they teach basic geography now or is there no one in the BBC who can read a map?

Goodnight all.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. As I have one of the Virgin hubs I was a little concerned about it becoming a Wi-Fi hot spot, but then I have been told that it only has a range of about 10 metres. The only people within range are my next door neighbours and the people next to them and then to connect you require the code on the bottom of the hub.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Wet and dismal here this morning but Carol informed me that it should clear by late afternoon. The comments about driving reminded me of when I lived at Burnham-on-Crouch just over 30 years ago. They were electrifying the Southminster branch and as a consequence many of the bridges had to be raised including the one at Burnham. Whilst they done so a temporary Bailey Bridge was placed on the up side of the existing bridge with a very sharp chicane to access the temporary bridge, this was marked out using old railway sleepers. Every summer Burnham hosts what is known as 'Yachting Week' when all the 'Hooray Henry's' hit town. On three consecutive nights during Yachting Week three very expensive motors managed to miss the chicane and pile into the old sleepers, a Lamborghini, a Mercedes and another luxury model. I don't know the details but as all three drivers had just left the bar of the yachting club you can probably assume that drink was involved. All three cars involved were right-offs, the Lamborghini was a rental and the third car, the lady owner was a passenger and it was being driven by her boyfriend, afterwards she was seen beating the boyfriend about the head with her handbag screaming at him about wrecking her car.