PhilJ W

Its surprising what you can achieve with regard to cornering with a live rear axle. The last car that I owned with that arrangement was a Vauxhall Chevette which would corner better than many front wheel drive cars. Mind you the Chevette rear end with its five link location and coil springs was a good deal better than most other rear drive cars.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I had my ears lowered a couple of weeks ago. A #2 cut all over, my ears are still feeling the cold and I can't find my woolly hat. As I'm used to spending Christmas alone lockdown hasn't impacted me a great deal. The only problem I have is delivering my friends young sons Christmas present, I might need to leave it on their front doorstep sometime next week. Thats it for now, be back later.

I had what I thought was sciatica but wasn't, it turned out to be a kidney stone. Fortunately it decided to leave of its own accord and THAT is painful. Some ladies I know who have had the same experience have said its worse than giving birth. But at least once its over there's no more pain.

Although the series was set in Liverpool the outdoor scenes were shot in Basildon, outside the (then) Ford tractor factory. The cars were loaned by Fords and carried Essex registrations.

Yellow can appear as brilliant white with some film emulsions so they could be yellow. I recall that when they made the early 60's hospital soap 'Emergency ward 10' the 'white' coats were in fact a deep yellow and that if they were white would show as a dirty grey.

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. So now we're in tier 4. Not that it will make a lot of difference to me other than I will not be going into town tomorrow as the shops I intended going to will be shut. On to other things, I collected the TV schedule and had a quick look and I noticed that 'The eagle has landed' is on this evening at 5:50 on BBC2. I do recall someone (ChrisF?) saying they would watch it if its on. Better be quick as its only five minutes as I write.

Back again. Will have to call in to the newsagents as well when I go out shortly. My papers were delivered this morning but the TV magazine was absent. He has put one aside for me to collect. I don't watch a great deal of TV but I like to peruse the listings to find anything of interest to me.

A people carrier can carry a lot of layout and operators. About 20-25 years ago I had a Nissan Prairie and it was remarkable how much could be packed in considering that the external dimensions were the same as a Ford Orion except for the height. A fellow club member had an Escort estate that his layout would just fit. One day someone rear ended him (the layout was not in the car). When he got the car back after the repair he found the layout was difficult to load into the car. There was it turned out an existing dent that had been removed and that had enabled the layout to fit.

That was my thought.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I forgot the milk when I visited Tess Coes yesterday so another trip will be necessary as there's only enough for breakfast tea. The trip into town tomorrow will probably be cancelled, what with the new strain of Covid-19 and the highest infection rate in the country. Tess Coes have decided to restore 24 hour opening, so I might be doing my shopping at midnight though I will have to go in a couple of days a week for things like bread. For those that are interested there is the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on Monday evening https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/great-jupiter-saturn-conjunction-dec-21-2020 sadly here in the east its predicted to be overcast but it should be visible in the west and the skies will be clear in Ireland. This only occurs every 400 years. IIRC this is thought to be the origin of the star of Bethlehem.

Goodnight all.

Actually it was a Network Rail test unit, track recording?

My Christmas dinner is going to be a venison steak. Never have been a great lover of turkey and the last couple of Crimbo dinners has been wild caught salmon.

Basildon was in the news today but not for a good reason. It now has the highest Covid infection rate in the country. Not surprising really what with the number of people filmed waking about unmasked. I intend to visit the town centre on Sunday but if too many are walking about unmasked I won't be staying. I could of course put a sign around my neck saying 'I am Covid-19 positive' to keep the cockwombles away but will that be effective.

I saw the girl leaving the stage principally because I was watching her rather pert bottom. What gorilla, what curtains?

CGI animation of Grosjean's crash:- This demonstrates that he was even luckier than it appeared. Apparently the top bar of the barrier was across the halo preventing him from exiting in the usual manner. He had to exit through the right hand side of the halo.

Is that the very last train? The sign on the front of the locomotive seems to suggest it is.

Might I suggest building them on a jig? Nothing complicated, just two parallel 12" lengths of the same timber as the base set apart the same width as the base with a crosspiece at either end then you only need to drop the base in to the gap. Also add a couple of guides either side to position the aluminium and then its a case of drill and screw.

Yes, they were a slightly lighter shade than the corporation buses with a greater area of cream.

Smiths Coaches of Reading had a similar livery to the corporation.

I think their disposal has already been decided. I can't see Stagecoach not trying to get as much as they can for them.

Is it absolutely certain it was a corporation bus? It appears to be a high bridge bus which someone stated was not operated by Reading. Many near identical liveries abounded until about 1970 and it could have been from one of the independent operators of the time.

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Went down to Tess Coes and now have enough dinners for the weekend. The local pub which before the Covid-19 crisis seemed to be doing well is still open for business doing take away meals so I might try them in the next few days. The sore foot was playing up again when I got back but another change of dressing has sorted it. Now to decide on whats for dinner tonight, be back later.

I would have my doubts about anything such as this being the property of the vendor.

As Peter BB said its difficult for the politicians to get a handle on this. Its not only one party states that have largely overcome the Covid19 but single democratic states such as New Zealand and nearer home Fraggle Rock are virtually free from the disease. The reason why is not hard to see, a single government for the whole territory whereas in the UK we have the devolved parliaments all doing their own thing. A prime example is the USA with fifty different states doing their own thing compounded by a leader who was dismissive of the whole thing but paid the price with his presidency. What is needed is a single cohesive policy for areas such as the UK but I can't see that happening any time soon. Unfortunately they breed, probably at a faster rate than Covid, or even Ebola can get rid of them.