PhilJ W

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. I've watched Dom's film all the way through now, very interesting and I've partly answered my own question is anything still there, well the railway station is. I Googled it and found the outward appearance has changed little from Dom's film. I seem to recall that it appeared in a documentary about railway architecture a few months ago (or did it and it was a similar building?). Time to put the kettle on, be back later.

I don't know if this will be of any help but the Cararama trucks had the spare wheel glued over one of the screws. To get to the screw the bond had to be broken .

And available brand new from Rails of Sheffield for £64:50 and if your quick post free.

Hello yet again from Estuary-Land. It's official, the local Royal mail sorting office has had to close due to a positive case of Covid 19. All sorts of rumours were flying about but whatever it was there has been no post since last Friday. So I was very surprised when the postman knocked this morning with a parcel. As it turns out parcels and packages are dealt with in a separate section and is not affected. Slightly annoying as there is a society journal on its way to me that was due last Saturday, other members have received theirs but its a bit galling not being able to join in discussions re. the journal. Hopefully it will only be a few more days as now its a case of finding extra staff to cover for those in quarantine. A case of the calm before the storm if there ever was one. I haven't seen it all but I was wondering if anything still exists of what we saw in the film.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Had a better night last night but the ankle is still sore. The lesser spotted glass and bottle wagon has started off the bin wagons dawn chorus so no one's asleep now. Time to run a bath, be back later.

Goodnight all.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Just put the bin bags out and its cold out there. As I surmised though the cold has made the soreness from the eczema reduce quite a bit so hopefully I will sleep better tonight.

That looks nasty, any casualties? It looks as though the car drivers exit may have been blocked by another vehicle hence the blowing of the car horn. Of course the driver should have made sure that his exit was clear before driving onto the crossing.

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. A bit more on the scooter scrotes, apparently when they checked the serial numbers the Met. got very interested. They have been after this gang for ages and this is a major breakthrough. The Essex police are quite happy to let them get on with it, (its no longer on their budget). Won't be anything in the papers for a while until they've roped them all in.

I hope whoever speeds up when they see that sign has good brakes.

A lot of traders without a base do so as a second income. They often have a full time job and treat it almost as a hobby. I used to to trade at swap meets for a few years and it is a lot of effort for very little return. Many will have already decided to cease trading, probably as many as two thirds of them. Established model shops have another slight advantage in that many of their customers shop on-line already and have carried on as usual.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Another bad night with the eczema sores, hardly a wink of sleep was had last night. It does seem to subside when the weather turns a bit cooler so as the forecast for the next few days is cooler hopefully it will ease up a bit. More news on the scooter scrotes. Apparently its a gang stealing scooters and breaking them up for spares. Yesterday the police chopper was flying around over the A13 where they nabbed a van full of stolen bikes. Eyelid examination urgently needed so its be back later.

Goodnight all.

I wonder how many of those traders will still be in business once this is all over. Those that have a 'base', a premises be it a shop or warehouse are able to carry on with mail order or click and collect or both. Many traders however rely on tables at exhibitions or toy fairs/swap meets to sell their goods, how many of those will survive?

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Had a phone chat with my niece earlier this evening. And I broached the subject of the family having a Zoom meeting. She said that she might be able to twist her dads (my brother) arm into joining in. Be great if we can but it won't be on C*******s day favourite is the Sunday before or after Christmas. Spent a bit of time talking to my niece so now got to catch up.