PhilJ W

But many retailers have stock that has sold out at the manufacturers.

Perhaps they should erect some sort of barrier or make the narrowing of the road less abrupt. I wonder what the truck that caught fire was carrying? whatever it was went up very quickly.

Some of the Metropolitan stock was wide. IIRC the A stock was 9' 7" wide and the C stock not much less. Not a great problem as initially the Metropolitan tunnels were built to take Brunel's broad gauge. A problem did arise when the A stock was sent away for refurbishment in the early 90's. When delivered in the early 60's it was done via a route that has since closed and been lifted. However they did manage to find a route that was suitable to transfer the stock. Nowadays all such transfers are done by road so no problem (apart from cost).

Morning all (just) from Estuary-Land. A bit grey and overcast here this morning but not raining and according to the forecast the rains not due until late afternoon. Kettles boiled so its be back later.

Goodnight all.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. When I was in Tess Coes this afternoon I spotted what was advertised as a stollen loaf so at only £1:50 each so I had to give it a try. Very nice it is too but it seems to be reducing at an alarming rate. I met my friend in TC's, as I mentioned his autistic daughter is in a care home now he tells me that his other daughter is moving out to share a flat with her boyfriend. He will still be left with her boyfriends pet chihuahua, their landlord doesn't allow pets. Fortunately he's a very friendly animal no sign of the snappy behaviour that the breed is notorious for. My friends young son has bonded with the dog anyway and would have been upset if he had to go.

Thats if he collided with a train and survived.

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Visit to Tess Coes went well, I won't starve this weekend. Did have a bit of a downpour that started as soon as I arrived at Tess Coes, it was still pouring as I left so I got a bit damp getting to the car. Then as soon as I had loaded the car and was about to leave the car park it stopped!

Two different police authorities. The local police were the force dealing with it in the first place and have the more serious charges. The BTP can tack any charges relating to the railway onto the charge sheet later.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A bit late on parade this morning as I overslept by about half an hour. Fortunately the sun is still shining but cloud and rain is predicted for later. A trip to Tess Coes is in order as I need something to eat over the weekend, though in my case a diet would be a good idea.

Goodnight all.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. An item appeared in the paper the other day about which second hand cars had the least problems. Needless to say the top cars were Japanese or Korean. The top three, all Japanese got the perfect score of 100%. One car failed dismally with a score of only 40%. I cant remember the make but the indicators had hardly been used. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/14/europe/poland-tallboy-bomb-explodes-scli-intl/index.html

Haven't had one of these for a while.

One local trader had told us (before lockdown) that he wasn't taking pre-orders for Hornby as they couldn't or wouldn't be able to guarantee sufficient deliveries to cover them. However Hornby are taking pre-orders themselves for some models.

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. As The Q said below. There's a lot of empty department stores in the High Streets. I was thinking about suggesting them as an exhibition venue but the same reasons as to why they are empty also apply such as the enormous parking charges. The same applies even nearer to London. There are very few alternatives to rail travel and that being more geared to commuter traffic M-F is often disrupted at weekends by engineering work. IMHO the ExCel Centre is preferable to Alley Pally as the couple of times I've attended events there there has been plenty of free parking some distance away with a free bus link to the centre. Mind you that was a few years ago and things may have changed.

There's not a lot of venues of the size of Alley Pally and the Excel Centre within easy reach of London anyway.

I've never paid anything other than the £30 annual road tax.