I can’t help noticing that Singapore, usually something of a fetish with Our Man Boris, have had considerable success with a closely targeted containment system and “business as usual” for the rest. Strange, and wildly inconsistent stories are emerging from Sweden, which maintained a much more relaxed policy.
Elsewhere in the news... figures for actual and predicted cases seem to be all over the board.
Dropped into Morrison’s on the way home from work the other night, an educational experience.....
If you’d ever wondered who watches the Jeremy Kyle show, go to Morrison’s! It was an education... whole aisles completely stripped, with unkempt and occasionally, downright ragged people wandering the aisles like some sort of zombie plague. Curiously enough, white trainers seemed to be ubiquitous.. tinned fish doesn’t seem to be in vogue with the current panic-buyers. Unintelligible conv
One thing I did notice in Florida, was the way they just leave their helmets and riding jackets draped over their bikes when they park, especially in State Parks. I wouldn’t dare do that in U.K... is it the guns? The alligators?
Somehow, nothing in this country seems to work.
Packed up on Friday amid a contentious issue with the tangled web of agencies, umbrella companies etc who have a choke-hold on contract work in this country, in an increasingly confused situation made worse by HMRC issuing threats in all directions and nil clear guidance, and off on holiday to Tampa. It will sort itself, basically a matter of someone in the chain not paying attention to their job, but who needs it?
I’d rea
For anyone unfamiliar with these brutes.. https://m.facebook.com/pages/category/Mining-Company/Geevor-Muckers-Loco-Restoration-Group-1529683350637528/posts/
I’m somehow, rather ambiguous about this. It’s good to see them survive but ... I worked there in my student days.... I went to Geevor as a museum and somehow....
Today’s surprise fact is that the model of the 1927 NYC 4-6-4 in the Smithsonian Institute was made in U.K. by Severn Lamb Ltd
https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_843760
Put last year’s plastic toy train around the tree, to the amusement of various small nephews and nieces. No 1 Son dismantled the loco, placed a scrap of draught excluder over the speaker... lost one side of the “motion” .. now we have another similar train among the presents....
I’m not a great watcher of tv at Xmas or any other time, but I do enjoy it occasionally. This year’s unsung gem was Martin Clunes’ rather touching performance as the eponymous Mr Chips.
I first read the book long ago, when it was banned at the Perse School. The author had been a pupil at The Leys School, across town, and much of the setting (a rather outdated, High Church, minor public school in decaying, historic buildings amid an East Anglian setting) was a poke at the Perse Schoo
Given the threads about older Hornby models and coarse scale O Gauge, I thought I’d toss this one in. Saw it on eBay. I’m not interested in this particular loco, but it’s an unusually pristine example of what Lionel were actually producing between WW2 and the 1960s. This might be described as “the top of their mainstream range” as opposed to the rare, much-coveted and very expensive “Scale Hudson”
....turns out that I'll be at sea over Christmas. After my rather mixed trip to Aberdeen on Weds, one of the people I'd contacted (to no useful effect, as I thought it) rang to ask me to mobilise on Sunday... rig move in UKCS, about 15 days, which is about par for a jack-up move in those waters. Couldn't really say no, as I've had little worthwhile work for some time now and next year looks bleak on the construction front.
I've concluded I need to make some sort of move to make rig m
Off to the Post Office, or at any rate the agents handling their Christmas casual jobs. A real window on the world, starting with the harassed-looking chap from the Kings Lynn area (35 miles away) who explained that he needed the work, because he needed to do enough work to keep his benefit claims in place - he had no expectation of supporting himself from earnings, there was no agricultural gang work (all contracted to East European gangmasters at rates as low as £3/hr) so not compromising his
Having a rare trip to Aberdeen today, for a meeting about a short job that’s just come in. Cast adrift by 12:00 ... realised the Client was having Christmas Lunch in the canteen and wanted rid of me. Shared a cab into town, mooched about feeling cold and bored, grabbed some lunch and in a spirit of enquiry, caught the 727 bus to the airport instead of a taxi. £3.50 one way including WiFi and usb socket, not bad I thought.
This flight used used to be KLM, now its LoganAir, who tried
Just spent a tiresome night in a Premier Inn in Grimsby. Why does a modern hotel chain at the upper end of the “business and overnight” sector think it’s acceptable to have no air-conditioning? Stuffy and unpleasant. Food was downright poor and the cider tasted watery, didn’t finish my pint (which is most unusual). Typical location on a nondescript light industrial estate made for constant traffic noise through the night.
I’m also finding that the whole “working in the U.K. to slow
Started the day watching Wales’ win over Australia. I do like to see dropgoals in open play, they change the whole defensive way of thinking and keep everyone on their toes, and a well-worked drop goal is a thing of beauty. Australia’s (eventual) try from goal line attack was rather tremendous, as was the Welsh interception try... in fact the whole game was a real advert for both the sport, and the tournament.
If England qualify from the pool, they will meet one of those two in the
I’ve reached the end of my run of work in U.K. for the time being, having a few weeks off and rather enjoying it. Spent a couple of evenings using the test track at the club, catching up with everyone, very enjoyable
Meanwhile, No 2 Son has introduced a sizeable joker into the pack. He works for one of the sponsors for the RWC, and has been given 2 tickets for the Pool C and D quarter finals in some sort of works award scheme. The original plan was to go with his girlfriend but that
I stopped at Birchanger Services today, not a thing I like to do but so it goes. It’s the services by Stansted so....
(whining child) NO, I WANT SOMETHING OUTSIDE!!
(stressed mother) well, you can’t! You’re back in England now!
What did surprise me, was the number of people wandering around a motorway services in what appeared to be pyjamas, teamed with hoodies or even dressing gowns on a wet, windy Saturday morning. Do they just fall out of bed in Costa Del Chav an
Last night I was returning from Wet Welsh Wales, the Cross Hands area to be precise. I’d rather hoped that the M6/M42 area might be somewhat improved by now, but the general confounding of that area at night by closures, lengthy roadworks and incompletely worked-our or signposted diversions continues apace. That added an hour to my journey...
Then the trailer destroyed a wheelbearing (it was, in fact made in Derby, so possibly some sort of meta-connection there?). So I spent another
So, here I am in sunny (occasionally) Lincolnshire. Road conditions mean that the 60 miles or so to work, can be anything from 1hr 40 to 2hrs drive, so I stay out two or three nights a week. I’d mercifully, largely forgotten about English notions of hotel keeping, so it’s all come as rather a shock to the system.
Mostly this means local hotels, booked by the company. These can charitably be described as “variable” and as a sort of bonus, tonight has produced a neighbouring room who
I’ve just finished a rather depressing read, from the Chairman of a club of which I’m a (mostly absentee) member. I dare say that quite a few readers will already have gathered that the 2019 Exhibition was cancelled due to severe vandalism the night before opening.
I can’t really add to any of this. People directly involved have taken action to progress the situation, the police are involved and I’m sure that long correspondences with insurance adjusters will ensue. Clubs and indivi
I’ve been travelling the M6 the last twelve months, a motorway I knew little about.
Most motorways seem to have their own style of services, and on the M6 it’s those over-bridges containing noisy, cramped food outlets and at Forton, the (mostly abandoned) “observation lounge” reminiscent of a set for a Gerry Anderson puppet show. Whoever thought they were a good idea? The 1960s were truly, a different time...
One worthwhile innovation is that Travelodge have apparently
Watching the start of the London Marathon, one of the wheelchair racers failed at the start due to a puncture.
That surprised me. I’d always imagined, insofar as I’d thought if it at all, that elite level wheelchair racing would be attended by support teams like cycle racing, but apparently not...
So I’m strolling along as a Project Engineer on directional drilling works. It’s a stroll in the park, I have everything I’m asked for at my fingertips and half the time, I work from home.
This leaves me time to look about me, and I’ve been out today on my 2013 Bonneville. My kids conspired to get me to buy this bike, and... I appreciate their thinking but is it REALLY a Bonneville? Nah, not reeeelly. It’s a pleasant bike and it has the name and the styling - but I owned a Bonnevill
