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Good morning from a Charente where there is fist and mog. Yesterday was 'interesting' for several reasons. In the morning I went out to post the renewed application for Beth's blue badge. On my return I called in to see an expat friend who had not been well. Beth and I had spent time on Thursday trying to persuade him not to try and drive back to the UK today. When I got there I found that the house was unlocked with lighrs on and no sign of John. I ended up searching the house and eventually found him in the toilet face down and dead having done an Elvis. Not an image I will ever forget. Needless to say there was then a lot to be done. Beth rang his wife in England and I got the mayor and started the official business. The Gendarmarie arrived and it was as if I was back at work. The Gendarmes took notes from me, then the Dr came and finally 3 funeral direcrors and the male gendarme managed to get all 24 stone of John downstairs and i to the hearse. House licked up a d back home for lunch. Then wait for our Dr to arrive and see Beth. Coffee and malt loaf consumed. Dr arrived and said. Hospital now. 1 hr drive to Saintes seen in A & E, casualty Dr said, Hernia but not dangerous go home come back in 10 days. Then call came in that a surgeon was en route. It appeared that the GP had rung the surgeon directly. Surgeon arrived and overruled the casualty dr who was not a happy bunny. Beth then admitted for a scan. Followed by 5 hr wait on trolley with no pain relief. I got a bit assertive and started askung awkward questions. Said Casualty Dr shouted that I should take her home. I refused. Eventually at midnight she was taken for the scan. Result, an abcess that needed urgent surgery. After she had been sorted and finally got some pain relief I came home and got to bed at 02.00. Up at 07.30 as the nurse was coming and I'd no cancellation number. Anyway since then Beth has moved onto a ward and is having the op today. Many many phone calls but most importantly I've managed to talk to our daughter and wish her happy birthday. 2nd coffee now drunk. Then lunch and back to the hospital. John's widow flies in tomorrow and I'm going to puck her up and bring her back here via the hospital. She's going to stay with us for the time being. We do live in i teresting times. Regards to all. Jamie

Jamie is further proof of my theory and experience that people rise to the occasion. The only thing you have to be wary of is yourself, eat, drink, sleep so that you can be of continued use to others.

Jamie you deserve a medal. Debs has hit the nail on the head - as ever. I hope being with John's widow isn't too onerous at a time when you are yourself anxious about Beth. Bon courage, mon brave. Sherry & Ian

More photos taken at Carlisle station in 1987 and 1990 for this evening. Carlisle 86213 Glasgow C to Penzance April 87 J8810.jpg Carlisle 47404 Middlesbrough to Carlisle April 87 J8856.jpg Carlisle 81020 up BOC tanks April 87 J8859 Carlisle 37035 down oil May 90 J10936 Carlisle 08910 shunting Motorail vans 30th May 90 C14521.jpg David

I'd been prepared for ten months. I had my communications network set up and it was only for the last couple of nights that the family came across en masse. There seemed little point in extending the agony for them. It was also fortunate that we had the LOROS hospice. It would have been so much more difficult without them. And that's why we asked that donations inn lieu of flowers should go to them. My work colleagues have been more than generous and the total stands at nearly nine hundred quid. It's also convenient that they have a warehouse where I can drop off things that we want to give away, another way of helping them.

Of course you are. And it takes time to come to terms with it all. A house full of things; places and ideas that you shared; dreams that were never quite realised together. Seven years after I lost Deb, she is still in my thoughts, her pics are still on the mantle, on the wall - as are Sherry's, of course. Friends can help, if only to suspend the surreal loneliness for the time they are with you, or you with them. I will not patronise by offering clever solutions - it all has to come from within. But you are still plenty young enough to have a real future, and day by day it becomes more achievable. I said bon courage to Jamie, and I say it with all sincerity to you, too.

I'm not, I'm in bits. But thanks. How dd you know the Doc's told me to lose weight?

Oh, Jamie; what a day! ......but, it does show what a blessing you are as a friend and partner.

Spoke to Dapol at Alsager show this morning, they advise the first 21s are "at sea", with the first 29s close behind. Managed to pose one of the decorated samples on Crinan, and am advised further tweaks have been made to the production runs...

Inspired by that sheep bloke of Mutton fame I thought of doing some wagon shunting featuring 1361 class 1363 and those Cambrian kit built starfish wagons.

Oh, not another pre-election report!

Morning all, Sorry to hear of your multiple tribulations Jamie and I hope that Beth is comfortable and all will go well today. Today here is now miserably damp the earlier frost having turned to mist which has also now gone. Preparations are well underway in the hope that we will prove acceptable human staff for the two cats we will be seeing tomorrow - they are apparently very much inclined to be indoor cats but having heard that story before we'll find out if it's true once they are settled in. In continuation of the happy cat families theme the previous two were brothers and this pair are mother and son - yet another mother who hasn't been able to get shot of the offspring it woud seem Hope everybody has a good day - be it home, at Tolworth, or - especially so - in the hands of the French medical fraternity

You've had quite a night Jamie. Thoughts are with Beth and John's wife and family.

They have just come down stairs, and I can hear the toy box being emptied all over the sitting room floor. They are heading towards the study door. INCOMING!

Morning all. It's all a bit industrial at Bleat Wharf this morning. A bit of playing trains is taking place and the chance to give the non-BR stock a canter has been taken. Rob.

And proudly so. Though I seriously doubt there is any medical evidence to support such an assertion.

Considering you're under the affluence of incahol, that still makes perfect sense............. Unfortunately!

The mower and chipper are now in the shed but I really need to organize things a so I don't trip over them. Twenty feet of a substantial larch were split for firewood. The rounds were seasoned and should burn well. I still have about another 100 feet of rounds from other trees to split. I'll attack them tomorrow then I'll have to find somewhere to stack all the firewood. The electric power co-op called back to say they will send a crew to look at a tall fir tree at the edge of our property that has died. If it falls the wrong way it could take out the main power lines. I'm hoping they will dismantle it. Technically it's in our community road. If the power co-op won't remove it I'll stick the cost to the road association

Golf course closed all weekend. We have never seen this extent of constant heavy rain and flooding. At least today is dry and fine, so far, so I shall have to go and get some exercise somehow. More fish. I'm not sure where he got to in order to take this one. We are also still scrambling, very carefully, around the roof.

Attempts at further sleep failed due to, answering a PM on sailing, and the furry monster.. When a Muggacoffee has been consumed, I'm looking at the stove to fix the air leak, which I suspect may be the bottom of the ash pan door. After that I'm going to mow the grass, the hippy has offered to do some digging, so I'll hand him the spade and point him at the tree stump that need digging out,. Though I'm not expecting him to finish the job. Then I'll do some leveling of the marquee. Thoughts have been planning tomorrow, we have a crane users meeting before sailing. The sailing starting late, as at 11:00 I'll lower the flags for Remembrance Sunday silence. After that, I'll return home, and hopefully get the marquee roof on, the hippy may well be useful assistance in that. And with 11:00, 11/11/19 in mind I'll leave you with this.. https://youtu.be/fJ9e78gG6q0

Not my stand, I hope. Bill

Good morning awl, A frosty start again with a bright morning forecast followed by cloud and then rain. Erm, smashing is probably the wrong word to use Debs as there is a better than even chance that he will be "bumping" into me and with my track record anything could happen. Some hours spent in The Shed yesterday and progress is awfully slow slow and awful. Also had a problem with with my PA² power supply which seems to only work when it's warm in The Shed so I wrapped it up last night before putting it to bed! In the evening I watched Sale beat Wasps 28-18 in a very scrappy game littered with a penalty count of 8-19. Only 1 try was scored by each side. 2 yellow cards and a red given and the evening was marred by what looked like a serious injury to Josh Beaumont who was taken straight to hospital. This afternoon I should be home from Tolworth in time to see Saracens visit Gloucester. It will be interesting to see what sort of reception Sarries get in view of their salary cap woes and penalties. Time to take tea up to Her Bossness, Have a good one, Bob. P.S Looks like Michael's tipple is quite inebriating as it's caused his mind to go blank on several occasions!

This evening finds me watching an American college football game, but at this point it really is just background noise and I am not paying close attention. (My preferred team is losing - they were a long shot to win anyway.) I am likely "non compos mentis" to be posting. I blame this: It is the second bottle of whiskey-barrel aged beer I purchased along with a chaser of whiskey made from the same malts. They went together exceptionally well, but seem to have had a strong inebriating effect. Microsoft Windows 2019 has struck again. Apparently the photo app was automatically updated and when I reconnected my 'phone, it decided to upload almost all the photos from my 'phone, again - duplicating photos and including junk images (from corporate apps I was required to download years ago) that I had deleted long ago from my photo repository but apparently still litter my phone in dark recesses. There are duplicate JPEG files everywhere. The photo app had been working nicely, now the photo repository is a complete mess. Now each time I open the photo app it now requests personal information. I immediately delete this popup. I will have to figure out how to stop this. Work on insulation foam _________ profiles progressed well today on my friend's O __________ __________. Further work is suspended until at least Tuesday. We've worked on it for four consecutive days and made a lot of progress building a ______________. The result is very pleasing. I am quite happy with the outcome and it encourages me to work on my own ___________. I was surprised that a local box mart does not yet have all their Christmas items on the shelves. They are almost halfway there. The toy section is well stocked, but the seasonal section is about 30% - 40% ready. It will of course be in place before the Friday after Thanksgiving (aka "Black Friday"*). I'd prefer to get what I need/want before then. I don't like shopping on the Thanksgiving weekend. It's a zoo. * This is a nonsense term. Black Friday was first used for September 24. 1869 when a depression was triggered by stock market manipulations.

Good morning one and all [yawn] There were two of us at the LGBT meeting yesterday, me and the leader. We took the opportunity to put the world well and truly to rights. Earlier, while scuttling into town to keep a last-minute appointment, I met a former gaffer of mine. We last worked together in 1974 and he is now 91 [gulp]. How time flies. I'm off to Suburbiton soon - too soon - for Tolworth Showtrain. I've alteady clocked that Bill will be there and look forward to other brief encounters. Whether breakfast will be at St Pancras or Victoria depends on how hungry I am when I arrive at St Pancras. Best wishes to all Chris

Good evening everyone Well the sun has shine for the most part of the day, it did go a little dark around dinner time but the rain held off. The delivery from the big orange DIY shed arrived mid morning and I was able to take it straight downstairs whist Sheila was in the kitchen. After that I sat and read for an hour or so before we had dinner. After dinner I prepared tonight’s tea, as we had James and Amelia coming round for tea. Tomorrow we should have had Ava and Evie round for the day, but unfortunately they and Vickie are all off with a stomach bug of some sort, so they won’t be coming. So I’ll have to think of something else to occupy myself with. After James and Amelia had gone home, it was a quick tidy up and then open a bottle of Malbec. Goodnight all

Afternoon Awl, No trials and tribulations here, except a minor case of cramp in my foot which woke me from my eyelid inspection. Stove ash pan resealed, a new glass string round the edge, seems successful. Jungle mowed, two hours worth. The hippy, and SWMBo, started tackling the jungle round the mobile home with branch loppers. Marquee levelled , the missing bolt on the peak then popped straight into place. Boat moved two feet to port. That put it hard against the crane, which therefore needed moving 2 ft to the left, a much more difficult task. Which involved me sitting on a wooden beam to lever it up while positioning breeze blocks at the same time. Then the crane was lowered into its fully down position. The roof cover was loosely laid out on the boat, to remove creases before, I hope, trying to put it up tomorrow . At that point I wandered down the mobile home, the hippy has done a good clearance job.. After a T break, they then continued some jungle clearance near the boat. While I took Ben the squirrel chaser collie on his long patrol. He was happy chasing the squirrel, not so happy when the pheasant shoot started up. The fields are returning to mashes down the bottom as were parts of the lane.. Just as we arrived home SWMBO and Co were packing up. Also as I arrived home I found one of the front wooden raised beds has been hit by a vehicle , 4 front planks knocked off, 4 end planks now leaning at 45degrees. The soil is standing up by habit, so it shows it was done this morning after any rain. This pushes up their rebuild, 1 ft higher, and probably breeze block construction. We then retired to the mobile home for a Muggacoffee, after which I had the eyelid inspection. Since then we've had dinner, and are settling in for the evening, since I started typing this a messenger message popped up.. Dads in hospital again, he fell over and has a suspected broken rib. Once they've proved that he'll probably be sent home.. Time too do nothing..

Raining here now. Until midnight according to various websites. It isn’t heavy rain like that in the Midlands and North though. We had a walk before the rain started. Aditi has been keen for me to walk but the breathlessness made me a bit cautious. Now I have been told it isn’t a problem I have been as irritating as possible suggesting Aditi should walk faster. We met a neighbour twice, she has to walk her dogs separately, as one is elderly and the other dog isn’t two yet. Tony

And this is proof of what a big person you are, John.

Oh, dear Jamie. My thoughts and prayers are for you and Beth and I hope that things improve for you very soon. Had a good day yesterday getting pi**ed having a convivial reunion with a couple of hundred ex-Phantom phliers in London. Got home via Virgin trains and into bed about midnight then for some inexplicable reason didn't feel 100% when I woke up this morning so I went back to sleep and finally got up (slowly and carefully) about 1030. Two mugs of coffee later I was fit enough to risk a bacon sarnie and am now considering putting in my application to rejoin the human race. However, I can't foresee me achieving anything really constructive for the rest of the day. Best wishes to all. The wreckage formerly known as Dave

Good morning everyone Not as bright as yesterday but at least it’s dry and no rain. Sheila’s eye is making steady progress and her sight is getting better, she can see a lot clearer with her new ‘lens’ but it is now making it obvious how her eyesight had deteriorated before. As I’m still refraining from any task that will create any sort of dust I’ve decided to make a start on the mountain of electronic kits I have stored in the workshop, so I’m heading out there and grabbing several and I’m going to make a start on building them. Back later.

.....but making it all the easier for taking the Michael out of each other.

Didn’t the kids at school used to go “I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours?”, I thought that was something to do with it.

A bit more done today before darkness descended before 3pm, so we shall have a bonus picture. Fish from terra firma.

Very good advice John. My Dad hung on for four days at the end. Fortunately my Son, Sister and her family were around. I organised shifts so that there were always at two available on site, two were away having a rest and the others were doing anything needed like looking after Mom, keeping us fed and watered, contacting friends etc.

Yes, but not from where the Doc wants it.

Ewer Street, water softener.

Morning, Clear skies, frost on roofs and vehicles and rather still, all expected to be replaced with cloud, rain and winds later. Today I shall be mainly taxi-driving SWMBO to a concert by her former choir in Rugby then killing a couple of hours before bringing her back here. In the meantime I believe my son (who lives not far away) will expect his father to take him out for dinner. They both ascribe to the view that “there are no pockets in shrouds” but one in particular will always challenge me should I choose to spend anything on a hobby, mention of which on here would draw the wrath of The Keeper of The Awl. Listened to the Sale v Wasps match on the radio, the injury to Josh Beaumont sounded bad and the penalty count ensured a drab game in my mind. I hope for better when my team visit what will undoubtedly be a home for happy hippos this afternoon - the generally muddy Recreation Ground at Bath. That ground has been a problem for almost 60 years from when I first started to watch a top level team in the flesh and yet still the club is allowed to get away with it. Matches continue to be cancelled due to waterlogged pitches in recent seasons. With the questions (now resolved) of breaking the salary cap, I would have expected English Rugby and its predecessors to have forced change before now. Have a good and safe day y’awl, particularly if travelling with the hope that you reach your destinations on time. To those forced to remain at home, get well soon.

Well, that's more of a healthy respect for the awl. but yes it was quite inebriating. I look forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning.

Many many years ago before the advent of the sophisticated pharmaceuticals I now have now my doctor prescribed very large doses of codeine. These may be one of the prescription drugs Debs mentioned. It wasn’t snakes or spiders but rats. I woke up every night convinced rats were crawling over me. Aditi found me thumping the floor convinced I was killing rats. She bought a Roland Rat (it was a long time ago) toy and sat it on my pillow. Her logic was now that there really was a rat I would stop waking her up. It seemed to work, or perhaps because I asked to cease taking codeine.

Evening all. Thanks for all the good wishes. Yes I am looking after myself and have now had a wizard idea. First a glass of Scottish Medecine in memory of John. Then a good nights sleep and no early start for the nurse in the morning. Then off to La Rochelle and have some lunch on the station and do some train watching. Then scoot along to the airport to pick Joan up. Then off to the hospital and hopefully bring Beth home. On that front she is now on a proper ward and the ancess is responding to antibiotics. If the improvement continues then she will be discharged to go back Thursday to have it drained under local with the aid of an X ray. There is however one thing worrying us. Apparently the abcess is on a lympg nose that shouldn't exist according to the Dr's text books. I've told the kids that this is the final proof that their mum is an alien... see how supportive I am. Regards to all other ER's. Jamie

Playing trains at Newcastle, Mrs WF AT the controls!

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Whats all this 'gender reveal' about? The only gender reveal that I know of was once found on the topmost shelves of some newsagents aimed at amateur gynacologists where gender was quite apparent. Further sorting of the boxes is taking place, a lot of the stuff has gone in the bin but I have recovered more than a dozen 0 scale painted figures. Rayleigh swapmeet tomorrow so more modelling tokens required to be removed from the hole in the wall. Tea requires drinking, be back later.

Morning all. Misty here. I can’t see the end of the road. I don’t think it is very warm either. Tony

In non-political news ... My thoughts are with the residents of NSW and QLD who are currently threatened by bushfires. There are a staggering number of bushfires in eastern Australia right now and it is only spring. The weather in the antipodean winter was dangerously dry in eastern Australia. The similarly non-seasonal California wildfires are only just under control. A small aeroplane has crashed partaking in a "gender reveal" (it was dumping pink liquid and stalled.) These "gender reveal" events are first-world nonsense that has to stop. (A couple of years ago a gender reveal involving blue powder and a Tannerite explosion caused a 47,000 acre wildfire in Arizona.) These gratuitously self-indulgent events have also caused death, car fires and bodily harm in addition to terminal embarrassment, Apparently a Iowa prisoner with a life sentence is claiming his sentence is fulfilled after having momentarily "died" (before being resuscitated). It's a novel approach, but does not seem to be have any traction in the legal system.

Mooring awl, 5 hours sleep so far, now trying for more... The wind has eased, but I can hear the wave crashing against the beach..

Have a smashing day, Chris.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Been sorting through my stash of old model buildings for the £10 layout. Found a few that should be suitable hopefully they will meet with the young mans approval. I have decided to get another computer in place of the one with the dead battery. That was purchased initially to use if I am away from home, the computer I am using at present is one of the larger laptops and a bit cumbersome to cart around.

Evening awl, Car filled expensive BP fuel. On the way home.. It was just windy when I got home but now it's downright evil.. The wind is howling round the house, it's bucketing with rain, and coming home from the MRC the roads were flooded with a couple of inches of rain right across the carriageway. This is nowhere near as bad as rotherham, where the Tescos we use, when we are up there, is on an island between the canal and the river Don.. Now the Tescos is on a rock under the river Don. MRC didn't really go well for me, for the second week running I knocked a yogurt pot of paint over. My back and neck are complaining. And the I borrowed a bus from the next layout panic!!!! The bus was too big for the single track road... So I started widening roads, Then T break was called., When I came back, by chance I borrowed another bus..... Roads wide enough?? So I got the ruler out, the first a Oxford models double decker came out as 10ft wide!?, the second an Oxford models single decker, came out at 7ft wide!!! Luckily Ernest Marples here, hadn't turned Tiree's roads into motorways... Bad / odd dreams? That will be me eating cheese Gromit, Just before bed time.

Blackburn club show all set up (excepting a couple of planned Saturday morning arrivals) and ready to roll tomorrow. We arrived at the hall at 4.10pm in readiness for a 4.30 entry, when we were told by the caretaker that he was informed that it was 5.30pm and was point blank refusing any entry..... We eventually negotiated a 5pm ingress - already with the knowledge that exhibitors and traders had been informed 6pm at latest, sooner if we can manage. Yet at 5.15pm, despite having asked our club members to refuse entry to non-club personnel, at least 3 traders managed to evade the blockade and were asking where there stands were... A polite "it's not marked out yet, come back at 6 as your paperwork says" was seemingly ignored....... At 6pm, the hall was fully marked and tables/chairs in place ready for the setup. As good as done by 8.30pm. Home in time for a celebratory "show ready" beverage. Thursday was another Northern cheap day rover - not the best choice of day from a weather perspective. We headed to Doncaster via Manchester and the Summit tunnel route to Leeds. Doncaster was wet, very wet...... and very dark for photographs. Our return plan via Leeds and catch a York-Blackpool via the Calder Valley route to Blackburn ended up in disarray. We slowly watched our inbound estimated arrival at Leeds slowly slip back as it was delayed leaving York. Eventually showing on Real Time Trains as cancelled, but still gradually slipping back on the estimated time at Leeds........................ A quick management decision and we boarded an overfull Skipton bound service that was doubling up for a cancelled Ilkley (so change at Shipley) train. Final part of the journey was Mrs NB doing a 25 mile taxi trip to collect us. At least we made it home, unlike those trapped in the Sheffield area. Stuff is now ready for the show tomorrow, but I will be escaping for an hour to visit the local Vodafone shop to return my new phone that I purchased last week. Words will be had regarding the mis-selling of the phone's capabilities and the inconvenience that this has caused. (Loading new phone with same Apps as old phone, loading text message/etc history, already purchasing accessories for new phone before discovering that the new phone didn't perform as described in the shop, special journey to sort it out as it couldn't be done via online chat/phone help, etc.) At least I have a few ebay sales that are going well to look forward to final results on Sunday evening. Finally - apologies to those who have endured the new Hattons Class 66 video - I do not look my best! Maybe catch up Saturday. Cheers, Mick