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Another dark dreary and damp day, but golf calls, as I need to get out for a while. This morning we have another look at the White Rose as it approaches the end of the PSR. and at Ivatt 43108, set further back into the bay than usual with only three coaches in tow.

Pannier 8701 heading down the branch line, through the trees towards the viaduct. This was inspired by one that Rob showed on his ANTB site of a picture taken from the cab of a Pannier looking down the line. What pleased me was the camera was 25mm from the side of the model and I have no ghosting or bleeding - cracked it!!! And in homage to Gilbert's Peterborough North layout I have a telegraph pole sprouting out the chimney....

A visit to the railway very near to Teesside Airport on Saturday 2nd December 1989. They were taken between1pm and 1.40pm on that day. I think I had stopped to eat my sandwiches and have a cup of tea from my flask. The light appears to differ from image to image, some of that is real, some is probably a result of scanning and work in Photoshop. The mist was coming and going all the time. Teesside Airport Class 143 Middlesbrough to Darlington 2nd Dec 89 C13871.jpg Teesside Airport Class 143 Darlington to Middlesbrough 2nd Dec 89 C13872.jpg Teesside Airport Class 143 Darlington to Middlesbrough 2nd Dec 89 C13873.jpg Teesside Airport Class 143 Middlesbrough to Darlington 2nd Dec 89 C13874.jpg Teesside Airport Class 143 Middlesbrough to Darlington 2nd Dec 89 C13875.jpg David

Another Laira engine, Hall class 5998 Trevor passes with an up train of empty cattle wagons.

Greetings one and all, with a very warm welcome back to Robert. Something was different about Tesco yesterday morning and it took me a few minutes to work out what it was. The arrows on the floor had been removed. Good riddance, say I. Also missing was the temporary partition making access to the checkouts more difficult. It’s beginning to look more like a supermarket again. Also good was being in and out of there by 9 am. I never was fond of shopping and to get it over and done with in double quick time was a bonus. Polybear, the extension lead did not cause my accident. The plastic drum is badly damaged and I doubt that the lead would have been safe to use. I suppose that there might be a way of separating the 20 metres of cable from the rest of the wreckage but I am not inclined to bother. It can go in the general waste bin sometime in the next week. As we have been discussing bacon, may I put in a plug for rind-on middle? I am a regular user of that sold by Tesco but no doubt other brands are available. One day someone will realise that when the rind is removed from a rasher before it is cooked a part of the flavour goes with it. Whether that someone works for any of the supermarkets is a good question. I appreciate the kind words from Jamie and Erichill very much indeed. I would be surprised if I were the only one making such heavy weather of the current situation but I salute all who are coping with it better than me. While I was replying to an e-mail from my cousin-in-law yesterday afternoon a couple of tears escaped. I doubt that they will be the last. Best wishes to all Chris

Afternoon. Very little Hornby stuff on my to watch list so will have little effect on my purchases for now. Knocked on next door to thank them for the box of beers. Their daughter answered. He's in a hospice and isn't expected to come home again as the cancer is having a bigger effect on him now. I also made sure that it was OK for me to pressure wash their patio for them as promised last week before he went to the hospice. So sad as he had not long retired to enjoy going away on various trips but the cancer and Covid19 put paid to those trips for him. After completing the patio I decided to head into town to photo a freight and deposit a cheque. So now sitting in the Harveys pub. Very quiet and the landlord and lady said its been dead since Saturday. I will do my bit to help. Now on the second pint. What is noticeable is that all the slot machines are turned off in the pubs that we have been in.

I'm catching you up Clem! I've also incorporated a long crossover to increase flexibility. I'll soon fill it up, then like Tony will probably start to add all sorts of kick back sidings!

Unearthly mooring awl, 01:44 woken by 3 massive pieces of farm machinery trying to to get round the corner outside the house, hydraulicly driven the engines are at a permanent roar. Lit up like Christmas trees, looking out of the bedroom window upstairs 6 ft to straight into the cab.. 02:00 they're back again, harvesting the field across the road, so 30ft away, not much sleep will be got tonight... Ben the I don't like loud noises collie is not happy... There is only one railway with a J in it.. The MSW JR. Oh yuck, mashed spuds with skin on.. Reminds me of the semi peeled lumpy grey school dinner mash. The only way I eat mash now is properly skin removed, , properly lumpless, properly creamed. Cheese twirls, mum makes them, I love them, unfortunately SWMBO hates cheese, its a long time since I've had any.. There has on the news as I type this a piece about racism against Chinese descendant American nursing staff, the woman given the long main piece, was spouting every cliche'd, buzz word possible .Even with quite justified accounts she was incredibly irritating. The first tractor load of peas has now trundled pass. And now after checking through the above. tractor 2. XL5 ? this is XL5

Juat a plonk at tea time.....

Thanks for the tip on Humbrol 101, my local model shop stocks some Humbrol so I'll drop in. The colour doesn't need to be spot on, close enough will be good enough. I did read / hear that early BR DMU green was close too. I thought I’d show a few pictures of where I’m at with my Roxey LSWR coaches: The bogies and underframes are done As are the battery boxes (still to be folded) and corridor connectors / gangways. I think these are very similar to Blacksmiths Models ones – mine follow the idea in Stephen Williams’ The 4mm Coach Part 2. The cover is made from some camera lenses cleaning tissues I bought in Boots years and years ago (coloured with a Sharpie); they’re tougher than more recently purchased tissues. The one in the coach end is just a test fit and all the 'inside bits' were painted before glueing in the bellows and attaching the tissue. I like to build things in bits and then put it all together. I have also bent up my coupling bar. I’ve formed the turnunder on each coach side and started to add the extra bits such as door stops, vents and hinges. I couldn’t drill the corridor side of these coaches for door stops as the beading/raised panelling was thinner than my drill bit. Kind regards, Iain

Goog morning. Has rained here a short while ago so didnt go to my local footbridge to photo freight as previously planned. Vacuuming downstairs completyed whilst laying in bed. The robo vacuum was a cheap one of Amazons own brand but so far we are really impressed with it. No timer / scheduling in it so its switched on when I go down to make tea for us then its finished each morning when we get up. Despite using the normal vacuum cleaner last week before setting the robo one up, its picked up an amazing amount of fluff and dirt each day. The floors have not been as clean in many years. Today I will need to pay a cheque in and might have a quick pint in our local Harveys pub after filling the car up with fuel. Tomorrow I will enjoy getting my other half up nice and early. Shes been spoilt working at home not having to get up till 07.10. I sitll get up before 05.00 but do often go back for a while.

That's a bit better.... still dull, no sunshine at the moment

This is reassuring. I have paid my deposit for the annual state visit to Switzerland over C*****mas and New Year, organised by Ffestiniog Travel. Whether it will go ahead is quite another matter. At present I do not give it more than a 50% chance. Telling you this is really tempting providence. As I am sick of the sight of the Rhine Valley I have chosen a more interesting way of getting there, inspired by the estimable website The Man In Seat 61. How about Harwich and the Hook of Holland? Chris

Good evening everyone The weather has been kinder today, we’ve had no rain at all during the day, but we had some after tea. However, as I planned to be working inside today it didn’t really matter. My first task was to carry on painting the bench, I’ve applied top coat to the outer side of the ends, the stays and 6 of the slats. 2 coats are recommended with at least 16 hours between coats, so once I’d finished I needed to find something else to do. So I took advantage of the dry weather and dead headed the roses as they were in great need of it. When James called round the other day, he dropped off a couple of shelves that he’d picked up for me during a recent visit to Ikea. So I gave these both a light sanding followed by a couple of coats of varnish, one each side of dinner. They’ll need a few more coats before they are ready for use, but once they are finished, they can be added to the shelving where the wine is stored, thus giving me more space to store even more wine! The varnishing didn’t take very long and I was still in need of something to do. So this afternoon, I decided to give the turntable a test run, the results are much better this time. The stopping positions are now very accurate indeed, if there Is a discrepancy, it’s so small that I’d struggle to measure it. Even when rotated through 180 degrees, both ends of the bridge line up exactly where I wanted them. At this point I had a huge grin on my face, not unlike the one seen on the ‘Cheshire Cat!’ The turntable is also not as jerky as it was before and it also seems a lot quieter too. However, there is a slight discrepancy when stopping in different directions, this it appears, is caused by a little side play between the drive axle (4mm brass rod) and the main spigot (plastic) directly below the bridge. There is probably less than 0.5mm of play, due to the length of the bridge, this side-play is amplified, resulting in about a 6mm difference at the rail end of the bridge between the clockwise and anti-clockwise stop positions. The plastic spigot passes through a plastic bearing, which although not tight, isn’t a free running as it could be, so some work will need to done to address this issue. I need to sort out the join between the main axle to the bridge so that there is no movement at all and try and try to reduce the friction in the plastic bearing. The simple solution with the axle, would be to glue it in place. However, this still leaves the plastic bearing. I think the best solution is to replace the plastic spigot with a brass one, drill and tap a hole in it for a grub screw and also file a flat on the axle, hopefully this should stop any movement, sorting both problems out at the same time. The photo below shows the current layout, but with the actuating pin temporarily taped in place. This will eventually be replaced by a more permanent bracket that an be adjusted for both distance of the pin from the disc as well as height of pin. The grey mark at the bottom of the disc is filler that I added in an unsuccessful bid to reduce the warp of the disc when using the roller arms and micro switches. Goodnight all

Quite frankly, we have the gutter press to thank for this Idea of “science wars”. You will always have differences of opinion, but opinions change as the data matures and changes, prompting scientists to re-evaluate the conclusions they draw from the data. And, unlike the pseudo-science nonsense peddled by the unscrupulous, real science data are available for everybody to scrutinise (and try and duplicate if so inclined). As an example (and a light hearted one at that), if JohnDMJ would say “N-Gauge is by far the most popular gauge” and would support that contention by showing that out of every 100 purchases from his emporium, 90 were for N gauge items. Then I can either accept his contention, accept his contention with reservations, or disagree. If I agree, it may be because I consider the data set he used (100 purchases) as an adequate sample; if I accept with reservations, it may be because I think that his contention is broadly right but his sample population is not as robust as I think that it should be; and if I disagree, it may be because my own experience has demonstrated that number of N gauge purchases does not equate to the number of individual N gauge modellers (e.g. one N gauge modeller may be responsible for multiple N gauge purchases). In rebuttal to my third response, John could either provide me with additional data that shows that 1 N Gauge purchase = 1 N Gauge Modeller or revisit his conclusions and his data. All scientific work, no matter the area, should be peer reviewed and population, sample sizes, methodology, outcome data all scrutinised and challenged where and when appropriate. Anecdotal evidence (a.k.a. “a bloke down the pub told me”), is pretty much scientifically useless, but having said that, if there is a lot of anecdotal evidence all pointing in the same direction then that can be the trigger for a proper scientific investigation (which is - apparently [so I was told] - how sildenafil [Viagra] went from being studied as an antihypertensive [where it was only average] to becoming the treatment for erectile dysfunction. There were a lot of anecdotal reports from sites in the hypertension study about older male patients refusing to return unused study medication - prompting an investigation into why and then to a proper scientific study on ED. And the rest, as they say, is history). Science, per se, is not intrinsically difficult. It is true that the technology employed is frequently sophisticated and complex and biology/physics/engineering etc. driving the experiment is often incredibly arcane to those who haven’t spent significant time learning about biology etc., but all scientific experiments work on the same basic premise, which is simplicity itself and that is: “with all parameters being the same in two groups, the one parameter that is different between the two groups is the one responsible for the difference in outcome - if any - between the two groups” Unfortunately, ignorance of basic scientific principles seems endemic nowadays, with some people actually being proud of their ignorance, preferring to listen to a glamorous, but curiously vacuous, “celebrity” peddling snake oil than to use a little brain power and listen to real scientists, engineers and technicians. As you may guess, science is something I feel very strongly about. iD

Oh dear, I thought it had come over dark!

It does if you fry it! Chris

My dear Doctor. Surely tomato is a fruit?

Apparently if squirrels raid your bird-feeder and fill up on corn they will explode. No exploding squirrels here. A few miffed birds that their breakfast sometimes gets stolen. And those pesky tree-rats had better watch their backs because if they keep digging up my veggies their lives may be shortened by other, swifter-than-corn, means. No squirrels were harmed in the making of this post. Yet.

Perhaps it's me that doesn't see what other people see. Well I don't think it looks any better built up. Perhaps a large load will cover the offending floor and distract the eye away ? I have to find some lettering the right size and hand paint the NSR knot because I don't have any that small. If the rain stays away this afternoon I will paint the axleboxes and springs and do all the little thing that make the wagon complete.

The rain stopped long enough to get a coat of paint on everything. The body has come out reasonable but then I tried to be smart on painting the wooden deck with disastrous results. I must have had about 10 goes at it with each time getting a worst result. I have removed most of the paint and tried different approaches all the time becoming more despondent. I will build it up shortly and see how it looks then. i managed to get a hair cut yesterday after six months which was a present from one of my daughters for a Father's Day present. She booked me in to a trendy barbers on line. For someone my age it's not what I am use to but the gentleman did a fine job, but when I got home and saw the cost it made me shudder. She paid by card on line but they sent me the receipt to my e-mail account. I don't wish to be ungrateful but I don't want my children spending there hard earned cash on an old fool like me.

Morning all. It is rather cloudy here with a gentle breeze. Not what I really think of as a typical July morning. Once upon a time we would be getting dust and peppery smells from the various crops being harvested but agriculture round here is mainly of the “boot sale” type. Today is shopping day. This means a van will appear and the driver will unload stuff ordered online. I get to play the “can you find a space for this?” game in the cupboards and freezer. Tony

Good moaning from combine harvester land. Like Norfolk the harvest us in full swing. Each bug macine has a series of acolytes serving it. These can be small decrepit tractors with equally decrepit trailers, big tractors with big trailers or lorries with demontable bodies to be filled with whatever is being harvested. A Ll the acolytes head past our house to reach the scud missile, aka the silo. At the moment wheat and rape are being harvested. The combines move around towing their cutter bars behind them. The big ones use 4 wheel trailers. Yesterday I had to nip out to buy some sand and got stuck behind an enourmous combine towing a 10m cutter bar on a 4 wheel trailer. It then met an artic which had a decrepit tractor trailer combo behind it plus the post lady. The two big things couldn't pass and the combine couldn't revetse though it did try. Eventually the artic, decrepits and postie had to reverse for about half a mile to a cross roads with the combine plus me following. I also had a trailer full of sand. All quite amusing to watch and none of us were in a hurry. AnywY it got very hot yesterday so we carried on setting up the pool, hence the need for sand. The liner is now in and the structure is stable. After tea we sat out but a comine was harvesting the nearest field and whatever dust it created made me feel as if someone was spraying pepper around. However we had a lovely sunset and are promised an even warmer day today. Hopefully I may be able to start filling the pool. Regards to all. Jamie

Evening All, Spent the morning on housecleaning duties. After lunch an online meeting with committee of my MRC to discuss the purchase of new club rooms. We also decided that we had no option to cancel our exhibition in November. That lasted an hour and then an hour or so doing more bookwork. SWMBO decided we needed a walk but it was already latish so we packed some sarnies and a flask and off we went. Managed to avoid the rain. Like Chrisf this whole virus business is beginning to get me down. Like Chris I look to my diary for enthusiasm but it’s looking a bit bare at the moment. The cancellation of my clubs exhibition is big disappointment but realistically it had to happen there are just too many uncertainties. We’ll have to see what tomorrow brings, or doesn’t as the case may be. Goodnight All, Roberts

Lots of points there to consider, but I'm just a simple modeller trying to do my best while enjoying what I make. " Better to be talked about than not be talked about " Wasn't that an Oscar Wilde quote I have managed to get some letters and numbers on from my stock of meth fix tranfers. They wouldn't stick as well as they usually do, so I had to varnish over them with my bottle of Testers Dullcote before they curled up. I still need to weather the bodywork a little. At least I have a stablemate to keep the small bolster happy.

Morning all, Beans, bacon and toast was had for breakfast. I think I’ve done a slightly better job of cooking the pig today. And @iL Dottore will note that there is some browning which retreats it’s way underneath the beans. The bread was toast for 4:30 minutes instead of the normal 3:00 min, and the results where better. Currently it’s very dark out here, and threatening to rain, but you never know here. stay healthy, Douglas

G'day all, I agree heartily with Flavio about the mashing of potatoes and the correct way of doing it. Rosti can be a very sore point with me - which applies definitely to what a restaurant in Bern alleged to be rosti. I should have taken note that since my previous visits they had added a section in English to their menu and that heralded a major decline in culinary achievement in what had previously been a very good restaurant with traditional and seasonal dishes. Eating boiled new potatoes with the skin on does reportedly have certain nutritional benefits and it is a very tasty way of eating boiled spuds. But what mashing dies to the benefits of eating the skin I don't know but suspect it might not be be an ideal approach - and it would certainly have an adverse effect on the eating quality of the mash. Like Flavio I have not been particularly discommoded by lock down but we did miss a brains trust get together which would have allowed him to try the pie and liquor offering at a pub lunch in the Isle of Dogs and I have missed various exhibition outings and the excellent socialisation, such as with ChrisF, which comes with them. I've also missed an OFs' lunch in The Imperial in Exeter - make what you will of that avoidance of Mr Martin's offerings. Today's shopping has been suitably disinfested/quarantined and there might be time later today to speak to another contact in the model railway trade to see what he thinks of Hornby's latest effort with their stealthy/'blame it on somebody else' price increase although it won't affect many on this part of the forum. (wash my mouth out for mentioning toy trains and duck as the awkl approaches). The jungle does need attention but whether I will get to it depends on the large scale weed watering system over which I have no control. Enjoy your day folks and still stay safe

Sometimes if I am bored statements like “doctors say” or a “report by scientists” causes me to investigate said doctors or scientists. On plenty of occasions they didn’t say whatever was said. Sometimes the originator is clearly barking or biased. It is always worth remembering the “Goodies” episode where they ran a PR agency for string and stated “9 out of 10 doctors say string is good for you” and then followed with a remark “and it was really difficult to find those 9 doctors”. So I was curious about burned toast. I thought surely burnt toast is just carbon and that carbon biscuits are used for flatulence control so how can they be harmful. It turns out that converting the bread to carbon also produces small quantities of a chemical with carcinogenic properties. It hasn’t been proven to do so in humans (that probably wouldn’t be an ethical experiment!) but has been added to various warnings, just in case anyone eats industrial quantities of burned toast. Some newspapers love to put scary headlines about carcinogens based on incorrect analysis of research. If I, with my quite modest science background can read something I wonder why the health and science correspondents of can’t spend a moment or two checking what they write. Their excuse seems to be someone else writes the headline. Tony

OOPs.. forgot to answer @iL Dottore regarding stand pie. Yes it is really a very large Pork Pie. Out butcher sells them at christmas/New Year. They are a thing of great beauty. (and far too edible to see them go to waste). With our two Herberts they got through 1 before Christmas, 1 on Boxing Day and took one each home... one website says " 'stand' to mean; "An open tub; a barrel set on end." " Baz

Ey up! I took her indoors out so she could shop at Moreasons while I emptied our glass bottles and jars into the glass recycling bins. Beast (the car) has repeatedly warned me to refuel with at least 15l of fuel to get rid of "old" petrol. I have now done that and .voila the warning has gone and Beast no longer turns into "charge" mode automatically. A result! (shows what technology can do in the Outlander!) The mashed spuds with skins was usual at our junior school - I never sampled the food at our Senior School very often and never had the mash like that.. it was not lumpy and there was loads of it but it didn't sit well with the rubberised liver.. which is why I spent the years there using one of our too "Tuck" shops and later, as a 6th Former) our local (and still extant) chippie. Off to decipher the garbage received from the ECB about Recreational cricket.. whoever produced it obviously also went to Specsavers in a lovely town in County Durham! Have a great day whatever you do! Positive thoughts to all ERs. Baz

Time for something big, grey and maybe slightly boring! 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Joining the fleet this week is 37417 Highland Region in plain triple grey livery, modelled in Summer 1998 condition. Although it'd be amazing to create endless models of jazzy sector-flash locos, in trying to recreate a prototypical scene it means modelling the locos you actually saw, even if the reality was normally something more average! 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr The starting point was a Bachmann 37428 model, with the base grey colours but with a nameplate and attractive Petroleum sector flash to remove. 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr It's sometimes hit-and-miss with removing printed detail depending on the age of the model, I have reworked two models of '428 in recent times and both have been a pig to work on! 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr The sector flash wouldn't budge with thinners or T-Cut, and the nameplate removal started to eat into the base grey, so the entire area was stripped back fully and a new uniform lower coat of Rail Grey was sprayed on to the model. 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr I use Tamiya masking tapes on the models as they apply and remove well without being too tacky, and the pic shows the classic kitchen roll tube used as a cheap substitute for a paint handle! This then gets impaled upon an empty wine bottle neck for safe storage while the new paint layer dried. Dashing forward, the newly-painted model was then gloss varnished and Fox decals & plates applied over the new finish, before being matt varnished ready for weathering. 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Ladytron's superb self-titled sixth album is the recommended background listening for any triple-grey 'Tractor' projects. The weathering layers were applied in the usual paint-on/wipe-off style - using shades of Humbrol 186, 251 and 32 to give the prototypical dark-weathered appearance of 37417 in 1998 before it lost its greys for a splash of Wisconsin maroon at the Toton Open Day later that summer. 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Rust patches, scars and peeling paint layers were matched to photos of the time, the rust being built up from 6 layers of browns applied light to dark. The nose end grilles had a big build up of rust deposits, whilst some pretty big chunks of undercoat were visible and crying out to be modelled! 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr 37417 was another loco fitted with the cast bogie frames, these being replicated using my usual bodge of grinding off the raised detail with a knife - proper modellers may wish to use Class 50 bogies! 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr On the verge of losing its tatty BR greys, the loco would soon become centre of attention at the EWS Toton Open Day - swapping the Highland Region nameplates for some bling bling brass RAIL Magazine plates & beasties under the watch of Ed Burkhardt himself. 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr 37417 would prove to be luckier than some of its sister locos, receiving a further fresh coat of red and re-plated to Richard Trevithick for the final stage of its career, soldiering on in frontline service until 2008 when inevitable withdrawal came. The beast would later be sold to DRS prior to eventual stripping and scrapping in 2013, meeting its end alongside some other notable locos lost at Booth's of Rotherham. 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr It's been quite satisfying recreating the loco and recalling a more mundane period in it's career, the peeling drab greys being sandwiched between the previous Intercity Mainline livery that epitomised it's famous Scottish years and prior to reinvention as a red RAIL celebrity, there's plenty more where that came from! Cheers, James

Used as the theme to the televised snooker show "Pot Black" if I recall correctly. I'm back to record a most unexpected event. The Hill of Strawberries is regarded as one of the lowest crime areas in Greater London. A little exuberance among our student neighbours at times but seldom anything resembling serious. At around 20 o'clock tonight a stranger knocked at the door. Upon answering it I was offered my wallet containing driving licence, bank cards and other personal bits and pieces. The licence of course has my address and a tiny photo for ID that it was being offered to the correct person. I had no idea it had even gone walkabout. It seldom comes out of my pocket these days except when changing clothes. This chap had found it on the train I had come home on therefore it had been on its travels since around 11.45 this morning. As I didn't see it when I checked my set upon alighting I can only guess that it fell to the floor as I stepped off the train and was found by this chap who probably boarded at the next station; no-one boarded here. All is well. There are no unexpected transactions and everything is exactly where it should be. Including the £5 note tucked right inside and only visible if the wallet had been rifled through. My faith in human nature is generally quite good but this does something to reinforce that and assure us that we are indeed in a "good area". I would have tutted and muttered quite a lot in the morning if I had been unable to find things .........

Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing that it dont belong in a fruit salard

Another vote for fried bread here! Chris

Likewise. We are all in uncharted territory here and are all responding differently. There will always be friendship and support here without question and without questions asked. The infection rates published today (which are several days old inevitably) show some rises in apparently random areas, and some significant falls. The rises are on the whole tiny numbers but as a percentage they can appear alarming. My own London Borough has jumped for just over 1 to nearly 3 per 100,000 but 3/100000 is still a very small figure. Many other areas, especially in the north-west, are showing very much higher figures in ranges from 10 - 40. I have mentioned before in here that the so-called R-rate goes into reverse once the sample size becomes very small. It may be this which is behind the slight upward shift in the quoted R-number for many regions of the UK recently. London for example has shifted from 0.7 - 0.9 to 0.8 - 1.1 Above 1 would set alarm bells ringing seen in isolation but with let's say 5/100000 infected at an R-rate of 0.9 then a week or two from now that figure may become 4/100000. If there remans just one infected person and they infect one other then R=1 which is the government trigger point to intervene but would they really intervene, possibly limiting the lives and business functions of everyone, with just two people infected in our theoretical 100000? We shall see. In other news the total mortality continues its downward trend as does the overall total of those known to be infected when one views the 7-day moving average. Just as weekend figures (published on Monday / Tuesday) tend to be artificially low so the bounce-back on Wednesday / Thursday could be artificially high as they play catch-up. That is why a moving average is the better measure. We will get through this. The light is already showing at the tunnel-end.

Greetings all from a grey but currently dry Sidcup. I managed to avoid the rain on my daily exercise walk, unlike yesterday. Yesterday was one of those days where i was constantly on the phone, some arranged, others interruptions. It has not been so bad today which is good as I am less motivated to get on with the work right now, hence I have managed to catch up on here since my last post. I am sorry to read that Chrisf is still struggling with the burden of the lockdown; at least there are small rays of hope. We now need to make sure that there are not further local lockdowns. I did note that the infection rate per head was higher in the Bedford area than the surrounding countryside but nowhere near the Leicester levels. let's hope it falls, if only for our esteemed correspondent's sake. Life under lockdown here has largely been boring (it is the Boring Borough, after all) but i have worked from home the whole time and we have managed to arrange Ocado deliveries on a weekly basis. Mainly i felt frustrated at all those people who had nothing to do and could enjoy all the wonderful weather, but financially of course, continuing to work has been better. This weekend I am going to cook a chorizo and lentil tagine - inspired by Il Dottore, I found a recipe online and am going to give it a whirl on Saturday. The only question mark for me is whether the family will enjoy the taste of fenugreek (methi) as I don't think i have treated them to it previously. Certainly they have enjoyed previous tagines and also my made up "Spanish style" chicken, chorizo and chickpea stew, so there's a good chance. have a good day all

Worry not that it was Chopin's "Raindrop". It could have been Johann Strauss II "Thunder and Lightning Polka. Or even Debussy. "Snowflakes are Dancing". Welcome to Thirsty. Yes, since you ask, I am. Muggercoffy please . Yesterday's rain has ceased and in its place we have today's rain. Neither as heavy nor as persistent but still wet and feeding the weeds. I feel some Domestic Engineering coming on until the precipitation situation has ameliorated adequately for attention to the outside.

Re burnt toast and how much of it would be truly toxic, some years ago my Dad, who was a research chemist, read in various journals that one of the artificial sweeteners widely used (can't remember which one I'm afraid) had been shown to be carcinogenic. He was a bit suspicious of the findings so decided to check on the reported 'facts' and found the original research papers, which did indeed show that lab rats fed on the sweetener had shown a high incidence of developing cancer. However, the amount of the stuff eaten by the rats that showed bad results was equivalent to a human being eating something like twenty kilos of the stuff per day (and bear in mind that even if used instead of sugar in everything the daily consumption by a human would be in the milligram range), but that hadn't been included in the scary reports. Further investigation revealed that the research had been funded by ........... The American Sugar Corporation. Sometimes there is science and then there is science. Dave

Morning all from Estuary-Land. The bin wagons have been and gorn, in stealth mode as well. I have just received notice from PayPal that the full amount I paid is on its way back into my account. No mention though of the second wheelbarrow I received nor the cost of sending the first one back. Not spending so much time on Farcebook lately, it seems to have quietened down lately as lockdown has eased. Back to bacon (thats not a pun). I'm with Chris with regards rind on bacon but it must be removed before said bacon is put in a butty. There's nothing worse than taking one bite of a bacon butty and the entire contents of the butty sliding out attached to the rind. When I was a nipper eggs and bacon was the normal Sunday breakfast. The bacon had rind on but we kids didn't eat it as it was a bit too chewy, but we had the boxer dog who looked forward to her Sunday treat. We used to throw the rinds up in the air, they never touched the floor. Looking at the graphs there is a sharp rise in the number of cases in the last few days. Its worth a try but Hook of Holland is rather bleak at the best of times and there's nothing between there and the North Pole, something to consider if going through there in winter.

Minerva 0 gauge Manning Wardle K CESTRIA advances gingerly along the Tonfanau Quarry siding from Tonfanau Camp station. The loco has been fitted with DCC sound, weathered, suited and booted for a customer. Crew figures are ModelU painted by Claudia Everett. Regards, Chris K

I've been the recipient of someone else's cash on a couple of occasions, when they've taken their card out of the machine and wandered off before collecting the money. Fortunately on both occasions they've still been close by, with no-one else around, so it was pretty easy to find & check they were the rightful owners. One was a pensioner in Yorkshire - she was over the moon, and more than a bit pleased to get it back; the other was a French Guy in an Italian tourist area who was dumbfounded he'd got the money back. Both hadn't realised what they'd done. At first glance I thought the piccie was of the Papier Mache..... Based on the figures for India I'd be dubious about accuracy....

Good Morning All, Firstly, on the subject of mash potatoes a few thoughts: potatoes, whatever their skin colour, should be floury and not waxy. Leaving the skins on is definitely a no-no (unless you are making “crushed potatoes“ which is a different beast entirely. In such a dish the potatoes are only roughly mashed with seasonings and other ingredients), potatoes should be boiled or steamed until very soft and then either mashed with butter or mashed with butter and pushed through a drum sieve and finished with cream (not milk, milk is too watery for a really nice pommes purée). The butter can be flavoured with a little garlic, herbs or other flavourings before use in the mash/purée. And if you really want to go to town, cook the potatoes in their skins and whilst hot peel them before mashing them. Supposedly, this gives an even better potato flavour. And whilst on the subject of potatoes, visitors to Switzerland would be well advised to avoid the contentious issue of how best to make Rösti; raw or cooked potatoes? with extras – such as onions or cheese or garlic - or without? Feelings can run quite high on this surprisingly contentious issue. Although, here in Switzerland, we only have the equivalent of streaky bacon (back bacon and the like are pretty much unknown around here), you do have a choice between smoked and green (unsmoked) bacon. A particular delicacy, and one that is often found on a Bauenfrühstück, is a type of smoked streaky bacon called Bauenspeck, which requires no further cooking before eating. Local farms sometimes have (or used to have) a special Sunday morning Bauenfrühstück open to the public. Featuring their own produce, such as the aforementioned Bauenspeck, their own (or local) charcuterie, bread and confiture. Nice enough, but alas not a slice of black pudding or a proper soss in sight. I sympathise with those who are feeling the strain of lockdown, happily I am very fortunate inasmuch as it really hasn’t touched me at all. Apart from some minor changes to the way I shop, my life has remained unchanged. I walk the dogs every day, I have my various hobbies to keep me amused when I am not working for clients and I have a large enough library to keep me informed and entertained for - potentially - the next decade. I certainly do miss the rare interpersonal encounters I used to have, but they were so few in number (the club I belong to, some friends) that their absence is more than adequately tolerated. Additionally, I am fortunate in that Switzerland, like Germany, has been both sensible and - to a degree - lucky in the impact of, and the response to, the pandemic. Mrs iD Is off walking the Wolfpack (I have midday dog duties today), when she is back I am off to do the weekly shopping and pick up some corporate supplies (including the accursedly expensive laser printer cartridges). Have a fun Thursday iD

Mooring again, Inner Temple Hare, 878/548 3.15 hours sleep and not a lot after.. I'm knackered Mooring it is we've had a huge amount of rain over night puddles are maximum size, and the our road is awash with mud. The grass verge each side of the lane is crushed by machinery. When Ben the sleepy collie took me for his patrol, I could still hear the harvesters, in some distant field.. Some people don't like the rind (I do) so the meat suppliers take advantage of this take the rind off when they can, cook it separately and sell it as pork scratchings, more profit all round.. I noticed our local Tescos had removed the lines, but not the 2m distance signs, I had thought it because of our store rebuild. The major system this week was finished, I;m well into measuring current shunts,, wake me up if I fall asleep.. Time to.. check the company spam

I knew someone who was diagnosed with cancer at too young an age (and died as a result) who was instructed to stop eating toast and grilled steak due to their carcinogenic properties.

What an exceptionally awful day. Brought back memories of seaside holidays as a child. Our first train tonight is the 4.15 KX - Cleethorpes, with the usual well presented B1. Coming South is the White Rose, KX A1 Amadis in charge.

I remember watching a TV programme some years back, on science (or something like that) in the kitchen, saying burnt toast was carcinogenic. Then, of course, sometime later, other science declared otherwise. Science wars continue...which is quite frightening in a way, as who do you believe? As regards food, I generally look at what the body needs nutritionally, look at the benefits/risks of given items of food and ways of cooking them, then (considering other factors) take a calculated step to keep me reasonably healthy and free from malnutrition (hopefully!).

Thankfully it’s not, the table stops in the middle of each sensor every time and the rotation is slow enough for it to stop immediately. It’s definitely the play in the main drive shaft (axle) you can see it when you hold the bridge in one hand and try to turn the shaft with a pair of plyers, the movement isn't much, but it’s enough. Once I’ve drilled and tapped a hole and fitted a grub screw I’m hoping that will cure it.

Evening all, This morning was spent paper mâchèing an embankment, which went very well. The rest of the morning was taken up with adding grass to said layout, may the awl spare me. Blueberry muffin was had for lunch. The afternoon was spent experimenting with making mash potatoes, the first time I had ever done so. As you can see, they aren’t the greatest. I used small red potatoes , which you don’t peel, hence the red bits. They needed less milk and a tad bit more salt, and some garlic wouldn’t have hurt either, as red potatoes normally are used in Garlic mashed potatoes. My next quest is to find some breakfast sausages, the round horizontal kind, not the ones hamburger type ones. The twirly thing you might be observing is a cheese-bread stick, which are very good if you can get them. Sometimes they are sold under the name “John W. Macy’s Cheese Sticks” Apologies if I made anyone lose their appetite.

For no particular reason, doggie pix (from about nine years ago.) Shona (the Scottie) is still going strong but we lost Torri last year.