Leaderboard

Three panniers posing.... That reminds me, I haven't finished weathering 7768

Almost forgot. Nicki is off to hospital shortly for a major op today. Her only previous hospital visits have been to have children and she's never had a general anaesthetic so is a tad nervous. As a veteran of quite a few hospital visits, five operations and several other procedures I have of course given loads of positive vibes. Needless to say I wish I could take her place but that would be anatomically impossible! In other news a large lorry full of scaffolding has pulled up outside the house up the road that is already clad in scaffolding and has part of its roof missing. Heaven only knows what he's doing now.

It's really peaceful here with the shouting and arguing in several foreign tongues, the clatter of scaffold tubes and boards, power drills, hammering and sawing from 3 different sites. The scaffold lorry has now been joined by a large lorry full of timber so his engine will be revving in a moment when he gets his Hiab working. Yippee! .... where's the parrotseatemall? According to local estate agents this is a much sought after road as it's so peaceful and quiet! Bl##dy hell, yet another large lorry has just arrived!!

Actually, looking at the scaffolding that's there, I don't think it's high enough to do a full loft extension. The farce continues as another lorry has pulled up outside the other house having a loft extension and the road is now blocked! This means the people who use our road as a rat run to avoid the main road junction and traffic lights are having to turn around. Oh dear, what a shame!

The sun sinks slowly on Pakistan's hopes of a series win against England. Actually the setting sun lined up exactly through two windows of the building and the seat I was sitting in. A bit like the legend of Box Tunnel and Brunel's birthday. I think we have gone about 23 pages since my last post, I did try one but for some reason it didn't seem to have worked. Lots of grandad duty this week and exciting cricket including a hat trick in the U11s and match winning death bowling in the u13s. Will try to do a full report tomorrow, although there is another match which could decide the U13 championship for their home county. May be another tense night.

Jeepers - 28c now and still climbing. Melted Fraggles everywhere. The stream in the village has stopped flowing, hosepipe ban on the horizon.

@grandadbob seems like you have my neighbours brother or twin...our local dweeb is relaying grass taken from his foundation area. Did he water the bits he relaid yesterday??? Nope. Is it going yellow and curling up at the edges? Yep! He never learns and never finishes anything.. a grade A pirrock @TheSignalEngineer that was why I started umpiring properly including passing exams etc. Junior cricket umpires can be dreadful. Baz

Weathered the new coal wagon last night using my usual method of a spray to the underframe and lower sides with frame dirt, following by a wash and them various weathering powders. Can now take the sunglasses off. Cheers, Ade.

Good moaning. It's warm here and getting a little sticky. The various tasks at the other house were done and then pah, the car wouldn't start. I'm off there shortly to clean the starter motor terminals and give it another go. After that it's off to Poitiers to take 3 child seats to meet the owners of the house and their brood of small pink terrorists. If my car is running again I hope to spend a couple of hours near a railway line. Not a lot else to report apart from the fact that the French taxman sent me €120 yesterday. I have no idea why but it's a nice gesture. Jamie

In other news the car has arrived. In exchange for a modest number of modelling vouchers I am now legally able to transport myself about without waiting upon my employer, or similar, to provide a conveyance. Dr. SWMBO is the other named driver though she prefers to let me work these driving-boxes. I'll take it for a run-out later and so long as I'm happy I can cancel the hire car booked ages ago for our holiday next week. That will offset the tax and insurance with enough left over for breakfast . It remains hot and humid here. Former Neighbour (Next Door) and boyfriend who had driven the car up from Norfolk looked very hot and sticky as they emerged. I'll let her find out for herself that I transferred a sum to her account in respect of the "delivery fee" as she should have been with her family travelling first class on the train. She graduates tomorrow and has brought half of her (apparently small Norfolk) village with her. Already showing signs of being an astute businesswoman at the tender age of 21 she had asked me if I could get a "staff discount" for their train tickets. Errrrr - no. Sorry. Staff discounts are only for staff (and in most cases spouses and dependant children) but I was able to find a group fare for six which was almost £200 cheaper than she had been quoted. Buy three "Two together" Railcards and that becomes a bit cheaper still with the added benefit of being able to use the railcards for discounted fares for the next 12 months. It's not what you know but who .......

Next instalment of the cricket. On Sunday I was on grandad duty helping out when extra hands were needed due to a clash of fixtures. Young Thomas was playing up an age group in the U11 team. The opposition started well but then Thomas came on to bowl and took a hat-trick, all clean bowled. That was effectively match over as the opponents never recovered their momentum. Meanwhile Sam had been called up for the U13 at his main club who were short and playing in the county-wide group for the top teams in the local area groups. He didn't get to bat but bowled two overs taking three wickets for 8 runs. The team ended up with a resounding win. On Monday morning there was a message to ask if he was available that evening as they were short for a top of the table clash that evening. He was uncertain about it but decided to go. He didn't bat again, his team were a few runs short of a good total and the opposition got off to a good start. Sam put the brakes on in the middle of the innings taking a wicket and only conceding two singles in two overs. With three overs to go the opposition needed just 17 runs and six wickets standing the captain threw the ball to Sam. The over started dot ball, run out, clean bowled first ball. When the last over came they needed seven to win from six balls. On the first five balls only two singles were conceded and the opposition had got themselves into two run outs going for quick singles, so four to tie or five to win from the last ball with left handed number 11 facing his first ball. Sam said something to the keeper, went round the wicket and let go a fast yorker just missing off stump. The batsman's wild swing missed completely and the keeper made a clean take. Sam was given a standing ovation off the field including by some senior members who had abandoned the bar when they heard a close finish was anticipated. After the game he was presented with the match ball which is now proudly displayed with the match report in his room.

It seems now that a powered device must be used for all jobs, making as much noise as possible. I was woken this morning by council contractors strimming the long grass on the verges of a nearby road. As I'm about a week behind here comes the update. Firstly Anne's tennis match last week resulted in a crushing victory over a team they didn't expect to win against. That means they are now safely above the relegation zone in their division. They don't want promotion as that would put them in the Premier division which would mean playing a lot of people who are full time coaches and players. Next up was a cricket friendly at one of the clubs used by the grandsons It was for members of the current U11 squad who are moving up next year played a nearby U13 team on the rules of the higher age group. They did really well, taking the result in doubt down to a controversial last over. Sammy kept wicket after he had bowled. The opposition's best batsman came in with 7 balls to go. With three runs needed and three balls left balls left he backed up and called for a quick single to get on strike. The other batsman missed the ball, Sam picked it up and scored a direct hit on the stumps. The opposition umpire was at square leg and gave not out. The batsman hit the next ball to the boundary to win with one ball left. At the time we were taking some pictures and video on the boundary with the match in the background. When I ran the clip through afterwards there was a frame with the bails in the air, bat not grounded and the batsman's leading foot two yards from the crease. Th give them credit the boys didn't argue but now know they probably should have won. Speaking to another team the person who was umpiring has got previous in this regard and was subject of a complaint from one team for his interference and bad decisions in a league match.

Started off misty here but the sun is burning that off. Shark to be wielded and floors to becwashee this morning. Pah! I have a lot to do today.. including reopening our Model Railway club rooms to members..just got to remember the security lock numbers. Need to help to take the fruuit from our black currant bushes and dig up some more of our potato crop. Busy....busy.. busy.. Time for my mugatea. Stay safe! Baz

MER still running at the moment Rick, I passed a train on my way out for lunch on the bike. Despite the best weather this week we have had for yonkers, all four power cars out were.....winter saloons. Sigh. At least they were pulling cross-bench (Manx for open toast-rack) trailers. There was nobody in the saloon I saw, the trailer was packed out. I know cross-bench power car 16 was derailed last week (with the Director of Transport - Deb's boss - driving, oops) and is out of service, but they have half a dozen others they could run, including 1 and 2, the oldest etc etc. Shame to waste the opportunity, especially as we have so many visitors. It rains enough usually so they don't get run!

Crash, bang, wallop, shout, noise and more bl##dy noise. They are taking the p!ss! Judging by the number of different nationalities involved I'm wondering if it's going to become some sort of immigration hub! Another small lorry now making a delivery.

Greetings all from the stupidly humid boring borough. Rain, hail, etc at various times yesterday afternoon brought down the temp somewhat but drove the humidity through the roof. Last evening on the patio felt almost tropical. New BBQ assembled. A couple of beers and dinner al fresco. All in all very pleasant. Today will be mostly reading and brushing up on some software that I haven't used in nearly a year. I can see why banks are using "greeters" to triage customers. They are stupidly understaffed. The offspring is working in one such bank. It is a merger of 2 branches and with Covid and other issues is down to 5 members of staff and no real manager. They are run off their feet. Even though 90% of what they are doing could be done online or via one of the machines in the bank. His main function seems to be trying to get their banking app running on a customer's phone. A lot of the "oldies" actually love the idea of having online banking and being up to date but their tech skills and indeed their hardware is lacking. For him it is difficult to try to explain to some poor older lady that her 90s vintage Nokia just can't run the app. Meanwhile in the boring borough, when we moved here 13 years ago there were 6 banks on the high street. By the middle of next month the last one will be gone. Not really surprised though. My bank branch in the city closed 15 years ago and I have yet to visit the branch where they moved my account to. It's been nearly 20 years since I wrote or received a cheque. Long may that last. On that note, time to do some work, have another coffee, and forage for a bit of breakfast. Enjoy the day.

Mooring Awl Inner Temple Hare, A very good Nights sleep on the bed, not in it, 5 3/4 hours followed by another 1.5 on the sofa.. We never got the thunder storms yesterday they seem to have gone the other side of Norwich.. This mornings cockwomble, another Merc went past me, indicated left from the right hand lane, and drove straight on round the roundabout.. Silly tale, well important really , our company got reported by a French company to UKAS for something, we couldn't work out what for for a long time.. It turned out was the French division that wasn't talking to the French company, even though we were passing on information, and UPS France lost their equipment. So it wasn't our (here) fault. The Boss only found out what the problem was, by bypassing the French division and speaking direct to the French company. He's now got a report to write up.... My start this morning hasn't been too good here either, a piece of equipment I needed to use this morning, was as dead as a door nail, it belongs to another section, so I've passed that on to them. So I'm now doing current shunts today.. Just remembered again, I need to fix the "Keep Right" buoy for regatta week, so that's part of this weekend spoken for.. Need to send an email to myself at home, to go tonight and put it where I'll fall over it to remind me. Email.. Done.. Time I.. Sat around waiting for this next shunt to warm up..

At my recent eye test the optician taped the mask to my face. That worked perfectly too..

This is usually a big problem here on the first really warm days of Spring and annually results in fatalities. Our rivers are snowmelt and are very cold compared to air temperatures on a warm day. The dangers of temperature shock (and the recommendation to wear personal floatation devices just in case) is also a popular tutorial in our local weather forecast. With our hot Spring, the rivers have warmed up to a level where they are now dangerous, not for humans, but for salmon and their spawning runs. The Willamette River is currently cycling between 24° and 25°C.

Scaffolding progresses. Corrugated sheets now being hauled up and put across the top. Polythene sheeting being fixed to the sides. Not a hard hat in sight, even on those not wearing turbans. Mind you a hard hat wouldn’t do much good against large lumps of steel falling from 30+ feet. I’ll get a close up view in a while when we walk past on our way to our friend’s house for a BBQ…..I’ll stay on our side of the road!

Scaffolding progresses. Higher and higher.. Total roof cover now.......or a Stairway to Heaven perhaps?

Just stuck my nose out of the door. I see that yesterdays hail has (not surprisingly) stripped the remaining petals off of the poppies. Not too bad as most had set seed already and the very few still in bud seem to be OK. No other apparent damage, even the roses kept their blooms if a bit battered.

Morning, cooler and cloudy again, the Red Arrows are due over our village on the way to Lossiemouth then on to a show later, gotta dash, might get some pictures.

Morning all. Nice day here. Aditi is off to Enfield. MiL had a tooth extracted on Monday and is still rather groggy. She has carers midday and overnight but Aditi’s sister who lives round the corner said she needs extra help at the moment. Aditi will stay with her Mum until the overnight carer arrives at 10pm. Aditi was supposed to be hosting a Zoom talk with the French Consul General to Wales (retired) this evening but has managed to get someone else to host. Tony

Whilst such an achievement is no doubt very clever, it did strike me that it's extremely harmful environmentally just to provide four people with 11 minutes of fun. And you could do an awful lot of good with the money it costs. If the airlines were to start playing a "one strike is a warning" and then "second strike and you're out for good" policy - and shared with all other airlines too - then no doubt that would work wonders, especially in the US where distances are great. To be faced with a lifetime ban from airlines would focus peoples' attention no end. ISTR the RN rule to Aircrew when flying over the oggin is that if the sea temp is under 16 degrees C then an immersion suit must be worn; such temperatures are only seen in the English Channel in July and August IIRC. Bear once had the pleasure of wearing an immersion suit one very hot July day when flying over the Bristol Channel. I came back with the same texture as an unwrapped choccy bar left on a dashboard.... It's a problem if you wear glasses, cos' they can steam up. I just pinch my nose if I want to read anything and it seems to do the trick in minimising fogging. How lovely I'd be complaining big-time to head office and looking for a very large discount, if not a free hire. Virgin has just issued this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57901108 The sad thing is that they're rapidly costing jobs by encouraging people to use the machines to deposit cheques etc. instead of using the counter service. In other news: Bear has an imminent encounter with a paint roller.....

Had to put the chockie chip cookies in the fridge yesterday, gosh it was warm Off to the Wash room and then a walk before it gets to hot. Have a good day one and all, stay safe and keep well.

Morpeth today with one photo from each of a random selection of years. Morpeth 43054 up 16th June 84 C6528 Morpeth 47303 up ICI tanks 23rd Dec 88 C11617 Morpeth 37512 down pipes May 91 J11994 Morpeth 37083 down l e 29th Oct 92 C18119 Morpeth 56120 down June 93 J13901 David

Well the Red Arrers got re routed, no show here sadly, but we did see some Dolphins in the distance, nice to be out of the house again after 10 days in covid isolation, Grandson seems fully recovered but his Mum is still suffering after a week of it.

@TheSignalEngineer well done that Lad. Youngest Herbert has two cricket balls mounted on plinths. One was a Lords Taverners U13s game. He had an all bowled hatrick and ended up with 5 for 13 off 6 overs. The second hatrick was in an u15 league game and I was watching. Two clean bowled the third was a catch by the wicket keeper. Again he finished with a 5 for. Hope the grandsons continue to enjoy cricket Baz

Good morning all, Still too hot for me. 32°C yesterday and near enough the same forecast for today along with the chance of some thundery showers. We did have some heavy rain and thunder in the late afternoon but it didn't do much to cool things down. A slow walk to the little local supermarket is scheduled after breakfast and this afternoon we're visiting friends in the next road for a BBQ. Have a good one, Bob.

Reading Chris / @chrisfcomment above about interrogation at the Bank, our Barclays does that, and the Girl on the door is armed.......................................ready to help. Like the other day, there was a queue, she asked what I wanted and I said, just to pay a cheque in. She looked at the cheque and paying in book, stamped it and said that will be in within the hour, and I was on my way without entering the Bank. Wonderful service.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Genuine early riser this morning. A lot to do today so when I woke up just before six I didn't roll over and go back to sleep instead I got up. Stiff joints this morning but once I started moving about they eased quite a bit, no need for Nurofen this morning. Now time to run a bath, be back later.

Greetings one and all The programme for Sidmouth festival arrived yesterday. Unfortunately it did not come in printed form and so had to be converted into something on paper. After two of the 20 pages emerged from the printer it was necessary to change two ink cartridges. That apart, the line-up is looking good. A bonus was that the concert ticket which had become unavailable went back on sale. Phew. I can now work out how many £5 notes and how many £2 coins to take with me for tossing into the collection buckets. Once again I have had an e-mail from the bank seeking feedback on my experience in the branch. If I can be bothered to reply I might well say that a member of staff routinely asks me the purpose of my visit before I set foot in the place. I might also add a reference to just how tiresome I find the constant interrogation – if, that is, I can find a way of doing so without causing offence. Today will see the first Area Group quarterly informal lunch for over a year. To converse cordially with other members face to face has become a rare privilege and will be most welcome. Less welcome will be the need to subject myself and the car to the vagaries of the M1. Never mind: in-car entertainment will be available. There are CDs to play and Prime Minister’s Questions will be on the radio while I am in transit. I can hardly wait. Best wishes to all Chris

Hot cars ... (as opposed to "hot hatches") Yes. That takes me back to the 1970s. Stubbies (the short shorts* not the bottles) and hot days meant hot sticky vinyl and red, scorched legs, not to mention having to handle the steel, seat belt latch-plate and buckle before such things were sensibly wrapped in plastic. * AKA trousers Reminds me of an experience with a rental from Gatwick. When rented, it had a very strong smell of air freshener / cleaning fluid. After having been in the sun (a partly cloudy Autumn day), there was a different smell. Someone had evidently vomited into air vents that were located (strangely) between the front seats. There had been enough warmth to really activate the smell. Nasty. When temperatures first reach "warm" temperatures for the season (32°C) weather forecasters here do a quick tutorial about how hot the air inside cars can get to remind people of the dangers of leaving children and pets in their cars. An average of 38 children die in the US each year from hot cars. Portland has fewer such fatalities than the 'sun belt' but even so, a worker at a large local company forgot his sleeping child in the back a few years ago with tragic results. After an hour in the sun on a 38°C day, the dashboard can reach 70°C and the interior air 45°C. It's easy to imagine commercial electronics (usually designed for internal, self-heated temperatures of no more than 75°C) to have a problem.

Good evening everyone It has been another scorcheroo here, reaching 29C again this afternoon. This morning I managed to some work done in the garden, but I did not get all but one of the potted plants in the ground, this plant is a rose and we have not decided where it should go yet. There are just over a dozen small pots with seedlings in, which will stay in their pots until next year, when they will be big enough to go in the ground. This afternoon was spent getting ready for our day out tomorrow. So I went down to the shed and I retrieved our 2 small fold away trucks and gave them bit of a clean, as they have not been used for 2 years, I also go our fold up chairs and a small parasol too! Again it has been 2 years since they were last used, so I gave them a bit of a clean as well. I then took everything to the car and it is all now safely packed in the boot. After tea I made sandwiches for both of us, they will remain in the fridge, along with half a dozen bottles of water and some iced tea until tomorrow morning, when I pack our lunch bags.

HUMP day. Nothing of note yesterday, just working. Today - mandatory "How to request PTO" was attended. I now know WHY it was/is mandatory. Peoplesoft (never been on the sharp end of this carp before) has to be the most USER HOSTILE software I've ever seen! The reasons we needed "help" are; 1) Peoplesoft is not INTEGRATED. So the part of the system we have been given access to for HR/Payroll/Pay checks etc., is NOT linked to the Financial System that has the timesheet/PTO/Project timeline stuff in it. Two TOTALLY SEPARATE systems with separate logins. Who thought up that stupidity?? 2) Once on it's non-intuitive, including, you having to ADD your employee ID when requesting PTO so "it knows who you are". Hang on, I just blqqdy logged in, has it got THAT short term a memory!! 3) It's recommended you add your NAME and the request type i.e. Vacation/Company Holiday/Bereavement etc., in the "description" field, otherwise your manager, who receives an email notification of the request, has NO IDEA who it's from or what the request is, without actually logging in his/herself to Peoplesoft to see! Good GRIEF!! Done with that flustercuck for now. 18 and hazy with high overcast from the Canadian and western US wildfires first thing. Not expected to clear and a high of only 29. Later in the week expected to get hotter. Tally ho.

No longer grey and far too hot to continue with planned activities Tea in vast quantities is needed, but first a litre or so of Chateau Severn Trent

I dare say you've heard the joke about the American visitors at Paddington in the 30s but I'll repeat it anyway. They were very impressed by the service offered by the GWR. Not only were there the usual Dining Cars and Sleeping Cars, but also cars labelled "Reading" and "Bath".

The storm yesterday caused flash floods in the town centre. In particular where the roads dip beneath the railway bridges. One of the worst places for flooding was removed a couple of years ago. That was a pedestrian subway that was sometimes flooded to the roof. It has now been replaced by a pedestrian crossing.

Good morning everyone A sunny but slightly overcast start to the day here in England’s northwest. If it stays like this Sheila will be a very happy bunny, but somehow I do not think it will! We will very shortly be setting off to the RHS Tatton flower show, Wednesday is members only day and is usually a lot quieter than days when it is open to the general public, so we are hoping that it is the case today. We will be meeting up with some friends of ours, who for reasons Covid related we have not seen since December 2019! So that will also be something to look forward too. Anyway, must go, I have a picnic lunch for two to pack. Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later. Brian

Morning, 16 here currently with many more to come. Yesterday evening was pleasant, took the kayak down to Port-e-Vullen with a friend for his first experience on the water, he absolutely loved it. His parents came along (they share an enormous 4 storey house, built as a Victorian guest house) for the crack in the hope of seeing him fall in, but were disappointed in that respect, but it was a gorgeous evening - loads of folk in the water, paddleboarding, kayaking, swimming, or just playing for the younger element, aka pink terrorists. Not sure what I'll be up to today, but a walk this morning before things get too hot is on the cards, then who knows.

Afternoon from a melting West Yorkshire. Having a bit of rest day from heavy work in the garden just a bit of dead heading tying the climbing rose in a bit more. Oh and cutting some big boxes up to get in to tomorrow's recycling bins. 2 have died locally 1 swimming in Pugneys lake nr Wakefield and a body has been fished out of the canal at Knottingley believed to be a swimmer though its not a place you would want to go swimming its piling sides in that section not very easy to get out

It gets interesting when the copper wire on the overheads sags below the safe limit for trolley poles / bows / pan collectors. It was a fairly regular event in Oz. Even knowing the expected temperature range and factoring in fixed rates of expansion the slack adjusters sometimes couldn't pull up all the slack and 1500V DC cables hung from their stanchions and droppers like a line of wet underwear. That stopped all movement until matters cooled down significantly though there were thresholds at which trains / trams (600V for trams) could pass at very restricted speed under driver discretion. Welcome, one and all, to Wetness-day Upon the Hill of Strawberries. Possibly the only day of the week in which no wetness is scheduled to be delivered but time will tell. Last night it poured for an hour or so. Other parts of the country received hail some of which was reported to be golf-ball in size and with consequent damage done. I was reminded of the Great Melbourne Christmas Day Hail Event of ten years ago. Two storm supercells collided over the northern and eastern suburbs. Hail the size of tennis balls was thrown violently down though most was "only" the size of a golf ball. Around 10,000 cars were written off totally in minutes and perhaps 25,000 more damaged but repairable. Every Christmas bbq and party was wrecked, outbuildings destroyed and homes left badly damaged. Tornado-winds and torrential rain added to the woes and damage with flooding, overhead electricity lines down and transport routes blocked including to emergency vehicles in some places. I sincerely hope no-one here has suffered losses from anything like this. Easily the worst storm I have lived through since the Great Storm of October 1987 in London and the south-east. We were lucky in that we lived on the southern edge of the outer suburbs and were some 30 - 50 kms from the worst weather.

The general public often think that we railway modellers are strange. I've come to the conclusion that they are the strange ones. Why? Because I am fed up with hearing them whingeing about the heat. These are the same people who pay a fortune to go on holiday to southern France, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Greece, Thailand and Australia. Yet when they get sunshine for free? I've been straightening an Ariel VB motorcycle frame with a dose of good old oxy-acetylene this morning, so going outside was cooling down. Make the most of it, even if you're working, it won't be long before it's chucking it down, cold, windy and depressing. Then they'll moan about that!

Well, as it happens this was the next shot. I confess that I really like the first one though. I know it breaks the rules, but it has impact, for me anyway.

Mornin' South Derbyshire grey which is good for my planned activities. Back later, stay safe, sane, well and hydrated.

I can certainly empathise with that. Many summer days (and a few nowhere near summer) in the Melbourne area were hazy from bushfire smoke Occasionally smoke would settle as fog does and give rise to an eerie earthy-yellow colour to the atmosphere. You wouldn’t see much. Grey-black fine ash would fall and cover everything. And the smell ….. burned bush smells dreadful. Stay-home warnings were one thing but when it’s smokey and 35C outside or stuffy and 30C inside it can be a tough call. Plus you don’t get time off work for a smoke-day.

Morning all, Today is been a very good day. This morning I got my drivers permit, to my joy or terror I don’t know. But, it gets better… I have finally fixed the Mogul! After several more days of careful fettling it has finally returned to full strength. Although the track is on a slide hill so it can’t run for as long as it could on a perfectly level one. It also didn’t hush oil everywhere this time, as I’m finally finding the correct amount of oil to put in the lubricator. My thanks to all who have helped the project. Douglas

Just to cool you off its 23C right now , nearly tea time here. Actually had some rain this morning, not a lot but more than the weather forecaster forecast. We'll take it! Brian.