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That’s me in from work, was day off but they were desperate for someone to work a train to Manchester and back to nuneaton, had a result as my relief lives in winsford so I got off at crewe some 3 hours early one of those days yesterday, got knocked off the bike on the way to work, all ok though, no damage to me on my way to work the day previous I got a call from my dad telling me he was in hospital after being rushed in in an ambulance that morning, anyway yesterday I found out he is going to have to have surgery as he has caustic cirrhosis of the gall bladder as well as having an infection and being dehydrated, he doesn’t do things by halves! definitely not going to be working tonight as I’ve lots to do when I get up, collect my car from the MOT station, bike from its repair in Halfords, new phone from EE in town as well as packing for a few days away in the caravan from Sunday

Further south on the ECML today, from Stoke Bank to just south of Retford. Near Stoke Summit Class 254 HST up Feb 83 C5948 Great Ponton Class 47 down Nov 68 J1503 Grantham Class 254 Kings X to Newcastle and Class 114 to Nottngham in bay. June 80 J6969 Dry Doddington Class 254 up Feb 81 J7327 Eaton Lane Crossing Gamston Class 43 down 9th June 95 C20238 David

Morning, and what a windy (external only) one it is. 10c though, counts as 'not too bad'. A day of running about the rock beckons, two trips out, one to the Big City for my covid booster then later beyond to the far south and Ronaldsway airport with some friends who are risking a holiday. In between I have to investigate mobile phone deals, in the probably vain hope I can get a better deal - my use pattern has changed markedly since retirement. Lindt 90% chocolate is the only such thing I eat now, and only two squares. Sugar control. But it's good. Before my diabetes and radical change of diet I couldn't have even looked at 90% chocolate, never mind eaten it, it is amazing how my palate has changed. Nice to see Big Jim over here too,talking of diabetes!

As I mentioned earlier I decided to do “nottalot” today apart from this: It has been tested by me, TheBoss and our friend’s daughters next door and passed fit for human consumption.

Tony, I know how your brother feels. My father died in June 2005. Shortly before he passed I received a mailshot from Ffestiniog Travel about Xmas and New Year in Switzerland. I thought "S*d it, I'm doing this" and it was exactly what I needed. Chris

Greetings I resisted as long as I could but yesterday I capitulated. With but a week to go before the beginning of November the central heating is on. The laptop tells me that the current temperature is 5 degrees so perhaps it really is cold. Should conditions worsen I have plenty of sweaters - all kind and thoughtful presents - but if I wear more than one I start to resemble Michelin Man. In the privacy of my own home no-one will know this! Yesterday's news that direct flights to Morocco have been cancelled comes as no surprise. I had planned to spend two weeks and a lot of money in that country in November but I came to the view that the timing was wrong and decided to pull out. There was an element of cold feet in my decision. As time goes on I may yet think better of it and decide to explore Morocco. On a not unrelated topic I can't help wondering what factors may combine to ruin C*****mas in Switzerland for the second year running. Perhaps I should stop worrying until I hear from the travel company next week. Sadly my sub-conscious is taking no notice. Meanwhile I should do something about buying seasonal greetings cards. As yet I have seen none on sale but this could be because I have not been looking for them. A grand tour of the charity shops awaits. Oh goody. Best wishes to all Chris

An uneventful morning for this Bear - just odd dross jobs carried out. I did receive an email to say that the MRJ address I posted the cheque for the Austin FG to yesterday was in fact their old address - and there was no post forwarding . So a new cheque will be in the post this afternoon - to a different address; that's another 2nd Class stamp spent at great expense. I'm now left with trying to cancel the old cheque "just in case". Turdycurses. I also received an email from the supplier of Bear's intended new leccy blanket - they've been on to Herpes, sorry Hermes and it seems that it was delivered to a house 2.79Km away - though they didn't say where. Double Turdycurses. Bear has opted for the order to be re-sent. And then there was the phone call to the Docs.... They did indeed have a blood test form for Bear to collect (I apparently have some tests that were out of limits last time, so Doc wanted them repeated after a suitable delay. Only this time the form is from a different Health Authority(?) and so Bear can't use the normal - and very convenient - usual clinic for the blood sucking; mention of blood tests being done at the GP's has now back-pedalled to the "Elderly and Clinically Vunerable". Triple Turdycurses, with a cherry on top. Yep, that's a Rant.

Just to prove that I do know what an O4/8 looks like.............. 63688 on Retford GC shed in March 1958. It looks ex-works, so for Retford's period (1957) a model of it would probably have the older BR device (and be dirty). There are at least two O4/8s in this picture of Retford shed on a Sunday morning in the early '60s. Fortunately, for the model of Retford, this is east of Thrumpton crossing (which is the eastward extent of Retford). Just think how much bigger the model would have to be to incorporate this scene! I think this is the site of a housing estate today. My own O4/8......... 40+ years old now and still going strong. It has K's frames, footplate and tender from the firm's O4, on to which I've scratch-built a boiler and cab. The fittings are Jamieson. Seriously-flawed, it suits as a layout loco; just! With CLUMBER being mentioned earlier......... Here's a shot of her at home (March) in the spring of 1958; the year in which I saw her the most. One mistake I made on my model was to not add the extra washout plugs to make her into a B17/6; something catered for in Hornby's RTR range. Please observe copyright restrictions on the prototype pictures.

Good morning everyone Today I should have been walking down the road to our local hospital for my pre-op assessment, but a phone call yesterday informed me that this has been rescheduled, I now have to go to Wythenshaw Hospital instead, so I’ll need to set off in the next 5 minutes or so. Parking can be an issue at times, but during my last few visits, I’ve been lucky enough to find one vacant. Oh well, time to go, back later. Brian

Good morning all, Dry here but it's a lot cooler at 5°C. A breezy, mainly dry and bright day forecast with the chance of some showers later. We've had the heating on first thing for the last few days just to take the chill off the house followed by a shorter period in the evening. We don't seem to need it on for long and the house is staying warm for ages so hopefully that's the new top up loft insulation doing its job. Late up this morning but at the least The Boss got up first and brought me up a cuppa. Now trying to decide what to have for breakfast and then need to decide what I'm doing today. If the past few days are anything to go by that would be nottalot although visiting The Shed is a distinct possibility. Have a good one, Lazy s#d of Sutton.

The Fleet Air Arm museum at Yeovilton has a set up of a simulated control room in a aircraft carrier, with 'live action' things going on - smoke effects, 'fire' etc - on the back wall is a big button with an arrow marked....you guessed, 'do not press'. I stood with my back to it with a finger on the button, waited for the climax of the action, and pressed it. A really loud 'arooogaa' siren. Great result, although there were several heart attacks......

Well that was going to be my last night of the trafford park job but I got a ‘can you just’ call to see if I could work it again last night, had a bit of a result as my relief lives in winsford so I got off in crewe instead of nuneaton and was finished and in bed some 3 hours early! anyway to the pics, nice moon last night so a couple from trafford park and away it went from crewe next job is the RHTT on Saturday then an IM job Monday night derby to banbury with a class 37 and Iport on Friday as I’m going to the caravan for a few days rest

I am not having an early night. Aditi needs to do something via email that she used to do all the time at work using Outlook. Microsoft mail (as part of Windows) doesn’t seem to do what she wanted so I reminded her she did have Outlook on her PC (and her Mac). However it wouldn’t work. I remember it was a bit of a pain getting it working on the pc I bought earlier this year but unfortunately I couldn’t remember what I had done! Whatever I did tonight worked eventually. I wish I knew why though.

Evening all. Another Bachmann 08 has joined the expanding diseasal collection. Bought from that auction site for a reasonable price it came with an advisory of a detached window. It was also noisy on running but a strip of the gears and a thorough clean to remove a copious amount of what looked like automotive grease, has produced a much quieter loco. Very smooth with good slow running. It is, incidentally, the Mk2 with pick ups bearing on the backs of the wheels. The cab was removed, glazing reattached and then all was reassembled. And there we have it. Pleased Sheep.

I know my brother is looking for somewhere to go. His wife died earlier this year and the last two Christmas holidays he spent caring for her when she was very unwell. He really doesn’t want to be anywhere near home this year. He is thinking of Tenerife. He isn’t restricted to places with interesting trains though for his holiday.

Jamie, I fear that this does mean down the pan, again. I am grateful - I think! - to my fellow traveller John for the tip-off and await the official news, due on Tuesday, that the trip is cancelled. I have already spent some time on the interweb looking at possible alternatives but something tells me that I will not exactly be spoilt for choice. Whatever else happens, I do not want the sort of carp Xmas that I had last year. Chris

Most of it seems to just be a brownish liquid chemically synthesized in Northampton with a percentage of alcohol added.

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple Hare, A magnificent 8 hours sleep, 6 hours plus 2 hours, this no back pain thing is wonderful. That being said we're off to the the big bad city of Norwich. Pounding the streets might be a bit different. Ben the I want out Collie was overjoyed to find it sunny out there, he had good charge around, then a good snuffle.. During this I had a good peer at the far reaches of the garden as yet unmowed, since the mower decided to work. A row of climbing roses along with brambles and other undergrowth needs severely cutting back first.. Clear skies, windy, chilly, still puddles from overnight rain. Shortly Ben will get an extra stroll before we depart but first.. Time for a muggacoffee..

56xx crossing the viaduct. With three birds in a attendance!

Ey up! Work clothes are ready. Proper face mask..ready Building site gloves..ready Refectory shoes ..ready Yep, time to go and put our exhibition rogether. Problem is, after two tears can we remember what to do? But first.. mugatea to be drunk and breakfast to be made and eaten! Enjoy your day if you can! Baz

Good afternoon John, Mine (assuming CLUMBER) has the earlier BR device, so the lion faces (correctly) in the direction of travel both sides of the tender, it not being subject to the tenets of Heraldry. Since Retford's period is 1957, it might well be right, though it could just as well be wrong. The reason I asked Geoff Haynes to apply the earlier device was because I first saw CLUMBER in 1955, near Kiveton Park (my brother and I were tiddler fishing alongside the adjacent Chesterfield Canal with a favourite uncle). It would definitely have still had the earlier BR device then. It raises the question (in a way, at least to me) as to how 'accurate' we should make our models; accurate to within a very tight timescale - even just a day? My motivation for making my models is entirely self-indulgent; they're recreations of what I saw as a trainspotter from the mid-'50s up until the early '60s. Thus, several locos have the earlier BR device, while many (most?) have the later one. Some even have electric warning flashes (no earlier than 1961) because that's how I saw them - KINGFISHER, for instance, or SILVER LINK and MALLARD, during the last summer of steam haulage of 'The Elizabethan'. How this squares with Little Bytham's main line depiction of the summer of 1958 is a matter of 'conscience', but since all three were built for Stoke Summit (which had a more-fluid timescale) I'm certainly not going to scratch-off the flashes and spoil Ian Rathbone's superb painting. If visitors are 'outraged' by this, then that's up to them. I'm also quite happy to have the prototype DELTIC blasting round, even though it didn't come to the ECML until 1959. Thus, do the following images render Little Bytham far too inaccurate? By the time 60014 received her electric flashes (April '61), Little Bytham Station had been demolished. The same would have been so for 60024. Eric Kidd's 60024 (left) is more accurate for the summer of 1958, even down to the black background to the nameplate. Actually, this rendition of 60022 is even more 'inaccurate', since it's representative of the last year of her BR life (1962/'63), running with a streamlined corridor tender (complete with lower strip). In 1961, MALLARD towed a 1928-type corridor tender. And, there's no way I'm not going to run the prototype DELTIC, especially since it's been expertly weathered by Geoff Haynes. Comments appreciated (by all), please. Regards, Tony.

Afternoon Awl, 5 and bit hours traipsing around the big bad city, undercarriage now a bit tired and joints painful. I think part of the problem is I wear heavy thick soled boots for work, rigger boots for gardening, So the only shoes I have are thin soled formals which are not enough protection from the hard streets. The boots will see me out till I retire, then I'll get some thick soled walking shoes.. Lots of books bought, only one with some reference to this forum. The others were on local history to this wind blown place. Surprisingly this second hand book shop, which doesn't normally have parallel bits of metal books had a huge selection. However most were of a line associated with a designer of a duck.. so no good for my interests. Mask wearing , 75% wearing them in shops and the mall, 10% wearing them in the busy streets. In M&S a woman in front of me goes to till with walking toddler, , all clothes and boots for toddler, sparkly skirt, Ugg style boots , a couple of T Shirt tops in many colours.. £88. How much!!!! Ben the I want out Collie, took me for a walk, with a sore undercarriage and some threatening heavy black clouds whizzing past, he didn't get a long one.. Two blue envelopes waiting for us when we got home.. booster jabs? No flu! Why we got letters from NHS Bristol instead of the normal letter from the surgery I have no idea.. Oh and I picked up an MRJ, I too need to send a cheque.. Time for .. an eyelid inspection..

Its that shabby B1 again, a little further on its way to Grantham. It will need to get a move on through the double track bottleneck the other side of Spital Bridge in order to get on to the slow line , where it belongs, and out of the way of the evening expresses.

Good morning. The chickens are out and coffee is being drunk. It rained quite a bit yesterday . Nice to see Big Jim popping in, i hopevthat your father improves, we have a friend with similar problems and after an anxious few days he seems to be getting better. The ironing, with the new iron, was finished yesterday. Musical anaesthetic, was High Tide Green Grass by the Strolling Bones. Some excellent tracks and the volume got pumped up for some of them. In the afternoon my mate Andy came over and we spent a few hours testing the layout and then running some objects round the tracks. A good way to spend some time. Not sure what today will bring but hedge cutting and collecting a bale of straw sounds like a plan. Chrisf, I hope that your travel plans don't go down the pan. We are watching the UK figures rather anxiously. Jamie

You're risking it, there's a Bear that will looking for extra grub to see him through hibernation

Afternoon All Move is going to take a bit longer than expected for various legal reasons. Hence the delay in posting here. Apologies and of course, the warmest of generic greetings are on offer from this quarter. I am still wearing a mask in shops, malls, and when the street is busy - but I have had to pay for every one - Lidl do two cloth masks for £1.99, and they wash up well - we've got about 20 now. Boxing up continues as we gather up all the bits - it was pretty gut wrenching to box every loco in my collection - and yes, I found every box except for the one for my Fowler 3F tank - then I realised that I bought it unboxed at half price because the box was damaged beyond saving, and I had to put it in another Bachmann box. Not a lot more to add today. Regards to All Stewart ps I just got my mail (at 5.05), and another letter from Barclays saying that yet another branch Ihat I use is closing - this time it's Kirkby Lonsdale, which will then be left with one open part time branch of Nat West (for how much longer is anybody's guess). That will be three out of the six branches that I use closed - Morecambe, Lancaster Uni, and Kirkby Lonsdale - how much longer Carnforth or Garstang stay open, who knows.

Afternoon All! Puppers has been low profile for a couple of days. I've been on a secret mission visiting Emsworth on the South Coast (very close to @Andrew P country I believe). It's a very nice place and we've been visiting the area reasonably regularly for over 40 years although Covid and more recently the lack of vehicle "Go Juice" has scuppered plans numerous times over recent months. I have to say the M25 coming back to Puppershire this morning was absolutely Gold Fish! 40 mph limit from the A3 to pretty much the M40 although getting to 40 and staying there for any length of time would have been good! Still, 'tis done now. True but to be entirely fair, around here, the bods that plant these signs clearly have had no training on their deployment and appear not to have the faintest comprehension of how to place informative signs in safe places. As an example, recently there were "Road Closed" signs in place for over a month They were placed in the road on the exit of a very tight 90 degree bend that formed part of a T junction. The road they were placed in was not closed; the signs related to the High Street of the next village some 2 miles away. Before you get to that particular road there are two further junctions with two roads going to other villages both of which form part of suitable diversions (none were sign posted). It was only by engaging "Fxxk It" mode was one able to discover both of the routes I regularly use were in fact open and completely free for traffic. Also, as I alluded to, the positioning of the signs was just plain dangerous for cars using the already very dangerous, blind junction from all directions. Don't get me started on these idiots ....... As the old saying goes; Coleman didn't get rich from the mustard you ate but he did get rich from the mustard you left on your plate. I do like a good helping of English Mustard but I'd have to disagree with Flavio. The correct condiment for a proper beef sandwich HAS TO BE a really good, strong Horseradish Sauce - Ummm, yummy! Come to think of it, a proper beef sandwich would go down nicely even if it is 3:20 in the afternoon but perhaps I'll have to make do with a biscuit! Alan

Back in the '70s when I was on an F4 Squadron in Germany, we loaned one of our aircraft to a recce squadron on another base. When it was returned there was an additional switch on a small panel atop the cockpit coaming with a red light alongside it and a label saying NORMAL and ON. The switch was in the NORMAL position. There was no mention of what it was for so we assumed that it was something to do with the recce pods that the other lot had been using. Naturally, though, everyone who flew it tried turning the switch to ON, whereupon the red light came on so it was hastily returned to NORMAL but without, it seemed, any untoward effect. After about a week one of the engineers came up and asked who had been turning the switch to NORMAL and was met with a chorus of, "Not me," and similar so he said,, "Well it's obvious some of you have as the battery has been used." Battery, what battery? It turned out that the whole thing was a set-up by the engineers of both squadrons to see what would happen and all it consisted of was a switch, battery and red light in a little box fitted onto the coaming. Our engineer then grinned and shook his head, saying, "Bl**dy aircrew," and walked out. The next day the switch had gone. Dave

Great. That's another £4k I didn't want to save. I would have been quite happy to wait till next week to hear that. Chris

I think Douglas Adams has the appropriate quote for the whole government. "A bunch of mindless jerks who'll be first against the wall when the revolution comes". My opinion is that he is a hoofw^nking sh^tweasel bunglec^nt of the highest order. That's not a political statement but a personal opinion of a rather questionable objectional individual. Moaning all from the boring borough. TFIF. Another fun filled day of playing Whack-a-Mole with various client issues. <sigh> Yesterday was spent filling in various passenger locator forms for the Belgian government and booking a series of daily covid tests through the Dutch government's testen voor toegang site. I thought I'd be clever and do it all without translating the page. Just managed it. <smug mode> My next trick will be to try and find the travel insurance email so I can print out the bar code page, just in case. PSL at the ready. Time for work. Enjoy the weekend.

Hope all goes well with the exhibition - but when our show was cancelled, although we were upset, I don't remember crying about it

We had plenty of them a couple of weeks ago when the Snake Pass was on its two week annual closure for roadworks. Past the sign saying Snake Pass closed one mile ahead, past the matrix sign with flashing lights saying Snake Pass Closed, then past the big red sign saying Road Ahead Closed. Finally arriving at a big red sign saying Road Closed and a line of cones. The contractors got fed up of motorists moving the cones and going through so after a couple of days parked a Transit pickup blocking half of the road to turn back anyone who wasn't connected with the three buildings between the signs and the blockage point. We saw four turned back in five minutes during our morning walk last Friday.

CBA to do almost all Coaches as the Gangway Connectors cover the NEMs fitted to almost all Coaches and even the older huge things on the Baccy earlier Bulleids. However, the Devil's, rhyme with c##t, magnets are good for lighter, kit built Wagons and Vans such as my Blubber of Walruses and Shoal of Tunny and Ling, (ex Chivers) shown here, below. They have to be weighted though to prevent 'drag off' on curves so long rakes would be a waste of time. I am just experimenting with them as they are so easy to couple/uncouple for chucking on/whipping off the layout. I might do a couple of coaches that need dumping off a 'Set' at SJ for going off down the Branch. That means no ugly NEM sticking out the back of the Set and front and rear of the Coaches for dumping. The Train involved is highly likely to be a 'fixed Set' of which I have decided to have several. (Ar$£, I have just noticed the NEMthing at the front of the N.....pah!) The Concrete Wagons, (Cambrian) front bottom left, have also now had them fitted. The Van actually has 3 Links and they are in use here; think it might be a Ratio, but I inherited it. The 'Concrete' is one of these: Sort of like this actual example: The Brake van is an old Hornby jobby that was converted to a Track Cleaner using a small kit (Dave Franks?) Please excuse the 'non gender specific' land track area' in the front of the second pic, as I couldn't trim it any further on my Phone or PC when downloaded. To help folk recover I have included this: It now is 7311 (Modelmaster Plates...V.G.) and has Lamps appropriate for hauling the Devonian on diversion, Dec 1960. It needs covering in filth as we must have a filthy Mogul must we not ANTBers? I like the Engine, despite the Weird Chimney. Cap'n K will go bonkers seeing this. All good fun, but pure procrastination. P

TB and WB I have thought about that but by the time he fights his way round the Friday PM traffic on the M25 there won’t even be any crumbs left!

Aditi’s sister and her husband are going to Switzerland in November. I can’t imagine having to get a Swiss Covid pass is going to be any problem for them. They are flying to Zurich, not travelling overland. They won’t be staying in a hotel which I suppose helps. However I suspect British residents could face restrictions again in many countries. If I were a foreign government looking at the percentage of new cases of Covid 19 worldwide that are from the UK I would be looking to restrict movement from here.

Very simply, the Church used the Julian Calendar for all purposes from at least the Council of Nicea in 325 and in particular in the calculation of the date of Easter. Along with use of the Julian Calendar came the Latin names for the months; the clergy were the only people doing any writing, in either Latin or English, in Britain in the 7th - 8th centuries. I believe that the Latin names of the months pre-dated the Julian Calendar anyway, with the exception of July and August. Julius Ceasar's object in reforming the calendar was to put a stop to an abuse by the elected Consuls. The pre-Julian Roman calendar had a year of only 355 days, with an extra month inserted as required to keep it roughly aligned with the solar year. The Consuls were responsible for decreeing the insertion of this extra month and were regularly doing so purely to extend their terms of office. An oddity with the Gregorian Calendar is that it did not make a full correction to the Julian Calendar; the decision taken in 1582, was not to correct the calendar to its starting point in 45 BC but rather to where it had been at the Council of Nicea in 325, when the spring equinox had been on 21 March. If a full correction had been made, the spring equinox would have been on 25 March, Lady Day (vide Tolkien again), and Christmas Day would fall on the shortest day of the year (in the northern hemisphere), the old Roman Saturnalia.

Today's offering (I've skipped Dinnington Colliery as virtually the same view has already been provided). East Holmes 08/06/1999 (different view to those provided by Johnw1 on page 1 and Poor Old Bruce on page 15). Ecclesfield 20/04/1998 Falsgrave (Scarborough) 11/11/1996 (different view to that posted by Poor Old Bruce on page 15).

Lucy joined me for breakfast this morning

Ay, there’s the rub (to be Shakespearean for a moment). Being canny traders, the Swiss chocolatiers provide specific country tailored chocolates to each of their export markets. In other words, “Swiss“ chocolate sold in America has been formulated for American tastes. Not that this is anything new. The majority of foodstuffs that are sold internationally are tweaked for local markets, I think a good example is beer: many brands of beer available in the UK bear little resemblance to the same beer produced and drunk in the beer’s home country. I really like Colemans mustard (especially on a roast beef sandwich) and whilst I stock up on Colemans ready-made mustard when I’m in the UK, I can also get it here in Switzerland; the problem is that the mustard I buy in the UK packs a punch, the supposedly “same” mustard bought here in Switzerland barely has enough strength to exit the tube! (The Swiss are not noted for the love of fiery condiments). I can understand why companies tailor their products to the local market (after all they insist to sell things and make a profit), but it is frustrating to buy something “exotic” or “foreign” hoping for an “authentic“ taste experience only to be fobbed off with stuff no different than that available from local producers (and pay a premium price to boot)

The official term is "Super shot". I don't know why, but there are two degrees of the medicine. As older types, we always get the super.

Can you let me know first, just in case they are connected to here. TIA Andy

A lull in traffic on the Up allows a J50 to bring a trip working from South yard to New England.

I had an interesting afternoon. Aditi’s brother rang and asked if we knew our landline was faulty. We didn’t but I checked and although we had a dial tone we couldn’t ring out and ringing in gave a “temporarily out of order” message. I did try the text and network fault check/report but they both ended up saying no fault found and to telephone BT. I did so and after a 20 minute queue got through to a very helpful human who booked an engineer for me and she also set up a call divert to my mobile. It was confirmed that there was no fault at the exchange. Our broadband was still working. I had a look at the master socket and it didn’t look as if it was quite as flush to the back box as it should be. I loosened the screws and pushed it and retightened them and all was well. I cancelled the engineer.

4 of us have tested but second photo was taken after 2 portions only Now only half a cake left!

Ah if only! I noted sometime ago that there's a classic bike dealer in Southbourne, I really must visit it some time

Agreed. Though České Budějovice is the place we've come closest to being mugged on holiday - the local sharps trying to crowd round my other half for her handback as we made our way out of the principal beer hall. Fortunately a good shout of "what's going on here" (in English, my Czech's not that good*) and they melted away - presumably not wanting any trouble from the management upsetting a steady line of business. *Bounces, in fact.

A dull grey day here. Apparently there is something the meteorologists breathlessly call a "bomb cyclone"* off shore. It will bring rain this evening, but unlike the Columbus Day Storm of 1962, it won't visit us directly in Portland, travelling rather to southern Alaska/British Columbia, and presumably north of Vancouver. * A low pressure system where barometric pressures drop rapidly - 24mbar over 24 hours (extra-tropical Explosive cyclogenesis) Having gone out to fetch the mail I was surprised to note that we hit 18°C. It didn't look like it would be that 'warm'. Some devices (like my 'phone) suggest we hit 21°C. It is supposed to rain a lot over the next three days.