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Night Owl from the Piedmont.

Saying you are gasping for a fag is somewhat eyebrow raising, and never ever say you are going out to smoke a fag.

And now the next video

A lot depends on for what the purpose of the kitchen is: many of the kitchen designs that I have seen (here, in the US, in the UK, and in Germany) are definitely first for impressing friends, relatives, and the neighbours, and second (and sometimes a very distant second) for cooking in. I recall one episode of the Grand Designs TV programme, where the people building this rather hideous looking, designed-to-win-architectural-awards new build home installed a £100,000 kitchen. Yes, you read it right: a £100,000 kitchen. For that sort of money, I could install a state of the art professional kitchen of a standard necessary in a Michelin starred kitchen and still have a big wodge of dosh left over (probably half, if not more). The latest wheeze is to have a video camera inside your “high tech“, all-singing, all-dancing oven which can send pictures of the oven contents to an app on your smart phone. Now, unless you are a witch with a regular habit of sticking small children into the oven (as in Hansel and Gretel), I see no point in such an undoubtably expensive bit of useless frippery. I might have mentioned that Mrs iD has finally persuaded me to move into a flat and we are currently looking at two possibilities: one, a garden apartment in a brand new building that will be built beginning of the summer (and ready for habitation early in 2025) and the other an existing penthouse apartment which is a few years old and needs refurbishment of the kitchen. Unfortunately, in both cases whilst Mrs iD is perfectly happy for me to install professional equipment where possible and feasible, she is dead set against having stainless steel drawers, cupboards and work surfaces. Why we “need“/“must have” veneered, painted or enamelled fronts in the kitchen is beyond me… Must be an XX chromosome thing…

Most of Venice is goodness-knows-how-many-hundred-years-old and all its buildings stand on wooden posts driven into the alluvial mud. Apparently any removed are as hard as stone.

TV and film makers do make a lot of effort to get things "right" with things like period clothing, so it's odd that a generic steam train often seems sufficient. I suspect it is often driven by what location is available. If you want to film a Southern station for four days in summer, Horsted Keynes might not be available because it's operating! I can even live with incorrect trains but what often jumps out at me is 21st Century language used by WW2-1960s era characters. There are a lot of terms common speech that have evolved only since availability of the Internet became commonplace within the last 20-25 years. More sensitively, TV dramas show a level of widespread liberal tolerance that I suspect wouldn't have been common in the era represented.

Make sure you check his luggage , hate for any of these to sneak in!

Although sea level rise in consequence of global warming is a greater existential threat to the city as a whole. So one might think it is a case of enjoying it while it's there.

Just sat by the lineside waiting for a train to go by...

I am led to believe that the greatest threat to the stability of Venice's buildings is the wake from cruise ships. Dave

And they support vast piles of stone architecture with apparently few problems to do with settlement - although the campanile of St Mark's did collapse in 1902. For that sort of money, you could employ a cook.

She doesn't know my wife does she....... does she? Dave

I replied “No dear… i am just off to bed”…..

Mrs Grizz was glancing over my shoulder as you typed this…. in a low ish flat tone she uttered these words….. “Mmmmm courageous….. …… ..Don’t get ANY ideas”…..…… ……

The Australian Dept Of Defence and BAE here have both swapped over from Skype to Teams on their unclass system just this month. The Classified network will probably stick with Skype for years yet given the time it takes to get software security-accredited on that.

For some reason Aditi says she really enjoys ironing. I don’t and I have tried to tell her that for most of my clothes the wrinkles will disappear with wear but she insists.

If mine ever saw it I'd be singing falsetto. Dave

£15 here. They changed to long poles a few years ago.

A few years ago, I had an opportunity to visit the real Dunkirk. At low tide, seeing the wrecks of the vessels still there in the sand all these years later and knowing we were standing in the place where so many died was very moving. It is such a serene, peaceful place now and there are a few good places to visit, which have been made into museums. Well worth a visit if anybody is interested in such things.

I remember years ago a piece in a preservation society mag - Ffestiniog I think - about placing and securing some very sturdy posts. The writer insisted that the problem many had was setting them in concrete instead of packed round with stones. I can see the logic; concrete is porous and if in very wet ground, will hold water long after the ground has drained. With stones, as the ground drains, the wood can dry out as well. There is the other advantage that it's probably easier to adjust the position (and re-pack with more stones if the hole starts to open out).

Not that rapidly - they've been doing it for decades!

Backstreet Boys ..

Goodnight all

And when he did he made it very obvious that they were loaned items. He has done it with Hattons Genesis coaches, Rails special editions and others. As someone else says he never scores them and obviously doesn't criticise them. Funny there is a bunch of guys on the Hornby Forum trying to shut him down because he gives Hornby products bad reviews. Interestingly the last couple I have watched have been very favorable to Hornby, so it shows how much they know.

Most of the parcels stock is done too. Large logo 47 455 waits time with the Euston to Holyhead vans. This is one of the few places you can take a photograph without highlighting how much work is required on the platforms!

My window cleaner does all my house for £5! He uses a ladder and is a lot cheaper than those who use the long poles. David

A little stock update. eBay had a 20% discount over the weekend so took the opportunity to do a little shopping and scored myself a Bachmann CCE set and Hornby Castle. The CCE set is self explanatory. I've bought it more for the coaches rather than the locos. I'll be splitting the set up! 😯 Coaches will be kept as is, likely sell the 43xx on and possibly model the Manor as one under light maintenance so maybe take the valve gear off and do some surgery so the smoke box door is modelled open 🤔 The Castle was advertised as Spares/Repairs. It looks like the previous owner sat on it and then made some questionable repairs with horrible glue and painted the rods brown? I'll be stealing the tender off it to pair with a Hornby Kidwelly Hall and renumbering to 4084 "Aberystwyth Castle". Strangely Hornby have never produced a Castle with the early inside cylinder block with a BR Late crest and only one (Kidwelly) with early emblem, which has a Hawksworth tender so not accurate for Aberystwyth Castle, hence the need for a doner. And yes, I know Castle's were too heavy for the Cambrian but having "Aberystwyth Castle" is an opportunity too good to miss!

😱......🤯......😵‍💫.......😤......😳......🙊🙉🙈 Scandalised she is!😊

Goodnight all.

You DIDN'T POST THAT, DID YOU!!! 🤣🤣 Fortunately, the Mrs doesn't see my ER thread/contributions, otherwise she'd be tracking you down sir! 😮

I've got one already. I call it the wife 😂. Dave

Bear's Tip of the Day..... If you want to make oodles and oodles of money then invent a machine that does all the ironing automatically.

Put a leg on each corner of the big book and you could use it as a coffee table.........

Quite! I'm afraid that Hornby are rapidly building themselves a reputation for half-baked gimmicks. Either don't bother with gimmicks - my much preferred option - or DO IT PROPERLY! It would seem that Hornby are convinced that there are masses of potential customers who will buy anything with a new 'feature' - prototypical or not. I do hope not! CJI.

Plus (as Puppers has noted) a lot of the traditional sellers have now long gone. Once upon a time I suspect many went to Woolworths for it. ION..... I'd arranged for Bear's Buddy to assist with pulling Harry the Honda out of the shed again in the morning (there's real scope for things going wrong) but it now seems that it's gonna rain instead. Oh Poo - I wanted to start work on getting Harry ready for sale. Saturday morning is now hoped for instead..... A local Window Cleaner visited Bear Towers earlier today as arranged to put a quote thru' the door - seven quid to do the front. That'll do - he also gave quotes to my next door neighbours each side (also as arranged by Bear) as well as Buddy over the road - I suspect that all will use him at those sort of prices; the last guy who called to ask if I'd be interested in having the windows cleaned wanted telephone numbers by comparison. It does seem that many Cleaners use those long pole jobbies to clean upper windows now, rather than ladders - 'Elf n' Sayfetee n' all that I suspect. I'd waffle on more - but there's a wedge of low calorie Triple Layer Choccy Cake (with choccy buttercream....) sitting next to Bear - and in need of urgent attention before a Marauding Hippo appears..... Bear gone.....

Indeed he has, right from the top. Queen Elizabeth II is known to have blocked a set of commemorative stamps because he was on one of them. At the Admiralty, Churchill wanted to name a battleship after him, but it was vetoed by the King. And at Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge (Cromwell’s Alma Mater), there is a painting of him which is hidden by curtains if a Royal visits the college. These facts were unknown to me until recently (as a relative novice on all things Monarchy), but Iain Dale’s recent Kings & Queens book (and accompanying podcast) is very good for giving succinct explanations of the life and legacy of each monarch. The quirk, of course, is that it includes both the Cromwells, despite them not being “monarchs”.

Hello chums and chumesses, Good progress was made regarding the 'styrene. I am all the way back to Dymented and all shaped and glued. A smidge to be completed tomorrow morning in the station yard area and the trackbed can be made good - perhaps @Barclay won't have to wait too long for his photo! I've also done the last 12 cranks on the skew bridge and just waiting for them to set fully before trimming and sanding back. Rivets are ordered and should be on their way soon. Tomorrow has become a 'Oi! Get yer 'air cut!' day so modelling time will be restricted in the afternoon, but I am hoping to get the baulks cut to size and start glueing the chairs in place in the next day or so. Bridge decorating will go hand-in-hand with the aforementioned. Quite chuffed really and despite the cold I got more done than anticipated. More tomorrow, Cheers, Philip

At least two. One series in 1903 and one on 1920 or so - I think the one i used is from the 1903 series; the 1920 series included a lot of 'foreign' wagons, reflecting the common user arrangements. The thing is, I've not found any publication that makes use of them - except for one that made its way into the Great Western's General Appendix.

More trains run, more images obtained, but not yet photoshopped. We do still have more of Silver Link though.

Hello Steve, The water was 2 part clear resin with a bit of blue and brown dye added. After it had fully cured, I then added the ripples by brushing gloss Modpodge and blowing on top to form the ripples through a straw.

Bear here..... Another day at the Hospice - I arrived to discover that some T0sser had "donated" a kid's bed (an Ikea jobbie - so left as a kit of parts) at the Warehouse Door - this is despite (a) signs asking people not to do this, and (b) both Furniture (and especially) Mattresses being on the Website No-No list 🤬. They'd even gone to the trouble to include all the screws etc. (neatly bagged up) so were obviously hoping we'd re-home it....yes we have - in the Commercial Bin, meaning more cost to dispose of it. Yep, Rant. There was only one Driver + Bear working on deliveries & collections today, so we had to get a bit of a wriggle on; eight shops visited in all, four of which are on the "long run". Not sure how many miles we did in all today - it must be 100-ish +. Another kind person had dumped a bluddy great desk (a pile of cr@p) round by the back door of one of the shops - along with a bluddy great (and old) flat screen TV as well (same person - or another?), all of which have been rained on too. Thanks a bunch, Ar5ehole(s) - we collected those and took them back to clog the Commercial Bin (one of three, in fact - all of which have to be emptied EVERY DAY) at the Warehouse even more.....more money wasted.....🤬🤬 We had Tea & Bikkies at this last shop on the a.m run; they had a customer come in a few days ago with a donation - he placed it just inside the doorway of the back room, whereupon he spotted the staff were having their tea break and the bikky tin was right in front of him. What does he do? Yep, helped himself to a bikky....and not just any 'ol bikky either - it was THE LAST Jammie Dodger 🤬🤬 Wottab'sterd - and to add insult to injury every single thing in his donation was cr@p and unsellable... When we left I nipped into the Sainsbury's almost opposite as I needed Bread - so I grabbed a couple of packets of J.D's and took them back for the Manageress in the Shop; she was more than a bit taken aback and rather pleased - Brownie Points earned methinks. They're always nice to us in that shop (as are all other shops) and offer us T & B every time, so fair's fair in This Bear's book. Donuts? Available - but Bear didn't scoff one, amazingly....there was still Bear's B/day cake left over so I had a wedge of that with my din dins instead.....😁 Even better, I still have a lump left over from last night and I suspect a close encounter with that is rapidly approaching...... Bear gone.... edit: I heard that one of the shop staff (the Manageress?) at one shop chased after a shoplifter a while back - and got a whack for her trouble. There really are some ar5eholes out there.

"Meet the new boss Same as the old boss" We Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who

'Todays Monsters'; only in some peoples opinions. Others have differing opinions. Has thus been and probably always shall be. Phil

Good evening, I don't know about the aerial weaponry in the later Dunkirk, but what stopped any belief in its authenticity was seeing green BR Mk.1s as the survivors journeyed back to London. The original (John Mills) B&W Dunkirk from the late '50s was far superior. Why is it that when railways are shown in movies (or on TV), very little thought seems to have been given to make sure they're 'accurate for period', or even place. James Bond, on his journey back from Istanbul in From Russia With Love, appears to be travelling overnight in an all-green train hauled by a Royal Scot! Shadowlands got it right, and Loughborough 'could have been' like Oxford in the film, especially as the locos were weathered. Regards, Tony.

To me there was nothing better than a Flying Brit in their final years, Crewe to Carlisle. Who needed film stars with actors like this, and you certainly heard their chime whistles !! Southbound at Springs Branch. Though we had a couple of quite welcome visitors from the far east (!!) at Wigan, a change from mucky old Black 5's and 8's . Final Brit through Wigan (Wallgate). We used to stand on "The Iron Bridge" and spit down the chimneys to try and put the fire out - never worked !! Brit15

First of the mk1's due tomorrow according to Rails.

Never had a black box and hopefully can continue to avoid it, but I hear some horror stories. I think many of them record the forces when braking is applied, but does not take into account the situation. I know that an emergency brake application (someone wandering into the road, cars pulling out etc) can penalise the drivers rating, even when the driver is not at fault. You could argue that the driver should be giving adequate braking distance, but most emergency brake applications I've made have been nothing to do with the distance between me and the car in front. I do feel there is a demonisation of people who enjoy driving. I like a spirited country drive as much as the rest, obeying speed limits and driving to the conditions of course (don't need to speed or drive like a knob to have fun). Driving shouldn't just be about getting places, it should still be an enjoyable hobby.

We always miss the old trains when they have gone, but I do feel we will not with the current ones, more like domestic appliances. Look at the love shown towards the last few HSTs.

The couplers will take NEM355 alternatives. Does NEM355 specify a distance from buffers? If so nobody seems to have told Tillig...... If you want your coaches to touch on the straight and stay coupled when running I would suggest you might want to invest in a Hunt coupler starter pack from West Hill Wagon Works and try the different lengths until you find a pairing that does the job. I now have magnetic couplings on all of my TT:120 stock (Hunt on the stuff that doesn't shunt and Dapol Easi-shunts on the stuff that does) and did a 2-day exhibition the other weekend without a single random uncoupling. There is still a little work to do adjusting the Easi-shunts as occasionally they refused to uncouple, but the Kadees on Burch Green have taken three shows to get working properly. No connection with Dapol or WHWW other than being a satisfied customer. Les