Castle Aching

[Compound2632]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

That would have to be in / Polish / Albainian/ Lithuainian/ Estonian / Romainian/ whatever ex communist country cheap labour they are using..

 

Slough.

[Edwardian]

4 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

it won’t be long before we read reports of how a paranoid individual has forged a Bluetooth link between his doorbell and a remotely controlled machine-gun, and accidentally reduced his wife to a twitching corpse.

 

 

 

"accidentally reduced his wife to a twitching corpse".  Sadly that's unlikely to reduce the sentencing tariff under our laws.  Still, worth a thought, and keep the ideas coming. 

[Nearholmer]

Crikey, that’s a bit dark!

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Slough.

 

1 minute ago, Nearholmer said:

Crikey, that’s a bit dark!

 

Sorry, yes. I'd just come back from doing a day of supply teaching in a secondary school there. Bouncing back now.

[Edwardian]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

Crikey, that’s a bit dark!

 

Easy for you to say, you've never met her.

 

[FoxUnpopuli]

2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Sorry, yes. I'd just come back from doing a day of supply teaching in a secondary school there. Bouncing back now.

 

Come friendly bombs, and all that. 

[cornamuse]

Enjoyed getting back in with all of this- 

 

been a break from modelling for a variety of reasons, but back on with some more pre-grouping, or rather never-grouped... a rather nice 16mm model of a Victorian bogie coach from the Ffestiniog - no idea where it will fit on any layouts currently owned...

 

so thank you for the kick in the pants to get me back working! 

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by cornamuse

[Donw]

On 07/02/2020 at 18:05, Compound2632 said:

 

 

Sorry, yes. I'd just come back from doing a day of supply teaching in a secondary school there. Bouncing back now.

 

Way back in 1969 I was friends with several teachers in a slough school. They had problems when the local bus company threatened to cease the school bus service after the kids peppered the bus with air rifles.

 

Don

[Annie]

On 08/02/2020 at 09:00, Edwardian said:

 

Easy for you to say, you've never met her.

 

The best thing I've found about ex's is that twenty years later you can look back and be glad you're still not with them.  As I said to my daughter recently, 'We're alive, we survived and we're happy, - and that's all that counts really.'

[Edwardian]

Yesterday was placid and calm.  The storm hit last night and was rattling the sashes all night.  Today is the Day That Never Dawned.  It's still raining and blowing a gale, but it's still dark and grey at 8am.

 

I wonder how my fellow parishioners are faring?

 

Clearly yesterday was the right day to have gone to Doncaster,  A good show.  

 

Our Regularity was there with Lydham Heath. It was a pleasure indeed to meet him finally. Once again I was reminded that S really seems to be the perfect scale.  If I ever have skill, world enough, and time to model something that needs to be hand-built throughout ...

 

 

More on the excellent Lydham Heath later, but first, courtesy of the indomitable ChrisF, who kindly hauled it from Bedford, and who is charm itself, I present, Achingham Gas Works. 

 

 

EDIT:  Well, it's now light enough to see outside, and I find that I am besieged.

 

Water is running, fast , down the lane to front of the house, under my gate and to the front door.  This has never happened before.

 

 

Meanwhile, at the back of the house, the beck has burst its bank and is pouring into the garden.  This has never happened before.

 

The pictures fail to capture the rate at which the water is gushing.

 

I do hope all Parishioners are safe and sound.

 

 

 

Edited February 9, 2020 by Edwardian

[Andy Kirkham]

There's nothing like a few Virol adverts for establishing period atmosphere

[Edwardian]

11 minutes ago, Andy Kirkham said:

There's nothing like a few Virol adverts for establishing period atmosphere

 

Virol. I am wondering whether to renew this faded sign.  The question is whether it is good for 1905?

 

I read that Virol was a by-product of the brewing industry, packed full of nutrients, malt, sugar, and vitamins such as riboflavin. Due to its concentrated nutritious content, Virol was been heavily marketed for anaemic girls, growing boys, and delicate children.

 

Well, it did exist in 1905:

 

1899 Virol was produced experimentally by Bovril, in their Old Street factory in London.

1900 The company was registered on 20 January, to take over the business of manufacturing and selling the food known as Virol.

1900s Demand grew and Bovril set up Virolas a separate company.

 

Can I find when those characteristic signs were first seen?

 

This sign is for sale ....

 

 

The seller describes it as the largest Virol sign he has seen, and gives the measurements as:

Height: 61cm (24.02in)

Width: 183cm (72.05in)

Depth: 1.8cm (0.71in)

He considers it to date from the 1920s.

 

So, were there similar signs in 1905? 

[Compound2632]

This calls for a happy hour or two looking through station photographs of known date. Mike Musson's Warwickshire Railways might be a good starting point. Photos c. 1905 are rarer than c. 1920 (when, in the West Midlands, W.L. Good was busy snapping away). Also, station photos are often taken from one platform end, looking along the platforms, so advertising is at an oblique angle.

[Nearholmer]

I’ve got the ‘street jewellery’ book, which I think might date the various versions of the sign - will look later.

 

Mostly wind here (!) - daughter has spent the past hour watching from the window as trees bend over and neighbouring cats fly past at head height.

[RedGemAlchemist]

2 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Mostly wind here (!)

Same here. We've had to rescue several of the neighbours' cats that have gotten stranded in trees and on roofs. 

[Compound2632]

Mostly very strong gusts here, with a smattering of rain - no low flying cats but it's not a day to be a red kite - I've not seen any of our half-dozen local pairs in the air though there was a great honking of geese earlier. A few years ago in a severe gale I saw a young swan was blown into the roof of a neighbouring house - killed outright, of course, with considerable damage to the tiles. I had the unpleasant task of informing the neighbours that they would find a dead swan in the hole in their roof.

 

I have visions of @Edwardian retreating upstairs, Piglet-like, as he becomes Entirely Surrounded By Water. Hope the shed is OK!

[Northroader]

My son reports from Brum that next doors mature tree has fallen over and crushed two cars, nothing dramatic here at all, the wood pigeon has just made a perfect two point landing. Re the Virol sign, does it have to be a like for like replacement? Pick something you know is the right era and go for that, an advertising lecturer said about the best adverts having simple “copy”, like the Virol, earlier ones tend to be fussier. Could miss T be involved, knock it out with fine pens, and a few coats of varnish on top?

[Nearholmer]

 Virol - the sign stayed the same throughout the duration of its use, with only the slogan under the lead name varying, and even that might have been multiple versions in parallel, rather than sequential. Date? Not pinned precisely.

[Edwardian]

Crikey, I hadn't thought of the Aching Shed.  I'd better venture out.

 

I lost internet connection a short while ago; high winds, snow, too much rain etc will do that to my tenuous connection. If I disappear ...

 

Two blokes just came round from the Council with sand bags.  I did not call them. It did not strike me that it might come to that, and I'm sure it won't  I think my neighbours must have called them as their front door is a lot lower, down some steps, but I cannot see this from the house. 

 

Yes, I am sitting upstairs, feeling somewhat Piglet-like. 

 

3 minutes ago, Northroader said:

Re the Virol sign, does it have to be a like for like replacement? Pick something you know is the right era and go for that, an advertising lecturer said about the best adverts having simple “copy”, like the Virol, earlier ones tend to be fussier. Could miss T be involved, knock it out with fine pens, and a few coats of varnish on top?

 

It does not need to be like for like, so, no doubt many options.  I simply find myself wanting to know. 

 

Here's a nice picture to cheer us up. 

 

 

 

[Hroth]

Sitrep10:55 hrs:

 

Strong winds, rain beating like hail on the windows. Windspeed (according to BBC weather app) gusting at 67mph.  As we're coastal, I feel justified in describing it as Beaufort strong/whole gale, force 9/10.

 

We're well drained. so no floods, but according to the BBC app, the storm is due to rage at this level, more or less, until the early hours of Wednesday morning...

 

Good luck to all!

 

I don't do Piglet, though I do a good Eeyor.  The corner of the field should be exceptionally boggy by now....

 

Cheered up by nice picture!  The gasworks looks good too.

 

Edited February 9, 2020 by Hroth
repetition eliminated

[Edwardian]

Well, I don't suppose Castle Aching has seen a flood like this since 1912

 

There is standing water in the Aching Shed, but the layout itself is unaffected. 

 

Water tears through the farm ...

 

 

Water is running down the path in front of the Aching Shed ...

 

 

And has just lapped over the threshold at one end.  No drama there....

 

 

That is not the problem.  Water has come in from the opposite, rear, wall and is pooling at one end.  About 30-50% of the floor is underwater, so far as I can judge, but very shallow.  Most stuff stored in there is on pallets, however, so I'm not concerned.

 

 

Here is the view from the door of the Aching Shed.  Dramatic though it is, as long as this keeps its distance, we'll be fine.  

 

 

 

 

[Annie]

Wow!  I definitely echo the hope that all the parishioners are safe.  We get other people's left over tropical storms through here during Autumn and Winter which can get a little hairy, but when I purchased the 1930's mine worker's cottage where I'm now living I checked that it was well above all known historic flood levels before buying so at least we don't have to worry about flooding.  The town's right on the edge of an ancient river plain so floods are always a possibility.  When the council guys put up the flood gates across the roads into town we know we are going to be really for it.

 

Very pleased to read that Castle Aching is safe above the water James.  Your photos very much show just how fierce that storm must've been.

[Edwardian]

18 minutes ago, Annie said:

Wow!  I definitely echo the hope that all the parishioners are safe.  We get other people's left over tropical storms through here during Autumn and Winter which can get a little hairy, but when I purchased the 1930's mine worker's cottage where I'm now living I checked that it was well above all known historic flood levels before buying so at least we don't have to worry about flooding.  The town's right on the edge of an ancient river plain so floods are always a possibility.  When the council guys put up the flood gates across the roads into town we know we are going to be really for it.

 

Very pleased to read that Castle Aching is safe above the water James.  Your photos very much show just how fierce that storm must've been.

 

Yes, it has given us plenty of drama.  Of course, weather can be far more extreme outside NW Europe, as you point out, and, unlike Australia, at least we're not on fire. We had hurricanes in the tropics, and this is nothing to them, a mere dirty squall.  The thing is that these conditions are extreme for here, and they have an impact accordingly.

 

Only model trains will be running at Doncaster today:

 

 

 

 

Edited February 9, 2020 by Edwardian

[Compound2632]

27 minutes ago, Annie said:

Your photos very much show just how fierce that storm must've been.

 

Is.

 

Whilst it's forecast to continue to be very blowy until late Monday down here in the Thames Valley, James has the full Ciara until Tuesday evening, though the rain should ease off.

Edited February 9, 2020 by Compound2632

[Skinnylinny]

17 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

Only model trains will be running at Doncaster today

It's heading that way up here too - Edinburgh Waverley station has just been closed to all non-ScotRail passengers (i.e. CrossCountry and LNER services), although fortunately I'll be travelling homewards from Glasgow on a ScotRail service. Just need to hope the Edinburgh-Glasgow direct route isn't affected due to the overhead lines being blown all over the place!