The Night Mail

[jamie92208]

I thought that for a Hippo, any repair would have to be at least a Heavy General.

 

Jamie

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

A Heavy General is way beyond my pay scale.

 

However a Major overhaul would be appropriate.

[TheQ]

So  a flight lift tennant would be no good..

Edited February 1, 2021 by TheQ

[Happy Hippo]

42 minutes ago, TheQ said:

So  a flight lift tennant would be no good..

I have always wondered about the slight ludicrousness of RAF ranks.

 

I appreciate that similar to the Army, the ranks of Flying and Pilot Officer means that you'd not really trust them with a bag of marbles let alone a multi million dollar airframe.

 

A Flight Lieutenant, might be able to boss around the PO/FO types, but despite showing a great deal of professional competence is only allowed to help look after a flight.

 

Now, a Squadron Leader is allowed to command a flight, but not a Squadron as that's the job of a Wing commander.

 

A Wing Commander commands a squadron, but in the old days when we had loads of planes, he would not have commanded a wing of three or more Squadrons as that was the job of a Group Captain.

 

The ranks they hold allude to jobs they are not allowed to do on a permanent basis.

 

I always related the army officer structure as layers similar to a lavatory.

 

2Lt.             A grubby stain at the bottom of the bowl.

Lt.               What swims around in the water

Capt.          The water that cleans up the mess  a 2Lt and Lt leave behind

Maj.           The  clip on air freshener that tries desperately to hide that nasty smell.

Lt Col.        The seat of power

Col.            The seat cover which conveniently keeps a lid on things and hides the truth from those who look down from on high.

Brig.           The cistern whose action controls those below him.

Gen staff.  Usually dumps on you from a great height having previously  moved the Col out of the way, applied a great deal of   

                   pressure to the Lt Colonel, and then leaves having told the Brig to clean up the mess.  This is done by all the Captains

                   making the Subalterns get a move on.

 

                  Meanwhile, the Major just clings on to his position, smiles sweetly and does nothing else.

 

 

 

Edited February 1, 2021 by Happy Hippo

[TheQ]

45 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I have always wondered about the slight ludicrousness of RAF ranks.

 

I appreciate that similar to the Army, the ranks of Flying and Pilot Officer means that you'd not really trust them with a bag of marbles let alone a multi million dollar airframe.

 

A Flight Lieutenant, might be able to boss around the PO/FO types, but despite showing a great deal of professional competence is only allowed to help look after a flight.

 

Now, a Squadron Leader is allowed to command a flight, but not a Squadron as that's the job of a Wing commander.

 

A Wing Commander commands a squadron, but in the old days when we had loads of planes, he would not have commanded a wing of three or more Squadrons as that was the job of a Group Captain.

 

The ranks they hold allude to jobs they are not allowed to do on a permanent basis.

 

 

 

 

 

On the radar stations , you'd normally get a Flt Lt in charge of a engineering Shift, sometimes one of the lower forms of life. In later days a FO would be more common as they reduced numbers before they did away with them and the shifts were looked after by the Chief Technician..

There would be Electronic  and Mechanical Sqn Ldrs,

The Wing CO  was in charge of all technical facilities we had Eng wing and Ops wing,  Wing COs

Who of course reported to the CO..

There were similar arrangements of the radar operators side..

 

Mind you on one station I was on, the Flt Lt  was the CO, and could fly a flag on his car as CO.

but the Army Colonel on who's base  we lodged on, couldn't because he's not a flag officer.. Not happy ... You bet...

I didn't get to fly a flag when there was a Officers mess verses Sergeants mess games night and was left in charge of the radar station as a mere Corporal...

 

Edited February 1, 2021 by TheQ

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

A Wing Commander commands a squadron,

Aditi’s cousin was a Wing Commander in the Indian Airforce. He spent a lot of time at altitude but not in aircraft. His radar facility was high in the Himalayas looking towards China. 

Edited February 1, 2021 by Tony_S
Spelling

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

 

 

Mind you on one station I was on, the Flt Lt  was the CO, and could fly a flag on his car as CO.

but the Army Colonel on who's base  we lodged on, couldn't because he's not a flag officer.. Not happy ... You bet...

I didn't get to fly a flag when there was a Officers mess verses Sergeants mess games night and was left in charge of the radar station as a mere Corporal...

 

We did away with flags as they made vehicles of importance readily identifiable to hostiles.

 

The General staff (Brig upwards) did have Star plates on their vehicles but only a few were pompous enough to insist on their use.

 

One officer in the Special Forces Directorate with whom I'd been to JDSC with, declined a brand new Carlton staff car for his boss because he knew I was able to get him something far more interesting, even if it was slightly used. (The boss was delighted!)  I did also offer them an Austin Maxi, but they gracefully declined

 

Again a bright red plate with shiny stars on the front of a staff car makes for an excellent aiming point.

[polybear]

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I probably need a light intermediate overhaul.  Certainly the problem cough is now probably a top end issue.

 

 

We'll whip your head off and give you a decoke.....

[Happy Hippo]

Whilst out on the walk this afternoon, I passed some woman who was creating quite the fug with her cigarette habit.

 

Having inhaled some, I probably decoked myself with a pretty impressive coughing fit.

 

So impressive, I had to resort to the inhaler to get some relief.

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

Best get those new rings fitted....(leaves open for innuendo..._)

[jamie92208]

55 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Best get those new rings fitted....(leaves open for innuendo..._)

But makes sure you have your head skimmed before it's refitted.

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

Piston broke:

 

I drank all the whisky, Nyda went shopping.

[Oldddudders]

On 31/01/2021 at 09:30, NHY 581 said:

 

I get quite grumpy when we have pages of posts decrying various aspects of a newly announced model. 

People making point after point regarding the shape of this,  the position of that, the height of something or the width of some thing else. 

A new corker on the GT3 thread. A bloke who cheerfully says he's not buying one complains that it has the wrong sound file for the horns he can see fitted. Turns out the sound file has options for more than one horn noise....

 

Since my prostate op in 2015 - never a hint of cancer then or now, so no sympathy needed! - I have an annual check up with a urologist. I have a blood-test for PSA a few days before the consultation. Having examined me, he gives me a prescription for another PSA blood-test in 12 months time. I haven't been mad keen to go and see him this year, for reasons of Covid, obviously. Lo and behold, on the basis of last week's blood test he says no need to attend - and herewith next year's blood-test prescription. Such common sense!

[polybear]

2 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

A new corker on the GT3 thread. A bloke who cheerfully says he's not buying one complains that it has the wrong sound file for the horns he can see fitted. Turns out the sound file has options for more than one horn noise....

 

 

Bear did wonder how long it would be before the armchair experts started to rubbish every nut and bolt....

Shall we run a book on how long the thread lasts before AY has to lock it?

[Tony_S]

59 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Bear did wonder how long it would be before the armchair experts started to rubbish every nut and bolt....

Shall we run a book on how long the thread lasts before AY has to lock it?

If and when my Fell arrives I will photograph it with some Hornby 4 wheel generic coaches. Just to be irritating. 

[Tony_S]

I have been playing with trains today. The nieces locosto repair  arrived. The 0-4-0 Continental tank wasn’t too difficult.  The motor (Hornby Johnson can, never seen one before) needed the brush spring reseating and loads of crud removing from wheels. The Hymek was another story. If it didn’t have sentimental value to the nieces’ Dad I would junk it and buy the girls a newer replacement but parts are on order and it should be fun fixing it. 
 

[New Haven Neil]

Richard, did you see Mike Ousby has passed away?

 

 

[pH]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

 

Since my prostate op in 2015 - never a hint of cancer then or now, so no sympathy needed! - I have an annual check up with a urologist. I have a blood-test for PSA a few days before the consultation. Having examined me, he gives me a prescription for another PSA blood-test in 12 months time. I haven't been mad keen to go and see him this year, for reasons of Covid, obviously. Lo and behold, on the basis of last week's blood test he says no need to attend - and herewith next year's blood-test prescription. Such common sense!

I’ve had a very sensible phone consultation with my GP this morning. It was arranged in order to get a prescription renewed. He asked a few questions about the progress of the condition under the treatment so far and  checked where he should fax the prescription. Then we reviewed the results of blood work I had done last week, both of us looking at them online. Some of them a little out of range, but nothing changed significantly over the last two years, so no big concerns. He gave a tip about how to improve one of the readings. Then “I’m happy with all that. Anything else you want to talk about?” “No, I’m happy, too. I won’t take up any more of your time.” Followed by mutual exhortations to stay safe and goodbyes. Total time just under 5 minutes - my wife couldn’t believe it. 

[Happy Hippo]

5 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Richard, did you see Mike Ousby has passed away?

 

 

No, I hadn't.

 

Another of what I considered the old guard of 16 mm gone to that great garden railway in the sky.

[Happy Hippo]

23 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I have been playing with trains today. The nieces locosto repair  arrived. The 0-4-0 Continental tank wasn’t too difficult.  The motor (Hornby Johnson can, never seen one before) needed the brush spring reseating and loads of crud removing from wheels. The Hymek was another story. If it didn’t have sentimental value to the nieces’ Dad I would junk it and buy the girls a newer replacement but parts are on order and it should be fun fixing it. 
 

I believe the Hymek had the same of motor bogie as the Brush 2 A-1-A, albeit with a slightly shorter wheelbase.  The brush housing dropped over the top of the motor magnet and was made of a weird plastic, I say weird because it had a tendency to distort under heat.  This usually happened after my A-1-A had a spirited run of about 5 minutes hauling my entire collection of coaches (five of the heavy Dublo tinplate variety).  I must have replaced that Brush housing about five times.

 

I wasn't alone because Mr James*, of James and Lendon in Cardiff, had a box of these motor housings in his spare cupboard so it was a cycle ride to get a replacement.  I probably spent more in the repairs that the original cost of the loco!

 

* A smashing bloke, nothing was ever too much bother, and when I was doing a model railway project, he trusted me and lent me quite a bit of stuff from his own collection as well as some engineering bits and pieces from Whitchurch and District MES.  My dad went around afterwards and gave him a bottle of whisky.

[Happy Hippo]

Looking out of the window I see that February, which started so well yesterday, has reverted to type.

 

Grey skies and raining.

 

I had to get up extra early this morning in order to take one of the new pills the doctor has prescribed in the search for the cough source.

 

Reading the instructions on the box, last evening, I found that the pill(s) have to be taken in the morning, and then you have to wait between 30 to 60 minutes before any food consumption.  It was suggested that this also applied to tea or coffee.

 

So Bara Brith and Coffee Cake are definitely off the immediate action menu.

 

Only 35 minutes to go

Only 34 minutes and forty seconds to go

Only 34 minutes and 20 seconds to go

Only 33 minutes to go...

Edited February 2, 2021 by Happy Hippo

[Winslow Boy]

Its all in a good cause H. Stick with it.

[Happy Hippo]

I took another walk today, and avoided the smokers.

 

The breeze being in the right directio, carried the stench along in small enough quantity that it was not an issue as I took avoiding action.

 

What is interesting and annoying is the amount of litter being discarded, presumably from motor vehicles.  Disposable masks being very evident on the verges and in the gutters.

 

I despair of some people.

 

 

Perhaps when caught their offending rubbish ought to be pushed back into them with a ramrod via an appropriate orifice:

 

'But it's a pineapple!'

 

'Yes I know, now bend over.....................'

 

Edited February 2, 2021 by Happy Hippo

[simontaylor484]

Whats worse Hippo is spending time picking litter up then seeing some scrote throw some more down infront of you and being unable to do anything about it.

[jamie92208]

Mention has been made on TNM of the Shelf of Shame, namely the array of unbuilt and part built kits that most of us seem to have.  In most cases I guess that the shelf never seems to get any emptier.  Today I sorted out some wagon kits that I really ought to get sorted out and thought I'd take a photo of the aforesaid shelf, on in my case Shelves. Here are the top two shelves. the upper one is wagons and the lower one is locos. 

Not a very edifying sight.  There is another shelf below these two with coaches on it.

I also went hunting for a particular book and found this on another shelf. What it is or how it came to be in the shed is a complete mystery to me.

 

Come on then, I've shown you mine now you show me yours.

 

Jamie

 

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