The Night Mail

[simontaylor484]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Have you not tried the line "I'll be in Hobbycraft/Insert other suitable Emporium etc." - come and find me when you're done...."  ?

 

 

Where is the do not try this at home button when you need one 

[SM42]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Have you not tried the line "I'll be in Hobbycraft/Insert other suitable Emporium etc." - come and find me when you're done...."  ?

 

 

 

The only problem I have with this strategy is that I have yet to find an emporium that will have enough stock to entertain, amuse and tempt me in the time available before collection

Even the cafe doesn't have enough cake 

 

Andy

[TheQ]

In Norwich at one time the Gentlemans Underwear section of M&S was in the entranceway to the cafe, I'm just going to get some underwear dear... 

[rockershovel]

M&S had a long standing policy of putting men's wear in those parts of the store where men were likely to go - just inside the door, or by the tea shop.

Edited October 8, 2021 by rockershovel

[Northmoor]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Alistair Cooke's Letters From America were, in my opinion, some of the finest pieces of journalism ever produced - informative and thought provoking without being strident, opinionated or echoing the prejudices of Cooke himself or of others. His book Alistair Cooke's America is similarly presented and even now, getting on for fifty years after publication, is still a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the history and development of the USA. Oh that journalists of his stature were not so vanishingly rare today.

 

Dave

An old friend of mine shared my appreciation of BBC Radio 4 and summed up its excellence very well.  He said R4 broadcasts the type of programmes that if they were on BBC Television, would win awards.  The TV channels show them a few times a year, R4 broadcasts them almost every single day.

The BBC certainly has its faults, but having seen and heard the broadcasting in other parts of the world, I understand why the BBC's output is the envy of most of it.

[PhilJ W]

41 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

M&S had a long standing policy of putting men's wear in those parts of the store where men were likely to go - just inside the door, or by the tea shop.

I wish Tesco's would have the same policy. In my local Tesco you have to negotiate the under fives clothing section.

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, rockershovel said:

M&S had a long standing policy of putting men's wear in those parts of the store where men were likely to go - just inside the door, or by the tea shop.

There are usually some chsirs outside the fitting rooms in M&S's womens underwear department.  Obviously put there for mere males. You can get some very strange looks.  However for me one of the most amusi g such episodes was in a haberdashery shop.  I was trying to get some material with hexagonal weave to cover the rooves of my EMU's to represent chicken wire.  The basement was full of soon to be brides and their strezzed out mum's choosing stuff for wedding dressex. You could feel the  enom and also hear the hisxi g, whilst I explained what I wanted to the assistant. I even had a wooden roof to show.  I got what I wanted, bridal veil material, 50p for a square yard.  The assistant thought it was very amusi g, as did I.

 

Jamie

[laurenceb]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Have you not tried the line "I'll be in Hobbycraft/Insert other suitable Emporium etc." - come and find me when you're done...."  ?

 

 

Me thinks that the fact that he's posting answers that question

[Dave Hunt]

After yesterday's disappointment at Hobbycraft I set off this morning to my 'local' model shop in Whitchurch only to find that it has closed down. I was in there a couple of months ago chatting to the owner and he seemed quite upbeat about things so I assume that something untoward has happened, which is a damned shame as it was a good shop. I'm now unable to find a model shop, as opposed to a toy shop or games outlet etc., within any reasonable distance of me. Bu**er!

 

Dave

[rockershovel]

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

An old friend of mine shared my appreciation of BBC Radio 4 and summed up its excellence very well.  He said R4 broadcasts the type of programmes that if they were on BBC Television, would win awards.  The TV channels show them a few times a year, R4 broadcasts them almost every single day.

The BBC certainly has its faults, but having seen and heard the broadcasting in other parts of the world, I understand why the BBC's output is the envy of most of it.

Until recently, I would have agreed - but times change. R4 has sunk into, as Orwell once described it "a tilting-yard for rival gangs of post-apocalyptic poets" with a side-order of those abysmally unfunny "stand-ups" which the BBC has in such abundance. It can only be a matter of time before Sue Perkins takes the chair of ISIHAC and I won't listen to it at all. 

[rockershovel]

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

An old friend of mine shared my appreciation of BBC Radio 4 and summed up its excellence very well.  He said R4 broadcasts the type of programmes that if they were on BBC Television, would win awards.  The TV channels show them a few times a year, R4 broadcasts them almost every single day.

The BBC certainly has its faults, but having seen and heard the broadcasting in other parts of the world, I understand why the BBC's output is the envy of most of it.

One thing which I did notice during my last stint in Baku (2012-15) was that British expats appear to have completely abandoned the World Service, or its modern incarnation. This was around the time I suddenly realised that I had been watching Premiership rugby on Al-Jazeera...

[SM42]

38 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

After yesterday's disappointment at Hobbycraft I set off this morning to my 'local' model shop in Whitchurch only to find that it has closed down. I was in there a couple of months ago chatting to the owner and he seemed quite upbeat about things so I assume that something untoward has happened, which is a damned shame as it was a good shop. I'm now unable to find a model shop, as opposed to a toy shop or games outlet etc., within any reasonable distance of me. Bu**er!

 

Dave

 

It seems from their website that they retired at the end of May. 

According to the local paper, Covid lockdown appears to have made them change their priorities in life. 

Something I suspect many of us have done.

 

Such a shame that another useful supplier has closed nonetheless.

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

After yesterday's disappointment at Hobbycraft I set off this morning to my 'local' model shop in Whitchurch only to find that it has closed down. I was in there a couple of months ago chatting to the owner and he seemed quite upbeat about things so I assume that something untoward has happened, which is a damned shame as it was a good shop. I'm now unable to find a model shop, as opposed to a toy shop or games outlet etc., within any reasonable distance of me. Bu**er!

 

Dave

Topp Trains of Stafford is now probably your nearest.

 

https://www.topptrains.co.uk/

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

I got what I wanted, bridal veil material, 50p for a square yard.  The assistant thought it was very amusi g, as did I.

A very very long time ago we were in the well known department store “Bodgers of Ilford”. Aditi asked the man in the fabric department if he had plain cheesecloth. He asked what was it for and after Aditi said it was for making cheese he got very irritated and told her there was no need to be sarcastic. She patiently explained it really was for making cheese. 

[polybear]

5 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Especially the lingerie section.  I prefer to sit quietly in the corner...

 

And dream.....or should that be lech?

[Happy Hippo]

20 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

And dream.....or should that be lech?

It depends what Dave and I are looking at at the time.

[AndyID]

I turned on the oven in our electric cooker last week and about five minutes later there was a "ppwfffizz" noise. Sure enough a spot on the element was glowing emitting sparks. Pretty ridiculous really as its only 26 years old. Don't they make anything that lasts these days? 

 

I thought I might be able to buy a replacement element in town but no such luck so I had to send for one. I was in a bit of a rush and the one I ordered was the right shape and size. It arrived yesterday but the connections were all wrong!

 

This time I managed to find the manual and ordered against the cooker model number. I'll return the wrong one for free. Unfortunately I'll not get the correct one till next week. Anyway, serves me right for cutting corners.

[AndyID]

9 hours ago, rockershovel said:

My great-niece is presently teaching English in France, having declined to follow the rest of her family in taking US nationality  - in part because of IRS issues. I had the same issues in the 1970s and they contributed materially to my decision not to go there when I had the opportunity. I was an unintended beneficiary of this in my early oilfield days; the apparently enormous wages paid to American drilling personnel in Aberdeen stemmed from the tax position, because there was no reciprocal agreement and they were taxed twice. I benefitted from this at times throughout my career, most recently in Azerbaijan. Our beloved PM surrendered his US passport for the same reason. 

 

There is a tax treaty between the US and the UK so they would not be double-taxed. Maybe there was something else at play. Perhaps they were being paid from an offshore corporation?

[New Haven Neil]

7 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

There are usually some chsirs outside the fitting rooms in M&S's womens underwear department.  Obviously put there for mere males. You can get some very strange looks. snip<

 

Jamie

 

....known hereabouts as the 'Husband Creche'. 

[AndyID]

7 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

 You could feel the  enom and also hear the hisxi g, whilst I explained what I wanted to the assistant. I even had a wooden roof to show.  I got what I wanted, bridal veil material, 50p for a square yard.  The assistant thought it was very amusi g, as did I.

 

 

You did of course ask to speak to a gentleman assistant?

[rockershovel]

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

 

There is a tax treaty between the US and the UK so they would not be double-taxed. Maybe there was something else at play. Perhaps they were being paid from an offshore corporation?

It's a complex question with multiple possible outcomes. Most of the problems revolve around US resident personnel employed on a contract basis by US companies. Permanent staff may have contracts "nett of local taxation" although this isn't always the case. If you have an NLT contract you can basically forget about it, your taxes will be covered once they exceed whatever you usually pay. This is where UK staff benefit; I had an NLT contract in Azerbsijan, so I presented my reconciliation to my accountant and let him work it out. I ended up paying tax on tax paid as a Benefit in Kind and saved the bulk of my UK liability with no residency issues. You always pay something, in my experience! 

[Compound2632]

11 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

The late Alistair Cook in one of his Letters from America talked about that and suggested that the US flag had partially replaced the monarch as a symbol that is above politics and that can be revered.  

 

The flag is an interesting object in itself - it was based on the flag of the East India Company, the initial message being: we want the same freedom from interference in the running of our affairs as the EIC has in running its affairs in India. 

 

11 hours ago, rockershovel said:

.... I'd just like to take the opportunity to reassure our Colonial Cousins that Boris fails the "14 year residency" rule so despite being born there, is not eligible as POTUS. He remains our problem...

 

Where's the "bother" button when you want it?

 

11 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

Where is the do not try this at home button when you need one 

 

More buttons please!

[figworthy]

2 hours ago, AndyID said:

I turned on the oven in our electric cooker last week and about five minutes later there was a "ppwfffizz" noise. Sure enough a spot on the element was glowing emitting sparks. Pretty ridiculous really as its only 26 years old. Don't they make anything that lasts these days? 

 

 

I was warming the veg for my tea this evening when the microwave made an odd noise and stopped dead.  Turning it off and on again (which supposedly fixes everything) hasn't worked, so it's off to the shops tomorrow for a new one.  I only got it in the 1987 January sales.

 

Adrian

[SM42]

6 hours ago, polybear said:

 

And dream.....or should that be lech?

 

Where does the former Polish president come into this?

 

Andy

Edited October 8, 2021 by SM42

[Oldddudders]

12 minutes ago, figworthy said:

 

I was warming the veg for my tea this evening when the microwave made an odd noise and stopped dead.  Turning it off and on again (which supposedly fixes everything) hasn't worked, so it's off to the shops tomorrow for a new one.  I only got it in the 1987 January sales.

 

Adrian

This time get a micro-air. Far more versatile, and may save you a fortune in other cooking methods.