The Night Mail

[Dunsignalling]

1 minute ago, PhilJ W said:

That reminds me of when I visited Malta for the first time back in the late 70's. We paid a visit to the old capital of Mdina, parts of which date back to pre-Roman times. It had just attained World Heritage status and as part of that they had to put the electric cables (which were strung from the eaves of the buildings) underground. It was then that they hit a snag as virtually every time they dug a hole they came across something archaeological that had to be recorded or rescued. It took them five years to put the cables underground instead of the 12 months predicted.

And I reckon that kind of delay will seem trivial when they start digging the Stonehenge Avoiding Tunnel.....

 

John

[PhilJ W]

Its the same with many cities, you don't have to go down very far to find the archaeology. London is a prime example and thats only a youngster compared to many cities. Even in the Americas cities built up since the arrival of the Europeans have hidden treasures beneath the streets. And thats without the likes of Mexico City which is built on the site of the Aztec capital.

[Doncaster Green]

All this talk of containers of shame (various sizes are available) reminds me that, during Lockdown 1, I decided to inventory all the railway related 'stuff' in my specific container (the back bedroom) and wished I hadn't.  Not only was there a lot more than I remembered (would admit to (?)), but the age of some of it was astounding.  I discovered price labels from W&H Models, Cove Models and Beatties and we all know how long ago they joined the great model shop in the sky!  That this inventory was made I count as a positive outcome of the lockdown and it set me thinking as to what other positives there may have been or was everything else a negative?

 

This time last year we had just had the release of 'Pandemic Christmas - Delta Rising' (bombed at the box office as all cinemas were shut but has been on TV incessantly) and we now await the imminent release of 'Pandemic Christmas 2 - The Wrath of Omicron'.  Is the screenplay already written for 'Pandemic Christmas 3 - Omega Unleashed' or will we be resuming our uphill toil in search of the promised green, sunny uplands of Unicorn Land?

 

So, from my point of view, what have been some of the negatives of the last two years?

The last exhibition I attended was Warley 2019.

The last face to face conversation with like minded (modeller) people was a small gathering in Jan 2020.

Mrs DG has to attend for dialysis treatment 3 times a week and since Feb 2020 I have been her taxi service to ease the pressure social distancing placed on hospital transport - this has added 6000+ miles per year to the car!

 

What of the positives?

Some modelling has been done although not as much as I would have liked.

For the second year in succession I have not been required to queue from Junction 15 to Junction 17 of the M5 in order to undertake Christmas shopping,

Similarly, for the second year in succession, I have not been required to attend the annual exhibition of rustic wooden buildings called the Bath Shed Show, sorry, Christmas Market.

I have not been required to visit Ikea for two years!

 

In the immortal words - How was it for You?

 

John

[Danemouth]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Ouch - that must've been painful....not only parting with the goodies but also shelling out for two Skips (I think the last time I ordered one it was about eighty quid.....but that was a mighty long time ago.  I hear the going rate is heading towards 300 now )

 

The skips were £270 each off the road, on the road the licence costs upwards of £60 a throw in addition.

 

Nothing related to model railways ended up the the skip - about the only kits I can manage are from Metcalfe before my legendary c@ck-handedness takes over

 

This also limits my decorating skills unlike you Mr Bear, so this year I got a professional in to paint the outside and decorate the landing hall and stairs, a bedroom and a living room. Don't ask how much!!!

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

53 minutes ago, Danemouth said:

 

Don't ask how much!!!

 

 

Probably much cheaper than getting all the paint off the wallpaper and floor carpets.

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

That reminds me of when I visited Malta for the first time back in the late 70's. We paid a visit to the old capital of Mdina, parts of which date back to pre-Roman times. It had just attained World Heritage status and as part of that they had to put the electric cables (which were strung from the eaves of the buildings) underground. It was then that they hit a snag as virtually every time they dug a hole they came across something archaeological that had to be recorded or rescued. It took them five years to put the cables underground instead of the 12 months predicted.

 

The probability of encountering any native American artifacts buried along that route us just about zilch. My shop is built on a basalt outcrop. It's fractured but when you go down a couple of feet the bits are locked together, as the guy who built my shop discovered to his cost 

[AndyID]

6 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

That also applies to the space required to put the track down.

 

After you have measured, re measured and check measured, made numerous plans and drawings, then committed yourself and created the the baseboards they will:

 

a.   No longer fit  into the space required.

b.  The track plan will have become impossible to fit onto the boards.

 

Ah yes! "C J Freezer's Approximation"

[AndyID]

And it's snowing, again 

[rockershovel]

One thing I have realised, particularly during the first part of the year when I was WFH was the endless loop of 1980s sitcoms and soaps which fill the airwaves like a sort of out-of-date static. 

 

To my amazement, even my good wife is becoming bored with some of it.... I hadn't previously thought this to be possible. 

 

I gave thought to the positives of the past twenty months, but nothing to report, I'm afraid. 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2021 by rockershovel

[Happy Hippo]

44 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

 

 

I gave thought to the positives of the past twenty months, but nothing to report, I'm afraid. 

 

 

TNM came along?

[Florence Locomotive Works]

On 16/12/2021 at 16:34, jamie92208 said:

I had my 3rd Bill Gates tracker chip inserted today by a very pleasant young french lady.  In best Allo Allo accent she said, "now come with me to my leetle room". 

Jamie I think you may have listened to “The mademoiselle from Armetiers” a few too many times…. 

[J. S. Bach]

 

 

 

 

19 hours ago, polybear said:

Bear's cupboards of shame are in the bedroom above the kitchen.....and I predict that the kitchen will one day subside into becoming a basement as a result.....

A friend has filled his house and two off-campus storage units, almost all are mr-related. He is not worried about the floor collapsing into the basement as it, too, is almost full to the rafters.

 

 

19 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I don't have a cupboard of shame, just a whole bedroom of shame.

From my move six! years ago, I now have three sheds full of stuff, a sample photo taken just after the first load was delivered:

 

The first shed (it came with the property):

And one (of two) that I had built; shortly after the photo was taken, it got painted a nice forest green:

 

 

 

18 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Only if when your cupboard of shame is eventually emptied (fleetingly and without your definite knowledge), the kit you want happens to be the next one due for teleportation in another cupboard of shame that is passing through the same place in the n-dimensional spacetime matrix as yours. Since this has a probability rating similar to that of a whelk surviving a supernova, what you will actually get is more likely to be a packet of rusty Peco  track pins. 

 

Dave

I saved this for the multi-quote feature and now do not remember why!

 

 

 

 

 

[J. S. Bach]

17 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Jamie I think you may have listened to “The Mademoiselle from Armentières” a few too many times…. 

Parley voo?

 

Edited December 18, 2021 by J. S. Bach

[AndyID]

39 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Jamie I think you may have listened to “The mademoiselle from Armetiers” a few too many times…. 

 

Too many episodes of  'Allo 'Allo!

 

I understand in very popular in France.

[simontaylor484]

Well I too had a spare bedroom of shame, the carp that came out of it was enough to fill 2 midi skips. It was unreal the amount of stuff I had hung onto just in case it came in handy. I only have I cupboard of shame now relating to modelling the advantage of N gauge I have some lyddle end buildings various points,ballast ,underlay all the bits ready to start a layout apart from time. I am having to do that much work on the house that had been neglected whilst I have been poorly then when I have been able to Swmbo was in hospital for 3 weeks.

I have loads of books 2 large bookcases full I did have a cull selling some through ziffit others going to charity shops if they were taking donations 

[PhilJ W]

7 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Too many episodes of  'Allo 'Allo!

 

I understand in very popular in France.

The only EU country where it was banned was Germany. This was because it featured the swastika which is banned on German TV except in historic drama and documentaries. 

[simontaylor484]

In this bog I have a cack this cack is a berm.

 

That was a classic however Arthur Bostrum kept a straight face delivering his lines 

[polybear]

2 hours ago, rockershovel said:

I gave thought to the positives of the past twenty months, but nothing to report, I'm afraid. 

 

 

Postives?  Bear retired early , got the back garden sorted , the house roof re-felted and battened , the kitchen refurbished , the worst bit (I hope) of the lounge refurb done , lost 10Kg without trying (don't ask me how - I haven't a clue) and, best of all, dodged that bullet called The Big C (the real one, not the virus one).  So pretty good in my book.

Negatives?  Well none of those post-retirement hols abroad that I would've liked - hopefully all are delayed rather than gone forever.  Socialising screwed up - not that I did an awful lot of that though and excursions to things like Railex, ExpoEM and Scaleforum all scrubbed.  And I also saw good buddy from next door move to the Seaside 

So all in all I reckon I'm doing ok so far.....it could be an awful lot worse.

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

In this bog I have a cack this cack is a berm.

 

That was a classic however Arthur Bostrum kept a straight face delivering his lines 

As I have to keep a straight face when Madame le Maire refers to Elaine and Terry Banks as "Monsieur et Madame Bonks"

 

Jamie

[PhilJ W]

Arthur Bostrom who played Officer Crabtree could speak fluent French.

 

[SM42]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

The only EU country where it was banned was Germany. This was because it featured the swastika which is banned on German TV except in historic drama and documentaries. 

 

I think think the official line from  German TV was " We love it, but we don't think we could get away with it."

 

As to this last almost two year.

Negatives:

Missed out on a lot of socialising and several railway related dtrips planned with friends

After an initial splurge lost my modelling mojo

Missed  out on several planned trips to the Motherland. I must admit that despite all its faults, I have really fallen in love with Poland and I miss it when I can't get out there

Actually catching that virus. Get tired out very easily now.

Losing all sense of time. 

 

Positives

Commute to work cut on half during lockdown. 

Introduction  of 12 hour shifts to reduce the time at work. I feel like I have semi retired and of course getting 3 weeks to the gallon out of the car 

Not having to tidy the house all the time as visitors are expected.

Having an awful lot of leave to use, giving me the chance of several weeks in The Motherland rather than 2 when we could actually get there.

The chance to take stock of life. To stop and look around a bit.  To connect with those I know and love and some old friends I had lost touch with. I feel I am in a slightly better place now.

 

On the whole I would say the positives have outweighed the negatives, but I do miss the old frantic lifestyle. 

 

I have been lucky and am thankful for that.

I know many others haven't been so fortunate 

 

Andy

 

[jamie92208]

What can I say about the past two years.  In many ways, nothing has changed. In a small rural village, the farmers have continued as normal.  Their life had always been rather solitary either in their tractor cabs or at home.  We certainly appreciated walking  in the countryside when permitted .

 

The shelf of shame is a bit emptier but I definitely lost my modelling mojo for some months. However it sems to have returned a bit.

 

Have loved having the discipline of a weekly hour's video chat every saturday , with young Emily and her mums. To watch her grow in every sense, from a semi crawling baby to a confident and increasingly articulate young girl, has been amazing. Yesterday she was driving a remote control quad bike and lost it under the sofa. First sentence, "I can't get it" ; when she retieved it she said I've got it".  

 

Learning the real value of online friendships that act as a support network, such as TNM &ER's.  

 

Appreciating the lesser forms of human contact such as waving to neighbours as they pass on their tractors.

 

Definitely haven't missed the other halves of some of the people that used to visit.

 

Making the most of opportunities such as an afternoon  trainspotting with a mate.

 

All in all quite positive.

 

Jamie

 

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by jamie92208

[polybear]

40 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Have loved having the discipline of a weekly hour's video chat every saturday , with young Emily and her mums. To watch her grow in every sense, from a semi crawling baby to a confident and increasingly articulate young girl, has been amazing. Yesterday she was driving a remote control quad bike and lost it under the sofa. First sentence, "I can't get it" ; when she retrieved it she said I've got it". 

 

Now if the first sentence had been "B0llox" followed by a second sentence of "Gotcha, ya barsteward" that would've been a real scream....

[Oldddudders]

10 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

As I have to keep a straight face when Madame le Maire refers to Elaine and Terry Banks as "Monsieur et Madame Bonks"

ISTR years ago Sherry ("Ashcombe") posting something on ERs about a Bonk Holiday and a concerned lady PM-ing her thinking it was a typo....

 

Our AmDram society should have been performing 'Allo 'Allo in 2020, which was nuked of course, and the same this year, ditto. We have hopes for 2022! Sherry and I will be the Airmen and probably café customers etc.  

[Dave Hunt]

I was once asked by a friend if I'd like to join his amdram group as they were doing 'Allo, 'Allo and I could be one of the airmen as I could bring a professional slant to the part. I replied that I didn't really have the required knowledge as I'd never been shot down. One of the other players, who was Irish, gave an evil grin and said, "Don't worry, we can arrange that."

 

I didn't join.

 

Dave