Peterborough North

[OldSutt]

"There follows a rant. Why is it that people assume that everyone has a ****** mobile phone? I want to confirm a date for installation of a smart meter. Log on, and I get a requirement for a phobile moan number. "Required field" it says. I type in "no mobile", but it won't have that, so I have to go and phone them, which means waiting ages for someone to answer. :ireful:And why do I have to scroll so far down the list of emoticons to find this one? It should be right at the top.    So should this one."

 

Fully Agree!!

 

Perhaps your new smart meter requires you to check in by mobile phone.

 

Great Pictures, my daily dose of North/Eastern Images.

A GWR/SR fan.

[cctransuk]

There follows a rant. Why is it that people assume that everyone has a ****** mobile phone? I want to confirm a date for installation of a smart meter.

 

You'd think that a smart meter installation would be a one-off occurrence - Ohhhh no !!

 

We were given a smart meter as a feature of our new electricity supplier's service a couple of years ago - supplier chosen after a price comparison.

 

Last year that supplier was cheapest again - so we stayed with them.

 

This year they were nowhere near the cheapest, so we swapped.

 

Trouble is - it seems that the type of smart meter provided by one supplier is probably not compatible with another supplier - so there will be "a loss of functionality".

 

We presume this gobbledy-g**k means that it'll be back to inputting meter readings manually.

 

The government touts smart meters and regular price comparison / supplier change as benefitting the consumer - in reality, they're a means of ensuring that you don't swap suppliers!

 

How much government time would it take to legislate that all suppliers must use mutually compatible smart meters?

 

That's MY rant over.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

 

Editted because the system won't allow me to type g**k with 'oo' !!

Edited December 6, 2017 by cctransuk

[great northern]

 

"There follows a rant. Why is it that people assume that everyone has a ****** mobile phone? I want to confirm a date for installation of a smart meter. Log on, and I get a requirement for a phobile moan number. "Required field" it says. I type in "no mobile", but it won't have that, so I have to go and phone them, which means waiting ages for someone to answer. :ireful:And why do I have to scroll so far down the list of emoticons to find this one? It should be right at the top.    So should this one."

 

Fully Agree!!

 

Perhaps your new smart meter requires you to check in by mobile phone.

 

Great Pictures, my daily dose of North/Eastern Images.

A GWR/SR fan.

 

 There's no need at all to have a mobile to deal with them. The nice young lady I spoke to eventually was just a bit surprised that not everyone had got one.

[bigwordsmith]

I have TBH i really do rely on my mobile- I have it synced in to email, notes, phones and web passwords so I effectively have a mini version of my laptop in my pocket.

 

Nowadays I even get told off by SWMBO if I don't have it and she wants to know more about a plant she has just seen for the first time int he garden centre!

[great northern]

You'd think that a smart meter installation would be a one-off occurrence - Ohhhh no !!

 

We were given a smart meter as a feature of our new electricity supplier's service a couple of years ago - supplier chosen after a price comparison.

 

Last year that supplier was cheapest again - so we stayed with them.

 

This year they were nowhere near the cheapest, so we swapped.

 

Trouble is - it seems that the type of smart meter provided by one supplier is probably not compatible with another supplier - so there will be "a loss of functionality".

 

We presume this gobbledy-g**k means that it'll be back to inputting meter readings manually.

 

The government touts smart meters and regular price comparison / supplier change as benefitting the consumer - in reality, they're a means of ensuring that you don't swap suppliers!

 

How much government time would it take to legislate that all suppliers must use mutually compatible smart meters?

 

That's MY rant over.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

 

Editted because the system won't allow me to type g**k with 'oo' !!

I'd heard about that problem, John, and I did consider telling them where they could put their meter. I'll try it though, as this year's renewal was a fair one. If next year's isn't, and I want to change supplier, then a new smart meter will be low on the priority list.

[bigwordsmith]

I got a call from one of our tenants last week asking if we could put p the heating in the office as she was cold.

 

I asked her if she had checked the thermostat.

 

"What's that?" she asked

 

I described it , where it was located and how to use it.

 

"Wow, like a physical version of my Hive app. How cool is that?" she  said.

I'd heard about that problem, John, and I did consider telling them where they could put their meter. I'll try it though, as this year's renewal was a fair one. If next year's isn't, and I want to change supplier, then a new smart meter will be low on the priority list.

This is a widely recognised problem - which is why we don't have a smart meter!

[great northern]

So now we have the lovely new bridge, and a lot more of the loading dock. What might there have been on it though? Photographs of this area are very hard to find, but I did find this one, reproduced courtesy of Peterboroughimages.co.uk. which gives a tantalising glimpse.

I showed this to Peter Leyland when he was last here, and he subsequently offered to get what can be seen done in very short order, which came as a very pleasant surprise. The parcel arrived this morning, all intact, and of course I rushed off to see what it was going to look like. Something like this, is the answer.

I had to use the dreaded zoom to get anything like, and couldn't get the loco in focus, which is good, as it is the wrong N5 anyway. Pretty encouraging though. I took a few more from other angles, which appear below, but please bear in mind that the buildings have just been plonked down for now, and that there is much more work to be done in this area.

I shall now get the correct ground cover ordered!

[great northern]

I got a call from one of our tenants last week asking if we could put p the heating in the office as she was cold.

 

I asked her if she had checked the thermostat.

 

"What's that?" she asked

 

I described it , where it was located and how to use it.

 

"Wow, like a physical version of my Hive app. How cool is that?" she  said.

This is a widely recognised problem - which is why we don't have a smart meter!

What is an "app", please?

[Podhunter]

What is an "app", please?

It's some software that you don't need that runs on a device that you don't have.

[tigerburnie]

It's some software that you don't need that runs on a device that you don't have.

 

I wish that were true, my flippin' desk top is now covered in "apps" I never asked for courtesy of a Windows up date( where's the grrrrrr emoticon)

[New Haven Neil]

That woke me up - two N5 shots!   

[great northern]

That woke me up - two N5 shots!   

Thought it might.

[great northern]

The Up slow has been unavailable for some time, owing to a defective point, but it too received the Wright treatment, and so this WD can again trundle along, leaving the main line clear. First it passed the waiting A2.

This one was very difficult to deal with, as the angle of incoming light made the ballast too conspicuous. Very difficult to get a good colour balance, and it shows up bits that I missed too. Moving on a few yards further, the WD next encounters Champion Lodge, which has detached from the Ely, and is starting to move away.

Again, very difficult light, and not the most succesful effort.

[St Enodoc]

The Up slow has been unavailable for some time, owing to a defective point, but it too received the Wright treatment, and so this WD can again trundle along, leaving the main line clear. First it passed the waiting A2.

515 and WD.JPG

This one was very difficult to deal with, as the angle of incoming light made the ballast too conspicuous. Very difficult to get a good colour balance, and it shows up bits that I missed too. Moving on a few yards further, the WD next encounters Champion Lodge, which has detached from the Ely, and is starting to move away.

WD and 1643.JPG

Again, very difficult light, and not the most succesful effort.

I didn't know that there was a loco named after two types of spark plug....

[Oldddudders]

I didn't know that there was a loco named after two types of spark plug....

Somehow, with remarks like that, a former penal colony seems the right abode!

[great northern]

I didn't know that there was a loco named after two types of spark plug....

No, no, named after the Wonder Horse. I thought everybody knew that.

[westerner]

 

 

There follows a rant. Why is it that people assume that everyone has a ****** mobile phone? I want to confirm a date for installation of a smart meter. Log on, and I get a requirement for a phobile moan number. "Required field" it says. I type in "no mobile", but it won't have that, so I have to go and phone them, which means waiting ages for someone to answer. :ireful:And why do I have to scroll so far down the list of emoticons to find this one? It should be right at the top.   So should this one.

 

I agree Gilbert.I do have a phone, it's only used when I am away from home, to keep in touch with the wife. It doesn't even have a camera and for the life of me I haven't the foggiest what the number is. It cost me £15-00 three years ago and costs me about £10-00 a year to run on pay as you go!!!!

[St Enodoc]

No, no, named after the Wonder Horse. I thought everybody knew that.

Of course, silly me.

 

It's a good job it wasn't named after Mr Ed, the Talking Horse.

[jukebox]

Of course, silly me.

 

It's a good job it wasn't named after Mr Ed, the Talking Horse.

 

You're thinking of 60500, right?

[great northern]

Why did I agree to chair a meeting starting at 8.30am? Never mind, its done now, and I think we decided on something. Here are your much delayed morning photos. Leaves on the line were responsible, I think. OK, so the WD reached the signals  governing progress back across the main lines. They were correctly set at danger, so the driver settled down for the usual wait.

The bobby in North box then noticed that the train behind the WD was slightly longer than usual, long enough in fact to block the Down fast, on which the A2 was about to depart. There were interesting exchanges of views, after which the WD was given the road, the driver muttering that he might as well have been allowed through on the Up main in the first place. He has a point. Anyway, after the WD had dragged its long chain of wagons across, the N5 was able to bring through the ECS for a M&GN departure.

 

[woodenhead]

 

There follows a rant. Why is it that people assume that everyone has a ****** mobile phone? I want to confirm a date for installation of a smart meter. Log on, and I get a requirement for a phobile moan number. "Required field" it says. I type in "no mobile", but it won't have that, so I have to go and phone them, which means waiting ages for someone to answer. :ireful:And why do I have to scroll so far down the list of emoticons to find this one? It should be right at the top.   So should this one.

You want a smart meter but don't own a mobile phone - I would have thought the latter was of more use and more critical for golfing appointments.

 

Do you know the software currently installed on them (the meters not phones) may not allow you to change supplier without installing another meter, personally I would wait till the next generation meters appear in a couple of years.  The whole scheme is a farce, the first meters may not be able to take a software upgrade to allow supplier migration, the later meters may allow it but all have to be replaced in the next couple of years because of known technology changes which will mandate a wholesale replacement of the meters installed before.  And we're all paying for this in our bills, not the government (us via taxation) or the energy companies.  The only reason they are peddling these meters is some short sighted government belief that being able to see how much energy your kettle or heating uses will make you think about a cold drink or a jumper.

[DavidR]

My stupid meter only updates itself annually, so any innocent reading it, thinks I've used £300 + worth of gas in a month! Daily consumption readings are fine, though.

[Mallard60022]

I don't use any gas at the moment I just tune into the Peco Bullhead Track/Points thread and use the hot air there to warm my place    

[mullie]

My stupid meter only updates itself annually, so any innocent reading it, thinks I've used £300 + worth of gas in a month! Daily consumption readings are fine, though.

 

So it's not very smart at all then!!

[manna]

G'Day Folks.

 

Just come across this photo, it's a train heading to Little Barford power station, which is of interest, but the signal is also of interest, this pics was taken in 1958, is that a Somersault signal on the platform ????

 

manna