Early Risers.

[jamie92208]

Good moaning to all. I did get my locks trimmed by Veronique yesterday. Beth says that her view across the dining table has improved.  Not a lot got done after that but our builder came round to sort out replacing the tiles on the main part of the roof. Then I headed for the mobile chippy and brought scampi and chips back for us.  Beth then watched some catch up TV while I did some more scanning. I'm now up to the summer of 76 (not 69) and doing the first quarter of the Pennine Way with 3 mates.  Great memories. One of our campsites was at the Great Western Inn at the top of Standedge. The Landlord said that there was no charge as long as we went in the pub and spent some money.  No problem there.

Up early today. A decorator is coming to give us a quote for some work this morning then it's off to The Danglies to order roofing materials. This afternoon the fang mender at last. Two fillings dropped out in March and my appointment got cancelled due to lockdown. They are open again. Fortunately it's not caused any discomfort.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

 

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

Postie brought some goodies yesterday – the very new Calan CD, autographed, and a modest remittance from Railway Bylines.  Today I shall stride purposefully to the bank to deposit the cheque. What else gets done will depend in part on how well I can concentrate.  I have not been very good at that for a couple of weeks and I need to improve.  There are too many distractions that I allow to subvert me from the true path.  The emptying of the garden waste bin should spur me to attack the nettles but we shall see.

 

Simon G, I don’t know whether to sympathise or be jealous that you cannot go out personally to go shopping.  Since that ruddy virus took over all our lives I have had almost nowhere else to go except the supermarket.  Don’t tell Boris but at the moment I make two trips a week, one to my regular provider and one to a different shop chosen from too short a list.  When I did the fodder run on Wednesday I noticed that the arrows on the floor had been reconfigured again, though the basic one way system is intact.  As with all supermarkets, there can be subtle variations in the location of some items - oh, no, where are the beans and sausages?  In the early days of the present emergency many of the shelves were emptied by the plague of locusts who snaffled all the bog rolls more quickly that D&S horsebox kits disappear at a Scaleforum bring and buy stall.  When I go to a different store I don’t know where anything is but it’s a chance to discover unfamiliar items to alleviate the boredom.

 

This is positively the last word on my abortive trip to Dublin.  I am very sorry if I have banged on about it too much for some gentle readers but I had set my heart on it and its collapse did my mental health no good.  The final refund has now been made so that is one less thing to worry about.  I hope to try again in 2021.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[TheQ]

Absolutely clear skies out there,  heavy frost,  Ben has settled in his bed after his patrol. 

I'll let it warm up a bit before more site clearance for the shed. 

[NGT6 1315]

Mawnin' awl. One more shift to go 'til a weekend off, yay!

 

Sunny with a breeze outdoors. As this is likely going to last, I wouldn't mind a BBQ. As I still have a longing for a kebab also, I may get me one from the takeaway five minutes from here.

 

Speaking of which, many restaurants who had not offered it before had switched to offering takeaway and indeed home delivery during the recent lockdown. There's a pretty good Greek restaurant a few corners from our place which we got ourselves dinner from a few times recently. They're nice folks, too, so I suppose we could do a small bit towards helping to keep them afloat.

 

I certainly wish the current situation could teach us all a more pragmatic approach to solving problems...

 

Later.

[iL Dottore]

Morning All,

 

A much better start to the day than yesterday. Yesterday, Lucy was quite under the weather, refusing all treats and only toying with her food - eating the meat, couscous and yoghurt, leaving the dog food pellets. Today, after the usual bout of snootiness about the quality of treats on offer, she was her usual happy self and returned home with a healthy appetite. Schotty, as always, chowed down like a gluttonous teenager offered an all-you-can-eat pass to MickeyD’s and KFC.

 

ChrisF referred, in passing, to the way the lockdown has been affecting his state of mind. I do find that the lockdown is now becoming somewhat tedious. Not because my life changed one iota because of the lockdown, but because the lockdown took away the theoretical potential to do things that I normally don’t do, but could’ve done had I wanted to (if that makes any sense to you). Another, further, lockdown irritation is that you cannot rely on online vendors to provide reasonable delivery dates (as I have referred to in an earlier post). Why a piece of home entertainment technology should merit a faster delivery time than a piece of cookware escapes my grasp. 

Currently, whilst in general reasonable health, I am suffering from a terrible case of ICBA (I can’t be ars*d) due to the absence of absolutely any sort of deadline. So I would like to make a heartfelt plea to the ERs who do do railway muddling: please, please provide me with a commission to build a building or structure for your layout. I will be happy to tackle any sort of building you fancy all for the cost of material and postage. ChrisF, Olddudders, Jamie92208 and the Black Country Blues team can all attest to the adequacy of my work (puts on sincere TV Charity Commercial Voice) “by donating one small model building project you can help prevent an elderly railway modeller from succumbing to severe psychological stress - such as ennui, boredom and overeating. Donate today, it’s tax deductible!”.

 

Finally, Mrs iD has plans for a long walk with the Wolfpack today, so I will be free to make some progress in Witcher on the PS4. Dinner tonight will be roast chicken, stuffing, bacon rolls, roast potatoes and possibly a green vegetable of some kind (I’m thinking braised lettuce with peas, perhaps).

 

Enjoy the day, will check back later.

iD

[Tony_S]

Good morning.

Sunny but still quite chilly. No sign of frost here though.
No plans for the day yet. I had an email from Land Rover about caring for my car in lockdown.  I had been doing what they suggested anyway but I may as well do it today. No effort required!

Tony

 

[bbishop]

Dom,  in your photo of the cab controls, does Zwangsschließen electrocute all the passengers, or can you be specific?

 

In other news, Minatur Wonderland is re-opening in Hamburg, but trains must maintain social distancing and the airport is closed.

 

I've reached Eden,  Bill

[Happy Hippo]

8 hours ago, Simon G said:

So would I!  Despite all this hunger and eating during lockdown, I haven’t put a pound on.  If anything I have lost a little weight.  When I retired 5 years ago, I was about 82kg.  Now it is a little over 70kg, and all without any attempt to diet or lose the weight.  

82 Kg?

 

I wish!

 

70 Kg?

 

The realms of Hippo fantasy.

[leopardml2341]

Mornin'all.

 

A bright start here in South Derbyshire, not sure on temperature yet.

 

Doggo's behaviour suggests he plans a lazy day as he CBA to follow me to get mi cuppa.

 

Despite what I said in my last post about Screwfix , it seems that they DO NOT have what I wanted after all; the bit I don't get is this:

 

Computerised stock control √

Computerised re-ordering √

Automatic update of website availability in store X

 

Oh hang on, I do get it. The one thing missing is joined up thinking, now where have I last experienced that in this wonderful tech savvy age? Come on folks, it ain't difficult if you care about what you actually contribute to your job, oh hang on again, that philosophy went West sometime ago as well.

 

However, their best efforts ain't gonna spoil mi day, I'll do something different today and then buy from elsewhere.

 

First cuppa consumed, soon be time for some golden syrup porridge for brekky, followed at about 11 a.m. by a 'Hobbit' breakfast of a bacon an' egg butty - expecting to have worked up an appetite liftin', shiftin' an' diggin'

 

Wishing you all a positive outcome to the day.

[leopardml2341]

On a different note, do any ERs have experience of the pros and cons of vermiculite Vs clay firebricks?

[Ozexpatriate]

5 minutes ago, leopardml2341 said:

First cuppa consumed, soon be time for some golden syrup porridge for brekky, followed at about 11 a.m. by a 'Hobbit' breakfast of a bacon an' egg butty

If you're having breakfast and elevenses, you've missed out on second breakfast.

 

Based on the description, you're actually having breakfast and second breakfast (late) and missed out on proper elevenses (like seed cake and tea).

[Ozexpatriate]

42 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I do find that the lockdown is now becoming somewhat tedious. Not because my life changed one iota because of the lockdown, but because the lockdown took away the theoretical potential to do things that I normally don’t do, but could’ve done had I wanted to.

Yup. I understand perfectly. My social isolation started in October with occasional interruptions for family gatherings. My lifestyle changed hardly a bit with the 'stay home' orders, other than I shouldn't just pop out and run an errand whenever the mood struck and reduced my trips to the supermarket from about once every three days or so, to weekly.

 

Actually there was one activity that got shut down. I was helping a friend add scenery to a wooden trestle on his O gauge layout. I miss that.

[Happy Hippo]

9 minutes ago, leopardml2341 said:

First cuppa consumed, soon be time for some golden syrup porridge for brekky, followed at about 11 a.m. by a 'Hobbit' breakfast of a bacon an' egg butty

 

Yesterday, I had a rather large 'treacle' tart delivered.  For some reason  tarts with a golden syrup filling are so referred to around here, but I'm not complaining.

 

The tart in question was delivered by the nice young lady whose mother lives next door but one.

 

Due to my exceptionally fine palette, she uses me as her independent head of tasting for any new ideas she has.

 

In normal times, she works as the pastry chef at the Savoy, so delicacies similar to those that have passed through my cavernous gob refined consumption control centre,  can go on to feed the rich and famous.

 

It is a demanding and highly responsible task, but someone has to do it, and she is such a pleasant girl (as are her two sisters) that it would be very ungentlemanly to refuse.

 

[Sir TophamHatt]

A very close call.

 

Ballasted a point but as I squirted the Copydex mix on it, went all over the moving bar (draw bar?).

A bit of very careful kitchen roll work and 3 days later, the point still works - woo!

 

Looking forward to next week.  The garden centre is open, the weather should be a lot warmer and it's the last week of "doling out the tickets" as the local community person said on the radio once

I was going to wash the footbridge today because I'm nice.  But it's being taken away this year to be sandblasted and repaired.  I think it's just the top span that's being taken away.  However, if I can somehow change the tap to accept a hosepipe connector, then I'll bring my pressure washer in and do it anyway.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Not a good nights sleep. Don't know why but I had several bad dreams..just hope none of them come true.

Today I am, apparently receiving a parcel from Germany via Parcelfarce. I wonder what it could be? Kirschwasser? 

 

As it happens the council workmen appeared outside yesterday ..a JCB, a tipper lorry and a man with a shovel. They started to rip the grass verge up. I went out and asked what they are doing.."new tarmacked pavement" says man with shovel..."will you be preventing access to the house " says I.  "Think so" he says.. nice to be forewarned..another outbreak of godpreserveus fromLeedsCityCouncil....Pah!

 

I need to mow the grass..find a new v belt for the scarifier and sort out Friday.

 

Enjoy the day..

 

Baz

 

 

[Joseph_Pestell]

37 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

If you're having breakfast and elevenses, you've missed out on second breakfast.

 

Based on the description, you're actually having breakfast and second breakfast (late) and missed out on proper elevenses (like seed cake and tea).

 

I think it was on this thread that we discussed the social and regional differences around lunch, tea, dinner and supper.

 

It is not just in this country. A similar situation exists in France where the farming population has a different regime to others.

 

Petit Dejeuner is eaten very early before starting work. Just coffee and croissants or stale bread dunked in coffee.

 

Dejeuner (which a dictionary translates as lunch but literally means break fast) is eaten about 9.30 as part of a 30 minute break. More coffee and bread but also dried sausage, dried ham, pate, cheese, etc.

 

Diner is taken promptly at midday so that there is time for a nap, or a visit to the village café, before returning to work at 2.

 

The evening meal is therefore souper. Traditionally this is a lighter meal than diner, a healthier way of eating through the day, and is based around soup.

Edited May 15, 2020 by Joseph_Pestell

[Happy Hippo]

10 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Not a good nights sleep. Don't know why but I had several bad dreams..just hope none of them come true.

Don't worry Baz, I have no plans to visit!

[Kingzance]

The sun shines and should raise the temperature fairly soon. I have just been asked what I intend doing today! The grass can wait until tomorrow but I must give some thought to the three images I have to submit under the topic of “Distance and Isolation” for our next photographic competition. An overbridge on a straight section of the ECML might be appropriate for one so I can capture in the foreground apower line isolator and further the disappearing lines. I am as yet undecided if I should include a train or not, currently leaning towards “not” as that would hinder the idea of isolation. On my journey, I must buy some eggs and produce to top up the salad drawer within the refrigerator as a number of normal items are currently unavailable chez nous.
 

The annual fleecing of KZ by providers of motor insurance happens around this time every year, it being due by 5th June. On Monday, my existing insurers, a brokerage, offered to renew my policy at an unwarranted increase of 20+%. I therefore looked online via one of the many comparison websites and found the same cover could be obtained from a reputable provider for a decrease of 15% so I replied to the broker suggesting that they were way out and were jeopardising their sale of vehicle as well as household insurance to us. On Wednesday, the same comparison website for unexplained reasons suggested that their best offer to me would be £90 more than their searching had uncovered previously. Yesterday, having received no response from the broker and fearing an oncoming hike in insurance premium, I logged onto the best offer from a well known and reputable provider that I had seen on Monday, filled in all the details and hey presto, the price was that which had been displayed on Monday. Payment has been made and I have the e-docs to cover us until this time next year. As for the broker and the price comparison websites, 

 

Peace and love, peace and love (unless you are selling vehicle insurance)! Stay sane, lert and safe everyone, seizing what our dreaming Leeds-based missionary leaves for us.

Edited May 15, 2020 by Kingzance
Correcting thee autocorrects again!

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, TFIF.  Still feeling a bit off colour, nothing I can put my finger on, temperature OK, diabetes OK, just not feeling right.

 

Sunny out there, but only 10c, so may take it easy for a while.

 

Then a decision to make, bike maintenance or layout work?

[NGT6 1315]

1 hour ago, bbishop said:

Dom,  in your photo of the cab controls, does Zwangsschließen electrocute all the passengers, or can you be specific?

 

There's an idea for dealing with unruly subjects…

 

Zwangsschließen means forced door closing, in which case the photoelectric sensors are overridden and doors will attempt to overcome physical obstructions with increasing force, so this is a feature useful for overcrowding situations or for lunkheads who are oblivious to them obstructing doorways.

[Barry O]

10 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Morning, TFIF.  Still feeling a bit off colour, nothing I can put my finger on, temperature OK, diabetes OK, just not feeling right.

 

Sunny out there, but only 10c, so may take it easy for a while.

 

Then a decision to make, bike maintenance or layout work?

Not feeling off colour..just not right...if uou know what I mean...

Baz

[newbryford]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

82 Kg?

 

I wish!

 

70 Kg?

 

The realms of Hippo fantasy.

 

Is that putting one foot at a time on the scales?

[NGT6 1315]

1 minute ago, newbryford said:

 

Is that putting one foot at a time on the scales?

 

There's this anecdote which comes to mind...

 

"Oh, was she gorgeous. Blonde, blue-eyed, 90-60-90…" - "And the other leg?

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

30 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Then a decision to make, bike maintenance or layout work?

Variety is the spice of life.

 

How about layout maintenance and bike work instead?

[Happy Hippo]

12 minutes ago, newbryford said:

 

Is that putting one foot at a time on the scales?

Are you insinuating that I merely weigh in a paltry 340Kg?

 

I'll have you know that 85 Kg is just the weight of my tongue.

 

I only weigh it when I'm drooling over a tasty morsel.

Edited May 15, 2020 by Happy Hippo