“WASHBOURNE”

[Donw]

6 hours ago, Northroader said:

It’s no use going round to the Danish embassy in Wootton Bassett and stuffing them in the diplomatic bag then?  
So far the European section of the library has been spoken for. 

The bungalow is in Up Hatherley, Don, an estate on the south side of town.

 

When i used to visit my Grandfather on my way home from Swindon I usedto turn off the A417 at Shurdington and come in via the back roads  

don

[Flying Fox 34F]

17 hours ago, F-UnitMad said:

Seriously, they do say moving house is one of the most stressful experiences; I hope it goes well mate.

I can concur with this comment.  I downsized my model and book collections, before moving east to Romania.  
It was nerve racking not knowing exactly where are belongings were for a week, but it came good eventually.  
The crazy bit is we upsized our place.  I know I’m crackers

 

Paul

[Northroader]

Paul, it may sound as if I’m being terribly nosey, but why did you do that move? Always allowing it’s not CIA related, of course, but I’ve always been intrigued, as I’m sure other members of the congregation are.

[F-UnitMad]

1 hour ago, Northroader said:

Paul, it may sound as if I’m being terribly nosey, but why did you do that move?

Downsizing model collection? 🤔

Moving to Eastern Europe? 🤫

I'll bet there's a girl involved...... 🙄🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Flying Fox 34F]

Well, no-one is being nosey and yes, a girl is involved!  I met my wife in 2003, you can guess where she is from.

We met in Britain, we were neighbours and one thing led to another.  I first visited Romania with her to meet the wider family in 2004 and felt at home. 
We bought and renovated her late Grandmother’s house, which is tucked away in a remote part of the mountains in Buzau County in 2013, which we let out as a holiday cottage.  It’s all very traditional, but with modern kitchen and bathroom.  
In 2018, we started to look for another property to take on in Romania, but had trouble finding anything.

Anyway, the Pandemic was the trigger.  I had not been enjoying certain aspects of my job for a long while and my wife’s then manager seemed hell bent on getting rid of her!  In the summer of 2020, she found a house that was of interest to us both.  A decision to visit was made, but due to the restrictions, I couldn’t go.  Unlike many, I couldn’t work from home and I couldn’t take a month off work, to spend a week or two in Romania and then isolate for another two!

So, the house was checked out, photographed by my wife, daughter  and the Builder who did the work on the other house.  It was tired, but could be brought up to spec.

An opportunity then presented itself.  The rules were altered in Romania.  This allowed an unrestricted three day visit, as long as you could prove you were Negative for Covid-19.  In November 2020, we bought this second house.  Various options on what to do next were debated.  However, my wife then lost her job.  So we decided to sell up and move.  We arrived in September 2021, and have been renovating, improving the place ever since.  
The upsizing is due to the house being also a Guesthouse.  At some point this year, we’ll have four en-suite rooms available for visitors.  In fact this weekend we have our first proper guest.

I downsized the model collection, because I realised I was becoming a collector, instead of a modeller.  I also rationalized my book collection.  I kept what interests me, i.e. Irish, Swiss, Romania, LNER books and models significant to myself, including a Gresley 4-8-2!  At some point, I will start on a model railway or even something in the garden. 
I hope this long post feeds the curiosity.

 

Kind regards

 

Paul

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Flying Fox 34F said:

Well, no-one is being nosey and yes, a girl is involved!  I met my wife in 2003, you can guess where she is from.

We met in Britain, we were neighbours and one thing led to another.  I first visited Romania with her to meet the wider family in 2004 and felt at home. 
We bought and renovated her late Grandmother’s house, which is tucked away in a remote part of the mountains in Buzau County in 2013, which we let out as a holiday cottage.  It’s all very traditional, but with modern kitchen and bathroom.  
In 2018, we started to look for another property to take on in Romania, but had trouble finding anything.

Anyway, the Pandemic was the trigger.  I had not been enjoying certain aspects of my job for a long while and my wife’s then manager seemed hell bent on getting rid of her!  In the summer of 2020, she found a house that was of interest to us both.  A decision to visit was made, but due to the restrictions, I couldn’t go.  Unlike many, I couldn’t work from home and I couldn’t take a month off work, to spend a week or two in Romania and then isolate for another two!

So, the house was checked out, photographed by my wife, daughter  and the Builder who did the work on the other house.  It was tired, but could be brought up to spec.

An opportunity then presented itself.  The rules were altered in Romania.  This allowed an unrestricted three day visit, as long as you could prove you were Negative for Covid-19.  In November 2020, we bought this second house.  Various options on what to do next were debated.  However, my wife then lost her job.  So we decided to sell up and move.  We arrived in September 2021, and have been renovating, improving the place ever since.  
The upsizing is due to the house being also a Guesthouse.  At some point this year, we’ll have four en-suite rooms available for visitors.  In fact this weekend we have our first proper guest.

I downsized the model collection, because I realised I was becoming a collector, instead of a modeller.  I also rationalized my book collection.  I kept what interests me, i.e. Irish, Swiss, Romania, LNER books and models significant to myself, including a Gresley 4-8-2!  At some point, I will start on a model railway or even something in the garden. 
I hope this long post feeds the curiosity.

 

Kind regards

 

Paul

You could build a rack railway in the garden!

[Northroader]

Thank you, Paul, it really was a tale worth telling, best wishes for a successful venture. Nice weather out there, too. It’s lovely here, and it’s Carnival weekend. Yeeeaahhh!! and I’m leaving, drat. Rio de Janiero (pah!!)

 

https://wbcarnival.co.uk/video

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by Northroader

[Donw]

its nice to see someone getting on with life and not sitting back moaning.  You deserve to make a success of this.

 

Don

[Flying Fox 34F]

8 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

You could build a rack railway in the garden!

John,

 

It has crossed my mind, though I was thinking of a much larger scale for moving construction materials and fire wood!

 

Paul

[Donw]

17 minutes ago, Flying Fox 34F said:

John,

 

It has crossed my mind, though I was thinking of a much larger scale for moving construction materials and fire wood!

 

Paul

 

on a slope like that you can lay a straight length up the track and use a winch at the top to pull a couple of trucks up. working inclined plane.  it could be a big help in getting stuff up the slope. 

 

Don

[Northroader]

This sort of thing?

 

[Compound2632]

41 minutes ago, Northroader said:

This sort of thing?

 

Balanced working. The trouble is, there always has to be someone at the bottom of the garden...

[St Enodoc]

21 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Balanced working. The trouble is, there always has to be someone at the bottom of the garden...

Either the fairies or Bill and Ben, I suspect.

[Flying Fox 34F]

I have considered a straight piece of track down the hillside, with an electric winch at the top.  Not certain the wife would be too keen unless I can disguise the track as a flight of steps.  I’ll have to give this some serious thought.

 

Paul

[Donw]

6 hours ago, Northroader said:

This sort of thing?

 

 

Well for home use with a winch you can do it with a single track. Where we lived at Watchet we looked out towards the longest one in England  at Comberow a mere 3272ft you can walk up it these days. The slope is about 1:4

Don

[Northroader]

After my post of a fortnight ago, re offloading book and models, things have become lively, and several distinguished visitors have passed through the portals of Northroader Towers.  I can now put faces to five of the avatars on here, all great people, plus fine wives, and who’ve helped me to downsize, and we’ve really enjoyed meeting them and having a chat, and I’m very glad to see the enjoyment and use of what has gone. There’s still more to go, and a lot of sorting out needed, but it is much nearer the slimmed down stock that’s needed. (Wife: “is all that got to go to Cheltenham!?!?” in scandalised tones)

So many thanks, it does confirm what a great bunch of people are on RMweb. Onwards and Upwards.

[TT-Pete]

2 hours ago, Northroader said:

 I can now put faces to five of the avatars on here, all great people, plus fine wives, and who’ve helped me to downsize, and we’ve really enjoyed meeting them and having a chat,

 

That works both ways Bob, it was nice meeting you and thanks again for the cuppa and the books, which are now challenging my Dutch linguistic skills with words like "blokkendozenmaterieel" :^)

 

Good luck with the move and all the best for your new life in Cheltenham.

 

Peter.

[F-UnitMad]

2 hours ago, TT-Pete said:

 

That works both ways Bob, it was nice meeting you and thanks again for the cuppa and the books, which are now challenging my Dutch linguistic skills with words like "blokkendozenmaterieel" :^)

 

Good luck with the move and all the best for your new life in Cheltenham.

 

Peter.

What Peter says!! I'm very privledged to be the new custodian of - amongst other things - Bob's U.S. buildings from his Englefield layout. They will fit right in to my own layout. One teaser photo here; the Portway Terminal Railroad has a 'new' Depot....

 

Many thanks, Bob!! 🙂👍

[Northroader]

‘Bye to the Hercules from Wootton Bassett:

Edited June 14, 2023 by Northroader

[Northroader]

Keep on ticking the days off on the calendar, just waiting now. Health wise, I seemed to have levelled out, with an awareness that I don’t, and won’t, get back to the energy and stamina I did have, but capable of doing a mile walk on a shopping trip, or odd jobs round the house. The house is fully decluttered (mainly my stuff!) and some rooms have been redecorated, so it went on the market a month ago, and the one viewer we’ve had has made an offer reasonably near what we thought it was worth. In the present house selling national scene, this is very good news, just hope it comes good. (My son in law tried to sell his late mothers house, it took well over a year, and three of the prospective purchasers successively dropped out just before completion, and this was well before Liz Truss was P.M.) The place we intend to move to is on hold, the current occupants can’t move to their new place until a probate check has been completed on it, maybe soon, maybe…

Sorry the modelling word hasn’t been mentioned, I’ve just got a pair of old tank wagons on eBay, and the bodies are being titivated up with a craft knife and paint. Otherwise it’s researching for articles, and social contacts on RMweb and other websites,  for which I’m really grateful, it’s a marvellous thing to have.

 

Edited August 6, 2023 by Northroader

[Northroader]

 

well, it’s finally happened, we’ve managed to move to Cheltenham, downsizing to a smaller place near my daughters, and without the help of the family it would never have happened, moving is always going to be very fraught, and in old age I’ve found especially so. Actually, we moved a week ago, and I’ve only got my internet today, thanks to technical problems. There’s still boxes everywhere, so getting back to modelling will be a slow old job, but I’m starting to identify possibilities…

You’ll be glad to hear that Hilda is getting used to the idea of being a Cheese Roller, instead of a Moon Raker.

 

[Caley Jim]

38 minutes ago, Northroader said:

Did the removers do a first class job, or just good enough?

 

Hope you settle in well and find where everything was packed!

 

Jim

[Northroader]

Actually, Jim, I can’t praise the removal guys enough, there were just two of them, and they worked their b-lls off. 8:30 am, I’m lying on my back on the bedroom floor, covered in sweat, just detaching a bed head we’d just used for the last night, and succeeding in pulling one of the uprights screws off, and in they come, like the proverbial white tornado. It’s roughly 45 miles trip, and they were done before 3:00pm, and I found one of them had fixed the bed head. I thought quite a reasonable quote, too. But no, we’re still looking for things carefully hidden away.

[burgundy]

I hope that there are not too many surprises. 

My boss's wife left a plate of biscuits for the removals men when they were returning from Germany. She rediscovered the plate and biscuits, carefully wrapped, when she unpacked in the UK.

Best wishes 

Eric  

[Donw]

Good news Bob.  In my experience there will be loads of jobs to do as you unpack. Oh I need a hook here, a shelf there would be handy etc. But that will pass and you should find life a bit easier. I hope you will both be happy there.

 

Don