Castle Aching

[Clearwater]

I’ve been ordering booze online.  Whitby whisky- when will they deliver??

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, Annie said:

And the idiots just let four cruise ships in and at least one of them had COVID-19 infected people on board.

I couldn't believe it when I saw the Bondi Beach photos.  Some people are just complete idiots.

 

Bulk toilet paper heists seem to be turning up as a news item, - or so I noticed when I was reading the Telegraph last night.

 

The NSW government shut down Bondi beach Saturday due to people crowding there in Fridays 36 degree day, violating the 4m distance rule that hadn't been announced til Friday afternoon  - while they were on the beach rather than listening to the latest rule announcements. Everyone had to pack up and leave and catch the bus and trains etc back home.....

 

The NSW police minister while announcing the closure stated that the Friday incident was the most irresponsible thing he'd seen in relation to the Covid outbreak. Strange, everyone else here thinks the most irresponsible thing so far was his government letting  2467 newly arrived cruise ship passengers disembark at Sydney and disperse to the 4 winds, just before 3 passengers tested positive for the virus and 156 had reported sick during the cruise. That was on Friday too, the same day all the irresponsibles were enjoying the surf.

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

11 hours ago, Argos said:

 

It worse than that, I've just bought the last box of Earl Grey from our local Sainsbury's....  

 

Don't ask yourself why that particular box was the only one left ..................... 

[Annie]

7 hours ago, Edwardian said:

OMG

 

I've just done this livestream interview for Jenny Kirk's virtual expo on Youtube.

 

It turns out I sound like Boris Johnson

 

(aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrchhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

I don't know what Boris Johnston sounds like, but I thought what you had to say was interesting to listen to and it was plain it was a topic that you were well informed about and also enthusiastic about.  I could have done with teachers like you James when I was in High School.

[Annie]

13 minutes ago, Malcolm 0-6-0 said:

It worse than that, I've just bought the last box of Earl Grey from our local Sainsbury's....  

Fortunately being a tea enthusiast I'm always well stocked.  But if there is an Earl Grey tea shortage that could well add significantly to the trials of enduring this present plague.

[Nearholmer]

1 hour ago, drmditch said:

'In which we Serve'

 

Written by: Noel Coward

Directed by: Noel Coward

Starring: Noel Coward

Co-starring: Noel Coward dressed-up as another bloke

Love Interest: Celia Johnson (how could I forget)

Orchestration: Elon Wardoc

Naval Gazing: Noel Coward

Navel Gazing: Noel Coward

Best Boy: Lon Drawcoe

Grip: Nel Rawcordo

etc......

 

 

Edited March 22, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Dave John]

Hmm, just a vague thought. If all this had happened 120 years back then it might have looked a bit quiet like this. 

[Joseph_Pestell]

17 minutes ago, Annie said:

Fortunately being a tea enthusiast I'm always well stocked.  But if there is an Earl Grey tea shortage that could well add significantly to the trials of enduring this present plague.

 

Not for me. Hate the stuff.

 

Hopefully, no shortage of Rooiboos.

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

1 hour ago, drmditch said:

 

As of yesterday, there still seem to be quite a number of Cruise lines being advertised. 

 

 

Twas on the good ship Petri Dish

My God you should have seen us...

[Annie]

19 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

Not for me. Hate the stuff.

 

Hopefully, no shortage of Rooiboos.

[Regularity]

2 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Now they've shut the boozers, Morrison's wine shelves were stripped this afternoon.  Yes, the Great Hand-Washed have panic-bought all the wine.

 

Now I know this is the Apocalypse.

No wine, yes, dreadful.

But no wine at Morrison’s?

[robmcg]

1 hour ago, Annie said:

Fortunately being a tea enthusiast I'm always well stocked.  But if there is an Earl Grey tea shortage that could well add significantly to the trials of enduring this present plague.

 

Bell tea, my dear.   I don't feel alive until I've had my cup of Bell tea.

 

As to teachers, I was lucky, pressed by circumstance into the academic stream at Hutt Valley High School in the 60s, I had brilliant teachers, especially in maths, history, and physics.  A slightly older brother was dux so I had a lot to live up to.   At 17 I discovered girls, then fast British motorbikes.  Success to success, really.   That's why I'm where I am today, cowering in a darkened room, a battered copy of 'The Rise and Fall...  ' in the corner.

 

ah.   no....  wait....     

 

Suddenly I remember, this thread is about Norfolk , approximately,  or Cornwall,   drat.   

Edited March 22, 2020 by robmcg
typo

[drmditch]

3 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

 

Written by: Noel Coward

Directed by: Noel Coward

Starring: Noel Coward

Co-starring: Noel Coward dressed-up as another bloke

Love Interest: Celia Johnson (how could I forget)

Orchestration: Elon Wardoc

Naval Gazing: Noel Coward

Navel Gazing: Noel Coward

Best Boy: Lon Drawcoe

Grip: Nel Rawcordo

etc......

 

 

This film has been discussed on this thread before.

Inspired by: Lord Louis Mountbatten

Original 'inspiring speech' material: Lord Louis Mountbatten

The naval officer most likely to place his ship(s) in the wrong place at the wrong time: Lord Louis Mountbatten

(Probably excepting the sinking of the Kelly - on which the film is based.)

Only contributor to the film with an ego greater than that of Noel Coward: Lord Louis Mountbatten.

Comment by a later colleague of Lord Louis : "Dickie, you are so twisted that if you swallowed a nail you would s**t a corkscrew'

 

Nonetheless, for a morale booting 1942 patriotic epic it's rather fun.

 

Also noted in the credits , along with the galaxy of contemporary and future British icons, including her father a very young Juliet Mills.

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

26 minutes ago, drmditch said:

This film has been discussed on this thread before.

Inspired by: Lord Louis Mountbatten

Original 'inspiring speech' material: Lord Louis Mountbatten

The naval officer most likely to place his ship(s) in the wrong place at the wrong time: Lord Louis Mountbatten

(Probably excepting the sinking of the Kelly - on which the film is based.)

Only contributor to the film with an ego greater than that of Noel Coward: Lord Louis Mountbatten.

Comment by a later colleague of Lord Louis : "Dickie, you are so twisted that if you swallowed a nail you would s**t a corkscrew'

 

 Such self-aggrandisement is only to be expected if your family goes from being a cake to a geographical feature .............. 

[Compound2632]

I've got a mount of battens in the garage, for when I eventually build a proper layout. I did eat a miniature example of the eponymous cake yesterday, through the good offices of that noted Edwardian baker, Mr Kipling.

 

"Do you like Kipling?"

"I don't know, I've never kippled."

[drmditch]

Re: Kipling (Rudyard)

Can recommend most of the short stories. An entry to a different and sometimes surprising world.

At the current time, 'The Village that Voted the Earth was Flat'.

For the railway (LSWR) interest, 'My Sunday at Home'.

 

As for the cakes, I prefer to make my own.

(Except on Fridays.)

[Hroth]

7 hours ago, Regularity said:

But no wine at Morrison’s?

 

With no pubs or winebars, people are becoming desperate.

Whats more concerning is that Aldi "wine" shelves are emptying rapidly too....

 

9 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

I did eat a miniature example of the eponymous cake yesterday, through the good offices of that noted Edwardian baker, Mr Kipling.

 

Good writer too! 

 

 

4 hours ago, drmditch said:

Also noted in the credits , along with the galaxy of contemporary and future British icons, including her father a very young Juliet Mills.

 

Prior to IWWS, there was a profile of John Mills. Some of the interviews were rather obsequious...

 

[Edwardian]

12 hours ago, robmcg said:

Thank you for that James.

 

It's odd though. You sound entirely human.  Approachable. Normal, even.   

 

Must have been the miike...   because I KNOW that you are in fact an eccentric genius who never sleeps... and most likely mumbles incoherently in between talking to dogs. 

 

Uncanny, Rob, it's almost as if you were here.

 

Note to Self: Sweep for bugs.

 

So, Day 2 of the Apocalypse.

 

Day 1 had developed strangely and ended with a pleasant surprise. I was going to do some modelling, and had made an early start to work through a bunch of Rails emails, review the draft press release and assemble and photograph the covered wagon sample. Once that was out of the way, I fairly thought that the day was mine.

 

I received a call, however, informing me that it had been suggested I be interviewed by Jenny Kirk following Oliver's product announcement on her live video expo.  The van would have been announced at Ally Pally yesterday, you see.

 

Well, this was horrifying, as you might imagine, especially as I am not very presentable at the best of times, As things stand, I've been self-isolating from barbers for a good many weeks (I shall be in pig-tails before we're allowed out again) and have my confined-to-quarters 2-week beard (to paraphrase a well-known saying, God invented the Apocalypse so that Englishmen didn't need to shave).  Hopefully my relief was not too obvious when it was suggested that I join via the 'phone as my presently collapsing internet service would not sustain video.  

 

So there I was, spending what remained of the morning carefully nurturing my fading bandwidth and trying to coax Jenny's livestream out of it.  By the time I was on, there was nothing for it but to burble on, as if taken over by some verbally incontinent auto-pilot.  Only afterwards did I realise that I had been exhibiting a silly voice and verbal hesitations to a Prime Ministerial level.

 

With that over, I ventured into town, fully expecting the streets to be strewn with burnt out cars and ragged figures fighting over scraps of tissue paper. Fortunately it wasn't, though I imagine that must be the case in London by now, where gainful employment is probably limited to riding shotgun on Ocado vans.

 

What I did discover was a scene of desolation the like of which I have never seen or even imagined in my most dystopian nightmares (and, remember, I have seen Cardiff on a Sunday); the wine aisle at Morrisons. Empty.  I tell you, this is it. This is the Apocalypse.  This is the end of life as we've known it.  

 

So, I concluded it was time to head home and put the kettle on. 

 

Later I began to receive a series of intriguing personal communications from our much esteemed Compound, who I will now proceed to embarrass by exposing his Generosity of Spirit.  We have noted that he had this weekend retrieved his offspring form that noble seat of learning, Durham, a journey that brought him within striking distance of Edwardian Towers.  It transpired that, mid-afternoon on Friday, he had paid a discrete visit. Too discrete, as it turned out, as I had no idea. He had left a package.  Well, the wind got up on Friday (playing bally hell with the above-ground section of my internet connection, as I well recall) and, it turns out, said package, a light box in a light white carrier bag, must have wafted away.  My own theory is that, while I was otherwise engaged yesterday in my debut media calvary, the bag had co-opted some Northern Zephir and taken itself off to a corner of our walled garden to recreate a scene from American Beauty,  Be that as it may, alerted to the existence of said bag, I conducted a sweep of the perimeter and duly found it lurking at the base of a wall behind an old bicycle.  I rather think it had a somewhat shamefaced look about it, as well it might.

 

Once free of the immediate demands of dogs and children (feeding same), I had the leisure to investigate the package. Stephen Compound, doubtless touched by my lonely plight during two ghastly weeks of 'flu - and not at all possessed with proselytising zeal and an almost fanatical desire to claim another convert for Derby - had presented me with an exquisite model of a D299 5-plank. This is a delightful model and hugely appreciated, and it means that, when Castle Aching station finally opens, it will meet the Board of Trade requirement to have at least one such vehicle in the goods yard at all times.  There will be some corner of some Norfolk field that will be forever Midland. Thank you, Stephen.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 22, 2020 by Edwardian

[Regularity]

52 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

Once free of the immediate demands of dogs and children (feeding same)

You fed your children to the dogs? 
Or was it vice versa?

[CKPR]

13 hours ago, Buhar said:

Clearly the next item should be a Maryport & Carlisle horse box.  2 built in 1882, one lost in 1884 (believed stolen by the Furness) the other survived until 1919 as a potato store at Aspatria. No known photographs or drawings exist so little research is required.  If needed I can supply dimensions of a Cumbrian potato.

 

 

My miniature M&CR is set in 1908-14 so a few years to go before downgrading to a tatie store in 'speatry: 

Edited March 22, 2020 by CKPR

[Edwardian]

18 minutes ago, Regularity said:

You fed your children to the dogs? 
Or was it vice versa?

 

The sort of situation that, frankly, could go either way. 

[jcredfer]

40 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

The sort of situation that, frankly, could go either way. 

 

I feel sorry for the dogs.  In one case they get eaten by viscous  creatures, or in the other case they get to have to eat the revolting things!

 

Actually as a teacher for 26 years, I love the little dears, really - I just could never eat a whole one!

 

Julian

 

[Edwardian]

12 hours ago, Annie said:

I don't know what Boris Johnston sounds like, but I thought what you had to say was interesting to listen to and it was plain it was a topic that you were well informed about and also enthusiastic about.  I could have done with teachers like you James when I was in High School.

 

He had been notoriously shy, but now gives us daily briefings, which must be a comfort for a nation in trauma.

 

 

 

 

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

 

 

 

Ouch, wonky numberplate. The corner plate at the RH end could have done with a bit more careful rounding. Hopefully the brake side looks better. The 3-links are Slaters, which have a finer hook than Smiths and so consequently harder to couple up - if you're usinging Smiths or similar, I won't be offended if you change them. No interior detail on this one, IIRC, or weighting, so a coal load - North Warwickshire's finest - would be in order.

 

Re. comparisons with B.S. Johnson - you've explained how unprepared you were; this confirms how unprepared he always is.

Edited March 22, 2020 by Compound2632

[Edwardian]

8 minutes ago, jcredfer said:

 

I feel sorry for the dogs.  In one case they get eaten by viscous  creatures, or in the other case they get to have to eat the revolting things!

 

Actually as a teacher for 26 years, I love the little dears, really - I just could never eat a whole one!

 

Julian

 

 

As a pupil for 13 years, you won't mind me pointing out that this is a viscous creature ....