The Night Mail

[pgcroc]

19 hours ago, br2975 said:

.

Excellent BoD, 18 terminals, exactly what I need next.

.

Many thanks

.

brian R

 

I bought some of these a couple of years ago.

Well made but the problem was that the terminal screws were not capture screws.

Lost a few whilst making connections under the baseboards.

I did report this to them on their blog but never got an answer.

Perhaps they have changed the design by now.

[Happy Hippo]

8 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

The Buckinghamshire Railway Centre is only two miles away, if you sneaked off there would it be noticed?

 

When one has a large collar with chains attached and a grandchild hanging off each chain, the peace and quiet after we sneaked off would be instantly noticeable.

 

I have threatens Didcot for a day out later in the year.

 

Let's see where that gets me!

 

I presume PB is referring to my impressive repertoire in the woodwind section that would put Josef Pujol to shame.

[Tony_S]

We are going to Waddesdon sometime fairly soon. It is somewhere handy (or equally distant) for us to meet my cousins from Solihull for a day out. We went for a Christmas visit a few years ago. We had afternoon tea in a huge tepee that had a log fire in the middle. 

[Oldddudders]

On 31/05/2022 at 09:17, bbishop said:

Thanks Ian, but still begs the question why there is still a reduced Eurostar service.  Bill

 

 

The pandemic, plain and simple. The less-well-paid roles in all sorts of industries went away when work dried up, and people got another job to pay the rent, as we all would. Then suddenly restrictions lift, the world tries to go back to normal, and those people are not hanging up on a coat-peg, waiting to be dusted down and re-employed. When I travelled back to France in January, there were just two trains a day, and you don’t need many staff to run that sort of service - with no catering of any sort, either. 

 

We found the same issue coming back on Brittany Ferries in mid-April - suddenly lots of customers but not enough staff to serve them. The cruise we have just enjoyed had a high percentage of new staff, still learning the ropes. It is a good job there is no shortage of charming Filipinos to train!

 

The pandemic has killed a lot of people, but it has changed the lives of many others, too, and some aspects of the civilisation we knew are probably changed forever. 

[NHY 581]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

We had afternoon tea in a huge tepee that had a log fire in the middle. 

 

 

Seems appropriate..

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

The pandemic has killed a lot of people, but it has changed the lives of many others, too, and some aspects of the civilisation we knew are probably changed forever. 

My bold.

 

How right that is.  From the professional point of view work remains overall very much less busy than the probably-unsustainable peak it had reached (and had just tipped back from before Covid arrived) which sooner or later will result in there being fewer staff required through one means or another.  Natural attrition might be enough but beyond that lies some hard decision-making.  

 

Again today I was on the receiving end of vociferous complaints about the "missing" trains which are no longer in the timetable and the shorter formations of those which run.  It seemed not to matter that despite those complaints everyone was comfortably able to board the first train, which was half its pre-Covid length, and there were seats to spare. 

 

Within that paragraph there is also another post-Covid change to aspects of civilisation namely that patience, tolerance and understanding have gone out of the window in favour of rudeness, arrogance and entitlement.  Those three were just below the surface previously but largely confined within a small sector of the overall travelling public; they are now endemic everywhere.  

 

Unless something changes significantly from the highest level downwards this is the "new normal" we were discussing a couple of years ago; fewer people travelling therefore fewer services and the balance between those two still a little uncertain but improving as demand patterns re-establish.  

 

Incidentally if anyone fancies a ride on any of quite a number of London bus routes my advice is to go now.  If you want something as iconic as the 11 or the 24 which are perhaps two of the most-featured and therefore bette-known and iconic London routes you have perhaps a few months at best.  A large number of routes including those, the well-known 16 and plenty of others mostly in or serving the central area are set to be withdrawn within the next few months subject to consultation.  TfL's previous consultations have been faits-accompli so we can expect little if any alteration of substance in the plans.  One change which might get through is the "replacement" for the 24.  The extended 214 is to cover all the route so why not simply call it the 24, take it a bit father out and withdrawn the 214 instead?  Answer - because the 24 is worked by Borismaster buses and TfL are determined to remove those from service - or from Central London high-visibility routes at least.  Never look for logic in public transport.  

[SM42]

Mrs SM42 has yet to leave the country. 

 

No flight crew. 

 

Andy

[jamie92208]

17 hours ago, SM42 said:

Dishwasher training has been completed. 

 

I passed the practical test 

 

Andy

Make sure that you only get a provisional licence that expires quickly.

 

Jamie

[simontaylor484]

A bit of workshop p0rn especially the second half. 

Am I envious you bet

 

[polybear]

5 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Make sure that you only get a provisional licence that expires quickly.

 

Jamie

 

Or even better, do something wrong (but not expensive) such that "you can't be trusted anymore".

[Northmoor]

There is a saying that, "No-one ever lost money underestimating the stupidity of the general public".

 

I've just starting selling some odds and ends on eBay, for the first time in about two years.  The first listings were for some old VHSs, which actually found a buyer.  After a week or two of no interest, I decided factoring in the postage might be putting people off, so removed the postage option and VERY CLEARLY stated the lots were collection only.

 

One sold over the weekend, they paid quickly, then I saw their address, at least an hour and a half away........ "I did not see it was collection only", they said.  It says so right under the bid price, in the middle of your screen, ya numpty.

 

This sort of hassle was getting more common when I was selling regularly on eBay, it seemed like every other buyer complained about something or the parcel got damaged or lost in transit.  What is the matter with people?  There are a lot of people who are struggling financially at the moment through no fault of their own but clearly many more who shouldn't be allowed to handle money or anything more dangerous than a spoon. 

 

Rant over.

[polybear]

13 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

One sold over the weekend, they paid quickly, then I saw their address, at least an hour and a half away........ "I did not see it was collection only", they said.  It says so right under the bid price, in the middle of your screen, ya numpty.

 

 

Book, Play, Film, T-shirt....

 

Bear sold a collect-only sewing machine once - the buyer was in Scotland, some 400 miles away.  They never paid up.  B'stards.

[Northmoor]

5 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Book, Play, Film, T-shirt....

 

Bear sold a collect-only sewing machine once - the buyer was in Scotland, some 400 miles away.  They never paid up.  B'stards.

Yep, I "sold" a £400 car to someone over 400 miles away.  At least it was Perth, Scotland and not the other Perth......

[Florence Locomotive Works]

5 hours ago, Tony_S said:

huge tepee

Ironically, despite living on Osage land in Oklahoma and visiting several reservation museums I’ve never actually been inside one. 

[AndyID]

"Huge tepee"

 

Wink wink, nudge nudge 😀

[J. S. Bach]

21 minutes ago, AndyID said:

"Huge tepee"

 

Wink wink, nudge nudge 😀

[simontaylor484]

A few years ago i sold a lego space station on eBay on behalf of the eldest 2 buyers got into a bidding war over it it got a good price. So i posted it out the barsteward returned it because it had the Argos product number on the side of it. So i had no option but to accept the return I resold it but we lost the price of the postage. Now this is where it got dodgy in my opinion we listed another item of lego still in its box unopened yet again there was a bidding war over it same 2 bidders the other one one it. So it was duly posted out lo and behold they returned it claiming there was shelf edge wear on the box.

 

It was obvious that they didn't want the other one to get anything so I reported them both to eBay and gave them bad buyer feedback nothing was heard again from them.

 

The pair of ar5ebadgers 

EBay were no help at all t055ers

[simontaylor484]

6 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Is he a relative of Hugh Janus?

[Mike Bellamy]

2 hours ago, Northmoor said:

Yep, I "sold" a £400 car to someone over 400 miles away.  At least it was Perth, Scotland and not the other Perth......

 

Would you believe that we sold a model railway layout to someone in Australia. It was an American outline layout about 8ft by 12ft and advertised in the early days of eBay - the winning bidder contacted us to arrange payment and the money arrived into the club bank account the next day. A few days later we got a phone call from his shipping agents to say they were coming to collect his consignment - they had no idea what they were coming for and were surprised to be faced with a number of boards all dismantled and ready to go. It turned out that he was importing a classic car from UK to Australia and there was spare room in the container. We sent a lot of photos and detailed instructions but never heard another word - not even to say it had arrived - we assume it got there, he was able to assemble it and it worked OK.

.

[Happy Hippo]

24 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Is he a relative of Hugh Janus?

Harvey Watkins (who makes sublime 'one off' live steamers from various commercial builders spare loco parts) built a fat boilered loco called 'Hugh Jampton'.

[Winslow Boy]

Big H are you back from 'foreign climes'? Was your visit to Waddesdon  a success? - I use that term in the widest possible definition i.e same number of grandkids as when you started.

 

A sit rep would be appreciated.

[Gwiwer]

14 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Harvey Watkins (who makes sublime 'one off' live steamers from various commercial builders spare loco parts) built a fat boilered loco called 'Hugh Jampton'.

I brought forth a burst of laughter from a number of strangers recently. 
 

A chap running down the steps to the platform from which a train was about to depart spotted myself taking a step backwards to get a clear view along the platform. 
 

He called out “Hampton Court?” 
 

To which my instantaneous reply was “No Sir - I always walk like that”. 
 

🤣

[AndyID]

9 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

I brought forth a burst of laughter from a number of strangers recently. 
 

A chap running down the steps to the platform from which a train was about to depart spotted myself taking a step backwards to get a clear view along the platform. 
 

He called out “Hampton Court?” 
 

To which my instantaneous reply was “No Sir - I always walk like that”. 
 

🤣

 

Probably just my warped sense of humor but one of best jokes of all time is the one that ends;

 

"Walk this way sir."

 

"If I could walk that way I wouldn't need the talcum powder."

[The White Rabbit]

59 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

A few years ago i sold a lego space station on eBay on behalf of the eldest 2 buyers got into a bidding war over it it got a good price. So i posted it out the barsteward returned it because it had the Argos product number on the side of it. So i had no option but to accept the return I resold it but we lost the price of the postage. Now this is where it got dodgy in my opinion we listed another item of lego still in its box unopened yet again there was a bidding war over it same 2 bidders the other one one it. So it was duly posted out lo and behold they returned it claiming there was shelf edge wear on the box.

 

It was obvious that they didn't want the other one to get anything so I reported them both to eBay and gave them bad buyer feedback nothing was heard again from them.

 

The pair of ar5ebadgers 

EBay were no help at all t055ers

 

Yes, it always seemed to me sellers are automatically treated with suspicion by Ebay. One reason why I don't use it now, despite having quite a range (personal and trade) still to sell. 

 

I had a problem with a purchaser on Ebay who got nasty and tried to cheat me, so I blocked him from bidding via https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/setting-buyer-requirements?id=4152#block - at that time I had more sales to make, so wasn't prepared to risk him causing more trouble. Might be worth thinking about if you've any more to sell? 

[simontaylor484]

6 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Probably just my warped sense of humor but one of best jokes of all time is the one that ends;

 

"Walk this way sir."

 

"If I could walk that way I wouldn't need the talcum powder."

It also reminds me of a Jethro joke about a midget and Wellington boots but it can't be repeated here