The Night Mail

[zarniwhoop]

7 hours ago, SM42 said:

I've been threatened with cross country skiing, rather like I was threatened with a very long bike ride last summer. 

 

I'm not a 100% sure how my back would hold up to all the arm and leg waving required. 

Walking any distance can sometimes  be a challenge.

 

Which is a shame as secretly I wouldn't mind having a go at least once but  the weeks of low level back pain that I fear would  follow and  general unfitness are against me. 

 

February in the motherland beckons. I dread to think what might be being planned as fun stuff to do. 

 

Unfitness I can do something about. 5 shot lumber discs less so.

 

I've still not fully got over Warley. 

 

Ain't getting old fun?

 

Andy

From memory, core stability coupled with shoulder flexibility were the key things.

 

https://excelptmt.com/2016/01/20/injury-prevention-in-nordic-skiing-lower-back-pain/ is not encouraging, but if the tracks are suitable for skating  then it might be more possible (shorter skis than for classic, if you are hiring then getting skating skis might be a problem). Probably lots of deep heat or similar around the lumber area (and maybe on other muscles if you keep at it).

 

For any adult, starting to XC ski needs preparation to be loose enough - and starting on easy tracks to be able to stop in some manner without hurting anything other than your dignity.  If you are going to give it a try, some lessons from a qualified instructor would be useful.

 

Best wishes, whatever you decide.

 

ĸen

[jamie92208]

5 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

You just can't resist can you. You use every chance you get to rub salt into the gaping wound that is my lack of a shed.

 

Your horrible. That's what you are 'orrible. With a capital 'O'. 'Orrible.

And I managed to board up a window in my shed that a pigeon had flown through yesterday. Unfortunately  we can't have pigeon pie as the blasted rat flew  off through the hole it had made.  As the pane is pnly 0.5 m sq and there are another 25.5 m sq of functioning windows left, replacing the glass can wait till warmer weather.

 

Jamie

 

Not trying to rub it in at all.

[New Haven Neil]

Urg.  It snowed a teeny bit. Maybe an inch tops, on the high ground.  I was driving out west to Kirk Michael, when I came across a 4 wheel drive vehicle in the road. All good except its orientation.  Upside down.  The four wheel drive doesn't work then.  Made by robots driven by morons.

[bbishop]

41 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

You just can't resist can you. You use every chance you get to rub salt into the gaping wound that is my lack of a shed.

 

Your horrible. That's what you are 'orrible. With a capital 'O'. 'Orrible.

are you one of these weird people that actually keeps a car in their garage?

[Dave Hunt]

Went skiing once. On day 3 broke my ankle - badly. Didn't go skiing again.

 

I've only got half a shed as I have to share ours with Jill. Admittedly it's 35 ft x 20 ft and built of brick with its own heating system but it's the only one we've got. 

 

Dave

[simontaylor484]

I am also shedless so I stand in solidarity with my comrade @Winslow Boy but i do have a garage

[Dave Hunt]

Discovered today that the heating in Dad's house wasn't on and the hot taps wouldn't run. Friendly plumber/heating man came round and it looks as though something had tripped the main CB so the boiler hadn't been on, possibly for a few days. The boiler won't start and the water in it may have frozen so we drained down all the water system and left the loft hatch open with a couple of electric radiators and a fan heater on to warm the place up (the boiler, stupidly IMHO, is mounted on an external wall in the loft). We'll see in the morning whether that has helped. Next week a surveyor is due to look at the house for some prospective purchasers. Bu**er.

 

Dave

 

[New Haven Neil]

6 minutes ago, bbishop said:

are you one of these weird people that actually keeps a car in their garage?

 

Do people do that?

 

 

[Dave Hunt]

Just a short post to say it's great to see Douglas back and hope that the black dog gets back in his kennel and stays there. It sure ain't funny when he gets out. Keep up the modelling young man - it's a good way of staving off the visits.

 

Oh, and a weather report from North Hipposhire shows that it snowed last night.

 

Dave    

[DenysW]

16 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

a 4 wheel drive vehicle in the road. All good except its orientation.  Upside down. 

Observed in New Jersey in winter: what 4-wheel drive drivers do not seem to recognise is that what any/all vehicles fail to cope with includes sheet ice and zero adhesion.

 

I actually learned this driving a front-wheel drive Chevy Citation about 200 yards from home when I pulled up (I thought) fully under control at the red stop lights, had a couple of seconds of smug self-satisfaction, then experienced the car slide gently, inexorably with the camber, sideways into the gutter. Appreciably more cautious after that.

[New Haven Neil]

Yeah, all cars have 4 wheel brakes - doesn't make them stop any better on ice!

[Dave Hunt]

4 minutes ago, DenysW said:

......I pulled up (I thought) fully under control at the red stop lights, had a couple of seconds of smug self-satisfation, then experienced the car slide gently, inexorably with the camber, sideways into the gutter. Appreciably more cautious after that.......

 

I had a similar experience a few years ago when I was about to turn into my driveway but had to stop for a car coming the other way. As I came gently to a halt my car just slid slowly into the gutter and to get it to move required salting and sanding the road surface.

 

Dave

[New Haven Neil]

Manx default position when it 'snows'.

 

[Northmoor]

15 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

I had a similar experience a few years ago when I was about to turn into my driveway but had to stop for a car coming the other way. As I came gently to a halt my car just slid slowly into the gutter and to get it to move required salting and sanding the road surface.

 

Dave

The last time I had a road accident was about 12 years ago when I collided with the car in front at about 10mph (I cracked my bumper, broke theirs and broke one of my headlights).  Entirely my fault, obviously driving too close and I was a bit distracted by my children in the back.  No injuries just some bruised pride.  The lady in front was very understanding, probably because when we both got out, despite being on the "Shellgrip" approaching a roundabout, we could barely stand up.  In the dry it improves adhesion, in icy conditions it is much, much worse than conventional tarmac.

[jamie92208]

16 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Yeah, all cars have 4 wheel brakes - doesn't make them stop any better on ice!

Apparently  the same applies to 50 tons of Chieftain  tank with rubber pads on the tracks.  A friend of mine found himselff going slowly down a road in Bovington one Sunday morning with his foot on the brakes and it was still sliding along heading towards a row of parked cars. Were you botheted I asked him. No he replied they all belonged to Officers.

 

Jamie

Edited December 10, 2022 by jamie92208

[Winslow Boy]

Pity Jamie's friend didn't apply Newton's 3rd Law of Motion which I think is something along the lines that every force has an equal but opposite reaction ( look give me a break its the long time since I did physics) and let go one from the main armament.  Didn't the A Team do something similar with an Abraham's or was that Newton's 2 nd Law? Answers on a post card to.........

Edited December 9, 2022 by Winslow Boy
Proof reading

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, DenysW said:

Observed in New Jersey in winter: what 4-wheel drive drivers do not seem to recognise is that what any/all vehicles fail to cope with includes sheet ice and zero adhesion.

 

I actually learned this driving a front-wheel drive Chevy Citation about 200 yards from home when I pulled up (I thought) fully under control at the red stop lights, had a couple of seconds of smug self-satisfaction, then experienced the car slide gently, inexorably with the camber, sideways into the gutter. Appreciably more cautious after that.

The same thing happened to me on an icy road that was steeply cambered. Only thing was I didn't even touch the brakes. I was creeping along gingerly but there was a right hand corner in front of me so I went to change down. As soon as I put my foot on the clutch the car lost traction and slid into the kerb.

[Happy Hippo]

10 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Pity Jamie's friend didn't apply Newton's 3rd Law of Motion which I think is something along the lines that every force has an equal but opposite reaction ( look give me a break its the long time since I did physics) and let go one from the main armament.  Didn't the A Team do something similar with an Abraham's or was that Newton's 2 nd Law? Answers on a post card to.........

Sadly 55 tons of Chieftain going one way doesn't overcome the recoil off the 120 mm main armament. Nothing really scientific evidence to prove it except a Chief can fire on the move from any angle without any perceptible change in speed or direction.

 

However, I will admit that the 6 lbr (57mm) Molins gun fitted to a DH Mosquito did slow the airframe by about 30 knts when it was fired.  Ditto the 40 mm armed Hawker Hurricanes.

 

They did shed airspeed!

 

So sorry, the S word just slipped out!

[SM42]

1 minute ago, Happy Hippo said:

Sadly 55 tons of Chieftain going one way doesn't overcome the recoil off the 120 mm main armament. Nothing really scientific evidence to prove it except a Chief can fire on the move from any angle without any perceptible change in speed or direction.

 

However, I will admit that the 6 lbr (57mm) Molins gun fitted to a DH Mosquito did slow the airframe by about 30 knts when it was fired.  Ditto the 40 mm armed Hawker Hurricanes.

 

They did shed airspeed!

 

So sorry, the S word just slipped out!

 

Glad you could shed some light on the subject

 

Andy

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[Winslow Boy]

8 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Sadly 55 tons of Chieftain going one way doesn't overcome the recoil off the 120 mm main armament. Nothing really scientific evidence to prove it except a Chief can fire on the move from any angle without any perceptible change in speed or direction.

 

However, I will admit that the 6 lbr (57mm) Molins gun fitted to a DH Mosquito did slow the airframe by about 30 knts when it was fired.  Ditto the 40 mm armed Hawker Hurricanes.

 

They did shed airspeed!

 

So sorry, the S word just slipped out!

 

I think a bit of experimentation is required. All we need is an ice rink, a chieftain tank, a supply of 120 mm ammunition and some volunteers. We could set it to music and post it on youtube

 

I'm making a list of all of the persons who think making fun of a shedless person. Vhat is your name?

Edited December 10, 2022 by Winslow Boy

[BSW01]

Don’t Tell Him Pike!

[iL Dottore]

13 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

You just can't resist can you. You use every chance you get to rub salt into the gaping wound that is my lack of a shed.

 

Your horrible. That's what you are 'orrible. With a capital 'O'. 'Orrible.

Don’t get upset, Winnie dear boy, why not take advantage of my offer and let me build you a shed for your layout? (I have two slots open).

 

What’s more, not only would you have an exquisite shed, but you’d also have a handcrafted, bespoke, unique to you, iD produced shed made from the finest materials and not the sort of bog-standard, made from cheap softwood B&Q/Ikea/Argos mass-produced sheds often seen around these parts.

[iL Dottore]

13 hours ago, bbishop said:

are you one of these weird people that actually keeps a car in their garage?

Sometimes the Škoda Yeti is stabled in the garage, sometimes it’s not.

 

It all depends upon whether or not I have to park the helicopter out of the elements overnight

[Canal Digger]

2 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

It all depends upon whether or not I have to park the helicopter out of the elements overnight

the helicopter! You mean that you don't have a fleet?

 

Managed to get one car into the garage (alongside the pool table) for the winter, it's a Smart electric convertible, so less fun in the winter.

 

Daughter in Liverpool tells us that it is snowing there