The Night Mail

[SM42]

19 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

But if a vehicle is clearly not displaying a numberplate, it'll be flagged up and its description/location sent to local Plodcars so they can keep an eye open for the naughty people.  With any luck, one will need a pull for their monthly bingo card!

 

 

Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. 

 

If only it did. 

 

ANPR only compares visible registrations with the MIB database, tax records and any flags that have been put on the registration.  

 

If it picks up the number it will flag either to the control room or to the patrol car it is fitted to. 

 

Unfortunately there are not enough of the latter, so many offences go undetected.

 

Obscured number plates  rely on the mk1eyeball for detection. 

 

Andy

Edited March 24 by SM42

[Happy Hippo]

3 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

I'm not sure about Norfolk but North Staffordshire is definitely traffic camera land. On one stretch of the A5 there are something like five of them in a couple of miles.

 

Dave

That'll be from the A5/A449 junction at Gailey into Cannock.

[AndyID]

"The Hunt For Red Orion"

[Happy Hippo]

6 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 And, of course, Crimson Tide.

 

Dave

You might not be aware that Taid (pronounced Tide) is one of a number of Welsh names for Grandfather.

 

Therefore,  being called Crimson Taid would cut to the quick. (Even though I have a soft spot for the much missed Midland line from Hereford to Swansea.)

Yet Black Taid makes me sound as if I'm off to another funeral.

 

But talking of colours, reminds me that I use Red Star .22 pellets for all my air rifles.  Now, some rifles can be very fussy with their pellets, and I've found that the Red Stars do seem to suit all my current collection.  It's a heavy pellet at 18.21 Grains

 

The new rifle, being a different calibre at .177, will require feeding with smaller pellets, so I've opted for the Black Star pellets, as they are quite heavy (for their size) at 10.49 grains, which should give them some protection against cross wind as well as retaining more energy when it hits the target, which is a useful commodity for a hollow point pellet.

 

An interesting point about air guns, is that a new gun needs its barrel cleaned to remove any grease or oil. Then you start to shoot.

 

To begin with you will find that the accuracy is not that brilliant, and after an initial zero, you need to put anything between 50-100 pellets through the barrel in order to 'lead it up'.

 

As lead deposits start to form on the inside face of the barrel, so the grouping improves until you should be able to put pellet upon pellet at 25 M.

 

My personal parameter for accuracy and knowing the rifle is functioning well, is to be able to put 10 consecutive shots onto a spinner target which has a head size of an adult thumbnail at 30M.

 

With what I've just written, you can see I'm a prime candidate for membership of The Ramblers Association. (But not the Crimson Ramblers.) 

Edited March 24 by Happy Hippo

[polybear]

53 minutes ago, bbishop said:

Evening all.  I've been on holiday in Germany for 10 days.  Anything important happen in TNM land that I should know about?

 

Hippo @Happy Hippo has realised that Midland Locos really are the finest after all

Puppers @PupCam has bought a Harley

Q @The Q has swapped his boat for a Unicycle

Fraggle @New Haven Neil is emigrating to Skegness

iD @iL Dottore has discovered that Beans on Toast really is the Food of Gods after all

The Wing Commander @Dave Hunt has discovered he's scared of heights

Our resident Drug Dealer @Erichill16 has discovered Opera

Our resident woofums Ben has become vegan

@Grizz has entered a Monastery

and Baz @Barry O has become a Lollipop Man

 

Apart from that it's business as usual......

 

[J. S. Bach]

Whew, dodged a bullet there! 🐱

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, AndyID said:

There are a lot of speed limit signs on side roads here that are not enforceable. For example the road at the end of our little street is posted 25 but the legal limit for that sort of road is actually 35. The lower limit could only be enforced if there has been a professional (and expensive) traffic study conducted by the county, and there never was.

 

I should add that is in Idaho. No idea about other US states.

[Northmoor]

We've discussed on this thread before about housing costs and developers' practices; today I took drove just down the road to Deepcut to photograph my wife's car in the sunshine in a nice open space.  What I hadn't realised is how the redevelopment of Deepcut has, well, developed.... Settle in, this is a long moan but could be of interest to any ex-Army veterans of which I know there are a few on this thread, who may have been through Pirbright/Deepcut.

 

When we moved here 26 years ago, the old Alma-Dettingen Barracks were still standing, alongside the parade grounds and commanding officer's houses.  All those were demolished and replaced by the Alma-Dettingen development; typical modern homes with some reasonable architectural style but crammed together; four-bedroom houses with gardens not much bigger than you'd expect from a two-bedroom terrace, a garage in a block if you're lucky (how many properties are advertised as having an "allocated parking space" as if we should be grateful for something so essential?) and at a shocking price per square foot.  Further down the hill an entire village ("Mindenhurst") continues to develop, inclding one street with serious salt-leaching from the nearly new brickwork.  Perhaps they made the Ready Mixed Concrete with seawater.

 

Recently the RLC moved out and their old HQ demolished, so we have been expecting houses on that site.  However what surprised me today was to find all the Army families housing - there must be at least 300 homes - with only a few exceptions, ALL boarded up.  Some of the smaller, later 1970s/80s houses may be getting refurbished - I suspect new builds wouldn't be any denser - but what is infuriating is that the older, larger semi-detached, 3-bedroom homes will quite probably get bulldozed.  They sit on larger plots with decent gardens, each has a pre-fab garage but the streets are wide and Skanska must be looking at the width of the avenues and thinking they can get at 100% more (smaller) homes on the land, sold for 50% more than the old ones and VAT-free.

 

It is infuriating to see so many homes - these are in good condition and were occupied by hundreds of families only months ago - standing empty allowing the developer to artificially restrict the supply of homes in this postcode to inflate the potential sale price of the new homes they will progressively build on the site.  Defence Estates (or whatever they're called now) are complicit in this; if they wanted to sell the properties they could have done so, individually via auction or even local estate agents.  Instead they have allowed a developer to boast of providing much needed homes in the area but only after spending perhaps five years reducing the number of homes available.

 

Bar stewards.  I'm sure we'd be told that this whole process benefits everyone involved; it will - the MoD, the developer, the building trades, the legal profession and the Treasury who earn more stamp duty on more expensive property - except for one important group of people.  The ones who'd actually just like a home to live in.  

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Hippo @Happy Hippo has realised that Midland Locos really are the finest after all

Puppers @PupCam has bought a Harley

Q @The Q has swapped his boat for a Unicycle

Fraggle @New Haven Neil is emigrating to Skegness

iD @iL Dottore has discovered that Beans on Toast really is the Food of Gods after all

The Wing Commander @Dave Hunt has discovered he's scared of heights

Our resident Drug Dealer @Erichill16 has discovered Opera

Our resident woofums Ben has become vegan

@Grizz has entered a Monastery

and Baz @Barry O has become a Lollipop Man

 

Apart from that it's business as usual......

 

Oh I'm so glad we get on. I'd hate to see what you thought I was going to do.

[Grizz]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Hippo @Happy Hippo has realised that Midland Locos really are the finest after all

Puppers @PupCam has bought a Harley

Q @The Q has swapped his boat for a Unicycle

Fraggle @New Haven Neil is emigrating to Skegness

iD @iL Dottore has discovered that Beans on Toast really is the Food of Gods after all

The Wing Commander @Dave Hunt has discovered he's scared of heights

Our resident Drug Dealer @Erichill16 has discovered Opera

Our resident woofums Ben has become vegan

@Grizz has entered a Monastery

and Baz @Barry O has become a Lollipop Man

 

Apart from that it's business as usual......

 

…….how did you know? …er yeah alright…. it’s a fair cop! It was actually Buckfast Abbey….. via the small window in the cellar….the tonic wine cellar. 
 

I didn’t stay vry long…but I had a litttle slug or fifty of ‘Buckie’…whlits I wzz thre. Ye canaye beet a buckie. I’ve done a bottle a tow a thatbfor.  Wahey the buckie boys. ……zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

I may have entered the Abbey via a window but I was assisted out of the Abbey through the front door. I am a Grizz Bear with a sore head. 
 

 

[jamie92208]

21 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

We've discussed on this thread before about housing costs and developers' practices; today I took drove just down the road to Deepcut to photograph my wife's car in the sunshine in a nice open space.  What I hadn't realised is how the redevelopment of Deepcut has, well, developed.... Settle in, this is a long moan but could be of interest to any ex-Army veterans of which I know there are a few on this thread, who may have been through Pirbright/Deepcut.

 

When we moved here 26 years ago, the old Alma-Dettingen Barracks were still standing, alongside the parade grounds and commanding officer's houses.  All those were demolished and replaced by the Alma-Dettingen development; typical modern homes with some reasonable architectural style but crammed together; four-bedroom houses with gardens not much bigger than you'd expect from a two-bedroom terrace, a garage in a block if you're lucky (how many properties are advertised as having an "allocated parking space" as if we should be grateful for something so essential?) and at a shocking price per square foot.  Further down the hill an entire village ("Mindenhurst") continues to develop, inclding one street with serious salt-leaching from the nearly new brickwork.  Perhaps they made the Ready Mixed Concrete with seawater.

 

Recently the RLC moved out and their old HQ demolished, so we have been expecting houses on that site.  However what surprised me today was to find all the Army families housing - there must be at least 300 homes - with only a few exceptions, ALL boarded up.  Some of the smaller, later 1970s/80s houses may be getting refurbished - I suspect new builds wouldn't be any denser - but what is infuriating is that the older, larger semi-detached, 3-bedroom homes will quite probably get bulldozed.  They sit on larger plots with decent gardens, each has a pre-fab garage but the streets are wide and Skanska must be looking at the width of the avenues and thinking they can get at 100% more (smaller) homes on the land, sold for 50% more than the old ones and VAT-free.

 

It is infuriating to see so many homes - these are in good condition and were occupied by hundreds of families only months ago - standing empty allowing the developer to artificially restrict the supply of homes in this postcode to inflate the potential sale price of the new homes they will progressively build on the site.  Defence Estates (or whatever they're called now) are complicit in this; if they wanted to sell the properties they could have done so, individually via auction or even local estate agents.  Instead they have allowed a developer to boast of providing much needed homes in the area but only after spending perhaps five years reducing the number of homes available.

 

Bar stewards.  I'm sure we'd be told that this whole process benefits everyone involved; it will - the MoD, the developer, the building trades, the legal profession and the Treasury who earn more stamp duty on more expensive property - except for one important group of people.  The ones who'd actually just like a home to live in.  

Sad to hear that.  I felt the same way about the second honers who priced my primary school friends out of the village in the Dales that I grew up in. 

 

However we have got Model Railways to keep us sort of sane. 

 

Jamie

[New Haven Neil]

Played out today.

 

In this.

 

 

Then this.

 

 

Up there.

 

 

Our house is in this photo, but you'd be hard put to spot it from 2 thousand feet up.

[SM42]

31 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Played out today.

 

In this.

 

 

Then this.

 

 

Up there.

 

 

Our house is in this photo, but you'd be hard put to spot it from 2 thousand feet up.

 

Is it the white one?

 

Andy

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[BR60103]

Our satnav has a habit of giving directions only to the next junction with a motorway.  Instead of saying "Stay on Hwy 401 for 325 miles" it tells us to "Keep left on 401 in 20 miles". After the junction it repeats with a similar instruction.

 

There was a story in our paper about the local traffic radar cameras. They have 4 of them and they are set up in the reduced speed zones in front of schools.  They are moved around every few months.

One person reported having been suddenly sent $4000 (IIRC) in speeding fines at the end of the month. They were not aware of anything until then, and  oblivious to the reduced speed limit.

 

[polybear]

7 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Oh I'm so glad we get on. I'd hate to see what you thought I was going to do.

 

That comes in Episode 2......

 

7 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Sad to hear that.  I felt the same way about the second honers who priced my primary school friends out of the village in the Dales that I grew up in. 

 

However we have got Model Railways to keep us sort of sane. 

 

Jamie

 

The sooner they ban second homers the better - one house limit.

[SM42]

52 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

That comes in Episode 2......

 

 

The sooner they ban second homers the better - one house limit.

 

That would destroy the rental sector and the housing supply wouldn't change. 

 

The small reduction in prices would give sone temporary relief to those close to affording and mortgage, but also depress the incentive to build new. 

 

Out of use homes would stay so, as no-one could afford to buy and restore or be allowed to own.  

 

The building supply industry would also be hit by the lower demand for new build.

 

The big problems in the housing market are:

 

1. The government subsidising house buying. This pushes up prices as it maintains a demand artificially. 

 

 

2. Consistently rising prices disincentives developers to build. Waiting for a better return is more profitable, so the pace of building slows down  again reducing available supply.  See number 1

 

Stopping number 1 would be unpopular both with the public and the politicians. Stopping number 2 is easier. 

 

Planning permission to expire after say 12 months on developments of more than 5 dwellings ( 2 years for smaller projects) unless at least a certain percentage are completed and on sale in that time,  for instance, would keep the larger developers moving, while allowing the smaller projects more time. 

 

Taxing unused land savagely that has not met the above might get things moving or get it passed on to those who may ( tax rate timer reverts on sale. Stop up the same company, different division loophole) 

 

Increased tax rates on second homes can work, but will be but a  minor blip to the very rich, move the just abouts and reasonably comfortable out, making little difference to supply overall ( maybe locally but a desirable location will still maintain high prices) but may increase the central tax take

 

To get round the locatio location location, mantra you could set a maximum price per square metre, but past attempts at price control haven't gone well.

 

The fact is that ownership as seen all there is. The rental sector has a vital role to play too. 

 

More social housing and restricting right to buy would help as that would maintain the rental sector supply for those who can't get credit. 

 

There are many structural issues in both the housing market and the economy as a whole that cause the problems we have. 

 

Controlling the housing market would be a  start but not the whole solution.

 

Solving the other issues for many a political party would be a step too far and I daresay the for the voting public too. 

 

Andy

[iL Dottore]

10 hours ago, polybear said:

 

iD @iL Dottore has discovered that Beans on Toast really is the Food of Gods after all

Indeed, homemade Boston baked beans on a freshly made toasted slice of artisanal sourdough bread can quite good.
 

But Cheap ‘n’Nasty tinned beans on factory produced white sliced = UPF garbage!

[SM42]

Off to the dentist soon, but I have a pass out for this afternoon, as long as I don't this morning and feel up to it. 

 

Andy

[iL Dottore]

Unlike the UK, Switzerland really doesn’t have much space for new builds (there’s a limited supply of flat [or “flattish”] land and a lot of that is earmarked for agriculture). So what we are seeng are detached houses being sold off (usually by the children who inherited the property) torn down and either an apartment block or a set of row houses put in their place. Of course, this being Switzerland, planning regulations - strictly enforced - mean that new builds are of good quality.

 

Switzerland is also different to the UK inasmuch as most people rent rather than own. And with all things housing there are strict regulations about renting which are enforced.

 

Second homes? In many parts of Switzerland second homes have made the difference between small villages dying or surviving. With shrinking populations (as most of these little places have little in the way of employment opportunities), second home owners bring in much needed income to keep the infrastructure ticking over. Second home owners not only pay local taxes etc. but also pay a small extra tax for being a second home owner.

 

Of course there are parts of Switzerland where the influx of “outsiders” (Swiss/non-Swiss) has dramatically increased the price of housing - but that would have happened even without second home owners (for example there are a lot of very rich non-Swiss permanently resident in canton de Genève - making it, together with Zürich, incredibly expensive - buying or renting). But outside of these few areas, Swiss house prices have not seen the unbelievable increases seen in the UK. Outside of Zürich, Geneva, Bern a house in a desirable area will have increased in worth by about 50% over 35 years or so. According to the Halifax Building society the average price of a UK home has risen by an incredible 207 percent in the last 20 years

 

Like with much that ails the UK nowadays, a lack of nationwide sensible and pragmatic legislation that is thoroughly enforced contributes significantly to the UK’s housing problem.

[jamie92208]

12 hours ago, polybear said:

 

That comes in Episode 2......

 

 

The sooner they ban second homers the better - one house limit.

The problem in Settle and Giggleswick was an influx of media and entertainment types, led by a certain Russell Harty.  They bought up a lot of the cheaper housing and it then stood empty for most of the year.  A very town based civic Society emerged that wanted to pickle the place in a time warp.  They lead a vociferous campaign against quarrying and the expansion of the dairy.  These two were the two main employers, both directly and Indirectly.  This had a very bad impact on the village. 

 

Jamie

Edited March 25 by jamie92208

[Winslow Boy]

10 hours ago, SM42 said:

 

Is it the white one?

 

Andy

No it's the one with the big red arrow attached to the roof. I don't know what the neighbours will say though, just so that he can he see it when he's up hill.

[SM42]

Ow!

 

Back from the dentist with a new filling where a piece of tooth broke off 2 weeks ago. 

 

I didn't notice till a bit of food got stuck there.

 

Waiting for the anesthetic to wear off and may have to pop back later if the filling is too high. 

 

So far so good though 

 

It's a damp, chilly day today so this afternoon I'll probably stay local and have a bit of time out at Gadki to see what turns up and likely  call in at Paledzie on the way back if I'm not too cold and wet by then. 

 

Andy

[SM42]

2 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

No it's the one with the big red arrow attached to the roof. I don't know what the neighbours will say though, just so that he can he see it when he's up hill.

 

I thought that was a different establishment. 

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

1 minute ago, SM42 said:

Ow!

 

Back from the dentist with a new filling where a piece of tooth broke off 2 weeks ago. 

 

I didn't notice till a bit of food got stuck there.

 

Waiting for the anesthetic to wear off and may have to pop back later if the filling is too high. 

 

So far so good though 

 

It's a damp, chilly day today so this afternoon I'll probably stay local and have a bit of time out at Gadki to see what turns up and likely  call in at Paledzie on the way back if I'm not too cold and wet by then. 

 

Andy

Could you not stay warm and dry in a caff that serves cake?