The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Bear recalls a Train Set on Antiques Roadshow.....the locos ran on 240vac......

Just don't touch the rails.....

I recall one of the railway greats in the 1920's had something like a110v garden line.

 

Apparently the cats did not use the track bed as either a right of way, nor a toilet, having been made part of the circuit when power was switched on.

[simontaylor484]

I have been banned from starting on the lego crocodile loco kit until the kids return to school. 

 

The last of the cold beef has been consumed along with pickled gherkins onions and cauliflower 

 

Indigestion relief may be required later 

[bbishop]

Feeing pretty down today.  So I went to church today, covering two services and was there for five hours.  Actually very enjoyable so this isn't the reason.  It is a tradition in the Church of England that the vicar is away for the Sundays after Christmas and Easter, so Joan (our non-stipendiary curate) took both services and I was deacon at the main service.  Then a brisk walk round Greenwich Park without a reaction from the ankle, so another reason to be cheerful.  But I've been moping around for the house ever since, I even found myself watching horse racing on the tv! 

 

The reason could be that the Brexit deal is nothing of the sort and we will be mired in trade disputes for years to come.  I'm even wondering if I would have preferred a no deal, at least that would have been a clean break. 

 

I think I'll cheer myself up with a bottle of red plonk, a Beethoven symphony and some irregular German verbs.

 

Bill

[Tony_S]

10 minutes ago, bbishop said:

some irregular German verbs

Sein language...

[pH]

8 minutes ago, bbishop said:

I think I'll cheer myself up with a bottle of red plonk, a Beethoven symphony and some irregular German verbs.

Each to his own, I suppose!

 

[Happy Hippo]

This'll brighten you up Bill!

 

I've just done a clickbait test which claims to be able to measure your level of education.  It was obviously an American based set of questions due to the questions that had a definite US bias.

 

According to the results, I am at PhD level, having got all the questions right.

 

Nyda said I it was total rubbish as I'm already beyond redemption in the education stakes.

 

She always tries to big me up, bless her!

[jamie92208]

Just think of those lovely chunky locos thatvyou have Bill and think nicevpositive thoughts about your layout.  Hope things get to look better for you.

 

I've actually done sone railway related work in the shed today. Though I got soaked going to the shed and back just now to fetch some more wood.

 

Jamie

[Dave Hunt]

I'm seriously considering resigning from this forum. There I was having a quiet day when the call came to mount an observation patrol looking out for the peripatetic pachyderm since he was rumoured to be in danger of harm due to an inadvised sortie into Obergrumpenfuhrer territory. I of course responded immediately and only returned to base when the combination of darkness and my lack of NVGs made further patrolling futile. On my return what did I find but that the HH was safe and well and obviously had been for some time but NO-ONE HAD CONTACTED ME TO TELL ME. This is not the treatment I would expect from friends and colleagues, hence my displeasure, although I suspect that offerings of cake and happy water could mollify me. There is a small table outside the front door where shipments can be left.

 

Bye for now.

 

Dave     

[SM42]

If only you had tuned your radio to the correct hippo frequency you could have saved a lot of time and fuel and returned to base for cake and medals a page earlier

 

Andy

Edited December 27, 2020 by SM42

[tomparryharry]

It appears we have a problem over here. Dinner was nice, being chipolatas, mushrooms, tomatoes, and scrambled egg; just the job. However, we've opened the Christmas cake, and sad to say, a great deal of evaporation has taken place. Since 18:00 hours, the cake has continued to lose both mass & weight. Some speculation that it might not last the week. 

 

Nice; mind....

[SM42]

6 minutes ago, tomparryharry said:

It appears we have a problem over here. Dinner was nice, being chipolatas, mushrooms, tomatoes, and scrambled egg; just the job. However, we've opened the Christmas cake, and sad to say, a great deal of evaporation has taken place. Since 18:00 hours, the cake has continued to lose both mass & weight. Some speculation that it might not last the week. 

 

Nice; mind....

 

Cake evaporation is a well documented phenomenon. 

Occurs during the Christmas  period mainly and is most pronounced in the vicinity of bears and hippos 

 

Andy

[New Haven Neil]

14 minutes ago, SM42 said:

If only you had tuned your radio to the correct hippo frequency you could have saved a lot of time and fuel and returned to base for cake and medals a page earlier

 

Andy

 

 

A frequency close to the 32' rank of a big organ......cue that video of a hippo f*rting....

[Florence Locomotive Works]

52 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

I'm seriously considering resigning from this forum. There I was having a quiet day when the call came to mount an observation patrol looking out for the peripatetic pachyderm since he was rumoured to be in danger of harm due to an inadvised sortie into Obergrumpenfuhrer territory. I of course responded immediately and only returned to base when the combination of darkness and my lack of NVGs made further patrolling futile. On my return what did I find but that the HH was safe and well and obviously had been for some time but NO-ONE HAD CONTACTED ME TO TELL ME. This is not the treatment I would expect from friends and colleagues, hence my displeasure, although I suspect that offerings of cake and happy water could mollify me. There is a small table outside the front door where shipments can be left.

 

Bye for now.

 

Dave     

Sounds like we need to strap a detonator free version of this to our Hippo. Any Soviet era radar stations in and around Hipposhire (there are a few) will probably have a fit though.

 

Douglas

Edited December 27, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[tomparryharry]

21 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

Cake evaporation is a well documented phenomenon. 

Occurs during the Christmas  period mainly and is most pronounced in the vicinity of bears and hippos 

 

Andy

 

Oh dear me, no! Cake evaporation of any variety is an ongoing problem all year round. Bears, Hippos and other large-scale fauna are not to blame. 

 

"Give a man a cake, and he will eat for a day".

"Give a man another cake, and he'll eat that one as well". 

 

What's needed are edible savouries, such as hot sausage rolls. Suitably dressed with salt or pepper and a slice of 'bite 'yer ar$e ' mustard pickle and cheese, all washed down with your favourite  liquid refreshment. 

 

BTW, what has happened to piccalilli? You used to be able to buy some really strong stuff, but it appears to be missing this year.

[Oldddudders]

1 hour ago, bbishop said:

Feeing pretty down today.  So I went to church today, covering two services and was there for five hours.  Actually very enjoyable so this isn't the reason.  It is a tradition in the Church of England that the vicar is away for the Sundays after Christmas and Easter, so Joan (our non-stipendiary curate) took both services and I was deacon at the main service. 

Sherry had told me that Archbishop Welby had decreed that, his chaps and chapesses having done extra duties Thursday night and Friday, they could indeed take the day off. Her vicar had decided that was short-changing the parishioners and gamely officiated. For 6 socially-distanced worshippers. And the music bloke - who we believe gets some sort of stipend - didn't turn up. Had Sherry had notice, she'd have taken her music with her and played. Shame.

[SM42]

41 minutes ago, tomparryharry said:

 

BTW, what has happened to piccalilli? You used to be able to buy some really strong stuff, but it appears to be missing this year.

 

Piccalilli is in Manchester 

 

Andy

[petethemole]

I like Waitrose Mustard Piccallilli, quite pungent and reasonably priced.

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, tomparryharry said:

It appears we have a problem over here. Dinner was nice, being chipolatas, mushrooms, tomatoes, and scrambled egg; just the job. However, we've opened the Christmas cake, and sad to say, a great deal of evaporation has taken place. Since 18:00 hours, the cake has continued to lose both mass & weight. Some speculation that it might not last the week. 

 

Nice; mind....

 

1 hour ago, SM42 said:

 

Cake evaporation is a well documented phenomenon. 

Occurs during the Christmas  period mainly and is most pronounced in the vicinity of bears and hippos 

 

Andy

So thats what happened to my stollen cake. It was much reduced by Christmas day and completely evaporated by the early hours of Boxing day.

53 minutes ago, tomparryharry said:

 

 

 

BTW, what has happened to piccalilli? You used to be able to buy some really strong stuff, but it appears to be missing this year.

I used to get my pickles from a stall in Gravesend covered market. All home made and with plenty of bite. Unfortunately I was unable to acquire any this year due to C-19 making the ferry from Tilbury a bit erratic.

[New Haven Neil]

I like chillililli from a shop in Hawkshead, Lake District!  We have a stock....

[Happy Hippo]

9 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

 

 

I used to get my pickles from a stall 

So did Dave.

 

But as an Instructor Pilot he knew how to recover.

[rockershovel]

4 hours ago, bbishop said:

 

 

The reason could be that the Brexit deal is nothing of the sort and we will be mired in trade disputes for years to come.  I'm even wondering if I would have preferred a no deal, at least that would have been a clean break. 

 

 

Why, whatever did you expect? 

 

Boris has achieved what no other politician of the past sixty years has been willing to attempt, with one notable exception. He has separated the intertwined issues of federalism and trade, and established clearly that the former is unelectable while the latter is essential. 

 

 Let’s see what develops. 

[tomparryharry]

3 hours ago, SM42 said:

 

Piccalilli is in Manchester 

 

Andy

 

Oh dear...  Do you mean Piccalilli Circus?

[SM42]

7 hours ago, tomparryharry said:

 

Oh dear...  Do you mean Piccalilli Circus?

 

Nah!

 

That's in Landan, ennit

 

Andy

 

From a winter wonderland.  Let it snow  let it snow,  let it snow. 

[Dave Hunt]

Yer, int it where that fairy on one leg wiv a bow'n arrer 'angs aat?

 

Dave

 

From a yukky, damp and cold North Hipposhire where white stuff is drifting down from a grey sky, thus precluding any foolish activity such as going outdoors.

[Happy Hippo]

I have just got up to find It's snowing here.

 

for some reason neither of us could sleep last night:  I came down at about 0100, and loitered with discontent, to be joined by Nyda at about 0330.

 

I went back to sleep around 0500, and I don't recall Nyda returning to the duvet Duchy, so I must have finally dropped off.

 

During the course of my perambulations around the Hippodrome I made some teas, and took it into the conservatory (It was chilly in there) where after entering I was able to observe, first hand, cake evaporation.

 

it was a truly spectacular sight, made all the better by the Christmas lights twinkling in the darkness.