The Night Mail

[Northmoor]

38 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

For those stuck for a new location..

That's in a similar vein to the Molvanian Travel Guide which is a completely hilarious parody of Lonely Planet/Rough Guides, but to a basket-case Former Soviet Block nation:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Molvania-Untouched-Modern-Dentistry-Jetlag/dp/1843542323

 

As they say in Molvanian: "May God send you a sturdy donkey!"

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, rockershovel said:

For those stuck for a new location..

Nyda suggests adding smelly drains, workmen pulling up the road to relay cobbles and  historical tourist attractions (the ones you have specifically gone out of your way to see) covered in scaffolding and plastic sheet.

[Tony_S]

7 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Douglas. you require a simple SPDT to swap the polarity around to allow reversing. 

I haven’t used a dc reversing switch for ages but I always used a DPDT switch, battery to the middle pair of terminals outer pairs crossed over, and then to the motor. 

Edited January 28, 2022 by Tony_S

[rockershovel]

3 hours ago, Northmoor said:

That's in a similar vein to the Molvanian Travel Guide which is a completely hilarious parody of Lonely Planet/Rough Guides, but to a basket-case Former Soviet Block nation:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Molvania-Untouched-Modern-Dentistry-Jetlag/dp/1843542323

 

As they say in Molvanian: "May God send you a sturdy donkey!"

 

This was a plot point in my early days in Baku, as bored expats found they could get (rather old-school) dentistry for $50 or so. I still have a rather crudely executed temporary patch on a broken tooth which cost $11 and is now in its 17th year, plus a villainous looking gold tooth which was about $70. 

 

[J. S. Bach]

That reminds me of a map of the Berlin airlift operating area. A friend's father served in the USAF (never landed on a carrier, the poor soul! ) during the Airlift and I was given some of his paper souvenirs, one being that map. On it is DER RHEIN which may be correct German but I thought that it was funny. I intend to donate these papers to the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH the next time that I go there,

Edited January 28, 2022 by J. S. Bach
To correct a a major geographical error.

[SM42]

I think I have finally taken leave of my senses. 

 

On the workbench is an ex Airfix LMS brake van.

 

The moulded lamp irons and handrails have been carved off to make way for nice wire handrails and lamp iron approximations. 

All good so far normal

 

However half an hour ago I decided I didn't like the moulded brake shoes and decide to carve  them off, leaving the rather nice moulded J hanger suspension. 

 

I have done half of one. No going back now. 7.5 to go

 

Wibble 

 

Andy

[pH]

38 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

That reminds me of a map of Berlin that was from the Airlift era. A friend's father served in the USAF (never landed on a carrier, the poor soul! ) during the Airlift and I was given some of his paper souvenirs, one being that map. On it is DER RHEIN which may be correct German but I thought that it was funny.

I may be missing something here (entirely possible!). However - if the map is of the city of Berlin “Der Rhein” may be correct German, but it’s totally incorrect geography. The Rhine (English spelling) goes nowhere near Berlin.

[br2975]

7 hours ago, rockershovel said:

For those stuck for a new location..

 

Sop far, I have noticed  two signposts missing

.

<-- "International airport 5km."  .......... and.......... "Regional Airport (Ryanair) 45km" ->

[J. S. Bach]

2 hours ago, pH said:

I may be missing something here (entirely possible!). However - if the map is of the city of Berlin “Der Rhein” may be correct German, but it’s totally incorrect geography. The Rhine (English spelling) goes nowhere near Berlin.

Actually the map is of the Airlift operating area (I have made the suitable correction, thank you) Berlin is off up in a corner. Hmmm, maybe I should try to find it and post a photo of it. It is too laarge for my scanner.

[SM42]

2 done. 6 to go. 

 

Before

 

After

 

Won't win any prizes close up though, but at least the brakes will be in line with the wheels.

 

Naughty lowmac I bought he other day in the background. 

 

This kit love? Had it for years.

 

Had enough for tonight.  Threputic beer in progress 

 

Cross eyed Andy

[rockershovel]

6 hours ago, pH said:

I may be missing something here (entirely possible!). However - if the map is of the city of Berlin “Der Rhein” may be correct German, but it’s totally incorrect geography. The Rhine (English spelling) goes nowhere near Berlin.

My hovercraft is full of eels! I am a small sweet pastry!

[iL Dottore]

I’m getting a bit concerned about RMWeb’s speed…

 

This morning I submitted a post…

 

….then read War and Peace from cover to cover…

 

I next ticked “like” in response to a post…

 

…and went away and repainted the shed…..

 

I am now posting this, after which I will prepare a 3-course lunch for 30 people before I come back and open the browser again…

 

Problem is, I’m running out of multi-hour projects……

[SM42]

26 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I’m getting a bit concerned about RMWeb’s speed…

 

This morning I submitted a post…

 

….then read War and Peace from cover to cover…

 

I next ticked “like” in response to a post…

 

…and went away and repainted the shed…..

 

I am now posting this, after which I will prepare a 3-course lunch for 30 people before I come back and open the browser again…

 

Problem is, I’m running out of multi-hour projects……

 

I've got a new bathroom arriving at the end of the week.

You could fit that for me. 

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

Although we may feel somewhat disgruntled over the current speed issues of the RMWeb server, in other part of life there is good news.

 

A few pages back I mentioned Nyda had an errant laptop:  This went back to Medion for a repair to the keypad, with about 4 months remaining on it's three year warranty.

 

Yesterday, Medion contacted us to say it couldn't be fixed.

 

Today, a brand new laptop is being delivered back to us as a replacement.

 

No quibbles, not hidden charges, just the up to date equivalent of the defective one.  It even has Windows 11 installed as the operating system (Not so sure on that one).

 

Yes, I accept that they did have to replace it under warranty, but it was a rapid and problem free experience.  They even arranged to have it collected rather than me  have to make a 5 mile round trip to the post office.

 

My cough and suspect cold has all but disappeared.  The only lingering inconvenience is the ache when I do cough. When this happens, it feels as if I've just been run over by the Welsh First XV.

 

Yesterday afternoon was spent looking through a planning application to build four warehouses and the associated office and car park/servicing yards in some fields close  by.

 

Having been involved with planning departments over the years on various projects, both from the developing side as well as an interested party, I'm pretty well up to speed on what will be considered as an objection by the planning committee when the plans get to that stage.

 

In this case, we have been in the Hippodrome for a few months short of 28 years, and even before we moved in we were made aware that this field would eventually be developed.  Of course some of the 'incomers' are up in arms and have started ranting and raving about matters, which if they read the back of the letter they were sent. laid down the various issues that could be subject to objection.

 

I have no objection, but have raised concern in two areas:

 

The first is noise, not just on the completed operational site, but also the levels of noise, albeit temporary, during the construction phase.  A noise survey was carried out, but I'm not convinced it was carried out with the local residents best interests at heart.  Certainly mitigation would come with restricted working hours on the site, ie not 24/7 operations.  But since we don't know who the eventual end user will be, that remains to be seen (or heard).

 

The other concern is light pollution.  This has not been the subject of a survey, and there is a rather glib remark about keeping the light inside the site perimeter.  although I can appreciate the need for light from both a safety and security aspect, I am not sure that 10 meter lighting towers with floodlights on the top, and high level lighting on the sides of the warehouses is really going to keep light inside so the night time ambient light level is going to increase.

 

Fortunately, one of the ecological surveys that was prepared was a Bat survey, and this has pointed out that 12 bat species have been identified flying over the site and that provision needs to be made for low light and even dark corridors between the building will be necessary.  The local planners are very keen on habitat retention for wildlife, so this may force the developers to rethink their lighting scheme somewhat.

 

Anther survey was about birds, and this survey highlighted that the site does have  twelve types of bird nesting there are on the BOCC list of concern. (Four on the Red list and eight on the Amber list.  This survey was carried out some time back and the developers have already retained various trees and hedgerows within the site as well as claiming they are going to plant in more once the site has been finished.

 

However, we shall see...

 

 

[Tony_S]

27 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

However, we shall see...

I am amazed that there are no Great Crested Newts. They always seem to appear on planning objections. 

[Happy Hippo]

36 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I am amazed that there are no Great Crested Newts. They always seem to appear on planning objections. 

Funnily enough, there is a verified colony of the GCN which has it's own SSSI right at the end of what was our lane, but about 20 years ago, was changed to a pedestrian and cycle route. lane when an access road bisected it.

 

Nature is slowly reclaiming it back, and although there is a clearly defined path, the once 16 foot wide road is now being encroached by grass and small plants.  It really needs to be cleared, but it's difficult to get any form of mechanical cleaner down there due to the bollards at each end.

 

I'm definitely not going down there with a shovel and wheelbarrow!

[jamie92208]

52 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I am amazed that there are no Great Crested Newts. They always seem to appear on planning objections. 

The GCN flying squad hasn't had time to put any there yet.

 

Jamie

[bbishop]

We haven't heard from the squadron reader for a while - I hope he is OK.  Bill

[Compound2632]

34 minutes ago, bbishop said:

We haven't heard from the squadron reader for a while - I hope he is OK.  Bill

 

Last seen liking* posts at around 10:30pm yesterday evening.

 

*That's liking, not licking.

 

[Northmoor]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

In this case, we have been in the Hippodrome for a few months short of 28 years, and even before we moved in we were made aware that this field would eventually be developed.  Of course some of the 'incomers' are up in arms and have started ranting and raving about matters, which if they read the back of the letter they were sent. laid down the various issues that could be subject to objection.

 

I have no objection, but have raised concern in two areas:

 

The first is noise, not just on the completed operational site, but also the levels of noise, albeit temporary, during the construction phase.  A noise survey was carried out, but I'm not convinced it was carried out with the local residents best interests at heart.  Certainly mitigation would come with restricted working hours on the site, ie not 24/7 operations.  But since we don't know who the eventual end user will be, that remains to be seen (or heard).

 

Incomers are often the biggest moaners about development, often if they've retired to somewhere and they now expect it to freeze in time, never appreciating that the area was always evolving and the day(s) they visited and viewed properties, was a snapshot in the area's history.

 

It is well worth keeping a very careful eye on planned operational hours, HH.  15-20 years ago, there was a plan for a large distribution park on brownfield land near here (I used to work on the industrial site before it closed).  The Local Authority rejected the proposal, the Deputy PM over-ruled the decision, there was then an inquiry.  The LA seemed to be accepting the evidence put forward by the developer, including expected traffic levels.  Fortunately, the local residents protest group had someone who had worked extensively in logistics and challenged the figures; he calculated that each warehouse loading bay was going to see less than one vehicle per day, which was nonsensical economics.  The developer was clearly telling the enquiry the figures they knew would be accepted; once up and running and with probably 3-4 times the predicted lorry traffic, the LA was hardly going to lock the gates and close their business*.  After this the proposals all went quiet and the site is now slowly being developed for housing instead (something this area has long been short of).

 

*Quite honestly I wish a few big businesses had their bluff called like this, because it's called Planning Law and they've breached it.  Imagine if a warehousing company had it's gate padlocked in April because they'd had their permitted traffic for the year and would be allowed to reopen on January1st.....

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, bbishop said:

We haven't heard from the squadron reader for a while - I hope he is OK.  Bill

He's fine, I spoke to him on the phone a few days ago.

[Happy Hippo]

29 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

It is well worth keeping a very careful eye on planned operational hours, HH. 

The local authority have always been strict on these sort of things, so with the exception of the military depot which will work 24/7 if needed, the vast majority of the business on the industrial estate work what are considered normal hours.  There is one haulage company which works  a little later, but generally after about 1800 the whole area is like a ghost town.

[SM42]

6 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

He's fine, I spoke to him on the phone a few days ago.

 

Has he been called up?

 

Andy

[polybear]

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Although we may feel somewhat disgruntled over the current speed issues of the RMWeb server, in other part of life there is good news.

 

A few pages back I mentioned Nyda had an errant laptop:  This went back to Medion for a repair to the keypad, with about 4 months remaining on it's three year warranty.

 

Yesterday, Medion contacted us to say it couldn't be fixed.

 

Today, a brand new laptop is being delivered back to us as a replacement.

 

No quibbles, not hidden charges, just the up to date equivalent of the defective one.  It even has Windows 11 installed as the operating system (Not so sure on that one).

 

Yes, I accept that they did have to replace it under warranty, but it was a rapid and problem free experience.  They even arranged to have it collected rather than me  have to make a 5 mile round trip to the post office.

 

My cough and suspect cold has all but disappeared.  The only lingering inconvenience is the ache when I do cough. When this happens, it feels as if I've just been run over by the Welsh First XV.

 

Yesterday afternoon was spent looking through a planning application to build four warehouses and the associated office and car park/servicing yards in some fields close  by.

 

Having been involved with planning departments over the years on various projects, both from the developing side as well as an interested party, I'm pretty well up to speed on what will be considered as an objection by the planning committee when the plans get to that stage.

 

In this case, we have been in the Hippodrome for a few months short of 28 years, and even before we moved in we were made aware that this field would eventually be developed.  Of course some of the 'incomers' are up in arms and have started ranting and raving about matters, which if they read the back of the letter they were sent. laid down the various issues that could be subject to objection.

 

I have no objection, but have raised concern in two areas:

 

The first is noise, not just on the completed operational site, but also the levels of noise, albeit temporary, during the construction phase.  A noise survey was carried out, but I'm not convinced it was carried out with the local residents best interests at heart.  Certainly mitigation would come with restricted working hours on the site, ie not 24/7 operations.  But since we don't know who the eventual end user will be, that remains to be seen (or heard).

 

The other concern is light pollution.  This has not been the subject of a survey, and there is a rather glib remark about keeping the light inside the site perimeter.  although I can appreciate the need for light from both a safety and security aspect, I am not sure that 10 meter lighting towers with floodlights on the top, and high level lighting on the sides of the warehouses is really going to keep light inside so the night time ambient light level is going to increase.

 

Fortunately, one of the ecological surveys that was prepared was a Bat survey, and this has pointed out that 12 bat species have been identified flying over the site and that provision needs to be made for low light and even dark corridors between the building will be necessary.  The local planners are very keen on habitat retention for wildlife, so this may force the developers to rethink their lighting scheme somewhat.

 

Anther survey was about birds, and this survey highlighted that the site does have  twelve types of bird nesting there are on the BOCC list of concern. (Four on the Red list and eight on the Amber list.  This survey was carried out some time back and the developers have already retained various trees and hedgerows within the site as well as claiming they are going to plant in more once the site has been finished.

 

However, we shall see...

 

 

 

I'd be most concerned about traffic levels once the site was up and running, as well as the risk of further expansion at a later date.....

[Happy Hippo]

7 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

I'd be most concerned about traffic levels once the site was up and running, as well as the risk of further expansion at a later date.....

Once the units are built, there is no room for further expansion on the site.  Any traffic going into and off site has to go away from the village to either the A442 or the A518.  Since the temporary road closure of the end of the lane as an experiment, which we believe will become permanent, there is no access from the industrial estate to the village.  This works both ways as what used to be a 2 minute drive to get to the local recycling centre  now takes a lot longer and involves a round trip of about 5 miles.

 

The new laptop has now arrived and Windows 11 is.... different.