Jump to content
Users will currently see a stripped down version of the site until an advertising issue is fixed. If you are seeing any suspect adverts please go to the bottom of the page and click on Themes and select IPS Default. ×
RMweb
 

Early Risers.


Mr.S.corn78

Recommended Posts

  • RMweb Gold

Still trying to pluck up courage to strip and paint a Hornby E2 I got from Ebay. I've a Tamiya spraying turntable on order, may wait for that. Breakfast calls.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

A couple of non railway photos from yesterday

 

These made me feel all "orange"

 

post-6662-0-72953200-1399975006_thumb.jpg

 

Presumably to/from RAF Marham (I think these are Tornados ?) - four of them flew over me, a long way from me and into the light but worth a grab shot.

 

post-6662-0-69511200-1399975034_thumb.jpg

 

post-6662-0-49235000-1399975036_thumb.jpg

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Morning all

 

A much brighter start to the day, but more bad weather due later. The rest of the week looks better, however.

 

I have spent 30 mins photocopying documents for Alison, while she weeds my flowerbeds. The copies will remain here on hard drives for the time being. Cloak and dagger stuff!

 

About 3500 days since I retired. I learnt that while I liked the sociability of work, and was often regarded as the "life" of wherever I was, aka mouthy git, I coped very well with being just cooped up with Deb, and my social side has never felt frustrated in all those years. It's good to meet people occasionally, but apparently not essential for me.

 

Hope your week is progressing well.

It was 12 years ago last month since i last worked for a living.  I also miss the banter and socialising at work but there are many things I don't miss such as shifts.   One problem is that I sem to be busier now than when I was at work.

 

Jamie

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Simon please don't forget the comment was made by an actual working volunteer at the Ratty, that particular one was not my opinion but one I was passing on.  I hope someone does read it actually, as I love the Ratty dearly and am a regular visitor, but I have to admit in retrospect their presentation when we visited in March early in the season (first weekend running I think) wasn't that good.  I know they have to dress appropriate to Lakeland weather but the driver was smarter than one of the guards, although the second one was dressed well.

 

Groudle is of course totally volunteer run, and I appreciate is a much smaller operation, but our Directors insist on Guards and station staff being appropriately dressed.  Of course there may be working staff riding the train in overalls, that's a different matter altogether.

Neil, thanks for the clarification.  I have to admit that everyone looked very smart on the photos you posted of Groudle Glen - I was definitely impressed! If we get back to the IoM. I will definitely be visiting it.  In my days on the Lakeside & Haverthwaite, I spent some time as a guard and I was certainly not smart - just wearing the clothes that I turned up in at the start of the day, but with a little badge to say that I was the guard.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sherry, we had the drive done a couple of years ago now and I simply sprinkle 'Path Clear', dissolved in a watering can with a fine rose, over the surface and it's completely pet friendly as soon as it dries. Pick your weather carefully in early spring and you won't see any weeds. I pressure washed ours a couple of weeks ago and, as I convinced the contractor to leave me a nice big bag of the fine sand he used, brushed over when dry and it looks like new. It has been pointed out by the 'boss' that we should have done it years ago!!. See what you mean about 'Inkscape' Pete, might be able to master it in time but right now I can't afford the printer/stroke cutter!

Kind regards,

Jock67B.

PS Lurker = Lucky bu**er!

Edited by Jock67B
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Occasional showers here which seems to be doing the garden some good.

Fridge defrosted - if anyone wants to know what happened to the polar ice caps, look no further...they were here. 

MoT next - fingers crossed. 

 

Mrs B has been on at me to say what I want for my "big" birthday. 

"Nothing to do with model railways" was my restrained and mature answer; too many kits and mismatched bits of rolling stock already. 

"Ah-ha. Well, I do have one idea."

"Go on..."

"Cooking lesson with a famous French person?" 

"Is he a chef?"... it seemed sensible to ask the obvious question. 

"Oui! And no looking at my computer's Google search terms either!"

 

Clearly she is much taken with the French theme following our weekend away. One other good thing is that my rather shy daughter has been speaking in French to me since we got back. Bit of a result that as previously she wouldn't volunteer any words at all.     

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Someone please call the BBC Radio 4 and tell them that “Li’l Miss Cornshucks” real name was Mildred Jarman and she died, if I remember in 1999....

If they called me they could have saved an expensive flight to Chicago. Not much mystery - she was a fine singer but not the best blues singer ever.

What a bunch.

 

Best, Pete.

Edited by trisonic
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Occasional showers here which seems to be doing the garden some good.

Fridge defrosted - if anyone wants to know what happened to the polar ice caps, look no further...they were here. 

MoT next - fingers crossed. 

 

Was that you or the car Andy?

Regards

Jock67B.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To be serious is it worth trying on one footprint a product like Vanish carpet stain remover Power Foam? It is a very large aerosol. It has shifted some difficult stains without affecting carpets (brown coloured 80% wool 20% manmade fibres). You really can see the dirt lifting into the foam. Last thing I cleaned was a patch where Aditi had spilt the shavings from an eyeliner pencil and then trampled them in to the carpet.

 

Tony

 It certainly is good stuff, my wife has removed red wine from a pale beige coloured carpet (we don't like to waste it!), and also Loyd Grossman sauces, and they really do stain.. No experience of it with powder stains though. Good luck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Occasional showers here which seems to be doing the garden some good.

Fridge defrosted - if anyone wants to know what happened to the polar ice caps, look no further...they were here. 

MoT next - fingers crossed. 

 

Was that you or the car Andy?

Regards

Jock67B.

12” of snow overnight in Colorado, Jock.

The problem is that the cold weather needs to be re-distributed to the polar caps! Pack up yours and send it......

 

Best, Pete.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In deep poop….

 

Decided to weather the walls on ET using MIG smoke powders and was getting along fine with a board stood on it's side on a pair of trestles.  Weathering powder is so fine so I wear a mask and hadn't realised the excess powder was falling to the laminate floor.  Of course I moved about and the soles of my slippers became well weathered.  Not a problem until I realised I had created a set of size 12 footprints down the stair carpet.

 

God knows how I'll get it out short of shampooing the whole carpet.

 

I think I'll stick to golf.  It's far safer….

Don’t wet it before trying a simple vacuum first. You may be surprised, G.

 

Best, Pete.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A couple of non railway photos from yesterday

 

These made me feel all "orange"

 

attachicon.gifDAS_0106.jpg

 

Presumably to/from RAF Marham (I think these are Tornados ?) - four of them flew over me, a long way from me and into the light but worth a grab shot.

 

attachicon.gifDAS_0102.jpg

 

attachicon.gifDAS_0104.jpg

Look like F-15 variants to me, Dave, possible “E". Do the RAF have any? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_F-15E_Strike_Eagle

Probably over “just in case”, ground attack par excellence.

 

Best, Pete.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Look like F-15 variants to me, Dave, possible “E". Do the RAF have any? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_F-15E_Strike_Eagle

Probably over “just in case”, ground attack par excellence.

 

Best, Pete.

 

I used to work for them too ! - maybe Lakenheath was their destination then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Just had a phone call from "Barry" allegedly UK based, though caller display said international. 

Honest guv.. it wasn't me! Honest...

 

I have started to answer these calls in Russian... they hang up very quickly...

 

Beast - F15s..... and Trisonic.. no we have Tornadoes and Typhoons....

 

Having a cricketing conundrum this weekend - so far I have had 3 games cancelled/rescheduled so nothing to do at the weekend...  well nothing currently...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Neil, thanks for the clarification.  I have to admit that everyone looked very smart on the photos you posted of Groudle Glen - I was definitely impressed! If we get back to the IoM. I will definitely be visiting it.  In my days on the Lakeside & Haverthwaite, I spent some time as a guard and I was certainly not smart - just wearing the clothes that I turned up in at the start of the day, but with a little badge to say that I was the guard.

 

Thanks - we try!  We consider it to be part of the experience, re-creating the Victorian origins of the railway. 

 

I have to admit my personal hate is printed tickets on a bit of heat sensitive till roll from a computerised system.  I fully understand the financial pressures on railways, and that cardboard Edmundson tickets cost, but really, it just isn't in keeping. /rant!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Honest guv.. it wasn't me! Honest...

 

I have started to answer these calls in Russian... they hang up very quickly...

 

 

I do have to ensure before being silly that it isn't one of Aditi's uncles or cousins ringing, though they usually don't start the call with long silences like the "I am not trying to sell you anything" ones do. I did have another call and my impersonation of an elderly Punjabi gentleman got me cut off quite quickly.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Occasional showers here which seems to be doing the garden some good.

Fridge defrosted - if anyone wants to know what happened to the polar ice caps, look no further...they were here. 

MoT next - fingers crossed. 

 

Was that you or the car Andy?

Regards

Jock67B.

 

The car passed the MoT more easily than I would. Having said that it doesn't seem too stringent a test these days. 

For example, the windscreen wiper blade perished so I tied temporarily back on itself. Obviously this was meant to be a temporary bodge and the wiper only cleared part of the windscreen. I asked the garage to swap the blade before the test but they clearly forgot and in its bodged state was good enough for the inspector to pass! 

 

Talking of fighter aircraft I see a new maintenance contract has been announced on the Tornado by "Defence Contracts International - delivering precision intelligence."

Anyone spot the deliberate mistake? 

 

Reminds me of a defence company that pushed out a glossy quarterly magazine advertising their excellence to the MoD. The front cover was an aerial view of an RN aircraft carrier. The only slight problem was someone in marketing had tampered with the image to ensure it fitted the magazine's cover layout without having to move the title blurb (corporate image maintained!)

In altering the image they'd actually made it into a mirror image so that the bridge/air traffic control island appeared on the port side. Did anyone spot this before it went out for general release? Course not (corporate image down the pan!). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do have to ensure before being silly that it isn't one of Aditi's uncles or cousins ringing, though they usually don't start the call with long silences like the "I am not trying to sell you anything" ones do. I did have another call and my impersonation of an elderly Punjabi gentleman got me cut off quite quickly.

Good greif!! I'm reading this/these regarding callers and what happens, the phone rings, I pick it up and ... "Congratulations you've been selected to receive a Bahamas cruise..." blah, blah. Bloody thing was PRE-RECORDED, not a sodding human to shout at even, just press numbers to accept/reject/blow up organization!!! :(

They REALLY SODDING PISS ME OFF!!! Working from home (which I admint IS a nice thing), I don't need all these idiots calling and wasting my time <sigh> OK, where's my small thermo-nuclear device... <RANT> <RANT> <RANT> :butcher:  :butcher:

 

On the normal ER front - we're currently 8 and cloudy, rumbling thunder and expecting rain some of the day.As Pete noted, there's a s*h**i**t-load of snow in Colorado at present and generally cooler in the middle of the country. That's forcing our (upper mid-west) weather to become cooler and more moisture laden, but we're mostly out of a snow possibility here finally!

Oh, and Pete - apparently it's all your fault - the weather wizards say it's all caused by a stalled front over the eastern seaboard... can you give it a shove out to sea mate!! Ta..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I get dozens in France. If I answer in English they usually hang up (I can just hear the 'tut' before the line goes dead) but sometimes they go for it. It's EDF (or a proxy) trying to get me to fit photovoltaics - there's some scheme whereby the French government stumps up a subsidy for the work, and you contract to feed back some electricity for the next 140 years. I must have had twenty of these calls - and bear in mind that I'm only there a few months each year.

 

I started doing the 'ne parle pas le français' thing and they found a French Canadian to call me back...

 

Eventually they get the idea that it's a holiday home and I don't want to invest 'cos I'm 65 and so forth - but it's a proper pain.

 

In England it's surveys. Bloody surveys aka email address harvesting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

I do get annoyed with the sales phone calls because the dogs insist the phone needs answering so even if I am up a stepladder I have to get down and answer it, so I am not always polite. Being xD is no assistance. We did have trouble with a debt agency chasing someone who had either given them our number or the company had the details wrong. When politely telling them the person they wanted did not live there and they started being a bit aggressive, I phoned the BT malicious calls unit and explained we were being harrassed in error the calls stopped!

 

Staff and volunteers of Preserved lines should remember that the visitors pay to keep the railway going even though it must be hard to appreciate that when faced with some of the very irritating kids that seem to abound these days. However I would expect a professional approach with a welcoming atmospher is more likely to encourage respectful behaviour from visitors.

 

Beast there is not really much one can say. There are some very odd people around who take exception to anyone who may have a different view to them.

 

Don

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So back from work and it's been agreed that eight laptop rebuilds in two years is just taking the p*55 a little, so it's being replaced. So here I am at the moment deleting and overwriting all the data that was thereon, as some of it is student data and as I'm handing it back for recycling don't know where it's going to end up.

 

If anyone wants a terabyte of disk with "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" a few billion times then they're welcome to it.

 

Other then that return was uneventful, just picked up the load of sh** that I was expecting and gave my opinion on a couple of the decisions forced on us in my absence.

 

Fun times ahead.

P.S. The overwrite process will take all night.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...