Early Risers.

[bluebottle]

Seems weak to use a "me too" but my best wishes are with Don and Tim - thanks for keeping us informed, I'm not sure how many of us have someone who would do that on the t'Internet forums.

 

Come to that, how many of us would inspire as much affection as Don obviously has? It's not just sentimentality, either, he's managed to evoke admiration for his spirit and lack of self pity, even through this inadequate medium.

I hope that we won't lose him for a good while yet.

[trisonic]

What Gordon said.

 

 

G’night, Jock!

 

Pete.

[The Stationmaster]

Tim, thank you for the news about Don and a further hope from me that he suffers no pain.

 

Seems odd to say it after that but not a bad lunch yesterday although what the chef called 'bubble & squeak' was a long way from what I call 'bubble & squeak'.  Our friends were delayed by an incident on the M4 where a lorry had collied with and partially demolished a large road sign before running into a bridge abutment - fortunately the lorry driver was not seriously injured and was mainly suffering from shock but traffic was stationary for 90 minutes.

 

Off to Alton sometime today - have a good day one & all and thoughts are with Don.

[AndyB]

By way of a break from my normal reading material - novels generally centred on Roman history by authors such as Lyndsey Davis, Steven Saylor...

 

I picked up a novel by Sebastian Faulks; Charlotte Grey. By no means a recent work,first published in the late 90s and made into a movie too.

What particularly struck me about this novel wasn't the main story and characters, but the side story of two very young Jewish brothers who initially evade capture but finally end up inexorably propelled towards a death camp. Particularly. As their journey and fete unfolded I found myself frequently seeing my own children in their place, the older one looking after the younger, constantly protecting and reassuring him as she does each day. This was a tough novel to read. 

 

Part of their journey sees them move to the internment camp at Drancy. 

Knowing this part of Paris quite well, having spent my summer holidays in the adjoining commune,  I looked up where the camp was located.

By a quirk of fete it was on the same road as where my famille live.

 

Certainly the few times we went in to Drancy it had something about the place that felt sad - I don't think that I was at all aware of the events that had occurred there 30 years earlier. But I never liked going there.    

 

I don't know if there is a moral to this anecdote. Perhaps it is simply to grab and cherish every moment of happiness you can with those you love.  

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

And a slight bizarreness relating to the roads that my wife experienced yesterday. She was on the A414 which constitutes part of the 'North Orbital' route south of St Albans. The truck ahead of her displaced and damaged a large cover plate in the road surface, literally flipping it out of its location. There was a safe spot to pull over, so she did so and called the police to report the resulting hazard. In addition to the location 'A414 west bound between these two roundabouts' the person taking the call wanted the road name and persisted in asking for it.

 

Who knows the road name of random stretches of major routes, even those they travel on regularly? Is the M1 'Concrete Avenue' from J1-3, then 'Hardshoulder Drive' to J6, 'Luton View Road' until J10, 'Rorty Street' to J12', and so on? I think we should be told...

[Oldddudders]

And a slight bizarreness relating to the roads that my wife experienced yesterday. She was on the A414 which constitutes part of the 'North Orbital' route south of St Albans. The truck ahead of her displaced and damaged a large cover plate in the road surface, literally flipping it out of its location. There was a safe spot to pull over, so she did so and called the police to report the resulting hazard. In addition to the location 'A414 west bound between these two roundabouts' the person taking the call wanted the road name and persisted in asking for it.

 

Who knows the road name of random stretches of major routes, even those they travel on regularly? Is the M1 'Concrete Avenue' from J1-3, then 'Hardshoulder Drive' to J6, 'Luton View Road' until J10, 'Rorty Street' to J12', and so on? I think we should be told...

No doubt this is all just another victim of the on-screen scripting that the civilian answering the call has to go through. No road-name means I can't commit resources as you are being too vague. A letter to the Chief Constable might help.

[AndyB]

 A few years ago (Ok, quite a few years ago) I came out of the pub late one night having sampled freely of the landlords wares and to my surprise, as I meandered home, a horse standing on a patch of grass,seemingly abandoned. It was raining and the animal was obviously cold and wet.

So, I phoned my local police station to report the fact that a horse had been left to fend for itself.

"Where is the horse?"

"You know the patch of grass next to the level crossing by the station?"

"Sir, I'm in a call centre 60 miles away, so no, I don't know that place."

Luckily they put me through to a person that knew all about horses....

"Don't worry, sir, horses are like people - they have a layer of fur that protects them from the rain! You can leave them out in the cold and rain without any shelter"

"Which town did you say your call centre was in? I have to meet these furry people!"  

[trisonic]

I also see tucked away on the BBC News site Essex Police failing miserably to help a 5 year old rape victim. Their behavior was almost as bad as the original crime.

 

 

Disgusted of New York.

[martin_wynne]

Just back from a meeting where I needed to provide some ID, so I took along my birth certificate.

 

"Sorry, we can't accept that any more".

 

It's no wonder I'm feeling old if my birth certificate is now invalid.

 

Fortunately I had my driving licence with me.

 

Martin.

[sixoh8sixoh]

Afternoon all! (Where did this morning go?)

 

Best wishes to Don, will keep him in my thoughts.

 

Short working day today as I've got parents' evening for Jamie, and given it took 2 hours to do a <1 hour journey on one occasion I was going to a parents' evening last year I'm not taking any chances with the traffic.

 

Martin - that's rather crazy.  I was allowed to fly in August with no photographic ID so how a birth certificate is invalid is beyond me.  I was amazed I was allowed to fly.  Managed to leave my passport at home (I never want that sinking feeling again as the bus arrived at the airport terminal and I suddenly realised the one nagging thing of "I'm sure I've forgotten something" was my passport), didn't at the time have a photographic driving licence, but they allowed me to fly using a debit card as ID. (This was for 4 flights in total - Edinburgh-Southampton-Guernsey and return).

[Robert]

"Sorry, we can't accept that any more".

 

When I got married, I was told I may need to present a birth certificate with an Apostille - which is basically a stamp acknowledging that the person who signed my birth certificate was authorised to do so.  Many countries (Germany included) usually only accept an official signature if there is a stamp attached.

 

The UK birth certificate is a bit of a nightmare, because the true original that I have, is the short form which doesn't have my parents names and occupations on it.  I do have a certified copy which does, but that can cause problems when you are asked to present the original.

 

As it turned out, none of this posed a problem and they were actually more concerned about a translation - which given the information, is rather daft!

 

Name - Doesn't need a translation

DOB - See above

Sex - Clearly not "Yes please"

 

Oh well, rules are rules!

[jamie92208]

And a slight bizarreness relating to the roads that my wife experienced yesterday. She was on the A414 which constitutes part of the 'North Orbital' route south of St Albans. The truck ahead of her displaced and damaged a large cover plate in the road surface, literally flipping it out of its location. There was a safe spot to pull over, so she did so and called the police to report the resulting hazard. In addition to the location 'A414 west bound between these two roundabouts' the person taking the call wanted the road name and persisted in asking for it.

 

Who knows the road name of random stretches of major routes, even those they travel on regularly? Is the M1 'Concrete Avenue' from J1-3, then 'Hardshoulder Drive' to J6, 'Luton View Road' until J10, 'Rorty Street' to J12', and so on? I think we should be told...

I'm afraid it's a symptom of the policy that 'call takers' don't need local knowledge.   I always said that this was stupid policy when I was working but my bosses dissagreed.  Just as an example the A650 between Wakefield and Bradford ran through one area where I worked.  It runs about 9 miles but changes it's name at least 15 times in that distance.  Even experienced police officers who had worked the area for years struggled at times to work out which bit was which for accident reports.   I suspect that the call taker in your wife's case had no idea of the local geography and just had a computer screen in front of their eyes with boxes to be ticked.   It's not the call takers fault they should have access to an accurate mapping system and proper back up.   I hope that the cover was identified and replaced.

 

Jamie

Edited November 19, 2014 by jamie92208

[Jock67B]

Afternoon all,

Last nights news from South Africa and the sad loss of Trev's young work colleague have left me with a mood as dark as the weather here at the moment! I'm further resolved to follow the teachings of the 'Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam' -

                                    

                                                                                       'Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears

                                                                                       To-day of past Regrets and future Fears--

                                                                                          To-morrow? -- Why, To-morrow I may be

                                                                                       Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.

                                                                                       (From the 1st edition version translation by Edward Fitzgerald 1859)

 

Gordon, being a fairly new boy as far as RMweb is concerned, I hadn't heard of Don's 'Thabo' initiative until reading your earlier post - simply the measure of the big-hearted man he is! For anyone else who doesn't know it, type 'Thabo' into the search box and you will get to a historically locked thread which shows just how much Gordon and other members helped to support Don in his effort to make a young lad's dream come true. Full credit to you all and finding out about such generosity of spirit by all concerned has considerably improved my mood!!

John (Killybegs), how lovely to hear the haunting, evocative call of the Curlew. Their summer moorland habitat was easily reached from the railway shed that I lived by as a lad and (in a much safer era) I would often wander over to the other side of the Nith valley main line to find their nests with beautiful pale fawn dappled with brown eggs, as well as those built by plenty of other moorland species. I became a member of the Scottish RSPB when quite young and enjoyed reporting my findings! Not sure mum did as she had to do the work!! They always head to estuaries or the shoreline in winter when their diet changes from worms and the like to shell-fish and shrimps! If you are lucky you should certainly see them where you live although they are very timid. Have you seen the similar but smaller 'Whimbrel' there - quite rare as they only nest in the Shetlands or Outer Hebrides but do mix on the shoreline in winter? Yet again, wonderful memories brought back to life by a fellowER, thank you.

Today is the anniversary, in 1996, of the Channel Tunnel fire which closed it for 6 months and injured 34 passengers! There have been three further incidents in 2006, 2008 and 2012 but not as bad although several people went to hospital after inhaling smoke in the 2008 incident. Daren't tell Joanna about this as she worries enough as it is!

Hope you all get over the hump successfully,

Kind regards,

Jock.      

[edcayton]

Just heard on the News that every one of the 50 States is experiencing below-zero temperatures (including Hawaii and the Southern States) at the moment. What's that about?

 

Ed

[gordon s]

Don building Thabo's layout was certainly testament to his kindness, but when you take into account that Don only has one arm, it takes the whole build to another dimension altogether...

 

Thanks for the search tip, Jock.  I went back to read it again and it brought tears to my eyes reading what ER's, RMweb members and in particular Don managed to achieve.  Happy days indeed, but now tinged with sadness.

Edited November 19, 2014 by gordon s

[Shedman5]

Just heard on the News that every one of the 50 States is experiencing below-zero temperatures (including Hawaii and the Southern States) at the moment. What's that about?

 

Ed

 

Does not exactly look warm I must admit!

[Oldddudders]

Just heard on the News that every one of the 50 States is experiencing below-zero temperatures (including Hawaii and the Southern States) at the moment. What's that about?

 

Ed

Global warming, no doubt, which is the weather man's equivalent of "The Good Lord moves in mysterious ways".

[Ian Abel]

Just back from a meeting where I needed to provide some ID, so I took along my birth certificate.

 

"Sorry, we can't accept that any more".

 

It's no wonder I'm feeling old if my birth certificate is now invalid.

 

Fortunately I had my driving licence with me.

 

Martin.

I had a similar experience here before I obtained dual-nationality. Some agency (not sure which now, whether state or federal) required a picture ID and the documents said a passport was OK, but when I presented my British passport, it turned out only a US passport was "valid"?? Even explaining that immigration accepted a foreign passport as a valid form of ID to enter the country wasn't sufficient arguement for whomever I was dealing with, especially since I ALSO explained I could hardly HAVE a US passport, not being a US citizen - doh!!   

 

Just heard on the News that every one of the 50 States is experiencing below-zero temperatures (including Hawaii and the Southern States) at the moment. What's that about?

 

Ed

Indeed - it's about the arctic air mass moving much farther south than usual, and especially unusual for this time of year!

Due to "lake-effect" snow, Buffalo NY has about 5+ FEET on the ground right now, and expecting up tp another 2 in the next 24-36 hours! Lake-effect is a result of cold air masses crossing the lakes (generally the Great Lakes as they are such large bodies of water, but can happen in other places too), picking up the warmer water into the air mass and then dumping it on the eastern side of the lake(s). It's most severe this time of year because the lake waters are still much warmer and the air can take up more of the moisture. Usually the arctic air masses aren't crossing those lakes until much later when the lakes are already mostly frozen and the open water much colder...

 

Hoping to hear more soon about Don - as already posted he's in my thoughts, and has ER in a more somber mood, for obvious reasons.  I'm moved by how touched everyone is, what a caring community.

 

HUMP day and -8 here, sunny and cold (nothing new there!!)

Edited November 19, 2014 by Ian Abel

[Purley Oaks]

Indeed - it's about the arctic air mass moving much farther south than usual, and especially unusual for this time of year!

Due to "lake-effect" snow, Buffalo NY has about 5+ FEET on the ground right now, and expecting up tp another 2 in the next 24-36 hours! Lake-effect is a result of cold air masses crossing the lakes (generally the Great Lakes as they are such large bodies of water, but can happen in other places too), picking up the warmer water into the air mass and then dumping it on the eastern side of the lake(s). It's most severe this time of year because the lake waters are still much warmer and the air can take up more of the moisture. Usually the arctic air masses aren't crossing those lakes until much later when the lakes are already mostly frozen and the open water much colder...

Ian

Didn't something similar happen last year?

Mal

Edited November 19, 2014 by Purley Oaks

[station cat]

Just back from a meeting where I needed to provide some ID, so I took along my birth certificate.

 

"Sorry, we can't accept that any more".

 

It's no wonder I'm feeling old if my birth certificate is now invalid.

 

Fortunately I had my driving licence with me.

 

Martin.

 

 

You wouldn't say that if you'd ever had to clear bits of papyrus out of a document scanner. Or dropped stone tablets on your toes.

[Ian Abel]

Ian

Didn't something similar happen last year?

Mal

Indeed, although later into the season. As here, we had an extreme winter, but much "later" on in the season. We're all hoping this year won't be quite as bad as last, but odds are starting to stack against us given the current situation...

[Donw]

I don't think I can add to everything that has already been set except to add my best wishes for Don's recovery.

 

Mild and overcast this morning. We still have the cold east wind and heavy rain and gales are forecast for later. It sounds as though Devon and Cornwall already have the bad weather. It was also very dark this morning, I had to use a torch to locate the dogs a couple of times. We startled a couple of curlews, didn't see them but did hear them. Their call must be one of the most evocative, it often takes me back to my childhood reading the Romany books. A couple of years ago, I managed to find all the books on the web (second hand) and they are now with my daughter who will plans to introduce the grandchildren to them in due course.

 

The weather was so pleasant yesterday that I really couldn't stay indoors so the dogs had an extra walk after lunch. To be honest, I don't think they were overly impressed, especially when they were dragged out again later in the afternoon. No great sunsets in the evening but I did take the following shot, looking down on our little community, on our early afternoon walk. You can see the beach, where we take our early morning walks, in the distance.

 

Make the most of the day.

 

John

 

Fintra Bay.jpg

Nice spot John.

Don

[The Lurker]

Indeed, although later into the season. As here, we had an extreme winter, but much "later" on in the season. We're all hoping this year won't be quite as bad as last, but odds are starting to stack against us given the current situation...

my colleagues in New Orleans tell me they're all bundled up but they're hoping it clears by the weekend. But it's not quite as cold as you have it there!

[Ian Abel]

my colleagues in New Orleans tell me they're all bundled up but they're hoping it clears by the weekend. But it's not quite as cold as you have it there!

Indeed - they feel that 4-7 is "extreme", and a client I am working with in Nashville where it's similar right now, they're all panicing as they think the ice age has begun

 

Whimps    I guess it's all in what you're used to

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon all,

 

Today is the anniversary, in 1996, of the Channel Tunnel fire which closed it for 6 months and injured 34 passengers! There have been three further incidents in 2006, 2008 and 2012 but not as bad although several people went to hospital after inhaling smoke in the 2008 incident. Daren't tell Joanna about this as she worries enough as it is!

 

Jock.      

Hmm, the 1996 Chunnel fire is one anniversary I could do without - in the following 5 weeks, including weekends, I think I was actually at home for more than 12 hours just once - that being the only day on which I didn't go into work.  But there were some very amusing stories which emerged in the aftermath including one about a curtain side lorryload of camembert where the curtain had burnt away on one side but the all cheese packaging was still intact, however the cheese wasn't - having melted, there's always room for some black humour when dealing with things like this (otherwise you can tend to go rather barmy).

 

Incidentally there were not 34 passengers on the train but a total of 34 people including the ET traincrew - seven were more seriously affected by smoke inhalation/shock although all 34 were suffering to a great or lesser extent from the effects of smoke inhalation; according to the official report the most seriously affected left hospital within 24 hours of the incident.

 

I don't think the report contains anything to similar effect but at the Inquiry into the Taunton sleeper fire in 1978 one of the medical team involved in post mortem examination asked most of the survivors whether or not they smoked and tit emerged that the smokers were those who had been most able to cope with the impact of the fumes created during the early stages of the fire.  That was probably the only good words I have ever heard about smoking

 

And during the media hullabaloo following that incident was the only time in my entire railway career when a journalist made offers of bribery - although I was given oofficial permission to allow him to take me out to one of the most expensive eateries in Taunton where I not only had an excellent steak but got through the best part of two bottles of a very good Chateau Neuf Du Pape - all at the expense of 'The Sunday Times', alas he subsequently got rather upset when the (pre-cleared) 'exclusive' I gave him at dinner that evening was broadcast on Radio 4 on the 07.00 news the next morning.

 

Oh and talking about addresses and road names I remember a good many years offering the police a map reference for the site of an incident - which they replied to by asking the name of the road as they didn't understand map references.