Early Risers.

[trisonic]

cancelling the series).

 

Pete, some posts back you wondered why you could only find a certain sporting event on an obscure US cable channel. I thought that the reason would be obvious: if there are no American "winners" in the particular sport then Networks and major cable channels won't provide coverage. Another example, perhaps, of the difference between the British and the Americans: the Brits enjoy the game, the Americans enjoy winning (or am I being too cynical, here?)

 

 

iD

I did wonder that, Flavio, but some of the results were so close I don’t believe any tv company would be clever enough, frankly.

 

I agree with your views on Morphine (with regard to Jock). When my brother was dying in Wales they seemed to go out of their way to make sure he did not become addicted until his final day. That did sum up Wales in general to me as they want to ban anything that might possibly be conceived as “entertaining” - back to the days when the whole country closed on Sundays...

 

What I really dislike about Oxycodone is the fact that it also includes Acetaminophen...... I seem to be among the few that just don’t get along with that stuff.

 

Morphine has the effect on me of making me loquacious - it never sent me to sleep, though with the benefit of hindsight I think I did sleep but failed to recognize the difference between it and being awake!

 

Best, Pete.

[AndyID]

Laptop is to be consigned to the bin, but I will see if a local place can recover anything from the hard drive.  Now the problem is I want a new one, but with Win 7.

 

 

Not to be the harbinger of bad news and all that, but having designed computers and computer bits for about 35 years, I should warn you that laptops are stinking piles of dog excrement (and I happen to like dogs.)

 

If you need something portable, it might be a lot better to get something with no rotating parts (some sort of tablet) AND a not so portable desktop machine for the heavy duty storage/processing stuff.

 

Just my humble opinion

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

A bit breezy here but dry although lots of rain is forecast with the possibility of a bit of sunshine later.

Duncan - if it is kidney stones you have my sympathy as they are bl##dy painful. I too have suffered several times but luckily not for some years. The only thing that cheered me up when I was in hospital was that one of the Sisters told me that having experienced stones and childbirth she would rather have another baby. I assumed she meant kidney stones and not the Rolling type!

Need to pop out today and get some more screws (thought I had plenty) and a new spirit level as my favourite one seems to have lost its bubbles and spirit.

Jock - I can't believe someone who has displayed the sheer guts and willpower that you have is going to become an addict overnight if you take a bit more pain relief.

Hopefully may get round to some more wood cutting today,

Have a good one,

Bob.

[Gwiwer]

Morning all.

 

Good to see Dave (TG) is back among us even is temporarily sans computer.  

 

Excellent news from Dom - well done and may a safe path lie ahead of you.  I have no idea of the particular policies or legislative requirements there but had you been here and the holder of a car licence you would have passed as a trainee driver within seven days and have carried fare-paying passengers from (usually) day four of training.  After anther month you go solo but until that time you drive with a trainer at your shoulder.  Unlike Leipzig where it seems you must learn every inch of track first here in Melbourne you would spend your career driving just two or three routes according to depot.  The principles apply network-wide but you are entitled to request a "qualified driver" to accompany you if asked to drive over an unfamiliar route.  You would also very likely be taking part in a stop-work protest for four hours tomorrow.

 

Weather grey and cold.  Hints of Spring still in the air with buds and blossom appearing and the occasional hint of warmth if the sun pops through.  Palace of Attendance lurches along.  Industrial (in)action planned for next week.  No politics discussed here.  

 

Have a good Wednesday everyone.  It's hump day for the "suits"; it's just another day on the roster for most staff.  

[The Lurker]

Morning all, first day back after a week off work and not time to try to catch up, so commiserations and congratulations as appropriate for earlier pages. I have gathered that Dom has passed his course so congratulations for that and my sympathies to Jock - it seems you have a very good oncologist and his advice is worth following.

 

It's grey over Borough Market Junction this morning and the rain has passed, for now.

 

We did a few days trips during my time off - Penshurst Place, Groombridge Place, Cambridge (family do), Science Museum, and also got the fence panels at the end of the garden replaced. So I feel I have made good use of the time off.

 

Now, back to work. What have they been up to while I've been away.....?

[AndyB]

Morning all, and it's National Ark Building Day in preparation for the upcoming Bank Holiday.

Absolutely tipping it down here.

 

Recent rainy days have seen a resurgence of board games and today's activity is a 500 piece jigsaw. 

 

Well done to Dom. Let's hope one day we can organise an ER excursion to your neck of the woods so we can see you in action!

 

Well done to GB for some excellent woodworking skills. As there seems to be an outbreak of modelling going on I'm going to add a photo of my own recently completed (almost) baseboard...

 

 

I've thrown some track on top of it - some people would say that's as good as my track laying ever gets anyway.  

 

 

 

 

[Killybegs]

Many thanks for all the birthday greetings.

 

Jock, I hope you manage to find an acceptable solution to your pain problems.

 

Dreary and humid here this morning. Moderately hung over after an excellent meal and wee drop of wine last night at our favourite local restaurant.

 

On the maritime front, Granuaile (the Irish Lights maintenance vessel) finally left yesterday after spending a week tied up alongside. Normand Reach (the big ugly construction support vessel) is back this morning, that's twice in a week. The deep water fishing fleet is getting ready for new season which will start next month. On a sad note, two engineers working on the refrigeration plant in one of the smaller boats on Monday were overcome by fumes and one has subsequently died in hospital.

 

Terns over at the beach this morning. They visit us once or twice a year but never stay for more than a couple of days.

 

I will be spending the day packing the motor home and cleaning the house, as we will be off to catch the ferry to the UK first thing tomorrow. Please don't panic if there are no posts for a while. Just as well we are not flying, as I gather Dublin Airport is closed at the moment due to a fire.

[andyram]

Morning all. Just a check in, didn't have a lot of time to post last night as I didn't arrive back from North Yorkshire until about 9.30pm. I had a lovely day and the weather was very kind, dry throughout and quite warm. The clouds did roll in late in the day, just as I was trying to photograph one of the final trains of the day at Moorgates, but never mind.

The moors looked lovely yesterday with the heather a real rich purple. It was the best I had seen it for a few years. I do like that part of the country, truly beautiful.

Late running trains limited my stop offs at some of the stations, so I only had a brief stop in Whitby in the morning, and at Pickering later in the day. I had a longer stop at Grosmont as I was parked there. I managed to get down to the sheds and the fund raising shop although nothing to tempt me to part with my cash. In fact there was little in the gift shops either. Interesting that the Grosmont station shop managed to be shut from 1.30 for about an hour! The model railway shop across the room, not linked to the railway, seems to have changed ownership and their range is much reduced. Also disappointing is the closure of the model railway shop across the road from Pickering station although that is understandable after the death of the owner last year. The stock has been passed to the TMC at Beck Hole, although I have never located this yet.

Plenty of engines in steam with "Pocket Rocket" 76079, Black 5 45428 "Eric Treacy", K3 61994 "The Great Marquess" and Q6 63395. A class 20 was also on a Grosmont to Pickering service whilst D7628 took the two Whitby trains that have the long lay over. I ended with the Black 5 all day and covered a good 84 miles which bumps the summer total to 324. Will post some pictures when I get chance.

I got a phone call from the G.C yesterday offering me places on tonight's wine and dine train following a cancellation so Sarah and I are looking forward to a nice evening tonight.

 

Finally my best wishes to Jock. Sorry to hear you are in pain and hope it eases. A belated Happy Birthday to John.

[Purley Oaks]

Dom, great to hear you've got through the training.

 

Jock, I hope your night wasn't too painful.

 

Saw James Naughtie at the bookfest on Monday; some of you won't be surprised to hear that he's a great talker. Chatted without notes for a full half hour about the current UK political situation. His view; everything's in flux (as if we didn't know), from the massive rise of the SNP Westminster vote (he thinks some of the SNP MPs will shake up the Commons in a good way), to the schisms of Labour (he accidentally said that the new leader would be Corbyn), to the current government (he laughed at the idea that a majority of 12 was in any way large). He gave one personal opinion, which was to come out in favour of Nick Robinson in the latest spat with Alex Salmond because it was almost a year old and Salmond should just leave it. My take, for what it's worth, is that Robinson shouldn't have fixed his report to imply that Salmond hadn't answered a question, but he apologised at the time and that should be it. 

 

Flavio - watched New Tricks last night and still think it works well; is it too white or middle-aged/baby boomer? Perhaps an independent will pick it up. Will watch the Bombay rail terminus later and hope the presenters have calmed down to an Attenborough level.

 

Have found a new tv show to replace the West Wing - Madam Secretary - the story lines are very feel good, though the hawks are stereotyped; but the writing, acting and production values are all good.  

 

Thought that the swallows had left but a couple have just reappeared this morning. Must soon be time I'd've thought.

 

Hope you have a good day

 

Mal

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Very blustery here. Looks like rain will be here soon.

I didn't wake up with the alarms to put the bin bags out. Aditi did it as she didn't want to wake me.

We may take Matthew out for lunch if we can book a table at a nice pub restaurant we have been intending to take him to.

A parcel is out for delivery today that seemed to spend much of yesterday going from one end of Kent to the other.

Jock, what Flavio said about pain relief sounds right to me. I just don't see you frequenting opium dens in Frinton as a result of using more morphine.

Tony

[Oldddudders]

Morning all

 

Bright and sunny after some quite cool days here. Everything looks refreshed from quite a lot of mainly gentle rain.

 

Sorry to have missed John's (KB) birthday - belated best wishes for many more to follow.

 

Jock is amazingly resilient. And why he shouldn't be allowed junkie status if he chooses it in his condition is beyond me. No doubt the moral majority has a role here. Nanny knows best. I hope it hurts when her time comes.

 

Kidney stones sound horrid. I seem to have escaped such maladies, but there is still time (I hope)!

 

Great relief to hear all is as well as can be Chez TG.

 

SD9s - and their weaker SD7 brethren - are great things. I think I had one in BN livery at one time. That's too modern for me now as I try not to pass 1960 on my US HO layout, which is now running again, after a fashion.

 

Our riding shotgun for Alison was not arduous, and the ex was comparatively calm, albeit foul-mouthed, apparently. Sadly all that glisters is not gold, and later that night Sammy (6) revealed that daddy had shouted a lot, been "like a dragon" - and hit him. The eldest (12) looked very uncomfortable when Alison sought corroboration, and one suspects the boys had been warned against telling mummy. Daddy certainly told them he has a network of spies so knows everything mummy does. This is . If you know of anyone willing to do a small contract job in Aberystwyth, I could be buying.

 

I hope midweek finds you passably comfy.

 

Edit to congratulate Dom on his success!

Edited August 26, 2015 by Oldddudders

[petethemole]

I just don't see you frequenting opium dens in Frinton as a result of using more morphine.

 

So that's what Frinton has instead of pubs. I've always wondered how the wrinklies residents of advanced years got off their faces. Seriously, I have never understood why the NHS are so strict about provision of opiate analgesics for severe pain relief, particularly with the terminally ill and those for whom severe pain is a permanent condition. If you're going to need it for the rest of your life you are 'dependent' on it anyway.

It rained much of the night accompanied by wind, quite noisy at times. It had stopped but it's now raining again although the wind's dropped.

 

My trip to town found GW Journal and also the new 'Moving the Goods' on steel transport. I bought some salami at Lidl who are doing an Iberian promotion. To be eaten in moderation but very tasty. 

 

Have a good day.

 

Pete

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I hope your pain problems are sorted soon Jock and I think the medics know you well enough by now to trust you with the morphine. As Flavio said it is better to take pain killers as and when needed rather than as a regular dose. I try to avoid taking any drugs unless I absolutely have to and currently I am only on one drug for my blood pressure though before that I was on anti inflammatory for the arthritis which had to go as they cancelled out the blood pressure drugs. For pain relief I have now to rely on paracetamol which I am very careful about dosage and in fact the arthritic pain seems to be less now than when I was taking the anti inflammatory drugs. As some of you may recall I had had a kidney stone last year most of which I 'passed' and indeed it is excruciatingly painful and like Bob's nurse a woman I know who has had both a baby and kidney stones also said it was more painful than giving birth. I was told somewhere that a huge number of people have kidney stones but are completely unaware that they have them.

[PhilJ W]

In answer to the postings from OD and Pete while I was composing my drivel above. In older men kidney stones can be a sign of prostate troubles thats why I had all of that checked out when I had my kidney stones and fortunately everything checked out OK. Jocks suggestion of opium dens in Frinton tickled me, whenever I hear the name mentioned I can't help thinking of 'Harwich for the continent (Frinton for the incontinent)'. My sister lives just outside of Frinton (Kirby Cross) and several times I have gone into Frinton with my sister who works odd days as a volunteer in a charity shop. I found the charity shop a bit depressing in some ways as a lot of the items were obviously from deceased estates. I went in there once and there was a large Art Deco wardrobe in immaculate condition, as I stood there admiring it my sister told me that if its not sold after a certain time it goes to the local tip. I hate to think of it ending up on a bonfire hopefully an antique dealer decided to acquire it.

[DDolfelin]

Our riding shotgun for Alison was not arduous, and the ex was comparatively calm, albeit foul-mouthed, apparently. Sadly all that glisters is not gold, and later that night Sammy (6) revealed that daddy had shouted a lot, been "like a dragon" - and hit him. The eldest (12) looked very uncomfortable when Alison sought corroboration, and one suspects the boys had been warned against telling mummy. Daddy certainly told them he has a network of spies so knows everything mummy does. This is ######. If you know of anyone willing to do a small contract job in Aberystwyth, I could be buying.

 

 

Yes, I know folk in Aberystwyth who would have a word.

However, experience leads me to believe that disputes between couples should remain there if possible unless the safety of one or the other is threatened.

For example, a friend interceded to stop a man beating a woman. She hit him on the head with the heel of her shoe in gratitude.

Then there was the time that a woman friend destroyed the best part of an LP collection and spent weeks trying to replace them at huge cost.

(The deep scratch on his Jag was put down to the Dustmen).

We cannot really know what goes on behind closed doors.

The 'White Knight' in all of us needs to take a spectator role unless it is unavoidable.

 

(Well done on "glisters", Ian).

[Ashcombe]

Jock: really sorry to hear that you are in such pain. I would recommend that you contact your oncologist as a matter of urgency rather than suffer. You would not be the kind of patient they would dread seeing! Sending gentle hugs.

 

In other news: the house which I jointly own with my ex has been sold to a local family who've long admired it and are now in a position to buy. This is very pleasing for me as it helps me to think the house will be occupied by folk who will appreciate it as we originally did.

 

The few days of rain have passed - albeit temporarily - and we have warm sunshine today.

 

Hope it is shining wherever you are.

[Oldddudders]

Quite right, of course DD, but the fact that children are involved seems to have piqued my interest - using them as a pawn is one thing, but abuse and fear are not the tools of a fit parent IMHO. Of course Alison has brought it all on herself due to infidelity, but the ex is clearly not right in the head about his responsibilities. And her lover offers all the support of a chocolate fireguard.

 

Sherry and I sometimes think we share an over-developed sense of injustice.

[DDolfelin]

the house which I jointly own with my ex has been sold 

 

PARTY!

[sixoh8sixoh]

Morning all from a drizzly Scottish HQ.

 

I'm trying to summon up the brain power to write a consultation document and failing miserably. I'm also worried about being on holiday next week as no-one in my team has any in-depth knowledge of what I'm working on - they know bits and pieces but not enough given we're at a fairly crucial stage... Unfortunate timing, but that's down to having impossible deadlines enforced from above.

 

In the time it's taken to type that I'm upgrading the weather nowcast from intermediate tyres to full wets.

 

Meeting with the Minister later, and no plans set in stone for the evening.

 

Hope all are as well as possible - Jock, hope the pain's more bearable soon.

[Tony_S]

I don't think I have even been to Aberystwyth. Possibly when we went on a camping holiday near Tenby when Mum decided we should visit an aunt who was holidaying in Llandudno.

Tony

[eldavo]

...If you know of anyone willing to do a small contract job in Aberystwyth, I could be buying...

Contract, no problem. Aberystwyth, no way. Been there once!

[sixoh8sixoh]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aberystwyth-Mon-Amour-Malcolm-Pryce/dp/1408800675/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1440582868&sr=1-1&keywords=Aberystwyth

 

Aberystwyth, mon amour...

 

Comedy detective novel series, I think.

 

I did consider applying to Aberystwyth for university. Then I decided to go somewhere less cold and windy. St Andrews.

Edited August 26, 2015 by sixoh8sixoh

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

And Jock if they give you a supply of the stuff they clearly trust you to use it - do what is needed to control the pain.

 

The rain falleth in profusion but I'm told it's good for the garden and the runner beans are certainly coming forward in similar profusion as are the carrots while the leeks are increasingly harvestable.  I of course do my bit for the veg patch by building paths and eating the produce, both essential contributions in my view.

 

Have a good day one & all.

 

Edit to add PS - I went to Aberystwyth to do the shed  and the VoR (I think my parents had other ideas about what the visit was for) when we were on holiday at Aberdovey; also visited when I was at CCF camp at Llanbrynmair.  As the shed no longer has anything of interest, I've done the VoR, and I left the CCF a very long time ago I can think of no other reasons to ever go back there.

Edited August 26, 2015 by The Stationmaster

[Smiffy2]

Morning all. Wet, windy and altogether too March for August.

 

Jock - you know what you need to do, and that's get as pain free as possible, whatever. Ashcombe is sending virtual hugs, I won't go that far but I'll send a virtuaal bottle of Calvados and a hand clasp.

 

Ian - yes, where children are concerned adults have to act when they see danger. Perhaps in this case a message that you are aware and a warning that you will take it further if there is a recurrence? The father may be justified in his anger, but that mustn't be deflected on the kids.

 

Currently trying to explain to some people that you can't promise women-only carriages on corridor trains... Are there any vestibuled compartment carriages still in use on the network?

 

Ah well, off in a mo' to take a Volvo bootload of carp unwanted items to Oxfam, and then shopping including Hobbycraft. As Julie pointed out when we were planning today's activities, with the loss of Modelzone the only model/craft shops left are aimed firmly at a female market. Then Sainsbury's.

 

Have a good day, chums.

[PhilJ W]

I went to Aberystwyth once.