Early Risers.

[laurenceb]

Night all

[Tony_S]

We shall have to return to our "Matthew is not at home" shopping quantities. He seems to consume lots of milk, tomatoes and bananas when home. I should imagine he will have no problem with obtaining those items in Utrecht. He said the apartment is nice, and that it is like living in an IKEA catalogue. The building is new and I think today may be the first time students have taken up residency. Matthew seems impressed that he has a balcony. The apartment has 5 students. They each have their own study bedroom, a shared living room, kitchen and bathroom. 4 of them are are post grad, three female, 2 male, one from US,3 British and one from China. The British female undergraduate hasn't arrived yet.

Matthew informs me his priority is to get a bike. He wants a proper Dutch bike which shouldn't be too difficult.

Edited August 28, 2015 by Tony_S

[sixoh8sixoh]

Evening all!

 

Frantic day at work, nipped out to the Post Office at lunchtime to get Euros, haircut after work, quick crepe in the Fringe street food places at Potterrow, then off to the wonderful and innovative production of Magic Flute at the Festival Theatre. Highly recommended if it ever travels near you. It's done with 1920s-style German animation projected onto a "flat" close to the front of the stage (with revolving doors in it) and the singers interact with the animation.

 

Tomorrow morning will see Jamie do her first ever 5K - I'm hoping she'll take it easy as she's only ever done 2k before!

 

Mal - hope you enjoyed the rhubarb show! If you weren't aware, it's Harburn's Bachmann discount event today / tomorrow. I won't be able to pop in sadly but if you do, post pics of anything interesting in the pre-release samples!!

 

Night all!

[roundhouse]

We shall have to return to our "Matthew is not at home" shopping quantities. He seems to consume lots of milk, tomatoes and bananas when home. I should imagine he will have no problem with obtaining those items in Utrecht. He said the apartment is nice, and that it is like living in an IKEA catalogue. The building is new and I think today may be the first time students have taken up residency. Matthew seems impressed that he has a balcony. The apartment has 5 students. They each have their own study bedroom, a shared living room, kitchen and bathroom. 4 of them are are post grad, three female, 2 male, one from US,3 British and one from China. The British female undergraduate hasn't arrived yet.

Matthew informs me his priority is to get a bike. He wants a proper Dutch bike which shouldn't be too difficult.

I can't imagine what milk tomatoes and bananas taste like together!

[railsquid]

Built a tape recorder using a circuit from Practical Electronics. Turned out it was also a very effective receiver for the  BBC Home Service  (it was few years ago.)

 

I used to live in Droitwich (of the eponymous transmitter masts) and we could get Radio 2 just by picking up the phone.

 

 

PS I thought it relevant to check the current stock - there are at least 16 tins of baked beans in the reserve under the stairs, I shall buy no more.  This might sound excessive to some folk but it is outnumbered at least 2:1 by the bottles of wine (which are of course in addition to the ready use bottles in the two wine fridges in the kitchen).

 

Mmmh, baked beans and wine!

 

He said the apartment is nice, and that it is like living in an IKEA catalogue.

 

I hope he finds all the short cuts and lays off the meatballs from time to time.

Edited August 28, 2015 by railsquid

[Jock67B]

Morning all,

The late end to the second air show day at Clacton - not nearly as exciting as the Thursday show (no Vulcan!), but some superb flying nonetheless, and record crowds in sunshine! Sadly for me, the BBMF Lancaster is still under repair, but the Spitfire and Hurricane put on an amazing show despite their years. Dear old 'SallyB', the B17 Flying Fortress deputised well, but four 'Wright Cyclones' can't possibly make music like four 'Merlins'! No 'Hunter' this year obviously, but we were treated to a display by the plane the Americans found so troublesome during the Korean War - the Mig15, which certainly sounded good and handled very nimbly. The 'Red Arrows' opened today, but if anything, the closing act was probably more exciting - the 'Typhoon/Eurofighter' being put through its paces. It is very very fast, but the pilot did one incredibly slow pass with the nose up at an almost impossible angle, followed by emulating a 'Saturn' rocket by accelerating vertically at a phenomenal rate of acceleration - his 'G' suit obviously functions well! Another target for me now : to attend next year's show.

Bill, I hope your poorly administrator turns out to be lucky enough to survive whatever ails him, although you are obviously well qualified to tell how serious it is.

Mike (60860), hope the Mozart is a good production - does the GF share your interest? (Just read your latest post -sounds very interesting!).

Mal, your Festival choices are indeed varied to say the least - not sure about the 'Rhubarb' though! Please let us know if you last for the whole show.

Geoff, I too had a blood test this morning with a new (to my GP's practice) phlebotomist, although I am pleased to say that mine was very gentle. Small world moment though - transpires that she both trained and worked as a member of our Nursing Sister daughter's team at Clacton Hospital! Mike(SM) also gave some today - mine would normally have been on Monday for Thursday's regular oncology consultation but for some reason they aren't open then.

Mike (sidecar racer), thanks for the 'hangar' link - well worth rotating the Google interior image as there are a lot of interesting aircraft in their collection.

34C, a timely reminder that Nevil Shute was not just a best selling novelist (A Town Like Alice etc.), but also had an interesting career as an engineer, as 'Slide Rule', his partial autobiography shows - I have it in the study! Well worth a read, and available in numbers from Amazon for anyone interested.

Gordon s, you and I have discussed the 'small world' before over Harlow workplaces from memory, but would you believe that I've also been lucky enough to go inside the Cardington Hangars. I counted Adrian Reynard (of racing car fame) as a friend, and went with him to see the Airship Industries airships there when he had a financial interest in them - they used Porsche engines from memory? They were meant to be a fine way of seeing the Capital, but the trips always seemed prohibitively expensive to me, which is probably why they didn't last as far as I know. I do remember one flying above Brands Hatch when they still held Grand Prix there.

Neil(NHN), another fantastic set of nostalgic images, thank you. I really am very weary now and, rather than rush something, I will look in with a clear head at some time tomorrow and give them a post they deserve. Thank you once again, wiping bottom lip with tissue as I type!

I hope the long weekend works for you all, I've got the MotoGP races at Silverstone to look forward to on Sunday - Sky+ is already set up!

Kind regards,

Jock.

G'night all!

Edited August 28, 2015 by Jock67B

[southern42]

West Shore open for public running all weekend.  Come and say 'hello' if you're visiting.

But for now, it's 'night all and dreams of playing trains.

  :locomotive: :locomotive:

[Two_sugars]

Tomorrow I will mostly be a moderator . . . Reminding daughter that she was once 12 years old, and granddaughter that the shoes being shopped for are for the coming school term. . .

 

Then it's orf for a fun day . . .Probably Seaton Carew and another plodge after "fission chips" . . Hartlepool power station about 2 miles away. . .

 

Goodnight Everyone . . . . . Sweet dreams.

 

John

[roundhouse]

Jock

 

Glad you enjoyed the airshow. The MIG was nice to see at Eastbourne so share your views.

 

Good night. Err afternoon ...again

Edited August 29, 2015 by roundhouse

[Gwiwer]

I invite any members who so choose to share with me in one minute's silence out of respect for those lost at Shoreham last week and for those who are engaged in the recovery operation in any way.  Remember too the very great number of people personally affected by loss of family or friends and all of those who witnessed this disaster first-hand all of whom will have scars to heal.

 

The local community and, I gather, many towns and businesses across Sussex, are to mark this.  Bus services will stop (if safe to do so) and shops will close or respect the minute.

 

Where ever you are in the world the minute will be at 13.20 Saturday 29th August in your local time zone.  One week after the tragic events at Shoreham air show.

 

Thank you.

 

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

You find me currently pondering the merits of two possible courses of action.  One is to make a round trip of close on 200 miles to attend a book sale where the behaviour of patrons has the potential to rival the most ill-tempered of WI jumble sales or the bring and buy at Scaleforum.  A raid on the cash point yesterday has equipped me to make purchases but the forgettery could allow me to acquire books which on returning home I find already on the shelves.  Then there is the ever-present risk of there bring nowhere to park.

 

What is the alternative?  Is that a pile of part-completed models I see before me?  Of course it is, as ever was.  Then there is the jungle outside the window which has already engulfed the strawberry bed and part of the path.   The man that my neighbour employs to cut down her ivy and other ingredients of an unruly hedge filled my green bin earlier in the week so even if I am to rip out dock leaves and unclassified triffids there is nowhere to put them until Tuesday.

 

Happy bank holiday ....

 

Chris

[Barry O]

Morjing all.

 

Sunny,

Warm

 

Tea to be consumed.

 

Could get used to this holiday lark.

 

Obviously Germany has rebounded financially as there seems more on the island this year. Easy to spot their tour guides and buses. So organised....well in their own sweet way.

 

Have a super Saturday.

Baz

[emt_911]

Morning all. Far earlier than I'd planned but have been asked to do a call out. Breakfast and plenty of coffee first I think.

 

The plans for this weekend have now gone out of the window so I'll have to re-plan or just take it easy when I gat back

 

Have a good day everyone

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a bright village.   Various railway things to do such as finally move the baseboards that I need to.  They were meant to move yesterday but I had left the sack cart at the clubroom.  Apart from that the boss is still asleep and the morning orders group has yet to take place.  I am sure that I will be told what the day holds in due course.

Glad you enjoyed the air show Jock, that's a good target for the next 12 months.

Mike (60606)   hope that you get things sorted and enjoy your holiday.

 

Regards to all

 

Jamie

[AndrewC]

Morning all from that most boring of boroughs. Looks like life is ticking over for all and sundry here.

MoT day for the Landy. It had an advisory last year and if it fails this time the cost of repair will be beyond the value of the vehicle, and beyond my budget. With my luck it will probably be its last day on the road. We've already made the decision to not get another for a while as we are only putting about 2k per year on it. Most of that is shopping ventures.

 

Not much else to say. I will be spending most of the weekend cutting bricks to finally finish the patio and then sweeping about 100kg of sand/mortar into the gaps to stabilise the whole thing.

 

On another note, has anyone figured out what settings to tweak to get MS Edge browser to work properly with RMweb? I can no longer quote unless I go back to IE11 or Firefox.

 

 

Have a great long weekend everyone.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Cloudy but getting brighter here.

I will cut the grass today and probably will need to pop out to get a couple of food items I forgot yesterday.

Tony

[Oldddudders]

Morning all

 

The weather is back to scorchio today, with 31 that will feel like 34, so they say. A considerable advance on wet Thursday, when it failed to exceed 18.

 

Breakfast on the terrasse started the day well, and Sherry has just patronised the upstairs shower.

 

A lot of windfall apples need collecting before I venture out with the mower.

 

Tonight we hope to dine in Old Le Mans, before watching a Son & Lumiere on the cathedral walls and other places. Very French.

 

Hope your weekend goes well.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Will have to make the most of the weather before it breaks, although sunny and warm this morning the forecast isn't exactly good.

[Jock67B]

Morning all,

Neil(NHN), I think I'm awake enough to attempt a post now! Those bike images really brought back memories. The BSA 'Gold Star' was the iconic machine of its era, and almost everyone at our club lusted after one. I have mentioned before that, after riding one from London to Dumfries, Scotland to visit my sick grandmother, I changed my mind as I literally had to be lifted off it by the end of the journey which had been punctuated by several stops to adjust things like the primary chain. This was when the A1 still ran through major towns, and I discovered that to achieve the much vaunted 'ton-up' performance, they had simply raised the gearing such that the 'non-snatch' speed was around 40mph. This year is the fortieth anniversary of the formation of the UK Gold Star Owners Club, with the main celebration planned for Classic TT week and over 150 examples expected to attend. Notthe most practical of machines, but they certainly look and sound beautiful. Nice pic of John McGuiness who I understand is one of the sport's gentlemen - Steve Parrish (paddock nickname: Stavros!) I have met, once when he was racing in the European Truck Racing series, supporting a Formula Renault/Renault 5 Turbo race meeting at the Nurburgring (Renault took Joanna and I there for a 'beano', staying in Cologne) and I must say that he was a 'bit of a character' in those days, though very approachable. The priceless Geoff Duke Gilera looked good, although I have more vivid memories of the 'dustbin' faired version that Bob McIntyre took to the first 100mph lap of the Island in 1957. The 'Commando' special is a tough one, the Yamaha FJ600s we had in the showroom had drilled rather than slotted discs from memory, but the wheels do look similar! The 'Bimota' with it's 'hub centre steering' seemed to use clever engineering theory, but I remember one of the Motorcycle News road testers saying that "the handling was just as the bike looked, ugly!" Thank you once again for the memories, and I have to point out that the camera work is superb as always.

Rick, thank you for the information on the minutes silence, remembering those lost at Shoreham. We shal certainly observe, I've set a reminder on my mobile.

Hopefully be back later,

Kind regards,

Jock (medically retired biker nut!).

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

reasonable weather for most of the day then rain tonight sayeth the Exeter seaweed - probably fairly accurate as we're near enough to Reading to ensure several hours of downpour over this weekend.  In the meanwhile I'm told we'll be off to Tesco to purchase various things which have become essential since yesterday (when, of course, we didn't go to Waitrose).

 

Incidentally we have two ladies staying with us at the moment, Beverley and Charley who seem quite contented munching things like dandelion leaves and carrots - the neighbour across teh road seems to trust us to look after the guinea pigs while they're away and even moves their hutch over to save us having to cross the road.

 

Have a good day one & all.

[DDolfelin]

 

 

Incidentally we have two ladies staying with us at the moment, Beverley and Charley who seem quite contented munching things like dandelion leaves and carrots - the neighbour across teh road seems to trust us to look after the guinea pigs while they're away and even moves their hutch over to save us having to cross the road.

 

 

A duty I hate!

Any pet seems to be just waiting to die on my watch.

We've just completed a fortnight of looking after a parrot (in its home).

Overcoming an urge to let it out of the window, we watched the poor thing sat on the perch for 14 days with little stimulation.

 

I'll never forget the cat we took to Cardiff for the owner who had moved there.

It behaved like the girl from the Exorcist in the car and died three days later.

[roundhouse]

Morning from our last night in this hotel overlooking downtown Portland. It's been a great large room up on the 12th floor, well 11th floor if you want UK counting of floors.

 

There is lightning just over the hills to the West and the wind has picked up so might be a wet day driving North to Olympia in Washington state once we pick the car rental up.

[jamie92208]

 

On another note, has anyone figured out what settings to tweak to get MS Edge browser to work properly with RMweb? I can no longer quote unless I go back to IE11 or Firefox.

 

 

Have a great long weekend everyone.

I find that the first time I hit reply quoting it just brings up the normal reply option but if I then go back to the original post and click the reply with quote button a second time it works normally.

 

On a further random note, I wonder if the alleged Nazi train in Poland is actually a wagon en route from China with all the promised new models for Bachmann and Hornby on it.

 

Jamie

Edited August 29, 2015 by jamie92208

[AndrewC]

I find that the first time I hit reply quoting it just brings up the normal reply option but if I then go back to the original post and click the reply with quote button a second time it works normally.

 

On a further random note, I wonder if the alleged Nazi train in Poland is actually a wagon en route from China with wll the promised new models for Bachmann and Hornby on it.

 

Jamie

tried that and it still didn't work. Sadly Kenton is right, the software for the forum is shite and not everything works on all platforms. iE8-11 and Firefox seem to be th only 2 that have full functionality. IOS is quirky and won't allow the emoticons or to see a post's likes. The mobile site is even worse. I doubt there is much that can be done apart from starting over, however the content here is far more important than some of the functionality loss.

 

On another crap note, the Landy couldn't even complete the MoT as a previously minor vibration noise suddenly grew into a major issue. That will now have to wait until Tuesday to be investigated. Meh, not impressed

[Tony_S]

On another crap note, the Landy couldn't even complete the MoT as a previously minor vibration noise suddenly grew into a major issue. That will now have to wait until Tuesday to be investigated. Meh, not impressed

Sorry to read about the pre MOT noise major issue. At least it didn't become a major issue while you were somewhere remote. Which reminds me. My previous Freelander failed to start while we were at Heybridge. I contacted Land Rover Rescue who said they would have to send the AA to that location. Not exactly up a mountain!