Early Risers.

[roundhouse]

Andrew - yes pretty dull grey and damp in Surrey this morning and up here near London Bridge.

 

Jamie - enjoy the borders line. Last item we saw the orute it was from a bus. We will be travelling on it in October when we also do the sleeper under its new operator up to Aberdeen and then back from Edinburgh and straight into work the following morning.

 

Hopefully we will get good news from Jock.

 

 

 

Last night we were round mums so not a lot of work on the layout but did do a  ittle more this morning now that I am getting up normal time of 5am - a few more gound turnout levers made up and fixed in place on Dobris.

[Shedman5]

Morning, sunny and warm here, looks like we are going to escape the rain/downpour that is forecast apparently.

 

Not sure what the plan is today, I have a plan  but a discussion over breakfast with my other half will decide.

 

Enjoy your day folks

 

Alan

[bbishop]

A miracle has happened - the dumb can speak.

 

Bill

[southern42]

' Morning all from red dragon land.

Looking gorgeous at the moment, sun, blue skies, no wind...

 

If you're out and about enjoy your day (and / or)

If you're not so good, hope the day goes better for you.

[The Lurker]

Morning all, there are stripes of light and grey laid across pastel blue skies over Borough Market Junction. I've avoided the rain this morning but more is forecast.

 

As I'm at work, I clearly survived the appraisal. I was picked up for sometimes being too technical in my conversations with group finance. As I said to my boss, it's been a long time since anyone thought that....!

 

Judging by the number of typos in Jamie's post, he was quite distracted by the lovely Lisa

 

I'm out for dinner tonight - tapas at Iberica on Great Portland Street.

 

Enjoy your day

[NGT6 1315]

Got a good soaking this morning

 

I somehow read that as "a good spanking" initially and wondered what you might have been doing…

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Got out of bed at 06.30 by the cats demanding breakfast - cats duly fed, now being pestered for more food while I shout at them to go and eat the stuff they've already been given.  One up on Tony as I put the recycling bin outside the gate last night but then we are supposed to put them out in the evening for some totally unaccountable reason as they're often not dealt with until mid afternoon (the following day).

 

Much rain promised by both the Met Office website and by Carol - but at least she smiled as she said it.

 

Have a  good day one & all and hoping all goes well for patients and those now recovering (including Archie of course).

[Happy Hippo]

That almost begs the caption

 

"Psssst - wanna buy a steam loco? Fell off the back of a lorry..............."

 

Cheers,

Mick

Fell off the back of a lorry?

 

That's tempting fate, as it is exactly what happened to Roger Loxley's 15" gauge SR&RL No 24 en route to the R&ER a number of years back.

[45156]

Morning All

 

Caught up on the various pieces of not so good news, wit, wisdom, good news, and assorted drivel.

 

First, I hope that the no news from Jock IS good news.  His last post did say that his presence would be thin on the ground.

 

Flavio - a lot of sense as usual from your vast store of medical knowledge. 

 

Gordon - your four legged friend is in good hands there, and as I can testify, referral veterinary medicine is far from cheap.  Like you, I would never own a pet without insurance, as bills of that order can spring up when least expected.

 

I'm sat upstairs waiting for a visit from the nurse who is due to come and change my dressing - but time is undefined, just hopefully this morning, but could be anytime. 

 

I'll try to get back later.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[Smiffy2]

Morning all from a wet and windy Whitstable, where real whelkmen are abed. Was a bit staggered yesterday to be offered oysters at £15 for six, they are €4.50 the dozen in Brittany at the moment...

 

Explored the harbour yesterday, off to do the shops today.

 

Best wishes to all, awaiting news from Jock. Have a good day, all.

[Killybegs]

I somehow read that as "a good spanking" initially and wondered what you might have been doing…

 

Maybe that says more about you than me!!!!

Edited September 16, 2015 by Killybegs

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Bit damp and dreary here this morning and according to Carol it aint going to change much today. My recycling/rubbish collection day is Thursday but as is my habit I will put them out tonight when I get home from the model railway club. Looking forward to the Shenfield show this Saturday, first port of call will be the club sales stand to grab any bargains going. Hope we hear from Jock soon about how things went and best wishes for anyone else who's family members (including pets) are under the weather.

[AndyB]

Morning all, overcast here today. 

 

Enjoyed the Channel 4 program last night from Goodwood. Stirring stuff! 

 

Likewise the Penelope Keith program from Deeside was nice to see and we've added Tarland to our list of places to visit on next year's migration.

 

swmbo was prevailed upon to help me unsolder some of the point and trackwork on the layout. Armed with a fresh supply of insulating joiners I seem to have cured the faults. For the life of me though I have no idea why they only manifested themselves once the last - unpowered - siding was put in place. And why did they persist when I took it away. 

 

Today's jobs include 1.) apply for a job, 2.) clean the house as MiL is staying the weekend, 3.) source pain-relieving patches for mum, 4.) de-bug a gantt chart, 5.) buy some fizz and flowers for swmbo. 6.) pain the architrave and dado rails and 7.) most importantly of all keep and eye out for postings from Jock. 

 

Have a nice day everyone. 

Andy

[edcayton]

A miracle has happened - the dumb can speak.

 

Bill

 

I was going to click "funny" to your first superglue post, but when I saw all the "friendly/supportives" I was overcome by guilt. However, now that all is back to normal and no harm done, it is FUNNY.

 

Ed

[NGT6 1315]

That's the way I like a shift to begin!

 

[sixoh8sixoh]

Morning all!
 
Back to a sunny Scottish HQ after an eventful 3 days (and not enough time to keep pace with ERs).
 

Hope Sunday is peaceful for all and that Mike's run time is better than he expects.

Thanks Ian - you'll have seen on FB that I managed 2 hours 31 for the Great North Run.  Bit slower than I'd have liked, but it was fairly warm, I wasn't in peak condition, and I'm sure there's been tectonic activity on the course in the last 3 years.  The route was exactly the same but much hillier than I remember from last time!

 

Traffic getting away from the race area was awful, and not helped by the Metro system breaking down (and then, apparently, people walking along the Metro tracks). Anyway, made it home eventually!

 

On Monday we went out to the Black Horse at Beamish (gastropub type restaurant about a mile from the museum) to celebrate Mum's birthday and as we were leaving about 9.30, after a good meal, another car was pulling into the car park.  We turned onto the country road leading away from the pub, and after about 500 yards, came across an injured roe deer in the middle of the road. Looks like the car we saw had hit it and left it injured.  I ended up keeping it calm and stroking it and covering it with a blanket for the next hour and a half until the RSPCA arrived.  It had a small cut to one of its antler buds, but a bit more of a graze on its side, but it didn't have the use of one of its legs. May be that it had a broken pelvis or hip.

 

I didn't realise that there was as much blood from it as there was, but my jeans were bloodstained, and of course, I didn't have a spare pair of trousers with me, so ended up travelling back up to Edinburgh looking like I'd committed a murder!

 

I was booked in for a sports massage (a treat from my GF... she thinks torture is a treat?) and didn't have time to go home and change first!  Anyway, I'm now blood-free, changed, back at work, and possibly aching more from the sports massage than I was from the Great North Run!

 

Hope everyone's having a good Wednesday!

[Simon G]

Good day on the Ratty yesterday, with two trips behind Northern Rock. The first trip was 10 coaches, which is a fair old load, so Rock had to work hard on the steeper sections of the line. One heavy shower forced me inside in the final run, to avoid getting too wet.

 

Shopping now done this morning, and hair cut as well. It was a different girl who cut it today, and she has cut it shorter than usual, but I am happy with it. Now having a coffee before venturing out to watch Leander coming round the Cumbrian Coast. As it is a gorgeous day, I might get a decent photo ot two!

[trisonic]

I am sure Jock will respond when he gets the time. We can wait, for sure.

 

 

Anyway try and make the most of the day everybody.

 

Best, Pete.

[sixoh8sixoh]

I'm off on a grumpy old man's day out with my mate.  We're off to Edinburgh to ride the Borders Railway and also we're going to walk down to see the Quintinshill memorial that's on the road to Leith where the Royal Scots came from.   Should be a good day out.   Due to the early start I'll have to pack my sandwiches and bag tonight.

 

Jamie - do you know where you're heading for the memorial? Not the easiest to find, if memory serves. I think I did find it a couple of years as I went on a detour on my way home (it's just off my normal route from the office to the flat).  Are you doing the steam tour? Union of South Africa has just headed off to the Borders 15 minutes ago.  I understand there are capacity issues on the DMUs they've rostered on the line for the regular services.

 

Best of luck to Archie at the vet's and hope to hear from Jock too.

 

[Gwiwer]

Dropped in to see if there was anything from Jock.  It appears not so here's hoping no news is good news.  Ditto Archie, poor chap.  Our cat nibbled something which turned out to be highly toxic (though it wasn't listed as such in any of the information sources on such things) and ended up at the emergency treatment centre overnight.  Luckily he's pretty robust and came home first thing next morning bright as a button having spent the night in the oxygen tent and costing us the greater part of $1000 (about £650).  The offending plant has been moved.

[jamie92208]

Jamie - do you know where you're heading for the memorial? Not the easiest to find, if memory serves. I think I did find it a couple of years as I went on a detour on my way home (it's just off my normal route from the office to the flat).  Are you doing the steam tour? Union of South Africa has just headed off to the Borders 15 minutes ago.  I understand there are capacity issues on the DMUs they've rostered on the line for the regular services.

 

Best of luck to Archie at the vet's and hope to hear from Jock too.

 

Thanks for the advice.  No we're not heading for the steam special but the service train and will have to take our chances re capacity issues.  I'm glad that loadings are high and hope that they continue to be so.

 

As to the memorial my mate has researched it after reading the book "The Quintinshill Conspiracy" and I am relying on his navigation skills  I think that there was a photo of it in the book.  

 

Sorry to hear about your experience with the injured deer.

 

Jamie 

 

 

 

[45156]

As to the memorial my mate has researched it after reading the book "The Quintinshill Conspiracy" and I am relying on his navigation skills  I think that there was a photo of it in the book.  

 

I'm reading this one at the moment while recovering from my op, and it's quite interesting.

[Oldddudders]

Afternoon all

 

A soggy overnight led to a similar morning. There are severe weather warnings about, and threats of winds up to about 50 mph. Actually it's fairly calm now, dry, with a hint of blue in the distance.

 

I share the anticipation of good news from Jock, but suspect the whole family is entirely worn out with worry, whatever the surgeons skilfully managed. Everything crossed here.

 

Glad Gordon's furry friend has a chance of recovery. Our experience with pet insurance - albeit with horses - was not good, so I'm glad yours is better.

 

I have been in all  morning, and sitting in the sejour with the front door close to me. Yet Chronopost, a half-baked delivery service if ever there was one, have emailed to say the address is imprecise and they have not been able to deliver. Or telephone, as lost couriers sometimes do? Yet last Saturday, and a couple of weeks ago, guess who brought parcels to my door? This is the French end of eBay's rogue International Priority Shipping, where the seller sends the item off to Pitney Bowes, and they then apply import duty before  forwarding it, thus avoiding import fees on delivery. Except within Europe there aren't any such tariffs, of course. That's the point about the EU. So the PB share is just ebay having a "Business Partner" who can make the buyer pay more for nothing. "Business Partner" sounds like the sort of thing Harvard might have generated, as it has only been in use for about a decade to my knowledge. Anyway, a little later I will make a 60-mile round trip to collect it. Sigh. 

 

Hope midweek finds you well and coping.

[AndrewC]

In other news the dishwasher has just curled up its toes. Neff? more like Naff. Can't decide on whether to replace it or wait until the kitchen gets a full rebuild next autumn. Decisions.

[roundhouse]

In other news the dishwasher has just curled up its toes. Neff? more like Naff. Can't decide on whether to replace it or wait until the kitchen gets a full rebuild next autumn. Decisions.

time to get that washing bowl out again.

 

I am taking my dishwasher to the Rake in Borough Market tonight. She gets a night off washing!!