Early Risers.

[Smiffy2]

Morning all, weather similar to that reported by GDB - which is hardly surprising as we're back from our short break on the North Kent Coast. Where they have proper whelkmen, not like the idlers we have here. No sign of them this morning.

 

I had been keeping up as much as possible - Premier Inns do have wifi, but it's a bit pants, and it's pleasing to see some good news. Jock - keep on keeping on! Mal and others, I hope it will soon be a smoother road from now on.

 

Dom - have you thought of a light monopod for night pix? I have had several. The only problems are that they look like an offensive weapon and they are easier to lose than an umbrella on the Southern Region.

 

So best wishes to all for a jolly nice fin de semaine and a bon weekend.

[Oldddudders]

Morning all

 

Overcast and may become showery, but occasionally brighter. It's Autumn, so we have to deal with it!

 

My upstairs shutters - technically persiennes, I think - need a repaint. I applied suitable goop to them a couple of years ago but it wasn't great. So a restrip and start again would be good. Alison's current volunteer, a young Scot, will inspect today to see if he'd feel up to the task. The shutters demount, being both folding and tilting, so work is on a table, not a ladder.

 

After my relatively successful running session last weekend, I bit the Bulleid this morning and have just watched a pacific circulate with some Pullmans. The chassis seems a bit fussy about track - not liking bits of pointwork that my 4-6-6-4, 4-axle diesel or various SNCF railcars seemed happy with - which is a bit depressing. Code 75 seems preferred to the Code 83 on the US part of the layout. Hmmm.

 

Hope recovery is effective for all who have been in surgeons' hands this week. Enjoy your weekend!

 

PS Dom - have you thought of just carrying a length of string instead of a tripod? You tie a loop in each end. One goes over the camera/phone, whilethe other slips over your foot. Adjust the length so when your foot is extended and the camera is in your chosen position for a picture, the string is taut. Amazing how much extra stability this can add, reducing shake on longer exposures.

Edited September 18, 2015 by Oldddudders

[sixoh8sixoh]

Morning all from an overcast Scottish HQ where it truly is POETS day. We don't get the August bank holiday, but instead get a half day today and next Monday off.  Roll on the 3 1/2 day weekend!

 

Plans for my afternoon off are to drive to the West, pick Jamie up from school, take her to her gymnastics class, then out for dinner with her.  She's a bit of a messy eater but well-behaved (most of the time!).

 

Last night involved a quick trip out after work for new GF to reserve some wardrobes she'd spotted on Gumtree.  She got in quick, and got two large solid wood wardrobes for £90 the pair.  I suspect that buying them brand new would be well into the £500 bracket for the pair.  She's a dab hand at sorting a deal, and has found some app that allows her to get quotes from people with vans to collect and deliver.

 

DPD attempted to deliver my French loco yesterday (I presume that's what it was) so I've rescheduled delivery for Monday when I'll be back in the flat all day (with a bit of luck).

 

Pleased to hear good news from all those who've been through their medical trials and tribulations over the last couple of days!  Have a safe and (for those in work!) short  Friday!

[45156]

Morning All

 

Good news seems to abound today - great news from Jock and Gordon and the posts show that their are some really skilled surgeons out there doing their best for the fellow men, and their companion animals.  Hope Simon's news is good and that the lump is nothing sinister. There's a lot more here to comment on, but time dictates otherwise, so the usual generic greetings to those who are ailing.

 

I had quite a painful night as the swelling on my leg has started to abate, and this caused the clingfilm dressings to start to pull, and to catch on some of the clips.  A call to the nurse service this morning first thing resulted in a visit by a cheerful lass by 9.30 and she agreed that the dressings were too tight and changed them for a different type, which has worked. 

 

I'm going to tackle a few small domestic jonbs like sorting out the recycling from the rubbish in the upstairs bins - wow such fun awaits.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[PhilJ W]

Morning from Estuary-Land. A bit late this morning as I had to transfer from Firefox to Chrome as Firefox is again dead slow. It seems to happen every time I go into Facebook I'm wondering if it is something to do with the attempt to hack my account because it only started happening after that. I watched WDYTYA last night, Anne Reid was following the story of her G G Grandfather who was deported to Van Deimens Land (Tasmania) in the 1840's, he was released a year early but was unable to return home as he could not afford the return passage which the convicts had to pay themselves. I thought of Tex as I watched that program that also showed some of the very attractive scenery. Waiting in this morning for the delivery of a new mattress, hope it arrives near the beginning of the time slot (10.30-1.30), In the meantime I'll have to clear the passageway downstairs as there is a 180 degree turn to negotiate at the foot of the stairs in a space of only 6 X 4 feet with a low ceiling as well. Commiserations and congratulations were necessary and have a good POETS day all.

[45156]

 In the meantime I'll have to clear the passageway downstairs as there is a 180 degree turn to negotiate at the foot of the stairs in a space of only 6 X 4 feet with a low ceiling as well.

Been there, done that.  I suggest that as they negotiate the gaps that you hid your eyes as they might do some interesting manouevers to get it up as they did here, and it was tight as our new matteress is big.

[PhilJ W]

Been there, done that.  I suggest that as they negotiate the gaps that you hid your eyes as they might do some interesting manouevers to get it up as they did here, and it was tight as our new matteress is big.

Not a problem really as I've done it before but I will have to empty the coat rack and explain to the delivery men what is required, once on the stairs it will be easy. The old mattress is a lot easier, I measured up the window opening and hopefully it will just squeeze through and it doesn't matter if it gets dirty or damaged by dropping it from the window as its only fit for the tip.

[The Lurker]

Morning all.

 

I can see a small patch of blue in amongst the grey clouds over Borough market junction.

 

I hope that all those have undergone surgery continue to progress in the right direction.

 

I see the BBC carries a warning for our West Yorkshire members; apparently super-gonorrhoea is rife in Leeds. Not that I'm inferring anything untoward amongst ERs, the headline led me to imagine some giant amorphous blob leaping out of the darkened alleyways on unsuspecting passersby....

 

Have a good day and an excellent weekend

[lightengine]

WDYTYA was so funny last night. It isnt often that you find the participant is enamoured when they discover that their ancestor was a criminal. Ann Reid seemed to really relish the criminality bit.

[AndrewC]

Morning all.

 

I can see a small patch of blue in amongst the grey clouds over Borough market junction.

 

I hope that all those have undergone surgery continue to progress in the right direction.

 

I see the BBC carries a warning for our West Yorkshire members; apparently super-gonorrhoea is rife in Leeds. Not that I'm inferring anything untoward amongst ERs, the headline led me to imagine some giant amorphous blob leaping out of the darkened alleyways on unsuspecting passersby....

 

Have a good day and an excellent weekend

Reminded me of a large alien tennis playing blancmange that turned everyone into Scotsmen.

[skipepsi]

I have just eaten a large hot roast cob from the butchers and followed up with a double decker vanilla slice delicious! New diet and exercise regime starts Monday 21st the plan being to weigh 20 kgs / 44 pounds less approximately and to cycle 20 km/12.5 miles without my pulse exceeding 120pm by my 60th birthday.

 

 

The rise of super -gonorrhoea might have a link to dark alleys but for a different reason.......

[jamie92208]

Reminded me of a large alien tennis playing blancmange that turned everyone into Scotsmen.

And if I remember correctly that episode all started off on New Pudsey station on the western boundary of Leeds.

 

Jamie

[NGT6 1315]

I may indeed have to investigate these ideas, Dick and Ian. Thanks!

[New Haven Neil]

I just brace the camera against a handy pole (not a Pole, you understand....) luckily the camera has a vertical side profile!

[Gwiwer]

Made a rare excursion this afternoon purely to photograph items of tramway interest.  Also to pay my respects to one of Melbourne's four tram / train level crossings as it's about to become grade-separated.  The initial closure of road, railway and tramway began just three hours after my visit though all will reopen ten days for now after the road has been dug out, the new bridge abutments and deck installed and the roadway reinstated.  The railway will be lowered to its new alignment in January.

 

There's a gallery of over 70 images taken at several locations at the link - I'll just add one sample image here.  They aren't captioned as I simply don't have time to do it.  Most are around Gardiner which is being grade-separated and feature trams of classes D1, Z2 and Z3 along with Xtrapolis trains.  There's a couple taken at Kooying two stops up the line where it crosses a second tram line (making the Glen Waverley railway line perhaps unique in that it has two such crossings) but the majority of pictures i took there were useless as I must have inadvertently changed the camera settings.  

 

Redundant W-class trams are seen dumped at the rear of Glenhuntly tram depot waiting their fate as Melbourne's operator seems uninterested in keeping its history alive.  Then there's a series taken at Glenhuntly tram square which uniquely has three rail tracks crossing two tram tracks.  It's also unique in other ways because the crossing can be part-opened to allow pedestrians off the island platform to cross one side of the railway even if the other side remains blocked for an approaching train!  A1 and Z3 class trams feature as does a Siemens train at the crossing.  There's some lineside shots illustrating that our suburban railways are largely unfenced (though that's changing) featuring Comeng trains.

 

https://gwiwer.smugmug.com/Trams-and-Trains-Around-Melbou

 

Two Z3-class trams meet in the middle of Glenhuntly square as they cross two of the three rail tracks here - the third is behind the photographer.

 

 

[Gwiwer]

I just brace the camera against a handy pole (not a Pole, you understand....) luckily the camera has a vertical side profile!

 

I understand.  I just wanted to Czech

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon all,

 

As the Good Doctor and Mrs Stationmaster return from the west this evening the morning has been largely devoted to cleaning certain parts of the house including removal of tea stains from the kitchen sink.  A brief Tesco visit was fitted in and also fitted nicely between the showers - the car park was 'extremely damp' when I emerged from the shop, far wetter looking than when I went in.  Time now to wander round here before evening collection duty from Reading station.

 

BTW Stewart how are you getting on with 'The Quintinshill Conspiracy'  - alas I found it badly let down by a number of technical errors (some of the errors being advance as 'reasons' for what the authors were proposing) while a lot of it betrayed the authors' ignorance of various procedures, regrettably even including Inquiry procedure.  Interestingly one of the authors was seeking information on the 'net during the writing of the book and alas was not at all happy to be told (in email exchanges) things which didn't fit his theories.

 

Have a good afternoon one and all and hoping the various recoveries continue on a positive course

[Ian Abel]

POETS day, may be able to take advantage, may not, we'll see.

 

Quiet day yesterday except weather-wise. Rained ALL DAY, often heavy thunderstorms, and we finished the day with about 2.4 inches of rain, official report.

 

<RANT>

Newspapers here aren't delivered "through the slot" or even into any post box you have. Those boxes are for the "sole use of the US postal service", which I find odd as they don't pay for the bally things, but I understand it's an offence to put anything other than postal service items in/through them.

Why am I explaining this? First, in a follow-up to Chris lamenting his AWOL paper;

second, for some reason, unexplained as yet by anyone I can find to talk to, the newspaper delivery person, for the past two days, has taken to depositing the paper 30+ feet from the house. Yesterday at least on the path, today off in the middle of the lawn!

As I explained to those on the "help line", it's been delivered to the FRONT DOOR for 23 years now, quite successfully, and since we haven't suddenly moved the bloody front door to the middle of the lawn, someone needs to explain this to the delivery guy. If I wanted to be fully dressed and wearing suitable shoes (it was pouring with rain yesterday), I'd take a constitutional and get the paper, the point of delivery is so I don't have to! Cockwombles...  

<END RANT>

 

Off out somewhere tonight for a lads night out, ladies have something planned. Not sure where we're going yet...

 

11 and grey overcast when I took the hike across the property to find the paper <grrr>, looking like rain and expecting a high of 18 with little chance of it clearing up

 

Enjoy POETS and feel free to POE at the first chance you get, you have my authorization to do so

[sixoh8sixoh]

Already did!

[trisonic]

78f here and beautiful blues skies nary a hint of humidity. Going up to 85f. Ten day forecast see temps going down to the 70f’s, some cloud on Monday and Tuesday otherwise blue skies all the way.

Have an enjoyable day whatever your weather, it’s good to be alive.

 

Best, Pete.

[45156]

BTW Stewart how are you getting on with 'The Quintinshill Conspiracy'  - alas I found it badly let down by a number of technical errors (some of the errors being advance as 'reasons' for what the authors were proposing) while a lot of it betrayed the authors' ignorance of various procedures, regrettably even including Inquiry procedure.  Interestingly one of the authors was seeking information on the 'net during the writing of the book and alas was not at all happy to be told (in email exchanges) things which didn't fit his theories.

 

I'm finding it much the same as you, Mike, insofar as it is a conspiracy theory, and as such is to be read with the author's agendae in mind.  I pay about as much credence to flawed research on railway matters as I did on matters maritime when reading the works on whether it was the Titanic or the Olymipic at the bottom of the Atlantic.   I do try to keep an open mind, as it is all too easy to rely on part facts which are lost in a century of water under the brdige.

[trisonic]

I hear that the Rest of the World is cut off from South Essex, Tony. Could this be true?

 

Best, Pete.

[shortliner]

whether it was the Titanic or the Olymipic at the bottom of the Atlantic.   I do try to keep an open mind, as it is all too easy to rely on part facts which are lost in a century of water under the bridge.

....whichever, there is a lot of water above the bridge too ! Departing very rapidly - stage right, clutching coat 'n'  'at!

[roundhouse]

The first two letters of POETS now implemented. Most gone down the pub but with drinking on Wednesday and tomorrow evening I need to have a rest from it and get on with things at home.

 

However lunchtime My other half bought a couple of bottles that interested her. Hopefully she wil bring them home full.

[newbryford]

POE for me to play golf, but one of the opponents didn't turn up.....

 

Then my golfing partner - SiL - decided that I could do some repair jobs at her's and wife's work instead of playing.................

 

Big life change from tomorrow. NB Junior is off to Essex Uni for two years on a fast-track course. 600 mile round trip over the weekend with her stuff, which is currently covering about half of the living room floor.

 

Already bought tickets for an event at the 02 Arena in April when we can meet up.......

 

Cheers,

Mick