Early Risers.

[bbishop]

Evening all!

 

I went on a Stroke Club outing to Chartwell today, then on to the RFH for Mahler 7.

 

Some tridential history. You all know about the Abermule train crash of January 1921. One of the casualties was Herbert Vane-Tempest, a director of the Cambrian Railways. HVT was a member of the Londonderry family (third son of 5th Marquis), the family was immensely rich due to mineral interests in Durham.

 

HVT was first cousin once removed to Winston Churchill, who inherited some of his estate and used the proceeds to purchase and refurbish Chartwell.

 

However, I have a personal interest in the Londonderry family. The sixth child of the 3rd Marquis was Adelaide, who eloped with the curate (one Frederick Law). Her father disinherited Adelaide but died soon after. Adelaide's mother obviously rather admired Frederick and re-inherited her. The money was used to beautify their church in the Gothic revival style, in which I now worship.

 

If you are interested, google ST MARGARET LEE. If you are local, visit; especially on 1 July 2017 when I shall be holding a model railway exhibition.

 

Bill

[southern42]

Many thanks for all the s for the sickie and other posts.  Made me feel a lot better.  Hoping to be fully revitalised by tomorrow.  Thus speaks the optimist in me.     

 

Night all, nos da.

[Jock67B]

Morning all,

Late on parade as I dozed off earlier! Still quite sore but very much buoyed by the news that grandson Matthew has in fact been moved to Colchester General - so much easier for family and friends. I hope to be able to visit soon, but I'll certainly look in while at my monthly chemo appointment next week! Once again I must say a great big THANK YOU for all the kind and supportive posts - hard to believe that just over a week ago, his heart was stopped and open to the elements!

Grandadbob, very pleased to hear about young Abbie's award, you, Mrs Gdb and her parents must be very proud.

Rick, I'm truly sorry to read of how your family were driven out of Cornwall - all too common a story, and from what my Cornish friends tell me, it is still ongoing due to the ludicrous overpricing of property (to suit the second/holiday home market) which puts it out of the reach of 'locals'.

Tex, thank you for your kindness. Doubtless your collection of medications, like mine, resembles the stock of a busy chemist's shop. At least, being retired in the UK means you don't have to pay. (Mind you, I did pay enough into the pot during my working life!)

Robert, yes, the Camborne School of Mines test pit, is in fact the one that Holman's used to test all their world beating compressed air equipment in. It should never have been allowed to go, but that has been a result of successive governments allowing takeovers..... (Oops, naughty - politics! Sorry!).

Dave(TG), interesting images today. Glad to read that 'Is' can still have 'chemo 4', despite the red corpuscle count. I hope she has been given remedial medication and/or advice?

AndyB, your 'Kia' would have been a 'Sportage', their wannabe Chelsea Tractor!

Stewart, just like my clan motto, Sero Sed Serio (late but in deadly earnest!), I've managed to be a true ER. I'm pleased to hear about your progress on the health front, and most impressed, but not surprised by Dr Flávio's erudite explanation of the workings of your medication.

Pete(trisonic), coincidentally, our No1 son is called Stuart! It is too late for me to get on my soapbox about the bastardising of English, and I wonder as I meet little Freddie's school chums, whether some of the modern names are oddly spelt because their parents didn't trouble to properly learn their native tongue?

On the question of titles, I insisted on first name terms at all the garages I ran, both for staff and customers alike, with the proviso that we would check the customer's preference first. Oddly, the two titled gentlemen that we had using the last dealership (an Earl and a hereditary Peer), both insisted on first names! The opposite could be said of the one 'Lady' customer, and she got her title by marrying a man who was awarded his title for his work in the foreign service. She even walked with her nose in the air, and I loved her version of 'refained English' with its attendant appalling grammar!

As to the 'Eagle' comic, my father bought me the very first issue, even although I was only three years old in 1950. I can actually remember it as it came with a cardboard model of 'Dan Dare's' spaceship which he 'helped' me to make. I do wish I had it now.

With best wishes to all our recovering patients, now including Mike(60860), I'm off to try to sleep now although our thoughts will be with Sherry later, when she has the onerous task of attending a family funeral. I hope it goes as well as can be expected Sherry,

Kind regards,

Jock.

G'night all!

PS, Debs, lovely to see your avatar appearing, however briefly! J.

Edited September 24, 2015 by Jock67B

[Gwiwer]

Morning all.

 

ER seems to be having an outbreak of health and recovery.  Long may it continue thus!

 

I chose my preferred shortening of my given name as there are many others most of which I intensely dislike.  One popular one was used against me mercilessly at school by the bully-boys even though I quickly leaned to ignore their taunts and name-calling.  Only my parents and my bank manager normally use my given name in full

 

"Haitch" does seem to be localised around the Borough of Newham; when I knew a lass there by the name of Ellen she was always "Ellen wiv-owt a Haitch".  

 

Contrast that with Cornwall where especially in the far west everyone, to the outsider, seems to be called Harry.  The common greeting is "Right arr 'ee?" to which the appropriate response is "Ais - Arr 'ee too?"  Harry, when the actual name, is always pronounced with the H dropped.  "Right 'arr 'ee 'arry" can sound a little odd the first time you hear it!

 

There's much to like about where I now live but one of those aspects which irritates me is the abbreviation of seemingly everything to a single syllable.  Names of more than one are prime candidates.  You won't be here too long before you'd hear something like "Jeeeeez, Sherl" or "Stone me, Tone" in a country drawl.  Malcolm and Marilyn are usually Maz, Mazza if you're feeling vocally generous, Gareth is Gaz or Gazza and a chap called Nicholas can be known as "Red" from "Reddy".  Knicker-less = Ready is the rather uncouth derivation there.   

 

Otherwise, and particularly if a name isn't known, it's invariably "Mate" or "Darl".  I'm not your darl(ing) and it's fine if you don't know my name to just say Hi or G'day.  Aussies do seem to pronounce words as they are writ so "Anthony" would be pronounced with a hard TH sound but is more often just Tone.  With many folk also commonly or only known by a nickname that which you were given at birth may never even be used.  Any red-head lad is usually "Blue" while a red-headed women is (very disrespectfully) a "Ranga" derived from Orang-utan.  My late father-in-law always referred to me as "Kips" for reasons he never explained; he - whose given names were Ashleigh Stephen but who always called himself Steve - in his turn was known by the rest of his family as "Butch" because he was the exact opposite!

 

At the Palace of Attendance everyone, irrespective of grade, job, location or length of service is known by their first or preferred other name; surnames are used only on paperwork such as roster sheets.  No-one among the staff is ever "Sir" or "Madam" right up to the CEO who is Andrew and not Mr. Lezala.  Customers, on the other hand, are always accorded the respect of Sir or Madam at least when I'm speaking with them.  Even the feral oik who clearly hasn't paid a fare but asks to be let through the barrier gets a reminder to "Pay a fare or a fine Sir".

 

Enjoy today.  I intend to.  It's already a good start seeing Debs posting.

Edited September 24, 2015 by Gwiwer

[emt_911]

Morning all. Great to see a post from Debs.

 

Exam day today which I slightly prefer rather than just sitting in a classroom. At least it should finish early which means a drive straight down to South Devon.

 

Hopefully I'll have internet access tonight, otherwise I won't be able to get on here until tomorrow morning.

 

Have a good day everyone.

[bluebottle]

Er, Yankee’s don’t come from Maryland - that’s south of the Mason - Dixon line. Yankees only come from Connecticut and Massachusetts (mostly). I do understand where you are coming from, though, the guys a real yahoo..

 

 

Best, Pete.

 

A couple of times, I've told Americans who've referred to Scots as "English" that that's roughly like calling someone from one of the Southern states a Yankee. Would that be about right?

 

Apparently I live in the second happiest place in the UK....

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34336951

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

I suspect that Yorkshire folk wouldn't be happy unless they were top of the least happy list ...

 

Morning all,

 

Pete(trisonic), coincidentally, our No1 son is called Stuart! It is too late for me to get on my soapbox about the bastardising of English, and I wonder as I meet little Freddie's school chums, whether some of the modern names are oddly spelt because their parents didn't trouble to properly learn their native tongue?

 

Kind regards,

Jock.

G'night all!

PS, Debs, lovely to see your avatar appearing, however briefly! J.

 

And Stuart is the Frenchified spelling, thanks to Mary, Queen of Scots, n'est-ce pas? replacing Stewart, from Steward - as it is written in The Penguin Dictionary of Surnames, "unvoicing of final -d to -t is typically Scots"...

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

A few spots of rain earlier as I dropped The Boss off at work and the forecast is for a mixture of sunshine and light showers.

Two grandchildren here after school yesterday. I think Gemma is finding the new school and all the homework tiring but it was nice to see Joe helping her when she got stuck with a computer problem.

Bins and shopping to deal with today - the latter being important as my supply of medication beer is getting low. The level  seems to fall the more Rugby I watch.

Will also be having another go at tracklaying later.

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited September 24, 2015 by grandadbob

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

Mike Stationmaster, I admire your bookshelves.  Your house is probably not one whose plaster is crumbly, about three inches thick and comes off with the wallpaper.  This has acted as something of a deterrent to drilling into walls but in my heart of hearts I know that the task is essential.   Of all the things that we can do, procrastination can be done at once.

 

Names - ah yes.   I was baptised Christopher Michael but much prefer to be addressed as Chris.   My GP calls me Christopher but I fear correcting him for it is hellishly difficult to get to see him in person and that is one boat I ain't going to rock!  One of my three surviving aunts uses the full version too but this may be to avoid confusion with her daughter Christine.   There are, of course, times when the full name is appropriate.  My [so far] one appearance in a magistrates' court was one.  Another should have been the registration document for the car but to the DVLA  I am Chris.  When I write and sign stiff letters of complaint,  and cheques, I am Christopher M.  Apparently when I was about four I insisted briefly on being called Tony but this may have been prompted by the ice cream makers Tony Bros of Acton.

 

I'm off to Stevenage today to the shed where the layout lives.  The toolkit etc is already in the boot and, once used and returned, may stay there because there may be a return trip on Sunday, dependent on the health and inclination of my co-conspirator, who deserves gentle ribbing for being caught posing for a scan of himself at the Modelu stand at Scaleforum.   This evening, about two miles from the shed, is a talk by the famous yet reclusive photographer Colin Gifford.  Getting there early might not be a bad idea.

 

Take care, especially when it is offered.

 

Chris

[Debs.]

Hello all!.........It`s 'early doors' for me this morning.....`off to an appointment.

 

Following a recent restyling of my hair, I`ve been given a new pet-name; "Surrey"........{With a fringe on top}

 

Wishing for you, a lovely day!

[AndyID]

I`ve been given a new pet-name; "Surrey".

 

Shirley not?

Edited September 24, 2015 by AndyID

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It is a nice bright morning here - according to the forecast it is going to be the best day of the week from a weather point of view.

 

I don't have a lot else to report, to be honest!

 

There is an interesting aspect to this. The net CO2 emissions from our diesel are considerably less than the gasoline version for the simple reason that the diesel's fuel economy is a lot better. The problem that the nitwits at VW (I wonder if Bosch were involved too?) were hiding is with the oxides of nitrogen that result from the higher combustion temperatures in diesel engines.

 

I believe that one of the techniques used was to vastly increase the amount of AdBlue injected during testing.  Obviously, this would mean that the tank would run dry very quickly in normal use - but it is a very effective way of reducing emissions.  I think that when all is said and done, we haven't heard the last of this. 

 

Thought for the day - AdBlue has a very similar chemical composition to Sheep urine.  That should make for a few good jokes!

 

Have a good day everyone...

[Coombe Barton]

Hello all!.........It`s 'early doors' for me this morning.....`off to an appointment.

 

Following a recent restyling of my hair, I`ve been given a new pet-name; "Surrey"........{With a fringe on top}

 

Wishing for you, a lovely day!

Read that as "... with a fridge on top."

 

[Debs.]

Read that as "... with a fridge on top."

 

I`m cool with that!

[AndyID]

I believe that one of the techniques used was to vastly increase the amount of AdBlue injected during testing.  Obviously, this would mean that the tank would run dry very quickly in normal use - but it is a very effective way of reducing emissions.  I think that when all is said and done, we haven't heard the last of this.

 

It could be a lot worse than that. I understand my Jetta doesn't even have a urea injection system.

 

I seem to remember thinking it was very clever that VW had avoided the need for urea injection. It certainly was "clever". Without urea injection to clean-up the NOX, I suspect the only way to reduce the NOX output is to lower the combustion temperature by playing games with the valve timing to reduce the compression, but reducing the combustion temperature will reduce the thermal efficiency of the engine and increase the fuel consumption.

 

As Scotty (allegedly) said, "Ye canna mess wae the laws o'Physics" or in this case Thermodynamics. Incidentally, catalytic converters reduce smog output, but the price we pay is increased CO2 output. (A cynic might say that Los Angeles fixed its smog problem by accelerating Global Warming.)

 

Unfortunately, nobody is going to believe anything VW says if and when they say they have a solution. I've owned around a dozen VWs over the years. They have really let me down badly.

[Mike Bellamy]

On the question of titles, I insisted on first name terms at all the garages I ran, both for staff and customers alike, with the proviso that we would check the customer's preference first. Oddly, the two titled gentlemen that we had using the last dealership (an Earl and a hereditary Peer), both insisted on first names!

That reminds me of my first day at work for the Black Horse back in 1972 when I was sent to the enquiries window to serve a customer to find that he had an appointment with the bank manager. As a young kid of 18, I thought I should ask his name - he replied Major General Sir Christopher Welby-Everard !! Much older staff obviously knew him as a former commanding officer of the Lincolnshire Regiment, later a very senior staff officer and his final military role was as the last British officer to command the Nigerian army before independence. I didn't mention my three uneventful years in the Combined Cadet Force at school !!

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Welby-Everard

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-majgen-sir-christopher-welbyeverard-1348775.html

 

Mike

 

.

[Mike Bellamy]

I`m cool with that!

Is that why you are wearing the hat  - perhaps its time for a new photo . . . . ?

[45156]

Morning All

 

Another extended sleep, so I think that the new meds are working better, and a minor triumph this morning when for the first time, I was able to use the device that they gave me to put on my socks without getting the socks tied up in knots round the heel. 

 

Jock, thanks for the long post, much enjoyed, and I'm thrilled to hear that Michael is on the move to a more local hospital already.  You Kerrs are certainly made of stern stuff.

 

Debs - nice to see you back and with a new hairdo.  I know that 30747 has always used this to get a lift when she's feeling a bit low in spirits, and it generally has the desired effect.  You'll need a new avatar now so we can see the Mk2 version.  Seriously, I hope that your visit today is the first of many - we've missed your pithy comments tempered with good old fashioned common sense and the odd piece of stunning engineering.

 

I was looking at a Seat diesel when I bought the Peugeot, and I'm now pretty glad that I didn't, as I'm guessing that Seat and Skoda will also be under the microscope now.  Also, I'd guess that the trade in values of all of the group are going to take a knock.

 

On the subject of names, I am Stewart, but was baptised Hugh Stewart, in line with a Scottish tradition of having a first forename of a parent or grandparent, then a second forename which might or might not have a family connection.  Then the second forename is used as the familiar name.  Most people get this, though the biggest offender at not following it is the NHS, where the familiar name is ignored.  In the local hospitals, a further confusion arose when my name went up on the board behind the bed, as they had Hugh Stewart on the top line, then my surname underneath - should be simple, you'd think so, but as one of the most distinguished surgeons on the same ward was Mr Stewart, confusion was an option - more so as Mr Stewart's first name is Hugh.  And oddly enough he's a neighbour of mine also.

 

Generic greetings to those aliling or celebrating.  It's pleasing to see so much recovery taking place around us - long may it all continue.

 

I'll lurk a-while, and pop back again later.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71]

Mornin' all,

 

Blue sky sunny good to be alive start in The Moorlands....

 

 

....a few nice gold and orange tints appearing on the trees.

 

Is had chemo 4 yesterday and was also given a range of supplements to replace those minerals etc affected/depleted by the chemo. She was pain free and tired when I got in from work, otherwise in good heart...just two treatments left, hopefully.

 

Now music by Creedence Clearwater revival...Bad moon rising

 

Best wishes to all with ailments of any kind

 

Feathered ones provided for

 

Enjoy what you do

 

Dave 

Edited September 24, 2015 by Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71

[NGT6 1315]

Morning all. Sunshine right now, so I suppose we'll have to see whether it holds…

 

 

Two snapshots from last night – first, of 1138 "Samuel Heinicke" upon handover at Wittenberger Straße due to the Augustusplatz area having been closed off for the demonstrations…

 

 

 

 

…and of the Tatra set headed by 2105 at Plagwitz Station for the second part of my shift:

 

 

 

Enjoy what you do, folks!

[gordon s]

Hi Guys

 

Hope you are all feeling bright even though I realise some are suffering right now.  

 

Any ideas what happens on my Mac every now and again with Dom's pictures?  Doesn't happen all the time, in fact this is just the second time with Dom's pics?

 

Seems everything is fogged out other than a few mm at the top...

 

 

 

Edit:  Seems it's a problem with Safari as it's OK with Firefox.  Always knew Safari fell short on many counts....

Edited September 24, 2015 by gordon s

[bluebottle]

I`m cool with that!

 

You beat me to it, Debs: I was going to comment: cool head, warm heart.

[45156]

Hi Guys

 

Hope you are all feeling bright even though I realise some are suffering right now.  

 

Any ideas what happens on my Mac every now and again with Dom's pictures?  Doesn't happen all the time, in fact this is just the second time with Dom's pics?

 

Seems everything is fogged out other than a few mm at the top...

 

Screen Shot 2015-09-24 at 08.30.38.png

 

 

Edit:  Seems it's a problem with Safari as it's OK with Firefox.  Always knew Safari fell short on many counts....

I'm getting it with FIrefox.  It's OK in Chrome, though.

Edited September 24, 2015 by 45156

[jamie92208]

I'm getting it with FIrefox.  It's OK in Chrome, though.

 

Same with W10 and Edge.

 

Jamie

[roundhouse]

Good morning from a wet Surrey and London Bridge.

 

Those photos are fine on my WIn 10 tablet using the WIndows browser but not displaying on Firerfox on work PC.

 

Got to go and buy Krispy Kreme dougnuts today and theres quite a few in the office so I can see me getting 4 boxes of them.

 

Unfortunately is company briefing this afternoon so cant get out for a few birthday drinks till it finishes this evening. The upside is that I can meet my other half over at Euston for a few beers in one of the good drinking establishments in that area for a change.

 

No work on the layout tonight

[45156]

Same with W10 and Edge.

 

Jamie

Curiouser and curiouser said Alice - it's OK in FIrefox now.  I wonder if it's to do with file sizes?