Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. The sciatica woke me up this morning about half an hour before my normal getting up time so I decided to get up anyway. The sock hoop-lah had to be performed as usual this morning but a bit more successful after trying it seated in a chair rather than on the bed. Jock, I hope the treatment goes well, great to hear from Lisa P and Pete again. Robert, back in the 50's my grandparents lived in St. Leonards and I spent a lot of the school summer holidays down there and around Hastings. Many of the houses and hotels along the front had large 'caves' hewn into the soft sandstone and a lot of the houses in the old town were built into the rock. Our favourite playground was the cliffs and caves to the east of the town which I understand are now fenced off because of the danger of falling rocks.

EDIT Jamie, metre gauge was the usual narrow gauge in India as well as East Africa but just as likely that it was chosen because the material was at hand. Lightengine, I didn't know that about the basalt rocks but they are unlikely to be Roman. Hastings was one of the Cinque ports which were involved with the Hanseatic League in the middle ages, those basalt rocks could be from the Baltic. I wonder if they have been analysed to discover their origin.

Edited February 15, 2016 by PhilJ W

[Killybegs]

Very cold again this morning (for here) -2 degC, but another beautiful day, the sixth in a row!

 

It was too good to stay indoors all day yesterday, so we went over to Slieve League and the Bunglass cliffs in the morning, back in time for the rugby. A tour bus full of americans arrived while we were there but they didn't move far from the car park.  This was what they came to see....

 

 

Good views across Donegal Bay to Sligo and Mayo.......

 

 

Not that she was taking any notice .......

 

 

Another glorious evening for sunsets. Funny how if you find a nice bit of still water, one of the dogs will get there first.

 

 

One of our fishing fleet can be seen on the horizon, heading out into the Atlantic

 

 

Amazing what patterns are created by the beach draining into the river

 

 

Another sunset shot to finish off.

 

 

No sooner had one freezer ship left yesterday, than another one arrived this morning, motoring past while I was out walking the dogs.

 

 

Hope all goes well this week Jock. Best wishes to other sufferers as well.

[Gwiwer]

Morning all.  A challenging run of lates has ended.  I hit the sack at 2.30am as some colleagues were waking and a few were so ER that they would already have booked on.  I slept in until 11.30 and I don't care who knows it.

 

Today has been a case of domestic engineering start to finish.  Tomorrow is external tasks including sweeping the driveway and installing more new border woodwork.  By mid-week I intend to clean, tidy and run the model for the first time in a few weeks.

 

Nasty business today.  One of our drivers received a message from Control advising him to proceed with caution due to a loose dog on the track.  He encountered the dog lying, alive but with his hind legs broken, across a rail.  Upon advising Control of this the instruction he received was (according to tweets and other feedback including on the driver's own account) to "proceed slowly over it".  The refusal to do so is, we are told, now subject to an internal enquiry.  Photos have been seen to confirm the driver's version of events.

 

I'll try to catch up the past 48 hours but no promises.  Please be assured my thoughts are with everyone here and especially those known to be under clouds of various kinds.

[shortliner]

Jock asked for photos of Glasgow show - I'll do what I can

[andyram]

Andy, don't be such a wuss! There are leagues here for over-60s, and regularly tournaments for over-65s. Just last week, the guy in charge of our team forwarded a request from another team for players to fill out a team they wanted to enter in an over-70s tournament. (I don't quite qualfy for those yet.)

It helps a lot that the leagues are divided on the basis of age like that. It means that most players are roughly in the same condition. Also, there are a few additional rules beyond age 40, like unlimited substitution and no slide tackles.

When I came to Canada, I had been playing in a Sunday pub league in Cambridgeshire. I had been the second oldest player in the league at age 34. Since arriving here, I've played over-30s, over-40s, over-50s, over-55s, over-60s leagues plus tournaments at all those ages as well as over-65s. The oldest league is currently over-60, but there are guys in their 80s playing in it, and not looking out of place.

And remember -there's always ibuprofen!

(Edit - our flight was called before I finished)

Unfortunately our league is the same one we have been playing in for 18 years. We are the longest serving team at the centre which is something to be proud of. As a result we regularly come up against younger and fitter teams, but more than hold our own against them. We are currently second in our league. The centre does run leagues for over 35's but these are at times not convenient for many of us.

I am not looking to retire and thoroughly enjoyed yesterday. Most of my aches and pains are as a result of my two months away which I totally expected. However I am suffering with an Achilles injury which, at its worst, makes walking up and down stairs very difficult. Ironically the injury was simply done jogging across a road and not by playing football. Thankfully it gave me little trouble during the game. It does not seem too bad this morning so hopefully things are improving.

Incidentally, a few years ago I played just four weeks after an op to fit a plate to a broken arm - before I had a follow up check at the hospital. My own goalkeeper was telling me to be careful as by the second half I was flying into tackles like normal! Hardly a wuss me thinks ;-) :-)

 

Anyway morning all. No snow last night and a good night's sleep at long last. We decided to shut cat number two in the kitchen to stop his nocturnal wandering and carpet scratching. We slept so well that we are still sat in bed at present. The joys of half term!!

 

Jock: I hope the treatment goes well and you start to feel better and sleep better soon. Likewise best wishes to Mal.

John (KB) what a lovely collection of photographs.

 

I had better get up as Sarah wants to drag me off on a shopping trip. To those who are working I hope your Monday goes well. To others I hope you have a productive and enjoyable day. Hope to catch up with you all later.

[Robert]

Robert, back in the 50's my grandparents lived in St. Leonards and I spent a lot of the school summer holidays down there and around Hastings. Many of the houses and hotels along the front had large 'caves' hewn into the soft sandstone and a lot of the houses in the old town were built into the rock. Our favourite playground was the cliffs and caves to the east of the town which I understand are now fenced off because of the danger of falling rocks..

 

Yes - sadly that is true.  Most of the caves down towards Rock-a-Nore are no longer accessible.  There was a very large rock fall a couple of years ago, and quite a lot of work has been done to stabilise the cliffs on East Hill.

[Gwiwer]

And straight back to offer condolences to Gordon and a warm welcome back to Mal.

 

Also to note that our neighbour's 18 year-old daughter passed her driving test today at the first attempt meaning she progresses from an L-plate and a parent beside her criticising and correcting her every move to a P-plate and no-one beside her unless she was them there.  She and I have had a couple of short coaching sessions in the Art of Coarse Driving.  As opposed to learning to pass a test.  Her tester said she was very cautious but not unduly slow and showed signs of having already had some coaching in the more advanced skills.

 

Feline flatulence has been eliminated by a change of diet from half wet : half dry to all dry food.  We'll offer him a small amount of wet at times as he seems to enjoy it.

[grandadbob]

So very sorry to hear your news Gordon. That is far too young.

Edited February 15, 2016 by grandadbob

[andyram]

My sympathies to Gordon too - sorry I meant to add that to my previous post.

[grandadbob]

And I'm back from the Doctor going in for one thing and getting a full service! Ended up with one well done and a couple of rollockings. BP perfect = good but which is surprising as I am overweight = bad. Other bads include not getting BP checked 6 months ago when I was told to, not going in for a flu jab so he gave me one even though it's late and for good measure a pneumococcal jab. Then he decided to send me for bloodletting to check for diabetes, cholesterol & kidney function.

Also got antibiotics for the thing I went for so all in all I feel I've got my money's worth.

 

 

 

Edit Speeling mistook.

Edited February 15, 2016 by grandadbob

[PhilJ W]

Yes - sadly that is true.  Most of the caves down towards Rock-a-Nore are no longer accessible.  There was a very large rock fall a couple of years ago, and quite a lot of work has been done to stabilise the cliffs on East Hill.

My grandparents lived in Norman Road, which ran parallel too but just behind Grand Parade just before Marine Court. Behind Marine Court there was a sandstone staircase leading down to the service road behind Marine Court, this has long almost disappeared except for a few steps sticking out of the wall. One of the attractions to an 8 or 9 year-old was the toy shop on Marine Court that had a model railway that could be operated by a penny coin slot either side of the shop window, not any old model railway either, it was a pre-war Lionel O gauge 3-rail one. When I visited about twenty years ago the toy shop was long gone but the same shop front was there still with the coin slots. Another memory is St. Leonards Warrior Square Station, the road up to the station was lined with shops one of which was a coal merchants that had a large (18 inches long at least) model private owner coal wagon in the window. All I can remember was that it was painted red with IIRC white lettering shaded black. A few doors from my grandparents house was a cafe run by a couple who could be described as 'Bohemian', they had a daughter a couple of years older than me, about 10 years old. It was she who introduced my brother and myself to the delights of Rock-a-Nore. As I said her parents were rather Bohemian and she followed suit, she never bothered with a swimsuit and as there was few people about she thought nothing of skinny dipping there. I was a bit to shy and kept my swimming trunks on. I can imagine the sort of headline todays press would make of it.

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Hmm - the vanishing post syndrome has struck again so for those who missed it - g'night also (very odd, I wonder where these posts go and they always seem to happen in the later part of the evening; maybe I should take to drinking 'fortified' tea?).  Condolences to Gordon and especially to Mrs S.

 

Nice bright sunshine here at present following a decent lashing of frost and more of the latter to come tonight all being well.

 

Have a good day everyone.

[BoD]

Morning all.

 

Sad news, Gordon.  Give my condolences to J.

 

 

It's snowing here and has been, on and off, most of the night.  The temperature has gone up so it is mostly slushy now. 

I suspect it will be deeper and more snow like if I were to go even a short distance inland.

 

I am about to go up into the loft and clear a space so that I can start baseboard construction.  I bought the necessary timber last year, not long before the retina went pop. I intend to take it slowly at first but hope to get started on the woodworking soon.

[NGT6 1315]

A'noon all. Home for a few hours in between halves and lying down for a bit. Attempted a backread and felt deflated by your news, Gordon. Thinking of you and yours, while of course not forgetting everyone else in need of support...

[Robert]

My grandparents lived in Norman Road, which ran parallel too but just behind Grand Parade just before Marine Court.

 

I know Norman Road well - I grew up in Fairlight and went to the 9th Hastings Scout Troup at Christ Church in St. Leonards.  (Just up Old London Road from Norman Road)

 

I don't know if you remember the Curzon Cinema in Norman Road?  When I was a lad, the Foyer had been converted into a builders merchants and their store room was in the old auditorium - we happened to be in there one day and my Grandfather mentioned to me that it used to be a cinema.  The bloke in the shop then took us into the store room to show us - and there was all the wonderful plasterwork surrounded by the various stored building materials!

 

I believe the cinema has now been reopened.

Edited February 15, 2016 by Robert

[laurenceb]

Condolences to Gordon and Mrs S

Best wishes to Jock and to Mal

[The Lurker]

Greetings all - its clear and crisp here. There was a frost overnight and the frozen remains of a flurry of snow on the car. For once I had to scrape off the ice as I had to drop off the car for an MOT.

 

Condolences to Gordon and best wishes to Jock for his appointment.

 

Half term has arrived and the Lurker children have started to do what comes naturally to them - lurk.

 

Younger Lurker has decided that the household bears need to earn badges like the characters in "Hey Duggee". There are rather a lot of bears and Mrs Lurker is already regretting showing signs of enthusiasm as he has decreed that today's badge needs to be hexagonal....

 

The telegraph had a picture of the Doncaster show today. A BR crest Stanier 8f with a PO wagon. Whatever next? (suffice it to say, I don't worry about such niceties and my own modeling is mainly in my own head)

 

Enjoy your day

Edited February 15, 2016 by The Lurker

[NGT6 1315]

Perhaps something to regale everyone in need of it, even if just a bit…

 

 

 

This is the reversing point on Windmühlenstraße, south of Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz and the customary terminus of down Line 16E services from the Exhibition Centre. Here, I parked up (can you even say that for rail vehicles?) my Großzug of 2104-2187-797 next to 1347 "Zweinaundorf". The colleague from 1347 turned out to be a railfan as well, so we made some "arrangements" for commemorative photos for us and a fellow photographer also present. I mean, as long as spotters don't do anything dangerous, why make things difficult for them?

 

 

 

The next 16E service to arrive was booked with 1223 "Houston", if I'm not mistaken.

 

 

 

Up at the Exhibition Centre with the Double M chimney behind…

 

 

 

…and again at the departure point. During the morning period, the two Tatra sets booked on Line 16E ran signed for Central Station to Chausseehaus and re-signed for Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz there.

 

 

 

It's also funny to notice how many passengers seem to be hesitant to board Line 16E services, especially when run with anything other than the now-customary NGT12 cars!

 

We shall see what I'll be getting later…

[Tony_S]

...At least summer is a good excuse for making ice cream; so I made some strawberry ice cream, it was delicious, even dad liked it.

I have made strawberry ice cream , it was very nice! We only had a small crop of strawberries this year so they didn't get as far as jam or ice cream. The only ice cream I have made recently has been mango kulfi and that is very easy using the cheats of mango pulp and condensed milk! None of this, first milk your buffalo method.

Edited February 15, 2016 by Tony_S

[edcayton]

Dom, I'm still looking for litter in your photo's. Do people not drop it,or is it picked up quickly?

 

Ed

[Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71]

Morning all,

Not a great night last night, but stole a couple of hours late afternoon - my first radiotherapy session of the week is in Colchester at 8.50am, and No1 grandson is once again doing the honours! The rest of the week sees more reasonable timings nearer the middle of the day thankfully.

Mick(NB), I really would struggle with such a mixed schedule of shifts these days. It is such a pity that a minority, especially when alcohol is involved, can cause so much embarrassment to the whole company. Less said about thoughtless smoking the better - no consideration for the next occupant whatsoever! Hope tonight's behaviour was better?

AndyiD, the 'Lewis' men have recently of course had their own distillery open at Uig on the island - 'Abhainn Dearg' being their signature single malt. Established in 2008, I've not had a chance to try it, and at £150 per bottle, it will be some considerable time before I do!!

Dave(TG), I can now see how your photography became a passion since you took so much trouble to 'set up' that early one. All the practice you've had since has certainly honed your skills. I hope 'Is' has all the various creams etc. Like those my radiotherapy nurses recommended for me - I use only 'Simple' soap to wash around the area which is likely to be affected by a burning sensation, and I have a large tub of acqueous cream to massage in if necessary. Neither Issue caused me much trouble in fairness. Please tell her I'll be thinking of her.

Pete(trisonic), I'm counting down to this year's 24hours at Le Mans, with final qualifying on 17-6 and the race on the 18/19-6. Hoping Mark Webber has better luck this year. Don't think I'd be going for the 'pit walk' this year though - yours for only €550 each!!! They have a good web site and it is covered live by BBC Sport on line. I'm hoping that Ian(oldddudders) can send lots of his excellent images.

Mal, good to see you emerging from yet another cycle of chemo treatment - do you have many more to do now? I do hope it's getting easier for you.

Jack(shortliner) and Warren(BoD), I hope you both enjoy 'Model Rail Scotland and manage to meet up with Mal and others from our fairly unique thread. (Looks like Jack will enjoy 'playing' in any case - brave?). Any images would be a delight, and I'm sure that the beautiful keeper of the collies will forgive such a transgression in view of my inability to travel to such events.

Bill, very hearty congratulations on achieving your 'first responders' status. The skills you bring quickly to a life and death situation could be crucial - well done indeed!

Gordon, I was very sorry to hear of the distress being caused by the cancer affecting Jackie's first husband. I've no doubt that the Macmillan Nurses are doing their usual fine job but the waiting must be harrowing. It is quite amazing how many families are touched by one or other of the evil manifestations of this disease. Please tell her that Joanna and I are thinking of her, with the situation being so close to home!

Neil(NHN), you must be finding muscles developing where you didn't know you had muscles at Groudle at the moment!

After the foregoing, I must thank you for the cheering memories brought to the fore again - yes, that is the Camathias Gilera sound I meant, and the Honda 125cc '5' coming off the mountain in blustery wind with Luigi Taveri at the throttle. To my ears, the sweetest sound was that of SMB Hailwood on the incredible six cylinder Hondas. Not only was the 250cc version a winner 'out of the box', but they 'overbored' it to only 297cc, whereupon it also won the 350cc class! I recall Mike the Bike at the Brands Hatch 'Race of the South', taking on the best in the world in the big open race with the 297, and after playing with the opposition for a few laps, disappearing at the front. I stood at the top of Druid's hairpin, in the days of the triangular section Dunlop KR93 tyre, and watched the Honda 6 taking the perfect line, at exactly the same place on each lap. One pundit remarked that if you'd laid a match on the track, Mike would have struck it every time! The field that day included the best 500s from MV and Gilera, as well as the rapid Yamaha 250 4s of Read and Ivy. Must dig out that old programme one day.

Definitely got to try to get some sleep now, so with the usual wishes for health, and a reasonable start to the week,

Kind regards,

Jock.

G'night all! And G'night Pete!

 

....will do Jock...she has the aqueous cream & Simple soap already and I'll pass on the message, thank you. She has been for the assessment for the first radiotherapy session today and has test driven the machine which she will use on Wednesday. She feels happy that there is nothing to be fearful of.

 

Will update as it happens

 

All the best with your ongoing

 

Rgds

 

Dave

Edited February 15, 2016 by Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71

[trisonic]

None of this, first milk your buffalo method.

Cheat..........

 

My report is that it’s a bit warmer here today at 24.6f or -4C. The high is expected to arrive around midnight EST, when the expected snow will turn over to freezing rain then plain rain.

 

G’night, Jock! Bit early but there you go.....

 

Best, Pete.

[The Lurker]

I have made strawberry ice cream , it was very nice! We only had a small crop of strawberries this year so they didn't get as far as jam or ice cream. The only ice cream I have made recently has been mango kulfi and that is very easy using the cheats of mango pulp and condensed milk! None of this, first milk your buffalo method.

When I was a student, one of my housemates made kulfi. My abiding memory is her standing at the stove stirring for hours and hours.

[BoD]

One or two members of RMweb enjoy stirring for hours and hours.

[edcayton]

One or two members of RMweb enjoy stirring for hours and hours.

 

 

Usually between 16.5 and 18.83 I believe.

 

Ed