Early Risers.

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all 

 

It's a nice fresh day and I've already been outside to move the car.  Last night I enjoyed a slide show of Scottish steam which I must describe in fewer than 300 words today for the LCGB Bulletin.  Once that is done I see that there is an article about mulch in the Radio Times of which I should make sense.  Will the mulching technique protect my hapless strawberries from the rampant nettles, dock leaves and dandelions that threaten their very existence?  Only one way to find out.

 

Life goes on.  Yesterday the Today programme came from Leicester in honour of the underdog football team there.  Now I know nothing about football and care even less - and if you have seen that expression on Facebook I'll have you know that I thought of it - but I do rather warm to underdogs and rather wish that I had put a tenner on them at 5,000 to 1.  Today it's back to leading on Donald Trump.  God bless America.  

 

Tomorrow I have the chance to choose between five 'total whos'* who seek to become Police and Crime Commissioner.  Far more worthwhile, I hope, will be my visit to Sister Diabetes who will give me such a wigging if I have not lost weight.  Then in the evening there is a concert at a nearby theatre by Blair Dunlop who, despite his name, is the son of Ashley Hutchings MBE [one of the founders of Fairport Convention in case you didn't know].

 

On this morning after the day before, here's to absent friends.

 

Chris

 

* - 'total who' is short for 'who are you?' minus expletives

[Barry O]

Morning all.

(Gday Rick)

 

Sunny here but my umpiring today has been cancelled. The time regained needs to be put to good use. Her indoors has suggested a few things to be done.....

 

Like Smithy my upbringing has always been to see the positives from someone who has died and to use these to make everyone's life a bit better. I have learned so much from one person so time to use those positives.

 

Hoping everybody has a good day today.

 

Baz

Edited May 4, 2016 by Barry O

[NGT6 1315]

Mawnin' awl. Lazy start to the day but I will think of something to do without doubt. Cloudy and still a bit windy this a.m. but with a pleasant-enough forecast.

 

Later…

[AndyB]

Morning all, and it's a sunny one.

In laws are staying for a couple of days, post cruise.

People watching is, quite clearly, one of the sports offered on such voyages. 

I wasn't sure if they were on the "voyage of the damned" or a bling convention. 

Nevertheless, they've seen a lot of things that would be hard to do as an independent tourist these days. 

 

Dispatching them to a garden centre later whilst I settle down to work and then meeting up for a pub lunch.

 

Have a nice day everyone. Andy

[DDolfelin]

A few years ago we lost Richard in similar circumstances.

Peter Wright in Oz named one of his model locos after him and provided a picture which I framed and gave to his widow.

Maybe something to have in mind at a later date?

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

We have a nice sunny morning in this part of the world.  It is also effectively Friday because tomororow is a bank holiday and leave is planned for Friday.  Hopefully some more progress can be made on the living room.

 

I am so sorry to hear of Jock's death.  Although it was expected, and he is now free from the pain, we have lost an incredible and inspirational gentleman.  ERs won't be quite the same without him.

 

Have a good day everyone...

[roundhouse]

I woke up at 1am ish but despite trying to get back to sleep I couldn't. Ended up sorting out rolling stock for this weekends Freemo in Devon.

 

Finally got just under an hours sleep between 5am and 6 am.

 

Going to be a looong day today.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Sunny here, forecast to be a pleasant day.

Nothing too exciting planned but I suspect lawns may be cut. I did try to explain that dandelions are an excellent early source of food for bees but the presence of a lot of other flowers seems to count against that argument.

Tony

[Coombe Barton]

Cutting the lawns when dry, Tony.

 

Oh the pleasures of retirement.

[Donw]

Good morning one and all 

 

It's a nice fresh day and I've already been outside to move the car.  Last night I enjoyed a slide show of Scottish steam which I must describe in fewer than 300 words today for the LCGB Bulletin.  Once that is done I see that there is an article about mulch in the Radio Times of which I should make sense.  Will the mulching technique protect my hapless strawberries from the rampant nettles, dock leaves and dandelions that threaten their very existence?  Only one way to find out.

 

 

 

Chris

 

* - 'total who' is short for 'who are you?' minus expletives

 

Mulching is good to supress annuals weeds (like bitter cress) it is not as good on the perennial ones. Nettles, Docks and Dandelions have deep roots which come back. A  deep mulch on for a long time may defeat them but it might not be ideal for the strawberries and if it harbours slugs they will enjoy the strawberries. Covering the patch with a weed supressing membrane first and planting the strawberries in small slits in the membrane may help, a light mulch over the membrane can improve its appearance. 

Of course if you dig over the patch first removing ALL deep rooted weeds then mulch it will supress new weeds from germinating.

 

We have discovered a new horror Wild Madder

Don

[Tony_S]

Aditi uses a product called Strulch under her strawberries. Unfortunately it doesn't protect them from predation by a certain dog

[45156]

Morning All

 

Lovely to read all the kind words posted here about our lost cyer-friend.  Even though few met him, we all seemed to have something other than railways in common with him, and the exchanges of PMs and all the posts on here and elsewhere just proved that.  I was pleased that my dad was instrumental in starting his love of music (you will remember that dad was Jock's music teacher at primary school), and we had a nice exchange about it.  No doubt others had the same experiences with him.

 

Has any decision been made about a thread or separate cards - I'll leave that to the others.  I prefer the former.

 

Now then onwards.

 

Here's the woofday girl 4 today.

 

 

And what does today hold for me - a trip to the bank, which will mean a trip on the much worsened bus service from here to Lancaster.  A list of the shopping that was forgotten on yesterday's fodder run.  I may pop into Sainsbury's as they now sell Scottish crumpets baked in store on the site of the Green Ayre turntable, then some cooking, as 30747 will be late home due to a trip to the hairdresser - followed by the usual "that looks nice" comments.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

 

 

[Andrew P]

Morning all, not a lot of time on here for me today, but another quick look at Jocks Charity site, and it looks like it's now in EXCESS OF £700 from R M Web members out of a total of just over £1400.

http://relay.cancerresearchuk.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/General?pg=team&fr_id=1567&team_id=8439

 

Just to add that Jock's TARGET WAS £1000, so really well done.

Edited May 4, 2016 by Andrew P

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a lovely bright and sunny village. The boss set off early to fat club. I've got to take the car in for some work that reduce my stock of modelling tokens. The plan is to walk home from the garage and to then spend the morning sorting out the stock from Green Ayre. This afternoon I'm off to visit Tony who is still hanging on. I hope to be able to show him the GoPro video of Green Ayre. The evening will be taken up with a meal with Brother in Law 1 and his wife.(Oh deep Joy). I will try not to slot him during the course of the evening. The temptation will be very strong. However the day should be very worthwhile and the minor irritations are nothing compared to what others have to bear.

 

Yesterday DD1 (Rachel) and her partner came over and spent a great hour with us, they are looking at buying a house together and actually thought that it was worthwhile getting some advice from a grey haired nerd who likes playing with trains.

 

Regards to all

 

Jamie

[newbryford]

Bright and sunny here west of the Pennines.

Delayed work start whilst waiting for builder to arrive.

They started digging the footings for our new porch yesterday and managed to slice through a gas pipe. That was duly repaired and the gas guys noticed that the builders have also nicked the electricity cable. A quick phone call to the builder last night and his opinion was that it's just the outer armour that's damaged and didn't need a repair. The gas guys reckon it's worse and will get damp and possibly fail in the not too distant future. Having had a closer look in the light this morning, I concur with the gas guys. Probably only a 10 minute potting job for the experts, but nonetheless needs to be done.

 

A  phone call to builder's boss will be happening, if the builder doesn't arrive soon.

 

And now for some good news.

I've been offered a site visit to a certain railway establishment in Derby that should yield some good research material.

 

Have a Happy Star Wars Day

 

Cheers,

Mick

[HeeleyBridge]

Lovely sunny morning here in the valley of the Sheaf, hopefully the temperature will rise to match it's pleasantness.

 

I was awake but barely functioning at 4am. Many thanks to the c0ckw0mble down the road who, presumably he had lost his keys, decided that the best way to get in would be repeatedly kicking the front door. He seemed to desist when somebody (leaning out a a very high attic window at no little peril to himself)  yelled "break a window you drunken f@rkin' @rseb@dger! "

 

Well said that man, *coughs* just what I would have said myself.

 

Mrs HB gone off with her sister to fetch a table. I am abuzz with excitement. No. Really. I. Am.

 

Thoughts to all those sick, injured, missing in action and the families of absent friends.

[AndrewC]

29,000 people evacuated from Fort McMurray, Alberta due to a huge wildfire which has reached parts of the town. The main highway south to Edmonton has been cut, and people are being advised to go north instead. http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/edmonton/wildfire-destroys-fort-mcmurray-homes-most-of-city-evacuated-1.3563977

Edit - largest fire-related evacuation in Alberta's history.

I worked there briefly in 80. The place I stayed in is gone. My brother works just north. Haven't managed to get a hold of him as one of the mobile relay stations is out. I'm sure he is ok but his digs must be getting crowded as many evacuees are forced north where there are no towns apart from the oil sand work camps.

 

Duncan,, looks over to Shooters Hill and waves.

 

Back to work. Still in shock over Jock. I thought he really was indestructible.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Bright, sunny and warm this morning so no excuse for not doing a bit of gardening, even the hay fever seems to be holding off so no excuse there. Not much else to say at the moment, be back later.

[Smiffy2]

Morning all.

Still feeling carp, had to bathe my eyes to get them open this morning! I've clearly caught this from Rose, who is now fit as a flea and grinning at everybody, pointing and, when available, hitting them over the head with a small wooden hammer.

 

Sitting indoors, even though it's great outside, as I'm awaiting several deliveries (including Attenboroughs 'Conquest of the Skies' and  new iPad) and Julie has gone out to the boot sale at Wimbledon dog track...

 

So, moving on. Have a great day, folks.

[iL Dottore]

I just read about Jock's death.

 

I am saddened, yet heartened by how he managed to fight that damn bas-tard disease. No question he was a fighter, quite bluntly his disease should have claimed him a long time ago and it's a tribute to his spirit and his courage that he did so well for so long.

 

We will all miss him.

 

Godspeed, my friend.

 

iL Dottore

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Thanks Chris(F) for the reminder that we too have the opportunity to vote tomorrow for some total unknown who will be commissioning crime in the Thames Valley until another unknown is voted in to replace him, or her; yet another glorious waste of money brought to us by our political 'elite' (?) as part of the process of finding jobs for their mates and disguising it as 'democracy'.

 

Now to the practical - Mr Stationmaster grows strawberries in pots (you can get a suitable type of pot from garden centres, they are quite big but seem to do the job) hence the weed problem is much reduced.

 

Today I shall try to navigate the intricacies of the web - I need to apply for a passport (but have a form in reserve if the electrickery route goes funny) and try to suss out how that donation site works.  I reckon the various cancer funds have done very well out of RMweb in recent years (unfortunately) as our contributions to both Dave Shakespeare's and Geoff Brewin's memoriam funds were well into four figures.

 

Have a  good day everybody.

[The Lurker]

Beautiful blue skies this morning at London Bridge. It always lifts the spirits.

 

Best wishes to all

[sixoh8sixoh]

Morning all and a sad goodnight to Jock. His fight against cancer was an absolute inspiration, I was delighted with every month's report of continuation of the chemo, with his attitude and determination. I'll miss his "catch-up" posts on ERs. And of course I'll add something to the fund-raising page. ERs is such a supportive thread and is really a shining example of how well we can all support each other, laugh together and almost never in my experience have any cross words.

 

I was trying to catch up yesterday and had got to Monday's posts but not quite caught up.

 

I'll fill in details of my weekend at a more appropriate time.

 

Will raise a glass of something peaty tonight to Jock.

[lightengine]

Hi all,

 

Lovely sunny day here in sunny Teignmouth.  Almost don't need the heating on.  That's a first.

 

I am presently compiling by cutting and pasting, all postings relevant to Jock's passing.  Once completed I will print it and send it to Jock's wife Joanne.  If anybody would like a copy I will transmit it electronically to you.  Please let either myself or AndyP know.  

 

Peter 

[Gwiwer]

Morning all.  Trying to do "Business As Usual" but finding it hard.  A generous glass of Glen Moray was raised in the general direction of Clacton tonight as promised.  

 

Missed the intended train to the Palace today thanks to the cat refusing to come inside as required before I left.  Trains run every 10 minutes so there shouldn't have been a problem given that I leave at least 30 - 40 minutes to allow for out-of-course delays.  Stopped halfway to the City on the later train.  After around five minutes driver announces we must leave the train which will be terminating here as the train in front has been involved in a "major collision" at the station ahead.

 

It turned out that the train I should have been on had struck a person.  I don't know a lot more but judging by the time it took to clear the line it wasn't fatal.  Under 2 hours to resume service when a fatality is normally at least 3 hours.  75 minutes late arriving for a 4-hour shift.  Ah well.  At least I'm alive and well which is more than someone I might have witnessed suffering extreme trauma had I been on the intended train.  Thanks (and credit where due also), indirectly, to the cat for the slight delay.

 

Seven shifts left until Annual Leave.  Plans slightly modified with Clacton sadly deleted from the itinerary.  After the coming weekend my visits here will be few and far between for some while as I need to prepare for the trip and there's only so much data I can use where wifi doesn't exist.