Early Risers.

[newbryford]

It's been a bit busy at NB Towers over the last couple of days.

 

A quick skim and condolences to Robert and Good Luck to AndyRam.

 

Catch up later .

 

Cheers,

Mick

[Black Marlin]

...I have been painting my viaduct... I may put up a photo of progress later, if anyone cares to see... 

You were warned...

 

[81C]

You were warned...

 

IMG_3876.jpg

 

Why are the containers not chained on.

[Horsetan]

I am back from exhibiting the CX at Sh*tefest Festival of the Unexceptional. Stowe House is magnificent - a real study in Classical architecture.

 

Got the souvenir book and playing cards:

 

 

..only to find my CX is in it! The Concours judges, including a certain Ed China of classic car telly channel fame, interviewed all the entrants. Not sure they understood everything I said, but there you go. The whole event was a terrific laugh, and the (mostly very ordinary) cars of yesteryear were just stunning.

[NGT6 1315]

And the Mini Metro on the opposite page. A contrast if there has ever been one...

[Horsetan]

And the Mini Metro on the opposite page. A contrast if there has ever been one...

That's no ordinary Metro, but a Metro Vanden Plas, with polished wood interior trim. Not a true Vanden Plas, as there's no chrome grille or foldaway trays in the seat backs.

 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2018 by Horsetan

[45156]

Evening All

 

It's quite sunny here at the mo - has been all day.  It's not often that I am praying for some rain, but our lawn grass is really getting brown - not helped by the dog peeing on it, as is now quite bitch burnt.

 

Andyram - well done on quitting.  Teaching is not a profession which I would even consider - though for some reason, 30747's niece and her husband both really seem to enjoy it and she is returning to it after a spell of maternity leave.  My late father was a music teacher, and towards the end of his career, he absolutely hated it.  And that was back in the 1980s.

 

Trip to town was needed today, as I still hadn't got a bank statement.  Got home to find the printed one which comes periodically was on the doormat - hey ho, such it life.

 

Generic greetings are, of course, on offer.

 

Gavin, as a newbie, you probably don't know about the awl, but it awaits once our Debs gets back in harness here, which hopefully won't be too long. 

 

Back tomorrow

Regards to All

Stewart

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon all,

 

Well i decided to be decisive and duly ventured to Woodcote where although it was pretty hot it wasn't uncomfortably so for the few hours I was there.  Regrettably having decided to go for the Ghurka catering outlet the goat curry wasn't available (it'll be here tonight' was politely voiced but of little use to me alas) so I went for the most attractive of the other three which was the vegetable curry, and very nice it was too, I didn't forget Mrs Stationmaster and bought her a pot of marmalade at the Gluten Free Catering Co stall.  The main attraction was of course the steamy things and it seems Mr Hazell has been lashing put on his hobby yet again adding this magnificent showman's engine (an original, not a modern conversion) to his considerable fleet -

 

 

Plus this once locally based Fowler 8 Ton roller which is currently kept in 'everyday working condition' - a sort of pre-weathered wearthering!

 

 

There was also this fascinating US built roller, also an 8 tonner (not sure whose tons) with a Shay like cylinder and drive arrangement but apparently it is amazingly controllable at anything from slow walking pace right up to its 12mph maximum speed -

 

 

Not sure how all the white space got into the bottom of the post but it is now dealt with, I hope

 

Lots of cars including some interesting ones - here's one of those, just for Ivan and any other Citroen lovers .  And yes for those that like such things that is a 100/6 hiding behind it

 

 

And just a reminder to myself that I actually drove one of these (it's the Wolseley version, I drove the Riley variant), hmm, err, whisper 53 years and 3 months ago.

 

Edited July 14, 2018 by The Stationmaster

[Tony_S]

Sitting in the garden. It is now quiet here. About an hour ago someone was letting off fireworks. Not sure why.

Aditi is reading the newspaper. She seemed to be on the full page advert for cruises. Probably just out of interest. While I was out shopping yesterday I got a message that said "buy a baguette and I have booked a cruise". She saw what looked like a bargain and then realised while booking it that it was a 2019 departure. The nice lady at the cruise booking service found a space on this year's equivalent that was fully booked according to the online site. That is Aditi's 65th birthday sorted!

Edited July 14, 2018 by Tony_S

[JohnDMJ]

Sitting in the garden. It is now quiet here. About an hour ago someone was letting off fireworks. Not sure why.

 

French, perhaps?

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I haven't done a thing today, its just too hot. I'll probably do the same tomorrow. Bye for now, back later.

[Horsetan]

French, perhaps?

 

Very.

 

 

 

 

[southern42]

' Evening all from red dragon land.

Hot sunny day. 

 

 

A few more film vehicles in the car park at West Shore, this morning but the filming was taking place on the other side of Llandudno so nothing of interest to see.

 

The west shore loco's brassy bits are cleaned up for next weekend.  It took me a while, two sessions, one before and one after lunch, but it is awhile since it was last done.

Not perfect but the safety valve cover, chimney cap and cab number plates are shining, that is the main thing.  Finished the afternoon as guard on the back of the train - not much oomph left for much else.

 

Fell asleep after dinner, this evening.  A good day, then.  

Edited July 14, 2018 by southern42

[Simon G]

Evening all,

 

A busy day spent taking the old washing machine to the local (12 miles away!) recycling centre in Workington, then into a Woodburner showroom to enquiry about a replacement for our current one which is literally falling apart at the seams. We then had a decent walk along the cliff path between Workington town centre and the sea. Then back to Whitehaven to do a bit of food shopping, then back home, by which time I had a splitting headache. I took some painkillers and retired to bed for an hour, which just about sorted the headache. By then Mrs G had made a moussaka, which was utterly delicious.

 

Some watering done in the garden late on, followed by a relaxing evening.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[newbryford]

Golf played Thursday. A good home win with my partner for the day - team score 9-4. A solid joint third in the league, but it's an away match against our joint 3rd place on Monday. It'll only be the second time I've played there and quite looking forward to having a bit more than zero knowledge of the course this time around.

 

Golf played Friday. A win for myself and my club doubles partner against Thursday's compatriot and his club pair. Much banter was had in a very competitive game. We now have a semi-final to arrange.

Friday evening was OK but I was feeling the effects of the past two rounds.

 

Monday's team game should be with my club doubles partner.

 

Work today quietly catching up on the customer service stuff.

Some of our stock comes from the US and luckily I managed to tag onto an order a couple of items that run on metal strips just under 3/4 inch apart.....

One of them has the initials CSX on the side and makes noises.....

 

Work Sunday - have a good one folks.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone

 

It’s been another beautiful sunny day here in the northwest and I’ve spent most of it in the garden. When I dug up the last of the gras earlier in the week, I put all the sods upside down so that they would dry out. However, the rain over the last few days has meant that they haven’t completely done that. So today I’ve removed the soil from just over a third of what was left, I’ll do a few more tomorrow, then the rest will have to wait until after the garden waste bin has been emptied, as I don’t want it to be too heavy to move!

 

After dinner i tidied up all my gardening paraphernalia, then I spent an hour or so in the workshop, building a couple of gearboxes. Once I’d done what I could I came in and a spot of eyelid inspection was completed, both passed the test ok!

 

After tea, I went out and watered the garden and I enjoyed a slightly cooler 30 minutes whilst doing so. Then it was time to sit down put on the idiots lantern and watched some recorded TV with a bottle of red.

 

Goodnight all

[Barry O]

A long game today. Very hot and the 2 drinks per innings was not enough.

After the game ended came home and went out for a couple of beers. One (snake eyes) too citrus for me..what I really wanted was a pint of English bitter beer.....no chance!

Sleep well all!

Baz

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

I survived Bristol Pride on Saturday.  The atmosphere at the assembly point for the parade was one of mounting excitement and shedding of inhibitions as departure time neared.  I was impressed by the good-naturedness of the police, some of whom had allowed the face painters to practice on them.  I felt quite a buzz walking through Bristol with heaven knows how many others but for no apparent reason the parade not only started late but was becalmed round the back of Broadmead for well over a quarter of an hour.  This made everyone late arriving at the main site and delayed the entertainment.  The latter was very curate’s egg but to judge by those dancing to Alexandra Burke in the heat they was enjoyed by their target audience.  I was most impressed by Sing Out Bristol, a mixed choir whose performance began with Colour My World [from the singing of Petula Clark] and ended with River Deep Mountain High.  Somewhere in between was a rendition of YMCA with everyone using semaphore to join in.  The cabaret performances left me completely cold and of the dance sets only that by a school of Irish dancing came close to impressing me.  There was a good selection of food and drink and I allowed myself the luxury of a pint of Thatcher’s Gold cider which I must have sweated out immediately.  By just after 4 pm I was on my way home and indoors by 8.  I saw no-one I knew, least of all e-friend Harry.  In respect of many aspects of LGBT culture I am still none the wiser

 

Today I will be at Folk By The Oak, in the grounds of Hatfield House.  I expect it will be too hot again. 

 

Warm thoughts to Andyram, Debs, Andy P, Robert, Simon, Tony and Aditi, Mal and all who are in distress or missing.

 

Chris

[pH]

For the last 4 days, I've been playing in a soccer tournament in Washington State. About 100 teams, men's and women's, ranging from 'over 30s' to 'over 70s' from all over the USA and from BC in Canada. Some good punning names (and some not so good). One of the most inventive was an over-65 women's team from Vancouver called "Who cares".  

[jamie92208]

Morning all from our little village. Apparently there are now 63 'Habitants' in the commune so Beth and I must be no's 62 and 63. A good meal was had and we finally got home about 5.30. For some strange reason Beth's sense of direction was a bit off and she needed positive guidance on the 150 yard walk home. An eyelid inspection then ensued before at about 9.30pm we ended up in the pool, doing some final cleaning. During the meal there was some sort of speech about rural mayor's and their importance and we ended up standing and singing the Marseillaise. It was apparent that many of our French neighbours struggled to remember the words. The old retired mayor, now 92. made a very emotional speech saying what a positive contribution the English had made to the village, which was well received by all. There were about 50 of us there and about 30% were Brits.

 

 

Beth and I will be off to the Sunday market shortly then some friends are coming to have a look at the large assembly of parallel (or nearly parallel) strips of metal in the shed.

 

 

I suspect that I won't be watching a certain match this afternoon.

 

 

Regards to all.

 

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

A couple of things I forgot.

 

First of al, I'm glad that you had a good day Chrisf.

 

Secondly, Ivan, the answer is yes, plates can be made, I'll PM you.

 

Jamie

[AndyID]

 Apparently there are now 63 'Habitants' in the commune so Beth and I must be no's 62 and 63.

 

 

It's good to know Flower Power hasn't entirely died out.