Early Risers.

[simontaylor484]

Thats one way to smuggle essentials into the house 

[tigerburnie]

When we moved to South Derbyshire, we went into Burton on Trent for the first time and the whole town smelt of beer brewing, the kids were not impressed. However where we lived if the wind was coming up the A38 from the Brum direction you got the afore mentioned brewery smell mixed in with Marmite, Coffee from the Nestle factory and a bit of raw sewage from the water treatment works to add to the bouquet.............................luckily the wind didn't come from that direction very often.

[Tony_S]

For a few years we had what was known as the Pitsea Pong, a really unpleasant odour that emanated from a settlement lagoon at the waste tip. It was always going to be rectified following negotiations but the Environment Agency finally issued an enforcement order and it was quickly dealt with. Otherwise round here there aren’t any unpleasant smells. The schools I taught in were near refineries and occasionally we got noticeable hydrogen sulfide warnings but by then we usually knew. 
Tony

Edited August 19, 2020 by Tony_S

[simontaylor484]

Our last house was a lot closer to Monkhill confectionery or Tangerine as it has been latterly. We used to get various delicious smells including Butterkist popcorn. There was a fire there about 15 years ago damn does that oil burn 

[newbryford]

Thoughts with the family and colleagues of the fireman on Royal Scots Guardsman who was taken ill on the footplate whilst working The Dalesman yesterday

 

Unfortunately he was not able to be resuscitated.

 

RIP Mike Middleton

[simontaylor484]

Another stinky location was the sewage farm at Naburn near York on the road from Sherburn in Elmet. When we were kids my grandad used to take us to York that way he used to fill his pipe up ready and light it at Stillingfleet the prior village so it would deaden the smell

 

One day we passed there was a car parked in the gateway's opposite having a picnic . It was unbelievable the smell would curl your sandwiches. The sewage farm is still there but doesnt smell as bad it is near the Macarthur Glen outlet to add a bit more context 

 

[Simon G]

Talking of bad smells reminds me of the old Cellophane factory at Bridgwater in Somerset.  While at school in Somerset, I was once in a game of rugby nearby that had to be abandoned as the smell was making all the players sick.  It was truly awful.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Found I was down to my last pair of clean jeans so the other half dozen are now in the washing machine. 

5 minutes ago, newbryford said:

Thoughts with the family and colleagues of the fireman on Royal Scots Guardsman who was taken ill on the footplate whilst working The Dalesman yesterday

 

Unfortunately he was not able to be resuscitated.

 

RIP Mike Middleton

Sad indeed, Very heavy work firing a steam locomotive.

[simontaylor484]

Please add my sympathy and thoughts to all those involved with the poor fireman on the Dalesman. 

  I know how distressing being involved in an incident like that is through personal experience ot caused me to have PTSD.

 

[Simon G]

3 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Another stinky location was the sewage farm at Naburn near York on the road from Sherburn in Elmet. When we were kids my grandad used to take us to York that way he used to fill his pipe up ready and light it at Stillingfleet the prior village so it would deaden the smell

 

One day we passed there was a car parked in the gateway's opposite having a picnic . It was unbelievable the smell would curl your sandwiches. The sewage farm is still there but doesnt smell as bad it is near the Macarthur Glen outlet to add a bit more context 

 

My daughter in law is a water treatment works manager with Anglian Water.  Her simple take on smells from the treatment works, aka sewage farms, is that if they smell at all, they are not functioning correctly.

 

A pleasant morning here so we were out shopping early.  I finally managed to buy some hair clippers in the local B&M store after weeks of trying online to get a particular type.  Unfortunately by the time we returned home, I had a headache which persisted for the rest of the morning and still hasn’t fully gone now.  Despite that, the grass has been cut, peas, beans and blackberries picked.  Given we are forecast yet another gale this week (we are overdue one as the last one must be at least 2/3 weeks ago!!), I have wrapped some windbreak round the runner beans to try to protect them.  They keep getting battered every time the gales come, and they keep surviving (just), but the forecast of three days of 40 to 60 mph winds could just finish them off, just as they are starting to crop.

[Tony_S]

Years ago when they made things in Basildon rather than warehoused stuff the smells from the Rothmans factory and the Yardley cosmetics factory combined into an unusual smell which made being in a traffic jam on the A127 slightly unpleasant. Both factories ceased production a long time ago.  

Tony

[PhilJ W]

News is just coming in of a serious boating accident in Great Yarmouth.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-great-yarmouth-very-serious-22547284#source=push

Sounds nasty, a woman thrown into the water and police divers called in. 

[Barry O]

Raing in the Land of the Prince Bishops.

Visited the Cummings seat..his idea of 15foot from the car shos he is carp at measuring..

 

I was offered a place at the BP Acetic Acid plant in Hull as a graduate. I didn't take it up...

Then offered a job at Ceiga Gigy in Grimsby..major component..phosgene gas..err no thanks..

 

Did do a fire safety with UKAEA..ok but they said if the nuclear beeper stops.. either you are dead or about to die..wooppiddoo...

 

Baz

[The Stationmaster]

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

That appears to be a Nigerian source. Harpic in the UK has hydrochloric acid as an active ingredient. Mixing it with bleach liberates chlorine not CS gas. Still very nasty and why it mentions not mixing them on the label. 

Oddly that was explained to us on the firefighting course I att

And yes NHHN, I know from talking to them than the firefighting competence. (yes, nowadays it's 'competence') for deck officers has to be reassessed on a one week course every two years so I presume it's the same interval for all involved at sea.   If they fail the course they are not allowed to resume duty until they pass on another one and if they go over a certain date beyond reassessment they are also put ashore until they've successfully done the course.    

 

The assessment lady has visited and has duly assessed - getting very quickly to the simple words - 'this is a job for specialists, once I've got the basic details and submitted my report they should be in touch in a week or so and the first thing they will do is assess the extent of damage and then see what can be dried out without dismantling everything'.  Alas for our pockets it seems that repairing the leak is down to us paying out for ourselves but at least that is the cheaper part of the whole thing at a mere £1100 (inc VAT) and Sam starts work tomorrow but the insurance pays for tracing the leak - weird.  So work underway from tomorrow stopping the water emerging (although we're keeping it turned off most of the time) then a bit of wait and see for sorting the damage.  And herself did say the other day that the utility room needs redecorating, hmm.

 

But at least the rain has stopped - for now.

 

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, simontaylor484 said:

Another stinky location was the sewage farm at Naburn near York on the road from Sherburn in Elmet. When we were kids my grandad used to take us to York that way he used to fill his pipe up ready and light it at Stillingfleet the prior village so it would deaden the smell

 

One day we passed there was a car parked in the gateway's opposite having a picnic . It was unbelievable the smell would curl your sandwiches. The sewage farm is still there but doesnt smell as bad it is near the Macarthur Glen outlet to add a bit more context 

 

Interesting as it never used to smell when we went past on the 'bus.  Is it a fairly recent construction there?

[Erichill16]

Again on the smell thread but from a slightly different front.

I was once following a tractor and barrel trailer in my motor home. The barrel was leaking but didn’t realy think about it until I got to the caravan site but by then it was too late. What a stink and i washed down the wheels and wheel arches but couldn’t clean the underside of the van. I don’t think the neibouring caravaners were impressed but fortunately we managed to get the underside of the van jet washed the following day. 

Dont know what it was and don’t really want to know.

Robert

[laurenceb]

Great news about Grace

Burton - the smell of brewing is still revolting.

[simontaylor484]

39 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Interesting as it never used to smell when we went past on the 'bus.  Is it a fairly recent construction there?

No this was early 80s recently its not as bad

[Andrew P]

36 minutes ago, laurenceb said:

Great news about Grace

Burton - the smell of brewing is still revolting.

Especially for a none drinker like me. It was the first thing I noticed when we moved to Swad and I worked in Burton.

 

I once had a Second Hand Car Sales Site opposite Gales Brewery in Horndean, Hampshire. HSB = Horndean Special Brew, YUUUUKKKKKKKK.

[AndyB]

OK.  So I think I can combine recent discussions of all things hyperbaric (submarine) with the more recent thoughts on sewage works smells. 

 

So. One of the first things I learnt in the Civil Service was how not to operate the waste discharge valves on a hyperbaric chamber. I hasten to add it was someone else who learning to the hard way....

 

Imagine a facility that can accommodate a number of divers for roughly a month or so. Now it stands to reason that at some point the tank used to store all the sh1t produced is going to have to be emptied. Obviously the tank is at the same pressure (quite a few bar) as the pressure vessel with the divers in it. So it stands to reason that before you open the valve to the outside sewer you need to gradually release the pressure. 

What you don't do is open both the valve to the hyperbaric chamber at the same time as the one to the sewer.

Blessed is the Charge Hand who got it wrong one day resulting in a tank full of sh1t to be explosively discharged into the sewer and sprayed every car in the staff car park.  

 

Rule 2 (same bloke) is that you don't use the main pressure valve on a 60 bar hyperbaric chammer to inflate the tyre on your wheelbarrow. But I guess you'd have figured this out. Suffice to say the resulting explosion got everyone's attention.   

 

And I bet you lot thought the Civil Service was all about pen pushing! 

[laurenceb]

Probably why I dont drink the stuff!! Like you say YUUUUKKKKKKKK.

Edited August 19, 2020 by laurenceb

[tigerburnie]

Leicestershire had a couple of locally famous stinky spots, the road into Market Harborough from Oadby(A6 I think) passed the glue factory, where bits of animals not required elsewhere were "brewed", thank god someone invented superglue. Another was "Niffy", the name given to Countesthorpe where my other half came from, as far as I know it's still know as Niffy even though the offending sewage works has been replaced.

[Gwiwer]

5 hours ago, newbryford said:

Thoughts with the family and colleagues of the fireman on Royal Scots Guardsman ..... RIP Mike Middleton

Sentiments echoed here.  Steam crew are few and far between these days.  His loss will be felt across the industry.  

 

Speaking of which a one-minute silence was observed at 09.43 this morning by as many members of the rail industry as could safely manage to do so in memory of those lost near Stonehaven.  The time being one week from the first notification being received of the incident.  Heads were bowed at the House of Fun.  It gave me no pleasure making the special once-in-a-career announcement at 09.41 and inviting members of the public to join us.  The 09.43 departure towards Teddington waited respectfully in the platform for a minute.  

 

Wetness-day it has been and no mistake.  Since mid-morning the sky has been leaking like the proverbial sieve and quite seriously so at times.  It has only just ceased and has allowed SWMBO to take a short evening stroll around the Hill of Strawberries and me to take several even shorter ones to the recycling bins.  Other than that there has been nothing to report.  We both would cheerfully have snoozed the afternoon away had other matters not required our attention.  

 

I am pleased to report that there is no untoward odour in this vicinity.  When I lived in the Victoria Dock area of east London the air was usually somewhat stale but a trip into Canning Town required a stout constitution; the stench there was appalling and was said to come from the meat processing plant.  Just up the road at West Ham we could enjoy the aromatics of Steetley Chemicals, who manufactured sulphuric acid among other things, and at one time also the large gas works.  Those areas are almost completely redeveloped these days and are even considered fit for human habitation!  

 

Tomorrow the seaweed-wranglers promise us unbroken sun from dawn until dusk.  We shall see whether that promise is fulfilled.  Whether it is or not the temperatures have at least cooled to a level which is more comfortable to work in.   

 

Best wishes to one and all.  See you tomorrow.  

Edited August 19, 2020 by Gwiwer

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[polybear]

22 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

When I worked in transport we had a large storage warehouse we had all details of stuff stored in there including Olive oil in industrial quantities,.sealants ,adhesives  various other chemicals. One day the fire inspector came on their tour you couldn't guess what they said was more dangerous. Pallets of glass beer/sauce bottles because the necks form chimneys in fires

 

A story from the guys at work in the 80's, some of whom I believe we involved.  In summary:

 

They were "playing" (like you do - not ....) with a small open container of Liquid Oxygen when someone shouted "look out, it's the safety officer (who was a right b..... by all accounts).  Container of LOX went under a desk, and all the lads backed off.  S.O. sat at the very desk, then proceeded to roll and light up a fag.....

S.O remarks that the fag seems to be burning somewhat faster than usual.  The lads are more interested in where he may flick the ash.....

 

5 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Years ago when they made things in Basildon rather than warehoused stuff the smells from the Rothmans factory and the Yardley cosmetics factory combined into an unusual smell which made being in a traffic jam on the A127 slightly unpleasant. Both factories ceased production a long time ago.  

Tony

 

The smell I recall is the Shredded Wheat Factory in WGC - not an unpleasant smell.  Sadly the factory is long gone, though the distinctive building still stands (listed building?)