Early Risers.

[Barry O]

Ey up! Beautiful morning here up in the North West Leeds Highlands.  Sun is shining.. but it is less than warm here.

 

Sad news yesterday when an old friend from way back when passed away. It was not from covid.RIP Dave.

 

Today should include a perambulation before the hordes get up and cause chaos. I need to talk to my sister.. she is now getting fed up with being locked in and, living on her own, is seeing the daily chores as being a daily grind. Hopefully she will feel a lot better soon.

 

@NGT6 1315.. hope it all goes well for both Elise and yourself Dom. 

 

Time to....

 

Finish my mugatea, kick start Sunday and get on with the day!

Hope you can all have a great day.

 

Stay safe!

 

Baz

 

 

[Andrew P]

Looks like Jack Frost has been out with a tin of White Primer this morning, so a brisk BUT CAREFUL walk for the Paper is required today.

 

Keep well, stay safe one and all.

[polybear]

Bear heard that eligibility for The Jab now starts at 56 upwards.  Still not there yet

[jamie92208]

21 minutes ago, polybear said:

Bear heard that eligibility for The Jab now starts at 56 upwards.  Still not there yet

We are still waiting for our call but France has only done just over 3 million in total.  

 

Good moaning from a rather cloudy corner of the world.  It's off to the market this morning and probably time in the shed this afternoon, some tidying, some slide scanning and perhaps even some muddling.  Yesterdays posts brought the round robin letter from my cousins. I now have the pleasure, a real one of reading 12 letters and finding out what they are all up to.  It must be a sign of advancing age but two of the next generation are now contributing.  Not a lot else to mention at the moment apart from wishi g Dom, and especially Elise and bump, all the best. 

 

Jamie

[sixoh8sixoh]

Morning all from the wilds beyond the wall. was woken from my near 8 hours of sleep by the dog “talking” in his sleep downstairs. At least it wasn’t the full howl this time that he once woke us with at 3am, while he was sound asleep. That time we dashed downstairs to wake him and shut him up before the entire neighbourhood heard and he then thought that was a perfect cue to dash upstairs and spend the rest of the night on the bed with us. 

 

We have a number of Chinese takeaways nearby but we order from just about the furthest on the high street as we trust their food and have always had good food from there. However they’ve really struggled at times with having fewer staff due to Covid and last night I was told it would be an hour from ordering to collecting. I set off on the 15 minute walk so I would arrive there an hour after ordering, but then had to wait an hour more in 3 degree chill for my order. My hands were frozen by the end of that! There were a couple of grumpy people but most accepted the unusual situation. The poor lady who is front of house was very stressed, I think so I was very understanding when I eventually got my chow mein!

 

Had to re-pot a honeysuckle yesterday. Eventual intention is to plant it in the ground but for now it has to be potted. It had rooted extremely well through the bottom hole of the terracotta pot so the only thing for it was to smash the pot to release it. Once I’d done that, my daughter Jamie (now 12) took great pleasure in smashing the pot into potsherds with a hammer, to use at the bottom of the new pot for drainage.

 

Today may involve more gardening but will definitely involve installing blinds in my mum’s flat (no drilling required on these ones) . She’s due to move in a week and I’ve just realised PlusNet need 4 weeks to do a house move...

@southern42, I lost the quote in attempting to trim it, but was going to ask you to post a link to the thread.
 

Actually it would be nice if we could have something like an “ERs layouts digest” post with links to layout threads, if such a thing doesn’t already exist!

 

2 hours ago, NGT6 1315 said:

Mawnin' awl. Seems like things are getting going, so I'll be getting Elise to the maternity ward soon!

 

BBL...

 

Good luck Dom and Elise!
 

4 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

some slide scanning 

Jamie, what are you using for the scanning? I had been using an HP flatbed scanner with slide adapter but it’s not compatible with my new MacBook so I bought a Kodak “Slide & Scan” which (apart from needing the simple modification of adding a blob of blu-tack to the slide tray to stop the slide sliding along) is brilliant. I’ve been scanning in some of Dad’s slides from the ones we’ve been clearing from the loft. I may even have discovered pictures of a previously unknown girlfriend before my mum. Funnily enough I’ve not mentioned this to mum... if only Dad was still around to ask!

[sixoh8sixoh]

And good news on checking my email, I’ve won the lottery*!
 

 

 

* well, £5 and a lucky dip, but hey, I’ll take any win...

[jonny777]

A dry, sunny and frosty morning in North Somerset. 

 

I may be absent for a while, as I have bought an app called Train Station Simulator (yes, I know - but it is an American offering) and am having trouble with the station cleaners and getting people to travel on my trains. 

 

This could take a while.....

[5 C]

Morning awl,

 

All the talk of chippies, pasties, saveloys, pease pudding etc. but as far as I can see, no one has mentioned roe? Very much a Midlands thing I think and if I'm ever that way and feeling like a chippy visit, it's on the cards. A few months ago I was surprised and delighted to see it on the menu at my local chippy. The portion was huge. Mike the owner said he didn't always have it in but to call and he would let me know when he did.

 

My local Homebase was never rebranded a Bunnings but evidence of the change of ownership quickly emerged with their "pile it high and sell it cheap" offers crammed into every available space. In years to come, Bunnings spectacular failure in the UK will make an interesting undergraduate case study. They were only interested in the estate and clearly didn't understand the market they were entering. Homebase was trying (with some success) to reposition itself as a home furnishings/decor/improvement offer and away from DIY and hardware.

 

The local store, large and never particularly busy even in its heyday, is in the midst of being sub-divided with one half being converted to an Aldi (Luton's third). A drive-through Costsapacket is also being built in the equally large and never particularly busy car park.

 

Regards to awl.

Edited March 7, 2021 by 5 C
Typo

[5 C]

16 minutes ago, sixoh8sixoh said:

And good news on checking my email, I’ve won the lottery*!

 

* well, £5 and a lucky dip, but hey, I’ll take any win...

 Ditto! At least I got my stake back!

[Gwiwer]

11 hours ago, trisonic said:

I bet not many people here have heard of Harold Hill.................

Best, Pete.

Harold Hill, Harold Wood, Harold Park. Been there. Escaped unscathed  

 

Harold Hill definitely isn’t the best area.  Even the Great Eastern Railway avoided it in favour of Harold Wood. 
 

 

[5 C]

Seeing signs for Harold Hill when driving along the A12 to Romford, for me always conjured up images of some East End villain.

[Barry O]

Looks like the ERs did well in the lottery last night.. even I won a fiver!

Baz

[Tony_S]

22 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

 Even the Great Eastern Railway avoided it in favour of Harold Wood. 

That was because they thought it was best to put the station near the railway line. 

[Tony_S]

16 minutes ago, 5 C said:

Seeing signs for Harold Hill when driving along the A12 to Romford, for me always conjured up images of some East End villain.

Harold Hill has a very high proportion of self employed persons. 

[Gwiwer]

11 minutes ago, 5 C said:

Seeing signs for Harold Hill when driving along the A12 to Romford, for me always conjured up images of some East End villain.

I too wondered who he was. There’s his twin brother Noak Hill next door. 
 

Good morning all. A good morning for those opening emails from the National Lottery by the sound of things. No such luck here. The only email to arrive thus far contained the Ocado receipt. Everything there except a substituted wine and no potatoes - none    Are they all out of spuds or has the demon of computerised warehouse logic struck again?  
 

Today is expected to be a quiet one Upon the Hill of Strawberries. Neighbours (next door) have moved out and kindly knocked our door last night to let us know they were gone. We were also awarded a box of chocolates and a card thanking us for being good neighbours. 
 

Tomorrow the schools go back and so do I. A week of leave then back to probably a lot more people using the House of Fun. Former Neighbour (Upstairs) is also facing a challenge in her teaching career going from around seven children in her class to twenty-five most of whom haven’t been in school yet this year.  
 

I am commanded to provide sticky tape and coffee for SWMBO. I’ll be back later. 

[New Haven Neil]

Morning.  Side tracked with washing...house husband stuff.

 

Best wishes to Elise and Dom's family expansion duties, and I'm pleased for Mike that His Pawship has returned.

 

Little of note going on here, 7c and the overcast of four days is finally beginning to clear.  

 

I retired from civil service/police and took my superannuation at 55 due to the interference of a new manager from the social services side of my job (office manager of a young offenders team) who made my job unenjoyable and frustrating.  In one year she undid 9 years of great work getting police and social workers singing from the same hymn sheet.  Now they are wondering why the team is failing....#sigh#.  An offer to work with my bestie running Trackshack at the same time was too good to refuse, very timely. The business expanded severalfold, with me becoming a director and taking on much greater responsibilities in running the business, which I enjoyed. 

 

That lasted us 6 years, until covid did for us, and at almost 62 now have decided I've had enough!  I transferred both my merchant navy and NHS pension into the civil service scheme here as it was very good, only to have the terms changed massively, which cost me about £30k off my lump sum when it came to it.  Furious doesn't even come near to describing how I felt, but it still paid off the mortgage and camper van loan and left us debt free this last 6 years.  I will get half a UK state pension and half a Manx one (worth more) at 66, but as Bear described we can top up the UK one, it costs us a lot less per year than the figure he quoted though, presumably due to being offshore?

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, sixoh8sixoh said:

 

@southern42, actually it would be nice if we could have something like an “ERs layouts digest” post with links to layout threads, if such a thing doesn’t already exist!

 

Jamie what are you using for the scanning? I had been using an HP flatbed scanner with slide adapter but it’s not compatible with my new MacBook so I bought a Kodak “Slide & Scan” which (apart from needing the simple modification of adding a blob of blu-tack to the slide tray to stop the slide sliding along) is brilliant. I’ve been scanning in some of Dad’s slides from the ones we’ve been clearing from the loft. I may even have discovered pictures of a previously unknown girlfriend before my mum. Funnily enough I’ve not mentioned this to mum... if only Dad was still around to ask!

I think the link to my layout thread is in my signature.

 

As to scanning I bought an Epson 800 IIRC, before we moved out here, with a selection of different masks for slides and film of various types.  It has proved to be a gery good buy. I can put a batch of 12 slides or negs on at a time and set it off. Then do something else for quarter of an hour. I can specify where I want the files saving and it gives each image a separate  file name. If you want details send me a PM.  

 

I have also discovered several previous girlfriends but in my negative collection rather than my fathers. I do actually  remember most of them.

 

Jamie

 

 

[PeterBB]

12 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Bear doesn't drink either; when I finished my apprenticeship and joined the Trials Dept.  (= lots of Jollies, Hotels etc etc) and mentioned I didn't drink, one of the guys responded with "Well, you can't be a Trials Engineer if you don't drink....".  Then another said "Hang on lads....he can drive....".  Sorted.

 

Rang a bell.  As a student and 'tea-total' but much preferring chocolate to drink with a van it was perhaps not so surprising that many invites were received where it was apparent that booze would be consumed.  As a one time SU secretary I could often predict when an invitation would come.

 

NHN comment some days ago about NHS waste because of contracts with 'companies' rather than on actual costs.  Maybe the same happens with the military as waste seems to have become considerably worse since civilians became responsible for ordering and therefore paying attention to cost rather than suitability for purpose ... just a thought. 

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Management much happier today following the return of his pawship Charlie and today showing less inclination than normal to go outside (although it is a little chilly).   And thanks for the good wishes in respect of his absence/return.

 

The GD is s recovering from a couple of night turns which ended yesterday morning after having to deal with two deceased patients overnight.  But the interesting news is that neither died from, or had, Covid and the ward she's on is now down to only 4 Covid patients, all the rest are more 'normal' respiratory patients with various ailments in that respect.  having both on the ward is no problem as all patients are in individual rooms and the staff obviously take considerable precautions when going from one patient to another to avoid spreading infection.  Current news is that it looks the team she is in are likely to return to the elective orthopaedic ward within a couple of weeks or so which means that ward can reopen.

 

Our very own Corporate Recruitment Manager has just left for a stroll and to get the 'papers;  good to see he's doing something useful in addition to the time he spent yesterday playing hunt the cat.  Mushrooms and bacon for lunch and I believe a stir fry is planned for this evening.

 

Have a good day one and all and stay safe.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I hope all goes well for Elise and Dom with their new addition to the family. Woke up again this morning with stiff joints but nothing was hurting and they all soon freed up. This has only happened since I had my jab, has anyone experienced anything similar?

13 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Harold Hill, Harold Wood, Harold Park. Been there. Escaped unscathed  

 

Harold Hill definitely isn’t the best area.  Even the Great Eastern Railway avoided it in favour of Harold Wood. 
 

 

At the time the railway was built Harold Hill was partly a country estate and partly agricultural. When the line was built even Romford station was on the edge of the built up area. 

Edited March 7, 2021 by PhilJ W

[Andrew P]

2 hours ago, sixoh8sixoh said:

And good news on checking my email, I’ve won the lottery*!
 

 

 

* well, £5 and a lucky dip, but hey, I’ll take any win...

I got £5.10 from the Euro Millions on Friday, it must be ER's lucky week.

[PhilJ W]

2 minutes ago, Andrew P said:

I got £5.10 from the Euro Millions on Friday, it must be ER's lucky week.

I haven't checked mine yet but I do know its not the £180 million on the Euro lottery.

[Sir TophamHatt]

Morning all

 

Getting bored of this cloudy cold weather now.  Been like it for days.

 

Todays investigations need to be for car seats.

Didn't realise it was so complicated!  Seems not many seats use the ISOfix in both forward and rear facing.  Those that do seem to have a compromise on safety. We want one that can be rear facing for as long as possible so looks like that's where the ISOfix will be needed most as forward facing will have the usual seatbelt.

 

I should think a trip to Halfords for them to explain what's what will be in order.

Edited March 7, 2021 by Sir TophamHatt

[5 C]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

Harold Hill, Harold Wood, Harold Park. Been there. Escaped unscathed  

I assume Gidea is Harold Park's sister?

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Late on parade today due to having a bit of a lie in, well it is Sunday after all. Very sunny but cool, but it's not stopped me from leaving the workshop door open. 

 

I'm about to start working on the adjustable back plates for the opto-interruptors. 

 

Dom. I hope all goes well for you and Elise. 

 

Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later. 

 

Brian