Early Risers.

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a muggy Charente.  Today is T or trip day.  However yesterday was all sorts of minor tasks day getting things done before heading east. Beth and I then headed for the local Chinese and had a good meal.  

 

In about 50 minutes time I will be heading off for a week of trainspotting with my mate Andy.  First two days in eastern France seeing Lyon, Chambery, Modane and various other places. Then end up near Geneva. Tuesday morning a 4 day railpass for Switzerland.  Much use will be made of it. Brigg, Geoschonen and Olten are our overnight stops then back to Geneva before driving back home next Saturday.  Not a bad prospe t.  I will be updating various photo threads in due course. All being well another ER is due to join us in Brig.  Perhaps a small measure of M. Balluet's finest may be raised in memory of Lucy and Tigger at one point.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl.

5.5 hours sleep,, long awake, 1.5 hours sleep. A good total for me.

 

Ben the I want out Collie got me out around 05:00, he went hurtling out  in full git orf moi land mode.

Scattering pigeons and rabbits..

 

Sunny notalota wind, cool.

 

 In an hour I'm off to the moorings, down river race to Thurne, have lunch and then race back.

The forecast is 6 to 10mph South Westerly changing during the day to a southerly. I suspect we will be towed down to the water works to start there, as the wind is a bit light for sailing through the trees upriver of that.

 

But first, time to get a muggacoffee, and breakfast..

[polybear]

Bear here.....

Firstly, VSBT's to @petethemole, @PhilJ W and @iL Dottore 😢 for your sadly departed friends.

 

Not sure what today will  bring as yet - so a MIUABGA day methinks.

 

In other news......

it seems Monkey has a new Boss, who is promising action on climate change.  Except he currently seems to be leaving the Coalies well alone.  Money talks n' all that......

Bear gone.....

 

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

The loss of a pet is heart-rending. Thoughts are with you @petethemole. One of the reasons we don't have one.

 

@jamie92208enjoy your trip!

 

As for me, a 5 minute drive to a match starting at 2pm. Hopefully it will be warm and sunny...

 

Next door are still "improving" the house.. which means .. more hammering and banging..pah!

 

Enjoy your day!

 

Baz

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Blue sky and sunshine here.  Another fine warm day promised but chance of showers this evening. Currently 12°C possibly climbing to 24°C.

Rugby watched and enjoyed but being a Quins fan is not for the faint hearted.  Down 7-24 at half time but yet again fought back to win 28-24.  Saracens managed to beat Northampton after another cracking game.

Usual breakfast has been offered and will be enjoyed at leisure.

Might do some pottering in the garden or even The Shed.

More sport, mainly rugby,  on offer later much to the disgust of The Boss.

Have a good one,

Bob.

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

In other news......

it seems Monkey has a new Boss, who is promising action on climate change.  Except he currently seems to be leaving the Coalies well alone.  Money talks n' all that......

Morning all. 
 

Her Majesty’s Antipodean Colonies awake to a new era. The widely unloved ScoMo has been given the flick in favour of the widely respected Uncle Albo. 
 

Of note the Greens did quite well in a state famed for its offshore coral reef and which has already been dubbed “Greensland”. Ironic or enlightened in view of the fact that this is where major coal-mining developments are still taking place with most of the product exported (by shipping sailing close to or over the aforesaid reef) to China. 
 

In the global economy in which we exist Queensland is dug up, shipped out, burned in China to make toxic smoke and electricity with the latter powering the factories which produce items of particular interest to us gathered here. 
 

Worth thinking about? 
 

Carbon footprints don’t scale down to 1:76, 1:87 or which ever scale we use. They are always 1:1. 
 

Dr. SWMBO knows Uncle Albo and has tipped him for high office for many years. They last met in 2016 shortly before we returned to the UK. She described him then as PM-in-waiting.  It seems that enough of the population have now had enough of climate-related catastrophes to swing the vote in his favour. 
 

I wish him and Australia well. Perhaps now those people can sing with lustier voice “Advance Australia fair”. 
 

 

[Grizz]

Morning All

 

Hope all well with the ERs today.

 

Another sunny day in the Deep South of England. Just joining the regulars for breakfast at the ‘eat all you like’ not ‘eat all you can’ local pub. Photo of the most important area, bacon and sausages, with the black pudding out of shot the right. 

 

Last night was spent drinking and listening to a great band in ‘The Bells’….which is always home for this Old Boy.

 

Have a great day all.

 

ATB Grizz

Edited May 22, 2022 by Grizz
Added photo

[New Haven Neil]

Morning from a once again windy rock, but16c shows some promise for later.

 

Condolences to iD and Pete, having had the same experience too many times we are currently without buddy tats as we can't face it again.

 

A day out on an analogue DC powered device (600v though) beckons.  Not as cool as Jamie's trip though, I have good memories of Brig.

 

Aussie politics is going to be torn in half, coal vs greenies.  Which one earns money......we'll have to leave it there of course, but interesting times ahead on the big island I think.

[BlackRat]

Greetings one and all from an overcast Duchy.

 

Sending best wishes to iD and Pete, I can’t face having another dog and having to say goodbye again.

 

Great day yesterday, managed a good 6 mile kayak up the Estuary, first this year, then 60 or so miles on the bike so Mrs BR could see the last of the bluebells, and there were many.

 

Even managed to fit in a 3 mile walk around the nearby nature reserve followed by a couple of cold beers sat in the sun in the locals beer garden.

 

So good to see many out in the sunshine, they are very family orientated Pub, so the play area was full of happy kids having fun. 
 

Our children and grandchildren have suffered greatly over the last two years, great to see them doing what kids do best, having fun laughing, playing and just enjoying themselves.

 

Still, for those who enjoy such things, there’s now Monkeypox to be worried about tho I can’t say I’m worried at all…..Gran Canaria again in 3 weeks which may, or maybe not the epicentre. 
 

Am I bovvered? No, bring on that cold beer and sunshine!

 

Take care everyone.

Edited May 22, 2022 by BlackRat

[The White Rabbit]

Morning,

 

My sympathies to @petethemole and @iL Dottore , also @PhilJ W and @DaveF. Been there, done that, still got the memories. I know that last trip to the vets can be agony but it can sometimes be the last duty of a friend and the best gift you can give them. As always, we'll try and help if you want. Just ask. 

 

My condolences.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

It is quite sunny here. We are off to Enfield to see Aditi’s Mum. We may see Aditi’s sister too later during the afternoon. I may be able to sneak the odd look at the Grand Prix. 
Tony

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

Aussie politics is going to be torn in half, coal vs greenies

We’ll see. One us a very big employer both directly and indirectly (it mostly moces by rail from mine to port for example) but the other may argue there is no home market and the only reason to sustain the industry is to satisfy the demand. Australia and China are two of the world’s greatest polluters per capita of population and China in absolute terms too. 
 

 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. After yesterdays exertions I was a bit cream crackered and had an early night last night, going to bed just on midnight. I wasn't troubled at all yesterday by Arthur Itis but this morning he was in full voice but a long soak in a hot bath soon sorted him out.

1 hour ago, The White Rabbit said:

Morning,

 

My sympathies to @petethemole and @iL Dottore , also @PhilJ W and @DaveF. Been there, done that, still got the memories. I know that last trip to the vets can be agony but it can sometimes be the last duty of a friend and the best gift you can give them. As always, we'll try and help if you want. Just ask. 

 

My condolences.

At first I thought you were referring to my friend until I re-read your post. Not to worry Brian would be laughing his head off at that one.

[DaveF]

 

Thanks for the supportive comments, as each day passes things get a bit better.  

 

After tea yesterday I watched an old episode of Dad's Army on TV, just after the end I suddenly felt terribly sad, then I remembered that Mum always rang me after watching it to say how much she had enjoyed it.  It's little things like that bringing back memories.

 

Apart from that yesterday was peaceful, I cut my hair and then spent much of the day pottering in the garden,  Most of the bedding plants are now in the tubs and one flower bed, hopefully today I'll get the sweet peas in.

 

I had a very pleasant talk on the phone with a cousin I haven't seen for several years and chatted to some of Mum's neighbours when I visited the flat to pick up some post.

 

David

[BSW01]

Good afternoon everyone 

 

A bit late on parade today due to having a bit of a lie in and breakfast in bed, we really should use bowls! 🤣

 

I'm currently sat on the bench under the workshop window having a well earned muggertea, having spent the last couple of hours working in the garden. I've half a wheelbarrow full of weeds and clippings that will eventually get put in the green bin. 

 

Teas finished, so time to get back to work. 

 

Back later. 

 

Brian 

[PhilJ W]

Hello again, I noticed this morning that the central heating had come on overnight, the radiators were warm and some of the pipes were 'clicking' as they contracted. I checked the thermostat and saw that it was set at 21 C. I think I turned it up due to a cold spell a couple of weeks ago and forgot to turn it down again to the usual 19 C. When I drew back the lounge curtains this morning I disturbed a couple of foxes but it wasn't long before they returned to sunning themselves.

[PhilJ W]

Found this in my inbox this morning.

https://cruise2.com/offer/ultimate-australia-new-zealand-adventure/

I know several ER's like cruising holidays, this must be the ultimate.

[simontaylor484]

Afternoon all 

 

The grass is cut 

We didn't have to face a Banzai charge either other garden tidying done then a trip to the garden centre to get some plants to fill gaps we had made. Called back via Asda for a bottle of pop the hot counter had bacon sandwiches reduced to 70p so we thought it would be rude not to indulge 

[The White Rabbit]

3 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

...  At first I thought you were referring to my friend until I re-read your post. Not to worry Brian would be laughing his head off at that one.

 

My first draft would have been very liable to mis-interpretation ... thankfully I read it through before posting ... 

 

Grammer and punctuation on Sunday mornings, eh? 

 

 

 

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

We’ll see. One us a very big employer both directly and indirectly (it mostly moces by rail from mine to port for example) but the other may argue there is no home market and the only reason to sustain the industry is to satisfy the demand. Australia and China are two of the world’s greatest polluters per capita of population and China in absolute terms too. 
 

 

 

 

Going Green and replacing coal  means the world needs huge quantities of a whole new range  of precious metals and minerals.

 

We have the world's largest supply of four critical minerals: nickel, rutile, tantalum and zircon. We're also in the top five for cobalt, lithium, copper, antimony, niobium and vanadium. Australia's reserves of these are estimated to be something like 1.2 trillion dollars.

 

We just like digging our stuff up and selling it overseas, we don't care what it is-  if coal gets binned we can just move all our digging stuff a bit to the right, dig another bloody big hole and dig up  something else instead.

 

It's a win-win. The mining industry are  happy because they still get paid 6 figure salaries to drive bloody big trucks in and out of bloody  huge holes west of Woop Woop, the greens are twice as  happy because they get to say yay  we are helping green up the place but they also still get to protest about how  evil mining companies are harming the environment.  

 

The only fly in the ointment is the new government making noises about how they intend to make us skill up and develop our own battery and  solar panel industry rather than truck  all the rocks to China or the US and then buy the finished things back again.

That's just not the Australian way.

 

 

 

 

[andyram]

Afternoon all and greetings from within the cave at Matlock Bath - any ER's who have ventured into my shop will know what I mean! 

 My best wishes to you all, with condolences to @DaveF as well as welcoming you to these pages. My supportive wishes and condolences also go to those members who have had to part from much loved friends of the animal variety. It is never easy and I have been though the same experience on a few occasions in the past few years.

 

 Last night was spent relaxing at home with the family whilst consuming a take away curry accompanied by a couple of beers. Sadly, sleep proved to be limited and so I am feeling the effects today. The shop has been steady but not sensational. Fortunately, things have been steady over the internet and website visitors have snapped up the surprise arrivals of Midland liveried 1P tanks which formed part of my recent delivery from Leicestershire. They are all to local buyers so an evening of driving out to deliveries beckons tomorrow. Hopefully there will be similar interest in the GNER Class 91's from Hornby or the Bachmann Swallow liveried Class 47's!

 

The week ahead looks to be busy, but next weekend will provide some much needed time to myself. With a certain Nottingham based football team heading to Wembley (for the first time since the last ice age I may suggest), my wife and daughter will be away from Friday to Monday. I have just not decided whether the time will be spent visiting friends, going to pubs, running railways or even some kind of wild party. I am fairly confident it will not be the latter!

 

Take care all

 

Andy

[woodenhead]

Made the mistake of agreeing to a walk to M&S so the wife can look at Bras.

 

I made a quick visit to WH Smiths to look at magazines, but nothing I wanted.

 

I’ve now been sat in the cafe for an hour whilst she tries on.

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, simontaylor484 said:

Afternoon all 

 

The grass is cut 

We didn't have to face a Banzai charge either other garden tidying done then a trip to the garden centre to get some plants to fill gaps we had made. Called back via Asda for a bottle of pop the hot counter had bacon sandwiches reduced to 70p so we thought it would be rude not to indulge 

Tess Coes have what they call a 'New York sausage' on their hot counter. Its like a cross between an English pork sausage and a saveloy. I often buy one if I go in there at lunchtime, £1 each, or less if they're reduced to clear.

[polybear]

6 hours ago, BlackRat said:

 

Still, for those who enjoy such things, there’s now Monkeypox to be worried about ......

 

 

Those Monkeys have a lot to answer for......😆

Bear here....

Bear gone.....

[Pacific231G]

Afternoon all,

Today the Covd is just letting me know it's there without (touch wood) doing too much else.

After a lateish breakfast a not unproductive day so far. I ran the North Brtish powered morning MV (mixed train) on my H0 layout then set about reducing the number of retained articles sitting in boxes. This is a long term project- I get rid of a few more each day. without losing the ones I kow I'll end up looking for sometim in the future.  Then had a healthy salad in the garden watching the pigeons and the maggies trying to tell one another to "geroff my land"  before strimming the borders (I not them- even Maggies aren't that intelligent) and keeping the wilded bit at the end of the garden within its boundaries. I was going to strim the front as well but, unfortunately, the battery got emptied doing the the back so I can't- what a terrible shame!

While watching the birds during lunch- I was musing that when I was growing up we "knew" that dinosaurs were as thick as planks It's now totally obvious that they're not. Corvids (crows, maggies etc) are frighteningly intelligent especially given the relatively small size of their brain.  Dropping stones into a container to bring the water level up enough to drink from it is not somethnig that Bonzo or Tiddles (or quite a few people) would ever figure out.