iL Dottore Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 5 hours ago, Gwiwer said: Now 3 ½ hours late and threatening to arrive closer to 3am than the expected 11pm. I hope Dr SWMBO made it without it becoming an overnight trip. To think that Britain once led the world in railway service and technology…. Clueless meddling politicians, useless management, venal and politicised union leadership overseen by a ministry for whom mere incompetence would be a significant improvement have all conspired to create one of the most dysfunctional railway systems outside of a few benighted third world countries. SBB occasionally has to cancel a train due to technical problems (i.e. something has broken) although to be fair many of these cancellations are DB trains originating in Germany (DB is going through a bit of a bumpy patch as of late) and trains running at peak travel times on public holiday days (e.g. August 1st - the Swiss National Day) can get extremely seriously overcrowded, SBB always manages to compensate (often by strengthening with extra carriages the next scheduled service after the overcrowded train). But wholesale cancellations at peak holiday travel times, never! One of the big problems facing SBB is capacity, not so much rolling stock but track. For political reasons, most large city to large city trains (e.g. Basel - Zürich) have intermediate stops in the Kantons that intercity train goes through. For the Basel - Zürich route you go through the Kantons of Basel Stadt, Baselland, (the tip of) Solothurn, Aargau and finally Kanton Zürich - all of which have stops in them. As all these Kantons feed passengers into Zürich, it obviously makes sense to have stops there, however with the bulk of passengers travelling between the two big cities of Basel and Zürich, I am wondering if an hourly direct non-stop service between Basel and Zürich would improve capacity. To do so, I think you’d need to have through lines at those stations that are normally stopped at. At large interchanges like Olten, this wouldn’t be a problem, but for others you may need to build a through line. I’m not sufficiently au fait with SBB running practices (or track plans and signalling) to speculate on how you could run non-stop services through stations without the need for through lines or passing loops somewhere on the route. 3 11 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jjb1970 Posted March 29 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 29 34C and clear blue sky outside but no wind so not a day to be outside, in the sun it feels much hotter than the thermometer temperature and with no wind the humidity is over powering. A day to either wait for evening or visit an air conditioned mall or something. 11 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted March 29 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 29 (edited) 18 hours ago, Hroth said: As the old song goes. I eat my peas with honey I've done so all my life It makes the peas taste funny But it keeps them on my knife! That brings back happy memories. My father used to sing that to the tune of The Churches One Foundation. As to working in heat. We tend to hibernate in summer with the shutters half closed when it gets to 40. Work done in the morning and a walk in the evening. I once had a holiday job in a dairy where we had to go inside a milk powder production silo with a long brush to clean the ceiling and walls whilst a large rotating vacuum machi e circled the floor with no safety cutout on it. I was allowed to change into just a boiler suit and then have a free hour cooling off in the canteen afterwards. Silly things you do without question at 17. Anyway a very busy day yesterday. The various apointments were all made. Several hours trainspotting then scampi and chips in the bar in Aulnay. A good but tiring day. It's now grey and cooland wet but the thunderstorms have passed. Ttfn. Jamie Edited March 29 by jamie92208 18 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Cuttle Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 20 hours ago, monkeysarefun said: They are mandibles, basically little furry spider hands that shovel the food into their mouth. For impressive fangs you need the Sydney Funnel Web ("worlds deadliest spider!") . They will pierce a leather shoe. The memory of standing on the concrete patio of my ex-inlaws holiday place down on St Georges Basin after I'd just finished windsurfing and was drying off, and glancing down to see a Funnel web about 6 inches from my bare feet in full "I'm about to kill you!" mode - like this, fangs fully bared and ready to strike is one of those memories that has stayed with me! OMG and we worry about false black widows, what size is that? 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold DaveF Posted March 29 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 29 RMweb is being odd again this morning, Early Risers does not appear in my "View New Content" so I deleted all the site data- cookies etc - it made no difference. Perhaps it is trying to tell me something. It's a fine bright morning with fluffy white clouds moving quickly across the sky. It is supposed to cloud over and then there will beshowers after lunchtime. Nothing much is planned for today, I still feel weary though I slept better so will shortly go and have a look at the beach and then do restful things for the rest of the day. As it is Easter weekend I shall not be going to any local attractions in the next few days, I prefer Northumberland when it is quiet and empty. David 15 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted March 29 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 29 Morning all from Estuary-Land. Not a lot of trouble from bladder control or arthritis last night but sciatica woke me up about three in the morning. Luckily some manoeuvres worked and relieved it and I was able to get back to sleep again. There was a lot of things I wanted to do yesterday that I didn't get round to doing so I'll have to catch up today. 2 16 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted March 29 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 29 19 minutes ago, DaveF said: RMweb is being odd again this morning, Early Risers does not appear in my "View New Content" so I deleted all the site data- cookies etc - it made no difference. Perhaps it is trying to tell me something. David This has happened to me sometimes. I have 'recovered' the thread by going into my profile which has a list of actions, find your last action on the thread in question and then reload the page. You might have to go back to your last post and read any new posts before reloading the page. 5 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erichill16 Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 Morning All, Sun woke me up early and the disappeared. Just taken van for new clutch and now the dogs need attention but first a coffee up at mils. Going to see MY team this afternoon but Mum called yesterday to say she wouldn't be coming up due to her knee acting up. Onwards! 13 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium southern42 Posted March 29 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 29 ' morning all from red dragon land. Sun and blue sky. Shame it was chuckinitdarn not long ago because everything is saturated. To top it all, showers all afternoon are prescribed by the pinecone pundits. Garden temp. 7.2C warmer in the sunny part, of course. EN (earlier news) So much for getting the Jobbies done before the groceries arrived, yesterday. When I went to put the dishwasher on, there was a problem. (One for Mr S.) So I spent the rest of the morning washing and drying its contents by hand. A new machine job, maybe? Doh! Mr S will be investigating/fixing it this afternoon.Even a temporary fix will suffice for now. In the meantime, there is some washing up to be done! ION Thereafter, a toot on the flute session in the warmth from the fireplace - trying to make the most of it as time for the stove's winter use is fast running out. Yesterday evening I spent half an hour just on the first line of the song with a videoed metronome set at 36bpm* . It will be interesting to see how I get on this morning at that speed with my own beatbox setting which has a different rhythm. *Giving the beat of the basic notes before additional notes (ornamentation aka my "twiddly bits") are added. Be good. Take care. Enjoy the sun/other offering of your choice while it lasts. Polly 15 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium polybear Posted March 29 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 29 14 hours ago, Coombe Barton said: ... I am impressed by both the scholarship and by someone getting things done so that history is not lost ... https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/03/28/covid-and-influenza-down-who-to-trust-local-history-made-public-and-it-works/ If individuals at the Post Office don't go to Prison for long stretches (AND with big personal fines as well) then there really isn't any justice in the UK anymore. 13 hours ago, Ohmisterporter said: Brought Kath home today. With blood pressure and blood sugar under control there was no point them keeping her in a hospital bed until the op on 3rd April. Mainly because being in there was driving her mad, with visiting hours from one until eight every afternoon seven days a week. Imagine being in a room with five other elderly ladies all of whom seem to be hard of hearing so their visitors have to speak loudly. For seven hours. At home Kath can get some quality sleep and be waited on hand and foot (cough). As always, stay safe all. Though possession is 9/10ths of the law - I hope they don't now say that the Op. has had to be cancelled because there's no bed...... 12 hours ago, monkeysarefun said: Commercial ones around here charge around $120 or so for a callout (at least thats what I got charged last time) , some states and regions its cheaper or dearer - basically they are a small business so think of them like locksmiths or plumbers: when you need them, you need them! Jeez - that's 3 snakes to a Deltic...... 9 hours ago, jjb1970 said: I think it's another reason things like construction go on outside office hours, doing hard manual work between midmorning and late afternoon must be brutal. Bear has done such things (I think the last was 2016?) whilst in Kuwait; the locals all buggeroffhome - basically they gave us the keys to the Ship (literally) and told my Buddy & I to get on with it.... 3 hours ago, TheQ said: The guys on the flight line would change overalls half a dozen times a day. It's also a high humidity area on the coast where we were. Bear's done that in Bombay whilst working on Sea King - the ovies would start out as light blue and be dark blue by 10am; we had 2 pairs with us so it was soggies for the rest of the day. 13 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium The White Rabbit Posted March 29 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 29 14 hours ago, polybear said: Bear here..... On the subject of books......the Hospice Warehouse "has a few" - with more than a few more at the Ebay Warehouse as well..... Everything from The Ladybird Book Of Sh*ds thru' to Harry Potter, Mills & Boon right up to more obscure examples such as these (spotted by Bear today): (The Book on the right is one of five volumes, from 1930 IIRC - so almost 100 years old) I've not spotted any Wild Swan muddlin' publications yet..... ☹️ Wabbit here... I'll see you your wines and painters: 'Up, up and away...' https://bristolha.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/bha097.pdf and raise you '1848 - 1870* - hours and duties of Prussian Railwaymen'. I can't find a link to this one but it's an A5 booklet similar in style/size to the other title. Both were memorable titles in stock - albeit not best sellers - in the historical/archaeology section of a certain bookshop I used to run. Wabbit must dash - a couple of things to do before the rain arrives later, toodle-oo... * Not 100% about the dates, might be a little out. 16 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium polybear Posted March 29 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 29 Bear here.... Climbed the little wooden hill at 21-30 last night and surfaced at 07-30 today (with a couple of minor resurrections in between). Must've been a tired Teddy..... Washing has just finished and Bear is freshly wallowed; next task is (after Bear is dressed) is danglin' the washing in the Conservatory (the dehumidifier does a good job of sucking the damp out). After that it'll be MIUABGAD. ION.... I see Bullsh1t Bob is in the news again: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-68069245 BG. 11 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Cuttle Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 1 hour ago, Captain Cuttle said: OMG and we worry about false black widows, what size is that? Talking about things with lots of legs, today is bee day. This is when we uncover our masonry bee hotels from their slumber wrapped in fleece in Kathy's shed and screw them under the eaves by the door of my garden railway shed. These go into her shed mid Sept and we have been repeating this for ten years now. The hotels are just three pieces of 6 inch plastic downpipe and about a dozen shortened bamboo canes held in place with silicon. They usually start to emerge late April by eating their way out of the earth and spittle plugs. They then go and do their thing and return usually late July. They are completely harmless as their sting cant penetrate our skin. Unlike the other little bees that turned up a couple of years ago and made a nest in the ground by the railway which did sting! So a quick call to a local pest expert and with one squirt of something they made their way to heaven and paradise 😉. We have now got ants in our lounge on the window ledge looks like they are coming through a crack in the corner of the upvc window frame. So i sealed that up but notice that this morning there are few scuttling about, hmmm have to get Inspector Montalbano in on ze case! 14 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Popular Post Tony_S Posted March 29 RMweb Gold Popular Post Share Posted March 29 (edited) A long time ago my brother was supposed to commission a new telephone system in Nigeria. This was in the north and not a place he had worked before. When he arrived all of the equipment had been installed apart from the air conditioning necessary for the equipment to work properly. He said he would wait until it had been installed. Apparently it had been moved for “safekeeping” to a local officials house. He was told,he wouldn’t get his passport and other id (handed over for checking on arrival) back until he had commissioned the exchange. He said he was leaving, and drove back to Lagos where the High Commission said they would deal with it and get him a new passport if necessary. It wasn’t long before someone more important than the local official wanted the equipment update working and when my brother returned the AC was installed and his documents were waiting for him. Edited March 29 by Tony_S 17 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post Gwiwer Posted March 29 RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted March 29 9 hours ago, Gwiwer said: Now 3 ½ hours late and threatening to arrive closer to 3am than the expected 11pm. The train finally reached Penzance at 2.32am. We arrived home 20 minutes later. I have never seen so many people disgorging from one train here, never mind the hour. It was heaving. And that after having made stops at almost every station since Plymouth. Some additional delay was caused by the time it took for those who wished to do so to alight at intermediate stations. The one and only all-night taxi was suddenly swamped with demands to go here, there and everywhere. It was also quite surreal to drive out through town (where there were quite a fair few folk about even at that hour) and onto the open road across the moors. Not alone as I had expected but leading a convoy of six cars! At a quarter to three in the morning one of those behind had clearly had enough of following the defensive drivers and - with a clear night and no oncoming headlights - decided it would be smart to overtake the lot of us. Dirt flew up from their offside wheels as they did so; they must have come perilously close to grief to have run through the dirt at 60mph around the bends but they vanished into the distance. We were indoors at 2.50am. After a wind-down cuppa and a well-travelled donut we were in bed at 3.30. I made it up for 10.45 but the others - Dr SWMBO and His Furship - are still raising zzzzzzzzz. Happy Goat Friday. At least we have the week ahead together with no work to worry about. 28 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 1 hour ago, southern42 said: ION Thereafter, a toot on the flute session in the warmth from the fireplace - trying to make the most of it as time for the stove's winter use is fast running out. Yesterday evening I spent half an hour just on the first line of the song with a videoed metronome set at 36bpm* . It will be interesting to see how I get on this morning at that speed with my own beatbox setting which has a different rhythm. *Giving the beat of the basic notes before additional notes (ornamentation aka my "twiddly bits") are added. Be good. Take care. Enjoy the sun/other offering of your choice while it lasts. Polly You have to play a tune against that if only to stop going mad!!! I played it in my study, and it ran at roughly the same tempo as my clockwork workshop clock.... We had rain but no snow yesterday, it's sunny here at present but rain is promised* by the BBC weather app. * Just had a look at the app, and it should be raining already! 15 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post BSW01 Posted March 29 RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted March 29 Good morning everyone I have planned a bit of a lazy day for today, but that doesn’t mean I sitting about doing nothing. So far, I’ve made the base for a dark chocolate and salted caramel cheesecake and retrieved the bin that I put out for collection last night. I didn’t have to wander far for it today, it was put back in almost the same place that I’d left it! This afternoon, I’ll be collecting Mike and Sarah from the airport. So in between, I’ll sit and work out how much timber I’ll need to buy for the support framework for the layout. As this will be a 2 tier system, lower being storage and upper being scenic, I’m going to use something a bit more substantial than normal. I’ve never worked in hot countries, but I did work in the furnace and forge departments of the steel works. The furnace working temperature was in the region of 1300C, so when the doors opened, boy did you know about it. In the summer, we were regularly given salt tablets to take, to supplement the losses of body salt due to the heat etc. Back later. Brian 17 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 6 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said: With the heat we've seen in the last few years - particularly the 2021 heat dome, we've seen new heat-related labor legislation in Oregon. Not just outdoors either - they apply to indoor locations without mechanical ventilation. There is a requirement to provide shade - which is a big deal for agricultural workers where there is often no shade. Has BC made similar legislation? Certain other parts of the US prefer the opposite approach! https://thenationaldesk.com/news/politics/florida-legislature-passes-bill-to-roll-back-local-regulations-on-worker-heat-protection-stroke-shade-water-hydration-business-ethics-fair-labor-osha-chamber-of-commerce-regulation-living-wage-benefits-ordinance-contractor 3 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 3 hours ago, Captain Cuttle said: OMG and we worry about false black widows, what size is that? Big enough! 8 2 2 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 4 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said: Big enough! Oh Look! A nice shady nook to shelter in..... 5 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Cuttle Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 36 minutes ago, Hroth said: Oh Look! A nice shady nook to shelter in..... At least its not running about! 34 minutes ago, Hroth said: Oh Look! A nice shady nook to shelter in..... 34 minutes ago, Hroth said: Oh Look! A nice shady nook to shelter in..... 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted March 29 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 29 (edited) Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Dry and cloudy and very windy outside so I'm staying in to catch up on a few TV programs. Edited March 29 by PhilJ W 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Grizz Posted March 29 Popular Post Share Posted March 29 In getting new boots for me moter. Then it’s back to the Castle, ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ stylie, for one of Mrs Grizz’s homemade hot cross buns (HCBs). Fresh out of the oven and then cut in two and Toasted, with fresh locally produced butter. She has been known to take a commission on a non standard hot cross bun before. Now I am a traditionalist when it comes to HCBs, however I once made a throw away comment about a custard HBC and as if by magic one appeared, with a mug of tea. It was quite superb and had the just the right amount of Custardy Goodness….well for me anyway. Mmmmmmmmmmm Custardy Goodness. 20 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted March 29 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 29 8 minutes ago, Grizz said: In getting new boots for me moter. Then it’s back to the Castle, ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ stylie, for one of Mrs Grizz’s homemade hot cross buns (HCBs). Fresh out of the oven and then cut in two and Toasted, with fresh locally produced butter. She has been known to take a commission on a non standard hot cross bun before. Now I am a traditionalist when it comes to HCBs, however I once made a throw away comment about a custard HBC and as if by magic one appeared, with a mug of tea. It was quite superb and had the just the right amount of Custardy Goodness….well for me anyway. Mmmmmmmmmmm Custardy Goodness. I bought my hot cross buns from Tess Coes, with apple and cinnamon added. 12 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium polybear Posted March 29 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 29 (edited) 35 minutes ago, Grizz said: In getting new boots for me moter. Then it’s back to the Castle, ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ stylie, for one of Mrs Grizz’s homemade hot cross buns (HCBs). Fresh out of the oven and then cut in two and Toasted, with fresh locally produced butter. She has been known to take a commission on a non standard hot cross bun before. Now I am a traditionalist when it comes to HCBs, however I once made a throw away comment about a custard HBC and as if by magic one appeared, with a mug of tea. It was quite superb and had the just the right amount of Custardy Goodness….well for me anyway. Mmmmmmmmmmm Custardy Goodness. Let’s see now…… Lemon HCB Treacle HCB Salted Caramel HCB That’ll do for starters p.s. Next -day delivery to Bear Towers should do just fine 🤪 Edited March 29 by polybear 5 1 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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