Early Risers.

[Gwiwer]

34 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

48 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

all but 50 going to London

 

 

One came down here

They are widely, if thinly, distributed around the world now having largely ceased to operate in London.  One tourist route, the T15, still uses them between the Tower of London and Charing Cross / Trafalgar Square but it's not within the TfL fares scheme.  

 

A number of Routemasters went to the Niagara Falls where some still are.  A handful have ben purchased as hospitality units or mobile homes and have travelled through Europe and the US.  You won't spend a day in central London without seeing one as there are also numerous "tours" such as the afternoon tea run and the ghost tour which use Routemasters in addition to a handful in use on sightseeing trips alongside high-capacity modern vehicles.  

 

My favourite iteration was the long Green Line coach, type code RCL, which were originally used from Aldgate to Grays, Upminster, Corbett's Tey and Brentwood.  They didn't last long and were moved onto the more prestigious Tunbridge Wells - London - Windsor routes but again were moved on after a couple of years to be downgraded to buses as the Green Line coach network went over to one-person operated coaches.  The 709, Baker Street - Godstone, hung on until 1976 as the last bastion of crew-worked Green Line service using a trio of RCLs.  This unlikely operation comprised just three trips in each weekday peak and two on Sundays; it was felt that the cost of new vehicles specifically for that was unaffordable so the Routemasters remained for around six years after they were taken off other routes.  

 

I enjoyed riding them between Croydon and Horsham on that long route through the varying Surrey countryside.  11 litre engines and rear air suspension gave them a turn of speed and a degree of comfort their red city cousins didn't quite match.  Geared for the faster Green Line coach services they moved given an open road.  Not even the "normal" 100 green Routemaster buses (type RML) built for the country area matched that; they featured the standard 9 litre engine and leaf springs.  

 

 

 

 

[polybear]

2 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Time for a bit of a rant I feel. So here we go.

 

Now for the last two months I've being trying to get the council to do a simple job. Can I get them to do it. You must be joking. It's like trying to get a lemming not to jump. So what is this simple job. All it is is to lock two internal security gates in the main park so as to deter vehicles from driving around the park. I've tried everything short of throwing myself under the wheels of one of the speeding vehicles.

 

What is it about people nowadays and getting them to do there job. It's like your asking them to do you a favour or something instead of them being paid to do it.

 

Last time this happed it took them twelve months because a) they couldn't find the key to unlock the gate and b) no one in the council had any bolt croppers or hack saw. 

 

Well I'm of to stand in the middle of the park directing traffic. I might be some time as it's 'rush hour' here now that all the yummy mummies have figured out they can park outside the play area so that little Tarquin doesn't have to get his £300 trainers mucky.

 

Bit of chain and a padlock when no-one's looking.....

[TheQ]

That's annoying just typing the below posting and a popup from this website appeared where I was about to hit the screen and when I did hit it, it leapt onto another screen and lost the typing..

 

That was one pig of a job.

The old hob had a central surface mounted connection area, plenty of room of cables and easy to do connections.

 

The new hob has the connections in a 2 inch deep well in the bottom of the hob, to a glorified choc block.

The choc block was EXTREMELY tight for 10mm^2 British cooker cabling. Wires kept catching on the edges...

This system is 10mm^2 from the wall, with 6mm^2 looped onto the oven..

The cables are supposed to do a 90 left from the choc block into a cable clamp, impossible with flat cabling unless you do a folded bend. There's not enough room for two cables to do that!!

So I've left the cable clamp off, no one is going to be pulling that hob around...

 

Next problem, the new hob has it's connection box on one edge.. that fouled the side of the kitchen unit, so a hollow had to be cut out for it to fit..  

Just need to do a trim piece to hide the cut out in the side of the kitchen unit..

 

All "rings" tested ok.

 

Too late in the day to start the mower as I'd have to leave it out all night near the driveway gates...

[polybear]

Bear here....

 

Well that was a productive morning;  Harry the Honda's brakes have "been done" - I'm rather pleased (and some) with the condition of the Pistons in the Brake Calipers (these are 40 years old):

 

 

Definitely a Large Tick awarded.

 

The next job was to sort that blocked drain 😡 - Bear's very best James Herriot techniques were called upon as I shoved my Paw down deep holes; the blockage was due to an abundance of the gritty stuff off the surface of the roof tiles that sat like sludge down the drain - I've a feeling there's still more down the pipe as well but I've done my best to clear as much as possible and also used a drain clearing gadget and a hose to shift as much as possible.  After that I tipped four 25L buckets of water down the drain - the sudden whoosh of water helps to clear the cr@p out; it seems to drain away pretty well now but I've a sneaky feeling that it may be a PITA in the future - it was installed in 1995 as a part of the Conservatory build and this is the first time I've had trouble with it.

 

After that it was din dins time - and Bear got all creative and cooked my favourite Pasta dish (all' Amatriciana); I suspect it wouldn't have earned an @iL Dottore Spoon Award - maybe a Teaspoon Award on a good day perhaps?  It tasted pretty good to This Bear in any event.

 

I'm just waiting for Bear's "scruffies", the swim stuff plus last week's Warehouse Strides & Polo Shirt to finish being washed before I go for a wander down the Post Office.

 

Bear gone.

[TheQ]

Decided to fit a "dual cooker appliance outlet" to the wall, that's one in and 2 out.

It can take 16mm^2 cable .

Then it will be separate cables to hob and oven.

That will make a much neater job of it.

It will be below the hob, but above the oven and unseen once fitted.

Bits should arrive tomorrow, so that will be fitted Wednesday.

 

It will make disconnecting and moving units easier later, there is a plan to move the oven up to hob level. That will make getting  hot oven trays out a lot safer and easier.

 

 

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Bit of chain and a padlock when no-one's looking.....

If only that was possible Bear but the devious, so and so's - over words are available, padlock the sodding things open don't they. If only I had a battery angle grinder.

Edited April 22 by Winslow Boy
It's a grinder not a s&£#&&g chainsaw you w"'&£#r

[TheQ]

£12.99 from a big orange shed, no doubt cheaper elsewhere.

Quicker and quieter than a chainsaw or angle grinder 

 

Edited April 22 by TheQ

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

I don’t suffer from hay fever, unless one day of slightly itchy eyes counts. Except for the day we went to RHS Hyde Hall one lovely summer day. They have an area (Sky Meadow) planted out showing grassland plants from across the world. We walked near the American Prairie area and I had exactly the symptoms that people with hay fever suffer from. So,perhaps a holiday on the prairies is not for me. 

 

55 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

 

I don't think I suffer either, though one day I went out to post a letter - post box was 100 yards away and a third of the way there, started sneezing. By the time I got back, the handkerchief was - um ... very soggy... Stopped sneezing a minute or two after going back in. I was living on the coast at the time (mid-Wales) about 25 yards from the beach, it was a light westerly breeze and no-one had a bonfire, revving an old banger or doing anything unusual. I've never had anything remotely like that before or since, still haven't a clue what happened. 

I didn't suffer from hay fever until my mid fifties. Tree pollen was the main cause of my hay fever usually in March/April. Grass pollen is a bit later in the year in May/June/July followed by late flowering plants in August. I'm not affected so much later in the year.

[PupCam]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

Mine was an email on the 15th April. 
it said I was being offered the vaccine as NHS records show I may have a weakened immune system. I then just went to the NHS app on my iPad (could have used phone but iPad was nearer ) logged in and found the option to book a Covid jab. It suggested I took along either a letter explaining what my condition was or a box of the medication.  

 

Thanks Tony, yes, so was mine it turns out.      Jab booked for Friday morning.

 

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

They are widely, if thinly, distributed around the world now having largely ceased to operate in London.  One tourist route, the T15, still uses them between the Tower of London and Charing Cross / Trafalgar Square but it's not within the TfL fares scheme.  

 

A number of Routemasters went to the Niagara Falls where some still are.  A handful have ben purchased as hospitality units or mobile homes and have travelled through Europe and the US.  You won't spend a day in central London without seeing one as there are also numerous "tours" such as the afternoon tea run and the ghost tour which use Routemasters in addition to a handful in use on sightseeing trips alongside high-capacity modern vehicles. 

 

When I visited the Google offices at Kings Cross c/o Junior Puppers a few years back i saw the famous Routmaster Bus converted into a "breakout area".  I think it was on the 3rd floor IIRC.     The tropical beach breakout area was amusing too.    Still, a full English breakfast, sat on the roof terrace of the building enjoying the fine view (including down into the Kings Cross train shed & station throat albeit with not a lot of interest therein these days) was most enjoyable.   Sadly, such opportunities have disappeared so I'll have to make do with Jordans Mill et al for breakfasts in the future.

 

 

(No, that isn't Junior Puppers before anyone asks)

 

Anyway, no doubt @polybear will recall enjoying the similarly luxurious working environment we experienced at the GE 😆

 

ION

 

I actually managed to get the telescope out last night and made a reasonable job of getting it polar aligned.      As we are pretty much out of planets at the moment I thought I'd have a go at some star/deep sky stuff using the astro camera.  Never had much success previously and guess what?   I didn't have any success last night either!   I think my low cost  astro camera suffers from a lack of sensitivity.  It also suffers form a lack of operator experience and "having a clue" but never mind.

 

By ~11:00pm the moon had popped up from behind the house so at least I had fall back target that was hard to miss.      I managed to get some reasonable videos and a quick process of one this morning shows some potential however I did struggle once again with slop in the mount, the clock drive jumping out of engagement etc etc so perhaps a good thing to do this afternoon would be to give the mount a good coat of "looking at" and come up with a plan for bearing and locking improvements for the various axes.   The bracket that holds the worm shaft certainly needs seem decent bearings if I'm to get shot of the the jumping out of engagement problem once and for all.  Or should I just blow £5-10K or so and buy a proper job (plus another £8-10K for the telescope to go with it)*?

 

The real problem is though that this astronomy lark does require you to be up, about and active late at night.   I didn't get to bed till gone 1:00 this morning and whilst I used to do that regularly years ago my body has very strict views on such behaviour these days and pays me back handsomely the next day.    Consequently today could not be said to be a particularly active or productive day 🤣

 

*  You know me that is, of course, a rhetorical question!

 

TTFN

 

 

 

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

2 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

A 7.09 is pretty quick but honourable mention to GMKILR, a street-legal Ford Falcon ute with the mighty 6 cylinder Barra motor that does high 7's, and it is road registered  so he can legally drive it back home afterwards and take stuff to the tip on the way. 

 

 In comparison a Mclaren P1 takes 9.8 seconds.

 

 

 

Mullet has been in the 6's with 220 mph, goes OK for the weight of it!  Edit - it was 'street legal' in Florida, he ran it in drag and drive weeks, but street legal for Florida doesn't count for much!  It's on methanol now so isn't road driven.

 

The Barra is a good motor, but the Americans ain't interested unless it has 8 cylinders, the Viper V10 never was really loved, although Allen Millyard made a nice bike with one!  Cleetus' mate Cooper Bogetti swapped a Nissan 2JZ 6 cyl into a Camaro, goes 7's, but the punters hate it - ain't American, ain't a V8.  Coop likes to cock a snook at folk.

Edited April 22 by New Haven Neil

[polybear]

Bear here….

 

Unwanted strides returned to The Big River using their “easy returns” via the Post Office; sadly the software they give to the P.O. to scan Bear’s barcode on my phone is totally F. Useless - it must’ve taken him ten attempts, including a restart in the middle to get it to play ball.  When I asked if this happens often he replied “All the time”.  I got the feeling he would’ve liked to add a descriptive word in the middle of that sentence but there were ladies in the queue….

 

Now in the Pits during the Hilly Wander; the killer hill is next, followed by the Tess & Co dash then the long drag uphill to Bear Towers.

 

BG

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Nothing much done this morning due to a comic concerning things that run on parallel steel rails dropping onto the doormat. I did put the washing on just before that so I'd better empty the machine.

[New Haven Neil]

Cripes, I have achieved!  Tip civic amenity site run, 2 loads of washing, dusting, polishing ...er...a bit..., cleaned bathroom basin shower and bog, vacuumed everywhere, and.....collapsed into a heap.  That's 'enuf' for today I think.

[Captain Cuttle]

5 hours ago, Captain Cuttle said:

Oh darn, thought that was a bit of snot on the screen🙄

I dont know what is happening happening as my quotes keep appearing appearing in duplicate twice or more. 

[Hroth]

 

Put some towels in the wash this morning and hung them out to "dry". As its not all that warm, the breeze has dropped and its gone rather dull, I've been keeping an eye on whats going on outside as I bumble around other housekeeping tasks just in case the weather decides another rinse cycle is needed...

🙂

 

Just can't trust the weather!  After typing the above, I thought it had become a bit greyer, popped my nose outside and discovered dampish sprinkles in the air...  Now they're all inside on a drying rack.

🙄

 

Edited April 22 by Hroth
Update...

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

£12.99 from a big orange shed, no doubt cheaper elsewhere.

Quicker and quieter than a chainsaw or angle grinder 

 

Can I borrow them.

[Dave Hunt]

4 hours ago, PupCam said:

Searching for the communication from the NHS telling me to go and book a Covid booster.      I'm blowed if I can remember what form it was in, I thought it was a text but no sign.   Perhaps I dreamt it?

 

Just ring 119 Puppers. That's what I did this morning and within five minutes had booked Jill and I in at a time and place that suited us.

 

Dave

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Dropped off some stuff at the local charity hospice shop. Came away with a couple of books; one on buses about  Southern National by Colin Morris.

Talking of buses... I remember when I worked in the Civil Service in London. Would catch the 68 at Chalk Farm in the morning. If I timed it right I could jump onto the Routemaster as it waited at the lights. 
In the evening I tended to walk back and pop into KX on the way to see (and hear) the Deltics.

[Hroth]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

£12.99 from a big orange shed, no doubt cheaper elsewhere.

Quicker and quieter than a chainsaw or angle grinder 

 

 

A nice pair of squirrel nut loppers!

 

[Winslow Boy]

1 minute ago, Hroth said:

 

A nice pair of squirrel nut loppers!

 

Oh hands off. I asked first. Once I've done chopping hasps your welcome to them.

[TheQ]

10 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Can I borrow them.

 You could but with their weight, both postage or coming to get them would be more expensive than buying..

 

[DaveF]

I didn't have anything worth saying this morning.  It's been a dull damp drizzly day.  Lousie came and cleaned this morning instead of Leonie, the house is looking good again.

 

After my efforts in the garden in the last few days I felt very achy and sore so decided to have a quiet day.  The main achievement has been to get the Epson scanner out for the first time in ages, check it worked and then put scanning software on a laptop so I can still use my PC at the same time.  The software just manages to work, the Epson scanner dates back to 2009 so it is slightly surprising.  It scans a little better than my Canon printer/scanner.

 

Fortunately as I am only scanning old family photos and documents I can use it set to auto.  After a few hiccups I got started on Volume 1 of the albums.  It has taken all day to do half of it, there are many more albums to do.  Some photos were easy to sort out - Mum, Dad, me, grandparents etc.  Others, like great grandparents are taking a lot of thought to identify.  I've also found one of my school reports from primary school, various 19th century birth certificates, letters sent to Mum and Dad when I was born and so on.  I even found my identity card - they must still have been issued in 1949 when I was born, it was valid until 1965.  My address had been correctly updated and stamped by the relvant authority in 1951 when we moved but not afterwards.

 

A few of the original items will be kept as "treasures", the majority will be binned, especially letters to Mum and Dad from people I've never heard of.  When I finish the job copies will be sent to those relatives (cousins) who have asked for them - they are the ones doing family trees.   I already have both sides of my family tree back to around the mid 19th century (and parts earlier), including a number of Australian relatives.  In theory there are also Dutch and French ancestors but no one has managed to sort that out fully yet.  The French ones probably came to England at the time of the French Revolution, the Dutch connection is more problematic, one ancestor was apparently born on a Dutch ship.

 

This evening will be some tea and later an old Vera to see if I can identify the places.  Tomorrow may be spent much as today but it will depend a bit on the weather.

 

David

[Hroth]

@DaveF  Noticed today that the last series of Vera will complete filming this summer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-68875006

 

 

[Tony_S]

I managed to get myself ready and set off early for my 3pm in Leigh on Sea for my hearing test. The sound proof box was faulty but they have portable units for home visits. Anyway the test went well and pretty well confirmed by own belief/observations of the state of my hearing over the last year. It was however not just a case of boosting the default amplification but tweaking certain frequency bands. 
I got a cup of tea and a biscuit too!
Tony

[Winslow Boy]

25 minutes ago, TheQ said:

 You could but with their weight, both postage or coming to get them would be more expensive than buying..

 

Yes but if I 'borrow' them, when I'm investigated for 'damaging' council property the 'thought police' won't be able to accuse me of going equipped as I'll be able to say I 'found' them. Plus of course they'll be 'assisting' with rodent control by then.