Early Risers.

[lightengine]

Diets: I'm told the first week of any diet yields the best results. 

My solution: Start a new diet every week! 

 

 

I wonder if this is why the "5:2 stuff yourself, starve yourself" diet, or whatever it is called, may have some alleged success, perhaps?

 

NB: I note that I just used "may", "alleged" and "perhaps" in the same sentence, indicating my level of veracity on the matter!

 

At least you didn't use "like" and "basically". Which are both over used too much.

[Happy Hippo]

The Ph is currently on my sh*t list.

 

His phone alarm went off this morning at 0650, and kept going, and going and going.

 

It was downstairs in the hall, and he was upstairs in his bed.

 

So I had to get up and silence it.  It was nearly lobbed down the garden into muddy hollow (rear), but i was feeling benevolent to the phone which was, after all, only innocently doing what it had been programmed to do.

 

Revenge is a dessert best served cold.  And I will get mine at a time and date yet to be determined!

 

Of course, this minor hiccup was an excuse to get up and get out.

 

So I was able to sort out even more recycling for the bin men, and have been busy working on the last pair of baseboards for my 7mm scale shunting plank. 

[Happy Hippo]

Diets: I'm told the first week of any diet yields the best results. 

My solution: Start a new diet every week! 

 

 

I wonder if this is why the "5:2 stuff yourself, starve yourself" diet, or whatever it is called, may have some alleged success, perhaps?

 

NB: I note that I just used "may", "alleged" and "perhaps" in the same sentence, indicating my level of veracity on the matter!  

I find the 5:2 diet suits me very well.

 

Starving myself for 5 hours, knowing I can then eat for two, makes such a diet quite acceptable.

 

It beats continually grazing as I can get things done in the 5 hour gap between meals.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Happy Hippo

[TheQ]

You're basically, like, right

 

Litterally, thats well good.....

[pH]

The only upside to all of this is I'm not currently sitting on a 10 hour flight to Vancouver at the moment. One of my coworkers is stuck with that project. Basically it will be several weeks of unpicking a total fustercluck without losing any customer data.

 

Intriguing!

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

My first visit to Pendon involved walking from Didcot station - fortunately it was a nice sunny day and back then the roads in that vicinity were very quiet.  In later years (but still a long time ago) I got to know Roye England very well as I was involved with Pendon to the extent that I did the viaduct scene showings (and ran the Madder Valley!) on at least one day every weekend for several years and usually had a chat with Roye for an hour or so beforehand.  He was modelling as accurately as he could exactly what he had seen and recorded and it was of course - as Don has said - a very different England from the later rubbish strewn one and his notes about the various buildings were meticulous and often included detail on colour.  My mother came from the area and could describe some of the buildings Roye modelled (although I never took her to Pendon) and my grandmother had known some of the people living in a couple of buildings of which he had details.  

 

So I'm always rather surprised to hear it described as 'chocolate box modelling' - true the juxtaposition of buildings has changed and the overall scene is very much one of 'a nice day' but it doesn't jar with me one bit as it is remarkably like the 'nice days' I encountered in the area back in the mid 1950s looking down from the hills across to the main line in the Vale when the harvest was being gathered in or riding down the hill atop a load on a horse drawn cart.  So perhaps it's nostalgia, maybe even a touch of 'chocolate box memory'  (the outside toilet at my grandparents would soon dispel that notion I reckon), maybe even just because the modelling was so different from much else but for me it captures the feeling of what was still there in some ways even in the 1950s.

 

I also like Pempoul and I await the 2019 exhibition appearance of the Gravett's new 'layout' with considerable anticipation as i already know which show it will debut at.

 

Have a good day one and all.

Edited March 27, 2017 by The Stationmaster

[Purley Oaks]

Oh, I rather liked Double - Summer Time. When was it last used? Sometime in the seventies?

 

A typical musician, then; Presto or Prestissimo, Pete?

[Purley Oaks]

Morning all

 

Another sunny day here folowing a bright and sunny weekend for us all, I think.

 

Mothering Sunday passed well enough here - visited mine who didn't want to go outside even though it was the sunniest day this year. Our kids had planned to take Gabe out for a meal but by the time middle daughter woke at 3pm. the eldest had to go out to get on with a job, and the youngest had yet to arrive. Eventually went to a Swedish bar for a late light lunch at 5pm with just two of them. And then they didn't have enough money!

 

Back home watching Line of Duty I had a call to come and play Cards Against Humanity (a rouger version of Apples to Apples, if you know that) and I said that I was fine watching tv and would be going to bed anyway. But they persisted and I lost. Mmmm!

 

Chrisf - Aly and Phil are always on the BBC1 Hogmanay programme in case you're interested. Bumped into Phil, literally, in the John Lewis Edinburgh tv dept a few weeks ago.

 

Andyram, great to hear that you're contacting the union.

 

Mal

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

I woke up at 5am. It was dark . I went back to sleep. I was vaguely aware of the radio alarm at 6.55. The next thing I was aware of the phone ringing at 10am. Aditi was ringing for a chat. The call was taken while I went down to release Robbie who hadn't fortunately needed to leave any little presents for me to clear up.

Then after a while I had another phone call from Aditi whom was trying to alter the time on her Mum's Neff oven and microwave. I found some instructions online but they didn't seem to work. A button had to be pressed repeatedly until a clock face symbol appeared. Aditi insisted there was no clock face symbol. So she went off to find the instruction manual. Her Mum was out playing bridge but Aditi found the manual. The instructions were the same as those I had found. Aditi said the oven had a "tick" appear where there should be a clock face. I said they were probably hour and minute hands rather than a tick. Anyway it all worked after that. She then did the microwave though MiL's cleaner had scrubbed all the printing off the knobs and fascia so the pictures in the manual were useful. We don't have any problems like this at home, our French oven and Japanese microwave are easy to alter.

I still haven't had breakfast. I think I will have a full English brunch instead.

Tony

Edited March 27, 2017 by Tony_S

[New Haven Neil]

ZZZzzzz uh wha....that damn hour.  I'm already sleeping enough for a hibernation to be considered, and the hour was the last straw!

 

I don't disagree with anything Mike or iD said about Pendon - it's just that there are others just as good.  Hursley? North Shields? Little Muddle is good too, architecturally in particular.  I exempt my own attempts from this, by the way, in case you wondered.....

[BoD]

Oh, I rather liked Double - Summer Time. When was it last used? Sometime in the seventies?

 

Best, Pete.

Mungo Jerry wasn't it?

[roundhouse]

Another show over. I enjoy Ally Pally once set up and it's open but the hassles of getting in and out with the layout not so good. However yesterday after closing my other half moved the ar to the lower level on the old station site and we moved the layout via the one small lift as the main lift had broken down again. We were n the move 45 minutes afte the show loses so good going from our crew. I wonder how long it took Jamie to get Green Ayre loaded.

 

The down side was that as we got to th A40 where my other half toook over the driving the traffic delays on the M25 shot up to 95 minutes so we diverted via Kingston and home avoiding th M25. However our two and a half hour trip ho,e was probably a lot less than many would have had.

 

Some amusing / very harsh comments on the Ally Pally thread but I suppose it's to be expected of any large show. Some don't appreciate the work that goes into building and exhibiting a layout.

[JohnDMJ]

Enjoying a day off to recover from a busy weekend!

 

Morning All,

Interesting the discussion over the merits of Pempoul and (vs?) Pendon. I'm afraid that Pempoul doesn't do anything for me, I find the subject matter less than appealing, rural France can be rather boring and dull (the Alsace is just across the border from us and by French standards it is the back of beyond) and that is reflected - in my eyes - in the layout. Which is certainly a testimonial to the modelling skill of the Gravetts - being able to reproduce the tedious, boring, unexciting ennui of rural France. I agree that Pendon is now considered as an example of "chocolate box" modelling, but I think that it should be remembered that the Pendon Team (Roye England, Guy Williams, etc) set the standards for fine modelling - no matter what the subject. And perhaps Pendon is only considered "chocolate box" modelling because it has been an inspiration to so many modellers and so many layouts - not all to the high standards set by Pendon.

 

The diet proceeds apace and I continue to loose weight. I've met Interim Goal No. 1 and it looks like I'm on track to reach Interim Goal No 2 by end of June. From there to my final goal may not be so easy...

 

Off to prep for tonight's dinner (Coniglio Alla Cacciatora - Hunter's style rabbit).

 

Have a good OGIM*

 

iD

 

OGIM = Oh God It's Monday

 

Whilst I have never seen the attraction of Pempoul, Pendon was, IIRC, intended to record 'typical local scenery' with a railway running through it.

 

Another show over. I enjoy Ally Pally once set up and it's open but the hassles of getting in and out with the layout not so good. However yesterday after closing my other half moved the ar to the lower level on the old station site and we moved the layout via the one small lift as the main lift had broken down again. We were n the move 45 minutes afte the show loses so good going from our crew. I wonder how long it took Jamie to get Green Ayre loaded.

The down side was that as we got to th A40 where my other half toook over the driving the traffic delays on the M25 shot up to 95 minutes so we diverted via Kingston and home avoiding th M25. However our two and a half hour trip ho,e was probably a lot less than many would have had.

Some amusing / very harsh comments on the Ally Pally thread but I suppose it's to be expected of any large show. Some don't appreciate the work that goes into building and exhibiting a layout.

 

Well, Green Ayre seemed to have gone before us (we left around 19:15) but we too met the jams between jn16 and jn10 with the variable speed limits in force and notes of 'Pedestrians in road' on the message signs. In all, one of my earliest returns after the breakdown other than Brighton!

[Tony_S]

Some amusing / very harsh comments on the Ally Pally thread but I suppose it's to be expected of any large show. Some don't appreciate the work that goes into building and exhibiting a layout.

The video posted by someone seems to dispel the "nothing moved" on the big US layout. I understand at one point they had a cable problem. I used to belong to that club and I know from experience that everything will have been tested before the exhibition. I noticed an ER operating LGA in the video too.

I didn't make it on either day (silly health related inconveniences) but if I had been able to be magically transported there I'm sure I would have enjoyed it.

Tony

[roundhouse]

The video posted by someone seems to dispel the "nothing moved" on the big US layout. I understand at one point they had a cable problem. I used to belong to that club and I know from experience that everything will have been tested before the exhibition. I noticed an ER operating LGA in the video too.

I didn't make it on either day (silly health related inconveniences) but if I had been able to be magically transported there I'm sure I would have enjoyed it.

Tony

 

Even with Banbury where we have a double track mainline we have had criticisms. A few seconds after trians pass through the back-scene that nothing is moving.

I spoke with Bill before the show opened on Saturday but Jamie was very busy each time I was at Green Ayre.

[Tony_S]

Even with Banbury where we have a double track mainline we have had criticisms. A few seconds after trians pass through the back-scene that nothing is moving.

I spoke with Bill before the show opened on Saturday but Jamie was very busy each time I was at Green Ayre.

Nothing moved for months over the winter on my garage OO layout and nothing had moved for years on the ON30 layout until recently so I am usually content to wait for a train to appear. I also don't mind seeing layouts with unfinished bits either! With some on the local circuit of exhibitions it is scary to compare the progress some make in a few months or a year with what little I achieve.

Tony

[bluebottle]

At least you didn't use "like" and "basically". Which are both over used too much.

 

If I may: A touch of tautology there; either "Which are both over used" or "Which are both used too much" would be sufficient.

[Horsetan]

If I may: A touch of tautology there; either "Which are both over used" or "Which are both used too much" would be sufficient.

 

...or possibly even superfluous.

[Ian Abel]

Further to my comments on DST http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z9rhn39

According to the map one American state (North Dakota?) doesn't have DST and part of Australia does and part doesn't. If the one American state is on a time zone it probably will cause very little problem but the Australian states that use DST appear to be concentrated in the bottom SE corner.

Hmm, that map, at least for the US, is confusing at best, and I'd say totally incorrect as a better description!

Arizona is the only US state, of the contiguous 48, that doesn't observe "Daylight Savings Time". The "blobs" on the map don't even follow state boundaries, look more like the were chosen by the tried and try "chuck a dart at the map" method of selection  time to employ a cartographer????

 

Oh well, it's a pointless discussion for the most part, as, even though most folks can agree to not be able to understand any real reason to continue the practice, the US congress in their infinite stupidity wisdom, only a few years back had a long debate about the timing of the events on either end of the summer, and concluded that rather than abolish the idea (would have been the MOST productive result), MOVED the events earlier/later to extend the pointless "summer time" <sigh>

From an apolitical standpoint, government in general never ceases to amaze me in their ability to be so incomprehensively stupid and out-of-touch.

Then again, at least here in the US, most government at any/all levels is overwhelmingly populated with "stupid old white men", therefore by definition is pointless/hopeless.

I look forward to the time when those dinosaurs are replaced by a newer group of younger, smarter, more diversified people. P!iss-and-moan over

 

 

 

 

Monday it is...

"Sun is shining in the sky, There ain't a cloud in sight, It's stopped rainin', everybody's in a play And don't you know It's a beautiful new day..." - no prizes, but the lyrics are from one of my favorite songs from this group.

 

Yesterday managed some work on the arduino controller(s) for the turntable and a few other bits.

Also, had an ineffective board meeting for a group in my other hobby. We're running into some issues with, of all things, our "tech. team", and need to make some changes. Major problem, the tech. team leader has had a hissy-fit and he holds the keys to the digital kingdom, which the entire groups "raison d'etre" relies on to function <sigh>

 

Work on the cards (what else, I'm a "worker"!), and an evening get together with my travelling buddy - it's book club tonight for the ladies - we will p!ss-and-moan up a treat about every topic in the news and beyond!

 

As started +4 and a lovely day outside, 12 for the high.

 

Hope your week starts well, enjoy the day.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Ian Abel

[jamie92208]

Good afternoon all from the village that is still north of Ikea. We left the Palace at 19.10 though that would have been earlier if the traffic marshalls (Not MRC people) had had any idea about how to marshall the vehicles that needed to enter the hall. I finally got home at 01.00 after unloading and then taking the lorry back to Leeds. One member of the team got home at 01.45. We had had a good though at times frustrating weekend, some of my comments are on the Ally Pally thread. It was great to see my nephew and his family for the first time in 5 years on Sunday afternoon and their two charming kids (10 and 12) proved to be very good apprentice operators. Apparently one is due to appear on some sort of blog.

 

I did get chance to meet up briefly with the main group of ER's on Saturday and Joh on Sunday and Mrs RH and I had a quick chat at one point in passing.

 

Today I spent the morning moving baseboards and sorting stock crates and then this afternoon have finally had time to catch up on here despite an impromptu eyelid inspection at one juncture.

 

Various aching muscles are now being rested and I'm looking forward to an evening at the clubroom.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[lightengine]

If I may: A touch of tautology there; either "Which are both over used" or "Which are both used too much" would be sufficient.

Yes.  Much like "those ones"

[AndyID]

Ian beat me to it. We were in Arizona for six years and I can assure you the last thing you want to do is delay sunset in the Summer.

Edited March 27, 2017 by AndyID

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone

 

I had a good trip down the M6/M40 with no stops at all, which was very surprising, I was expecting heavy traffic, especially around Birmingham. However, it still took me just over 2 1/2hrs!

 

A very interesting day and lots of information has gathered about my pension options, so it's all looking really good. There's more about pensions and investments tomorrow.

 

I'm just about to head down to the restaurant for the evening meal.

[Tony_S]

On the Ally Pally thread Stationmaster Mike mentioned the colliery branch on the Essex Belt Lines and Freemo display. If that is the colliery branch I suspect I was was there when the boards were being cut. I think Chris who was the builder was working to a 7 foot minimum radius then and had a contraption on the floor of the church hall to accurately cut them. This was on a Saturday so his cutting was done in between weddings. It was nice having a layout in a church hall. We used to get occasional visitors, usually groom and family having a look round before the "event" . Circumstances moved the club out to a chicken shed conversion in more rural Essex. I couldn't really cope with the move. I would have liked to see the layout but wasn't able to make it this weekend unfortunately. I liked the video posted on the Exhibition thread.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Tony_S

[Ashcombe]

Our first lunch this year al fresco - with temperatures of 18 degrees, it would be rude not to!

 

 

 

Cheers!

Edited March 27, 2017 by Ashcombe