Early Risers.

[Gwiwer]

Back home. I can report that everything ran well during my watch with no SWR train more than 2 minutes adrift from right time. But “dreich” would describe conditions perfectly. It hasn’t stopped raining since last night nor is it forecast to until tomorrow morning. That rain may turn heavy overnight and given the already-soaked ground and high river levels some minor flooding may arise. Eyes are particularly on the Windsor - Staines and Yeovil - Honiton sections.

 

Sorry to hear of developments from Robert and AndyID. As always support and friendship is offered from here.

 

In other news the Dragon-in-Law is booked to visit during May and June which will require the use of our lounge/diner as spare bedroom. I have requested leave for an intergalactic cruise for the duration. I can co-exist on the same planet for only as many minutes as it takes for her to demand the universe revolves around her. After that .....

 

Oh, and the power is back on so I can reset the clocks and heating timer while making lunch. I shall look out for AndyB through the week too.

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from a cold but currently not raining LBG.

 

Sorry to read Robert and Andy ID's news, but glad to see that Chrisf has managed to stop the Black Dog in its tracks.

 

The weekend saw a visit from the Sister in law and her family and involved an Easter Egg hunt (the boys are really a bit old but they'll not turn down the chocolate and sweets!). Good job I had mowed the lawn on Friday evening....we also managed a bit of footie, which mainly proved that Elder Lurker is miles better than any of the rest of us!

 

I am sorry to read Rick;s weather report; Mrs and Younger Lurker have gone to Hampton Court/Bushy Park today, unless she made the decision to defer by 24 hours. Elder Lurker is revising for his impending GCSEs. Unfortunately I think at the moment he is mainly improving his ability with FIFA and Fortnite. But we shall see; he has it in him to do really well, if only he can be bothered.

 

Short week this week as I have Thursday and Friday off. I think I have to go supercar hunting again.

 

Enjoy the rest of your day.

[newbryford]

Pete,

the F27 or Fokker Friendship had a curtain between the crew and the passengers .. the update F50 had a door.

 

Did some miles in both travelling to/from Schipol and Bremen...

 

and one flight to and from Jersey with an Air Anglian F27 is forever memorable..it was our honeymoon...

 

Baz

 

PS I did transport a piece of military hardware by Boeing Always..I had the correct paperwork and they didn't seem overly worried

 

Thought to all - lots of ticks as required.

 

Ah - F27 to Jersey. I remember looking out of my side window along the runway just before touchdown. One wheel down, then the pilot straightened it up, dropped the other wheel and then the nose. I still have the marks on my wrist where Mrs NB was holding on to me.......

 

Catch up later.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[shortliner]

 As well as the healthcare the main objective for me is to find the right type of lug that I need for a certain assemblage in the man cavern.

 

 

 

Jamie

'Ear, 'Ear!

[Ian Abel]

Robert, our thoughts are with you, your father and family.

AndyID - sorry to hear the recurrence, here's hoping it doesn't take it's toll on you and the Mrs. Very tough challenges for you both.

 

Monday - back to work.

Weekend was rather enjoyable although with it's challenges, weather-wise!

Flight back was "OK", but running a little late as the inbound was delayed having to circumnavigate a HUGE weather cell between it's origin, Dallas, and JFK.

 

Saturday, the baseball game - we won't comment on the score, suffice to say we came in a distant second

Game time was about -2C and sunny, hence the attire, I had on about four heavy layers as well as a scarf, gloves and other body-parts warming attire, quite a difference from the normal game wear, usually consisting of shorts and a tee-shirt 

the red 'X' to the left of my shoulder shows the approximate location of our seats, in the shade ALL the time, we lasted about 5 innings then retreated to the relative warmth of the food concourse where there are overhead heaters

We'd travelled to the game via our light rail system from the "Mall of America" so decided once we got back there to have dinner in one of the restaurants - and warm up.

 

Sunday required some sleeping in, shopping and general relaxation. Jemma came over for a while with Whitney, who is recovering well so far from her surgery.

 

Yesterday afternoon, through most of the evening saw us obtain ANOTHER couple of inches of snow!

 

The morning view above of our winter wonderland is getting rather OLD now - as we're well into April, it'd be nice to think there may be SOME SPRING just around the corner  

 

Hope everyone has a good start to the week, carry on.

Edited April 9, 2018 by Ian Abel

[81C]

Yo 

    The painting has come to an end and Mr Ernie has sent me some tokens to cover a 1/3rd of the cost of that expensive 47xx 

Now I've got to get ready and pack for my short stay in hospital hopefully I will be pain free this time tomorrow it's the 9th time I'm on first name

terms with the Consultant now who shoves this great big needle in me, must go things to do.

                                                                                                                                                        have a good day all John (Constable)

[The Stationmaster]

All this talk of F27s and other modern delights to/from the Channel Islands reminds me of my last visit to Jersey - you can gauge how long ago it was as it was a vickers Viscount outbound from LHR and a 'Pionair' (aka DC3) on the return flight (the first and last time I flew in a piston engined aircraft).

 

Oh and i have been duly shorn but when the scissors started to close on my earlobe at one stage during the process I was desperately considering whether I might need to change my name to Vincent.  Fortunately my quickly voiced shouted  soothing (ha-ha) words prevented the closing of the blades and shedding of copious quantities of red liquid.

[Judge Dread]

During WW2 my dad was promoted from Gunner to Bombardier. He went for a drink with his mates to celebrate and it ended up with MPs and a guardroom involved. Mother told us she received a letter telling her that her weekly pay from dad's wage had increased: followed very soon after by another saying it had gone down again.

I had an uncle whose rank fluctuated so often that my father said he invented Velcro.  The amazing thing was at the end of the war every one thought uncle Ron would be on the first boat home but he volunteered to stay on in the "army of occupation", marrying German woman in the process.  

[BlackRat]

Hey hup, prostate check time, another tick off of the bucket list!

 

Last time I had anything like this done, it cost me $100 in the Wanchai in Hong Kong!

 

Apparently at 55 it won't need doing again for a few years, which to be fair is a shame.

 

Hopefully next time I won't have someone with the appearance of a shaved gorilla doing it.

 

On a serious note gents, GET IT CHECKED!

[pH]

Or are given free if you have a degree from another university, and are employed by the granting university for three years without committing gross moral turpitude.

Apologies for quoting my own post, but after posting this, I realised it could be misunderstood. I was referring to the practices of a specific university. I don't know if this is general practice, but would suspect it is not.

[Gwiwer]

Certainly not in my case but I know it to be true - or to have been true when I was in higher education - of Oxford and Cambridge.  London didn't offer the same "free upgrades" otherwise I might have ended up with a Masters

I also have never knowingly committed any form of turpitude, gross, moral or otherwise, although I have certainly dabbled in turpentine more than once.  For more on GMT here's a snippet from the Grauniad.  https://www.theguardian.com/education/2004/nov/16/highereducation.uk

[BSW01]

Yo 

    The painting has come to an end and Mr Ernie has sent me some tokens to cover a 1/3rd of the cost of that expensive 47xx 

 

Congratulations on you BIG win! I also hope he puts that big needle in the right place!

[PeterBB]

Yo 

    The painting has come to an end and Mr Ernie has sent me some tokens to cover a 1/3rd of the cost of that expensive 47xx 

Now I've got to get ready and pack for my short stay in hospital hopefully I will be pain free this time tomorrow it's the 9th time I'm on first name

terms with the Consultant now who shoves this great big needle in me, must go things to do.

                                                                                                                                                        have a good day all John (Constable)

 

Can't say like on this one ... not with needles and others do not seem appropriate ... hope it goes well.

 

Peter

[beast66606]

Afternoon all - thanks for all the likes, wishes etc. Me and The Mrs are now settled into married life - which means I take her out trainspotting !

 

Thoughts with those in need, unfortunately as one gets older these things seem to become more prevalent.

 

After months of struggling I have finally managed to get an old - tape based - video camera to upload to my computer. This was no mean feat as the screen on the camera was almost blank - in the right circumstances it was just possible to read it and therefore set it to the correct connection parameters. It's hard to explain how "just" this was - fortunately each time the camera is switched off it resets to factory defaults (internal battery gone), which is useful when you fu make a mistake but now the power is left on so it maintains the working parameters. I've managed to upload 50 tapes (1 hr each) so far. These are from my early days in Norfolk and although only 7 years ago they feature the semaphores and manually operated level crossings which are long time history.

Only 180 to go ...

[PeterBB]

Mike, thanks you have hit a Jersey memory of flight.  

 

Well over 40 years ago we flew to Jersey in an absolute bone-shaker from an airport where the entire building through 'customs' and grass amble over to the aircraft from Staverton.  We were in a Dakota that had seen service in the post war drops into Berlin.

 

The other great memory of that very pleasant holiday is of spending the night fishing on one of the towers and as a complete novice catching as many fish as the 'experts'.

 

Peter

[andyram]

Good evening all. I hope today finds you well. I have read through many of the posts since last night and would like to start by sending my thoughts and good wishes to Robert following the news regarding his father. I would also like to pass on good wishes to my namesake (Andy ID) in hope that the issues with his son will improve soon. I know such issues never go away fully. Thoughts and wishes to ChrisF in hope that his own "Black Dog" remains firmly in the kennel. My thoughts remain with Tony and Aditi, and I hope they can sort out all the other things they need to do in relation to Matthew's passing.

 

Thank you to those people who have voiced concern in my direction. I firmly appreciate that my problems are nothing compared to what some of our number are facing. In response to Jamie, I have the same concerns about the pressures of Deputy Headship, Unfortunately, due to my standing on the pay scale, I have very little chance of securing a teaching post in other schools. I am just too expensive these days (as a certain former head teacher was quick to tell me). If I want to vacate the current establishment promotion is the only logical route – but it is one that causes me concerns. That is why I have started to look at opportunities outside of the profession.

 

 

 In response to NG, it is usual for schools to expect a "medium term plan" to be placed in a central location at the start of each half term. This is to guard against staff illness so that the children's education can remain consistent. However this school requires far more detailed planning to be stored than I have ever seen before.

 

​As for today - the first day back was busy and seemed to last forever. After leaving home just after 7am, I arrived back home at 6.45pm. Our evening meal will be consumed after Amber has gone to bed. The latest on the future plans are thus - the accountant emailed this morning. The feedback was not positive regarding the business. Although profitable, it does not appear to pull in enough for me to support the family. It was what I expected. Ironically, the second accountant option finally contacted me this evening and has, at his request, been sent the same documents. I am rather expecting the same response. The discussion with the business owner now seems to be a waste of time, but I may still have it in order to finally cross the option off my list.

 

Best wishes

 

Andy

[Northroader]

The Staverton Jersey flights were worked by Air Intra, if I remember correct. At the time my son was about eight ( he’s over forty now!) and I used to make him models of airliners, and I did him one of these. Anyhow, there was a model show at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff and I was invited to bring his collection along. During the afternoon I was approached by highly attractive blonde women who explained she was fascinated by that model as she worked as a stewardess with them. “I’d do ANYTHING for that model” she says, durrhh, picking my jaw back up from the floor———, (Ive still got the model!)

[BlackRat]

 

Thank you to those people who have voiced concern in my direction. I firmly appreciate that my problems are nothing compared to what some of our number are facing. In response to Jamie, I have the same concerns about the pressures of Deputy Headship, Unfortunately, due to my standing on the pay scale, I have very little chance of securing a teaching post in other schools. I am just too expensive these days (as a certain former head teacher was quick to tell me). If I want to vacate the current establishment promotion is the only logical route – but it is one that causes me concerns. That is why I have started to look at opportunities outside of the profession. Andy

Sorry, promotion. .....IS NOT The only logical route, why should it be?

 

Why not find a post in a school you want to work at, if need be at a lesser grade?

 

As a former Chair of Governors and a Governor for over 20 years, we took on a former head of chemistry as a class teacher, a deputy head, as a teacher and at least a couple of teachers who opted on return to the profession, or for other reasons to become Teaching Assistants.

 

All became happy and productive members of the school team.

 

If you're struggling now with various issues, then moving up to management isn't necessarily going to help or be a way out.

 

Money isn't always everything. Neither is promotion.

Edited April 9, 2018 by BlackRat

[AndyB]

Evening all,

 

First of all, I'd like to add my best wishes to Andy iD and family. Much respect to you for the support and forbearance you are showing. 

And also glad to hear that ChrisF has shaken off the black dog for now. 

Regards to Debs who must be limbering up to some kind of historic level of retribution to many of us.i'm sure we all look forward to the day when we get our comeuppance. 

 

Meanwhile, in the garage I've had a stroke of genius. I'd post a photo of it, but I'm too......

 

Rick, I'll be commuting through your area tomorrow pm. Tend to be on a bit of a mission on the way up, then get a long wait on the way back home. 

 

BlackRat, in my experience I've seen folk from a number of well paid professions move into teaching. And seen folk who felt obliged to move into management take the earliest opportunity to move back into the classroom. 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Trying to sort out somewhere to go this weekend, there are several options so I will ask my friend for his opinion. The weather forecast is the bright and sunny weather predicted for the weekend will continue into next week.

[JohnDMJ]

 

 

Thank you to those people who have voiced concern in my direction. I firmly appreciate that my problems are nothing compared to what some of our number are facing. In response to Jamie, I have the same concerns about the pressures of Deputy Headship, Unfortunately, due to my standing on the pay scale, I have very little chance of securing a teaching post in other schools. I am just too expensive these days (as a certain former head teacher was quick to tell me). If I want to vacate the current establishment promotion is the only logical route – but it is one that causes me concerns. That is why I have started to look at opportunities outside of the profession.

 

Andy

 

Concurring with BlackRat, perhaps an alternative career would suit. There is a tendency to be wrapped (and often blinkered) into a career spiral that moves in ever decreasing circles before finally disappearing up somewhere unpleasant; I fear you are in danger of replicating the exploits of the oozlum bird if you continue to pursue a career in education!

Edited April 9, 2018 by JohnDMJ

[Barry O]

For reasons best known to her indoors (who had set her alarm for 2am for some reason) I need some eyelid inspection, so, goodnight everyone!

Baz

[Gwiwer]

 

 

On a serious note gents, GET IT CHECKED!

 

I did just that.  And that is the only reason why I still have something close to normality in that region.  Some here will remember and I am not shy to discuss the fact that a tiny irritation which felt like a scratch or a grain of dirt quickly became a small visible red growth which - by the time I had paraded at the GP - had started growing at an alarming rate.  I had penile cancer.  Slightly under six years later I was pronounced clear, fit and well though I do have some known and anticipated long-term side-effects which perhaps don't need going into in too much detail here.

 

If it doesn't seem right it may well not be right.  Even if it is apparently all right GET THINGS CHECKED.  Male cancers are not discussed as openly and as candidly as female; they deserve to be discussed equally, funded equally and treated on an equal basis.  Testicular cancer is usually caught early enough that it presents no problem over and above a slight physical difference.  Prostate can still be a big killer.  Penile cancers are so rare that many people are unaware they exist.  But exist they do and they are as lethal as any other.  They are, however, usually treatable and often with much of the normal function retained if caught early.

 

If that causes a little discomfort before bedtime then maybe book a check-up as you go about your day tomorrow.  I wish you all a clean bill of health and a good night's sleep.

[roundhouse]

Times past I used to fly to Eindhoven a lot (every other week, on average).

I used to see the same people on it and the same flight crew - the plane was inevitably some Fokker commuter jobby. They used to leave the crew door open to the cockpit (if it even had one) so we could see out the front.

One time we were cruising down the Thames about to pass the Houses of Parliament when the plane caught a draft and veered over to the left. After it came back on track the Pilot apologized for the ancestral memory of the plane - “it always wanted to bomb that place”. By the way in those days if you had a gun you simply handed it to the flight crew (the airline  knew I had a legit Firearms License, of course they preferred to know details upfront) and picked it up  in the Terminal.

 

Thoughts with Tony and A, Robert and Andy.

 

Best, Pete.

Evening all

 

I recall being in a float plane from Victoria, BC to Seattle with no door into the cockpit. As we came into land in Seattle all you could see through the cockpit was the ripples on the lake, no sky or land at all.

 

We landed quite safely but it was unnerving for a short while.

[andyram]

Sorry, promotion. .....IS NOT The only logical route, why should it be?

Why not find a post in a school you want to work at, if need be at a lesser grade?

As a former Chair of Governors and a Governor for over 20 years, we took on a former head of chemistry as a class teacher, a deputy head, as a teacher and at least a couple of teachers who opted on return to the profession, or for other reasons to become Teaching Assistants.

All became happy and productive members of the school team.

If you're struggling now with various issues, then moving up to management isn't necessarily going to help or be a way out.

Money isn't always everything. Neither is promotion.

Fair point. Unfortunately last summer’s experience proved what I have already said. I applied for countless posts as a class teacher. Some were sideways or backward steps on the career ladder. I did not get an interview for any of them. All feedback included two phrases. 1) The application was more suited to a management post and 2) The school had to consider their budget.