Early Risers.

[TheQ]

I have these 2 little plants growing and cannot decide if they have a future.

Does anyone know if one/they are worth keeping?20180925_130743.jpg

Edited,

I should have guessed it would post sideways

I've got loads of those as well, I've no idea what they are and they didn't do anything interesting...

[newbryford]

I have just noticed that my Dapol (exLionheart) 6435, soon to be 6438, is not correctly attired in the cab department.

 

On looking inside just now, I notice she has a lever reverse, instead of screw reverse!

 

GWR acolytes will know that the 54 and 64xx classes were both fitted with a screw reverser and it was only the non auto fitted 74xx that had a lever reverse.

 

Hardly a nightmare for me, as it does mean that should my plans for a wild west Wales scenario come to light, removal of the auto gear and a quick renumbering will give me a 74xx. (Which would be far more in keeping with something shedded at Carmarthen.)

 

Please note that the above statement is awl exempt as it is mainly technical information of an educational nature.

 

Panniers - surely they all look the same apart from the number...…..?

Please note that the above statement is awl exempt as it is mainly technical information of an educational nature.

 

 

[Tony_S]

Panniers - surely they all look the same apart from the number...…..?

Please note that the above statement is awl exempt as it is mainly technical information of an educational nature.

 

 

I have a red pannier. Looks very pretty.

[TheQ]

I have a red pannier. Looks very pretty.

Like this?

[AndrewC]

Is all that definitely his, or has he put them in the names of convenient family members and relatives?

I really don't think he is that clever. Can't see his kids being the registered owners of much as they appear to all be under 15 by the look of his FB page. He took over his dad's company last year and is a decent builder but seems hopeless at the business side of things. Considering the amount of work he did complete vs the 6 or 7 days of finishing off that he hasn't done it makes me wonder if he just didn't over extend himself elsewhere and can't cope with juggling so has screwed up royally. For me the biggest loss was we paid him for the materials in advance. That is the majority of what we want to recover. 

 

For future reference: trading standards will just direct you to Citizen's Advice now. Just went down that road and hit the speed bump. 

 

A thanks to all for the support and suggestions. It is much appreciated. 

[Tony_S]

Like this?download.jpeg

Not like that.

London Transport...

[roundhouse]

 

 

Greetings all. Back from our 5 day sojourn to the low lands. A good time was had by all, with maybe the exception of my liver. Many new and unique beers were enjoyed. Sadly the trip home wasn't what it should have been. For the third time in a row our Eurostar was delayed. At least this time it was only 40 minutes. Shortage of EU border control staff was the excuse given. There were 2 when we were there but from what I heard that went down to one shortly after we got through check-in. Perhaps the EU's way of saying, "this is what you can expect after March 2019, get used to it". On the upside construction of the Eurostar facilities and passport control in Rotterdam Centraal is well advanced. Maybe having clearance there and in Amsterdam will take some of the strain off Brussels. I still don't know why they have to do an exit check that takes longer than the UK immigration process. With the automated passport gates the 3 UK border force officers were sitting at their desks doing burger all. In our time in the queue I didn't see one non-EU passenger have to use the manual immigration booths. 

 

Top tip for travel. They don't advertise it but if you need to travel from Amsterdam or Rotterdam to Brussels you can get a last minute ticket for 35€ on the returning Eurostar from the NS ticket office. First come first server, no seat reservation but cheaper than the Thalys or Hi-Speed service. 

 

Good to see Debs posting again. Hopefully Rick will soon follow with his tales from the hill of strawberries. 

 

Some of the relatives that are gathering for my brother's re-wedding thingy in Italy next month have started arriving. Tonight we'll be getting together with a nephew and his wife. Saturday my older brother arrives from the US. 

 

Back to work, blech. My builder's 2 week notice has expired, so time to start filing the small claims suit. We've decided to get quotes for fixing all the snag list as well to include in the claim. I believe the phrase is "take the b*****d to the f*****g cleaners". 

 

Enjoy the day. Coffee with a bacon & egg bagel is calling. 

 

Added to that we got caught in the usual farce on Thameslink where there were track circuit failures in the low level platforms at St Pancras. My first time using them for some time and as usual it all goes pear shape. Home around 9.30pm instead of just after 8 pm. Luckily for me no work but till up early to drop my other half off then to Mums to carry on installing blinds and other tasks which i am enjoying doing for her. Another visit to Screwfix to spend some of her money but htings that she does require!!

 

Finally got her CCTV to send me messages with images and also remote viewing on my mobile so when I get bored i can watch our CCTV and hers.

 

Also booked our flights to California for later this year before the prices go up again. can now plan more of the places ot visit with our Cumbrian friends who we will be joining out there.

 

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. The celebrations will continue later this week.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land.

I have these 2 little plants growing and cannot decide if they have a future.
Does anyone know if one/they are worth keeping?20180925_130743.jpg
Edited,
I should have guessed it would post sideways

I have them in my garden but I can't remember the name of them. The flowers are like a hydrangea in size and shape but a pale yellow/green colour. Be warned though they spread like wildfire, hence their appearance in your garden. I would remove all except the healthiest looking example but remember to dead head them as soon as they have flowered.

[Tony_S]

Aditi told her Mum about my fall down the stairs and MiL said Aditi should return home to care for me and that she would be fine. I had a chat with MiL and said while I was sore and it took a while to get up from a sitting position (cushions in use) I was fine, I told her I was just about to use some ibrufen gel as I thought that would help. She got very upset. Aditi had been listening to the conversation as MiL has her phone on the speaker setting. MiL thought I had said “going on the roof”. We all had a laugh but I think many of the things that Aditi’s sister puts down to dementia are deafness confusions.

I do intend to have a quiet day tomorrow. No stair gymnastics planned.

Tony

[jamie92208]

Aditi told her Mum about my fall down the stairs and MiL said Aditi should return home to care for me and that she would be fine. I had a chat with MiL and said while I was sore and it took a while to get up from a sitting position (cushions in use) I was fine, I told her I was just about to use some ibrufen gel as I thought that would help. She got very upset. Aditi had been listening to the conversation as MiL has her phone on the speaker setting. MiL thought I had said “going on the roof”. We all had a laugh but I think many of the things that Aditi’s sister puts down to dementia are deafness confusions.

I do intend to have a quiet day tomorrow. No stair gymnastics planned.

Tony

Just be careful Tony of the pain doesn't wear off. I did something very similar on a rock on the beach here in Cannes several years ago while standing up to get the number of a train going past. I didn't get much sympathy from Beth who thought it was hilarious but it transpired that I had broken my coccyx. The GP said she couldn't do a lot and eventually sent me for an Xray. The radiologist said due to it's location he couldn't Xray it but gave me a general Xray of the area. I went back to the GP for the results who said did I want the good news or the bad news. I plumped for bad news first. That was that they couldn't Xray the offending bits of bone. The good news was that there was there was far less arthritic deterioration in my hips, Sacro Iliac and lumbar spine than would be expected at my age so I was quite pleased.

 

Jamie

[Tony_S]

Just be careful Tony of the pain doesn't wear off. I did something very similar on a rock on the beach here in Cannes several years ago while standing up to get the number of a train going past. I didn't get much sympathy from Beth who thought it was hilarious but it transpired that I had broken my coccyx. The GP said she couldn't do a lot and eventually sent me for an Xray. The radiologist said due to it's location he couldn't Xray it but gave me a general Xray of the area. I went back to the GP for the results who said did I want the good news or the bad news. I plumped for bad news first. That was that they couldn't Xray the offending bits of bone. The good news was that there was there was far less arthritic deterioration in my hips, Sacro Iliac and lumbar spine than would be expected at my age so I was quite pleased.Jamie

Thank you.

My bones were starting to be a bit depleted some years ago due to long term steroid medication. I was put on medication by coincidence the week after its use was sanctioned for men not just post menopausal women. After three years my bones were more typical for my age rather than a 90 year old. I think as it was stairs I gave my coccyx a number of impacts rather than a big one at the foot of the stairs. My mother fell down the stairs twice in her late 70s and was unharmed except for bruising. MiL was concerned about the fall as she stepped off a step ladder a few years ago and compressed three vertebrae. This limited her mobility somewhat which she found/finds most annoying. I did explain to MiL that Aditi staying with her was in no way a contributing factor towards falling down the stairs. I have had to promise that if the pain doesn’t go away I will seek advice. Actually if it is anything like falling off a motorbike it will hurt more tomorrow anyway.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Evening everyone

 

Well I eventually got out into the garden, but it wasn’t until after dinner. Just after I’d finished my muggertea I decided to redo the drawing for the patio, taking in the modifications I’d decided on yesterday, just to make sure that my calculations were correct, as it turns out they were, but I now have a nice tidy drawing instead of one with dozens of corrections on! By then it wasn’t worth making a start in the garden, so I decided to polish the brassware on the front door instead. After dinner I finally managed to get outside just before 2:00, but decided that, as the garden waste bin was being emptied tomorrow, I thought I might as well do some dead heading and weeding etc. This took me about 45 minutes, so I spent the rest of the afternoon in the workshop, playing with some relays and getting them to work properly, which they hadn’t been doing before.

 

Goodnight folks

[Barry O]

Today has been a busy day!

Sorted some things out this morning..van hires, repairs to a house 90 miles away etc.

 

Off into "town" to buy her indoors a card and pressies for her birthday this weekend. Then met with an old tank designing friend. He works in the rail industry now but can't divulge his info.

 

Lots of students trying to do a "Cipriani"..as in walking (or rugby tackling) a bus or two!

 

Back to Headingley where I umpired 3 off 6 a sides cricket matches.

Back home I enjoyed a bottle of beer and now..its time for some sleep.

 

Sleep well all!

 

Baz

Edited September 25, 2018 by Barry O

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[AndyID]

A neighbor asked if I could make a drainage ditch a bit deeper with my tractor today. I took a shot at it with the tractor's bucket, but the ground is too dry and hard at the moment. The backhoe was required. Unfortunately the backhoe was not attached to the tractor but another neighbor volunteered to help me attach it (it's a slightly tricky operation.)

 

I had parked the backhoe up behind the house close to the edge of a bank. Too close in fact and I decided that it was far too dangerous to attempt to attach it to the tractor there, so we connected it with a chain and tried to drag it to a safer area. When I started to pull the backhoe promptly slid down the bank and ended up apex over base on the lower level. Most importantly no one was injured, but the backhoe's controls seem to have taken a bit of a beating. I've partially dismantled it to reduce the load. The plan is to right it tomorrow - very carefully.

[AndyID]

That was the bad news

 

The much better news is that we were able to get our son to see a psychiatrist. That was about a month ago. The doc prescribed something (nothing very extreme) which has definitely made a big difference. Son has joined a gym, he seems to have resumed his interest in music, and he says he is feeling much better. Small steps of course, but it's a huge improvement from nine months ago. Fingers firmly crossed for the future.

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

There is something odd going on.  A few days ago I received a list of tour dates for Trio Dhoore, three brothers from Ghent who make rather tasty music.  Most of the gigs clash with something to which I am already committed or are so far away as to be a totally stupid idea even by my standards.  One remained, at an establishment in Surrey convenient for the A3 and on the night before the Portsmouth show in November.  On the Travelodge webshite was a button to click for a 15% discount.  A room at the nominally Chessington hotel, once a far from prestigious office block, was snapped up.  It is about halfway between Bedford and Portsmouth and less than 10 minutes from the gig.  Isn’t it satisfying when everything just falls into place?  Well, it would be if I had not received a Facebook notification yesterday evening that the gig had been “deleted”.  I wonder what has gone wrong?  It is still shown on the promoter’s webshite.  The hotel booking is of course non-refundable - it would be at that price – but even if I don’t get to the gig I only have half the journey to do next morning.

 

On a happier note I’m off to Milton Keynes this afternoon to see the National Theatre production of War Horse.   Nothing will dampen my enthusiasm for that!

 

Warm thoughts to all in distress and those who are missing.

 

Chris

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It is a pleasant autumnal morning in this part of the world.  Slightly warmer than it was yesterday morning, but not by much!

 

He took over his dad's company last year and is a decent builder but seems hopeless at the business side of things.

 

Sounds like our old chimney sweep.  Fortunately, we didn't have the sort of problems that Andrew has had - but we'd get bills for other people, or our bill wouldn't come, and then despite chasing it we'd get a final demand months and months later.  Eventually, the regulators took his business from him and we got a new sweep.

 

Time for a coffee!

 

Have a good day everyone...

[roundhouse]

Eventually, the regulators took his business from him and we got a new sweep.

 

A clean sweep??

 

Morning form a very chilly Surrey. WIll drop my other half at the station then drop the car off for its service and MOT and a wlak home. Luckily its not too far but will need a few layers on to do so.

 

Breakfast in Wetherspoons with a friend then to see bank re investments then off to Mums to help brother install the alarm. Also finally got her CCTV to send 'remote events' but its doing too many so that needs tweeking.

 

How did I ever find time for work!!

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a rather cool part of France. It's certainly cool in the exercise yard of Alcatraz that we can see from our balcony. However as the neighbours both sides are smokers we don't get out there much.

 

We had a good drive out to the vineyard yesterday and some bottles of liquid are in the car. It's the first 'organic' wine we've tasted that actually tastes good. Then a drive home via the Corniche which though a bit long and winding gave us some fabulous views. We nearly had to scrape a young henwomble off the side of the car. We think she was about 18 and on a motorbike. She insisted on trying to overtake us on blind right hand bends then tooted when I kept to my line so that she had to drop back. She eventually overtook us, again on a right hand bend and we expected to see her being scraped off the road but fortunately we didn't. However the road dropped us into Cannes La Bocca on the right road to avoid the roadworks.

 

Today has been decreed another beach/trainspotting day so I will wish you all a good day.

 

Tony I hope that you don't have too many extra aches and pains.

 

 

Jamie

Edited September 26, 2018 by jamie92208

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Another sunny start here and a fine day is forecast.

Rather glad about that as party preparations for the weekend will be continuing. Most of the furniture shifting was done last night with Steve's help. My back, leg and hip are only complaining slightly. Today I will turn my attentions to the garden and cut the grass, do a general tidy up and erect gazebos.

I have also discovered that due to a waistline problem certain pairs of trousers are, shall we say, rather uncomfortable so I need to nip out and try to rectify the situation. (buy more trousers rather than try a rapid weight loss!  That will have to be dealt with after the party.)

Tea has been taken up to Her Bossness who will shortly be barking out orders and instructions, most of which will fall on deaf ears.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

 

PS Tony, I sympathise, been there and done that down the stairs a couple of times. One of those put paid to my rugby playing as it finished off my left knee ACL  that I'd injured in a match the week before. Knee gave way and it was game over and a few weeks later I was in hospiital for an ACL reconstruction which meant about 7 weeks off work. 

Edited September 26, 2018 by grandadbob

[Barry O]

Morning to most from the North West Leeds Highlands.

 

Doesn't feel as cold today but it is overcast outside.

 

I may get away from all forms of housework today...I wish!

 

If I do I may have to undertake some testing of things which run on two bits of nickel silver at the club...

 

We have a lot of people missing at the moment. Hopefully they will return but some have disappeared from RMWeb completely.

 

Have as good a day as you can.

Baz

[45156]

Morning All

 

I am up to speed (amazingly) and have read and rated everybody's posts.  As ever, generic greetings are on offer to all deserving them - either celebrating or ailing. 

 

Was due to take Lily to the vet's this morning.  She can be an awkward patient sometimes (sometimes?  Who am I kidding - she had a very bad experience with a locum vet as a puppy that she's never forgotten) I prefer to see either James (owner) or Helen (associate).  James is on long term sick leave, and I was booked in with Helen, and just had a phone call to say that she has had to take the morning off, and there is a locum vet.  No way, so I'm now going to see Helen this afternoon at 15.15 - not my preferred time, as the surgery is opposite a large primary school, and that is right in the middle of "mummy time".

 

Other than that, not a lot to report here,  I am still unable to read any of Debs' posts on FB.  I may have to unfriend her and then send a new friend request, and hopefully that will sort things for me.  Debs, if you read this, that's what I'll be doing.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

Edited September 26, 2018 by 45156