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Across the viaduct she does go To where know one actually knows But onwards she does rumble Down the track without a stumble Guessing to where, well, that'll keep you on your toes? And now with some smoke!

Still focusing on 61098, for our first view this morning. Then on the Up, Doncaster A1 Kings Courier appears with the White Rose.

Good morning all. The Hill of Strawberries is disrupted today. The combi boiler is being replaced. This means that we have no central heating and intermittently no water until late this afternoon. It also means the entire contents of the utility cupboard are in the lounge, the contents of the meter cupboard are lining the hallway, the kettle and enough supplies to ensure adequate tea-age and coffee-age are on the dining table, lunch will be delivered from our favourite cafe and for Covid security we are largely confined to the bedrooms with His Pawship. The first problem arose early on when the fitters discovered we have no water stop valve (the proper word would upset the filter ) to the flat - only a communal one to the block - and had to devise a work-around. I have always known that to be an issue; it is why we cannot be metered and have a fixed-price annual water bill. Dr. SWMBO has returned from her weekly walk with a work colleague and reports that it was enjoyable. I have lined up some antisocially-distanced tasks for the day including playing with spaghetti beneath boards and deep-cleaning the areas only normally occupied by storage boxes. I have also tried scanning some of my late father's slides from the collection I inherited after his passing. He was never a great photographer and used film after film snapping flowers in bloom to a rather mediocre standard. I also don't seem to have a quality slide-scanning option within VueScan - I thought there was one - so need to investigate alternatives as I also have some of my own slides which could be scanned and cleaned up. Then there is father's music collection. Over 600 classical CDs which I also inherited. I suspect most have only been played once and some not at all. Most will only be played once here too. I didn't share his enthusiasm for Mahler, Bruckner and some of the earlier theatrical and choral pieces. On the other hand I am open to a journey of discovery and there will be some hidden gems in there for sure. It is time to raid the dining table for Muggercoffee The First. I'll be back later. Have a good POETS / BIN / FRI Day.

Additional steam added to safety valve and some shading to the funnel smoke. Better?

Good morning. It is frosty and sunny here too. Nothing planned though I suspect a walk to somewhere exciting like the nearest postbox will be suggested. Unless the gp rings to offer us vaccine appointments we seem to be free of any kind of medical appointments for a while too. Not a complaint, I do appreciate that many have taken place during the pandemic, I just seem to have had quite a few this year. It was MiL’s birthday yesterday. For the second year we were not able to get together but she is in a bubble with Aditi’s sister. In the past we have all met up at a pub in Enfield and MiL has enjoyed fish and chips for lunch. Yesterday she had fish and chips delivered from the pub. Tony

Mooring awl, Inner Temple Hare, You may notice a I'm late on parade, why late? Some cockwomble in IT decided to have almost every computer do a big update at the same time, it may be stupid o'clock in the USA, but not here.. Everything ground to a near halt as 200+ computers tried to access one fibre link.. A reasonable night's sleep was had, of about 5 hours plus some unspecified dozing on the sofa.. My power tools of preference are Makita, However I have the predecessor to the Screwfix SDS drill shown earlier.. and I also have a Parkside battery drill.. Parkside are the brand sold by Lidl, they are a cheap version made by Bosch, for their cost, they are very good.. Now I have no mortgage, gradually as power tools are replaced they will be Makita.. We've only had one floorboard up so far, that revealed a newspaper and fag ends dating from the installation of central heating in the house about 1984. The House is 1906, the Ceilings are Norfolk reed and Plaster covered with Artex.. I think the most common thing in there will be fossilised mice... The biggest problem with travel lodge is the loss of Little Chef, often in the more remote sites, say near Sleaford, the replacement Burger royalty, Kentucky fried colonel aren't open till 10 or 11 Am, way too late for breakfast for many.. I've done the calibration adjustment section of the temperature meter, now I'm plodding through all the functional checks checking every output is the correct value at each range.. I have to collect this months, rations of pills to keep us alive on the way home. Thoughts are on tomorrow's work, which is finishing the constructional work of the shelving on one side of the library. Also lifting the boat, then putting the marquee roof on. Working out how to support the boat at the tow hook end, which is proving to be a problem in design. Blue Moon is 3ft wide at that point, but the trailer 3 inches, a little further backwards at the rudder the trailer is still only a foot wide. Painting the majority of the trailer with topcoat will occur.. Time for... the next measurement.

Greetings all from Sidcup which (given you will have just read a report of the situation in the Boring Borough) is sunny but chilly; once again there was quite a frosting. I think we have had more days of frost in a row this week than we had during the whole of the winter. Yesterday was a busy day - first day back at work and no time to visit here, but I thought I would interrupt myself today! Ocado have delivered the requisite shopping as required. I hope that the people fitting Rick's combi boiler also fit a stop start valve. We had various similar work done a few years ago - in part driven by the old hot water tank starting to leak - and I was told that we did not have such a valve in the house, despite me pointing to something that I thought was one. When we eventually had the boiler replaced by a combi boiler (and the offending hot water tank which had been replaced 6 months before removed altogether), they put a lever in (less likely to freeze than a stopcock) and lo and behold they removed the stopcock for the property from...exactly where I said it was. Still it was worth the hassle to have a warm house again! It was round about this time of year but a very warm day when they ran the boiler as a test to heat all the radiators to about 35!

A bit later than usual here are some Metrolink trams at Altrincham on 9th March 1996. As it was a Saturday I think I was there for a Swiss Railways Meeting - probably the AGM. Altrincham Metrolink 1020 Altrincham to Manchester Piccadilly 9th March 96 C20798.jpg Altrincham Metrolink to Altrincham 9th March 96 C20799.jpg Altrincham Metrolink 1007 to Bury 9th March 96 C20800.jpg Altrincham Metrolink 1007 to Bury 9th March 96 C20801.jpg Altrincham Metrolink 1003 to Altrincham 9th March 96 C20802.jpg David

After a week off I wa sin last night, rail drop just south of Stone first up I travelled down from the caravan in cumbria, TPE unit in the station 08 in Bescot my train with 66759 up front It was top and tailed with 66792, I had to change ends in Stone and head back via Stafford to bescot then once in Bescot run 792 round onto 759 ready for fuelling iport tomorrow then supposedly 196 testing (if it happens) and a couple of days of the small Heath ballast

I'm late also, but due to brain fade - which is occurring more regularly these days. Dry and bright here in North Somerset, but a cold wind - so much so that when the sun goes behind a cloud it is not very pleasant sitting in the garden. I have planted a lot of summer bulbs which were on offer online, and so I hope we have a decent display maybe in August, which is good because lots of flowers are past their best by then. I also pruned the elderberry as if left alone it grows very quickly into a tree and shades out everything for yards.

Good morning everyone (well it was when I started this) Late on parade due to getting up later than planned, so once I’d eaten breakfast I was straight off to the butchers. The butchers was quiet for a change and I didn’t have to wait outside, all that was on the list was purchased and I was back home for just after 10 o’clock. Meat put away then I was straight out again to the Trafford Centre for the weeks second provisions top up. Again everything on the list was purchased, even managing to get myself an Eccles Cake too. Poly, the chair is hand painted using B&Q our brand primer/undercoat, the topcoat is Farrow & Ball eggshell finish, both paints are water soluble! As I’m not doing anything else, the plan for this afternoon the plan is to make the curry sauce for tomorrow nights tea, which will mean I can stay out in the garden tomorrow a little longer and not knock off early to make the sauce. Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later. Brian

Today's Housekeeping Tip Keep a few Get Well cards on the mantelpiece. If unexpected visitors turn up, they'll think you been ill and too sick to clean.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Woken up by Arthur Itis this morning then he went back to sleep which is more than I can say. Once he'd gone though his sidekick Si Attica jumped in. It took one sneeze as I was about to sit down to set him off. The sneeze was due to hay fever, there's a lot of ash trees around here. Face masks are a mixed blessing, they are a PITA in some ways as they make the specs steam up but they do stop some off the pollen getting through. As I understand it the face masks and social distancing has suppressed the flu virus considerably. Best wishes to Dave's dad and Gordon S, be back later.

Morning, from yet another frosty but sunny rock. 5 days frost in a row, that is usually a full winter's worth for us, we only had two other frosty mornings all winter. The day should bring more work on that bike engine, that severely tested my patience yesterday - and will continue to do so. The perils of rebuilding 45 year old machines that many parts are no longer available for , and many are 'specials'. Even washers are having to be hand made, as standard commercial ones are too large outside diameter to fit in to recesses. 6c currently so not rushing to the garage, I have been given other domestic tasks to while my morning away with #sigh# I hoe the rest of the install goes OK Rick, and best wishes to Dave's dad and of course Gordon, whose condition is a worry.

Ey up! Having benn alerted to the lack of moneyintheslit for RMweb I have now arrived later than usual and after my breakfast. Weight loss continues..good. latest blood tests show a reduced blood sugar level..even better I have been asked to umpire 3 games of womens cricket in May. Hope it happens as they are great to umpire. Herself is off volunteering again. They are selling items as fast as they come in, are sorted, priced and placed on the shelf..well some don't make it to the shelf..jigsaws are especially wanted!! Have a good day! Hope that @Dave Hunts dad is improving and that @gordon sis ok. Baz

Greetings from a sunny but chilly boring borough. Another certification exam passed. Another bit of paper to stash in the filing cabinet. Oh well, only 3 more to go over the coming weeks. During the great rebuilding 3 years ago all sorts of strange stuff was found under the floorboards and in the walls, including a pair of specs. There must have been some rather major works done in the 50s as all the newspaper bits found dated from 1954. The house itself was built in 1900. My late step FIL was a general contractor. He wasn't a big fan of Bosch. The bulk of my power tools are therefore De Walt or Makita. Bloody indestructible those things. Good to see Mr York managed to pop to the offie and top up the forum's pay as you go key. On that note, we've had to book smart stupid meter installation. It appears as though our electric meter is out of certification and must be replaced. <sigh> Thank Fork its Friday. Time to pretend to work and await the coming of the blessed weekend. Have a good day all.

I have been working on detailing and weathering a Bachmann Austerity 280 which I have backdated from a Swindonised version back to 1947 condition. It has a new topfeed, chimney, snifter and smokebox dart from Dave Bradwell, Finney lamp irons and a scratch built fire iron rack. Weathering is a mix of paints and powders, would welcome any feedback as to how the weathering could be improved. While the soldering iron was out, I also build an L25 to finish off my TPO, so I now have an accurate formation for October 47. Just need to get it painted now... without the cutaways in the sides it makes a nice contrast with the rest of the rake

As I do most Fridays.... I’ve been messing about Looks much better with some scenery behind it, despite the odd thing I’ve done wrong its starting to look the part

I decided to complete a small section of the wall so my customer can see it tomorrow and give it the OK before I do the rest. This is the outside face which sits at baseboard level. This is the inside face which backs on to the platform. The brown line of stone is where the roof rests. I have also finished off the inside of the roof; with talk of train mounted cameras it all has to be finished properly. The 'pimples' will locate on the top of the columns. Peter

Now that's odd news, the possible deputy head of lab, who was rejected because he was demanding vast amounts of money, is visiting Norwich tomorrow with family to see if they like the place. Norwich and Norfolk Verses Manchester hmmm.. I suspect the company will have relented a little but not much.. I think he may have realised 1 month after his first offer, that if he didn't accept now, it would be no chance.. I also know they way they work here is if he's got an offer above the centre of his pay band, then his future pay rises will be small... That thermometer has been shipped off to Vienna, I'm now just measuring a couple of stray resistors to fill in time before go home time..

A start has been made on the Gate House, 2mm grey board and Plasticard brick and planking have been used, and a quick dusting of grey primer as a base coat. Some pictures of progress so far. All the best Adrian.

Reminds me of an instance when I booked a hotel room at Birmingham airport when I accidentally booked the night as the same as the flight rather than the night before. The receptionist said I couldn’t swap and had to rebook and to top it all the new charge was considerably larger than the original. I was seething and if it wasn’t so late I’d have told her where to stick the room and go somewhere else. I was contemplating going out to find a homeless person and tell them there was a nice room and full breakfast available to them for the following night. Better get some work done.

I have encountered a room such as that in a Folkestone hotel. The 'en-suite' cupboard had a sliding door, because any other would have made the whole outfit unworkable. There was a shower and a toilet inside the cupboard, which was adequate I suppose - but to describe it as cramped would be a gross understatement. Again, the sink was in the room, although that was useful for washing cups without having to go into the en-suite cupboard all the time. The breakfast was also good and cooked to order in the kitchen, not dried up self service stuff; and their scrambled egg was so good I tried to discover what the ingredients were, but without much success. I tried to work things out for myself, and repeat the process when I was back home, but I couldn't quite get the same luxury feeling to it - even with butter, or double cream.

A few photos for West Highland Line fans. Firstly, 37022 departing Glasgow QS. Second photo shows 37264 at Oban. August 1984. Lastly, 37027 'Loch Eil' makes a spirited departure from Crianlarich.

Bear would quite like to have downlighters in the new kitchen as it's somewhat on the dark side (not in a Darth Vader sense you understand) due to the presence of the Conservatory (which now has a solid roof) - however since the existing ceiling is (a) lath & plaster (b) covered in plasterboard (c) plastered then Artexed - and the model railway room directly above has (d) a laminate floor (e) with kitchen units around the perimeter it meant that Bear just wasn't going there.....LED lights below the kitchen wall units will work just fine, thanks very much. That's a really nice finish on the chair - may Bear ask what you used? It looks sprayed on. Seems that blood clots are "8 to 10 times more likely" due to Covid than the vaccine: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56760163 Don't knock it - Bear has had some of his most interesting conversations whilst talking to Coconuts - they're much cleverer than people realise. Mind you, after working with some of the complete f.wits that Bear has been subjected to for the last 38 years there is a fair chance that may not be a completely reliable indicator. The least they could've done was to say that if they couldn't re-let the room then no refund; a partial refund should've been made as a minimum since you're not eating their brekkies or using the sheets etc. Bear would've phoned them the day before and asked for a room for the night (the same night that you cancelled) - if they said "sorry - no vacancies" then I'd rip 'em to bits over it Bear did visit at 0630 but discovered that ratings weren't possible, nor was submitting a post. The usual PC restart didn't fix it either No doubt this is a common issue for Charities: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-56759967 The mother of a buddy of Bear's lives close to the guy that owns (or used to) the Little Chef chain. Loaded? Oh yes, and some. Complete c*ckwomble? The Chief CW. Bear's Maths O-Level predicts that 3ft into 3" will be a tight fit..... In other news: Bear, in a moment of madness, decided that a second application of Floor Tile Grout Sealer would be beneficial. I'm currently on a Tea correction, knee break. Back to work.....

Line them up, 008, 022, 050, 053, 055, 064

Every now and then, you just have to do it, don't you? A little treat to myself, pure indulgence ... although we will run this train on Shap in exhibition mode. In its wider setting. Lovely roof detail on the RK in particular. Looking equally as good in the downhill direction (and I reversed the formation, especially for you - apparently the sets were turned so that the first class was always at the buffer stop end on departure) Ah well - nose back to the grindstone ...

My set safely collected today and posed in a suitable setting (if you ignore the cars and colour light signal): The RFO is a particularly eye-catching vehicle With thanks to Redcar Models who ordered these for me and delivered without any fuss.

Lord Thomas departing Small Heath on one of Shelby Haulage's low-loaders and bound for the Peak District, for use at the White Peak Limestone & Tarmacdam Co. Ltd., which has become part of the Shelby Group.

Well this project is going down the tubes....well the downpipes I’m getting there....slowly

Afternoon all, The weather is reasonable and teh sun has ccasionally appeared but the temperature is still a tad on the low side. I trust Gordon and dave's dad are both making progress, fingers remain firm;y crossed for both of them. To answr Chrisf's query I my lodge in Cardiff was on Firtzhammon Embankment and was excellent with good meals and nce and cean plus - usually - pleasant company with a mix of BR, BT and HMP regulars. when i first worked in Cardiff back in teh late 1960s I stopped ina B&B in Cathedral Road and it was quite ok. That road still n boasts a good number of such establishments some of which now call themselves hotels and hopefully the immediate competition would helkp keep them on their toes. When staying anywhere apart from obvious things like comfort and cleanliness I do like decent food - properly prepared, cooked, and served. That was an excellent point in its favour aboard our regular ship as Tony was a top notch cook who made sure he got in good ingredients whenever he could. Hotels seem a bit hit & miss although I've had some reasonably satisfactory breakfasts in the Novotel in Sheffield despite them being of the buffet variety. However in anywhere with 3 or more stars I would expect a breakfast of choice cooked freshly to order with a reasonable speed of delivery, One of the best breakfast I've had was in what amounted to a hostel ('sheets included' it said) where the lad and i stopped in York years ago; the blokes cooking the breakfast, to order, had every appearance of being ex-cons but the breakfast was top notch and the best thing about the place although it was very clean. Poor food does put me off a place as quickly as anything else - some years back we stayed in a hotel in St Agnes and while breakfast wasn't too bad the evening meal was atrocious - we simply couldn't understand why some guests kept on about liking it so much they kept on going back to the hotel (we never have). Now I of course 'went back' for school dinners (no choice about that) but they were generally far better than the meals served up in the evening in that hotel - in fact we twice drove across Cornwall to Falmouth for our evening meal - which wasn't bad during a four night stay and we ate out locally on the other evening. So good grub definitely maketh my stay a welcome experience and might encouragea return visit. Enjoy the rest of your day one and all and stay safe; it's time for mushrooms and bacon on toast for me.

My lot were pretty relaxed about me tacking on holidays at the end of a business trip. As long as, when I did my expenses, I made it very clear what was a holiday day (assuming I stayed in the same hotel as I did for the business trip) and that on the holiday days I paid for my own food, drink and travel arrangements, then if I had holiday time to use, I could use it. This way I was able to enjoy Colorado and Japan on holidays added to a business trip. You’re quite right Tony, iDphagia does mean “eating ID“ (just like coprophagia in dogs means they are eating excrement). To be honest, I really couldn’t think of a better term on the spur of the moment. Perhaps hyperphagia would be a better term? So the condition would be called iD’s hyperphagia. That’s most unlikely John, given my underlying biology (one X chromosome and one Y chromosome) no matter what I may “self identify” as (currently I am “self identifying“ as a 3500 year old 7th gender biological construct) It’s difficult to determine why German products have gone downhill, but I suspect it is a combination of expanding the market to lower income customers (who want the product name and badge but I don’t want to pay the premium price) and outsourcing production to non-German factories that have a lower production costs and thus increasing the profit margin for the parent company. Having said that, the quality of items produced in the Far East (as most of things seem to be nowadays) is very dependent on the quality of the QC set up by the commissioning company. This is certainly true for guitars (and probably everything else as well): there is one company in Indonesia making guitars for various commissioning companies, One company has very, very strict QC requirements and has very demanding production specifications and the guitars produced for this company are up there with the quality of the guitars produced by the company in the US. A second company, using the same factory, with the same machine tools and the same workforce produces just “OK“ guitars Which, according to my immunologist friends, is proof that your immune system is all geared up and ready to take on any virus that comes your way I couldn’t agree more. This is even more applicable if you are doing a lot of business travel. If you have spent six months travelling a lot in business class and staying in upmarket hotels, then you really do want your holiday to be special. And for me, travelling to and returning from my holiday destination HAS to be in comfort. I always find it somewhat amusing, when perusing “luxury holiday“ brochures that no matter the luxury being offered at the destination, the holiday organiser will invariably ship you there in economy class! Mrs ID and I did this sort of thing only once (it was a last minute booking made when we both had a mutually overlapping gap in our agendas). We travelled to the Caribbean in economy, stayed in a very nice hotel, returning in economy. Needless to say the appalling discomfort of long haul economy more than eradicated the benefit of the Caribbean holiday. Err, I’m not sure how to put this, puppers, but Captain Cynical’s minions (and Captain Cynical himself) do not do POETS day (or POETF, POETM, POETT or POETW for that matter). Team Cynical(tm) operates 24/7. You don’t become the super villain’s super villain by working 9-to-5, Monday to Friday! I thought that was the ground state of being for Australians. Up early, although I did have a very decent night with no post vaccine sequelae. I’m looking forward to the weekend as I am going to try my hand at making choux pastry. I’ll start off by making Profiteroles and if those turn out well, I will move on to making Eclairs, then a Paris-Brest (with a homemade praline cream filling) and if those go well I will then move to bake (upon request by Mrs ID) a Gateaux St Honoré And for those of you who know of such things, I bid you a happy POETS day!

Good evening everyone Well I’m pleased with what I’ve got done in the cellar today. As I mentioned earlier, everything is now covered, I’ve also removed all screws, bar one that secures the gas pipe that feeds the dining room fire and all the cable clips holding wiring in place. Everything is now ready for removing the ceiling, which, after covering the dining room floor with heavy duty dust sheets, will start on Monday. I’ll admit I’m not looking forward to this task, but it has to be done and it will make putting the new lights up and all the associated wiring a lot easier. I’m also hoping to get the cable that feeds the workshop, which is currently clipped to the surface of the ceiling, hidden behind the new ceiling. I also need to put the socket wiring in there too. Hopefully by this time next week it’ll all be done and then I can get the plasterboard purchased. We’ve also stayed at ‘The Judges Lodgings’ in York and really enjoyed the stay. Below are a couple of photos of one of the dining chairs, before and after

POETS, and definitely going to do just that Another quiet day yesterday with just a few changes requested by the Long Island client. Whitney walk and grocery shopping the only other highlights of the day. Our garden/lawn spring cleanup handled nicely by our lawn service, so we're all ready for Spring/Summer if/when it finally arrives! Zoom happy hour planned for this evening with our friends in Phoenix. The last one as the depart tomorrow to return home here. Be good to see them in person soon. Nothing stellar planned for the weekend, dinner with Trevor and Meagan tomorrow and hopefully some hobby time thrown in so long as no "to do's" appear! 2 and partly sunny first thing, looking at 14 for the high, this will be repeated all weekend according to the forecast. Enjoy the start of the weekend all.

That's wierd, I've only stayed in Cardiff once and I stayed in a B and B on Fitzhammon Embankment. Not Mrs Reagans though, Austins just further up. Not work related, a 3 day railrover to clear all the south Wales lines in my rail atlas. A night in Cardiff, next in Swansea, then back to Cardiff for the third. The whole 3 day plan was based round the boat train to Fishgaurd that took the Swansea District line. Jamie

Second shot? Compare that to here, what with blood clot dramas and the EU taking our stuff, its all fallen in a bit of a heap. We had a schedule up until Tuesday when the government said that we no longer have one. The government has cancelled our Johnson and Johnson vaccine order and advised against the AZ for everyone under 50, while at the same time endlessly giving us "Things that are more dangerous than getting the AZ vaccine" such as bees, mobile phones and getting pregnant in order to convince us to go get it anyway. Everyones all "No worries she'll be right we'll get round to getting it when you've got it all sorted" cos no one knows anyone who knows anyone who knows anyone who has actually had covid here, but with Deloitte saying that at the current global vaccinne rollout rate it'll be 2024 before we restart international travel we could all end up slightly stir crazy and talking to coconuts. At least theres always New Zealand I guess.

I and many other teachers of technology subjects were occasionally lured to hotels on the south coast for a few days to share ideas and be lectured to by someone from the Manpower Services Commission or similar. We were in Bournemouth and at breakfast my boss said he hoped I had appreciated that he had got me a room with a bathroom. I hadn’t noticed but after breakfast went and investigated. What I thought was some panelling turned out to be the door to a oddly shaped bathroom. I looked from outside and there was a turret on the end of the hotel and my bathroom was in it.

About a year after we were married Aditi said she was off to Southend to buy a dishwasher and would I sort out the plumbing. Like everything else we had then it was purchased on six months free credit which was quite the thing then. In those days there were people who seemed to think dishwashers were immoral and only used by idle people. Aditi’s parents had purchased a dishwasher in the mid 1960s so Aditi didn’t think that. The amusing thing was they had bulk purchased the soap from a cash and carry warehouse and twenty years after they were still using soap from cartons mentioning some Mexico City Olympic promotion.

"Captain Picard, what do you model?" "N Gauge!"

Under the roof, the B1 slowing for the stop meets the J6, which is waiting to remove its empty stock. and to celebrate the victory of its class in the recent poll, another look at the B1.

Bit of a slow day for Bear, particularly this afternoon. The second coat of grout sealer is done - not a lot else has been achieved apart from that . Since I'm still on my free Amazon Prime Trial I took the advantage of listening to a book whilst doing the floor - it was the first Harry Potter book (whichever one that is) - I've seen all the films (several times) but never read one of the books. It's rather good listening to them - I have tried before (lots of times....) when I go to bed but always fall asleep - which is the idea. The clever bit (when not falling asleep) is that Alexa always remembers where I stopped the book and will start from that point when asked. Now that Bear is also hooked on numerous Amazon Prime TV programmes (and the opportunity to watch films) it looks like Mr. Bezos will be getting very slightly richer thanks to a certain Bear. Bvgger. I hope to get the fridge freezer back in the kitchen tomorrow (it's been in the lounge since before chrimbo) - that task will require the help of buddy next door, though he's unaware as yet..... Bear has been pondering ways of making washing machines easier to move (they're b. heavy - some joker fills them with concrete blocks) - four grippy rubber feet don't make life easy. Anyway, Bear came up with the cunning plan of sticking self-adhesive felt pads to the underside of the rear feet - now I can lift the front very slightly and then slide the machine backwards and forwards on the tiled floor. It's still b.heavy, but moving it is infinitely easier than before. I'll not be sticking felt to the front feet cos' I reckon that would be asking for trouble - there's a fair chance it'd go sliding around the floor when the spin gets going. I wonder how many will turn up in Windsor for tomorrow's funeral of HRH - despite being asked not to, and told there will be absolutely nothing to see? Bear's money is on "lots and lots".....

Couldn't post first thing as something wanted to play games, (THANKS Andy Y for sorting). Anyway, a short walk and a decent enough day. A trip out up the A3 and through Selbourne to a certain Emporium in Alton to purchase a box of something with my Credit Note from before Christmas, and a nice drive back the other route through the Meon Valley in time for Lunch. Fish and Chip Friday, so the Good Lady needs to get the bits out of the freezer pretty soon. (Oh she has just left her chair, so things are looking up for later). Have what is left of a good day, stay safe and well and thoughts as always to Dave @Dave Hunt for his dad, and Gordon, @gordon s at this time.

Good afternoon all. There's a chilly wind around here. However quite a bit has got done. A good afternoon was spent trainspotting with Andybyesterday, plenty of trains which was good. This morning I had various errands to begin with, andvthen whilst Beth strimmed, I attaked thecremaining partbof the sycamore with the chainsaw. The large piece is now in 5 pieces. These are nowcin the woodshed . They need citting into somewhat smaller bits then put through the log splitter. It's nice to see a clear bit of garden. Not a huge amount to say so I will bid you good day. Jamie

Greetings one and all, with continuing warm thoughts for Dave’s Dad. Where to stay when away from home? I find it something of a lottery. In general, I find Travelodge or Premier Inn not too bad but if I can find a decent b&b that would be my preference. For many years when Scaleforum was held at Stoke Mandible I stayed at one near Tesco and opposite the cemetery. I had to make my own breakfast from the ingredients provided but that was no hardship and it was probably half the price of a room at one of the chains. In Leatherhead I found a b&b that did not serve breakfast! This was because most of the regular customers did not want it. Oh well, I thought, it will have to be Wetherspoons in the town centre. I don’t know where in Cardiff Mike Stationmaster used to stay but there was, and may still be, a whole row of b&bs in Cathedral Road, most convenient for the scout hut at Pontcanna where the Cardiff Small Show is held. Some towns are better served than others. In Wakefield there is a nice b&b where I have stayed s few times but when Scalefour North was cancelled in 2020 said b&b would not refund me for the cancelled room. I am therefore not inclined to stay there again. Nothing lasts for ever, and this is just as true of hotels as of anything else. In July 2019 I returned to a Premier Inn on the northern fringe of Bristol and stayed for two nights. Its only serious flaw was its inability to make tea properly, a defect which it shared with much of Switzerland. Once I know for certain whether I will be in Bristol on a certain weekend in July I will have to hunt around for somewhere to stay because I cannot return to the Premier Inn. It burned down three days after my last visit. J S Bach, was it you that reminded me of Crosby Stills and Nash before? A few months ago I had planned to reach Marrakech by train but I’m going with Sleazyjet now – not nearly so songworthy. Best wishes to all - and thanks to Andy Y for fixing the forum! Chris

No, just a relatively ordinary - but on the front - and rather nice café. It was a good breakfast which wasn't over expensive compared with UK prices and there was plenty of grub for the money. But at the daily expense rate it ate a lot of my money for the day, hence me pushing for a much bigger rate. On the larger rate lunching on weekdays in a CBD food court plus fruit and occasionally barramundi & chips in the evening normally kept me a bit in profit.

An Australian man was having coffee and croissants with butter and jam in a cafe when an American tourist, chewing gum, sat down next to him: The Australian politely ignored the American, who, nevertheless, started up a conversation. The American snapped his gum and said. "You Australian folk eat the whole bread?" The Australian frowned, annoyed with being bothered during his breakfast, and replied. "Of course." The American blew a huge bubble. "We don’t. In the States, we only eat what’s inside. The crusts we collect in a container, recycle them, transform them into croissants and sell them to Australia." The American had a smirk on his face. The Australian listened in silence. The American persisted. "Do you eat jam with the bread?" Sighing, the Australian replied. "Of course." Cracking his gum between his teeth, the American said. "We don’t. In the States, we eat fresh fruit for breakfast, then we put all the peels, seeds and leftovers in containers, recycle them and transform them into jam and sell it to Australia." The Australian then asked. "Do you have s** in the States?" The American smiled and said. "Why of course we do." The Australian leaned closer to him and asked. "And what do you do with the condoms once you’ve used them?" "We throw them away, of course." Now it was the Australian’s turn to smile. "We don’t. In Australia we put them in a container, recycle them, melt them down into chewing gum and sell them to the United States. Why do you think it’s called Wrigley’s?"

I could design my own Which of these would be more appropriate?

Bear can indeed confirm that Puppers' cynicism is indeed VERY finely tuned, which is unsurprising considering all the sh1t we had to suffer..... A good scheme indeed, since finding people capable of applying Artex in a professional manner is getting very hard indeed - Bear looked for one six years ago to do a repair job and extensive Google searches revealed lots of people who were adept at plastering over Artex, yet very, very few who could apply it. I found one in the end, and BOY, did he charge....did a nice job though - undetectable repair. The so-called designers of this world told everyone that Artex was the "in" thing, and as soon as everyone had covered every wall and ceiling they suddenly decided that Artex was now out of fashion. Once it's all been skimmed over it'll suddenly come back into fashion..... (The asbestos thing didn't do artex any favours either - Artex actually stands for Asbestos Reinforced texture. The asbestos content was removed many moons ago, yet there's still plenty on walls and ceilings. Leave it alone and it's about as dangerous as ice cream, yet some still freak at the very thought). In other news: From the number of replies to Bear's post regarding Dishwashers it's apparent that many ER'ers fall into one of the following categories: (a) Those who spoil their SWMBO's (b) Those who are scared of their SWMBO's (c) Those who's SWMBO tells them to do the washing up (d) Those who are single and hate washing up Bl00dy hell, it's 2306 - beddy byes time.....