New Haven Neil

Not so early this morning, due to 'other duties' being prescribed. You know how it is. I have been on the fringes of Jewish society a couple of times, one of my besties in the UK married a Jewish girl (complicated, believe me) and he and his friends were accepted into the family provided some basic rules were followed - they weren't devout Hacidics or anything. Interesting times, boy do they love their food, and will share it with good grace. Despite them now being divorced (also complicated) they are all still on speaking terms, right through the family. His wife was something of a black sheep, if that's not too naughty a term nowadays, OK an outlier, and the family knew that and accepted it all - not usual at all in such society but they thought my friends was 'good for her'. Wind forward 20 years to over here, and my bestie here is marrying.....yup! She's a star, lovely girl, and again while following beliefs is not devout. So once again we find ourselves on the fringe of Jewish society, and again find them friendly, accepting and generous people, provided some basic rules are followed, which they are happy enough to explain. Some interesting discussions result, from us as atheists, another in the same friend group who is a devout Catholic and thinking of taking Holy Orders or whatever going into the church is called, a smattering of Christians (my mum's maiden name!), and we all get on very well and respect one another's beliefs, or indeed lack of.

Ah, great memories. I was about to ask if you knew the tour manager from GRJ we had when we went to Switzerland on the Glacier Express tour, then thought....that was for my 50th, and ....err.....I'm 65 in 10 days. He'd be very lucky and very old if he's not six feet under currently, a retired Scottish railwayman.

hmm, forum's on the fritz, pages 12796 and 12797 are identical.

Uh?

No better up the mountain this morning, this is the Manx version of ten feet of snow anywhere else.

Happy birthday Ian! Morning, from a rock that is a miserable 4c, showers but no breeze to speak of. Mrs NHN off getting Pilated, I didn't bother going out with her for a walk as the cold and damp makes my hips seize up. I just can't go fast enough to get heat into things, I have about an 8c threshold. I also had notices the female newscasters wearing those ridiculous trousers, what goes around comes around, but no way am I ever wearing flares again! Or Pod shoes. Or Oxford Bags.

Now THAT has opened my mind with a few memories. Tuxedo Princess. I am saying noting more on the grounds.....

There used to be a gentleman's agreement about no spoilers - seems we ran out of such.

Ah yes, I should have said it was 358 in Liverpool and Crewe!

Mountain road now closed due to snaa.

Bleah. Sleeting now, dropped to 3c, and oop the mountain.....

+1 on that, I was once next to the cylinder heads of a large marine diesel (90cm bore, 25,000hp) when a cylinder relief valve lifted as the engine started - total loss of hearing for a few seconds, then tinnitus turned up to 11 for a minute or so afterwards, you can't hear a thing. It was a BIG bang, and my hearing was never quite the same.

The pleut has desisted for now, but predicto-guessed to return later as snow and sleet. Welcome to spring.

Summer 76 - Brizzle of course, but lookee here, green 03's (withdrawn?) and the Co-Bo. Awful photo sorry, cheap and nasty camera, cheap and nasty 300mm, with , yes, cheap and nasty 3x converter. Guessed (bad) exposure. But interesting.....

Yup, I went to the kollege of nollege in Liverpool that September and it rained every day that month, hence the shot of the 47 at Grime Lime Street being so wet! This 350 (08 to the young) was often pilot in Lime Street then too, also still in green. Late 76 again.

Oh, re weight loss and calorie intake, I strongly recommend Dr Jason Fung's book 'The Obesity Code', which explains how the body reacts to dieting methods. The body adapts to reduced calorie intake and that is why people put weight back on, after losing some by that method. He's not a quack Doctor, and backs up with a lot of research and disproving of previous 'facts' that are the result of flawed studies. I found it interesting how much previously accepted truths are in fact rubbish, but as iD said the other day, science moves on as new discoveries are made. Really, it's worth a punt to read, not expensive, and yes I have lost a lot of weight! I'm in danger of not being obese.....for the first time in three decades.

Oh yes it is.....🤣 You can tell by the rain and the threat of snow later today. A crummy, drizzly 4c here, with possibility of snaa later, mostly oop high. We 're not high fortunately, nor is the venue for today's old Farts Bike Club brunch. Mrs H came over all impulsive, which is most unusual for her, and decided to change her ride-to-work bike at the drop of a hat. The Honda 500, while perfectly fine and capable in all ways does rather lack soul, and she just hasn't bonded with it over 5 years. So it's going, and it is being replaced by another little Royal Enfield 350, similar to mine but a different version. She doesn't need a big bike for commuting, and she has an 800 BMW for sunny days anyway. Not like her to make a snap decision, but it is her Ruby Wedding Anniversary present. (12th March, since you ask).

Sad news. I met Dave when they came to the rock to make a programme, a friend who works in the tourism department was his minder for the visit so I got a call to nip out of the office! A very genuine and nice bloke, unlike many on the telly, what you see is what you got. I had thought he had beaten cancer, but what a brave bloke to go on working as he did. RIP.

Lime Street, late 76. My photos, poor as they are! Crewe, summer 76.

Morning, from a sunny but windy rock, after a night of rain - 7c. Shavers - although I have had a beard for over 30 years, I have to shave my neck otherwise shirts get torn to shreds. I also used to shave my cheeks but the beard has crept up over the years. I had a Braun back in the days before cordless, it developed a fault that nearly blew my hand off. Bin. Since I have had Panasonic, the current one has a high frequency element to it, had it for at least ten years, very good shave. I used to do a lot of interviewing in my HR days, the advice given to me by our Director was to never take on senior management that played golf, as you can never find them of an afternoon - they are out spoiling a good walk whilst pretending to be at a 'meeting'. My interview for the Youth Justice Team job was basically all about the 'soft' stuff, it was important to be able to bring together a team of police officers and social workers/probation officers without causing open warfare - the two groups have traditionally hated each other. That we achieved this was the core to our success, for 9 years it all ran fine, then a new 'old school' social work Assistant Director started with the old hate game and the team fell apart shortly afterwards. Now a Government Select Committee has reviewed it all after a huge increase in juvenile crime (no poo, Sherlock) and wants it put back as it was. #sigh#

I'm OK on co-codamol, and took a lot of slow-release Tramadol for several months errr over a year with about three months break between, now I think about it, after the foot injury and subsequent two rounds of surgery, it was incredibly painful, far more so than hip surgery. I personally didn't have any difficulty stopping taking it but I have heard tales of proper old fashioned withdrawal symptoms, and also the side effects you suffered. I was lucky I think.

A suspected my podiatry appointment was mostly spent discussing the remains of my foot. At least my diabolical diabetes situation is OK currently. My poor sleep is mostly down to pain from the foot and hips, I take paracetamol as I go to bed, and that gets me three or four hours. I don't like to take more, and to get up to do so would wake Mrs NHN, which as she still works would be unfair, so I do spend a lot of time awake contemplating life. I never have to get up to pump bilges, copyright (I can't get the symbol to work) me, luckily. On a bad day I take co-codamol, prescription strength 30/500, but don't like to take too many of those. I think I'm overdue to discuss longer acting analgesics with my GP.

Hot dogs.....

Morning, from a mizzly rock, 7c feels like 4, looks like less. Like Mrs Baz, Mrs NHN's jalopy is in dock today for service and a creaky rear suspension issue - I know how it feels. So I had to take her down early doors to get her bus to work. Then I'm off to hospickle for a Podiatry review, it's a new clinician so it will no doubt quickly degrade into a discussion regarding Lisfranc injuries rather then diabetic problems when she sees the patterns of scars on my left paw. Thankfully the clinic is now in the local Cottage Hospital in the Bright Lights of Ramsey rather than in the general Hospital all the way in the big city. Then the day is my own, until it is time to cook dinner.

Agree - although it's in Longbenton, but Newcastle is close enough! I also don't have to moderate my accent when dealing with them, although last time the guy was Italian, we had a good laugh about accents. They understand exactly the issues dealing with us in a Crown Dependency, unlike the one that actually lives here. As for the electricals dealer with the spicy name, they are worse than useless here. They're good at fiddling with their phones instead of helping folk though. Stock? No chance, no warehousing here despite having a huge place. Two deliveries a week they say, it'll be here on Tuesday - aye, like the cheque's in the post mate. I'll not mention the other line.