andyram

And strain under

Good evening all and welcome to the Llantilo Castle page. Ok, yes it is a picture of a train - but hey this site is to do with railways and modelling so I am happy to post as many such pictures as I like! Let anarchy reign!!! Seriously it is good to see Debs make an appearance. Also good wishes to Dave. I am pleased that you are continuing to enjoy the company of friends. Ian (OD) and Sherry I am sorry to hear of your friend's loss. What a dreadful turn of events. LE I hope that your stay in hospital is a trouble free time. Keep updating the connecting words thread. There are now 8 teaching days left. Today has been the second part of the induction for next year's new starters. It seemed to go very well. The troublesome parent has made her appointment which means there will now be two meetings on Thursday morning. There is no way I will be avoiding alcohol on that day! Enjoy your hump day tomorrow.

Sing - Gary Barlow and the Commonwealth Band

Lesson learnt I think

Evening all. I hope today finds you well. Best wishes to Dave TG - what a lovely picture you posted, a very fitting tribute. Polly - I have enjoyed your pictures around Llangollen. I have never visited the railway, but it is on my provisional list of targets for the school summer holiday now that I have worked out I can drive there and back in a day. Just 9 more teaching days left this academic year. The end cannot come soon enough. Today brought another long meeting with the irate parent from last week. She still cannot accept that the school makes the decisions about class structure in the best interest of the children. She seems to have some very unreasonable expectations. Hopefully myself and the head will have pacified her but I am not optimistic. School reports went out today. It took less than an hour for a parent to contact me to ask for a meeting and moan about the content. This was despite the fact the report contained the same message that has been given out time after time since September. This looks like another lengthy meeting in the near future. I forgot the BBC4 "Trainspotting Live" programme tonight, but caught it on IPlayer later. Was it supposed to be a comedy? Two blokes chatting about spotting a class 66 and ignoring one passing behind them. Then there was the mathematician wasting our time discussing the optimum position for reading passing steam locomotive numbers having identified King Edward II as 6203 and not 6023. Had it suddenly morphed into Princess Margerat Rose?? A truly awful programme with some very dodgy camera work into the bargain. Hopefully all will improve tomorrow.

Definitely admitted it herself!

I believe Portugal won it in 90 minutes!

Remind me how the Portugal v Wales game went???

Don't worry, I only use those terms for certain parents.

To be fair, although all the football was rubbish, it was only England who looked like they did not want to be there!

Evening all. I hope you have had an enjoyable Sunday. Certainly it has been quite an enjoyable sporting day with wins for Lewis Hamilton, Andy Murray and then Heather Watson. I watched the end of the Grand Prix and the first and third sets of the men's tennis final. In between there was a little bit of gardening, tackling the weeds. There was also some time to lay a couple more concrete blocks that are acting as a track bed for the garden railway. A couple of pictures of progress can be seen below. The plan is for a g scale line and the first part of the route is clearly in mind. However Sarah has thrown a spanner in the works. She mentioned that she thought I was going to run "smaller" trains in the garden. I had previously considered making the layout 00 but had opted for g scale believing it to be an easier build. The foundations could easily carry either scale. As I looked at the current route I could certainly picture a 00 gauge Black 5 or Jubilee travelling around at the head of a generous train of maroon Mark 1 coaches. Now I am suddenly not sure what to do - other than continue with the laying of the foundations! Earlier in the day Sarah and I enjoyed a nice pub lunch with Amber. Sarah did stick to soft drinks after yesterday's excess. Meanwhile number 3 cat is certainly happy at home. When we adopted him at Christmas, the Cats Protection staff were concerned that he may not get along with children. Well I think we can answer that question!

Well this final is a summary of the entire tournament. Complete and utter sh1te.

Really has bee in a foul mood today!

Through her nose

So true

There was plenty of refilling at beer festival yesterday.

No more like crawling into bed for a summer hibernation

And making herself

Decidedly lacking in posting inspiration recently due to end of term workload. Oh well, just 10 teaching days to go!!!

Putting both fingers

Before moving onto

You Win Again - Beegees

Generally heard a lot in November

Despite a few threatening clouds and a couple of minor rain showers, there has been a little bit more progress on the line today. The final two concrete blocks have been put in place. These will carry the curve that will take the line away from the back fence, cutting the Southwest corner of the garden to reach the western boundary and the approach to the site of Saffron's Rest Station. Due to the contours of the garden, the track bed is slightly more raised - you will see that it is less "buried" in the ground than the earlier sections. This section runs through the part of the garden that was landscaped two years ago before the route of the line had been planned. This is another reason for the raised tracked as it has to pick its way between some already established plants. Clearly the bush will require further cutting back before trains can run. You may notice the gaps between the block that ends the southern straight and the one that starts the curve. This will be filled in before the track is placed down permenantly. Today's work has completed the laying of all the blocks I have in stock. I will need to purchase more before any further progress can be made. The school summer holiday begins in two weeks time. I hope to purchase more blocks before then. I will also need to dig out the rest of the route through the southwest corner. This will involve digging out a plant that has spread too much, relocate a length of lawn edging and then dig out part of the route. Lots to do!

Good morning everyone. A quick switch from marking pages as Black 5's - to formally name this page 5021 "Whittington Castle". The young child was clearly not the only person who "could not take her drink" - Sarah woke up ill in the night. I think the alcohol did not combine well with her rhinitis. She was feeling very sorry for herself. Best wishes to all, especially to those with illnesses of their own or parents / in-laws to consider. The weather is better this morning - the sun is shining and it is dry although quite windy. An early football match will start the day then, if I still have energy left, I plan to go out into the garden to pull up some weeds and lay a couple more foundation blocks for the garden railway project. Enjoy your day.