andyram

21 DAYS TO GO Yes there is just three weeks until the date the shop could possibly reopen once again (third waves, New York variants and vaccine shortages permitting). It is looking unlikely that Tommore Bay will be completed in time, but I will keep trying to find time to work on it. The remaining platform pieces have arrived and I have now set out the full length station. I had hoped to glue it down but I could not find my glue this evening. Overall I think the station and other buildings fit well together. A picture of most of layout can be seen below. The signal box is just off shot to the left next to the lamp hut.

Evening all. Another week has started in the now all too familiar brain fog. It does not matter how much I sleep I consistently feel tired. The patience and temper are wearing very thin too. Sarah was at work all day today and, with my delivery postponed until tomorrow, it was a day spent at home. Several assignments were marked, broken up only by sorting out a couple of wash loads. I did call the council regarding the parking attendant and have been asked to put my comments in writing as a formal complaint. This will be done in due course. There was a brief venture out in the afternoon to the local Post Office to despatch a couple of shop orders. On the way back I saw a certain one legged jogger, once again running in the road despite pavements on both sides. Despite my current “on edge” state I resisted the strong temptation to pull over and give him a lesson on the Highway Code which he claimed I knew nothing about the other week. Today effectively marks the first anniversary of the start of lockdown restrictions. If the government are thinking of banning overseas travel I would venture it would be a decision that is twelve months too late. Perhaps the bill got sent via Yodel or Hermes! Stay safe and sane (if you can). Andy

Any complaint will not be based on the award of the ticket because I was over time by a small number of minutes. It will be based on his rudeness and the fact that he did not ticket the other car which had been parked longer than mine.

Evening all, I hope today finds you well and that @Barry O has not managed any further impressions of @grandadbob. I also hope the latter is ok. I know that he is taking a break from things. I also hope that @leopardml2341 is ok, I have not spotted a post from him recently. Sadly, the messed up take away order was not the final issue of yesterday. I managed to drop and smash a mug last night. Not any old one either, but the photo mug Amber and I had had created for Sarah for Mother’s Day. It depicted a dearly loved feline friend who passed away 18 months ago. It was not hugely expensive, and will be replaced but it was very much the final straw last night. Thinking back to the parking ticket, I am annoyed at the traffic warden’s rudeness and the fact that he ignored the other car which had been there longer. I had not planned to make an issue of it, but may take @Winslow Boy’s advice and phone and complain. Not that it will get me anywhere. I am back at the shop at some point tomorrow to take in another delivery. Luckily I will get a one hour time slot so should not have any parking issues. I will definitely keep a closer check on the time however. Stay safe and sane. Andy

I think number three may have happened. Uber Eats managed to mess up our takeaway order. First world problems and all that.

23 DAYS TO GO Further progress on the side board today. Last night I glued down the picture, showing the sky. I plan to use a kit bashed Superquick bridge kit to hide the newly cut hole. Construction has begun on this today. I have used some foam board sheets to add relief, before gluing the bridge face to the front. Things are not finished yet, but progress can be seen below.

Poor Lazy Joe will just have to walk home. No Class 121 for Seven Mills....yet.

So was the class 37 the reveal, or.......

Hello all and generic greetings, congrats and good wishes as appropriate. I hope today finds you well. Sadly, what looked set to be a good start, turned rather sour. An early run up to Matlock Bath for three back to back click and collect shopping appointments started the day, arriving around 9.05am for the first appointment at 9.30am. Others followed at 10.00am and 10.15am. Then it was time to leave, returning to the car to find the local traffic warden applying a bl**** parking ticket. Admittedly, I was over the permitted hour of on-street parking by fifteen minutes so it was a fair cop in terms of the letter of the law. However, he knows I am a trader and had conveniently neglected the only other car parked on the street which was there when I arrived! The town was hardly busy and there were more spaces than parked cars. Frustrating and annoying most certainly, but the attitude of said warden was the most the annoying. Very rude, as he has been on the previous occasions I have encountered him when trying to report an inability to pay a car park fee due to the parking machines not working. He had better give me a wide berth in the future! Some modelling was undertaken this afternoon whilst watching the latest non-performance by Rooney's Rams. Things are not looking good. I am hoping that those two things will not be followed by a third - you know what they say about things happening in threes! Is that why anxiety levels are back at a high? Stay safe all. Andy

24 DAYS TO GO!!!! And in a blink of an eye a few more days have raced by and the deadline for my self imposed challenge is less than four weeks away. The belief that the layout can be completed in time is ebbing away. The trouble is, with anxiety levels at a high again, it is natural to stay clear of parts of the build that could be considered more challenging. The next stage involved some basic woodworking. Today I have pushed myself to complete the tasks and more progress has been made. Holes have been drilled for the second power feed and the wires have been fed through the hole so connections can be made under the board. The hole for the tunnel mouth on the side screen has now been cut and the clearances have been checked. Now the backscene will need to be glued into this section so that I can begin to build the tunnel entrance.

Evening all. I hope today has gone well. I was right and wrong this morning. Wrong that the student would fail the big assignment, but right about the Teams meeting. The student had submitted the best example of the assignment I had seen and passed with flying colours. It started a run of very good assignments. Lots passed today so it has been profitable. As expected, the meeting was difficult. The agency are casting doubts over whether we would be able to foster in the future. They simply don’t think we have the time. Whilst I appreciate their concerns, it does not feel like they are listening to us and see everything as a negative. A misunderstanding between the social worker and Sarah resulted in Sarah leaving the room leaving me to finish up and don the diplomatic hat. At least there was some laughs this evening. Whilst Sarah caught up on “Line of Duty” ahead of the new series, I dug out an old copy of the PlayStation 4 game “Call of Duty” and joined my best mate online for an hour or so. With a beer to accompany the action, a pleasant time was had with plenty of jokes and banter over the headsets. It may have only been a virtual catch up but it was long overdue and much needed. Night all. Sleep well. Andy

Morning all from a grey and chilly corner of South Derbyshire. The body is up, hopefully the brain will follow shortly! Once again the day begins in a tired fog. However, the cats have been fed and watered, the litter trays cleared, bins and dishwasher emptied and the contents of sink have been washed. The girls have just headed out to school and work respectively and I can sit down and partake in some breakfast. Welcome to another day in lockdown! I am just contemplating the start of another round of marking. There is one of the larger assignments sitting in my inbox awaiting the opportunity to swallow me up for an hour or more. Whilst the twelve question marathon earns the most money, it is naturally the most time consuming to mark. The students very rarely pass it first time so it is likely that the first mark through will not produce any readies and I will have to await its return with, hopefully, all requested amendments completed. The only escape from the house today will be a walk to Amber's school to collect her this afternoon. The afternoon will be taken up with Teams meeting number 2. This one is with the fostering agency the regular bi-monthly catch up. It seems a bit of a waste of time since we don't have a child in placement right now. However, I fear that the meeting could be more challenging than a simple catch up because the manager is joining our overseeing social worker for the meeting. Since the previous foster placement came to a difficult end last July, we have opted to take a break from having any further children. Initially we decided on a six month break with the plan to complete our outstanding training and see how things were progressing with the pandemic. We do not want another situation where we have a foster child during a lockdown. That period has now passed and, with the world still in limbo, we have deferred any decision. I guess that may be the main topic of conversation. Due to the ongoing pressures I have not managed to complete all of the training modules. That question is sure to be asked. I can say that I have had to complete 12 training sessions for the college between November and December so hopefully they will understand. Time will tell. Have a good day. Andy

Evening all and another round of generic greetings are offered at the end of a busy and tiring day which followed a similar structure to yesterday. Marking and house stuff in the morning followed by an escape from the house for shop orders in the afternoon. Today’s outing was slightly further afield with doorstep deliveries to Bakewell and Crich. The sun was out and it was a pleasant way to spend an afternoon. The Bakewell trip was rewarded by a very nice Facebook review from the customer. Early evening was spent on Teams chairing the committee meeting for our local community centre. It was our first meeting for a year but we managed to clear the agenda in 45 minutes. The end of the meeting was spent catching up with one young lady who had set up the mother and toddler group on behalf of the council. I had assisted in the group until it was suspended last year. We are hoping to restart it in the summer. The conversation did soon detour though. At one of our previous meetings, before she knew my current profession, she spotted the picture of a Jubilee on the front of my diary. It turns out she is equally a steam fanatic having spent much of her childhood around the South Devon Railway and has an N gauge layout stashed at home. The conversation soon turns to railways and she was very interested to view progress on my latest project. Two more Teams meetings beckon this week. Tomorrow it is with the fostering agency and on Friday it is a college one. What would we do without Zoom and Teams? Stay safe, stay sane. Andy

But not necessarily in the right order.

Evening all and generic greetings. I have had a skim through the day’s posts so apologies if I have missed anything important. I note a lot of discussions about clock changes. At least when BST arrives here our oven clock will be correct! Another day spent mainly at home today with the usual round of marking work interspersed with household chores. The latter was added to by long haired pussy cat. He is moulting which always upsets him, especially his stomach so there was extra cleaning up to do! I escaped the house in the afternoon to take parcels to the Post Office containing various orders from the weekend. This was followed by a doorstep delivery of some of Sarah’s Avon products to one of the old ladies from church. The evening was spent watching Derby’s latest home game. Another disappointing result and performance seemed certain after a dreadful performance saw us 2-0 down at half time. Fortunately Mr Rooney obviously had borrowed the hair drier from his former boss and we were a different team second half fighting back for a deserved 2-2 draw. After the game I finally got a chance to play with a certain new toy and a very enjoyable hour or so was spent easing tensions by killing zombies. Some of them may have helped ease the frustration at the incorrect delivery referred to yesterday. The rep away from the desk and the boss of no help at all. I will not be happy that the ineptness of others will result in me having to tell a customer I will have to cancel their order. Night all.

Finally got chance to catch up on video 77. Another enjoyable accompaniment to mug of tea. Looking forward to the next one.

Definitely post them!

That is great news Andy. I am pleased that, whatever the issue was, you have sorted it. My best wishes to you and I look forward to more videos and the new lease of life that will be announced tomorrow. Stay safe mate.

Evening all. I hope today finds you well. Today has been a very busy day. It began with an early start, transporting Sarah and her various resources into work. This was followed by a morning of marking interspersed with household chores. A dash up to the shop in the afternoon to collect some stock was then followed by an evening of delivering Avon orders. The shop orders were then packed after Amber went to bed. In the process of this uncovered an error in a recent delivery. A class 66 missing and replaced with an 0-6-0 Midland Region tank engine. Not much difference! Stay safe all.

Sounds like a new layout plan reveal!

Evening all. Very late on parade today after what has been a very busy day. It began with a very early trip to the local Asda. The upcoming week is Sarah’s planning week at the nursery. Along with planning certain activities for the children, she also has to purchase the fruit and snacks. The shop opens its doors at 9.30am on a Sunday with the tills opening half an hour later due to trading restrictions. We strode through the door at 9.40am, hoping to get the shopping done before things got too busy. It was unbelievable to see a queue of 20+ already lined up at the self service tills all carrying flowers. Talk about last minute shopping! With shopping completed fairly painlessly, we then headed over to Nottingham so Sarah could have a doorstop visit to hand over gifts to her mum. The cold and damp weather was hardly conducive to making it an enjoyable stop off. Back home I then braved the conditions in the afternoon to visit my mum. My brother and his children turned up at the same time. That made holding conversations and maintaining distances more of a challenge especially with the high winds! The afternoon was spent on marking whilst Sarah continued with preparation for the week ahead, getting the resources ready etc. She has been very stressed by the whole process and has bemoaned the time it has taken. I have resisted the temptation to mention the challenges of having to conduct similar preparations every week of six half terms. Perhaps she may now understand he challenges and demands I faced during my years as a teacher. I have tried to help her as much as I can and hope the week goes well. The evening has been spent on some modelling. Unfortunately, Sarah commandeered the main tv for the final episode of Bloodlands so it prevented me from making use of the new toy! Stay safe, stay sane. Andy

29 DAYS TO GO!! Help! A whole week has slipped by with, until today, no further progress. The daughter's return to school did not suddenly present lots of modelling time due to a multitude of distractions. The shop has had a busy week of orders and deliveries which is good news and that has taken up a lot of time. I have not had chance to cut the tunnel and fit the side screen yet. Hopefully that can be tackled this week. Today has seen the station ramps arrive, these are needed to help complete the station platform. Before that can be fitted however, the board needed to be painted. This was completed this evening. I careful application of some brown poster paint. This will provide a base for all scenic work and will hide the bare cork and wood should any ballast or scenery chip off. The board, now painted, can be seen below. The remaining platform pieces are due to arrive during the middle of next week. I can then begin to complete the station area. My aim before that is to drill the holes for the power feed and attend to the side screen.

Love the look of this permanent way train. It reminds me of the look of some I have seen on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway recently.

Another enjoyable quarter of an hour of escapism down at Seven Mills. Always interesting to see what moves you have in store. I will miss these videos when the layout heads off to pastures new.

Afternoon all and congrats to Debs and NHN. I have not posted for a couple days and have not been on RMWeb much so apologies for anything I have overlooked. The last few days have passed in a bit of a bleary eyed blur. After being forced to cancel the DPD delivery on Wednesday, I was given a rude awakening on Thursday morning. Another early (7am) alert for a delivery slot from 8.10am. Fortunately, Sarah saw the alert come through on my phone and gave me the nudge so I could get ready and drive over to the shop in time. It was not quite the start to the day I had needed after a self inflicted late night. As those who read my posts will know, the last few months have been spent in constant and fruitless search for a certain Sony console. Throughout, I have been referring to a regular stock update blog which had provided details of potential restocks throughout the week. One of these was at Argos. For some reason they decide to restock in the early hours of the morning which had resulted in the late night on Wednesday checking the app on my iPad, but to no avail. On returning from the shop on Thursday morning I logged back on and found stock available at Game. Unfortunately, after two hours in the virtual queue, I was greeted with the all too familiar "out of stock" message. This was repeated in the afternoon when further stock seem to become available. On Thursday night I headed to bed early to catch up on sleep and was out like a light - until 3am when Sarah disturbed me to go to the toilet. I rolled over and had a sneaky check on the Argos app. Unbelievably the item was in stock - duly ordered and arrived by van just six hours later! Yesterday I was therefore otherwise entertained! Stay safe all. Andy