figworthy

Anyone else fancy a pre-eaten mushroom ? Adrian

Reminds me of someone I was at school with who borrowed a car from his dad to take his driving test in. I can't remember what his dad did for a living, but it was enough to run to a range rover and a roller. Adrian

Plan to visit now being hastily revised. Adrian

Many years ago, we had a car park at work resurfaced. Later that day, I stopped off somewhere on my way home to find the guys (who seemed genuine enough) doing a cash job with the left overs. Seemed to be a good job. Adrian

It certainly seems to be around here. Many years ago, someone told me of a stretch of road in Berlin where the traffic lights were on a set sequence, at a road speed ideal for the urban environment. I can't remember if it was as a result of calculation or experimentation, but it seemed that they were also spot on at 120MPH. Adrian

They'll never catch on. Adrian

I was approaching Trawsfynydd (expecting to turn left for Bah La), so I don't think the Ls were confusing it. Adrian

Here at the Manor House, a celebrity is defined as someone famous we've never heard of. I'm still trying to work out how a locomotive can be a celebrity. Adrian

My first two involvements with a GPS were "interesting". I was using when going to places I knew how to get to, to see how I got on with it. Journey 1. Going to a mates house. Aforementioned mate lived just off the M4. GPS told me to head up the M4, and then turn left when I got to the bridge carrying the lane up to his house. Hmm Journey 2. Coming back from North Wales. Although it had worked out a route, in the middle of nowhere it informed me that it couldn't route me the rest of the way. I don't think it had lost sight of the satellites, it genuinely seemed to be lost. Oddly enough, I never had much confidence in that particular box of electronics. Adrian

If I've got the generations right, at the time, the house in question belonged to IKB's Granddaughter and her husband. Adrian

Any ideas as to where the filming locations are ? Some look vaguely familiar. Adrian

40 years ago, with my student railcard, I could get a day return from Coventry to Rugby for the princely sum of £0.76. Looking at the National Rail Enquiries site, and selecting a "16-25 Railcard" I get £4.95 as the fare. Adrian

Have a look at the Ledston Branch (near Castleford). BR metals, but it looks as though the NCB ran trains on there as well in the 1980s. Adrian

I'm struggling with that concept. Could you explain it in more detail ? Adrian

I only did that the once, and that was on an exhaust system. So long as I kept the vehicle, they'd replace any parts that failed. I got my moneys worth out of that, several times over. Adrian

In some cases, there is a good argument for keeping live ones out as well. Adrian

I was there, and a rather good show it was too. Given the amount of cake involved, I'm not sure mentioning it here in advance was a good idea, given certain regulars reputation where it is involved. I think it is now safe to mention that Lemon Drizzle Cake was available. Adrian

I had a bottle of IPA delivered by Royal Mail in a padded bag a a couple of years back. I'm guessing that the sender "forgot" that they weren't supposed to use RM for such things. Once in the bag, so long as it doesn't leak, I suspect that RM wouldn't be any the wiser. That of course does not make it right. Adrian

A pleasure to see Sheep Dip in the flesh for the first time. No criticism of the photos, but it really does look better in real life. Adrian

As a first time attendee, a big vote of thanks to Simon and Jerry for the organisation, Brian for the excellent chauffeuring (not easy with the surrounding roads), and to Kim and her team for the catering. Adrian

There is "Nimbyism" and then there is "Nimbyism". Back in the noughties, a planning proposal was put in for some land adjacent to Figworthy Manor. I was a relatively recent arrival at the time, but neighbours who had been there longer and knew the area well weren't happy. Apart from the usual range of objections (classic nimbyism if you like), there were more practical ones. The development went ahead, and the practical concerns were shown to be valid, in this case some properties started to get their gardens flooding in periods of heavy rain, something which hadn't happened before (fortunately not mine). The new properties were built uphill of us, and the land had previously soaked up the rain. So were the objections classic nimbyism, or were some of them genuine reasons ? Answers on a postcard to the usual address. Adrian

Thanks. I couldn't make out if that was track, a fence or some other form of feature. Adrian

Looking at that, am I correct in thinking that there is no northbound access coming out of the HS2 compound so that anything that wants to head towards Birmingham will have to reverse once it has joined HS2 ? Adrian

I use Oxford Parkway several times a year, and that has three large touch screen ticket machines (which I'm guessing are the sort of thing that we are expected to move to). I can't remember that last time that one of the "buttons" responded to the first or second "push", and they regularly have a staff member working one of the machines for customers as it is quicker than the customers doing it themselves. What I doubt any ticket machine could do is sell me a ticket (*) for a journey that I'd like to do at some future point (assuming I live long enough). A triangular journey. Local station to Brum, Brum to London via HS2, London to local station via GWR (or the other way around). I would hope that a ticket office would cope with that with ease. * I suspect that I'd have to buy three tickets, one at the start of each leg. Adrian

Many years ago, someone was telling me about a post wedding nosh that they'd been to. In due course the happy couple left, and shortly after that the assembled multitudes discovered that the bill for the meal hadn't been pre-paid, so they were left to pick up the tab. Adrian