southern42

Happy Birthday @Barry O whichever way up you like it. Up in the far north, about 5am this morning local time, an early riser has a bit of a flare up... (shortcut to 40secs if you don't want to wait ;) For more...watch live... Supper time and bed. ' night all, nos da, and góða nótt.

just trying to test me Wanna see how hard I'm gonna work Wanna see if I can really tell how much she's worth What your worth Or maybe all her friends have told her Don't'...

Summer nights - John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John

' morning all. Pine cone pundits seem as changeable as the wevver. Do I chance putting washing out? ☔ ☀️ 💦 😎 That is the question. Yesterday, I made a start on the annual clear-up. The first was to dispose of the piles of mags of the r**lw*y kind. Some are off to the R' Museum for sale-as-used. Others found their way to the recycle bin minus some articles for cataloguing and filing. There is a second batch to get around to, today. Other jobs will happen as I feel inclined as I am in huffinAnnapuffin mode, again. Cheered up by Mr Blackbird trotting around on the overgrown meadow lawn. Now having a little preen of the feathers. Another wander around and off he goes. Toot on the flute going better than expected, and little and often is proving to be of benefit. The misty moisty stuff has disappeared and a bit of sun has popped its head out so, no excuses, I will have to put washing out. Mugadecaf will have to wait. Take care. Be good. Take the plunge. Polly

Our last clickncollect from Tess Coe's had a substitution. I noticed on the ready to collect e-mail invoice: 1pack of ("Finest"!) 4 potatoes @ £1.60 instead of the ordered 5Kg bag @ £1.80. I was not having that so, the 4 pack was handed back for a refund, and Mr Suvvern went into store and got the £5Kg bag off the shelf - no other transaction took place to deplete the grocery purse further.<<Wise to that ploy! Get ya in...get yer money... 😂>>

' morning all from red dragon land. Pine cone pundits have announced a dry day with some sunshine with light breeze. I hope they are right as the washing has been put out. A quick visit paid to the last couple of pages. It is a job to keep up these days, but that is a good sign seeing how a number of people have departed these pages in recent years. Surprisingly, seeing how lifeless I was yesterday morning, I managed a reasonable toot on the flute session in the evening, adding the rest of the twiddly bits to part2 line1. Having watched the video again before bed, and a quick 5 minute blast this morning while the popty ping was on, I momentarily got one of the sounds that was evading me, telling me it is possible to get such a sound on my higher (smaller) flute. Bonus. Something to work on. Baggy trousers....? The top I ordered to go with the George Az Doh! trousers is nice and baggy, as are the trousers, the "wide" variety. I ain't got no long skinny legs so no long skinny trousers, either. The top is out of my comfort zone: it ain't check or plain but random pattern of indecipherable shapes and palm like leaves (summer in tropical paradise, maybe?); it is overall pale looking rather than dark. So, I hope I can do it justice. Time is plodding on and my mug is screaming out for me to put the decaf in it. Take care. Be good. Be different. Polly

Ah, but Midsomer is a county with murders dotted around its parishes, towns, and villages. Since I did not keep track of numbers, I have no stats to report, either. No doubt, the Midsomer constabulary, Town Halls, or press, will. Whether they will allow you access to them is another matter. You could google it, of course. 😜

' night all and nos da. Some catching up on here to do in the morning.

No probs. Sit macbook on worktop displaying tennis match whilst doing dinner.* So well timed, dinner was ready to serve just as the match ended. * Needless to say, this took a bit longer to do than usual. Edit: Oh! And I was definitely not sitting down on the job!

Well...the sitting down job was anything but... One little corner needed sorting and cleaning: stretching, bending, kneeling, crawling, weightlifting, dusting, scrubbing, polishing... A total workout.... ! 🏋️‍♀️ <<That's me done for the day!>> <<Anyone for tennis?>> <<I'll catchup on Eye-player, later... sitting down!" Edit: Parcel has arrived home. Off to open it. <<Big GRIN>>

I need somebody (Help) not just anybody (Help) you know I need someone, help So much younger than today I never needed anybody's help in any way but now these days are gone I'm

' morning all from red dragon land. Overcast, chuckinitdarn midday onwards, though no thunderstorms in the revised plan from the pine cone pundits. Still feeling washed out from the recent pollen attack so not much on the agenda. Toot on the flute will be little but more often. Some new twiddly bits to get to grips with today meaning I can sit, relax 🤣 and watch the video. I am sure I can find other sitting down jobs to do rather than feel guilty because I have done absolutely nothing. I have saved dragging myself round the shops to find a top to go with a pair of trousers I picked up from George Az Doh! the other day, by finding one online and getting it sent to Store - Mr Suvvern will pick it up for me, today, as he will be passing by, anyway. Postage/expensive car liquid saved. Bonus. Time for that mugadecaf. Take care. Be good. Find some favourable options. Polly

Last Train to Clarksville - The Monkeeeeeeees

Bread pudding in the oven - the second this week! Smells good!

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The placing of individuals and groups of people on a layout, whatever size, have enabled me to tell what is going on at: A particular place: station, garden, dockside, shop, hotel, Visitor Centre,* new apartment block* An event: Royal Visit with Morris Dancers and school party audience, Preservation railway demo day* Type of work: Window cleaner, Signal man, Bus driver & Bus conductor, Ship's captain, Dockmaster Time of day: Postmen and Bin men working in the morning/early afternoon, perhaps It has also helped to: Direct the eye along or across the layout: Morris dancers > window cleaner > Poirot, Japp and Hastings > Postman > Bin men > Gardener From the other end, looking back: the gardener can be seen beyond a boy trainspotter who can be spotted on the bridge as the trains pass under and disappear Draw attention to a particular part of a scene that may be overlooked: mowing the lawn, shovelling coal, planting flowers on the allotment Enhance the perspective: larger figures at the front, smaller figures at the back - there is an incredible diversity of height/size produced in 00 gauge figures, add in Ho figures and 3D figures, and there is plenty to choose from for a particular location. Similar can be said of vehicles. In particular, on one stretch of roadway going diagonally from front to back, the road narrowed slightly. I had three vehicles I wanted to use, all coming towards that party of Morris dancers in the middle of the High Street. I found putting the largest vehicle at the front and the smallest at the back, not only enhanced the perspective but gave a more balanced picture overall. They were also carefully placed so as to draw the eye onto or away from each other and other things around them. Placement: One bus was at the high street end and hid the end of the board, a motorcyclist and lorry were coming onto scene from the other end drawing the eye down to the station, and a bus was parked below in the station carpark, providing more interest with driver and conductor standing beside it chatting. A lone scooter stood at the other end of the station building with goods lorry trackside waiting for the goods train. The placement of aircraft, boats, ships, barges, or just a mast showing above dock level in the background can all tell or add to a scene or story. I use the same strategy for animals and birds, objects, trees and shrubs, lighting, you name it, I have probably tried it. It may not always work, but I find it adds so much more enjoyment and knowledge to the whole process of modelling especially when I refer to the real thing, which artists invariably do, for inspiration and ideas. * Visitor centre, apartment block, and railway demo day on 4ft x 1ft 00 gauge Avago

Will you stay with me? Will you be my love? Upon the fields of barley We'll forget...

It Don’t Come Easy - Ringo Starr

' afternoon all from red dragon land. Wet but not raining first thing. Sun in and out since. Sympathy from me, to @Winslow Boy @tigerburnie and all. As cheerful as I may seem, at times, I am a '"lady" driver' and, as a consequence, plagued by constant Upson-Downs but, thankfully, only a few of the downs have been unbearable. On the other hand, after suffering a short illness, instead of getting over it as the Drs said, within a few months all my energy drained away leaving me in Much Downland. Another few months and I went to the GP - "(Well,) if you could have spent a couple of months in the Bahamas without the family".... "Yeah, most helpful," I thought. And that was it. After awhile, I found myself standing on a mental cliff edge: do I take the jump into oblivion and go into some sort of care or do I stay and carry on? The former was way too scary and I walked away from it but the latter was scary, too. After a year, I had it all worked out so that I could "manage" it (rather than just cope)... one by one, I stopped doing anything that was not necessary or frivolous, and gradually adopted more of a hermit way of life just being a wife, a mum and a daughter living one day at a time. Another three years and I started on an Employment Scheme, followed by a Further Education course doing art and design. Tough at first, but I found I had started to relax while there. Within a few weeks of completion, I walked out of the building and noticed the sun shining! The fish bowl that I had been living in had burst. I could not only see but I could engage and respond but still a long process ahead. Older (and wiser?), Upson-Downs are still very much part of my life but I do tend to try and drag myself up, and find ways to stay there. Toot on the flute as an example, yes, I marvel at what I have achieved over the last 18 months, gobsmacked, ecstatic, even, but there are many, many days when I really despair and think I am being unrealistic...but I plod on... Mad, or what? 🤣 But, hey, I enjoy it. Don't I? And similar stories lie behind muddling and the building of boards for things that run on parallel bits of metal. Choose the "wrong" day and I am always plagued with my own thoughts: It isn't good enough / Not quite right / It's rubbish / Etc, etc, self belief disappearing like a ton of sleepers. Just enough to tip the Upson-Downs balance - one way or the other! 🤣 Gorra get me a mugadecaf. Take care. Be good. "Don't worry. Be happy." Polly

'evening all from red dragon land. A fun morning trying to order an e-card. After half an hour of repeatedly trying to order because neither the add to basket or buy buttons worked, I gave up and logged off. An hour later, no problem! Web activity never fails to bemuse me. 😜 A bit of toot on the flute, using the video to guide me through the next bit of twiddly bits. As I am gradually picking up on the patterns used, it is getting a bit quicker, although similar note patterns may carry different twiddly bit arrangements. But it all adds to the fun. Then some jobs before doing a bit of volcano watching. At the beginning, there was a long line of volcanic eruptions along the fissure. It seems that there is just one eruption, now, and growing rapidly in size. The spectators are keen, anyway. From the carpark in the south, it is a 9Km hike, I heard on another video, yesterday. Through the "Reyjavik Grapevine" I read that today there is a ban on going up there as with the greater activity, so the greater is the quantity of gas - sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide being of most concern. I expect I shall hear more tomorrow. At the edge of the volcano. Seen from above. Mugadecaf time. Gorrarush. Polly

' morning all from red dragon land. Wet first thing, drying up now with a bit of sunshine though more of the wet stuff due at lunchtime. Fusion360. I used this at the start of my very short 3D printing career. My initiation began with making some holders for the display cards, coincidentally, for exhibiting the diorama of the WW1 tank and Morris van in one of the Bangor University Libraries for the Archives department to replace my tacky cardboard ones. The holders were made in fabLab, one of the University's innovation spaces. OGWEN* is an Avonside quarry engine which I had the honour of seeing, and being allowed inside its cab when on display at the Penrhyn Quarry Railway at Felin Fawr, Bethesda. Sadly, this closed in 2017 and the track has since been removed. At the time, I was a member of the group, cleaning the coachwork being one of my more important tasks. I also had the chance to drive a couple of the diesels, and got a steam cab ride on an open day. * The photo is for demonstration purposes - the stand usually holds a family photo. Returning to Fusion360, after the display stands, I went onto design some containers to represent the West London Waste containers which still run along the Brentford branch line. Then Covid and other things hit and, with no vision that any design would be test printed, the project got put on hold...along with any other 3D ideas. Having seen some recent articles on 3D printing, there seem some very useful ideas out there for doing the job more satisfactorily, if I ever return to it. It did take up quite a bit of my time! Time, now, though, to get some jobs done or I will be having a rather late lunch! Take care. Be good. Enjoy the opportunity while it lasts. Polly

Circa 2015, posed with the problem that I could only get a model of an Austin 7 when, in reality, I needed its larger cousin, a Morris, I resorted to printing off the shell of the said Morris on a magical machine* to fit the said Austin. As the project relied on a serious attempt at creating a sense of perspective, I considered my attempt to be just a matter of...er...hum...foreshortening! * An HP printer on plain ordinary paper! For those that have not seen this before, the view is of an early 1930s postcard of Bangor University, Post Office on the right, Town Hall off to the left. The WW1 tank (kit built, painted and weathered...rather... rusted) was a postwar gift to the City of Bangor Here is how the illusion was created.

Sometime ago, we went on the Balmoral from Caernarfon up the Menai Strait, along the North coast past the Great Orme and into Liverpool. Ashore, there was a tallship festival dockside, with visitors on a barrier-enclosed people control walkway which went from one end to the other. We were only halfway round when we needed to escape to get back for the earlier departure due to worsening weather conditions. Thankfully, a kind person on the other side of the barriers let us through and we had enough time to get back and get an ice cream from the vending machine. A good trip, partially spent sharing the open window spaces with other sailors including the lovely couple, Prunella Scales and Timothy West. Well worth a trip if you get the chance.

One more from above.

For those like me who knew not of this... ' morning all from red dragon land. Overcast. Pine cone pundits speak of rain later. Now on volcano watch. They say it is already larger and faster forming than the two previous ones, a year, and two years, ago. There will be a number of people, globally, posting on YouTube but the one I followed from the beginning has started to post already, so I will go with him. There is lot of enjoyment in the background. Things to get done, today. So off to start with that mugadecaf. Take care. Be good. Be adventurous.