southern42

' morning all from red dragon land. Now there's a first - this early riser going out to water the plants before I did anything else. What is the world coming to? Time now to get ready to play t***ns. Enjoy your day. ______ Polly

Funny you mention that...I picked up a copy in the Conwy Valley Museum this afternoon and, when I sat down to flick through it, it fell open to that very page! No kidding! Good to see it is going well, Andy. Look forward to seeing you appear on the Ch.5 programme. Also, having posted the pics of the West Shore member's Lanky, I then spotted the double page article on modelling the L&YR! Hopefully, I will have time to read that tomorrow. Later, I got talking to a couple on the CVR platform, and during the conversation it came out that the guy grew up in our home town - around the same time as us! I recognised the accent... And my other big day brightener came via Ray's mobile re a certain cricket match... Guess it is bedtime now - an early start in the morning... ' night all and nos da. _________ Polly Edit: corrected an auto-corrected Welsh word at the end of post!

' afternoon all from red dragon land - sun predicted for this afternoon... Work on the terrace patio decking progressing - between drizzly showers... The top of the wall is not as even as it looks but we are getting there - slowly. Play stopped for lunch... Best wishes to all _______ Polly

My French Connection will let you off...

Duly corrected, Mike. I am sure that is what I put - but it does not surprise me, I had to re-spell several words on that post. Shame I missed that one! Never mind. Thanks for pointing it out. Polly

I gave you a "funny" because I can relate to that so well it hurts... With empathy Polly

' morning all from red dragon land. Wet and windy - I shall say no more. Yesterday, we eventually got out after the delay of the early delivery of wood so we got to West Shore a bit late - one of the members was bringing his newly completed handbuilt, all lined out Lanky 0-6-0 Lancashire & Yorkshire engine for a photo shoot but by the time we arrived it was back under cover out of the intermittent rain. No.1079 was allocated to Bangor in 1948 and to Rhyl in 1957 until withdrawal in 1962. Gorgeous! We hope to see it steamed up soon. Notice the hydrostatic lubricator on the right of the cab - not part of the original but added for 5" gauge running! Next, we spent the afternoon on the 7 1/4" gauge Conwy Valley Railway (CVR)* and I took my first passenger load round the 5/6th mile track driving the diesel, "Gwydir Castle", and I got more than I bargained for... "Tradition" has it that if a train (currently a 2-car DMU run by Transport for Wales) arrives in the adjacent station (Betws-y-coed),** the driver sounds the whistle/horn. Timing for this is crucial and you cannot guarantee one of our trains being alongside the mainline at the right moment (the steam train - Driver Ray - was unseen behind the wall of the covered drop-off platform). What anticipation followed when I saw the train standing in the platform as I came out of the forest... and saw its white light brightly shining before me! "C'mon! C'mon! Move!" I found myself muttering... Y e s! "Toot, toot," I sounded as it slowly moved off...and what a wonderful exchange of horns we shared after that...it delighted the passengers and it sure delighted me! * The CVR is on the site of the old goods yard. ** On the Conwy Valley Line from Llandudno to Blaenau Ffestiniog Best wishes to all. ____________ Polly

Sorry to hear your news, John. All my thoughts and best wishes to you both. Polly

The Cob on the Broads Ah! So. We also have the Cob we got for the boat and rarely used! In the garage somewhere, I expect! There was a mention of bringing it back into use...

' morning all from red dragon land. Tomorrow's delivery of decking has just arrived! We can get on with laying it straight away, tomorrow, then. So, that is good. Best wishes to all. Hope things go that well for you. __________ Polly

Ah! So! Strictly on the beach* - on a flat rock surface or below the shelter of a rock if a bit breezy. Favourite BBQ beaches included: Rowen Bay (Y Felinheli, on the Menai Strait) Abermenai, Llanddwyn (out of bird nesting season) and Moelfre (Anglesey) Porth Dinllaen (Lleyn Peninsula) and Lawrenny (up river from Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire) However, eating onboard our first yacht, a Jaguar 21, was more like barbecuing. It got a bit better on the next one, a 27ft Albin Vega, though you had to sit on the cabin steps to cook, wash-up or do the chart work. The last one, a 27ft Vancouver, was luxury - complete with standing room, it had stove with oven, workspace, and sink on port side; table which stowed around the mast post; and chart-size(!) chart table on starboard side and loads of stowage everywhere. The only downside were the narrower berths to sleep on! A darn good ocean going boat though the Irish Sea, North Channel and St George's Channel were enough for me! Now swapped driving helming boats for driving t***ns - can't be bad! ________ Polly Edit * And we took the remains back to the boat's waste bin if no litter bin around.

' morning all from red dragon land. A bit of sun on and off through the clouds though the R word is not forecast - better than expected after yesterday's prediction. The idea of having slate slabs round the patio terrace extension has been aborted in favour of wood decking. One of the side walls was out of square so I reckoned to have a slab cut to the right angle would push the price into insensibility - and the quote was bad enough as it was. To make the decision easier, I suggested that wood would be warmer to sit on as everyone was seeing the wall as a seating area round a BBQ. I do not know where that one came from because "we" do not do BBQs - well, not since the obligatory ones on the beach during a weekend's sail, anyway. Maybe, it is because our young next-door neighbour has had his friends around for them a few times this year. An interesting piece of artwork - the drum of a washing machine for the fire over which stands a four-legged iron structure to cook on. Far more ingenious than our off the shelf ready to light box of charcoal. It usually did the trick unless it got damp after sitting for months on the boat waiting to be used. I often used to cheat - I either cooked in foil or a saucepan...and you can keep your explanatory words for that to yourselves... Have a good day. Best wishes to all ________ Polly

' Morning all from red dragon land. Good free-from-rain weekend. The order of the train tickets at West Shore was restored. Phew! The box for the tickets I made from the backing board of the pad of A4 card I used for the tickets works well. The tickets are kept in bundles of 50 in the box so, if the box gets knocked over, they do not fly off everywhere... The eucalyptus has been pot bound for a couple of decades for that very reason and did well on the south east side of the house. It had to spent a few years on top of a raised garden (due to some other project going on) and took root through the base of the pot and the branches TOOK OFF!! Then the wind got hold of it , the root snapped off and the tree died...or so I thought. It was not long before suckers appeared and Ray cut down the long dead branches. The tree then did reasonably well standing about 5-6ft tall (including pot) and was back its old place by the front door. The long winter spell below -5C left it in a very sad looking state but the leaves recovered over spring and summer on the surviving branches. Last week, I cut out all the dead wood - lots of short twigs which should have been in full leaf... Hopefully, it will flourish once again. Best wishes to all ____________ Polly

' morning afternoon evening all from red dragon land. Yeay. Sunny. Not so at West Shore on Saturday where we spent a couple of hours chatting and having lunch in the club house listening to wind and rain before heading back for a coffee in the seaside cafe - boy was it noisy! What was I saying about school holidays....? I just about managed a couple of articles in the mag through the distraction, though. Short walk round swan lake duck pond afterwards to clear the head! Eight large cygnets taking an afternoon nap on the grass, parents looking on. Anyway, I worked out the error in last week's ticket numbers - someone had started the next group of tickets out of sequence. Not to worry - it totalled more passengers but in correcting the error donations per ride increased! Yes! Paperwork adjusted... Ray and youngest have started work on grouting the slate slabs on the terrace--patio. Looking good. I am contemplating putting my eucalyptus in a pot in the bigger planter at the end of the garden, even if it is only temporary, to give a bit of colour down there over the winter. Best wishes to all, even if it has taken me all day to post. __________ Polly

' Morning all from red dragon land. Off to play 7 1/4 trains shortly. Youngest no boom binging today so will probably do some house sitting - she loves doing the big G projects! Thanks for the photo Jamie. Love it! You will, go course, be giving us a minute by minute account of your trip later this month... Best wishes to all _________ Polly

Thanks. That helps a lot. Hopefully, I will now find a pic of its real life counterpart. You never know... ' Night all and not da. _________ Polly

Here, we dodge the school holidays* - like NOW... certainly where we go - by the beach - for a cuppa and a read of the mags! Less frequent means they just take a little longer to get through at the moment. But, hey, no rush! *Except West Shore MR where we beg invite them all in....Tickets, please! and donation... (Naughty!...) All the weekend's best to all _________ Polly

...and I do wonder about this on my biscuit tin (Christmas present of shortbread biscuits)... Any idea what it is? The closest I can get to it is Russian: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Russian_locomotive_Эy_699-74#/media/File:Eu_699-74_steam_locomotive_(Паровоз_Эу_699-74)_(5884905009).jpg The new look terrace / patio as of this evening. The slate slabs are a mixture of original terrace slabs, remnants from our old extension and indoor salvage of one of our fireplaces. The builder is making a fantastic job of it. Monday he is bringing a machine to cut some remaining slabs so they fit. Soon, we will be able to step out onto flat ground from the dining room. ________ Polly

Looking at the picture again, I would agree with you. It was the positioning of the crew that made me see it differently. That will teach me!

Yep. those gulls have it off to a T. I had an ice cream nicked on the riverside at Conwy a few years ago. Came up over the shoulder from behind me... Now would I? I guess not...

Link to the painting. http://www.bangorcivicsociety.org.uk/pages/hisso/pa0.htm The giveaway was the sailor standing in front of the sail to the right of the mast. This indicates that the aft sails are held out to starboard while the foresails are to port. Compare this to the other yacht which has all sail to port. The yachts are most likely going with the tide. It would take the power and speed of steam to do well against it, especially in that wind. Interesting that the left hand sailboat is towing its tender - quite common round here but also risky! Something we chose not to do! We have seen yachts and their tenders part company or, worse, get caught round lobster pot lines. All in a day's sail...

And there is or, rather, was also Bangor. Alas, the beach scene gave way to boatbuilding - yachts and things but there is always the pier and we do have a carnival day fairground on the green on Beach Road opposite the port. In the hallway outside Bangor Uni's Archives is a painting looking towards the beach with yachts and steamboats at the end of the 19th century. The wind seemed to be blowing from the right hand side (westerly) but one set of sails always looked odd! Until, that is, the penny dropped. The gaff-rigged yacht was goose winging - the mainsail held out one side of the mast and the foresails out the other. Oh, how I did hate doing that in our sailing days especially when the buoys, tide, sandbars (decreasing depth!!!!), and the like wanted to redirect our course! Happy days! Ray and youngest have just successfully dug up one of the supporting poles to a Victorian open porch (only the poles and beam between the two existing when we moved in). I say "dug up", I really mean excavated as the pole was cemented into granite stones 3ft deep! The hole must be at least 5ft across! The pole was rescued from the concrete and clay stones with electric drill of some sort. I have my eye on them for climbing plants down in the garden somewhere - not decided yet! Time for a cuppa and the G word. Best wishes to all _______ Polly

' Morning all from red dragon land. Rather wet here, this morning, but hoping the downpours will keep the plants and new grass at the end of the garden in good nick. Thunderstorms hit us yesterday afternoon and evening - one of which was directly overhead - in surround sound heard from above and from either side of the house! Another caused a short power outage but most of the others rumbled away in the mountains. Thus, it was dry til mid afternoon so I was able to tackle a weeding project and get it all bagged up for the next run to the recycle yard before it rained. Weeding? Mostly cutting back a couple of small ash trees, old raspberry branches, and dock leaves before I attempt do dig them all up. Only a small area but it seemed to take ages! On the other side of the house, the terrace has been extended using the blocks of granite that were piled up in a heap after the old kitchen/bathroom extension was knocked down 30 odd years ago. The stone wall builder is coming back, today - when the rain stops... There is a wall to finish then patio levelling and flooring to do. That leaves me plenty of time to cut up some more train tickets. But a mugadecafcoffee beckons, first... Best wishes to all ___________ Polly

' Morning all from red dragon land. Rain predicted for yesterday seems to have fallen by the wayside. We will see. Ventured to the Colwyn MRE yesterday in Craig-y-don, Llandudno. Nipped in for 70 minutes before going off to West Shore. I guess you could say we spent most of the time chatting with "old friends" on the exhibits but also admired the layouts - a good selection this year. Good to see The Sidings there. Brilliant! We also booked in the "new layout" for next year...er...hum... We had better get cracking on it methinks! Enjoy your day. __________ Polly

' Morning all from red dragon land. A bit of very welcome sunshine this morning after a mostly cloudy day at Betws-y-coed. Ticketing going well at West Shore with ticket office (al fresco table and chair) and some "Train Tickets" signs in place. In the last couple of weeks we have acquired a long windbreak which goes up along the fence - just the job behind the ticket office! I have printed off some more sheets of tickets. I reckon another 1500 will do to see the season out - Anyone fancy cutting them up? Don't worry! I bought an A3 cutter - a lot better than my ruler type and it will do for cutting out card mock-ups for my m*d*lling later on. I am still making efforts to engage with the garden with plus and minus degrees of success. Potentilla and philadelphus snowbelle (rescued from the to-ditch stock at a diy store) heavily drooped a second time in a dry spell, were repotted, and the potentilla cut back hard. Both are now doing well. I also have several cuttings of my rose of Sharon in pots after one success which survived (just!) and is now doing ok planted out - better than ok, really, because it bloomed this year! Yes! Ah well. Tickets to cut up now...I may be some time*.... Wishing you all well ______ Polly * Do you ever get the feeling that someone is ...er...slightly exaggerating...?