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About 35 years ago, we had a “live” Christmas tree in a tub, which we planted in the back yard after the holidays. It is now over 50 feet tall. We’re in a corner of a hill, sheltered from prevailing winds, but it’s really at the stage where we should get it down. If it fell, depending on direction, it could possibly reach our house or the one next door.

Some pickups around Vancouver have gun racks in the back of the cab - to store the much-needed large umbrellas.

I remember the garden railway on the front lawn of one of the houses in one version of the layout.

My feelings about the work environment were quite plain before I retired. As one manager said to me “I presume there’s no point in us offering you to come back as a contractor.”

I never use those. I do sometimes use the paddle shifters, and I would not like to get them confused. Once, when we changed cars, the new one had the indicator stalk and the washer/wiper stalk on the opposite sides of the column from the old car. Even after some weeks of driving the new car, I could still sometimes signal my intention to turn by squirting water on the windscreen.

That type of brake usually has a quick release somewhere - mechanical toggle under the dash in the car I had. Put the car in gear, rev gently so the brake is holding the car back, toggle the brake off - away you go.

Interesting that this discussion is now taking place on page 1746.

Maybe not in the UK, but there were coaling towers over mainlines, allowing èn route recoaling, in the US: https://www.railpictures.net/photo/683154/ https://www.railpictures.net/photo/844477/ And it wasn’t unknown for engines having to be recoaled èn route in the UK. Just for example, David L. Smith tells of G&SWR ‘279’ class 0-6-0s in original condition (“Pumpers”) working Glasgow to Carlisle having to take a couple of tubs of coal at Dumfries shed. And a Corkerhill crew working through to Leeds with a compound in 1930 had a difficult trip and needed to take coal at Hellifield.

That photo is in “Locomotives Illustrated #54 - LNWR 4-4-0s”. There’s also another broadside one of #7 “Titan” standing outside Brighton Station.

I once got a lift in Northern Ontario from an Irishman who worked in lumber camps in the area. He said he first went to work there soon after arriving in Canada, did not settle, and was continually making unfavourable comparisons with Ireland. One night, sitting in the camp dining hall, another worker finally got fed up with him, pulled a 20 dollar bill from his pocket, threw it on the table and said “OK, there’s something towards your fare back to Ireland!”. Other people chipped in, and he soon realized that what was on the table was probably enough for the fare. At that point, he said, he did a quick, serious assessment of his feelings and attitude towards Canada and came to the conclusion that where he was was really much better than where he’d come from. So he shut up and stayed! There used to be something here called the “thousand dollar cure”, particularly for Brits. They would be unsettled after emigrating to Canada, but the first trip “home” (airfare about $1000) would convince them they’d made the right move. I know two couples who went further than that, sold up here and went back to the UK. Both couples were back here within two years.

Snake and Pygmy pie?

You need one of these: https://youtu.be/qelpcgVvrzA?feature=shared Connor McDavid plays hockey for the Edmonton Oilers. Chicago is over 1600 miles from Edmonton.

A bit of a theme on a local walk yesterday afternoon:

The figures I quoted are from Law 1 of “Laws of the Game 23/24” published by the International Football Association Board. Law 1 includes the statement “Competitions may determine the length of the goal line and touch line within the above dimensions.” Here are the pitch sizes for the teams in the EPL in season 2022-2023: https://www.huck-net.co.uk/news/2023-05/premier-league-pitch-sizes/ Quite some variation. (Edit - are you saying that the soccer pitch at Stadium Australia is that size I.e. the FIFA standard? If so, sorry, I misunderstood your post.)

Similarly, there is no standardized size for a soccer field, so I would guess the diagram shows how, specifically, Stadium Australia is configured for soccer. Soccer fields can be a maximum of 90 metres by 120 metres, and a minimum of 45 metres by 90 metres. The length must be more than the width, so a field cannot be square (just!).

It is many, many years since I last had a hangover in Scotland!

That did not apply to Scotland. There was definitely a service run on Christmas Day in the mid-1960s. I’ve seen statements that there was, at least, a local Christmas Day service around Glasgow until 1974. About Standard 5s - they could certainly do 85. I had a trip behind one of Polmadie’s allocation, just out from its final works visit in summer 1965. (All times and distances rounded off) - it managed Paisley Gilmour Street to Port Glasgow (13 miles) in 13 minutes start-to-stop, taking 6 minutes out of the schedule. Rough speeds were 85 plus before Bishopton, reduced to about 80 through the tunnels, then back up to around 85 again between Langbank and Woodhall. (Edit to explain - there had been delays on the Joint Line between Glasgow Central and Paisley, so the departure from Gilmour Street was 6 minutes late, and the arrival in Port Glasgow was on time.)

But how many of them are you using? Our car is over 4 years old, but there are whole sections of the owner’s handbook that I have never had reason to refer to, and do not expect to have in future.

More general than short lines: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Track-Planning-Realistic-Operation-Railroader/dp/0890242275/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=2XT3MNXMAOFRK&keywords=track+planning+realistic+operation&qid=1707165081&sprefix=track+planning+realistic+operation%2Caps%2C412&sr=8-1 (“Track Planning for Realistic Operations” by John Armstrong)

We have forced air heating - very common here. Our gas furnace is the original and the house is 48 years old. It was misbehaving last year and our son recommended a gas fitter he had used - he has a house of similar age. This guy does what you describe - cannibalises old furnaces he replaces and maintains a stock of parts for furnaces long out of production. The repair cost a fraction of the price of a new furnace. Yes, a new one would be more efficient, but the payback time would probably be measured in decades and, one way or another, we’re not likely to be in this house that long.

Dublin-brewed Guinness has been available in Britain, though not widely. My uncle and aunt owned a pub in Ayr up until the early 1970s. They got their draught Guinness from Dublin (by choice). And based on my own taste experience, and that of a work colleague, in the late 1960s at least, the bar in Manchester Central station served draught “Dublin-brewed” Guinness.

This afternoon, I gave the vines in the back yard their annual pruning indiscriminate hacking. The green (compost) bin is now very full and heavy.

What 12-a-side game is this?