Smiffy2

'Empty the loft' - French boot sales. Much loved by Julie...

Welcome. Makes a bit of a clatter, though...

Sublime to the chimpdiculous... Before I went out for the day of political I managed to put my iPhone through the washing machine... It spent the day in a bag of rice and now it's having a little rest in amongst a dozen bags of dessicating gel. It works, but water seems to have got under the screen (which at least gives me some faith in the washing machine, so there are some positives) and I don't know if that will dry out. >sigh...<

Sainsbury's North Cheam have two K3s, or, given that they seemed to be stuck together, a K6. The first I've seen. Hmm. Glazing was frosted and they looked - unkempt. The wheels were awful. When mine arrives it will be up for swapsies.

Morning all. Looks like a pleasant day, up early to get ready for a full day of political, so no discussing that! Best wishes, Bob, hope it's positive rather than the opposite.

Split 'em up, put 'em on ebay at £45 a throw, make about £300? Or if you're Gostude, splatter 'em with chicken s**t and put 'em on ebay at £90 a go and make about £900.

White oak in France is very reasonable. I've used pieces for firewood that would cost quids at South London Hardwoods... We had a huge beam put in - about 5m long and 30x30cm - and it cost about €250 (iirc). From the man in the next village who runs a 36" circular saw, unguarded, whilst blotto. Which is every afternoon... American electrical goods - the difference between 110v and 230v doesn't seem to be well understood. No2 son's wife visited the UK and tried to use her hairdryer on our mains. Melted.

I put one of those little balls of stainless steel wire in ours. It might have worked, I don't know, because soon after it disappeared. Now I know that SS doesn't dissolve (at least not in anything you'd make tea in) and I hadn't chucked it away, so suspicion fell on Julie. She denied everything, so it remains a mystery to this day. Like so much in my life. Currently trying out the vacuum from my workshop to hoover up the tiny seed things from next door's decorative cherry tree. It isn't going particularly well.

Aaaargh!!!! That is all.

Don't have the sole with grapefruit sauce. It's horrible.

Mont St Michel, not bird feeder... They hang about for ages waiting to dock, especially at night. It's a real slowcoach - the timetable is too easy! It's a comfortable ship, but the cabins can get claustrophobic and the bars/restaurants quite full in summer - can be almost empty in winter. The buffet breakfast (when they do it) is good. I bet the journey will drag! But best wishes, both, grab the happies while you can.

They always have been. There is also a section where they say that locos are available at cover price plus postage, but I must admit I couldn't find that the last time I looked. >edit< Found it, it's in the magazine. Back Issues Please order through your retailer or write to Amercom (UK) Ltd Subscription at FREEPOST RSUZ-REJC-YUAH, Great British Locomotives, Unit 4, Pullman Business Park, Pullman Way, Ringwood BH24 iHD enclosing the cover price payment plus £0.50 for p&p per copy. (Republic of Ireland, please enclose the cover price plus €1.00). Please state the name of the publication you are requesting. That's in all issues up to No 8 (Black 5) - I haven't got a later one to check.

Hello all. Very late to the keyboard today. Woken up at 4am by acid reflux. Hate it, but then I shouldn't eat fish and chips for supper and go to sleep on my stomach... Then off for diabetic eye test, which means The Drops to dilate the pupils. Always on the sunny days! So a bit bleary eyed (wearing off now) and slightly sinusy - always does that to me. I'm expecting to have some degradation reported, but it doesn't seem too bad. Unlike some on here, at least it's my own fault. Then I've got to do stuff. Oh - and yesterday I spent an hour looking for my fountain pen. Hunted high and low. Couldn't find the damned thing anywhere. Then this morning I found it - in the phone pocket of my laptop bag. Go, as one might say, figure...

Enjoy!

Up and out at the crack, lovely morning, but I didn't appreciate being reminded of rush hour traffic! Off to Sainsbury's to get a 40" TV I saw yesterday for £199. They'd gone back up to full price today but the nice lady let me have one at the old price. Now I can watch GPs and Julie can watch her American crime shows in France. 40" is very big, isn't it? Regarding Borough Market junction, yesterday I received a set of 15" to the foot maps of Bermondsey and Rotherhithe in 1872 and 1914. As you'd expect, massive changes due to the blitz and slum clearance - I'd love to witness it back then. London Bridge station has a turntable in amongst the approach roads, which is odd. It's on the 1872 and 1914 maps, presumably it stayed until the end of steam. It seems to be on the LBSCR side. Anyone know the truth?

Thanks Neil, Jock. I think the brushcutter is in for a visit to the repairman, and possibly demotion to second-line duties (edges and round fence posts).

Speaking of line strimmers - can a 2-stroke petrol engine run backwards? Using my brushcutter in France and the strimmer head fell off, which is theoretically impossible as the head rotates clockwise but the head screws on anti-clockwise (left hand thread) so can't come loose. But it did, and flew off. I found the head but not the fixing screw and button. The only thing I can think of is that the b*gger was running backwards - or am I missing something obvious?

Further making the point: http://www.ebay.com/itm/181440050027?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 That's at £12.50 plus £3.50 postage. It's available for £9 from 5&9's website (if they are still in business) + £3 p&p.

I did actually rise earlier, but I've been doing other stuff - so good morning all, but belated. Weather lovely. I'm so glad I don't have to drive through Wimbledon to work any more! No more backpackers falling in the road/crossing without looking/standing looking confused. My preoccupation was finishing JK Rowling/Robert Galbraith's new novel, The Silkworm. A good, solid old-fashioned detective novel with some interesting characters and plot twists. Decent. Also bemused by the apparent lack of a sense of humour of some on here (not in ERs)...

I can't for the life of me see why anyone should be unsure of the meaning of my earlier post...

Quite. Which is, presumably, why people will happily bid more for some items than they could buy them for new or from the manufacturer. I knew of someone who made a killing at Christmas by offering items from Argos - he even nicked Argos' pictures - and adding 10%. When people bid for them he went and bought them from Argos, added his percentage and charged for postage. Or so I was told. Like so much to do with ebay it may not be all it seems. >edit< Crossed in the post with Darren, but I completely agree. Their idea of a 'rare' Dapol wagon is elastic and liberal...

Aaargh! My eyes! "A friend of mine who did the DCC Sound conversion that the respay is an exceelnet job, and that if he had done it he would ahve been proud of it."

I wonder how many of us, in our grandparenthood, have used our digital cameras to record the new generation in everything it does, capturing so many fleeting moments and amusing expressions, and then mused how much we would have liked to have had such technology when our children were small? Or even when we were small...

Aaaargh! Completely overslept - missed the time for my injections by several hours... Meant to be out shopping by 10, then doing some form filing then F1. All out the windoow now. Impressed by Dave's photo output - I only managed 249 at grandson's party. Which was wonderful, but more of that later.

A neighbour brought my GBL subscription locos round this morning. They had apparently been left on the front doorstep because I wasn't it... There was an N gauge loco in the bag - an Amtrak thingy - so that's up for swapsies as well!