alastairq

Many years ago, whilst a London Transport bus driver, I recall being in traffic going around the New Cross [Marquis of Granby] gyratory system...with dozens {?} of other buses, as well as traffic. Not moving very fast at all, I noted a 'runner' dash out into the busy road, trying to catch a bus not too far on front of me....the bus was just picking up speed [sort-of]...These were the days when rear entrance buses ruled the roost! Anyhow, said fella sprints down the road in front of me, gaining on the bus in front. He leapt for the platform just as the bus suddenly stopped for traffic reasons. However, he misjudged his aim, and, with the bus suddenly halting, found himself spread-eagled across the back window of the bus..the conductor looking out at him through the glass, somewhat amazed...as the runner slowly slid down to the ground. The bus got 5 bells, so stayed put....I stopped as well, just clear of the fella's legs [no drama there]...The conductor of the bus in front got off, went round and picked the fella up, who, by now, was looking somewhat dazed. Fella then looked up at the rear destination blind, and decided he didn't actually want that bus after all, so staggered off...

Has anybody noticed the recent spate of TV adverts, encouraging everybody to crowd into the home of [invade the space of?] one's nearest and dearest old & vulnerable person? What hope does our society have, of avoiding the Stupid Club's clutches, if so blatantly encouraged to go back to hugging again? With any stranger? Or, robbing our old & vulnerable of their valuable, clean, bug-free oxygen? Sadly I cannot get R4, on my 40 year old transistor thingy, with it's tinny sounds. [Sunday evenings, a sad part to the weekend, and ''sing something simple'' just commencing? Guaranteed to give me a downer!!] {I say ''40 years old''...it was 2nd hand when I got it, 40 years ago!!!] Every mention of R4, though, brings forth memories of a pleasant time in my life, when I would travel across the Pennines with my railroad models, in my Renault R4....to visit with others of a like mind [NMRA british Region]... The R4 would also get me home again, jiggedy jigg....[when the weather conspired to strand a thousand others on the M62!]

i was thinking of 'new' as in, previously not contaminated..... 2nd hand cars may be appreciating due to shortages of computer gear for new cars , [shame on us as ''drivers'' that we are led to think we need such stuff, anyway?}..but if I want a 'previously abused' car I'll stick with sub-£1000 or thereabouts for a ''daily..'' I 'need' something I can use as a daily...not for reliability reasons, or technology reasons, but, largely, for insurance reasons. In my experience, cars [vehicles] , despite how 'new' they may be, can be equally as prone to conking out as any 40 or 60 year old vehicle. To substantiate my views, just take a look at the 'reliability' surveys for new vehicles? [JDPower, or Honest John, or similar?] If I had just paid £50k or thereabouts for a brand new car, to have it back to the dealers to mend this that or t'uther within a matter of months [Land Rover Products, anyone?] I would indeed be well miffed!!! It matters not that the dealer will 'pay' for all the fixing-up that needs to be done....I would still have the inconvenience and uncertainty! To me, the luxury advantage of any brand new car would be the feeling that I'd get, knowing that I would be the 'first-to-fart-inside it.' Otherwise, anything not brand-new, would be second hand....regardless of age or model...and I would view it as such...Used & Abused... {I don't believe all that pre-loved nonsense spouted by the effete of the automotive world.]

Work? What's that when its at home??? https://www.yorkshireclassiccarcentre.co.uk/ It's at Snaith, just a bit behind Goole....

Dunno about anyone else [and this might be the wrong thread for this observation?] but, thinking about INFLATION.....has anyone noticed how the UK's cheapest [& best value] new car, the Dacia Sandero, has rocketed in price from the circa £6K of a couple of years ago, to around £10K today? Plus, it's still the cheapest new car on the UK market??? How come folk think that circa £20K is a 'reasonable' price for any new car?? I thought, a couple of years ago, I'd flog me Mustang [it was only ever a way of hiding a small amount of capital]....and maybe buy a basic Sandero...5 or 6K seemed to me a reasonable price for a no frills new car to see me out of this mortal coil? But, hey, guess what? Even the UK's cheapest [and best value] new car is rapidly going out of my price range!! Plus, can I as 'eckaslike get a new car without such trivia as aircon, or connectivity, or cruise control, or assisted stopping & steering...! Especially one that my ever-stiffening 6 foot plus frame can get into with dignity [and get out of, with similar?} I don't like the idea of having stuff like connectivity [car becomes a tablet??]...since, even though I can IGNORE it all....it will still have to function correctly when it comes time to part with the car.....even if I didn't want the stuff in the first place? Which is my not-unreasonable beef about all the kit that is foisted upon us potential 'new' car buyers......kit which obviously comes at a price which folk like me shouldn't have to be paying for??? Sorry, rant over...but I do NOT like sales people telling me what I need or want or should have, in a new motorcar!! I'd sooner the car costs a lot less, without all that gubbins that will never ever, ever get used! {By me!]

They also have a not so bad Triumph Toledo in stock as well...needs a new carpet though....

That VP Allegro doesn't seem to have been pulled up for much in the way of corrosion issues, from past MoT's....although it hasn't been presented for a couple of years now. [It doesn't need to be either] The vendor is a dealer who, I think, takes stock in on commission? Some 35 miles away from me...but it's worth a day out to take a look, I suspect? [If that's the sort of old motor one fancies? Which , I suspect, it might be?] I think the Vanden Plas editions of BL's product line were so much more classy than Ford's use of Ghia for the 'luxury' models?

This has potential indeed https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324870152096?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3D600edafeeffc422889ef2831cfe31adf%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D7%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D114892108015%26itm%3D324870152096%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3Ac472c7f5-4148-11ec-b2a1-fee247bf386c|parentrq%3A04446cf617d0ab8edbc46893fff4f3ca|iid%3A1 HAs the £3K become the new 500 quid banger class? The above has potential in my eyes...the stickers can be removed [hot air guns?] and those wheels & tyres replaced by steels and chromed hubcaps. Not an automatic, i admit, but, with a bit of fettling, and nice bit of typically British luxury inside? I liked those Vanden Plas Allegros...and in all honesty, the Allegro isn't a bad car to drive, either. Black paint isn't bad to fettle up either.....easier to match than other obscure colours? The 1500 motor [first sign of modernism in my view, from BL?] has umpty enough to keep ahead of modern traffic......and at least you can hear this car coming down the road, unlike the new age of lectricmobiles? [Smiths, anyone? ]

Would that have belonged to one of the wealthy Maharajahs? I seem to think they used to indulge in fanciful bodies on RR chassis?

These days, of older age and inflexibility, I'd now prefer the Iso Rivolta...

I last had flu back when the country was being ravaged by Mexican [or, swine?] flu. The NHS [public health?] had instituted a system whereby one rang a number, and a course of Tamiflu was inserted into one's letterbox. I tried the Tamiflu, as directed....and got appreciably 'worse'.... I also contacted [out of hours, offline, so to speak] my GP, who rang 2 days later [from his home, it was Christmas]...and told me to stop taking the Tamiflu at once! The result was an almost 100% improvement in my symptoms....I still had the Mex flu, but felt a lot more able to cope [living as a singly.]... Conclusion was, my good self didn't get on with Tamiflu. I haven't had any sort of flu since... But I do have a bit of reluctance when it comes to these drugs..

Hell, no???

The '60's Mazzers were indeed beautiful things..... Far more so than today's megawatties?

Well, I thought it was! But, as you suggest, I'll ''move on''..........

Really? Maybe it's time to cease all these non-railway modelling threads altogether? Or, is this actually a community? A community where humour and levity can co-exist alongside the sensitivities of others? For without humour and levity, we are all in danger of diving down the well of deep dark depression! Especially given some of the topics??

Been there, had that! Still nothing whatsoever to do with the thoughts behind my original post, however!

BLIMEY! I'm referring to murder, not abuse!!! If a topic cannot withstand even mild humour anyway, then we are a really sad place altogether. Abuse is something entirely different, and if one is not going to dramatise {IE, make light of?} abuse, then 99% of the detective murder dramas on telly should be removed!! I never mentioned abuse at all. I never inferred abuse at all! But I'm beginning to get the impression this entire forum is becoming far too sensitive even for my eclectic tastes!!! [Plus, it is not a forum I would miss, if, even, mildly humorous thoughts get jumped upon, by someone somewhere who might find even model railways to be offensive?!! Especially for what railways have represented historically?]

Or....that might mean, that women are better at getting away with it than men????

I wonder whether more wives murder their husbands, than vice versa?

I used to as a Civil Servant...{really a bit of a title, rather than a job description]. Our local management, some years ago now, I've been retired that long.....decided they would try to include the Queen's Official Birthday 'day orff'...as part of our 'leave' entitlement. All went well for the management, until the 'powers-that-were' politely told the management they were in fact, insulting the Crown...which was a bit of a flummox for the management, seeing as they were mostly military personnel [Colonels and stuffs]...Apparently the day orff wasn't a 'holiday' for leave purposes, but a 'present' from the Queen to her loyal servants [The Civil Service]....to say 'thank you'.... I met her once, in person, and totally 'unofficially'...when she happend to 'visit' our Establishment when being flown back 'home' from an 'Official visit' , somewhere 'locally'...She got out of her car to talk to some military personnel standing nearby, and I happened to have my small son in arms, and she came over and started chatting, to myself and one or two of my colleagues....very natural, very pleasant person indeed...This was a non-public thing too....no ropes or barriers either....My son, aged nearly 4 , had been to 'work' with Daddy , on that day....and his Uncle as well [when Dad was off doing his workie things], a conflict of parental care occuring at home...[The Civil Service prided itself on providing creche facilities at all establishments......Ours was in 'name' only]........All purely by chance, as we had very little notice that Her Majesty was flying orff from our RAF spot..[we had an RAF ASR flight on site]...in a Queen's Flight hellycopflop [as my son called them at the time] The whole event made absolutely no impression on my son whatsoever...... Mind, i was the sort of 'civilian' who had a habit of calling colonels and things, 'chum'.....and they couldn't complain, either....ranks and things meaning nought in my mind...they were all bods, like my colleagues, all there to do a job using our skills....Respect was an 'earned' thing....Many military 'managers' dreaded having a mixed workforce to manage, as managing civilians was a bit like herding cats to them.....But I cannot recall one who didn't go away with a whole new outlook on life afterwards....we had a habit of 'civilianizing' them...[to quote one departing Commandant] Best 20 years of my working life, that job was. Despite the rubbish pay!

I think there's a bit of a preconceived idea of what 'living in the countryside' actually means? Where I live, we do get snow, now & again...but it's no worse than living in a town, as far as impact goes. In fact, if we get sufficient snow to make movement difficult, it becomes a 'notable event'. An old chum, similarly lives in a small [off the beaten track-type] village, and has known more snow issues than I have [yet they live but 12 miles away]....my village have a major [B road] route passing by....He has always had what might be described as a typical agricultural 4x4 or two to use in those circumstances....but has discovered, an ordinary hatchback with steel wheels and winter tyres, does the job just as well, an is easier on the pocket...and nicer to park in the local towns too. [He had a fit when he discovered exactly how much his old Series 1 Landrover was actually worth on the open market....when he thought how many times he'd been into one town or another, and simply parked it, unlocked [pointless exercise], wherever he could. Now he's almost frightened to use it!!] One other advantage of living 'out of town' in a more rural community is that, one seems to have a greater choice of local towns when it comes to using facilities? I have found, if I go to one town, I can access Lidls and Tesco, doctors, etc....and if I go in the opposite direction I can access Sainsbury's and Aldi, as well as my dentist....Going in a third direction I can access bigger stores, etc....The fact that one town may be 6 miles away, another 12 miles away, really doesn't make much difference in the greater scheme of things....Possibly because, to get to these towns, I only have to pass through one or two small villages? Maybe I'm ''lucky'' in where I am located? ButI have always lived 'rurally' since the 1970's...and found that by doing so, I actually give myself greater choices. Whereas, living in a town, one can become more internally focussed as far as facilities are concerned, with what exists within that town?

The trouble is, it takes a lot of effort to actually realise their value. Especially at a time when many feel inclined to de-clutter their lives?

Absolutely! It will continue to do so, for many years to come. However, I shall be happy to limit its usage once people stop flying around. Or China agrees to stop burning coal? But then, at over 70 years old, I guess my car's 'carbon footprint' has long since been consigned to history?

Humans.....possibly the numerically- largest consumer of sprouts?

Then you've never had to chugg along a narrow lane behind a so-called peleton of these things, huffing & puffing & farting their way through the once peaceful countryside? Besides, as far as the UK is concerned, the economic [financial] cost of taxing our beef, far outweighs the financial cost of any saving of the environment. In other words, the results would be negligible.