alastairq

A few interesting observations from a retired [as in, a Not-work pensioneer]....civil servant, on the goings-on in the Civil Service.... Courtesy of Private EYe [bless it] It seems, the Home Office is intent on utilising technology to keep tabs on its own staff? Following a Govt-wide fatwah..Civil Servants are expected to go into their offices at least three days a week. {They work from home for the balance of days, one presumes? .....I could never get my head around working-from-home in my particular job.....but it seemed, many tried...?} Home Orifice managers are using stuff like log-in counts, etc, to check up on the attendance of staff. This, despite the fact that for many Home Office establishments, there isn't enough actual desk space for all staff members to be in attendance at the same time! [At the establishment where I worked, for some 140 grade D Instructional Officers....there would rarely be more than 2 working computers for the use of. That made course paperwork, completion of personal courses, etc, quite, erm, fraught with difficulties at times...Indeed, our place of work couldn't accommodate everybody if none were on leave, or off sick...] As a result, Home Office managers are frantically trying to tempt staff to come into work Mondays and Fridays.....To avoid an over-abundance of, to use the Civil Service love of acronyms....what are known as '' T..W..a..Ts ... [This who come in on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.} This whole regime has upset those staff who have been going into work every day, for a long time now......They are finding their bases so overcrowded, there is absolute chaos, and very little actual 'work' gets done...

An old work-chum[colleague in modern parlance]...used to swear at/by Peugeot 504s... Many decades ago he had the misfortune to get caught right in the middle of a hundred vehicle pile-up in fog on the M1.....driving home in a Peugeot 504. From the midst of all the surrounding wreckage, his was the only vehicle able to be driven home... [Ok, so it was dented front, back and sides.....but that didn't stop it being able to maintain most of the roadworthiness functions to carry on. As I understood him, the lights were a bit of an issue afterwards, however... Sadly he passed away not long back]

Odd how the 'view' of the Marina changes from when they were 'new', to today's disparaging approaches? Personally, I never found anything untoward about any of the Marina's....or their offspring, that I had the use of...back in the day. Especially the smaller engined versions [1275cc?]

Despite my best diversionary efforts, it's patently not working....

Getting back to the themes prevalent on this thread [one of the few I actually look for on RMweb, , so thank you, Edwardian, for creating it] my local town has acquired a new town mayor. i am not sure what political colour she claims to be.....but...oh dear! I don't think she's in Rory Stewart's league.....but one never knows....

Geeze.....that effect just about sums up 98% of drivers and riders out on our public highways..... Can it be dealt with via the NHS?

Often fast food works out cheaper than doing stuff oneself. When one factors-in the costs of actually getting to the raw materials, purchasing only what was needed, rather than what the retailer dictates...Then the cost in terms of time , in preparation [time being a cost item as has been so often spouted on this whole forum, when modelling?}...and the cost of fuel in the cooking or preserving[fridges, for example....mine is probably more than 20 years old now]...of the food..... Suddenly, fast food takes on a whole new perspective. [Not everybody can afford to be selective or choosey, either....Whether in the choice of what fast food, or the type of food prepared] The so-called benefits world is a lot smaller than the politicians [or the reactionaries?] would have us all believe. What is to be considered is, whether actually going out and seeking [any form of?] employment may be a lot less 'cost-effective'' than imagined. What with the 'gig' economy driving the lower end of the workplace, especially, then actually trading one's labour for a little pay suddenly seems a lot less attractive. But that is what has happened to the work-market.... When my son was in the FE sector, going to a local college, he was amazed at how many fellow 'students' actually were 'compelled' to be there by the so-called 'benefit' rules....and who really didn't want to be there in the first place. All about political appearances, and shifting the 'social' costs from one area to another within the economy. What is missing from the workplace market, is the 'dignity' attached to even the lowest paid , or most menial, jobs. Dignity mostly disposed of by employers.....but with a society so in lurve with property ownership [a fallacy in reality...most everyone being tied to the mortgage millstone [In French, ''Death-pledge''......which sums up the reality if things such as one's 'life plans' don't go according to the rules?]}....who are so intolerant of those whom they 'see' as leeching off the 'State'....[Baroness Mone being a high flying example of this in my view...putting sink estate inhabitants to shame, surely?]... Too much ''A-levels, gap year, Uni'' shoyte for my way of thinking, in our society. I returned my driving licence vocational categories [c+E, D+E, etc] when the medicals went to 'annual', to remove the temptation to take on all the part time work that was being thrown my way...when I removed myself from the workplace market [to make room for up & comin' youngsters...which didn't happen 'cos they didn't fulfil the entry criteria....]...that the posh oldies call 'retirement'...but which I refuse to label myself with...even for convenience... Instead of bashing the benefits level of our social pond life, I wish folk would repeatedly bash the opposite end of the thieving, conniving, spectrum of society..the overpaid so-called 'bosses?'' There, rant over.... All of which, so depresses me when I read my latest issue of Private Eye...

I think the Minx had the same shell as the 'unter..[Arrow?]....I had a Minx once, very briefly, a real wreck of a car, nice to drive { at the time, and still today, I am firmly in the camp of 'movement' being more important than 'how fast'...] Compared to the Hunter or Sunbeam, to drive, I thought the Minx felt like being a much lighter car....less tank-like than the Hunter. Maybe it was because the headlights were round, and smaller? Or a lot less undesirable [in my view] gucci trim inside...? {If I wanted a sumptuous interior I'd go to furniture village for a sit-down}.......I prefer just to have some sort of seat to sit on, that doesn't squeeze my bum into a pout in the process, too... On a hot day, a bucket seat could glue one's bumcheeks together....

An interesting sideshow, given our recent est-steamed PM's statements on the prospect of the reinstatement of 'national service'.....? https://www.kyivpost.com/post/33127 [ Conscientious Objectors] Despite the views of the more elderly members of this parish regarding 'bringing back national service'...iE, conscription by any other name......my view is, it wont work, and I don't believe our military actually 'want' it. The problem is, one pressed person is worth a thousand volunteers.....or something like that! It worked well up to, and in the aftermath of, WW2...but our social structure was vastly different back in that era.... compared to how things are today. It works to an extent today in Israel because military service [IE, defence of your land] has been built into their social fabric repeatedly for generations...but is starting to crack around the edges [advent of social media, perhaps?] these days.... I think Sunak's pronouncements are pure fringe vote winners [or, at the very least, put a spanner in the works for Starmer?]...and to my mind smacks of virtual compulsory post-18 adult education for all. Let's face it, if a young individual wishes to 'do their bit' then there's always the military reserves...?[Territorials, as was....RAF reserve, etc] Maybe we'll see hooligans in Civil Defence roles? Instead of local politics? The costs of so-called national service would be horrendous as well...Given that such a course of action also impacts on the stats for unemployment, etc etc, should the MoD be the only department to foot the bill? Why not the DW&P? Given the underfunding record for current adult education provision, how on earth will national service give youngsters 'skills' etc that cannot be delivered under the present system? Nope, I fear, the UK society has left all this far too late to work, let alone work well. When the numbers of ''national service would sort the hooligans out [it never did even back then]....brigade...[the 'never did me any 'arm' voters, will be dwindling day by day, as they khark it whilst on NHS waiting lists.... Can we still vote posthumously?

https://peco-uk.com/products/rail-spikes?variant=7435658133538 Peco do track spikes [rail spikes] in their Individulay range. They may be slightly too 'coarse' for your needs, though?

I thought grommets had holes in their middles??

Vlad doesn't hold out much hope, whoever forms our next government [it will likely be Labour....but would that be a ''change for the better?'']

Being a trials enthusiast [ but too short of cash to still compete]....and a member of the Motorcycling Club [ MCC...UK's oldest...almost, beaten I believe by a few weeks for incorporation, by the Midland Automobile Club {MAC} but we are talking about the 1902 period!} I get to see a lot of what are now really old trials photos. The really noticeable changes are the sheer numbers of spectators in the past....and the way they dress. Drivers and passengers, who will have been 'competing' for 10 or 12 hours before the photos might have been taken [long distance classic reliability trials...Land's End, Exeter, & Edinburgh trials, still being run today, by the MCC]..yet the dress code still prevails, of a shirt and tie, jacket or suit, and maybe some sort of hat! Even noticeable amongst nearly all the crowds of spectators.....long macks as well....and wellies if muddy! Ladies dress to a similar standard too....hats, coats, etc. and long macks.... Motorcyclists seemed to favour long, heavy, no doubt water proof, coats.. The roads & tracks used for the observed sections [only rallies have 'stages'.....] are today, perhaps a lot rougher in nature.....but a lot of the vehicles seen competing, do not seem to have 'changed' much over the course of time...

Is the car behind the Cit-roen a Holden?

Nice little Berkeley sports car...a 4 wheeler, possibly a B95 or B105....

My 'name tag', something we were all 'expected' to wear [be nice to the boyz n girlz]...was forever being found and returned to my line manager [ a soul-destroying job if ever there was one......I made it so]... Sometimes he would hand me several..... I even pointedly and vociferously refused to wear one if they couldn't even spell my name correctly [they spelt as they thought it was spelt, not how it was spelt in my employment record....].... That was the trouble when a menial was given the task of producing the name tags.... I never wore a tie, either.... I cannot recall anybody who didn't actually know who I was.....[If I came across an ignoramus, I wouldn't talk to them anyway.]

The ''what we started with'' photo reminds me of an old chum, who built an F-type Morgan three wheeler....[I helped provide the rebuilt Ford sidevalve engine..in this case, an upgrade to a Ford 100E].. All he started with was one chassis side member, and the gearbox.... The gearbox number being the 'identifier' for what we now know as the VIN? The rest...other side member, cross frame [front], suspension, wheels...and eventually, some body parts , came from trawling spares lists. The front spindles he had turned by another chum with a shed at the bottom of his garden.....from old Austin half shafts, marked EN8, sourced from me... There never was very much to any old Morgan.... {Even my '39 4/4 wasn't much more than some woodwork, channel steel chassis, etc....Worst bit being the engine...But it ran, drove, could do 70 mph, and currently looks immaculate...but not now owned by me.] The Morgan propshaft, twixt engine and gearbox, was soldered together... Those Vee-twin engines could be tuned to produce phenomenal power....

A real ''gettouttatheway'' instrument?

Hello...Worth checking out Neil's ''Rushby's Railways'' blog [if that is the correct terminology?]...there's a photo in their of Fishquay's track layout...[Sorry about the spelling Neil......]

To be a hairytick, I find that era of Pontiac to be particularly , erm, ugly? [Mid to late 1970's?] I much prefer the Pontiacs of the mid to late 1960's for beauty of line....So what went 'wrong' in Detroit?

I think the description ''hairy'' might be added to that?

Didn't the diesel Mk2 Fiesta introduce new levels of understeer?

I suspect there were 4 or 5 way stub turnouts in yards/loco sheds in the USA...?

Could some of that discrepancy be down to the size of the flanges on the Lima wheels?

When working{?} as a civil servant [ a loose description indeed]....I was tickled by the habit of the CS to regularly demand to know my ethnicity. Usually came around every year or so [depending on which comic had pressed the wrong key somewhere in Cheshire, or Bath..and deleted everybody's personal records....?]! I mean, to someone who spent the previous 25 years as a bus driver, the concept of being able to alter one's ethnicity at the stroke of a computer key was amusing to say the least. [Not having been or never likely to be, a desk wallah, I failed to understand the intricacies involved] Even more amazing to my limited intellect was the fact that, in a job where I came under regular scrutiny from the security brigade, the fact that I had suddenly become Chinese seemed to escape them.... Nobody ever uttered a bean, when I completely changed my ethnicity every other year or so..... The same when we had to fill in security forms now & then..... Most of us had real problems getting through the forms, which would not allow us to progress until the previous pages had been completed satisfactorily... A real problem as most of us had parents who were long deceased.....but the format didn't recognise that fact [presuming, I suppose, we were all 20-somethings fresh from Uni?].......and that's where progression stopped....the forms demanded to know where our [deceased] parents lived... Nobody had a postcode for the Pearly Gates...