runs as required

I've got to post on ERs' page 4-4-4-4. Isn't that some extremely sexy Pennsy high steppin streamliner with divided drive? Glad that op went well Jock. My! But they kept you in a long time. Hereaboots the hard men al discharge themselves early for fear of thar them Hospital Bugs. Altogether now in the the chorus: "Do yer b@ls hang low? Can you swing them to and fro? Can you....etc. etc. dh

Sure it will all go well today Jock despite the early start. And divvunt get worrited afterwards by the sight of blue low hanging gonads balls - they soon revert to normal dh.

Quite alright SM. Geordieland is after all another country - slotted in between Tees & Tyne (some of our most famous sons like Gooch and the Armstrongs have gone off to sort other folks problems) dh

Its great to be back home, waking up in your own bed with Christmas and 6oo miles of crowded motorway under yer belt (cr@p pun intended). Getting back to our gaunt old stone house at dusk last night, getting some fires going was like Mole in "Wind in the Willows" returning to Mole End. The drive up through Yorkshire was nowhere near as bad as we’d feared (my son once was marooned overnight at Borough Bridge by flooding of the A1M). But it was very shocking to learn on the news that the bridge at Tadcaster had collapsed only a few miles to the east of us around the time we were crossing the Wharfe at Wetherby. Something like he War Damage Commission of the 1940s seems called for. to address the results of climate change on an equitable National level - though I suppose we don't have the stomach for such joined-up National thinking anymore. I didn't appreciate the invitation addressed to me awaiting my return, to attend a viewing of new 'Assisted Living Accommodation' where I can 'choose your own furniture' and get 'help with derssing'. Is it bl*%dy Google that tips them the wink? Its been good to catch up with the genuine ER contributors' posts; my thoughts are with you. dh

Your aggressive answer to Coachman sounds exactly like the reason my (diminutive) nurse/practitioner neighbour changed her small Nissan for some enormous Chelsea tractor to sit up higher to avoid being intimidated by Big 8 wheeler tipper drivers.Is there too much testosterone on the roads these days. dh

Former Buxton-Ashbourne was LNW, quite a late consolidation of the network because they'd bought the Cromford and used the route (More or less) from Ladmanlow, via the quarries to Parsley Hay. They ran an LNW London Euston express once a day from Buxton via Ashbourne, Uttoxeter and Stafford. Quicker than via Edgely but a lot slower than from Buxton Midland station via Millers Dale and Derby. We used to use the line to go pot-holing from Whaley Bridge. Coachman did a book on the line. Lovely photos - feel quite homesick, then I remember the horrendous Peak District traffic All the best dh Ed typos etc on wife's ipad

No not at all Its really Good to hear from you! dh

1 The longest night has passed, we're over halfway through the shortest day....Yippee ! R U familiar with this side elev of a bedpan diagram? I always assumed sunrise/sunset times were a constant progression through to the equinox and on to the summer solstice till I found this on the web. I once built school classrooms requiring careful sunshading at Entebbe on the Equator. Days & nights are of equal length throught the year - but it interested me that sunrise/sunset times vary on a curve oscilating up and down between Dec and July through the year. 2 Just heard an excellent programme on the background to "Fairyrtale of New York" on Radio 4 while stuck in traffic on the Western Bypass. It included the 1982 Poges accordian player on his recollections of composing the song - it was one of the band's wives that said "cut the sea shanty carp about returning Rovers... Concentrate on singing about the Christmas family row!" Worth catching on iPlayer dh

Thanks, Ive got that - but I understood there were simulated tests that would-be drivers use on line to battle harden prepare themselves. dh

OK! My Christmas Present from my Mondeo back seat driver has been sorted: An hour long appraisal course for me with the driving instructor I talked to post #1239 - booked for after the New Year, just before my 78 birthday. Now what's the best way to bone up on contemporary theory? (this thread identifies theory as a particular weakness among drivers) dh

Thats a very good suggestion by Teaky about the dense shrub planting close to the house/window. We were forced into this a few years back because of inconsiderate neighbours thoughtlessly felling (TPOd) trees and opening up a hideous view of carp sixties building. It did wonders for the small bird population who feed close to the window and retreat deep down into the depths in freezing weather. dh

I'm sorry for you having to witness 'Nature - RED in tooth in claw' It is a funny business us humans watching Nature... Only last September the church members next door to us were lamenting the lack of young fledgling sparrow hawks in the churchyard for the first time anyone can remember (they emit a strangely unearthly screechy wailing noise). The knowledgable put it down to the steady loss of the churchyard's large old horse chestnut (conker) trees due to disease. This winter we have noticably more tits and wrens feeding off the remaining seeds and cotoneaster berries outside the kitchen window. Is it just the warm weather? You've set me wondering... dh

The longest night tonight. But with the unnatural warmth strange things are afoot awing - even up at Tyneside latitudes. Currently we are treated to a dawn chorus sometime after 05.30H (its not light for another two hours twenty mins or so). As for rooks, they seem to be flying around late night 23.00H as well as in the pre dawn hours. But a sudden cold snap will cause them all to conserve energy! dh

i rather enjoyed our "professional advice" about bats.She introduced herself as "Batwoman" having arrived from Hexham driving her Batmobile - a 1950s half-timbered Morris Minor Traveller. We were flattered to be told that 'ours' were rather special...but I'm ashamed to say I've forgotten why. [ NB It may be that the noises in the loft are creatures stirring up there, awakening from winter hibernation with the unseasonal high temperatures.]

Its good to see from your post that the ferry still operates. I'd assumed that since the closure of Tilbury Riverside and the doubling of the Dartford crossing, the ferry had gone. A highlight of my teen years (1952) was biking down from the High Peak to my Essex grandma near Maldon then, next day crossing on the ferry to Gravesend which, as I pushed my (3 speed) BSA Golden Wings ashore, seemed like entering an exotic foreign land! My destination was my other grandad who'd retired to a tiny flat overlooking Rye. dh

This post of your relationship with the 'Derbyshire' prompts me to say that the loss of that ship still resonates here in the North East. My wife spent many years of her professional life in South Shields Marine and Tech., where many had connections with the ship. Its unexplained disappearance took far too long to be resolved for those left grieving. dh

That was the trouble with all our family's dogs (all Heinz loo brushes - except one, an abandoned Doberman in E Africa - and all strays) - no matter how much you put yourself out for them, it was NEVER enough.They'd all look at you with "is that all?" After walks/stick throwing/food/tickles on the tum/rides in the car... dh

Hope you returned with a Christmas supply of excellent Staffs oatcakes from that characterful shop in Leek.Best Wishes dhig

I always understood that Paris was the classic example of what geographers term 'Primacy' - but I agree we Londoners have caught up a lot since since I left town in 1947. (and in terms of being unique among developed countries, does Copenhagen have a rival? Or Prague?) dh Ed: and Helsinki ?

If anything were to get censored by an Apple iPad it ought to be 'a gh###ka c####y' ...aha!...it's worked! That feels a lot more comfortable. dh

A pretty terrible day as a porter/baggage handler 'in attendance' upon wife at Gateshead's Metro Centre while she darted hither and thither blasting through her Christmas shopping list (she having finished work yesterday). The only incident worth posting was nearly being run down by the mall's 'train'. It had a really interesting sound of a 2 cylinder loco working hard against the collar.There was a very sharp exhaust and it was being well controlled - very nearly losing its feet but recovering quickly without spinning its wheels about every 2 shopfronts. The young woman driving couldn't have looked more bored. Delighted about Harvey. dh

i didn't realise Landy was rude. Wife had a very prim great aunt who rescued spiders from the Manchester docks and kept them in her garden shed in Chorlton ###### Hardy. dh Ed: see? Landy's not as rude as Chorlton cwm Hardy!

That is exactly the reason why paying for what you actually consume should be introduced.At the risk of being political all this stuff about Benefits and EU migrants today wouldn't be necessary if National Insurance was still National Insurance. dh

Good Grief Dave !What an iron constitution - out on that bike along Morridge in this murky weather still retching! Those young softies on the Tour d F don't know true Moorlands Grit. Why not keep that 'Anniversary' Dinner to enjoy together when all the present hassle is behind you. dh

I remember the argument against that for pricing road usage was that for me and my Mondeo in urban Tyneside it was a whole lot cheaper than for for folks' Mondeos in remote spots like Alston (who many argued should pay nothing for rural road use). dh