BSW01

Evening everyone Well I managed to get the paint out of storage and I even managed to paint the ceiling before Sheila got back from her Zumba class, all I have to do is repaint the walls and it’s done, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. As we were both at the opticians in the afternoon, I made dinner, nothing fancy, just a sandwich, whilst Sheila was having a shower. But it did mean that it was on the table ready for her to eat as soon as she came downstairs. My eye test went ok, the change was so slight I don’t need new glasses. But unfortunately Sheila wasn’t so lucky, it turns out she has cataracts in both of her eyes and also has blipharitis too! So she has to go back in 6 months for another check up. If it gets worse in that shirt time, she will have to have surgery, something she’s not looking forward to that at all! This evening I was able to go open water swimming for the first time this year. So I handed my pass in, with what I thought had 5 swims remaining and was told that you have to use them all in the season that you bought them. Naturally I challenged this as I wasn’t told at the time that they had to be used in the season, nor does it say that on their website. The supervisor had a look on the website and she couldn’t find anything that stated that either! So she let me in tonight and has emailed her boss (and copied me in as well) to get clarification on the rest. So I’m now awaiting to here from the boss, I’ll be a bit miffed if they don’t honour them. That aside, I had a really good swim, managing to do 1k in about 30 minutes, which is the furthest I’ve swam (without a break) all year. Goodnight all

Fool If You Think It’s Over - Chris Rea

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly - Ennis Morricone

The sun is out, it looks lovely from the bedroom window! So far I’ve filled in all the cracks in the ceiling, there wasn’t many, the wall paper has also been re-attached, so I’m enjoying a muggertea while it drys. Then I’ll go and find the paint required to touch up the ceiling and the walls. Back later.

Comes And Goes - Dan Fogelberg

Good morning everyone The day has started out a bit dull, but the old currant bun is trying desperately to reveal itself, I think it will manage it! Today I’m making a start on correcting the small amount of damage that was caused when the condensate pipe froze on the boiler a couple of months ago. When ever we’ve had any sort of water damage in the past, I’ve always left it a couple of months before doing any remedial work, so that everything has dried out thoroughly. I had a quick look yesterday afternoon and it looks like it will just be a case of putting in a little filler where there are is a few hairline cracks in the ceiling above the bedroom door. Re-attaching the wall paper and then repainting the ceiling area and the walls directly below. The plan today is to refit the wall paper and fill the cracks in the ceiling. This afternoon both Sheila and I are at the opticians, she is having her diabetic eye test and I’m having the standard eye test. But for now, she is off to her Zumba class leaving me to get on with the above. Back later.

Living In The Past - Jethro Tull

Good evening everyone Well that’s another loco that now has sound chip in it, it only took me a couple of hours after breakfast before it was completed, tested and reprogrammed. I also had a look at one of my Battle of Britain which seemed to be acting up last time I ran it, but all was ok. So from that I assume I’d made a mistake myself whilst I was running it. This afternoon we had Ava, Evie and Max round for tea as is now the norm for a Wednesday. But for a change, I didn’t have to take them home, instead Vickie and Ian came to pick them up. They stopped for a while and we had a good old catch up, which was really nice. Once they’d all gone home, we opened up a bottle of chilled white wine and sat a watched a couple of Chelsea flower show programs. Tony and Aditi. Have a great trip. Goodnight all

Midnight Blues - Gary Moore

Good morning everyone It’s another beautiful sunny day here in the northwest, my first task will be to retrieve the bins from wherever the binmen have left them! Then it’s off to the workshop to continue working on the 2nd N15. Chrisf. I went for an appointment for my hormone shot once and the appointment hadn’t been logged in on the system, a few words, spoken loudly enough for everyone to hear, but not in an angry way, about it being my regular cancer treatment and time sensitive, soon sorted it out and I ended up seeing a doctor, within 30 minutes! Back later

Good evening everyone Once again some more progress has been made on fitting the sound decoder in the first of my N15s, which I renamed a few years ago Sir Brian (I couldn’t resist that one). This is now complete, it has been reprogrammed and is now ready to go. Work has now been started on the 2nd of my N15s. So far, the engine has been completely rewired and and a 4 pin plug fitted and the 4 pin socket has been fitted in the tender. The bogies have also been rewired, mounting holes for the speaker fixing screws and the decoder socket have been drilled, as well as holes for the sound to escape. Tomorrow will be mainly wiring everything up and testing etc. Goodnight all.

Man Of The World - Fleetwood Mac

The Streak - Ray Stevens Don’t look Ethel!

Good morning everyone It’s yet another beautiful sunny day here in the northwest, last nights rain was but a mere shower and lasted for only a few minutes. I’m off to the workshop too do some more fitting/tinkering with sound decoders in locos that were not designed to have sound decoders fitted in them. Back later

Goodnight all

Nothing But The Marvellous Is Beautiful - Lindisfarne

Good evening everyone Well, great progress has been made today with the sound decoders that I got on Saturday (I’ve now got my 3rd sound decoder to fit, as the one I ordered on Thursday arrived this morning). The one I put in the S15 yesterday is now complete, the engine completely reassembled and working fine. I then made a start on one of the N15s and found that the decoder wouldn’t fit inside the loco at all. So after a rethink, I’ve decided to put the lot in the tender. There’s plenty of room in there, it just means a bit more work. So far, I’ve completely rewired the loco, and fitted a standard Hornby 4 pin plug and I’ve also fitted a matching socket in the tender, as well as fitting the 8 pin decoder socket in there too. Throughout this work I constantly checked and double checked the pickup wiring, which is a good thing, as for some unknown reason the colour coding of the tender pickups is reversed and certainly not to NMRA standards. So tomorrow I’m going to rewire both of the bogies using black cable, I’ll also make them long enough to reach the socket directly and not via a join. I’ve also drilled holes in the tender base for the sound to escape and holes for the speaker mounting screws. Bl00dy typical, after spending about 15 minutes this afternoon watering all the pots in the back garden, it’s now raining. Brian. Glad you’ve got your car sorted out, well, in a fashion anyway. OD and Sherry Welcome back, it’s been far too long.

It could be worse, you could’ve been the god of hell fire!

Good morning everyone It’s another beautiful sunny day here today and my plans are to spend most of it in the workshop. Just waiting for Sheila to depart for her Zumba class and them I’m off. Back later.

Good evening everyone Yet another glorious sunny day here in the Northwest. After a short lie-in this morning, I had every intention of heading straight to the workshop to make a start on fitting the sound decodes I purchased yesterday. However, my first task was to have a look at one of our sofas, as when I got up to go to bed last night I heard what sounded like a spring breaking. Sure enough once I’d removed the bottom of it I found two broken springs, I assume one must have broken some time ago without either of us noticing. A quick look at how the springing was achieved (they are zig-zag springs not coil springs) and where the breaks were (1” from the end), I soon formulated a way of repairing them. I added a small piece of wood to the main sofa frame and attached the springs to the new piece of wood, which resolved the problem. It’s also a lot more comfortable now too, result! Once that was done it was off to the workshop, where I finally got round to dismantling the old dexion shelving unit and finished off putting everything away. But by then it did mean that the whole morning was gone, without any sort of modelling being done, but such is life! After dinner I headed of to the workshop and decided to fit one of the decoders into my S15. On appear this should have been a simple job, but it in reality turned out differently. One of the wires that goes to each of the tenders bogie pickups passed through the hole that is for the fixing screws that attach speaker body to the tender chassis. So I dis-connected both wires, one at a a time, redirected them through the holes meant for the pickup wires and re-soldered them back to the pickups. I then fitted the speaker, plugged in the decoder and tested it, everything worked ok, so I then reprogrammed the decoder to match the loco number. By now, time had marched on quite a bit, so I just plugged the second decoder into the decoder socket in the tender and tested to make sure it worked. Once I was satisfied it did I packed up for the day. The two N15s I want to do next will take a bit more work, as both of them are the older type, which have the decoder socket in the engine and not the tender, as in the S15. But, as it’s easier to put the speaker in the tender, I’ll have to make a socket for the two wires that will bridge the gap between the engine and the tender. Time for bed now, goodnight all.

Song For The Lovers - Richard Ashcroft

Good evening everyone I hope you’ve all had a good day in what has been a glorious sunny day here. Well we both had a good day at the show, Max had some money with him that was burning a hole in his pocket. But he wisely walked round all the stalls first before parting with his cash and ended up buying 2 Hornby Mk II coaches for £10.00, he was very pleased and excited with his buy! I on the other hand managed to pick up a brace of Hornby TTS S15 sound chips for £70.00, so guess what I’m planning on doing tomorrow morning? Whilst we were there Max and I had a walk round the transport museum itself, Max says that he enjoyed that the most. Although he also said enjoyed the ride on the vintage buses and the metro too! NB. Sorry I missed you Mick! Goodnight all.

Rocky Mountain Way - Joe Walsh

Good morning everyone It’s a sunny start to the day, currently 10C and due to get warmer around 22C. I’ve not even bothered turning the radio on this morning, I can’t listen to all that constant drivel and we never switch the TV on until the early evening news is due to start. Breakfast has now been consumed and I’m just finishing off a large muggertea and a glass of orange juice, then it’s off to meet Max at the train station. From there it’s on to Manchester Transport Museum and the model Railway exhibition. Should be a good day, I’m sure he’ll enjoy it, mind you, so sure I will too! Back later

Everyone I Meet Is From California - America