PupCam

Covid -ve so that's a relief ..... 😀 I feel a day of sitting down barely moving is in order, I feel the brain will be doing all (if any) of the work today. TT

Morning, I'm a true ER today. Can't sleep as the lurgy that descended on me shortly after my Covid jab the other week continues to develop. No point laying in bed not being able to sleep so here I am. It's probably Man Flu but a Covid test will be done later when I CBA. That is all .... TTFN

But you've forgotten the thing that makes it a healthy option! Where are the grilled tomatoes? Oh yes, you can definitely ditch the black pudding and if you want to substitute more bacon for the sausage be my guest ..... ION Dropped into the local garage to book Monty in for a service and an MoT in a week or so. Then ventured over to Halfrauds to buy a new set of wind-screen wiper blades. I noticed last night when we went out in the rain "down't pub" for dinner that one end of one of the rubbers had split and was flapping about a bit. I entered Monty's details into the Halfrauds screen to find out which blades I needed ...... Computer said no! It seems that Monty is now to old to trouble them with maintaining data about him. Whilst slightly annoying the assistant said I'd have to bring the blades in so that they could match them. He then enquired as to whether I'd like them to fit them (@ £5 each). Alan said no! Anyway, new blades purchased and fitted (well it would have been stupid to re-fit the old ones until I'd got home 🤣). I also bought another gallon (I suppose it's actually 5L) can of Classic Oil for the the bikes. How blxxdy much! It has been ~£20 for many years but had started to creep up in price. Today? £31! I only used to buy it there for convenience so that will be the last can I buy as I was right out. An engine running with no oil is even more expensive than a can of Halford's Classic. Now, I think it's time to go and elevate some more "Big Grass" and after that? Well, who knows but it's a nice day so extraction of a two wheeled machine from the garage is a distinct possibility. TTFN

Keep looking, it’s well hidden. I’ll just say Pizza & pineapple and leave it there. TTFN

Evening! Butter in a bacon roll is just plain wrong! There's a place for bacon and there are many places for butter but together is just plain wrong. I thought you would have known that ..... Watch out Bear, incoming ICBM ...... ION Not a lot. Over and out.

You may have a point there ...

Afternoon! Don't get me started on HP printers ... Readers may recall I may have expressed my dislike, no, contempt for the evil heaps of junk. You were lucky if your HP printer only rejected non-HP cartridges, mine on occasion rejected genuine HP ones bought at great expense from a presumably reputable high street emporium (Tescos). In the end I was so disgusted by it I thought I'd try an after-market continuous ink system (complete with "special cartridges" that obviously had the "ink remaining" variable set to "Full"and the "Number of sheets printed since cartridge changed" set permanently to 0). Apart from being a slight faff to install, slightly messy to get going and had the potential to get very messy with 4 large ink bottles poised to spill their contents over the carpet it was an absolute saviour! But you forget that both Poly and I still have contacts and can get them at "Mates Rates". We also know an old Fly-Boy who, for a modest consideration I'm sure, would be prepared, nay positively enjoy, loosing a few off "for old times sake". I wonder if we could borrow the Hawker Hunter at Henlow for the sortie? Oh no, I've just thought, the particular devices I was thinking off were never integrated onto the Hunter so Fly-Boy will have to use something a bit more modern. Well, I'm sure he's still got contacts ...... 😬 ION A chug was chugged on the AJ this morning with a single companion. The others in our gang were busying themselves out on a moped run. We haven't got mopeds (and no huge desire to get one) so we made alternative arrangements. We headed off in the Cambridgeshire direction for a change but, almost of course, we ended up at Old Warden for coffee on our return. More people were observed enjoying the delights of a flight in a Tiger Moth. It would be hard to imagine a day better suited to such a joy - warm, blue sky, full sunshine but an air of cool freshness in the atmosphere. It was a truly glorious chug through the back lanes over to places such as Ashwell and Guilden Morden. Just think how splendid it would have been chugging at 1000' in a beautiful old Tiger Moth! I really , really must indulge myself. On the home front a little more of the "Mini Pampas grass with out the Pampas bit" has been dug up and overturned to dry the roots off in the first stage of disposal. I can't do too much of that at one time because a) I get worn out and b) I get BORED so little and often is the way forward. Next on the cards is some more "Code Mashing" for the Chronometric calibrator. Looks like tomorrow's rain might be moving in early now as the lovely blue sky and sunshine has gone and some big dark clouds are now forming. TTFN

How close to the active trains and presumably live conductor rail were they! They need more danger money! Night All!

Afternoon! What a storm in the night! Well, if there was one I didn't hear it 🤣 Nippy and dull though this morning. Amazon delivered the miniature ePaper display yesterday along with a box of 10 rotary encoders including push button function and black anodised aluminium knobs. The box of 10 cost £9.99 which, even when I went to school, means they were a pound apiece. How do they do that? In a similar vein, I've just nipped to Screwfix (on the RD, it would have been rude not to) and bought a pair of replacement 1/4 turn 1/2" BSP ceramic tap glands for the bathroom sink for the princely sum of £5.06. They are of course machined from solid brass, they have rubber O rings fitted and include plastic mouldings and the ceramic inserts. How does that work! Still, never mind I can live with not knowing, Back to the ePaper display. I spent a few hours last night and most of the morning trying to get it to work. Downloading the simple "prove it works" code from the manufacturer's website didn't work. Without the display attached the code ran through to completion (which is a bit strange because at one point it checks information returned from the display in order to proceed!) but connect the display and it didn't get past "Go" (or a call to the init function for those in the know). Anyway after much perusing of internet forums, downloading some 3rd party libraries which included their own, much more comprehensive, example apps, trawling through lists of 80+ different drivers in header files trying to work out which was the right one and swapping two of the handshake lines over from the configuration shown in the manufacturer's notes we got there! Softies will recognise the significance of those two little words with or without an exclamation mark ...... Now to work out what I actually want to display on it! Oh yes, <RANT MODE> = ON On my return I witnessed two more examples of idiots pulling out of side turnings into the path of oncoming traffic. #1 I was waiting to pull out of a side road and turn right onto the busy, single carriageway A6*. 75 yards or so further up to my left a car was waiting to do the same manoeuvre in order to leave a car wash. A minimal gap opened up in the stream so they decided to plug it. The person (with right of way , travelling at normal road speed) very nearly re-arranged the idiots back end but fortunately managed to slow down enough not to make contact. #2 On the last stretch of open road in the countryside before home on the left there's a "business park" (it was a farm but where's the money in that). As I approached the access road I saw a stationary car waiting to pull out. Alan complete with a full day-glow yellow tabbard over my jacket, a bright yellow full face crash helmet and a bright orange Yamaha approached with, as a precaution right hand on front brake lever, right foot on rear brake lever, left hand on clutch and left thumb on the horn button. Turned out the precautions were entirely justified as the idiot then pulled out. If I'd have been travelling at the speed limit or even unprepared I'd be dead or at least severely re-arranged. You see it time and time again! What is it with these twits ** <RANT MODE> = OFF * It's probably known as the A1086 or something now but it will forever be the A6 for me. ** Other suitable words beginning with 'T' are available, refer to @polybear for more details TTFN

Afternoon! Unspecified pottering turned into trimming the Hedgehog* bush for the first time this year. Just as I'd started my mate reminded me of a gathering of VMCC MOGs from our (Bedfordshire) group going over to Old Warden to meet up with a bunch of MOGs from the Cambridgeshire group of the VMCC who were there to have lunch. TCs! Would have been a good chance to see some different machines. Oh well, never mind. Maybe as a consolation I could nip down to It came over very dark earlier and deposited a few drops of the wet stuff. I wonder if I feel lucky? Ebayer #2 delivered the goods this afternoon. I think I'll file the contents in the "Probably won't be very useful in the future box". Just waiting for Amazon to deliver some gloss photo paper so that I can print some photographs for Mrs Puppers and a small "Paper White" display (like those used on Kindles) that will be used on the Chronometric calibrator. Both are due to be delivered today. Just for fun I clicked on the two Amazon tracking links. In both cases it displayed a "Page not found" error 🤣 TTFN * So named because it evolved to look like a hedgehog not necessarily because hedgehogs live there

Morning! Yes indeed. I believe I'm correct in saying that at one of the displays this year there will be 4 in the air simultaneously; 2 in the Blenheim, 1 in the Lysander and the 1 in the Gladiator (photo). Should be good! They have a very mellow sound to them I think. #1 Be very afraid ... 😛 #2 @polybear #3 Because he doesn't do 7mm! So now the definition is published and you know. Next ....... ION I've just de-coked the coffee machine and now I suspect a day of unspecified pottering will ensue. Have a good one! TTFN

Evening! But Chimpy, you are a special character! 😀 No, no, no. The official (but unpublished) definition of the Deltic unit of currency specifically refers to the cost of a standard, non-DCC fitted, Accurascale OO Gauge Deltic and thus the generally accepted conversion rate between Sterling and the Deltic is £170 = 1 Deltic. * Occasionally the Deltic unit of currency can be prefixed with "Noisy" which is the same model fitted with a DCC sound decoder and is thus of higher value. Think of it as the Deltic equivalent of Sterling's Guinea only more expensive. * I have just checked the Accurascale website and the currency is extremely stable and the exchange rate remains constant. Rather annoyingly I notice they are going to re-run Deltics to celebrate the company's birthday which means I'm going to have to go to the trouble of resisting purchasing one all over again! That's going to be very, very difficult. And to think I celebrate another orbit of the sun in the not too distant future too. TCs I think! I immediately thought of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight but couldn't understand the inclusion of the "&". All became clear with your later clarification. Both causes, with or without an "&" are of of course both valid and worthy of further funding injection. ION I've been waiting for two EBay purchases to turn up now for over a week. Both were rubber drive bands for potential use in the Chronometric speedo calibrator. I received an Email from seller#1 to say that the order had been dispatched with an ETA of yesterday. I then received a number of Emails from two different, strangely named, organisations I've never heard of saying they'd received my parcel and it was in transit and somewhere along the line a tracking number. Having been out for a good bit of yesterday it was of course the Law of S0D that dictated that an attempt would be made to deliver said parcel while we were out. And so it came to pass. After my return I received yet another Email this time from Herpies 😉 (or whatever it is called these days) to say how sorry they were to have missed me and they would attempt to re-deliver the parcel the following day. I followed the tracking info and it revealed two things; a small map with X marks the spot showing the location of my house and a photograph of my house albeit at a very jaunty angle and almost completely inverted to, presumably, prove that delivery had been attempted. Cynical old Puppers did wonder for a few seconds whether they'd only actually visited virtually but to go to such trouble seems a mite pointless. Today, we planned to go out as it was one of our days to look after Junior Junior Puppers #2 so we thought a drive to and a nice stroll around the Swiss Gardens would help him nod off for his mid-morning snooze. Not wishing to tempt fate for a second time I added additional delivery info (i.e. If out please leave next door) AND added the same info to an A5 sheet of paper with a font** size ~ 30 and stuck it in very plain sight on the front door. ** For those interested in fonts (there must be one), the font used was "Alan's finest GP's hand script" which as everyone will appreciate is a constantly changing fontparticularly after a couple of G&Ts 🤪 Needless to say, on our return, the "Second Coming" had indeed occurred. The parcel was probably 4" x 3" x 0.5". The operative pushed it through the letter box ....... 🤣 The second Ebay seller hasn't even sent a message to say my order has been dispatched! I think I need to make use of one of @polybear 's single descriptive words. The one beginning with a T should suffice. Just as an Endnote on this story: A day or two after those orders were placed I placed a third order with another supplier for some plastic grommet strip. That arrived on Saturday and was fitted to the front panel of the calibrator within 15 minutes of its arrival. Fortunately I found in one of my "These bits will come in useful one day" boxes a single rubber, cassette or VCR drive band which fits the bill perfectly, is installed and working so I actually have no use other than to replenish the really useful bits box for the first two orders .... Sometime ago I became aware of a book by a chap called Tim Hillier-Graves entitled "Gresley and his L*c*m*t#v@s L & NER Design History. It might have been mentioned on Tony W's thread I can't remember. Anyway I ordered a copy, it wasn't particularly cheap at ~0.25 Deltics, it arrived, I put it in the bookcase for when I got a roundtuit. And today I did. I've had a cursory glance through it but not read any of it yet. I do hope the text is good because IMVHO the reproduction of most of the photographs is truly appalling. Many are very flat, many are very dark and many are "sepia" toned which I presume was done for "artistic effect" as I think I recall that at least some of those I have seen reproduced in normal black and white in excellent publications such as "LNER Reflections" all those years ago. As I say, the text had better make up for it otherwise this will be one well and truly miffed Puppers and no one would like one of those! And to finish on a high. A few photos of our very pleasant visit to Shuttleworth this morning. I spent quite a lot of time admiring the two Cambridge Flying Group Tiger Moths which were being preped for and then flown. Puppers came to the conclusion that perhaps some of his disposable income should be disposed of ...... A 30 minute flight costs ~0.75 Noisy Deltics. They can actually take you right through to your PPL (surely learning in a Tiger has got to be the best way to get there!) but that I fear would cost many, many, many Noisy Deltics so maybe not. There was some interesting activity in the engineering hangar with investigation work going on on the Bristol Monoplane's le Rhone. As the front crankcase cover was off you could clearly see the master rod and the slaves - a feature of (all?) rotaries (proper ones not those new-fangled Wankel jobbies!) and radials. Right oh, it must be bed time! Night.

Evening! Mine wouldn't be any safer ..... 🤪 ION Notalot .... A quiet day yesterday doing notalot apart from a most enjoyable visit by Junior Puppers and Junior Junior Puppers after Saturday's post-Covid jab "feeling very strange day". A trip for lunch with friends to the outskirts of the place they call Milton Keynes was enjoyed earlier. Whilst stumbling around some of the Faceache groups that appeal yesterday I spotted these two rather splendid photos of an aeroplane guaranteed to quicken Puppers' pulse and, I suspect, that of a certain @Dave Hunt. Shared on here with permission of the photographer (Adrian Almond) it was very kind of him to thank me for asking! Well, it would have been extremely rude (and wrong) not to. For anyone who is interested they were posted on the Mach Loop, Lake District & Low Level Photography Group. Anyway, cracking aeroplane and it's a shame and a tragedy that true civil operation of the type is now suspended since somebody tried doing a Jet Provest sized loop in one from low level (if I understood the basic gist of the pilot's defence correctly). Hindsight would suggest that was never going to work. Anyway, two great and rather unusual images of one of the HHA Hunters doing what they do best. TTFN

Afternoon. I think that puts you right at the very top of the list ..... Funny old day to day. My head has been hurting (more than usual), I'm feeling a bit "spaced-out", a few funny twinges here and there and feeling apathetic (most usual). The after effects of yesterday's Covid jab perhaps? So notalot happening here today - PAH! I have been fiddling around a bit with the new Chronometric testing machine and making slow but steady progress. The belt drive from the brushless motor has been fine tuned (as in the effective gear ratio) and it will now drive the Chrono to FSD (120mph on this occasion). I'm just working on the IR rotation counter at the moment. This will give out one pulse per revolution and allow me (knowing the number of turns the speedo cable does per mile) to check the calibration of the attached speedo either by inspecting the pulses on a scope or, if I can work up the enthusiasm, via some Arduino code and a little display directly on the gadget. I think it must be time for a very late lunch and some slumping in front of the TV now. TTFN

Morning All! I've been jabbed, all seems well at the moment. The nurse queried me and said "I looked a bit young for it". I then explained some of the medication I'm on and my medical history and she said "Yes, that'll do it!". I'm off for a run over to Woburn on the RD in a short while. The sun is out, the sky is blue and there's a coffee with my name on it that will be waiting to be drunk. On my return I'll be firing up the Myford again. I've got a friends Smiths Chronometric Speedo to test and whilst I already had a gadget for running them up that I made some years ago it's a bit Heath Robinson so I thought I'd make a better job of it. I've been turning up the drive shaft and flywheel, the next things to make are the bearing housing and a mounting plate for a little (model aircraft) brushless motor that does the work of the speedo cable. I might go the whole hog and build a little Arduino controller for it or I might rely on an old servo tester and use my oscilloscope to determine true speed. We'll see! Right, I'm off now. TTFN

Evening All! Bob's back! Jolly good 😀 As in "where to keep the frame" 🤔😉 Not as long as the smoked code that we had for dinner on Sunday .... Not another improvement for us customers. Their generosity knows no bounds. ION Well I was up and out relatively early (8:45 ish) this morning as I had to disappear up the M1 to the frozen North (well, Hinckley actually). A friend had invited me to join him on a Triumph Motorcycle factory tour. It would have been rude to refuse! And what an excellent day it was too. I won't pollute ERs with a whole load of old motorcycle photos (I'll do that later on the appropriate thread) but I thought this machine was so way-out and has an appropriate name for a model railway forum (that is technically banned from this thread) that I'd chuck these in as they may be of interest to a wider audience. All I can say is Guy Martin must have very, very large spheroids ........ Other than that not a lot to report. TTFN

That's interesting. No mention of that that I have seen. I didn't even have to go through a "prove you need one" on the website when I booked it, I entered my NHS number & DoB and it took me straight to the appointments. Perhaps I'd better take my medication with me just in case? 🤔

Morning! Damp and wet out there so a bit of mo'sickle fettling in the garage I fancy this morning 😀 Back later! TTFN

Seen at Jordans Mill and Shuttleworth recently .... The chrome on that beautiful Honda 550 had to be seen to be believed - it looked like the wheels were solid chrome. Whether it was original or a restoration job I don't know but no matter, it was rather fabulous. I understand @polybear finds the Vincent to be a particularly attractive motorcycle! 🤣 Our departure from Shuttleworth was recorded yesterday. What an assortment they make or may be a "Motley bunch" might be a better description. It will be interesting to see how long the Black Prince lasts in my mate's ownership. I give it 3 or 4 weeks. The Norton of course isn't quite pure Norton with that great big Yamaha V twin lump shoehorned in. Mind you, it has been done very nicely indeed. Alan

Thanks Tony, yes, so was mine it turns out. Jab booked for Friday morning. When I visited the Google offices at Kings Cross c/o Junior Puppers a few years back i saw the famous Routmaster Bus converted into a "breakout area". I think it was on the 3rd floor IIRC. The tropical beach breakout area was amusing too. Still, a full English breakfast, sat on the roof terrace of the building enjoying the fine view (including down into the Kings Cross train shed & station throat albeit with not a lot of interest therein these days) was most enjoyable. Sadly, such opportunities have disappeared so I'll have to make do with Jordans Mill et al for breakfasts in the future. (No, that isn't Junior Puppers before anyone asks) Anyway, no doubt @polybear will recall enjoying the similarly luxurious working environment we experienced at the GE 😆 ION I actually managed to get the telescope out last night and made a reasonable job of getting it polar aligned. As we are pretty much out of planets at the moment I thought I'd have a go at some star/deep sky stuff using the astro camera. Never had much success previously and guess what? I didn't have any success last night either! I think my low cost astro camera suffers from a lack of sensitivity. It also suffers form a lack of operator experience and "having a clue" but never mind. By ~11:00pm the moon had popped up from behind the house so at least I had fall back target that was hard to miss. I managed to get some reasonable videos and a quick process of one this morning shows some potential however I did struggle once again with slop in the mount, the clock drive jumping out of engagement etc etc so perhaps a good thing to do this afternoon would be to give the mount a good coat of "looking at" and come up with a plan for bearing and locking improvements for the various axes. The bracket that holds the worm shaft certainly needs seem decent bearings if I'm to get shot of the the jumping out of engagement problem once and for all. Or should I just blow £5-10K or so and buy a proper job (plus another £8-10K for the telescope to go with it)*? The real problem is though that this astronomy lark does require you to be up, about and active late at night. I didn't get to bed till gone 1:00 this morning and whilst I used to do that regularly years ago my body has very strict views on such behaviour these days and pays me back handsomely the next day. Consequently today could not be said to be a particularly active or productive day 🤣 * You know me that is, of course, a rhetorical question! TTFN

Morning! You can have too much of a good joke ..... 🤣 ION Manx Norton kit dispatched. As I said to the nice lady in the post office; it was very good of her to wrap it and return from whence it came and ironic that if they'd have wrapped it themselves, she'd have been out of something to do. Searching for the communication from the NHS telling me to go and book a Covid booster. I'm blowed if I can remember what form it was in, I thought it was a text but no sign. Perhaps I dreamt it? TTFN

Don't know. Same scale so maybe? Many years ago when I was on my RD125 (that puts in the late 70s!) two deer were standing on the bank a long a country road. The RD music scared them and they jumped down and ran across the road. The first passed in front, the second passed behind. I think I dodged a bullet there or, perhaps more accurately, a pair of deer. And in Puppers garden. We put it down to abuse by Mrs Puppers and/or the weather. ION Seems like our departure from OLd Warden this morning was recorded for posterity 🤣 NXOQ7795.MP4 Ssssh, don't mention this to anyone. The sky is clear, the wind has dropped and there's almost a full moon. I might get the scope out. I wonder if I can remember what to do? TTFN

The beers are on Phil then! 🍺 What time should we call round? ION Update I've staggered my round the Amazon (Not much) Help pages and thought blow it, they can just have it back and I'll do without. If I send it back and re-order no doubt it will be a repeat match. Another "amusing" (I use the term in a sarcastic manner) one of the return options was words to the effect of "The product was damaged but the packing was intact". Nowhere was there a "We forgot to put it any packaging" option. At one point I got to a page that provided a "Call me" option. I thought Hurrah! I can speak to a human. Silly old me ....... no, it was an opportunity to talk to a stupid computer albeit no doubt equipped allegedly with artificial intelligence. Anyway, I've gone for the give the item as-is to the local post office, show them the QR code and wait for the refund option. Apparently, the Post Office will wrap it (well, there's a first) and return it all for nothing. Looks like if I want a model of a Manx Norton I'll have to scratch build it. Now where did I put that brass tube? TTFNQ

Afternoon! A quick chug over to Shuttleworth this morning. There was some form of classic car meeting being held there today so we thought it might be worth a look. The expectation was probably slightly better than the experience although no matter; we'd had a ride, had a (surprisingly good) breakfast in the cafe, had a gawp at the classic cars and a wander around the many and various bikes that were present. A friends new acquisition, a Vincent Black Prince was probably the rarest and most valuable there. Mind you, the price of such things is rapidly heading in a downward direction as those that typically lust after such beasts shuffle off this mortal coil (and you can't take them with you). Their use as a solid gold investment opportunity is drawing to a close I suspect. I think the Beeza won the oldest motorcycle accolade today by a country mile. It was the only pre-war bike I saw. Rather amazingly on my return the engine was mostly free of external oil contamination. I'd had another go yesterday at providing a better seal for the blanking plug in the rocker box for the non-existent decompessor. Maybe I was, at last, successful? Talking of pre-war, one of the Cambridge Flying Group's lovely Tiger Moths was basking in the sunshine overcast, cold and windy dullness - lovely. Must wangle another go in a Tiggy soon! ION I saw the Italeri kit for a Manx Norton the other day whilst in Hobby Craft. I've seen them many times and I was severely tempted but it was ~£57 IIRC and I managed to resist. When I got home I thought I'll just have a look on the Big River where the same kit was being offered for £44 and I was unable to resist "Adding to Basket". It turned up yesterday .......... This is "Handed to resident". I think @polybear has a descriptive term that he uses to describe such situations. I believe it starts with a "T" and ends with an "s" and is applicable here. This is the suitable protective packaging in which it came .... You might notice the damage to the box at both ends and the nice way the box artwork has been defaced by the application of the delivery labels. I think @polybear has a descriptive term that he uses to describe such situations. I believe it starts with a "T" and ends with an "s" and is applicable here. Fortunately the contents appear to be undamaged and all present. More by luck than judgement! I'd send a snottogram but I haven't spotted a suitable Email address. The customer complaint / feedback in "My Account" does not appear to have a suitably relevant grump along the lines of "Put the goods in some protective packaging that's up to the job!" but I'll have another look if ICBA. I might have to tap the Bear up for that Email address. It can't do anything but help for the Managing Director to receive hundreds of Emails from disgruntled customers to keep him busy up to the morning coffee. TTFN

Evening The mill is a Senior (Built in deepest Yorkshire), don't know about the lathes one of which has been CNC'd. Amazing what you can do with some stepper motors and some G Code. Which is why modern society really gets my goat! The total reliance on something that either isn't there all of the time or is completely inaccessible to a significant chunk of society (mostly but not exclusively the most senior members of our society). There used to be a really useful online calculator for calculating your property re-building costs (in the UK) but unfortunately it seems to have disappeared. It was most useful at insurance renewal times. Maybe it's been taken down so that we (the great unwashed in the world of building) haven't got a clue, state a ridiculous amount (high or low) in our applications and then, should we need to claim, have any claims rejected as totally unrealistic re-building costs were quoted. No, surely not! Puppers aka "an old cynic" In the usual context that's actually reverse-ageist and sounds like you've been indulging in positive discrimination! I never did agree with positive discrimination in any field; people (and dogs as appropriate) should be selected on their merits for the role whatever that maybe and not because they help "even-up a distribution" or put a tick in a particular box. As an example, as a short-a**e, I would have had no problem with being rejected should I have applied to join the police force as a constable all those years ago. I can appreciate that I would have been (still am) deficient in both the altitude and (at any likely time of application) the mass departments and you could probably add to that list, bravery. For me some key characteristics for a police officer include being tall and built like a brick outhouse (a bit like one of my neighbours who just happens to be a policeman who is built like a brick outhouse). Why? Because size and mass provide an automatic air of authority and, if push came to literal shove, a most useful physical attribute of enhanced inertia in a tussle that someone my size simply does not have. I'm reminded of this more amusing and light-hearted example. Positive discrimination appears to be part of the, if I maybe so bold and IMVHO, rather pathetic "Everyone can do anything they want and every one is a winner" culture that seems to prevail these days. Well, life isn't like that and despite as much valid smoothing of whichever playing field it happens to be it will never be truly level and no, everyone is not and cannot be a winner. Discrimination of any form based on characteristics that are irrelevant to the role (we all know what they are so no point in enumerating them here) are of course completely unjust and unacceptable. Deselection because someone does not possess some essential characteristic or experience for the role is perfectly valid and is not discrimination. Similarly, selection just because someone has a specific characteristic or experience that is irrelevant to the role over someone who has the relevant characteristics and experience is just plain wrong again IMVHO. Making things as accessible as possible to as many as possible is entirely laudable and I was reminded of an interesting example of something going full-circle over a period of many years the other day. The example in "Secrets of the London Underground" was the efforts by London Underground (or is it TFL?) to increase accessibility to stations by the removal of escalators and their replacement by lifts, some of which will go in the lift shafts of the old lifts taken out of service 70 or 80 years ago when the new fangled fancy escalators were introduced! Although in some cases that I can think of, not only are different teams used but different technologies are used too which usually forces different approaches so although the designers may have come out of the same general mould the mistakes they potentially make in each case are likely to be very different by virtue of the technology used. I'd rather have two different systems design teams designing a duplex safety critical system than one by a systems design team and one by a bunch of florists. I do like a nice Wisteria. I was going to comment on the strange giant snake running through your garden but others have beaten me to it so I won't! 🤔🤣 ION A nice thrash over to Woburn this morning on the RD but boy was it busy over there! Probably 80 - 90 bikes at the peak and about 20 cars many of them classics. The only trouble is the cafe is very small and as it says on the window "We don't do fast food just high quality* food ....". Another problem is there is only one unisex loo and a lot of, shall we say, older males. Billy Connelly has got a very good rule about men over 50 to which I subscribe (often). * It's all relative and may not pass the iD test! On my return there was some ladder stowage operations to be perform following the completion of the recent aerial activities around the roof and gutter. This was followed by a little routine maintenance on the Beeza in readiness for another run out tomorrow which may well feature a change of two wheeled horse. That's it. Night all!