spikey

Couldn't agree more. My GP raised an eyebrow at my PSA level when I went to him with one or two symptoms last year, but fortunately he had the wit to search my records for "PSA". He found a result from a blood test 20-odd years ago that I'd forgotten about (and never knew was being tested for PSA), and with that as a benchmark, declared he wasn't particularly bothered by the latest figure. He suggested that, all things considered, it might be an idea to have a quick furtle up the Khyber anyhow, which seemed like a good idea to me too, and that was further reassurance. If nothing else, it proved to me that the DRE is no big deal whatsoever - and certainly not an indignity.

Thanks chaps. Gosh, I can't remember exactly what, but I think it said it was "unable to" transfer the file. What's it called, please? Now why didn't I think of that??!!

I'm still getting to grips with this 'ere new Android phone, which is indeed infinitely smarter than its owner, and I'm stuck for a way of doing one simple thing. I want to create lists on my laptop (Windows 10, current version, running Firefox) from time to time and copy them to the phone. Think shopping list, or more to the point, lists of rolling stock which I can view in a shop to avoid buying something which I'd forgotten I already have. It was suggested to me that Google Keep would be the answer, and it does indeed look nice, but I'd have to install Chrome on the laptop, and I'm not a fan of Chrome. So much so, in fact, that as soon as I get a round tuit, I'll be going over to Firefox on the phone. Is there anything similar to Google Keep which doesn't need Chrome and/or the internets? I've tried doing a list in Notepad and copying it to the phone via USB but alas it won't play ball, so is there another way of skinning this particular cat?

1. The finger up the bum does indeed check for swollen or irregular prostate but what you wrote reads as if someone going to the doctor with "issues" might find themselves having a DRE. Yes indeed, they might - but not until they've previously had a blood test for PSA and the results are known. 2. It's not a "PS test", it's a PSA test - for Prostate Specific Antigen, and it's not 100% reliable, which is why the next step for a patient with a raised PSA is usually a DRE. The findings of both tests are taken in conjunction to decide on the next move, if any. 3. Prostatitis is not "an infection of prostate". It's simply inflammation/swelling of the prostate gland. Sorry if you think I've got it in for you Legend but I haven't. There's an abundance of extremely useful information in this thread, which I started in the hope that it might encourage more blokes to get checked out, and I'd hate anyone to get the wrong idea about testing because of something they read here.

Hang on. Are you two actually saying that the PSA test is an alternative to a finger up the bum? Meanwhile, allow me to direct all interested parties to https://prostatecanceruk.org/

One of several reasons I have for being a bit touchy about implications that there's no reason why people shouldn't be embarrassed about bodily functions, examinations and whatnot is to do with the slow and painful death of a friend, who finally admitted to his wife that the reason he wouldn't go to the GP about his problems when he should have done was his steadfast refusal to entertain the idea of a finger up the bum. All that she could make of it was that he considered that to be a gross indignity associated with homosexuality. It was all very sad, and completely unnecessary.

I'm sorry Legend but I have to take issue with you there. Some folk suffer embarrassment talking about these things. Some folk consider a doctor inserting his finger up their bum to be an indignity. Thankfully, many are not embarrassed by such talk, and they couldn't care less what a doctor does to them if it may save their life.

Ah yes ... ROBERRY. The doctrine, practices and ceremonies associated with robes? Feeling like or otherwise resembling a robe?

No no no. Surely it would be "I could of died"?

Quite - as any fule kno.

One of the simple pleasures in my life is to marvel at the constant mangling of the English language by BBC News website copywriters. Today we have a particularly fine example of the genre, which I feel compelled to share ... The heading of the story is "Trump ordered to remove envoy in Ukraine in 2018 - video", and the first sentence starts with "President Donald Trump in 2018 ordered the removal of the US Ambassador to Ukraine ..."

Thank you gentlemen. I think that's enough information now for me to persuade the good woman that we wouldn't really be much better off if we got involved with it. After all, to go back to the no water example, we didn't actually suffer any hardship from not knowing about the bottled water distribution because, being the sort of people who like to be resilient and as self-sufficient as possible, we always have 40 litres of fresh water tucked away for just such eventualities. I'm inclined to think that on balance, for us, we can manage perfectly well without social media, at least for the time being. And besides, we're still trying to get our heads round our first smartphone ...

Hmmm ... OK. We're actually registered for updates and whatnot with the utilities, but that seems to be only useful up to a point e.g. when the water stopped coming out the tap, it didn't tell us the bottled stuff would be available. I take the point about Twitter though. Sorry to be so ignorant about this stuff, but how does Twitter actually work in a scenario like I'm on about? So the water people announce on Twitter that our water's going to be off for yonks but there'll be bottles of it at the church hall. If Mrs Spikey has a Twitter account, how does she actually get the news? Is it a case of checking your Twitter account every so often to see what's what? Or what?

Or to be more precise, for Mrs Spikey? Words of wisdom, please chaps ... Both of us here are private people in the sense that apart from my posting on a few forums, we don't have a web presence of any kind. Until recently, we've been quite happy like that, but of late Mrs Spikey has formed the opinion that because we don't have access to Facebook, we could be missing out on things which could affect us. For example, when our water last went off, we didn't get to hear about the bottled water that was distributed in the next street. It also seems to us that if you want to complain about anything a firm does nowadays, the thing to do is to take to Facebook! Apart from the potential benefit(s) to us rather than to folk in general, one other aspect of it that's not clear to me is how little personal information disclosure could we get away with in joining and/or using it? We don't like the idea of everybody and his dog having access to our personal details. So, given that neither of us has a clue about how Facebook works, and that we have no interest whatsoever in using it as a form of online chat with family and friends, how might getting on it actually benefit us?

IMO the trick with SEEPs is ... 1 Make the hole in the baseboard big enough. I use 8mm but no harm in using 10. 2 On the underside of the baseboard, look up through the hole and draw a line (with a ruler) at least 50mm long parallel to the tiebar. 3 Offer up the point motor, having to hand a suitable bradawl, screwdriver and screw. Ideally the screwdriver will be magnetic, and a suitable crosspoint self-tapper will be perched on its tip. 4 Align the unit along your line, then slide it along the line as necessary until it's centralised i.e. at each end of its travel, the pin is the same distance from the coil. 5 Without moving the unit longitudinally, move it at right angles to the line until the pin is vertical (ie at right angles to the baeeboard). 6 Poke screw hole, fit screw and tighten, then repeat for second screw. It's easier if you leave the pin full length then cut it down after installation with a cutting disc on a Dremel, remembering to Hoover up well afterwards. HTH a bit

Hmmm I wonder ... What's driving this is a distinct memory of seeing a train of no more than 4 blood 'n' custards behind a couple of Pullmans pulling into a platform at York, probably 1960 give or take a year or two. The loco looked like a B1 from where we trainspotters were, but before we could confirm that or find out what the Pullmans were about, somebody spotted Wine Gums coming towards us. He was a porter who had A Reputation, so we beat a hasty retreat, in the course of which I lost the cheese and pickle sandwich which I'd just started eating. That's why the memory's locked in what's ;eft of my brain.

Ah, thank you. So what if I re-phrased the question to make it a short rake of maroon Mk1s with a couple of Pullmans up front?

In the early 60s, could there have been any circumstances apart from ECS movements in which a short steam-hauled train of blood and custard Mk1s might have been seen with a couple of Mk1 Pullmans added at the front end of it?

A kilo of "Tiny Friends Farm Bathing Sand" from the local pet shop cost me £3.20, just about filled a container 20cm high and 10cm diameter wide, and cost me £3.30. Marvellous stuff

According to the Whirlpool engineer who came out to out Indesit washing machine last week for an unconnected issue, the whole door lock thing is actually straightforward. There are four different ones: either four different makers or four slightly different designs, I'm not sure which, but only one of them is iffy, and it's readily identifiable to the engineer by colour and part number. As to why the door lock carries so much current, it's simple - the lock mechanism is a bi-metal strip. Switch machine on, strip heats up, flicks over and forms a mechanical lock. That's why when the machine has finished its cycle, you have to wait for the bi-metal strip to cool down and flick back to its normal state.

More than somewhat. Initially because after I'd stripped the whole thing down to its component parts, sorted them out, then spent many a happy night shift in the toolroom carefully putting it all back together, it was one amazing motorcycle. Then more regret when I realised that mine was one of the last dozen Series D Shadows built before the firm went bust. And then one day not so long ago, a pal had to go and tell me how much a genuine one goes for nowadays ...

Thanks folks. Actually, the question stemmed from my not recalling seeing that many of them in my train-spotting days, but never having forgotten wheeling my beloved Vincent Black Shadow up a scaffold board into one at Grimsby Town when I sold it to a firm in London maybe ten years later.

In the mid-1950s, why might a train have run with a full brake on the end rather than a brake second?

They are, actually! Unfortunately my brain's currently unable to process your suggested way of solving the problem, but I'm greatly encouraged by how a simple solution seems to be possible. Two cups of coffee in the morning and a bit of peace and quiet should let me get my head round what you say. Thanks EDITED TO ADD that despite several hours' pondering, I'm still struggling with your suggestion. Sorry if I'm being thick here, but for one thing I don't understand "The push button on the short siding should be wired in parallel with the middle PB on the 3-way point." To what purpose? Surely if the two push buttons are wired in parallel, they both simply switch the 3-way? Whatever, I need to sit down with a template of a double slip and do myself a sort of logic diagram showing which solenoid needs to be fired which way for each of the four possible routes through the point, then try again to relate that to your suggested way of doing the switching.