Guius

You should persevere with soldering because it's such handy thing to be able to do, once you get to grips with the basic 'rules' you won't look back. Perhaps practise on scrap cable and brass sheet before tackling loco work. Best of luck. Guy

Staffies do seem to be quiet good at making cat-free zones I've found. Guy

I'd like to nominate Jay Rayner (Clair Rayners son) for a place in the Anti Pantheon of presenters, I usually have the misfortune to be listening to Radio 4 on a Tuesday afternoon at 3 (in order to warm the valves of my wireless set up, you understand, in time for my favourite programme 'Making History' at 3.30pm) when his programme 'The Kitchen Cabinet' is finishing, It's indeed fortunate that I am such a bad shot, as, I have, on more than one occasion, flung a hammer in the direction of the fore mentioned wireless on hearing his smug, condescending and crass attempt at hosting, what could be an interesting programme. Please Mr Rayner, for Marconi's sake, have a Potnoodle and shut the flip up. Guy

You're right to feel miffed at such treatment, but it's all too common. In 2008 I had a debt collectors turn up at my door and gain entry to recover unpaid council tax, unfortunately they had the wrong house number down. I phoned the council who told me the that debt was now in the hands of a debt collection firm and I would have to contact them, this I did and was told 'yer pull the other one we've heard 'em all' .Being the only left to do I rang the police and they confirmed to the collectors that the named debtor did not live at my house and with that the two individuals left. After my blood pressure subsided I reflected on how vulnerable we are to this type of undeserved 'menace with threats'. I never received an apology from debt collectors or council BTW. Guy

I would have that he would be a good candidate for a place at The Royal Hospital Chelsea l assuming he fits the criteria and would like to go. Guy

I'd agree with this sentiment wholeheartedly, I've come to the conclusion that the treadmill of working to acquire money to spend on stuff you don't really need combined with spending the little time off you get between going back to work to shopping for the said stuff is futile and foolhardy and in the long run not sustainable, and in this direction fulfilment and happiness does not lie. Consumer spending is, just about, the only thing that keeps our economy afloat and that's why we all have to have our dose of advertising indoctrination at every possible opportunity so we don't forget to get back on that treadmill AND CONSUME MORE. Guy

In earlier times in engineering when anything went wrong supervisors and office personnel would appear on the scene as if by magic and congregate, this was known as 'a thicket of foremen' Guy

If it had been called 'On the Footplate' we would be lapping it up, awful plot/script/acting included. I reckon your missus is a secret bus enthusiasts. Guy

Don't be so hard on her, she's only doing what we do, indulging in some harmless nostalgia. Guy

All organised visits Andrew, most mines (drift mines and adits go horizontal) are gated off to stop the foolhardy. I'm a light weight in so much as I don't go any further in than over my wellie tops! Still, fascinating to look at levels, in one case last worked in Elizabethan times by German copper miners (these chaps wore red caps like the 7 dwarfs, think that's where gnomes etc. get it from) who chiselled out coffin shaped passages to win the copper ore. A lot of time goes into shoring and clearing these workings and while not 100% safe you still don't do owt daft. Regards Guy

For a while now I've enjoyed looking around old and dis-used mine workings, mostly iron mines, some coal mines and this one - a Tungsten mine. Quiet fascinating to see how the miners followed the seams and stopes on different levels in the same working

I think it can be safely said that the railway modelling hobby has a broad spectrum of appeal, ranging from the avid collectors of the latest offerings of the big market leaders (including the boxes), with little interest in the full size railway and its history at one end, to the fanatical devotee of a particularly obscure and long extinct company or loco class who is wishing to recreate a vanished ideal. Most of us sit in between these two extremes. One thing I would question with regard to the former group is, can collectors of railway inspired models be classified as railway modellers? as modelling implies an element of creativity lacking in simply assembling a collection of R-T-R models. Against this it could be argued, how much time, money and effort do we have to extend in order to scratch build our hearts desired loco and rolling stock, to simply play trains with it? Guy

They can certainly give you a good f###ing for sure. Guy

I agree, vertical planking with cover strips isn't a common form of rolling stock construction. Also the sagging roof suggests the sides are being pushed outwards by the roof sticks. More pigeon loft in parentage rather than C & W works. Still very interesting photos though. Guy

I'm in a similar predicament to you Mike, as soon as I clear room enough to see the workshop floor something or someone comes along and uses the space 'temporarily', I think this is a common affliction among people who are blessed with sheds, barns, garages and the like. Currently messing up my 'man space' is my cousins 1983 Renault %*>!&£ along with enough parts to complete 3 further Renault %*>!&£s. Genial hints seem to be falling by the way side. Guy

You are quite right, Chinas refusal to accept any more of our domestic waste has upset the whole applecart. The present system of landfill taxation is predicated on the assumption that some one will recycle our garbage for a fee lower than the tax levied on it in order to dump it in a hole in the ground and not because of its intrinsic value. As happened a few years ago when the market price of cullet fell, waste glass was stock piled, I fear this will happen to our domestic waste plastic. Successive governments have been more than happy to 'sweep it under the carpet' Chinas way rather than legislate in order to reduce our addiction to plastic and risk the ire of big business. Guy

As people will appreciate Hydrogen gas is given off a battery when charging, it only takes a spark to ignite an accumulation of gas due to bad ventilation and an explosion is possible. I cringe when I hear of individuals "testing" car batteries by shorting across the terminals with a spanner to evaluate its charge. Guy

Well Simon, as a Blacksmith I can say, it's my experience square stock is nearly all ways more difficult work than round stock when coiling helically. Square bar usually needs 'squaring up' regularly on account of its tendency to 'cockle' (forming a rhomboid shape in section) on the mandrill. Guy

As a young man I would probably burn 3k - 4k off in a days work and at mid afternoon would hit, what I now know is a blood sugar low. At this point I would eat what my body was craving, namely sugar in the form of chocolate, this gave a short lived sugar high in order to finish my shift. As the 'roller coaster' once again dived (now at home) a head ache would result along with lethargy. With a little education regarding how our bodies work, this repetitive cycle was broken without too much long term damage. I feel a lot of people, thinking they are immortal, do not, or are not able to interpret the very natural messages their bodies are sending them, instead look to the 'quick fix' of a 'Red Bull' / Mars Bar et al to provide the solution and in so doing, store up problems for later life in the forms of obesity and diabetes. Guy

I've spent the last 23years working for my self and for the most part completely alone and it suits me just fine, but I value the company of friends and family and relish time spent in their company. Over the years I've come to know a few farmers who would 'talk the hind legs off a donkey' give the chance of even the briefest of personal contact, these, naturally gregarious people find themselves in a very solitudinous job and thereby, I think, mismatched in there vocation. Unfortunately farmers suffer from one of the highest rates of suicide due in no small part to the lack human contact. My point being that solitude does not all ways equate to loneliness but it's very hard to know the difference from the outside. Guy

Similarly, last week I was asked to clear/dispose of a deceased friends model boat workshop by his daughter, among the half finished projects, jigs, templates, mock-ups and tools I felt as if I was intruding and it felt wrong some how. Further on in the day it became clear the daughter had become very upset at the idea of having to sort through this accumulation of stuff and was relieved when I agreed to help, her only other option being to put the lot in the skip into which the rest of the unwanted household effects were destined. Brian was an inveterate hoarder of 'handy things' and it will take me a few days before I see my workshop floor again and even longer before I use but a fraction of the nails, screws, etc. he left in neatly labelled margarine tubs. His family pleased that someone might make use of them and not going to land fill. Guy

Das is ein gut idea mine cammerade. That's not to say the forgoing was still very interesting and informative. Guy

Albert Speer has become known as the 'Good Nazi' mainly, in my opinion, for his admission of responsibility, he certainly managed to talk the rope from around his neck at Nuremberg in '45/'46. I would recommend his book 'Inside the Third Reich' Guy

And gentlemen, please act responsibly, remember a shed is for life and NOT just for Christmas. Guy

Yes, dual standards applied, some Nazis proved to be just too damn useful to put on trail, one thinks of Wernher von Braun et al. Guy