Gwiwer

Or this from my Head of Department at university, no less. “Boy - if you had twice as much brain you’d be a half-wit”.

Had there been a contre-temps I wonder what insurance would have made of it. I was - at the moment of meeting - fully within my lane and had just enough time to move to the left and stop. Without dash-cam proof it would be one word against another but I could have photographed the vehicles and proved that the tractor unit was across the white line, the “park home” (because those are bigger than caravans and that is what was being moved) was overhanging the sides of the trailer without markers and was therefore very clearly obstructing my lane. Knock for knock? Not on your wotsit.

Personally I didn’t. But at some point the directions changed. Instead of “make a right turn onto the Freeway” the route was completely changed to direct users along a different road which did have an on-ramp. The instruction was still “turn right onto the Freeway” but it no longer assumed the ability to jump your vehicle several metres into the air and it did add “In fifty metres merge with Freeway” as opposed to a suggestion that you turned right across eight lanes of traffic divided by a median strip.

It used to advise me to “turn right onto the freeway” at a point where the road I was on passed beneath, but was not linked to, that road. This one has been corrected.

That has made my day. You are most welcome back In other news is the glass half full or half empty? Is someone out to get me or is someone watching out for me? Driving over to MRC I was taking the road as steadily as a regular driver on a winding road should. A steady 40mph despite the 60mph limit. If you took most of it at 60 you wouldn’t make the corners. I came over a crest which includes an easy left-hand bend and came face to face - at about 20 metres range - with a very abnormal load. I had stopping distance and I was mid-lane so with about a half-metre on the left before a stone hedge and the same on the right before the white lines. There, right ahead of me and approaching at perhaps 40-45mph was a heavy-haul rig transporting a caravan. The rig was already my side of the line. The caravan overhung by a good two feet either side of the trailer. We both blared horns at each other as I stood on the brake and waited for the crunch. The outriggers passed by my window every one closer than the last. The last one or two were so close that they passed above my driving mirror and only cleared the car bodywork because of its inward-sloping shape. With a long blast on the horn the offender was past. I’m not sure I could have slipped paper between us nor between me and a stone wall but paper of a certain kind was definitely required. And so we went on our ways unscathed. Exceptional loads are supposed to have an escort, are they not? They are not supposed to fly along winding hilly roads unescorted and unable to avoid oncoming traffic. They might need more than the single lane available but what driver careers along with utter disregard for any oncoming road user? Had I been driving the bus, as I once did on that road, I might well have stopped but could not have avoided a catastrophic collision. No, I didn’t get his registration. But yet again I have a reminder of why there is an idiot-cam upstairs waiting to be fitted to the Little Red Driving Box. And breathe.

Whilst you are alive. They have a process for family and friends to “memorialise” an account post-mortem. It remains visible to the party who memorialised it and to their friends if they so allow I did this after the passing of a very special friend some years ago. Her account remains visible to me, and she remains included in my friends total, but to no-one else that I know of. Not even her ex-husband. The man she left me for and who within two years she had left in favour of me. But that’s another story

That’s even less than Richmond half-tide lock on the Thames.

Correct. It is not! Until it faded in the Australian sun the head-gear was officially described as Auburn.

Passengers will not return in meaningful numbers while services are as slow as they are. Southern’s changes will offset a return to some previous headways with more stops and slower journeys. A few will be very slightly quicker. Some journeys which now require a change of trains will no longer do so, and vice versa. In the 1960s the west coastal route out of Brighton had four trains an hour. Two were all stations to West Worthing with one extended all stations to Littlehampton. A third served just Hove, Shoreham and Worthing before stopping at all stations to Portsmouth Harbour. The fourth served Hove, Portslade, Shoreham, Lancing, Worthing, Barnham, Chichester, Havant, Fratton and both Portsmouth stations. An hourly Victoria - Littlehampton service called only at East Croydon, Haywards Heath, Hove, Shoreham, Worthing and all to Littlehampton. Farther west an hourly semi-fast ran Victoria, East Croydon, Redhill, Gatwick, Three Bridges and all stations to Bognor Regis via Horsham and Littlehampton. The fast service, also hourly, ran Victoria, Sutton, Dorking, Horsham, Pulborough, Arundel, Barnham, Chichester, Emsworth, Havant, Fratton and the Portsmouths. Today the Littlehampton via Hove service is slower than it was before the 1930s electrifications due to it becoming a most-stops service south of Haywards Heath. It is however half-hourly at most times except Sundays. There is no direct service between the Arun Valley route and Littlehampton, no direct service serving all stations along the coast and, until the new timetable commences, only two trains an hour reach Brighton from points west of Hove; the London trains offer connections with a shuttle which adds up to 10 minutes to journeys and can involve a change of platforms. Southern really has to address some of the shortcomings of the present timetable. Gatwick Airport and Clapham Junction have increased greatly in importance but surely not every train has to serve Hassocks or Preston Park? The all stations to Chichester via Littlehampton service adds at least 20 minutes to a trip between Angmering and Ford. Perhaps better to advertise it as two separate services. There is untapped demand waiting to travel between Crawley, Horsham, Arundel and Littlehampton all of which trips require a time-consuming change at (not step-free) Ford or even more time via Barnham (which is permitted under ticketing easements). A semi-fast Brighton - Portsmouth service should do well and should not require a change of train. Some changes would be made at Havant where the next train might be an SWR one. Some tickets are “Southern only”. I see unwitting passengers being caught out here. There is no perfect solution. But I do feel that much more attractive services need to be offered to win people back to rail.

The book that gave David Bowie the idea ..... The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars

100%. And again with no apparent explanation just "it doesn't float my boat". Fahrenheit 451 was an exception. I don't enjoy Terry Pratchett books much but can manage references. The very best movie ever made was 2001 - A Space Odyssey but the book turned me off.

Oh yes. We are fully daffed.

Evening all. I hope this isn’t paywalled - I can see it freely. As I mentioned above we were up in Lostwithiel to celebrate a friend’s birthday on Saturday night. As one does we stopped at - well as close as we could to - the Co-op to purchase some Falling Down Waters. I parked on Church Lane outside a little café. Dr SWMBO asked me to go to the shop in the pouring rain and because it was around 100 yards away. Farther than she can comfortably walk unaided. I was happy to go but asked if she was happy to swap seats in case the car had to be moved. It was on a single yellow but also in a very narrow street. She chose to do the shopping. She shuffled away to the shop at which point I had a very strange sensation that I should immediately move the car. I drove round to stop outside the Co-op despite this fully blocking the road and requiring me to shunt to and fro a few times to allow traffic past. As Dr SWMBO climbed back into the car we heard shouts from the spot where I had been parked. It being Saturday night we thought no more of it until an hour later when some other guests arrived, proffering apologies that they couldn’t drive or even walk through town because it “was closed off by fire engines”. If I hadn’t moved and as I had been right beside this I might have been damaged by it and potentially with our transport also damaged. Because I would have been out of the car to open the other door for Dr SWMBO. It does make you think …… https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/live-cornwall-building-collapses-street-9107523

Never mind the motors. Where's the bbq'd snags?

Someone must have been martyred for having the patience of a saint. Sorry. I’ll show myself out in a tick. Because I live in St Just which must be more than simply “to Just”

I do seem to recall there was sand there in my younger days. But I’m not old enough to have known Kenidjack in full production. That’s all a load of fascinating ruins and open shafts there now. Some shafts have been capped but not all. Not every adit was ever mapped and new ones appear from beneath mud, waste and vegetation from time to time. Stick to the paths. Keep eyets open and not on the small screen in your hand.

A word I continue to be entertained by. Because it certainly can be. Art is anal.

Would that be the Model A - to repel electric horses or the Model B - powered by electrickery to repel horses? Good moaning. I assume it is a morning since the alarm sounded some time ago. The view from the windows is yet again near-zero due to fick thog and mizzle. Dripping and dismayed small people are making their way resignedly back to school after their half-term break. It is recycling day so the bags shall be placed for collection later. And I have this week ahead to get the book across the finish line. Motivation - wherefore art thou? Coffee and toast - Thou art also required.

It was not unknown for a loco to receive a replacement digit or two if part of its number had gone astray. Maybe through too many Exmover washes or for any other reason. Having one “whiter” than the rest really should not be a bother. But having one larger than the rest - by definition not in the standard font - would be less common altogether.

I still can’t see the garden gate from the porch. This is a real thick fog and it’s raining through it too. We have to set off soon for our 60-mile trek. Is this why they call our destination “Lostwithiel”?

Yellow Rain already arrived and I don’t mean the stuff we make ourselves. G’morning all. It’s persisterating down. And is forecast to do so all day. Dinner out was cancelled last night as neither of us felt like venturing into the fog for the 45-minute drive. Instead it was fush & chups at home. Once I had managed to get them! I joined the queue - in cold rain and fog - around 20 people from the front. They are commendably speedy at taking orders and getting food out but it seemed that Lancashire had arrived en masse and all required feeding. Folk from Preston, Bamber Bridge and Pleasington among others, who all seemed to know each other, were all placing sizeable orders. By sizeable I mean several of them parted with north of £100. I noted that over £1000 was taken at the till ahead of my order once I was inside the shop. Having placed my modest order there was another 20-minute wait for it to be cooked. During which time I heard the staff discussing having to close early due to selling out of chips, sausages and pies. Cod & cod isn’t quite as appealing as cod & chips, I guess. And then another early night ahead of a big weekend on the road to (and from) a friend’s birthday celebration. I hope we can see where we are going! Stay safe and dry in this weather.

I know those cars have many luxurious benefits but the ability to cook toast whilst on the move was not one I had heard of 🤣

Asked and answered. And I never said a word! The watch station is on the seaward side of Cape Cornwall and cannot be seen other than from the sea until you are either immediately below or above it on the Coast Path. You come down the Cape passing the cottages and continue around the headland where it seems that the path might peter out. it does not. It does get quite interesting perched right on the edge not far above wave-reach on Spring tides and there are then over 100 rough rock-hewn steps to climb to the station. The Coast Path itself climbs further still to the well-known chimney atop the Cape before descending on the landward side past St. Helens Oratory (the ruined chapel) having brought you almost around in a full circle. The official South West Coast Path route used not to climb to the chimney. You approached from Kenidjack (seen in my image above) and crossed the lane leading to the Cape cottages before climbing the other side towards Carn Gloose and (eventually) Lands End. Only a few years ago a new Right of Way was agreed with the landowner to divert the path via the oratory, which is of some historical interest, up and over the top and past the watch station. In 2022 the South West Coast Path Association - of which I am a long-term member- introduced a "passport" scheme whereby walkers could have a card "passport" stamped by certain businesses and other places along the way. All those businesses involved make some sort of contribution to the Association either by way of donation and / or promoting the fact that they are walker-friendly, or similar. Since the start of 2024 all NCI Coastwatch stations have also become "stamping points" after a trial last year with just a couple of them was deemed successful. There is no expectation that a donation would be made in return for a stamp but there is a tin at the door should one wish to add to our coffers. NCI is entirely dependant upon volunteers and donations to maintain its "Eyes Along The Shore" ™ and its Declared Facility Status within the wider Search & Rescue network. "Declared Facility Status" means that each watch-keeper and the station as a whole has been examined and met certain minimum criteria, and those are re-examined every year, enabling HM Coastguard to trust our word and observations without needing further verification. Today's training included plotting to paper charts which as a user of OS maps for over 60 years I had no difficulty with at all. Apparently it completely stumps some folk. Range, distance and bearing are not at all hard to calculate even with nothing but human-eye observation. If one also has an aid such as radar or a ship-finder app then it becomes a piece of cake.

Afternoon all. Second training watch completed to the satisfaction of all concerned. The view from the office wasn’t too shabby either. That there was a view at all was a pleasant surprise. With warm moist air over cool land we could have had more dense fog.

Excellent news