Gwiwer

Similar here. The General Post Office (GPO), once created, was responsible for all mail, telephony and telegraphic services other than a few purely internal business systems and the always-independent Hull Telephone Company. The GPO also owned the air as it was from them that one had to purchase the television licence. And it was through the GPO that one applied, if one was suitably qualified to do do, for an amateur “ham” radio operator’s licence and call-sign. It was all privatised over the years. Phones went to British Telecom, mail went to Royal Mail plc and the actual post office buildings and the retail operations were run by Post Office Counters Ltd. There were and are a good many smaller associated businesses, such as ours in town today, managed by the local Sub-Postmaster / Mistress (of which the news is currently reporting massive miscarriages of justice) and typically also offering the services of a small “corner shop” or general store / mixed business. Service has declined as sharply as prices have risen. Competition entered the parcel-carriage market challenging the former Royal Mail Parcelforce monopoly. Royal Mail is still required to provide mail distribution on six days a week other than in remote areas but is pressing for the Saturday delivery requirement to be dropped. In London we not unreasonably got mail delivered on all six required days of the week. It’s a big place with a lot of addresses and (junk aside) still plenty of personally-addressed mail in the system. Currently we are “required” to have mail delivered on those same six days of the week but in reality the postman only comes twice a week. Tuesdays and Fridays. On the other days he is covering the other side of town or the nearby villages. As all are within the TR19 postcode the Royal Mail claim they are meeting the six-day delivery requirement. They are not. But they will now collect mail at the door if it’s pre-booked and prepaid. Which never used to happen. Everything had to go to the pillar-box or to the Post Office. So they have caught up a little way with the parcel services who have offered door-to-door (and seven-days-a-week) service for some time. But not for letters. Letter mail is protected as a Royal Mail only function.

Indeed. We are lucky to have one in a quite modest town of 4500 folk. We are even more lucky that it opens every day of the week; from 7am until 6pm except Sundays when it closes at 1pm. Nearby Pendeen post office recently closed having been open six mornings and two afternoons although they retain a “mobile” service. Open from 9 - 10am on Mondays only. So in effect ours serves their population adding a couple of thousand. Even quite large towns are now finding the Post Office is now just a counter at the back of WH Smith and obliged to comply with their hours. But often not on Sundays at all and not always on Saturdays even when the host shop is open.

Funny you should say that. We had guests over for lunch. They arrived bearing pasties; our contribution was tea and chocolate cake. Dr. SWMBO makes a rather good chocolate cake. The frosting even includes rum. His Furship's contribution was the deposit of several "logs" in the porch shortly before guests left which required swift removal. To the accompaniment of male guest singing the well-known shanty line "He wasn't fit to shovel s**t from one place to another" A good thing we like these people and know their little quirks!!! Meanwhile in the kickballing festivals his team won but my BiL's team - whose results I follow - thumped their Sarflunnen opposition into the turf with a resounding and somewhat one-sided display of their skills. My Crystal Palace-supporting friends, mostly former House of Fun colleagues, are remarkably silent on the subject currently. I wonder why.

BYD (Build Your Dreams) electric bus on route 65 in London. TfL prefers that the maker’s badge is not displayed in the usual position on the lower front panel

Their buses certainly are. London runs many hundreds of BYD products and they are slowly “breaking out” to other cities. Electric buses are not yet viable in regional / rural areas. Mileage required can exceed battery capacity, charging is not yet in place and neither is the reinforcement required to the National Grid supply to support it. The BYD products are generally well regarded. They do what they say on the tin. And with stylish British-built bodywork they also look good and a long way from the square boxes which infested streets for so long. Also of note there have been a few electric or hybrid bus fires in London and elsewhere which have made local headlines. None has involved a BYD vehicle.

Cross-post to the realistic modelling thread

Petrol is up by 1p a litre. Probably down to the shootie-Houthis. It's been 136.9p for weeks but waited until I was ready to fill up before rising. In other news there seems to be a log-jam in the supply-chain. Sainsbury's were very short of E10 (only one pump out of twelve in service) and were all out of fresh chickens as well. Given last week's issue with the foul-smelling bird (pun intended) I wonder if they have discovered a wider problem. I had a credit note for the chicken and had to press the Duty Manager to authorise it for an alternative product as none was available. Sunday's roast will now be butterflied leg-of-sheep.

As will most Vep owners I'm sure. I probably would too were I to invest but space and retirement finances both mitigate against that for now. I only weighed in because it clearly still isn't quite right, but could be, and because I am considered to be a knowledgable person (though by no means a subject matter expert) when it comes to SR EMU units.

Evening all. Far from the best day I've had recently. I slept badly for reasons unknown and woke feeling dehydrated. I wasn't too hot but I might have been under-watered. Visits to the bathroom have confirmed that diagnosis; matters are returning towards normal as I have mostly drunk only water today (and rather more than I normally would) avoiding most tea and coffee breaks. The former employer has emailed me to advise that despite the pay award which is backdated to 2021 being settled I am somehow not entitled to it because I retired in 2023. They say it is only for currently-serving staff. As that means those staff have now been paid at the agreed rate for the period since 2021 and I have not there exists a discrepancy and I have, to my mind, been under-paid. Next stop - legal advice. 1C90 is only 2 minutes late at present which is most uncommon. Dr. SWMBO's train is normally over a half-hour late by this time but it seems that tonight I shall be picking her up more or less on time for a change. In other news my friends who are due to stay at the end of the month have confirmed their dates. She has also confirmed her intention to carry an engagement ring which she plans to offer to him on Leap Year's day. Unless the weather is diabolical the deed shall be done at sunset on the clifftops here. I can think of more romantic settings but not many. And not without expensive international travel. I hope he accepts!

Just looking carefully at @kintbury jon's images above my question remains "Have they got the face right?" This was a contentious issue when the Vep first appeared. It certainly wasn't spot-on. But what is amiss? Comparing both images with an almost head-on image of 3417 captured at Waterloo recently the models appear to have the central gangway area more or less correct. It is the outer areas which are astray. We might only be talking in millimetres or even fractions thereof but it doesn't look quite like the real thing. Even if it's fractions of millimetres then Bachmann got it right with their 4-TC which has the same front end as the 4-Vep. On the Vep the cab windows appear too narrow leaving the outer corner-pillar too wide. The outer bottom corner of the window should align with the outer upper corner of the jumper recess which the models do not. This means the jumper recesses are also too narrow and should extend farther towards the corner-pillars. The horns appear skinny and the warning "flash" out of proportion, too large and too wide for its height. I attach, with permission, a screenshot of my friend Colin Duff's review of the 4-TC which uses side-by-side images of a real 4-Vep against the model 4-TC. The points made are salient and transferable to the Vep model; it also allows near head-on comparison which, if placed adjacent to a Vep model image (or even an actual model) will serve to illustrate the differences. The 4-TC shows that the correct "face" can be modelled albeit it too has had a few minor dimensional issues such as "fat horns" Such things may still be deal-breakers for a few modellers when we are being asked to pay something in the region of £350 for a new 4-car unit.

Until it was mentioned here I hadn't even noticed. It doesn't bother me at all. Accurate representations of things this old are very hard to achieve given the almost complete absence of colour images from the time. In any case a light weathering can add a bit of brown to the door panels and a little track dirt along the tumblehome the combined effects of which might cancel each other out and give a more or less homogenous colour to the layout-viewer's eyes.

But not elevated cholesterol levels.

The grapevine is seldom wrong. There are also grapevine whispers of at least one tour planned for this unit once it emerges. Perhaps SWR has a sense of its own history. Meanwhile - and especially from around 3m 30s ..... when did you last get Deltic haulage on a 4-COR?

It was not without due consideration of the available evidence that I referred to one of my superiors, an unmarried woman as it happened, as “Miss Management”. The moniker stuck, was used by others, became known to “Head Office” and she was abruptly relocated. To a position within head office where she was no longer responsible for teams of people whose role she seemed to know nothing about and to whom she was overly fond of giving unreasonable instructions in a confrontational manner. Good management requires advanced “people skills” as much as it does business acumen. Without your people you will have no business. No two people are the same. And sometimes it is in the greater interests to sacrifice a small amount of your “bottom line” to ensure your people are the best, get the best and do their best. I would rather pay over the odds for an enthused, engaged and proactive workforce than chase the bottom line through micromanagement. Ultimately a good workforce will serve you well, lift your reputation and generate more business. Whereas a demotivated, lacklustre team who are in the jobs they can get rather than the ones they want will cause you endless frustration, hours of avoidable “interviews”, huge sums in hiring, training and firing, and can cause significant harm to your standing and your business. I was asked more than once at the House of Fun when I was going to apply for management positions. My reply was always the same. “I could manage this station standing on my ear. But I am not going to. I have reached that point in my career when I no longer want nor need the stress, responsibility nor salary which comes with a carpeted office. And I also work very well “at the coal face” outdoors facing my customers.” There was never any argument about that. Neither was their any argument when I described my management style. A pyramid. At the bottom you only get sh1t from above; at the top you only get sh1t from below but at every level in between you get sh1t from all sides. At the bottom you are the strength of the business supporting it and all its people. Once at the top you are the easiest to flick off. Furthering my “pyramid” I have always described my management style as that of the sheepdog. I lead from the back. You will always get natural front-runners; high-performers who if set targets will always work diligently towards them. Then there’s the pack - mostly OK but at times needing direction around the edges and the odd straggler rescued. And then there are the lame ones at the back. If I follow them I can see they are struggling and make time to help. If I am leading from the front I have my back turned to everyone and can’t see what my people are doing. Lead from the back; let the best ones run ahead, watch the pack, support the strugglers and pay attention to the woolly edges. Everything else looks after itself. Here endeth the lesson.

My empathies are with you. When we first moved in here and Dr. SWMBO started her long-distance commuting to maintain her London-based career I was floundering a bit on Tuesdays. She leaves on Monday afternoons so these are the first of almost three days of being "just me and the cat". Too many Tuesdays have drifted by with me gazing idly at the internet and the antisocial media sites. The fact of it being winter and the weather not often conducive to nice long walks or days out hasn't helped. Today I am engaged in attempting to extract several different pension funds from their "providers". Two in the UK and two in Australia. None of them seems keen to release my money. One has asked several times for "Proof of ID" and specified what they require. That has been provided but they come back with the response that "Your proof of ID is invalid" and still hold my funds. Funds which are now rather urgently required for day to day expenses and for which I am currently borrowing from our "pot" in the joint savings account. I know more or less what I should be getting month by month and we are living well within that. It doesn't help when around ⅓ of what you budget for isn't there. But should be. Shall we re-christen the old Boomtown Rats hit?

We had an electric one at one of those establishments where I was required to provide meals for guests. It was, to be polite, rubbish. So was the rest of the kitchen equipment but that's what we had and we weren't getting anything else so it was a case of "make do" A gas one is no good here because the only gas in the town is that emitted naturally by the local livestock. I think one of the pubs uses commercially-supplied bottled gas for their kitchen because it arrives on a large flat-bed vehicle and requires a small crane to offload and re-load the cylinders. Despite having a perfectly good, near-new fitted kitchen in the cottage, and one which has already provoked some "kitchen-envy" comments, we have neither space for nor need of an amphibian salamander to sear our burgers or melt the cheese on our toasties. The "top heat" in the electric oven does that very nicely thank you. And crisps the bacon too, should we so wish.

Good morning all. A bright day has arrived at the Distant (Signal) West and stuff in the garden is growing. I’m not sure what it is yet but I am told they are plants. Dr. SWMBO arrived in London almost on time last night for a change only to be delayed 40 minutes awaiting an Uber. C’est la Vie. There is almost always one nearby but not at Paddington last night. There is more than enough kitchen equipment here and some of it is very seldom used. But I would need to build an extension to house even half of what is on iD’s list. I suppose I could compromise by popping the lamb chops into a polythene bag and taking them into the shower with me for a sous-vide. There is a Junior Mixmaster which emits a satisfying hum and smells of warm oil and brass cogs when used. That is a piece of Australian heritage and is probably as old as us. It’s cord is not - that was professionally replaced a few years ago as the plaited fabric had frayed; it now has a regulation black plastic version. In the absence of a “proper” bbq there is an “outdoor cooker” which has been used a few times and is a handy reserve if the electricity supply is lost; it uses a solid fuel of smokeless (apart from at first ignition) pulverised coal waste and stays cool on the outside meaning it could be used on the kitchen bench in emergency. I’m looking forward to the first outdoor bbq of the year. Not just yet but hopefully not many weeks away.

And I thought a salamander was a lizard-like amphibian Are they particularly good at cooking? Because some folk have them in their kitchens.

Excellent news. '01 is fine here and now carries my weathering which improves its look somewhat. '02 will go back to Camborne on Wednesday for Muz to have a look at. Beyond then its future remains undetermined. I did see a WA modeller mulling over what to do with his "derailer" 20002 given the cost to return it. I hope that gets sorted.

Pretentious w****r books as they are known here Especially those from a certain Mr Oliver. Just how did the Two Fat Ladies get away with mixing food with nail-varnished bare fingers for so long? A generation of body-shamed otherwise perfectly good domestic goddesses (another “celebrity chef” reference) think it’s ok to prepare food into which your personal “touch” might chip or flake off. Not forgetting the hygiene issues associated with decorative rings.

Sounds like a good Celt Down here we do such things dreckly. G’moaning all. It seems to be grey, windy and damp beyond the windows. Internal illumination is still required even at 8.30. Today will be spent tackling the book while Dr SWMBO tackles her Working-from-Home. Hopefully the good folk of ASLEF will allow her unhindered passage to the Marmalade Bear later. Last night was to have included a roasted cluckbird. Upon removing it from the packing it looked a bad greenish colour and produced a tell-tale strong odour. There was nothing to suggest the packaging had been damaged and there were still three days until its “use by” date. Pork chops were substituted. A visit to Sainsburys will be made after taking Dr. SWMBO to the train. Because it’s harder to argue with a customer in person. And I have photos. It is time to awaken Das Komputenmaschine. I’ll be back at Muggercoffee time.

Exactly what I have done. 1. The system allows it without needing a reason these days 2. It allows us to exercise our hard-won democratic right without faffing about looking for an “acceptable form of ID” 3. We don’t have to go out (or even get out of bed!) to vote which might mean a larger “turnout” For those who might miss their “democracy sausage” such things are not permitted in the UK. Nanny State might consider applying red sauce or yellow mustard to be an influence on the way we vote. I

The Driving Motor Brake Third (later Second) had compartments with no side corridor therefore both sides had doors at each compartment with small windows either side. The Driving Trailer Composite had side doors to each compartment on one side but as it had a side corridor connecting all compartments the other side featured large “picture” windows between the doors. These rose to the cantrail and - as with all 2-HAL fixed glazing - had large curved corners. As you looked at the front of a unit approaching you with the DMBT leading the corridor side would be on your left on the trailing vehicle. The corridor was instead on the right if we are discussing the “tin” units 2693-2699 or any of the “tin” post-war replacement coaches placed into other units. 2-BIL units also had the corridor on the opposite side to those on a 2-HAL.

When I arrived with my Resident's Visa (as opposed to the earlier short trips on a Tourist Visa) I was asked by Immigration whether I had a criminal record. I was forewarned that they did not consider it amusing to be told "I didn't realise one was still needed" I was also asked "Who do you barrack for then?" Trick question? Or one to test my authenticity as a resident? The answer was a very swift and decisive "The Seagulls". Because (a) It's a VFL team in the lower echelons of the Aussie Rules game - a "sport" which I have never warmed to nor followed, and (b) because it happens to also be the nickname of the kickballing team in the south of England whose fortunes I do vaguely follow. Largely only to have a point of discussion with BiL and a long-time friend who are both ardent fans but hey. Nice coincidence.

I remember flagging the solid partitions as an issue when SK was showing the test shots. His response was a shrug of his shoulders. Possibly a bad day for an otherwise generally respected individual?