Gwiwer

Morning all. Sleep largely eluded me until around half-past sparrowfart. At least I was able to rest with less pain and discomfort. If it's not one thing it's the other and Network Fail has decided they need to do some work to our level crossing. Cue the arrival of several large vehicles at around midnight accompanied through the night by intermittent noise of machinery. Notwithstanding I shall spruce up and venture into Twickers shortly. Eel Pie Island is still open today and I shall need to purchase some form of offerring for the oven later. No news overnight from mother or aunt - I am assuming that means no deterioration of their respective conditions. Enjoy Sunday. Whether or not the sun makes an appearance for you.

The feet are behaving though still offering some discomfort. It's significantly cooler I feel tired enough to attempt sleep. G'night All.

Substitute WA for TO on the original I do love those Aussie registrations. You can basically have what ever you like (subject to the normal 6-character maximum) in many states so long as it isn't considered offensive. Around Melbourne, among very many personal names, I've seen: VANCAR (think about it ... ) A550LE (I assume the numerals defeated the automated profanity filter used by VicRoads) HOTROD INFRNT GOTCHA (on a police high speed pursuit vehicle!!!) KIARIO and many other variants using 0 or 1 TOYOTA NISSAN FARQ (doesn't require too much thought; FARKEW is blocked) PLUMBA, PLUMMA CHIPPY, SPARKY WETOWU (on a tow truck, where else) COPCAR (police, again) TRAMMY, TRAMIE and others. In a city operating the worlds largest network "trammie" is a tram driver. And a good many more

Morning all. A difficult and largely sleepless night put paid to today's plan of enjoying the annual Eel Pie Island artists collective open-house. Just on the verge of sleep I received word that elderly aunt had been moved to the ICU from the observation ward and wasn't expected to see the morning. Much discussion with sister as to how to approach mother wirh this news. We opted to sleep on it unless things changed. Sleep just wasn't going to happen. Too many thoughts. Mum probably doesn't have enough left to deal with the loss of her own sister. Aching feet gave rise to twitchy legs. No sleep happening here. Around 1am another message. Not what I had feared but. Good friend in Oz had become innocent victim of cockerel-womble. Friend was stopped second in line at a red light when c-w approached without making any effort to slow down and hit them at a full 60kmh (around 40mph) pushing their handbraked car into the one in front, which was then pushed into the line of moving traffic. Ultimately six cars involved in the smash. All bar friend's Prado were written off at the scene. Friend "limped home" with whiplash, cuts and bruises but as she says "I've never been more grateful for being a well-endowed woman driving a large 4x4 car." More non-sleep followed. Finally rose for breakfast and promptly caught a few hours kip afterwards. Thoughts today with those aboard the charter train heading for Mazey Day in Penzance. It started 73 minutes late. It was over 2 hours late by Bristol following expiry of both class 37s. A 66 is now taking it westwards close to 3 hours late and in good time to miss most of the merriment of the day. Best wishes to all here. Aunt still with us for now and is even "off the oxygen" so might be fighting hard.

One of the regular 6xx turns was to replace the 1xxx at Plymouth which brought the sleepers down from Paddington and take them through to Penzance. Quite a heavy working though with some generosity in the timing, but you didn't want to miss the boat connection for the Isles of Scilly. That duty I believe went up on the milks the previous evening coming off at Plymouth before a spell on Laira. Anyone with the "Book of the Warships" would be able to check; my copy is still at sea on its way here.

Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Baz. The Battle of Acton has been fought and won. Slow steady progress was the order of the day and taking advantage of some available seating at times as our guide rambled on about described the many exhibits. Those of a certain age might remember how comfortable Standard and 1938 tube stock seats were. I also reacquainted myself with Q-stock car 08063 which I last saw when I travelled aboard the final Q-stock train on the underground. September 1971. Or was it 1970? Anyway. A 2 ½ hour tour was good value at £12 and worth it for the genuine nerds and historians. Feet held up until the final half hour which became tiring but I'll chalk that up as a step on the road to recovery. Many thanks for all your supportive comments, thoughts and shared experience. All very much a part of the support network which is ER.

Morning all. Slept reasonably well other than during the interlude the cat chose to use me and the bed as a show-jumping arena. Pain levels lower and mobilith improved slightly this morning. I am going to set forth for Acton shortly come hell or high water. Apparently I do have a high pain threshold. Wonder if that is in any way linked to being uncommonly temperature-tolerant. 40+ degree days never troubled me in Australia once I got used to the idea that - just like most other people - I was pouring sweat and every item of clothing had its own wet patches. I'm equally good in sub-zero with the coldest I've known being -20C. Indomethacin is apparently all that can be prescribed here and in Oz. It has the side-effect of blurring vision and affecting co-ordination. I can only describe the sensation as having "fuzzy touch" where you are not quite sure whether you are or are not in contact with something. Makes tackling a coffee challenging and potentially messy. Rules out any form of work or anything outdoors at all, pretty much. I have it but seldom take it. I'd need to be screaming in pain first, fit to cut my own foot off, before I took them. They don't do a lot either. Short-term reduction in pain is about as good as it gets. Right. Onwards and upwards. Another pint of Adams Ale (Adnams would be preferable) then a hobble round to the station. No speed records shall be set. 75 metres may take 10 minutes. Have a good POETS day. Best wishes all.

PhilJW - This is a private ticket-only tour for just 15 people. The next bun-fight open day is September for which I also have a ticket. Neil - it's one of those things. Doesn't attract the attention nor the funding of cancer because it's not lethal. It seems so simple but some sort of medication to prevent or alleviate the formation of uric acid crystals on the joints should surely not be beyond science. Many suffer yet there is ni cure. There are "natural" remedies including drinking bicarb dissolved into the water. That tastes revolting, doesn't help me but does refocus the mind briefly. The need to avoid immediate regurgitation momentarily exceeds the need to scream from the pain.

AndyID. Your comnents about drink-driving resonate here. In the Australian State of Victoria, home for the past 17 years or so, it is not unlawful to be drinking alcohol while driving. Motor insurance is also not mandatory and is held by only around 60% of drivers. It is however unlawful to have an unsealed container of alcohol in your vehicle (even if it is for passengers) and random stop-and-test laws apply. I haven't yet figured how you would drink from a sealed container ... What happens if you are in an incident with an uninsured driver? If you are fully (comprehensively) insured you won't have a problem. If you have "bomb" insurance - third party cover - it depends on liabilty but you can be out of pocket. If neither is insured I guess you both shake hands and grab a beer while you wait for your mates to turn up and remove the wreckage on trailers. Because you won't be getting a tow truck. Summer 1976? Yes long and hot though we narrowly avoided standpipes. Spent some of it cycling around Cornwall getting very sunburned and the rest of it getting pebble-rash on various bits of Sussex beach and about which the less said the better!!!

Evening all. An update with due apologies for having missed a couple of days' worth of posts. The dreaded gout has, for the first time, spread to affect both feet simultaneously. That has basically rendered me immobile and in excruciating pain for which the NHS and the internet both suggest water and prescribed NSAIDS are the go. I am officially bored with consuming water in industrial quantities. The pills do very little if anything. All that water has to go somewhere and an urgent call of nature is mighty troubling when it can take five agonising minutes to reach the facilities. I live in hope that it spreads no farther; it was going away until it struck the other side then came right back. Pain notwithstanding I made the trip to mother's yesterday. My sister did 99% of dad's final-year care and has done most of mum's to date. I found her exhausted and only too pleased to hand over to me for 12 hours. Mum isn't doing well. She is just able, on a good day, to wash, dress and feed herself but most days are not that good. Sister had been making five visits daily while holding down a job and managing a grown family. We intend that in future I shall visit mum one day a week and stay over if she is not sufficiently well to manage things herself. No-one knows how long is given to them but I sense, and am not surprised by, a loss of will to continue since father passed in March. If she sees the year out I shall be surprised. In other news. Not a lot. Still warm and sticky here with none of the storns other areas have had. I am booked on a tour of the Depot at Acton tomorrow, London's museum store where all the good stuff lives. I shall try my hardest to attend. Best wishes to all. Enough bleating from here. Others have far worse ordeals to contend with.

"We used to dream of living in a lake."

Morning all. Greetings from a very warm Hill of Strawberries. At midnight last night the indoor and outdoor temperatures equalised at 26C. In Australia we would have had the air-con and every available fan running fit to bust. With not a breath of air movement all I got here was a cat demanding snuggles ...... Sleep finally obtained and missing hours caugt up on. It's already 30-something outside. Next trip to mother's brought forward to tomorrow as she isn't doing too well and has just learned that her sister, my aunt, was admitted to hospital over the weekend and might not return home. Seems like I am back on home soil just in time. Best wishes to all. Stay as cool as your circumstances allow.

That's looking really good Peter. The stone circle has spliced in very well. Good to see some more of my work living on.

Until now almost all of my orders have gone to Australia. Friday afternoon saw my first substantial order placed for delivery to the new London address. I found a couple of items in the weekly newsletter which will complement the collection nicely. I just managed to avoid adding another WC to the N and the E4. As the value was above free next-working-day delivery threshold I selected that knowing that this would mean Monday delivery. I am in no rush. Within five minutes I had emails confirming the order was packed and on its way. By Friday evening I had a text from the carrier confirming Monday morning delivery. At 7am today I received a further text stating my parcel would be delivered at 08.53. Very precise. And at 08.53 precisely there was a knock at the door. Can't fault that at all.

Good post-luncheonal haze to all Congrats to Aditi and Tony A vacancy exists here for a punkahwallah. Spelling uncertain. It is slightly more than warm Still off my feet for as long as possible but the slow recovery continues. Outings have been confined to slow hobbles to the river and back. Another is due shortly. Yesterday was an exception. We also enjoyed a walk to and investigation of Pope's Grotto which is at the end of the road. Google will help those unfamiliar with this treasure which is only open to the public on four days a year. Yesterday was ... a mixed blessing. I have taken on the role of General Secretary for a well established group which, among other things, is responsible for the preserved 4Cor unit. Yesterday was my first committee meeting. These take place close to Southwark tube station. That was followed by high tea at Fortnum & Mason as a birthday present. The latter was far more enjoyable. In 32 rather humid degrees and with temporarily limited mobility having no train service at the Hill due to the rebuilding at Twickers wasn't ideal. Replacement buses were allegedly provided though they don't serve the station. There are no signs and no staff at the station to suggest where the buses were. RTT offered times but not locations. A call to "South West Trains" was taken by an NR call centre operator who first gad to discover wherd Strawberry Hill was. "The bus leaves from outside the station at stop N" was the eventual reply. Not worth wasting time telling them there is no bus stop outside nor indeed anywhere near the station. We walked to the nearest "red" bus stop which is "Stop S" for route 33. After 15 minutes the first bus to appear said "Rail Replacement" on the front. We held out our hands and a confused looking driver stopped for us. No-one else was aboard. Driver had photocopied pages of maps held on the steering wheel to navigate by and admitted to being totally lost. We reached Teddington after two wrong-turns and one reverse-around-corner to get out of an impassable narrow road. Trains were running but no staff were on duty to manage bus transfers and again there was no signage The train arrived and departed full and standing (11am Sunday morning) then found hordes waiting to board at every other station. At Wimbledon the platform was six deep. Various other suburban services were terminating there. And with a classic lack of joined-up thinking this was being done as a prelude to the Great Waterloo Shutdown on the same weekend as TfL had closed the Wimbledon and Richmond branches of the District Line. Net effect? Wimbledon, which might have 14 trains per hour to central London on aSunday had instead just 4. I'd like to think it may have been less crowded and sweaty in Mumbai. To say travelling yesterday was an epic of customer service failure would be polite. We returned well into the evening. The trains were just as busy with all other options closed. And there was no indication at Teddington where any bus might leave from. We called an Uber and SWMBO has already sent the bill with a very firmly worded email to SWT. It's still hot. There is chilled wine abd an assortment of cheese in the fridge. The parcel from Kernow containing an E4 and an N arrived bang on time this morning. Please give me one good reason to not take wine and cheese down to the river for a laze in the sun.

Here's a twist on the theme. There are works in the Twickenham area this weekend meaning trains are replaced by buses between Barnes and Teddington. This means there are no trains serving my local station at Strawberry Hill. Having to be in Waterloo for a specific time in the morning I enquired what time the replacement buses might leave and where from. It appears that buses cannot serve Strawberry Hill station. There is no bus route passing it, the only available roads are quite narrow and are lined by large and low-hanging trees. Buses are therefore diverting away from it. The replacement bus stop is a substantial walk away on the road between Twickenham and Fulwell. The buses pass Fulwell station - which has trains - but will not stop. Instead they go around the houses to finally reach Teddington having not served an intermediate station at all, not served the station next in line with a train service operating and taken so long to get from A to B that the next train (which could have been caught from Fulwell) has departed Twickenham just before the bus is due in. Next train 30 minutes. We shall make other arrangements.

Confirmed by multiple sources. Farewell and RIP Chancellor Cabbage. Diversionary route knowledge: it's happening. Southern are now running buses between Three Bridges, Brighton, Eastbourne and Littlehampton as required because knowledge of the Arun Valley option is no longer a given. TL and GX drivers don't know it at all and 700s are not route-cleared either. Southern work DOO to Three Bridges then the OBS becomes the Guard down the Arun Valley meaning a Brighton fast which is DOO throughout can no longer divert. That and to change anything on the driver's roster right now may trigger another wave of industrial inaction. Still criminal in my view that more cannot be done with the Dorking route. On SWT there is a daily Waterloo - Chertsey - Woking trip timetabled and the entire Sunday service goes to Woking rather than Weybridge. I get that those duties are likely to be 455/456 stock not signed by the main line men but why on a Sunday with stock spare are 450s not used and some turns booked as main line refreshers. They're going to need all the flexibility they can get come August when half of Waterloo is closed.

Morning all Woken at 4.15 by the impact of a cat transferring himself from somewhere else to my groinal region. Uttered words ruder than bottom. Woken again at 6.15 by our bin men who are as quiet in their task as its nature allows but who are anything but quiet in the vocal department. Every Friday we are privileged to hear these fine gentlemen outside our bedroom windows (as that is where the bins are) using words very much ruder than bottom. Today's language of choice included references to a bird similar to and sometimes mistaken for a cormorant. This has been a troublesome week. Pain fron gout causes fatigue but prevents sleep. I have spent several days drugged to the limit, sleeping intermittently by day and night and waiting for time - and those dreaded urea crystals - to pass. This morning has finally brought a significant improvement after the first good sleep in a week. Amazing generosity and unity being shown following events up the road at Grenfell Tower. They have had to ask that donations stop coming in. Several sports stadia, church and community halls are overflowing. The GoFundMe pot has I think reached £1m now. While those without homes will not want for food, clothing and in due course replacement furniture the loss and the trauma stays for ever. As it will for all those whose job it has been to tackle the fire and manage its aftermath. We are still expecting a total fatality count well into three figures. The upper floors cannot be searched as they are too severely damaged. We have our Australian property placed with an agent for letting though it currently remains vacant. Having once been a property manager in London years ago and having also rented out my home in Cornwall I still have some grasp on legislation. When I asked the agent what sort of certification they required for gas and electrical safety in Australia I received a blank look. "When was it built?" "1972" "That's OK. It would have been certified then ........ ". I did however have to sign a statement confirming that it had a working smoke alarm less than ten years old. It has three, to cover four bedrooms and three main exit routes, and they are all less than one year old. Happy POETS Day. Won't be doing that here as the Good Lady has a working dinner followed by a 7.45pm meeting. After an 8-5 day. C'est la vie sometimes.

Having flown Business more than once in Singapore and Emirates 777ER and A380 aircraft I can report that EK represents the canine gonads and far surpasses even the high SQ standards. It's always comforting to be greeted at the cabin door by name. You're a valued individual not just an anonymous piece of livestock. The most recent flight was staffed, among others, by a young Slovak who remembered me from two years previously. Once seated and provided with the menu he came to take the order and asked "8 Alpha. Mr. Xxxxxxx. Will that be the medium rare steak with the Bordeaux again for you Sir?" You just don't get that on SqueezyJet. Reports from other travellers suggest QF (Quaint Ar$e, as they are sometimes called) just isn't in the same league at all. Other long-haul carriers with generally very good reports include Qatar and Royal Brunei. Just don't ask for the wine list!

The full criteria against which airports are judged for this ranking would be of interest I agree Singapore Changi is superb. It is spacious, spotless and benefits from the local work ethic of respectful and timely service to all. I agree that Auckland is up there with the best though it is very much smaller and less busy than many of those ranked. There are worse airports than London Gatwick though it does suffer from serious overcrowding and the distance (and lack of transport) between terminals. The shuttle train is barely sufficient when both sets are running; often only one is in service. The walk from the outer gates of the North Terminal - those where you have to cross the enormius footbridge - make that an expedition in itself. Staff are not always the most helpful nor friendly I have encountered and fall well short of the standards set at Heathrow. I quite like Dubai International though one has to accept the Arab way of doing things here means there is no haste and you are also required to pass through security as you exit your arriving aircraft and enter the terminal. It's what they do. It has also got very big and busy but inter-terminal transits are reasonably smooth end efficient. Or you can have Alice Springs. The cabin crew open the terminal building when the aircraft arrives after the ground staff (all one of him) wheels the steps into place having previously acted as air traffic controller. Facilities? There's a toilet. And a closed coffee bar.

Morning all. I don't have words for overnight events. Not terribly close to us and like many I wasn't aware until Dawn had cracked that anything was amiss. Second time in a month Facebook has invited me to check in as safe on their emergency feature. And the second time in a month when I am happy to stand shoulder to shoulder with London folk in support of those who may be in need. Thoughts with all.

Quite so. If the Earth were flat cats would have pushed everything off the edge by now.

As used by Carlos Santana among others.

The good lady was required to make a business trip a couple of years back. Melbourne - Montreal. Not too many options within a sensible timeframe and the one she selected was with Qatar having some six hours in Doha. A lightly-loaded Dreamliner offered her sole use of the four central seats for the first 13 hour leg. The second flight was full but the 10 hours required to cross the Atlantic baffled us. Until she watched the familar south-east coast of England (!!) passing some 40000 feet beneath her window. Then the unmistakable outline of Scotland and finally Iceland was sited before a westerly course was set ....... There must be a good reason for that banana of a route since it would involve a lot more fuel than flying in a straight line.

Morning all Ongoing slight reduction in pain matched by increase in mobility. I was considered fit enough to be jumped on at 4am by a hungry cat demanding breakfast!!! The pasties have arrived from Hayle. Six of Philp's finest accompanied by as many of their newly offered pork pies. I am supposed to avoid alcohol during gout attacks but nothing washes a pasty down better than one of St. Austell's ales. Those arrived last week. Best wishes to all from a warm sunny day upon the Hill of Strawberries.