Gwiwer

It does that here too. And it's only $7 (£4.30) a litre. That's right - it comes in litres. I can also get perfectly good De Bortolli wines in the more conventional bottle size for $5 (£3.07) most days. Sometimes I even splash out on a $10 bottle! Welcome to Wednesday where we are providing a good service on all topics except for Southern Failway which is subject to delays and cancellations. Comfortable sunny day here in the low 20s. House cleaned immediately after breakfast due to a succession of appointments with shipping agents and estate agents. Just one more to be seen tomorrow morning before we make our decision. We are happy to learn that the expected rental value exceeds what we set as the top of our range and might go even higher. It seems there is so much competition for the larger houses in the rented sector that prospective tenants will actually bid the rent up in order to sign up. There are, apparently, 93 families or groups (mostly overseas students with lots of money sent from China or Japan) on the waiting lists for a 4-bedroom home and they are already involved in bidding "wars" upping the offered rent to some way above that asked. Young female friend who celebrated her 14th birthday by doing with her boyfriend what one ought not to at that age has, ten years later, announced her engagement to the very same chap. What ever one thinks about "starting young" at least they have stuck it out and clearly want to continue on that road. Good luck to them. Best wishes to all. One more sleep then back to the Palace. Hopefully without having to dodge flying drinks!

And from the longest to the widest. The only station with four-in-a-shaft escalators for many years. Possibly still is. HOLBORN

I must be thirsty!!! It's been ages since I was here. Just visiting to record a need to empty the contents of the drinks cabinet before it gets packed for shipping. Part-empty containers cannot be shipped; full and sealed ones must be declared for duty including the St. Austell Proper Job I had delivered. As I don't wish to pay the Customs person for the privilege of enjoying them I'll drain the lot here over the next few weeks. Along with three bottles of single malt and half a rack of wines, various.

A chap called Sven arrived at my house yesterday. He wants to pack up all the contents and remove them to the general area of this game. Wonder if he was any relation. It being Wednesday all lines and moves are in play and accordingly I shall take us to that westerly eructation known as UXBRIDGE

I observe from the above that Danii Minogue is considered to be a natural hazard. I would have thought her sister might have qualified also.

Morning all. It's goodnight from me.

SSSSSSHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! We're not supposed to tell anyone about the Drop Bears. Nor the real reason Aussies like Vegemite.

I suspect everyone has heard of the Redback spider. It's the one you have to lift the potty-house seat and check for before sitting. But not here. That happens farther north and in rural areas. The White-tail spider is not as well-known, is much slighter of build (a Redback looks like around black blob with a red patch) but this far south they are the only nasty spider which is found indoors. We get tiny "money-spiders" and the occasional "Daddy long-legs" but they won't harm you. Very rarely there will be a Huntsman spider indoors and they are rather large and menacing but will seldom bite and if they do it's unlikely to harm a human. We do not have the dreaded Funnel-web, the most lethal of all the common spiders and found in homes (and under toilet seats) in pars of Sydney and Brisbane as well as widely in the regions. I've lived here 17 years, all but four in the present house, have ventured into the bush many a time, we have a land drain on the property and a good number of trees and bushes suitable for snake habitat. But I have never seen a snake around the house and garden nor has anyone else. I've only seen two in all those years; one was on a sandy beach a long way from here and the other on the private road to the staff area at Sharon's former workplace and seen as recently as her departure day. Even when we have to go under the house - a common Aussie "thing" as many houses are built above ground level on stumps; some homes use the space for cool shady storage and it's handy for accessing the plumbing - there's no evidence of snakes. There's nothing else around here of concern. Sure there are many potentially lethal creatures in Australia but not so much in the suburbs and not so many this far south. We don't get kangaroos hopping down the street though the nearest live only a kilometre away. We don't have koalas in the trees because we don't have the right species of eucalypt growing in the garden. But again they live only a kilometre away. We have a good variety of birds, some native some migrant, of which the Eastern Spiny-bill, Red Wattle Bird and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo are the most numerous. In season there are parrots - thousands of them - mostly Eastern Rosellas - though they come and go according to food supply and are due back soon as the soft fruit ripens. Galahs, King Parrots, other smaller parrots and Bell Miners are around as are tiny Fairy-wrens and Weebils. We have possums. Not many but they can make quite a noise growling at night and running over the roof. They are most unlikely to attack however though should never be picked up no matter how cute they appear. If they approach just let them sniff at you and move on. I broke that rule only once in order to remove a heat-dazed young 'un from the layout one evening. He must have crawled in for a bit of shade from a 40-degree scorcher and just snoozed. As he wouldn't move when I approached I very gently - and with leather gloves on - lifted him off the track and placed him back out in the garden from where he sloped off gingerly into the evening. We hear cicadas and occasionally frogs singing. Never seen them though. I've been startled by a Kimodo Dragon while riding a trail out bush - quite a large lizard which resembles a dragon or a small dinosaur in appearance - but they don't live in the suburbs. All in all it's been a pretty good place to spend the last 13 years.

Each to their own. But I have to agree with that comment. "Melbourne Bitter" is also disgusterous stuff and I won't miss the iconic Carlton "Coldie" either. On the other hand Tooheys has some acceptable brews as do a number of the smaller breweries selling through supermarkets such as Grand Ridge and James Squire. Of the former I'm partial to the "heavy" ale Moonshine and the latter Fifty Lashes is a good lighter drink.

The neighbours are not wanted for murder. Yes there are spiders though most won't do you any harm and the few Redbacks here keep themselves to themselves. White-tails occasionally come inside. Never seen a snake here. The mozzies are quite handy though so a repellant spray or gel is advisable outside in the evenings. You learn two things when you first arrive here; one is that the beer isn't all it's cracked up to be and the other is to only ever garden and enter the shed with gloves on.

There's a 4-bedroom house about to be come available here with two separate lounge rooms, large (huge) kitchen-diner, two bathrooms (one en-suite) and car port for three cars. Good sized front garden featuring native trees and plants, large rear garden divided into shaded area and vegetable plots. 6500L stored irrigation water. All this and it comes with its own ready-built layout POA

There's a SPT and even a Rule 55 Exempt T-plate so any driver approaching that set up shouldn't be unduly delayed. Provided the signaller hasn't exited his box via the back wall when the wire snapped!!!

It might be a failure (section signal failed to move but has released the locking for the distant) for which the "flag" is not yet in place

Not if you unCork the bottle first

All the best. Keep us posted.

The response rate of two in six months against the number of enquiries made, approximately 50, suggests no-one much wants the job. As for pricing there is a point at which an hourly rate is no longer appropriate but an estimate for the full work is. Before we knew we were leaving we had a perfectly acceptable fully itemised quote (not an hourly rate) for a full wet-area renovation which would have proceeded had we been the ongoing beneficiaries. I don't want to engage anyone at an hourly rate for a job which might extend over multiple days.

Glad it went well Peter. Sorry I wasn't able to be there. There's very little which says "model" in most of those photos - they look a lot like the real thing and I'll bet you have a few on here doing double-takes.

Good luck Baz I've been trying to get a plumber to replace our shower base for the past six months. No-one wants the job. The only two who have "quoted" haven't seen the job and want $75/hour. For that they can sing on a street corner given they don't even know what the job is.

Correct re. the starting of long trains in the steam era. There was a document which someone here may even possess a copy of: "Instructions for the Starting of Trains from Waterloo outside fixed signals" (or something very similar) which stipulated the exact arrangements and blocking of forward sections / adjacent lines this required. I believe it remained - and might still remain - possible to start a long train from Waterloo with part of that train (i.e. all or part of the locomotive) standing in advance of fixed signals but with today's track occupancy such a move would surely cause chaos as the loco would stand foul of clearing points for at least the two adjacent running lines and possibly more. When the Bournemouth electrification was planned it was a requirement that a locomotive-worked maximum-capacity boat-train could still be platformed within fixed signals and as such the requirement for the 3TC units was identified. Two 4TC and one 3TC units plus a locomotive = 12 vehicles of conventional length. The loco would normally be an SR type capable of push-pull operation meaning it didn't matter whether it hauled or propelled the train. In reality the small number of such trains which were ever formed of TC stock would have been worked with the loco leading in one direction (for example empties towards Waterloo) then propelling in the other (towards Southampton or Weymouth), or vice versa. A second locomotive for shunt moves was not required meaning 13 vehicles did not then have to fit within the platform or signalling. I am not aware of any occasion on which the Salisbury / "Eastleigh" combined train was formed of 12-plus-loco.

With the Northern in spoon there's no chance of a sneaky visit to the Barnet branch so it shall have to be a return to Metroland for Chorley Wood and Chenies

Morning all. Welcome to Moan-day. Scanning quickly through previous posts on the phone and minus my close-range optical assistance I read that as "old fashioned puffins" ............. Those not following my Facebook feed would be unaware of events last evening. If Saturday night was uncommonly quiet then Sunday night was the opposite. Right from sign-on it was apparent there was something in the air. As with many large railway stations we have a number of homeless persons camping in various doorways and other locations just outside (though not inside) the Palace. There was unrest. All the regular gate-jumpers, Fairy Vaders (some distant relation to a Star Wars character, perhaps) and otherwise wasters of oxygen were out in force. Long story short. I hadn't been on duty 30 minutes when I received a full (large size) cup of cola and ice-cubes aimed at me from near enough to require a swift duck. A few spots got me. Had I stood my ground the lot would have struck my in the face. The waste-of-space responsible had already demanded to be let in without a ticket and had walked some way past me when he turned and decided I was a more worthy recipient of his drink than he himself was. No real harm done but assault is assault and we operate a zero-tolerance policy. It was captured perfectly on our CCTV. I then spent half the shift making the required reports both internally and, at their own request, to the police. Give the Boys in Blue a statement and they can circulate the offender's mug-shot with a view to an arrest and charge. There were fights and arguments all shift long which is very unusual. Most of them arose within the "refugee camp" outside and some centred on the facts of the nightly food van arriving with a tin-rattler seeking donations for the food (it's always given free of charge - no idea why last night was different) and an African male who decided to set himself up with microphone, battery-powered amplifier and standing on a milk crate at the main entrance denouncing "white supremacy" and advocating "Syrian Rights". The point at which he denounced women and referred to white women in a most disparaging manner caused enough anger that a spontaneous conflict arose requiring the intervention of a large number of Ossifers of the Lore. Not a pleasant night's attendance by any means. First of three days off today. Resting, tidying the house in advance of three estate agents and three shippers all having appointments in the next two days to see what's what. Neighbours (mother and son) popped round for afternoon tea; their container leaves on 1st February, they don't leave until the 14th, mother has just learned there is a problem with her leaving Australia on a one-way ticket. A bit late in the day to find these things out ..... De-stressing with a friendly chat was in order. She has her farewell party, largely of ex-workmates, on Saturday, his for his school friends is on Sunday. Hubby is happily at work in the Netherlands and daughter is enjoying their snowy winter (the first she has seen) before returning to university. It's not been as plain a sail as they had hoped selling up and moving. Back neighbour's daughter is squealing with delight in her kiddie-pool as it's 30C and likely to remain so all night. 38C is forecast tomorrow. The small trains are well protected from extreme heat. This is their last summer in such conditions. Had a chap visit yesterday from NSW; very nice, very impressed with the layout but unlikely to make an offer. As with all other potential deals breaking it up and moving it are the issues. One does not lightly cut 2km of wires into spaghetti nor take a Dremel to one's pride and joy. But until the large female has given forth of her voice it lives ......... Welcome to Moan-day. Delighted to share it with you.

Chalfont and Latimer For no good reason whatsoever

And I made my feelings clear when only two appeared. Haven't been back since.

The only slight delay on the immediate horizon being Chinese New Year which effectively shuts down the entire industry for a few weeks. But I suspect we are looking at 2017 delivery now after all the preparatory work, unless tooling or livery samples require major corrections or a production slot simply isn't available. The latter might have already been booked for all we know.

Mother doesn't like garlic. She won't eat anything containing it. But she has happily enjoyed many a "very tasty" meal without being told it contained garlic and then asked what was included ..... Morning all. Welcome to Sunday. Not living up to its name currently but we expect it may do so later. Awaiting chap from NSW to inspect small objects of ferroequinological interest - apparently he's running about an hour late which is fair for the distance travelled. Very quiet night last night. Saturday nights are often crazy busy. On a good summer's day more so. We all wondered the whole day where everyone was. You could have heard a small furry rodent break wind most of the night. At least it passed without drama. Best wishes to all. Might have more tome in the next few days to catch up on everyone's posts.