Gwiwer

Morning all. ER here. I’m on watch in a few minutes if I can see anything. As usual it’s foggy, dribbly and not very nice outside. It could be a morning of gazing at the radar and ship-scanner apps.

In other news ..... ..... the pdf file of the book has gone off to my proof-readers right on time. I now await a deluge of "corrections". Which is one reason the text is proof-read in the first place.

Maybe so but the sausages resemble toads with a little imagination and they sit in a hole in the batter. But Shepherd’s Pie / Cottage Pie are not made from shepherds or cottages.

Lost bread? But I found it in the bread-bin exactly where it should have been, Sir. Yes indeed the French call French Toast "pain perdu" for reasons all their own

Which is one reason Aussies are allowed to keep up to six chooks in their backyards but no roosters. When one of ours hatched a clutch of eggs brought in from a neighbour's farm we were ready and waiting to take her up on the "rooster-return policy". A baby chook for every baby rooster so long as one was available. And sure enough one started to stretch its neck and squeeze out a squeaky "ca-doodle-do" after a few weeks. Rule 1 : No Cockeroosterdoodling in the backyard!!!

Er, you might want to re-phrase that......😯 It's just his tripe-writer having a fantasy all of its own 🤦‍♂️

We are neither "monied" nor "posh" but we did indulge in both brunch and afternoon tea yesterday. In fairness we also did not indulge in either breakfast nor lunch but did "do" dinner later on. We planned our day around the afternoon tea with friends in order to not over-eat nor try to stretch intervals between meals to more than we normally do. Therefore brunch was enjoyed mid-morning and comprised of French Toast (or eggy-bread if you're not being posh!) with bacon and maple syrup. Dinner was roast cluckbird with veggies. And mid-afternoon four of us enjoyed Dr. SWMBO's home-made scones with jam (first), clotted cream (on top) and tea as we sat and talked around the table. All very fine and enjoyable. Today it is back to "work" in order to submit the book for proofreading by tonight. Dr. SWMBO has to make the weekly trek to London and on this occasion will be inconvenienced by the Orange Army interfering with something or another and enforcing a coach trip between Plymouth and Tiverton. Muggertea the First has been consumed. It is almost time for the second. I'll do a bit more tidying of the text first.

Yup. Every last one of them. Mother swore that nothing was cooked unless cremated or too soft to lift with a fork. Toast - brittle and black. Potatoes (boiled) - floury and almost self-mashing. Coffee - always made with boiling milk so it had a skin on by the time the cup was presented to you.

Added to which everything which should be concrete, castings and all, were painted using a mix of Railmatch "Concrete" and very fine sand from a Peco weathering kit to give the required texture.

Sadly a lot of the earlier images were lost in a re-hosting of the site some time ago although I always hold my originals here. Yes, Dart Castings legs are used. I found a need to drill out the holes with a 0.5mm pin-vice bit before threading piano wire through. The top holes, which is where tubular steel would go rather than wire on the real thing, are reamed out to 0.8mm very carefully as there is nothing spare and brass rod used for the thicker top rail. A LOT of fine drilling is required to seat those castings into the baseboard. Patience, persistence and accurate measurement are your friends. I glued the two parts together first with Superglue rather than attempt to get the posts perfectly upright and then add the bearers. There is a little "give" in the cast material and if a bond does break another dab of superglue fixes the problem. Glue them into the baseboard holes as well! The platform deck is card scribed into "slabs" then painted in Railmatch "Concrete", weathered with powders including a touch of green along the scribed paver edges and a white lining pen used for the warning line along the edges. I tried with foam-board but it wouldn't lie flat. The card took a while to settle down too but superglued to the castings and with a heavy flat steel ruler rested along it the bond was made and the surface has remained flat enough for credibility.

I would never seek to copy the work of another directly but were I to build a model of somewhere I already knew to have been modelled then I see that as absolutely ok. I did respectfully back away from using a fictitious name I had chosen upon learning that it was already in use for another layout. I could still have gone ahead because the name itself was not subject to any form of legal protection. All it cost me to effect the change was a still-unused sheet of stick-on signs. Not a problem at all.

Not overdone though thanks! Medium rare is enough. On a fire that big maybe a minute either side? I was taught by a chef friend how check how far cooked a steak is. Place your thumb-tip against the lower knuckle of the index finger and press the soft tissue around its base to gauge the texture - that's rare; the middle finger - that's medium rare; the ring finger - that's medium and the little finger is overdone!

Following this with interest Please feel free to also browse my "Waddlemarsh" topic which includes a scratch-built halt of SR "Exmouth Junction" style modelled more or less on those along the Sussex coast including Aldrington pictured in this topic. I am happy to share techniques and thoughts.

No doubt because it is easier to produce everything at once with the tooling and staffing all set up rather than to make one batch in this colour then break it all down, come back and set up again in six months or a year and run another smaller batch.

Punty-guz-uth-tee. I have crossed it a few times. The towpath walk is, shall we say, quite interesting in itself and not for either the faint-hearted nor a breezy day. I have also done it aboard a narrow-boat and as Hroth says the view down from the tiller astern is both awesome and alarming. There is NOTHING to stop you dropping to the valley floor below should you slip or trip. There is nothing more than six inches of iron trough above the water-line on the non-towpath side. And it's a loooooooonnnnnnng way down.

Good morning all from the Distant (Signal) Wet. It used to be West but the rain hasn't ceased now for a couple of days and that is on top of six months-worth of almost continuous rainfall. The run-off is causing most roads to be water-courses with added mud and stones for hazards. Already we are hearing of crop failures expected through Spring and Summer due to the absence of dry and sunny weather. The top-dressed and re-seeded lawn is a quack-mire. So called because it is now only fit for ducks. And in all of this I was required to attend the pharmacy just now in order to replenish our various prescribed supplies. I took the opportunity of dropping into the cafe to book lunch for two on Wetness-day as a friend is coming over. And Dr. SWMBO has pedalled off to her lentil Lenten study group for the penultimate time. Last week she assured me that she wasn't going again but has decided that having been to four she can manage the last two. Her problem is that of being a non-believing scientist and "dealing with the stuff about Jeebers". To use her words. It was her choice to go in the first place; she went as a means of meeting new people which has only had limited success but what ever. The book has to be ready for proof-reading by Moan-day. I must get back to it. Muggercoffy and all. Portugueses tarts would also be nice but I'll settle for hevva cake.

Compulsory voting is not the wrong system - it is a different system. It is different to that I grew up with. I have opinions which may or may not match the feelings of born-and-bred Aussies regards being "forced" to vote. Whilst it is a hard-won right it remains my opinion that it should be our choice or - if not - that there should be a "None of These" option on every ballot paper. I do not wish to vote for someone whose politics I disagree with. It is also a chaotic system in my opinion when there are large numbers of candidates and one has to select all in order of preference to cast a valid vote. There are other options. A "party vote" can be used. But I still have no wish to be any part of possibly allowing into power someone who might be a threat to any part of the community for any reason. However passively. Voting preference 28 out of 28 candidates for such a person still indicates a preference and in a preferential voting system there is a chance that my vote might actually allow them into power. One can argue that failing to vote where it is optional allows such people in by default through failure to vote for someone else. That is a fair argument. But if I only wish to see one person represent me I prefer to be able to cast one vote for that person rather than have to go 1, 2, 3, etc.. The same argument holds for having a "None of These" option on all ballot papers. Something I have been keen to see for as long as I have been permitted to vote.

Likewise. We do have to be very very careful when visiting my sister as her youngest - 34 and still firmly living at home - is severely allergic to peanuts. There is a complete nut ban in her house with, as she says, the exception of her husband! I'll eat almost anything if it's offered. I choose not to eat seafood, mouldy food or food which has jumped or hopped in its lifetime. So whelks are out but I'll cope with fish. Blue cheese counts as mouldy food and I'd rather not scoff kanga or bunny. But if I'm a guest and that's what's offered I'll be respectful and grateful. Tonight we enjoyed the thali offering from a local cafe. They do it every Friday. No bookings; just turn up and take a seat or take away. Until sold out. You never know what's on the menu until you turn up and read the blackboard but tonight's included coriander chicken (as in slow-cooked in a spicy sauce with the aforementioned included in it), chick-pea and lentil daal, spicy cauliflower and crispy "Indian potatoes" which I suspect were roasted in mustard seed and other spices. Very filling, very tasty and at £15 a portion (with saffron rice, bhaji, bread and raita on the side) good value with it. So generous were the portions that there's enough in the fridge to have with a fried egg and relish for breakfast!

Beware the Ides of March. For it is the Dragon-in-Law's birthday! Woe betide she (or he) who forgets. No woes were necessary here this morning. Beware the Ides of March. For they drive among us. It is wet and foggy again here. The banking / supermarket trip over to Penzance was accomplished this morning in fairly dreadful driving conditions. The road - at best a 45 - 50mph one with no safe overtaking opportunities anywhere - was not fit for that speed this morning so I took it at a safer 40 - 45mph. Mid-way through a series of bends with blind hill crests up behind me comes headlamp-blazing and then headlamp-flashing C0ckwomble Number 1. He clearly wasn't in a mood to hold back nor wait so overtook on a blind summit, on a bend, in the fog, and found another car coming towards him at very close range. Other car must have braked very hard as there were skid marks behind it; C0ckwomble pulled in sharply in front of me almost kissing the front bumper of the Little Red Driving Box as he did so. He was close enough that I could see through his rear windscreen that his raised middle finger was apparently directed at me. He then screamed off into the fog. I didn't recognise it as a local car. I half-expected to see his rear-end sticking out of a hedge or the greasy side up in a ditch somewhere down the road but he escaped to imperil other road users another day. I really MUST get that idiot-cam fitted ........

To each their own of course. And when in Rome (or the NE of England) I might respectfully eat what’s offered On our fairly recent trip to Helsinki for example the hotel offered quite an extensive buffet-style breakfast. Almost all in the local style of meats (including “pressed reindeer”, cheeses, pickles, breads and eggs (scrambled only). Not a Weetabix nor a Corn Flake in sight. While tea and coffee were both offered the clear favourite seemed to be the juice selection. If you want me to enjoy something pea-derived then don’t leave it nine days in the pot but cook yellow split peas long and slow with chick peas, onions and spices and call it chana daal.

🤢

Mashed (or “smashed”) avocado often appears on breakfast menus Mushy peas have yet to do so on any menu seen by these eyes. Were I of the ilk who enjoys avocado I might be tempted by a dish which offered that alongside poached eggs and crumbled goat feta. Mushy peas have their place. It is alongside fush’n’chups at supper. Not at breakfast. Avocado? I’ll eat it out of respect if presented to me but the only form I would choose is quack-in-the-hole guacamole. Alongside some good Mexican-style grub.

It’ll be fish pie here. With peas. Already topped with crispy mash so no chips required

Infinitely recurring? I'm sure @iL Dottore would have more to say on the matter if those illustrated were to recur. The image was derived from a friend (and cropped to show only the "food" items) who annually decorates something akin to a pie with something akin to ketchup in the form of the ∏ equation. Because some people have too much time on their hands .......

Without needing to know the details I wonder if something as simple as cranberry juice might help. Dr. SWMBO uses it to good effect. She suggested I do so recently following an increase in nocturnal visits. It soon settled things down.