Dave Hunt

Thanks Phil, I'll do that. The day started with Dad ringing to say that he'd just had a call from BT offering him a cheaper tariff - all they needed was his credit card details. To verify that it was not a scam, the caller had given him a number to ring. Of course, I told him it was a scam and reported it to BT. After the last few days SWMBO and I decided to have a day off so after making sure that Dad had supplies for the day we set off to a place not far from the Hippodrome called Apley Wood where we enjoyed a lovely walk in superb weather before heading to a rather nice eatery and settling down for a leisurely and indulgent lunch. To round things off this evening we had chips and dips on the patio as the sun went down accompanied by a nice bottle of prosecco that we shared with a friend. Sometimes it's a hard life. Sympathy for Baz, the Hippo and Chris as well as others who have not been able to enjoy the day as I have. Here's hoping for a better day tomorrow. Welcome back to Europe Jamie. See you next week. Dave

Thanks for that Steve. I think that you have achieved about the best rendition of shed trackwork and accompanying grot that I've ever seen so your advice is much appreciated. Dave

Well, it's back to square one with finding some sheltered accommodation for Dad. I went to have a chat with the manager of the place he was looking to move into and discovered that the service charge has gone up 33% but on further questioning she admitted that her budget for the site had only gone up by less than 5%, which tinkled a few alarm bells. Accordingly I looked up the management company on line and found that they have a reputation for fair and decent practice something akin to the people who ran the soviet gulags. They have also rebranded themselves several times in recent years and featured in Rip Off Britain. At that stage I informed Dad of what I had found out and he promptly asked me to withdraw his offer. Since there doesn't seem to be anywhere else close enough, that effectively means end of current ideas about moving. I'm now looking into getting him a personal alarm and arranging for regular cleaners, gardener etc. for him so that SWMBO and I don't have to do it all. He's still giving up driving but since he was paying over £1,100 p.a. insurance (before the accident) and would have been looking at several K estate agent's and solicitor's fees, that's a good few taxi fares and at 96 he doesn't go out clubbing much anyway. Apart from doing the market shopping and dealing with other ANNAT (administrative niff naff and trivia) that's been my day - yuk! It has been partially rescued by SWMBO making the dinner and producing a rather excellent Moroccan lamb tagine and couscous and as I write this I'm just finishing a drop of Scottish water of life, so goodnight all, commiserations to all who are suffering or unhappy and here's to a new day - cheers! Dave

Steve, I'm just starting a 7mm MR shed layout and so far have made the baseboards with 6mm birch ply tops. I'm aiming to lay the track straight onto the ply, as I think you have done, and then use your methods of ballasting and I'd like to ask whether you seal the ply before laying the track and if so, what do you use? I wondered whether it would risk damaging the surface of the ply just to place the sand on top and then spray with thinned PVA without sealing the surface first. Excellent modelling by the way. I hope that I can get anywhere near your realism. Dave

Many thanks to Joseph and Phil for the advice concerning getting my Dad into sheltered accommodation. There isn't any Hanover Trust property close enough to us but there is a flat available for sale in a nice little development in the centre of town that is recommended by some friends of ours whose mother/MiL lived there. I took Dad to see it today and he liked it so he put in an offer that has been accepted. Obviously I'll get the agreement with the operators vetted by my solicitor before letting him go ahead and have an appointment to start that particular ball rolling on Friday. I have power of attorney for Dad and he wants me to take care of all the procedures for buying, selling, moving, selling the surplus furniture from his present house etc. as well as selling his car once it is repaired and getting a mobility scooter so it looks as though the next few months will be interesting for me, in the sense of the Chinese saying 'may you live in interesting times'. However, I did find the time to finish my baseboards today and hope that once the dust has settled to be able to start making some track. There's also a week on Fraggle Rock with SWMBO in August for our golden anniversary to look forward to so hey, ho on we go. I think that a small libation of Scottish distilled water is in order. Have a peaceful night all. Thoughts and prayers for those with troubles. Dave

I wonder about that too and sometimes think I must have just imagined it as there can't have been enough time! Dave

Plan for today: finish Mugocoffee; wait for garage to call and arrange to pick up Dad's car; visit estate agent to see what is available ( if anything) at the local sheltered housing complex; finish constructing baseboards; start cleaning up workshop, which is covered at all levels in sawdust and shavings. Amendment to plan: garage has just called to say that, contrary to what insurance idiots people told me yesterday, that I will have to take car in to them for assessment but the earliest that can happen is 10th of June! Then there may be a further substantial delay before they can book it in to be fixed! I saw red and was about to start trying to get something sorted out more quickly but SWMBO has pointed out that since Dad has decided to give up driving it really doesn't matter and I can save myself some aggro and heartbeats by just accepting things as they stand. She has a point, of course, but I'm still annoyed that the insurance pillocks people basically either lied or are so incompetent that they don't know what goes on in their own system - maybe both. Amended plan now is: finish baseboards; visit estate agent; arrange appointment with solicitor re selling Dad's house etc.; start workshop cleanup. l love it when a plan comes together. Maybe one of these days it will happen. Have a good day all and thoughts for those who are less fortunate. Dave

One of those days. Most of this morning was taken up dealing with Dad's car accident of yesterday, due mainly to getting handed round from pillar to post by insurance idiots people and waiting for 'the agent you need to speak to who is on another line at the moment' to ring. Then after passing all the details to one agent being passed on to another one from a different department and having to repeat the whole process. "Surely," says I, "Your colleague who just asked all these questions will be able to give you the answers?" to which the reply is, "I'm sorry sir but since you are dealing with the claim on your father's behalf I have to go through it again." It seemed simpler just to go along with it rather than waste more time trying to introduce logic. Then we were told that one of our friends is under investigation for the Big C and has had to cancel a lunch date she was organising for us and some others as she will be undergoing some rather invasive investigations that day. And following his accident Dad has decided not only that it will be wise for him to stop driving but also to move from his house into some sheltered accommodation which, whilst being something SWMBO and I have thought for some time would be a good idea, is going to involve us in a lot of work starting tomorrow or Wednesday. There was a bright spot, though, when I managed to take myself off to the workshop this evening and get some baseboard building done, which leaves only about a couple of hours work (and a fair amount of clearing up) before I can get some Templot patterns sorted out and start laying parallel metal strips. And on that bright note, have a good night one and all. Dave

Being one of simple tastes, I find a nice drop of Lagavulin or, venturing across the water, Bushmills (both 12s) touches this spot. Now, then, which shall I select......... For anyone who finds Friday's carnage at Stamford as revolting as I do, there's now a crowdfunding site where you can contribute to helping the club (and individual modellers I imagine) - see the topic. It's not just the money but the expression of solidarity that I find encouraging. Today was going quite well and a fair bit of bas***ard building had been achieved when I got a call to say that my Dad had been in a car accident so off I went. Luckily neither he nor anyone else was hurt but it was his fault and something of a daft bit of driving. I've tonight suggested that maybe he should hang up his driving boots (he is 96) and he's agreed. Bit of a relief actually but it will mean a lot more ferrying about for me. Have a peaceful and restful night everyone; sympathy for those who can't. Dave

I sometimes think that the 21st century is passing me by. I haven't got an Alexa or Dot or whatever and honestly can't see the point of having one. My most advanced technology consists of a PC and a laptop, as well as a mobile 'phone that does just what it says on the tin, i.e., it only makes telephone calls and doesn't even have a camera let alone internet etc. (and to be honest it isn't switched on most of the time). We do have a sat nav, a Garmin portable one that I can update by plugging it into the PC, but we only tend to use it when we get within a few miles of our destination if we don't know exactly where it is, preferring to map read / do it by memory for most of the way. I suppose I must be a bit of a dinosaur but it seems to me that for all the advantages of advanced technology there are just as many drawbacks and I'm fairly comfortable in my little Dickensian world. As for DCC........... Not much to report for today; the only activities of any note will be possibly indulging in some baseboard building and planning what we are going to do for our golden wedding in August. We have considered all sorts of exotic destinations but have now pretty much decided on..... wait for it....... Fraggle Rock as NHN calls it. Adventurous or what? Have a good day everyone. Many, many sympathies for those who had things wrecked by the mindless scum at Stamford on Friday night. Dave

Morning All. I would say good morning but during the night the Hippodrome gorilla visited with the result that the bedroom looks like the aftermath of a hurricane in a clothes shop, the amount of modelling tokens in my wallet has taken a severe bashing, my head has been repeatedly hit with a mallet and the contents of the bottom of a parrot's cage has been emptied into my mouth. This has nothing to do, you understand, with my having spent yesterday in a London pub drinking with a large number of ex-RAF mates. My prediction about running out of brownie points has proved accurate as SWMBO has just reminded me that some shopping needs doing....... The Magpie cafe in Whitby - yum, yum. Sorry I too got your birthday wrong Rick but I was misled by (name withheld)...... I did my RAF basic training in 1966 at South Cerney near Cirencester and remember some of the locals simply referring to it as C'ncesta. Have a good day all. If I survive I'll be back later. Dave

And on the subject of pronunciation, let's not forget Ireland where Dunloaghair becomes Dunleery or places in the U.K. Such as Leominster being Limster, Scarisbrick being Scaysbrick or the place near Crewe spelled Wybunbury that locals call Winbry (among other things). Off to to catch the train to Lunnon for the gathering in Chancery Lane. Hope a few of the remaining brain cells survive. Good morning All; have a good day. Dave

According to the van in the background it's on the Great Western; one of the Welsh mountain lines maybe? Dave

After a week without visiting ERs due to what are generally known as 'circumstances beyond my control' (of which the least said the better) it's taken me most of this evening to try to catch up. Yesterday things returned to what passes for normal here and I actually started work building baseboards for my layout. After two days I've got three of six done and with luck will be ready to start making tra*k this time next week. I may even start a topic on RMW if I can find time. No progress tomorrow, though, as I'll be catching the 1013 from Stoke to spend the day in London attending a Tornado aircrew pi**up reunion at the Knights Templar where industrial quantities of fermented barley and hop juice will be consumed before wending my way back via the 2100 ex-Euston to be collected at the station by SWMBO. That will use up all my saved brownie points for some considerable time and the chances of me posting on ERs much before Sunday are about the same as the Monster Raving Loony party winning the next general election. Mind you....... Night night all and commiserations to those suffering as well as a belated happy birthday to Rick. Dave

Let's hope for a return to normality from the Tigers next season. At my age I can't cope with many more heart stoppers..... Dave

Lovely stuff Derek. Although most enthusiasts of Johnson's work rate his 'slim boiler' engines most highly in the elegance stakes, I think that what he achieved with the fin de siecle larger boilered locomotives and the 'water carts' was also a tour de force. Mind you, I'd love to see some pictures of your 1808 in due course. Dave

Today's section of the mystery tour was along the Solway Firth and back to Dumfries via the Galloway Forest Park. Highlights we're feeding red deer and bullfinches that we're so tame they would take crumbs from the picnic table at which we were sitting. Tomorrow it's back home with another, brief, stop at friends' place in Culgaith then off to Derby on Saturday morning for the Midland 175 and possibly a visit across the railway to the model exhibition, maybe even seeing a few ERs at one or both. Quite agree with the recent comments on DB. Have a peaceful night everyone, wherever you are. Dave

Please excuse gate crashing this thread, but for anyone who wants to pop over to the other side of the station for a few minutes, there is a small, free attendance, exhibition (not models) in the Midland Hotel put on by the Midland Railway Society to mark the 175th anniversary of the formation of the MR. Some RM Webbers will be there (unless we're over at the model railway show, that is!).

Someone whose line of sight to the horizon over a calm sea is at least 2.9 miles Dave

Ah, someone else of normal stature. Isn't it a shame that the built environment has been designed in general by short sorry Q, persons of another stature? Dave

Bob, Because of back problems I've been unable to do heavy garden work for a while now and have had to rely on professionals with the concomitant damage to stocks of modelling vouchers. It is my experience that gardeners come in three categories: the ones who quote reasonable rates then either don't turn up or only turn up once; the ones who quote cheap rates and turn up but actually don't know what they're doing and leave things in an unsatisfactory state; and the ones that turn up, know what they are about and leave things in a good state as well as clearing up properly but charge more. The latter are by far the best bet and IMHO it is generally worth the extra cost - you get what you pay for as the saying goes and that seems particularly appropriate for gardeners. If your head clearance is less than six feet the sign should read 'Only short people beyond this point - you have been warned'. Dave

Well, the mystery tour has turned out to be South West Scotland with an overnight stop on the way up at a friends' place in Culgaith on the Settle & Carlisle so with the G&SW connection it's good Midland country. Yesterday we went across to Portpatrick, which is somewhere I haven't been in 25 years or so but hasn't changed and is still a very nice little harbour with some good seafood. Today was the Galloway forest where we saw red kites by the dozen closer than I've ever seen them before plus some red deer. We also stopped at a cafe run by a Dutch bloke who made some excellent Dutch pancakes so the diet has taken a bashing. Tomorrow is as yet unknown for content. My sympathies go to Andy B and I can empathise with his feelings as I went through the same when my Mum had her series of strokes and died nearly two years ago. People kept giving me the same advice that you are getting now Andy and at this distance in time I realise that they were right. You did what you could. Have a good evening and a peaceful night unless you are in some other time zone when you'll have to make other arrangements. Dave

Having not done any real Railway modelling for a good while now I' m just starting on what my late friend David Jenkinson would probably have called my 'last great project.' Before starting, though, I set about clearing and cleaning my workshop/railway room and realised that there was a lot of stuff (aeromodelling as well as Railway modelling) that realistically I am never going to use in what time I have left. I therefore set about selling it on eBay and to my astonishment it achieved enough to fund my new projected layout (a large 7mm Midland MPD) in toto. So far there is a part completed turntable kit and a stack of good Russian birch ply waiting to become the basis of a layout - all the result of disposing of stuff that up to a few months ago was simply gathering dust to no real effect so in my case getting rid of surplus items has been really beneficial. Dave

Morning everyone from a somewhat chilly but fairly bright North Hippoland. I'm having a kick starting Mug O'Coffee before doing a few odd domestic things then later this morning setting off for............. I still don't know. SWMBO has told me that we are night stopping on the way to wherever we are going and it's 'a fair old drive' but that on Friday we'll be coming back in one go. Intriguing or what? It's a bit like when I was a kid and we went on holiday every year to NHN's Fraggle Rock where a very nice coach driver called Mr. Lamb would take us on mystery tours starting in Douglas. I was one of his favourites and would be granted the front seat next to him (probably a no-no today) whereas today I'll probably be doing at least some of the driving. Whether I'll be in internet contact remains to be seen so, to (possibly mis-) quote Captain Oates, "I'm just going out and may be some time." Have a good Monday with special thoughts for Rick and others who are suffering. Dave PS for GDB - careful with those blinds Bob, the edges can be sharp.

Having a late and lazy start to Sunday - still in bed with muggercoffee and the iPad. Decadent or what? ( the predictive text thingy tried changing that to decade Ent). Sincere condolences to Rick on the loss of his pal. Later on must get ready for tomorrow as SWMBO is taking me away for four days to an as yet undisclosed destination for a delayed birthday present, the grandchildren having been infesting visiting on the actual day. The downside came yesterday when she announced that my car could do with cleaning before using it tomorrow - I took the hint of course. When we get back on Friday I have one night at home before going to Derby for the weekend of 11th/12th to help out with the small exhibition that the Midland Railway Society are putting on at the Midland Hotel next to Derby station starting on the 10th to mark the 175th anniversary of the establishment of the MR. Unfortunately it won't include models but if any ERs happen to be passing it would be great to meet and put faces to names. Dave