Winslow Boy

1 hour ago, KNP said:

A cart, a roller and part of a farmyard.

Nothing much happening here.....

 

And no panniers phew.

2 minutes ago, PupCam said:

 

How close to the active trains and presumably live conductor rail were they!

 

They need more danger money!

 

Night All!

 

 

 

'E & Safety my dear Puppers 'E & Safety.

Probably shut the entire network down.

8 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

A venue that wasn't needed but seems to be a means for Manchester City to avoid Financial Fair Play rules by "investing" in local infrastructure.....

 

Part of City Football Group

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Football_Group

As if they would resort to such an underhand way of getting round the regulations. The money grabbing little toerags. Sorry did I type that.

I wonder how much they got from the Co-op to allow them to say it's there's. Interestingly I see that the other significant investor is a politician from one of the Gulf States.

40 minutes ago, Grizz said:

Wotcha All….

 

Just lowering myself gently into a few single malts. A particularly delicious Bowmore,

 

Bin a hectic few weeks. Hope all well with er …..’Y’all’…..? …N….that…..😊
 

The wettest winter on record in the South East has really taken its toll on the rail network generally. Sooooo continuing track geometry issues are cropping up at an irritating regular intervals . Run off from neighbouring land has dragged ‘fines’ of soil into the track ballast making it less than free draining. Which in turn has lead to movement in the surrounding and underlying ground.

All this has been leading to bouts of localised declining track geometry and the knock on decline in general track quality / ride quality. 
 

Which is somewhat tiresome. It has to be said. As someone’s gotta fix it. Because to quote an old friend…”Unlike fine wine, it does not improve with age”.
 

However….

……gonna to be out with this kit next week. 
 

It is known locally as a ‘Noo Noo’ or more accurately a ‘Tin Bin’…or a rail vac. Except not from / with this firm. 
 

Loads of fun…..well it is for me as I won’t actually be..like …’doing it’…or anything…not the actual work n that. 

No not these days, or actually for nearly three decades…no… as these days words like shovel bring me out in a sweat.

 

Ta Da….

 

 

Just think, years ago all this digging out used to be done by hand by loads and loads of blokes…..blokes like me actually….

 

And do you know what…..B@ll@x to that. Because all that digging out of ballast by hand has done is produced premature worn out joints in generations of railwaymen. 
 

Long live “The Noo Noo”..

 

ATB Grizz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've seen a similar machine being used to remove spoil from excavations for gas pipes. This was a couple of years ago mind you and I was amazed how quick it was. Passing of time I suppose but as you say many a railway man will not suffer from worn out joints.

3 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Dave, I don't want you to be too disappointed but the Eagles as you know them, will not be appearing:

 

 

Instead it will be some little known Western Rock band.

 

 

That might be a difficult choice for Ramrod to make.

1 minute ago, Dave Hunt said:

Yes it is at Co-op live but I’m hoping that in another five weeks they may have fixed it.

 

Dave

I think that's what the ex- chief executive said before they c£#&£#d it up again and he resigned.

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

Just booked for me and my two sons to see the Eagles in Manchester on June 8th. I missed out when they last played UK but have cracked it this time. Not exactly cheap but since it is their farewell tour it's worth it.

 

Dave 

I hope that isn't at Co-op Live as they've had to cancel another performance and it's competitors are now looking to host a couple of the gigs they'd booked in.

They have made an absolute cluster f£#k of getting it finished and if I were the Co-op I'd be asking for my money back.

6 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

What a damn fine idea. I haven’t had one of those in many a year but my recollection is that they are yummy.

 

Dave

The only trouble is, as our learned doctor has already stated, that by the time 'big business' has finished with it it'll have half the number of ingredients and won't taste anywhere near as good as the one you remembered.

What really galls me with restaurant customers are the ones who make reservations and then don't show up or even ring to apologise. But I suppose I shouldn't be surprised as good manners seems to have gone right out the window nowadays - everyone scared of offending if they use the wrong pronoun if they say thank you.

19 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

I don’t know the detailed recipe for the pastel de nata from our local deli but they appear to be made in batches of about 30 or so, are scrumptious and cost £1.50 each.

 

Dave

 

 

Think I'll stick to my custard slice if you don't mind. Two for £1.50. It's my Friday afternoon treat.

No.

59 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Martin_(farmer)

Tony Martin was a bit of a nut case. His shotgun licence had been taken away from him by Norfolk police because he used a shotgun to threaten some people who had strayed onto his land. He then obtained an illegal shotgun, a repeater that could hold five cartridges. With this he shot a couple of scrotes breaking into his farmhouse killing one of them and injuring another.

I suspect the sticking points will be in the detail.

Wasn't there a big hu har with Martin being accused of making the farm into a death trap or something like that.

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I've still got all my toes intact🤣.

 

So is that another five tips then?

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I've just recounted them to make sure, and the answer is five.

Well I'll give you that. At least your not cheating.

1 hour ago, GloryDays said:

Are Panniers anything like rabbits?

Yes. You leave them alone for five minutes and next thing you know there's dozens of the little blighters.

17 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

 

 

Funny you should have said that, the postie was at my door this morning, rang the bell and didn't run away AGAIN!!!

 

Oh I watch out if I were you. Definitely odd. Are you sure it wasn't MI5 checking on you or even worse ENVRI playing a trick on you?

Watch out, watch out there's a postie about.

27 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Nyda has been away in North Wales since Monday and I had hoped to get quite a bit of work done.

 

However, there is the issue of the throbbing finger.  Whenever I try to do anything that involves any slight bending or stretching of the affected digit, it complains.

 

Even some shooting yesterday afternoon had to be curtailed, because the slight gripping action of the left hand was enough to set things off.

 

I removed the majority of the padding on Sunday morning, and changed the dressing over the wound site at the same time.  Some years back I had a wound become infected, so I'm somewhat paranoid about making sure things are clean and tidy.  So after the dressing become wet yesterday evening, after a mis-handing incident with a watering can, I changed it again.

 

Inspecting  the finger tip, it looks as if it's recovering well, so I left it to get some fresh air prior to giving it a good clean up with anti-septic wipes and then a new sterile dressing.

 

On the current rate of muck that gravitates to the dresing cover, I'll be doing this at least twice more, before I go to get the stitches out next week.

 

I have communicated my problems with Nyda, who has said she is not surprised and I am to take it easy, so I'm going to finish writing this and go and find some more cake, coffee and suitable  railway related reading materiel.

 

I wonder if I might make it into the garage later on and select some suitable timber for a set of shelves that need to be put up in the unmentionable construction at the top of the garden.

 

Please note that this is only selection, and not the subsequent design and manufacture of.  I would hate people to (finger) point and accuse me of suffering from selective inability.

 

 

And how many complete - that's Complete, finger tips do you have?

Just asking in case anybody's forgotten.

36 minutes ago, checkrail said:

Swiftly?  At Little Muddle?

Sorry did you say something? I'm already on the next page/image/tab etc.

I do wish people would keep up instead of just staring at something which is well out of there reach. It's like those urchins you see in Sherlock with there faces pressed against the glass and the shop keeper has to chase them off. Kevin can't you do something?

Moving swiftly on.

10 hours ago, Tony_S said:

 

10 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Using the cheap rate to charge batteries  is specifically excluded on my tariff. Our batteries used to discharge slowly  to the grid overnight too if we were not using it. We added an extra battery recently and that means at this time of year there is still enough stored for our morning electrical use until the sun shines on the panels. 
Tony

The beauty of my batteries is that they are linked to the web. This means that you can log on to a website and set when you want them to charge and how much you want them to discharge. If this wasn't possible then your entirely in the hands of the electricity supplier.Not certain if this is a bad thing but it certainly gives me more control.

One other thing I have is a device called a Harvey- not certain why it's called that. This allows me to heat my hot water tank up from the batteries. So when I turn the gas boiler off this summer it won't have to turned on until the Winter as I'll be getting hot water from the sun. That to me is definitely why I think all houses should have panels.

Just when I thought it was safe to start looking at this thread again look what you go and do.

Can't you at least post some sort of warning. You know like they do for things that previously were ok, but are now deemed unsuitable for poor innocents.

1 minute ago, Happy Hippo said:

Not with that ammunition.

 

It won't fit the gun, so you'll have to throw it at the Voldemorts.

And don't forget his 'diamond cross'. Looks like it might be a cheap knock off though.

11 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I tried to get an Octopus account when we got our solar panels but at the time they were not accepting new customers. By the time they were our supplier had considerably increased the amount they were paying for our exported kWh. The photo and cheque seems inefficient but gives me something to do. I don’t multitask, so it was photograph the meter today, leaving tomorrow to fill up the salt hopper for the water softener. Then lots of time busy doing nothing. 

I've signed up for the Go option. This means I get cheaper electricity during the early hours and get a higher rate between four and seven in the evening for exporting. I currently charge my batteries on the cheap rate but as the days  get longer I'll be looking to reduce this. One thing i do though is limit the amount of battery discharge so that in the evening I don't run out juice and have to import it.

2 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

To complicate matters , the cheque they issue can’t be read by any of the cheque paying in bank apps. No banks in Benfleet, but the Post Office have special envelopes you can include your cheque and a paying in slip, assuming you can find such a thing. 

I'm with Octopus who so far I've found ok, but I've only been with them for six months and slight less for the solar. 

A relative also has solar and with Octopus, but like you he gets a cheque. 

Wouldn't that just be a - hot bear?