Ohmisterporter

Talking about modern mispronunciations that I find annoying include saw being pronounced with an r instead of w, for no good reason as far as I know. If you see me cutting a piece of wood please do not say, "I sore you soring".  

A while back I mentioned Claughton brickworks in this topic. Sadly it is now due to close because of falling demand for bricks in the building industry. Not the first time this has happened; let us hope that there will be another revival and it can open once more.

There are reports that 31 Abrams tanks and their Ukrainian crews have arrived in Ukraine. Difficult to imagine how so few could be effectively deployed over such a long front. 

I don't know why Great Crested Newts are thought to be in danger of extinction: they seem to be the most common amphibian in the UK. Nobody can develop or expand onto a piece of land without an outcry that it will disturb the newts.  I have a sneaky feeling that there are actually very few GCNs but they are transported around the country from one building site to another in order to bring work to a halt.

So to sum up, it's business as usual.

13 hours ago, rockershovel said:

"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings"

 

I thought your name was Rockershovel. It does have a ring to it, "My name is Rockershovel, king of kings".

I think that if the ref had stopped play and gone back to award Liverpool the goal Spurs would have complained that they saw the linesman flag for offside and the defenders  hesitated. Counter to that is the common sense rule "Play to the whistle, not the flag".

Widely reported in the Western and Asian press is the loss of a Chinese PLAN nuclear powered submarine trapped in an underwater anti-submarine trap intended for US and British subs in the Yellow Sea. The device seems to have done its job very well, unfortunately trapping one of its own subs. No great clarity on the design or working method of the trap but reports say 55 submariners died of suffocation when the air replenishing system broke down. Apparently 22 were officers of various ranks, which seems a high number for a crew of 55. Although 55 seems a small crew for a nuclear boat; certainly if a USN sub was involved the death toll could be much higher.

https://www.eurasiantimes.com/sunk-chinese-nuclear-armed-submarine-could-lead/

Where did all the spoil go when the underground system was originally excavated?

What has never been explained is how they grew a single specimen sycamore tree in the first place. I have some in neighbours' fields and the seeds propagate at the slightest opportunity. If the now felled tree had been dropping it helicopter seeds for years there must have been somebody clearing away the saplings as they appeared. 

All the discussion about RAAC has been in public buildings; has none been used by the private sector? 

I knew a chap who drove a DS as his daily runabout  but it was in terrible condition. I asked where he went for the MOT because I wanted to take my own car there. He never spoke to me after that. 

If the Matildas win prepare for headlines saying they waltzed past England.

Thanks for the Steamindex link above. Looks like Beames was one of several engineers that got a raw deal due to internal politics. The comment that Cox and Riddles tried to claim credit for the Crewe works upgrade is new to me. 

On 01/08/2023 at 22:38, Compound2632 said:

Yes, I think, because it only has the weight of three cylinders to carry, rather than the Castle's four. 

Forgive my ignorance but as I see it a cylinder is a big hole with a piston that only partly fills it. Combined with piston valves that would give a four cylinder engine eight big holes compared to six big holes of a three cylinder engine.  So how would a four cylinder front end weigh more that a three cylinder front end? 

Think defence has an interesting article about the development of the British Army's vehicles after WW2. As usual there were changing government policies that led to seemingly odd decisions but for those of us alive at the time the threat of war seemed very real. 

https://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2023/03/diminishing-returns-the-british-army-and-its-vehicles-the-fifties/

Edit: Click onto the think defence blog for a series of similar articles covering other equipment in the British Army in the post war years.

Hope somebody can advise with this. We bought a 1960s built house two years ago and recently started updating the living room; this involved removing a sandstone built fireplace and alcove extension and removing the carpet. What we now have is a room with squeaking/creaking floorboards that were not evident before they were removed. The squeaks are at the opposite side of the room to where the fireplace was removed. I tried all the usual online "remedies" : talcum powder in the gaps between floorboards, WD40 squirted into gaps when the talc proved ineffective and screwing the boards down alongside the original nails. Some of the latter worked but there are still places that defied every attempt at a fix. Should add the I took out some floorboards to check where the CH pipes and electrics were under the floor. Underfloor joists resting on low brick walls that have dpc on top have been wedged/shimmed where there were gaps between wall and joist. This made an improvement but there are still places that creak when walked on. Most annoying are a couple of places that do not squeak when walked on but emit a sort of thud when we have walked a metre past that spot. Sometimes the creak/thud is made when walking across the floor in one direction but not the other. I have replaced some old boards that were split. There is no crawl space under the floor; I use an inspection lamp and mirror to see what is going on under there. Ends of the floorboards are not rubbing against the walls.

As you can imagine we are now at a loss as to how to cure this. Squeaks are now evident in other rooms but nowhere near as bad as the living room. Have tried to get hold of a joiner but with no reply as yet. To be honest we don't know if it is a builder problem or a joiner problem. If anyone has had similar problems and knows how to cure them we would like to hear. Any advice will be gratefully received. 

Geoff.

Blackpool played Bradford in Division 4 playoffs winning 2 - 0 away then losing 0 - 3 at home, but the interesting fact is that manager Sam Allardyce was sacked in a phone call from club owner Owen Oyston, who was in prison at the time. Probably the only manager to sacked in a phone call from prison. 

With the end of the season looming there will be nervous fans watching their team trying to avoid relegation or reach the playoffs. Sometimes the points difference between rival teams is very small; just a single point but the lower team has a game in hand. What would you rather have; points on the board or a game in hand?

This is just a bit of fun, my team Blackpool are already down.

Edit update. I just noticed Cambridge United lost the game they had in hand over Morecambe so all depends on the last game of the season for both teams. 

11 hours ago, cary hill said:

 

6-3 probably refers to Hungary 6 England 3 played at Wembley in 1953 - I think England's first home defeat to a "foreign" visiting side - swiftly followed up in the "return" fixture in Hungary in 1954  by an even worse 7-1 thrashing.

 

I think the Hungarians were playing the first version of 4-2-4, whilst England were still playing an old stiff inflexible WM formation which was well out of date by then. It still sounds familiar today - England behind the times tactically speaking.

I heard somewhere that up to that date England had only played 4 "foreign" countries at Wembley. So the odds of having a good record against them at Wembley were quite good.

On 02/04/2023 at 03:08, jjb1970 said:

 (shafting notwithstanding....)  

Referring to the governments attitude towards our defence forces in general I take it.

A belated welcome to the forum Russell, you will find plenty of advice and inspiration on here.

The more recent picture shows an interesting roofline. Will you be modelling that step down, or up depending on your point of view?

One that I nearly missed on the Think Defence blog is this article about the developments in the UK Army fighting vehicles after WW2. A lot is already widely known but there will be a series of articles bringing us up to date. 

https://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2023/03/diminishing-returns-the-british-army-and-its-vehicles-the-fifties/

Earlier references to the Churchill reminded me that a textile mill I worked at had a reasonably well equipped workshop with belt driven lathes, pillar drill, and vertical milling machine., all driven from a line shaft. During the war someone from a Ministry of Something or other came round to assess all such workshops to see what they could produce for the War Effort. Upshot was that batches of blank billets would arrive at t'mill to turned into wheels for Churchill tanks. Other components were also produced wherever possible so there was never a blockage in the system waiting for machine time for various parts. I imagine things have changed somewhat. The mills have nearly all gone for a start.