Oldddudders

I believe that worldwide a significant number of wives really, really wish their husband wasn't quite so quick.....

Did she? Lucky girl!

I hope you can take him to the financial cleaners. You pay for a service, not a lottery.

Kent has a few orchards, and people there like to think they can brew cider. The name Bob Luck comes to mind. In one pub there was a product called Liquid Dynamite, which was served in very small measures. I stuck to bitter.

Charles's parents had some impossibly posh address in Cheltenham. No road name or anything vulgar like that. Last I heard from him he was Commercial Manager for the West Coast TOC-in-waiting. No idea what happened when Virgin too over. He had prepared, with a agency, I suspect, a strategy to be presented to the West Coast Board. It was VHS format. He'd been reviewing it the night before, but when he got to work the next day, discovered the copy in the case was Star Wars......

It is, and needs to be watched! No, not while you're doing it, but reasons why! Never worked anywhere much west of London, but a couple of colleagues were at Plymouth as Area Manager - Charles Nicholls, whose grandfather had had a hand in the GWR rule book, so he told us, and Jim Collins, who had preceded Deb as filing clerk in Passenger General at Essex House, Croydon in the '70s. In that building there were also loos on every floor, but on the 7th floor, where all the officers dwelt, the loo had a Yale lock. On the 8th floor, someone had stuck a label on the loo door "For the use of second class passengers"!

Morning all Just when we thought Is had the thing beaten, we learn otherwise. Yes, I lost Deb to cancer, but actually we only had the briefest period before the end when we knew it had come back. Dave is suffering much worse than I did, although it is a suffering we all hope will continue, as Is rallies again and again. Utter sympathy here. Meanwhile life's trivia continue. The bank access issue was some sort of glitch, and unrelated to the phonecall, which was simply good advice to move more money into the savings account - done. Morning trips to Alison's place are going well, and her menagerie is pleased to be variously liberated and fed. Her two gay neighbours are doing a good job of shutting them all up at night. The lawn-tractor earned its corn yesterday, with both lawns and about half the paddock sorted. Sunny again to day so that should complete the task. The frontage is another matter, and will need a fair bit of hedge-trimming. Not my favourite task, and probably what caused my attack of vertigo in 2014. While staying with Sherry I made a visit to Oddicombe Beach, walking down through the woods from Babbacombe Downs. While there I visited the gents - and my phone fell out of my pocket, although unlike an occasion about 20 years ago, didn't fall in the urinal! Sadly the concrete was too hard for it, and the screen has several cracks. It's a cheap Chinese make unheard of anywhere, but it has a 5.5" screen. I had hoped I would find it a better compromise for Internet stuff, but it hasn't helped much, so I may replace it with something a little smaller. With other Apple products here, an iPhone makes more sense than ever. I note the poor turnout in the elections. I feel that politics of all sorts has now become a bore for many people, and local issues were never the source of huge turnouts. Deb was politically active - she and Smiffy compared notes in another place in the past - but Sherry is less so. Nevertheless her views are pretty similar to mine, so it's another easy match. We are missing each other, which is kinda nice! Hope poets is success for those who seek it.

old man's a dustman

In my yoof there was Painting By Numbers. A 'drawing' on canvas was supplied and oil paints. The drawing had numbers which corresponded with paints. So you knew to paint the sky blue, for example. This looks like a modern fast equivalent. I note that these days you can get watercolour pencils. You make a drawing and then brush it over with water to make the effect. And something similar with oils, I believe. Progress.

Afternoon all I am safely ensconced in la Sarthe. Alison dropped me off at 20.15 last night, after I had received a brief tour of my daily duties chez elle. She then took her three precocious (ask Sherry!) kids and hyperactive dog off to the Vendée, where they arrived safely, a late night text told me. As the car gets limited maintenance and is 11 years old, I was not betting on them getting there. A couple of days ago, I attempted to access my French bank account online. Despite knowing all the numbers, no dice. On my return, there was a voicemail from the bank asking me to ring. And today is a Bonk Holiday, of course. Sigh. Interestingly, I was able to make a couple of small purchases yesterday using the bank card. My occupational pension is paid in the UK, and I generally wait until there is a worthwhile sum before transferring monies to France. I had done so in April, so funds should be adequate. We will see. The grass is high - after three weeks one might expect that. So the lawn-tractor will be out shortly. Hope your day going well.

Morning all My last night in Blighty for some time to come. I expect to be back in July, when Sherry hopes to have her hip replaced, and will need some care post-op. We set off about 7, and will both travel as far as London - Sherry now gets free travel as my wife, so the novelty is not to be missed! On arrival at La Ferté Bernard, my nearest station, Alison will pick me up, show me the morning routine at her place, drop me at home and clutter off for a few days in the Vendée with her beau. And her kids and dog..... It will be her first holiday since 2014, when they rushed off to visit her ailing father in Scotland, but he died while they were still in the air. Good to know our little virtual community has put its hand in its pocket to fine effect. We can no longer help or support Jock, but his family will be in no doubt about our sincerity. Hope your day goes well.

Solitary Man - Neil Diamond

Big Bad John - Roger Miller

Not much to say, really, is there? We have all marvelled over many months at the man's colossal reserves of determination, his enormous diligence at examining in detail your and my postings and commenting supportively, his refusal to let the damned disease get him down. A man in a million, and the World is a poorer place without him.

Too Late To Worry, Too Blue To Cry - Glenn Campbell

A gulp is just a plug backwards.

Up From The Sea It Rose, And Swallowed Rio In One Swift Bite - George Duke

Having willingly followed Andy P's link, of course the stupid system can't cope with my living in France and banking in the UK. I wonder how many others have been declined because some American software geek couldn't contemplate such a scenario. Fortunately, Sherry appears normal to them, and has been able to put a few pennies in the pot from us both. Another reason to have married her, eh? Ventura? Sherry was a passenger on a Caribbean cruise - her last with her ex - and was bored to tears. So many islands. All the same.

Not sure if it is of interest, but the area had had a resignalling scheme less than a decade earlier. A mini panel with new VDU diagram driven from some sort of re-programmable disk comes to mind. New tech at the time. The 1990s scheme must have been for Channel Tunnel trains, I think.

Back in the early '70s, there was a shunter at Selhurst Depot who could disarm the unwary. His phone number was 3388, and so he would answer it "Two threes, two eights". My late father, even longer ago, had got into the habit of answering the phone with the word "Speak" but decided the day he found the MD was on the other end that this might be a poor idea, and used his surname thereafter.

Could the first pic in post #1937 be near Brixton Junction? The lines on the right being the South London Line, as it was then called, while those on the left are the Chatham main line, with the feather on the signal being for the Catford Loop. The pic might even have been taken from Shepherds Lane box. But I could be wrong! Ambitious new ideas from Adrian, by any standard!

Afternoon all Just checking in, back in Sherry's flat. We left Rugeley at 10.40, were here, 200 miles later, in just over 4 hours, including 45 mins at a services halt. Much heavy rain for the last part of the journey. British Bank Holiday weather! Yesterday had seen a family lunch - paid for by mum, natch - with two kids, partners and three grandkids. Oh, well - it's only once or twice a year, and indeed 6 months since the wedding. I do find families hard work, if not actually unpleasant. Now I need to sort a Eurostar for Wednesday, so Alison can clutter off to see her chap for a long weekend. I note Grandad Bob's cruise vessel. I'm afraid wild horses wouldn't drag me to go cruising. Especially on a 'ship' that looks like that. Talk about function over form! Sherry's ex is just back from yet another cruise, and no doubt dreaming of more, which his new lady seems to thrive on. Hope your extra day providing value.

Walking Back To Happiness - Helen Shapiro

Sherry's friend Anne used that very expression on Friday over lunch. Except it was all about London, and the proximity of tube stations on different lines. I gently pointed out that few Londoners talk about the Wrekin. As for the Stiperstones, they were not far from the Horseshoe Inn at Bridges, an easy ride on horseback from our friends' place at Church Stretton. And beyond them was Snailbeach, with its own railway history.

Co-ee! Yes, we are coping, TVM. After seeing Adrian and having a damp day at Crich, we headed back to Rugeley, dropping in by arrangement on one couple for lunch, another for dinner. Yesterday we went baby visiting, which was nice, it says here. The 2-week-old one seemed more fun than the 11-week-old one in some ways. Mother of the latter is allegedly suffering post-natal depression, which is hardly surprising as the father is scarcely visible. How people live now. In Stafford we bumped into a couple of parents of kids Sherry had taught, and they were obvously delighted to see her again, which must say something. Sherry's hip and knee are playing up by turns. Sigh. My recent skim read shows Smiffy having a tough time. Sherry's eldest, now in Oz, was adopted, yet is the better and more sympathetic correspondent than the natural daughter. Sherry agonises over the disparity in treatment she feels they may have received, with the natural child getting the better deal. Yet she is the grumpy, anal one resenting mum's decision to seek romantic pastures new. We are lunching with her, her family and Sherry's son, girlfriend and newborn. It will be the first time I've seen them since they misbehaved at the wedding. Another sigh. I hope to be home Wednesday. Alison certainly hopes I will be. Her beau arrived yesterday, then left almost immediately as his new-born foal was being rejected by mum. Apparently kicked him 3 metres away when he sought to suckle. As Gerard lives more than 2 hours away in the Vendee, he has not returned. Skool is out Thursday and Friday, so Alison wants to take the boys and the dog for a long weekend there. I will be in charge of her place, featuring ducks, geese, hens, goats, donkeys and cats. Should net me some brownie points at least. May check in Tuesday. 'Til then.