Oldddudders

Not a definitive answer, but we know that Southern Region began painting coaches green from 1956. By that time, Maunsell coaches were getting a bit elderly, were less used on key services, and so would not have been first in the queue. Many had only a few years of service left, with completion of Kent Coast Electrification in the very early '60s substantially reducing the loco-hauled service requirement on SR. I think the S suffix appeared in the early '50s, so certainly most blood and custard coaches would have received it. After all, as said before, re-varnishing of Southern Railway malachite meant some coaches were only actually repainted well after Nationalisation, and a minority never saw B&C at all.

Only if you have issues with peeing, Kenton! I read many years ago that 70% of men have a problem with their prostate at some time, and no doubt this high % is due to so many of us living longer because we lead healthier lives. The other 30% may continue to bask in their good fortune.

We Live Here - Pat Metheny

Can I make a minor contribution, not on the subject of cancer, but to reassure men that prostate problems may be just that - not cancerous. My intention is to take some of the fear out of having that gland examined, and to state that simple surgical procedures can make life a lot nicer, without taking away from a man's natural pleasures in life. I had been showing symptoms of prostate issues over some dozen years - inability to pee properly, and frequent and urgent loo visits therefore becoming increasingly common. I had a biennial scan from 2008, and this, combined with PSA readings, showed cancer was not a factor. But early last year things got beyond a joke, and a urologist was consulted. He had me in dock in a few days, and in an op lasting about an hour reduced the size of the prostate, making bladder things work rather better. Suffice to say that I did not have an operation scar afterwards, and was in hospital for only a few days. The anesthetic was local, and at no time did I suffer any pain, before, during or after the op. The timing of the op postponed my intended marriage, to RMwebber Ashcombe, but importantly the surgery has not impaired our ability to enjoy the usual activities, although I would be unlikely to father children. In our 60s this is not a problem! David's tale seems to have a happy ending, but my point is so might yours, if you have issues with urinating, but fear the worst. Get your prostate checked and you might be delighted with the outcome, even if, like me minor remedial work is called for.

It's A Nano-World - Spacer

3/4G? Works just as well - if you have a signal!

I bet Virgin have plenty of drivers, because they pay well, and the job isn't too bad, either. The chimney-pot TOCs have always struggled to keep drivers, because some of the work is incredibly boring, and involves very unsocial hours. In BR days there were always vacancies at depots like Selhurst and Slade Green because there were always drivers transferring back to Polmadie or wherever. Now the market in drivers means you take a job where you can, get your competence, then apply for a creamy job like Virgin or similar InterCity TOC, leaving the Southerns etc to train someone else. And that's before we get to any management issues that may arise from the need to make more money and pay less in wages........

Days of wine and roses

ISTR a French modeller doing that, with a single-unit railcar. Can't quite recall the mechanism, but it was DCC-driven.

Joy house - The Incredible Jimmy Smith

I'll try!

Thanks. I will make it my business to order from Kernow on that basis, too. My existing H2 - in umber - is unpowered, having been made for me from a Jidenco kit by a former skoolmate no longer with us.

I think RMweb requires files of less than 1mb these days. Meanwhile, phones and cameras just produce bigger and bigger files. There is an image editor provided on the forum, and it works quite well.

The Wind And The Rain - Johnny de Little (obscure or what?)

I was in London on the day of the Hyde Park bombing. Indeed, I may have been at the Old Bailey, I think. Oi - as a witness! My office at 70 Old Broad St had the windows blown in by the St Mary Axe bomb, and the fax had glass fragments in it for days afterwards, which really helped it to print! And ISTR in another place reading that Andrew C was closely thereabouts for the 7/7 Tavistock Square horrors. On less violent topics, I have merely been beheading hazel. Note the small h. We have 5 such bushes here, and some of the straight, vertical cuttings are more than 12' long. The bushes are now at head-height. Best to get them shorn before they have leaves, I have found.

You Stepped Out Of A Dream - Sergio Mendes among others

Ladas? Isn't that some sort of LNER Pacific?

Red scarf matches your eyes

Purdah! I do recall in 1997, prior to the General Election, that the work I was a consultant to had to be stopped for that reason - the Acting Chairman of the BR Board came to see us to say stop work - and the Big 6 consultants were laid off, while I, and my client, he then still a BR employee, were required to stooge about awaiting developments after the new Government was formed. It made for a pleasant Summer, with very little to do, really, and my client then got another job, so I was left waiting for a decision from the Secretary of State, via Whitehall. As the task was further privatisation of a remaining BR organisation, that never came, and by October I had been released. In the meantime, my fees had been earned inter-alia by helping the head of the organisation - a thoroughly bright and personable Scots lady - with understanding about certain aspects of car purchase, as well as checking resale values on her husband's company Mercedes, which he had been offered at lease-end. Purdah is not all bad news!

ISTR the lauch of a new model by Ford some years back, with lots of bread-and-butter versions immediately available, but the super-dooper boy-racer version only shown in the brochure, with delivery some way off. When asked why this was, the Ford man replied that they didn't want to let all their fireworks off at once. Hornby and others do well to think the same way - at least all the time they have some tenure of manufacturing slots in future, so this year we buy the model that isn't exactly in the config we wanted, and next year we buy a new version that is.

Lard bard sounds like a fat poet?

Yes, really, but I shall not be supplying details.......

Actually, John, some grandmothers can be really quite fun in that situation.........

We all have different tastes in desktops. I found it easy on my iMac to clear absolutely everything off - I just have the mountain pic they provide, bringing the dock up if I want to run something. Win 10, like Win 8 before it, is utterly cluttered with live links I don't want. In fact I don't want anything at all, being far happier selecting progs from a drop-down list. Your many, many icons simply clutter what I can see is an attractive image. If Win10 made the desktop more easily customisable and less phone-like it might have more friends.

Interesting, but makes perfect sense. We were taught that March 21st was Equinox, but in a Leap Year that has to come back a day.