jonny777

Dry and sunny here in North Somerset. A few wispy clouds but mainly blue sky. 

I think I can just about make out the distant mountains (only seen on a few days each year) above the line of Tickenham Hill which is much closer. The trigonometry of this is prone to inaccuracy but with an angle of between 1 and 1.5 deg to the horizontal, it cuts out all high ground (because the nearby hills obscure them) except somewhere close to the Brecon Beacons which are 50 miles away. Hence they are a rare sight. 

Washing is on, and should dry quickly outside today. 

If it is the same magazine as the railtour reviews I used to read circa 1985/6, they were some of the funniest railway articles I have ever come across. 

A 'crankex' coaching stock set was referred to as Beryl and Cheryl, but BR banned this reference after the Chernobyl meltdown as they said it might upset railway customers. 

I think the decision was roundly ridiculed in one article, which may not have helped the reviewer's cause. 

The sun has broken through the cloud here in North Somerset and the temperature is heading towards 20C. 

I've been on bindweed duty (removal) because the stuff has suddenly appeared. I'm sure it grows at a foot a minute when my back is turned. 

I managed to cut both front and back grass before the rain arrived yesterday afternoon. There is another dollop (technical term) visible moving north towards the French coast, but it might just miss us and go more over Hampshire, Wiltshire and Sussex. 

Our 4am blackbird serenade usually wakes me up. It is so regular that I could set my clock by it, but fortunately only lasts about 10 minutes after which the bird seems to fly off in search of earthworms and relative quiet is restored. 

I really do sympathise with those who suffer from hay fever. I know the symptoms because I get the same reactions from being in a swimming pool, or from painting large areas with oil based treatment - creosote being the main problem. 

I would be horrified at the fact that I could not spend much time outside, for fear of those symptoms, even in the shade. 

3 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

 

 

Think I may relive a bit of my childhood by watching a bit of Bagpuss on the i player round about 1pm would be the sort of time I remember it been broadcast. 

You may have seen it over the weekend, but there was an hour long programme about Oliver Postgate on the BBC. It was very good, and included lots of archive footage (including Bagpuss). 

I can't remember which channel, BBC2 or 4, but it will be on the iplayer. 

On 29/05/2021 at 23:22, Neil Phillips said:

 

Air brakes weren't easily fitted to the Westerns either! Pretty much impossible with the smaller Warships. Even the Brush Type 4s proved a challenge.......

 

The first Peak into Cornwall was D151 on 30/12/69 and it appeared many times on the same down and up workings throughout January 1970 as local crew training got underway. It wasn't long before I went for a short ride behind it from Truro to Redruth and I recall returning to Truro in a Mark 2 SO behind maroon FYE Warship D809 Champion and there were two Mark 2s in the train, W5206 and W5210, so it must have been one of those - this pair were often seen down there at the time. I wasn't particularly interested in coaching stock until July 1968 when chocolate & cream-liveried W34885 turned up, which was hard to miss!

Thankyou for this, as it helps another (long ago) thread on how late into the 1960s would a chocolate and cream passenger carrying Mk1 be seen on BR (not therefore including the BGs used for a short time on the Bournemouth Belle). 

I just tried mine on WBAC, and the price quoted is half what I paid for it; which is not bad as I bought it new back in June 2014. 

I had a Siskin on the seed feeders this morning. Quite a shock as they were normally winter visitors to our garden; and even more of a surprise because my last record of one was way back in March 2009. 

7 hours ago, rockershovel said:

one thing I definitely don't miss from that period - string underwear! I had an uncle who persisted in the habit of working on his allotment wearing long-since-broken army boots, an ancient pair of suit trousers held up with a string belt, and a distinctly yellowish string vest. Horrible! 

 

As for string vests in conjunction with those nylon "drip-dry" shirts in various pastel colours.....

Another nylon disaster from the 1970s were nylon underwear. I remember my wife buying me a pack of three nylon pants because they were on offer in M&S. All fancy colours, but boy did they make me itch on a hot day.  (Sorry if that is too much info).  

I think they were quietly moved to the back of my pant drawer and must have been ditched after a respectable time. 

Dry and sunny here in North Somerset, and quite warm too; with the temperature already up to 16C. 

Not a lot to do today, as the garden is growing by itself. I am amazed that the 'mixed' lupins I planted between where some valerian and foxgloves had seeded themselves, have come up a decent shade of pale mauve which is almost half way between the red of the valerian and the purple of the foxgloves. 

Saw a sparrowhawk on the fence yesterday afternoon with something feathery/hairy held in its foot, but I couldn't identify the creature. I'm supposed to report this the the BTO but I haven't a clue of the species.

Dry, sunny and warm here in North Somerset. Traffic websites show the normal 50 mile bank holiday tailbacks on the M5 in the Bristol/Somerset/Sth Glos area, so our usual 'stay at home and relax away from the emmets' policy will be enjoyed. 

The blue tits in our nest box appear to have fledged, as there is no activity in and out of the hole and I saw a juvenile bird in the nearby pear tree being fed by a parent. 

One episode which has been apparent by its absence this year is the mass squawking of juvenile starlings waiting to be fed by parents driven mad by the racket. I saw one family doing the rounds of back gardens about ten days ago, but that was it for here. I wonder if many open starling nests have suffered from the recent persistent rain and the chicks died of hypothermia? 

4 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

Moving office buildings;

On 2nd April 1990 I was sitting on a desk on the top - second floor - of the then new Powys County Council buildings in Llandrindod Wells when the Bishop's Castle earthquake struck. The desk swayed and there was a rumbling.

We were conducting a Wide Area Network test at the time across the whole of Powys. That ended.

My thoughts at the time

1. Hey, it's an earthquake
2. Hope this building stays up

Just across from where I was sat the architect who designed the building, so I knew who to blame if it didn't.

 

When we experienced the last earthquake here (epicentre somewhere below Swansea) a few years ago, the walls shook and there was a strange creaking noise from the window frames. However, the one thing that I experienced was a severe sense of foreboding for 5 minutes or so, as if something dreadful was about to happen. 

I can only remember this feeling twice before:- in June 2006 after lightning struck so close that there was no thunder - just a loud 'crack' like a gun going off multiplied 100 times louder. 

And the second was in August 1999 as I sat outside in M-i-l's back garden (Sth Kent coast) and the moon obscured the sun enough to drop the temperature, the wind, and all the birds went quiet.

If they had landed close to other mission sites, they could send it off to look for Beagle. 

14 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

This snake shooting was in the Superstition mountains in Arizona miles from anywhere and it very nearly bit a guy hence it was shot

Yes, of course. How dare a wild creature defend its home area against beings 100+ times its size? 

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I think as the woman ages throughout the advert we are supposed believe that Aviva support clients throughout life. However when I first saw it (without paying much attention) I thought it was an ad for car breakdown services. One advert at the moment I find irritating is the use of Albert Einstein’s image to promote Smartmeters. 

Oh ok. I thought the old woman must be her mother. 

The ad makes even less sense to me now. 

Am I the only person who fails to understand Aviva adverts? The previous one with a couple of bulging eyeball (druggy?) women who crash into a petshop on a deserted road during daylight was bad enough, especially as one of the petshop animals appeared to be a hedgehog?; but the latest nonsense features another woman who drives from her city home with thoughts of kids in her mind. It appears that the weather takes a turn for the worse around Lancaster and so she abandons her car in a downpour and wanders off into the moorland without any bags, and without getting even the slightest bit wet, then walks all the way to the Isle Of Skye where she reunites with members of her extended family who appear to be living in some isolated hovel with no road access. 

If they thought the stupidness would make more people insure with them, it has backfired in my case. 

54 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

My first washing machine was ....... me   

 

I never broke down   

My first was my Mum. She often broke down. 

My guess would be a garden warbler. 

On 23/05/2021 at 15:59, Standby said:

Hi,

 

I’m finally going to build a OO gauge layout and need some advice on my first locos. I’ve got no particular era or location planned at the moment, just want to get going with something.

 

I’ll want sound and lights on them all and I’m getting a bit confused with all the options on sound, possibly fitting lights, new releases ‘coming soon’ etc.

 

Advice on what to go for, if should wait for an imminent new release and the best sound options (are the factory fitted sounds okay?) on the locos below would be appreciated.

 

Class 08 - any in blue 

Class 20 - probably in green

Class 17 - green or blue

Class 121 - green with whiskers

 

Thanks in advance for your time. 
 

Neil

I am going to be pedantic and say that it is unlikely that a 121 with whiskers would be seen with an 08 in blue, as the whiskers were succeeded by by small yellow panels in 1961/2. 

Also, it is unlikely that many 121s were seen alongside class 17s, which I doubt ventured south of the Midlands; and most of those times were delivery/running in turns. 

Just saying. But rule 1 applies to all layouts.