jonny777

This was only £3.80, although there has been some light ingress on the left; either that or a dodgy bit of film processing, hence the low level of interest. It shows D1047 'Western Lord' leaving Penzance, but is undated - and the other Western lurking in the distance is not identified. There seems to be a dodgy piece of trackwork between the two turnouts bottom right, but I suspect that was just due to a baseboard join?

Hello from a very dull Somerset. I do believe that the rain has actually stopped falling, which is good news - and we only had 4mm yesterday which should not have caused too many problems. Man cold has receded now and normality is beginning to return and I may treat myself to a nostalgic spell of listening to railway tape recordings that I made in the mid-1970s. It is difficult to believe they are now 40 years old.

Yes, I haven't been for a number of years. When I did, I found it hard to even get near the popular layouts or trade displays. I was in a queue to buy a brass kit of some description but the person at the front of the queue had obviously decided to impart his entire railway knowledge in conversation with the vendor and just kept asking question after question, so in the end I put the item back and wandered away. At the next stand I found a teenage girl in charge of the till, but the chap in front of me had decided that meant she was 'fair game' and tried the old "I gave you a twenty" trick when she gave him his change from £10, but she was wise to those brain-dead types and had kept his tenner in her other hand. At one of the bigger 'roundy-roundy' layouts that year, men in their 50s and 60s were being told off by the operators for pushing kids out of the way at the front because they thought their experience entitled them to the best view for 20 minutes. I began to think 'why have I paid to come here?' just to endure a continuous rugby scrum with a distant layout view every so often if I was lucky.

I managed to secure this slide on Ebay for the sum of £9.38 which I thought was not bad - given the prices hydraulic photos fetch these days. Warship pictures from the 1960s do not come up that often anyway, and although there is a little blue spotting on the transparency it scrubs up quite well for one that is 53 years old. It shows 4903 'Astley Hall' meeting D868 'Zephyr' at Tiverton Junction on 14th August 1963.

Hello from a dull and wet Somerset. More rain falling at present but nothing like yesterdays total which was 40.8mm, and brings the amount received in my rain gauge since the 16th Nov (6 days inclusive) to 107.4mm; and I know folk nearer the high ground who have had about 40% more than me. Is it any wonder places are flooded. My thoughts are with those who have to travel in these conditions. It is no fun. Shopping on the agenda for today, and I may invest in some logs for the fire as I notice that the forecast is for many days of cold northeasterly winds with a high pressure over Scotland/Scandinavia and those can be remarkably persistent at this time of year.

Hello from a very soggy Somerset. 84.2mm of rain recorded here in the last 6 days. I am surprised that the garden is not under water, but the wet stuff seems to be draining away somewhere. I think I may prepare myself some bacon and eggs to start the week.

School dinners were a bit of a mixed bag for me; some I loved, some I hated. I can't eat cheese, unless it is the mild mozerella used on decent pizzas, so the regular dish of cheese pie was a definite no. Even the smell of it cooking which wafted up from the kitchens into the classroom was too much for me. I loved spam fritters and toad in the hole, plus any kind of meat pie; but although I am not saddled with a sweet tooth, I also loved chocolate sponge pudding with chocolate sauce.

Hello from a soggy Somerset. A wet and windy night in these parts, but it is getting a little brighter now. My man cold persists, but I managed the night without the cough mixture. We have now had 70mm rain in the last 4 days and the gardens are turning into a pudding consistency. Mind you, the lack of insects has brought the birds back to my garden feeders. Not a lot on the agenda today, although I have about 4 month's worth of Backtrack magazines still in their plastic bags, so I might have a catch up.

Good morning from a very cold Somerset. The showers are gathering again by the looks of the sky to the west. 40mm of rain now in the last 72 hours, and much more to come overnight by the looks of the forecast (with maybe snow over the hills, although the forecasts seem too cowardly to mention it these days in marginal situations; possibly in fear of extreme media exaggeration). However we will have to go some to beat Nov 2012, when we had 186mm in the month and the allotment vanished under water - but records are there to be broken. A couple of spoons of cough mixture before bed resulted in a calm night, so things might be improving slowly.

Hello from a decidedly wet Somerset. Lots of heavy rain, hail and thunder yesterday evening and overnight. A few big bright flashes of lightning as I visited the bathroom in the small hours, but the thunder seemed quite distant at times, so I presume the worst of the weather went over the Mendips. Mind you, we have had over 30mm of rain in the last 48 hours with another 7mm since midnight so we must have copped a few while I was asleep. Man cold seems to have stabilised into the almost bearable category, so it may be another tv cricket morning and a tv snooker afternoon.

Spent the afternoon simmering a home made chicken curry and watching snooker on tv and railcams on the laptop. Lit the fire and kept well away from the heavy showers outside; and witnessed the occasional blizzards at Ribblehead on the camera. There seems to be another blizzard here, but mine consists of a barrage of emails proclaiming the dreaded Black Friday. I hate these retail-dominated events, but apparently that just goes to prove what a wrinkly old out-of-touch has-been I have become. Mind you, the Which magazine announced that many Black Friday 'bargains' were only 5p less than the normal prices in 2015, and some were more expensive than they had been in the previous week.

[Pedant mode = ON] I can tell that you made it up, because unless it was an AMEND there is no way a TAF for the given period would be issued as late as 2252 for the period backdated to midnight. Also if the validity time is 0600 the following day, the last few groups are superfluous. Sorry, but almost 40 years in the business and even retirement can't make it stop. If you change the period to 1300/1318 or 1300/1324 it makes sense. [Pedant mode = OFF]

Good morning from a dull and very wet Somerset. Another 7mm since midnight to add to the 10mm of rain we had yesterday. I thought my sore throat cold was on its way out, but last night it seemed to return with a vengeance. It might be a morning for watching the test match, but with India at 194-2 and England's rather inept bowling, that is not a pretty sight either. At least the wrist RSI has gone away, and keyboard typing is possible again.

Belated good morning from a dull and windy Somerset. RSI in the wrist is playing up today, hence the reluctance to type too much, but at least the man flu is subsiding. My goodness the Ocado delivery van is at least 25 minutes early.....

Now, may I ask for a little education here? I thought a Sassanach was a term used to describe a person from the Scottish Lowlands, by Highlanders.

And possibly out of the bed on frequent occasions....

I still don't understand the supermoon hype. The moon is the moon is the moon; and has been for all of my life. I am really not bothered if it is 50,000km closer sometimes than it is at others, and I don't understand the idea that if I don't see it now I might be in my 80s when the next one occurs, or I might probably be dead. Should this really matter? Apparently it does to the media, who seem unable to shut up about it. Maybe it is time to research human winter hibernation possibilities?

Hello from a dull and dismal Somerset. My optimism regarding yesterday's washing was completely wrong, and before the washing machine had even finished the weather had turned overcast and drizzly, so more clothes are drying in the utility room. My man flu is not getting any better, despite paracetamol's best efforts, and so it is another day of deadness to look forward to. However, I did manage 40 pages of Andrew Marr's book, which included this great quote from Churchill when in the Westminster toilets and someone banged on the door saying Stafford Cripps needed to see him immediately. "Tell Sir Stafford that I am in the lavatory, and I can only deal with one sh!t at a time"

Good morning from sunny Somerset. I might get the washing dry today, as there is a decent breeze blowing. However, have caught the wife's cold and feel somewhat lethargic. As a get well soon present she has given me 'A History Of Modern Britain' by Andrew Marr - thanks dear. It cost her 50p from the local car boot sale. Judging by the crease on the paperback spine the previous owner reached about page 40 of the 600. I wonder if I will get any further?

I wonder if that could be slowed down and still be viewable? It would give a great record of the track layout from those days. I don't think that is 1970s music, because when "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer came out it was regarded as a revolution in sound, and that was 1977. It is more like 1980s music, when people realised they could link up any instrument to a synthesiser and play the sounds of another one. So drums could play any sounds, likewise keyboards. I remember a tv programme where quite famous musicians (can't remember their names now) demonstrated the 'music of the future' where a guitar was being played through a drum synthesiser and vice-versa. The result sounded rubbish and thankfully didn't catch on.

Thanks David. Much appreciated.

Does anyone recognise this junction? It seems to be a popular haunt for K3s.

I have blown up the original photo to show the consist as best as I can. The GUVs appear to have COND symbols on them, but I don't know what is right at the rear of the train.

(O/T) Mast erection - old style....

Another 9 pages of US election coverage again today. This adds up to 47 pages in 3 days, and this does not include editorial comment.