petethemole

I'm just catching up after two days with lousy wifi connectivity and higher priorities for the PC time that was available, so belated birthday greetings to HH and a Happy Birthday to iD.

Condolences to Stewart.

I used to live in Southend in the late '60s, when I heard a story about four Met CID officers who'd been in Southend for a court case and were heading home up the Southend Arterial Road in a plain car. They were pulled over for speeding by an Essex motorcycle officer. The Met driver showed his warrant card and said "There are four professional liars in this car who will testify that we were within the limit".

Fixed it for you, thanks to Irfanview.

The van body looks about the right length for one of the L&YR van diagrams formerly produced by MAJ kits, so could be modified to resemble one by adding external framing, strapping and door hinges. Without the underframe you would get a reasonably convincing grounded van.

Martyn fell foul of this. He'd been accepted for a job but could only provide Birth Cert., bank statements and a letter from the NHS (as he doesn't get utility bills) but no, he had to provide photo ID and his child passport had expired. So he had no job, while a foreign national with a work permit could have.* He was very upset, being autistic. He has no intention of driving (yet, and probably never) but got himself a provisional licence just for ID. As regards voting, my bus pass sufficed, but if in the future they require the address to be included I will lose the vote. * I have no problem with anybody legally here working, but it seems unfair that a British citizen born here couldn't.

This is a genuine firm.

Happy birthday to Hroth. In other news, Mrs mole's new motability car is now arriving next Tuesday as the dealer had a delivery earlier than expected. So some stuff can be taken to the lockup and other stuff (hopefully less in volume) brought here, with the cumulative effct of clearing a bit of space....which will rapidly be filled again, going by past experience. Trips to the lockup can be done by bus and walk, but are limited to what I can carry and take over an hour there and back + actual time in the garage. More importantly, Mrs mole can get to her sessions, practices and gigs again.

Yesterday about 5.30 pm I had just got off the bus on the A27 in Northern Southampton, when I heard an interesting sounding engine, but was disappointed to see an ordinary Mazda MX5. However a few cars behind came three Frazer-Nash roadster/tourers, each two-up and carrying proper luggage, held on with straps, and making very little noise, possibly on ther way to an event.

So you can't dispose of it; it will at least have to be seen as available for use, if not actually in use.

I have the Lost London volume and was aware of the newer one, but was prompted to order it by Dave's post. I too went to WoB for a good deal. But you don't want to hear my language when I'm pricing books for eBay sales and find their listings! However they don't sell all their stock for peanuts.

Much simpler; it's just a pre-printed sheet of paper stuck over an existing sign.

I use RM to post several items a week. Recently I have had some delivered next day, despite sending them 2nd Class, which is impressive. In five years I have had three go missing. Recently SWMBO was notified that two items had been delivered here when there was no sign of them. Next day she mentioned this to the post woman and the day after she turned up with them having enquired at houses on the estate with the same number. Curiously we had a misdelivered letter for that address only about a month ago, which I took round.

Comparing the two, the posture is almost identical but there is more sculptured detail in the shop fox design and the face and ears are different. The loco, completed December 1935 and the shop front in 1936, so it's quite possible that the then boss, apparently a Mr Dixon, saw Silver Fox and thought 'We'll have some like that'.

Happy birthday to Stewart. Our new 'small shed' is being erected. It's 10' x 4' with a gable roof. It comes as a kit of parts with one man who's blitzing through it at a rate of knots. A bit like assembling a plastic building kit but with a cordless screwdriver instead of glue. He's the boss of the firm that build the sheds for the supplier and built our SWMBO's garden room in early 2018. Mrs mole and Martyn are off out for lunch shortly. It's her first go at using a bus since her hip replacement.

Beltane blessings to all.

Having spent a lot of time by "Haulage Hill" at several Great Dorset Steam Fairs, I can imagine.

From my opening post on the "Wooden bodied mineral wagons" thread: http://railphotoprints.zenfolio.com/p210252395/h754CB76#ha081543 "P344560, a steel underframe RCH 1923 type with open spoke wheels. The metalwork is painted grey but the planks are a mix of weathered wood, remnants of a PO livery with the lettering almost worn off, and black patches, probably applied during WW2 for the small lettering of the period, subsequently painted over by BR. It has markings for bottom doors but has Morton brakes with a cross-shaft, theoretically a no-no."

The 'blimp' is a barrage balloon; it was painted in 1943.

Happy Birthday to Dave. In other news, Mrs mole's recovery is going well, to the extent that she's sometimes trying to do things that her muscles aren't quite ready for. This results in soreness and, in theory, taking it easy for a day or so...as if; she'll just try something else. She's also p***ed off because her new Motability car delivery has been delayed from May to July.

I didn't do the sums until after I'd paid the postage, and I know it was my fault, but if I had originally listed it with GSP, the buyer would have had tracked postage at no cost to me.

I recently sold a fairly cheap vintage magazine to a US buyer who requested tracked postage. After fees I was out of pocket on the transaction; only about 20p but not good. If I had it listed with GSP I would have paid UK postage and made my expected proceeds

In my FB feed today:

I wonder why this idea didn't get anywhere?

There's a theory out there somewhere that the reason Sean Bean's characters die so often is to make up for the number of times Sharpe should have been killed.