petethemole

Private owner 8 plank wagons would mainly have been built for mineral traffic, predominantly coal and coke. This use continued after nationalisation.

I thought the Slow Araf was a sub-species, like the Slow Loris, particularly vulnerable due to its inability to move quickly when in danger, so the road signs are placed near known habitats.

Over here OMO stood for "Old Man's Out" allegedly.

Possibly a 38t, as its muzzle brake, although covered, appears to be the Panther type, fitted to some WW2 38ts, rather than the type fitted to late war Pzkfw IVs or Stug IIIs & IVs, which was adopted by the Swiss for the G13. The exhaust layout isn't clear due to the low viewpoint.

Brilliant!

Hungarian rock band Locomotiv GT had several train related covers. I have this one

The old shed is in pieces of varying sizes. I still need to dismember one side wall panel into its component parts of planks and uprights. This involves vigorous hitting with a hammer to start the nails, plus a crowbar to get them apart. I was going to carry on for a bit late morning but realised from the tell-tale noises that nextdoor's new baby was outside, so I tried without the hammering. The crowbar on its own worked but was slow and tedious so I gave up and went for lunch followed by an eyelid inspection. Now I'm running late to go out.

Barksy!

Indeed, all periods from prehistoric to WW2 in a fairly small area. I remember reading Grand Barrage by 'Gun Buster' when I was 11, a (slightly propagandist) contemporary account of the AA defence of the island. I'm beginning to feel the effects of tree pollen, mainly random sneezing and a slightly blurry left eye, which will get worse as summer proceeds and clear up come September. I'm in the process of demolishing the small 8' x 4' shed which was getting rotten. A new roof would have done if it was being used as a garden shed but it's mainly used for storage and stuff was suffering from the damp. Mrs mole is recovering well from her hip replacement and is eagerly awaiting her new Motability car, which will be easier to get into. The previous car is still here, being used to store stuff from the shed.

Thanks, Actually I think I found that before but had forgotten it. The Eldridge Pope brewery and bottling plant were at Dorchester, so bulk lager could have been sent there. However Cooper's Brewery in Southampton had a bottling plant and had ceased actual brewing due to war damage, so it could in theory have bottled Graham's Lager post war. No rail connection though, it was in the heart of the Old Town, inside the medieval walls. I found the text of the BBC news item, with the correct year! "Updated: Thursday, 2 June, 2005, 10:08 GMT 11:08 UK Archaeologists' intoxicating find By David Fuller BBC News Archaeologists searching for remains of a city's medieval past have made an intoxicating discovery, a cache of World War II beer. The hundred-or-so bottles of lager buried beneath Southampton's Guildhall Square were still capable of developing a head when they were opened. It is thought they had been stored in the cellar of an off-licence which was destroyed in the Blitz. The routine dig was to study the site before a new arts centre was built. Pete Cottrell, the dig leader, was hoping to find evidence of a medieval leper hospital known to have been in the area. He said the bottles were in very good condition, but the liquid inside was not. "I think you'd be very ill if you drank that, it's absolutely rank." Some of the bottles have now been handed to the city's museum, while the rest has been reburied."

I researched the brand while preparing the excavation report. One web page I found included an old photo of a rail van branded for Graham's; I can't remember whether it was pre or post war. I can't find it now. It would have carried lager bottled at the brewery. I have wondered whether the tank wagon is a genuine branding; do you know? ISTR that the wine merchants supplied the liners. They weren't near the docks but in Above Bar Street, in the area that is now Guildhall Square. We got on the BBC South local news, so I have a picture of one of the bottles, held by me. It's only a .gif as I copied it from the BBC local news website.

The Southampton branch of the Wine Merchants business of the Eldridge Pope Brewery was bombed in 1940. Buried in the rubble were several intact crates of bottled Graham's Golden Lager. In about 2004 while doing trial excavations on the site we discovered them with a JCB bucket that broke several bottles. They were still fizzy but the contents smelt utterly rank.

"Hamwih" is the first written occurrence of the name, at a time when spelling was erratic. The generally accepted name is "Hamwic", similar to other Anglo-Saxon estuarine ports such as Lundenwic, Gippeswic (Ipswich) and Eoforwic (York). It was a trading port that declined during the Viking era and was replaced by a more easily defended settlement to the south-west known as "Hamtun", in the area later occupied by the Medieval town. I've dug a few holes in both areas.

So you ate the cardboard?

Not being a physicist I still managed; speed is the key. I used to know a mathematics lecturer who was a keen cyclist; he was also fond of his beer. One night after indulging freely he got onto his bike, put both feet in the toeclips....and forgot to pedal....and fell over sideways. Somebody told him to walk home and his bike was locked up in the pub yard. Sadly he was killed a few years ago at a notorious road junction in the New Forest.

Shandon is a district of Cork City, not far from the Franciscan Well Brewpub.

I remember reading that, in the '70s IIRC. The 'group of people' were what we would today call 'extreme right wingers' trying to build a movement/private army to take over the state.

Hose warming, or Chauffage des Tuyaux, is a French spring festival celebrated by gardeners and car owners. It marks the time of year when hosepipes that have been stored for the winter are brought back into use. The first water through flushes out stale water, bugs and any residual ice and makes the hosepipe more flexible, ready for use.

Nor mine, but I still preferred Trebor to Polo mints, because they really were a bit stronger.

I've got them from Rymans, Robert Dyas and Hobbycraft locally. It's best to check what they have in stock before going. Free delivery with Amazon Prime if you have it.

Sorry, repeat post as the wi-fi had a silly moment. I tried to delete it but I assume I can't because it acquired a rating.

That's an uncommon variant. It appears to be an M4 with 47 degree hull front, wet stowage and HVSS suspension, but with the original type turret refitted with a 76mm gun, with extended bustle to accomodate the recoil. Sadly I have sold almost all of my AFV reference books so can't look up the less common variants or find the model number. I think this was a way to get more 76mm gun tanks into service without using T23 turrets, but IIRC they were only used for training, the T23 fitted tanks went for acive service. Oddball's tanks in Kelly's Heroes have this turret variant but post-war retrofits on M4A3 VVSS hulls; they came from the Yugoslav army. Lovely model though.

That's an uncommon variant. It appears to be an M4 with 47 degree hull front, wet stowage and HVSS suspension, but with the original type turret refitted with a 76mm gun, with extended bustle to accomodate the recoil. Sadly I have sold almost all of my AFV reference books so can't look up the less common variants or find the model number. I think this was a way to get more 76mm gun tanks into service without using T23 turrets, but IIRC they were only used for training, the T23 fitted tanks went for acive service. Oddball's tanks in Kelly's Heroes have this turret variant but post-war retrofits on M4A3 VVSS hulls; they came from the Yugoslav army. Lovely model though.

My issue is with the angle of the diagonal strapping and the fact that it isn't attached to the bottom of the vertical side stanchions.