petethemole

I was informed today that Les Barker, the humorous performance poet and songwriter renowned on the folk scene, had passed away on 14th January, aged 75. He has been mentioned on RMweb ocasionally but not that he was a railway enthusiast and modeller. He apparently had a large layout in his house in North Wales and also in his previous house in Manchester. One of his poems is "Stanier 8F" .I saw him live several times and we have several of his books of verse. https://www.jacey-bedford.com/LesBarker.html

In other news, the wind noise overnight meant I woke up even more than usual. I was a bit worried about the gazebo in the back but looked out and checked it at about 6.30 and it was fine. It's an 'All Seasons' gazebo with a steel frame weighted at the corners, but the makers do suggest lowering the (adjustable) roof if there's a risk of strong winds. I wasn't actually expecting winds that strong, plus it's a temporary store so is full of boxes. It was OK on surfacing at 9, but while I was having breakfast it tipped up; the wind got under the sides and flipped it, nothing to do with the height. It wasnt raining so I didn't dash out instantly but then Martyn and I removed the contents. Half of it went into the shed I'm trying to empty so it can be replaced. While doing this two further squalls tipped it over more and moved it bodily sideways by its own length. It was still blowing a hooley so I left it leaning on the fence and the therapy pool. I had to accompany Mrs mole to a hospital appointment this afternoon so I couldn't get back to it when the wind dropped. When we got back I was planning to look at it again but the electrics in the garden room/big shed had failed. Investigation showed that the convection heater had shorted out internally. Fortunately there was a spare in the little shed....behind all the boxes I'd just put in there. I'm currently hiding upstairs with a coffee and Johnny Walker, waiting for the third crisis.

Happy birthday to Neil.

As if they weren't anyway! Some of my friends and colleagues at that time were somewhat put out when I pointed out that they actually lived in a primary target area. The Port of Southampon, which included Marchwood Military Port and the then US port at Hythe, was a REFORGER port (REinFORce GERmany) and was expected to be a first strike target in the event of war with the Soviets*, yet the protesters were all over at Greenham Common. *According to the president of our Military Modelling club, a senior Reserve officer with some involvement with Intelligence. The City Council had Disaster Plans based on nuclear stikes of various strengths in the area; I've seen some of the maps.

A legit registration, illegally modified. On average I see at least one every day.

Our other, large, shed, is SWMBO's garden room/music space/meditation space/ clothes store, referred to by herself as "the room at the end". I call it the big shed. There's nothing of mine in there; a lot I've paid for though.

Re Shed Aid: I will shortly have an 8ft x 4ft pent roof shed for disposal. Much of it is sound but the floor has collapsed at the door end and the roof leaks badly. Both are repairable but there is an air gap between roof and one wall so in wet or damp weather the damp gets in and affects some of the contents such as SWMBO's shoes. It also has ivy inside. It's up for collection from Southampton but I can't predict how many pieces* it will be in after demolition. *That will fit in a Hippo Bag or similar.

There was a conveyor belt on the bridge. The loco is Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST ‘Lord Fisher’ (Works No 1398, Built 1915).

From a Tolkien fan (not nutter, if you don't mind); It's been a good year for the Woses Beorn to be Wild

That was meant to be a Funny, but I'll leave it now....on the other hand, it's still Reading.

You are right of course. I should have checked. The information I absorbed in my military modelling days has got a bit jumbled up, or forgotten!

The British also used Shermans in the infantry support role, in Tank Brigades, as distinct from Armoured Brigades.

I was a real ER again today; I had to be up to let the fencing contractors in to replace the fence down one side of the back garden. It suffered badly from storm Eunice a year ago. Mrs mole is slowly recovering from her hip replacement but is very gloomy about her future mobility as she will no longer be able to do some of what she could do before despite her existing disability. She was particularly bad yesterday at Dark of the Moon*. She's a bit better today. *One may not believe it but in my experience some people are affected by the phases of the Moon. Ask a policeman. I have 24 years of experience with Mrs mole's mood swings.

The instruments in a steel band of course.

Coming from that general area ISTR one of the reasons the Bedford - Bletchley section survived when the rest of the route closed was the schools traffic. In my own school days I knew people who travelled from most of those stations; also from Sandy and Potton but this was before closure.

Me too, I have loads of wheel weights including the flat stick-on type. Ideal for weighting vans and open/mineral wagons, hidden under the load.

As motor boats normally worked with a butty boat you'd need someone to steer the butty. On husband and wife crewed boats quite young children could manage this. Alternatively they would hire a 'mate' to steer the butty and take a share of the lockwheeling.

She rightly belongs on The Flying Dustman. Remember dustcarts with dolls and teddy bears tied to the front grille? Not seen much now presumably due to wheelie bins and bagged rubbish.

What period? Working class clothing changed over the years, Boatmen developed their own distinct styles, but this was more apparent among their wives, with distinctive bonnets and aprons. Langley miniatures do a set of Victorian/Edwardian Working Class figures and two sets of Working Figures, some of which might suit.

The historic town of Winchelsea is worth a visit I believe. I've never been but saw a programme about the archaeology and history, possibly an episode of Time Team.

Despite the bloke being a complete plonker, most of the comments on the Twitter feed were disgusting.

oA camper conversion wouldn't need a roller shutter so I think that's a rear wall. Years ago some nomadic friends of SWMBO had a Bedford horse box conversion with the rear opening filled with t & g with a house door in it.

Probably due to the conditions they had to put up with.

They could have looked it up; it only took me a moment. It was identified as a SC250 250kg bomb, one of the most common used by the Luftwaffe, body length 117.3 cm (46.2 in) and available in a variety of sub-types. I wonder if this one went off because it was fitted with the "/Y" fuse which contained “mercury tilt switches” designed to detonate if the fuse was moved: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SC250_bomb

Autumn of '71 some friends were living in a shared terraced house that had been let out for years. I was in their kitchen helping with washing up and hung a damp teacloth on the drying line at which point I got a shock. Inspecting the line I found it was two lengths of bell wire or similar knotted together and stretched between hooks on the wall. I had hung the damp cloth over the knot where some bare strands of wire were exposed. Following the wire down from one of the hooks revealed a three pin plug, plugged into a socket! I unplugged it and cut the plug off. No-one knew how long it had been like that.