chris p bacon

Do you not know someone in the UK you could send them in bulk to so that when sold they'd be posted from here ? I'll PM you.

As Andy has posted and also C&L for either a kit or parts.

This is certainly different. I have a passing interest in Japanese railways after living there in the 70's so I'll be watching this develop.

Although Coach has found the answer to his problem by searching a forum, why should he have the issue in the first place. He is like others, an ordinary user of a PC and expects to be able to use the machine easily. I certainly wouldn't have known what to do.

Maybe the reality of costs has struck. This is not meant to be a criticism.

Is that possible ?

I have to say that after deliberating for some time about upgrading, taking advice and reading this thread and trying out W10 on several machines............I brought a Mac. I'd been using Vista (8+ years) which did what I wanted, but there was something about W10 that I just didn't get on with and couldn't put my finger on.

In a word....................No Not yet anyway.

I think the rolling 24 hour news makes you lose perspective. A couple of days after the tower block fire, Portugal experienced forest fires killing 64 people in a short space of time. I saw just 60-90 seconds coverage on the news that day.

Was that Driver Dave Impy by chance ?

You rang..........(see the tag line) Friends....in the words of Rimmer "I've come to think of you as people I know"

I'm trying to reconcile those words in the same sentence..............nope, can't see how they're linked.....

Of course I won't even mention the counterfeit products that even suppliers are duped by. ............

I'm often reminded of a Danny Baker sketch. A quiet newsroom with journo's sitting around looking bored and making paper aeroplanes. The door bursts open and one rushes in shouting "The Queens dead" at which point there's a big cheer as they fire up the PC's

Most of the records of the GN employees were destroyed in a WW2 raid. In recent years 2 of our members have been painstakingly making a record of those that were lost during WW1 by searching Family history and archives. IIRC they're about 60-70% through the task.

Read the regs and spec for the time and see what you think. The use of materials is dependent upon not just their qualities but the means of fixing. A 100% fireproof material is no use if it is fixed to combustible supports, in the same way a fire wall is made up of materials that on their own don't meet the spec but the combination does. For example people think that steel is 'fireproof,' and yet we have to surround it in fire retardant board as when subjected to heat, it twists and bends and buildings lose structural integrity. Timber beams on the other hand are combustible but take longer to burn through and lose integrity. Which do you use? It really isn't a simple yes/no answer to a point scoring journo on the hoof. On that point I've found that listening to the news I have to say I'm getting tired of what were once reputable news outlets relying on Facebook comments and soundbite journalism as well as seemingly driving the headlines and agenda rather than reporting it in a balanced way.

Considering the materials were inspected and passed at the time of construction, why should the PM be expected to answer a technical question about a material which has differing properties depending upon it's means of installation. It's useless point scoring journalism with the sole purpose of making people look either uncaring or dumb. Listening to the news this morning one journalist admitted that after 10 days of reading about regs and materials he was still confused about what could be used and where.

Big Brother is on his second Pan European, he had the ST100 for 10(?)years and a 100,000+ miles, he then changed it for the ST1300 about 15 years ago. I have often commented that all Honda did was put an engine on a 3 piece suite. As for bikes being more capable than riders, I remember someone who was outclassed by a FS1E in the 70's.............and no, it wasn't me.

I agree with you, but sadly if more work is required it would come down to cost. Although people want standards to be the highest, they also want someone else to pay for it. With this building I doubt whether sprinklers would have done as much as we think. Looking at some construction pictures it was an open floor build which means there were no concrete divisions between flats.

The cladding we fitted in the 80's bears no resemblance to what is currently available. I have a feeling that the cladding on this building was driven by a need to make the building "Greener." Recent priorities for building inspection have been heat loss and insulation, just glancing at some specs for insulation board, fire retardancy is low down on the list with importance given to U values.

I wouldn't say that would have been the outcome. A sprinkler head would be sited in the room centre to achieve maximum coverage, if the fridge is sited near an open window and the rear catches fire the sprinkler will activate either with an alarm or when the heat in the room breaks the seal on the nozzle. In the case of this fire I understand the Fire brigade extinguished the flat fire but the cladding was already alight meaning there was probably an open window. Whether the heat built up in the room would have been sufficient to activate the sprinkler is unknown. There would though have been sufficient airflow to direct the fire and hot gases to the exterior as that is what happened. I do wonder that as a stop gap, the communal areas are upgraded in the short term to allay fears that residents have in other blocks. Surface sprinkler systems can be relatively straightforward to install.

You're not supposed to disturb their roosting places so rescuing one doesn't count. I'd draw the line at mouth to mouth though, it'd take its chances

Get an old Yamaha DT 500 and put a 100+T rear sprocket on it, It's not fast, but boy think about how you get there. I did think much the same way a few years ago, I passed my test at 17 and did 150,000+ miles over many years using an assortment of bikes to commute to work as well as weekend fun. I looked at getting something for the joy of riding but found that other motorists attitude to 2 wheels put me off.

There were approx 4 trains which would be classed a 'commuter' to and from KX when spotting at Sandy in the 70's, they were to and from Peterborough, and in the evening at least 2 would be 31's (Brian's) another might be a Finsbury Park 47 and the 4th would invariably be a 'Foreign' engine. The occasional 46 would appear but a 40 was common, Although not the fastest getaway, compared to a 31 it was positively F1.

I am at present designing an external fire escape stairway, It has to take into account the number of people likely to use it as well as age (5years old for example need a different design of handrail). When permission is given it is based upon a certain level of occupancy (Bedrooms) and as such means of escape numbers are derived from that. If a building has twice ( for example) the amount of people it was designed for, then barriers such as fire doors are left open and communal places such as stairways become funnels for hot gases as more people exit. Overcrowding of properties is something we see a lot of, as an example there is a very large Chinese restaurant nearby where most of the male staff live in a 2 bed flat. There are upwards of 12 at any one time. We wondered that they were being exploited but it turns out they want to live that way so they can save their money and gamble (their words). The block they are in was designed for about 16 people and yet there are 40+ inhabiting, and when we've been there we've taken the wedges from the fire doors so they close correctly.