Purley Oaks

Good morning all Went to a wedding party on Saturday night for two fifty-year olds - and what a raucous, joyous occasion it was, Wonderful to have been invited. Sunday, lots of fireworks around here. What's the full German, Robert? Lots of cold meats, cheeses and radishes with bread and coffee? That could do me - well, not the meat part seeing as I've gone veggie. Glad Wycrail was a success. Have a good day Mal

Morning all Wet overnight but dry now. Very windy thanks to ex-hurricane Oscar. I have not succumbed to anything O but am tempted by a Bachmann Scotrail DBSO. And a little excited that there may be a Hornby Q announcement soon. Anyway, Jamie, your picture shows us in more innocent times. There's an article by Ian Jack in today's Guardian which suggests that Britain jettisons railway enthusiasts (among many other things) because they live in the past. Do we? I'm sure we're all trying to stay hip and groovy. Actually, I'll let you into a little secret - the writer, Ian Jack, loves trains and train travel. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/03/british-icons-white-cliffs-nuclear-monarchy Like GDB I'll be watching the rugby, but the Wales-Scotland match for me. Should be a good game. No idea who'll win as both teams will have to shake off some cobwebs. Enjoy Wycrail those who are going and a good day to all Mal

Morning all Sunny and bright here but it has been raining overnight. So nothing like The Q's soggy tales. Congrats to Grandad Jamie. Doesn't mean that you can start behaving like GDB or AndyP, though! Yes, the airports are horrible now; what made it easier once for us was being upgraded to premium economy by Virgin which allowed us the use of their lounge at Heathrow which made things much more comfortable. We were upgraded on the return from Chicago, too, but there's no Virgin lounge there so we had to slum it with everyone else on hard grey seating. I can hear the cries of, "Shame!" from everyone here... not! I always like to have a valid passport whether or not I intend to travel abroad... just in case I need to get out of the country in a hurry! Could be £80 well spent, Q. Have a good day everyone. Oh, and be careful, Andyram! Mal

Thank you for posting the Python stuff, really made me laugh. I like Oz wines but Gabe prefers NZ. Other wine-making countries are available and the wine tastes good. Have a great holiday, Tony. Hope the pets behave, Pete. House sold yesterday, subject to missives. Quite a good premium over asking price. Ours sold in a fortnight - a pal a couple of streets away sold today after 9 days on the market. Phew! That's a pretty hot market at the moment. Mal

Congrats on the tickets; if it was the UK they'd all be gone a couple of minutes after opening with them suddenly reappearing on ticket resale sites within a few minutes. For twice or thrice the price or more. Don't forget your Jeff Lynne lookalike wig. We just bought tickets for Sophie Ellis-Bextor (yes, I know) for next June. But they are 5th row in a smallish venue in town. Have a good night Mal

Just seen Andy's headbanger; look after yourself, Andy, great news you're seeing the stent doc. Thought women never had any vote until 1918 - and then you had to be over 30. I remember that because my grandma, born 1896, only got the vote from 1928 when voting age for women was changed to 21. Yes, I know that she was 32 in 1928... And a happy birthday to Dom Mal

Good morning all Nice to see Andyram back briefly and that things are still going well. Had my Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm screening yesterday - nothing sinister. Is this a Scottish NHS thing or does the NHS carry it out UK-wide, I wonder? All over-65s here get their aortic artery ultrascanned for aneurysms to try and prevent deaths. Apparently mine is fine so won't need another one ever because, the nurse said, it's statistically very unikely that you'll get an aneurysm there. The ultrasound has a little difficulty penetrating or "seeing" through scar tissue so mine took a little longer than normal. British Gas were on the phone to me at 8.30am today wanting to cancel tomorrow's annual boiler check owing to an emergency. I wondered, cynically, if it's a genuine gas emergency, or because there's a leaving party on tonight or if people are on holiday. Anyway, they offered me another appointment anytime after 14 January; when I explained we were moving and wanted it checked for the new owners they miraculously found an appointment for Friday 9 November. Should find out today if our house has sold; we do "offers over" in Scotland and set a closing date and time, when sealed bids come in through lawyers. Wish us luck! Have a good day Mal

Belated Happy Birthdays to Jamie and Michael! Belated Happy Anniversary to Ian and Sherry. And Happy Anniversary Brian and Shelia. Hope the celebrations went well for you all. Off to see SF writer Charles Stross (The Laundry Files) tonight at Blackwells which should be good. He's an Edinburgh resident, ex-Leeds. Hope there's some wine. Will get a book or two signed. Hope your evenings go well Mal

There's a piece about Jane McLelland in today's Mail on Sunday here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-6323993/How-secret-surviving-cancer-inside-medicine-cabinet.html?fbclid=IwAR1UIiCxbzHKHEV8e-T05G2ZbfgtQd2ov0yKQIPHrNN40QHUp6_zyl-gu3U so you don't have to buy it! Mal

Welcome back Rick! Hope things are still going well at the Junction of Clap-ham (sorry, channelling too much Peter Sellers). Returning to the hat thread: really like pork-pie hats but my head's too big for them and they look silly; can't find the right fedora or trilby; baseball caps look silly on me, likewise fisherman caps; flat hats are ok, never tried a 'newsboy' cap. Woolly thinsulate hats for when it's really cold, and a sunhat for strong sun, of course. And the basque beret. We need a hatter who can advise which hat for which head! Hope your evenings are going well Mal

Afternoon all Chilly here, too. Bin news: our garden bins are now a paid service - but I figured that £25 a year is worth it for two collections a month - anyway, last Friday was the first day of our collections service and a week later they still haven't been emptied. Called the council on Monday and they promised they'd be done by Weds. Called again today. Not too good for a paid-for service, hopefully just teething probs. Can't you get a curly wig, IanA? Am sure you'd win the Jeff Lynne lookalike - you've got the spex. Hope your Friday nights go well! Mal

If you plan your trip from Scotland, Baz, and catch the 0930 from Edinburgh you can get a breakfast before Newcastle then a beer après York...

I clicked the funny button - isn't the Phil thing from 1955 or some such? Made me laugh, anyway! Hats; I haven't found a hat that suits yet. Or perhaps I have - Gabe bought me a basque-style French beret. I like it and wear in the style with a peak pulled front and left (or right) - so not RM-style. Keeps my head warm and looks good. But do/should men wear berets? You don't have to answer btw. Hope your evenings are going smoothly Mal

Morning all Busy making plans to view other houses today in between doing my mum's shopping. Thinking of you today, Bill. I had a root canal earlier this year which turned out not to be nearly so bad as I'd expected so hope yours goes the same way. Good luck! Thanks for that, Chris. The owner/landlord 39 years ago was a very nice chap called Mike and his wife. They did good breakfasts back then. The Q - yes, artic drivers can always reverse well - but you didn't see us when we started and were all over the place. It's practice! What do they say? 10,000 hours of hard work makes a genius? Or something like that. Hope your days go well Mal

Afternoon all As others have said, thinking of Debs today especially. Glad to hear the dawg is kennelled, Chris. Think the very act of smiling genuinely, even if you're on your own, releases feel-good endorphines or whatever they are called and can perk you up a bit. But I really popped in to say how good it is to hear about Priddy, a little village on top of the Mendips. We honeymooned there 39 years ago. The car broke down, too, as they so often did back then. But being a Morris Traveller it was soon fixed. Stayed at the New Inn there, which I think is no longer there. Quite a few cavers used the bar there. Thanks for your news of missing ERs, Baz. Hopefully all will return sometime soon. Still blowy here; hope your days are going well Mal

Evening all A bright day but getting quite gusty. Had some good interest in the house with the first public view over the weekend. Lawyer has advised that there will probably be more interest next weekend. The house looks the best it's ever looked - almost wonder why we're moving. Yep, think I'd see Fleetwood Mac if I got the chance. Read that each member is making around US$12m-$14m each from the tour. Shame that Lindsay and the band fell out over his personal tour dates or that Lindsay didn't put the band first. Pete (Trisonic) probably knows more about bands falling out over silly things (not implying that Pete has, just that he may know some who have) Couldn't help but laugh when you said you'd bought a television "by mistake" - reminded me of Withnail & I, where they went on holiday "by mistake". I love a big UHD telly, the bigger the better until Gabe says enough, of course. So the 58" is fine, but not its bigger 65" brother... And she's not overkeen on the 58" btw! Hope you all enjoy watching your tvs this evening, whatever size they are. Mal

So sorry to read about Elsa, Richard. She certainly had a very loving family and it's good that the vet came to you. Hope you're able to catch up on your sleep over the weekend. Our black cat Molly was "put to sleep" by the vet just under 3 years ago - I still say hello to her when we come home late. She always ran to the front door to greet us! Mal

Shingles, horrible thing, feeling tired all the time with sore bits. Ow! I'd have the jag if I qualified. Denim - stopped wearing it when my gut went over the top. I did wash them, though. Had the first viewers to our house this afternoon. Fingers crossed for us over the next few weeks. Saw a couple of houses this morning, one close to Glenkinchie Distillery - that one had a great feel to it, but public transport there is non-existant, so it's probably a no. Another house just didn't feel right at all. What is it that gives you these feelings about houses? Good luck with your small claim AndrewC; remember that getting the bailiffs round there may be easier if the builder "accidentally" mislays the court order. There probably are many other excuses, sadly. Ivan last posted 11 days ago; if he's away for two weeks he'll be back soon. Hope he's all right. Hope your Fridays are going well Mal

Wow! I saw what I'd call a large skein a couple of days ago - only looked up because I heard a load of honking. There were maybe 300 geese, so will look out for a couple of thousand birds in the next day or two. Glenkinchie Distillery is well worth a visit - like most other distilleries, of course, but as good excuse to buy a bottle or two. It's a nice smooth whisky, nothing peaty (sadly imho) but good nonetheless. Maybe he's away for a couple of weeks break? Am hopeful he'll return soon. A bit chilly here tonight. Hope you all stay warm, with or without whisky - have one for me BoD! Mal

That's a shame, I did wave at you. Nice looking aperitif, by the way! Mal

Hahahaha!

Didn't Jeff join The Move after Carl Wayne left, just before ELO? ISTR he played on Brontosaurus. But that was about the time that Roy Wood started Electric Light Orchestra with Jeff and Bev; remember an interview with Roy in Melody Maker where he was very keen on getting cellos into the band. I imagine that Roy and Jeff had an argument about ELO's direction - their first LP on Harvest Records didn't do too well commercially, but Jeff changed that with his songwriting style and the band shortened its name to ELO and changed record labels. Roy did pretty darn well with Wizzard, though. Are You Ready To Rock? with bagpipes is great - and there's always I Wish It Could Be... He's a good songwriter is Roy. Jeff, too. No idea about the hat - but whenever I see a slightly older musician wearing a hat I just assume they're bald - rightly or wrongly. Mal

Yes he did, Pete. Btw, Jimi allegedly lost the original mix of Axis: Bold As Love in a taxi, but who takes the one and only tape from a studio to play at a party even if you had the machine? There are two stereo mixes of Axis released in the UK and Europe but only one in the US. And the mono, of course. Mal

Day Saver here is just £4.00. Singles £1.70.

Joined-up thinking would possibly mean that buses are fast, frequent and (possibly) free which would get more people out of their cars, so more room for buses to move. The Edinburgh bus service is superb, free with buspass, apart from the night and airport bus. The tram to the airport is free with the correct bus pass. Mal