tetsudofan

Evening all, been busy this afternoon getting car insurance premium quotations and was somewhat surprised to get a quote from Lloyds Bank (which was one of the better quotes) which covered to a car that I had purchased in 2005 and part-exchanged five years later. All I did, as with all the other quotes, was to enter to enter the car registration number in the online form and the system did the rest. Did not spot what had been done at first as the make of car has not changed - just the model number. It only came to light when I phoned Lloyds with a query and the operator confirmed the details of the car to be insured. After sorting the details of the current car the premium rose by about £25. The reason for this odd happening goes back to 2006 when I was caring for my late Mum who was suffering from dementia. It had been a bad day and as I was closing down my email an advert from DVLA appeared offering personal number plates based on current number plates. Typed in my initials and up came a GB05 plate for £800 which I thought was a silly price maybe because GB could be taken to be Great Britain. Did a further search and came up with an MB05 plate at half the price which surprised me as MB obviously relates to Mercedes Benz so would have thought the price would be closer or more than the GB05 plate. Anyway decided not to proceed at that point and closed down the PC....... but did not stop thinking about it. Went back on the DVLA website a few days later and the MB05 plate was still there so thought I would treat myself - at that time looking after Mum by myself I wasn't getting any treats so what the hell, I thought its about time a got myself a treat. Looking at it from another perspective, its something special which will last as long as I have a car and will remind me of the difficult times I had looking after Mum. It also reminds me that 2005 was the first time I purchased a decent car albeit only an A-Class - having had a Suzuki Wagon R+ for 6 years after I returned from Japan. Anyway, enough rambling. Still can't understand what database Lloyds Bank used to arrive at my car details. All the other quotes gave the correct car details for the registration plate quoted. The operator at Lloyds could not understand it either...... Weird. Keith

....and I bought mine at 14:15 when there were two sound-equipped models on the website, now showing temporarily out of stock awaiting for Kernow to fit sound in some more models. Keith

Evening all, been another warm and sunny day down here in the far southeast corner. Been busy in the garden weeding and dead-heading etc. whilst a friend of mine continues to build a replacement shed for me down the side of the house. Whilst deciding which part of the garden to attack I realised that where I thought I had messed things up has, in reality, turned out to be ok. In the flower bed in the picture I thought I had cleared that bed of daffodils early last so late last year I planted some tulips in the bed. Seeing the daffodils make a return appearance earlier this year I thought I had messed things up well and proper but, looking at the flower bed today, I realised that the tulips that have appeared in the last few days actually complement the daffodils and make the flower bed much more colourful and interesting. Think I'll plant some more tulip bulbs later this year to make it look even better next year. Keith

Ah, the Peek Freans biscuit factory and the lovely aroma of custard creams a cooking. What is missing today is the large clock on the factory wall that was there so you could ascertain how late your train was. Think the vinegar factory was on the other side of the tracks, can't remember much about that. Keith

Evening all, had an interesting day out yesterday. Friend of mine owns two restored East Kent vehicles and invited me to join them on a trip to the Kent Show Ground (first time I had been there) at Detling near Maidstone. Driving up to Detling this was my conveyance: and for the journey back home: It was the first bus rally I've been to for at least 10 years and had a most enjoyable day. The Show Ground is in a rather exposed position but luckily the weather was good to us. After putting the buses to bed we headed over to Elham for a most enjoyable meal at the Rose and Crown. Today was mainly spent in the garden making a start on cutting down the expired daffodils.... although there are still other daffodils coming into flower. Think I also spotted something on wheels running round the garden feature........ Off to bed now. Pleasant dreams. Keith

...and as I've mentioned before charging the amount immediately and giving a refund is a real pita if use a Barclaycard Visa credit card where you pay your bill upto 50 days later. It does not happen if you use a debit card Barclaycard policy is to credit the refund to your card account immediately and appears on the statement for that current months transactions so the amount charged for that months transactions is reduced by the amount of the refund. The amount original amount debited (which has already been refunded) is then charged to your bank the following month so if you don't monitor your bank account carefully you may have spent the refund before you get to pay for it. The only way round this for pre-orders is to order directly from Kernow by email or over the phone and not through the website. The only problem with this is that non-website orders don't get added by Kernow to your list of orders on the website. Keith

Evening all. the more I look at my garden in detail the more I wonder how I built the "feature" that now dominates the garden. There was no plan, it just evolved. I think this picture helps explain what I'm talking about: Things started getting a bit out of control when some of my neighbours started breaking up their concrete driveways in order to lay blocks. I purloined all the broken-up concrete and started to build some small mountains. A few years later I had an extension built on the back of the house and when the builders dug out the foundations I got them to make a pile in the middle of the garden which looked like this: Again, without any planning a start was made to create a mountain on that pile of earth and after a few months it started to look like this: Even today when I look back at what I created I still can't believe that I did it all myself with no professional help (apart from the builders creating a pile of earth in the middle of the garden) ..... and that for somebody who spent all his working life in banking (when banks were banks) in Asia and only got a garden to play with when I returned to the UK. Only scary thing is, if you know what you are looking for, you can find it on google earth. Keith

Evening all, its transition time in the garden. Some daffodils are on the way out, others still in flower. More tulips are getting stronger day by day but the azaleas in this part of the garden are yet to bloom: Am off to the garden centre tomorrow to add some more plants to give some more colour. Unfortunately I'm not a plant freak so I just get what I like and see how it goes.... Keith

Evening all. Seems as though the little beings that inhabit the item that has appeared in my garden have been a bit confused of late. Yesterday they found a shed that was blocking their way: ..... and today they found that the shed was no more: Wonder what they will find in the days to come? It's all happening down here!! Keith

Oh dear, something seems of have got lost in the garden today, nature seems to be taking over: Keith

At long last one of my many azaleas, albeit a small one, has burst into flower: Spring, for me, has finally arrived Keith

Afternoon, just back from an appointment at the William Harvey Hospital at Ashford when I got the results of the biopsy performed at the Kent & Canterbury Hospital last month and was pleased to hear that there was no sign of any malignancy. Life can carry on now....... Following receipt of the above news and after discussions with the Consultant it was decided that I'll get a TURP in about three months time which, he says, should keep me going for another 10 years. Keith

With regard to an extension from Abbey Wood to Dartford, if I remember correctly, looking at some of the original maps the lineside from Abbey Wood to Dartford is already protected in planning terms for such an event. Keith

In a separate bag...... Keith

Looks as though Appledore's tender has the same problem as 603 Squadron's and it's a pain to try separate the tender and chassis. The screws come easy enough but the tender body resists movement. I've managed to get slivers of very thin plastic (from a supermarket ready meal tray) in between the bottom of the tender and top of the chassis sides but still the tender and chassis do not separate giving me the impression that there may some glue of something else across the front and/or back of the tender and chassis holding them together. Getting the tender off MN Royal Mail was a doddle. Pity the WC and MN were not made in the same factory that produced the MN (LOT01 for the MN and TEC05 for the WC). As my Appledore was bought from the Hornby website communication will be established with Hornby on Monday....... Keith

Tiptoe through the tulips........... Another rewarding day in the garden. Keith

Been another mild day in the far southeast corner but no sign of the sun like yesterday. Been busy in the garden all day and must say that Spring is my favourite season by far. Days getting longer, nights getting shorter and the garden changing day by day. Today noticed that the daffodils in one part of the garden have produced a natural tunnel, the red bush back left is in flower whilst the camelia back right is about to flower whilst the grass looks as though it will be ready for a trim soon: Keith

Neil, Of course, you are very welcome to run a steamer.......as long you agree to clean the rails (at least at least 600ft) after your running session Keith

Been busy again in the garden today, daffodils still in bloom but note that they have been joined by some small pinky red things behind that other thing that got in the way when I was taking the pic: Keith

I have no problems with needles as long as I don't watch the needle going into my vein . All goes back many years ago when I had a liver biopsy and saw what was a very long needle coming out - I went into shock and that was that. Keith

Morning from a warm and sunny south east - Spring is certainly on its way. Tete-a-tetes are out in abundance and tulips are just starting to appear.. If you look carefully at the track you can just about see the new brass track joiners that I have been assembling and installing during the last couple of weeks or so. Weather permitting maybe a train ​might appear later this week..... ​Keith

Evening from the far south east corner. Have been busy recently working on the track on my garden railway giving it a spring clean and installing new purpose-built track joiners which should improve the conductivety and improve the running of the trains. Problem is I've got at least 600ft of track which means a lot of track joiners so was busy this evening preparing the following: .... its fiddly screwing all the screws in the track joiners .,,,,, just as bad as counting sheep trying to get to sleep. Tomorrow the car is off for its first MOT, service and spring clean. As the car was built in 2014 seems to be outside the M-B recall for starter motors which have a habit of catching fire. Understand from a friend that the guy from M-B collecting the car is also into railways so have something other than cars to talk about. Time for bed now. O yasumi nasai. Ki o tsukete kudasai, Keith

My garden railway is called the EG&SNNR..... .....the Ever Growing & Still No Name Railway Keith

David, Interesting pics from the Harz, amazing how the rolling stock and infrastructure looks quite tatty when compared with todays HSB. One of my regrets is that I never made it to the Harz before the Wall came down. Only made it as far as East Berlin. Not sure if you are aware but the standard gauge line from Gernrode to Quedlingburg has since been converted to metre gauge and is now operated by the HSB. Many thanks for more excellent pictures. Please keep them coming!! Keith

Hornby have kept their word ..... details of all the international ranges are now on are the Hornby website!! See that the Lima Expert ETR 610 Add-On coaches are available to buy on the website. Just chased The Hobby Shop at Faversham to ascertain standing of my pre-order made some time ago. Keith