chrisf

Good morning one and all Last night's concert was gentle. Pagoda Project comprises a lady with two clarinets and a hairy bloke with an accordion who make lovely music that is difficult and pointless to categorise. The theatre was not well filled but those who did not venture out missed a treat. Guess what? I bought a CD. I have an injection at 8.40 this morning so must not tarry here overlong for I need to make time for my oat cuisine before I go to the surgery. When the nurse has drilled a hole in me I can think about whether a fodder run is needed. Warm thoughts to all. No time or need to be specific. Chris

Good morning one and all. As expected, late on parade after a 19 hour day yesterday. The trip to the dentist was unremarkable. He sanded loads of plaque from my remaining fangs but found nothing else requiring attention. This probably foreshadows a catastrophic filling failure in the next couple of weeks. Last night's gig was tremendous. The Harrison is a backstreet pub near Kings Cross with a compact basement in which gigs are mounted nearly every night. The stage is just about big enough for a four piece band and their instruments. If there are more than about 30 in the audience the place looks full and probably is. To this gathering of 4square fans past, present and future first played Elliott Morris, a singer-guitarist with a good line in chat and some interesting compositions. That's three more CD EPs for the collection. 4square themselves were as good as I have ever seen them and we go back for nearly all their 10 years. They were enjoying themselves and the better for it. I arrived at the pub far too early and decided to kill time by riding on a bus. The 17 goes to London Bridge and so did I. It was so S L O W! I had not realised that much of the City is subject to a 20 mph speed limit. Fat chance of attaining that. There is another concert tonight, a mere five minute from here by hoof. I propose to spend the rest of the day quietly. Where, you might well ask, is my stamina? I think I left it on the bus. Warm thoughts to all, especially those in distress for whatever reason. Chris

Good morning one and all I have a dental check-up this morning. With any luck the dentist will not find too much of a need for civil engineering work in the gob but one can never be certain. This evening I head for London for the 4square concert. By the time it ends I suspect that all the remaining trains back to Bedford will be all-stations and there are a lot of stations. Fortunately the venue is a brisk and quite short walk from St Pancras so that I can tire myself out and snatch a bit of doss on the train. I might be late on parade tomorrow. Between these two events comes the Budget. He who expects nothing is rarely disappointed. Las night I enjoyed a film show, up to a point. The presenter had only limited success in persuading an unfamiliar 8mm projector to pick up the soundtrack but there were snatches of commentary and distant sounds of distinctly out of period music, mostly by The Shadows. What I did not enjoy was the hubbub of audience members turning to one another and burbling pointless comments. "That's Ampthill". "Is that Ampthill?" How easily they are excited, poor things. I have to write a report of this show for the Club Bulletin. Wish me luck. Warm thoughts to all, particularly those in distress for whatever reason. Chris

Would that be the same Ticket Factory whose webshite does not always allow one to buy advance tickets for Warners shows? I think I will get mine from Roger Carpenter at Scaleforum. Chris

Good morning one and all Hooray, hooray, the ironing is out of the way. I cannot claim any other tangible achievement for yesterday. Today will see the fodder run, collection of a prescription and a film show. It was nice to learn that some inmates know of Cyril Tawney and his works. Let me run another name by you, that of Derek Brimstone. I learned yesterday that he passed away a few days ago, aged [i think] 84. He deserved to be more widely known than he was but might have caused a few ructions had he appeared on TV since he was rather prone to use bad language in his act. To him was given the rare ability to switch seamlessly and instantly from uproarious humour to deadly serious music. His bottomless pit of funny stories was complemented by meticulous guitar work and an uncanny knack of making the banjo acceptable in polite company. He leaves many happy memories. Warm thoughts today to Derek's family and to all in distress whatever the cause. Chris

I do not know if it is still there but there was an LMS sleeper at Chappel many years ago acting as the Hilton [volunteers' hostel!]. Chris

The summer 1948 cwp specifies a 70 ft First in the formation of the 7.0 am Weston-super-mare to Paddington and 1.15 pm back without laying down a similar rubric for the rest of the train. Another example is the 8.30 am Plymouth to Paddington and 5.0 pm back which was required to have one 70 ft Van Third, no such obligation affecting the rest of the train. Other candidates were the 11.55 am Paddington to Milford Haven in which four of the 13 vehicles were laid down to be 70 footers and the 2.15 pm Paddington to Chletenham which was supposed to have two 70 ft Firsts on Saturdays only. Why not the rest of the week or why at all is something that I wish I knew but I suspect that providing the right number of seats for the expected number of posteriors would have had something to do with it. Chris

Good morning one and all Oh dear, I have heard of Otis Rush but am not familiar with his work. I will see him and raise you Cyril Tawney once again: Too soon to be out of my bed Too soon to be back at this bus queue caper Or fumbling for change for my picture paper On a Monday morning More great musicians that you may not know are 4square, described as Manchester's ferocious folk foursome who came together at the Chetham School of Music. Their 10th anniversary EP arrived on Saturday and I'm off to the Harrison, off Grays Inn Road, on Wednesday night to get it signed - and to enjoy the gig, naturally. Yesterday there was laundry. Today there will be ironing, followed much later by far from celebratory bangers and mash. There is still no answer from the surgery so I shall probably die of shock if one arrives. It is also only just over a week since I notified the council that my recycling bin was damaged on the day of Storm Doris. Yesterday I emptied out the rain water, replaced it with accumulated recycling and placed the lid on top. I should prepare a cautionary placard lest the dustmen do not spot the damage. I don't think my fingers want to do any more typing as they are making a # of what I have done so far. So, warm thoughts to all, particularly those in distress for whatever reason. Chris

Good morning one and all I was listening earlier to the profile of the new Met Commissioner, Cressida Dick, and realised that I knew her father. Described in the programme as an Oxford don, he was professor of philosophy at the University of East Anglia, where I was a student between 1966 and 1969. Let's just say that I was happy to give up philosophy after two terms and concentrate on economic history. Today I plan to cook a salmon steak as per a Ken Hom recipe. A sumptuous and probably unhealthy dessert is to follow. I hope to do a bit of m*d*ll*ng later but nothing is certain. The week ahead will be busy. On Tuesday I have yet another prescription to fetch and there is a meeting of the local LCGB branch, which will come out as LGBT one day knowing my thumb-like fingers. On Wednesday I have a dental check-up in the morning and a concert with 4square in London in the evening. On Thursday evening there is another concert, this time in Bedford featuring the Pagoda Folk Project. Friday morning early sees me having my injection at the surgery and on Saturday I am off to Leicester beer festival to put the world to rights with an old friend. Amid all this will be the usual grind of the fodder run and, if I'm really lucky, some unspecified pottering. One hope for the week ahead is that my recycling bin will be either fixed or replaced. Its lid broke off a week and a half ago as a result of either Storm Doris or a clumsy dustman and it is steadily fulling with water. I am expecting nothing. Warm thoughts to all, especially those in distress for whatever reason. Chris

Good morning one and all I’m off to the Leamington show today. If I can find it, I plan to have breakfast at the Saracens Head in Daventry and might listen to Tony Blackburn on the displaced Sounds of the 60s on the way. Yesterday saw the fodder run and was in all other respects unremarkable. The usual warm thoughts to all, particularly those in distress for whatever reason. Chris

Keith, I think you forgot the Heathrow branch. Chris

It sounds like the sort of ad hoc or seasonal working that would have been set out in the weekly notices or other operational circular. The chances of finding such documents are slimmer than a supermodel. Chris

Good morning one and all First things first – welcome back to dear old Blighty, Rick. Thank goodness that you were able to bid your father farewell. Please accept my condolences. There is still no reply from the surgery but I have now heard from the Prof’s secretary who says that I am to keep taking the tablets, or rather start taking them again after a gap of two months. For some reason I have to collect them four tablets at a time, and with the recent change to my statins I now have to put in prescription requests every four weeks instead of eight. This is tiresome rather than a bloody nuisance. I hate with a passion not knowing what I am supposed to know. At work, if anyone said “Oh, I thought you knew” to me they rendered themselves liable to summary execution and it is perhaps just as well that the sentence was never carried out. I like the proposal for an ER meet at Ally Pally on the Saturday and will be there. If my forgettery does not let me down I will be sporting a name badge. All RMwebbers should but few do, sadly. Warm thoughts to all, particularly those in distress for whatever reason Chris

Me too. Chris

This may not be a lot of help but I have a Swansea district WTT for winter 1958-59. It shows a train of empty tanks departing Carmarthen at 2.50 pm, calling at Pencader for water from 3.28 to 3.33 and at Lampeter from 4.3 to 4.15 and arriving Pont Llanio 4.30. A "milk etc" train left Pont Llanio at 5.20 pm, called at Lampeter from 5.35 to 7.18, called at Pencader and Conwil and arrived at Carmarthen at 8.32 pm. What we now need is a 1962 WTT. Anybody???? If tanks did go north to Aberystwyth the transit to their destination must have been protracted and I am wondering whether they were bound for somewhere other than London. There were all sorts of minor flows which are not particularly well known - Builth Wells to Aberdare comes to mind - and with living memory disappearing by the day some of it will inevitably be lost. Chris

Good morning one and all I had my hair cut and washed yesterday, having discovered that it was last done on 16th November. No wonder that it was beginning to look like a monochrome haystack and felt like trying to comb a doormat. You lose track of time when you get to my age. On that score, I have also booked a check-up with the dentist next week as the last one appears to have been in April. My bank has a new self-service machine. This is a mixed blessing. When it worked, irregularly, the old one could be set to print the balances of all my accounts on one sheet of paper. Hitherto I have found this helpful on the first day of each month when interest, however miserly, is credited. The new machine will not do this, or if it will the member of staff who was trying to help me did not know how to do it. Instead, she had to make separate prints for each account. Two pages for each account makes eight sheets instead of one. I believe that some might view this as an improvement. After that irritation another swiftly followed, in the form of another begging letter from the well-known charity. Clearly four weeks is not enough time to update a mailing list. The return address is different this time – Yorkshire instead of Wiltshire. Anyone in need of a job could so easily become a fundraiser, it seems. On the prescription front there is no word from the surgery but I am hoping to hear from the Prof’s secretary today. Warm thoughts to all, particularly those in distress for whatever reason Chris

It's tomorrow. I may watch but will not be in the audience. Chris

Good morning one and all There is a development on the prescription front. According to the Prof’s secretary it is not explicit in his letter to my GP that I should be continuing with the medication that he prescribed in December. It also refers to pain, which is odd because I am not aware of suffering any. She will have a word with him on Thursday and get back to me. Meanwhile there is a deafening silence from the surgery. I enjoyed making and consuming pancakes. The very last of the caster sugar went into the batter so each pancake was garnished with a teaspoon of runny honey and a splash of Jif lemon juice. Today is the first of Lent and I wonder what else there is to give up. Being very secular indeed I don't go much of a bundle on the guidance of religion as to what I should eat when and being something of a rebel - like you never knew that! - I am happy to eat fish on any day but Friday. Today I must find an hour to watch again Dan Snow's programme about the Battle of Hastings. It was about 10 minutes in when the phone rang last night and conditioned reflex led me to answer it. 55 minutes and one hot earlobe later the conversation ended. Oh boy. It was interesting though, in fairness. Perhaps today would also be a good opportunity for a haircut but that is not a decision to be rushed. The news about Smiffy's Laurence is most encouraging and doubtless a considerable relief. Warm thoughts to all, especially those in distress for whatever reason Chris

Good morning one and all I hate telepathy failures. This is what I call it when I am not told something that I need to know. In addition to the chewy tutti frutti tablets that I mentioned yesterday I now discover that another lot of tablets have been added to my cocktail of medication without my being told. When they were first dispensed, back in December, the hospital pharmacy queried the dose and sent me home until they were able to get hold of the Prof to clarify it. I have asked the surgery by e-mail what procedure is in place for telling patients that something else has been prescribed for them and will seek to clarify the matter with the Prof's secretary this morning. She was not at work yesterday and there isn't a snowballs of speaking to the man himself without an appointment. I suppose I should not be making such a fuss. After all, it's only cancer. When I got home after chasing my own tail I found that a card had been put through the letter box. It was from the electricity company's meter reader who will be returning today. The exercise appears pointless as I have a smart meter! It has been sending readings to the electricity company like a good little gadget. Yesterday afternoon my latest bill arrived by e-mail. Hmmm. After today's fodder run I will make pancakes. Hooray for comfort food. Perhaps they will help the sunny disposition to return. Oink, flap. Warm thoughts to all, especially those in distress for whatever reason Chris

Good morning one and all Yesterday's 'unspecified pottering' turned out to include a bit of m*d*ll*ng. I took a break from it to view "Carry On Girls" but such was its power to capture my attention that I nodded off a couple of times. How could gammon steak followed by apple pie and custard be so soporific? Today I need to fetch a prescription and the meds concerned. Among the latter will be some chewy minty things that top up the calcium in my bones. They appeared on the prescription request form having first been issued to me by Professor Oncologist, who did not make it clear at the time that they were not a one-off. Perhaps they will have had a miraculous effect by the time I see him next. Maybe the same will apply to my new statins. Maybe I'm just a lab rat. I've just checked my diary and the only other event of note this week is tomorrow, which is Shrove Tuesday. I enjoy making pancakes and unlike at least one good friend I make my own batter. It's not difficult but it is a good idea not to do it at the same time as mixing runny plaster to adorn an expanse of Mod Roc. Not for me the tossing, which could easily lead to oddly shaped ceiling tiles, but a quick flick with my trusty wooden paddle is enough to turn over the pancake so that the other side is cooked. I wish that omelettes were as easy to make. Apart from that flurry of culinary activity there is little of note until Saturday when I plan to visit the Leamington show. The otherwise helpful amp in the magazines fails to indicate which streets in the throbbing metropolis of Leamington Spa are one-way. Let us hope that I remember the mistakes I made last year. Top of the list for warm thoughts today must be Smiffy and his little'un. They go, as usual, to all in distress for whatever reason. Chris

Good morning one and all On little more than impulse, I made the trek up the A1 to Newark showground yesterday for the Lincoln show, prompted in part by my cousin 88C who was operating one of the layouts. It is always pleasant to be in the company of familiar faces and to put names to new ones. The trek is about an hour and a half each way, more if one pauses at a Little Chef for breakfast on the outward run. On the way I listened to the final Sounds of the 60s to be presented by Brian Matthew, who at the age of 88 has decided not to continue. From next week it will be on at 6 am, which means that I will not hear it nearly so often on the road to somewhere. Tony Blackburn will take over as presenter. I still say that he wants to be a DJ when he grows up. Today will see some unspecified pottering, probably all indoors. The time has come for the remaining gammon steak to be consumed and it will comprise the centrepiece of Sunday lunch. It is probably good for productivity that there is precious little worth watching on TV today. The set is on right now but this is purely to provide a more acceptable background noise than the mumbo-jumbo carried by Radio 4 on Sunday mornings. Warm thoughts to all, particularly those in distress of any kind Chris

Good morning one and all I woke late and soaked overlong in the tub. This is not a good start to what is supposed to be a busy day. Neither is the e-glitch which made me type that last bit again as it disappeared from the screen. Pesky computer. Anyway, I feel rested, which must be a good thing. What did I do yesterday? The fodder run, of course, and report the broken lid of my recycling bin to the council. What will be done about it and when are two good questions. It would be silly to put my recycling out with the bin in its present state so I must harbour it in carrier bags and try not to trip over it. I also went to the bank which has two new self-service machines. This is good because the old ones kept failing but bad because how to use the new one is not as intuitive as I had hoped. Fortunately a friendly and helpful member of staff had been stationed by the new machines and the tutting queues [that came out as rutting, which is not what you expect to see in a bank]. With his help I got what I wanted - a couple of code numbers for the insurance company: what did you think I meant? Don't ask. If I spend much more time here I will be late for where I am supposed to be. Gentle reader, your curiosity will be salved tomorrow. Andyram, that man is a disgrace to his profession. The trouble is that if you leave he wins. More important than that, though, must be looking after number one. I know, I know: easier said than done. Warm thoughts to all, especially those in distress for whatever reason. Chris [edited for disappearing words]

Sorry, Howard. It would depend on the thickness and diameter of the shank and whether it is made of whitemetal [easy to file] or steel [less so]. Many steel buffer heads are made with very thin shanks which would have to be augmented rather than filed away and the hole in the stock enlarged to a rectangular shape where there is precious little material to remove. Chris

According to the aforementioned drawing, 1 ft 10 in. I forgot to mention, assuming that it matters of course, that I prefer sprung buffers. Chris

Mea culpa, I meant to say that the stocks are too short, by about 25%. By stock I do of course mean the casting in which the shank slides. I suppose someone will tell me now that I am the only one who has noticed and I need tablets to treat OCD but if you hold up a shank to a scale drawing, such as the one on page 62 of "Official Drawings No. 3" the shortfall is quite apparent. Perhaps this weekend's homework will be to solder rectangular washers to the stocks of the castings that I have in stock and then, when that does not work, learn to love the otherwise excellent products of Dart Castings/MJT or Model Railway Developments which have round shanks sliding in rectangular stocks. Eminent folk tell me that the difference is not noticeable. Chris