chrisf

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

I fear that the shanks of the David Geen and Slaters buffers are too short and the heads are on the small side. Chris

Good morning one and all Effects of Doris noted yesterday included a tree down across the northbound A1 at Tempsford while I was heading south, a collapsed fence panel adjoining Poorly Pal's garden and the lid broken off my recycling bin and neatly placed inside. Whether Doris or a bin man did the last of those is one of the great unknowns, admittedly not on a par with the Marie Celeste but a puzzle nonetheless. Today I need to get a code number from the bank so that my insurance company can reimburse the train fare from Swindon to Bedford out of a Danish bank account. I apologise for mentioning this again but I am still perplexed. Some time today I need to do a fodder run and await inspiration to choose meals for the next few days. The car needs unloading and moving from across Mrs E-C's gateway so all is right with this part of the world [apart from the open top recycling bin, obviously]. Warm thoughts to all, especially those in distress for whatever reason. Chris

Good morning one and all I'm off to see Poorly Pal today. He has decided that he would rather make us sandwiches for lunch than have me do another stirfry. This is fine by me. When the day's m*d*ll*ng is finished we shall repair to the local 'Spoons as usual. it is a good job that I loaded the car yesterday afternoon as it is now right at the other end of the street, there being no other spaces available when I returned home last night. Even the unofficial space across Mrs Electric-Chair's gateway had been taken by an unfamiliar vehicle. Ho hum, I do need the exercise. Yesterday I tracked down a supplier of leather belts, just in time before the belt holding up my cords failed terminally. The new belt is hardly craftsman built so I will look for a decent one in Sidmouth when I am there in August. From semi-detached suburban Mr Chris, farewell until tomorrow and warm thoughts to all, especially those in distress for whatever reason. Chris

Have you thought of the Dart Castings etch for the folding steps? Their kit DK1 is intended for the old Airfix trailer but doubtless has other applications. Chris

Good morning one and all There were three arrivals yesterday – an invoice for the insurance excess, my Polo on a low loader and the man from Europcar to take back the hire car. With any luck that is the end of it after a month. Overnight Europcar sent me two invoices, both for £0.00, so I assume that my £70 deposit is unfrozen [thawed?]. The Polo is spotless for once. For how long, we ask. The skip outside next door but one was taken away yesterday morning and with it the expanded polystyrene. The space left by the skip was sufficient for my car to be deposited by the low loader while the hire car was still outside the house. Seldom is there such good luck. It is a good job no-one noticed that the skip lorry came the wrong way down the one-way street. Oh, hang on, I did. Later in the day I got a call from the insurance company. They are prepared to reimburse my train fare home from Swindon but need an international bank code of some description from my bank because the payment would be made from a Danish account. Heavens to Murgatroyd! Whatever happened to cheques? Tonight the HMRS area group should be discussing building a cameo layout in time for next year’s Biggleswade show. Perhaps ‘cameo’ should have read ‘camel’. We shall see. Warm thoughts to all in distress, for whatever reason Chris

The second coach is a C77 corridor third. Chris

Credit where it is due: the original transparency of the colour pic above was taken by the late Alan Jarvis and has been in at least one book. His collection is now in the care of the Stephenson Locomotive Society. The black and white pic shows stores van DW150005 which was converted in January 1955 from toplight D47 brake third 2375. If it was running to programme the photo was taken on a Thursday. Chris

Good morning one and all OK, I admit it. Yesterday was my birthday - 69th since you ask. I had sought to de-emphasise it but reckoned without my fellow ERs. That so many remembered is touching and it would be churlish not to thank you all. Cambridge Crematorium is usually bleak on 20th February. Yesterday it was less so, with birdsong, new buds on the rose bush and uncharacteristic sunshine. In a wooded area nearby the snowdrops were out and spring was in the air if not in my step. My friend's arrival at Huntingdon bus station had been badly delayed when an ambulance jumping the lights hit her bus from Peterborough, taking out the latter's wing mirror. Many were shocked but none injured. Later we had lunch in the new 'Spoons in Huntingdon, another fine example of new life being breathed into unloved buildings. In short, the day was much as my birthdays usually are. Should I be spared for one more year, the attainment of three score years and ten could be worth celebrating. All being well, today will see the return of my car from the body shop in Swindon. Once I know for certain that it is on its way I will arrange to hand back the hire car, which has served me well for the last four weeks and spread many diesel particulates up and down the land. Sooner or later I will have to fork out the £250 excess plus whatever the insurance company decides was not covered. Fingers crossed ... Warm thoughts to all with ailments, afflictions and problems Chris

At the same time as the 306s and 307s were being rebuilt the 305s had transformer trouble, big time, which reduced the new North East London electrification to a shambles. Some 304s were drafted in to help and some enterprising drivers wound up 'Liverpool' on the destination blinds of London bound services. In addition some 4 car dmus intended for Marylebone and Manchester - Liverpool [later Class 115] were based at Stratford for a while to provide additional cover. Some of these units had been at Cricklewood to cover for the Rolls-Royce units [Class 127] working out of St Pancras which were rather failure-prone in their early days. Chris

I believe Bilteezi sheets are still available. Chris

Good morning one and all 32 years ago today my mother passed away suddenly. Today I will visit the crematorium, which does tend to be rather bleak in February, and reflect whilst inspecting the memorial tablet and rose bush. This will be followed by lunch with a kind and sympathetic friend. Fortunately the week is set to get better. Tomorrow my Polo is due to be returned on a low-loader all the way from Swindon. Where it will be put once unloaded is a good question given that this street is a magnet for daytime parkers who have an aversion to car parks which cost money. It is perhaps best not to tempt providence by surrendering the hire car before it arrives. Having already retrieved a CD from the glove box of the latter I must not forget to uplift the de-icing fluid, which looks alarmingly like one of those alcopops to which trainee drinkers subject themselves except that it comes in a squirty container and not a bottle [teat optional]. Wednesday sees a meeting of the HMRS at Bletchley. We are likely to discuss the possibility of making a cameo layout which would server to publicise the Society at shows. The risk of designing a camel as well as a cameo is self-evident. I am supposed to be visiting Poorly Pal on Thursday. He reckons that he has gastritis, which may hinder plans for lunch. I shall talk to him tomorrow. As far as I know the expanded polystyrene is still in the skip. I was engrossed in other things yesterday and did not realise until quite late on that the local paper had arrived. That makes three weeks on the trot which, while not unprecedented, is remarkable by recent standards. Best wishes to all on the sick list. This should be interpreted widely. Chris

Good morning one and all Much of yesterday and a few quid were spent at Biggleswade show. Some vehicular constipation occurred on the way home and the bus barely made it to Bedford in time for its return journey. I slept soundly for much of the trip and rather wish I could do so at night. Today will be devoted to a bit more laundry, a bumper lot of ironing and cooking myself a gammon steak. It is Sunday after all. There should also be time for unspecified pottering. I see that the dining chairs are no longer visible in the skip outside next door but one. They may have been swiped but more probably they have been submerged by other stuff. Among that is some expanded polystyrene which once encased something new. All modellers have a use for expanded polystyrene. It can be shaped with bread knife, surform blade and other tools to make cuttings and embankments. I will reflect again on this thought after nightfall. It is distressing to learn of so many ailments among ERs. Oh dear, that sounds too much like Her Maj for comfort. I'll stick to warm thoughts to all, especially the injured and afflicted. Chris

Good morning one and all I decided to shred some surplus paper yesterday. Unfortunately I reckoned without my shredder, which has always been prone to clogging but really surpassed itself this time. The process of fishing out the tiny bits of paper which, when accumulated, cause the device to cease operation must have taken well over an hour. It cannot be good for the blades to be prodded with a serrated knife and not too good for the knife either. Running the shredder in reverse only works to a limited extent. How frustrating. The afternoon was brightened by a phone call from the body shop. The plastic door trim has arrived from Germany and once it has been fitted I can have my Polo back. The current plan is for it to be delivered on Tuesday. I welcome this kindness, which beats having to drive to Swindon and back, or spending up to five hours on the bus, or paying through the nose for a train journey. Today I will be at the Biggleswade show, a mere hour’s journey from Bedford by bus. It would take only 20 minutes or so by car but I have a bus pass and I’m going to use it. I shall treat myself to a ‘Spoons breakfast. Sister Diabetes would not approve but she is not invited! Warm thoughts to all, particularly those in need of them Chris

The recessed driver's door, 9 ft bogies, flush steel panelling and flush glazing suggest A30. Chris

Bedford market offers 'fezant'. Chris

Another member of the 69 Club, I'm afraid - it was on the news just now that the singer Peter Skellern has died. Chris