Tony_S

I'm taking the dog out soon and then we will be setting off to Enfield for lunch. It was sunny earlier but it is very cloudy now. I haven't done any railway modelling but I have spent some time reading bits of the railroad encyclopaedia I was given as a present. Tony

Hello. We had a very pleasant day yesterday and we are having a quiet day today. We are going to Enfield tomorrow to visit my sister in laws family. My wife and her sister have been discussing tomorrow's lunch. About 8 of the guests tomorrow are vegan. I have already been warned not to ask them what life on Vega is like. I've been instructed to research bread suitable for the vegans, so I'm off to Google for a while. Tony

I had an uneventful trip round to the other side of London (near where the M25 joins the M40) today. Only excitement was some muppet driving a van (they overtook me as well) with the front nearside tyre missing driving on the rim. I've been cooking this afternoon making a starter (it is from Delia Smith's new book so it should work) for tomorrow. I was very glad to read that BoD's boiler was working now. At least the turkey should defrost in time for tomorrow. Tony

My mother likes watching wildlife programmes and a couple of years ago we took her to see the animals at Colchester Zoo. She told me that they had a pair of Komodo Dragons and was looking forward to seeing them. Instead of being about 12 foot long they were quite tiny as they were young. My (slightly disappointed) mother said they looked bigger on television. I told her this was due to her widescreen telly.

I'm fairly certain my wife isn't planning to go anywhere today. I will be driving carefully but I do worry about the people who are not. Is the lizard just staying for the holidays? Tony

Morning Don and Mick. I'm also awake early and drinking tea. I'll probably try and go back to sleep though as later today I've got to drive to the other side of London to meet my brother and mother. Mum will be coming back to spend Christmas and New Year with us. Tony

I did walk to the opticians rather than scrape the ice off the car. Apparently the retinal pigmentation isn't a problem but if I get high blood pressure I could get eye problems so I shall do my best to be unstressed and calm! The camera software generated a montage image of the inside of my eyeballs which was interesting. I think we have done all the Christmas shopping. Anything that is still needed can be obtained from the co-op down the road rather than driving to one of the large supermarkets. We have been eating Indian food all week so the turkey will seem quite a change for Christmas. Tony

Hello. I'm off out soon to have my photo taken. I won't have to smile as it is just my retinas (is there a more correct plural for retina?). Anyway I can't drive afterwards until my pupils return to normal size apparently. I now have a choice of a 20 minute walk or 20 minutes de-icing the car so I can be driven. Tony

A couple of years ago we were on holiday in Austria and I wondered if Austrian salami contains no pork as salami pizza seemed very popular with people for whom pork would normally be forbidden. I know donkey is an ingredient of some salami type products but I thought it always contained pork. Tony

I thought I would be at home from now until the New Year but my mother's GP seems to have changed his mind from my mother needing to be hospitalised to going down to Essex is a good idea. So I'm going to meet my brother half way on Christmas Eve to collect my mother. The weather forecast for London and Essex for Thursday doesn't look too bad so hopefully all will be OK.

Andrew; hopefully having a rant on ERs will turn out as well for you as mine about the bankers did. Essex County Council want to put a Sure Start Centre in the school that backs onto our road. It isn't the centre that is the problem but that our road seems to be the designated parking for something open all hours apparently. Anyway contacting our local MP was helpful as he did seem to get answers from various officials. I suspect we'll end up with a residents parking scheme like the ones near the station. I'm sure the first post I read on ERs was something by Dd about planning proposals (the cemetery extension?) Tony

Well surprisingly all went well with the bankers this morning. Someone who wasn't the manager but seemed to know what she was doing sorted it all out, gave Matthew his money and we crossed the road to the new bank where he was made very welcome! Robbie can have his delayed morning walk soon. I've dragged my wife away from her PC (college may be closed but she has been online for days sorting stuff out) and she can help with the spaniel exercise. Only other planned outing today is this evening I get my second pig flu jab so I suspect my Christmas present this year will be a sore arm! Tony

Apparently all the starlings in the US were imports from the UK. I think we swapped them for grey squirrels. Tony

I did think of that. However Matthew can't set internet banking up on the old account as Barclays requires him to enter his birthday on the confirmation screen and they seem to have some other date set up. (His new bank account is working both in the bank and online.) Today I'm going to get Matthew to tell them them that they are knowingly storing incorrect personal data and have a duty to correct it. Matthew was quite calm during all the exchanges yesterday. Apparently he picks a historical figure and imagines how they would have dealt with the situation. Yesterdays choice apparently was Stalin. Tony

Hello all. It is dry and slightly above freezing here so the snow forecast for the night seems to have gone elsewhere. I'll take Matthew to the bank again today. We went yesterday so he could close his account and take the money over to his new bank. He presents debit card, passport and and bank statement to prove identity and address. Because the debit card doesn't work they won't accept his ID to collect his money and now suggest he writes a letter. It turns out the problem is that things don't match as they have put his birthday incorrectly on their system so it doesn't match his ID. Matthew's passport is the latest type and his photo even looks like him but the bank manager said it could be anybody(passport got him in and out of the US this summer!)and they have "procedures to follow". I retorted that they also had his money and it was their mistakes that were causing the problem. It turns out he could withdraw some money on a signature and did that and we'll go back and he can do the same today and repeat it until Christmas Eve until the account is almost empty. Fortunately the new bank were friendly and efficient! Tony

Is there much demand for second hand reverse loops?

Good Morning. Rather chilly but dry here. I extracted the tree and decorations from the loft without mishap yesterday. Matthew helped with the carrying. I did the tree decorating though. Matthew said his mum was having one of her Hyacinth Bucket moments describing the fairy on the tree as a Florentine Angel. I don't know what is going on round here but from my window I can see lots of rooks heading towards the coast and gulls have come and settled on the nearby roofs. Tony

The tree will be quite close to the windows to give a pleasant vista so it should be OK.

Morning all. Just a very light dusting of snow fell here during the night but it is still cold. I think the plan for today is the installation of the Christmas Tree. Tony

Hello. It is very sunny here but probably still below freezing. I didn't accompany Robbie during his run round the garden. Our road is still icy but the B road it joins looks OK and we are planning to go to my sister in law's today. Tony

Our threatened second batch of snow didn't arrive here this evening so it could have gone somewhere else. It is colder than predicted though. Tony

Robbie won't need any persuading,(I can confirm it was a typing error). When he was a puppy he used to try to catch snowflakes which was amusing to watch but he is a bit more sensible (for a spaniel) now. He will still chase a snowball and try and retrieve it though.

Hello. BoD's image applies here as well! I don't think we are going anywhere except to talk Robbie for a walk.

I've just got back from my trip to North London. Enfield was not much fun to drive through due to quite a lot of snow falling in a short time, the M25 was clear but the Southend Arterial was not nice at all. Heavy snow but fortunately sensible driving prevailed. I won't be going on Saturday to collect my mother from Droitwich as she has been advised to stay at home. Actually her GP wanted to admit her to hospital but she didn't want to go (she said that was where she caught the infection that is making her unwell at present) but the district nurses will administer her injections etc. I'm not sure if she will be here for Christmas (but my brother lives near her) hopefully I'll be able to bring her down to visit for part of the holiday. Tony

Hello. It is very sunny but cold here. I can see some very dark clouds heading this way, I suppose they are the snow that is forecast for here today. I'll be going to a funeral this afternoon in Golders Green. I'd better take the A to Z in case I can't keep up with the other cars. Tony