Tony_S

I think my mother in law clearly gave the impression she wasn't moving until she got her cheque. My (nice) bank have given up with me. They say do you know how much you have in your current account? (Yes), do you have plans for it? (Yes, I'm going to spend it). Tony

Sounds like a good idea. I try very hard not to get cross with people doing their job and following regulations but cutting somebody off for asking their father which of the items on his statement was the one they wanted to know about did annoy me. My mother-in-law had an high interest account (when rates were much higher!) where 6 months notice was required. She had given the 6 months notice and turned up on the due day and asked for a cheque. They then told her she would have to wait 7 - 10 days for the cheque. This wasn't written down in the instructions or conditions but was "policy" as for the amount she wanted needed an extra signature. She did get the cheque that day after insisting they found someone who could sign it. Tony

I'm just calming down. I think I've just had a touch of the Victor Meldrew's. Matthew wanted to pay for his UCAS application online. When he did the last bit his debit card was rejected by his banks verification process and he had to phone his bank. Because he got confused (the man didn't speak clearly) and asked me what they meant they said they couldn't help him as someone else was providing the answers and put the phone down. He re-dialled had another go while I went out of the room and they wouldn't talk to him and said he had to go to a local branch. Well he will go into a local branch and he is going to close the account and he has opened one up online with the bank we use. To be honest I was never really happy about how he'd signed up with his present lot (who when I had an account with them in the 1970s lost my account for 6 weeks), apparently some woman pursued him round the college at new student week last year until he signed. He was too polite to say no. I have told him it is perfectly polite to say "No, thank you " to people like that. My local bank branch are nice and their national call centre (out of hours) are helpful and pleasant even with financial nincompoops like me! I did pay for Matthew's UCAS entry with my card! I think a cup of tea is called for. Tony

Their cricket team changed their name and still do rather well! The oddest thing about cooking a goose was stuffing it. Vast quantities of prunes in Armagnac just seemed to disappear inside. I'm convinced it was like a Tardis inside. Tony

I suppose I'd better think about tidying up the freezer before I start thinking about stuff for Christmas. At least this year we know lots of people will require feeding here. In the past we have got everything sorted for a quiet Christmas at home and then lots of people decide to come to us. One year, my wife's uncle (a resident of California) decided to visit as he wanted to experience a "real English Christmas" but didn't want turkey as he could have that at home. My wife wasn't too amused at some of my dinner suggestions and so I cooked a goose. Haven't done one since though.

Hello all. The sky is turning from grey to blue now. I'm planning an outing to the recycling tip today. Apparently I may have a sore arm following last evenings swine flu jab but it seems OK at the moment. I've got to go back in three weeks for another one. Tony

I used to like Hotspur, Film Fun and The Eagle. I suspect I reached my intellectual peak very early and deteriorated thereafter. Swapping comics with friends must have been the 1950s version of file-sharing. Tony

I wish I could enter a literary discussion but as my wife (very gently) points out I mainly read novels with exploding spaceships or submarines on the cover illustration. Tony

Good morning. Clear blue sky here, no clouds but it is a bit breezy. Gordon's bus will be handy if he ever needs to add an electric oven to his layout. All I've done this morning(apart from bin bag duty) is package up two dead decoders to take advantage of a well known "Goof Proof" warranty. Matthew went off to college this morning clutching his UCAS form. He just has to get his personal tutor to approve it (check spelling etc) and then the college careers people assemble his bit and the references, fee gets paid and then I suppose he waits for offers, interviews etc. He has applied for Human Geography courses although one is Human Geography with Hindi. When I worked in a college there seemed to be some sense of urgency about university applications at this time of year. At Matthew's the main topics for tutorial at present seem to be attendance statistics, how to organise your personal finance and avoiding cyber-bullies. Tony

Nanci Griffith, The Loving Kind Tracey Grammer, Flower of Avalon Fairport Convention, Liege and Lief

We are just back from the parent teacher evening. I think it can be rated as a success, as Matthew and Mrs S are still talking. In fact they are discussing his UCAS form at present without getting cross which is wonderful! They don't normally argue but Matthew and his mum don't always have the same sense of urgency about doing things. Mrs-S is of course correct! Tony

My wife had a frozen shoulder and the GP did some cortisone injections. It didn't work so he sent her to see a surgeon. He was going to operate but did another cortisone injection using the X ray he had taken to place the cortisone in exactly the right spot. It worked, she didn't need another cortisone injection or surgery. Hope yours improves soon. Tony

Well done. I'm glad it went well. Tony

I've just had a parcel arrive, and it is my new big diesel! Being very efficient the manufacturer doesn't fit the bodies on DCC ready locomotives, however the instructions for lights (replace with 12V bulbs) and chip fitting (remove non-existent main board) don't match the model. The model had a 8 pin socket so I just removed the blanking plug, stuck in a cheap Hornby decoder and it all works including the lights. After a nice cup of tea I'll put the proper decoder in. Definitely not a case of RTFM. Tony

So if we hear about a politician who read out page 6 twice we know who is responsible! Tony

Good morning and best wishes for today Dominick.

I found the Apollo 8 photographs showing the earth from lunar orbit rather moving. In those days "defence" was based on MAD and I didn't appreciate that there were people who wanted to make that pretty planet uninhabitable. Tony

Morning all. Just rather overcast and a slight breeze here at the moment. Don't know what I'm doing today, possibly doing some more rearranging stuff in the garage. Tony

I didn't take Robbie for his walk when it was clear and sunny earlier. We went while it was raining and hailing. Now I'm back it has of course stopped raining and is again sunny. I've also bought some brackets to make some more shelves in the garage (33% saving on shelf brackets at Focus DIY today). Yesterdays effort now means I can get to the pillar drill and mitre saw. I don't seem to be throwing much away though. Tony

Morning all. The weather is rather pleasant here at the moment, blue sky with a few high wispy clouds. No coffee for me with breakfast, I usually prefer tea. There seemed to be quite a few layouts with trams on them at the Shoeburyness exhibition yesterday. Although I saw the trams in Nottingham last year I didn't travel on them. I'm fairly certain that it is over 20 years ago I last went on a tram at Crich. I did go on a bendy-trolley (or trolley-bendy) bus in Salzburg more recently though. Tony

I've avoided doing examinations since 1975 (except for driving test in 1982!). I suspect I didn't get stressed enough. Tony

Hello again. I've been to the Shoeburyness exhibition and also did some shopping in the conveniently placed supermarket. I didn't intend to buy anything at the exhibition but did. A couple of extra log cars should look nice behind my Heisler, and I bought a tap holder? (like a vice for taps). I did have one but can't find it. I did get everything on the supermarket shopping list. I may go to the garage and do some tidying for the rest of the afternoon. Everyone else is studying. Tony

Good Morning. It looks very slightly damp outside but didn't appear to be raining. When I made tea earlier, Robbie put his head under his blanket so I don't think even he was too keen on going out yet to investigate. I'm not going to Warley but I'll go to the Shoeburyness exhibition today. As it is almost next door to a large Waitrose I suspect I will be given a shopping list as well. Tony

I was very saddened to hear about the police officer who drowned. The amount of rain that fell so quickly seems to have damaged some well established bridges and waterways. Down here the main flood problem is from tide and wind combinations. When the Thames Barrier was built the coastal defences along our bit of the estuary were upgraded as well. Further along the coast the sea defences have been removed to allow natural flooding to occur. Tony

It has stopped raining here so I'm off to the park with the dog. Hope you are having a good day studying. My wife is finding it very hard to study at present. She has her own job to do and is also covering for someone who is ill and then comes home to read books that are full of words I've never found before. The latest one is autonymy which in fact my spell checker tells me is an error but isn't. Matthew is also doing lots of reading as well but as most of his is about religion and politics at least I get a break from being asked my opinion on those topics when I'm on RMweb! Tony