jamie92208

I seem to remember a Harrier pilot landing on a Spanish container ship in similar circumstance. I think that the shipping company claimed salvage rights. Jamie

Ryobi are similar with their 18v battery fitting all tools. Jamie

On Wednesday this week my good lady went into hospital in Angouleme for a shoulder replacement. It's just over 42 miles each way and of course as a dutiful spouse I have visited every day. Every cloud though has a silver lining and I have spent the late afternoons on the station watching whatever trains are running. The works at the northern end of the station are still ongoing so nothing run till after 4pm when the orange army head home. On Wednesday the cement train was waiting to head south when I got there behind 4033. However at 16.58 an infra train appeared with 22302 leading. Behind it, being towed dead, were 67513, 22383 and 67567 Not much train though. The low speed restriction at the north end meant that everything comes quite slowly through the platform. The Limoges bay was occupied though. 27016 was in a freight loop waiting for a path behind the local that left at 17.17 Then at 18.02 27091 with 60023 DIT headed north. A nd parked in the yard were two G 1206's, nos 769-4 and 768-6 lettered for R Vechetti. those and the 60's got me three lines in the book. I waited another hour or so but nothing else of interest came. Jamie 1 1 1

Forgot to mention, today is 22 years since I last went to work for pay, where has the time gone. Only 6 yrs and 8 months till I will have draw my pension for longer than I paid it. Even better I got paid for another three months due to accumulated leave etc. Jamie

Just back home from the hospital. I nearly walled a male nurse up. he refuses to give Beth more than 5 units of insulin before a meal when her prescription says 16. Also only paracetamol for pain. However she is in a better way today and has done some physio, the pain relief situation is dire so I actually agree with her that she would be better at home. The surgeon saw her and says she can come home when the pain is under control. Some economy with the truth may be needed. I have watched her manage pain for 30 years and trust her. Jamie Now back home.

That reminds me of an immortal few lines in one of the MASH books where Hawkeye uses the belly button to reconstruct another piece of anatomy then remarks ". She'll have to find somewhere else to put the salt next time she eats celery in bed". Jamie

Thanks Flavio. The main problem seems to be that the Anaesthetist that we saw 3 weeks ago who was good, wasn't the one who did the job on Thursday. He actually accused Beth of lying about her pain levels post op. It has taken several years to balance her current cocktail of pain meds and it was agreed that they would all continue unchanged. With top up post up as needed. This has not ha and thi gs have been substituted. We had the same problem in the UK and I nearly hit someone on one occasion. Not recommended. It took them three hours to bring her morning insulin today, after breakfast and physio had to be postponed due to high blood sugar. Thi gs seem to be calm g down but I will try not to wall anyone up this afternoon. Jamie

At times, the two machines on the Chiltern tunnels were getting 30 metres per day,each, double their design speed. There is some fantastic engineering going on. Jamie

Good moaning from the cool Charente. Hospital was visited yesterday and Beth has come through the op. But was in a lot of pain. I had to get a tad assertive to sort that out but some extra pain relief did arrive. The usual hospital problem arose. Due to her overall condition she is already on a cocktail of painkillers and staff don't believe that she needs extra on top of that. Hopefully things will improve. Today I'm off shopping. We have three medium sized Intermarche's alabout 1miles away then two much larger Leclercs0land a big Intermarche 2miles away. Online shopping does exist but is not hugely used. We do patronise the local market and have a fruit and veg van that calls round every fortnight. Much to do so Ttfn. Jamie

Thanks Bill, yes I went yesterday afternoon. Nearly 6 hours in theatre and in a lot of pain. However it seems to have gone OK. I sorted out a couple of things for her re her meds, I'm going again today. Hopefully things wilbe settling down. Jamiel

Yes I enjoyed listening to those at a dual language bingo session on Lanzagrotty. Jamie

And Saleignes/Romaziers was only on a metre gauge branch as well. Jamie

Attached to the photos that @Ron Ron Ron uploaded of the viaduct slide over the M42/M6 link road was a detailed map of the whole delta junction site which is huge. The file was rather large as well but I have managed to resize it and convert it to a jpg. I hadn't realised just how many separate structures are involved and have managed to get myself quite confused watching videos of the construction. I hope that this helps. Jamie The

Simon C has done a time lapse video showing the process of erecting past of the next section of the Colne Valley Viaduct. I rather liked it. Jamie

My GA recipient is hopefully well under now. From past experience of such occasions I am doing very little today. However Salmon and Asparagus are on the menu for lunch. Jamie

I see that you have very wisely left the decision making to the boss. You do not want to be spoken to in Swiss German too often. Gracefully accepting defeat in such matters is usually the best option and then getting the best peace treaty possible. I share your objection to open plan living. Some friends of ours have such a newly converted place in the village. One huge L shaped space with kitchen, dining sitting are and entrance hall in one plus a mezzanine where they play table tennis . You can tell that it is a second home as it's a huge space to heat in winter. As to the snoring problem I can empathise. Jamie

Simples, move to the Charente. The asparagus farm is open for direct sales now and they have a stall on the market on Sundays. I rather like Asparagus and there is a bag full in the fridge, however I hope you get your problem sorted. Beth is on her way to theatre soon, the washing is in and I've not done anything wrong so far today. I'm off visiting after lunch. Regards to all and of course Sundry. Jamie

The house is Strangely quiet. I've done nothing wrong today so far. Beth is going to the theatre this morning in Angouleme. I will be going there to do some trainspotting later today. However I will bob in to see her en route to the station. Jamie

She nailed it, well done, I think I got something in my eye. Beth is safely in dock and I'now home after a few hours on the station watching trains. Jamie

I may have some somewhere for the 7mm ones. I've built a few and will look. Jamie

Or some of the Italian Franco Crosti's. Jamie

I Bought a T shirt in Athens with it on then got my pocket picked on the metro. Jamie

The gents in the Union at Nottingham Uni had some good scribblings. To be or not to be. William Shakespeare, To do or to be. John Paul Sartre Do be do be do. Frank Sinatra. Was one. Jamie

That is amazing. I presume that they had brought the train to somewhere that thr fire brigade could access it. Apart from a lot of black Locos with big furnaces in them that I saw in my youth the nearest I ever got to seeing something like that was seeing a Class 47 heading north from Settle with dragging brakes on the loco. The tyres were glowing red. Jamie

Good moaning from a still rather cool Charente, where the dawn chorus is in full swing. Our friends came for lunch yesterday. We haven't seen them for several years but Mathew's sister now lives near Cognac, so they came up from there to see us. In the evening a good friend made us dinner. As we ate we watched a bright orange moon rise, it looked great. Today is hospital admission day for Beth. We are setting off later this morning to have lunch in Angouleme then will head for the hospital. I will probably stay and watch trains for a few hours before heading home. Her op is some time Thursday. Regards to all. Jamie