jamie92208

Greggs mince pies with icing on top used to be onevof my favourites. Unfortunately neither mince pies or Eccles Cakes are sold here. The district nurse is rather partial to Eccles Cakes. Jamie

Apparently the village started the tradition of electing an animal as mayor in the 1990's as some sort of publicity stunt. It doesn't have a mayor. Jamie

Good moaning from a chilly but sunny Charente. More jungle clearance got done yesterday and more coffee and ginger biscuits were consumed whilst sitting on the bench in the sun. Then off to Aulnay to collect fish and chips. A quiet evening if TV folliwed. Up betimes today to go and open up our friends house so that a winter pool cover can be fitted. Got there for 08.00 as arranged. 08.25 Beth rang to say he wouldnt arrive till 10.00 so now back home with muggacoffee No 2. Possibly some more jungle work later. Stay safe. Regards to all. Jamie

Oh that I could buy mince pies at Intermarché. I remember that branch of Tess & Co's well. The entrance to it's delivery bay was opposite the entrannce to our car park and sometimes we would gave to wait to get out whilst an artic reversed into the store loading bay. We also had to cope with sugar tankers reversing past the nick into the Haribo factory and beer drays delivering to the Working Men's club that was opposite the entrance to the cell area. Fun. Jamie

The first Eccles Cake of the emergency red cross parcel has ben consumed and it was very nice. Jamie

Good morning. It's still sunny here but cool however time for some more photos. Today we are in Wales doing the Aberystwyth and Pwllheli branches on a Mid Wales Rover. The day got off to a good start as our train from Doncaster to Sheffield was sent down the ex GC goods lines from Mexborough Junction to Aldwarke. I apologise in advance for the rather poor quality of the photos but the whole film was affected. First of all a trip from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth. As we left we passed the VoR shed. Then the unmistakeable shape of Harlech Castle Where we waited for another 158 to pass us. I seem to remember a school party heading to Harlech to play a match against the school there. Then across the flat crossing at Porthmaddog, installed but not connected up. And finally into Pwllheli. More tomorrow I hope. Jamie

We have been proactive about leaves. The big sycamore outside the living room, and much too near to the house was felled 3 years ago and is now providing heat for the aforesaid living room. At the rear there were 3 Ash trees far too close to both the kitchen and each other. Two came down 2 years ago and their wood will be burned next year. Those three were responsible for much of the leaf fall. Dave, you obviously need to gargle and mouthwash with Scottish antiseptic. I believe thatvitvalso has analgesic properties. Jamie

Good moaning from a rather sunny but cool Charente. Much of the G word got done yesterday. Beth can do about an hour before she needs a break. Simpke solution. Sit on the restored bench that faces South West and have a muggercoffee plus a homemade ginger biscuit. That happenned twice in the rather nice sunshine. I have certainly gained brownie points with the bench that was heading for the skip. More shed time in the evening then tele and a drop of Glen Turner. Sunny again today and forecast to stay that way. Ironing needs to be done and a bit of pool naintenance at a friends house. I may even tackle a bit more of the jungle. Hopefully a bit more shed time as well. Regards to all and stay safe. Jamie

I also don't tend to drink on my own. It's probably a relic of my upbringing as mynparents were staunch Methodistsxand teetotal. I am more than happy to drink in company. However I am partial to a drop of Scittish medecine, usually one of the smooth Speysides. In this I am only following the advice in the Slaters Compound Instructions, where the builder is advised to have "a stiff whisky", before taking a blow torch to the model to solder on the smokebox wrapper. In fact those words might even have been penned by our own Dave Hunt. Jamie

Merseyrail has a huge pumping operation on it's under river tunnel. Not helped by the water table having risen quite a lot as industry isn't using the water as much as it used to. Jamie

I got a bit further tonight. The motion bracket has been reattached to the slidebars. I also drilled and tapped the second big end 14BA so i'm now able to refitvthe assembly to the frames and test it. After that I need to measurecand solder the eccentric rods and work out a way of fitting the die blocks. It's getting a tad crowded in there. Jamie

However our cat was called Purr because apparently I couldn't say pussy at that age. Jamie

My teddy as a toddler was a polar bear called Brumas, who I believe was born at London Zoo. Jamie

I like it, horsepower top trumps Jamie

Or if you want a really Big Blow. Is 8500 Hp enough. Jamie

Good moaning, it's sunny and chilly here in the Charente. First of all, Flavio, the hedgehog did look to be in excellent shape. We have seen quite a few this year and always watch out for them when strimming. When we have a bonfire I always move the debris pile to a new site before lighting in case there are residents underneath the pile. The other predators that keep the garden tidy are the whip snakes and the owls. Beth did some baking yesterday whilst I was shopping and some rather nice ginger biscuits, hard crust and soft inners, have appeared and also started to disappear, I wonder how. The day is going to start with the ironing then possibly more jungle clearance, though I will have a trip out to get the battery replaced in Beth's blood glucose meter. Regards to all. Jamie

Good morning from a slightly chilly Charente. To begin with we are still on Epsom Downs and attempting to find the station of that name. It turns out that this is the entrance a footpath down the side of the house in the picture. It took us about 5 minutes to find it. Eventually we found the single platform station behind the new housing estate. A far cry from the multi platform station that saw royal train workings on Derby day. Next a trip on the Wensleydale railway with my mate Keith and both our wives. The plan was to go to Hawes market via a vintage bus connection from Redmire. Our transport was a Mk 1 DMU which brought back many memories. At Redmire the bus turned up but it turned out to have started from Ripon and was full. Our only option was to head back to Leeming. Where my good lady was pleased to discover that they'd named a coach in her honour. More tomorrow all being well.

An offcut of wood with a small vice on the end. Jamie

Most certainly, My eyes aren't good enough. Jamie

Good evening. Female singers. Most of my favourites have been mentioned including the lead singer of All About Eve, but Bonnie Tyler, Kate Bush, Stevie Nicks then of course Kiki Dee and many others. I did mention a few days ago the demolition of a badly built shower plinth. Here is the offending article after I'd removed the shower cubicle. This is what was under the tiles. Who in theri right mind builds a shower plinth out of chipboard. However on a brighter note I found this visitor in the woodshed this evening when collecting firewood. Quite big and he/she scurried off into the dark corner behind the wood stacks. Not as cute as the puppies but still nice to see, More of the jungle has been cleared. An hour a day will see it gone in a week, Jamie

It's two steps forward and one back today. Yesterday I cut the con rods to length and trial fitted one. I discovered that there wasn't enough free travel in the pistons to cope with the crankshaft throw. Much shedding of dandruff whilst I scratched my head so I gave up and came in to sample some of my birthday whisky. Inspiration this morning so this evening I set to work to unsolder the slidebars from the motion bracket. I managed that. Then spent an hour fettling the slidebars and making sure that the pistons had 16mm of free travel. Then reassembled the motion without the motion bracket and tested it. After a bit of fettling all seemed to work. The holes in the motion bracket were then filed out to fit the slidebars and I called it quits for the night. This is where I'm at. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to solder the motion bracket back on to the slidebars. There is a bit of progress. Jamie

Reading the Treasurers report, that appears to be his intention. He's also in the process of recalling all cheque books so that he controls payments. It certainly sounds positive but it's early days. Last years audit is ongoing. Jamie

I was going to start by talking about trimming bushes but better not. It started out fine yesterday, so after lunch Beth and I started attacking an area of jungle near the front gate. It will probably turn out to be a couple of bushes but is now just a mound of bramble, Cottoneaster, honeysuckle and other such things. We did get two trailer loads of rubbish taken away before the rain came down in torrents. Not a lot else got done after that but it's a job we can return to in the future. We have seen signs of pyrocanthus already. The area is about 30 feet in diameter and 12 feet high. Some shed time took place later whilst Beth chatted to a friend. Today I have to do the shoping, my provisional licence has been re-issued. Whilst in the town I've also to see a Notaire to start the process of writing French wills. Our English ones date from 1996 and are a tad out of date. Not a lot else to report apart from the fact that the first bin lorry of the week has visited. Regards to all. Jamie

I once mentioned to a friend that I rather liked American stuff in O Scale, particularly Union Pacific. He replued, "Don't go there, that's the way to penury and divorce". However I have managed to acquire some UP stuff over the years without a divorce. Penury I won't comment on. Jamie

The new Gazette arrived today and I was very impressed with the comments from both sides of the arguments. The treasurers report makes very interesting reading. Jamie