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Status Updates posted by John M Upton
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Customs fee to pay on your parcel - £4.20..
Fair enough...
Royal Mail handling fee - £8.00...
You're having a Giraffe....
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I have just passed a rake of Mk2 aircons in full Pullman livery.
It just looks wrong on so many levels!
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Just been browsing a few Hornby Facebook posts and the comments from what can only be described as 'Hornby Apologists' are quite hilarious.
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Another bargain Proto 2000 GP loco reduced to a pile of parts by the Royal Mail.
Sigh.....
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It would help if sellers realised that those two plastic brackets that are always lying in the box doing nothing are supposed to be used, instead more often than not the loco slides backwards and forwards on its journey and I haven't had one delivered with couplings intact yet let along the usual horn knocked off, handrails wrecked, etc, etc.
Still, only paid fifteen notes for it so can't complain too much...
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Anyone else's broadband running arthritically slow this morning?
It's like 1990's 16K dial-up today!!
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Curious that an old Model Railroad Craftsman magazine from 1988 has proved a far more informative and entertaining read than any magazine I have read in recent years.
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Fed up with Christmas, last year was the best ever, because it was cancelled.
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Getting fed up with all the Jubilee jollity.
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I have come to the conclusion that double yellow lines on the roads around here are purely for decorative purposes only....
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Same problem around here. Like many traffic regulations imposed nationally enforcement is always the problem. Although there are a few random days of enforcement far too few Traffic Wardens (can't remember their current proper designation) to make getting ticketed regularly a likely prospect so motorists don't bother. Even with the urban 30mph speed limit I guess most of the time nominal observance that there is a limit is the low 30s not 29mph. The counter is would I want to pay more council tax for more traffic enforcement officers?
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I have seen it all now, an advert just flashed up on another site advertising workshops for parents to sign up their six to eleven year olds up for to train how to become successful YouTubers...
I despair...
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We used to spend a lot of time money and effort training people to be pointless corporate drones whose main skill was dressing conventionally and neatly filling in paperwork whilst not picking their nose in front of the customer.
So eh.
Where I grew up, they shortcut all that and didn't bother training anyone for anything because you went down the mine at 16, but eh. Times change.
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I think I have just received the Schrodinger's Cat of Railway Modelling. Second hand loco from Hattons, described as tested and working yet it just arrived fully sealed in the original manufacturer's cellophane from twenty years ago...
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Is it just me who finds all those festive neon coloured light covered trains everyone seems to be raving about, rather naff?
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"(I was only there for the diesels but appreciate the steamers)" ...
"... but did smile overhearing someone at a sales stand at Broadway commenting by saying 'the proper engine is down that end' (referring to the steam engine) when I and many others were more interested in Deltic 55019 at the other end."
My earliest memory is from 1968 - when most of BR's "kettles" went the way of the dodo - so I've only been used to Diesel and electric. Personally, I've always associated steam with museum pieces - and
somerustinghulksthatscaredthe#@*&%$!!outofmeeverytimeItookabustriptoBarryIslandasanipperthe "strategic steam reserve".I don't deny that I quite like seeing "kettles" (especially Panniers) - but I am a member of DEMU - so it should surprise nobody that I particularly like Diesels and electrics.
A steam hauled "Santa Special"? Fair enough, if it helps keep a preservation line going.
A class 25, 31, 37, 47, 52 or 55 pulling the Mk1 (or Mk2) coaches they were always expected to pull? Better still - a Class 101, or another Modernisation Plan DMU - complete with a clear view through the driver's cab? Now you're talking - that's what I call a proper train!
(It goes without saying that other people are entitled to their opinions ... .)
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It has taken me twenty years to realise that the cant rail grills on the old Poole era Farish Class 25 are in completely the wrong place!!!
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It's taken me years to notice that on SPSF merger (that wasn't) Kodachrome painted locos, SP ones had their letters to the left on the loco hoods and SF had theirs on the right...
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Nil Points!!
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Well, after Br*x*t - with all the accompanying "pleasantries" - did anyone seriously GB to get any points? Doesn't matter which songs (if any) are any good, there's bad blood, so other countries are likely to be out to punish GB.
If GB must enter Eurovision each year, I get the impression that the only real hope would involve entering a "tone deaf" comedy act - called "Null Points" - with a tuneless "song" and nonsense "lyrics". (I'm sure that some of the jokers that come up with those insufferably tuneless "songs" used in TV adverts would be more than capable of inflicting suitable $h*t on the Eurovision juries.)
You could almost imagine a number of EU countries being so intent on "punishing" GB that they'd award some points, just to "prove us wrong".
To be brutally honest, I don't know why this country bothers entering Eurovision - I certainly haven't bothered watching it for a very long time (if ever). I wish they'd just put it out of its misery - and stop wasting money on it.
I'm not attacking anyone who actually chooses to watch Eurovision - everyone's entitled to their own opinions - but I suspect some Freeview channel might be able to be persuaded to take it, perhaps as part of a package deal ... .
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Ever since Eurovision started expanding membership of Eurovision itself, first with the former Warsaw pact European countries and then with "non-european" states, the considerably enlarged pool of countries entitled to enter, and the associated clannish voting habits of a large number of the new entrants has made the contest a completely different beast to what it was.
As the BBC is responsible for organising the UK entry, in these straitened times I'm betting that there is an unwillingness to send any performer(s) with a song that has more than a snowballs chance of winning. It's bad enough paying our Eurovision membership fees, and providing an entry, without the chance of having to present the next years contest!
Given the quality of our recent entries, it's possible that Project LaLaLaNullPoints has been in operation for some time...
Long may it continue!
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I reckon that voting has been "politically charged" for decades - even if GB were to enter something that anyone would actually want to have playing on their car audio, total votes for the GB would almost certainly be able to be counted on the fingers of one hand.
This might explain my suggestion of the sort of fare GB should be entering.
Of course, there's nothing to stop "going all out", with a properly calibrated entry - some rap act, using a stage name like "Cat and the Waulers" - sampling a well known funeral march and "The Sound of Music" ("So long - farewell.").
Throw in some "lyrics" that simultaneously take a "pop" at both the architects of Br*x*t and the upper echelons of EU hierarchy (to keep things politically neutral) - then call the entry "Null Points" - and wait for the fireworks.
The moment they reach an inevitable crescendo, just announce GB's permanent withdrawal from the whole circus - and the job's a good 'un!
Seriously though, the current fiasco is an irritating waste of everyone's time and money - that probably pleases nobody.
Similarly, the more entrenched individuals on both sides of the Br*x*t "debate" seem to have succeeded only in wasting everyone's time and money - and antagonising just about everyone.
I can't help wondering what it would take to highlight just how ridiculous it's all got - without pushing any specific political agenda.
Although I suspect that both the Br*x*t "debate" and the Eurovision malarkey are likely to rumble on for many years to come, I reckon a sane end to both (or even either) might well have some people "Walking on Sunshine".
Enough is enough.
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Slightly bemused why there is no thread for the Ally Pally show.
I look forward to the annual whinge fest about low emission zones and car parking woes...
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So... yesterday I forked out a few quid extra to post something by Parcelforce 24 and it's due delivery date is the 2nd of December...
Hmmm...
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Stripping paint and marker pen from a Playmobil wheelie bin by leaving it to soak in a pot of nail varnish remover - Bad Idea!!!
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Let's guess - was the Playmobil bin made of polystyrene?
This might sound like a crazy question - but it isn't. In a past job, I needed to use sheet polystyrene to make a cover (basically an open box), to deter people from playing with controls on an electronic instrument.
There wasn't any branded styrene cement in the lab - but there was plenty of acetone (which is often used in nail varnish remover). The acetone dissolved the polystyrene - and was an effective "solvent cement".
I've since found that cellulose thinner has a similar effect - same goes for Lidl "universal / professional Paint thinner (much the same sort of stuff) ... .
When it comes to stripping paint, I'd be more likely to apply alcohol hand gel - leave it for a bit - then wipe off with a cloth, scraper, or plastic scourer.
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The carpet monster is a very hungry beast tonight...
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There is nothing quite so quintessentially British as forming a queue, except for forming another queue to join a queue...
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Two weeks to go and still no discussion thread for Ally Pally?
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Feel free to start one. As I mentioned all the info is here https://www.rmweb.co.uk/shows/ally-pally-2024/
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Urgh... Someone please confine cheap and nasty Chinese batteries to Room 101...
Prefer batteries not included...
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When did people start paying silly money for old Lima Class 73's?
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Whoa!!! Just accidentally stumbled into a thread that I can only describe as a full on handbags at dawn spat fest. I think I will steer well clear of that one...