gordon s

Hi Guys, we must be lucky, no sign of rain and the sun is beaming down. Just hope it stays around. Interesting tennis final at Queens. Never seen anyone disqualified before, not even in McEnroe's days.

Sad news for you this morning, Dominik. My thoughts are with you...

Just stumbled on this one early this morning and must say you have created one beautiful model. It all looks so right on every level and like others, immediately brought back memories of travelling into York Road from North London and down into the widened lines to Moorgate. I'll always remember the smell of Platform 16 at Kings Cross. A heady mix of creosote and pitch plus years of steam workings through the tunnel. Add to that a complete covering of dirt and grime, some N2's and sets of Quad Arts and the picture was complete. Thanks for showing us such a thought provoking build. Any chance you could show us a bit more constructional detail of those beautiful retaining walls? They look very precise indeed. Have they been laser cut or is that the work of another card master craftsman?

It is in this house..... B)

Apologies are due then Tony. I can't get a definitive answer. Here's another bit of PR that confuses the issue further... "Taking the form of a sticker that can be attached to anything (Barclaycard are obviously recommending your phone), you merely hold your sticker and whatever it is attached to near the contactless payment point and any transaction under £15 (rising to £20 in June) will automatically be processed".

It's not your day, Tony..... (Another search) http://www.slashgear.com/barclays-paytag-slaps-an-nfc-sticker-on-your-cellphone-19223587/

Did a bit of Googling... There are many different forms of mobile payment ranging from the purchase of ringtones or games using a premium SMS (a higher priced message on your phone bill) to mobile contactless payment where you wave your phone in front of a retail terminal or subway turnstile to pay. Mobile payment and mobile banking work like Internet banking/payment but instead of using your PC, you use your cell phone. You get 24/7 access to mobile banking, mobile payment, mobile wallet, mobile money transfer and other financial services, from anywhere via SMS or mobile browsing. This is made safe by storing the security part of the payment service on the SIM card which is based on the same technology as the latest bank cards and therefore adheres to the highest security standards. The latest type of mobile payment which is already widely used in Japan combines a contactless payment credit card with your cell phone. You pay by bringing your mobile phone close to the reader at the register. It is based on Near Field Communication (NFC), a wireless standard for communicating over short distances of less than 10 centimeters. Even though you are using your cell phone to pay at the register instead of your physical credit card, you are still using the credit card account. The bill would appear on your credit card statement.

The blurb says the tag 'can turn any mobile phone into a new way to make contactless payments in seconds', so I guessed there is some 'blue tooth' type technology involved. I'd find it more useful without a phone as I rarely take mine out and it's never switched on unless I need to call someone. I'm a real luddite.....

:D Thanks Phil, that's made my morning. Anyone else had one of these Pay Tags in the post? Seems you stick it on the back of your phone to make payments of less than £15 for coffee's etc and as a substitute for cash. I can see it now....Some yuppie type with no cash waving his phone at the receiver which has decided to give up the ghost. He's got no cash and the queue is building up by the second. Progress? Don't make me laugh.... Seems the KISS principle doesn't apply to technology these days... I'm having a bad SQL day. Anyone else suffering.....

Just aged another 20 years and I'm starting from 64.......

Yup they are certainly the better side tonight. One thing I did notice was a green laser on Samir Nasri when he went to take a corner. Let's hope they deal with that before the England game against Ukraine. As always we seem to get the game when the home side need to win to qualify.....or God forbid a draw may be enough if England fail to fire on all four.....

...and enjoyable too. All credit to modern pitches and their drainage design. Be great to see Ukraine put one over on the French... England game kick off delayed to 8.00 because of the delay on this game..

Slight drop of rain in Ukraine....just as I sat down to watch the game. At least the England game will go ahead in an hour or so....

You think we have weather problems? There's one hell of a storm in the Ukraine which has stopped the Ukraine v France game after 4 minutes. Torrential rain and thunder and forked lightning right overhead. Thankfully the ref got everyone off the pitch as quick as possible... I'll be amazed if the game goes ahead now...

I have absolutely no idea how or why it happens, but the last couple of weeks have seen me becalmed in the modelling doldrums. One day you are sailing along and everything is fine, the next, nothing and no matter what you do, the enthusiasm for building a layout just goes out the window. Day after day I promised myself I would do something, but it never happened. I know I'm not the only one this happens to, but really have to admire those of you on RMWeb who just keep going, come what may. Perhaps you can let those of us afflicted ones into your secret.... But hey, I got up the other morning and found myself up in my railway room and I actually felt like doing something. Whoopee, some sign of enjoyment once again. First job was to reset the legs on this new board. I must have got my numbers mixed up between the railway room and my workshop and the legs this end were 10mm too long. On reflection that may have been the start of the 'sod this' attitude, but no matter, the legs were trimmed in a few seconds and now the whole lot stands level. The turnouts were built several weeks ago, so now it was just a matter of cutting track to size, forming to the correct curve and sticking down. Not wishing to tempt providence, I limited myself to just and hour or two each day and today the last one went in. Still got the wiring to do, but I am pleased the storage roads are all but complete and I can move onto the next bit which will have some scenery, so that will break up the continual process of track laying. Also been playing around with back scenes and as yet the jury is still out. The plain sky looks a bit chocolate boxy and I'm not sure about the industrial scene. I'll keep experimenting and will come to a decision one day in the future. If anyone has some alternative ideas please don't hesitate to let me know. So next stage will be to get these bits of track wired up and then continue around the top circuit. This will be interesting for me as somehow I need to disguise the entry to the storage roads. First thoughts were the usual tunnel mouth but at this stage it's hard to see how this will fit within the scenic layout and the restrictions that a couple of turnouts will impose. They had to be slid out further than I really wanted to stay outside the 36" minimum radius and now sit somewhere in the area of a previously planned tunnel entrance. The other option would be a low slung bridge of some description that could sit over the pointwork and still provide a scenic break. No matter how well you plan a layout you are always looking at a two dimensional exercise and it's not until the layout really takes shape can you see and understand the impact of such features. So that's the latest update. I'm really hoping the wind will continue to blow and work will progress. Maybe it's a weather/time of the year issue, maybe any job becomes boring if you have too much of it or God forbid, maybe I just get bored easily. Perhaps I should have stuck with kart racing after all.... Latest pics from today...

...and it was nice to see Torres reclaim some of the form/confidence he showed before playing for Chelsea. Felt for Ireland, they were totally outplayed. Here's hoping for the best tonight for England. At least they'll have our 'Arry available if things go wrong...

Is it Groundhog Day? They look the same pics, DD..

Now I'm back on my Mac, DD, it's all fine. Mrs S was using the PC, so I was on her iPad. I think it's something to do with Flash Player not being compatible with iPad's.

Must have been night time DD. All I can see is a black square 2 x 2........

Should stop soon Tony as it's sunny over here. Sounds like you have the tail end of the rain that is moving eastwards... Morning all... England tonight. No worries if they lose, our 'Arry can take over...

Just had a look and they don't list the album. For some reason all the other tracks listed aren't available until July 2012 either.

......only after Tony Meehan..... Good pop trivia evening.....and what we don't know, Dave will....

Jeez, only two CD's that I can find. One at £47 and the other £125......Vinyl copies seem readily available for less that £20.....and I thought vinyl was the real way to listen to music as it was recorded.

No worries Pete, I got just as confused over C'mon Eileen and Geno. Both were Kevin Rowland but completely different backing group under the same name 'Midnight Runners'. Geno Washington was pretty special as a live band though. Just a shame he couldn't recreate that excitement on a 45. The live album was one of my all time favourites that I haven't heard for years. It could be on my iPod in a few minutes.... Edit: No it won't. iTunes don't list the album. I wonder if it's still on CD. If not it's back to vinyl......

Now I'm treading on dangerous ground...... It was never released as a single as far as I'm aware, Pete. It is a track on the Funky Butt live album though...... I thought the single was Sam and Dave.....