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Morning All, The patient is progressing well and has perked up immensely. Very embarrasing having the whole of your backend shaved though! Have a good one all. Cheers Dave

Archie is home!!! Very wobbly on his pins(!) and not a little groggy from the strong painkillers/anti-inflamatories but settling into his favourite places. Quite amazing what can be achieved with modern surgery and drugs. Cheers Dave

Morning All, Weather looking a little grey but my mood has lifted somewhat. Report from the vet specialist says that Archie is up on his feet this morning so we are set to collect him tomorrow assuming no further problems. Anyone got any bright ideas how you keep a 6 month old puppy happy while he is caged for 6 weeks? That's going to be a challenge to say the least! Have a good one all. Cheers Dave

Evening All, Late on parade today as the schedule was thrown out of the window after a really sh*t day yesterday. Archie the pup decided at 2 o'clock yesterday he would do a runner through a hedge while out walking and was hit by a car. He spotted something of interest and made a beeline for it. I recalled him and he stopped and looked round then decided he would keep on going, out throuhg the fence, hedge and onto the main road. The driver didn't even slow down let alone stop! I scooped him up off the road squealing his little head off and ran for home (100yds away) and by the time I got there he had gone ominously quiet. Thankfully he had just gone into shock and partial shutdown. Proved Porsche's acceleration times correct leaving copious rubber on the road and got him round to our local vet who was on the case in less than a minute. He spent the night at the vets where they managed to stabilise him and do x-rays etc. Today he was deemed fit enough for me to take him down to Ringwood to a specialist vet practice to have two broken back legs plated and pinned this afternoon. They think he may be OK to come home on Thursday as, thankfully, there don't appear to be any other serious problems. We shall see... Now if I could just get rid of that continuous video replay (with soundtrack) out of my head... Cheers Dave

Evening All, Late on parade today as I had to do pennance for spending the day at WycRail playing trains. Kitchen ceiling and rear lobby walls painted so nearly back to a zero brownie point balance! Very sorry to hear of Jordi's passing iD. Chokes me up as making the decision for my "best friend" back in March is still too clear a memory. Have a good one (what's left of it) all. Cheers Dave

Evening All, Hope all those threatened by nasty storms are OK. It's my turn for the e-cold. Not yet turned into to full-blown man-flu but clearly this ERs business is bad for your health! In our household apparently we installed a wall heater just for the dog. Anyone who thinks they are getting closer better think again.. Cheers Dave

Is there a problem with that? Great progress buddy. Cheers Dave

I have only worn a formal shirt a handful of times since I retired. Having worn formal shirts for 37-odd years of work a t-shirt is almost a badge of office for those of us no longer at the beck and call of mis-management. Have a good day all. Cheers Dave

Most of your modelling always struck me as a bit that way Stu! Afternoon All. Damp and dreary in these parts and that's before I start playing golf. Have a Good one all. Cheers Dave

I can't get the hang of this e-beer though. Or should that be small beer? Cheers Dave

Dave That wouldn't be the same person that just got 3 points for doing 59 in a newly installed 50 (used to be 60) limit would it? B*gg*r it!!! Tell me about it. The first Alpha I bought new had "stainless" steel bumpers that rusted within a fortnight!! Cheers Dave

Morning All, Never really liked minis (the vehicular version that is) and only ever drove two. One was a 15 year old clubman that a mate and I toured Eurpoe in for 6 weeks. We had to change a wheel bearing and chose to do it in the middle of a campsite in Spain surrounded by a bunch of baffled French and German campers. The other mini was one that I borrowed on quite a number of occasions when one or other of my Alfa Romeo Alfasuds was in the body repairers after tangling with other vehicles! Unfortunately neither of the minis had a (working) sun roof. Have a good one all. Cheers Dave

Morning All, Coffee drunk and ERs browsed now what? It's not actually raining at the moment but looking at the sky I think it is time to shift the trainset from the shed at the end of the garden to the garage ready to be loaded when the man with a van arrives. Leaving things till later could involve a degree of dampness! Off to Fareham MRC show with Cramdin this weekend so much shunting fun and frolicks no doubt. Have a good one all. Cheers Dave

Similarly if I indicate it is only the first course please don't take (much) offence! Cheers Dave

Morning All, Dog walked, coffee drunk, staff delivered to the gym now what was it I was going to do? Could make some bread I suppose but I ought to fix the bread maker first. Not sure I can spin out the planning stage of that job much longer as it seems to be struggling to mix the ingedients which, in our case, are only ever roughly measured and then flung in. Solution to the slipping drive belt involves a hacksaw and a rubber band according to Google. Being descended on by visitors this evening so no model railways for the weekend. We are dining on the Watercress Belle on Saturday so there will be some real trains involved. Have to hope Phil isn't driving or it'll be Watercress soup all down the front of me best bib and tucker. Have a good on all. Cheers Dave

I suppose you could always make a bit of extra dough by showing your baps!

That's some serious progress buddy. I thought you were going to eat pizza, drink beer and slum on the sofa while Mrs. S was away! Cheers Dave

You've certainly made great progress. The track inset into the ash and muck looks spot on. Cheers Dave

Morning All, I know we haven't had any rain for a while but do we have to have the whole allocation in one go? Should be playing golf but it's difficult when the greens are under an inch or two of water. May have to resort to going down to the shed and doing something. That is if I can pick my way through the desolation that used to be our kitchen. Builders are currently ripping up the floor to allow the drying company to come in and dry it out. All this for a small pipe leak! Can't begin to imagine what it must be like for poor devils who get real flooding from rivers etc. Have a good one all. Cheers Dave

Hoppy Burpday Mick. Morning All, According to the domestic authorities I'm going for a walk today. Most certainly won't be a "Gentlemen's" walking day as I'll be supervised! Have a good one all. Cheers Dave

If you've got the angles covered that's fine. Forget the 9" gap and reaching from underneath, that'll only be useful for removing lost items! I'd be tempted to fill up several of the storage roads then try railing/re-railing something on one of the middle roads. Not much room for fingers in there... Cheers Dave (who has trouble getting the bloomin' wheels on the rails at the best of times)

When you say "loads of access areas" do you mean one at each corner of the room a' la your plan or have I missed something. I can't help thinking that given the number of storage roads and the closeness of same that even with your Gorilla arms the slightest derailment will be a pig to sort out. I can't believe 3'6" is a useable reach across that many storage roads. Practically don't you need access along the whole length? IMHO if you don't have easy access to the storage roads the whole shooting match will become a pain. Of course the derailments will only happen when Phil bumps into the layout in a drunken stupor while trying to coax a loco to uncouple. It wouldn't be anything to do with the trackwork! Cheers Dave (Officially a short-arse)

Telford was a grand day out. Many many many attractive shiny things asking to be bought but willpower prevailed and the most expensive item purchased (by me at least) was a 100 watt soldering iron. I know how to live dangerously! Some reasonable layouts though nothing that blew my socks off. Amazing seeing all the 0 gaige cottage industries offering their wares. The trip there and back was uneventful apart from having some old fart in the passenger seat who spent most of his time eating breakfast, elevenses, lunch and tea. Some comment about "are we on the M40 yet?" when we were burning up the M54 seemed to sum up his geographic capabilities. Good fun had by all. Cheers Dave

Maybe it's a dumb question but, how do you access the storage roads when the inevitable (at least when Phil is driving) derailment occurs? Cheers Dave

Morning All, The sun seems to be shining (still) but it was distinctly more autumnal when I ventured out of bed this morning. Apparently I have to go to the beach today! That's after the builder has finished ripping up the plywood surfacing from the kitchen floor. This has to be done so that a different contractor can come in and assess the damp (and get rid of it) after the flooding from our recent leaking pipe. Joy! Telford tomorrow! Repeat after me... Leave wallet, credit cards and chequebook at home. Leave wallet and chequebook at home. Leave chequebook at home. Leave home. Leave... Where was I going? Cheers Dave