zarniwhoop

February 1

Back from my eye examination at the polyclinic (was expecting an appointment last June, but at the eye hospital, so going to the local polyclinic is a big win.

The membrane in my bad eye (not able to read with that eye, but can see) has worsened. I could ask for a referral to a surgeon to have the membrane removed, but that would likely lead to an eventual cataract. Since I'm ok to drive with one good eye, I'm happyl go with the "review in 6 months" alternative. With my natural tendency to think about worst possible outcomes, I call that a good result.

February 1

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

Traditional? Chocolate? Fruit Free? Gluten Free? Unspiced?

Your posts lacks sufficient information in this modern world.

For lack of clarity you could just lock him up, then feed him a figgin and ask if he wants it toasted 🤣

January 27

20 hours ago, Barry O said:

We seem to be missing even more ERs at the moment. @polybear, @PupCam, @zarniwhoop @Grizz, @Robert, @andyram, @NGT6 1315 along with several other more long term non attendees. I hope they are all well.

Thanks for asking.

I'm ok apart from odd results from my CGM sensor, but mostly sleeping in what passes for normal hours here, and "up to my ass in alligators" trying to build - and document - some newer things on my PC and now searching far and wide for how to make it tell me what it is passing to each step of the compilation.

Thanks for asking, most of us show up, or rate posts, on TNM - at the moment I'm mostly skimming rather than reading everything.

Best wishes to @polybear who is fighting the dreaded black dog.

January 23

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Interesting workshop in London today:

How to get a head of the competition!

Will sir be having chianti with that ?

January 23

My impression of digital cameras is that either they fail (cheap cameras, even from well-known camera brands although the last one of mine like that was more than 20 years ago so maybe that has changed), or the raw images need extra manipulation to try to correct lens distortion (and why wouldn't you use raw images if trying to take pics of subjects with very bright and very dark parts, such as those which run on parallel lines of metal?), or else the batteries become unobtainable.

Meanwhile, I keep thinking about getting a new camera, but experience with my phone (I need very strong reading glasses to make out the controls on the phone display, but the subjects I'm interested in are some way away) suggests my days of photography might be over.

January 21

That brings back memories of my first trainset in christmas 1960 or 61 - the clockwork diesel shunter, the open wagon and that van. But I think my van was different colour and not sure about the shunter's colour but I'm fairly sure mine had the ferret and dartboard rather than the cycling lion.

January 18

45 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

That's a healthy snowfall.

Here we had melting all day - drip, drip, drip everywhere. Except that the layer of refrozen sleet covered with frozen rain and now rain + meltwater on the pavement is even slipperier than it was before.

Unlike whatever the New York Post Office building might claim:

The USPS did not make their appointed rounds. I guess sleet + frozen rain is not enumerated.

I went walking on the ice (with traction devices on my boots) to the mail box and there is evident meltwater on the surface of the street under the ice, but it hasn't broken up.

Today was bin day but that was delayed until tomorrow. Perhaps a big heavily chained garbage truck can help break up the ice layer.

For the quote, I prefer the discworld version: NEITHER RAIN NOR SNOW NOR GLOM OF NIT CAN STAY THESE MESENGERS ABOT THEIR DUTY (from Going Postal)

but as you said, it's only the enumerated items which can delay them.

Good luck with the refrozen pavements in the morning - my memory suggests that refreezing after a partial thaw always seems to be much slippier. Stay safe!

January 17

3 minutes ago, Smiffy2 said:

Tomorrow I'm making a pickguard for a guitar I'm making for Spud - a purple Stratocaster.

Sounds good, but how is it that those of shorter stature (most women, and certainly most 8 year olds) are able to handle the scale length of fenders (or fender basses) while some of us who are of average male height or greater find the scale length of gibsons can be a stretch for what we want to do ?

January 17

I'm fortunate not to need blood thinners. But in the past few days my blood sugar levels have been too high (nothing unusual in that, my insulin requirement varies every few weeks). As of yesterday I thought I'd got used to the slightly lower indoor temperatures of the past few days. Then last night I started to get on top of the blood sugar levels with more insulin (technically, a bit too much but not unexpected and I wasn't intending to go out).

Today - temperatures similar to yesterday, but boy did I feel cold for a while. But hopefully things are now getting back on track.

January 14

4 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

In a week that has caused much debate in our hobby I wonder if anyone could confirm my belief that this is another trader that has decided to close the door for the last time.

https://www.n-spoorstore.nl/en/content/het-is-mooi-geweest

For those that may be wondering, it a place where I do spend quite a few tokens and have got to know the family and staff quite well. If the message is what I think it is I’d like to send them a thank you card but obviously I want to be sure.

Thanks in anticipation.

Robert

I used translate.google.com - put the URL in the 'website' box, select from Dutch and to English.

A quick browse suggests they are retiring in June.

January 14

How do people who need strong lenses for reading find any of these ?

I have some lenses for driving, for "middle distance' (say 4 to 6ft) I'm ok without, and then for reading I've got +2.5 for computer screens/general but on faint print I need something stronger - my optician gave me +3.5, but that is marginal for some reading (off-the-peg +4 is better) and as people have noted, the depth of field is "lacking".

January 12

3 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

The ULEZ stuff circles back to the point about 'rules for thee but not for me'. Whether or not the charge is a good idea or we like it the fact is it is a mandatory charge. If people don't like it, don't drive to London. If people don't want to use public transport, insist on driving and don't want to pay the charge then go somewhere else. Regardless of nationality.

From what I read the other day, probably in the Observer, at least some of the European drivers did have compliant cars but for whatever reason TFL attempted to charge them as if non-compliant because the car details re emissions could not be obtained.

January 10

9 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

... The 134 mile stretch of the London to Birmingham HS2 is now estimated to be £66bn. That nearly half a billion a mile! ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/01/10/covid-no-data-or-news-hs2-ow-much/

Well, it's all those archaeologists, innit ?

January 10

I don't think anyone understands what you intend to achieve.

You say a baseboard stops at the balustrade, so at a minimum you intend to extend the baseboard from below the window by two or three feet to the gable. There is something running up the gable which will make hinging difficult.

In the absence of any further information about the space for the layout it seems (if only to me) that adding an extra two feet or so seems to not add a lot to what you can do (to say nothing of the fun in connecting track on a folding board.

If it is the fiddleyard end of a layout, you would need to remove the stock before a comfort break.

Also, a board hinged from the gable will reduce the effective width of the stair by the depth of the baseboard, its framing, whatever is on it (track, ballast, buffers?) plus the height of what is above the board (to allow it to fold up). You also have the "how can I reach whatever holds the folded board ?" both to fold it down and to fold it back up.

I said above 'at a minimum' - the more frightening thought is that you intend to hinge a long board from the corner to past the lightswitch and somewhere above the boxes on the floor.

Even the 'minimum' sounds like a good way of boxing yourself in if anything happens. The young and fit can cope with 'duck under', but trying to do that from the inside onto stairs will be much more prone to problems in getting out fast.

January 9

Apropos scales and gauges, I have (some) stock, or partially modified items, or boxes of shame for all of the following, together with a roundy-round test track in 00 / H0m / 009|H0e :

BR(S) West Coastway, 1964-71 with some things that don't strictly fit but could be useful. Unfortunately, most of the stock is only really appropriate to a much shorter timeframe, station livery and signage changed, and track should probably be bullhead if I ever try to run 1964 stock. What I'd really like is 1969-72 (end of the BILS and HALs, interlude with 4-CORs on local services, CIGs and BIGs on the fast service. The important parts for 69-72 are not available RTR and I doubt my ability to build them. Oh, did I mention I need something like 5 storage loops for each direction ?

RhB Upper Engadine, loosely 1990s to perhaps 2010. I got as far as trying to create card vestibules for the coaches to savethe tiny passengers and conductor having to jump a couple of metres, but even on just a plain loop that gave derailments with push-pull.

H0e ÖBB Ybbstalbahn and Bergstrecke, with some 'guest' stock. This one might get built, but I still can't get my head around a sensible landscape (at least one bridge over water is required, together with a halt beside the road, and a valley side in the background) so for weight reasons not flat baseboards and 60cm width is almost certainly too narrow.

009 Scottish Highlands (it's traditional, isn't it?) probably nominally 2'6" gauge (Strathdubh, perhaps with Constable Hamish MacBeth puffing away although I'd ideally make it more like 1964). Maybe with petrol-electric locos and railcar, as well as steam and old stock for the holiday-relief ('fair') workings bringing Ma and Paw Broon to their Wee But'n'Ben. Some of the relief stock would be antiquated and patched up with plywood as a result of the training in the war, a little would be refurbished, some main stock might be 'modern'.

All the above would be roundy-round.

009 60cm enthusiasts railway on a Sussex branchline closed by Beeching (a cross betwwen South Tynedale and Leighton Buzzard , probably a gala day with guest locos and stock). Maybe roundy-round.

H0e modern inspired by North Rügen partially reinstated as an attraction, mostly diesel but again a gala day with operations based on Raven Square and using a handy (mobile phone) at the end of the platform for signalling - if this one happens it will be end-to-fiddleyard.

January 8

23 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

Its reported on BBC that the plane has had least 2 depressurisation incidents in the last couple of weeks and the plane has been ‘diagrammed’ not to fly over sea while the problems is resolved.

I wonder if the passengers were aware of this restriction? And what about the crew, what did they know?

What a state of affairs, almost criminal in my eyes.

That's not their only problematic model. Just before that there were reports that they want to have the Max 7 exempted from safety rules to allow it to fly https://interestingengineering.com/culture/boeing-737-max-back-in-spotlight-faa-safety-exemptions-raise-questions

January 8

3 hours ago, BachelorBoy said:

Nine of them are monarchies.

Apart from those that are. Hint: Look at the nordic countries and the Netherlands, also Luxembourg.

January 8

3 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I love steel bikes, especially good artisan made steel bikes.

You can get a very light bike from a good steel frame if you want lightweight, not as light as carbon composite or aluminium but more than light enough for anyone not competing as an elite level competitive cyclist (I.e. pretty much every cyclist in the world in statistical terms). And a decent steel frame can easily outlast the rider if looked after and is easy to repair if damaged. And I like the feel of steel frames, they tend to give a smooth ride. In fairness, carbon composites can be tuned to give a magic carpet ride but most manufacturers are obsessed with stiffness.

I think weight of bikes is over emphasised, I know so many people obsessed with spending £££££££££s to shave a few grams when they could lose kilos by eating less (I am no slim Jim myself). While I wouldn't want some 25kg monster, within reason correct fit, geometry and riding position are much more important.

Thanks for that, I realised I had skipped over @jamie92208's post while trying to catch up, just gone back and read it. For Brits, Reynolds tubing in its various forms used to be the business (other attributes, e.g. relating to canines, were appropriate for the racing variants).

In my own history I had various 531 variants for touring and for my first road bike, 531SL 'superlight' (later rebranded as 653) for time trial frames on flattish roads, and later what I think might have been called 708 (?) with, if my memory is true, angled butting, for less flex, which I used for time trials on hilly courses. The best (lightest) Reynolds was 753, the builder had to create a frame for Reynolds to review before they would pass him (or her) to use 753 - it was lighter and heat treated.

Unfortunately, since the early 1990s the "new, shinier" changes to bikes mean that current fittings (rear hub width, bottom bracket dimensions and fittings, seat clamps, headsets and stems) will not fit older frames.

But in truth I was not all steel frames (like trains, you always need one more than you have) 🤣 - I had a Vitus 979 (glued 6000-series alloy, french fittings) - very light, great for going up hills but in the end unusable because of shimmy when going down hills, and with a 5-speed (120mm) rear end which meant I was limited even in the early 1990s as to which hubs would fit - it's still in my garage, looks shiny but letting anybody take it and try to ride it would be on my conscience.

Oh, and the last two bikes I rode on the road were a somewhat heavy plain gauge Cr-Mo steel from a builder in Bedfordshire - with cantilever brakes, lots of clearance for mud or winter roads, and (thick) epoxy paint to stand up to winter and off-road, and lastly my Italian Bianchi with Columbus SLX tubing - helicoidal reinforcing in the butted area, to reduce flex, but the lighter (SL) rather than the heavier (SP) tubing needed for larger frames and for pavé. That Bianchi was delightful, until a woman driver following a truck didn't see me and gave it a shorter rear triangle and tried to stuff the saddle up my harris. But in its day, it handled beautifully. For 753, there was always the suspicion that it would wear out when used as a road bike, for 653 with lighter riders and for SLX any amateur could probably use them for years. Same for the Reynolds 708, but my memory says it was heavier than 531 and SLX.

Still, happy reminiscences ;-)

January 6

48 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Number 6 is an interesting inclusion.

You'll find many ERs who will object.

Strunk and White in "The Elements of Style" concur that "active voice" is preferred. "Elements of Style" was recommended to me* for many years. Eventually a copy of their very little book came into my possession. It is quite brilliant - whether or not one sees active voice as a guideline or a rule.

* See what I did there. 😉

"White" by the way is E.B. White, a former student of Strunk and author of "Charlotte's Web" and "Stuart Little".

The thread having been read to this point, it appeared that the preferred style in America was at variance with the stylistic preferences imbued into those ERs who in grammar schools had been required to read Caesar's De Bello Gallico in latin.

January 5

2 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Apparently whoever said that never had Edmond Fitzgerald beer:

Note that Steam Whistle is among the best that I have had.

I assume they named it Edmund Fitzgerald to imply you'd be wrecked by drinking it ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuzTkGyxkYI

January 4

Going back to Cumbria,

now that I've sorted out my tax return I spent a few minutes looking at the wokipedia links I'd found - according to one of those (between general BBC dumbing-down[1] and wikipedia's varying degress of reliability I'm not sure I actually trust either) it seems that King David I of Scots was Prince of Cumbria before becoming king, and although Rufus garrisoned Carlisle it looks as if the whole area was part of the disputed territories[2].

Since my ancestor's on my Pa's side were "blue bunnets" in the "disputed territories[2]" (he traced us back to a man hangit for sheep stealin) and he was in contact with our chief, quite apart from the history of Rheged and the british (cymric) language ! find this fascinating and will probably be spending days following up on this.

1. I don't find the TV archaeology (film of people digging) fascinating, but I'm sure that the local leaders say a lot more which is iformative but ends up getting dropped from the broadcast, and I get really annoyed at the anglocentric phraseology of the Dr. Alice Roberts programs, although I find much of what she covers interesting. For the phraseology, North can mean anywhere from e.g. Lincolnshire upwards - wearing my hat as a Southern Man I think Crawley is the North, but North Britain is historically and politically a description of Scotland.

2. Not to be confused with "the Long Thin Debated Piece Hubwards of Sto Kerrig". 🤣

January 4

I thought Norwegian Wood was by the Beatles, from Rubber Soul.

January 4

On Cumbria, a quick browse of what is currently on wikipedia (yay, the begging has stopped for a day or two!) differs. In particular, it says that the domesday book included southern cumbria, it was only the northern part Carlisle mentioned specifically) not occupied by the Conqueror. And it appears that the British kingdom (Rheged) was overwhelmed long before that - without spending more time on it than I wish to at the moment, it is unclear whether Cumbria was part of England at the time of the conquest.

January 3

I (finally) caught up with an earlier Digging for Britain this evening - apart from the (sensible, IMHO) change to the terminology (you mean our knowledge of the past has increased in the last 60+ years ? - who would have thought it!) I was surprised to find out that the normans conquered Cumbria under William II - I'd never thought about when that was incorporated into England - I knew it was separate several hundred years before that, but I guess I'd never thought about what happened to it in the intervening period, and had assumed that saxons or vikings from the East coast had overrun it.

Truly, my knowledge of history is not as comprehensive as I would like.

January 1

Now that I've finished watching my recordings of the fireworks on sky news, and then CNBU on BBC Alba (from Govan), I'm winding down and my house is at last quiet. So to 'na coin' [1] who have kept us amused and informed during the year, Happy New Year to Ben, Schotty and Lucy - may you have a good year and keep those who think they are your owners under control!

1. gàidhlig na h-alba, google translate from scots gaelic if you have to, not to be confused with the discworld sourcerer

Profiles

Forums

Blogs

Gallery

Events

Exhibition Layout Details

Store

Posts posted by zarniwhoop