edcayton

Morning all. Too much death and bad news. After Jock my friend's Dad succumbed to Vascular Dementia. In the end his was a release as he had ceased to be "him" some time ago. It turns out that her Mum has been sitting on a letter from a consultant in which he suspects the onset of Alzheimer's. Life really isn't fair is it? Ed

Hi Doc. I don't half wish I was coming to dinner with you! How did you know my secret Spag Bol recipe? I call it "mince surprise" because you never know just how it will turn out. As to your car. It's not just an automatic, it has the VW group DSG gearbox which is a game-changer, All the other manufacturers are racing to match it, It is not only faster than a manual 'box, it gets better fuel economy and kicks out lower emissions, I think it may well spell the end of manual gearboxes. Ed

Stranraer station is looking lovely. It does seem to me that one of the benefits of the "privytised" (thanks, Mike) railway is that the stations look cared for-more so than they have for a long time. Ed

Good morning all. So, an appointment with the GP resulted in a trip to A and E followed by a night in the Surgical Assessment Unit. They let me go this morning. My son thinks he could be a GP. "I've got a problem with my bottom, Doc". "I'll refer you to the bottom specialist then". A rather disturbed night interrupted by various persons wanting to see where the sun don't shine. @ Chrisf- the reason I didn't go on Thursday was because I couldn't sit upon my sit-upon! Best wishes and enjoy the weekend Ed

Ha! Never mind Tim Peake, it seems like all the other cars in Stevenage are driven from outer space. Oh, yes, the reason it's called a "rover" is because at one time during the sad demise of Austin Rover the company merged with British Aerospace and the staff discounts were so good that it seemed the car parks were full of Rovers. Ed

My favourite supermarket sign proclaims "Adult Cereals". I expect to find pornography. Is it me? Ed

Dick, I'm sorry to read that. They f*ck you up, your Mum and Dad. Look, you did the best you could, and I'm sure your son is doing the best he can. Perhaps his Mum would be better at explaining how Daisy feels (women usually are better at talking about feelings), rather than "giving advice", and your son may take it on board and make his own decisions. What I do know is that. no matter how hard you try, you can't treat kids "the same". You can try to treat them fairly, but that may not seem fair to the kids. Having grandparents as caring as you obviously are is brilliant and especially if you live close enough to see a lot of them, it sounds like you do. How old is Rose now? Are you getting near the time when you will be able to have special time with her, and then Daisy can have her special time with Mum and Dad. I know that with my two Ken was very close to my Dad and Sam was really attached to Elena's Mum, and the period when she lived just up the road from us was magical as Sam would toddle off to Nonna for breakfast. Hope this helps, and I'm sorry you're feeling down. Best wishes Ed

Dom, if you're not used to auto's be careful when reversing/parking. I've had mine for over two years now and still feel less in control than in a manual. Apparently a large number of insurance claims are made by elderly people causing damage when reversing auto's. My aunt managed to destroy a Cornish stone wall and damage next door's Range Rover. She gave up driving after that. Best wishes to all Ed

Unfortunately our "enlightener" about such matters as the St Blazey turntable has, rather selfishly in my view, taken early retirement from the Orange Army (and the Taunton RMweb do). All the very best Tim and, in the words of that song, thanks for the memories. Ed

The wolseley version (4/44?) had the MG X-PEG engine as use in the MG TD and TF models, whereas the MG Magnette ZA, ZB and, lest we forget, the Varitone had the ex-Austin "B" series. Ed

Good afternoon all. I scored 50% in Tony's test, purely by guessing. Somehow I think I can string a few words together without knowing about subjunctive relative clauses or whatever. I wish I could be at Taunton and send my best wishes to them as is. Ed

This is so much better than the title would suggest! As I have said before I am not a great fan of N gauge or "modern image" but this is excellent and I shall be looking in regularly in case a steam special is passing by one day. Ed

I have to say I have never seen a black one with chevrons. It is a very appealing livery, but is it unique? I suspect it is. I didn't think the wasp stripes were applied until after 1960, but that all or certainly most were green by then. Ed

I suspect that if this discussion was taking place on, say, an arts review forum the results would be somewhat different. This from someone who races for the off switch when such stuff comes on the radio. Ed

Yes, at 57. Ed

AFAIR the 11's were in bl66dy great man-size cabinets with big fans. As we were just a small R and D section I don't know how they stood up to production environment. Yes, the Norbits were 24 volt, and looked like a big IC or, as we thought the new-fangled IC's looked like baby Norbits. Ed

There's a surprise. I scored 33. Ed However, whatever score you get we all have to live in the same world. As my uncle said:"once you've realised you're an idiot your life will be good when you find a village without one".

They hadn't come up with labels like autism or Asperger's when I was at school, but I was listening to a programme on t'wireless about this recently and thought "Sh1t, that's me!" Many aspects struck a chord, but in particular the dislike of using the telephone is correct for me. Ed I do think that labelling makes things worse. In particular it is used as an excuse for sloppy parenting-"Oh, he's autistic" seems to excuse a lot of unacceptable behaviour. I hope it's not too political to suggest that the rise in these behaviours coincides with the reduction of full time mothering for young children. My Mum worked when I was young, I was looked after by my Nan and a couple of aunts. When my boys were young my wife worked part time and the boys spent some time with child minders and, hey, were labelled dyspraxic by the special needs people at secondary school. The pastoral curriculum.

We were using PDP11's in 1976 (the really hot summer). Does that mean we were ahead of the game? We were also using Mullard Norbit logic if anyone is old enough to remember that. Ed

Good morning all. My Mum assured me that when I was about 3 an elderly neighbour came to the front door. (in those innocent days it was thought safe to let a 3 year old answer the door). I shouted in the loud voice referred to earlier "Mummy, there's a lady with a beard at the door!" Ed

You could have provided a cushion. Ed

Good morning all. When we had our conservatory built (about ten years ago), the electricians came to install the wiring for the lights and power sockets and decided that the house did not meet the then fairly new part P Regulations. This seemed to involve installing a fair amount of thick green/yellow wiring connecting to the water supply pipe where it emerged from the concrete. I did ask if they made sure there was no plastic pipe involved but did not get a sensible response, perhaps it was not a sensible question. I decided that if the house had been OK for 50 years then AFAIWC it was still OK. They did point out that our lighting was not earthed, and we had to have this done in the house we rented out at that time in case the tenants decided to break their agreement and install metal light fittings. Apparently I am about to have a water meter fitted, and have no choice in the matter. I have, however, declined the kind offer of a "smart meter". I presume this would only be for the electricity? I think I am smart enough to know what I have turned on. Best wishes etc... Ed This crossed with Don's informative post.

Hi Robert. Do you actually change the tyres on your car, or do you have two sets of wheels? If so do you have somewhere to keep 4 or 5 wheels with tyres on, or do the tyre garages store them for you? The other thing that occurs to me is the cost of buying a second set of wheels, especially if they are alloys. My previous van (VW) which I bought new, was supplied by VW to the dealer on steel rims and the alloys were dealer-fitted as part of the package, They gave me the steel rims because they would have gone on the scrap heap otherwise. I do of course have the wheels in my possession "in case they come in handy", although I've had the new van for over 2 years now. Good morning everyone. Between the Grand Prix, the BTCC and rallycross on one of the obscure channels there was a feast of motor sport on the telly yesterday. I slept blissfully through all of it. Not so "Under Cover" in the evening. Another superb piece of gripping BBC drama. In other TV news it would appear that "the Voice" is moving to ITV. Shame Ed

I spent £150 on my favourite hobby today, but it wasn't train-related. The dog's gone wrong again. Another ear infection, tbf they are pretty big ears, and some more Carprodyl for his knees. It would be cheaper to get a new dog, but I am rather fond of this one, Another restless night, best wishes to all Ed

If you put a model of that on a layout people wouldn't believe it. Ed