Zero Gravitas

2 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

That's a new one on me.

Is this Royal Mail or Parcel Force?  I have had a lot more trouble with deliveries by the latter than the former.

 

If you get a notification that they're going to deliver and you now you will be away, I think you can tell them to deliver on another date - so maybe one of your neighbours has made such a request and they booked it against the wrong number?

Here's the entire email - sent from no-reply@royalmail.com: 

And whilst I will complain, I suspect it will be about as useful as any other complaint I have ever made to Royal Mail...  about as effective as Hornby's shipping packaging on a W1 (just to show some semblance of being on-topic).

15 hours ago, melmerby said:

Many companies don't seem to use Hermes because of the overall reputation.

The last purchase I had sent to me via Hermes just got lost in their system.

The sender resent the order Royal Mail and it took 24hrs.

 

Mind you RM managed to lose a loco on the way from Derails and although it was claimed by the tracking to be in the local DO to be delivered the "next day", when pushed why it hadn't been delivered more than a week on they admitted they couldn't find it.

Then was some excuse about it not having the correct address etc. etc. and was being 'returned' or some other such rubbish.

Strange that it was supposedly ready for delivery to me.

Derails never got it back and it didn't get to me. Tracked all the way to the local DO then it totally vanished.

RM are not what they were.  I was expecting a delivery for Mrs. Gravitas’ birthday yesterday. At 05:22 I received an email saying it was scheduled for delivery between 09:52 and 13:52. Then at 11:05 I received another email saying that:

“your parcel has reached your local delivery office. We’ve received a request not to deliver mail to the property your item is addressed to today. We’ll attempt delivery as per the instructions we’v received, which is usually on the next working day”

I certainly never made such a request, so the conclusion is that someone at Royal Mail has invented such a request to massage their own figures... and the next working day is now Tuesday - it’s a good thing Mrs. Gravitas’ birthday isn’t until Friday.

4 minutes ago, Hobby said:

Bearing in mind that he went against some of his backbenchers already by using Labour MP's votes to get through his policy your argument doesn't stack up. I'm sure they'll have taken into account staffing levels when making their decision. Can you show me the statistics (not hearsay please) to back your claims about NHS staff, just wondering if there were some genuine figures or if they were coming from Media stories?

 

I'd agree that it's a fine line our leaders have to tread and there are many people on this thread who would agree with your call for more restrictions, however many people were claiming we'd already be in dire straights by now by not locking down long before Christmas and so far we've coped. As I've said before he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

I wasn't talking about getting stuff through Parliament - I was talking about Johnson's own backbenchers turning on him through letters to the 1922 committee, which is what he is really worried about.

And I certainly won't be compromising the identity of my source. Suffice to say, the information is not from the media - it is from a good friend of mine, who is a manager within the NHS with responsibility for ensuring resources are available - and they are currently very, very worried.

29 minutes ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

At the risk of starting "panic ordering", I found the same recently. However, an online order through the NHS website resulted in a test pack arriving in three days through the post. That was just before Christmas and, together we the few we had left, provides sufficient tests to see us through to the New Year and beyond if we are cautious.

 

Sadly, I thing Boris and Co's current approach will result in a considerable increase in cases in the next weeks, making it more difficult to avoid Covid19. As the impact of the latest variant on the older population is not yet, according to the Government, full understood, I fail to see why they aren't taking a more cautious approach. As a senior  member of the Scottish "health team" said recently, Coronavirus thrives on indecision.

I should have added - none available for delivery through the NHS website either.  The actual wording was “no delivery slots are available “

And I fully agree about the government’s current approach.  It would appear that Boris Johnson is much more interested in keeping his job than actually doing it - and keeping his backbenchers happy rather than keeping the public safe. The consequence will be that the restrictions, when they inevitably come in the new year, will be more severe and longer lasting. Remember that it’s not just about having beds in hospitals- you have to have the staff to look after the people in those beds, and NHS staff are currently dropping like flies...

Big problem at the moment is test availability.  No LFTs at any pharmacy in town, and no knowledge of when any more will be delivered.  As such, it’s even more likely that cases are being significantly underreported.

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

I think since the Sarah Everard issue, the Met has been in bad odour with many. But Commissioner Dick has thanked Boris for his support over that mishandling by saying there is a lack of evidence of wrongdoing in the party-zone.  

This is probably verging on the political, but the strong impression I have is that Cressida Dick is far more interested in keeping her job that actually doing it.

58 minutes ago, No Decorum said:

I noticed and appreciated the brass ferrules. The body is very easily taken off and replaced. What’s metric? Is that the stuff which caused a NASA spacecraft to miss Mars? (Favourite quote at the time, “It’s not rocket science but it should have been.”)

It was actually the imperial system that caused that particular problem in 1999.  Lockheed Martin failed to convert data from imperial to metric when they provided it to NASA.  If they’d been working in metric, the problem would never have happened.

Whilst I can’t post a source for this - because it has come directly from an NHS employee - the problem that is being anticipated (and which appears to be happening at the moment) is not the number of people being admitted to hospital with COVID; it’s the fact that there are not enough staff to look after them as the staff are contracting COVID at an alarming rate. And this doesn’t just apply to COVID wards - it applies across the hospitals.

10 hours ago, Phil Bullock said:

Just look at the running numbers on the BR blue ones! 1013/23/48…. What on Earth could we use to haul them? 

Hmmm.. I can’t think, but if you were a lady, you might need a fusilier and and a ranger to help you decide...

1 hour ago, Phil Parker said:

 

I've alway wondered with Grand Designs if the female half of the building partnership becoming pregnant is in the contract part way through the project. And if Kevin M is always the father. Well, he does seem to drop in quite a lot!

1 hour ago, pete_mcfarlane said:

Is this before or after they fire the architect and decide to project manage the construction work themselves, despite having no experience of doing this? 

Hang on - you forgot the bit where the couple in their early thirties inexplicably bought the property for £600,000 and yet somehow have a budget of another £500,000 to fund the project...

I had to stop watching because I realised I hated them all.

14 minutes ago, beast66606 said:

Anyone noticed that omicron is an anagram of moronic - just saying.

As in: “In the current situation, it would be moronic not to wear a mask in any crowded or indoor public spaces”?

1 hour ago, Huw Griffiths said:

 

I'm afraid I haven't read this book - I actually hadn't heard of it.

 

The reason I mentioned this stuff is that, at one point, I considered optometry as a career - to be honest, I suspect I would probably have found it much more fulfilling than electrical engineering.

 

However, we both know how things worked out in practice.

 

 

Huw.

I would heartily recommend any thing by Jasper Fforde. “Shades of Grey” is an excellent stand-alone novel (although there is due to be a sequel next year) - but I’d start with the Thursday Next series.

(just for context, my favourite authors are Terry Pratchett, Iain M. Banks and Jasper Fforde)

13 hours ago, Hobby said:

I just found it amusing that it was the leader of the party who were plugging mask wearing that got it, perhaps he wasn't as careful when not on camera!? 

36 minutes ago, Hobby said:

"No Polictics"...

 

 

 

Except when it suits me

 Just corrected that second quote for you :-)

11 minutes ago, chris p bacon said:

 

It is supposed to be a non political thread

 

It is quite obvious in this and other threads that politics are tolerated if left leaning or anti 'B'. I even read a 'B' diatribe in an Accurascale thread a day ago, I reported it but it's still there.

 

And to me it's quite obvious that politics leaning to the right are tolerated in this and other threads.

I think Andy has done a splendid job to keep the debate alive without stifling the differences of opinion that are bound to occur. However, I was unable to let your comment about the one-sided tolerance of views pass.

To my mind it's a bit like the BBC - if both sides are complaining of bias it's probably got it about right.

5 minutes ago, hayfield said:

 

Read what Chris said first, quite the opposite. Its supposed to be non political

 

Facts and information

No politics !!!

Yes, I did. But I’m not so sure you did - what part of “ he obviously doesn't espouse the left wing leanings which are so openly tolerated on this (and other) threads” do you think isn’t a political point? 

1 hour ago, chris p bacon said:

 

Your response below was a sarcastic dig at John as he obviously doesn't espouse the left wing leanings which are so openly tolerated on this (and other) threads.

 

 

What John actually said was that everyone has made mistakes and there are things we need to learn.

 

 

Sorry - are you suggesting that it’s OK for the right-wing leanings in the thread to be tolerated, but not those that are left of centre? 

1 hour ago, toboldlygo said:

 

There's also photo's where it didn't on google

Which means you’re perfectly at liberty to apply a new crest on one side if that suits the period you are modelling :-)

Or if that’s not something you want to do, then you could always commission Rails to produce a version that meets your precise needs.

TBH, if that’s the only thing you can find to complain about, then I think Rails have done a pretty good job.

Yes, I know. It’s late, I’m grumpy - but the fact that we actually have an RTR model (and a good one at that) of such a prototype, and where RMWeb members had such welcome input to Rails to get it right, means that to me this sort of comment is not helpful.

Mine has just arrived at Gravitas Towers here in not-so-sunny Didcot :-)  I'm tempted to claim that is is the closest 18000 model to the actual prototype - less than 1 mile away...

On the theme of air ambulances, here’s the Thames Valley Air Ambulance in the field behind Gravitas Towers, whilst attending a nearby traffic accident:

4 hours ago, clarkea1 said:

I wonder if anyone can tell me.  Since MRJ now seems to be being packed and posted by the printers (or a fulfillment house) do they still put a reminder slip in when it's the last issue of your subs?  I only ask since I can't quite remember when my current batch of 4 issues runs out.....

 

If not, I think I'm probably best to send Cygnet a cheque and ask that they add 4 on to whenever my previous subscription runs out!

 

Thanks

 

Alastair

IIRC, If you look at the address label when it’s delivered, the last issue number of your current subs in in brackets after your name.

12 hours ago, melmerby said:

Stays on the track if you fix the swivelling bits and allow some (sprung) up and down movement on the centre set.

Wheels are still scale 7" undersize and normal 3' 7"coach wheels are no good unless you hack the floor and by then the van is too high.

Altogether a mess and I wish I had never bought mine.

Agreed. Notwithstanding all of the problems with the running gear; whilst the body detail is good, it's a scale foot too wide and looks vaguely ridiculous next to other coaching stock.

My plan with mine is to put it on a 5Seven9 (or is it Five7Nine - it's still early) 6-wheel underframe when it becomes available separately, and run it as the brake van on a train of milk tankers to try and hide the extra width.

47 minutes ago, SP Steve said:

Hi Adam,

 

your choice of tar wagon looks remarkably similar to one done for Bristol & West Tar Distillers which features in the revised Tourett volume and for which there is a line drawing.

 

On this the walkways are a set of wooden battens spaced apart - the accompanying image also shows this.

Apologies for the hijack - but exactly which Tourett volume is this, please?   I’m suddenly slightly concerned there’s a wagon book I don’t know about :-)

2 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

 

I'd take that as evidence that they can't because they would if they could.

But then who would they get to pander to their every whim?

1 hour ago, John M Upton said:

Snapshot survey, not very scientific but travelling and working trains this weekend, mask wearing is down to about 10% on average and virtually none on passengers going to/from Gatwick.  Seems most people have given up, Covid has become yesterday's chip wrapper, the Government are too busy arguing on social media about an Alpaca and trying to draw a big map in crayon to show Boris where Afghanistan is....

Not quite - Boris knows where Afghanistan is as he took a day-trip there in 2018 to avoid a Parliamentary vote on the Heathrow third runway:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44594439

Note that I chose the BBC report so as to inflame both the right and left wing equally...

Raab on the other hand, is an even worse foreign secretary than his current boss, which is no mean feat.

On 19/08/2021 at 21:02, didcot said:

 

Daft cat!

You do realise you can change the heads on Oral-B toothbrushes, don’t you?  :-)