PhilJ W

Goodnight all.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Our (SEERS) AGM on Thursday. At one time we used to run a few coach trips each year but we haven't run any at all in the last couple of years especially last year as coach hire charges went through the roof. This year though they have dropped considerably and trip suggestions will be put to the members. One already on the cards is the Chatham show on the 20/21 of July. I was going to suggest the K&ESR 50th anniversary gala but looking at the prices I'll be suggesting another weekend.

But what are they smoking?

What about fitting bicycles with black boxes?

There is at least one such Land Rover. The owner has fitted an electric motor in place of the gearbox and filled the under bonnet space and under the seats where the fuel tank resided with batteries. Having done all of that he then discovered that the fastest it would go was 18 mph. He just might as well have got a milk float.

I often hear the two little girls (5 and 7) next door playing. They are delightful children.

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. More eyelid inspection this afternoon hence a bit late on parade. Now dinner is ready, liver and bacon with mash and onion gravy plus veg.

Heavy braking can cause uneven wear on the track called corrugations so the track has to be smoothed down. This is done by grinding the top surface of the rails. Most rail grinders are of the wheel type.

Forgot to mention that I got todays Wordl in three attempts, even beating the Wordl Bot*. Today it took the Bot four attempts, although it starts out not knowing the word as we all do it can calculate how many possible answers there are in an instant after the first word and by the time I got to the third word there was only a few possible answers, I got the right answer but the Bot didn't (only one letter out). *There is a Wordl Bot that does the puzzle as well.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. My hearing is pretty good though it has deteriorated over the years with the loss of high pitched sounds but at nearly 76 years old that is to be expected. Twenty five + years ago I started to go deaf in my left ear, but an examination found it was blocked by wax. So it was a case of ear drops followed by a syringe. When it came to the syringe out the practice nurse said that it appeared that I hadn't used the ear drops enough but she went ahead with the syringing. It was then that she found out that the problem was that I had a malformed ear canal. Instead of being straight it was coiled like a pig's tail. That was the only time that I have ever needed something done with my ears. I put that down to my infants school teacher who told us that we should never put soap in our ears, just use hot water to clean them out. I have never used soap to clean my ears for seventy years now.

Goodnight all.

We also share a proportion of our DNA with mushrooms.

Neanderthals had bigger brains than us and were around for 200,000 years whereas we have only been around for 40,000 years.

At least 10,000 years ago. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/cheddar-man-mesolithic-britain-blue-eyed-boy.html

This April's edition of Backtrack has details of British diesel locomotive exports. Makes fascinating reading.

No, as I explained above.

Duplicate post.

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Nothing much done this morning due to a comic concerning things that run on parallel steel rails dropping onto the doormat. I did put the washing on just before that so I'd better empty the machine.

I didn't suffer from hay fever until my mid fifties. Tree pollen was the main cause of my hay fever usually in March/April. Grass pollen is a bit later in the year in May/June/July followed by late flowering plants in August. I'm not affected so much later in the year.

The photograph originated in the US.

Probably a remould where the carcase has not been prepared properly or more likely should not have been used in the first place due to damage, also the retread has not been vulcanised properly. In this instance the tyre walls were damaged (slashed?). The blisters usually appear instantly and can be dangerous. A good few years ago there was a fatal accident caused by such a tyre where the blister 'popped' on the tread of a car doing 70 mph and it flipped the car over.

In the Ozark's Bob's not just your uncle.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A bit of fuss from Arthur Itis last night kept me awake until I took a couple of Nurofen. Not sure what I will be doing today, if the hay fever lets me I'll do a bit more pottering about in the garden. There's not anything urgently needed food wise, in fact the fridge is pretty full.

Some interesting models in his 'other items'.

By Routemaster I take it that you mean a bus with an open rear platform. The Routemaster was a London bus designed for London and was just coming into service in the sixties. They were all red except for a few that were painted green for the country services.