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I thought it might be a good idea if I bit the bullet and just started a Thread dedicated to (what I hope is) general ‘Interesting Stuff’ that doesn’t fit under other existing Threads, rather than keep hijacking the existing ones (as I am want to do at an appalling rate. Sorry).
Fulfilling an earlier promise, here is a quick bit of poetry first:
They say the sea is cold, but the sea contains
the hottest blood of all, and the wildest, the most urgent.(‘Whales Weep Not’ by D. H. Lawrence)
https://neal.fun/deep-sea/?fbclid=IwAR1RK4skwk7tIXw9XocFTkOWblwAYftXvy2YbXVfngsgF8H-qPqiGzRXOwM
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Makes sense, I suppose. Assuming it’s a reasonably fast charger (and I admit I know zilch about such things) a 20 minute top-up while while doing the weekly shop is worth while, I imagine. Chuck in another 15 minutes for coffee and cake and that’s pretty much a full charge.
Only Waitrose serving fuel that I know is motorway service station at/near Stansted aerodrome. One of the few passable services anywhere. Fleet used to be good. Haven’t used it for many years though.
Main headline on the BBC this morning:
“The government is planning a temporary scheme to make it easier for foreign lorry drivers to work in the UK.
Final details are expected this weekend, but any changes to immigration rules would be temporary, and there would be a cap on the number of workers allowed to enter the country.
Newspaper reports suggest up to 5,000 temporary visas could be issued.
A shortage of drivers has disrupted fuel deliveries, with some petrol stations closing, and queues forming.
The Road Haulage Association estimates the UK is short of about 100,000 HGV drivers – with existing shortages made worse by the pandemic and Brexit.”So the Government was okay with the lack of hospital workers (at all levels) and food rotting in the fields while supermarket shelves were empty because the British refuse to work long and unsociable hours for lousy pay and poor working conditions, but now office and factory workers and senior MP’s might not be able to drive to work??? Something must be done!
Massive U Turn once again. 100,000 drivers short so 5000 should cover it Gov thinks
Joss
Current car BMW X2 2.0i Sport sDrive Auto 2019 with Sport pack
Last car Ford Focus Titanium 1.5 TDCI"Men fight for liberty & win it with hard knocks. Their children brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves" - D.H. Lawrence
All nonsense, there was a 60,000 shortage 5 years ago according to the RHA, and what did they do about it? Train more drivers, improve working conditions, raise wages?
Of course not! Back then it was easy for EU workers to come over, drop off, pick up and go home in a matter of hours. Now it can take days of ‘living’ in lorry parks while the insane amounts of paper work are processed – particularly when one lorry is carry multiple batches of goods from different suppliers, each batch needing it’s own paper work, and if one part of the paperwork for one batch is wrong the entire lorry-load is refused permission to travel.
(Tenuous link warning!)
So, apparently the ‘fuel at the pumps’ shortages are forcing many people back onto public transport.
(Right, that’s that done.)
Back on Topic . . . Here’s a video of the ’15 Most Amazing Railway Tracks in the World’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YQy5ba50QM
And the words to The Little Steam Engine song from Trumpton, which will now be running through your brain for the rest of the day. 🙂
The Little Steam Engine
Time flies by when I’m the driver of a train
And I ride on the footplate there and back again
Under bridges over bridges to our destination
Puffing through the countryside there’s so much to be seen.
Passengers waving as we steam through a station.
Stoke up fireman for the signal is at green.Time flies by when I’m the driver of a train
And I ride on the footplate there and back again
In the cutting, through the tunnel,
Rushing clanking on the track.
Wheezing pistons, smoking funnels,
Turning wheels go clickety clack.Time flies by when I’m the driver of a train
And I ride on the footplate there and back again.Brilliant video, Georgie. Have actually been on the South Devon line (c’mon, it’s Brunel’s GWR) and its scenic seashore bit. If one could have a steam loco at the front, one would expect to meet Miss Marple at the next station.
I did have a weakness for train travel anyway, and any chance for a trip on old trains/historic train routes were not to be missed. My local – ‘The Watercress line’ between Alton and Alresford – was a particularly nice day out because we’d walk up from the Station through the Georgian Market Place and then nip up Mill Lane and take a stroll along the side of the Arle, a wide and shallow, shingly sort of river where you could see all the wee fishies, and then have a picnic.
My favourite is the Severn Valley Railway between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth, which passes the edge of West Midlands Safari Park (“Was that a camel?”) before following the upper Severn for much of the way. Steep walk up the hill and through Bridgnorth Castle ruins and gardens and then a Pub lunch before coming back.
Grew up with railways – Pa was a fitter at S London engineering sheds so spent much time there on schools hols etc. Such BIG engineering, had a couple of rides on a steam shunting loco and loved to watch the blacksmith at work; his forge was about 12ft square! Lived near the big freight marshalling yards so the sound of railways was always there.
Of the restored lines, I really like the Dart Valley – very ambitious projects there and very pretty ride down to Dartmouth from Paignton. Bluebell is nice too, had a couple of wonderful picnics alongside the track. Most spectacular is N Yorks Moors scheme. Spectacular views and interesting stock and locos.
My elder brother was a plater/welder at the “Plant railway works” in Doncaster Tharg. Where the Flying Scotsman was made along with the Mallard.
Joss
Current car BMW X2 2.0i Sport sDrive Auto 2019 with Sport pack
Last car Ford Focus Titanium 1.5 TDCI"Men fight for liberty & win it with hard knocks. Their children brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves" - D.H. Lawrence
To be honest I’d be well chuffed just to go on a regular train across some of the fantastically high viaducts you get ‘up north’. We just don’t have the right kind of hills down here. The only really good one around here that I can think of is the Hockley Railway Viaduct to the south of Winchester, which is long but not very high. And defunct.
The Pickering railway is awesome. Fantastic scenery.https://www.nymr.co.uk/
Joss
Current car BMW X2 2.0i Sport sDrive Auto 2019 with Sport pack
Last car Ford Focus Titanium 1.5 TDCI"Men fight for liberty & win it with hard knocks. Their children brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves" - D.H. Lawrence
Joss – I hope you got a chance to look round the Doncaster works. The stuff at my dad’s depot was mainly carriages with a few diesel and steam shunters, not the proper serious loco’s your brother dealt with. The impression left in my mind is just how BIG everything was and most of the machinery made out of cast iron!
The depot where my dad worked was just part of a huge south London marshalling yard/delivery facility. It branched off the passenger network at Bermondsey and went 2 or 3 miles further in to the Canal Bridge and Bricklayer’s Arms freight depots where everything from fruit to fridges was loaded on to BRS lorries for onward distribution. The freight tracks were massive. About three times the width of a motorway and handling thousands of tons a day. People forget, or just don’t know, how much ordinary stuff was delivered by train right into the city centres.
Just remembered, for some obscure reason they had a Deltic “diesel” loco at dad’s depot once. THAT was really something to see and hear!
Petrol madness seems to be easing. Topped up at a local Coop station yesterday p.m. No queue. No problems.
Not in Bournemouth. Our local Co-op site (which is generally the most expensive in the area) had “no fuel” signs up when I went by yesterday.
I might venture out tomorrow, so I’ll get to assess the ‘local’ situation.
Wow….I truly can’t believe that these people who feel the need to demonstrate over anything seem to get away with harassing people trying to go about there own business…🤨
Seems it always reported of demonstrators picking on others with a different view..
I wonder if it’s simply not reported when someone won’t take it and floors a demonstrator…. 🤛 🤜👊🤜👊🤕😵💫😴 🤣
Insulate Britain has now pretty much lost any sympathy/support from the general public that they may have had. Footage in the (whisper) Daily Wail of drivers dragging M25 Insulate Britain protesters off the road this morning. Either the Police are going to have to publish a dedicated telephone number for drivers to call so a Flying Squad (if only) of Police can rush in and arrest all the protesters the moment the appear, or somebody will get killed . . .
“Mister Dent,” he said.
“Hello? Yes?” said Arthur.
“Some factual information for you. Have you any idea how much damage that bulldozer would suffer if I just let it roll straight over you?”
“How much?” said Arthur.
“None at all.”
Got time for a Coffee Break? Why not sit back, put your feet up and watch this video by James Hoffman (coffee expert par excellence) about his wondrous ‘Device’ for the making of coffee:
