Xmas PS

The snow's beginning to go, but really slowly.   Anyway, as a postscript to the doll's beds saga, here's some pics of them being unwrapped on Xmas day.

More snow.

We had a real blizzard yesterday, and everything came to a stop.   It's lightly sprinkled all day today, and although I've cleared the paths, everything else is still covered in snow.  No chance of driving anywhere today. Those that did, risked getting stuck, like the milk float here on the hill.

Snow on the railway.

Woke up this morning to a light covering of snow. I thought it was a bit quiet!
Spent the morning helping to clear paths through the snow in the public areas, ready for the santa special crowd.
Then a bit more scraping down signal box parts in the afternoon.  This was closely inspected by a robin, looking for crumbs. Sadly, they're not, they're flakes of old paint.

Has the freeze ended?

Well, has it?   We've had a whole day above freezing, and the forecast says the same for the next few days.
Yesterday, I was trussed up like a chicken, walking up the line with a hammer, replacing broken keys.
And we saw a heron eyeing up peoples fish ponds.   Look out goldfish!

A cold swap.

Another extremely cold night.    It was -3 when we went out, and -5.5 in Abergavenny in the middle of the day.
Swapped the HTC Wildfire for a Blackberry Curve, and actually got a bit of a refund.
The Wildfire is very fancy, but they don't seem to have got the touch-screen scrolling worked out right.
If you try and scroll through the contacts list, it often rings someone in the list at random. Not good.
And typing messages, it's all too easy to accidentally press the key below. This might be a menu that causes you to lose what you wewe doing.  It also doesn't help that the return/enter key is just below the backspace, so you're in the middle of corrcting a typing mistake, and off it goes!
At least the blackberry has real buttons, even if they are a bit small.

It's cold!

Yesterday we went out for SWMBO's birthday, and ended up driving home through the snow.
There's more today, as seeen in this view.

radio

Actually managed to get heard by someone on 2 metres, although my set-up is at best described as "poor".
See pic of home-made slim-jim aerial in the loft, with only an FT-60 to drive it. I can hear stuff, but generally can't work it.

mobile phones

Finally got my PAC to port my number to a new provider.  The old one really didn't want to let go, but now it's finally arrived in a letter.  We'll see how it goes on transfer day!

misty morning

Well, today there was a thin layer of mist at the top of the field, and almost as soon as  I went to take a picture of it, it started rolling down the hill.

It's cold!!!

Another icy morning.   Anyway I managed to paint the beds yeterday afternoon, and they're drying on the shelf. It's getting dark, so the picture's not much good.

progress.

A fine day, today, so I've progressed to finishing, final assembly and undercoat.
More rain promised for tomorrow, so I might try painting in the shed.

Punctured!

Getting the car ready to go to Cardiff yesterday, I noticed a slow puncture and needed to pump it up.
So, today it was a visit to the tyre shop.   15 quid!  Grrrrr.

shopping

Today was the big shop.
Once a month we go to the big Tesco's at Gabalfa in Cardiff.
It's a bit of a trek, but its really big.
At least we get to go on Sunday now, instead of having to cram it into an evening, when I was at work.

Training again.

Now there's something I thought I had left behind.  I've been doing training courses all my life.  School, college, then at every company I worked for.  Electrical safety, new equipment, mechanical handling, more electrical safety, more new machines, even more electrical safety...    You get the message.    Now today, something new.   Personal Track Safety for the railway.  And not much repetition, it's all new stuff.   Hopefully I've passed the test, and I'll be able to go out on the track with my orange jacket and be some help.

rain, rain

Well, I saw a load of old work mates yesterday, so I was late home.     Today it's rain, so not much progress on the beds, although Shirley has made some miniature duvets and pillows for them.  I wasn't expecting that!   Tomorrow is the craft show at the NEC, and the rest of the week is forecast more rain. Where does the time go?

Beds under construction.

Tired out

Just spent 2 days at the railway, supposedly helping with the signals.    Mostly this consists of scraping old paint and muck of lumps of metal, and helping lift other people's stuff around.   As I said, I'm tired out.

First Post!

Well, I've been retired 2 years now, and today is a rainy day, so I've started and we'll see how it goes.