"Mummy", Sylvia asked, turning to her mother, who sat nearby, absorbed in a book. The leather armchair creaked softly as her mother shifted. "How come our trains, my trains, are different colours?"

Her mother looked up, a warm smile illuminating her face. "That's a good question, darling. It's part of our family's story."

As her mother explained, Sylvia listened intently, the distant chime of the Castle clock tower marking the quarter-hour. Outside the window, she could hear the faint rustling of leaves, carried by a gentle breeze that brought with it the salty tang of the sea.

"Granny and I like the Southern Railway – that's the dark green train. Daddy, like his late father, prefers the Great Western – the one with chocolate and cream coaches."
"But why?" Sylvia asked, her curiosity piqued.

Lady Penelope's eyes twinkled. "Well, sweetheart, the railways are very important to our family's work."

Quote from: Newportnobby on Yesterday at 08:01:35 PMOh heck. He's got his nappy on again 

You never know when it could come in handy at my our age 

I believe that in the UK HVAC is referred to as LOT.

Light the fire
Open the windows
Turn on the fan

Regards,

John P

Quote from: cmason on September 05, 2024, 09:39:53 AMI believe the cousins across the Pacific ( for me just now ) and across the Atlantic ( when I am in UK ) use the term Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning or maybe the last word is Cooling? Anyway the systems are done rather differently over there.

In the UK, when looking to buy for private, domestic purposes, it is usually referred to as AC and is available off-the-shelf, while for individually tailored, large systems, individually designed for the purpose, for use in ships, industrial, storage or retail premises or for blocks of flats, it is termed HVAC (the C is indeed Conditioning) and designed by HVAC Engineers. Much of the HVAC design is centred on balancing the system to get the correct flow to each location ... it usually does not work right and needs many tweaks!

Two annoying events:

1) My wife received a letter saying that she wrongly did not pay for a prescription in June and demanding that she pay for it, plus a £50 penalty (we've managed to get them to waive that). It turns out that they cancelled her pre-payment certificate (normally automatically renewed and paid by direct debit, so we don't even have to look at it) and apparently, the only communication was by email, that she'd never seen. It was actually cancelled at the end of March and she's had prescriptions, for a dozen medicines a time, every month since then (many that she did not need every time, but the pharmacy kept automatically re-ordering), so they could still come after her for for about £700 + penalties. Why? Because they cancelled it 9 months early, as she turns 60 in December and they "didn't want her to overpay" !!!! Why on earth couldn't they just stop taking the direct-debit after December? We've now had to pay for a 3 month pre-payment and will have to pay for another, to cover from last weekend, until her birthday, plus the missed item and also worry about being hit with the rest.

We have written to our MP, suggesting that the system should be changed. DDs that have been running for years should not be cancelled early and reliance placed on a single Email, that may never be delivered or read. He has passed it to the Minister for Health.

2) I finished early today to do some work on my Land Rover (re-fitting the windscreens, after I got the frame back in the other day), only to spend 2-1/2 hours looking for the garage key, that I used to lock up the night before. I've only managed to get the left screen in before it has gone dark - having eventually had to go and buy a new padlock for the main door and a new Euro-cylinder for the personnel door; borrowed an angle grinder to cut off the old padlock; gained access to my own tools; drilled the Euro-cylinder out; and fitted the new padlock and Euro-cylinder. 3 hours, including travel, money spent, and just to get on with what was delayed for so long.

I use to work for DHL, they were the worst company I've ever worked for. I've seen how they treat stuff and I certainly would not recommend it. Many unhappy memories...

Rob.

Oh heck. He's got his nappy on again 

Something I heard in the Beer Shop

This is very lighthearted.
It's a track by Ron Gelinas who "produces royalty feee chill beats for everyday work and play" according to his Spotify biography.

We have a newsagents come beer store in town which I visit on occasion in order to stock up on essentials (and I don't mean newspapers).

Whilst in there this afternoon I was rather taken by the music playing.

This is where Shazam comes into its own.
A quick "Shazam" of the track told me it was Ron Gelinas and a song called Easy.
Nothing at all spectacular but it caught my attention so I thought I'd share it here :
https://youtu.be/SRCIGCg9-jQ?si=DhmSEN4SQ5HMd7LG

RUMER of course.

Loads of other hobbies but sadly never enough time for them all.

Aside from having a passion for British N-Gauge GWR steam era since I was a kid - my late father indoctrinated me! - I also am really into military history (Napoleonic, Samurai, WW2, British Colonial, Victorian Wars, etc), model making and converting (figures, AFVs and aircraft), 3D printing, various art projects, etc.

I use to play competitive sports through college level - D1 American football - and then went onto coach for 30 years...but then gave it up during the Wuhan Plague mess. In fact, to be honest, aside from learning 3D printing during that miserable period - I had to shield for health reasons - I lost my desire for a lot of things.

Just hit 60 and wondering if I will ever get to my massive stash of things. I worked for a big US hobby company for a long time and ended up with loads of toys.  Yet, now don't think I will get to it all...perhaps during the next global pandemic, which is just around the corner!