Happy thread

[railsquid]

Wandered over to my local Hornby dealer earlier... and by "wandered" I mean a 15 minute cycle ride, but hey, it's just the only Hornby dealer in Japan, and probably the only one in East Asia... Only open a couple of days a month mind you; it seems to be a side business. The chap in the shop was very delighted to meet a genuine British person and we had a nice long chat about trains and model railways and he gave me a copy of the current Hornby catalogue which was nice, though rest assured I won't be going over to the Dark Side (well I might make a small shelf layout for my legacy childhood stuff one day...). They also had a couple of drawers of miscellaneous so I picked up some bits which might come in handy (and what self-respecting layout would be without a Tardis, I ask you?).

[Trainfish]

what self-respecting layout would be without a Tardis, I ask you?

Mine 

[railsquid]

what self-respecting layout would be without a Tardis, I ask you?

Mine 

What your layout needs is an InterCity-liveried Tardis 

[Newportnobby]

what self-respecting layout would be without a Tardis, I ask you?

Mine 

What your layout needs is an InterCity-liveried Tardis 

[joe cassidy]

1) received my new Farish 4F yesterday

2) the wife has gone away for the weekend

But which are you more happy about?

The house is in a bit of a mess. I keep looking at the 4F but I don't think it does cooking & cleaning 

[austinbob]

1) received my new Farish 4F yesterday

2) the wife has gone away for the weekend

But which are you more happy about?

The house is in a bit of a mess. I keep looking at the 4F but I don't think it does cooking & cleaning 

I should send it back under warranty then!!

[paulprice]

1) received my new Farish 4F yesterday

2) the wife has gone away for the weekend

But which are you more happy about?

The house is in a bit of a mess. I keep looking at the 4F but I don't think it does cooking & cleaning 

Just get a cleaner and eat out a lot

[paulprice]

Well I have managed to fit head lamps to my branch push-pull train, all I need now are some safety valves

[railsquid]

Hah, I just saw the Liddle End Tardis I discovered at my local Tokyo Hornby emporium for ca. 3 quid is on offer on Fleabay for 15 quid + p&p.

Meanwhile my mission to check out Tokyo's model shops continues - it's a long and arduous task, but someone has to do it - and today I checked out the Tenshodo shop in the ridiculously high class Ginza district. My mental filing card for Tenshodo is "manufacturer of ridiculously nice and expensive HO stuff" but tucked away above their fancy shop they have a 2nd hand sales floor which is full of HO and N-gauge "junk" (both Japanese and European, albeit nothing British as far as I could see) at surprisingly amenable prices. I came away with a couple of deliciously cheap and junky Japanese locos (we're talking well under a fiver each), one of which has the missing bits to complete another cheapo junk loco I acquired a while back, the other will make a nice mechanical restoration project.

I'll have to go back when I have more time and have a really good rummage.

I also appear to have acquired my first Poole-era Farish locomotive via Ebay (with pre-split gears!), something else to keep me occupied once it arrives.

[johnk]

Two new ones for the price of 1.!!
Last week the wife and I carried out the normal duties of Grandparents necessary during the Easter School holidays and on Wednesday took our grandaughters to the Swings etc in the park. Within 30 seconds our 9 year old took a leap for the ,Monkey bars, fell and damaged her arm. She was obviously in considerable pain so it was of to the A + E at the nearest hospital which was thankfully only about 15-20 minutes away. In A + E she was seen by the Senior Nurse who said it was probably a broken wrist. Literally within 30 minutes of arrival she had been given Morphine pain relief, had a temporary cast fitted and been X-rayed. Within another 30 minutes we/she had been fully informed by the Doctor of all details and told an operation was necessary which would be carried out in the evening or first thing next morning. Because it was soon obvious that the op would not be during the evening she was transferred within the hour to the Childrens unit, where indeed the op took place successfully at 08-30 the next morning and she recovered sufficiently to be discharged by mid afternoon.
It is great to report on such first class service fromthe NHS especially when most reports you read are critical. Our experience is that throughout we were treated professionally and happily by all staff. Well done Poole hospital.
My second reasonfor joining the ,Happy Thread, is that yesterday I was signed off by the Consultant after my second Cataract operation -- so I can now gets some replacement specs to allow me to do close up work and return to doing some active modelling after over a year for the 2 Cataract ops to be carried out and finalised. In this case it was a less than efficient NHS bearing in Mind that each op takes less than half an hour. - It was'nt Poole hospital, by the way.!
Now wheres that turntable that needs finishing!!
Cheers
Johnk

[Newportnobby]

After many rants in the Angry Thread about the NHS it's good to see one in the Happy Thread. Welcome back to modelling, John

[mark100]

RAINBOW are reforming, not Bungle & Zippy but Blackmore and Turner.

http://metalshockfinland.com/2015/04/06/ritchie-blackmore-reportedly-in-talks-for-a-rainbow-reunion/


http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/joe-lynn-turner-says-he-will-reunite-with-ex-rainbow-bandmate-ritchie-blackmore-later-this-year/

[Trainfish]

I never saw Rainbow (too young you see) but would love to see them. However, there were about 27* different band members so what would the line-up be? Unfortunately though without Dio I need to be convinced. Saying that I saw Black Star Riders in February and could have sworn I was listening to Thin Lizzy including Phil Lynott when I closed my eyes.

*27 may be a slight exaggeration but there were quite a few changes over the years in what many say were the first 'super group' to be formed 

[Newportnobby]

For anyone who missed the start of a new series 'Secret Britain' last night (BBC1) I would heartily recommend trying to get it on Catch Up or the like. Not all that keen on the presenters, but the beautiful scenes from the Brecon Beacons were gob smackingly beautiful and left me feeling very happy (hence me posting it here)

[mark100]

I never saw Rainbow (too young you see) but would love to see them. However, there were about 27* different band members so what would the line-up be? Unfortunately though without Dio I need to be convinced. Saying that I saw Black Star Riders in February and could have sworn I was listening to Thin Lizzy including Phil Lynott when I closed my eyes.

*27 may be a slight exaggeration but there were quite a few changes over the years in what many say were the first 'super group' to be formed 

Here is something from the news feed about other members 2 BASS players, I wonder if they will try and out do Maiden on Guitar players?

Turner added that bassists Jimmy Bain and Bob Daisley have both been recruited, though it's unclear why the band would need two bassists. Bain performed with Rainbow from 1975 to 1977, when Daisley took over and stayed until 1979.