WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

I think I must have had a rush of blood to the brain yesterday after putting my new security light up. (By the way, no adjustments needed, it's working perfectly and of course is mounted so that it doesn't shine out into the street to annoy anyone....)
There was an advert in the BET yesterday for a steam hauled excursion over the Settle Carlisle line, the 'Fellsman'. They have what is called the Premier Dining Class which is first class travel, guaranteed window seats and a full English breakfast on the way out and three course dinner on the way back. As if that wasn't enough there was the option of a vintage coach trip to Ullswater and a cruise on the lake. Guess what, I went SKIING. (SKI is to Spend the Kid's Inheritance, in this case a large chunk of the Funeral Fund!)
So, on the 9th of July, Susan drives me to Blackburn where we will join the train and have a luxurious day out including the Ullswater cruise. There are no pockets in a shroud! Totally ridiculous and I can't afford it but who cares. I have apologised to the rest of the family......

[Marilyn]

...and I am sure that not one of them would deny you this wonderful pleasure, Stanley.
Good on you for treating yourself. Sounds like a great adventure.
Febby and I have done similar things and they are the ones that stay in your memory. I am sure that every aspect of the day will be magical. As well as " shrouds not having pockets " the other adage is that it is no good being the richest corpse in the cemetery! Spend it all I say!

[LizG]

Sounds fantastic - enjoy every minute Stanley. I agree with Marilyn, spend it, you can't take it with you.

[David Whipp]

Hope Stanley makes a good back seat passenger...

[Pluggy]

I think I must have had a rush of blood to the brain yesterday after putting my new security light up. (By the way, no adjustments needed, it's working perfectly and of course is mounted so that it doesn't shine out into the street to annoy anyone....)
There was an advert in the BET yesterday for a steam hauled excursion over the Settle Carlisle line, the 'Fellsman'. They have what is called the Premier Dining Class which is first class travel, guaranteed window seats and a full English breakfast on the way out and three course dinner on the way back. As if that wasn't enough there was the option of a vintage coach trip to Ullswater and a cruise on the lake. Guess what, I went SKIING. (SKI is to Spend the Kid's Inheritance, in this case a large chunk of the Funeral Fund!)
So, on the 9th of July, Susan drives me to Blackburn where we will join the train and have a luxurious day out including the Ullswater cruise. There are no pockets in a shroud! Totally ridiculous and I can't afford it but who cares. I have apologised to the rest of the family......

Enjoy it Stanley, you earnt it, you spend it. You won't notice the booze missing at your send off and the cheap coffin they put you in.

[Tardis]

With the great Lucy from Attic24, yesterday

[Tardis]

Enjoy the train ride Stanley. It is bound to be far more pleasant than the usual railway stock along that particular line

[Big Kev]

Sounds like a great day out, Stanley. Enjoy.

[PostmanPete]

Make sure you take your camera Stanley - you will get some great shots of your day to show us all

[Gloria]

Stanley, we have done that a few times, it is brilliant, you will really enjoy it. We have not done the vintage coach add on though, they weren't doing that when we went.
I really envy you === enjoy, and take your camera. Don't forget to wave back at all the people you will see waving at you. I just love a ride on a "toot".

[Wendyf]

Sounds like a wonderful trip Stanley, you should get Susan to make a short film of your day out!

[Stanley]

Thanks to all.... I shall be wearing my Harris Tweed suit and looking suitably in period. Susan has arranged for Mick to be in charge of road transport and dog duties so we don't have to do anything! The fag packet sized Canon camera will be very handy.....
Now then Kev, what's the setting for taking pics through glass to knock out the self focus......
The Malaysian airliner search. Interesting interview yesterday with one of the men who helped pinpoint the location of the Air France deep ocean crash. He says that the sightings are almost certainly of the same objects/group of objects because the three positions they have are in a straight line and fit perfectly with the rate of SW drift to be expected. Not only can the present position be plotted with reasonable certainty but back projection of the drift gives an approximate location for the point of impact. The pinger on the flight recorders should still be operating and you can be certain that someone has taken note of this. Not there yet but the evidence is stacking up if you make the reasonable assumption that these objects are indeed from the downed plane. This is exactly the same technique which found the Air France crash site.

[Big Kev]

If you're using the Canon compact it may have a "shooting through glass" setting in the programme menu. 'Er indoors has a Panasonic compact which has that setting and it works very well.

[Tizer]

Just back from a week's holiday and I'm glad to see you're blowing the kid's inheritance on a steam extravaganza, Stanley! I'm sure you'll enjoy every minute and it will give you lots of memories to store up. As for shooting pics with the Canon through the window, I find that today's cameras seem to be intelligent enough to ignore the glass unless the window is at an angle that is reflecting strongly. To be absolutely sure, your camera probably has `scene settings' and if you choose `landscape' it will force the focus on long distance and prevent any focusing on very close things like the window. OK as long as you don't try to take a portrait shot of someone just outside the window as they wave you off! (Although I wouldn't be surprised if the camera coped with that OK whether in landscape or normal mode.) You could do some experiments in advance through your house window or a shop window.

Talking of trains, on our way back from Cornwall we looked for somewhere quiet to stop and eat sandwiches. We often do this and find lovely scenic or interesting places by accident. This time we found a little railway station, a `halt' with nothing much more than the platform but on the main line and near a viaduct. It was `Menheniot', although it seemed a long way from the village of Menheniot. Nobody around, no cars, just the countryside and the railway. We ate our lunch in peace - but the expected trains never passed through so it looks like the services from Plymouth to Penzance were still not running. It must have been a wonderful place to see the steam locomotives race through in the past!

[Stanley]

I tried a pic through the glass yesterday at normal setting and it seems to be OK.



No manipulation, straight out of the camera. You can see my reflection.... Looks OK to me! What a clever little camera!

[Gloria]

We've done both photos and videoes and they have been okay. You are sooooo going to enjoy this. I love watching the "toot" steaming in to the station.

[PanBiker]

Our second training ride for the coast to coast went very well yesterday. Cold start in the morning but no problem once we got going. Plenty warm enough once you hit the first hill. Mick took us on a Gargrave circular. Via West Marton, Gledstone, Bank Newton and then to Broughton, on to the back road to Elslack (which turned out to be lot more hilly than I remembered) and then back home through Thornton. 16.5 miles but daft as is sounds over 6000 ft of ascent on the route.

I was quite chuffed that I only had to get off once on the hills and that was a mistake with my gear shifting. My bike is 18 speed with a Shimano derailleur. Triple front sprocket controlled on the left levers, rear 6 on the right levers. Each controlled by dual index shifted levers. These effectively are single latching click positions on the shifters. The left and right twin levers on each side of the bars work opposite to one another in which way they operate, Finger on right to go up,thumb on the right to go down. Finger on left to go down, thumb on left to go up.

My legs hit a brick wall on the long incline up past Gledstone when I made the mistake of shifting 6 up instead of 1 down! I could not go back the other way as I had lost all forward motion on the drive train so had to get off before I fell off!

Good ride anyway, seven in the group this week and it set us up nicely for our Sunday lunch at Rolls. Circumstance means we can't make the next three Sunday sessions so we are going to try and get some miles in on the afternoons that I don't work.

[Tizer]

Ian, I envy you biking up the hills - I have difficulty even walking up hills now (genetic lung problem) and I wish I'd done more cycling earlier in life. I loved my bike when I was a teenager, it's a great way to get about!

I tried a pic through the glass yesterday at normal setting and it seems to be OK. No manipulation, straight out of the camera. You can see my reflection.... Looks OK to me! What a clever little camera!

If you have a polarising filter from one of your older cameras you could try holding it in front of the lens then rotating it while taking the same shot through the window. It might eliminate the reflections. It's not as difficult as it sounds - the small cameras are light enough to hold easily with one hand and small enough that you can use that same hand to press the shutter button too.

I've just bought one of these model Blackpool trams for my Dad, he'll love it as he remembers many Blackpool holidays (and Bruce Forsyth was a favourite too). And the model was only £1.99 inc P&P!
http://www.atlaseditions.co.uk/collecti ... -Tram.html
There are no catches, but make sure you don't get drawn into buying the other models at full price (unless you really want them and consider it worth the higher price). Have a look at the other models on offer. Then go to the bottom of the page where it says "Atlas Group websites in..." and click on a few of those other countries. If you're interested in model vehicles, motor bikes etc there are some interesting foreign types there - but curiously some British ones like Triumph Bonneville and E Type Jaguar turn up on those pages too. I haven't tried buying from the foreign sites and don't know if there are extra P&P charges.

[Tardis]

Valley Gardens

[PanBiker]

MH370 considered lost beyond all doubt based on data analysed in the UK.

[David Whipp]

The flowers on Fernlea Avenue in this morning's strong sunshine.

[Stanley]

I have a lot of sympathy with relatives of people on the plane who are angry because total loss has been assumed without concrete evidence like identifiable wreckage. Whilst I am fairly certain that it is indeed lost, there is as yet no physical evidence and I can understand the relatives point of view.
The deaths at Deepcut barracks have not gone away. A new inquest has been ordered in one case. Remember the case of the 'suicide' who shot himself in the head, twice!

[Cathy]

Thanks for your pic David, in light of world news and a personal issue here and there, natures bright colours help to lighten the mood.

[PanBiker]

Ian, I envy you biking up the hills - I have difficulty even walking up hills now (genetic lung problem) and I wish I'd done more cycling earlier in life. I loved my bike when I was a teenager, it's a great way to get about!

Thanks for the comment Tiz, I'm not efficient enough at the moment but should get better with practice. I attack the inclines with determination rather than a proper plan. That comes down to reading the terrain in front and using the gears properly in advance of the hill. Fantastic to watch the groups of practised road bike lads sailing up the hills with constant cadence and in perfect unison with their mates. We saw a couple of groups on Sunday as well as individuals and pairs. You could tell from their jerseys that some of them were from the Fylde coast, so at 10am Sunday morning I assume were already 40 -50 miles into their run and hardly breaking sweat.

We have the Tour de France passing through Silsden and Skipton on separate sections later in the year and are already planning our strategy for a good view of the Silsden pass based from our daughters house who lives in the town. We will have to get in early before they shut the roads. Will be a sight to see, I bet!

[Tardis]

Burning foetuses to heat hospitals: a perfect metaphor for modern Britain

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehous ... innocents/