Today I shall be Mainly...

[Sue]

Morning

Another wet day in the offing. I shall continue with my sewing, learning french and doing a rather large jigsaw. I shall also pop down to B&M during the morning to buy some weather resistant string to attach our heron scarers to. that it works. At the moment they also have a small airfryer on offer that will be great for France. We have got used to the one we have here and find it great for all sorts of things, so will be very useful in france when it is just the two of us. This evening is pilates and yoga in the studio. I also need to wrap up Eves birthday present before we visit Coventry on Sunday. Its going to be a day of bits and pieces

Have a good day all

[Stanley]

Morning Sue! As usual you have filled the day. I will be busy tracking the kids out of Perth at midday but before then I want to pop to the |Co-op to get the peppers and small tomatoes I roast with my chicken because it's that time of the week and I need to think about cooking. Meanwhile..... to start the day.



Just one pic needed. This morning was dead simple. Reduce the 3 1/4" stock to 2 3/16". This is done and it took an hour and a quarter of solid turning to do it. The bar is hot at the moment as is the swarf. Tomorrow I shall cut the bar in two, clean the lathe and start turning the remaining piece down to the same diameter. I deserve my breakfast!

[Sue]

Just fed the fish and all 6 big fish were present and correct despite the heron

[Stanley]

That's good news!
I've done the essential shopping ignoring the rain and am now sat here ready to track the two returning eagles.....
Their flight is QFA9 and they are scheduled to take off at 11:30 BST for an 18 hour non-stop flight to London.

[PanBiker]

Holding on the apron at the moment Stanley.

[PanBiker]

Taxiing to the runway now. Nearly there and lining up.

[Tripps]

Thanks I shall watch the take off. I love the Youtube flight deck videos, though that's as near to actual flying as I want to be. I still find it hard to believe that an aircraft weighing a couple of hundred tons cand do such a thing as fly.

[PanBiker]

Holding for one to land and clear the runway.

[PanBiker]

Lined up engines run up and brakes off.

[PanBiker]

Airborne.

[Stanley]

They're climbing out over the Indian Ocean now at 10,000ft. They can settle in now for almost 18 hours of doing bugger all!

[Tripps]

Don't they have Bingo, and community singing?

[PanBiker]

I doubt if they could do 3 x 6 hour naps. When you think that it is only just over 100 years since the first 12 second flight at Kitty Hawk, it's amazing the speed of innovation. Two World Wars helped in that respect of course.

[Stanley]

I've done the deed. The next set of castings is ordered!
I've just counted and in just the kitchen, from my chair at the table, I can see nine steam engines.....
I can imagine some people seeing this as a tad eccentric!

[Stanley]

I have logged in to tracking and the deadly Duo are at 40,000ft over Romania and on time to arrive at LHR at 06:30BST.
O3:30. They have just exited Austria into Germany. Course, altitude and speed are rock steady. A miracle really.....
Here on terra firma I shall be in the shed at 06:00 working on my stock for the crankshafts. I shall roast my chicken later in the morning and go to Chauhdry's for some veggies ready for a cook in tomorrow.
I shan't watch the kids land at 06:30 as I'll be busy. It'll be nice to have them back in the country.

[Stanley]

Just had a look and the kids are over the Channel and have started the descent to Heath Row. They are going to be earlier than I thought so I shall watch them land.
05:00. The Eagles have landed. Welcome home Kids. Nice to see you safely back!

[Mags]

The next flight for you to watch will be our Emirates flight into Manchester on 27.05.2024 landing at lunchtime (UK time) xxxx

[Stanley]

Yup! Send me the details before you leave..... Looking forward to seeing you.



On with the reduction of the stock. I started by cutting off the 6" that is turned down and then shovelling all the chips into the bin. Then I reversed the remaining 6" in the chuck, got set up and started turning that down to size. That took over an hour and is where I left it. Now for breakfast!

[Sue]

Morning

I presume you are getting visitors Stanley. Enjoy. We love watching those flight trackers too and used to always do so when Ed and Julia were to and fro ing with their jobs.

Today promises to be a bit better day, I do hope so, yesterday was like December, 7 degrees feeling like 3 with torrential rain. Poor Claire and family are on holiday in Alnwick. I think today is the trip round Alnwick castle, much awaited for by Erin . She loves castles and has done since she was a toddler but this one is Harry Potter castle! .

I have no plans for the day, the weekly trip to the bank is not needed as Bob does not have the train money, since he left early to go out for the curry on Sunday teatime with Claire and Adam. We may walk down anyway. I just have a button hole to do on my new ‘summer!’trousers and its zoom pilates at teatime. Jigsaw number 3 is nearly finished so we have that to do too. Our friends in Stalybridge lent us the jigsaws to keep Bob occupied during his treatment. We did not have time to do them but are now working through them, plus two more they brought last week. We always have jigsaws on the go in France but don’t normally do so here but the awful weather has limited our other activities.

Have a good day all

[Stanley]

I have just mailed Susan Sue and asked her what the programme is. I suspect it will be Friday at the earliest before they get up to Barlick. I am back up and have just put the chicken in to roast. I was going to go to Town Square for veggie shopping but call me a wimp, it started raining, so I decided I can leave that until tomorrow!I've put a load of washing in instead, so I can still feel as though I am doing something.

[Tripps]

on holiday in Alnwick.

I worked just outside Alnwick for a few years in the early 1970's, and the castle then was a teacher training college.
I looked on Streetview recently and found it exactly as I remembered it - then thought why shouldn't it be. I guess little has changed on the main street for centuries.

[PanBiker]

She loves castles and has done since she was a toddler but this one is Harry Potter castle! .

Apparently so did our two granddaughters! When we visited during our bucket and spade holiday up that way, they both wanted to do the broom riding training that was offered. That was until they called out their names on the PA when the event started. Instant shyness and it was then left up to grandma to take up the challenge! I can report that the training went very well and I have photographic evidence of Sally levitating her broom!

[Stanley]

Ian, I think we need to see that piccy!
I shall be in the shed and stood at the lathe again reducing my stock to the correct size for crankshaft making.
After second sleep I shall do veggie shopping in the Town Square ready for a cooking session tomorrow.
I shall order the next chicken etc. from Kathy and I have news this morning that my next lot of castings is on its way.

[Stanley]

Final stages of reduction of stock for the crankshafts. I roughed out the stock I have set up and then reduced it to the final diameter of the crank webs, 2", but I gave it and extra 20 thou because it was hot. The second pic is the three slugs, the two on the left need to be reduced to web diameter, I shall do that tomorrow. I finished up by installing a new tip as the one that has done all the work broke on the final pass. Then I cleaned up the chips on the lathe so I have a clean start tomorrow. Now for breakfast!

[Sue]

Morning

I love those stories of Alnwick and particularly the witches broom yes Tripps its still the same. We holidayed near there a couple of years ago and as a child brought up in Chester le Street in the NE it was regularly on our itinerary when we went out for the day. I was always fascinated by the figures on the castle walls. I never knew it had been a teacher training college but by the 70 s I was living in Salford, Swinton and then Rochdale. The NE is definitely the home of my heart.

We did walk into Rochdale yesterday, a dry walk down, doing a bit of shopping at Dunelm, M&S , Boots and B&M. We decided to go in the newly reopened town hall and have coffee in the temporary cafe there and then wandered round by ourselves rather than have a guided tour . The renovations ate truly magnificent as are the gardens and the paving outside the entrance. The road outside it is no longer , and the whole exterior présentation is worthy of such a magnificent building. When we went back outside it had started to rain and we were pretty wet when we got home.

In the afternoon we finished the jigsaw, I finished my summer trousers, and completed a number of small tasks that kept jumping into my mind. These included stringing up the heron scarer across the pond…watch this space

Today is art at Haslingden, and as yet I have no other plans.

Have a good day all