Just seen Varley eating a bag of chips on Peel seafront, he was wearing flipflops with socks! this afternoon he is heading to the pound shop to buy a new baccy tin.

C/W knotted hankie.

And rolled up trousers.

We don't have any Poundshops. We do have a Dealz, an emporium displaying the bad spelling endemic in enemy occupied Hibernia. It replaced Woollies which I understand was transported to the colonies for the sin of having unadventurous bankers.

My dear chap you're living in a Colony. British Irish Sea Territory, be careful or youse all will be deported to Mauritius. Uncle Sam wants a big Aircraft Carrier. Yo Sunak.

You chaps are good with tarmac. I am sure you could find a bothie free stretch without bumps that would suit them well enough. After all, the continental cousins all claim Hibernian connections on one side of the blanket or another.

(On second thoughts a PX might go down very well).

The PX is doing a roaring trade in Diego Garcia but few local Chagossians avail of it. And so it will be with the poor wretches from Mona.

Have not seen Varley lately, a friend of his tells me that he is making plans for a winter holiday sprout picking in Lincolnshire, good luck with that.

If there were no pickers for this king of the brassicas then I would be there in a trice. Fortunately there are still sufficient pickers visiting by boat to be my proxies.

Not so good today had to pick my own broad beans, potatoes and mint - all in the rain. I wonder if Sparkie would lend my Faversham for the weekends. He could iron the papers for me too. I do miss staff when they're off.

Eyup varley, did you know that Ken Dod's dog's dead.

Had a day out last weekend and went to the Bray Air Show and was glad that I braved the crowds, the chip vans and children letting their 99's drip over my best Nike's. All the usual suspects were in the air and for once the Red Arrows were not the star of the show, this year the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight upstaged them. A Lancaster Bomber flanked by a Spitfire and a Hurricane had the spectators spellbound and everyone went home happy.
And anyways this is a Bank Holiday in good old Rep Ireland and our brave boys in green whipped the Eyeties last night in a lacklustre match in the Aviva (really Landsdown Road).

'... A Lancaster Bomber flanked by a Spitfire and a Hurricane had the spectators spellbound and everyone went home happy. ...'

Sticking with the up and downers I see.

Allo mon braves for it is I returned from the wilds of Harland and Bluff to annoy you all once again. Sad to say my sojourn to the Isle of Man didn't result in a poke 'o chips or some Manx kippers from Varley but then he always was a miserable sod to us lower deck minions. I nor with some surprise ES has decamped to Tibet, bet that came as a surprise to the Dali Lama, an uncouth and uncivilised injuneer arriving unannounced, no doubt that tightened his nuts. Meanwhile Sir William bravely soldiers on keeping the scurvy band of brigands that pass for the crew in order. Personally I'll just stick with Eric and Squeek, at least with then a boot up the arse works wonders. I will be back aboard until some other bit falls off so in the meantine if you require any injuneering services Yellow Pages is a good place to start. Slante one and all.

YM it was an Air Show! At a railway open day you don't expect to see a combined harvester.

Aye indeed, me and Davy Lama had a right old chinwag about all his horses and their odds for the Derby, Ascot Gold Cup and Grand National, a genuine son of the turf. His main preoccupation is whether to stick with the orange bed sheet or to get a set of tweeds and Hunter wellies. Tibet is a back packers paradise food and drink are cheap but the goat curry was always a bit scraggy similar to Chef Varleys offerings.

Glad to have you back aboard Tmac. Tots up in the pAX bar later.

How do you think harvesters reproduce then?

Our goat's although free range (or to some should be in-range) might be a bit stringy. My llama dal, though, to pray for.

There is a new dunk and dip hamster stall in Dublin, mind the little bastards dont nip you before you dunk in the hot fat.

Nae problem, I use my 7llb shifter and play "wack-a-mole" on them, great fun but harder to do the more nissed you get. :chuckle:

Thank you kindly Sir William, glad to be home again. At least you put your hand in your pocket to welcome me back unlike some I could mention. :mad::yawn:

You visit here without so much as a by-your-leave, fail to pay the manorial toll or signing the visitors book and you expect the big hello (or should that be the small goodbye). See anything you liked?

Tmax is welcome onboard any ship of mine, anytime.

See anything you liked? Well we both saw you and neither of us liked you, in truth we took an instant dislike to the broad waisted, narrow minded moaning Mona.
Top Tip, don't mess with the Black Gang.

I can assure you my head is just as fat as at my equator.

(How can I be narrow minded, anyway. I have heathen Hibernians amongst my correspondents?)

Heathen Hibernians 2 : 1 Christian Hearts

I understand the ratio WRT lions was worse.

Oh I am shocked at the remarks made to the finest Electrical officer afloat.

He mentions "Heathen Hibernians" not too sure what they are. same as Bog Trotters are they?.

I am not sure that age would not impeded both from rising to a trot (in the un-Vindaloo meaning of the word). As to geography and scripture I have to admit failing both said O levels.

Indeed BB, if I required a lamp changing or a plug wiring Lecky V would be my first port of call. I can vouch that Texaco Overseas Tankship were fine judges of latent talent and they soon copped on that V (PMG 2) had a brain uncluttered by scripture and was ripe for further Complex Numbers and Triangles.

No PMG - MPT General plus a bit of proper teach'd stuff from Saudi Shields rather later. I thought triangles were your metier: either fuel, oxygen and heat or suck, squeeze, bang.

Light bulbs can be interesting too. Why, for instance, did the breaking open circuit of the filament often lead to the operation of the short circuit protection? (I only think I know the answer and haven't seen it writ by the ancients of our order.

I don 't know that Overtuk was any better at finding something useful for us to do with those new 'tools' with which supersparkdome had endowed us. The essential one (not always a feature of other other mothers) was an appreciation of reactive power. Not so necessary, perhaps, for geeking with Ametek doppler logs or Hokushin loggers (the latter only if leckie permitted). It was more an education of what could be done with the few enthusiasts of the brethren when in a position to do the doing.

You could do electrickery by complex numbers or by triangles. I could never get the hang of the complex numbers (or matrices either) so down the graphical road I merrily trod. I passed all my exams without understanding one jot of electrical theory beyond Ohms Law but I relished all the practical work and flourished until Allen-Bradley buggered things up. Progress my arse.

I learned Algebra at skool, never understood why as I never had any intention of going there. :yawn:

In Harland and Bluff anything found black and charred hanging from the deckhead was an Alextrician (failed) :jester:

I have nothing to do with Eletrickery. Shocking stuff. Leave it to those who understand it.

skool....i only went mondays (rice pudding) and fridays (fish).

An illiterate Chinese Catholic from Ruby's Chop Suey.

But a good source of charcol during the bbq season (1 week in August).

A sigh. Although if one of relief or regret I cannot yet tell. SiL and a lady family friend over for 10 days. I will give the lamp a swing again in a day or two once I have found the tidied-up items that otherwise will sink into oblivion only to be discovered by the diligent of archeological bent.

Outside tab-nabs Sunday with croquet went well (as in my team won) but none of that Bbq stuff. Strictlt food cooked inside-outside. Problem with Bbq, in addition to the famous arctic sausage is that Fortnums no longer deliver here and so must rely on local twigs, leaves, ant droppings etc with which to season the botulismal sandwiches.

We have discovered new and amazing fun with the Waze lameduckware. Lady guest insisted on using this when visiting a friend in Ballasala. As soon as this told us to leave the new Castletown road at the B&Q roundabout (as was there are two more nearer to the shop now) and head for Foxdale I suspected fowl play (as in very not as crows fly play). I still cannot be sure of where we went but I think we finally got sight of Port StMary after circling Slieu Whallian when I called a halt to the experiment and altered course to Ballasala using Castletown as a a landmark then in sight. Great fun. An hour to take a 20 minute run.

So much did we enjoy the experience that when we set out for Castle Rushen the following day we let the machine have its head once more. Apart from a diversion to Union Mills it was not quite as bad the second time.

In case you think I am going to let those epithets float by I know that story as the wire dangling black and encrispenned unfortunate being a specifically Irish electrician (Karma would dictate that I use only ELCB stuffed stuff for a day or two).

Watched a prog on BBC last evening about the Seaside village of Laxey, much more to it than meets the eye. Shan't complain about the licence fee for at least a month.

We seem to have reserved our resources for celebrating only one industrial archeology, mining and the still working heritage transport (alas no longer with any of it's original power houses nor even its working mercury arc rectifiers. I am more interested in that around 'living' which we seem happy to let pass away uncelebrated.

For instance the Woodbourne had a gas lighting engine claiming it to be the first hotel to by lit by electrickery (I met an ancient in hospital who had lived there and remembered it running). While Joyce Cottier had the pub one was allowed into the cellars to view it - Intact saving the belt and what was probably its Barnetts ignition cock. Now a managed pub I went recently to find no trace of it.

We did, for the first time, 'do' the Gaiety Saturday tour last weekend. The second generation diesel generator was still there (although the original gas engine unfortunately not) as was a three leg mercury-arc rectifier.

There might still be the mechanical and battery plant at the Nunnery although I know that Bob Sangster had offered to give it to his pilot.

(Moan, moan, moan).

Keep a good eye on the Laxey Wheel, it has a fairly high scrap value.

Isay keep an eye on the Dubs they will try and give you a goldfish for it. Refuse the offer and they will upgrade it to a balloon.......Ionce knew a sheep farmer called Jef who moved to Dublin, we used to call him mutton Jef.

Don't even think of that. The greens here have their forks set on it being our part of hydro contribution.

(I couldn't hear that last bit of Rusty's, he'll have to speak-up).