Tell Us Something Really Trivial About Your Life (Vol 31)
Discussion
Read all about it! 
Bobberoo99 said:
DickyC said:
It's high pressure here at the Towers today.
Is this to do with the steam again???Morning chaps
I have decided to finish the Beetle today.And just who are you calling straight glenrobbo?!?!
Funnily enough, I am also having a day off work today.
Well, it makes a change...
Slopes, your comment doesn't sound optimistic. Fingers crossed it goes OK for you, young man.
fatboy18 said:
1962?
It certainly started in '62 but towards the end of the year so a lot of people refer to it as '63. IIRC that was the year it started snowing on Christmas Day. Where we were, I mean. Very exciting for little lads. Back at school in the New Year rival snowballs were started on the playing field. Every break they were made bigger. The one I helped with swallowed a glove as it was rolled along that didn't re-emerge until Easter. By 'eck it was cold. I can see dad laying on the floor of the bathroom playing a candle flame on the pipes. 
I'll have to ask my brother if he remembers an incident on the way to school in that bad winter. Between Sandhurst where we lived and school in Crowthorne (Broadmoor as it happens - yes, I know) was a 2d bus ride. The road was and may still be called The Switchbacks. It was a bit hilly. One morning that winter the gritters were late. Slippery? You could say that. The cranky old Thames Valley double decker bus ground its way laboriously to the top of the penultimate summit and began its descent. Oh, my word. It was all over the show. This side of the road, sideways, that side, sideways. The driver hung on to it, didn't collide with anything and retained enough momentum to get up the last hill. He deserved a medal but of course we just got off at the bus stop and said nothing.
In the few incidents on public transport I've witnessed subsequently I've made a point of seeking out and thanking the driver, if it's at all possible. On one of my homeward journeys on the High Speed Train out of Paddington i was in the bar as usual as we hurtled along and then the emergency brakes came on. When it had slowed a lot we continued into Slough for the driver and guard to inspect the damage. The guard came on the public address and said a group of youths had thrown something from a bridge - a concrete block was their guess - and it had smashed the windscreen on the driver's side. (At 125mph it didn't need to be a big block to do a lot of damage.) The driver wasn't injured and we would continue to Reading to turn the train round so the damaged screen was at the back for the remainder of the journey. Slow line to Reading then an announcement that there would be a delay before the train could be turned. There is an interesting triangle of track around one the station yards and it would all have to be clear before the manoeuvre. (The train went south west towards Newbury, stopped, reversed west towards Bristol, then east back into the station and was then the other way round.) During the delay I went to find and commiserate with the driver. Expecting a stocky lad with a flat hat and an ashen face reliving the experience to all and sundry, the dinosaur in me was astonished to find a perfectly composed willowy young lady on a mobile to the signal box. It had startled her enough to commence the emergency braking but she was okay now, thanks. I was amazed.
Dinosaur.
In the few incidents on public transport I've witnessed subsequently I've made a point of seeking out and thanking the driver, if it's at all possible. On one of my homeward journeys on the High Speed Train out of Paddington i was in the bar as usual as we hurtled along and then the emergency brakes came on. When it had slowed a lot we continued into Slough for the driver and guard to inspect the damage. The guard came on the public address and said a group of youths had thrown something from a bridge - a concrete block was their guess - and it had smashed the windscreen on the driver's side. (At 125mph it didn't need to be a big block to do a lot of damage.) The driver wasn't injured and we would continue to Reading to turn the train round so the damaged screen was at the back for the remainder of the journey. Slow line to Reading then an announcement that there would be a delay before the train could be turned. There is an interesting triangle of track around one the station yards and it would all have to be clear before the manoeuvre. (The train went south west towards Newbury, stopped, reversed west towards Bristol, then east back into the station and was then the other way round.) During the delay I went to find and commiserate with the driver. Expecting a stocky lad with a flat hat and an ashen face reliving the experience to all and sundry, the dinosaur in me was astonished to find a perfectly composed willowy young lady on a mobile to the signal box. It had startled her enough to commence the emergency braking but she was okay now, thanks. I was amazed.
Dinosaur.
DickyC said:
I'll have to ask my brother if he remembers an incident on the way to school in that bad winter. Between Sandhurst where we lived and school in Crowthorne (Broadmoor as it happens - yes, I know) was a 2d bus ride. The road was and may still be called The Switchbacks. It was a bit hilly. One morning that winter the gritters were late. Slippery? You could say that. The cranky old Thames Valley double decker bus ground its way laboriously to the top of the penultimate summit and began its descent. Oh, my word. It was all over the show. This side of the road, sideways, that side, sideways. The driver hung on to it, didn't collide with anything and retained enough momentum to get up the last hill. He deserved a medal but of course we just got off at the bus stop and said nothing.
In the few incidents on public transport I've witnessed subsequently I've made a point of seeking out and thanking the driver, if it's at all possible. On one of my homeward journeys on the High Speed Train out of Paddington i was in the bar as usual as we hurtled along and then the emergency brakes came on. When it had slowed a lot we continued into Slough for the driver and guard to inspect the damage. The guard came on the public address and said a group of youths had thrown something from a bridge - a concrete block was their guess - and it had smashed the windscreen on the driver's side. (At 125mph it didn't need to be a big block to do a lot of damage.) The driver wasn't injured and we would continue to Reading to turn the train round so the damaged screen was at the back for the remainder of the journey. Slow line to Reading then an announcement that there would be a delay before the train could be turned. There is an interesting triangle of track around one the station yards and it would all have to be clear before the manoeuvre. (The train went south west towards Newbury, stopped, reversed west towards Bristol, then east back into the station and was then the other way round.) During the delay I went to find and commiserate with the driver. Expecting a stocky lad with a flat hat and an ashen face reliving the experience to all and sundry, the dinosaur in me was astonished to find a perfectly composed willowy young lady on a mobile to the signal box. It had startled her enough to commence the emergency braking but she was okay now, thanks. I was amazed.
Dinosaur.
Ahhh yes, i remember the 125 HST replacing the Deltic as the primary choice of power for express train.In the few incidents on public transport I've witnessed subsequently I've made a point of seeking out and thanking the driver, if it's at all possible. On one of my homeward journeys on the High Speed Train out of Paddington i was in the bar as usual as we hurtled along and then the emergency brakes came on. When it had slowed a lot we continued into Slough for the driver and guard to inspect the damage. The guard came on the public address and said a group of youths had thrown something from a bridge - a concrete block was their guess - and it had smashed the windscreen on the driver's side. (At 125mph it didn't need to be a big block to do a lot of damage.) The driver wasn't injured and we would continue to Reading to turn the train round so the damaged screen was at the back for the remainder of the journey. Slow line to Reading then an announcement that there would be a delay before the train could be turned. There is an interesting triangle of track around one the station yards and it would all have to be clear before the manoeuvre. (The train went south west towards Newbury, stopped, reversed west towards Bristol, then east back into the station and was then the other way round.) During the delay I went to find and commiserate with the driver. Expecting a stocky lad with a flat hat and an ashen face reliving the experience to all and sundry, the dinosaur in me was astonished to find a perfectly composed willowy young lady on a mobile to the signal box. It had startled her enough to commence the emergency braking but she was okay now, thanks. I was amazed.
Dinosaur.
Isn’t it funny, those who liked trains lamented the loss of the Deltic for these ‘plastic trains’ and are now lamenting the lack of HST 125’s.
Fickle creatures humans
DickyC said:
I'll have to ask my brother if he remembers an incident on the way to school in that bad winter. Between Sandhurst where we lived and school in Crowthorne (Broadmoor as it happens - yes, I know) was a 2d bus ride. The road was and may still be called The Switchbacks. It was a bit hilly. One morning that winter the gritters were late. Slippery? You could say that. The cranky old Thames Valley double decker bus ground its way laboriously to the top of the penultimate summit and began its descent. Oh, my word. It was all over the show. This side of the road, sideways, that side, sideways. The driver hung on to it, didn't collide with anything and retained enough momentum to get up the last hill. He deserved a medal but of course we just got off at the bus stop and said nothing.
In the few incidents on public transport I've witnessed subsequently I've made a point of seeking out and thanking the driver, if it's at all possible. On one of my homeward journeys on the High Speed Train out of Paddington i was in the bar as usual as we hurtled along and then the emergency brakes came on. When it had slowed a lot we continued into Slough for the driver and guard to inspect the damage. The guard came on the public address and said a group of youths had thrown something from a bridge - a concrete block was their guess - and it had smashed the windscreen on the driver's side. (At 125mph it didn't need to be a big block to do a lot of damage.) The driver wasn't injured and we would continue to Reading to turn the train round so the damaged screen was at the back for the remainder of the journey. Slow line to Reading then an announcement that there would be a delay before the train could be turned. There is an interesting triangle of track around one the station yards and it would all have to be clear before the manoeuvre. (The train went south west towards Newbury, stopped, reversed west towards Bristol, then east back into the station and was then the other way round.) During the delay I went to find and commiserate with the driver. Expecting a stocky lad with a flat hat and an ashen face reliving the experience to all and sundry, the dinosaur in me was astonished to find a perfectly composed willowy young lady on a mobile to the signal box. It had startled her enough to commence the emergency braking but she was okay now, thanks. I was amazed.
Dinosaur.
Ahem, point of order Mr.Dicky sir...! Relief line to Reading man, it's the blessed Relief line to Reading!! My Western Region sensibilities (I was at Old Oak in the '80s see) will not allow me to let this pass, unless you happen to cross my palm with a nominal amount of Jaffa Cakes, Rich Tea Suggestives or a nice packet of Tiffin.In the few incidents on public transport I've witnessed subsequently I've made a point of seeking out and thanking the driver, if it's at all possible. On one of my homeward journeys on the High Speed Train out of Paddington i was in the bar as usual as we hurtled along and then the emergency brakes came on. When it had slowed a lot we continued into Slough for the driver and guard to inspect the damage. The guard came on the public address and said a group of youths had thrown something from a bridge - a concrete block was their guess - and it had smashed the windscreen on the driver's side. (At 125mph it didn't need to be a big block to do a lot of damage.) The driver wasn't injured and we would continue to Reading to turn the train round so the damaged screen was at the back for the remainder of the journey. Slow line to Reading then an announcement that there would be a delay before the train could be turned. There is an interesting triangle of track around one the station yards and it would all have to be clear before the manoeuvre. (The train went south west towards Newbury, stopped, reversed west towards Bristol, then east back into the station and was then the other way round.) During the delay I went to find and commiserate with the driver. Expecting a stocky lad with a flat hat and an ashen face reliving the experience to all and sundry, the dinosaur in me was astonished to find a perfectly composed willowy young lady on a mobile to the signal box. It had startled her enough to commence the emergency braking but she was okay now, thanks. I was amazed.
Dinosaur.
Consider yourself Form One'd young man
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