Say hi!

Well done Breakage… if the forum speed remains as it is for my last post in my Newcastle Emlyn thread this morning I will start posting more regularly. It was back to the speeds that I find workable.
Thank you for perservering, onwards and upwards.

A long-overdue check-in from me.  

The site dropped off my radar for a time and I have been away doing other things.  Modelling catch-ups have been posted in the layout area.  But there is much more to report.  

Firstly I have to get Sharon - Dr. SWMBO - to and from her train twice a week.  She continues her career at Kew Gardens but is now allowed to work from home, in deepest Cornwall, two day a week.  So on Monday afternoons I drop her in Penzance and collect her on Thursday evenings.  It's a five -hour trip but she uses some of that as work time.  It's not always the most reliable of trips as she has been entitled to claim Delay Repay compensation (for arriving more than 15 minutes late) on 39 out of 48 trips so far.  Six have been over an hour late which triggers a 100% refund; on one occasion she arrived at Penzance not at the expected 22.24 but at 02.32 the next morning over four hours late!!!

Second.  I am now a fully qualified watch-keeper with National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) at Cape Cornwall watch.  We are there to keep eyes and ears on the coast, inshore waters and some of the busiest shipping lanes around Lands End.  I was on my assessment when I spotted a catamaran seemingly in difficulty and hugging the rocky shoreline in near-zero visibility due to thick fog.  We tried to make radio contact but to no avail.  She changed course at the last moment - probably when the skipper spotted white water off the bow underwear-changing distance ahead.   More here: Cape Cornwall - QAVS | National Coastwatch Institution and we're also on Facebook under NCI Cape Cornwall

Third.  The book.  Not the Penhayle Bay book which remains part-written on the back-burner of my life but one produced to record the history of the Southern Railway / BR Southern Region unique 2-character headcode system.  First appearing in 1911 this will cease to be seen on trains after next year so it is time to record it in full.  Two more books are also part-written, one is another railway title with the other being a compilation of experience and photos along the 630-mile South West Coast Path.

They said retirement would be busy.  They were right!  

Oh - and copied from me if anyone's interested.  Drop me a PM through the site.  Published on 1st June  


The back cover even includes a scene from a familiar layout!!!