Misty Morning

Looked out and the mist was just beginning to clear a little. Took the camera and went down to the Blind Yeo in Ken Road.

                                Noticed someone walking the dog

They were on the river path and showed up in the gap between the shrubbery. Took several pix this was the best of them. I didn't want too much detail just the suggestion of the figure so kept the focus short; just the overhanging leaves.

                                The sun was burning off the mist.

I wanted to get a pic showing the sun reflected 

in the water. Sun was too powerful so had to treat in Adobe Photoshop. 

                                     Went across the road.

The mist over the Chanel was still strong but was retreating rapidly over the land. Packed in and went back up for breakfast. Not too happy with the results but better than none at all.

Will maybe try it again. Perhaps.

Is it a form of Madness?

I've said it before and no doubt will say it again. This morning I went out to Yatton. I was joined at the farm crossing on Wemberham Lane by another 10 males at least.

What were we there for? The Duchess of Sutherland.

Not in person but represented by a Steam Locomotive.

                                 Steaming out from Yatton station.

Cameras were clicking, videos were recording.

She was blowing smoke as she left Yatton.

That was the main reason I went down Wemberham Lane. Catching her coming into the station she was more or less free wheeling.

          The extra lines at the cattle crossing give a slightly wider angle.

We; the photographers, had hung around for over half an hour to get our pictures. 20 seconds of nostalgia from days that have long gone. Perhaps a little longer for the video makers.

Long live the Duchess - Next week with luck, it will be Princess Elizabeth. No it's going to be Braunton running as Lord Dowding.

So I ask again - Is it a mild form of madness?

Harmless maybe, but nevertheless, although our hobby harms no-one are we all round the twist?

Bumble Bees, Butterflies & Hover Flies

The only butterflies I've seen this year have been Cabbage Whites. Bumble Bees? yes a couple fluttering round the Sweet Pea flowers and the Honeysuckle vines.

Hover Flies none at all except for an unfortunate one I found dead in the car.

I think of the Epistrophe species

Not too sure but I am waiting for identification from the Hover Fly Group on Flickr

One taken upside down because of legs.

As the fly was only 15mm long I hesitated to try to open the legs or to turn the wing to balance and give a full picture of the 'carcase'.
Now I am hopefully waiting to see if I get a reply from the Hoverfly Group to positively track it down.

There were not very many last year because of the stack of workshop items in front of the border. That also killed off a section of the Cotoneaster and prevented it from flowering. It was maybe one of the reasons there weren't many insect visitors.

Hopefully next year will see a return of honey bees and the rest to sup - or should I have put suck - on the flowers.
Bees even turned up before the flowers opened and inserted their probes down into to the buds to have a feed.

Hammer and Chisel work

There are times when you have to leave the Screwdriver and Spanner and turn to the Hammer & Chisel.

This was one of them. 

I had just squirted WD40 into the lock mechanism of the Reliant Rebel and freed the offside door fitting to save having to wind down the window and work the lock from outside when the nearside lock decided to go on strike.

WD40 again but it didn't work this time. It was not the fitting at the end of the line but the latch lever itself.

Right; unsnap the door lining and look at the situation. Bugger the panel surrounding the lever was pop-riveted as well as screwed on.

Think, think, think, think.

The connecting rod was working so it was attached. Therefore it was the mechanism stiffened up. WD40 must get to it somehow.

Out with my drill. Don't drill immediately above the fitting the connecting rod is there. Drill to one side.

 The joys of working on ancient vehicles.

Small hole was drilled and then enlarged by putting a bigger drill in and moving it sideways to oval the hole.

WD40 was brought into play with the plastic tube inserted pointing sideways. A couple of squirts and all was working again. Hooray for WD40. 

Re-assemble; BUGGER where is the lever setting screw? Lost. BSF thread; all I have is metric and the heads are too large in any case. Message to Joe Mason. Screw will arrive by post.

All is well until the next time. And there is always a next time. But at least I can now lock the nearside door.

You can't win 'em all

Sometimes you win a line of more than you could think.

I should have known that it would not last.

The return time of the Duchess of Sutherland from Bishops Lydeard was posted late.

It would have gone through Yatton around 12 in the morning (dinnertime) I had an appointment with the Podiatrist at 12. 

She escaped me.

However I did get shots of her going down in the first place. Better some than none.

So; I was lucky.

Tornado had a stopper put on her in the middle of the week. Some little fault that didn't pass inspection.

She was due to haul the Torbay Express on Sunday - the question was Will she? Won't she? 
The answer Wait and see.

After the disappointment over the Par Express I hesitated whether to go out to Yatton Sunday morning.

Tornado enters Yatton Station.

The morning was damp and gave the best of steam and smoke as she entered the station.

                               Luck was - for once - with me.

She badgered her way through with a very brief toot of her whistle.

For once luck was favouring me.

Now I must hope and pray for the Duchess' return with her support coach on Monday.

A crying shame.

Saw on UK Steam info that the Duchess of Sutherland would not be hauling the Royal Duchy railway outing from Bristol but from Taunton and back again.

However on Loco Movements she was coming down to Taunton on Saturday with her support coach.

                              Passing under the road brudge at Yatton.

Went out to  Yatton early on Saturday morning having learnt my lesson when the Nunney Castle went through almost half an hour before she was scheduled. 

                                 Running though the station.

Sure eniough she was early and taking her time Green livery and not like her when she ran through at Parkway with the authentic LMS colours a few years back.

                                 A much nicer appearance I reckon.

I can remember how I teased my neighbour. I said casually "I went up to see the Duchess of Sutherland in the week"

"Did she talk to you" I was asked.

"No" I replied  "but I was permitted to take a picture of her"

"I would love to see her" she said

So I showed her the picture. 

"A steam train" she said, "I should have realised there was a catch in it".

What a surprise

I was very much surprised to find how many of my blog accesses had come from Russia over the last week.

Entry                        Pageviews

Russia                             1025

United Kingdom                   98

United States                       42

Ireland                                 14

Germany                               9

Argentina                               2

France                                   2

Ukraine                                  2

United Arab Emirates            1

Australia                                1

 Why I don't know. There are very few comments or remarks posted on the blog sections, so I don't get any real chance of finding out.