firbeck
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Posts posted by firbeck
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I found the map showing all the bombs dropped on Nottingham during WW2, it's quite interesting, but tragic when you study it:-
I didn't realise how close they got to the Council House, after Vic station I reckon.
They must have got confused and thought that Notts would be the football power post war.
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[. I usually have peasant chats with these poor, ripped off graduates in Bombay, sorry Mumbai, lets get the name right, whatever it means. ]
Freudian slip there methinks !!!!!!
OOPS!!!
On my last escapade the nice British lady asked me whether I had been treated rudely by Ventrakar Singh or Gungha Din, I couldn't stop laughing, nor could she.
It's very sad though, because these people are highly qualified graduates who are being exploited themselves, if you ever get the chance to have a chat with some of them, they're not all hideous, it's quite sad and enlightning at the same time, they get promised careers in the UK by the evil conglomerates that employ them, I feel sorry for them, they must have to put up with a lot of insults from a country on the other side of the world, of which they know little about.
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just think of the confusion the actor Marion Morrison could have caused!
No problem, just ridden into the studio with all guns blazing, dressed as Calamity Jane.
Don't worry, it's all being PC, we should be used to it by now, it could be different if actors were called actresses though, that might raise a few eyebrows, my thoughts have suddenly wandered to John Wayne, sorry Marion, starring in 'Brokeback Mountain', that could have been interesting.
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Thanks for cleaning him up for me Beefsteak, I'll have to sort some of these pics out myself.
Back to less aggressive scenes, we found out why Mr Robin has such a voracious appetite, he has another mate and a nest in a conifer in the front garden, he must be of the Islamic variety.
Here he is in the kitchen yesterday afternoon:-
Robin and Scooby Doo trying to eat the same thing:-
Swans are gracefull birds, unfortunately our local swan is very lonely and swims up and down looking very neglected, I'm waiting for the local council to take appropriate action and send down a crowd of school kids to build him/her a nest.
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Don't start me off, try and sort things out with British Gas. I usually have peasant chats with these poor, ripped off graduates in Bombay, sorry Mumbai, lets get the name right, whatever it means.
British Gas overseas operatives are complete liars and cheats, watching their backs, so are BG, try and e-mail them with their artificial address. It took a lot of whingeing and complaining to end up with a real British person who sorted out the enquiry straight away.
Perhaps if everyone in the country said b@ll@cks to overseas call operators, who are doing us out of jobs and themselves no favours, then something would be done about it.
I'm refusing to deal with them anymore, there's always an alternative line of enquiry in this country if you can put up with finding it, if everyone did the same, refused to deal with them and made life unpleasant for the companies that made us have to put up with this, perhaps they'd come to their corporate senses and do something about it.
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We had Lymns at Arleston Drive Wollaton attend to my dad when he died. I thought they were fantastic, so was the Crem at Bramcote. I put his favourite pipe on top of the coffin for the service and it was discretely given back to me afterwards. The chap from the crem at Bramcote was so pleasant and distributed the ashes in a perfect heart shape, as close to one of our favourite walks up Hemlock Stone as possible, no odd bits to be seen and considering what the old man had shoved into his teeth as far as his home made fillings were concerned, I'm surprised that the ash spreader actually worked.
I'm going to get my missus to chisel out my gold fillings immediately after I snuff it, I don't want the ghouls at the new crem up the road to flog em on Braintree market.
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Our Robin chicks decided to quit the nest yesterday, what a nightmare for all concerned.
The first we knew about it was when poor Scooby Doo wandered up the garden to innocently investigate the latest molehill and ended up being dive bombed by the irate and very brave parents, they couldn't remember that he's the one that keeps the cats at bay and lets them walk in front of his nose.
We're not sure how many chicks, possibly two or three, but one got stuck behind a fence post and we had to leave a trail of wire worms for the parents to find it.
Things got to the point where we had to coach the chick into the bushes, while giving the parents wire worms. The cheeky buggers were then quite happy to fly into the kitchen and sit on the box of worms or next to it by the sink and give it an expectant look, Robins are really remarkable birds, they keep flying up to the window and looking in, I've already given them some grubs while writing this. A couple of starlings went for the chick yesterday evening but Scooby Doo chased them off, I think he's been forgiven.
What concerned us that the chick ended up near the pond, we had a baby Blue Tit drown last year so we are keeping watch, it's still in a prickly bush down there so safe from cats.
Here's dad trying to find his chick yesterday:-
Here you are, some nice wire worms from our pals:-
Dangerously close to the waters edge last night:-
I've mentioned before that we have a so called Council run conservation area at the end of our garden, thousands of pounds have been spent on creating a load of neglected, bodged cr@p.
I e-mailed the chairman last week to offer my services to help out on a volunteer basis as no-one seems to have a clue. I found their web site which was so full of self congratulatory glorification and lies, that I e-mailed the LA environment officer concerned, who must have got her qualifications in waste disposal and demolition. No reply as yet, not surprising really, they think they can do what they want with public money and don't like it when someone with a bit of knowledge complains.
I'm not letting it rest, if they aren't prepared to deal with it, then I'm sure that BBC East or Anglia TV will be interested, it's not just me, all my neighbours think it's pathetic as well.
Their latest crazy scheme is to employ all the local school kids to make otter nests out of plywood and shove them down the river then carry out constant monitoring, imagine that, I reckon every otter in the UK will be flocking to the Blackwater in Braintree for a good laugh, I wonder whether any of these good LA people have ever seen or understand the nature of otters, screwing up the riverbank as they have done recently won't help either. Funny, otters appeared down here before our good council decided to make it into an official nature reserve, they haven't been seen since, what a surprise.
Incidentally, no cuckoos yet and no swallows, saw a swift yesterday but he didn't hang about for long, no reed buntings, corn buntings, yellow hammers, nuthatches, or willow and reed warblers, funny, they were all here before the council took control.
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Heres one I found....a bit clearer too.
Interesting, it's going in the opposite direction to the ones you first showed, the type of carriage behind it gives it away.
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Rob
The 'Earl' was built in 1936, originally named Barbury Castle, renamed in 1937, withdrawn in 1962 ending up in Barry. Used as a spares source for Clun Castle at Tyseley then restored to working order over a number of years until it emerged last October.
Looks nice with the Collet tender.
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Some Brit action shots:-
Euston bound express at Lancaster, Xmas 1966:-
Royal Scot relief, Carnforth Xmas 1966:-
Barrow-Euston at Carnforth, 1966, 70027 Rising Star, the famous 'Brief Encounter' Buffet room is just to the right:-
Leaving on the same train, shortly before I flooded out the carriage when the loco picked up water from Hest Bank troughs:-
70026 Polar Star leaving Lancaster and a cold wet day:-
I bet your're glad I can't publish my slides.
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On a trip around the sheds of the North West, this is the original Tornado at Warrington in 1964, note how some Brits have handrails on their smoke deflectors and others have'nt, this was due to an incident on the Western Region caused by poor visibility, some had their rails removed, others didn't:-
Another scene at Warrington, this time taken from a moving train on the way up to Lancaster for Xmas 1966, can't get the number of this one:-
I took a lot of pics up in the Lancaster area during the end of steam, many on colour slides, some at Carnforth sheds:-
Thomas Hardy:-
Shooting Star:-
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Thats what they are, 'Rail cars', thats what I still call 'em, but then I'm rapidly approaching 60, at least my age has allowed me to photograph scenes like these:-
Groans as Firbeck delves into the archives once again.
Todays special is Britannias, Standard Pacifics of which 70013 Oliver Cromwell is one and has the distinction of being the last Pacific to remain in operation at the official end of BR steam in 1968.
This picture was taken my one of my brothers mates, however it is Western Star, the first Brit I remember seeing, sitting gleaming at Bristol in 1956 when we were off on our hols to Blue Anchor Bay:-
We went spotting at Grantham one day in 1963 and to our amazement 70000 Britannia came in on a parcels train, it spent most of it's brief stay with a cab full of kids, including me:-
I saw it a few years later at Crewe sheds, still retaining it's nameplate but looking a bit sad with a bent smoke deflector:-
Another one taken at Crewe, Brit 70049, Solway Firth, the last one to be, briefly, named, 70047 never did get a name:-
On familiar ground now, this is our old favourite, 'Iron Duke' taken at Annesley in 1964:-
They would crop up in all sorts of places, Shooting Star at Burton apon Trent sheds, 1964:-
Or a rare Scottish Brit, Firth of Forth, next to the coaling tower at Toton in the same year:-
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Thanks Ashley.
Plantfitt
Shouldn't someone have informed the fire brigade that the Brit wasn't coming, I bet they weren't impressed.
See the 'Steam' site for some old Brit pics.
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Looks alright to me matey, it must have been getting pretty dark as well.
Trouble is, if you'd been on the other side of the tracks you wouldn't have got much light.
Was it going fast, how did you get over the fence, whereabouts in Ilson was it, I don't recognise the spot, questions, questions.......
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Cheers for that, any pictures welcome.
The problem with 70013 was caused by a leak around the 'mudhole', whatever that is. It had been kept in light steam since thursday, then the fault was found yesterday, apparently minor, but the loco had to be cooled, fixed and steamed up again and they didn't have time.
Look on the 70013 website, some good pics from the cab from thursday, I liked the fire brigade tanker filling it up at Colchester, I wish I'd gone there now to see that.
I'll publish some of my 60's pics of Brits in the morning when I have time to scan, all sorts of locations from Annesley to Carnforth.
I hope Fynger enjoys seeing the Castle in half an hour, meanwhile here's one of my old pics of the only time I saw a Castle at Trent Junction, Clun Castle in 1965:-
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URGENT
If you can read this Plantfitt, I've heard that 70013 is unable to run today and has been replaced by a diesel, perhaps the Pykies stole it's copper pipework.
Thought I'd let you know in case you were going out your way to see it.
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Did 138 ever have an airframe to mess about with on their premises.
An old school mate was a member of the squadron in the 60's, Pip Ryland, anyone know him, I recall him having an air experience flight in a Chipmunk and flying round our school, I presume the 'Chippie' came from Newton
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Sounds like between us we've seen all the species of butterflies that the doom and gloom merchants claim to have been destroyed by global warming, funny that, butterfly populations as a whole are supposed to be down by a massive percentage, I haven't noticed a problem, has anyone else.
I heard today that it was snowing in Ipswich, could it have something to do with Roy Keane.
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Blooming hot in Essex mate, I've just taken the dog for a walk down the river and we've both had a pleasant hour crashed out on the bank admiring the wonders of the British weather, wildlife and countryside.
Incidentally, I heard in the media that Orange Tip butterflies had become almost extinct in this country, I can only assume that they've all moved here, there's two flying around my garden as I write this, and I've seen so many already, along with the allegedly rare Comma butterflies. I can only assume that these so called official wild life experts live in inner city areas or get ridiculous grants like our local authority morons and just tell us about what they want us to see or otherwise, in order to protect their jobs.
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why didn't the aussies use their own navy? or were they fishing that day
Be carefull Ashley, that could be construed as a reference to the exploits of HMAS Sydney, you know, the contemporary Aussie 7000 ton, 8 x 6inch armed naval cruiser, sunk with all hands by a worn out, lightly armed German merchant ship in Aussie waters.
A terrible state of affairs, but perhaps it had something to do with starting off the Aussie obsession of deciding to attempt to swim better than anyone else.
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Following on from that first comment, my computer has been operating perfectly since I got rid of Google Chrome. Yesterday day it took me 2 hours to get the thing to work, so far this morning, everything has gone like clockwork, I shall contact Google again to find out what has happened, they obviously have a problem with it.
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A bit of a disaster last night.
I went to Witham station at about 19:00 and found the place packed with several hundred people waiting for the Brits return, apparently Anglia News at 6:00 had run quite a big feature on the train and half the population of Essex had decided to turn up.
I positioned my self on the platform slope on the up line facing east with a perfect view of the loop lines entry into the station. Unfortunately, there was a problem, by coincidence, or was it, thieves, no doubt Pykey scum, had stolen copper signal cable at Marks Tey near Colchester, all up and down trains were subject to massive delay.
Commuter trains from London were qeueing for miles, it was like a scene from the old days when the coal trains going into Toton were backed up past Trowell Junction:-
First stop Colchester, stuck at Witham.
By now it was getting very dark. The station staff at Witham were very helpful though, making constant announcements, mainly about the Brit's progress, which must have p@ssed off the regular travellers, and even coming round to see if everyone was ok, 100% commendation to a much maligned station staff.
The people around me were very friendly and not keen types, I was telling them tales of Brits from the old days, they didn't believe me at first, I was flattered to realise that they didn't realise how ancient I actually am!!
Eventually a puff of smoke in the distance and everyone got excited, at which point the station inspector appeared and said that due to it being half an hour late, it wasn't going to stop and suggested we kept well away from the edge of the platform. He was right, the driver really wound it up and I cr@pped myself as it got closer, funny how when you were a kid, those A4's hurtling through Grantham were good fun, when you've accepted your mortality, sitting a couple of feet away from that high speed roaring monster is a little bit worrying:-
Did yer like that!!
Sorry about the quality again, but it was a great experience, sit on the side of the platform at Langley Mill on Saturday Fynger, and see what you think.
Oh, having left my car in Morrisons car park, I called in on the way back and was impressed to buy a bottle of Black Sheep Bitter for £1:28, they had some good beer bargains in there, Tesco and Sainsbury take note, please.
I'm going to dig out my old Brit photos now and make you suffer.
Incidentally Rog, thanks for your advice, there's an old fashioned family run shop in Dunmow that I could use and have done before, on the other hand, we have an all singing and dancing contemporary photographic shop in the town run by a lovely Malaysian bloke, but boy, is he a keen type, I reckon he would be really impressed at the challenge, I'll have a word.
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I was told this morning that the Witham stop over tonight is used an excuse to get the public involved, ie lots of cab visits etc, all good for getting kids involved and a bit of publicity for steam locos in general. I shall therefore wear my shorts, already am, and take my school work folder that I found in mums loft last week, perhaps the 'Jimi Hendrix for President' sticker will give my age away though.
The last time this happened, with 'Britannia' at Bishops Stortford a few years ago, my pal and I got into the cab and the driver announced, 'hang on, traffic control wants us up the other end of the platform', so we had a ride in the cab of a Brit over Network Rail metals for a few hundred yards, now that was something else, we were speechless.
Rob,
Old Ironside still has his cannon trained on Ely Cathedral outside his mothers house, I gather that she called him a 'very naughty boy' and stopped him from blowing in the entrance doors, she must have been a very formidable woman.
Do you know, I don't recall seeing 70013 in BR days, I once went on a trip round Crewe works and sheds near the end of steam when I had stopped taking numbers. The Crewe North roundhouse that day was full of Brits on every turntable track, it was an amazing sight. I was reliably told afterwards that we had seen every surviving Britannia that day, but I can't find the pictures that I know that I took.
Last week during mothers epic loft clearance, I found an undeveloped Kodak black and white film, it is obviously one of mine from that period, could it be the one, will it be undamaged. I found some negs in cassettes from the same period, they were in perfect condition, could the film be salvageable, has anyone any experience of such things, what do you reccomend that I do with it.
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Has anyone had this download forced apon them over the last week or so.
It suddenly appeared on my computer without any of us agreeing to it or downloading it, and yes, initially, it was very fast, but eventually totally buggered up my computer. I spent yesterday and the day before wondering what the hell was going on and why everything was crashing. As soon as I removed it last night and had the computer do a 2 hour self correction check on itself this morning, everything seems to have gone back to normal.
I spoke to my mate in Newark this morning, who told me that his son had warned him not to have anything to do with it, I've complained to Google but haven't had a response yet, they were upset that I was getting rid of it, or was it them? Anyone else had this thing inflicted on them, is it just another virus created by sick people who quite frankly want flame throwers targetted on their bollocks, or have Google made a big cock up.
Bombed Buildings
in pre 50's Nottingham
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This map obviously doesn't tell the whole story as Beefsteak says, looking on the back, it's from a copy of the Nottingham Guardian, judging by the amount of articles refering to the war, it's from a paper published either at the end of, or just after the war.
This is from one of fathers scrapbooks, I have so much fascinating stuff to sort through, some of the newspapers date back to the 1920's, but they are very fragile.
This was in the same page as the bombing map:-
Yes a genuine Luftwaffe cloth badge, perhaps it belonged to one of the aircrew that took part on one of the Nottingham raids, as the old man was in charge of German prisoners in the Hamburg area at the end of the war, and his exploits with them were epic, I'm sure he would have found someone of significance to chat to, he always held the German Military in high regard and dealt with them with the greatest respect, I know that they reciprocated his feelings, but thats many other stories for another day.
Prior to and after the war he worked for Walter Black and Co Printers on Addison Street? No doubt he called in to see his mates while on leave and it would appear that they printed propoganda leafleats to drop on German towns, here are a couple of examples, the first one is a complicated sliding affair:-
I have other examples, including some in French and one that no doubt came from the other side, the Germans trying to set us up against the Soviets, how true it was to prove, I'll scan it if you are interested.