firbeck
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Posts posted by firbeck
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it looks like the Duchess of Sutherland is ready for an outing as well. She's just gone past my front garden at 6:02 p.m. and i must say she is looking splendid. Got to go i can hear her coming back.
Rob
Where did you see that, Butterley, the only other steam trip booked for today is the Golden Arrow from Waterloo, hauled by 70013, unless it has failed and the Duchess is a replacement. The Duchess is booked for The Cumbrian Mountain Express from Hellifield in two weeks time, perhaps it was a positioning or post maintenance run.
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The problem is, if you do occasionally take out the aged P or disabled friend, what are you supposed to do if you or they haven't the appropriate blue badge.
A few years ago I took my old man to the contraversial Duxford D-Day Veterans Special Airshow. As he was a veteran, I had the appropriate passes to the vets enclosure etc etc, but apparantly no special parking pass, which I didn't even think about, I assumed we'd be ushered to the front.
Not wishing to drag him over there at the crack of dawn, we left later, knowing I had a special pass, but this proved useless on the day as we were sent off to the distant car park over the road in the admin area, where even an able bodied person has to struggle miles and clamber over an old Bailey Bridge to get in. Pointing this out to the idiot on the gate, and reminding him that all the vets were going to be in their 80's, there was so much humming and haring that my old boy said ''Stuff it, I'm not disabled, I'll bloody walk, I managed it under fire from a landing craft so this is nowt''.
Just to prove a point, he did, with difficulty, but the issue should never have arisen that day.
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Kidderminster dep 08:25
Burton 10:26
Sheet Stores ( avoiding Derby) 11:43
Nottingham 11:54
Lowdham 12:05
Newark 12:21
Lincoln 12:49
Lincoln Dep 15:51
Gainsboro 16:16
Doncaster arr 17:15
Diesel back to Kidderminster, what sort though, Class 67 probably.
Question is, where does it turn at Lincoln, any ideas.
My last trip behind Sir Nige was from Bishops Stortford to Ely about 10 years ago, it was sensational, I'll have to make do with looking at my Hornby Dublo 3 rail example this time instead.
Have a nice time chaps.
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Chumbleigh-Warner and Sons
Solicitors
Braintree
13th March 2009
Dear sir
As a result of your innapropriate behaviour, our client has had to be taken to hospital following a seizure caused by watching a video that had no health warning issued with it.
He has agreed however that no action be taken if the person or persons responsible for this are able to perform 'Land of Our Fathers', in Welsh, in it's entirety, without laughing or saying 'Boyo'. The assistance of famous Welsh personalities, such as Uncle Bryn, Tom Jones and his wife Ruth, alias Myfanwy, is not acceptable.
Yours Faithfully
H. Chumbleigh-Warner.
Solicitor for Oafs
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Guzgogs!!! now that's a lovely word I haven't heard for a long time, my old man had two bushes in the garden and the best one is still there, trouble is I used to eat so many of them off the bushes that there was hardly enough for me mother to make guzgog tarts.
Mariag
Plenty of info on allotments, your legislation dates back to the 1908 Allotment Act, which from what I understand from this interesting enquiry at No 10, still holds good:-
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page16920
There are huge tracts of undeveloped land around the town owned by Braintree District Council, in and around industrial estates which have water connections, no excuses there then, I'll have to try and find out more from BDC. Perhaps if I get the latest job I've applied for as environmental and planning enforcement officer at BDC, I will be on the inside, fingers crossed.
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Frank, am I reading this correctly, are you saying that the selfish gits who park in the disabled or family section of our Sainsburies car park despite having no kids or blue badges are likely to get away with it then. What constitutes a private car park, I assume that our council multi storey doesn't count despite being run by a private company.
We don't have a blue badge, but when my ancient mother comes to stay with us, she likes to wander unsteadily round the supermarket. It's so dificult for her to get out the car in a normal parking spot, that rather than block up the access routes to get her in and out, or struggling in a 2.4m x 4.8m bay to prevent bashing someones car, I'll park in a disabled bay, I really have no choice as there's no drop off point near the entrance, and as it's only on a rare occasion, I'm prepared to take the risk and argue about it afterwards, mind you the parking attendants up at Sainsburies are quite understanding and if you have a word with them first, they are very good about it.
I bet Mrs Frank got a ticket because the badge was upside down, they like doing that, some of these attendants, I can think of a number of incidents where people have got a parking ticket because the ticket was stuck in the window upside down, or had fallen off onto the dash board, they get away with it by saying that the ticket was incorrectly displayed.
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If there is a minimum of 6 individuals the local authority has by rights got to provide a disused area (council owned) .As we all know there are pleanty of these.
Is this here or Australia?
Our town has several allotment sites but according to their web site there is a big waiting list on each one. So if they are legally bound to provide additional areas, and I know they have plenty, how are they getting away with it, or is it easy for them to say that it's earmarked for other purposes. It doesn't take much to download their interactive planning maps and find out exactly what it's supposed to be going to be used for, though I think it's probably diguised to cover up for senior council members pension plans.
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Aircraft arrive and take off all the time.
Antonov An-2
A couple of Chippies that had taken part in a goodwill trip to Moscow.
A variety of jets
A rare Yugoslav trainer which I've never seen anywhere since.
Stinson.
Oh, I currently have an Apache helicopter circling around the back, just a bit too far to photograph though.
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Bomb, What Bomb? Group Captain Beefsteak on the first Aviation 2008 tour
Rog
He's subsequently been demoted then!
The possibility of a re-enactment of a famous scene from 'Dr Strangelove' springs to mind.
There's one of these monsters standing vertically on it's nose outside our local bomb disposal base at Debden, I'm sure it's the smaller one of the two, I can never remember whether it's a Tallboy or a Grand Slam, I keep intending to stop and asking the guards if I can take a picture, but I either forget my camera or feel intimidated by those SA80's being waved about.
Back to the Hurricane, here's a picture of it in Hangar 11 after it's first flight a few weeks ago:-
For those of you who aren't familiar with North Weald, it was a famous fighter base during the BoB and is situated right next to the M11 just after the Harlow turn off.
Some of the scenes in the BoB movie were filmed there, you can't miss it, it's obvious due to the tall poplar trees that are still found around the airfield, also the scene of the fabulous C-47 take off sequences in Band of Brothers. They were going to make a film about the Berlin Airlift there a few years ago and flew in two C-54 transports from the States, the film was never made and they remain slowly rotting away on the airfield.
When the RAF left a few years ago, Epping Forest District Council bought it and operate it as leisure airfield, they sold off the main hangars for industry and run markets every saturday, LT use it for bus driving lessons as well. Every so often, the council keep threatening to sell it off for housing, so how long it can remain is anyones guess. They used to have fabulous airshows, The Fighter Meet, in the 80's and 90's but that stopped due to the condition of the runway and complaints from well connected local residents. One of the hangars was used as the setting for 'Crystal Maze', remember that.
There are still hangars full of a variety of aircraft and some interesting junk hangs around, at one time there were the mortal remains of a Lancaster, Lincoln and Mitchell dumped behind the hangars.
Over on the far side, a Nissen hut has been turned into a bar and club called 'The Squadron', they have the odd public fly in with access to the bar, they do fabulous burgers, almost on a par with Mildenhall and you mingle with all sorts of people, Gary Numan is a member, well he was till his missus banned him from flying, my son didn't wash for a week once when our Gary accidentally knocked him over while rushing to the telephone, nice approachable bloke though.
I found a few pictures from their fly in in 1996, very laid back informal affairs with few barriers:-
Beech Staggerwing outside of Hangar 11.
Some interesting stuff in here including a P-51, the Cat has since been flown to Australia, arriving just before last Christmas.
Home of the Jet Provost, one of these lost it's passenger over Colchester, he flew inverted and the ejector seat fell out complete with occupant. Luckily the chute deployed and he landed bruised but unharmed in Sainsburies car park, next to MacDonalds.
Runway 2, only used as a parking spot as the M11 cuts across the end now.
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It happens to the best of them!
Duxford in the 90's, French aerobatic champion about to take off and do his stuff:-
Several hair raising flying minutes later, and we get too heavy on the brakes:-
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Flipping Heck Beefsteak, what were you doing on here at that time of the morning, lurgy kept you up?
Hurricane 'Crash'??????
You may well have read or seen something about this incident yesterday or in the papers this morning, it was certainly mentioned on the national Teletext. Not much was said on our local news because they devoted it to the evil filth 'demonstrating' against our troops, they should have fixed bayonets and wiped them off the face of the earth, but thats another story, not for here.
Peter Teichmann at the famous Hangar 11 at North Weald has spent rather a lot of money restoring a Hurricane 11B, Canadian built, to flying condition, the work being carried out at Hawker Restorations in Suffolk, the fabric incidentally being prepared at a farm just up the road from me.
It made it's first flight a few weeks ago and we were looking forward to seeing it at the airshows this year. The media of course hyped the incident out of all proportion, claiming it plunged from the sky, etc, etc, but what actually happened was that after a few circuits yesterday, he landed and whilst slowing down, the brakes locked and he went over onto the nose, I've seen this happen a few times at DX, to one of the BBMF Hurries and a couple of Spits. The result, a bent prop, a bit of damage to the u/c doors and an embarrassed pilot, trouble is, there may be some internal damage to the engine, but it's already being stripped down and looked at today and should be soon flying again, I wish the media would get their facts straight, the Mail were claiming it was the only flying Hurricane in the world, yeah, right!!!
Here's a few pics of the incident.
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I'll see what's worth posting, got to take the dog out now anyway.
Just seen a wierd thing, ignoring the expensive fish man on the market today, I just nipped up to Tescos and bought a lovely fresh fat Herring for 60p, you wouldn't believe what was in the car park though.
Well, this Tescos is at the end of the A120 dual carriageway from the M11 at Stantsted and a lot of squaddies call in there on the way to Colchester for a snack so the occasional military vehicle or even convoy is not unusual. However the sight of a Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Land Rover parked near the bottle bank was rather strange, what the hell this was doing in flat old Essex is beyond me, pity I didn't have the camera, it had gone when I came out.
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Thanks for your advice and invite Beefsteak, we've tried the E-Bay route but nothing is selling at a decent price, we won't give things away to people trying to rip you off because they know the real value. Boot sales haven't taken off yet, but we intend to go down that road as we have loads of things to get rid of that way. I've actually made a start, my neighbour wanted a small tree removing this morning, it didn't take that much time and effort, but she tried to give me £40, I couldn't take all that and had £20, but she's insisting, it will probably come through the letter box shortly.
Not good business tactics, but good neighbours are different, I'm sure she offered that much because she knows we're hard up, which upset me a bit.
I have a problem here, while I'm hunting around the house for my birth certificate, I keep coming across packets of long forgotten photos. Now I always took slides or video over the past 40 years so photos are a rarity, I reckon though that there are loads to find yet as well.
Perhaps we should start a Firbeck/Beefsteak/Plantfitt Aviation photograph thread!!!
Just a few here which might make you smile.
On our local USAF base theme, in 1991, after the first Gulf War, Alconbury held an airshow, which I believe was the last before closure. Their A10 squadron had been in the thick of the action and they were keen to show off hardware from the war. I couldn't go to the show on the day because my bloody ex-wife had something else planned, but I found out that they were having a 'Family Day' the day before. Without much hope, I phoned up the base to ask if we would be admitted and a cheery USAF officer said no problem, just turn up at the gate, it's free, we doing barbies and a practice session. So we did, possibly one of the best shows I ever went to, hardly any Brits, plenty of free grub and American hospitality, loads of flying over the sparse American crowd lying about on the grass on a warm summers day, no barriers and admission to all the cockpits and aircraft, wow.
I obviously got inside everything I could, they even took me down the back end of a KC-135 tanker and had me lying in the re-fuellers control position while they taught me how to operate the thing, it was heaven, I've never experienced a show like it.
My ex must have taken these shots, I have the day recorded on Vid and on slides, but I can't watch it because the camera is knacked, c'est la vie.
One of their battle veteran A10's, I was allowed into the squadron commanders example which seemed to have more kill markings than all the others put together.
The rear guns in a B-52, I don't think they have them fitted anymore, I believe that this example had bombed Baghdad.
A couple of Buccs in their original combat colours and markings.
Victor tanker, this one may be preserved, I haven't checked, note the name, an excuse to put it on a Nottingham forum.
This will make you smile, a youthfull Firbeck tentatively about to clamber into an EF-111 Raven, I was astonished that they allowed me to do this, non of the electronic warfare equipment was covered up, as long as I didn't press too many buttons they didn't give a damn, I seem to remember too that this one may have been responsible for downing an Iraqi Mig-29 Fulcrum by flying so low it hit the ground while in pursuit.
Lets hope I don't find anymore, well actually I have DX and North Weald in the early 90's, lets leave it at that.
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Don't start me off on allotments!!!!
Because of the popularisation of allotments in the plethora of UK TV gardening programmes, the demand for these rare and sacred pieces of ground has risen. Problem, the greedy and corrupt local authorities sold them off for profit, probably insubstantial too, to local developers for housing, consequently theres a huge shortage. The current waiting list as of last week was 100,000 nationwide. What are the councils doing about it, nothing, they could release urban peripheral land, but won't because in their eyes it would contravene their own pathetic planning rules.
The National Trust, bless 'em, announced last week that they were releasing land on some of their suitably sited properties and would provide 1000 new allotments nationally, not a huge amount, but it's a good start, where are the councils responses to that then, I've heard nothing, not surprising is it.
When I lived in Finchingfield, the village allotments were well kept and well used, what happened, the occupants were presented with an enforcement order and cleared off the site. The dimwitted Local Authority shot themselves in the foot because the land constituted back land development with no access, it remains overgrown and abandoned to this day, w@@@@@@s, they haven't a clue.
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French AF Jaguars
Swedish AF Viggen
Actually, this is a rarity, the USAF don't have display pilots based over here so their routines are mainly flybys, in this case, the demonstration team were shipped over.
Steve Hinton and Ed Shipley flying the P-51's
The Turkish Stars flying F-5E's, worth seeing for their excitable commentator alone.
A10 Thunderbolt2
The Reds with special tail markings for the 80th anniversary of the RAF.
I hope that was of interest, best airshows ever at the Hall, and as for their burgers and polish sausage, I can't bear to think of what we are missing.
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I would like to come but unless a miracle happens, then I would be unlikely to afford the petrol, let alone a cup of coffee in the Petworth Hotel. It's a wierd time for me anyway, I can't plan anything at the moment on the off chance that I might actually get an interview or even a job!!!
On the other hand, I've just realised that it's mothers 93rd birthday a few days afterwards so I might be able to plan something around that, not to go and see my mother would be unthinkable, even if I have to hitchhike up to Nottingham, I'll see what I can stick on E-Bay.
I've found a few forgotten things today, I always took video footage at Mildenhall Air Fete post 1990, but I found a few odds and sods of pictures from 1998, some unusual aircraft on there for Beefsteak to appreciate, not many though compared to what must have been on show that day:-
The fighter display park.
Slovak Mig-29
Slovak Antonov Clank?
USAF C-17
C-141
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Sorry, I couldn't resist sabotaging my own thread.
Can't see one of those tag machines on the platform, it would cost a fortune to stamp the station name, could be a good earner for Network Rail though.
Could you post yourself saying the name on Flickr, Beefsteak, perhaps not, lurgy combined with the Welsh language might not be a good mix.
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Finally got a picture of the metal tag machine, this one was a "penny in the slot" as opposed to sixpence, but even so a penny a letter was still quite a bit, I remember spending a fortune at Nottingham Midland on theirs writing out our favorite loco names, Brittania,Duke of Gloucester, and of course Mallard.
Any way took this picture at the NRM today.
Great to see a picture of one of those things again, I couldn't find one anywhere.
Did the machine actually work, 10 letters for 10p doesn't sound bad, I presume that in my day it was 10 letters for 6d, if you did use it, does it now have a spell check, I was thinking........Britt.........Britannia......... sorry.
Was Tornado on the turntable at York, did you take any pictures that you could put on here.
Oh, on the subject of platform tickets, I was rooting around for my birth certificate (don't ask) this morning and came across this little gem, I remember writing off to the station master for it about 45 years ago, and the nice man sent me one. As you can imagine, it wouldn't have come out of the normal platform ticket machine.
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While looking for those A10 pictures, I found these trapped inside my computer.
If you like Jaguars, this was the very last day of operations at Coltishall, I can't believe it was only two years ago. These last examples were flying off to Conningsby following the disbandonment ceremony, only one failed and had to stay behind.
True to form, my video camera packed up, I resorted to my excellent Canon film camera, but the spare films I had put out hadn't found their way into the bag, so I had to resort to my inadequate digi camera, better than nothing, but try and capture anything moving on the ground let alone in the air, is virtually impossible.
Coltishall was great, you could really get up close, the fences were only 3 feet high and consisted of three strands of wire, if at all, these were taken at the east end of the runway and remember my camera has a lack of decent zoom, yes, the noise and heat from the engines was unbearable, I would love you to see the video of the actual final display and ceremony I was shivering at a few months earlier, but even that video recorder has died so I can't watch a blooming thing anymore.
Sorry that they aren't up to your excellent standards Beefsteak, I'll get you back when I carry out my next armed robbery and buy a new camera.
Incidentally, you mentioned on your comment about DX, a couple of things.
Firstly the Sally B has had it's blown engine replaced and was taken out of the hangar on February 24th and given a static run up, it was fine, look at the video on the TFC Friends Blog, so she'll be up this season, hopefully along with the Vulcan.
What did they tell you about the Dam Busters film, because as far as I know, Peter Jackson has put the production on hold, I don't think that Stephen Fry has even finished the screenplay yet.
The GRP Lancasters have apparently been made in China and could have been shipped over to New Zealand where most of the filming is taking place, but the whole production is shrouded in mystery.
I can't see this film being ready next year, but who knows, Plantfitt had better keep sniffing around Scampton because I know that some filming is due to take place there, look out for plastic Lancasters travelling around Lincolnshire. Incidentally, in the interests of PC, Gibsons dog will not be called Nigger in the film, what a load of rubbish and an artificial slant on history, I'm sure you are aware that it was the code word for the succesful bombing of the Dams, so what are they going to say instead, I'll leave it to your imagination.
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Beefsteak
I was surprised to see that you hadn't visited Lakenheath and Mildenhall before, fantastic places, both of them, I'm sorry that you didn't get there a few years ago before the 'Evil Empire' destroyed the Twin Towers, things have never been quite the same since and it caused the demise of probably Europes greatest Airshow, Mildenhall Air Fete. It's also a shame that I didn't give you a few tips on where to go and what to look out for, still perhaps you'll go again and I can give you a tour.
I presume that you went straight to the Lakenheath viewing enclosure on the Brandon Road, a great place, but a sad one, did you know that Ian Huntley dumped Holly and Jessica nearby, he must have driven them along that lane past the enclosure, I wouldn't be surprised if he was picked up on security cameras, it was never stated at the trial, but I reckon it may have had something to do with his arrest.
I've been going up there regularly since the 70's, it's only about 40 minutes drive for me up the back roads, I remember the F-111's prior to the F-15E Strike Eagles arriving, though now you have the pure fighter version, the F-15C single seaters as well, your 20 ship take off was probably a mixture of both.
If you drive along the road to the village, there's a hill with a nature reserve that looks right down on the base, the nuclear weapons store is open to observation on the left and often you used to get some wierd things parked up there, there used to be an old F-15A used for handling exercises, a Phantom, but better still, an F-105 Thunderchief still in it's Vietnam colour scheme.
The Phantom, F-15 and an F-111 are now mounted in the memorial park in the airfield, but it's impossible to get to see them, only the F-100 gate guard is visible from the road.
They regularly used to hold craft and antique fairs in one of the hangars behind the golf course, next to where the visiting aircraft are parked. The last time I went, security was pretty lax, no checks going in, we wandered over to the hangar past a line of Italian Starfighters, great stuff, then took a drive round the base, visiting the memorial park and going to the shopping precinct, no-one could give a damn then. After 9/11, they put screens up along the fence so that you can't even see in and closed off the public road through the middle of the base, very sad.
We've seen some interesting exercises over the years, the deployment of F-117 Stealths and the last time I was there, these chaps from Germany, they were actually armed up for live firing on the Wash ranges.
We once stood around at half term while the base was put on a chemical attack exercise, machine guns poking out of bunkers and armed troops everywhere, at the critical moment, the sirens sounded and everyone threw themselves to the ground while we sat on the bonnet of the car and ate our sandwiches, it was a wierd feeling.
Mildenhall used to have a viewing area, you may have seen it, just along the perimeter near what is now the main entrance. This area closed hurriedly the day after 9/11 and never reopened, a temporary access to the base was opened nearby, guarded by Hummers with roof mounted heavy machine guns that tracked you as you drove along the road. Again, they used to let you in to the club for antique fairs and the like, but all this area and roads that used to be open to the public are now closed off and guarded.
You can drive right round the back, an enterprising farmer opened up his field and built a viewing platform next to the end of the runway, but we went up there one evening and had to be rescued by the farmer from being arrested, a sad state of affairs. There is a good spot by a crash gate around there, but beware of the pykies that for some strange reason are allowed to live next to it.
There's another crash gate reached via an industrial estate that comes out next to the tankers parked up.
I went there post 9/11 and they had drafted in a regiment of National Guardsmen from the Mid West to guard the base, strung out along the fence at 100 yard intervals, they were just kids who hadn't even been allowed outside the fence, lovely blokes who were dying to talk but kept being harrassed by NCO's.
At that time, the airfield was absolutely packed with aircraft, so many in fact that they had to shove some over at Lakenheath.
I've seen some interesting stuff up there as well, believe it or not, the last time I was watching circuits and bumps and came home back along the A14 Newmarket by-pass, I nearly drove off the road at the sight of 'Air Force One' on finals, I've seen the Government aircraft up there before, they tend to park on the south side of the airfield.
It's wierd too, going into the town and seeing all those American cars with their Anglisized number plates, unfortunately, the famous model and American Comic shops have dissapeared.
Things are so different from the early 90's, we had Alconbury, Bentwaters, Woodbridge and Wethersfield, along with the Tornados at Honnington, Phantoms at Wattisham and Jags at Coltishall, all good days out for my son and his mates when they were little, all long gone in the cause of peace, but what happened to that.
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Thanks Ian, I appreciate your comment, I think it has already made me more than potty, perhaps this episode will teach me not to be such an intolerant git sometimes, I know I am.
Incidentally, I was going to make a few comments about your Lakenheath trip on the Air Day thread, don't worry, positive one's, I'll do that shortly.
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I dont eat it.
Thank God for that, I thought it was only me that didn't eat Indian food.
I've tried and tried over the years, but I really can't stand it at all.
Why? I don't like the appearance, I don't like the texture, I don't like the mix of ingredients, I can't stand the smell and I hate having my mouth burnt out by chillies. I know it's wierd, and I'm actually envious of the majority of the population that do like it. I know it doesn't have to be particularly hot and spicey, I've attempted to eat things in some up market Indian restaurants, but I just can't cope with it at all. Anything else, Chinese, even some Thai, is alright by me, it must be some deep seated phsycological thing.
Are there any Hungarian Restaurants in Nottingham, due to my family connections, I've had a few Hungarian meals, don't go there, it's not all goulash and paprika, madam's aunt came over before Xmas and cooked us a typical meal, it was less appetising to me than an Indian, even Liz had to force it down, no wonder the Iron Curtain came down and there are McDonalds on every street corner in Budapest.
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Sorry Fynger, I had to conclude the story and justify my reaction to myself, thats all.
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I've never been a pet person, I wasn't allowed to be. When I was a kid, I used to take out my friends neighbours dog. It was a classic case, a christmas present for their spoilt daughter, the poor thing was subsequently neglected, he was a lovely dog too, a border collie called 'Chips'. We trained him and took him everywhere with us, but my friend left the area, I went off to Grammar school and the poor dog was dumped on the streets. He used to sit outside my gate, try to follow me to school, and be waiting when I got home, sometimes he'd go through everyone's back gardens and find his way to our back door, it was heartbreaking. I pleaded with my parents to adopt him, but they wouldn't/couldn't. In the end the owners made an excuse that he had become savage and dangerous, no way, and had him put down, I decided to avoid such emotional tie ups with pets after that.
It wasn't until I met Liz, 'Mrs Ultimate Animal Lover' that I got involved with dogs again. I hadn't known her long when she had to have her beloved pony that she used to go show jumping with, put down, that was pretty awful, but I was still relatively detached from such emotional ties then.
Even when she got Scooby Doo as a puppy, I wasn't that bothered, in fact I disliked him intensely, well he was a nasty little git then.
But then you get involved and along comes Meg and they become an essential part of your family, just like kids, they rely on you for everything.
Now I've had some tough times recently, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. Work has evaporated as a consequence of broken promises, devious clients, corrupt council employees, then the recession, then the horrors of constantly applying for jobs, then the anomalies of the benefit system, if you're self employed, you are treated like cr@p, if I was a criminal, illegal immigrant or terrorist, the system would be more sympathetic, I could at least afford to buy food.
Then my father died in tragic circumstances, my son nearly died through developing the worst kind of meningitis, we had to sell our home to pay the debts, this is why I get bitter and twisted, these experiences have changed me forever.
Why am I going on about this, well, having to have that poor dog put to sleep was one of the worst things I've ever had to experience, even though we are going through hell at the moment financially, it has had a profound effect on our lives, I can't actually believe how badly I am taking this, it's possibly another psychological blow to our family life, only there's no way back from this one. I have to say, that when you're down, you can always rely on your daft dogs to do something that would make you smile, especially Meg, the pretty, loving, elegant lady that would steal your dinner if you as much as reached for the salt.
We actually got a bit optimistic on thursday evening, when we left the house for the vets there was a terrible storm, but looking back, a rainbow seemed to spring from the roof of our house and over the vets was a lovely cloud with a stunning silver lining.
The vet decided that her problems stemmed from a weak heart and gave us some more tablets to slow it down and make it stronger. On arriving home, she was really perky, but it didn't last long.
She was sick and cowered shaking and red eyed in the corner before falling into a fitfull sleep. She woke up at 10:00, arching in agony, trying to pull out her hair and whining and crying. I cuddled her all night on the living room floor, but I couldn't calm her down, she eventually fell asleep but woke up at 5:00am in a terrible state. There was nothing else to do, I wrapped her in her blanket and we set off crying all the way to the vets at 8:30.
By the time we got there, I think she knew and had calmed down, I carried her out and stood on the steps for a moment and let her look round at the world for the last time, it was a beautiful morning, the sun warmed her face.
The rest was a horrible experience, but we held her tight to the end.
We brought her back, it wasn't pleasant, but she was wrapped in her favourite soft, blue blanket.
So I dug a grave under the tree, lined it with her towel and carefully put her in, I could feel her little nose through the blanket, we covered her in primroses, she was always walking on them, and covered her with her fleece, before filling in the grave and planting some flowers.
Scooby Doo is really grieving for his friend, he keeps looking round for her and is not himself at all, he won't go down the bottom of the garden either.
The mornings are the worse, no tapping on the bedroom door, no elaborate breakfast making ritual involving all the pills and potions that she had and while I'm typing this, she's not lying at the side of me as she always did, asleep, snoring and twitching and instantly awake and scrounging if I opened the pantry door. When I took Scooby out just now, there was no mayhem, no 'backward barking', no jumping up and down or trying to get out before the door was even open.
It's very hard, c'est la vie, c'est la morte, my advice, if you don't have a dog, don't get one, especially if you are as an emotional a person as I am.'
Steam Loco Sir Nigel Gresley March 14th
in Pete's Nottingham Transport Forum
Posted
[quote name='plantfit' date='Mar 14 2009, 04:13 PM' post='67915'
A4 taken today at Great Northern terrace Lincoln, she was 1hrs 20mins late but well worth the wait, got a couple more pics from the same vantage point if any one is interested
Rog
More pics please, incidentally, whats the little badge on the side of the loco, it didn't have one in BR days, trying to copy Mallard methinks.