OneGuyFromBarlick

I hope you are luckier during the rest of the day Sue! Remembrance Day is looking very gloomy over here....
I hope all goes well for the crossing.

Big Kev wrote: ↑08 Nov 2025, 18:42 Decorating the bedroom. Ceiling and 3 walls painted last week then work interrupted things, yesterday was wallpaper on the 4th wall. Today was removing the old carpet and laying laminate flooring. Got a few little bits to do to completely finish the job, quadrant around the edges, trim a bit off the bottom of the door and rehang it and a wipe down of all the surfaces to clear the sawdust

The wallpaper and the floor, need to get new bedding now although there may be a blue set we bought in a sale somewhere and never used Need to finish tidying up too...

Attending the remembrance service today. Time to get ready..

Just had a walk round o e of the bays at St Malo a d found this boat. It was renovated in 1999.
https://weristwalter.eu/project/ile-de-sein/

Used June 1st 1940 by the youth of the Ile de Sein .mentioned in the article. It was previously a postal boat. It returned in 1946 and became a sand dredger . Later damaged and wrecked now restored by a local restoration
group

I shall be in the shed working on my beds early doors. Not sure after that. I could always fry my sweet potato chips!

This morning I spent an hour and a quarter on the two beds and the temporary plinth. Here's where I was at at knocking off time. I can start on the rest of the castings now..... But first, a well earned breakfast.

Morning
We are at the port. It was hard getting up at 6.45 when we have been waking up at 8.00. It's raining and due to rain on the crossing with a medium wind. Arriving at Portsmouth at 6.15 and staying over night there. Have a good day all.

Morning Sue..... That sounds reasonable, have a nice crossing....

We found St Malo a really interesting place to wander around.

I'm just back from a couple of nights away with some friends who invited me to join them in a holiday cottage at Melmerby, a few miles from Penrith. They drove up on Thursday and I joined them on Saturday, travelling by train from Skipton to Langwathby on the Settle to Carlisle line. We had a wander around Penrith, a pleasant meal out in the evening at a village pub, then a walk on Sunday morning followed by a cosy afternoon and evening in the cottage. Today I came back with them, calling in at the Wensleydale Creamery for cheese purchasing then Settle for a fish and chip lunch.
It was good to have a break, but it's nice to be back home!

Langwathby is a great name for a place
Glad you had a good break. It's nice to get away but, as you say, it nice to be back home.

Big Kev wrote: ↑10 Nov 2025, 15:57 Langwathby is a great name for a place
Glad you had a good break. It's nice to get away but, as you say, it nice to be back home.

It's a great place to arrive at on the train! Just a shame it wasn't a steam train.....but you can't have everything.

Wendyf wrote: ↑10 Nov 2025, 16:25

Big Kev wrote: ↑10 Nov 2025, 15:57 Langwathby is a great name for a place
Glad you had a good break. It's nice to get away but, as you say, it nice to be back home.

It's a great place to arrive at on the train! Just a shame it wasn't a steam train.....but you can't have everything.

Speak to Ian Riley at Bury and see if you can go on a test run in a support coach one evening. ( maybe with Sue and Her Husband )

Glad you're getting out and about Wendy. I've always had a soft spot for Penrith since the days before the motorway when the road North took us right through the centre of the town. Hard to believe nowadays but that was the trunk road then.....
This morning I shall be in the shed working quietly away on my castings. No rush, just satisfying progress with no mistakes!

Several avenues of attack this morning, all of them aimed at getting the vise trammed in and ready to start milling on the cylinder. The cylinder casting has been fettled on the grindstone and is ready for further refinement. But right now I am focussed on breakfast!

Gloria wrote: ↑10 Nov 2025, 08:39 We found St Malo a really interesting place to wander around.

Morning

Yes it is but we could not park anywhere near the main town. However the small bay just beyond was easy to park at and very pleasant to walk round. Particularly interesting was the renovated wartime boat as per my posting on Sunday, plus the old Tour de Solidor at the mouth of the bay, built in the 1300s, now a museum but closed for renovations

We had a good calm crossing yesterday. There were very few on the ferry so we were off and through customs very quickly indeed arriving at our overnight stay by 7.00 pm. We were both awake at 6.30 this morning, now on English time with a french time habit. We are driving up to Coventry where we will have lunch with Julia. She is off work for 6 weeks following surgery but now nearly three weeks in she is well on the mend. We will probably leave about 1.00 ish to try to miss the Manchester rush hour. Its due to be a mainly dry day, with rain later. Have a good day all

Morning Sue.... glad you had a good crossing. We have significant rain and it hasn't really come daylight yet. Very good second sleep which is an improvement!

Big Kev wrote: ↑08 Nov 2025, 18:42 Decorating the bedroom. Ceiling and 3 walls painted last week then work interrupted things, yesterday was wallpaper on the 4th wall. Today was removing the old carpet and laying laminate flooring. Got a few little bits to do to completely finish the job, quadrant around the edges, trim a bit off the bottom of the door and rehang it and a wipe down of all the surfaces to clear the sawdust

Fitted 18mm pre primed pine quadrant around the perimeter of the bedroom, apart from a new rug (still in the decision process) it's finished.
I stuck it on with superglue gel, does a neat job with no nail holes to fill

Looks tidy as usual Kev!
I shall go in the shed and bother with my castings. I'm not seriously pushing it costs me £700 to finish an engine so the slower the better! I look on them as an investment in Occupational Therapy. Cheaper than going out to the pub!
The only other item that is outstanding is frying my sweet potato chips. I shall think about that later this morning.

This morning I trammed the VM vise in using a piece of ground gauge stock and a dial indicator. Once I was satisfied the vise is mounted square and parallel i Started looking for reference faces on the cylinder casting. At close of play I had the valve face and the back of the cylinder parallel and had done an opportunistic pass to clean the face of the cylinder where the exhaust pipe will eventually fit. Tomorrow I shall take it further.

Morning

I am awake early, still on french time, so time to read what has been going on here over the last couple of days. Wendy it was good to hear you have been out and about and staying with friends. A bit of normality for you after a difficult few months. Kev, the bedroom looks good. You wouldn't like to come and do our lounge and dining room would you. Both in much need of attention .

Our journey back was relatively easy. We had a nice lunch with Julia who seems in good spirits and recovering well after her op . Once again we chose the M1 M62 option from Coventry. The latter part was slow but moving continuously. There was a pile of mail behind the door when we got in but nothing of great note apart from a reminder to renew my driving license before my birthday in January. I can do it online, a task for this weekend.

Today is haircut for both of us, then a trip to the GP surgery as I have found a couple of anomalies on my health record online. This afternoon is our November trip to the cemetery in Burnley as we could not get there before we went to France . This evening is a Tesco delivery and an online pilates class. I see rain is due all day. Have a good day all

Morning Sue.... My morning has been dominated by the fact that I had my first good sleep since my double flu jab. All I can say is that I have done all I set out to do, had an extra breakfast and am going to have an extra second sleep. If my body is signalling it wants sleep I shall not stand in the way.

I am fighting my confused sleep pattern and this morning will be in the shed early doors working on castings at the usual time....
Later, I can see I an getting very close to needing to go shopping. Not far off chicken roasting and veggie cooking. It all come round so quickly!

I'll admit to playing out this morning. I decided to try to make this cylinder the most accurate ever. So I started by finishing the valve face with a fly cutter because that's the way to get the most accurate finish. I did my measurements and took one cut across the face. I think you can see the difference. Now I shall go and chase my breakfast.

Morning

Well that was a better nights sleep and waking about 10 minutes ago at a more civilised hour than three in the morning.

We went to the cemetery with flowers yesterday to find that the old section where we were going had been fenced and padlocked off for safety reasons. There are many old and unsafe headstones down there. I was a bit taken aback but there was a notice with a phone number which I phoned. Someone came down and opened the gate so we could access the grave area. That seems to be a permanent thing now and in future we will have to make an appointment by phone or email.

Today is art at Haslingden and this afternoon about 4.00 pm Lucy will be coming. Today we shall cut out her skirt pattern so most of the hour we will be talking about sizing and selection of pattern pieces. I have washed and ironed the fabric i bought in France but I doubt we will have time to cut it out

Todays forecast is a fairly sunny cool morning with rain later this afternoon.Have a good day all.