Mallard Two

It WAS green ...

From 4th July 1952 to August 1963 and its retirement Mallard's livery was Brunswick Green. Then it reverted to its original Garter Blue.

I always think of Mallard as green and now i know why.

Photo from http://oakparkrunnerssnippets.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/class-a4-pacific-mallard/

The Mallard that Didn't Quack!

This week i read the story that the A4 Pacific class steam engine Bittern is to be allowed to travel at 90 miles an hour even though steam engines are normally limited to 75 mph in England.

If you don't know this class of engine, take a look and you will see why The Mallard has been my favourite steam engine since i was a child.

I can't remember the year it happened but The Mallard was being used to pull a train going to Blackpool (?) snd it was going to pass through but not stop at my home town, Todmorden.

That was a real highlight. The Mallard duly arrived and, bliss and rapture, was held at a signal as it turned onto the Burnley line so we got to admire it for that bit longer.

No photos to mark the event. Then again, i should search the archives of the Tod Rag to see if they kept theirs!

There was an oaf and a rebel that day. As the train stopped, this clown ripped up a small piece of paper and chewed it. He then took the pump from the bike he was riding, drew the pump handle back and stuffed the soggy paper in the outlet at the end of the pump. He then pushed the handle back with great force and the paper pellet turned ballistic, doing no damage and causing no harm to anyone. Made him feel big I suppose.

The Mallard ... fantastic engine.

DW 

UPDATE: 30th September 1961 ...

"A4 'Mallard' turns onto the Burnley line with the Alan Pegler sponsored 'Northern Rubber' special on 30 September 1961. The caption suggests that the A4 left the WD banker 'standing' but in fact the banker in the shape of 90348 banked in the normal manner, and there is photographic evidence by E F Bentley showing the WD buffered up to the Devon Belle observation car and under way at the rear of the train."

Taken from a book referred to here:

http://www.hall-royd-junction.co.uk/Hall_Royd_Prototype/Bibliography.html

Stressed? Who, me?

Back to Bangkok today. The bus was due to leave from Surin, about 35 miles away, at 8:25 am. We said we'd leave at 7 am and left at 7:10 am.

The roads were quiet and we got to the bus station in good time. Unloaded the suitcase and set off to find our bus. We stopped to ask a tuk tuk driver: Oh! That bus leaves from another station, that way ... points vaguely away from where we were.

Reloaded the suitcase and set off again. The traffic lights were with us. We tootled along for a couple of kilometres but could see no sign of another bus station. We stopped and asked again ... Go back, at the lights turn right and it's on your left after 200 metres or so.

We found it with 10 minutes to spare and caught it.

Still, uncertainty one doesn't need.

As we set off, on time, we passed through the original bus station within a minute or so ... it was so close we could have walked!

By the way, following on from my previous post on the subject, the man in front of me has put his seat right back and is sleeping No one else on the bus has their seat reclined so far. It's me! I am fated. There is still plenty of legroom for me, though 😁

DW

Praying Mantis

More photos by her indoors!

DW

More Butterflies

Just by coincidence they're all butterflies but they're not all from the garden this time.

DW

Could you do this?

Answers on a post card please

DW

Butterfly Stunners

Her indoors took these winning photos.

Excellent

DW

Coming on Apace!

Not the best photos: lots of concrete mouldings being made so will have to wait to reveal them!

Anyway, roof frame almost finished, more  walls being built. Plumbing pipes now being lined up!

DW

Temple Outside Surin: photos

Some nice photos from our trip to a Temple outside Surin yesterday. Two photos are excellent and i didn't take them, Namwan did 😁 they are photos one and two.

DW

The House 25 June 2013

Good progress overall even though one section of wall had to be torn down and rebuilt and one unfinished, small, section was blown down by a gust of wind last night.

Take a look.

Note the health and safety issues!

DW

A Rural Scene

Picture the scene: a small country road, a few houses and the village shop. Rice, casava and rubber plantations in the background.

It's home time for the cattle and four Buffalo are being walked home. The usual: one herdsman, every animal with its own rope threaded through its nose and down onto the ground where it trails for another four metres or so.

One Buffalo breaks free and starts running, then another. The other two become  nervous but the herdsman catches hold of their ropes and they are controlled.

The friskier of the two free animals is running here and there and he is a big animal. If anyone gets in his way they will have a big problem. He doubles back and snatches at some grass as his eyes stare wildly. He snatches again but then sees the herdsman and runs off again.

I think, this could be a problem: the towny thinking about health and safety! No one else is alarmed. Other bystanders simply stand by. The herdsman seems content as he had already seen what I never thought of: the two free animals have turned into the lane that takes them home.

I saw a problem. Everyone else saw an animal or two that just wanted to let off a bit of steam.

That was my rural scene. Done!

DW

Roof Coming on

The roof is well under way now.

DW

House Update!

I am back at the building site again and it's turning into a house, day by day!

DW

New Car

For the first time since 1988 I have bought a brand new car. I bought a Toyota Vios E that runs on E20 petrol.

And here we are this morning just before I drove her away with just 6 kilometres on the clock!

DW

Recliner? Why not sit in front of me?

This is true. I have mentioned before that on an average flight there is an 80% chance that if there is anyone sitting in front of me they will recline their seat as far as possible.

I have also studied the chances of the above happening elsewhere on the flight and I find there is a 10% chance that this happens to any other passenger.

Now, i am on a coach going from Bangkok to Isaan Province and I kid you not, the ONLY two seats in the fully reclined position are in front of us!

Ten percent of all seats on this coach are reclined to some extent.

How about that?

DW

Incredible * 2

I found the address of the Royal Cambodian  Embassy in Bangkok. I got Nigel on the iPhone to show me where it it. I could see it was very straightforward to get there:

Bus 71

BTS from Phra Khanong to Siam

Walk down Henri Dunant Road

Ta daa!

Ta D'Oh! More like.

I was near a university so i decided to find a young person, student type, likely to speak English. I was right first time. She didn't know where the Embassy was but she took me to a nearby security guard: i will ask him and interpret for you, she said.

She did! The guard said he knew where i should go: far away, get a taxi. He wrote the name for me in Thai: show this to the   driver.

I did that. After 10 kilometres i was thinking: how could that security guard know so much about that Embassy? Am i being taken for a ride? What does the taxi driver know that Nigel doesn't?

Well, after another few kms we arrived. Way out of town. Nowhere near Siam BTS.

So, I went inside, completed their form, handed it over and paid. Within five minutes i had my Cambodia visa in my passport and now i am on my way back to Siam Paragon.

Praise that student and that security guard!

DW

I've Been Framed!

In an average year I can take up to 7,000 or so photographs: I know, my iPhoto list tells me that.

How many photos do I print out? How many do I ever put in frames? Very few and very few.

Over the weekend, I decided to print out some of my recent favourite photos: the winking calf included. A sunset from North East Thailand was another. As for the rest, me, me, me and she, she, she!

Most of them are in frames now too: three of the larger photos still waiting for theirs.

There's a lot of walls to fill in the new house!

DW

Fascinating Retail

I went for a walk along Sukhumvit 71 yesterday and found a couple of fascinating shops.

Among the kind of shops that one finds all over Bangkok that look more like someone randomly dumped a load of produce in their front room, I found a DIY engineer's delight. Tools and equipment in a well lit shop that, even from the roadside, no one would ever suspect was there.

Even walking past, it would not be difficult to walk past this shop without really appreciating it.

There is an order and a system to the shop. It is set out just like a good engineer's workshop should be. I wanted to go in and buy an entire tool kit of things but common sense prevailed!

When I need a drill or hacksawor  pneumatic nail gun, i know where to go now!

DW

Hairy Thai Fruit: the Rambutan

This is one of those very exotic looking tropical fruits that is easy to eat by the bucketful: the Rambutan.

The Rambutan is in season in Thailand now at about 25 Baht per Kg in Bangkok.

DW

Y'Orchiding!!

We stumbled in Siam Paragon last night after having dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. 81,000 flowers later, here's some of what we saw: Orchids.

I watched a programme on plant life recently that said there were 25,000 species of Orchid. Here's some of them but I'm afraid the iPhone camera wasn't up to the job this time.

DW