No More Moaning

Moaning aside about 'the Beast' still being in Italy; life is pretty good. Our investment in the Capital is coming along nicely. Quality furnishings and refurbishment with an annual 3.57% return. Which of course is better than the banks on two accounts: (1) a higher percentage rate, and (2) my money doesn't line the pockets of some greedy banker through his annual bonus.

The other plus side is the price of goods in B&Q. I was well pleased with the White Ripple Tiles at around £6.98 a box. But when we applied them to the wall, I was wondering how we put up so many from one box. Then I checked the small print and found that there was 1.2 sq/m per box and not 1. What a bargain, well done B&Q! I'm now on the cuts from the new false wall that hides the plumbing and the electrics on the shower end, and into the old brick wall. Not an easy job, but hey ho, life is good.

Still lost in Italy

'The Beast' is still in Italy, and I'm a tad annoyed to say the least. The company dealing with the repatriation could have got themselves in gear a long time ago. I don't blame the company from whom I bought the policy or the company that are the front-of-house for the underwriters, but I do think that the day to day running is poor. Maybe someone should undertake a review of their service provision. As a retired chap looking for work, I have even offered to do the review for them! I trundled back to Cardiff in the 1.1 Getz and it's a strange feeling having nearly everything on the motorway sailing past you, especially on anything resembling a slope. But hey ho, it's a lovely car, it's new, and it's not mine so I am extremely grateful to my youngest daughter for being lovely and lending it to me.

I don't know how I would have been able to transport all of my tools and buy all of the items for the bathroom refurbishment at our flat in Cardiff without the use of the Getz. The picture is day 3 of the refurbishment and I had just finished putting up another 22 tiles. Not as good as my brother though, the first four that he stuck on were put up in double quick speed and were perfect. There's more about that, and a photo album on my Facebook page. I now have an opportunity for a breather as my nephew the plumber is here, and the bathroom is too small for two people to work in simultaneously.

The New Layout

The Railway Track is coming along nicely. I have made a 30" by 24" frame using 2" by 1" batten. I have also managed to drill 8 holes (two in each corner) for 8 x 65mm bolts and nuts so that I can bolt four legs to the layout base set at 24" high so Loverboy can stand and play with the railway set. I have even managed to drill out five holes in the middle 2" by 1" cross member, and cut the plywood base to 30" by 24". With all holes either countersunk or smoothed off depending on their final use. So all in all there has been some steady progress.

The layout design is also finished, and it has all been achieved using standard PECO Setrack and Setrack Points (turnouts). I intend to varnish all of the exposed timber and place a foam pad at the base of each leg. The initial oval at the lowest level should be fixed up tomorrow or by next weekend so that Loverboy can start enjoying himself. I will then expand the layout to the three levels and construct the scenery and some scratch built buildings over the Winter months. The idea is that the finished mini table with the developing layout can be positioned in my room and Loverboy can play with the layout in its various stages of construction whenever he is home visiting Grandad and the others.

The delay to next weekend is because my Nephew was really generous and went to our Flat in South Wales today and ripped out the bath, sink and bathroom tiles ready for the refurbishment. So while the gang remain at home and have a week without their Second-in-Command; yours truly will be trundling slowly to South Wales in the daughters 1.1 litre car to crack on with the tiling and various other jobs. It's a long hike to and from South Wales without 'the Beast', but maybe, they will at last bring her home from Italy by the time that I finish the tiling. Then again, probably not!

Woo a woo

So Loverboy continues his enjoyment of trains, looking at 'Thomas' books and playing with his push along set, while Grandad is now outside once again beavering away in the garage to make a small 'n gauge layout'. I have opted for 2 foot 6 inches by 2 foot. With a double loop feeding of a single connection and a curved double platform station at the top of three levels with a double hidden siding at the bottom. This may sound complicated, that's because it is! The main reason being that I decided to design all of the layout in standard PECO Setrack and did not follow a track plan. The idea is to have three trains on the board with one working at anytime. The single feed is so loverboy can operate the train using the large but siimplistic PECO standard railway set controller. Although his tiny hands and coordination will not be much use if anything derails. The three levels exist to achieve full clearance height at bridges and tunnels bewteen the lower and high levels where trains have to pass under and to achieve that clearance within the minimum length of running track.

The finished model will have full scenery, including fences, buildings, people and cars. We had a 6 foot by 2 foot 6 inch track running with two loops and a major terminus station for the last two years, but I reclaimed the space for my room and that layout was placed in the garage. If we had a fine day, then I could run it outside, but unfortunately the weather has changed for the worse in Wales and winter is almost upon us yet again.

Which is a far cry from lovely warm Turkey where one of the children have been on holiday for the past week. It was great as I got to use the spare car while the Breakdown Company decide how best to safely deliver 'the Beast' back to Wales. Although two of my main journey's this week were to take and collect the travellers from Cardiff Wales Airpot. Question: why do they call it 'Cardiff Airport' when it is 'Outer Barry' at the end of a long route to nowhere and an even longer return with bumper to bumper traffic? And the so called Cardiff Central shuttle connection takes **51 minutes to **39 which is 48 minutes if I can recall the data correctly. I wonder if they would like me to design a track for them, and Loverboy could do the operation and choice of trains. Choo choo, woo a woo

Choo choo

The Volvo is still in Italy, along with our new found friends in Hotel Residence Grifone. Luckily I have been able to loan a car from one of our family. So I am not without wheels. Although 'the Beast' is absent. I have managed several journeys to and from Cardiff. While our travels near to home have included two visits to Steam Railways.

One of the Steam Railways was at Corris, which is a community that is located just north of the town of Machynlleth. The other Steam Railway is located over in Tywyn on the coast to the west of Machynlleth. The Talyllyn Railway at Tywyn is a special day out. But Corris also turned into a 'special day' as we visited the Corris Railway over the Bank Holiday weekend while they had a Railway Exhibition taking place. Loverboy was captivated by it all, and fascinated by the larger model engines and rolling stock.