Broithe

I have a couple of three-cornered ones, with six sizes of the square socket available. Occasionally very handy.

Of course, as we all know, high flyers can be a real problem to molluscs. And it's not just the Thrushes, etc. As the ex-Guinness family yacht, which became HMS Mollusc, found out. https://portal.ariadne-infrastructure.eu/resource/59fc3a73055473126175625f2ba34a9aef4d7c3635b638260709319b46c418d6

I'll bet the snail was relieved, though. They get sick of hearing the sea all the time.

It's all part of an advertising campaign, centred around travel and holiday accommodation. Dr. Trivago.

I wasn't sure if I was looking at over-ambitious weathering, or if it was just the primer showing through.

Not sure about the livery details. Probably a black chassis out of shot..? At least the picture is the right way up. I think.

With enough heat, the condensation issue might reduce to acceptable proportions? There are some small gas turbines about these days, you might be able to adapt the MiG 15 approach to a G Scale garden railway?

Mmm, exhaust gasses will contain water, which may then condense on the cold rails? The Russians did actually do this with engines from MiG 15s.

I thought we were having peace and quiet until Monday?

Do you not own a torch and a water bottle?

You need to get that turf in, it won't get any drier.

I intended to be there yesterday, but I'm still on the western island. I did organise an agent to attend for me and ensure that standards were being adhered to in my absence.

I initially thought you meant these were pictures from today. I was about to start the car up...

I believe that the ore from Galmoy is planned to be taken by road to Waterford, when extraction starts again shortly. I should be having an expedition with my tame(?) informant on the inside and I might remember to ask her. They are currently ramping up the extraction of the water from the flooded workings and just popping out there in the early hours to check on things is not helping someone who admits to not being a 'morning person' at the best of times... There was a vague plan for a line from Ballybrophy to Perry's Brewery in Rathdowney, but nothing ever came of it - maybe that could be resurrected as a line to the Dawn Meats plant, as it now is, and then onto to the mine a bit further south? Probably not...

I have just spent an hour in a pub listening to people whingeing about traffic issues in Laois and wondering if they've been to England in this century. My place in England is in a one-horse town in the arse-end of nowhere and I have never suffered congestion, obstruction and general difficulties in driving anywhere near that in the Republic. The roadworks near my house there are a quarter of the way into their ninth year now, with no end in sight. Some roadworks in Wales ended this year - after 23 years - so we may need to be patient. Goods traffic on rail will always be problematic in a small sparsely populated country with no large inland centres. If you have to load stuff onto trucks to get it to the railhead, and then offload it into trucks again, to move on to the final destination, then, on a small island, you will need to look at the numbers carefully to see if it's even worth the bother, or just leave it in the trucks and drive them all the way there.