Broithe

The German who bought the last-minute eye protection devices above did take the precaution of first asking me if I happened to have any eclipse glasses already. I told her that I didn't, but I did have a few Eclipse saws, if they were any use to her. She still let me use the second pair of glasses, when the dog didn't need them...

We had about 5% of the Sun left and it still seemed fairly adequate - they could turn it down a bit - in fact, it was a bit too strong this afternoon. Extra ventilation ports - essential when the temperatures are fluctuating so rapidly.

A bit cloudy here, but the 'projector' system worked well. Etc. Glasses were ordered last night and arrived this afternoon, which surprised me...

Our orders were very carefully scrutinised, but this was done by people who would have struggled to change a light bulb by themselves, so it wasn't impossible that the odd item for a 'Home Office' job may have slipped in by accident - or, so I'm told.

RS have never been cheap. I would never use them for myself, if it was me that was paying, but the old catalogues were a great way of working out what you really wanted and what would do the job. There was also Farnell, but they didn't have quite the range of products that RS had. I do miss Maplin, not cheap, either, but not so exorbitant, really, if they had what you needed now.

Right, so I have it now. If it is not up the standard claimed above, my accountant will be formulating a fully comprehensive compensation claim about the advice that I was given. As predicted, most of the other 50+ books are specific to the Big Island, either generic or about specific things. There was a general North American 'coffee table' book. There were three editions of Light Rail Review, which aren't the sort of thing you will often come across. I didn't notice anything else likely to be of interest here. I considered asking if they had anything on continental models, but that always sounds a bit 'top shelf'.

I still keep a full set of RadioSpares catalogues from the old days - virtually a reference work. People offer them at remarkable prices on eBay these days...

Mmm, thinking about this, it occurs to me that, after the exceptionally wet winter and the state the road was in after it, a 'good load' of stone was added, to improve the surface, which could, perhaps, be a good bit higher that it has been - or was, whenever the clearance was last assessed. I'll see if I can remember to take the means to measure it, whenever we next go there. The reason for being so concerned about not provoking an emergency goes back to a time on the Big Island, when I found a chap in need of an ambulance, collapsed under a bridge on a disused railway, through the middle of an urban cemetery. As is common there now, I ended up talking to a controller who had no real local knowledge and just wanted a Postcode for the location, which didn't have one, of course, even if I would have known it. I knew where I was, but he just didn't understand. I gave him the number of the A-road that ran over the bridge and described the location again, making it clear that we were under the bridge on a disused railway, in the main cemetery, within the town itself. He typed things into his system and came to the alarming conclusion that we were under a different railway bridge, about two and a half miles away. Despite my protests, he convinced himself that I was actually under a bridge on a four-track section of the electrified West Coast Main Line, with the casualty, and we were both about to be electrocuted and run over. It was as much as I could do to stop him turning the power off. I remember saying to him "The last train was in 1976 and there aren't even any rails here now!" I nearly needed treatment when the yellow van turned up...

I've just been given some AAA, AA & 9V "beer crates". The possibilities are endless.

Hopefully, I have managed to report this without creating an emergency. Somebody has probably just caught the bottom of the sign with the top of a turf load, or it might have just fallen off on its own. The bits of wood that the sign was screwed to have seen better days - and the track is only bog access, there no buildings beyond it to generate any traffic that isn't aware of the bridge. There was no evidence of any impact to the bridge itself, and two 201s passed over whilst I was there, without incident.

I've used this with reasonable success in similar-looking situations.

A modern one, protecting an older one.

OK - I only had a brief look at it. If it's there next week, I might rescue it.

The process requires care and preparation.

Talk elsewhere of Bad Manners reminded me of this gem, from the pinnacle of children's television. I did see them in Newport, in Shropshire, of all the unlikely possible places - it was remarkable that the stage structure survived the night.