Broithe

My understanding is that it was felt to be a necessary personal protective equipment development after Lambe's and Phillips's closed.

Does your domestic supervisor need a new coat? Get her a Ballybrophy coat. Ideal for going to exhibitions and trudging round model shops behind you. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334866370054 Only £160 - but, if you watch it for a few days, you'll get an offer of £120. Is she worth that..?

You'll have seen this? https://kenfentonswar.com/rescue-attempts/

My favourite picture of a polar bear in the snow, taking on a nuclear submarine single-handed. "Come on out here, if you think you're hard enough"...

Looks like a sunny spell in Wexford to me...

In the pub last night, amusing discussions about a lot of people. All were overshadowed by talk of a chap who worked in the most gruesome part of the meat factory, but became steadily inured to the carnage all around him. "You would see him having his tea and sandwiches, sitting on a warm carcass. He didn't smell much, but his arms were always green."

I was one of the first of 'our crowd' to get a CD player in the mid-80s. One chap was very sceptical that it was worth bothering and I volunteered to let him experience the sound. We were in my front room at home, sitting facing the window, and had listened to a few things. He was coming round to 'my side', and then I put on one of the Transacord Sounds of the Steam Age discs. He was very impressed by that, even commenting "It's just like there was a steam engine going past!" At that point, a steam locomotive went serenely down the street (albeit on the back of a low-loader that wasn't visible, due to the hedge). He leapt up, pointing at it, genuinely speechless. He remains convinced that I somehow knew it would happen.

We need someone with experience to direct the operation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/222883.stm

Complete with an advert for "Crossley's gas & oil engines", facing the bottom of the stairs at this end of the bridge.

The technology is there - the Hornby 00 live steamers had a boiler heated by a tiny immersion heater.

I am not at liberty to throw any light on that subject.

These days, the illuminati have a stay-alive capacitor - nobody is safe.

It would take some layout to run all of them at the same time!

We await your translation of Horatio on the Malahide Viaduct.

Only twice? I found a redundant steel bench where I worked. It was clearly a bit too long for where I wanted it to go, but I wanted it to fit as snuggly as possible. The shed was clearly an Imperial construction, although I had extended it slightly. I was quite bilingual in both systems, so measured the space 'in English' - then I took the pencil note to work the next day, borrowed a tape and marked the bench with the section to be cut out - it was six-legged and I intended to remove the right amount from one side of the central legs, leaving it lop-sided, but the right size, after it was welded back together. I looked at the cut-lines and it just didn't 'look right', so I repeated the exercise, over several days. But, whatever I did, it all came out the same and I had become more convinced that something was wrong. I didn't want to go through the whole cutting and rewelding thing only to find, as seemed obvious, that it wouldn't fit in the shed. After multiple circuits of this procedure, I eventually realised that I was using two different forms of 'English measurements' - inches on one tape and feet + inches on the other, borrowed' tape - thus, I was reading my note of 96 inches as 9'6" and getting an extra 18".

And the carriages. I have seen a feature on a few weathered carriage windows which might look like an error to people who don't remember just how grimy things could be then. Small, clear circles on otherwise half-opaque windows. You would wander along the platform to spot an empty window seat, then wipe a patch, so that you could actually see out, then try to quickly get to the seat before anybody else did.

Some filming was done on the Lartigue a few days ago - to be aired 'later this week', apparently. So, keep one eye on the telly.

After the apocalyptic weather yesterday, today was nice enough to slice up the sheets for the shelves - outdoors, a much less messy location - just blow the sawdust away. I removed the chipboard cupboard that has been there for 25 years and attached more battens, plus the hanging rods to support the front edges of the shelves. A little trimming, a few suspension holes and cable notches, then the shelves could go up - an intricate sequential operation, but it was achieved with no great mishap. There's still a bit to do - plates to stiffen up the joints between each panel, trimming the suspension hangers and moving the sockets, so the drawer cabinets can fit the space better, etc. But, I now have another fifty feet of shelving, that should do for now.

And, at Ballybrophy, 1 & 2 are in between 3 & 4.