Broithe

As much as we're all gasping with impatience, they aren't ventilators and there should be no, or at least few, fatalities as a result. How much would 8,000 kilometres of flexitrack cost? They could be run in on the way here, without being subject to the 'global transport system'.

The liveries of donkey carts. Let us be grateful that few rivets are on view...

That is definitely the way to go, if it is feasible, it's hardly worth setting yourself properly up for just a few pictures.

You can get little scanner things for a few bob and do them yourself. Or you may know somebody local who has the facility...

I am already on record predicting that the Criminal Assets Bureau will be targeting stashes of black and green boxes. I understand that they have specially trained dogs to detect such high-value contraband items.

Presumably, this was the junction. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ballygown+South,+Silvermines,+Co.+Tipperary,+Ireland/@52.7998272,-8.285717,287m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x485c97a50135353b:0xa00c7a997318b20!8m2!3d52.794361!4d-8.2366272

If only there was some organisation somewhere with the facilities to produce suitable vehicles...

I think he may have the boot down and in use as an extended 'shelf' with those white bags on?

The larger rear window makes it an A35. I think the car in front is a Popular, without the rear doors and the subsequent 'third window'. Possibly.

Obviously, nobody fast-forwards through the one I'm in...

I delivered some stuff there a while ago and he gave me a good look round the place. It would be ungentlemanly to guess at his age then, but he'll be ten years older now...

IE appear to have an electric van now - I've seen a photo on Facebook, but didn't want to steal it. Maybe it will turn up here?

I found this short off-cut at Ballybrophy, at a time and in a location which would suggest that it may be from the branch, rather than the main line. The grid is 10mm squares. So it is 160mm high - that is 6¼ inches - a very small touch over 2mm in 00 scale - around 0.079 inches - giving a code 80 rail in the system in use, if that exists. Code 75 should look quite plausible.

He does have a 'smaller than average' look about him, and the viewpoint of the camera, if it is being held by a photographer standing on ground at the same level and using a viewfinder, would tend to agree him being somewhat below six feet - so an H0 figure would be about right. It might be possible to determine the model of loudhailer that he's using, but the perspective makes that of dubious use in scaling things a couple of feet behind the front of it. Maybe the BHS will come up with some more directly obtained data.

Congrats, indeed! I assume she is sound-equipped?

. This has reminded me of an event in the mid 80s, just as China was starting to really modernise and open up. We were due a visit from a delegation interested in power station equipment and, on the day they arrived, I was a bit late myself, so witnessed their actual arrival. There was a lot of them - two coach-loads. in fact. I arrived just as the coaches were disembarking, having passed the really quite pleasant Main Office building, a nice Edwardian-style edifice (now demolished). Having passed the end of that, the coaches stopped and 70 or 80 Chinese engineers got off, able to see the actual factory for the first time. We knew that the place was not very futuristic or well-maintained, but, seeing it every day did rather make us immune to the actual state of the place. The Chinese were clearly shocked, stunned and amused at what they saw, lining up for pictures in front of the apparent devastation that was the reality of what had been promoted to them as a world-renowned factory. They were also amazed to see that we still had air raid shelters. When you looked it it with fresh eyes, it did look like the end scenes of a war film. In fact, it was still camouflaged, having been last painted in the 1940s with the free left-over paint from the war. 'They' did have the arrival area cleaned up and painted a little bit less embarrassingly after that, but the rest of it was left to decay steadily. It's a housing estate now.

There may even be some existing military figures that could be adapted?

Excellent. We'll see what turns up - they do seem a keen bunch. You may have to incorporate a figure, as well?

You might get a response from Bantry Historical Society. https://www.facebook.com/Bantryhistoricalsociety/posts/make-it-a-date-make-it-a-holiday-in-bantry-tonight-was-one-of-the-many-memorable/4096743770441076/ They are certainly aware of Austin Twomey.

Don't panic! Let them practise with these and get your ones even better...

So, when's the next announcement due?

Whilst sounding a bit 'Buzz Lightyear', this is the title of this year's West Cork Chamber Music Festival programme. With the current situation, they are having virtual events from many locations around Europe - see the list below. https://www.westcorkmusic.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Bantry-and-Beyond-Programme_updated-31-July.pdf However, they appear to have omitted an event in Sleaford. Perhaps @Mike 84C and @banntry failed the audition?

We live in strange times. Frostbit Boy has been rescued by dolphins. Anything at all is actually possible now.