Broithe

That would be my experience of DPD on the Big Island - easily the best of the various couriers from a recipient's point of view. The predicted arrival times are such that you could almost disconnect the door bell. Few others even come close to their performance. For me, Royal Mail's 'tracking' is usually largely fictional. There will probably be local, regional and national variations in how any organisation performs, though, I suppose. A few operations may have been caught out by the sudden popularity of additional items being delivered in the current circumstances.

I quite like it. In the style of Mondrian..?

DPD is owned by France's La Poste, I believe.

Back in the 1980s, I used to supply my workmates with woodscrews, which I bought from a bloke who advertised in Exchange & Mart. They were excellent items, made in Hong Kong. He was not VAT-registered and, as the trade increased, he would keep an eye on the threshold approaching and cease trading (and advertising) for that year around January/February time - restarting for the New Year in early April.. When you were a 'regular', he would tip you off as the 'temporary end' approached, so you weren't caught out.

That was what his MBE was awarded to him for.

My local* model shop in Stafford has had a delivery this morning - so, I've pinched the picture off Facebook. * Well, it would be local, if I was there... https://www.facebook.com/289396587829410/photos/a.2919399044829138/2919398924829150/

https://president.ie/en/media-library/news-releases/statement-by-president-of-ireland-michael-d-higgins-on-the-death-of-diego-maradona

Who knows...?

For those who may wish to upgrade their sound package.

The cars would suggest later than 1963, I think.

There may also be an extra prodigal son...

He used to have an arresting personality.

Saved by a fluke...

https://metro.co.uk/2020/11/02/train-which-crashed-through-barrier-saved-from-disaster-by-giant-whale-tail-13519809/

A few others were mentioned here.

He is definitely the best impression that I can manage. "You are a shite... ...for shore eyesh."

The original Royal Mail pillar boxes on all of these islands were green*, but were changed to red for exactly that reason, apparently. * a 'Brunswick Green', rather than the current An Post colour.

Excellent @Joe Keegan- I knew I'd seen one. Odd that there's not even a trace of the BICC log on the casting - I would have got it quicker if that was there. I now have the great opportunity to call in this statement "If that isn't meant to take chain links out, i'll eat Paddy Ashdown's hat."

As it stands*, there's nothing to stop the pipe being pushed away, as far as I can see. * There could, of course, be bits missing...

I rescued a few nice tools from a garage clearance a few weeks ago. There was a good mix of nice stuff, this may have been in the 'plumbing' pile. I initially thought it was some sort of olive puller, but it isn't. The steel plate with the three spikes slides up and down. A 10mm diameter is a rattle-fit all the way through. There is no identification on it anywhere.

I would love the idea of a model shop a few miles away. As I did when Graham's was there in Port Laoise. But, it needs to work for you, before it works for us. I often look at rents for retail outlets and work out how much an hour you would have to make before you got anything for yourself. Shops where there's a huge variety of potential products are more of a problem to run than places selling a limited range of 'standard' goods. This is all mere conjecture from someone who has never worked in retail*, so take it all with a sack of salt. * If I had worked in retail, I would be in prison for assault by now...

There was a truly monstrous pole by the signal cabin at Ballybrophy - with a good lot of wires along the line and a fairly large side-load, it was around 18" diameter at the base. I was greatly disappointed when it disappeared. http://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000304509