Vanyablue in retirement.

Today is Christmas day, and here's a link to a video of Missy opening her present. She already pinched the one from under the tree and opened that a couple of days ago,  so we kept back this one from friends in Guernsey, wrapped it up and gave it to her today.

Last weekend was visiting grandchildren. Now I've got 3, and here's the pics.

Well, we've got over our colds, and saw some more progress at the railway.
Here's a pic of the new station building at Whitecroft, and a trough for the signal wire at Parkend.

We've just had a week of erecting new signals at Parkend.  Here's a few pictures from that week.

First a view of the ground frame locking tray, in the process of having the 5th lever enabled.
















This is 9681 ready to leave Parkend with a 5-coach train.
















Here we have the GWR lattice signal being craned into place in the pouring rain.








This is the hut for the token machine being craned into place. Still raining.













And to finish, some sheep and the DMU at Parkend.

Her's a few pictures from our trip to Guernsey.  The dockside cranes are included because they are threatened with replacement by something more modern and efficient.  The other pics. are a blue postbox from the Victorian era, a cute customs box on the harbour and the impressive Castle Cornet.  Well worth a visit.

Well, not homework, but I left our anniversary card on her pillow, but Missy got to it first.  Oh, well!

Another busy week.  The new ADSL2 router arrived, we had some visitors on the only nice day, and a water leak in the bathroom that's left the kitchen ceiling needing painting again. For some reason, the new router is still connecting at the same old speed, oh, well.

Saturday was a railway day. Here's a pic. of the finished ground signal awaiting installation.


















Sunday was a trip to see one of my granddaughters. Unfortunately it was a bit wet, but I managed a quick video on the swing.

Chasing the ball . . .


And how to deal with a cardboard box . . .

Today our puppy was microchipped.  It doesn't seem to have had any adverse effects. Here she is playing with a stone. As you can see, the garden is steep enough for the stone to roll all by itself.

As title. I suppose it's my fault I tripped over the gate answering her squeak at 4.30 am when it starts getting light.  Anyway, here's a couple of pics to show how confident she's getting in the garden.

Ok, here's a couple of pics from the weekend.

They're nearly there.

A bit late, here's a couple of videos of 2807 running round at Cheltenham on the G-WR from my visit.

Well, I found some bolts for the ground signal, and started putting it together.
I also finished scraping the pole, and put some red primer on it.
On the down side, the diesel generator battery is flat.
There was also a works train, and a bit of a van fire. 
And some shotblasting. A busy old day.

As it says. Another day of scraping and painting.
And a video of 9681 leaving Lydney Jct.

Here we are making a start at Whitecroft station platform.
Charlie the 08 is shunting in the siding.  This involves moving the point clip.
There is also a view of the works train from the guards van.

Sunday was a day with my first grandaughter.  Tricycle, park, swings, you know.

Saturday was SWMBO's day at a craft fair, so I wandered about taking some pictures.
The day was very sunny, and first thing, there was a steam excursion making itself heard as it went past.
Note the queue going in, and the bag of swag coming out!!!