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Oct 30, 2015 16:01:31 GMT
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Hurray for the railway!
I've still got that vision of a very big train turning left through front doors of House of Fraser.
Boo hiss for the scrote who knicked your phone.
If I caught him I'd force feed him really disgusting foods - like pies with actual meat in, Cornish pasties, fish and chips...
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I really don't know how you guys get by with so few public holidays. We had another last Monday for All Souls Day, locally known as Day of the Dead. The Sunday is when everyone goes to the cemetery to visit their, obviously, dead relatives and the Monday gives them all the chance to flood back into Manila, or whichever other city they work in, ready for the Tuesday re-start. It was also announced that the week after next we'll get another two on the Tuesday and Friday. This is because of an APEC conference being held in Manila, and why not. Along with this, Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific (the Ryanair of Manila) have cancelled a load of flights. The only reason we can think of is so that the delegates, when not conferencing, can get to and from the airport unmolested. No doubt the government will tell everyone how they've improved the traffic congestion in the city as well. Nice one! So, with the four days we had for the Pope's visit, we will, by New Years Eve, have had thirty four public holidays this year. Yes, 34! Brilliant, and explains a lot. A while back we were looking at local Christian names and yesterday, I asked permission from my youngest Bottle Opener to jot a few down off her Facebook page. These are authenticated as genuine, all spellings checked and some lovely ones in there, I think you'll agree:- Jabart Wisma Orrig Jayvee Drixie Joeylhen Jhon Joven Jimbo Wengson Heizel Ajay Danica Cayla Ruel Angelie Raymart Khris Waynard Chyna Gilaine Nashkie Harilyn Errole Jeric Poelyn Mariel Patik Daren Jhanina Eulieann Johnray Alleish Jezarine Jangel Jarren Jayvee Charmy Ravien Railey As you'll note, 'J' is a firm favorite for some reason which is, unfortunately, lost to me.  But I do like the thought of, "Ee our Orrig, whatever are we going to do with thee?" |
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Last Edit: Nov 4, 2015 10:50:50 GMT by georgeb
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Hurray for the railway! I've still got that vision of a very big train turning left through front doors of House of Fraser. The time will come, James, the time will come. Boo hiss for the scrote who knicked your phone. If I caught him I'd force feed him really disgusting foods - like pies with actual meat in, Cornish pasties, fish and chips... If I'd caught him, he'd be eating through a straw for six months! |
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THE_Liam
Yorkshire and The Humber
If at first you don't succeed... HAMMERS.
Posts: 1,363
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Living where I live mate, there's a kid called Chyna on my street. I'm not actually kidding. You think Manila is mental, try a week on a Leeds council estate. Nothing like watching 2 drunken skinny shirtless chavs windmilling at each other on the grass verge at 10am on a Tuesday because one of them wouldn't give the other a cig.
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Living where I live mate, there's a kid called Chyna on my street. I'm not actually kidding. You think Manila is mental, try a week on a Leeds council estate. Nothing like watching 2 drunken skinny shirtless chavs windmilling at each other on the grass verge at 10am on a Tuesday because one of them wouldn't give the other a cig. Not much different down south to be fair. When my house was converted from a factory to a dwelling, all that you could see behind were unused school fields. Then they built a posh housing estate on it. 2 bed flat, £250,000!!! Then, in order to build a few more, the developer had to agree to give 8 2 bed houses over to the council. I'm sure you have already worked out exactly where those 8 are? Yup right outside my window. 20ft away! Drunken chav drugged up single mothers all screaming at each other for a light or a puff. Then on Sunday, the Dads return the kids and it becomes a 'Whose Dad can rev his chav mobile the most' contest! Kids names regularly shouted are Charly, Rubén, Darcy & even Chelsea! |
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96 E320 W210 Wafter - on 18" split Mono's - Sold :-(
10 Kia Ceed Sportwagon - Our new daily
03 Import Forester STi - Sold
98 W140 CL500 AMG - Brutal weekend bruiser! Sold :-(
99 E240 S210 Barge - Now sold
02 Accord 2.0SE - wife's old daily - gone in PX
88 P100 2.9efi Custom - Sold
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THE_Liam
Yorkshire and The Humber
If at first you don't succeed... HAMMERS.
Posts: 1,363
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Living where I live mate, there's a kid called Chyna on my street. I'm not actually kidding. You think Manila is mental, try a week on a Leeds council estate. Nothing like watching 2 drunken skinny shirtless chavs windmilling at each other on the grass verge at 10am on a Tuesday because one of them wouldn't give the other a cig. Not much different down south to be fair. When my house was converted from a factory to a dwelling, all that you could see behind were unused school fields. Then they built a posh housing estate on it. 2 bed flat, £250,000!!! Then, in order to build a few more, the developer had to agree to give 8 2 bed houses over to the council. I'm sure you have already worked out exactly where those 8 are? Yup right outside my window. 20ft away! Drunken chav drugged up single mothers all screaming at each other for a light or a puff. Then on Sunday, the Dads return the kids and it becomes a 'Whose Dad can rev his chav mobile the most' contest! Kids names regularly shouted are Charly, Rubén, Darcy & even Chelsea! That all sounds fairly familiar sadly, but then the wave of gentrification is sweeping them all away round here. I bought my house off the council for a knock-down price, just as property developers realised that this dilapidated council estate had lots of disused buildings that could be knocked down and turned into luxury housing developments, and that it's a 10 minute walk from the uni campus, rugby/cricket ground, and the biggest drinking and dining centre out of the city centre. So I'm sat here in my nice, cheap house watching them be replaced by posh folk, who are a bit stuck up to be fair, but then I love the fact that I haven't had to give any of them a slap for throwing rubbish over my hedge or keeping me awake with curse word music at 1am. Anyway, sorry for the hijack George, thought you might miss a bit of British "culture"  |
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You think Manila is mental, try a week on a Leeds council estate. Thanks for the kind offer, I think I'll pass on this occasion! Not much different down south to be fair. When my house was converted from a factory to a dwelling, all that you could see behind were unused school fields. Then they built a posh housing estate on it. 2 bed flat, £250,000!!! Then, in order to build a few more, the developer had to agree to give 8 2 bed houses over to the council. I'm sure you have already worked out exactly where those 8 are? Yup right outside my window. 20ft away! Drunken chav drugged up single mothers all screaming at each other for a light or a puff. Then on Sunday, the Dads return the kids and it becomes a 'Whose Dad can rev his chav mobile the most' contest! Kids names regularly shouted are Charly, Rubén, Darcy & even Chelsea! Sounds idyllic  This building malarkey is one of the reasons we've not bought anywhere yet (Tondo doesn't count, that was 10 years ago) as here they just throw anything up anywhere they fancy. "Is that a brown envelope full of planning permission you've got there?" This means that today's lovely view is tomorrows apartment block car park! Anyway, sorry for the hijack George, thought you might miss a bit of British "culture" Hijack away to your hearts content, matey. It reminds me why I live 11,000 miles away!  |
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In my last post, I was commenting, somewhat heatedly, on the girls' school hours and crappy communication with parents. It gets better. They were supposed to finish at 2 PM last Friday and, bang on the dot of three, they did. The arrangement was to meet up in Adriatico so they could avail themselves of a chocolate fix via a couple of very large milkshakes. "Daddy George, we no school now until 4th November. Can we go away somewhere?" "WHAT?!!" Yes, without any notice at all, the school decides to throw a ten day holiday into the mix. God give me strength I'm sitting here reading this with my 13yo daughter looking over my shoulder...her immediate comment? "why wont [her] school do that?"!! What's the legal (?!!) minimum working age in Manilla? Do you need any help digging out the track bed? She may whinge a bit, but if you poke her hard enough she does actually work quite hard... |
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I'm sitting here reading this with my 13yo daughter looking over my shoulder...her immediate comment? "why wont [her] school do that?"!! Tell her it's closed again for another week from the 16th! I worked it out yesterday, and since the school year started in June, they have actually only had three full weeks where they've been forced to attend Monday - Friday. I'm going to ask for a rebate. What's the legal (?!!) minimum working age in Manilla? At the risk of sounding like an advocate of child labour, there doesn't seem to be one! We don't have mines or chimneys in Manila but I'm betting if we did, they'd be full of kids. Shame I don't have any tunnelling work really. Do you need any help digging out the track bed? She may whinge a bit, but if you poke her hard enough she does actually work quite hard... Thanks for the offer of cheap labour but, like the week on a Leeds council estate, I'll have to refuse. Another young teen female (whinger or not) to worry about would probably just tip me over the edge of sanity, I fear And on the subject of phones, I tried to get the SIM card from my stolen mobile fried, as whilst I was waiting for Microsoft to acknowledge my change of password and access phone, someone was happily deleting incoming e-mails for me. I got round this initially by automatically forwarding them to another account, so at least I could get them. but obviously killing the SIM would be easier. Really? Four days after contacting them, my provider came back with a list of things I'd need to take to their local store before they could do anything: A completed police report - these can sometimes take two days to obtain although obviously, this process can be "speeded up"  A 'lost sim' report form - 3, yes, count 'em, three pages long The above form duly notarised by a lawyer Passport Any government issued ID The e-mail ended with, 'Thank you, have a good day' but had I embarked on their recommended journey it should have read, 'Thank you, you'll have a long and frustrating week' By this time however, Microsoft had acknowledged the changes I had made so the problem went away, but why do they make it all so difficult? Oh yes, I remember, it's the Philippines! Anyway, off to pick the girls up now from doing something sporty and take them for breakfast v.2. They ate at 6 this morning but it's nearly nine thirty now, so time for another before they head over to Tondo for a couple of lunches or so, then it's out for a meal later to celebrate the driver's birthday and I'll just bet they'll want to pick up a burger on the way home tonight. You should see the jaw muscles on those two! |
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Last Edit: Nov 7, 2015 1:25:05 GMT by georgeb
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i'll see your "All Saints' Day" and raise you a "Shouter Baptist Day"
we got 15 this year, not counting our unofficial, and yet almost globally observed, carnival season days off
paul
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i'll see your "All Saints' Day" and raise you a "Shouter Baptist Day" we got 15 this year, not counting our unofficial, and yet almost globally observed, carnival season days off paul That in T&T? Like Shouter Baptist Day. What happens then? Yeah, I'd not even gone into the local festivals. As you say, unofficial but 'recognised'. |
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Could Oorig be the local equivalent of Eric?
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Could Oorig be the local equivalent of Eric? Nah, that would be Errick or Eriq or even Yorick! |
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yep - TnT, the only country in the world to give a religious holiday to Baptists. on the day itself (30 March)?, not sure what really goes on but there's some dressing in traditional garb, church-going, some clapping and, literally, lots of shouting. then there'll be cooking and eating but certainly not drinking.
the Shouter branch of the faith were banned at one time - believe it or not, too noisy !
very egalitarian when it comes to allocating holidays - we also get diwali, eid, corpus christi amongst others. Indian Arrival Day is another of our more odd public holidays.
Paul
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Nov 10, 2015 17:14:03 GMT
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Damn good read.
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Nov 13, 2015 22:31:38 GMT
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very egalitarian when it comes to allocating holidays - we also get diwali, eid, corpus christi amongst others. Indian Arrival Day is another of our more odd public holidays. Paul We get all the usual Catholic ones plus Chinese New Year and Eid. No Indian ones, the main reason being no-one here to celebrate them. All the others are things like Valour Day, National Heroes Day etc., plus the Pope's visit and next week's APEC meeting of course. I think my favourite was when I was living in KL and Malaysia were playing Indonesia in some football-y thing. What you have to remember is that there is no love lost between these two close neighbours, in fact they pretty much hate each other, so when Malaysia miraculously won, a public holiday was announced for the next day about five minutes after the final whistle. Any excuse! Glad you're enjoying it. And speaking of holidays...Last week we were bemoaning the fact that school was to be closed for yet another week from the 16th, but there was another surprise waiting in the wings. On Wednesday, they came home and announced that school had decided to shut this Friday as well. The reason? Apparently their Centennial celebrations kick off today and they needed yesterday to get ready. My first thought? You've had a hundred years bloody notice! And on that, the school was founded in 1917 and this year is 2015, unless I'm mistaken. Now, I wasn't best at maths (or Math as they call it here) but even I can work out they're a tad premature. Maybe they're celebrating the fact that in 1915 someone thought about starting a school? Still, if it keeps 'em happy. Railways? Last week I got a panicked e-mail telling me that PNR had changed their timetable and were now fretting that our nasty freight trains would delay there nice passenger services and was this a job-stopper? So a happy day was spent re-casting my combined timetable (made a nice change from rolling stock specifications) to see what was what. Turns out that they've added seven minutes to their end-to-end run times, no doubt due to track conditions and in order to claw this back, have lopped it off the terminal dwell time at their end stations. This ordinarily wouldn't be a problem except the southern terminal is at the end of a single line section, so by definition, I can't go stuffing it full of freight trains when there's nowhere to go. Anyway, having done the work it looks like we're all okay, a little tighter on the passing times during peak, but no biggie. Off-peak, when they run an hourly service there isn't an issue. So that'll be another presentation to the PNR board on the 25th of this month to wrap them in a pink fluffy blanket of comfort and tell them the nasty monster has gone away and that Daddy's told him, "...not to come back, scaring my little board like that, shame on you" Thing is that PNR have an entire operations department (at least, that's what it say's on the door) at their disposal and they can't work this out for themselves?  Still hoping to have all the legal/commercial stuff pretty much wrapped up by the end of this month though. |
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Frankenhealey
Club Retro Rides Member
And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death
Posts: 3,881
Club RR Member Number: 15
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Nov 13, 2015 22:50:54 GMT
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Anyway, off to pick the girls up now from doing something sporty and take them for breakfast v.2. They ate at 6 this morning but it's nearly nine thirty now, so time for another before they head over to Tondo for a couple of lunches or so, then it's out for a meal later to celebrate the driver's birthday and I'll just bet they'll want to pick up a burger on the way home tonight. You should see the jaw muscles on those two! George, this is very hard to believe. Both your young ladies are built like racing whippets  Go George go. We need more updates |
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Tales of the Volcano Lair hereFrankenBug - Vulcan Power hereThe Frankenhealey here |
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Nov 13, 2015 23:54:39 GMT
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George, this is very hard to believe. Both your young ladies are built like racing whippets I know. I think they must be home to a fleet of tapeworms or something. On the day I was describing, I was right, they had a total of seven meals that day by the time they lay down their little heads! Today I know they have had breakfast already and will be heading over to Malate for some celebration mass or something, then they're meeting me for lunch at Adriatico after which the driver is picking us all up for our weekend cottage in Tondo where Madam will, inevitably, have some food ready for them, and so the cycle starts again! Go George go. We need more updates As it happens matey, as it happens. And on the joyous school celebrations, I've just watched the 'secret' motorcade depart from school. I say secret because there was no mention of it until Thursday, when all parents were invited to join in this cavalcade to Makati and back. Just counted 11 cars and a motorbike. Cracking turnout. And, of course, 45 minutes late. |
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Last Edit: Nov 13, 2015 23:55:15 GMT by georgeb
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luckyseven
Posted a lot
Owning sneering dismissive pedantry since 1970
Posts: 3,839
Club RR Member Number: 45
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Nov 16, 2015 20:02:07 GMT
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I think having seen the photos of the state of the track the single line with no passing loops will not cause congestion problems. Just wait for the rails to spread under a 1500-tonne freight and for it to fall off the track out of the way. |
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Nov 16, 2015 21:15:55 GMT
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Railways? Last week I got a panicked e-mail telling me that PNR had changed their timetable and were now fretting that our nasty freight trains would delay there nice passenger services and was this a job-stopper? So a happy day was spent re-casting my combined timetable (made a nice change from rolling stock specifications) to see what was what. Turns out that they've added seven minutes to their end-to-end run times, no doubt due to track conditions and in order to claw this back, have lopped it off the terminal dwell time at their end stations. This ordinarily wouldn't be a problem except the southern terminal is at the end of a single line section, so by definition, I can't go stuffing it full of freight trains when there's nowhere to go. Anyway, having done the work it looks like we're all okay, a little tighter on the passing times during peak, but no biggie. Off-peak, when they run an hourly service there isn't an issue. So that'll be another presentation to the PNR board on the 25th of this month to wrap them in a pink fluffy blanket of comfort and tell them the nasty monster has gone away and that Daddy's told him, "...not to come back, scaring my little board like that, shame on you" Thing is that PNR have an entire operations department (at least, that's what it say's on the door) at their disposal and they can't work this out for themselves? Still hoping to have all the legal/commercial stuff pretty much wrapped up by the end of this month though. Sounds like they've been talking to the bunch of numpties I work for..... This year has been a disaster for wheel flats. Two routes have no service whatsoever because they've run out of serviceable trains, for reasons I will elaborate on.... Two years ago, Network Rail decided to have a blitz on trees and lopped a load down in the worst leaf fall areas. No problem there then; well, some bright spark in upper management then decided that now the trees were gone, NR didn't have to run so many railhead treatment trains and get in the way of their 'enhanced services', so an agreement was thrashed out to cut the number of RHTT runs which NR agreed to, reluctantly. No-one worked out wind blows leaves around. At the same time, said upper management idiot(s) opened a multi-squillion pound training simulator in Laandaan and cancelled the contract to have skidpan training on one of our local preserved railways, 'cos the drivers could be trained on the simulator. Yeah, f*ckin' right! No matter how good the computer is, that feeling of "Oh curse word I'm sliding!!" can only be gained by doing it in reality.... once again, no-one thought of that! Add in a Graduate know-all engineer coming in to re-arrange the maintenance schedules 'his way' (or no way) and a general lack of forward planning by the rolling stock owners (oohhh, the wheels are wearing out, we need more. Nope, none in stock), chuck some additional maintenance work in and by this year (when some of the trees have regained foliage), you can see where it was heading. All it needed was one thing to trip it over the edge.... and that came from the Driver Managers who decreed that in the case of a slide, use Emergency Brake and skid to a stop. On an ABS-fitted unit, thats not an issue, but non-ABS and its all wheels flats immediately. At least 50% of the fleet daily is either restricted or away for wheel turning, just to come back and get more flats... oh yes, a couple of units are below scrap size so can't be turned and there are no spare wheelsets in the country. I bet you're glad to just have the Phillipinos to deal with.... |
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Rover Metro - The TARDIS - brake problems.....Stored
Rover 75 - Barge
MGZTT Cdti 160+ - Winter Hack and Audi botherer...
MGF - The Golden Shot...Stored
Project Minion........
Can you see the theme?
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But I do like the thought of, "Ee our Orrig, whatever are we going to do with thee?"
