Coventry out and about

Hi Baz, Hi all I feel the vibes of your feelings & am reminded that so often there are times when we wish things were different. I remember when I was five years old, wanting to be seven because that seemed 'BIG'. When I was about thirteen, wanting to be able to drive, which is something now that I avoid wherever possible. The one thing that being an accountant has taught me, is to be able to separate fact from fiction. So often, what we actually imagine, you know, 'the grass on the other side being greener', when we get there we find that it is not any greener, & if it was, it would need a lot more mowing, as my dad used to tell me. Most things in life for me, that has been true. So, I do hope that is food for thought & comfort for you, Baz. There is a current picture of the well-off over sixties lapping the good life up, & I do enjoy my retirement. The fact is though that over 38% of over sixties have serious issues of poverty & illness. ps. I look forward to our weekends, just as you do because I identify with my son & daughter-in-law & family who are just as you are. Best wishes.

I'm sure my good friend Scott Borthwick will not mind sharing this photo with you, Philip ! 66125 again!

Hi Midland Red, Hi all It's a lovely picture, which along with the others gives a good record of a freight train through Coventry. Exactly as it was on the day.

EWS livery is a rare sight on the line these days. Almost all the 66s I see here are Freightliner.

Hi all On the way to Guys house today, we called at Hatton bottom lock, making the most of the lovely weather before it goes. A nice coffee (a proper Lyons) at the Warwick Parkway station went down very well too. Hey, & guess what! We went in our mo'. Hope you like.

Yes, we like, thank you,

Hi Dreamtime Thank you so much. A real good day out, wish you were here.

I've done the Hatton flight a couple of times, and I was the mug with the windlass walking up from the cape, very hard work if your doing the gates and paddles but enjoyable if you're on the narrow boat travelling through them

Hi all , Yesterday, Pam & I enjoyed a Midland day-ranger ticket where we visited Crewe for fish & chips, then Shrewsbury for tea. We drove to Coleshill where we parked at the station free of charge. All of the years of my trainspotting, I never knew that there was a subway, underneath all of the platforms at B'ham New St, station. It may be a left-over from the mail train transfer days. The forecast for the next few days is dry so I will try & catch up with visiting some more of the venues mentioned on our forum. What ever you are doing please enjoy & for those at work, it is a Friday. ps The Princess Royal visited Coventry yesterday, but other than our local radio I have seen little evidence of her visit.

We have several railway enthusiasts and, of course, we all love a little nostalgia so can I recommend a smashing DVD called "Night Mail"? It's produced by the British Film Institute and I suspect that some of our members might already have a copy. It is a steam era film of the overnight mail to Scotland and how the mail is sorted and transported. The film has Benjamin Britten's music and poetry of W.H. Auden. Absolute bliss. There are some excellent extra films also. One of my favourite viewing treats.

Hi Walrus, & thank you. I will put a live link up on the Railways topic, hope that you like.

The royal visit to Ash Green yesterday was interesting. The royal helicopter landed on the Ash Green School playing field just the other side of our wall, I wondered what the noise was, had a look and there it was.

Hi all My 'Out&About' trips have been curtailed a little this last couple of weeks, as we are having a bit of work done at home. You may also be delighted to hear that I will be off-line for a couple of days this week, whilst the phone lines are moved. Joke as I might, but Pam & I have become web-a-holics. We here seem to have our jobs done in the Autumn rather than the more traditional Spring-clean time. The woodwork here is over forty years old & needs replacement. It is also where our phone-line enters our home & then exits to go into other rooms, which is why it needs to be moved. Wireless phones etc. technology, means that we don't need umpteen lines in nowadays. Just one good one.

Hi all My son has just sent me a pic of Pam & I enjoying a Scottish holiday in 1987, where we were so far up that I am sure that we were leaning over with the curvature of the earth. The sign on the station canopy (Wick) says where we were. The holiday was with us using a freedom of Scotrail for fourteen days ticket. We travelled aboard an Inverness sleeper which we boarded in Coventry, which departed from platform 1 (going north) at 10.30pm. The sleeper comfort was bril. Cannot do that nowadays from Coventry. We enjoyed these Scottish rail tickets so much, that we had three consecutive years of touring both the mainland & the Isles. The fourteen day ticket included walk-on & walk-off ferries & all connecting bus services.

Hi all & good morning. Our work at home nearly complete, but for a bit of tutti-flutti. The new doors have double locks as well as bolt & bar. We have had the same at the rear. I can now have a horse & keep him in the house. What a pip. Pam & I spend a lot of time outdoors & living at the end of our cul-de-sac, it is so private. We often sit out at the front for tea & toast on a morning like this morning. I like telling you these odds & ends because it is sad if we don't like where we live. After all, we have been here over forty years & I do think that we might like it. Hey! ps. All that remains of the telephone line-in is what you can see near to the drain pipe, now curving as just one cable to our router. Thanks to John, the telephone man from Tile Hill. He knows his stuff, well, he is from Coventry.