When I was a child, playing with model trains was something we did over Christmas, when the Hornby HO gauge model box would be open and we’d arrange a layout on the kitchen table or the office floor for an afternoon. Some people take it far more seriously, and my father in law is one of these people.
This short video introduces his layout “The Port of New York & New Jersey”, a highly detailed O gauge layout built in what was formerly a guest bedroom.
A quick thought as I read that Occupy have been evicted from St Paul’s Cathedral after their 4 month siege.
Just think of the money that could have been spared for essential services that was instead wasted defending the pointless legal challenges, ensuring human rights and social services were provided to the protestors, and policing the event. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of pounds wasted to allow a tiny fraction of a percentage of the population to claim they represented those who would foot the bill.
Update
The Telegraph website has quoted that:
The total cost to the City of London Corporation of policing the protest is believed to be less than £1 million, with taxpayers footing almost £600,000 of that cost.
So with legal costs, and other expenses not paid for by the City the sum funded by the taxpayer will easily be over £1 million
I can explain why I’ve not been posting recently…
See, I told you it was a good excuse!
To launch his 39th Discworld novel “Snuff” Sir Terry Pratchett gave a lecture at The National Press Club in Washington D.C. and I was lucky enough to be there. Not only that, but I was lucky enough to be one of 100 guests who were invited to an exclusive “meet Sir Terry Pratchett” session after the main event! I could barely contain my excitement.
Sir Terry Pratchett, standing next to me!
Click on to read more about the lecture below the fold!
…it is worth doing in time-lapse!
So Laura and I spent an hour or so priming the guest bathroom, in preparation of repainting it for Kevin’s visit later in the month. The two of us managed to work in masks, with paint, in a cramped room, and not damage each other or anything else!
The music was written by Laura in 2008, and just seemed suitable for a bit of time-lapsery.
