Off to Essex

Excited to be flying to Essex today - a vastly misrepresented corner of the United Kingdom; although its denizens couldn't care less about that.

So, blog will consist of a reprise of past episodes.

Current state of affairs re diorama

Locomotive I crave - 232 by JEP

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Compilations:

3 compilations of electronic music have given me immense pleasure this past 12 months.

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Favourite meals from last 2 years:

Octopus

Haggis with fishcakes

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Favourite Books from last 2 years:

This short book is a white-hot examination of what it is to be an ordinary human being.

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Miscellany:

Definitely, the year of the bicycle.

SNCF Photos, I'm Afraid: part 1.

Zero time for railway matters today - and the next few days will not be much better.

So, images time.

The two pictures below are of the interior of the French  presidential carriage, PR2, made in 1954 after a 3rd class carriage was transformed. The interior, basic but very practical, is in keeping with the aesthetics of the 1950s. Furnished with a study, a bedroom and a bathroom with a shower, this carriage transported Presidents Coty, Pompidou and Khrushchev, as well as General De Gaulle many times.

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Currently listening to:

Peter Gordon

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Last night's dinner:

Forgot to take photograph but it was ham and veg.

Similar to this.

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Currently Reading:

STILL CAN'T FIND ANYTHING WORTH READING.

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Miscellany:

 Dr. Church's London to Birmingham Steam Coach, c 1833 - unattributed.

Also:

Some SNCF Images of Yore.

No time to tackle railway today, so here are some pictures from the web.

Scenes from the 1950s as a wagon-lit (sleeper) is being prepared.

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Currently listening to:

2nd time of playing all the way through today.

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Last night's dinner:

Roast chicken and 3 veg.

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Currently reading:

NOTHING

Can't find a book that interests me all the way through.

The last three books that I found engrossing from beginning to end (although in completely different ways) were these:

Here's hoping that something turns up soon.

At least I've still got Kim to wade through:

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Miscellaneous:

Whilst up at Port Dundas this morning (just north of Glasgow city centre) saw this ancient iron hulk of a boat sitting on a patch of waste land.

Thinking hurts!

I've been under the impression that the challenging part of making this lighting gantry would be its assembly and all the little technical and manual skills involved in that process.

But, in fact, the hard part is thinking out how to manufacture the gantry and the designing of it.

There is a two way process between having a rough design for the gantry and then finding that the design cannot be assembled. And then back to the drawing board and having another go at it.

So far most of my designs have been in my head and then they have been translated into some reality. There has been no paper and pencil stage.

Mostly the two stages of designing in my head and executing that design have melted into one process - designing on the hoof.

For example, how will I attach the Hotel sign (made from a milk carton lid) to the ducting that will carry the wires for its lighting. Glue on its own wouldn't do so I incorporated a bent section of brass rod.

I'll develop this idea further tomorrow.

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Currently not listening to:

I was shocked to discover today that out of my 6,314 items on iTunes (which represents 20.2 days of continuous listening) I don't have a single song by Terence Trent d'Arby.

So, instead I am listening to:

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Last night's dinner:

John Dorey

Spanish black sausage (made with rice)

With melted Camembert and courgettes

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Currently stopped reading:

Far too exclusively a love story.

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Miscellany:

Philosophy class tonight - significance of Turing Machines for understanding mental causality.

Devotional Books

Didn't actually do anything on the railway today, but did a fair amount of thinking re how best to install lighting along the various streets.

The aim is that whatever infrastructure is installed, replacing a burnt out light bulb will be unproblematic ie won't require removing buildings and other fixtures to get access.

It would be too difficult to articulate those thoughts so, instead, here is a picture of a woman having her ticket checked in France c 1950.

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Currently listening to:

Actually listening to Cartola for pleasure and not simply to facilitate sambic-osmosis.

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Last night's dinner:

Hake plus peppers, courgettes and shallots

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Currently reading:

Set in modern day India, I came across this reference to the Hindu devotional text, the Bhagavad Gita.

This caught my eye because Christopher Isherwood was involved in translating the Gita and I've just finished reading his memoirs:

So on p 29 of  "The Boyfriend" the narrator tells of hearing someone in a Hare Krishna centre make this observation:

"all other things you read, papers, magazines, etc., are useless yet you buy them again and again; the Bhagavad Gita is precious and you buy it only once in a lifetime."

And I suppose the same could be said of all other devotional books.

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Miscellaneous:

Took the Peugeot out for a run to the distant edges of the South Side of Glasgow.

The South Side is vast compared with the West End of Glasgow which is where I live. There is a similar feel to both areas but people tend to be either one or the other and those who are used to living in the South Side can't envisage living in the West End and vice versa.

One significant difference between the two areas is, as I said, the vastness of the South Side especially in terms of the miles and miles of residential areas featuring huge detached stone houses dating from the early decades of the 20th century.

Wide avenues

And one of them had been converted into a Sikh temple.

I must say, the Peugeot has beautiful lines.

Today's shadow