Taking Time Out.

Made a lot of progress wiring up a pair of HO scale street lights plus their resistor. Then, at the 11th hour, one of the connections snapped. The lights have to be wired and installed as a pair so a disconnection to one of them scuppers both. Instead of weeping or losing my temper, I decided to call it a day, down tools (wire-cutters, soldering irons, pliers, solder, wire, scissors and heat-shrink) and retreat from the situation or count to 10, or take time out; and return to the task tomorrow.

The street lights plus resistor

One is in position

The white wire which sheared away from the end of the  black wire.

It will be a miracle if it all works in the end.

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Currently listening to:

An EP from Golden Teacher entitled "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, presumably, after the poem by Dylan Thomas.

The Limited Edition Silk Screen covers of the EP.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas

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Last night's dinner:

Corned Beef salad.

Apparently, the term "corned beef" derives from the fact that the beef was originally cured with "corns" of salt. Similar derivation to peppercorns, I suppose.

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Currently Reading:

Darting about a bit with my reading - back to Kim.

And his:

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Miscellany:

I was last coming out of Confession this morning and the lights were being turned off in the church giving the stained glass windows a certain mood - can't think of the adjective.

Tackling a very fiddly task.

I've decided that the so-called entrance to my HO scale Parisian basement Jazz club is too innocuous.

See the yellow and red hoops in pictures below.

So, I was wondering if a pair of lampposts flanking the entrance might add some focus.

I have about a dozen of such lampposts.

The problem is that they are fiddly to wire up. Firstly, they have to be wired as a pair in series with each other and in series with a resistor - which the manufacturer supplies. Secondly, for some unaccountable reason, one of the two wires from each light is UNINSULATED, so the potential for such wires touching each other and causing a short circuit is high. Thirdly, I'm scared that drilling holes in the baseboard so as to accommodate the lampposts will disturb if not destroy the two electroluminescent hoops that the lampposts will flank.

I thought that I might ask this little chap to carry out the installation.

The only solution will be to remove the two hoops and then re-install them once the holes have been drilled.

A task for tomorrow.

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Currently listening to:

A double CD by the ORB purchased second hand earlier today from Oxfam.

The CD contains the seminal "Little Fluffy Clouds" a masterpiece of sampling.

That song merits its own Wikipedia entry of which this is an extract.

"Little Fluffy Clouds" is centred on clips from an interview with Rickie Lee Jones in which she recalls picturesque images of her childhood. 

Interviewer: "What were the skies like when you were young?"

Jones: "They went on forever – They - When I w- We lived in Arizona, and the skies always had little fluffy clouds in 'em, and, uh... they were long... and clear and... there were lots of stars at night. And, uh, when it would rain, it would all turn - it- They were beautiful, the most beautiful skies as a matter of fact. Um, the sunsets were purple and red and yellow and on fire, and the clouds would catch the colours everywhere. That's uh, neat 'cause I used to look at them all the time, when I was little. You don't see that. You might still see them in the desert."

Jones' record company was upset at the unauthorized use of her voice and pursued the issue in the legal system. However, when Jones herself heard it, she is reported to have disagreed, saying: "What the hell you doin'? This is good!" Big Life chose to settle out of court for an undisclosed sum of money for use of her voice on The Orb's recording.

The song also uses a harmonica sample from Ennio Morricone's The Man With The Harmonica (from the film Once Upon a Time in the West) and parts of Electric Counterpoint, a piece for multitracked guitars composed by Steve Reich and recorded by Pat Metheny. Reich was "genuinely flattered" by The Orb's use of his work and instructed his record company not to sue. Alex Paterson also suggested that the drum track is sampled: “If anyone actually knew where the drums on 'Little Fluffy Clouds' came from, they'd all just die, but I'm not at liberty to tell. Record companies have always warned me, ‘Don't tell anyone where you got your samples until we get them cleared!’”. He later said that the drum track was sampled from Harry Nilsson's album Nilsson Schmilsson.

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Last night's dinner:

Take-away Chicken Chow Mein

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Currently Reading:

Also purchased from Oxfam this morning:

The book is an account of 55 year old rock journalist, Nik Cohn's time in New Orleans getting involved in the world of Black Rap music.

From the blurb it emerges that earlier in his career Cohn wrote the book upon which the film "Saturday Night Fever" was based.

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Miscellany:

Too windy for bicycle travel today so used a succession of buses.

eg

Where is "Le Midi"?

No time for any work on railway today.

Instead here are some images relating to the area of France known as "Le Midi".

I had always imagined that Le Midi was in the middle of France - but it refers to the south.

A map of the railway regions of France before the SNCF unified everything.

The following text and pictures about Le Midi has been lifted from a truly fantastic blog called, "Transpress NZ"

Here's the link:

http://transpressnz.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/former-midi-bb-electric-in-gare-de-la.html

Former Midi BB electric in the Gare de la Tour de Carol, France

Former Midi company loco BB 4208, one of the 50 of the series from 1934-1935, is seen in the station of La Tour de Carol in the area known as Cerdagne, with the original SNCF logo having replaced the Midi one, but otherwise looking as it did when built.

Builder: Alsthom
Final withdrawal: 1997
Type: Bo'Bo'
Tension: 1500 Volts DC
Traction motors: 4 x M1 Alsthom
Output (continuous): 1,210 kW
Total weight: 80 tonnes
Total length: 11.85 metres
Maximum speed: 75 km/h


The la Tour de Carol/Enveitg station (altitude 1,231 metres) is notable for being one of the few places in the world where railways of three different track gauges meet: the standard gauge line from Toulouse (see earlier post), the narrow gauge line to Villefranche-Vernet-les-Bains, known as Le Petit Train Jaune de Cerdagne, and the broad gauge Spanish line from Barcelona.

a forecourt view from the 1960s of the station

an SNCF holiday camp near the track

The French standard gauge track - to the left just visible is the Spanish broad gauge track and to the right over the platform is the metre gauge Petit Train Jaune de Cerdagne track

in the centre are railway workers houses

Carol is the name of the river, and here are towers - Tours - one of which must be the origin of the name.

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SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE PRESENTATION IN THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS OF TEXT!! DON'T KNOW WHY.

Parisian Night Life - HO Scale Style

Have added 2 more electroluminescent wires to the street to suggest one of these basement Parisian night clubs that one enters down through steps off the pavement. Once I have a couple of HO scale bouncers standing next to the entrance it will look the part.

A section of electroluminescent wire

Powered by a single AAA battery

Two hoops of electroluminescent wire marking the entrance to the night club.

The Full Monty

I'll have to tidy up the resultant wiring under the baseboard

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Currently listening to:

I can't say I really like this kind of music; to use a modern term, it's "cheesy". There must be some decent French Samba music somewhere around. Anyway, this is all in the service of the sambafication of my musical sensibilities.

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Last night's dinner:

Spouse-made chicken casserole

With boiled rice

Spouse-made Apple pastry concoction

With cream

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Currently Reading:

My latest cache of books from the library has proved disappointing - I have nothing to read.

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Miscellany:

Went to St Paul's, Whiteinch this morning - beautiful stained glass windows.

Then we cycled along the Clyde into town - the River was very high and covered the cycle path at one point.