What happened there!!!

Apologies for the poor layout of the last one,,, I have no idea why it was all scrunched up into one breathless paragraph. Probably Jacques and the boys again. Anyway to compensate I offer another delightful shot of,,, yes another industrial scene,, but this one is actually quite interesting,,,that grimy Victorian school building in the background was actually once called Salmon Pastures School. So you see the pastures do exist,, they aren't just a figment of my overactive imagination,,, enjoy.

Edelweiss my posterior.

It's 04.56am,,, the birds are tweeting,,, the cat is cleaning itself for a bit of pre breakfast fun in the back garden and I'm sitting here head down on the blogging machine. I used to be able to sleep for England,,, I was good at it,,, now I find it not only difficult but a complete waste of time,,, there's far too much to do as an alternative,, like blogging. I do hope you all like this weeks picture,,, why would anyone want to model the pennines,, mendips,, or cows full of fields when you can turn your talents to something like this. Our EMPIRE was built in places like this,,, the fact that we decided to sell them all off to the Indians and Chinese and that supermarketeering was much better than manufacturing and heavy industry is for me one of life's mystery's but as I'm not a political animal so be it. All you need is a couple of photo's [preferably black and white,, see earlier blog] a couple of sheets of Plastikard and a bit of spare time and before you know it,,, Robert's your relative you have something that will be a worthwhile back drop to your industrial scene. I feel much better now I've got that off my chest,,, that's whats wrong with the youth of today,,, there's far too much flocking going on,,, everybody's at it,,, we'll all be building mountains and singing Edelweiss if we aren't careful. I personally think Jacques Santair and all his mates in Strasbourg are partly to blame,, the rest is just heresay. It's time for a cup of tea and to check up on that cat,,, she loves delving in the bushes in springtime!!!

Salmon Pastures the MOVIE

Now that we find we can blog with consumate ease it has been decided to offer a very nearly world premier of,,,,

[fanfare of trumptets] "Coming soon at a laptop near you AND in full screen Humbrocolour Cinematic form SALMON PASTURES THE MOVIE,,, well some You Tube shots taken of the pastures at a couple of recent exhibition

Firstly sincere thanks to the 2 guy's below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlzEbeoQJYw
By vjoneslong ... for this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0an4RnIZstQ
Wallace, Gromit and "sinkplunger" for his wonderful rendition.

If only we had known at the time we were to become famous we would have put on some form of special show,,,which usually means I fiddle about with all my favourite loco's!!!

So if you do have a video camera and would like to take shots which just might end up on YouTube then please let us know,,, we will roll out our very special 4mm to 1' scale carpet and give you every assistance. [[It would certainly help curtail yours truly from barging past the paying guests offering a somewhat turse apology!!!Once again Mr Jones sorry!!]]

Could even happen at Chelmsford this October 20th,,, just in case you forget!!

PS,,, Now the computer is back from it's 10,000 message service and oil change I have actually been on YouTube and I have to say there are some weird folk about!!! mind you they probably think the same about us!!!

Let's get back to the pastures,,, float backstream

Much to everyones suprise I really am getting the hang of this,,, and it's only taken 6 years.

But I really am to blogging what Herod was to babysitting,,, but it's better than going goggle eyed at the box.

Anyway,,, don't blink or you might miss the Pastures update!!!

Spotting a small window of opportunity in the recent Norfolk Monsoons I donned my bricklayers swimming trunks and shot out there to lay the required 28 bricks,,, and this time the consistancy of the dried mortar didn't resemble a stale Oxo cube,,, that's right folks the mortar has actually glued the bricks together,,, is this how Christopher Wren got started I mused.

So when this current batch of rain vanishes we are in serious danger of getting the base for the pastures new home laid and moving towards taking up residence in our soon to be permanent abode.

The management is sore impressed,,, we even had a brief conversation on the subject over breakfast just the other day.

On a much more interesting area of activity, just Tuesday evening this week I found absolutely nothing to interest me [yet again] on the lunatic lantern and so decided to go and potter about in the garage,,, I do find just looking at my efforts very therapeutic,,,the therapy lasts about 3o seconds and then starts remorphing itself into a list of things I could improve on,,,anyway I digress.

It's the first time I had thought about the pastures since before Xmas and without really thinking about it I decided to clean the track and a few loco wheels and before you could say Walshearts Conjugated Valve Gear I was lets be honest "Playing Trains".

It was wonderful,,, the loco's were a bit stiff and creaky,,they hadn't moved a wheel in anger since Aylsham exhibition last October but I was having fun,,, and after a bit of cleaning it was running well.

Before I knew it there was a knock on the garage door and it was an official announcement that the management was retiring!!! I had been in there since 7.15pm,,, 4 hours of sheer enjoyment.

I enjoyed myself so much I went in there again last night,,, and same again.

I've spent the best part of 15 years building the pastures and it is only now that I am getting some pay back.

Won't apologise for the coloured photo,,, it'a another Sheffield Boozer in the middle of the steelworks,,, the pint was to die for and a model may well appear at some point in the future.[Of the boozer not the creamy nectared refreshment]

Half a Blog

This one really dosen't count but it is a picture, [black and white of course] of a particularly stunning property.

Wonderful and what modelling is all about.

A pub in the middle of some pretty dramatic industrial buildings,,, [steel works] & the real bonus is,,,, you don't need any flock!!!!

I took my lovely wife in there one Sunday lunchtime for a pint,,, it was full of either working or retired steel workers,,, the language was nearly as strong as the bitter,,, wonderful,,, every other sentence came with an apology!!

Oh happy days,, you don't forget things like that in a black and white world.

SAD

That poor old cow's innards

Saturday night and it's on again,,, and all cleverly disguised as entertainment,,, that poor cow.

Anyway onto more enlightening subjects like,,,why are black and white photo's more interesting than coloured ones,,, or is it just me.

Perhaps I am of a generation where black and white is the norm,,, I offer a classic example of what I am on about,,, not only that,,, but the buildings when they were intact were about 1 mile from my favourite imaginary location,,, Salmon Pastures.

Which does actually exist,,, but is now a glorious technicolour annexe of one of europe's largest shopping malls,,, and you cannot move for mosque's and empty McDonut wrappers,,, yuch.

About 20 years ago I took a work colleague on a trip through industrial Yorks and Lancs,,, [what a lovely name for a railway] we were supposed to be visiting industrial battery manufacturers but spent most of our time looking at some pretty incredible scenery and victorian buildings.

My colleague was born in South Africa and lived in a particularly rural part of Hampshire near Basingstoke,,, on driving past a particularly run down area of Bolton he commented that he could not understand why anybody on gods earth would want to live in a terraced house!!!

I exploded and called him all manner of snobbish southern gits,,, and mentioned that I had been born and bred in a terraced house just like the one's he was scoffing at and it was wonderful.

He thought that answered all manner of things,,,he was a particularly colourful character,,, I on the other hand prefer black and white.

Not particularly interesting I suppose but better than watching that poor cow's innards yet again and it does give me an opportunity to mention the pastures will be displayed,,, colourful terraced houses and all at Chelmsford model railway exhibition in October 2012.

Suvvern Gits!!! I really do love em.

Look forward to seeing you there,,, whoever you are.

SAD and everyone else at the Pastures.

Fancy a Ramble.

Ramblings of a pasteurized mind,,,, Murphy's law is alive and kicking. Further to a visit to my local friendly builders merchant I am now fully equipped with bricks, mortar, wall plates and all manner of buildy type things so I can commence on the very overdue home for The Pasture's.
[now that the cattery no longer exists and the management has decided she really does need to put her car in the garage]
And despite the hosepipe ban and government sponsored official drought in East Anglia,,, since I took possession of the aformentioned builders bits it hasn't stopped bloomin raining,,,, I really am getting a bit precipitated off with all this.
Whilst living in Jeddah for 9 years, where it rains once a decade for about 3 hours, we never had a hosepipe ban or government sponsored droughts there,,, how do they do that.
All right the water was a bit salty that came out of the local desalination plant,,, but we wouldn't dream of drinking the stuff,,,, I'm sure if I handn't showered in it for 9 years I may still have some hair!!!
Well actually we did have a sponsored drought after the government discovered that some of the water the expats were drinking was decidedly alcoholic,, sorry,, fizzy.
Does this actually qualify as blog 4? Send us a comment please please please let me know your' still alive,, whoever you are.