Of a sure-fire solution

28th March 2020

The roads are quiet, you can hear the birds sing. I could grow to like this...

The week started off OK. I was on site first thing Monday morning - fretting a little in case Ludwig didn't want to start - but it did and I was almost ready when the CFB lorry arrived to swap the skips over. Then I had a little break before our regular haulier turned up in his tractor unit to collect the trailer. He was to carry out a contract exam and brake test before meeting me the following morning to collect Charlie and bring it home to Darley Dale. Then came the 'Stay at Home' Prime Ministerial broadcast. My first thought was 'oh hec, that stops us tomorrow' but I texted the haulier who replied that 'work was still an acceptable reason, so it was still on so far as he was concerned.'

So the following day I met him and his Dad and brought Charlie back home. Didn't get many pictures (too busy) but here it is about to set off on the journey.

As a sidelight on how this week has transformed, I sent some goods out by carrier on Monday to a customer, and since the plant is quite large, I e-mailed one of the supervisors who came on shift at 6 am Tuesday and responded that he'd look out for it. On Thursday lunchtime, Palletline rang me to say their vehicle had arrived at the plant and it was 'locked up'. I tried the phone lines but sure enough no answers, so instructed Palletline to bring the goods back (or I'd have to pay storage on the pallet for goodness knows how long). I had a similar situation with another customer on Friday, but there someone turned in to accept the delivery.

Now, so far the NHS has still not categorised me as being one of those who must hideaway for the next 3 months: so that's good. One of my acquaintances though, has a COPD condition and he tells me he has has been ordered to confine himself to home, isolated and with but one window open for ventilation. But, he says, he lives under a flightpath into Standsted airport and since the flights reduced he has neither been wheezing nor needed his inhaler. So is his condition exacerbated by leaving the house or by aircraft pollution? The sky has been incredibly blue the last few days with not a single con-trail to divide it up.

Mind you, I've been thinking hard about all this, and have come up with a sure-fire way to resolve the virus crisis. You are all well aware that the outdoors is perceived to be safe. Secondly, you are probably aware that the principle constituent of sanitising hand-washes is alcohol. (Just go and look on the ingredient list on one of those hundred bottles you have stashed away.) Now, alcohol comes in many forms, such as beer or spirits, so obviously if you drink enough of it, the alchohol will purge any virus in your bloodstream - killing it from the inside out, so-to-speak. So here's the solution - and I've passed it on to the government and am confident it will be national policy on about - oh - Wednesday morning. The entire nation shall be commanded to drink itself blotto and live outside on the streets. Can't fail, honest.

Steph tells me that if she is unable to get milk (no panic-buy yet there but you never know) her brother-in-law brought us sufficient wine when he came over in January that I can have white wine on my Weetabix in the morning (and if that runs out go for rosee and then red). Well, we must all make sacrifices I suppose.

So for the moment, I'm treating Darley Dale shed as an extension of my home. I can after all get there without any social interaction, I'm not accepting visitors and the e-mail I had from HMRC about the government's generous support for the self-employed would suggest I haven't a virus-in-alcohol's chance of getting any money out of them. So I will continue to potter about the shed, with my eye on the CCTV as - I strongly expect - that after a spell of diligently keeping their beloved offspring within the house, rattled parents will be suggesting that they go out 'for exercise, but not get up to mischief' and a deserted rail yard might be a temptation. A lot of this will be work so will not get mentioned here, but some of it might feature work on the collection, so might.

Over this weekend, for example, I've been trialling the new rails and brackets that will go on to the trailer when Andrew can be around again to weld it. Here's a peek. I managed to get some more steel from Rotherham before the edict to stay at home. At the back it's only 55mm above the trailer deck, whereas the rails behind are about 125mm. The ledge in the foreground will take the end of one of those rails, meaning a shorter ramp to build (and quicker to load). Talking of which, on Tuesday the roller got its first testing and was given the thumbs up, and the sugestion (which I'd already thought of) to put smaller ones at each side of the trailer front ends. So the first roller was given a quick slosh of yellow paint this afternoon.

And shall I be sitting down, putting finger to keyboard on a sequel to the Railway to Merhead or on Thomas Hills? The jury is still out - but I have had a second offer to publish the latter during the week. Anyway, so far, so good, no coughs and sweats. Hope you are too. All being well,  back next week. See ya then.