Modern Vespa

Oh, poor lad Sounds like he wasn't hurt, and hopefully he won't be put off!

oh dear good thing he wasn't hurt but I can identify 100% with the wanting to cry feeling when you see your lovely ride in bits on the road.

If i see it again i'll take a pic of what it says. I swear it said Ducati but then i couldn't find my other pair of glasses in it's case and finally after ransacking the house they were where i looked. Just saw where the Wellcome(sp) is having a exhibition on forensic science. Took bad i don't live a tad closer or i'd be on the plane. Looks cool and yes, i'm not normal.

Yorkshire PUDDING!
Now where's that gravy?

Or...golden syrup and cold cold cream....

Just finished watching "The Imitation Game". Truly excellent, and made even more so by our visit to Blechley Park on Saturday. Now to tackle some books about Alan Turing and Ultra.

ooooooh kitty that is an epic pud.

you do know that for Merkins, 'cold cream' is something that ladies put on their face to ward off wrinkes?

Well "pud" means something else too. 😉

"The Ultra Secret" by F.W.Winterbottom is a good insight into what was allowed to be known about it in 1975.

Also Google 'Bending of the beams'.

jim

Read the Winterbottom book in 1977, whilst at the Armor Officer Advanced Course. Was on the Recommended Reading List for our Operations Security Course. Can't remember if he referred to "Cribs" and "Cillies" by those names, but we covered the concepts in the course, in terms of repeated content and operator "signatures", which not only apply to codes and ciphers, but plain text. Amazing that it was the use of cribs and cillies that ultimately made the Bombe a success, and the movie made that very clear.

It's a shame that the movie didn't scratch the surface of the magnitude of the contributions of female analysts, who were significantly more facile at many analytical tasks than men, yet had to abandon applying such skills and return to stereotypical roles after the war. This was the underlying theme of the ITV series "The Bletchley Circle", where a group of Bletchley women get together in the early 1950s to use their innate skill and training from Bletchley to solve complicated mysteries that have stumped the authorities. BTW, it was "The Bletchley Circle" that got Ardy interested in the whole Bletchley thing in the first place.

I enjoyed this one:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12240479-the-secret-life-of-bletchley-park

Hugely disappointed by Robert Harris's Enigma, which managed to make this incredibly exciting period seem deeply dull.

Are you saying that the TV series is based on fact?

Isn't that disappointing. I read The Devil Drives: A Life of Sir Richard Burton: Fawn M. Brodie and found it so boring that I did not finish it. And I passed it on to two other people who had the same experience. And that had to be an exciting story!

I, too, remember putting down a biography of Richard Burton. Not sure whether it was an original German book or a translation, as this was in the mid-eighties. The Vivian Leigh bio I've read before, was much better.

Sorry. This might be a different Richard Burton.

Richard Burton the Head of Sales then ?

Bill x

My brother did this for me.....

Very nice.

Whose is it ?

Bill x

Mine of course....

Very cool! Nice art. nice scoot...

Make-up Lady

I remember reading Enigma two decades ago, I don't remember much of it. Fatherland by Robert Harris is much more vivid in my mind, it must have been a lot better!

Fatherland is great - I enjoyed Pompeii, too.

Pepy, that's really nice

talented bloke then your kid

having it as your avatar?

I'll stick with me sticker for the time being mate.

One for you both...

Ha that's going in my sig. This just in today. Size of a pea pod and sucking its thumb just like Grampa.

My attempt at using a chunky chain to improve security can be found here.
UK m/c and scooter theft thread
I welcome your comments.

Busy weekend. Finished the loose ends of the downstairs flooring job at home, then refitted a new CVT clutch bearing on the GTS hoping it'd cure the tinny whirring sound. It didn't, bah. Must be something slightly catching the variator fins or clutch bell to produce the sound, so more investigation needed. Dancing shoes on for a local soul night (which turned out to be pants) then up and out this morning to do the short local group ride to Kettering for a big parts fair, normally considered the first run of the season. Bright but breezy, great chats with mates not seen over winter, and a catch up with Pepy who'd come over to borrow my service tools to give his GTV some TLC. So just got into this weekend lark and its back to work tomorrow. Hey ho...

had my first fire in the newly-renovated dining room fireplace today

and immediately became paranoid when I discovered that I could detect a slight smell of smoke in the loft while the fireplace is in operation. After consultation with my chimney guy, and extensive internet research, I've concluded that it's either a) a slight leak of fumes from the upper registers of the chimney, or b) smoke odours entering the loft from outside the house.

It's probably nothing to worry about, but, being paranoia-woman, worrying is exactly what I'm doing I'll be getting a full smoke test done next fall (the one where they seal up the chimney from both ends and see if it comes out anywhere in between) and if required, a flue liner. ££££

I seem to have become totally obsessed with health and safety as far as my own home is concerned. I have smoke detectors and CO detectors all over the damn house and I'm still worried that I'm going to set the roof alight or die of carbon monoxide poisoning in my own bed

As I can attest Genie, fire in your house does suck bad so it's better to be overly safe in that regard.

What? After all you went through to get into the place and now getting it into shape?? Who wouldn't be concerned? Smoke smell in the loft! You kidding? Of course you're concerned!!

Dropped in here for tea yesterday: http://www.shillingstone-railway-project.org.uk/

Lovely example of a little country station, all done up and restored with lots to look at. They have a swear box for anyone who mentions Beeching

Ah, yes, leaky brick chimneys.

Back in Flight School in 1966, one of the WWII "Temporary" Barracks my classmates and I occupied had a definite chimney leak. Complaints through the company commander resulted in nothing. So, one night, when the odor of smoke was particularly strong, the occupants of that barracks did a midnight pull of the fire alarm. Firemen arrived and definitely verified chimney leakage and declared the barracks unsafe for occupancy. Company commander had to come in from home, arrived ranting and raving and was told by the fire chief to arrange temporary lodging for 30 student aviators.

His boss, the Battalion Commander also showed up, since the "fire" was in his battalion area. Bn CO asks Co CO what's going on and Co CO says something like, "These damn students. Just because I blew off their sissy complaints about an little chimney leak, they pull the fire alarm." Dumb answer.

The 30 students were given rooms for the night in the Transient Officer Quarters, and the next morning, workmen were fast at work making chimney repairs that took an hour or two. Former Company Commander was now the Inventory Control Officer at the Officers' Club. And everyone in our class was happy.

there's no actual smoke in the loft - I can just smell the pleasant scent of burning wood. I've now got a smoke detector up there, so the next time I light the fire I'll know for sure if there's anything fishy going on.

I've since been told that it's quite normal for a chimney to produce smokey smells after it's not been used for some time (I'm guessing it's been close to a year since this one was used). It's been swept and inspected and tested three times with a smoke bomb and pronounced fit for use by a registered chimney sweep .... so i guess i should stop worrying about a bit of smell.

for what it's worth, I can smell next door's cooking in the loft, and in my downstairs hall cupboard as well

Use less garlic?

So, Honda NC700 keys are noted for being made of cheese (like Vespa exhausts). I swapped to the spare key some months ago when the one I was using got twisted and awkward to use. For the last couple of weeks the spare key's been dodgy too, despite careful nursing, and last night when I left work it wouldn't turn in the ignition. After half an hour I gave up and got the bus home.

Came in this morning armed with the other key, some lube, AND the key I'd been using, which I'd cautiously tried to straighten a bit. Nothing works. Awaiting RAC patrol

Damn! Sorry to hear that, Alice. Hope they get you back on the road quickly.

In the meantime, you could make up a limerick. "Keys" and "cheese" must take you somewhere.

Sounds more like the old Scout/Guide favourite, The Quartermaster's Stores. There were keys, keys, keys made out of cheese.

RAC guy had no more luck than I did, so it's off to Dobles again. Maybe jimc was right and I just break bikes

agh. that's simply not fair.

Alice, you're like one of those people who make watches stop just by wearing them. I had to crash my scooter to get the key to bend, and even then Lawrence was able to straighten it out just by staring hard at it