Tag Archives: maintenance

Rolling Stock

Down on the South Coast the trains no longer run. Transnet Spoorweg and Railways Pty Very Limited managed to neglect the tracks, bridges and overhead cables to the point where they got varktap beyond all repair – fully FUBAR. This put a million trucks on the highways and started wrecking the roads and bridges nicely. One pleasant little side-effect if you live near the tracks is peace n quiet.

Rail Track overgrown
Road Bridge varktap

Now up here on the North Coast there are also a million trucks on the road but the railroad track that runs – close by but unseen – in the forest in front of our wooden cottage on stilts does still run about twice a day.

And I’m no trainspotter*, but it is my uninformed opinion that neglect of the track and the rolling stock is happening right in front of our ears. Cos the trains make an almighty racket going past. Like Rolling Thunder! And it’s not the diesel locomotives making the din. It’s metallic Track n Truck noise IMO. Like Naas’ Truck n Trailer. You have to listen carefully to even hear that there’s a diesel belching smoke to provide the locomotion. The locomotion. C’mon baby, DO the locomotion with me.

So I’m just giving advance warning that before long there may be peace and quiet here too.

~~oo0oo~~

Top pic taken from our deck shows the track about 50m straight ahead. Somewhere there.

Locomotives like this one pass by invisibly:

~~oo0oo~~

  • * ain’t no doubt about that. Seven weeks later the trains seem much quieter and less cacophonous, less metal banging. Can it be they’ve done something?  Over xmas/new year!? More likely I was just not used to having rolling stock thunder past so closeby.
the line passes our cottage about on that horizon

varktap – colourful way of saying ‘damaged;’ or, ‘not in a good way;’ see FUBAR

Roof Inspection Makeover

What started out as a routine roof inspection has morphed into a general sprucing up at 10 Elston Place. Geoffrey Cholmondeley Caruth esq. famous painter, builder, redecorator, raconteur, empire-nostalgic, makeover artiste and repetitive river paddler, came over and made some suggestions and we ended up deciding to fix the roof, bargeboards and fascia boards and paint them; fix the windows and paint; replace the old gutters with aluminium gutters; Almost forgotten in the mix was my second main aim: To catch my rainwater; We’ll add a 5000l tank to catch the rainwater off the garage roof; Oh, and we’ll also add a door to the flatlet; fix a door frame and paint four doors.

Especially paint four doors! I’ve been wanting to paint these doors a proper deep cobalt blue for a long time. A blue to match Aitch’s blue kitchen wall back at River Drive!

– Tom’s first xmas and he’s feeling blue –
– Jon & Dizzi dress to match Aitch’s kitchen –
– that River Drive blue – ca.2002 –

I wasn’t brave enough to paint a wall such a blue, but two outside doors was my kick for touch. And the colour blue the doors have been for nine years is fine, but not right; The first blue Geoff showed by painting half one door was way better, but still not quite right.

– the old and the better – but not right yet –

Then he got it: The right blue. I call it Deep Cobalt Blue, or (as he has traces of Pommy in his veins) British Racing Blue. Above we have the old blue and the better blue. But wait till you see the Right Blue: Deep Cobalt Blue!

. . . to be continued . . .

. . getting closer. I showed Geoffrey a pic of the old 1999 kitchen blue vs the sample. Also I described the blue of a ‘black’ cuckoo-shrike I had seen in bright sunlight in Mkhuze . .

. . and he came back with the right blue:

I got my blue. Not the blues.

So we moved onto door knobs. I asked Sir Geoffalot for good outdoor knobs, not the el cheapos that hurt my lily-white hands. You’ll get only the best, he assured me. He always does.

They look great! Are they definitely outdoor quality? I checked with the master designer. Absolutely, saith he, they come with our extended warranty: Fourteen Days. Partly guaranteed. As long as it doesn’t rain.

Ah, well. He bribes me with good muffins for morning coffee.

~~~oo0oo~~~

And so we carried on! Now the one cottage wall is being painted. Oy! I said to Geoffroy the Pom GCMG, I still don’t have my water tank!

We’re victims of Mission Creep, Fauntleroy the Master Pom replied airily.

~~~oo0oo~~~

– it wasn’t bad but he insisted on painting it –
– nothing to see here, moving on –
– but he doesn’t listen –

~~oo0oo~~

GCMG – One of the endless titles Poms bestow on themselves to cover up their sins. This is a very high one, only a couple of notches below your majesty. It’s ‘God Calls Me God.’ Below this lofty title you get CMG and KCMG. You can guess those.