It's As Easy As D, E, F!!

Delightful Dinner

Because the second "B" at Holiday Holsworthy was so substantial and delicious, the fbbs had no need of elevenses, luncheon, tiffin or afternoon tea. But a pub-based evening meal hit the spot. So twice the gang traversed a few short miles of Devon lanes to Pyworthy, one of the many "Worthys" in that part of the county.

The noshery was the Molesworth Arms ...

... named after a minor local aristocrat, not the much more famous "curse of St Custards", one Nigel of that ilk**.

OUR FOOD OUR MISSION…

Our aim is to provide excellent home cooked food, made almost exclusively from locally sourced ingredients including from our own allotment, showcasing the wealth of high quality produce in our area. 

All our meat is sourced from local farms & butchers and our fish from local suppliers with veg predominantly locally grown and artisan breads from our nearest baker.  We are also producing as much as we can in our own organic polly tunnel.

And the welcome was as warm and personal as their open log fire wasn't - it was summer, after all!

The meals were good; but in a very short pre-prandial excursion, and to the slight bewilderment of the rest of the party, fbb nipped across the road to examine the people shelter.

Buses at Pyworthy?

Even better, Stagecoach had posted a timetable ...

... which revealed that the tiny village has a peak hour journey on Stagecoach 85 to Barnstaple and back.

The Stagecoach map was less helpful.

The service 6 "occasional journey" does NOT run via the lovely Pyworthy despite Stagecoach's cartography.

It gets the little kiddies to Budehaven School (and Back). For accuracy, consult the excellent Devon County bus map.

The 216, also operated by Stagecoach, offers a "market day" return run into Bude ...

... but is not mentioned at the shelter. Another state secret.

** Molesworth : fbb recommends "The Compleet Molesworth" (Willans and Searle) for an in-depth resumé of life in one of the UK's lesser known private educational establishments.

Emergency Excavation
The refurbishment of fbb's model railway is following the same pattern and the full sized National Train Set. Is is over-running and over budget, The ravages of weather have finally undermined the carefully crafted quarry face at Peterville, seen here just before it was covered with a scale 50 feet of snow.

Mrs fbb's old bath towel finally rotted away, meaning that there was no support for the plaster cliff. Here is the result of its removal!

A (stronger) base for sculpture replaced the tattered remnants of towelling ...

... and the first layer of sand and cement mix was plastered on. fbb returned to his (very) youth as the process was manual, reminiscent of making lovely gooey mud pies as a small boy. But the results look OK - a second coat and painting to follow.

The only snag is with the steps up to the top of the cliff. They were built specifically to fit the old shape. Will they fit the new?

More of this exciting story in a few days.

Ferrovia Fantastica
No 3 son (commuter to/from Basel, Switzerland) was intrigued when he saw one of these in a platform at Basel SBB railway station.

As it was going to Milan, the lad surmised that it might be an Italian train - clever boy, takes after his dad!

"But it looked rally dated, like some 1970s or 1980s style" suggested young sir.

It is, of course, a genuine "Penolino", i.e. a tilting train of class 600/620.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course, but you can see his point. The extra-long pointed nose does seem to be an attempt to make the thing look "out of this world".

The UK's "Pendolinos" are much more staid.

And a jump to "K"

Keyboard Kompleted
The replacement of the fbb's keyboard was completed with consummate skill yesterday afternoon. It involved stripping down the laptop to its bare bones ...

... unplugging a very tiny ribbon cable ...

... and ripping the old keyboard from its frame. It is held in place with a sticky band of goo which added to the problem. The new keyboadr would not stick, so a hi-tech solution was devised. It is held in place by two strips of sellotape.

Apparently the failure was all fbb' fault "for eating your dinner off the keyboard not a plate"!!??

Not only was the top of the "button panel" somewhat encrusted with the detritus of dining ...

... but so was the "protective" membrane.

The gunge was even on the underside of the keyboard!

Very sticky.

But No 3 son warned of a potential problem with his repair. the new keyboard's ribbon cable was in a slightly different place and had to be folded to fit. "That means," the lad advised, "that one day the cable will break and you will need a new keyboard."

Gee thanks a bunch!

fbb has been banned from any contact with food before, during or after a blogging session. A complete body decontamination before work commences is also commanded.

 A GoAhead Gamble blog : Tuesday 3rd July