Sunday 10 May 2020

Saturday Ramble

The narrative from some quarters would have you believe that we are doing very well: we aren't. As I understand it, on the cusp of the VE Day anniversary, we passed the number of civilians lost in WW2. The earlier in five and a bit years, the later in 3 months. Improving on the hit rate of the Luftwaffe is exactly the opposite of doing well. If people are interested in leaving legacies, then this one would be impossible to beat.

However, down in the bunker, or rather the back of the garage, the O gauge continues. Not swiftly, but steadily. Not that it was news, but it dawned on me how I was building a cartoon which is very common with larger scale layouts due to the high level of compression. The trick is to not make that obvious by taking short cuts such as leave brake gear or drainpipes off. This is very small: the main chunk being only around 6'10" long and I'm working from the back as it were and I'm only just getting my 7mm eye in again. Some days I think I'm ahead of the timescale, some day not. It has the potential to get finished quickly and then I realise that there are two small buildings and a cattle dock to do (which I don't have the fencing for as yet). These will be the time suckers and the reason why I did the station building first (or the 'hut' as Mrs F. insists on calling it while en-route to the kitchen garden).

All of this while at the back of my mind the question of why? Why mostly because I was asked to, but the shape and design are totally wrapped around it rocking up at Warley on a 3m long stand. Is there anyone out there who doesn't have doubts to whether this event will happen? I for one will be highly surprised if it does. Primarily because it would take hours to disinfect all the rucksacks and the queue at 2m intervals would stretch to Wolverhampton.

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