bigbear

Hi! I was quite active on here a few years ago, but after lockdown, I've been spending all of my time trying to rebuild my business. Now I've decided to retire and thought I'd see what is going on around here. Since I was last here, Mrs Bigbear has had loads of joints replaced in her body - 2 hips, 2 knees, two vertebrae - plus a lot of other straightening and unbunging operations, so she's now at least got scrap value! She is currently nursing a broken ankle, after taking up pilates... I fell out of the loft a while back and broke a load of ribs and messed up my legs, etc., but am largely back to what passes for normal. Otherwise, just the years are rolling past far too fast for my liking! As a result of all this excitement, the work on restoring our 1941 Allis B has stalled completely, although carpet farming has gone on apace. As Britains aren't producing many models of interest to me these days, I've been buying some of their older, pre-millenium toys and thoroughly enjoying myself! After a lot of nagging from the family, I've been streamlining my other hobbies too, but still collect dinosaurs, Doctor Who toys, steam engines and anything to do with the original GWR. The kids still despair of me and my collecting! That's about it! What's occurring? John P (bigbear)

I have only just started to collect the old Corgi Toys, as Britains isn't producing much to interest me. My collection is getting quite varied now, with things that I would never have looked at if Britains were still making older models. Ah well, times change, I suppose...

I've about 6 of these old spot pigs, plus saddleback, black versions and white versions, all in two poses, which I bought as a job lot some years ago. I''ve also just one of the 'head erect' sheep, which came in a gift set. Been trying to find more sheep varieties, but nothing found except for the old and new versions of the "standard" models. PS Just seen the post by Tractorman314... Those are they! :-) That'll teach me to skip to the end of a thread...

Hope this goes into the right place! I've just bought a Corgi Tractor/Trailer set, No. 60030, the green DB and tipping trailer, in 'dirty' finish. Does anybody know if this has a story to it, please? Was it a special for a company, etc.? Where DB tractors ever really produced in green?

Yup, A Happy Christmas to all! May 2018 be as bright as a field of untrodden snow and your road be as straight as a well ploughed furrow!

AMAZON! Grrrrr! Ordered a Leonard Cohen box set for the wife, (honest!), at £23.00... Post Office destroyed it and didn't even try to deliver to me, but sent back to Amazon as 'crushed in transit'. Amazon arrange replacement, I download MP3 version for her to listen to while awaiting new CDs and all was well. Last night, got an email from Amazon saying that 'my' return was with them, but as I had downloaded the MP3s, they would charge me £43.00 for the privelige! B*st*rds! After a long chat on their helpline, they agreed to refund it to me, but asked me to please not send back items that I've already downloaded a version of in future. !!! Fur flew and a few words were exchanged, as I explained that I had never received the CDs, let alone returned them and it was all THEIR fault that this had happened. They then grudgingly admitted that it might be their problem and hopefully, I will now receive a refund and the CDs I originally ordered... Watch this space.

Not kidding! I'd be stuck in there after 2 minutes!

Grrr... It looked as if a woman at work was being bullied by a senior person in her department, so I asked if she was alright, explained why I asked and when she said all was well, left it at that. NOW I've been called to the big chief, told to mind my own business in future and to keep any social content out of my dealings with other staff. Why? Because the person doing the bullying got to hear that I had asked if the woman was OK and thought I was overstepping the mark by checking on her. Considering the department bully never heard my remark in the first place, I feel very annoyed! Sad thing is that I am unable to take it further without rocking the boat for the woman originally being bullied too... Grrrrrrr!

Too wet to do anything outside, so as I'm supposed to be on holiday this week, Mrs. Bigbear asked if I could go up to her school and do a few jobs... Installed her 2nd. hand washing machine, turned it on for a test run and found that the plate behind the soap tray is cracked right across. How did I discover this? By running a test wash and watching the water literally squirt out over the floor! Washing mashine outside by the bins, floor mopped and other jobs finished. Now just got to wait for the children to go home and I can give my dear mrs. a lift home too. Her car failed the MOT two days ago... What a fantastic holiday this is, I hope there's something nice for tea! Do you think I dare ask what?

Getting the house ready for Christmas - almost finished now! Happy Christmas everybody!!!

This morning I went out to start hanging the Christmas lights around our village with a gang of other lunatics, er, like minded people. You wouldn't believe the number of people who asked, "Are you putting up the lights, then?"! Second favourite comment was, "What do you want to put them up in October for?"... Do they not realise that it only gets done on Sundays, when we are all free and the official 'switch on' is in the first week of December! I've never seen a Christmas Lights Fairy in these parts... As for the traffic... The very gobby lady who indicated to turn left, to get past our traffic control person, then cancelled her indicator and drove very fast through our efforts to avoid a short detour! If I ever see her again... Big Mitsubishi pickup! Grrr... Also Grrr.... was the older driver of a 4x4, who thought it was OK to ignore the stop signal and edge through bit by bit as people got out of the way, only to meet the oncoming traffic who were green lighted anyway. What is wrong with these people? On the other hand, my arch-enemies, the lycra clad cycling brigade were happy, jovial and waited as long as it took for us to sling a catenary wire over the road on a nasty bend. Thanks to them - and I NEVER thought I'd be saying THAT!!!

I'm in the middle of a 24 hour blood pressure check. What a faff! Woke me up every hour through the night, I can't take a shower, every 30 mins I'm supposed to sit quietly while the machine does its stuff, pipes all over the place, getting caught up in (what remains of) my muscles... I hope it's worth it! It seems I may have 'white coat syndrome'... Basically nervous of doctors. Who wouldn't be?

Sitting indoors, covered in cats who think I'm a hot water bottle! I'm off with a cold which just won't go away.... Yes, Mandy, I've had all of the comments about 'manflu' I ever want to hear, thanks! So, just spending time staring out at the rain and messing about on't'internet. Am I bored? OH,yes!

Having sown grass seed into the new playing field at my wife's school a while ago, it is now 6 inches + long and needed a cut. The contractor who usually does it wouldn't do it as it was the first cut and "There might be stones that would damage my mower" he says... Mrs. Bigbear - ever one for a good idea - says to me, "You can mow it"... "I haven't an industrial mower", says I... "Never mind, you've nothing else you wanted to do" says she... So, after weighing up the pros and cons, I mowed a quarter of an acre with a Qualcast electric mower! It looks great, with neat lines and everything, but I'm totally knoackered! I've now convinced her to buy a ride-on mower, so in future I can have a bit of fun while being her new 'Mower Man'! Gotta love wives, haven't you?

Friday: Erected marquee for all day music concert in the yard at Coldharbour Mill, Uffculme, Devon. (Worked all day at my 'proper' work, then 4 - 10 at the mill). Saturday: 7.30 a.m. Welcome Military re-enactors, tractor owners, (a good turnout considering the South Molton Show was on at the same time!), and set up stage lighting and p.a. system in time for first band onstage at 10 a.m.... stage manage and sound mix all day... After last band finished, at 10 p.m., dismantle and remove p.a. system. Sunday: Up early to strike down the marquee and lighting rig. Store it all away. In the afternoon, go to my wife's business to finish off the jobs there ready for her to fully open the doors to the public today! Off to bed at 1130 p.m. after stopping the cat fight in the road outside... Now: Catching up with emails, etc., before going back to 'proper' work... What did YOU do over the weekend? :laugh: :laugh:

Just sitting in the chair with a coffee after shifting a whacking great oak tree to the woodpile! "Come and take it away" says my friend, who doesn't 'do' heavy work... The tree surgeon had done a good job, though and it's all in 9" thick rounds. Some of them are 3 feet in diameter, though, so there was a lot of grunting and groaning going on... All safely piled in another friend's field until I can get to it with a splitter. I've still got a huge trailerload of logs on our drive to split too... Mrs. Bigbear is starting to get tetchy about parking her convertible right under the side of the pile! Still, she won't moan when it's -5 outside and we are toasty warm and not using any gas... Hohohohohoho!

I want to go to bed! Yesterday, rented a Mercedes Sprint and moved my son to Hastings to start new job! 17 1/2 hours driving and loading/unloading... He said that his new flat is a ground floor one, but it's a victorian house and the 'ground floor' is up about 20 steps... Bleugh! Finally got to bedat 2 this morning... At 6 I was up again, to return the van and then get up to my wife's business to do some work for her. This afternoon I've got a routine health check at the doc's... That should provide some interesting results! Last night, I was getting hungry and found a little chippy in the wilds of Kent. Bought some chips and fried mushrooms. Looked good! Ate them and found it was like eating mushrooms while drinkning half a pnt of cooking oil! The aftertaste was... interesting! I dread to think what it's done to my cholesterol, etc.!!! )

I got my day out at the West Somerset Rally! Hurrah! Had a great time, watched steam ploughing demonstration and a rare Foden Thrashing Machine in action. Also got to see a Lanz Bulldog in the flesh - supposedly the only one resident in England? Not much about in the way of models, but did buy a near-mint Britains roller from 1975 for £3 and all the spares I needed to get my old Mamod steam engine going! My feet feel as if they've been run over now and my legs are stiff from all that walking! Makes you realise that even a fairly active life is still not as active as in the 50's and 60's! Took almost 400 photos and am now having fun cataloguing them into my reference system... OCD? ME? )

Over the past two weeks, I've been helping my wife move her business to new premises. Closed to the public last Tuesday, removal lorries on Wednesday - 8 of 'em! - three large trailerloads of rubbish to the tip, "Yes, it's all come from me dear old Mum's house that we are clearing, it's DEFINITELY not commercial, guv!". ... All items unboxed and distributed to staff on Thursday. Over the weekend, we removed carpets and all other fittings from the old building as per instructions from the landlord. Tuesday we finished putting up noticeboards, etc. and cleaned the covered yard and on Wednesday opened the doors to the public again... Only a week closed - fast work!. It's then taken us the rest of this week to do all the little leftover jobs and store everything that hasn't got a home yet in a barn! Job almost done! Lucky I'm on holiday from work! My most annoyed moment? A lady who had said that she would buy a VERY heavy table from us and that we should leave it at the old building to be collected, texted us to say she didn't want it after all - the day after the removal men came... Grrrr! Thanks to a very good friend with a 4x4 and trailer, we were able to get it shifted and sold again on the next day! Why do people do this? I'm hoping to get to the WSR Rally on Sunday to make up for all this hard labour, but the rain is coming in and they cancelled Sunday last year... Fingers Crossed?

Having shipped my daughter off to Glasgow to start her new job, I've been moving my tractor collection into her bedroom while I sort out my toyroom! Hope she doesn't come back tomorrow... Hohoho...

On this occasion it was, Bill! I've finished off my stock of Talisker until I'm next up in Skye...

I am having my first day off for over 3 weeks, my other half is going out to a singalong, fancy dress ABBA evening tonight, (yes, really!), so I was looking forward to a night in front of the box with a good DVD, some nice whiskey and a log fire. What happens? My wife thinks I'll be lonely (!), so arranges for a few of us husbands to be herded together for 'social time'! I feel like a sheep! Bah! So much for freedom of choice... Mind you, I suppose it'll be good practice for the home my children keep threatening to put me into! )

Thanks Bill, I've started an email blog to myself, so I can add to it at the time things happen. At the moment, the guy is looking for a scapegoat, as something has gone extremely wrong in our department, so I am in his sights... Luckily, I'm good at my job and the boss knows it, so he might fall into his own trap! ) Time to go and polish the Allis! (Very therapeutic!).

A work mate lied to the management about me today - RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! He is senior to me AND has the ear of the management, so it was pointless to try to put things right, so I am left seething. He is known as a bully, but I've never had experience of this. He is also very careful not to put anything in writing or do anything in the presence of witnesses. GRRR! How to get even with him? The union recommend keeping a diary, but how can I if it's all seemingly his word against mine? Huh!

Just discovered that tomorrow I'll be helping our neighbour recover all of the stuff that's blown off his yard over the last few weeks. It's all over the field behind, I'm told... Another good volunteering job done by Mrs BB! Can't say I'd refuse, though, as he has let me store 120 odd pallets up there for firewood AND use his bandsaw to cut it all into useable chunks, so I owe him a big one... Fingers crossed for a dry day!