Configure Yourself....

...aha, a play on words!  Well, now I am sitting here singing Consider Yourself from Oliver!  And I know without a shadow of a doubt that I will be crooning As Long As He Needs Me very soonly!   Anyways... firstly, apologies for the extended leave of absence this week.... what with Grim being on nights (ergo, me turning into a mousely creature) and me feeling thoroughly wretched, very little has been going on in the Room of Stash.  Well, actually, all I have done in the Room of Stash is finish off my Configurations Box and unpack workshop boxes from last weekend.... apart from that... I have done... NOWT!

I finally got this finished on Wednesday night... then I forgot to take pics on Thursday and it was too dark when I finally remembered... and then yesterday, well, all I shall say is "never again".  So, you know that me and Grim do like our railway stuff... and I have always been a closet trainspotter.  A few hundred years ago, when I was just a little gal, there used to be a steam train that used to flash through the little station in the place I grew up.  It was called the Scarborough Spa Express and was a "special" that ran most Saturday evenings or Sunday mornings. 

The line that the trains ran on went through the wood over the back of our house... so me and Dad would be there, out in the street, tinkering with cars (ok, Dad was doing proper mechanicking, I was merely an annoying assistant)  Well, with ears pricked up we used to hear the steam train beginning the ascent to the top of the hill where the station was... and invariably we would leap into the car and roar up there.  Occasionally we were better prepared and would walk up to the station and wait (like normal people)  and once, in my excitement, Dad was chucking his tool box into the boot of the car and I tried to leap in there with it... ahem, a moment of blondness perhaps.... Anyways, the very first steam engine I ever saw was Sir Nigel Gresley.  A beautiful A4 engine... I fell in loves immediately!  Never heard of it?  Well, I am sure you will have heard of her famous sister, Mallard.  Sir Nigel was the designer of these amazing A4 engines and yesterday we went to the National Railway Museum in York for the "Great Gathering".  Which is a gathering of 6 of the beautiful A4 locomotives, all there, side by side, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Mallard hitting the 126mph record.  And Sir Nigel Gresley was one of the engines... along with Dominion of Canada (that was shipped over from... yep, Canada!) Union of South Africa, Bittern, Mallard and Dwight D Eisenhower.   The queue to get in the museum wasn't too bad... moving quite quickly but already, I sussed that it was going to be a smidge busy.

What I did not expect, however, was the incredible displays of ignorance, rudeness and downright selfishness of many of the other people who had, indeedily, gone to see the Great Gathering.  Firstly, there were thousands of people milling around the engines, yes we all wanted to get close and see them... but the rudeness!  Never have I experienced such bad behaviour amongst fellow man.  And... aswell as all of that... I finally got my super-power!  Oh yesh, I turned invisible... well, at least to the great clod who stood on my foot (and I mean a proper full weight of the huge great oaf right on my foot which was in a Birki sandal... mmmm ouch!) ...looked around at me when I said "ouch" and who then promptly swung his camera bag over his shoulder and clouted me in the face with it!   Needless to say, Grumpy Hels came to stay.... and oh boy, she stayed for the rest of the day!   I will be honest, it was an amazing experience to see my favourite engine, to be able to see the other engines, especially the ones that don't live in the UK, all together... but really?  If you are going to go to the Great Gathering - which finishes early next week - be prepared... wear hobnail boots, a hard hat and take a little electric fan with you... you will needs it!

Anyways... moodiness aside, it was a lovely day as I managed to spend a whole one with Grim!  He has been on nights this week, I hate it when he is on nights, the noises in the house are always mahooosive amplified when he isn't here and I appear to have turned into a scaredy cat!  And it would be rude of me not to mention that on Thursday we went to London to see Grim be presented with his 35 year badge as a member of ASLEF.  Yep, my old man reached his 35th year anniversary on the railway last week.  I am so very proud of him, I don't know many people who are still in the same job since leaving school!  Quite an achievement... he is aiming for 50 years service (which I reminded him is just 15 years *teehee*) and knowing Grim and his love of his job, I wouldn't be surprised if he got a 60 year badge too!      Right, I have waffled enoughly... hope you are all coping with this heat... tis a bit too humid for me but I can't complain as it is so nice to see the sunshines!   Thanks for looking.... check back tomorrow for a new Sunday Stamper theme and I promise I will be a better blogger next week!  TTFN

Hels x