A8 Parts Forum  

Go Back   A8 Parts Forum > General Natter > Daily banter

Daily banter For everything, and anything that doesnt fit in elsewhere

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #31  
Old 17th November 2019, 05:13 PM
tc4332's Avatar
tc4332 tc4332 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK
Posts: 2,323
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by 27litres View Post
I suspect (without any research, but understanding how things are done down here) that Beyer Peacock did the design work (to specification) and built "some". Then the NSWGR workshops would have built the rest they required under licence.
Victoria did most of its loco building that way. The VR Narrow Gauge lines (ie Puffing Billy, Walhalla and three others that no longer exist) originally received two built locos and two disassembled pattern locos from Baldwin. Then built a total of 17 of the NA type under license.

That sounds about right. Even Germany's first steam locomotive "Der Adler" (The Eagle) was built by our own Stevenson, subsequentially copied and possibly improved there.
__________________
Ray at Wigan Pier

2014 A8L D4 4.0TFSI Gold (Sticker says "Beige") Can't leave you in a black smoke cloud anymore..
In progress, Nothing left to do.



Gone 2004 A8 D3 3.0 TDI. Ebony Pearl Black (with little bits of other colours and glitter)
Reply With Quote
  #32  
Old 23rd November 2019, 11:48 PM
tc4332's Avatar
tc4332 tc4332 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK
Posts: 2,323
Default

Another update to my travels.
Had a half day trip into North Wales yesterday (Friday) in the 17 seater.
Today took the 34 seater to Ilkley.
Monday I'm taking the 34 seater to Drymen (Loch Lomond) for a five day tour. This will include a trip to Trossach Pier, Christmas market in Edinburgh and a Glasgow visit. So another busy busy week.
Must remember to buy some slow down pills.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	93310789-530e-4965-a4b8-ec60c6c7abc4.jpg
Views:	191
Size:	256.8 KB
ID:	22430  
__________________
Ray at Wigan Pier

2014 A8L D4 4.0TFSI Gold (Sticker says "Beige") Can't leave you in a black smoke cloud anymore..
In progress, Nothing left to do.



Gone 2004 A8 D3 3.0 TDI. Ebony Pearl Black (with little bits of other colours and glitter)
Reply With Quote
  #33  
Old 14th December 2019, 09:47 AM
tc4332's Avatar
tc4332 tc4332 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK
Posts: 2,323
Default

Quick update.
I’ve had a reasonably quiet week but preparing for a mad drive to Luneburg in Germany, south of Hamburg. Sat Nav says nine hours from Calais, I’ll have to see if I can cut that down a bit.
Think I’ll try the Harwich to Hook of Holland Ferry next time for a change.
Leaving Tuesday night midnight, booked on Wednesday 06:20 Chunnel, hope to be in Luneburg for dinner.


The real reason for my visit.
The day after my surprise early birthday party which happened to be the day before Bonfire Night I had another extremely lovely surprise.
Gwen and I knew that I had a daughter in Germany that I had lost contact with. Basically her mother didn’t fancy living in England and we subsequently lost contact.
Fourth November this year I received a Cilla Black moment in the shape of a message from a young German lady saying she had an English grandfather. All the details were quickly checked and they matched. I now am the proud Grandfather of another beautiful young lady.
We have had a day together already and next Wednesday I am driving over to Germany to meet her Mother, Grandmother and the rest of her family. Four of them I have not seen since 1967.
Lots of Birthday and Christmas cards to catch up on.
__________________
Ray at Wigan Pier

2014 A8L D4 4.0TFSI Gold (Sticker says "Beige") Can't leave you in a black smoke cloud anymore..
In progress, Nothing left to do.



Gone 2004 A8 D3 3.0 TDI. Ebony Pearl Black (with little bits of other colours and glitter)

Last edited by tc4332; 14th December 2019 at 07:41 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #34  
Old 18th December 2019, 07:54 PM
tc4332's Avatar
tc4332 tc4332 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK
Posts: 2,323
Default

Managed a few hours sleep last night, out of bed at midnight, ten past in the car. It was bitter and the windows were frozen. I can't close the driver window now, it closes and immediately opens half way. I can close it by blipping? the close switch but it is a bit noisy.
Part of the M6 was closed and the M26, lost me an hour, but still managed to reach Folkestone in time for the earlier train. But they wouldn't let me on it. Apparently they had an early morning problem and trains were running an hour late. In the end they were only 30 mins adrift.
I had a good run from Calais and reached Luneburg just after 16:00, shaved two hours off the satnav estimate.
Temperatures varied from zero to +9 but I had rain and mist at various times and bright sunshine in Belgium.
This evening before dinner I had a walk round genuine German Xmas Markets.
Now I'm knackered and must stock up on the beauty treatment.
Night night.
__________________
Ray at Wigan Pier

2014 A8L D4 4.0TFSI Gold (Sticker says "Beige") Can't leave you in a black smoke cloud anymore..
In progress, Nothing left to do.



Gone 2004 A8 D3 3.0 TDI. Ebony Pearl Black (with little bits of other colours and glitter)
Reply With Quote
  #35  
Old 27th December 2019, 10:04 PM
tc4332's Avatar
tc4332 tc4332 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK
Posts: 2,323
Default

Christmas is over, done and dusted for another year, won’t be long now and we will be putting all the desecrations away in the loft for another year. How many shopping days to . . . ?
Just a couple of details to finish the Luneburg trip. I must be mad, two days in Luneburg, a day in Holland, basically all that way for a long weekend.
In 1964 I had a German girlfriend called Helga. Lovely relationship and I brought her to England a couple of times. She presented me with a daughter, Christine in December 1965 and they both visited my family here in England. The plan was that I would settle in Germany when I was demobbed. I was demobbed in Germany and I turned my part time job into full time but then the Army stepped in and informed me that I had to serve three years reserves in UK. I had to pack in all the plans and return to UK. Helga then had cold feet and was very reluctant to transfer to England with me even if it was for only three years.
During those years, without going into details, we lost contact. Both Gwen and I with help from our German friends in Bielefeld tried without success to relocate the. This was not helped by Helga changing her name when she got married.
So, November this year happened.
· 3rd November surprise 80th Birthday Party
· 4th November an unexpected message from a German Police Lady
· 14th November spent in Portishead meeting the German Police Lady.
The Police Lady, Ilka Sophie, turned out to be my 26-year-old Granddaughter, Christine’s daughter. This then caused my trip to Luneburg where Ilka lives with her Mother and Father. The two days in Luneburg were for me to meet my Daughter and her husband, Volker. I was also able to meet Helga, her Husband Siegfried, her brother Udo and his wife Rosiemarie.
I had not seen any of them since 1967.
The weekend was not a wasted effort, the adventure continues. Plans are already afoot for Christine to visit us here in UK.
The first two photos are of Ilka and Ilka in Avon & Somerset’s Police Helicopter.
The third is Helga and Christine celebrating Christmas.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG-20191105-WA0014[1].jpg
Views:	215
Size:	108.2 KB
ID:	22637   Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG-20191117-WA0020[1].jpg
Views:	216
Size:	174.6 KB
ID:	22638   Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG-20191225-WA0013[1].jpg
Views:	212
Size:	159.3 KB
ID:	22639  
__________________
Ray at Wigan Pier

2014 A8L D4 4.0TFSI Gold (Sticker says "Beige") Can't leave you in a black smoke cloud anymore..
In progress, Nothing left to do.



Gone 2004 A8 D3 3.0 TDI. Ebony Pearl Black (with little bits of other colours and glitter)
Reply With Quote
  #36  
Old 27th December 2019, 10:44 PM
tonupkid's Avatar
tonupkid tonupkid is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Near Lichfield, Staffordshire
Posts: 2,245
Default

Ray, such a wonderful thing to happen to you. How lovely to discover (or be discovered by) your granddaughter, and re-connect with a whole other family. Such a heart warming story. Could not happen to a nicer bloke, thank you for sharing.
__________________
A journey of a thousand+ (epic) miles, begins with a single step, (to the door of an 8). Lau Tzu
Reply With Quote
  #37  
Old 27th December 2019, 11:04 PM
tintin tintin is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Manchester
Posts: 3,560
Default

Fabulous story Ray, especially at Christmas. I'm delighted for you.
__________________

Autos Autos everywhere...
(1) 2015 Tesla Model S: (was 85D, now 90D ). Silent and deadly, and very fast... But not as fast as Ian's M3P-
(2) 2002 D2 S8 Final Edition: Bulletproof and faultless: Brilliant Black with Extended (Red!) Leather. Three-times winner of Best D2 1st prize
(3) 1997 Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo: Scots (! ) Green. Fragile, but beautiful.
(4) 2010 Fiat Panda 100HP. White Pandamonium (Final Edition!!). Pure old-fashioned 6-speed go-karting.
Reply With Quote
  #38  
Old 28th December 2019, 12:54 AM
H-M3 H-M3 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: london
Posts: 865
Default

Wow! Best Xmas pressie me thinks
__________________
A8L 3.0 TDI sport executive 2014.
Audi A2 1.4 petrol 2002

SOLD. Audi A8L 4.2TDI Silver 2006

Seat Ibiza 1.4tdi Eco 2008 Silver (£0 Tax)sold

NO VCDS rely on Neeldub
Reply With Quote
  #39  
Old 28th December 2019, 10:03 AM
moltuae's Avatar
moltuae moltuae is offline
RIP 27/02/2021 :-(
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: East Lancs.
Posts: 2,679
Default

Wow. Fantastic story! So pleased for you, Ray
__________________
Mark
------------------------------------------------------
2002 FE S8 Ebony Black Pearl
------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------
Cars Owned:
The Tesla Era: 2020 Model S Performance Ludicrous+ (present)
(Black, with all black premium interior and carbon fibre décor, 21" sonic carbon twin turbine wheels and FSD capability)

The Audi Era: '97 A8 4.2 (Ming Blue) --> '96 A8 4.2 QS (Dark Green) --> '02 FE S8 (present)
The Citroen Era: '84 BX 1.6 RS --> '89 BX 1.9 DTR Turbo --> '94 XM 2.0L Turbo --> '96 XM 2.0L Turbo Exclusive --> '00 Xantia Activa 2.0L Turbo
The Banger Era: '76 1.2L Lada VAZ-2101 (Ruski Fiat 124) --> '80 1.7L Morris Ital HL, finished in Ermine White and Rust
Reply With Quote
  #40  
Old 28th December 2019, 10:19 AM
The_Laird's Avatar
The_Laird The_Laird is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Redmile: Leics, Notts, Lincs border - near Belvoir Castle
Posts: 5,069
Default

I had to read your last post twice, Ray, to work out who was where and when and with whom! What a simple life I lead!

But that is a great story. It would make the script for one the awful, sentimental Christmas movies that my wife is fond of!
__________________
2002 Final Edition S8. Ebony black with Silver Grey leather and myrtle wood trim.
Current mods: solar sun roof, 20mm rear spacers, 15 mm on front, red brembo callipers, 6k headlights, rear view camera, engine remap, alloy dash dial rings, alloy navi rings, tt/phaeton pedal upgrade, (and custom matching foot rest) dension ipod interface & parrot hands free kit (both fully hidden), av input, tv in motion switched thro' PF switch in blanking plug right of steering column, Audi 'quattro' sill covers, repositioned centre console switches, radio clock, .
Planned mods: auto-dimming rear view mirror, dash cam (as steamship's), fit the ski hatch, refit philips drl's (or maybe not - nope, definitely not - horrible botch!).
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 01:12 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.0
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.