2021

So we begin another year, a year which started out with such promise, I mean, nothing could be worse than 2020 could it? Within a couple of weeks we were headlong into an undeterminable lockdown, there are a lot of naysayers who believe this is all made up and part of some dark plan by the government. And you can’t blame people, the numbers do not add up, the number of people who died last year are not much different to any other year. For me the main issue is that large numbers are hospitalised by the virus, more than with the normal Flu and this is where I think the devil is in the detail. I think the main reason for the lockdown is so as not to overwhelm the NHS, the reason the NHS won’t be able to cope is due to decades (Both Labour and Tory) underfunding and mis-management. That for me is the reason for the lockdown, unfortunately they have totally tanked the economy in process, it just doesn’t make sense. The projected unemployment total next year will be around 4 million people!! The effect on the economy will be massive, 4,000,000 workers on the dole not paying tax, not helping the local economy by buying produce, not forgetting that we have been paying for many of these people to stay at home on furlough as well as giving their employers handouts to keep the businesses afloat. I’m not trying to be big when I say WE, I mean the taxpayer. I dislike the word government handout, remember the government has no money, it’s income comes from taxes, simple as that. Less industry mean less income for the government, and less services for Joe Public. We are in for some lean years, and our children and grand children will be paying for this for another 50-60 years.

Galleon’s Reach

The model railway is coming along nicely, it runs and I have way too many loco’s which I am in the process of converting to DCC. The station is fictional and an end of the line small, two platform station and goods yard. Galleons Reach is a point on the river Thames, an area which is mainly new development now and even has a DLR railway station. The area remained barren up until recent years and the spread of the docklands development. 

The Layout is set in the mid 50’s to mid 60’s, so its mostly BR green as well as some LMS loco’s

Above a class 29 getting ready to leave with a mixed rake of wagons, a class 110 DMU next to it waiting to leave

A view showing the goods shed

Allotment

Took my first trip to the allotment today, the first this year anyway. Luckily I had covered most of it in the autumn, some of the other plots on the site didn’t look too good. Don’t get me wrong, I still have a lot of work to do, this will be hindered by the high rainfall in the area and probably most of Britain. The sub-soil in my area is mostly London clay which really holds any surface water making the plot unworkable, I have onions to go in but they will only rot due to the water.
I am now the site manager for some reason, and now have some large branches to clear which have fallen and are now blocking the back pathway, this is now down to me to clear. So I spent the best part of the day with a saw cutting branches for a mostly dead tree. It was good to be working on the outside again although there is a lot to do on the plot to get it back to shape.

That’ll do for now———————————————————————————————————————————-va