Paging Feorag...

Spotted this in Toys-R-us today, possibly cheaper elsewhere. Not a monorail, but I thought feorag might be interested anyway:

Tin can cable car kit £11.99

http://www.toysrus.co.uk/Toys-R-Us/Learning/Science/Tin-Can-Cable-Car(0128322)

Crossrail - Brunel's old railway remnants

vicarage pointed out to me that on Sunday Crossrail will be running tours of some bits of Brunel's railway (the remains of an engine shed's floor, track beds, etc.) that have been dug up while excavating the old shunting yards at Westbourne Park, just down the road from me, as part of the project. Ought to be interesting, I hope, and it's so close that it's definitely worth taking a look. You have to book tickets in advance, I've booked for 1 PM.

Details of it here:

http://londonist.com/2014/10/visit-the-remains-of-brunels-railway-at-paddington.php

Book tickets here:

http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/crossrail-layers-of-london-brunels-railway-heritage-uncovered-sunday-5-october-2014-tickets-13435468849

Picspam - Birds, bees, spiders, cars, Prince Albert, Crossrail and Oolite

It seems a while since I've done a picspam post, here are a few of the photos (and one screen shot) I've taken over the last few months. I've reduced the size a little, but it's behind cuts because there are 10 images and one of them is a BIG (for London) spider!

( photos and a screen shot )

And (behind the next cut) a spider I found in my bath this morning:
( spider )

One problem arose when I was taking this - I discovered that the flash on my camera isn't opening out properly any more, I think that the spring that's supposed to open it has failed. It probably won't be economic to repair it properly, my first thought on a quick fix is to put a pad of plastic "sponge" cut from a sink scourer under the bit that pops up, it ought to be springy enough to work. Unless someone can point me at a repair service for compact cameras that isn't ludicrously expensive? Bear in mind I got this for £30 second hand!

Later - I've uploaded a full sized copy of the Crossrail picture to Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royaloaktunnels_01.JPG