It looks fine and bright outside. I am now torn between going out and starting to re-edit the Skyline Radio video. Maybe the cloud will build up and take the choice away later. I stayed up watching the Skyline Radio video in bed last night. Having now seen the whole thing for the first time in 10 years I am convinced I can make a lot of improvements to it. There is a good chance that it will end up at half the length rather than the ¾ I predicted yesterday, but it should make it far more watchable. I feel really eager to make a start on it and see how it turns out. It will be a long process though, and could take several days before I am happy with it. Even as I write this I am sure that more cloud is coming in from the North East. I don't know whether that is where the weather is coming from, but it seems like it. Maybe the clouds, and the potential rain, will make up my mind for me. A lot could happen in the 3, and a bit, hours before I would be due to go out.

    I've just let Schiba in and fed him and Nelly their breakfasts. I think I am going back to bed for another hour after a late night last night.

   I did go back to bed, but only for half an hour or so. This morning I did some shopping and then started arranging stuff for another bit of filming with Patrick. Once again it was good fun. I suppose fun may not be quite the right word. Perhaps enjoyable is a better one. Patrick also returned a digitised copy of the Skyline Radio video that I gave him. My copy was on Umatic tape and I had long lost any means to play it. By todays standards the quality is not too good, and also the colour seems a bit odd. Now I have a digital version that I can now play I am going to have a go at remastering it and then burn it to DVD. The original was 60 minutes long, but quite frankly there are some scenes that go on for far too long and are boring. My remastered version will be cut down to something like 45 minutes. I still know a couple of people who appeared in the original video and they might like to see it again (or probably not !!!). I should be able to put the remastered and original on the same DVD so they can be compared side by side.

     Tomorrow was supposed to be another day out with plenty of fresh air and exercise, but mainly photography. That is now almost certainly off as the weather looks as if it could be horrible in the morning. If not then it might be on, but I am not optimistic.

     Schiba behaved himself well last night. He went out before I went to the pub and came back in just before I was going to bed. I left him eating his supper and it was not until 6am that he woke me up and asked to go out again. It would be nice if he did something similar tonight. He is still out now, and it would be good if he could spend a fair amount of time outside during the day. With no fireworks going off lately there is no reason why he can't be trained to go out at sundown. Come in shortly before my bedtime, and sleep through the night. If this happened then I could get to bed and sleep before midnight, and I wouldn't mind getting up at 6am to feed him and let him out. 6am is my natural time to get up, but Schiba has disrupted my sleep schedules so much over the last 6 weeks that I can no longer get up until 8am.

      It looks as if it is going to be dry today. So, all being well, I should be going out to explore the railway relics around Sydenham Hill ( In S.E. London, England, in case you were wondering). I doubt it will make for any really exciting pictures, but I'll probably show a couple here a bit later.

     I did mean to write something yesterday afternoon/evening, but never got round to it. One thing I could have said was that NTL appears to be working OK again.
19.25 GMT
Weather : Still dry, but rather cold.
     I had a marvelous day out today. I think all the recent accidental avoidance of excessive calories helped a lot. I found I had far more energy than I had thought. I met Howard at Sydenham Hill and we had a good explore of the original path of the Crystal Palace (High Level) railway line between Cox's Walk and where the line disappears into a tunnel heading for Crystal Palace Parade. In all we were walking for well over an hour, and some of it was up and down some very long and steep paths. The railway line actually closed on the 20th September 1954, but several relics still exist. Cox's walk still crosses over the path of the original line by means of a rather ornate lattice work footbridge.

     Since first opening my eyes I am sure the day has gone into reverse. It seems to be getting darker, not lighter. I haven't seen a weather forecast since Monday, but this is pretty much what was predicted - although several hours late. Apparently it is due to stop raining tomorrow, but if that is late as well then I guess I'll be staying in tomorrow as well as today (except tonight when I hope to go to the pub). There were very loose plans to go out tomorrow to photograph a few of the remaining railway relics of the Crystal Palace High Level line at Sydenham Hill.  As far as I know the only things to photograph are the two ends of the tunnel, the old station (now a private house) and a very old wooden footbridge. Maybe a close look will reveal something else. You may be surprised to learn that this expedition will not be with my normal partner in crime for railway outings, Kevin, but instead it will be Howard.

     Last night, or even since late afternoon, I was having great difficulty on line. I think NTL's servers were on the point of falling over. Trying to download mail was very intermittent and needed many tries before I was reasonably confident I had received it all. In the end I could not even access Google with the reply "unable to resolve host". It was as if someone had launched a denial of service attack on the DNS servers. Whether I'll be able to upload this today is something I'll find out very soon.

08.55 GMT - Update
     I've just checked NTL's server status website and it has this to say :-

DNS - affecting all internet packages Due to a major server outage, ntl:home internet customers on all packages may currently be experiencing problems with ALL internet access, including web browsing, email, ftp and newsgroups. Our engineers are currently investigating and hope to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

So it appears my guess was right. It all appears to be running smoothly now, but I wonder what caused it ?  There was something logged for the previous day suggesting that some upgrades would be taking place. Surely NTL's experienced engineers did not make an error  (snigger) ?

     I was woken up by the sound of Nelly charging up the stairs. I don't think there was any special reason for it apart from natural exuberance. Although it may have been that she was impatient for me to get up and feed her. When I came down I found Schiba waiting patiently on the windowsill. He did look rather cold, but he was dry. He too was anxious for his breakfast. So the cats are now fed and I am still starving.

     I think I'll be going out to buy more vegetables to continue my latest eating fad. At the same time I must pick up fresh supplies of cat litter. It is a real shame that the Kentucky Fried Chicken shop will not be open. I could murder a bargain bucket full of greasy chicken and chips.

    Other things I might to today include having another fight with a modem I was trying to install in an old PC last Saturday (?). I think it was last Saturday, but I do not seem to have mentioned it here. About 4 years ago I was given an old PC that had been set up as an mp3 player for piratical radio purposes. That use is long redundant so I thought I would do something with it. The PC itself is pretty ancient. The processor is a Cyrix 686 which is almost a Pentium 1, but not quite, and the CD ROM drive is a mere x2 unit. I thought Windows 95 would suit it best. So after reformatting the hard drive (an almost reasonable 850 MBytes) I installed Windows 95 and a few odd programs. The next thing I wanted to do was to install a modem in case I shoule ever want to go online with it. I had two old ISA card modems lying around and tried those. The first installed OK, but failed with no dial tone when I tried to use it. That could simply be because the socket for the phone line uses different connections to the lead I was using. ( That is something I have come across before with an old external modem made by Motorola). Rather than play around with the connections I tried the other modem. I do remember that this modem used to work well after I had repaired it, and it should work OK with the lead I was using. The trouble is that this modem is a total bastard to set up. Even the manufacturer, Motorola, know this as they provide a seperate program to clean all traces of a previous installation so you can try again. Needless to say the installation failed twice before I gave up. The problem appears to be that the installation program set the modem up physically as one com port and tell Windows it is on a different com port. Quite why this should happen is anyones guess, but there are several versions of the install program available, presumably in an attempt to improve upon this, but they all give the same result. I'll crack it in the end though. If I managed it once I can do it again !

     Sorry about this, but the saga of Schiba waking me up in the night continues. He almost wanted to go out just before 11 pm and got as far as looking out the open window. Unfortunately it was still raining and he ran back into the living room and pretended to sleep. So I took that as a good time to sneak off to bed. 30 minutes later he was meowing outside my bedroom and I got up again. We came downstairs and I opened the window for him but he refused to go out. So I locked him downstairs in the back room. There he had access to both food and water, and also to Nelly's litter tray. I went back to bed but within 15 minutes I could still hear him meowing. I tried to ignore it and after 5 minutes he stopped. I then heard a lot of scratching and fearing that the place would be ripped to shreds I decided to look in in him. When I opened the door I could not see him. I then noticed movement behind the curtain. He had managed to get up, and stay up somehow, on the tiny 1½ Inch windowsill. Once I opened the window he was out instantly and I was able to go back to bed confident of an uninterupted nights sleep.

     I was only asleep for minutes when I had my first dream and subsequently woke up again. It is possible that I was not truly asleep when this happened. It is all a bit strange, weird even. I think a cosmic ray must have zapped straight through my brain. This is what happened; In the dream I was doing something on the PC in the studio. Suddenly the lights went out, like in a power cut, and it was accompanied by a strange sound - something like zingggggg. It was all dark and it felt like my eyes were closed. So I tried opening my eyes and they did open and I found myself awake in bed. After pondering this for a few minutes I turned over and went back to sleep. The curious thing is I can't be sure that did happen. It feels like it happened, but it is just possible it was part of a larger dream. I have read of people who have had dreams within dreams, and I think I have too, but whether the dream I just described contained a dream with a dream is something I'll never know.

     This morning it is dry outside, but will it stay that way ? I'd quite like to pop out for some fresh air, but I am not sure where to go, or what to do if I do go out. If today were yesterday I could have been tempted to visit a computer fair. There is nothing I particularly want from a computer fair, but I could have stocked up on consumables such as printer ink and blank CD's and/or DVD's. The chances are that all I will manage today is a wander round the local shops. It is probably time I had a look in the Pound Shop in case they have any useless crap that takes my eye. And I will probably buy some blank CD's from Poundstretcher while I am passing.
20.00 GMT
Weather : still not raining.
    This morning I did a little shopping in both The Pound Shop and in Poundstretcher. In The Pound Shop I bought some rather nice Sandalwood joss sticks, and some really heavily scented one described as "Love Supreme". The latter have a really heavy musk fragrance that does not suit this room. With some candles, booze and a good woman they would be perfect. I am currently burning a sandalwood one as I write this. Also bought from The Pound Shop were a tub of 50 blank CDR's. Unfortunately they did not cost £1, but £12.99. At 26p per disk that makes them equal in value to cheapo disks at a computer fair. I still wanted some blank CDR's in jewel cases so I went into Poundstretcher who do Strand branded (who ?) CDR's in jewel cases for either 25 or 30 for £10. Strange as it may seem they do sell identical CDR's at different prices. There seems no obvious reason for it, and it has been going on for the last 6 months or more. So if you ever go into Poundstretcher looking for blank CDR's then always make sure you pick up the box of 30 and not 25.

      It is not something I like to think about, but it seems that for the last 36 hours I have been on a diet. This was purely an accident and it cannot go on for long. Today I have only consumed about 1000 calories. Yet I have eaten two quite big meals. The first was a rather nice cabbage and leek stew. Made with a few extra vegetables and flavoured with beef stock cubes. Tonight I had fine green beans and leeks in a red Thai curry sauce. Once again there were a few extra vegetables such as a pepper and an onion. Both were filling, but I could murder a cheeseburger, or a nice greasy kebab right now !!!!!!

    Another morning soggy with rain. Schiba went out at about 11 pm yesterday. Within an hour he was back, and he came in soaked to the skin. I thought I would have a trouble free night, but no, by 3 am Schiba demanded attention, and again at 4 am. Infact almost hourly until I finally decided I might as well get up. I was never sure if he was busting to go out or just wanted affection. Most time I came down and opened the window for him, but he did not want to go out. Only since offering him the foulest muck ever (Felix chicken flavour cat food) for his breakfast has he decided to go out into the rain to catch his own breakfast. I'm tempted to go back to bed before he returns.

     In the end I did go back to bed and didn't get up until 10.30. It was still raining and shortly after coming downstairs I had a saturated Schiba sitting on the windowsill and crying to come in again. He has spent all the time since then keeping warm and dry in the living room. Meanwhile I have been out to Tesco's. I got soaked through, but did get all the essentials. I bought a load of vegetables with the idea that I might reduce my calorie/fat/sugar intake for a day or two. Who knows? I might even keep it up for a week and lose a bit of weight. I mainly did it because I was drinking a lot of sugar laden real coke yesterday, and thought I ought to atone for it. Later this afternoon I had a broccolli, peas,and red pepper Korma. Yes, a pure vegetable curry made with no oil (even the ready made Korma sauce was water based). It was pretty nice, but not really a substitute for the real thing. I am now starving again and have been reduced to snacking on raw cabbage. I have already eaten half a baby cabbage but could really fancy some chips !!!!

      Since I last listed them I have only had another two takeaway menus shoved through my door. I don't think the people who deliver them like working in the pouring rain - understandably enough ! So the last menus were ;
Super Pizza       (0208 314 5599)
       &
Hong Kong House   (0208 699 4888)
I have now thrown them away to avoid any temptation (safe in the knowledge that by next weekend there will be plenty more).

    I think that for the first time in almost 3 days it has stopped raining. I ought to try and persuade Schiba that now would be a good time to go out for an hour. I'm sure he will disagree with me !

     What a foul morning. It has been raining all night and the world looks very soggy. When he comes in, Schiba will probably be very soggy as well. He tried not to go out last night, but in the end, at almost 2 am, he could contain himself no longer and had to dive out into the wet night. One day I am going to train him not to be nocturnal.It would be some relief to me if he could do all his business, and all his playing during the day. That way he could pop out for short breaks and I would be around to let him back in and I could go to bed without the fear of him waking me up with his very loud howling to be let out.

    It was probably the rain yesterday, but I did not get a single piece of crap pushed through my letterbox. There must be a name for the paper based variety of spam. I do not neccesarily mean just credit card and Readers Digest offers, but I was thinking here of menus for various takeaways, and offer local "offers". I reported on Thursday that I had received 4 pizza menus and was expecting to report how many menus came through the door yesterday. I was surprised not to get any at all, although as I said earlier it was probably down to the rain. On the not unreasonable assumption that no one will deliver leaflets in the rain, no matter how desperate for money they are, then I guess I will be expecting a deluge of them on the next dry day we get.

    Schiba has just come in looking a bit bedraggled. I have towelled him to get him a liitle drier. He has had his breakfast and is now settling down to the first of his daily naps. In case you are wondering about Nelly I can report that she lead me downstairs to get her breakfast. She has eaten it. Done something stinky in her litter tray, and has now gone upstairs and will be on my bed digesting the food while having the first of her many daily "power naps".

     I don't know what I am going to do today. I feel it is too wet to go out, but it may clear later. Once I have washed and dressed a high priority is to empty Nelly's litter tray and to empty my kitchen rubbish bin. Both are unpleasantly over full.

     Yesterday's day out was good, but a lttle wet (or at a few points very wet !). Not everything went to plan, and the last bit was a disaster.

     I met up with Kevin at East Croydon station shortly after the first rain started. At East Croydon we bought tickets to Uckfield and caught an East Grinstead train. The usual station to change to the Uckfield tran is Oxted, but I decided we would change at Hurst Green just for the novelty of it. It turned out to be a good choice because waiting inthe station was a Sandite/water jetting multi purpose vehicle.It is not often you see these stationery and it was a good opportunity to take some pictures. We deduced that it was going to follow us to Uckfield. A deduction that proved correct. After a 10 minute wait we caught the Thumper towards Uckfield.

     We decided not to go all the way to Uckfield, but instead got off at the station before, Buxsted. On a previous visit I had noticed what appeared to be a bookshop, with some railway orientated books, inside the ticket office. I was partially right as they did indeed have some railway books on show, although they appeared to be only for reference rather than sale. There were other books there as part of a sort of library for people waiting there. Although the books may not have been on sale they were advertising a DVD of "The Uckfield Thumper" as being available there. We were not sure whether to buy one or not, but while debating the issue the next train came in and we jumped on it. The trains here are only once an hour and it would not have been too much fun waiting in the drizzle for an hour. Once on the train we decided that we had to see the DVD and so we got off at the next stop, Crowborough. It was on the double track section between Buxsted and Crowborough that we saw the Multi Purpose Vehicle (MPV) pass us heading towards Uckfield. Some simple logic showed that it would have to come back to Crowborough to allow the next service train, to Uckfield, to pass it. We were right and had another opportunity to take some pictures before our train back to Buxstead pulled in. So back to Buxsted we went and Kevin bought a copy of the DVD.

At this point I am going to have to get washed and dressed. I have to sign on in 1 hour so I'll finish the rest of the story later.

11.10 GMT
Weather : Still grey and murky. Damp but no rain. Mild 14°C

Back from signing on and breakfasted - the saga continous

     After buying the DVD we got the next train to Oxted where we took a break for some lunch in the Weatherspoons pub adjacent to the station. 1½ Pints and a sandwich later it back back on a train to East Croydon. From East Croydon the plan was to go to Streatham Hill Station to catch the 15.50 to London Bridge. This is a once a day only service (normally trains from Streatham Hill go to Victoria), and, currently, is always slam door stock. Unfortunately there are no direct trains to Streatham Hill from East Croydon so we went to Crystal Palace to change there. This is where it all went wrong. The first train we could get would arrive just 1 minute after our train had left. We decided to take a chance and hope we might be slightly early and the other train slightly late. But no, it was not to be. So we stayed on the train for the very slow journey to Clapham Junction.

     At Clapham Junction we did some almost conventional trainspotting except that we did not take down any numbers. We did manage to fulfil another objective which was to see a Class 458 "Desiro" train. These are the new outer suburban stock used by South West Trains. It was stabled in a siding so we could not take a close look, but at least we saw one.
(Another objective for yesterday was to see one of the new Class 170 "Turbostars" that are due to replace the "Thumpers" on the Uckfield line. We did catch a brief glimpse of one when we passed Selhurst Depot on the way from East Croydon to Crystal Palace.)

    Having had a look around Clapham Junction and seen a variety of trains go through we decided it was time to head towards home. Within 10 minutes we managed to get on a crowded Class 375 "Electrostar" and headed back to East Croydon. There we parted ways. I caught a tram to Elmers End, and Kevin waited for a 119 bus to take him back to the garage where his car was being serviced during the day. When I got to Elmers End I was bitterly disappointed to see that the next train had been cancelled and I had a very long wait for the next. After 10 minutes I phoned Kevin to see how he was progressing and to see if he would be able to pick me up at Elmers End before my train was due. At that time he was still waiting for a bus with the closing time of the garage looming fast. I've since had an e-mail from him saying he made the garage with just minutes to spare.

     Overall it was a satisfactory day out. It would have been a lot better if the rain had stayed away, and even better still if we had managed to get that train at Streatham Hill. Here are just two of the many pictures taken yesterday.

     After a mainly lazy day yesterday I am in for a semi hectic day, today. I'm off to do some trainspotting with Kevin. I have a sort of loose plan for the day. First I meet up with Kevin at East Croydon at 10 am. From there we will travel towards Uckfield and take what could be my last trip on a "Thumper" (Class 205 or 207 diesel electric multiple unit). These trains are very close to being replaced by modern units. In fact we are hoping to se one of the new units, although it will probably not be in passenger service. After Uckfield we may have to bide our time somewhere until 15.50 at Streatham Hill station where there is a single service to London Bridge. No one seems to know why this service runs (normally trains from Streatham Hill go to Victoria), but rumour has it that it uses slam door stock. Once at London Bridge Station we may hang around a bit and catch the 17.0? to Uckfield as far as East Croydon. Once again this is a once-a-day service and uses a Thumper. From East Croydon it will be a bus to the garage where Kevin's car will have been serviced during the day, and then home to Catford again.

     That is how the day is predicted to go. Perhaps tonight I will say how it actually went and include a few pictures taken today.

     I almost slept like a log last night. I say almost because I woke up on two occasions. The first, at 4.15, was with my left calf muscle in the agonies of cramp. The second, at 5.30, was with my right calf muscle knotted with cramp. I haven't had cramp like that for ages - which is just as well because it is agony ! The only way I know of to deal with it is to leap out of bed and walk a few paces until the muscle relaxes. On both occasions I was able to get back to sleep with ten minutes of waking up. I hope this isn't the start of a series of muscle cramps. In the past I have noticed that they can happen for a week or two at a time, and then nothing for months, or even years.

     Today I intend to relax a little after the hectic day yesterday. In practice, today will be like many other days. There is stuff I have to do so total relaxation is not going to be possible, or even desirable. One thing I must do is to set up the PC upstairs so I can record "Journey Into Space" from BBC7. I had to dismantle the PC to use the space for part of yesterdays video session. Another thing I might do is a little shopping. I don't know yet whether that will just be from the corner shop, or from Tesco's.

     I've just let Nelly out into the garden. She won't stay long as it is cold outside. As she went out she did something I've never seen her do before. She swore at the birds! I've seen many other cats who make a noise like a cross between a meow and a growl when watching birds, but I have never seen (or heard) Nelly do it before.

     Patrick arrived at 3 pm  as he predicted and did quite a lot of videoing. He seemed pleased with the dummy transmitter prop that I made, plus the other props that I found. The first scene was for a cut away during a description of a raid on Radio Free London in 1967 (or 1968). Originally the transmitter was supposed to be sitting on a shelf, but when we listened to the interview again it transpired that the transmitter was actually sitting on a large speaker cabinet. So we had to rearrange everything and do it again. After that there were several other scenes to shoot. One was a hand banging at a door representing the arrival of the Post Office. Then the transmitter being carried away, and finally, a hand dismantling the crystal and finding a note hidden in it. We also videoed some things to use as cutaways elsewhere in the film. These were such things as vinyl records playing, the mixer being operated and radios being tuned. A lot of it was experimental stuff and it was fun trying out different techniques. It was also pretty tiring work and I am feeling knackered at the moment, but at the same time I feel a little restless.

    A lot of the above may be hard to imagine, but if you should ever see the finished production then a lot of it may make sense. I had the priviledge of seeing the first draft of the opening scenes and one of the interviews. It is looking very good so far. If the whole thing comes together like these previews then it should be an excellent production. One slightly odd thing is that I declined to be interviewed, but my hands keep appearing in all sorts of guises. I think they ought to get in the credits as "Starring The Hands Of Bill Kelsey" ! Or maybe not :-)

Hooray !!!!My NTL phone line is back working again. And what was the very first call I get ? Bloody Powergen offering to save me money on my electricity bill. Now, if they had been offering a phone service using a brand new pair of wires I might have been interested !

      For mid November the weather is still remarkably mild. I have been a little lax recording the daily temperatures, but since the previous time I recorded it (on the 6th) the lowest recorded has been 5°, and the highest, 15° C.

     Today is the day that my NTL phone line should start working again ( and you can tell that to the marines). In honour of the fact that I am getting a home visit to fix a fault that I am sure is back in the exchange (!), I have cleaned and polished the phones. Both of them (NTL & BT) were looking rather grubby so they have had the foam cleaner treatment. It is fortunate that I do have the BT line to fall back on. To use it costs money so I have only been downloading my e-mail once a day. Fortunately there has been nothing important that has needed replying to. Until I can dial up on the NTL line I cannot upload this journal. Access to ftp.ntlworld is only allowed when you have logged in to the NTL account. I could dial up NTLworld on the BT line were it not for the fact that my low user account does not allow connection to certain 0800 numbers - and internet service providers include those certain numbers.

     My transferring of old video footage to DVD rom, via the PC, was going well yesterday. I have filled another disk. I have now started to transfer some footage from the analogue camera to the digital camera. There is going to be enough material on there to fill a couple more disks. In case you were wondering, I find that the digital camera has the best analogue to digital converter that I have. I do have an analogue TV input on the PC itself, but the quality is worse than taking the long route via the digital camcorder.

10.00 GMT
    The man from NTL has called round and left a box connected to the phone socket. (Some sort of pair identifier probably - a "ticker" in the parlance of my day)

     Another day with no phone service from NTL. Those bastards scallywags could not organise a piss up in a brewery ! Apparently they have fixed the "area wide fault", but seem to have forgotten about my line. So an "engineer" is coming out tomorrow to check things out. That seem ridiculous because, speaking as an ex-telephone engineer, the fault is back at the telephone exchange. Or, at least in my day when the phone had 50 volts on it you tended to discount a line fault, and instead looked for a fault within the exchange.

      Yesterday I started to do something that I had, allegedly, promised to do back in the spring. I am copying all my video footage of slam door trains from the camcorder to DVD Rom's to send to the chairman of the EPB preservation group ( www.epbpg.co.uk ). He mainly wants footage of EPB's and CEP's and so far I have filled 3 DVD Roms with, perhaps, enough for one more. I am saving them as DV compressed avi files straight from the digital camcorder rather than the more usual mpeg 2 files assosciated with DVD video disks. As avi files they are rather big, but they should import directly into most video editing applications easily and there will be no quality loss during any encoding.

     I have had a bit of a lie in, this morning.  I went to bed reasonably early and didn't get woken up by Schiba until 05.00. I thought he wanted to go out, but it seemed he was just hungry. He actually went out at around 07.00.

     There is still no dial tone on my NTL line so this entry, like yesterday's, will finally get uploaded sometime in the future. But what century ? I think I had better phone NTL again sometime this morning.

     I had a lot of slightly weird dreams last night. First (that I remember) was that I was in a huge old house that was in Holland, and was in the process of being turned into a museum. Inside were a maze of rooms that seemed to be empty apart from  something displayed on the walls. Many displays were of old musical instruments - some had been dissected like a piano that was almost reduced to its component parts. Other rooms had wiring looms displayed. Most of these were very old wiring, and even included paper insulated wiring. Some wiring looms looked very similar to the inter-bank wiring between selectors in a telephone exchange, and other were more like that between the sockets of large arrays of plug in electronic circuit boards. I believe they were supposed to be from the backs of early electronic synthesisers. Only the rooms at the four corners of the building had been cleaned and redecorated. They were in use as tea/refreshment rooms.The other thing of note was that all the ceilings were about 20 feet high. I cannot remember being there for any purpose. It was just like I was exploring the place.

     The next dream (or dreams) are hazy, but seemed to be about trains. I do remember looking at an antique that was like an adult toy. It was supposed to represent the signalling and train movements on a small branch line. They were both represented by complex "things" that could slide around in grooves on an elaborate block of wood. The whole thing came in an expensive looking, and well made mahogany case about the size of a small attache case. I left that sitting on a brick fence post and started to walk along Sydenham Hill ( a road in S.E. London). It was dark and misty and I was trying to see fireworks over the tops of the trees and between houses (Sydenham Hill is very high up). At the end of it I found a large Victorian house. I went inside (or I could see inside) and it was run by Victorians - complete with servants, maids etc. At this point it was a bit odd because I played no part in the last bit. I was just a passive watcher. A mother and daughter came out and walked to a nearby patch of grass (maybe the garden, but it seemed more like a park).The daughter was trying to persuade the mother that she should do something because she could "programme" musical boxes. She then demonstrated what she had done to a music box that was made of wood, but seemed to have three plastic buttons sticking out from the top. The music that came out was some unidentified classical piece in full CD quality ! The next thing I heard was Nelly scratching at my bedroom door post and telling me it was time for breakfast !

     It's going to be a busy day today. Patrick is coming here to do some filming. Somehow I have got to clear enough stuff out of the studio to enable a late 60's mock up to be filmed.(And I have still got to wire up the lights and valves on the mock up of a dummy transmitter.

     Well, I hope I'll be able to upload this, this morning. Last night my NTL phone line failed with no dial tone. I think it was the NTL exchange falling over, and not just my line. I'll be finding out in a few minutes.
12.00 GMT
     I've got two lots of bad news. Firstly my NTL phone line is still down. Apparently there is an "area wide fault" and it will be fixed by midday. That is now and it is still not working ! Secondly the filming is off for today, but we'll try again next Saturday. Both are a bit of a blow. The first because I'm cut off from the internet. The second because I have had to dismantle my PC upstairs and shuffle a lot of junk around to make room and set up the scene. I've now got to shuffle it all around again until next Saturday.

    Here is a picture of some of the 60's trinkets that I started to set up for part of the shoot.

     Schiba seems no better this morning. I tried to tempt him with some real tuna fish, but he only ate two tiny bits of it. There appears to be a swelling on his left hand lip. He has a vet visit at 4.30 today.