Poorer but better off!

A beautiful day with a clear blue sky and warm sun which resulted in most of the snow melting. Certainly roads are now free and the only beauty left is on the surrounding fields and hills as well as the occasional pile by the side of the road. Temperatures dipped last night to -7 resulting in a very frozen over marina this morning. The tell-tale crunshing sound as I woke up and got out of bed gave the game away as the boat gently rocked from side to side and crushed the ice that was encasing me through the night.

A trip to Castle Trains in Warwick first thing left me £170 or so poorer but I have returned home with cork underlay, track ballast, power clips, track pins and one of these..

The Hornby digital Elite controller!

A week ago, I emailed the track plan through to them to get a quote and estimate on the amount of track to order. Initially it was met with considerable enthusiasm and an almost instant helpful response. Unfortunately, they thought it was 'N' gauge and so I had to correct them on this and since then communication has died off. They were uncertain that I could get all the track layers in that I wanted and so I suggested that we could make the base board wider, (almost 6 inches if necessary,) to accommodate this. I have heard no reply so far. I have to have the order put through on Monday if I am to get the track for next weekend - in time for the build and have explained this but so far, I'm still waiting.

I took a visit to Barby this afternoon to the Barby Model Rail shop. They're only just down the road which is convenient but unfortunately they were closed due to the snow, (!) which didn't bode well - I shall return and see what they're like in case things fall through with Castle or I need any last minute bits.

The rest of the day was spent around the marina and the evening is planned to be spent relaxing! The snow forecast for Sunday night has reduced to rain so a normal week looks planned ahead.

I meant to say yesterday; the snowman we built for the kids the other day didn't even see the following day! Sadly when we arrived in school we discovered it had been vandalised completely. The cheeky wotsits even stole the cardboard hat, pipe and buttons we made; presumably for their own creation. When we looked back on the school CCTV system we could see them having a wale of a time. The kids were still impressed with the large pile of snow left in the middle of the playground though!