Nerdy train chat

Saturday morning Tom had football first thing.  We then headed to Wigglesworth, to a pub for lunch, but it was shut - so we went to a nearby garden centre instead, and low and behold who do we bump in to - Grannie and Grandpa so we all had lunch together.

We popped into Lords on the way home as we had been told there were lots of model railway stuff there, but we didn't find much.  In the afternoon, Matt and Tom went to Clapham to watch a steam train.

Steamie in Clapham

At 5 we decided to pop to the OPO for a pre dinner drink.  All was going well until it was home time.  Tom had been playing solitaire and I put it back in the box for him, and then it shot out the other side, all the balls went over the floor, so we chased them around to pick them up.  Matt bent down to pick some up by the bar and managed somehow to spear himself with the 'A' from the BAR sign on the bar - it went through 2 layers of denim, his T-shirt, his knickers and into his bum.  It was such a shock that he very nearly was sick - it was a close call!!!!

Once recovered, we got him home and inspected him - he was ok - but it was a rusty sign that he impaled himself on, so we called 111 for advice.  They said to get a tetanus jab - so we had a rushed tea and then headed to the hospital in Kendal to get one.  Took 3 hours, it wasn't busy - they had a change of shift which I think delayed everything.  We were treated to live moronic Saturday night telly, which was just delightful.  I got despatched to ASDA as everyone got hungry and thirsty and we didn't have enough money for the car park.  All is well though, Matt hasn't had a problem with it - just a freak accident!  A great anecdote for later...

Rebecca and Tom with a Diesel

Sunday was a train day.  Matt had found out about a diesel gala on the Weardale Railway (Stanhope to Bishop Auckland).  All the diesels were the same class - 31s but different colours.  The carriages were quite plush - Premier Class.  There was a problem though it was freezing cold - the diesels were unable to heat the carriages and there was a very frosty wind rushing through the carriages.  By the end of the day I was absolutely frozen and couldn't warm up, even after a hot bath.  I seemed to be the only one affected like that.

Ticket Inspector?

Anyway, we took Rebecca with us and she and Tom just talked trains for the WHOLE day - I didn't realise there was sooooooo much train banter, but yep there is.  They didn't shut up the whole day. When they weren't talking classes, steamies vs diesels etc they were playing train top trumps or testing each other on classes.Proper proper nerds, but it is lovely that they have each other to be nerdy with.  I was completely lost with the conversations.

Another train with two enthusiasts

It was a lovely drive over to Stanhope and back though - across bits of the dales we don't know - really must explore more.