bOther!

I was going to write quite an angry post about people in our hobby living in a bubble divorced from the reality of the current situation. Things have moved on since then and I hope we all now realise the potential seriousness, and that the knock-on effects will be widespread. In the big scheme of things, this is still just a hobby. Having said which I've no intention of minimising the impact on traders, manufacturers and others who depend on the hobby for all or part of their living. I'm also extremely worried about heritage lines.

In the short term, the key priority is keeping others safe, and, in doing that, protecting ourselves. 

Here in the fens, it isn't making that much of an impact on us, yet. Issy and I both work from home 50% of the time so moving to doing so 100% isn't that hard. On the other hand there is no novelty factor and we've already got well-worn routines that mean we make the most of the working day rather than idling.

I am taking some time off, quite literally as gardening leave in the sense that I'm using it to do gardening, rather than before joining a new employer. And it is hard to ignore that the ELR takes u quite a bit of one of our gardens.

So as well as doing some maintenance I'm thinking about a wholesale reworking of the track plan to separate the workshop from the running line. After all, one day I might finally get around to holding an open day, and it would make life a lot easier and safer.

The title of this post relates to another dilemma that I half-hinted at a few weeks ago. Like Chris Ford I'm thinking about O gauge, and this seems like a chance to think about it a little more. At some point I still want to build an O16.5 layout based on the Glyn Valley. So it makes sense to start getting some experience in the scale again. It isn't a priority as things stand, but that might change. I'll have to see how I get on once I can start building TAoC. A big question is probably whether I can really face up to the backlog of EM gauge conversions that has built up whilst I've been without a workshop. We shall see. If I do make the leap somethign else will have to go, and it is probably the Tanat Valley based layout. You know, the one where this blog started. 

I also need to find a track plan that would fit in the space I'm currently allocating layouts. until I don't need the office space. That could be quite a challenge.