A Rambling Post

Having kept to single theme post-wise last week, I've decided that I want to be eclectic this week.  So, after yesterday's musings about Fidel Castro and our tendency toward tunnel vision when it comes to assessing the lives of public figures, I thought I'd just ramble a bit.  Following yesterday's post about the death of Castro, it's important to remember that he wasn't the only public figure to have passed away during the past few days.  Joining this year's veritable holocaust of celebrities, Ron Glass died on Friday.  Yeah, I know, Ron who? many of you are saying.  But for some of us Ron Glass was a familiar and beloved figure, having played Detective Ron Harris for pretty much the entire run of Barney Miller.  Harris was the squad room intellectual, (until the arrival of Detective Dietrich and his store of esoteric knowledge in series three, that is), and at one point wrote a highly fictionalised version of his career as a New York cop, which became an unexpected bestseller and  boosted his ego until it became unbearable to his colleagues.  But even at his arrogant worst, Harris remained a witty and urbane character and it is a tribute to Glass' acting skills that the character never became completely dislikeable.  Anyway, as my tribute to Glass, I've spent the past few days watching a selection of episodes from Barney Miller.  Very much of its era, Barney Miller remains an excellent example of the seventies and eighties US ensemble sitcom.

To change the subject completely, you might recall that model railway locomotive I bought relatively cheaply on eBay, due to the fact that it had been repainted into the wrong livery.  Well, I've finally obtained a paint stripper that should, if the claims on the bottle are correct, remove the existing paint schemed, leaving the model ready for repainting.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find the time to test the paint stripper out, prior to applying it to the whole model, so my restoration project still hasn't moved on that much.  I have, however, decided that, as I don't actually have a functional model railway layout at the moment, due to the fact that my spare room, where it would normally live, is currently full of junk awaiting disposal, I'm going to have to set a up smaller 'test track., where I can run and photograph, the new locomotive and other projects as they progress.  I say 'test track', but it will, in reality. be a small, eight foot by four foot, layout, where I can also experiment with stuff like electrics, landscaping and the like.  All I have to do is find time to buy the materials I need to start this new layout.  Well, I've rambled enough.  Who knows what the next post will bring on this week of eclecticism?