Talking to Myself

Perhaps I should be seeking out more direct human contact - I found myself arguing out loud with a YouTube video today.  Well, the guy was trying to service an old Wrenn model railway loco and making a pig's ear out of it.  He ended up dismantling the whole thing, losing a bit and still hadn't managed to put it together, let alone get it going again by the end of the video.  I know that the wheels seemed seized but, in my experience, application of a good penetrating oil to the bearings and axles will usually do the trick - but be prepared for several applications over a long period to get results.  Soaking the whole chassis block in an oil bath overnight simply won't do it.  While the old Margate-produced Triang and Triang-Hornby locomotives are easily broken down into components - everything is screwed together - the contemporary Hornby Dublo and Wrenn designs are a different kettle of fish.  For one thing, their valve gear is riveted rather than simply using pins and screws, so has to removed in a single assembly, while the wheels and axles are no where near as easy to remove.  I've no idea how easy or difficult sixties Trix chassis are to strip down - I only have the one Trix loco and an application of penetrating oil was enough to get it running smoothly after several years of idleness prior to me obtaining it.

Anyway, there I was, shouting 'You've fucked it up, haven't you?' as I watched this guy's video, (I don't even know him personally), as if, somehow, I can actually influence what someone is doing in something shot hours previously.  But then again, I have a history for this sort of thing - I regularly used to come home from the pub and 'argue' with Germaine Greer on the Late Review.  Not that it ever achieved anything.  Any more than my shouting 'Cunt!' every time that now disgraced former Tory Minister Michael Fallon appeared on TV.  Not that any of those things left me worried about the state of my socialising.  The trouble is that all those lockdowns indulged my inherent anti-social tendencies, making them, for a time, the norm.  But here we are now, being encouraged to mingle again and I'm back to be being seen as some kind of weird recluse.  To the extent that I have people leaving messages on my answerphone checking whether I'm dead.  (Messages which I perversely ignore, so as to sow confusion).  Look, I just don't like people.  I enjoy being on my own.  My admonishing the creator of that You Tube video had more to do with my frustration at his bungling than it did with social isolation.  Still, at least looking at that video won't result in anything other than more videos about repairing model railway locos to appear in my 'Suggested Videos' feed, (although You Tube's algorithm made the curious leap from an interest in model railways to an interest.in canals, resulting in recommendations for videos about narrow boats).  Looking at some old 'Protect and Survive' civil defence information films the other day has resulted in all sorts of weird shit being recommended...