The block occupancy detector

This was my main event for today (picture in Dutch). I'm looking into different pieces of electronics that I will need for my model railroad. This particular piece is a block occupancy detector. It will send a signal to a computer or other controlling device to let it know the stretch of rail it's attached to is occupied by a train. That way you can prevent another train from entering that block (also called 'section').

I have ordered parts for this at an Australian online electronics shop. Let's hope it works. For my test track I need about 14 or 16. For the coffee table track that I will eventually build I will probably need 5 times more....

PS: I didn't design this myself but I do try and understand how it works, which I do now.

The roach and fried ice cream

This was my early morning surprise. The most gigantic cockroach I have ever seen.

Two days ago I actually called our maintenance guy to complain about the bad hygiene in our toilets. I haven't seen any real change yet...

From toilet cockroach to lunch.

I sat under my tree again.

Mr. Nippy's was sitting next to me.

From lunch to dinner.

It was Loan's (left) surprise birthday dinner organised by her husband Edi who is a old friend of Nicole.

We met some nice people and the food was great. For the first time ever I ate fried ice cream. It was sensational.

Yes, inside this deep fried parcel there is a ice cold block of delicious ice cream.

UK/Europe

Breakfast at Cibo. I bought a ham/cheese croissant, toasted.

For lunch I had Daal and a Samosa.

On my way back to the office I passed a travel agency. They advertised an "around the world trip" to the UK/Europe. You see this in a lot of places here. Apparently there are a lot of people that think the UK is not in Europe. Dumb. VERY dumb.

Victory!

After work I walked to the bus stop. There can be gigantic line-ups at bus stops around 5PM.

A random view from my bus at North Terrace.

We played a team that was ranked 11. We were ranked 14. The last four ends I was bowling really well.

This was our score card. Te last end was really exciting because we were one point behind. But then we won that end by 6 points. It ended 21-16.
Well done Bowls Squad!

People under trees

During lunch I sat under a tree again.

I was not alone.

People were sitting/lying under trees everywhere.

When I walked back to the office after lunch I met our friend Michelle. She has the exact same glasses as I do except hers have brown glasses and mine are black(ish).

Ice cream

Waiting for the bus in the morning because Nicole was too sick to go to work unfortunately.

I like these old silver busses that drive around here. They seem to be better looked after than some of the newer ones.

After work Nicole picked me up and after a short visit to a model railroad shop (why not?) we went to PJ O'Brien's for dinner. But because we had to wait an hour until their kitchen opened we got some ice cream first. Very nice ice cream too!

Dove photo shoot

In the morning I heard the pretty bird in the tree. I can't remember it's name. It makes beautiful little sounds that sound quite complex. It's really bird's talking. It's just a beautiful sight. They don't like people very much though. Good on them.

When it flew away, I saw the little dovies in the nectarine tree.

They were just chilling.

And cleaning each other a bit.

Cleaning and overseeing what's going on (nothing) in the garden is very tiring.

The moon was up already. Stunning.

At noon I drove to Bunnings by myself again. Nicole doesn't have to drive me anymore, she is very pleased with that.

I bought some double sided tape and a threaded rod.

On the way home I stopped by a model railroad shop that I had forgotten about. I was after a few things of which most he didn't have. He did have this car though which is used for cleaning the track. It has a rubber underneath. The car has cleaning agents branding on it which is funny.
I also bought a dcc loco decoder. Hopefully I can build it in one of my old trains to make it digital as well.

When I came home I soldered some wires to bits of track so I could create more power points in my track.

The rest of the day (14:00 - 21:30) I worked on a new test lay out. I only managed to complete the construction part. Next up is the wiring. I'm amazed I actually managed to get this far today. Very pleased.

Note: A full post about the test track is available at vincentcreative.blogspot.com.