The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

24 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

Just to be on the safe side I'd let your neighbours know ...hmmm on second thoughts make it the entire village. That way you'll hopefully avoid the rampaging mob of angry villagers turning up at your door wanting to know why they've not got any power.

Is that complete with burning torches, pitchforks and a mobile guillotine egged on by a couple of old crones knitting?

[AndyID]

I was at the chemist's today and I asked about getting a flu shot but they are by appointment only. The reason I went in was to get a mugshot to renew my UK passport.  Under the present circumstances we decided it might be a good idea in case a sudden exit-stage-left is called for in 2024.

[pH]

22 minutes ago, AndyID said:

I was at the chemist's today and I asked about getting a flu shot but they are by appointment only. The reason I went in was to get a mugshot to renew my UK passport.  Under the present circumstances we decided it might be a good idea in case a sudden exit-stage-left is called for in 2024.

Now that is planning in advance!

[SM42]

3 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

We have a 3 Phase supply as do many of the older properties in the village. The wTer heater is 3 phase but everything else is split across the phases for balance.  However there are 6 curcuit breakers that I haven't a clue what they operate. I'm going to turn those off one day and see what happens.

 

Jamie

 

Can you let me know first, just in case they are connected to here.

 

TIA

 

Andy

[New Haven Neil]

8 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

That's like being told on no  circumstances to press the big red button. The temptation is just toooo much.

 

The Fleet Air Arm museum at Yeovilton has a set up of a simulated control room in a aircraft carrier, with 'live action' things going on - smoke effects, 'fire' etc - on the back wall is a big button with an arrow marked....you guessed, 'do not press'.  I stood with my back to it with a finger on the button, waited for the climax of the action, and pressed it.  A really loud 'arooogaa' siren. Great result, although there were several heart attacks......

[SM42]

25 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

The Fleet Air Arm museum at Yeovilton has a set up of a simulated control room in a aircraft carrier, with 'live action' things going on - smoke effects, 'fire' etc - on the back wall is a big button with an arrow marked....you guessed, 'do not press'.  I stood with my back to it with a finger on the button, waited for the climax of the action, and pressed it.  A really loud 'arooogaa' siren. Great result, although there were several heart attacks......

 

It sounds like  it's worth going just for that button.

 

Andy

[polybear]

8 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

On a similar note, when I was stationed at NAS Pensacola and doing guard duty at the main gate, I wondered what a certain switch on the wall did so I did the appropriate thing. I turned it off.  All the streetlights on the bridge just outside the gate went dark! I turned it back on and, being mercury vapor bulbs, it took about ten minutes for them to restart. I labeled the switch for future reference. Oh, and nobody ever said anything about the lights going out!

 

Bear used to stay at what we knew as the Jury's Pond Hotel in Glasgow in the mid 90's - we were working in the Shipyard at Scotstoun at the time.  Well Bear is in the habit of making sure things that can be turned off at the socket are turned off at bed-e-buys time; there was a plug in a socket but I didn't really know what it did (the flex disappeared thru' the floor), but I turned it off anyway.  Well I'm all snuggled up with my favourite cuddly blanket when a member of the hotel staff knocked at the door - it turns out this switch powers the TV Aerial Booster for the Hotel - and they'd been flooded with calls from guests who's telly had stopped working.  Oops.

 

6 hours ago, AndyID said:

I was at the chemist's today and I asked about getting a flu shot but they are by appointment only. The reason I went in was to get a mugshot to renew my UK passport.  Under the present circumstances we decided it might be a good idea in case a sudden exit-stage-left is called for in 2024.

 

Is the US expecting problems in 2024?  I see The Orange One is releasing his own social media platform "that will rival Facebook and Twitter".....

 

14 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

The Fleet Air Arm museum at Yeovilton has a set up of a simulated control room in a aircraft carrier, with 'live action' things going on - smoke effects, 'fire' etc.

 

And a rather nice Phantom on the deck.  For Pilots who take off and land such things on a pitching, rolling deck that's so short it needs a catapult and arrester gear.  In the dark, with waves breaking over the deck.....

Now if that doesn't get a bite......

 

[jamie92208]

29 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

And a rather nice Phantom on the deck.  For Pilots who take off and land such things on a pitching, rolling deck that's so short it needs a catapult and arrester gear.  In the dark, with waves breaking over the deck.....

Now if that doesn't get a bite......

 

Somewhere on YouTube there is a film  of an RMWeb member doing just that on Ark Royal in a Phantom, known to Dave and I as Uncle T.  I'll try and find the clip.

 

Edit, I've found it.

Sailor 02of12-1.Squadrons.Are.Coming - YouTube

 

 

Dave, aka uncle T is in Phantom 002 at approx 3.37.   He and his mate who has the bad time in the Buccaneer were on rotation from the RAF. Apparently the guy had no problems at all for the rest of the deployment.

 

Jamie

 

 

Edited October 22, 2021 by jamie92208

[SM42]

It's all very quiet this morning at SM42 Hall. 

People are just starting to stir.

 

Some friends flew in yesterday.

They were due here at just before  9 last night. They flew to Wroclaw for a short family visit,  and were coming to us for a few days en route to family further north.

 

 Their pilot decided discretion was the better part of valour and did a go around at Wroclaw, then decided to divert to Katowice where it was less windy. 

A bus journey from hell then commenced via accident strewn motorways, the last 7 km to Wroclaw airport taking an hour and a half.

A quick taxi ride to the station to catch a heavily delayed service got them to Poznan just before 3 this morning.

 

They never did get to see family in Wroclaw. He was at work by the time they got there. 

 

Breakfast may be a sombre affair. 

 

And it's still bloomin breezy. This afternoon looks like it might be quite rough again.

 

I must get my planned model shop visit in earlier rather than later I think. 

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

Somewhere on YouTube there is a film  of an RMWeb member doing just that on Ark Royal in a Phantom, known to Dave and I as Uncle T.  I'll try and find the clip.

 

Edit, I've found it.

Sailor 02of12-1.Squadrons.Are.Coming - YouTube

 

 

Dave, aka uncle T is in Phantom 002 at approx 3.37.   He and his mate who has the bad time in the Buccaneer were on rotation from the RAF. Apparently the guy had no problems at all for the rest of the deployment.

 

Jamie

 

 

I don't think DH would have much of a problem with a carrier landing, he's breezed getting onto our potholed driveway and avoiding the muddy hollow, so a huge carrier like that he could do blindfolded.

[SM42]

14 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I don't think DH would have much of a problem with a carrier landing, he's breezed getting onto our potholed driveway and avoiding the muddy hollow, so a huge carrier like that he could do blindfolded.

 

Has he taken to flying helicopters then?

 

 

 

Andy

[jamie92208]

I wonder if our redident pachyderm has seen the news item about Coulumbias hippo population. It has grown alarmingly from a few that were imported by former drug cartel boss Pablo Escabar. The authorities want to get rid of them but don't want to shoot them. They are now trying to sterilise them all.  

 

HH guard your nuts like a squirrel.

 

Jamie

Edited October 22, 2021 by jamie92208

[laurenceb]

When you look at footage of the approach to Ark Royal you understand why our American friends described Royal Navy pilots as nice guys but nuts

[rockershovel]

Re polybear, above, there have indeed been reports that Orange Man Bad is ahead of the incumbent in at least, some polls and trends are continuing in that direction. It is also increasingly reported that the nomination is his for the asking, should he so wish.

[Northmoor]

8 hours ago, laurenceb said:

When you look at footage of the approach to Ark Royal you understand why our American friends described Royal Navy pilots as nice guys but nuts

One of my favourite of the many great stories about Eric "Winkle" Brown.  His deck landing record (1600-and-something? 2,271 and 2,407 take-offs) is so far ahead of anyone else in the world, but at one time the USN employed one guy whose sole job it appeared to be, was to beat Brown's record.  Apparently he got about halfway there before having a nervous breakdown.

Edited October 22, 2021 by Northmoor

[Dave Hunt]

13 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

That's like being told on no  circumstances to press the big red button. The temptation is just toooo much.

 

Back in the '70s when I was on an F4 Squadron in Germany, we loaned one of our aircraft to a recce squadron on another base. When it was returned there was an additional switch on a small panel atop the cockpit coaming with a red light alongside it and a label saying NORMAL and ON. The switch was in the NORMAL position. There was no mention of what it was for so we assumed that it was something to do with the recce pods that the other lot had been using. Naturally, though, everyone who flew it tried turning the switch to ON, whereupon the red light came on so it was hastily returned to NORMAL but without, it seemed, any untoward effect. After about a week one of the engineers came up and asked who had been turning the switch to NORMAL and was met with a chorus of, "Not me," and similar so he said,, "Well it's obvious some of you have as the battery has been used." Battery, what battery? It turned out that the whole thing was a set-up by the engineers of both squadrons to see what would happen and all it consisted of was a switch, battery and red light in a little box fitted onto the coaming. Our engineer then grinned and shook his head, saying, "Bl**dy aircrew," and walked out. The next day the switch had gone.

 

Dave

[polybear]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

I wonder if our resident pachyderm has seen the news item about Coulumbias hippo population. It has grown alarmingly from a few that were imported by former drug cartel boss Pablo Escabar. The authorities want to get rid of them but don't want to shoot them. They are now trying to sterilise them all.  

 

HH guard your nuts like a squirrel.

 

Jamie

 

Could our very own Big H actually be a Drug Lord's plaything?  Has he been plied with cake containing "special" added ingredients perhaps? Maybe this explains Big H's preference for copper colour chimneys - foggy brain syndrome accompanied by a certain glazed look in the eyes....

[Happy Hippo]

Just delete plaything from the first line.

[Happy Hippo]

I am currently resident in Margam. Whist in S Wales, I am wondering whether to go over to Taffs Well and look at the remaining western abutment of Walnut Tree Viaduct.

 

I'm wondering if such a visit  will shine a light on the mystery of how maintenance staff  accessed the catwalk that ran beneath the main decking? There must have been some sort of access from track level, but it is not easily identified in any of the photos I've been looking at.

 

Perhaps somewhere there is a drawing that would help?

 

The trouble with researching obscure subjects is not knowing when to stop.

[laurenceb]

In the early days of the Red Arrows someone worked out that if a certain fuse was removed the plane would spin faster. Higher authority ordered the refitting of said fuse, but nobody said that it had to be a serviceable fuse.

[AndyID]

Turns out we wasted 28 bucks on the chemist (pharmacy) photos. As you are probably aware they are supposed to incorporate some magic numbers but chemists here have no knowledge of such things.

 

We'll have to take them ourselves. I suspect there will be many attempts before they are accepted. Just as well we're not in a great rush.

 

BTW, Dad had a chemist shop and I used to help-out behind the counter occasionally in my late teens. Fortunately I was never required to serve any products from the prophylactics drawer.

[Tony_S]

16 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

resident in Margam. Whist in S Wales

We were having a Zoom meeting with our new bank manager earlier this week. It was the first time we had spoken. This was mainly a get to know each other session. Anyway she asked about my accent as she couldn’t quite place it. She asked if I was originally from Wales or Liverpool. I explained I was originally from Birmingham. Aditi said she had been brought up in Yorkshire but the manager said she wouldn’t have known that from her accent. Anyway it was a nice chat and we will have a more focussed financial chat next month. 
 

[Northmoor]

12 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

We were having a Zoom meeting with our new bank manager earlier this week. It was the first time we had spoken. This was mainly a get to know each other session. Anyway she asked about my accent as she couldn’t quite place it. She asked if I was originally from Wales or Liverpool. I explained I was originally from Birmingham. Aditi said she had been brought up in Yorkshire but the manager said she wouldn’t have known that from her accent. Anyway it was a nice chat and we will have a more focussed financial chat next month. 
 

Perhaps it's from having parents from different parts of the UK, travelling around it a lot and having lived in five distinct areas, but I get annoyed hearing people saying they can't understand a word someone from "elsewhere" is saying.  I've worked with broad Glaswegians who I could still understand, "even when they got going".  Too many people are thinking of their reply instead of listening properly.

[AndyID]

46 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

Perhaps it's from having parents from different parts of the UK, travelling around it a lot and having lived in five distinct areas, but I get annoyed hearing people saying they can't understand a word someone from "elsewhere" is saying.  I've worked with broad Glaswegians who I could still understand, "even when they got going".  Too many people are thinking of their reply instead of listening properly.

 

I was in a taxi in Oxford about 45 years ago and the driver asked me where I was from. On hearing I was from Scotland he asked, quite seriously, if I had a rough crossing coming over on the ferry

[New Haven Neil]

I was once on a ship with rather antiquated electro-mechanical automated control of most equipment in the engine room - the control panel looked rather like something from an early Star Trek, lots of flashy lights and gauges.  On one of my first watches on my own an alarm sounded, and a flashy light called for my attention, in a bit of a flurry as I was still learning the ship, I ran to the alarm light to read 'Kettle Low Level' ! This worked on a timer the electrician had fitted inside the gubbins and set to the middle of the night to catch new watchkeepers. Swine, gave me a panic.