The Night Mail

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

We used to have tank suits to keep us a little better insulated than the standard issue combat kit.

Basically, it was a thick onesy with a hood.

Our gunner disappeared to do a shovel recce.

It was only when he pulled the hood on that he realised that the hood was already occupied. 

Being merciful pals, we quickly forgot how Sh!thead had earned his nickname. 

Dad told a similar story, except that the hood got pulled up inside the tank. 

[AndyID]

We get "Call The Midwife" on Public TV here on a Sunday evening. MrsID feels obliged to watch it as she is an RGN and she became a Midwife around 1972, although she didn't have to cycle to see her patients as we had a VW by then.

 

The show this evening included the events in July 1966 when England won the World Cup. This brought back quite vivid memories because I was returning from a trip along the Rhine with a group of Venture Scouts and we saw the final in a pub at Euston while we were waiting for the train to Glasgow 

 

As none of us were actually English and we had just returned from Germany we may have been slightly indifferent about who was winning but the atmosphere was definitely electric

[rockershovel]

22 minutes ago, AndyID said:

We get "Call The Midwife" on Public TV here on a Sunday evening. MrsID feels obliged to watch it as she is an RGN and she became a Midwife around 1972, although she didn't have to cycle to see her patients as we had a VW by then.

 

The show this evening included the events in July 1966 when England won the World Cup. This brought back quite vivid memories because I was returning from a trip along the Rhine with a group of Venture Scouts and we saw the final in a pub at Euston while we were waiting for the train to Glasgow 

 

As none of us were actually English and we had just returned from Germany we may have been slightly indifferent about who was winning but the atmosphere was definitely electric

Ha ha, German World Cup stories. I was in Germany in 2010, when they were all going crazy because they thought they would win it, but didn't. There was a two-week interim when the fizz had definitely gone out of their Lucozade, but it was felt impolite to actually take the flags down because there was one game left to play. The speed with which everything disappeared after the final whistle was amazing - I was in a beer garden where they literally started taking down the flags there and then...

[Dave Hunt]

Off to get the stitches out of my hooter this AM. Possibly some workshop time later today.

 

TTFN. Have a good day y'all.

 

Dave

[New Haven Neil]

On a final note about accents, dear friend Jayne was born in Bury, grew up in Cumbrae (google it!) and later in Brighton.  She speaks with a very attractive (aka sexy as hell - looks it too, lucky lass) cut glass accent the Queen would approve of you would never, ever be able to guess where she is from.   Late husband Gary was from Whitstable - it took her YEARS to get him to stop calling her 'Join'.  Drove her nuts.

 

Best wishes with the hooter, Dave.

[AndyID]

3 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Off to get the stitches out of my hooter this AM. Possibly some workshop time later today.

 

TTFN. Have a good day y'all.

 

Dave

 

Hopefully the stitches are not actually attaching the old hooter to la faccia.

 

(Sorry for that! I'm sure you will be happy to see them gone.)

 

I have to visit the vein people this week - no, vein, not vain. Both ankles started leaking recently and I'm pretty sure it's a consequence of my varicose veins - thanks dad! My primary care doc (GP) tried antibiotic cream (didn't work) then anti-fungal cream (didn't work) so I'm going straight to the experts. We can do that without a referral here.

[AndyID]

6 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

On a final note about accents, dear friend Jayne was born in Bury, grew up in Cumbrae (google it!) and later in Brighton.  She speaks with a very attractive (aka sexy as hell - looks it too, lucky lass) cut glass accent the Queen would approve of you would never, ever be able to guess where she is from.   Late husband Gary was from Whitstable - it took her YEARS to get him to stop calling her 'Join'.  Drove her nuts.

 

Best wishes with the hooter, Dave.

 

The only Cumbraes I know of are the big yin and the wee yin. (My brother lives in Fairlie - where there were two stations. Fairlie High being one of them )

[New Haven Neil]

20 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

The only Cumbraes I know of are the big yin and the wee yin. (My brother lives in Fairlie - where there were two stations. Fairlie High being one of them )

 

It was the big yin - her father was the teacher.

[Oldddudders]

16 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Welcome to the unpronounceable short surname club

'Ng' takes some beating. 

[New Haven Neil]

1 minute ago, Oldddudders said:

'Ng' takes some beating. 

 

A Ng story my brother told me....

 

Said big bro was a radio/radar officer at sea, and his company was taken over by the Chinese C Y Tung conglomerate.  A Mr Patrick Ng arrived on the ship, as the 'Radar Superintendent' to investigate 'excessive cost' of continuous repairs to the main radar on the vessel.  Ian (my bro) began to explain about the unreliability of parts of this particular device - realising along the way Mr Ng hadn't a clue and was presumably an accountant sent to save costs.  Mr Ng demanded to se the part in the radar, so Ian removed the casings, telling Mr Ng not to put his hand anywhere near the works, as they are nasty things with lots of volts and magnetic fields.  So Mr Ng of course stuck his hand in to point at the gubbins in question (magnetron?)......managing not to kill himself, luckily.  Later in the cabin Mr Ng is chatting about how to save monies on this part (buy a different radar was Ian's answer!) and commented with disgust his watch had stopped....genuine Rolex.....having being, unknown to him, totally ruined by having put it into the tremendous magnetic field of the radar!  Ian didn't have the heart to tell him.

[Happy Hippo]

8 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Dad told a similar story, except that the hood got pulled up inside the tank. 

It was a common occurrence amongst the young, inexperienced or for those in much of a hurry. 

[Winslow Boy]

 

30 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

It was a common occurrence amongst the young, inexperienced or for those in much of a hurry. 

 

One assumes HH that at some point you have been one of these at some point but hopeful not two of them at the same time.

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

Off to get the stitches out of my hooter this AM. Possibly some workshop time later today.

 

TTFN. Have a good day y'all.

 

Dave

 

One hopes that you will no longer require the iron mask anymore and that you will be able hold your proboscis out for all to see.

 

PS I believe having a scar will make you more appealing to the females.

[Dave Hunt]

Thanks Winslow. Does that mean that I should resubmit my application to be the next James Bond then?

 

Stitches now out and schnozzle hasn't fallen off yet so all appears well.

 

Dave

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

It was a common occurrence amongst the young, inexperienced or for those in much of a hurry. 

On a similar vein, there are not usually any loos in the working faces of deep coal mines.  A mate was a face worker and they used to stash their bait (lunch) tins along the access tunnels, or gates, to the face. They noticed that when a certain deputy was on shift that sandwiches were disappearing. They hadn't been eaten by the mice.  So they hatched a plan.  Two plain slices of bread were taken down one day and left in the tin till someone required a No 2.  The resultant 'sandwich' was then put in a strategically placed bait tin.  No more sandwiches were ever taken.

 

Jamie

Edited October 25, 2021 by jamie92208

[Compound2632]

4 hours ago, AndyID said:

the atmosphere was definitely electric 

 

Naturally, at Euston in '66.

[TheQ]

22 hours ago, rockershovel said:

Re various comments regarding Geordies etc, that's why we have The Queens English. The Tudor dynasty recognised that none of the regional variants, being derived from so many unrelated sources, would serve as a national working language.

So the Welsh decided we how we should speak English..

[Tony_S]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

It was a common occurrence amongst the young, inexperienced or for those in much of a hurry. 

Dad would have been about 22 but by the time of his story would probably have been quite experienced having been a soldier since the age of 18. He didn’t mention the age of the tank commander who managed to decorate the turret area. Dad said that particular crew member was known for leaving his lavatorial needs until the last possible moment before action. 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

16 hours ago, SM42 said:

Beer and crisps were ordered. 

Read that as bear…

[PhilJ W]

I once had a couple of cheap battery operated alarm clocks. They both stopped working within days of each other and despite new batteries both were as dead as a dodo. It was only then that I realised the cause of the problem. They had been placed in front of the speaker of my bedside radio and both being powered by 'make and break' motors the magnetic field of the radio speaker had done for them.

[Tony_S]

My nieces apparently thought of me while out today. Can’t think why!

 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Morning all,

 

I’ve been away for awhile, I cite the obvious reason.

 

The first week has been a grand success, and I’ve seen quite a few people I didn’t think I would see again. Wednesday I had a breakfast with a few of them, and then Friday I attended a football game to the shock of a few. 
 

My classes are much better now, and the teachers do actually seem to care about what they are teaching. The Trial Proc is very good for example. 
 

 

Little has been done on the engine, other than making the gearing system a bit quieter and filing off sharp edges. I did do a bit of blacksmithing yesterday in a vain attempt to make an engraving chisel. It ended up failing as the steel has to much carbon or other impurities to harden when quenched at the correct color. More work is needed. 
 

Douglas

Edited October 25, 2021 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Happy Hippo]

I have returned back to the land of Telfs.

 

A most pleasant drive back with me either at the front of the traffic queue or the majority of drivers travelling at sensible speeds (ie not too slow).  The 'I only drive at 40, whatever road and speed restrictions are' were strangely absent.

 

Perhaps they were all behind me.

 

I do love the irony of the extended 50mph speed restriction through Port Talbot and Baglan on the M4.  Originally it was in place through PT because:

 

The entry slip roads are not long enough to allow safe acceleration to 70 mph.

 

Then it became a noise abatement measure for the properties either side of the elevated section of the motorway.

 

Now it's to improve air quality.....

 

They seem to have forgotten about one of the biggest UK steel works in the area which might just have a slight impact on this.

 

The first two I can fully appreciate, but now they are extracting the urine.

 

 

[laurenceb]

There does seem to be a habit at the moment of introducing traffic measures then looking for an excuse, and then another. In Derby they introduced diversions because of "covid" now they plan to make them permanent "to help air quality ", buses travelling three times as far and probably burning four times as much fuel.

[Compound2632]

45 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

The 'I only drive at 40, whatever road and speed restrictions are' were strangely absent

 

That's a bizarre one - I get it all the time on the A4 between Maidenhead and Reading and the A10 between Foxton and Cambridge, both roads where the speed limit does change between 30, 40, 50, and 60 quite a lot. Are these drivers completely insensible of their surroundings?