The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

23 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Way back in the stone age 1969 I was sent on the jungle survival course in Malaya and like HH we were told always to check our boots before putting them on. One morning a chap in my group laughingly said something about not forgetting the daily boot inspection and shook his upside down. His grin evaporated when out of one of them fell a scorpion.

 

Dave

When I was in Cyprus, the DZ at Kingsfield where we used to parachute was littered with large and rather sharp rocks.  Between lifts, we would  clear these rocks and put them in piles away from the landing pit (A 10m dia hole  filed with pea gravel).  On one occasion I picked up a rock and felt a sharp stabbing sensation.

 

I thought it was a thorn, but turned out to be a scorpion.

 

I was treated at the local med centre but after about 8 hours of increasing pain which initially was localised around the finger, had spread up to my elbow, I was admitted to hospital where I remained for about 48 hours. I don't remember much about my stay there, as I was obviously away with the fairies on whatever drugs I'd been given to counter the venom.

 

I do remember it was an extremely painful experience that I would not wish on any of my friends.

 

The envenomation point on  the middle finger of my right hand and the surrounding area which stretched down onto the palm was discoloured for about 12 months afterwards.  The inside of my right arm (up to the elbow) was also covered in irregular white blotches which eventually faded away.

Edited October 11, 2021 by Happy Hippo

[Stubby47]

34 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

When I was in Cyprus, the DZ at Kingsfield where we used to parachute was littered with large and rather sharp rocks.  Between lifts, we would  clear these rocks and put them in piles away from the landing pit (A 10m dia hole  filed with pea gravel). 

 

Who kept putting the rocks back on the DZ ?

[Happy Hippo]

6 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

 

Who kept putting the rocks back on the DZ ?

Probably a scorpion family trying to emulate ants.

[rockershovel]

9 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

This looks mighty suspicious, unfortunately I can't get a higher resolution.

 

 

 

There are also confirmed to be engines abandoned in Catumbela Angola.

 

 

 

 

https://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/tales/angolatales02.htm

They are, indeed the engines at Catumbela. I saw them from a crew bus in 2005 while transferring from Benguela to Lobito. Quite a surprise. I also spent about 8 months on the Saipem 3000 around that time, and again in 2008-09 working 6 week rotations out of Pointe Noire which is why I tend to remember that period as "Congo" although it actually extended as far North as Akpo (Nigeria). We also changed through Douala at one stage, although I never went there. 

[simontaylor484]

Douglas seems adept with satellite mapping perhaps he is looking for the secret cake stash

[rockershovel]

1 minute ago, simontaylor484 said:

Douglas seems adept with satellite mapping perhaps he is looking for the secret cake stash

He is looking for the rumoured strategic reserve of French "coupe-fromage" steam locos 

[Happy Hippo]

21 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Douglas seems adept with satellite mapping perhaps he is looking for the secret cake stash

One of PB's glamourous assistants with a sample for a new recipe:

 

[Happy Hippo]

1 minute ago, Happy Hippo said:

One of PB's glamourous assistants with a sample for a new recipe:

 

And his staple diet of  special LDC:

 

[Compound2632]

On 10/10/2021 at 09:28, Tony_S said:

We are quite relaxed about crows visiting the vegetable patch, we need a scareslug.

 

Crows may once have had sufficient intelligence to be scared by a scare-crow but I suspect they've evolved beyond that stage. Slugs, on the other hand, have insufficient intelligence to know fear.

[Tony_S]

42 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Crows may once have had sufficient intelligence to be scared by a scare-crow but I suspect they've evolved beyond that stage. Slugs, on the other hand, have insufficient intelligence to know fear.

I used to think that slugs had very little purpose other than to be annoying to gardeners but I was soon corrected (almost certainly on RMWeb) about how important they (at least some slug species) are for soil. 

[Dave Hunt]

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I thought it was a thorn, but turned out to be a scorpion...... after about 8 hours of increasing pain which initially was localised around the finger, had spread up to my elbow, I was admitted to hospital where I remained for about 48 hours. I don't remember much about my stay there, as I was obviously away with the fairies on whatever drugs I'd been given to counter the venom..... an extremely painful experience that I would not wish on any of my friends.

 

Nowhere near as bad as that, but in Singapore I was undoing the padlock on the garden shed when a little green spider, only about a quarter of an inch across, bit me on the finger and within about half an hour it had swollen up like a sausage and my hand started going funny colours. I had to go to the medical centre and have an injection of some sort in the hand and it was a couple of days before it was back to normal. I was surprised that a spider so small was able to puncture the skin.

 

I think that my most frightening experience, though, was when I was wading in the sea off one of the small islands to the south of Singapore and a sea snake swam between my legs. Since we were a good half hour from Singapore itself I think I would have been a goner if it had bitten me.

 

We also found a cobra in our garden once. A really fun place, Singapore.

 

Dave

[Tony_S]

Another pigeon feather collection on the lawn this morning. I mentioned to Aditi that it could be a sparrowhawk targeting our garden pigeons. She said on both mornings she has seen three magpies looking at the scene, with an air of “nothing to do with us, mate” .

[Stubby47]

18 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

I think that my most frightening experience, though, was when I was wading in the sea off one of the small islands to the south of Singapore and a sea snake swam between my legs. Since we were a good half hour from Singapore itself I think I would have been a goner if it had bitten me.

 

 

In my experience, in the sea, a snake between the legs is usually quite small, due to the cold...

[PhilJ W]

20 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Another pigeon feather collection on the lawn this morning. I mentioned to Aditi that it could be a sparrowhawk targeting our garden pigeons. She said on both mornings she has seen three magpies looking at the scene, with an air of “nothing to do with us, mate” .

A magpie isn't powerful enough to take out a pigeon, even mob handed. What is likely is that they are waiting for the left overs after the sparrowhawk his finished.

[Northmoor]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Nowhere near as bad as that, but in Singapore I was undoing the padlock on the garden shed when a little green spider, only about a quarter of an inch across, bit me on the finger and within about half an hour it had swollen up like a sausage and my hand started going funny colours. I had to go to the medical centre and have an injection of some sort in the hand and it was a couple of days before it was back to normal. I was surprised that a spider so small was able to puncture the skin.

 

I think that my most frightening experience, though, was when I was wading in the sea off one of the small islands to the south of Singapore and a sea snake swam between my legs. Since we were a good half hour from Singapore itself I think I would have been a goner if it had bitten me.

 

We also found a cobra in our garden once. A really fun place, Singapore.

 

Dave

I remember standing waist-deep in the sea near Perth, WA when a black shape 2-3' long swam through the water in front of me.  I was out of that water rather quickly.......

Re: small spiders being able to puncture the skin, I'm sure I've read that Daddy Long Legs are sufficiently poisonous that they would be very dangerous to humans if they could open their jaws wide enough to bite human skin.

[AndyID]

Not a lot of the fauna around here is out to get you although there are rattle snakes further South. Arizona was bad. Scorpions, rattle snakes and lots of black-widow spiders. A spider got me when I was cleaning out the pool skimmer basket but it turned out to be a wolf spider. They look terrifying but their venom isn't usually a problem for humans.

[Tony_S]

4 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

magpie isn't powerful enough to take out a pigeon,

I saw one once kill a starling on the ground. It just flew at it and pierced the starling’s  skull with its beak. Then flew off with it. I suspect the magpies this morning were just interested in the feathers in case there was something edible left. I think whatever has killed pigeons two nights running was something furry hiding in the plants next to the lawn. 

[Oldddudders]

I occasionally find a snake in my railway barn. Life goes on - so far.....

[Happy Hippo]

36 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

I occasionally find a snake in my railway barn. Life goes on - so far.....

A picture would be appreciated if you can manage one.

 

I enjoy looking at, hunting for and reading about most reptiles, but have no desire to keep them.

 

They have quite specific husbandry requirements that differ between the various types.

[Oldddudders]

[Happy Hippo]

2 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Looks like an Aesculapian Snake.

 

Non venomous.

[polybear]

31 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I enjoy looking at, hunting for and reading about most reptiles, but have no desire to keep them.

 

 

 

Try the House of Commons....

[Dave Hunt]

Not sure what happened here. As I sent the post, all the text disappeared. I'll call back tomorrow.

 

Dave 

Edited October 11, 2021 by Dave Hunt

[AndyID]

56 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

A picture would be appreciated if you can manage one.

 

I enjoy looking at, hunting for and reading about most reptiles, but have no desire to keep them.

 

They have quite specific husbandry requirements that differ between the various types.

 

We see a lot of these.

 https://idfg.idaho.gov/species/taxa/15879

 

The photo doesn't quite do justice to the tail. When they move you might think they have blue LEDs embedded in them.

[PhilJ W]

I found a colony of slow worms in my compost bin earlier this year. They may well still be there but well dug in.