Early Risers.

[pH]

4 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

Good grief, what cowboys airline said that?? They must do a whole different method of training "over there"

 

Maybe I should have said "It was done ..." rather than "It is done ...". Remember, that Kelowna accident happened in 1986, the aircraft involved was over 7 years old at the time, and there have been many developments in the 737 design since 1978.

[JohnDMJ]

 

1 hour ago, grandadbob said:

P.S. John. I did think of 101 but couldn't be bothered. Also the house where they were working are friends. They were out at the time but sorted it when they got back home.

 

Fairy Nuff!

 

44 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Best shown as a diagram:

 

VASI

 

 

PAPI

 

 

Much better illustrations than what I could describe.

 

 

 

Thanks to Dave and Richard for their explanations! My point of reference on this is David Gunson's after dinner speech, "What Goes Up Might Come Down" in which he explains the VASI system and adds that "if you can see green, you're flying far too low"!!

[Tony_S]

59 minutes ago, AndyB said:

 

But as a youngster (12 year old) I was sent to CDG as an accompanied passenger. In other words an air stewardess would take you from check in at LHR onto the plane and then through to arrivals.

Aditi went with her younger sister as an unaccompanied minor on BOAC to India. They had a very attentive air stewardess. However the year before she and her sister had travelled out to India on a really cheap ticket on Middle Eastern Airlines. It stopped  everywhere and they just got off and wandered round places like Beirut and Tehran airports looking for places to get something to drink while the plane was refuelling. Aditi said the Beirut policeman at the airport thought she spoke very good French for a 12 year old British child. Different times!
 

Edited February 14, 2020 by Tony_S

[monkeysarefun]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

Ey up!

A sunny morning here (despite the prophet of doom aka tv weatherman who was very worried about a cyclone due in today).

 

Only place in Oz I have seen XXXX for sale was in a bar in Perth. No one seemed to buy any. As for Fosters..none seen...except in a bottlestore in Perth..must be the resident Brits.

 

I managed to buy and eat a "naked seafood" pie for lunch yesterday. Very nice.

 

Time for a coffee, pack car and head to Queenstown via Gore. The route was impassable last weekend due to floods..but its all sorted now.

 

Sleep well all!

Baz

 

XXXX is a Queensland thing, it never managed a foothold anywhere else here.

 

As for Fosters I honestly cannot remember when I last saw anyone drinking it, other than Brit backpackers in a 1km radius of Bondi/Bronte/Tamarama. 

 

Victoria Bitter seems to be the default beer if you are into mass produced chemical swill.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I was thinking about going to the Tonbridge show tomorrow but decided against it because of the weather. Getting back across the Dartford Crossing is bad enough late afternoon without the possibility of the bridge being closed. Now to catch up on TV programmes I've missed, be back later.

[leopardml2341]

G'night all.

[Gwiwer]

48 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

XXXX is a Queensland thing, it never managed a foothold anywhere else here.

 

As for Fosters I honestly cannot remember when I last saw anyone drinking it, other than Brit backpackers in a 1km radius of Bondi/Bronte/Tamarama. 

 

Victoria Bitter seems to be the default beer if you are into mass produced chemical swill.

 

I wouldn't give a XXXX for most Aussie beer.  Fosters is an abomination.  VB stands, in truth, not for Victoria Bitter but for Vile Brew.  Almost all beers are served ice-cold, foamy and are full of chemically-induced violence, vomit and hangovers.  Australia has a huge drinking problem.  The service of potent brews in small (by British standards) glasses typically holding around a half-pint serves to drive the culture of drink and refill.  Buying a jug (holds around two pints) with a glass for each of you works the same way - pour, swill, refill.  

 

Coopers can be drinkable.  The one source I found which reliably turned out palatable beer which can be slowly enjoyed rather than "Skulled" and which is best not served ice-cold (maybe cooled but not icy) is Grand Ridge Brewery in the Victorian country town of Mirboo North.  Their range changes from time to time but I particularly enjoyed their Moonshine which is as close to an old English ale or a Scottish "heavy" as you'll find. 

 

Of course if Getting P****d Quick and finding yourself escorted away by the Officers in Blue for any of a number of likely offences is your thing then drink on ..... *

 

In other news we enjoyed our Valentine's night out at a local pizza restaurant.  Proper Italian-style pizzas not the takeaway versions.  Run by a Kiwi who is using London as a stepping stone between Wellington and his hope of serving pizza in Melbourne if you please.  A shame then that he picked the busiest night of the year so far to start both floor staff.  Service was chaotic.  Until an hour into the evening when Manager suddenly seemed to wake up and took charge.  Directions were given to one person to serve drinks, another to serve food and he would sort out the reservations and till.  

 

The food was very good.  It was the 40-minute wait between entree and main which slightly spoiled things.  When our order did come out it went to the wrong table first.  They quickly made it known it was not their order and all was well from then on.  And a traditional jazz band playing smoothly in the background as well.  

 

* Australia has Responsible Service of Alcohol laws and marshalls in a similar manner to the UK.  But with most pubs being high-pressure drinking and gambling venues in it for the maximum profit there is often a lax attitude taken to the amount served until trouble occurs.  I never enjoyed Aussie pubs.  Some (in the country towns) still have a male-only rule in the main bar with females admitted and served only in the restaurant.  The scene is rather different to the UK.  As you might reasonably expect from an entirely different country.

 

G'night all.  The weekend starts tomorrow.  So does Dennis the Menace.  Take care.  

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

4 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

VB stands, in truth, not for Victoria Bitter but for Vile Brew

Known in XXXX country as Vomit Beer.

[monkeysarefun]

33 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

 

 Australia has a huge drinking problem. 

 

 

 

This bloke is gunna end up with a huge drinking problem...

 

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/he-said-what-the-rest-of-us-were-thinking-firefighter-who-sprayed-pm-sees-free-beers-flow-in-20200214-p540rt.html

 

 

Meanwhile in fire news - tropical cyclone induced huge rainfalls across NSW last weekend (personally copped 182mm on Sunday alone -  the South coast got 500mm in 3 days) means yesterday all fires in the state were 0fficially declared out or contained,some had been burning out of control for months.  Some areas that were evacuated due to fires 3 weeks ago were evacuated last week due to flooding!

 

Edited February 14, 2020 by monkeysarefun

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

XXXX is a Queensland thing, it never managed a foothold anywhere else here.

Wikipedia suggests:

Quote

Victoria Bitter held the highest market share of all beer sold in Australia for more than two decades. However, in 2012 this mantle passed to the Lion Nathan's Queensland XXXX Gold. Lion Nathan passed the mantle back to Victoria Bitter in 2013.

I wouldn't recommend XXXX Gold either.

 

The attempt to reduce drunk driving in Australia (Ca 1990s) by reducing legal BAC limits to 0.05% (with random testing) had a big impact on the marketing of lagers in terms of alcohol strength - light, mid-strength and heavy. 

 

Light beer (does not specifically mean reduced carbs / calories like it does in the US) but low alcohol (2% - 3%). Mid-strength is around 3.5% and Heavy is 4.5 - 6%. (Obviously "heavy" is not talking about imperial ale styles.)

 

In my occasional visits I have seen big changes away from the local lager brand dominance of my youth. Understandably in such a generally hot place, "lawnmower" beers are popular but there is a widening craft brewing movement, though it is largely obsessed (like many western US brewers) with hoppy IPAs particularly with citra style hops, often marketed as "juicy" IPAs.

 

All is not entirely lost. Lion Nathan purchased Hahn Brewing and renamed it Malt Shovel Brewery. Malt Shovel produce sorts of craft beer under the James Squire label (named for a convict brewer) and make an effort to brew interesting beers like this one:

While there is a certain amount of marketing involved, the "Wreck Survivors' Ale" uses yeasts cultured from bottles recovered in a 1797 shipwreck off Preservation Island in the Bass Strait. It's a serious beer.

 

James Squire's line uses convict themed names like "Nine tales" and "One fifty lashes". I will say that in a vertical tasting use of many of the same hops gave them a samey feel, but it's a nice effort from a big corporate concern that is different from the global lagers. 

 

Edited February 14, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[Gwiwer]

11 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

"Nine tales" and "One fifty lashes".

I did wonder what the difference was, other than the labels, when I tried them.  Actually not too bad in my opinion.  

[Ozexpatriate]

Now that Galentine's Day (13th) and Valentine's Day (14th) are over, it is now Lupercalia (15th), though I doubt that many will celebrate the dies Februatus in these enlightened times.

 

Happy Lupercalia!

 

(I doubt it will catch on.)

 

Edited February 15, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

The Trafford Centre Grand Prix went as well as can be expected during school holidays, but to be fair, I was out and back in just over an hour and that included a visit to the butchers too. Once home and the rations had been put away it was time for a well earned muggertea, whilst drinking that I emailed the electronic components company and cancelled my order and asked for a full refund. I then placed the same order with a bigger well known company, one whom I’ve made several orders from in the past and who have always given good service. In hindsight, I should have used them in the first place, but I thought I’d give a smaller independent company a chance, but ho hum. If I’ve had no joy with the refund by next week, I’ll raise a complaint with PayPal and let them deal with it m

 

After dinner I continued to fit the links in the main relay control boards, I also fitted diodes and resistors as well. So far I’ve completed 2 boards, another 2 are complete except for the transistors and another 3 have all links, diodes and resistors fitted.

 

 Goodnight all 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[AndyID]

21 hours ago, Barry O said:

That was straight from the Audi dealership. I think it may have got in via a broken gasket..whatever it wrecked the engine. If it had been my car I think Mr A Udi would have been in court for providing a badly engineered cheat system.

 

I've had a similar load of total borlocks from a Volvo dealership. I wouldn't say all, but a lot of dealers will tell you pretty much anything to make you go away. The same Volvo dealership only installed four of the five bolts in one of the wheels in my brand-new Volvo XC70 when I took it in to have it serviced by their "experts".

 

I've had a Fiat dealership only install three of the four bolts that attached the gear-box bell-housing to the engine on a Fiat 125s.

 

And those are the only ones I happened to find by myself.

 

Dealerships are basically horse traders. (Apologies to any ERs who actually are horse traders.)

[AndyID]

10 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

For some reason I'm making duplicate postings (Duly reported)

 

Let's hope this comes out on it's own

 

You can say that again!

 

Ooops. I think I used that one already.

[AndyID]

9 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

Always wanted to go on Concorde, just never got round to it.

 

Me too! Just couldn't bluddy afford it. We used to see them doing circuits and bumps at Prestwick.

 

We had a Vulcan fly right over our our house with the bomb doors wide open on one occasion. Unfortunately my Instamatic wasn't quite equal to the challenge.

[J. S. Bach]

Night owl from a soon to be cold Piedmont.

I once saw a taxiing Concorde at Dulles International; it was LOUD!

 

Also saw/watched a Vulcan do a high-speed/low-elevation fly-by right over the runway; he then came around again in the same configuration, lit the fires, and stood it on its tail and left very abruptly. I did not know that the Vulcan was even there as he was on the NATO/Greek Air Force side of the Souda Bay, Crete air base. The USN had a small detachment on the opposite side of the field. Interesting sidebar: there is a photo of a Luftwaffe JU-52 going down in flame behind a hill; I am almost sure that hill was the one that was about a mile from hangar (also built by the Luftwaffe). The one behind this hangar:

 

 

Hmmm, I was saying good night and then I ramble on and on!! So, now, GOOD NIGHT OWL.

Edited February 15, 2020 by J. S. Bach

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,  inner Temple Hare, 

Up. Awake and not bushy tailed.  Ben the restless Collie has been up and around during the night. 

 

Plans for today,  hide from Dennis the menace, 

 

Time to try for more sleep.. 

[Barry O]

Lots of "craft " beers in Oz and NZ.  They are a bit samey.. IPA (and red IPA),  APA, plus stouts. Big changes since I first visited 15 years ago.

 

As it happens, if you let 150 lasheswarm up it is fine..orherwise it doesn't taste of much at all.

Tried various bottled beers but, like in the UK  beers are far too strong. 5% upwards... not really a session beer to me (friday/saturday nights in Leeds involved 8+ pints of Tetley's Bitter (3.7%) or Dark Mild (3.2%) was seen as being normal.

 

Got a few bottles of Macs Black and Monteiths Black to try

 

Baz

[Ozexpatriate]

59 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Lots of "craft " beers in Oz and NZ.  They are a bit samey.

You can always cry "uncle" and just have a "Speight's" on the South Island.

 

Of course Speight's (like XXXX, Boag's, Toohey's and Malt Shovel) is a Kirin Holdings subsidiary of Mitsubishi. Arguably it's better than than the AB InBev evil empire and admittedly, when I go to a sushi restaurant I prefer to order Asahi, but I enjoyed Speight's on the South Island. I will stipulate that with sushi, Kirin Ichiban is "just fine" but I still order Asahi.

 

My favorite Kiwi expression is to refer to Oz as the West Island. 

 

Edited February 15, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[Barry O]

Emerson,  monteith and macs much better than speightsome.  Heinicans , calls burg and inbev own quite a lot of brews here in NZ. TUI is owned by heinicans..

 

The big "brewers" have poor beers..

Baz

[TheQ]

Got dragged out by Ben at 05:00, breezy  but dry at the moment. 

[LisaP4]

Hello you lot, 'sbeen a while; still see a few familiar faces (or nicknames, at least) around though.