The Night Mail

[SM42]

15 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I am not a great fan of flying around in a metal tube since the German Wings incident.

 

I was airborne at the time returning from Italy.

 

The cabin crew were the first indicator with a distinct change in their demeanour:  They became very subdued.

 

Then people started getting text messages or emails about what had happened, and the remainder of the flight was very, very quiet.

 

Why I should suddenly start disliking a mode of transport I previously enjoyed, I have no idea.

 

No doubt, a deeply ingrained psychological switch has been tripped.

 

 

 

 

 

I think that happens in any industry when fellow workers are lost in the workplace, especially those where safety is consciously at the forefront of everything.

 

I remember the day one of our signalman passed away at work  

 

Even the trains seemed to make less noise that day and there was very sombre mood amongst the staff of all departments. 

 

I think it makes people contemplate how vulnerable they are.

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

41 minutes ago, SM42 said:

I have come to the conclusion that those who design vacuum cleaners never actually use them 

 

In hard floor mode it acts like a broom pushing all the dirt into a neat line, rather than actually removing it from  the floor. 

 

In carpet mode it deposits all the fluff trapped in the brush from the hard floor onto the carpet and then needs at least 8 passes to get it up again, if you can actually get it to glide smoothly across the carpet. 

 

Then of course the sections of the pipe and hose pull themselves apart

 

Uprights are no better, pinging dust and dirt off into the distance rather than sucking it up. 

 

The crevice tool is about the only useful item and is much better on all surfaces but it takes a ridiculous amount of time to cover a room just using that  

 

Andy

Who's had enough of vacuuming and he's only just started 

I find using a crevice tool very uncomfortable.

[Dave Hunt]

4 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I find using a crevice tool very uncomfortable.

 

Fancy making a crack about it though. 

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

8 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Fancy making a crack about it though. 

 

Dave

I aim to please.

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

Why I should suddenly start disliking a mode of transport I previously enjoyed, I have no idea.

When we were wandering around in Nice, I was amazed at all the long distance buses there heading off to or coming from what seemed like everywhere else in Europe. From Bordeaux you would probably have to change in Marseilles though. My son had many amusing stories about bus depots at night. 

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

The mission creep I suspected has happened.

 

Although tickets for the Wales v Fiji game have not yet been secured, I was informed this morning that a Flight into Bordeaux and suitable accommodation was booked in the early hours of the morning!

 

Apparently, the task of arranging transport from Bordeaux to Nice is being sub contracted to me.

 

I have been unable to ascertain whether my bus pass is valid or not.

 

Likewise, if I am not top to toe in Lycra, do I have to cycle around with a string of onions around my neck?

 

Does France still have a rail network?🤣.

 

 

Perfectly good train service but it will take several hours as there isn't a TGV line across.  Off the top of my head, Bordeaux Marseille then change for Nice.   A Eurail pass might be a good investment.  However don't do anything apart from purchase tickets on the SNCF site it's total carp.  Download the SBB app or website to check train times.  There is excellent puvblic transport from Bordeaux airport a direct shuttle bus to the main station.  Shortly a tram line is to open direct from the terminal  rails and overhead all installed.

40 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I find using a crevice tool very uncomfortable.

I suppose it depends on the size of the crevice.

 

Jamie

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, pH said:

I heard of someone from the UK going to university in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her parents asked friends living in Vancouver if they could meet the daughter at the Halifax airport. The reply was that the parents should do it, because they were closer. 

My son spent a year studying in Calgary. Instead of flying home directly he thought he would visit some other places on his way home. So,he started his journey with a flight to Toronto (then lots of journeys ending up in Halifax) . Aditi asked him why he had flown and not travelled overland to Toronto. He said as she had a geography degree, just look at the map!

[Oldddudders]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

For those who knew him or read his posts on RMW, today sees the funeral of Chris Foren, or Chrisf. RIP Chris.

Being in Torquay, rather than Froggy France, I did wonder whether I might have attended, but Torquay to Bedford for an 11.00 funeral takes some doing by train - especially this week when the Berks & Hants is disrupted by ginger-beer's works. He deserved a decent turnout. 

[New Haven Neil]

Coupla things today.

 

Loss of partner - Mrs NHN and I discussed this after my bestie Gary was killed, and Jayne subsequently sunk into what became an 8 year deep blue funk.  We agreed we would, if we wanted, move on to another life partner without guilt.  Never to forget, but it is possible to love again. 

 

Friend Trackshack John, joined the discussion (it had continued at work) and as his wife had a condition that they knew would limit her life, but not to a known date, and agreed that if she did pass away first, John would move on - he acknowledges he is useless on his own.  Jayne. bless her, cannot and will not move on, although she has finally emerged blinking into the daylight from her depression.  John did lose his wife some 6 years later and has recently re-married, I was his Best Man (Obviously no-body else available).  Good for him, we say.

 

Loss of colleagues - oh yes, when the Derbyshire sunk with the loss of all hands (Google it if you don't know) we were relatively close to them (same shipping company) in the same storm.  We went to the same destination port, where there were crew waiting to relieve those lost, amongst them several friends and indeed one neighbour.  That hurt. I should have been on her, but as she was late to her previous destination I went to another of our ships.  I had, and still have to a certain extent, survivors guilt about that.

Edited February 20, 2023 by New Haven Neil

[Tony_S]

I had forgotten about the GermanWings incident but I have flown since and they don’t seem to allow a pilot to be alone at the controls anymore. If one of the crew goes to the loo, another crew member goes in to the cockpit. 

[New Haven Neil]

As an addendum, how something this big can just be wiped off the face of the earth, reminds us of the power of nature.

 

 

Your boy NHN on a previous voyage on her, in dry dock.

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, SM42 said:

I think that happens in any industry when fellow workers are lost in the workplace, especially those where safety is consciously at the forefront of everything.

 

I remember the day one of our signalman passed away at work  

On my way home from the Palace of Attendance one evening my train was delayed and then switched to a different route. As we drew into the station ahead there was another train occupying our scheduled platform. 
 

The front cab area was surrounded by sombre-looking staff and passengers had clearly been directed to leave the train and by a specific route so as to not pass the cab. 
 

The next morning I learned that the driver had passed away at the controls although the train had been safely stopped already. I learned this from a colleague who, at the same time, popped his hand into his bag and drew out an envelope with the words “I didn’t even get to give him his Christmas card”. 
 

The poor chap had only just returned from a lengthy bout of sickness and was being accompanied by a colleague by way of assessing his fitness ……… 

[bbishop]

3 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

For those who knew him or read his posts on RMW, today sees the funeral of Chris Foren, or Chrisf. RIP Chris.

 

Dave

It went well.  On the bus back from the crem. Bill 

[Oldddudders]

1 hour ago, SM42 said:

I think that happens in any industry when fellow workers are lost in the workplace, especially those where safety is consciously at the forefront of everything.

 

I remember the day one of our signalman passed away at work  

 

Even the trains seemed to make less noise that day and there was very sombre mood amongst the staff of all departments. 

 

I think it makes people contemplate how vulnerable they are.

On the morning of Clapham, as news filtered through, and the scale of the tragedy became clearer, there was a tendency to disbelief - how could this happen? A colleague had been in the rear of the overtaking train, and arrived in the office uninjured - but was sent straight home. Wandering Waterloo concourse a couple of hours later in hi-vis, seeking to aid disorientated travellers, kinda helped.

 

Southall (former high-flying colleague on tv, tearful in the coroner's dock, months later), Ladbroke Grove, Hatfield (former colleague in the dock), Potters Bar (Kings Cross concourse with the hi-vis this time, as was Chris Garnett, CEO of GNER) - every one chills the soul. Your belief in steel wheel on steel rail as a super-safe form of transport is momentarily shaken. 

 

But at least (huh) none of these was caused by a deranged employee, a la Germanwings. 

[newbryford]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I find using a crevice tool very uncomfortable.

 

No need for any selective editing there......

[Happy Hippo]

7 minutes ago, newbryford said:

 

No need for any selective editing there......

Nor much of an imagination!

[newbryford]

Just now, Happy Hippo said:

Nor much of an imagination!

 

I did - but it's probably not repeatable here.

[Winslow Boy]

31 minutes ago, newbryford said:

 

No need for any selective editing there......

 

It is amazing the sort of things that can be thought up when the mind isn't fully occupied.

[Winslow Boy]

I am coming to the conclusion that since the Whu flu that people have become extremely lazy and they are quite happy to have other people do things for them. This includes thinking amongst other things.

 

I will freely admit that this was present prior to the 'interruptis' but it definitely seems to have spread and flourished since.

[Adam88]

8 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

The mission creep I suspected has happened.

 

Although tickets for the Wales v Fiji game have not yet been secured, I was informed this morning that a Flight into Bordeaux and suitable accommodation was booked in the early hours of the morning!

 

Apparently, the task of arranging transport from Bordeaux to Nice is being sub contracted to me.

 

I have been unable to ascertain whether my bus pass is valid or not.

 

Likewise, if I am not top to toe in Lycra, do I have to cycle around with a string of onions around my neck?

 

Does France still have a rail network?🤣.

 

 

 

I spent two or three weeks in France last summer and, in all that time, I think I only saw one chap wearing a beret.  I've not seen a Johnny onion man for years.  Is that a sign of progress/falling standards (which are usually the same in many walks of life)?

Edited February 20, 2023 by Adam88
grammar!

[zarniwhoop]

I think it must be  about 60 years since I last saw a Johnny onion man.

[SM42]

Well I've been massaged and feel worse, but things should get better over the next few hours I'm told  

 

It was very difficult not to nod off. 

 

 

 

Andy

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Winslow Boy said:

This includes thinking amongst other things.

 

Edited February 20, 2023 by Tony_S

[DenysW]

If that's part of a Caption Competition, my entry is "I wish I hadn't put the underwear in with the red tablecloths."

[Dave Hunt]

37 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

 

 

Isn’t that titled, “On finding the funny bit left over after assembling an IKEA flat pack.”

 

Dave

Edited February 20, 2023 by Dave Hunt
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