The Night Mail

[Dave Hunt]

This afternoon I witnessed something that really p!ssed me off. Outside our local Sainsbury's mini market a police car was parked in a disabled parking slot even though there were plenty of other slots available. At first I thought its occupants may have been responding to an emergency but when they came out of the shop chatting and carrying sandwiches and drinks cans I realised that it was just idleness and a total disregard for the rules of decent behaviour. I went back to my car to get my phone and take a photograph but by the time I'd got it they'd driven off and being a numpty I hadn't taken the number. Is it just me or is that an appalling way for our guardians of law and order to behave?

 

Dave 

[Dave Hunt]

16 minutes ago, polybear said:

The IPN Start was always good for a laugh - it used to make those not expecting it leap out of their fur the first time they heard it.

 

On occasions the starter wouldn't fire and you then had to carry out a dry start cycle to purge the combustion chamber before trying another start. The trouble was that the purging wasn't always successful so the next attempted start would result in a loud bang and a fire in the starter bay. The groundcrew had a large asbestos and metal gauntlet for patting out such a fire (in fact, a normal start would sometimes result in a minor starter bay fire anyway) and it wasn't much of a problem. There were, however, occasionally more serious fires that required more heavy duty extinguishers and at Tengah one day a Lightning caught fire following an Avpin starter fire and burned out on 74 Squadron's pan leaving a Lightning shaped sooty mark on the concrete. 

 

Dave

[polybear]

30 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

.........so I rang a roofing firm to come and see whether there was a leak. The result is that the roof has 40 odd cracked and broken tiles, almost all the ridge tiles are loose, the valley gutters are in bad shape and the felt needs attention. We haven't had the estimate for fixing it all but I reckon more than a few Deltics will be involved. Turdycurses.

 

 

VSBT's......

 

Bear Towers (3-bed mid Terrace) was re-felted 2 years ago - so a complete strip, new felt & battens, existing tiles re-used, Chimney painted (twice) and UPVC Eaves & Soffit at the front (the back was already done).

Fortunately there was "a bit of a deal on the Scaffolding" - next door were having to have a lead gulley renewed so there was existing scaffolding at the front of Bear Towers already (for which they were picking up the tab) so I just had to pay a little extra to have it extended further across the front of the house;  it saved me about six hundred quid IIRC.

Oh yes, and I know & trust the Roofer** well - and I paid cash.....😉

The Tab came in at £2800; under normal circumstances it would've been more like £4K at a guess.

 

**Bear Towers didn't have any problems with the Roof, but the last time it received any significant attention was about 50 years ago so I figured it was better to get it done now - by someone I know & trust - than in perhaps ten year's time when he'll probably be retired (though his Dad was still going up on the Tiles when he was 89.....).

 

Obviously it's worth a few quotes - and recommendations/doing your homework etc. cos Bear's rather cynical view is there are unfortunately numerous iffy Roofers in the Building Trade.........

[polybear]

11 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

On occasions the starter wouldn't fire and you then had to carry out a dry start cycle to purge the combustion chamber before trying another start. The trouble was that the purging wasn't always successful so the next attempted start would result in a loud bang and a fire in the starter bay. The groundcrew had a large asbestos and metal gauntlet for patting out such a fire (in fact, a normal start would sometimes result in a minor starter bay fire anyway) and it wasn't much of a problem. There were, however, occasionally more serious fires that required more heavy duty extinguishers and at Tengah one day a Lightning caught fire following an Avpin starter fire and burned out on 74 Squadron's pan leaving a Lightning shaped sooty mark on the concrete. 

 

Dave

 

Apparently there was an "issue" with the starter on XG210 at one point - one of the Ground Crew would have to open an access hatch, give it a whack with the heel of his shoe (yes, really) and then the Pilot would try again; once it had started he'd have to open the hatch again to check all was ok - when it started to create small secondary explosions which would blown the panel out of his hand they cried "enough's enough" and demanded that the starter be changed, meaning an engine out job.

[Dave Hunt]

3 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Apparently there was an "issue" with the starter on XG210 at one point - one of the Ground Crew would have to open an access hatch, give it a whack with the heel of his shoe (yes, really) and then the Pilot would try again; once it had started he'd have to open the hatch again to check all was ok - when it started to create small secondary explosions which would blown the panel out of his hand they cried "enough's enough" and demanded that the starter be changed, meaning an engine out job.

 

Not an unknown happening with Avpin starters. They were vicious things but had the advantage that no external power or other assistance was required.

 

Dave

[Winslow Boy]

21 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Obviously it's worth a few quotes - and recommendations/doing your homework etc. cos Bear's rather cynical view is there are unfortunately numerous iffy Roofers in the Building Trade.........

 

I  don't think the presence of 'iffy' traders is restricted just to roofers in the building trade my Dear Bear. There are quite a few of few of them in the rest of the building trade professions.

[J. S. Bach]

You beat me to the punch!

[Happy Hippo]

As a matter of interest,  as it is in a rather prominent place in the glossy brochure, will Rosamund Street Sidings be attending the Barry bash?

[Northmoor]

40 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

I  don't think the presence of 'iffy' traders is restricted just to roofers in the building trade my Dear Bear. There are quite a few of few of them in the rest of the building trade professions.

Happy to report I recently employed a plumber to change and plumb in a toilet.  Not cheap but he did a super tidy job and despite a couple of hiccups, only charged me what was originally agreed.

I think "traders" get a bad rep because almost all of us have to use them multiple times in our lives, so we're familiar.  Many of us will have little or no contact with solicitors, accountants, project managers or IT consultants in our lives, but there are probably an equal proportion or completely incompetent (or genuinely bent) people in these professions.  I've come into contact with enough of the latter two to form an opinion and it's not positive.

[Adam88]

On 11/06/2023 at 22:59, PhilJ W said:

A bit on the Hawker Hunter.

 

 

I'm surprised that our man from the IWM did not comment on Lord Trenchard's appearance at 2:59.  

 

https://youtu.be/IwMhaXajdNM?t=179

 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Adam88

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

This afternoon I witnessed something that really p!ssed me off. Outside our local Sainsbury's mini market a police car was parked in a disabled parking slot even though there were plenty of other slots available. At first I thought its occupants may have been responding to an emergency but when they came out of the shop chatting and carrying sandwiches and drinks cans I realised that it was just idleness and a total disregard for the rules of decent behaviour. I went back to my car to get my phone and take a photograph but by the time I'd got it they'd driven off and being a numpty I hadn't taken the number. Is it just me or is that an appalling way for our guardians of law and order to behave?

 

Dave 

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

[br2975]

3 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

This afternoon I witnessed something that really p!ssed me off. Outside our local Sainsbury's mini market a police car was parked in a disabled parking slot even though there were plenty of other slots available. At first I thought its occupants may have been responding to an emergency but when they came out of the shop chatting and carrying sandwiches and drinks cans I realised that it was just idleness and a total disregard for the rules of decent behaviour. I went back to my car to get my phone and take a photograph but by the time I'd got it they'd driven off and being a numpty I hadn't taken the number. Is it just me or is that an appalling way for our guardians of law and order to behave?

 

.

A damning indictment of how standards have dropped.

.

And, no doubt the occupants of the vehicle will discuss society's diminishing respect for the police.

.

I must be a thorne in the side of my former employers; as they constantly leave themselves open to my criticism through their posts on social media; something with which the police are now obsessed, but for which there appears to be no training, and certainly no proof reading.

.

The attached photograph was circulated on the FB page of my former force last November, at my local cenotaph.

.

This was my comment;

" Perhaps I'm showing my age......

But I was brought up to believe that Remembrance was a solemn occasion.

Personally, I do not think grinning selfies in front of the Llandaff Cenotaph is "showing respect" to those who made the ultimate sacrifice, or to those they left behind."

[br2975]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

As a matter of interest,  as it is in a rather prominent place in the glossy brochure, will Rosamund Street Sidings be attending the Barry bash?

.

Sadly no - I'd need to serve an eviction notice on the spiders and other creatures that have enacted squatters right' s whilst Rosamund has languished in the garage these last months..

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, br2975 said:

.

A damning indictment of how standards have dropped.

.

And, no doubt the occupants of the vehicle will discuss society's diminishing respect for the police.

.

I must be a thorne in the side of my former employers; as they constantly leave themselves open to my criticism through their posts on social media; something with which the police are now obsessed, but for which there appears to be no training, and certainly no proof reading.

.

The attached photograph was circulated on the FB page of my former force last November, at my local cenotaph.

.

This was my comment;

" Perhaps I'm showing my age......

But I was brought up to believe that Remembrance was a solemn occasion.

Personally, I do not think grinning selfies in front of the Llandaff Cenotaph is "showing respect" to those who made the ultimate sacrifice, or to those they left behind."

You know, br2975, Juvenal’s pithy comment  (and now apposite aphorism) - Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? - has never been more relevant. It can be translated (or rephrased) in many ways - but here it could be translated to “who polices the police?”  A very appropriate translation I would say.

 

I’ve never been a copper, but when I was a paramedic I had numerous interactions with them and I had (and have) nothing but admiration and respect for those proper coppers who do a difficult, demanding and often dangerous job.

 

The simpering fules in the photograph you posted certainly don’t have my respect and admiration (or perhaps that of anyone who grew up in 50s and 60s UK) One dyspeptic newspaper columnist has referred to the modern police [ahem] service as “militarised social workers”. Certainly, if newspapers accounts are to believed, many forces are now uninterested in “petty” crime (you know “trivial” things like house break-ins, muggings and the like) but will descend on you like a ton of bricks if you post something like “martians are green tentacled scum” on social meedja

Sir Robert Peel must be really spinning in his grave.

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[zarniwhoop]

14 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Certainly, if newspapers accounts are to believed

But they aren't, are they ? With the possible exceptions of a few good journalists who seem mostly trustworthy in what they write (most of them are columnists, but most columnists are not trustworthy)  and many things in Private Eye, what is written in a newspaper is slanted to address the desires of the editor (or the owner). So everything in the daily wail is either trying to persuade people that black is white, or else to scare them, almost everything in the grauniad (which I still read, but only because of a few columnists who I respect) and the observer is tuned towards the editorial party line.

 

I'm not denying there are a lot of problems with the police having to deal with things that should not rightly be their problem, and the result of years of austerity, but most of the "police more interested in investigating anti-woke tweets'" stuff comes from those [expletive deleted, names also redacted or I'll be accused of politics] trying to foment culture wars.

[Winslow Boy]

Having had a few dealings with the police in a professional capacity over years I would say that it is like any large organisation in that you will get a range of ability.

 

What does seem to have increased though, perhaps as 'new methods or generations have feed in' is the way policing is more relaxed. The same can be said though for many parts of society as well. Is that a good thing? I don't know. Would our ancestors have said the same about there encounters with authority? I don't think so where misdeamours were treated with a 'clip round the ear'. 

 

What I would say is that everything always changes no matter what. That includes hippos by the way.

[iL Dottore]

I don’t think I can agree with your last statement, WB.

 

Hippos, like royalty, are always the same, though the individuals change. Very much the case of “l'hippo est mort, vive l'hippo” or as Gertrude Stein might have put it “a hippo is a hippo is a hippo“

 

Presumably, zoologists and others who study such beasts can recognise individuals by markings or scars, but to the casual observer, one hippo = another hippo (so much like bears).

[NHY 581]

9 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

This afternoon I witnessed something that really p!ssed me off. Outside our local Sainsbury's mini market a police car was parked in a disabled parking slot even though there were plenty of other slots available. At first I thought its occupants may have been responding to an emergency but when they came out of the shop chatting and carrying sandwiches and drinks cans I realised that it was just idleness and a total disregard for the rules of decent behaviour. I went back to my car to get my phone and take a photograph but by the time I'd got it they'd driven off and being a numpty I hadn't taken the number. Is it just me or is that an appalling way for our guardians of law and order to behave?

 

Dave 

 

Deplorable. There now seems to be a total lack of awareness of or a complete disregard for, the public perception of officers actions . 

 

I'm meeting up with one of my former bosses next week for a pint or several. I've no doubt this sort of thing will be mentioned. 

 

Rob. 

[Compound2632]

I had feared that we are creeping towards a police state - one in which the police are above rather than subject to the law. This instance demonstrates that it has arrived.

[Happy Hippo]

Of course, another way of looking at the police parking incident is that they were called to the supermarket to deal with an incident; Not all incidents end with the offending scrotes being tazered, gassed and 'cuffed.

 

So having resolved the issue, with their well known tact and diplomacy and with no subsequent arrest, they decided to utilise their time wisely by picking up rations on the way out.

 

The army don't deal with issues in the same way as the police do.

 

We would have fought our way in:  At great personal risk, rescued all the cake (for me) chocolate, fags and alcohol; carried out a fighting withdrawal, and then called in the mud movers to level the place.

 

 

Edited June 13, 2023 by Happy Hippo

[Winslow Boy]

3 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

 

Was there something you wanted to add HH?

[Happy Hippo]

24 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

Was there something you wanted to add HH?

No, Just the usual foot/keyboard interface problems🤣

 

I've now got rid of the duplicate that Ian was referring to.

Edited June 13, 2023 by Happy Hippo

[polybear]

9 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

I  don't think the presence of 'iffy' traders is restricted just to roofers in the building trade my Dear Bear. There are quite a few of few of them in the rest of the building trade professions.

 

Agreed - Bear's excellent Buddy (ex. next door) had significant building work carried out on their new place (extension, bathroom, roofing etc. etc.) just after they'd purchased it - supposedly by a reputable builder & recommended by their Architect.  The last I heard they were withholding £18K to put things right and the "Court" word was being mentioned (by them).

Little details like the tiling on a newly built bathroom wall where a column of tiles is 2" wide at the bottom and 3" at the top suggests workmanship isn't all it might be.

Now Buddy is no dummy when it comes to DIY so how did this happen?  Well SWMBO doesn't "do" living in a building site so they (on her command) bvggered off to their place in France for much of the duration.  Bearing in mind this is the second time they've been stiffed by an iffy builder I'm a little surprised they didn't learn their lesson the first time (that being the extension & other works next door - Buddy spent the next 20 years undoing all the bodges insofar as was possible).

The same Builder was responsible for the end extension on the house on the other side of Bear Towers - and that was recently found to have (a) no DPC under the floor, (b) dry-lined with the wrong type of plasterboard, and (c) no Lintel under the french doors.  No doubt their were/are other things....

 

8 hours ago, Northmoor said:

I think "traders" get a bad rep because almost all of us have to use them multiple times in our lives, so we're familiar.  Many of us will have little or no contact with solicitors, accountants, project managers or IT consultants in our lives, but there are probably an equal proportion or completely incompetent (or genuinely bent) people in these professions.  I've come into contact with enough of the latter two to form an opinion and it's not positive.

 

Bear has had dealings with Solicitors twice in semi-recent years for the purposes of making a Will; neither got paid cos' the work was so cr@p - and since they never chased Bear they must've realised they were in the wrong.

Which reminds me, that's something that STILL needs updating.......

[Happy Hippo]

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

You know, br2975, Juvenal’s pithy comment  (and now apposite aphorism) - Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? - has never been more relevant. It can be translated (or rephrased) in many ways - but here it could be translated to “who polices the police?”  A very appropriate translation I would say.

Bear and I were convinced that you were asking who makes the best custard tarts?