The Night Mail

[Dave Hunt]

On the subject if silly rulings, when I left the RAF with over 7,500 captaincy flying hours including 600 on the Grob 115 trainer during my last job instructing on a University Air Squadron, I couldn't fly a civilian registered Grob 115 until I had sat exams and taken a flying test for a PPL.

 

Dave

[Northmoor]

4 hours ago, SM42 said:

Self scan an alcoholic item and when they come to authorise the sale, politely  tell them that now you have their atention they can let you out and no you don't want the item you scanned. 

 

I agree except that you should bring along at least 99 friends to do similar, each wanting (and failing) to buy something different.  People power.  I can understand why shops do this sort of thing though, in supermarkets next to business parks or hospitals etc., where there is insufficient parking.  I was once told that was why parking at Woking station was so expensive; it had to be more expensive than all day parking in the multi-storey, or office staff would park there all day and rail commuters could find themselves without a space.

 

On previous qualifications not being sufficient, I may have previously told the story of a colleague who when on a First Aid training course at work, kept being corrected on his attempts at basic things like bandaging a finger.  He hadn't the heart to tell the instructor that in his previous job as a Major in the Royal Signals, he had been trained as a combat medic.

 

Oh and a couple of pages back (sorry but I have been to work) someone asked about Humbrol paint colour codes, try this: 

https://www.vintage-airfix.com/airfix-history/airfix-to-humbrol-paint-list/

[Northmoor]

11 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

When we lived in the Netherlands I was asked by a local nightschool if I would help out with some English tuition. The appointment was blocked by the regional education board because I didn't have a Dutch qualification in English. So it isn't just in the UK where there are some idiotic decisions made.

 

Dave

To be fair, most of the Dutch people I've met, speak better English than a lot of British people.

[Oldddudders]

2 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

To be fair, most of the Dutch people I've met, speak better English than a lot of British people.

I think many other countries teach languages, including their own, in a structured, technical way. You learn what each part of speech does. This avoids the 'could of, would of, should of' abominations that so many younger English people use through simply not understanding their own language. 

[Dave Hunt]

18 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

To be fair, most of the Dutch people I've met, speak better English than a lot of British people.

 

The event I referred to was in the 1970s when a fair number of older Dutch people were educated before English became a standard subject in Dutch schools. It was also to enable students to partake in colloquial conversation rather than learning grammatical rules.

 

Dave 

[pH]

59 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

On the subject if silly rulings, when I left the RAF with over 7,500 captaincy flying hours including 600 on the Grob 115 trainer during my last job instructing on a University Air Squadron, I couldn't fly a civilian registered Grob 115 until I had sat exams and taken a flying test for a PPL.

 

Dave

Same applied for ex-RN helicopter pilots. About 20 years ago, the required courses cost about 20K GBP. The demand for civilian pilots was such that RN pilots were resigning their commissions to take the civilian courses and go to work in the North Sea etc. The Navy eventually said that if pilots finished their commission, the Navy would pay for the civilian courses. I don’t know if that’s still the case.

Edited January 29 by pH
Grammar

[Northmoor]

49 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

This avoids the 'could of, would of, should of' abominations that so many younger English people use through simply not understanding their own language. 

Yeah but like, older people like, talk different like and you can't like, understand them?  D'ya knowhatamsayin'?

[pH]

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

To be fair, most of the Dutch people I've met, speak better English than a lot of British people.

While working in Germany, I was corrected on a point of English grammar by a young German fellow employee. I’ve long forgotten what the point was, so I’m probably still making the same mistake.

[iL Dottore]

Sometime ago, a certain constable of this parish - a Jamie  (badge 92208) - threatened me with an official visit so that I could "help him with his enquiries". Now obviously I don't want the authorities looking too closely at some of my extracurricular "business interests", so I distracted him be extolling the trainspotting virtues of the Peter Merian tram stop and it's bridge, which provides unequalled views of the SBB Basel station throat.

 

Tonight I was at the Peter Merian tramstop and I saw these lads doing some permanent way work:

There were also some empty stock movement and a loco running light.

 

And, yes, the other tracks were running trains as usual...

[Tony_S]

Each graffito is carefully examined to make sure it complies with Swiss standards…

[petethemole]

53 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

Yeah but like, older people like, talk different like and you can't like, understand them?  D'ya knowhatamsayin'?

Mrs mole who is 60, renders that as "knowamean?"  and was doing so when we got together, in '98.  I think that after leaving home she reacted strongly against certain aspects of her upbringing.  But I wouldn't have met her if she hadn't.

[J. S. Bach]

4 hours ago, Northmoor said:

To be fair, most of the Dutch people I've met, speak better English than a lot of British people.

Or Americans too, I am sure! 😉

[J. S. Bach]

4 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

On the subject if silly rulings, when I left the RAF with over 7,500 captaincy flying hours including 600 on the Grob 115 trainer during my last job instructing on a University Air Squadron, I couldn't fly a civilian registered Grob 115 until I had sat exams and taken a flying test for a PPL.

 

Dave

Nice! I have around thirty minutes stick time in a Cessna 150! 😂

 

Edited January 30 by J. S. Bach
To add some information.

[J. S. Bach]

Flying away with all those "hours", I'll just say Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[jamie92208]

8 hours ago, pH said:

Same applied for ex-RN helicopter pilots. About 20 years ago, the required courses cost about 20K GBP. The demand for civilian pilots was such that RN pilots were resigning their commissions to take the civilian courses and go to work in the North Sea etc. The Navy eventually said that if pilots finished their commission, the Navy would pay for the civilian courses. I don’t know if that’s still the case.

A mutual friend of @Dave Hunt and I,  Uncle T, tried the same thing so that he could instruct at a local aero club. As a former test pilot and Instructor he also thought it would

Be east but got very frustrated and ended up calling the CAA, The Flying Prevention branch. 

 

 

8 hours ago, pH said:

While working in Germany, I was corrected on a point of English grammar by a young German fellow employee. I’ve long forgotten what the point was, so I’m probably still making the same mistake.

I had a few days in a French Lycée when I was 14, and in an English lesson had to read out a passage.  The Professeur told me that my English was poor. However my spoken French did improve over the 3 weeks living with a French family. 

 

Jamie

[DenysW]

19 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

But they also now have a continuous exit barrier with gates activated by a bar-code on your receipt. I object to this very strongly as interfering with my liberty as a freeborn Englishman to go in and out of their shop without making a purchase.

In beautiful Leicester this applies, but only to the self-checkout options. There's also an exit gate without this security immediately next to the entry gates, presumably to facilitate shoplifting.

[DaveF]

I don't often go to the local supermarkets but none of them have any barriers to leaving but there is no way of getting out without going through a checkout, be it self service or manned.  The self service ones always have a member of staff supervising.

 

Yesterday evening I was looking for something to watch on TV and as usual browsed the German channels on my satellite receiver (the dish points at 19.2°E specifically for them) and found that 3sat had a Michael Portillo type train ride on their catch up service.  It was in Switzerland, on the Südostbahn from St. Gallen to Luzern whuch happens to pass through some of my favourite parts of the country.  There wasn't all that much about trains but some of the drone footage was very good and I even saw two hotels I've stayed in.   

 

I must have a look and see what else they have.  Sadly some channels do not seem to allow foreign access to their streaming services and if they do a lot are not available outside Germany, Austria and Switzerland.  I do know that online there are ways round that, but it requires thought!

 

David 

[Happy Hippo]

13 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

On the subject if silly rulings, when I left the RAF with over 7,500 captaincy flying hours including 600 on the Grob 115 trainer during my last job instructing on a University Air Squadron, I couldn't fly a civilian registered Grob 115 until I had sat exams and taken a flying test for a PPL.

 

Dave

That is due to the rather stupid situation existing whereby all military pilots are not given a licence but a permit to fly.

 

I suppose it is to stop pilots thinking 'eff this for a game of soldiers', resigning and moving straight into a more lucrative job with the airlines.

 

The current Prince of Wales was required to gain a full CPL (H) before becoming an air ambulance pilot.  I know of plenty of other examples.

Edited January 30 by Happy Hippo

[woodenhead]

2 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

That is due to the rather stupid situation existing whereby all military pilots are not given a licence but a permit to fly.

 

I suppose it is to stop pilots thinking 'eff this for a game of soldiers', resigning and moving straight into a more lucrative job with the airlines.

 

The current Prince of Wales was required to gain a full CPL (H) before becoming an air ambulance pilot.

To be fair, the military pilot is taught to fly evading radar whilst a civil is expected to keep within radar coverage (where it exists) - very different styles of flying.  Flying along a few feet from the ground sounds very thrilling, but not for a bunch of package holiday families on their way to Majorca.  😄

 

Then there is the concern that on seeing any 4 engine types flying ahead and above, the ex mil pilot might be tempted to fly towards it and give it a nudge for a refill.

 

Old habits die hard I would imagine, you wouldn't just let Max Verstappen loose in a city because he'd driven around Monte Carlo at over 120 mph

[jamie92208]

Whem my force acquired it's first helicopter thpilots were mainly ex military on contract. However the observers were police officers.  Apparently they had great difficulty getting g the pilots to circle an object anti clockwise so that the PC observer could keep their eyes on whatever they needed to. 

 

I've just been especially nerdy.  Our village is in the midst of having some aliens (aeolien is French for a wind turbine).  At present they are installing the cables to take the power and transmit commands.  They are using a  tracked machine with a deep plough on one end and a huge bobbin of cable on the other.  Impressive to watch. 

Jamie

Edited January 30 by jamie92208

[SM42]

1 hour ago, woodenhead said:

 

Old habits die hard I would imagine, you wouldn't just let Max Verstappen loose in a city because he'd driven around Monte Carlo at over 120 mph

 

Bit they do, Don't they?

 

Motor racing I thought, requires drivers to have a driving licence before they could get a racing licence. 

 

Mind you with Max at the wheel, your taxi ride might be a little quicker. 

 

" just drifting in to your road now sir"

 

Andy

[newbryford]

On 27/01/2024 at 21:33, Adam88 said:

 

I once worked with a Danish gentleman whose strongly accented pronunciation of 'PDF file' also led to a few raised eyebrows. 

 

That reminds me when I went into a Swedish chemist shop to buy some deodorant.

 

At the counter I was asked "ball or aerosol?" (in a heavy accent)

 

My reply - "no for my armpits"

[woodenhead]

@newbryford From Not the Nine O'Clock News - an old favourite I use way too often 😁

[jjb1970]

18 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

On the subject if silly rulings, when I left the RAF with over 7,500 captaincy flying hours including 600 on the Grob 115 trainer during my last job instructing on a University Air Squadron, I couldn't fly a civilian registered Grob 115 until I had sat exams and taken a flying test for a PPL.

 

Dave

 

It's similar in the maritime world, where certificates of competency are not (or were not) recognized as equivalent and ex-RN personnel had to apply for MN certification. There were moves to make it easier, and in fairness one of the issues was that MN and RN/military seafarers are subject to a different regulatory framework and rules so if crossing over people need to be familiarized with differences.

[jjb1970]

On English, the common language and language of administration in Singapore is English, but it's not like English as we know it......I'm not just being flippant when I say 'Singlish' could probably claim to be recognized as a distinct language in its own right.