The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

After much deliberation (about 10 seconds) I have decided to forgo the Borders MRC workshop day in favour of working in the garage this morning, followed by some workshop time this afternoon whilst Nyda is attending her craft club.

 

Some of the garage time will involve sorting out the car stuff mentioned earlier in the thread.

[Winslow Boy]

23 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

After much deliberation (about 10 seconds) I have decided to forgo the Borders MRC workshop day in favour of working in the garage this morning, followed by some workshop time this afternoon whilst Nyda is attending her craft club.

 

Some of the garage time will involve sorting out the car stuff mentioned earlier in the thread.

Were you  'offered' an 'inducement' (cakes I believe fall into this classification) to do that or was it an order?

 

Concerned of Manutopea 

[Happy Hippo]

59 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Were you  'offered' an 'inducement' (cakes I believe fall into this classification) to do that or was it an order?

 

Concerned of Manutopea 

No 44 tonners from Mr Kipling have been seen, so I am doing it out of the goodness of my heart.

[Tony_S]

3 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

cakes I believe fall into this classification

Cakes have other powers too, We didn’t attend the official birthday fish and chip lunch for MiL on Saturday. She commented that she was disappointed that there wasn’t a birthday cake. We went to see her the following day. She is still talking about the lovely cake that Aditi made and took over. Mil usually forgets things but that cake made an impression. Leaving some for the overnight carers wasn’t a bad move either. MiL has put some in her freezer for her granddaughters as they missed out on birthday cake too. Our nieces are well brought up children and know the importance of a birthday cake!
Tony

[Happy Hippo]

6 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Our nieces are well brought up children and know the importance of a birthday cake!
 

 

I too like a bit of birthday cake!

[Tony_S]

18 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

I too like a bit of birthday cake!

Although we are both type 2 diabetic we can cope with small portions of cake fitting in with our overall diet. They are appreciated and enjoyed. However we seem to get the “you shouldn’t be eating that “ lectures from people who can’t possibly imagine we have the ability to manage our diet. 

[Winslow Boy]

Nothing quite like a bit of self righteous indignation to make the time pass swimmingly.

[Tony_S]

I think for my overall health I am better off avoiding people than cake. 
Tony

[Happy Hippo]

5 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I think for my overall health I am better off avoiding people than cake. 
Tony

I must agree.

 

I know for a fact that I am persona non grata in Colombia

[Tony_S]

2 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I must agree.

 

I know for a fact that I am persona non grata in Colombia

We have been reading about Columbia recently. My brothers friend is travelling to Venezuela to visit her family after living for many years in the UK. Even though she will be entering the country on a British passport the Venezuelan authorities will not allow exit permission to fly to anyone born in Venezuela without a Venezuelan passport even though they are almost impossible to obtain due to shortage of passport making materials. Hence interest in neighbouring countries with bus connections. 
Though I wouldn’t be as vulnerable as a hippo in Columbia, I looked at the vaccine requirements for cruises that visit that area and there are a few recommended live vaccines I can’t have. I am quite happy to watch wildlife documentaries about Central and South America and limit my travel to less hazardous (disease) places.

[skipepsi]

16 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I must agree.

 

I know for a fact that I am persona non grata in Colombia

My infamy doesn't stretch that far, I am persona non grata in my house currently.

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

We have been reading about Columbia recently. My brothers friend is travelling to Venezuela to visit her family after living for many years in the UK. Even though she will be entering the country on a British passport the Venezuelan authorities will not allow exit permission to fly to anyone born in Venezuela without a Venezuelan passport even though they are almost impossible to obtain due to shortage of passport making materials. Hence interest in neighbouring countries with bus connections. 
Though I wouldn’t be as vulnerable as a hippo in Columbia, I looked at the vaccine requirements for cruises that visit that area and there are a few recommended live vaccines I can’t have. I am quite happy to watch wildlife documentaries about Central and South America and limit my travel to less hazardous (disease) places.

There are some countries Bear wouldn’t go due to common sense for self preservation - and Colombia is one of them.

Edited April 23 by polybear

[Tony_S]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

There are some countries Bear wouldn’t go due to common sense for self preservation - and Columbia is one of them.

The list of places I don’t want to visit for holidays is quite long. Though I am amused at some places I visit frequently in London listed as “no go” areas usually by a certain type of American (though perhaps they are Russian trolls) social media user. 
My enjoyment of travel is enhanced by Aditi. She is just so enthusiastic about all kinds of thing and overcomes my “I would be quite happy at home”.  She has already started “revising “ for Iceland. 
 

Edited April 23 by Tony_S

[Tony_S]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

There are some countries Bear wouldn’t go due to common sense for self preservation - and Columbia is one of them.

And when Columbia is the better option than Venezuela…

Edited April 23 by Tony_S

[pH]

We are very tolerant people here in (British) Columbia. Colombia, now - that’s quite a different place!

[Flanged Wheel]

In 2022, I quit my job and booked one way tickets for my family to… Colombia!
 

We stayed in the country for a month, working our way down from the Caribbean coast before crossing the border into Ecuador (mostly on public buses). We found that it was a great country to visit and had no problems at all. This wasn’t just on the tourist trail - we rented a car and did a road trip into the hills to see the tombs at Tierra al Dentro and San Agustin (both very worthwhile).

 

Twenty six countries later, there isn’t one that I wouldn’t happily go back to, even those which, in theory, have dubious reputations (like El Salvador and Laos). We are sensible about where we go and what we do but I haven’t felt worried by any of the places that we have seen so far. Before we left, we lived in London and there were random stabbings on our local stations with alarming regularity. 
 

Having said that, we looked at Venezuela before we left as a destination and decided that it was too dangerous. We were also planning to visit Israel… So there are some limits, even for us crazies.

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

We have been reading about Columbia recently. My brothers friend is travelling to Venezuela to visit her family after living for many years in the UK. Even though she will be entering the country on a British passport the Venezuelan authorities will not allow exit permission to fly to anyone born in Venezuela without a Venezuelan passport even though they are almost impossible to obtain due to shortage of passport making materials. Hence interest in neighbouring countries with bus connections. 
Though I wouldn’t be as vulnerable as a hippo in Columbia, I looked at the vaccine requirements for cruises that visit that area and there are a few recommended live vaccines I can’t have. I am quite happy to watch wildlife documentaries about Central and South America and limit my travel to less hazardous (disease) places.

Day trip to Hipposhire then?

[Dave Hunt]

8 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Bear recalls an interview with Ron Haslam:

 

"Why did you crash?"

 

Ron:   "The girl in the red dress f****d off...."

 

Apparently he'd been using her as his braking point marker.

 

 An RAF colleague had at one time been a police car driver in Bristol. He told us that a common trick played on newbie car passengers was to drive down the road by Temple Meads station that is a dead end at some furious speed until smashing into the wall at the end seemed inevitable, then brake hard when passing a section of fencing that had been left unpainted. This would stop the car just short of the wall, usually giving the passenger the heebie jeeebies and the driver much amusement.......

 

........until one day someone painted the fence. The driver had to explain the foreshortened police car.

 

Dave

[Tony_S]

19 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Day trip to Hipposhire then?

Aditi used to take her geography A level students to Hipposhire  for field trips as she wanted them to see somewhere that wasn’t like London. She had previously been to Malham in Yorkshire but it became difficult to book for some reason. Then while she was on maternity leave the college closed down geography (too expensive) so,rather than be unemployed she reinvented herself as a sociology lecturer. This didn’t involve fieldwork so was cheap enough for the college financial managers. At that time she had a 6 month old child, I was ill and unable to work . Then on top of teaching a new subject she had to become acting head of Psychology and teach the classes for a while as two lecturers departed without notice. She had to quickly come up to speed on deviance and abnormal psychology, while desperately hoping the college would employ someone.  

Edited April 23 by Tony_S

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Aditi used to take her geography A level students to Hipposhire  for field trips as she wanted them to see somewhere that wasn’t like London. She had previously been to Malham in Yorkshire but it became difficult to book for some reason. Then while she was on maternity leave the college closed down geography (too expensive) so,rather than be unemployed she reinvented herself as a sociology lecturer. This didn’t involve fieldwork so was cheap enough for the college financial managers. At that time she had a 6 month old child, I was ill and unable to work . Then on top of teaching a new subject she had to become acting head of Psychology and teach the classes for a while as two lecturers departed without notice. She had to quickly come up to speed on deviance and abnormal psychology, while desperately hoping the college would employ someone.  

Bear and I could do the deviance bit with our eyes closed.

 

Abnormal is  especially reserved for the Midland Railway aficionados.

Edited April 23 by Happy Hippo

[New Haven Neil]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

.......until one day someone painted the fence.

 

Someone I know here once moved a tool cupboard in a loco shed as the driver had severely p!xxed him off - the loco demolished the wall between the shed and the museum.  No names, no pack drill.

[Dave Hunt]

3 hours ago, Tony_S said:

.....so,rather than be unemployed she reinvented herself as a sociology lecturer. 

 

Some years ago in the Gents loos in UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology for the underprivileged) there were printed labels stuck to the walls in the sit-downs above the loo roll holders that said, "Sociology degrees - please take one."

 

Dave

[Northmoor]

12 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Bear recalls an interview with Ron Haslam:

 

"Why did you crash?"

 

Ron:   "The girl in the red dress f****d off...."

 

Apparently he'd been using her as his braking point marker.

Didn't Wayne Gardner admit he'd crashed on a Grand Prix slow-down lap, because he was, "Distracted by this great pair of t*ts in the crowd"?

[Northmoor]

17 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Some years ago in the Gents loos in UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology for the underprivileged) there were printed labels stuck to the walls in the sit-downs above the loo roll holders that said, "Sociology degrees - please take one."

 

Dave

One of the similarly-positioned gems in the Liverpool Poly Engineering block was, "Don't beam me up Scotty, I'm having a sssshhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiii..................

[Dave Hunt]

And on the warning cones in the Gents at Lime Street station that had the legend WET FLOOR on them, someone had added, "Please note this is not an order."

 

Dave