The Night Mail

[BSW01]

One of my old drinking buddies who was just over 5ft was nick named Stumps! 

[br2975]

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

Oh and it was joy to walk through what the Germans nicknamed "The Flying Porcupine", one of my real favourites, the Sunderland.  Not easy to photograph in the hangar, but my daughter managed to capture this looking through to the tail turret:

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Went inside the Sunderland owned by Kermit Weeks, and preserved in 'almost airworthy condition' at Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, Florida.

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I was surprised at how cramped it was, and how 'compact' the passenger accomodation was.

[br2975]

Worked with a Police Constable who was very short (no height restrictions anymore).

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His nickname was 'laptop' as he was a small PC.

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, BSW01 said:

The same lad wasn't very good at spelling either. For years he went round with a jacket that said

'Hells Angles' on the back! 

 

Bit like the agnostic dyslexic insomniac who lay awake all night wondering if there really is a dog.

[Sasquatch]

Everyone where I worked was called Burt unless they had nick names like R. swipe, Si Attica, Sweaty (sock) Sully (Turkish) Mutt and Jeff (Two Deaf Blokes) etc. 

[polybear]

2 hours ago, Sasquatch said:

Everyone where I worked was called Burt .....

 

Everyone where Bear worked was called Buddy - cos' I could never remember their bluddy names...

 

Thinking about it, to a modern HR Dept. there's about 457 sackable offences in the last page of TNM alone.

[jamie92208]

There was a Peewee at Knottingley known as Junction 33.  That's the Knottingley turn off the M62. Another was known as TC, she thought it was a great nickname. Then one day she found out it meant Two Chairs.

 

Jamie

[pH]

55 minutes ago, polybear said:

Thinking about it, to a modern HR Dept. there's about 457 sackable offences in the last page of TNM alone.

One place I worked had a list of “gross moral turpitude” offences which could result in instant dismissal. I remember a discussion in our 6 person office about how many we reckoned could be committed simultaneously and how that might be accomplished.

[iL Dottore]

To briefly return to the subject of nicknames, it’s almost as though there is a convention that has to be adhered to when bestowing nicknames. The ones that I remember are:

• short person = “lofty”
• tall person = “shorty”, “tiny” or “titch”
• anyone with “White” as a surname = “Snowy” or “Chalky”
• fat person = “Bunter”

I am sure that there are many others. Some of which are willingly embraced by the nominees who refer to themselves by that nickname and others which are only used in the third person when that person is not present.

[New Haven Neil]

The guy that started our bike club is 'Pedro'.  When he started work they asked what his name was (Andre), decided that was a cr@p name, and re-named him.  40 years later he's still known as Pedro by all and sundry.  He is, what they say, a bit of a 'character'. And then some.

[iL Dottore]

10 minutes ago, pH said:

One place I worked had a list of “gross moral turpitude” offences which could result in instant dismissal….

Oooh! Do tell!

I’d love to know what they considered “gross moral turpitude“ so that I can a) avoid it or b) embrace it if appropriate….

 

(Of course to be utterly and totally cynical, one could argue that many of the offences considered in the USA as being of “gross moral turpitude” would be

considered as enjoyable hobbies elsewhere, if not National Pastimes 🤣😵)

[Dave Hunt]

Or a chap known as Gobi because he is a cultural desert. He's actually a mate of mine and knows why he is called that but doesn't mind.

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

I think the fact that someone actually sat down and thought up the term 'gross moral turpitude' speaks volumes about their world view.

 

Dave

[Compound2632]

58 minutes ago, pH said:

“gross moral turpitude”

 

My mental image there is, I'm afraid, of nothing more exciting than a large bottle of white spirit.

[BoD]

9 hours ago, br2975 said:

Went inside the Sunderland owned by Kermit Weeks, and preserved in 'almost airworthy condition' at Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, Florida.

.

I was surprised at how cramped it was, and how 'compact' the passenger accomodation was

That’s because it’s a  Short Sunderland.

[PhilJ W]

10 hours ago, br2975 said:

.

Went inside the Sunderland owned by Kermit Weeks, and preserved in 'almost airworthy condition' at Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, Florida.

.

I was surprised at how cramped it was, and how 'compact' the passenger accomodation was.

 

46 minutes ago, BoD said:

That’s because it’s a  Short Sunderland.

The Sunderland was quite roomy compared to some military aircraft conversions. I wouldn't like to fly a long journey in a Lancastrian for example.

[Oldddudders]

Every time my Eurostar flashes across the Medway I look towards Rochester and think of Shorts and the flying boats tested on that stretch of river. A road called Shorts Way commemorates the past. 

[simontaylor484]

12 hours ago, BSW01 said:

When I worked in the steel works,  back in the 80'. we had a young apprentice who, shall we say, wasn't the sharpest tool in the box. We gave him the nick named bungalow

 

 

 

 

 

 

............. Because he had nowt upstairs! 

We had a driver who again wasn't the most intelligent we called him Sprout because he wasn't intelligent enough to be a cabbage 

[TheQ]

14 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I have just read in the Daily Express that an unexploded ordinance device has been found on Walcott beach.

 

Do the pig thick people that claim to be professional journalists really think the The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch has finally washed up on our shores?

 

It's ORDNANCE!

 

Ooooh I might have had a little tizzy there.

 

So sorry

I knows that beach, We's close enough to hear the bang...

[PhilJ W]

5 minutes ago, TheQ said:

I knows that beach, We's close enough to hear the bang...

Wasn't it used for bombing practice up until a few years ago?

Edited August 24, 2022 by PhilJ W

[TheQ]

That's a bit further round,  like 50 miles to the left, off the coast of Holbeach near the west coast of Norfolk, Walcott is on the East Coast.

though a couple of miles up the road from Walcott at Mundesley , is a memorial to the mine, and other ordnance  clearance teams.

http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Norfolk/NorfolkCoastalMineClearance.html

 

Edited August 24, 2022 by TheQ

[PhilJ W]

Batchelor pad?

[Happy Hippo]

28 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Batchelor pad?

A bit cluttered for my liking!

[TheQ]

And in the wrong place, over here there'd be a stack of cans alongside the chair.

[Compound2632]

48 minutes ago, TheQ said:

And in the wrong place, over here there'd be a stack of cans alongside the chair.

 

At least his chair is appropriately equipped.