Early Risers.

[The Johnster]

Except that that's a very incomplete map of Europe, which includes Scanidnavia, Iceland, the Baltic States, Belorus, The Ukraine, and Russia as far as the Ural watershed.  When I worked on the railway back in the 70s, I was allowed one Europe-wide free pass annually (an alternative to three within the UK) as a consequence of BR's membership of the UIC, which was valid on any trans-Ural route as far as the geographical watershed, regarded as the boundary with Siberia, which is in Asia.

 

Not sure what paperwork and visas would have been needed to go east of the curtain, only went to Paris, once.  But one of my colleagues did it one year just for what the Irish call the feck of it, the fact that he was a card-carrying and proudly committed Party member possibly greasing some of the wheels.  There were, apparently, some questions from our own authorities, he thought probably Special Branch, both before and after his journey.

Edited January 31 by The Johnster

[Coombe Barton]

... Six months today I retire. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/01/31/covid-enquiry-sturgeon-on-the-hook-today/

[Andy Hayter]

17 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

Except that that's a very incomplete map of Europe, which includes Scanidnavia, Iceland, the Baltic States, Belorus, The Ukraine, and Russia as far as the Ural watershed.  When I worked on the railway back in the 70s, I was allowed one Europe-wide free pass annually (an alternative to three within the UK) as a consequence of BR's membership of the UIC, which was valid on any trans-Ural route as far as the geographical watershed, regarded as the boundary with Siberia, which is in Asia.

 

Not sure what paperwork and visas would have been needed to go east of the curtain, only went to Paris, once.  But one of my colleagues did it one year just for what the Irish call the feck of it, the fact that he was a card-carrying and proudly committed Party member possibly greasing some of the wheels.  There were, apparently, some questions from our own authorities, he thought probably Special Branch, both before and after his journey.

 

 

Indeed and to put it into context, I was a bit gobsmacked when I found out which city was the geographic centre of Europe - defined as on the mid point of the furthest north and south intersecting with the mid point of the furthest east and west.  That city was Lvov - today Lviv - in the Ukraine  just off the east of the map round about the Polish SE border.  

[PhilJ W]

 

14 minutes ago, Andy Hayter said:

Indeed and to put it into context, I was a bit gobsmacked when I found out which city was the geographic centre of Europe - defined as on the mid point of the furthest north and south intersecting with the mid point of the furthest east and west.  That city was Lvov - today Lviv - in the Ukraine  just off the east of the map round about the Polish SE border.  

Ukraine is the largest country entirely in Europe. Google doesn't seem to understand the meaning of the word 'entirely' however.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_area#List_of_European_countries_and_dependencies_by_area

 

Edited January 31 by PhilJ W

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Not much sign of Arthur Itis this evening but pills will be taken before bed as a precaution. BIN day tomorrow but the black bin that they failed to collect last week is fortnightly collection so is not due for collection. Rayleigh toy fair this Sunday, a chance to give the new car a run and to try out the new rollalong.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, Andy Hayter said:

 

 

Indeed and to put it into context, I was a bit gobsmacked when I found out which city was the geographic centre of Europe - defined as on the mid point of the furthest north and south intersecting with the mid point of the furthest east and west.  That city was Lvov - today Lviv - in the Ukraine  just off the east of the map round about the Polish SE border.  

 

The comparison still holds pretty well: 

 

Distance as the crow flies - London to Lviv  1700km approx.

                                             - Perth to Sydney - 3400km approx.

[pH]

11 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

The comparison still holds pretty well: 

 

Distance as the crow flies

- London to Lviv  1700km approx.

 - Perth to Sydney - 3400km approx.

 

Just for fun, I looked at the east-west distance between the two extreme, named places I could find  in Canada: Kiusta, BC to Saint John’s, Newfoundland.

 

Distance is 5369 km.

[Andy Hayter]

24 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

The comparison still holds pretty well: 

 

Distance as the crow flies - London to Lviv  1700km approx.

                                             - Perth to Sydney - 3400km approx.

 

Well it would hold well if London was anywhere close to the westernmost point in Europe.  As it is from London you can go much of the width of England westwards, then the Irish sea, then Ireland and the most western part of Ireland is about as far west as Madrid - half way across Spain.  So add in half of Spain and then add a bit of Portugal.  It is at least half as much again on your 1700km.  

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Andy Hayter said:

 

Well it would hold well if London was anywhere close to the westernmost point in Europe.  As it is from London you can go much of the width of England westwards, then the Irish sea, then Ireland and the most western part of Ireland is about as far west as Madrid - half way across Spain.  So add in half of Spain and then add a bit of Portugal.  It is at least half as much again on your 1700km.  

 

 

In the same way Australia actually ends at Norfolk Island to the east. Its part of NSW and votes in the electorate of Canberra in federal elections, despite being 1500km offshore.  ...  (also possibly holds up for adding Hawaii into any calculations of USA width!)  🤔

Edited February 1 by monkeysarefun

[jjb1970]

I am meeting my boss in Tokyo next week, he is flying from Washington  DC and assumed Singapore - Tokyo would be a couple of hours and was taken aback to find out it is 6 - 7 hours depending on wind etc. Bangkok and Jakarta are next door and are two hour flights. Hong Kong is 4, Beijing 6. And if you go West to India and the Middle East it can be longer, significantly longer. Asia is huge.

[Ozexpatriate]

RE: Relative continental sizes.

 

Feel free to play with "the true size of"

 

It automatically scales countries on a Mercator's projection with modified latitude - you can see how verticals are exaggerated at higher latitudes than we normally see.

You can move them around. It would be nice to flip countries from the southern or northern hemisphere.

 

East - west, Australia would cover Ireland to the Kazakh border, or Lisbon to Beirut.

 

Edited February 1 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Distance as the crow flies - London to Lviv  1700km approx.

                                             - Perth to Sydney - 3400km approx.

 

3 hours ago, pH said:

Just for fun, I looked at the east-west distance between the two extreme, named places I could find  in Canada: Kiusta, BC to Saint John’s, Newfoundland.

 

Distance is 5369 km.

East-west, Steep Point, WA (Australia) to Byron Bay, NSW is just shy of 4,000km - ~3,972 km.

[jjb1970]

Indonesia is 5100km, because it's a long but narrow archipelago with a low profile in international affairs most do not realise just how big it is.

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, pH said:

Just for fun, I looked at the east-west distance between the two extreme, named places I could find  in Canada: Kiusta, BC to Saint John’s, Newfoundland.

 

Distance is 5369 km.

Yes, it's a long way from one side of Canada to the other. Here's the "true size" comparison of Australia and Canada.

 

[roundhouse]

Rickmansworth to Uxbridge is 110 miles, according to someone who worked in the same company as me when he filled in his car business mileage form each month. He risked being caught by accounts and the tax man but that was way over 20 years ago and the compay no longer exists so he is safe now.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

Indonesia is 5100km, because it's a long but narrow archipelago with a low profile in international affairs most do not realise just how big it is.

A good deal of that distance is water though. ~5,300 km by this approximation.

 

[iL Dottore]

10 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

That's interesting.  I was under the impression that you were No 4 at Schloss ID,with Lucy and Schotty at 2nd equal, all  ruled by Mrs ID.  Maybe she just let's you have delusions of grandeur. 

 

Jamie

That is true, but that’s just the domestic side of things, I was talking about work!

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 

East-west, Steep Point, WA (Australia) to Byron Bay, NSW is just shy of 4,000km - ~3,972 km.

 

 

And only 110km shorter going North-South -  from southern Tasmania to the tip of Cape York.

[jjb1970]

One of the other things not often picked up on about Indonesia is just how diverse it is. What we think of as 'Indonesian' culture and language is really Javanese, there are hundreds of ethnic groups and languages. Although Bahasa Indonesian is the common language and language of administration is is very much a minority language in terms of those who speak it as their first language.

[iL Dottore]

Good morning all,

 

An interesting discussion on distances and sizes, but very reminiscent of those skoolboy erudite discussions about the merits of this motorcar vs that motor car. And perhaps more popular were the ruminations on whether or nor the Daleks would beat the Cybermen* in a fair fight, or whether Blake’s 7 was better than Space 1999…..

 

And as the topic of Doctor Who is being vaguely touched upon, I was pleased to see Sylvester McCoy appear in a recent episode of the 2024 series of Father Brown. I’ve always thought that McCoy’s Doctor was grossly (and unfairly) underrated - much like Peter Capaldi’s Doctor. Both are very good actors hampered and hamstrunged by poor scripts or being shunted into scheduling wasteland.

 

Perhaps I’m just an aging fanboi, but I really think that Doctor Who gets lumbered and - dare I say it - damaged by show runners and script writers who know nothing (and care less) about either the show’s history (and canon) and what SciFi (even SciFi fantasy) is. I think that is telling that the Beeb considers Eastenders as its “flagship drama” (or at it least it did at one point). I can’t see them doing to the Queen Vic what they’ve done to the Tardis…

 

* am I the only one to think that The Borg are a direct copy of The Cybermen, but with a bad wardrobe…. 

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from very near to the Greenwich Meridian. It's still dark here and will be to past 08.00.it is now noticeably lighter on an evening but sunrise seems to have hardly moved.  Who do I complain to. 

 

The carpentry went well and the undercoat is now on one side of the two shutters.  If it stays warm today I maybe able to turn them over and do the other side this afternoon.  In the meantime we are heading to Niort to do some shopping. 

 

Regards to land of course Sundry. 

 

Jamie

[Barry O]

WHITE RABBITS!  Glad we have managed to fight our way through January.. what an awfully long months it's been this year.

 

@iL Dottoreyep borg from cyber men.. a very close link.

 

today will involve avtrip to deliver some dirty more lifelike models toa mate. I need to fit in a strategy meeting with a cricket colleague.. we need to get a volunteer "dinosaur" into an area he can cause less chaos in) and a trip to the bakers for some fresh bread. Busy,busy,busy!

 

Time to knuckle down and gerronwithit!

 

Stay safe and well!

 

Baz

 

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Just getting light, it's dry and should stay that way.  A sunny day with a gentle breeze is promised.  3°C rising to 10°C.

 

Had a bit of sad but not unexpected news.  An old school friend had MND and deteriorated quite badly over the past few months to the extent that he'd lost the ability to move or speak.  He contracted pneumonia last week and died in hospital yesterday.  RIP Mike.

 

Usual Thursday agenda here with bin collection and shopping delivery.  A walk is also scheduled  and then probably a visit to The Shed to finish off checking over the powered toys.  Once that's done there is more scenic stuff and detailing to do.  Will it ever get finished? Probably not, I play with the stuff too much but that after all was and still is the main object of the exercise.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

 

Edited February 1 by grandadbob

[TheQ]

If you wish to include the islands then France alone is huge....

Because France includes 

French Guiana in South America;

Guadeloupe in the Caribbean;

Martinique in the Caribbean;

Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of East Africa;

Réunion in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of East Africa.

 

 

Mooring Awl. 

4 hours sleep, 4 hours sleep, 1 hours sleep, a huge total for me...

 

Ben let me sleep in, but then Ben the very happy Collie had a good charge around the garden. There is a light frost in the most prone area, none on the vehicles.

Blue welkin to the south east, light thin cloud above and  everywhere else.

 

The Herring bridge will open in GY today, that's the one whose construction was delayed by a huge WW2 bomb that was found. It's going to make a big difference to the traffic flows around GY and should make it a lot easier for us although we won't use it.

A problem I have with distances is people forget how far east we are, it can take 3/4 hours just to get past Norwich it's only then you really start travelling. Going north there are few dual carriage ways and no motorways for at least 3 1/2 hours. 

 

Plans for today,

Some fallen rotten tree moving,

Another look at the accounts.