New Haven Neil

Morning, the rock is dank and damp today and a mere 7c. The day is saved by mate H coming around for a couple of hours chat about those unmentionable things, and to catch up after our respective holidays, he was on a northern lights cruise (not the same one as Dave H). Then who knows what excitement the afternoon will deliver, I can't wait. iD's post above puts in mind the book I mentioned a little while ago, the 'Obesity Code', where the doctor writing it is almost incredulous at the antics of US health departments in approving things that are so unhealthy, and ignoring clear evidence they are not. He's Canadian.....and talks a lot of sense.

I had that with dad in his last days, I gave a lift to one of my mum's distant friends when picking mum up from visiting the hospice, and she thought I was my older brother, and gave chapter and verse as to how I was doing nothing to help and brother was doing it all, according to sis in law who she knew. (Big bro only arrived on the scene when dad was in his last days). I waited until she was about to get out and told her who I was, and what I thought of her and my brother who had done precisely nothing to help! Which, incidentally was what he got in the will, when both dad and mum had passed on. Precisely nothing, with an explanation why.

I think it's one of the war effort export versions or later build of similar, they got to a few places in Europe.

Yes, my pal was one of several engineers who covered the system throughout the UK, and as he was also a radio amateur G6CBJ (he set up one of the 70cm repeaters in the north-east), his car looked like a porcupine with the amount of aerials in it, for MOLD and amateur frequencies. I am aware of what they system was actually for, but perhaps we shouldn't talk about that even though it is long gone. He had a few exciting times when it broke in bad weather, always in an awkward place, Snaefell of course and Shap quarry once in deep snow - the military used to 'insert' him if he couldn't get there under his own steam. He often reflects that if his employers/WD had known he was gay back then, he wouldn't have got the job because of 'security' concerns. Thankfully times are more enlightened now. He's a seriously clever lad, you guys could talk electrons all day!

IIRC there were CHL towers in the west of the island, at Dalby, not sure if these were actively part of CHL or just for training. In more recent times there was another military system up on Snaefell, MOLD. My bud JD was the engineer from Pye/Philips for it. All very secret squirrel in the 80's but now gone, totally obsolete. Now its just microwave links up there, and the odd other aerial.

Morning, from a miserably wet, breezy and chilly 6c rock. Although forecast, it is still a disappointment when it's like this, meaning I have no excuse not to do housework. Therefore.....pah. Ahh pants, no water pressure either, great start to the week. Double pah.

Played out today. In this. Then this. Up there. Our house is in this photo, but you'd be hard put to spot it from 2 thousand feet up.

Morning, from a rock that is 8c and rather breezy, after a pretty wild 'n' windy night, muchos rain too. It is now nice and sunny but the 'feels like' is grim. So of course we're off our for a ride on something powered by 600v DC on steel strips three feet apart, and another three and a half feet apart and very, very steep. Only going half way though, for eats at the Victory Cafe. This was a WW2 era radio/radar station, and is now after a period as a motorcycle museum (it is on the high part of the TT course) is now a slightly odd cafe specialising in home made pies - iD would approve, they are very good. Then who knows, maybe continue a ride on the three foot section, all the way to the Big City (approved Camilla-ly) or just back to the Bright Lights of Royal Ramsey. My opinion will no doubt let me know.

Odd day. Off out early doors for Mrs NHN to be Pilated, NHN for a walk around Royal Ramsey while that was ongoing, but it was blowing an absolute hoolie, and most unpleasant due to wind chill Ian A would be proud of so hid in a cafe after a mile walk. The rush off Way out West to Peel to meet up with Trackshack John and his Mrs for brunch, our diaries seldom allow so that was a nice treat. They only arrived back On-Rock late last night after a trip away, and a rather unpleasant ride in a force 7 aboard the fast craft cater-meringue, which usually doesn't sail over a force 6. I think they were still dizzy. Then some torture by shopping followed by a reward a nice coffee down Laxey prom (on the sheltered side of the rock), knackered by the time we got home. As for cheques, I usually write one for MRJ too, but, err, it would appear (by the slip being next to me) that I have, err, forgotten to do so. Poop.

Well there is the added attraction of the N5....... ;-)

This was 79, IIRC. I'm sure he was up to no good, but how anything we dealt with would be of value escapes me. he certainly liked a drink, and suspect other smoky stuff too.

Oh....guess who hasn't sent his cheque off yet, pants!

We had one of those when I was at the Kolledge of Nollidge as a Merchant Navy officer cadet, he was on his third attempt to pass the final year (engineering). No realistic company (we were all employees - paid) would put up with such behaviour, but he was Libyan and worked for their equivalent (allegedly) of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. He was quite a character to say the least, so laid back he would fall over, had loads of cash, a fancy car (an X1/9 when they were new...on a cadet's wages?). We always wondered what he really was there for. He was sort of the course mascot, everyone got on really well with him, lecturers included.

@iL Dottore Donk has asked me to pass on his thanks, and also invited you to a slap-up (no UPF) meal in his new residence, Hamburger Castle. Any resemblance to a well known edifice on the Northumberland coast is purely co-incidental.

Aye, you're not wrong. Life was certainly different when I was at kolledge, and yourself around the same sort of era I suspect.

My gast is still flabbered by the antics of both the students and now the establishment at JB's uni - I would be off on a mega-rant. Mrs NHN's liver issues continue to confound, results today from a Fibroscan are that it is 100% healthy and even excellent for her age, in direct opposition to what she is being told other tests indicate. No answers.

Oh, yeah, before I forget.... Gurgle brought up reports of them going for thirty quid!

...on Terminator's 40th birthday too! I can't think of a single thing, Tony.

As I suspect you well know anyway, the Man in Man (or Mann, you can use either) isn't the male of the species directly, rather the name of a mythical person Mannanan Maclir who lived here - there is also a more believable explanation in that the name is an English language bastardisation of Ellan Vannin, the island's name in the Manx tongue. However....isn't there always one.....the island was briefly renamed some (10?) years ago for a week as the Isle of Woman, as some pre-woke feminist thing, with the underlying (aha!) launch of pink Yorkie bars 'only for woman truck drivers' as an advertising stunt. We still have one somewhere. Here endeth the history lesson.

I had to go to the Big City yesterday morning to deal with some HSBC business - as they have closed the Bright Lights of Ramsey branch for our convenience and to provide a better service - now a 44 mile round trip, pah. 🤬 Anyway, the road I wanted to go down was closed with a huge police presence, with UK registered police vans....hmm. Turns out the British Queen (to me marrying the King does not make her a Queen, but that's for elsewhere) was visiting to officially bestow city status onto the Big City. Oh while I'm on, she's not the Queen of the Isle of Man BTW, neither is the King, the King - the Lord of Man yes, but not the King. Its complicated. Anyway, huge crowds of at least err some schoolkids were there to greet her and make access to town difficult. Didn't even make national BBC news although it was on regional. I bet that's the police overtime bill shredded for the month. So we now officially have two cities, Peel that has a Cathedral, and Douglas which doesn't, but is the capital. All for 85,000 people! 🤔 I wonder what advantage that will bestow upon Douglas.....#waiting#......🤣

Morning, from a sleepy-head Fraggle. Thought I'd have another half hour after Mrs NHN went out to work at 0630, and thought I had slept about that, to find it was 0830! Not missed anything as it is wet, windy and 8c out, so a walk has been postponed. There are bus stops in our village, but no proper busses.....stupid hopper thing you have to book a day in advance with no timings even vaguely promised, the driver has to follow a sort of sat-nav kind of thing that tells him where to go for the next pick-up (not drop-offs already on the bus), which prioritises certain places, so the bus often back-tracks when closer to your destination. Then we tell the driver where to go....sort of.....#sigh# One driver who used initiative to drop someone off close by got disciplined for doing so, there's no common sense in the system at all. What a load of ballcocks.

I'm liking that first Dub D shot a lot! is that a new angle? The corner of the 'box slipping in really makes it for me.

Bit of a Casanova day - I *&^%$£ everything I touched. Ends.

Ah that's a north pointing arrow for the visitors to understand the distant land seen on a clear day is Scotland, not a suburb of Blackpool or something! Morning world, 9c and dry currently but the fore-guess doesn't look too good for the rest of the day, or week even. Yesterday was spring-like for a few hours, even saw my first flutterbye in the garden, shame it won't be like that again today.

I have to admit to really liking Japan, although it is a long, long time since I was there. I think I have been to 11 different ports there, and enjoyed my time in all of them, it is our intention to holiday there when Mrs NHN retires. Yup it's hot in summer there....and humid, but that never was a problem 'back then' as I was used to being in a ship's engineroom in those climates which rank and file folk from the UK would find 'a little hot'. Being in a steel box with a 30 thousand horsepower diesel engine in it, ventilated only by that hot humid air is not too much fun, but you do sort of get used to it. It would likely kill me now! After Mrs NHN finished WFH for the day we had a ride out to the Point of Ayre, (John O'Groats, Fraggle stylee) on the little bikes, it was quite pleasant at first, until it clouded over, when it became very much NOT like Japan in summer - aka bl**dy freezing. Directly above the tank of the yellow bike, you may just be able to make out a grey smudge on the horizon if there's enough pixels left in the photo after uploading - that's Scotland.