Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[kinboshi]

Is it cleaning/drowning the rabbit?  Or just found it in the pond?

Errm, well, here's the written article, from the Daily Telegraph.

Enjoying a leisurely wade in the waters of the Dutch undergrowth this grey heron decided to go in search of lunch when he came across this unsuspecting black rabbit.

Undeterred by its size, the grey heron, the largest bird of its kind in Europe, swooped down and gobbled the rabbit up in one mouthful, as these pictures show.

What the hell is a 'kind'?  Such lazy journalism.  It's the largest grey heron in Europe, but it's not the largest wading bird or even the largest from the heron family Ardeidae. 

[gatso]

Is it cleaning/drowning the rabbit?  Or just found it in the pond?

Errm, well, here's the written article, from the Daily Telegraph.

Enjoying a leisurely wade in the waters of the Dutch undergrowth this grey heron decided to go in search of lunch when he came across this unsuspecting black rabbit.

Undeterred by its size, , swooped down and gobbled the rabbit up in one mouthful, as these pictures show.

What the hell is a 'kind'?  Such lazy journalism.  It's the largest grey heron in Europe, but it's not the largest wading bird or even the largest from the heron family Ardeidae. 

lost me there kin. the grey heron is the largest european heron so 'the grey heron, the largest bird of its kind in Europe' is perfectly correct surely

[tikay]

Watch out - Spacefrog is on thread, rosbif spotting.

[boldie]

And finally......

I have taken a keen interest in Southend Airport since I began using a Hotel on the perimeter of the airfield some years ago as a base for Tourneys in Southend. It's quaint, under-used, & very fifties reminiscent, & is largely used for air-freight services. It's less than an hour fom London - as near as Stansted - but more importantly, as befits an Airport, it sits on a huge tract of land. There are few noise issues, as the airport sits right on the coast.

And it's now found it's new owner - Stobart Group (Eddie Stobart Transport). Happy Days, lorries & aeroplanes, in one Group.

Stobart Group already own Carlisle Airport. Eddie Strobart sold the Company to brother William a few years back, after a financial crisis, but it's back on an even keel now.

I once met Eddie, many moons ago, when the B & K Group were building a huge warehouse for him at DIRFT, near Crick. The warehouse is mind-boggingly huge. Freight "Logistics" as Haulage Comapnies are now known, have come a long way.

How long has Eddie Stobart been around (as a haulage business)? I was thinking about this the other day on a drive down somewhere..Eddie Stobart trucks are EVERYWHERE!..It's unreal how many of them are on the road these days...I see more of their trucks than I see any other haulage company's trucks...I am sure that a few years ago I hardly saw any, which makes the expansion very impressive considering how much the haulers have been complaining about getting priced out over the past few years.

[booder]

And finally......

I have taken a keen interest in Southend Airport since I began using a Hotel on the perimeter of the airfield some years ago as a base for Tourneys in Southend. It's quaint, under-used, & very fifties reminiscent, & is largely used for air-freight services. It's less than an hour fom London - as near as Stansted - but more importantly, as befits an Airport, it sits on a huge tract of land. There are few noise issues, as the airport sits right on the coast.

And it's now found it's new owner - Stobart Group (Eddie Stobart Transport). Happy Days, lorries & aeroplanes, in one Group.

Stobart Group already own Carlisle Airport. Eddie Strobart sold the Company to brother William a few years back, after a financial crisis, but it's back on an even keel now.

I once met Eddie, many moons ago, when the B & K Group were building a huge warehouse for him at DIRFT, near Crick. The warehouse is mind-boggingly huge. Freight "Logistics" as Haulage Comapnies are now known, have come a long way.

How long has Eddie Stobart been around (as a haulage business)? I was thinking about this the other day on a drive down somewhere..Eddie Stobart trucks are EVERYWHERE!..It's unreal how many of them are on the road these days...I see more of their trucks than I see any other haulage company's trucks...I am sure that a few years ago I hardly saw any, which makes the expansion very impressive considering how much the haulers have been complaining about getting priced out over the past few years.

Stobart has been one of the UK's largest haulage companies for at least the last 15 years Boldie

[Tonji]

I've always noticed "Norbet Dentressangle" (great name), they must be the biggest hauliers in Europe I guess.

[Wardonkey]

I've seen gulls take rabbits. I was holidaying with friends in Pembrokeshire and we went for a boat trip around Ramsey Island. Gulls take rabbits from the island and drown them in the sea before eating them. We saw this happen three or four times. We took photos but they were all crap and you couldn't tell what was happening.

[gatso]

I like to write norbert dentressangle on a bit of cardboard and hold it up when meeting people at airports

[boldie]

And finally......

I have taken a keen interest in Southend Airport since I began using a Hotel on the perimeter of the airfield some years ago as a base for Tourneys in Southend. It's quaint, under-used, & very fifties reminiscent, & is largely used for air-freight services. It's less than an hour fom London - as near as Stansted - but more importantly, as befits an Airport, it sits on a huge tract of land. There are few noise issues, as the airport sits right on the coast.

And it's now found it's new owner - Stobart Group (Eddie Stobart Transport). Happy Days, lorries & aeroplanes, in one Group.

Stobart Group already own Carlisle Airport. Eddie Strobart sold the Company to brother William a few years back, after a financial crisis, but it's back on an even keel now.

I once met Eddie, many moons ago, when the B & K Group were building a huge warehouse for him at DIRFT, near Crick. The warehouse is mind-boggingly huge. Freight "Logistics" as Haulage Comapnies are now known, have come a long way.

How long has Eddie Stobart been around (as a haulage business)? I was thinking about this the other day on a drive down somewhere..Eddie Stobart trucks are EVERYWHERE!..It's unreal how many of them are on the road these days...I see more of their trucks than I see any other haulage company's trucks...I am sure that a few years ago I hardly saw any, which makes the expansion very impressive considering how much the haulers have been complaining about getting priced out over the past few years.

Stobart has been one of the UK's largest haulage companies for at least the last 15 years Boldie

Really?..Wow, amazing what you sometimes just fail to notice, eh?

[Royal Flush]

Marketing spend per Passenger                      €0.70                       €3.80

That shocks me, if you are right in the 4x passangers thing that still means RyanAir spend less in marketing.

Yes, correct - if I'm right!

Those figures came from here.....

http://www.independent.ie/business/european/carrier-has-the-second-highest-cost-base-1197688.html

As to numbers carried by each Airline, I could not find exact Traffic Numbers, but I know Aer Lingus carried 5.1 million passengers in the first 6 months of 2007, so call it 10 million per annum.

Ryanair recently reported November's Traffic figure as 4.23 million, giving a 12 month total of, amazingly, 57.43 million (load factor over 80%).

So in fact, Ryanair have almost 6 times as many ppa as Aer lingus. And therefore the €0.70 per head for Ryanair actually amounts to a greater amount (based on ppa) than Aer Lingus, if I read it right. Amazing what you can do with Stats, eh?

O'Leary is quite an extraordinary businessman - I'd back him to win any fight, & make any business successful. If ONLY he could get the helm at BA!

Do you have any O'Leary/Ryanair tales to tell, from your aviation background?

No i am afraid, however i do know that its the entry job a lot of people want, your better looked after than at sleazy and you are also much better paid!

It's where i would want to start out if i couldn't get into a long haul carrier.

I assume "sleazy" = Easy Jet?

Long-Haul - Ryanair are gonna do it - UK - New York, the aircraft have been ordered. Watch out Virgin, BA, O'Leary's gonna getcha.

To my astonishment, I discovered yesterday that BA plan to start a London-JFK scheduled service from...... London CITY Airport, in September 2009! It will be a Business Class (Club-World) only cabin configuration, using the only suitable aircraft available - A318's. (What's special about the A318?). But, oddly, on the OUTWARD leg only, it will have a refuelling stop in Shannon, which might doom it to failure. Any idea why "outbound only"?

I would say its nothing to do with trade winds seeing as the outbound is the longer leg....

The reason is most probably the short field combined with the 5.5 degree glide scope (thanks the clever people who built Canary Warf) meaning you can't land an A318, infact the only jets that do land there are BAe 146's

[Royal Flush]

Wind

Tradewinds direction across the atlantic

Always? Every day?

Yes they vary in strength and position they move north and south in tune with the movement of the 'heat equator' they can be especially strong in SE Asia, i remember reading they once recorded 300 knots+ that would be 350mph+

[Wardonkey]

Don't planes need to land prior to taking off?

[cdw1111]

?

[cdw1111]

Anyone have a suggestion on how to resize photo's as i have aircraft pron for Tikay

[Laxie]

www.photobucket.com will do it for you and it's free