Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

Note to self..try and avoid air travel in 3rd world countries...mind you shouldnt be surprised after you see how they operate their trains

I guess the ratio of "incidents to flights" is greater, yes. But even in the nut worst cases, most aircraft only crash once. Try to avoid those situations, & you'll be just fine.

[MrDickie]

"As to age of aircraft, is it not really relevant."

[the sicilian]

Note to self..try and avoid air travel in 3rd world countries...mind you shouldnt be surprised after you see how they operate their trains

I guess the ratio of "incidents to flights" is greater, yes. But even in the nut worst cases, most aircraft only crash once. Try to avoid those situations, & you'll be just fine.

Sage advice I will take with me as I board the same plane to vegas as you...

[outragous76]

<3 triggers broom! Classic gag

[Big_D]

Yo Gramps, I thought that this may be of interest to you, I know it's not in-line with the trend of your diary these days but here you go...

http://www.welshwales.co.uk/mumbles_railway_swansea.htm

Thanks Dyl. (You had better be coming to Cardiff this weekend, right?)

If only you knew how many memories that jolts for me. I keep stumbling across things in the "small world" department, & this is one.

1) When I suddenly discovered the ability to read at the age of 13, the first story I ever read was of the Mumbles Lifeboat disaster. To get that in context, I never "learned to read" in the conventional sense - I just woke up one day, aged 13 & deemed backward, & suddenly I could read & write. Just like that. So the story has a very special place in my mind, & memory, & yet until you mentioned it, I had not thought about that for a very long time. Wow, what a thing.

2) We were London-based railway people, but with strong connections to South Wales. Then, South Wales was where the best "steaming" coal (for steam locos) was mined, & around 90% of all freight traffic on the old GWR was "coal trains", so we were all very familiar with the area, & so the Mumbles Lifeboat tragedy figured high in in our minds.

3) But here's the real amazing thing. Did you know that today of all days was the 65th anniversary of that dreadful tragedy?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Samtampa

I do enjoy it when you speak of your past, I had no idea about that history which is a bit sad really considering it happened not far from where I live. Interesting reading and fantastic facts, I need to read up more on this subject.

P.S. I will be in Cardiff, we are staying in the same hotel (that you recommended) and will be there myself on friday evening, If I am running late for the evening tourney I will buzz you to buy me in so that I can grim you of £19

[Machka]

Google outdoes itself again.

Click to see full-size image.

[TightEnd]

Printers that staple?

Well I never.

[Machka]

A few testing landings!

"High winds shake planes landing in Bilbao, Spain"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17863501

[77dave]

Shivnarine Chanderpaul became just the 10th player to score 10,000 Test runs today. In the era of the boom boom players its good to see that slow and steady still wins the race. I remember when he made his debut and he looked like he was born to play test cricket.

He has never had the credit he deserves as a player coming in at the end of the Lara era and playing in some of the worst WI sides of all time it goes to credit this achievement. I bet very few people would have him in their top 10 batsman of alltime.

[Dingdell]

Pretty sure this could be on your bucket list minus the sun http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2135299/Brit-bought-cut-price-island-Seychelles-50-years-ago--lives-blissful-solitude.html

[tikay]

Jeez, the days FLY by........

Does anyone know where I can download a link to a writen transcript of the evidence Rupert Murdoch gave to the Levesen Inquiry?

I'm looking for the Rupert Murchoch equivelant of this, which was the evidence James Murdoch gave to the same Inquiry......

http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/90979642

Some, but not enough, was covered Live on Radio 5, though it was frequently interrupted by some trilly-voiced giggly girlie blathering on about ladies fashions. Rupert's evidence was utterly spellbinding stuff, the trilly girl not so much.

Rupert has lead quite a life, his family too. Wikipidea describes him as - what a great word - a mogul.

("Mogul" was also the name given to the first ever Class 527 2-6-0 Steam Loco on the railways in Britain, back in 1878. Bet you never knew that).

Rupert's wiki page is here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_murdoch

He seemed much more prepared & composed this time. The Barrister (or "Counsel to the Inquiry") chap was carefully laying his little traps, & Rupert was hesitating for an age before replying to anything. Really dramatic stuff, finely balanced, two fine minds sparring. TV or theatre could never equal this sort of real-life stuff.

So, can anyone assist, please?

The old chap is suddenly looking very aged & frail now. Incredibly, he is 81, & still seems full of energy, & seems well in control of his mind.






 

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Red is going to go mad about this.

BT are selling off 60 of their iconic, 1936 design, "K6" Phone Boxes. Absolute beauts, the creme de la creme.

How much each? £1,950. And you have to collect them yourself.

Youi think nobody is interested? Think again.

One company even rents them out.

Look at this little lot......

http://www.englishphoneboxes.com/gallery.html

I bet Red used to buy them for about £200 each. Just think, he could have been a mogul by now.

[hector62]

This seems to be it. Click on the bit at the bottom of the page.

http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/hearing/2012-04-25am/

[RED-DOG]

Red is going to go mad about this.

BT are selling off 60 of their iconic, 1936 design, "K6" Phone Boxes. Absolute beauts, the creme de la creme.

How much each? £1,950. And you have to collect them yourself.

Youi think nobody is interested? Think again.

One company even rents them out.

Look at this little lot......

http://www.englishphoneboxes.com/gallery.html

I bet Red used to buy them for about £200 each. Just think, he could have been a mogul by now.

I just rang Tracy to check (he remembers everything) We bought them for £100 each and sold them for £175. We could get 8 on the lorry.

We sold, at best guess, around 20 loads.

[tikay]

Some od fart was waffling on about the recession on the wireless the other day, & they had a reporter up in Birmingham interviewing local businessmen, hoping to hear tales of doom & gloom, you know what the media are like, "give us dooooooom".

But it went wrong.

They interviewed a chap who run for the gloriously named “Acme Whistle Co”. Whistles? WTF?

They are BIG business, & Acme reported sales & profits at record levels. 

All sorts use them – the Police (worldwide), Football Associations, Military, Musicians (!), they even do a “Titanic Commemorative” Whistle.

Whistles – GOOD British whistles – have a pea in them. A pea. 

You MUST fit that pea properly.

“….Matching the correct size of pea to the size of whistle is critical to good performance.

A pea of the correct size & weight should travel at 800 metres per hour inside the sound chamber to create the perfect trill. Too slow and the sound is notchy or lumpy, too fast and it is tizzy.

There can be no excuse for making a whistle that is hard to blow or even worse, where the pea sticks. These are all common faults in inferior whistles that aren’t backed up by the Acme know how……”



The whistles reside under wonderfully almost British Empire-esque names, too – “Tornado”, “Cyclone”, “Acme Thunderer”.

What an incredible array of ways there are to make a living!

Their website is an absolute stonker, too, look how wonderfully dated it looks. …..

http://acmewhistles.co.uk/xcart/home.php

The actual family behind the business are the Hudsons, & they started making their whistles back in 1870.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acme_Whistles

Fantastic stuff, real industry, real people, making real things - & world leaders in the product.

You must recognise this little beauty – it’s the old Thunderer. Obv.