Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[77dave]

Any minutes / cliffs from said meeting?

should be available in the cardroom from tomorrow

[Machka]

Have you ever heard of the Kulula airline before?

They certainly have an interesting livery on their planes.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

https://www.kulula.com/info/aircraft-pictures-kulula-fleet-photo-gallery.aspx

http://www.chrisrawlinson.com/2010/02/kulula-flying-101-official-press-release/

[scotty77]

ah taking the innocent smoothie approach to aeroplanes.  sick.

[tikay]

Nice one Aaron.

Civil aircraft liveries tend to be dull & corporate - a pretty 'plane is hardly likely to put more bums on seats - but I do like to see original ones.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Oddly, almost my favourite livery is that of American Airlines, which are mostly unpainted.

You may not be aware that American Airlines is in Chapter 11 (sort of "Administration") as are every other major American Airline. A whole industry is skinto, incredible!

Click to see full-size image.

[Laxie]

It's no wonder they're broke.  Short haul flights in America are at least twice the price of short hauls in Europe and people just can't afford it like they use to.

[RED-DOG]

I've always loved these iconic unpainted American trailers.

Apparently they are still in production. You can buy a modern one but they cost a fortune.

My b/day is March 2nd btw....

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

you didnt fancy joining the players committee last night?

Umm, no!

I did my 6 month stint, it's quite time-consuming, & a thankless task. Pretty irksome to then be told by the usual moany-woanies, none of whom bothered, that everything is "pathertic" & "a disgrace". 

Peeps do get a bit emotive!

[tikay]

I've always loved these iconic unpainted American trailers.

Apparently they are still in production. You can buy a modern one but they cost a fortune.

My b/day is March 2nd btw....

Click to see full-size image.

Loads "for Sale" here Tom, except that they are all "Sold now".

Useful website......

http://www.american-caravans.co.uk/airstreams-for-sale.html

[tikay]

Yuh, not played at Luton for about a month. One must stick to one's guns. Back in April though. Prob.

When are we playing golf please? Suggest you put together a Friday fourball on here?

You did a "I'm never coming back to Luton" flounce? Shame on you!

Incidentally, I saw young LutonRover there on Wednesday, enjoying himself.

Golf? Jeez, make me do it, I so want to start again.

[Rod Paradise]

Oddly, almost my favourite livery is that of American Airlines, which are mostly unpainted.

You may not be aware that American Airlines is in Chapter 11 (sort of "Administration") as are every other major American Airline. A whole industry is skinto, incredible!

Click to see full-size image.

Takes me back Tikay, as a kid, if the wind was from a  certain direction the planes would fly in low over our house on their approach to L.F.Wade International airport (non-google quiz - where's L.F. Wade?). Always liked the AA ones as they were, as you say mostly unpainted so you could see the metal & the rivets. Didn't like them so much if I was playing golf on the course next door though - can fairly put you off your shot. Only time we didn't get them was around Easter as there was a tradition of kite flying on Good Friday - so the planes had to make a different approach as the kites were big & flown high.

[tikay]

I blame my other half, one day she said shall we cycle over the Himalayas? I said yeah, not realising she meant it - so a year or so later we were on a plane to Kathmandu. 3 days there collecting the bike and meeting up with the rest of the group, we flew to Lhasa. Then 4 days in Lhasa to acclimatise to the altitude.

View of the Potala Palace, from the JOkang temple roof.





Then we started cycling back to Kathmandu, the first day along the valley was easy - then we had to start climbing.



The cycle journey went over five 5000m passes, of which i managed only 3, Gyatso La which i climbed for 3 hours all up hill, no free wheeling at all, I gave up on with 5 km left, and got a lift in the van. Each night we either camped over night, apart from a couple of towns were we could stay in a hotel.



We turned left off the main road to go up to Base Camp - but arriving there was an anti climax, bit of a dump really, the journey to it made it worthwhile though.



Then having done that detour it was back on the road to Kathmandu, after going through the maddest border town and crossing I've ever been though we got on the main road. It had a few problems with avalanches so the truck that carried all our stuff could not make it over, so this pic shows some locals carrying the groups gear along the impassable bit, (bike tyres, bike boxes etc)



It was a total of 1100km, all temperatures, sunshine, rain, and hail, from below freezing to over 30 degrees back in Nepal. I loved it but i have not cycled more than 15 miles since.

That, Mr Neeko, is incredible, & respect to you for doing it.

How much did it cost?

Preparation required?

How long were you away?

Any other such adventures?

My admiration for you is immense, wp Sir.

[tikay]

Saw some more of Nick Wealthall last night from Sunday. Guy is very very funny.

What's happened to that nice Trevor Harris? Used to like him on 865.

Trevor does a lot of football stuff for various channels these days. You'd be amazed how many overseas TV Channels take Premier League football, & there is a whole cottage industry providing commentary & analysis for it.

865 have been having tentative chats with Trevor about doing something football & poker related with Trevor. He's a Gooooooooner, too.

[tikay]

I sort of got away with doing the "Presenter" thing on 865 on Tuesday, & got a surprisingly warm, or maybe sympathetic, amount of feedback, via various comms platforms.

Lots of positive comment, mixed with the expected insults from my resident collection of lurkers & haters.

I was very weak on Autocue - I never use it when in the Analyst seat, I ad-lib all my stuff, so I gave myself 3/10 for that, but I do "message" better than anyone at the channel, as I understand & know the site so much better than most, & I gave myself 8/10 for that aspect. So that averages, what, 7/10?

Jakally often writes to me privately if he feels that 865 could do something better, & his feedback goes straight upstairs, & he says it in such a balanced & intelligent manner.

They have a TV advert on the go now, on terrestial ("proper") TV, & my svelte-like frame appears in it for all of 4 or 5 frames (a ninnienth of a second), but I've had more "oooh, I saw you on telly last night" comments about that then I ever have from 7 years, & over 2,000 hours of live blathering, on satellite channels. The power of TV.

Am in negotiations for some more TV work, too, with some previous TV colleagues, sort of a mixture between poker & greyhound racing. Sarah Champion has invited me on to Absolute Radio, too, for a Guest slot, which I really want to do. I would give up TV in a heartbeat if I could get a regular radio slot, though there is as much chance of that as me taking up betting again.

All good though, life can't get much better all things considered.     

[tikay]

Only in England.

There was a really quirky piece in yesterday's Times, & then "bobby1" - currently on holiday in Majorca, contacted me to tell me about it, too.

The Princess Royal was at The Tower of London on ceremonial doots, & she was presented with a new raven for the resident colony. By Royal decree, there MUST always be six ravens there, but they usually keep 8, in case a few disappear. We can't have the Empire crumbling, can we?

The ravens have their wing feathers trimmed, to limit their ability to fly, & are looked after by, of all things, a "Yeoman Warder RavenMaster". That's his job, no more, no less. With half the world's governments living on ever greater credit, I guess his job will eventually disappear, but it would be rather a shame in many ways.

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

Click to see full-size image.