The Night Mail

[jamie92208]

6 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

There's another Leeds near to Portsmouth is there?

Thanks for spotting the deliberate error. 

 

Jamie

[Winslow Boy]

1 minute ago, jamie92208 said:

Thanks for spotting the deliberate error. 

 

Jamie

Well just wanted to be sure because I know how well travelled you are you may have encountered it.

[J. S. Bach]

17 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

When we were in Jasper, some of the freight trains going through were longer than the town. One of them stopped for some reason and all the access roads into the town except one were blocked for about half an hour.

 

Dave

That happens here in Chester sometimes; usually it is the NS/L&C interchange dropping off/picking up a cut for the L&C.

[Happy Hippo]

22 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

I can't match Steve's story but I can repeat one that I was told. When the Vulcan entered service and was stationed at several RAF stations in Lincolnshire, all the hardstandings where the aircraft were when placed on readiness were equipped with mains electrical sockets that supplied power for the starters. One day during an exercise Bomber Command decided to test the procedures for a mass launch and when the order to go was given, a large number of Vulcans all over Lincolnshire tried to start all four engines simultaneously. The result was that the sudden spike in power demand caused the mains to trip out and Lincolnshire went dark. What the solution was I don't know but obviously one was found.

 

Dave

 

And before the hippo gets stuck in, it was before I was in the RAF       

I can see the horror around the big mahogany table in the MoD:

 

My God look what we've done!  What can we do, we need to blame someone.  Who can it be?

 

Let's select a name at random from a random intake of trainee aircrew.

That's a jolly good idea Sir.  This is the future intake list.....

 

Here's one.... Hunt, I don't like the cut of his jib.

 

Sir, we are not vindictive like our brothers in the Senior Service. Why poor Mr Hunt?

 

Because he comes from Hoylake!

 

Oh God a posh scouser!  He's definitely scapegoat materiel, Sir.

 

When will he be ready to shoulder the blame Sir?

 

Well certainly we'll wait until he's out of nappies....

[Happy Hippo]

Just now, J. S. Bach said:

That happens here in Chester sometimes; usually it is the NS/L&C interchange dropping off/picking up a cut for the L&C.

For a moment, I thought you meant Chester in the UK🤣.

[Hroth]

2 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I can see the horror around the big mahogany table in the MoD:

 

My God look what we've done!  What can we do, we need to blame someone.  Who can it be?

 

Let's select a name at random from a random intake of trainee aircrew.

That's a jolly good idea Sir.  This is the future intake list.....

 

Here's one.... Hunt, I don't like the cut of his jib.

 

Sir, we are not vindictive like our brothers in the Senior Service. Why poor Mr Hunt?

 

Because he comes from Hoylake!

 

Oh God a posh scouser!  He's definitely scapegoat materiel, Sir.

 

When will he be ready to shoulder the blame Sir?

 

Well certainly we'll wait until he's out of nappies....

 

Hoylake posh?

I suppose it all depends on which end of Hoylake we're talking about... 🤔

And we won't even consider the other side of the tracks!

 

1 minute ago, Happy Hippo said:

For a moment, I thought you meant Chester in the UK🤣.

 

Thats been a source of amusement for ages!  🤪

 

[Tony_S]

37 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

There's another Leeds near to Portsmouth is there?

Leeds Castle in Kent has been known to confuse a few travellers but it is still about a 100 miles from Portsmouth. 

[jamie92208]

27 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Well just wanted to be sure because I know how well travelled you are you may have encountered it.

Yes that's why it's in Kent.  

 

Jamie

[Hroth]

Another place that can confuse satnav users is Barrow, who don't always know the difference between Great Barrow in Cheshire, and Barrow in Furness.  I'm told* that it has happened that trucks have pulled up in the village, asking the way to the docks...

 

* By a former rector, so who could doubt the assertation?

 

Edited December 1, 2023 by Hroth

[PhilJ W]

7 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Leeds Castle in Kent has been known to confuse a few travellers but it is still about a 100 miles from Portsmouth. 

Quite a few American tourists have turned up in Stratford, East London looking for Shakespears birthplace.

[Compound2632]

32 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

For a moment, I thought you meant Chester in the UK🤣.

 

Yes, I was trying to work out how the North Staffs and Lancaster & Carlisle came into it.

[Dave Hunt]

27 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Sir, we are not vindictive like our brothers in the Senior Service. Why poor Mr Hunt?

 

Because he comes from Hoylake!

 

Oh God a posh scouser! 

 

Hoylake? Hoylake isn't posh Liverpool; it's on the wrong side of the Mersey  for a start. I used to live in Formby, which is posh Liverpool, or so  my schoolmates told me when we moved there. Well, it has got a golf club so I suppose they have a point.

 

Dave

[J. S. Bach]

5 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Yes, I was trying to work out how the North Staffs and Lancaster & Carlisle came into it.

I was too lazy to type "Norfolk Southern" & "Lancaster & Chester"! 😲

[jamie92208]

15 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Another place that can confuse satnav users is Barrow, who don't always know the difference between Great Barrow in Cheshire, and Barrow in Furness.  I'm told* that it has happened that trucks have pulled up in the village, asking the way to the docks...

 

* By a former rector, so who could doubt the assertation?

 

I've had dealings with a few rather dodgy rectors.  There was one who if he told me the sun was shining g I'd look up to check.  Aren't I so cynivpcal for so eone so young and naive. 

 

Jamie

[J. S. Bach]

3 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Hoylake? Hoylake isn't posh Liverpool; it's on the wrong side of the Mersey  for a start. I used to live in Formby, which is posh Liverpool, or so  my schoolmates told me when we moved there. Well, it has got a golf club so I suppose they have a point.

 

Dave

I once owned a golf club; a nine iron I think it was. 🙂

[Dave Hunt]

24 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Another place that can confuse satnav users is Barrow, who don't always know the difference between Great Barrow in Cheshire, and Barrow in Furness.  I'm told that it has happened that trucks have pulled up in the village, asking the way to the docks...

 

I've heard similar stories concerning Newcastle under Lyme, which is quite close to where I live, and Newcastle on Tyne, which isn't.

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

8 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

I once owned a golf club; a nine iron I think it was. 🙂

 

That's the answer to a question:

 

Herr Schmidt, is you golf club made of wood?

Nein, iron.

 

Hat, coat........

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

12 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

I've had dealings with a few rather dodgy rectors. 

 

At first I read that as rectums. I now need some brain bleach to get rid of the mental picture.

 

Dave

[Tony_S]

Once it stopped snowing Aditi thought we should go for a walk and take the new binoculars she bought last week and look at some birds. There is a bird hide at Hyde Hall gardens so after trekking from the car park to cafe and eating lunch, we walked across the frozen fields and settled down to watch some birds.  Binoculars were good though not much to see. Just five barnacle geese. Nothing flying about or roosting in trees. There was more bird activity a few houses away this morning. There was a large flock of gulls circling and swooping over a garden. Probably something dead or a bag of chips. 
I really felt cold while we were walking. I nearly bought a new coat before we went to Yorkshire but it wasn’t that cold and my present coat is wind and waterproof but as I have got fatter I can’t fit the thermal lining in. Aditi wasn’t happy about me being cold so I have ordered one this evening. Aditi is determined we must walk more. We had our diabetic reviews earlier this week. I think Aditi was a bit put out that she got more lifestyle (exercise and carb reduction) suggestions than I did. I can understand how she felt as left to myself my diet would be less healthy than the one Aditi encourages me to follow. 
Tony

Edited December 1, 2023 by Tony_S

[New Haven Neil]

Trying to ignore all the puns above....

 

Back in my time in Estates in the NHS after leaving the sea, there was an old boy who used to come to service the instrumentation in the boilerhouse.  Nice feller, ex RAF. Clever too.  These things don't always go together...#Fishead ducks#

 

Anyway, he told me he once gave an order to one of his lads to go to a closed airfield to recover some equipment, this lad was not the sharpest stick.  He got to the place, and didn't know if incoming power was on, so threw a handy pole across the three phase incoming - ie HV - busbars.  There a bit of a bang, of the order of VERY BIG, and half of Yorkshire was blacked out for the afternoon. (RAF don't do mornings of course).

[Happy Hippo]

50 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Hoylake? Hoylake isn't posh Liverpool; it's on the wrong side of the Mersey  for a start. I used to live in Formby, which is posh Liverpool, or so  my schoolmates told me when we moved there. Well, it has got a golf club so I suppose they have a point.

 

Dave

See those B'stards at the very top had it in for you, even back then.  Fancy lying like that, and officers too.

 

Would you like me to sneak into Whitehall and have the minutes of that particular meeting redacted?

[Hroth]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Hoylake? Hoylake isn't posh Liverpool; it's on the wrong side of the Mersey  for a start. I used to live in Formby, which is posh Liverpool, or so  my schoolmates told me when we moved there. Well, it has got a golf club so I suppose they have a point.

 

Dave

 

And of course, some parts of the Wirral would rather not be connected to Liverpool in any shape or form!

 

As for Hoylake, the bit from Kings Gap towards West Kirby used to be posh, after all it had the Royal Liverpool* Golf Club and the vast mansions along Meols Drive and Stanley Road. The bit from the Cottage Hospital towards Meols could be considered semi-posh. Over the tracks means the far side of the railway from Hoylake Station which consisted of the gas works, the power station, "social housing" and the tip...  

 

Oh yes, and the bit between Kings Gap and the Cottage Hospital was shops and, towards the sea, either Victorian brick terraces or a nest of artisan cottages clustered around the Plasterers Arms pub, which was fairly rough.

 

Its all a bit of a minefield!

 

 

* Hiss, Boo!!!

 

Edited December 1, 2023 by Hroth
Forgot the bit in the middle!

[Winslow Boy]

16 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

See those B'stards at the very top had it in for you, even back then.  Fancy lying like that, and officers too.

 

Would you like me to sneak into Whitehall and have the minutes of that particular meeting redacted?

That's a long time to hold grudge HH. Never thought of you being vindictive. This is a whole new side of you that we're seeing.

[Winslow Boy]

3 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

And of course, some parts of the Wirral would rather not be connected to Liverpool in any shape or form!

 

As for Hoylake, the bit from Kings Gap towards West Kirby used to be posh, after all it had the Royal Liverpool* Golf Club and the vast mansions along Meols Drive and Stanley Road. The bit from the Cottage Hospital towards Meols could be considered semi-posh. Over the tracks means the far side of the railway from Hoylake Station which consisted of the gas works, the power station, "social housing" and the tip...  

 

Its all a bit of a minefield!

 

 

* Hiss, Boo!!!

All I can remember about Formby is that b&_£#y beach. It went on for miles.

[Hroth]

2 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

All I can remember about Formby is that b&_£#y beach. It went on for miles.

 

Thats why it was a good place to leave all the cast iron Anthony Gormleys.

 

(Ok, thats Crosby/Blundellsands but all of that coast seems to merge into one anyway...)