The Night Mail

[iL Dottore]

On the subject of survival, many years ago I read an interesting article about how much of the body a person can loose and still live.

 

If I recall correctly, it was along the lines of 

 

You can loose

 

1.5 kidneys

3/4 of your liver

All 4 limbs

Both eyes

Your hearing

Most of your cerebral cortex

A good percentage of your cardiac muscle 

 

And you'd still live - it wouldn't be much of life and a very short one indeed  (unless you had someone to feed and clean you), but you'd be alive.

 

The human body is an amazing construct and even more fun than model railways to play with

[iL Dottore]

23 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

No, that course is far more gruelling.

 

It's nine days in the Bahamas.

Only nine days? God, that's brutal - barely enough time to unpack the dress uniform, set up a tab at the mess, get in a few rounds of golf and neck a few sundowners.

[J. S. Bach]

3 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Aditi is always very impressed when I use one of the model railway tools to repair something. I wouldn’t use the garden chainsaw on my railway. Though when I see some of the layouts on here and in magazines I sometimes feel like ripping it all up and starting again. 

If I had visited the "best" layouts and enjoyed them; and maybe an operating session on yours (a minor friendship involved); if I were disappointed in mine, I would rip it all up and put the new down by the end of the next day. Brio is so easy to work play with! 🙄

[Happy Hippo]

21 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Only nine days? God, that's brutal - barely enough time to unpack the dress uniform, set up a tab at the mess, get in a few rounds of golf and neck a few sundowners.

Defence Cuts

[Happy Hippo]

29 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

On the subject of survival, many years ago I read an interesting article about how much of the body a person can loose and still live.

 

If I recall correctly, it was along the lines of 

 

You can loose

 

1.5 kidneys

3/4 of your liver

All 4 limbs

Both eyes

Your hearing

Most of your cerebral cortex

A good percentage of your cardiac muscle 

 

And you'd still live - it wouldn't be much of life and a very short one indeed  (unless you had someone to feed and clean you), but you'd be alive.

 

The human body is an amazing construct and even more fun than model railways to play with

Do you know what you call anyone in that state without causing them offence?

 

 

Anything you like

 

 

Hat coat etc

Edited 4 hours ago by Happy Hippo

[Tony_S]

10 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

If I had visited the "best" layouts and enjoyed them; and maybe an operating session on yours (a minor friendship involved); if I were disappointed in mine, I would rip it all up and put the new down by the end of the next day. Brio is so easy to work play with! 🙄

The Brio layouts used to go everywhere. My model railways have never had that access. 

[J. S. Bach]

31 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Only nine days? God, that's brutal - barely enough time to unpack the dress uniform, set up a tab at the mess, get in a few rounds of golf and neck a few sundowners.

What? No afternoon delight?

 

 

[Tony_S]

9 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Do you know what you call anyone in that state without causing them offence?

 

 

Anything you like

 

 

Hat coat etc

MiL’s memory is awful now. We were having afternoon tea and I repeatedly had to decline cake. She even waved a mince pie in front of me and said they were for me. I was a touch irritated and sounded tetchy. I immediately felt very guilty but Aditi said her Mum wouldn’t remember. Still felt bad though. 

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

No, that course is far more gruelling.

 

It's nine days in the Bahamas.

One assumes making there own way there was part of the course.

[Winslow Boy]

32 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

The Brio layouts used to go everywhere. My model railways have never had that access. 

Never put it in your top pocket of your shirt.

[Tony_S]

9 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Never put it in your top pocket of your shirt.

Is that worse than standing on a stickle brick or kneeling on a piece of Lego?

[New Haven Neil]

Interesting that chainsaws are in mention, that's tomorrow's task, chainsawing firewood into burner-sized lengths, for splitting later at our leisure.  I will however, be dressed up like Robo-Fraggle, in full chainsaw-specific protective equipment, as the weapon in question is a powerful petrol Stihl.  Not to be trifled with.

 

Merch survival courses weren't about slug eating, more how to try not to drown while getting the inflatable SOLAS liferaft the right way up, as the bl**dy things always inflate upside down.  Firefighting courses were much more fun, and once it came in very handy indeed when I had a little fiery 'incident' to deal with when on watch.  It's amazing how adrenaline kicks the training in automatically when faced with a large (IRO 2,000 hp) generator engine bursting into flames. Fair cleaned the arteries out I can tell you.

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

When I did the RAF jungle survival course in 1968 I ate slug stew made by bunging slugs and various bits of greenery and roots into a pot with about a pound of curry powder and boiling for a few hours. If you ignored your mind telling you that it must be yucky because of what was in it, it wasn't too bad but I was careful not to repeat the exercise. (I'll gloss over the fried centipedes shall I?).

 

Dave

 

I once saw the Korean equivalent of a "Burger Van" in a Car park selling....deep fried Chysalis....

And no, I didn't....

 

I also saw tins of Pickled Silkworm Pupae in their Co-op.

No....

 

50 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

The Army were always led to believe that the RAF  aircrew survival course was passed only if you managed to endure an overnight stay  in a suite at The Peninsula Hotel at Hyde Park Corner.

 

The next day consisted of crossing the road, whilst carrying your own suitcase without supervision or assistance, and then bimbling through Green Park, taking in the air and views of various military memorials.

 

The course finished by taking afternoon tea at The Ritz.

 

A certain RM doing the Dartmoor Survival Course made the Nationals when he phoned his Missus reverse-charges from a phone box and got her to book him into a Pub for a few days, full board.  His downfall was he got gobby about it in the Bar one night and someone bubbled him to The Boys at Poole.

By all accounts he didn't get b0lloked (yeah, right...) as "they are encouraged to use their wits etc. etc." but "it isn't in the spirit of the exercise and he WILL be repeating the Course....."

 

That'll teach him to keep his trap shut next time.

[Northmoor]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I asked a couple of my students what they had done over half term and they said they had been to Norway. I said how lovely but it was an ATC survival experience by the people who organise such courses for aircrew. They failed in their attempt to catch a rabbit to eat but a kindly Flight Sergeant chucked a dead warm bunny into their tent to prepare and eat. 
Tony

I didn't watch many of Ray Mears' programmes, but the one he did about "The Real Heroes of Telemark" was quite though-provoking.  As so often, the real story is more remarkable than the Hollywood version.

 

In explaining how they out-skied expert German army skiers and survived the winter living off the land, Ray camped with a couple of British and Norwegian Marines (the former often do Arctic training with the latter as they're the experts).  The Norwegian commented on how his colleagues revere the individuals in the story, for doing what they did with 1940s clothing and equipment (and they were civilians).

[Northmoor]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

Is that worse than standing on a stickle brick or kneeling on a piece of Lego?

Spotted near London Victoria a few years ago:

[Happy Hippo]

6 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

I didn't watch many of Ray Mears' programmes, but the one he did about "The Real Heroes of Telemark" was quite though-provoking.  As so often, the real story is more remarkable than the Hollywood version.

 

In explaining how they out-skied expert German army skiers and survived the winter living off the land, Ray camped with a couple of British and Norwegian Marines (the former often do Arctic training with the latter as they're the experts).  The Norwegian commented on how his colleagues revere the individuals in the story, for doing what they did with 1940s clothing and equipment (and they were civilians).

I recall Lofty Wiseman saying that if he had to escape and evade with either Bear Ghrylls or Ray Mears, he'd take Ray Mears with him every time.

 

If it all went really bad, there was more meat on Ray Mears!

[Tony_S]

1 minute ago, Happy Hippo said:

I recall Lofty Wiseman saying that if he had to escape and evade with either Bear Ghrylls or Ray Mears, he'd take Ray Mears with him every time.

 

If it all went really bad, there was more meat on Ray Mears!

I have never seen a Bear Grylls programme but we did watch a Ray Mears series about Canada.  It was when we first got an HD television and we were saying “oooh look at that snow.”  

[Dave Hunt]

3 hours ago, Hroth said:

I was going to mention The Orange One, but decided not to attempt any "political" comment. However, he is a bit "sluggy", isn't he...

 

As in ugly, slimy and leaves a trail of damage in his wake you mean?

 

Dave 

[Dave Hunt]

3 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

We have come to like snails but only after they have been cleansed by being fed flour for three weeks prior to being cooked in garlic, butter and breadcrumbs. 

 

When we lived in Germany we used to eat snails fairly often cooked, as you describe, in garlic and butter and sometimes breadcrumbs. I don't think we've had them in the last thirty years though.

 

Dave

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Is that worse than standing on a stickle brick or kneeling on a piece of Lego?

All depends. Is the biro still in your top pocket?

Edited 32 minutes ago by Winslow Boy

[pH]

7 hours ago, Hroth said:

OTOH, I wouidn't mind those boxes of marshmallow teacakes* visible in the basket …

 

There’s a wagon for them:

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/48144-whacky-signs/?do=findComment&comment=5649569

 

[Dave Hunt]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

The Army were always led to believe that the RAF  aircrew survival course was passed only if you managed to endure an overnight stay  in a suite at The Peninsula Hotel at Hyde Park Corner.

 

The next day consisted of crossing the road, whilst carrying your own suitcase without supervision or assistance, and then bimbling through Green Park, taking in the air and views of various military memorials.

 

The course finished by taking afternoon tea at The Ritz.

 

I must have got the shi!!y end of the stick then. The ones I did - jungle, winter and desert, were all horrible, as were the sea survival ones and the dinghy drills we had to do every 18 months. The North Sea in February is not somewhere I would suggest taking a dip off the back of a swiftly moving air/sea rescue launch.

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Wouldn't that depend upon whether or not they've been fast tracked for loadsa gold braid?

 

Ah, that could explain where I went wrong as my career topped out still in blue and short of gold braid, although I did get a fetching green coverall.

 

Dave

[pH]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

On the subject of survival, many years ago I read an interesting article about how much of the body a person can loose and still live.

 

If I recall correctly, it was along the lines of 

 

You can loose

 

1.5 kidneys

3/4 of your liver

All 4 limbs

Both eyes

Your hearing

Most of your cerebral cortex

A good percentage of your cardiac muscle 

I hope these figures were not established by practical experimentation!

[polybear]

7 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

I must have got the shi!!y end of the stick then. The ones I did - jungle, winter and desert, were all horrible, as were the sea survival ones and the dinghy drills we had to do every 18 months. The North Sea in February is not somewhere I would suggest taking a dip off the back of a swiftly moving air/sea rescue launch.

 

Dave

 

Bear's dinghy drills were all in the pool, apart from 2 or 3 times in Portland Harbour; the latter were the best fun as the SAR Heli would winch you.