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 1 hour 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.