Early Risers.

[The Lurker]

Morning from Borough Market Junction - the sun is burning off the early mroning clouds as a I type. The Mrs was out for dinner with friends last night. One, a larger lady, is constantly complaining about weight and diets whilst tucking into more carbs. The mrs thinks she should walk her younger child to and from school rather than driving, and that would help enormously.

 

Yesterday the younger boy was signed up for the Bexley Library summer challenge ( a way of keeping kids reading when the school isn't making them). He is very keen to complete 12 books this summer. he chose his first two yesterday (a Dr Seuss and a Francesca Simon). They weren't chosen on what they might be about but because they both have 61 pages in them. And as he proudly told me last night 61 and 61 makes 122! Having said all that, he's read at least one of them already!

 

I flown more than Ian but not as many times as quite a few on here. I once flew on Air 2000 from Birmingham to Luton - the flight was scheduled to go to Greece but we had to stop off in Luton to pick up some spare parts for another one of their planes that had broken down in Greece. I guess they took most of the fuel off before the hop.

 

This weekend we plan to go to Hastings - crazy golf is the order of the day. We once went there and they were holding the world Crazy Golf championships; there were an awful lot of strange loooking folk. The Mrs described them recently as "like a bunch of really weird trainspotters. Some of them were young, too". This site is a secret pleasure!

[The Lurker]

I remember my first flight. A DanAir Comet to Crete on my birthday in '76. I was amazed to find a pre-prepared meal already stowed in the back of the seat. Of course, I'd eaten that before we'd even pushed back from the gate. I've only really flown to Spain/Canaries over the last 6 years or so. My first ever long-haul was LGW - Phoenix Arizona with Virgin just 2 weeks after 9/11. Mum was getting older and didn't want to do long flights anymore so the whole family went along as we guessed it would be our last chance. I'd heard about the long queue for Immigration but three hours??? I guess being so soon after 9/11 might have had something to do with it. I remember National Guard everywhere at the airport. After 8 or 9 hours on the plane and then a further 3 in a queue, we were desperate to get out of the airport. As we left the air conditioned terminal, the heat outside was incredible. Amused to see tumbleweeds actually blowing along the taxi rank! Flew back with BA and found the service to be slightly more British. The Virgin crew on the way out were, I think, mostly American. I definitely prefer "Good morning sir" to "Hi honey"...

 

Edit: Thinking about it, even "Hi honey" is way preferable to the "Sit down and shut up" attitude of Ryanair on bucket & spade flights...

We booked tickets to New York for our wedding anniversary the weekend before 9/11. We flew at the end of October. I don't remember the queues particularly but I do remember that the New Yorkers were very pleased we still came.

[jamie92208]

Good morning from the sunny watershed south of Leeds.   A good day in prospect.  SWMBO and I are going out on a bike ride on the ex L&Y Spen Valley line, now called the Spen valley Greenway.  It should be a good morning out before it gets too warm.  

 

Jamie

[trisonic]

I was on one of the first planes out of Newark after 9/11. There were 29 people in total on a 747.

 

Best, Pete.

[gordon s]

I had to fly the day after 9/11, so I guess that was 9/12. Off to Copenhagen and the plane was empty, as was Heathrow. From memory there were only five of us in Club and probably only 40 on the whole plane. It was a great flight, although like others, I was a little nervous. Well at least until the champagne was served as a 'thank you' from BA for even getting on a plane after such an horrific event.

[Pete 75C]

I was on one of the first planes out of Newark after 9/11. There were 29 people in total on a 747.

 

Best, Pete.

 

From memory, there were a lot of empty seats on the Phoenix flight. I think a lot of people had cancelled/postponed.

[AndrewC]

Morning all from the boring borough.

 

Hot, sticky, and crappy. Have to take George to the vet today. He is having a recurrence of his plumbing problems. Poor thing. Basically he has a vary narrow pelvis and will sometimes get bunged up as his colon is restricted there. This in turn puts pressure on his bladder. The vet will have to catheter him to drain the bladder then clean out the poo pipe. This seems to have become an annual event. Needless to say its not his favourite thing.

 

 

Its Friday at least. Have a good one all. Tony, enjoy Brussels. One suggestion: Delirium village. Just stay out of the Floris Absinthe bar.

[AndyB]

Morning all,

Having tried quite a few airlines I'd favour Virgin over BA. I may have mentioned the terrible customer service at Dulles before with BA. Never again. Difficult to reconcile the poor attitude of the American BA ground staff with the recent documentary shown about the company. 

 

I think LAX was going through major renovation work when I passed through it. 

 

My only criticism of JFK concerns their taxi rank. Two parallel queues of passengers and taxis with just one taxi allowed to embark passengers at a time. hundreds of people queuing and we stood there for over an hour; if only they'd have opened up 5 or more loading points the throughput would have been much quicker. Perhaps they have by now, this was over a decade ago.

 

For all that the smell of bacon sarnies being cooked up on an early morning RAF cargo plane out of Brize and getting invited up to the cockpit to watch the Med laid out before us is hard to beat.

"Wotto, Group, didn't expect to see you here." 

"Just keeping my hand in!Haven't flown one of these for ages"

"Good show!" 

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Dry & very warm already, looks like another hot one today with sunny periods this morning and possibility of thundery showers this afternoon.

Just heard on the radio that the temperature on the Tube yesterday was 5^o higher than the legal limit for transporting animals in a cattle truck. (Allegedly)

I'm another who has only flown about a dozen times and I didn't particularly enjoy the experience. (Cooped up and uncomfortable etc)

The two younger grandchildren will be here in an here in an hour or two so looking forward to that. I understand that Gemma is very upset at the moment because Rita (her hamster) has died so suitable sympathetic words will need to be found!

Have a good one,

Bob. (Swearing because it has taken about 20 minutes to post this due to some idiot (guess who)  hitting the flight mode key - must have been all the talk of planes!)

Edited July 25, 2014 by grandadbob

[Robert]

Poor George! 

 

I think he should be made an honorary Early Riser.

 

Get well soon.

[DonBradley]

It is becoming a daily performance, reading three pages of posts after breakfast each day.

                                                 GOOD FRIDAY MORNING ALL    

On the hot meal/cold salad subject,

         Thanks for the various comments.

        Slightly in reverse and on lines of Edcaton's ham,eggs and chips, when I was at home self catering, for a Saturday lunch I enjoyed cold meats with hot mashed potato/boiled egg/baked beans

         There was soft rain over most of last night. I heard the soft patter at various times during the night and it was still pattering whilst I was dressing. However there is some Sun breaking through the still prevailing cloud cover. Rain if forecast through the weekend and into Monday.

      May all your weekend be filled with light, joy and railway modelling.

[DDolfelin]

I've been on Concorde quite a few times.

 

A couple of weeks ago, in a TV programme on Concorde, we were pleased to see film of SWMBO's Uncle and Aunt on the UK inaugural flight.

Not passengers - he was Chief Steward and she was an Air Hostess (before they became trolley dollies).

They've had quite a life since.

Not all her relatives are surplus to requirements.

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, just got up for the second time, was up at 0430 to take Mrs H to the airport (Flymaybe Q400 - ugh) to go to Liverpool for medical experiments involving electrical torture nerve conduction/EMG tests.

 

 

Flying - yes, did quite a bit back in my Merch days, worst was a TWA 727, I think it had square wings or something.  JAL were good back in the day, Air New Zealand have been great more recently and BA were OK in the past.  Oh, forgot about Dan Air...oh those were (N't!) the days - BAC 1-11 cattle trucks.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all, stayed up late last night to watch the Crossrail documentary on BBC2 so I overslept this morning. On the subject of hot/cold meals for many years when I was a youngster the traditional Boxing Day meal was bubble and squeak with cold roast turkey and ham.

[iL Dottore]

Morning, tea break time

..... I'd heard about the long queue for Immigration but three hours??? I guess being so soon after 9/11 might have had something to do with it. ...

Believe me, it was like that before 9/11. It all depends upon both the airport and the flight schedule. I have hadf some pretty long waits. For some reason, in many US airports, Customs and Immigration seem unable to read an arrivals schedule and staff accordingly. SFO can be grim, Chicago - surprisingly - not so. The best was taking BA001 out of LCY to JFK via Shannon. US Customs and Immigration in Shannon (10 minutes or so) then straight in to the domestic arrivals entrance at JFK. Walk off plane, collect luggage, go to limo.

 

I was on one of the first planes out of Newark after 9/11. There were 29 people in total on a 747.

 

Best, Pete.

I was actually waiting to board a LHR BA flight to JFK on 9/11. Normally the club lounge has the TV sound turned down (but then why have a TV at all....), but the sound was turned on for this. Total confusion as the US had no idea of what was going on and flights were either being cancelled, or if in the air returned to departure airport or diverted to Canada. My colleagues and I, who had departed Basel at 07:00, managed to return to Basel at 23:30....

.....,Having tried quite a few airlines I'd favour Virgin over BA. I may have mentioned the terrible customer service at Dulles before with BA. Never again. Difficult to reconcile the poor attitude of the American BA ground staff with the recent documentary shown about the company....

If you were to read the frequent flyer forums (such as the one at Business Traveller), you'd learn that the whole documentary series was greeted with howls of derision... Many frequent flyers found it hard to stomach the interiors manager (or some such title) getting hot under the collar about a tiny scratch on the interior of a brand new A380, when many of BA's aircraft are getting not only long in the tooth, but extremely shabby (and the use of duct tape as a stop gap measure is not unknown). As for the cabin crew training? Quite frankly, I'd rather have someone who knew the aircraft, knew the safety protocols and knew how to provide good inflight service than someone whose main concern was having her damn lipstick on properly (The FF forums were particularly scathing about the CC training). BA used to be very good in the 90s and 2000s, but now??? I hate to say it, but all my recent CH-UK flights have been with Swiss (BSL-LCY). Efficient service, reasonable snack on the short flight, on time arrival (with luggage), clean, modern aircraft.

 

Tea's drunk, back to work

 

Have a good one

[Purley Oaks]

Morning all

 

I have a friend in Chicago who makes a point of flying here around 9/11 because he reckons the prices are better then.

 

Am off to see some Commonwealth Games today - Judo at the SECC - travelling by train, of course, because the drive through is not good. Sun shining here again - a little haar burning off just now - this is our best summer for years, it's so good to get a few days of hot together.

 

Have a good weekend

 

Mal

[skipepsi]

Morning all, up later than normal already warm and not a lot to say, so have a good day all. Flight memory American Airlines LA to NY he landed the plane ( fully loaded 747) so hard it bounced I thought NY was going to sink before I could get off the plane.

[Coombe Barton]

Hot here already. Dogs flaked out. And so are we. If we can summon up the energy we'll go out, maybe to Tehidy where it's cooler under the trees.

 

Movement! One of the dogs has just opened an eye!

 

Then closed it again.

Edited July 25, 2014 by Coombe Barton

[Adams442T]

Morning, just got up for the second time, was up at 0430 to take Mrs H to the airport (Flymaybe Q400 - ugh) to go to Liverpool for medical experiments involving electrical torture nerve conduction/EMG tests.

 

Reminds me of 1992 when, having suffered from numbness in my hands, I ended up having similar tests.  Asked if I were right or left handed I said, "Right-handed".  A series of progressively stronger shocks were passed through my arms, but the tech still wasn't sure.  He called in his supervisor (who looked and sounded like Rosa Klebb from the Bond Films) she cranked it up to max and it lifted me out of the chair.  They still couldn't understand the results.

 

Then I weakly said, "I was originally left-handed, but my wretched primary school forced me to become right-handed."  "Ah, that explains it!", she said and promptly transferred to shocking my left arm!  They then proposed carpel tunnel operations on both hands, which would have meant I wouldn't be able to use either for about a month consecutively.  As I was sculpting model figures professionally for Britains at the time it was hardly an option.  Then a friend recommended a chiropractor in Ludlow to me and three sessions later everything was back to normal and working OK.

 

Moral of the story:  Do remember to tell your left from your right!

[AndyB]

I remember a flight to San Francisco once on AA from LHR. Just as they were pushing back from the stand the stewardess announced:

"We'll be serving a variety of juices on this 11 hour flight."

Well, the panic that broke out at the thought of no alcohol....

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Ah, aeroplane rides - apart from holidays (occasionally) I seem to have done most of my trips by air in my final 'big railway' job, definitely the vast majority of my 'on the company trips' and usually BA or British Midland although a couple with SAS (good grub).  The most interesting was from Glasgow to Brussels - watching the evening peak at Glasgow's airport was amusing as just about every flight taking off was a prop driven aircraft (in the mid/late 1990s) while my own aircraft was a BAC 1-11 - which had come as a surprise when the booking was confirmed as BA didn't have any 1-11s, they were long gone.  However Hurn Aviation did and quite a  number of them were on lease to BA complete with crews, excellent inflight service but I was the only passenger in 'Club'.  Only long haul experience was when in the insultancy game and I flew out to Aus a couple of times - very impressed by BA Club World and on the second working equally impressed by Cathay Pacific's equivalent.

 

Dunno much about Virgin but the Aus version - Virgin Blue - is like travelling on an overcrowded 'bus but at least it seems somewhat better organised than that total shambles of the airline industry - O'Leary Air, most amateurish concern I have ever flown with and never again; the only good thing about my trip with them was that the airfield they pretended was serving Hamburg was actually at Lubeck and a reasonable 'bus ride from the Hbf.

 

Friday so it's Waitrose, in Tilehurst, plus return to Dunelm Mills to return the bed linen purchased yesterday which, on washing and ironing does not match up to the standards Mrs Stationmaster expects for the amount it cost.

 

Have a good day one & all.

[Barry O]

shopping done...  

 

worst flight ever.... Britannia Airlines white knuckle airlines trooper from Luton to Hannover.. even though I was civvy my "honorary" rank was Colonel.. so I was faced with a prisoner in handcuffs being escorted back from being AWOL.....  then, when we went to collect out luggage they had destroyed my case!

 

Dan Dare were interesting - but the nicest people were British Caledonian... my mum hated travelling in anything but once she had had a gin and tonic she decided flying was great.  after we had taken off she asked - are we flying yet... my response was of course mum look how far above the ground we are...... and even helped a nervous flyer on the way back... Gatwick - Wildenrath....

 

BA used to be terrific in Club Class - then the bean counters took over... sad day!

 

Now off to do some railways  as in model railways  just in case Debs is watching..

[DDolfelin]

My first 'close call' was British Caledonian.

Not on a flight but with one of the attendants!

Fortunately I wasn't ready to settle down.

[Adams442T]

Booked my usual September flight to Chicago, but this time with Virgin and not BA.  Two years ago the outbound leg was with their 'sister service' American Airlines.  Unfortunately I wasn't informed of this until I arrived at T5 and had to gallop around to T3, which didn't put me in the best of moods to start with.

 

The AA plane was dirty and scruffy, and so were the flight attendants, with an attitude more worthy of Ryanair.  Last year was the same, and I thought I'm not paying BA prices for AA service, especially when I found out it would have been cheaper to book with AA in the first place. 

 

So this year it's going to be a 'Branson Bomber' flight.  I live in hope.................

[DDolfelin]

Best flight: Air India (many years ago) - they even gave me a complimentary 'passion tester'.

Worst flight: Air Ryan - never again.