Adams442T Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Hi Peter We flew Virgin to Chicago this time last year - wonderful flights - but then we were upgraded for the first and probably only times in our lives to Premium Economy, including access to the Virgin lounge at Heathrow which is astonishing - free food, free booze (yes, champagne and malts if you wish), so no wonder it was such a memorable flight. Btw, in more serious mode, did you suffer from any speech problems following your primary school made you switch from being left-handed to right-handed? Mal Hi Mal, Fortunately I didn't , though I know it is a common result of being forced to change dominant hands. What happened though was I was unable to learn how to read and spent most of my time there sitting in the corner with a dunce's cap on (yes, it was that progressive!) That and writing in mirror fashion convinced the school that I was somehow in league with Satan. Then one Saturday morning in March after my ninth birthday I woke up and going into the kitchen realised I could read every word of my parent's newspaper. I went straight across the road to our local library (remember those?) and got out Biggles & the Camel Squadron and The Adventures of Bulldog Drummond. Read them by Monday and went straight back in and took out the biggest, fattest book I could find, which was Sherlock Holmes - Short Stories, and I have been a Doyle aficionado ever since. Within a week back at school I went from the bottom class to the top and a year later became the first pupil there ever to pass the 11+. NO thanks to them! An appalling dump with sadists for staff, sadly like so many in the 50s. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Happy Hippo Posted July 25, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 25, 2014 Lovely! I do believe that's a Comet. Interesting that engines 1 and 4 are running lower RPMs than 2 and 3. Had a flight in a Nimrod some time back in the last century. 1 and 4 got throttled back once in the cruise as it saved fuel, and the power from all 4 engines wasn't required to maintain speed or altitude Next trip would be 2 and 3 wound down. the other advantage with the Comet was that it had quite benign asymetric flight handling charateristics with all 4 engines buried in the wing roots and very close to the a/c centreline. I wouldn't like to see them trying to drag a Jumbo across the Atlantic on 1 and 4. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted July 25, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 25, 2014 In Brussels. Eurostar fine. Train to Bru Central fine. Found hotel, found nearby bar for lunch. Found another one for tea. They have silly names for beer here, Delerium Tremens is beer of the month. 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted July 25, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 25, 2014 I think it might be quite a shock driving down the A4130 to Didcot on Sunday morning as the cooling towers at Didcot A are very prominent in the distance as you come down Gangsdown Hill off the scarp slope of the Chilterns. Having got used to that distant view over many years it is going to feel quite strange when it goes. As we all know, the Crystal Palace burnt down in 1936 with considerable spectacle, the glow being visible from the South Downs. But, of course, the masonry bits generally don't burn and thus it was that the towers remained in situ. When the Luftwaffe started visiting London, they found the towers to be a jolly good sighting point, so something needed to be done. A colleague, then a young man, was travelling up the line from Norwood to London Bridge, looking at the towers - when one of them exploded and collapsed. As you would - he shouted "Look! Look!" to others on the train, but they'd missed it all, wondered what he was on about. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurenceb Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 When I started school my mother informed the headmistress that I was left handed to which she replied "dont worry we will soon cure him of that" My mother told her that they wouldnt. Life at that school was allways miserable. Laurence Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium NGT6 1315 Posted July 25, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 25, 2014 When I started school my mother informed the headmistress that I was left handed to which she replied "dont worry we will soon cure him of that" My mother told her that they wouldnt. Life at that school was allways miserable. Laurence While I've always been right-handed, I admit I have always found it baffling and completely illogical how something which I'd effectively call superstition could have such massive repercussions! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete 75C Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 How on earth did they think they could "cure" someone that was left-handed? Just forcing them to write with their right hand? And why was it felt neccesary? Odd. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted July 25, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 25, 2014 We have lived through times when being gay was illegal, and I think we all now accept you have no more say in that predisposition than being left or right handed. It is perhaps unfortunate that the term "sinister" was applied to the latter by cultures before ours. My little village skool in the '50s was obsessed by only one thing - getting pupils through the 11+. I was a lucky beneficiary. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbishop Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 I doubt if Tony S will post again tonight. Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted July 25, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 25, 2014 I doubt if Tony S will post again tonight. You think the DTs will get him, eh? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Challenge of the day: How to get a 3 cwt. metal-cutting bandsaw, down safely out of the pup-mobile, through the house and into the workshop, without the help of lifting gear or another 'Amazon' like myself. ........for those whom think that Imperial measures are needlessly confusing: 3 hundredweight is about equal to 3.66 Firkin of ale or beer (but not cider or wine). When building the Royal Albert Bridge Brunel used the tides - floated the sections upriver and used successive tides to jack it up You're near the coast, aren't you? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewC Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 In Brussels. Eurostar fine. Train to Bru Central fine. Found hotel, found nearby bar for lunch. Found another one for tea. They have silly names for beer here, Delerium Tremens is beer of the month. Sweet Zombie Jesus, he's on the pink elephants. One of my absolute favourite beers. For the twiggy brown muck 3.x% brigade its a Belgian blonde beer @ 8.5% abv. It lives up to its name. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon G Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 How on earth did they think they could "cure" someone that was left-handed? Just forcing them to write with their right hand? And why was it felt neccesary? Odd. Just remember that in Latin, left handed is 'sinister' while right handed is 'dexter' where dexterity etc come from. In many 'civilisations' left handedness was seen as evil, or at best bad, hence the attempts to cure it. Being left handed myself, I am lucky that I never encountered any of this. On average you will find that left handed people are more ambidextrous than right handed people, as they are forced to sue their right hand more, just because that is the way items are designed (think old turntables, watches and more, all of which were designed to be operated right handed). 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted July 25, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 25, 2014 Sweet Zombie Jesus, he's on the pink elephants. One of my absolute favourite beers. For the twiggy brown muck 3.x% brigade its a Belgian blonde beer @ 8.5% abv. It lives up to its name. When we first moved here, about a decade ago, my soldier Godson (yes, really!) was an early visitor. On a shopping trip I pointed out the plethora of strong Belgian beers in the supermarket and he tried a few. Evidently back in barracks he told others of his find - and apparently I became a "legend" for introducing young men to strong beer. Life can be tough at times. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pH Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 ........for those whom think that Imperial measures are needlessly confusing: 3 hundredweight is about equal to 3.66 Firkin of ale or beer (but not cider or wine). Ah, the 'firkin' - the standard Imperial unit of excess. Because of this, never used singly, but always in multiple, as in "two firkin big", "two firkin heavy" etc. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted July 25, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 25, 2014 Ah, the 'firkin' - the standard Imperial unit of excess. Because of this, never used singly, but always in multiple, as in "two firkin big", "two firkin heavy" etc. Don't forget the Bruce's chain of micro-breweries in '80s London, all named as pubs with "and Firkin" in their title. The "Phoenix & Firkin", which had seen previous life as Denmark Hill Station ticket office, offered tee-shirts saying "Phoenix my pint I'll firkin thump 'im!" 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted July 25, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 25, 2014 When I started school my mother informed the headmistress that I was left handed to which she replied "dont worry we will soon cure him of that" My mother told her that they wouldnt. Life at that school was allways miserable. Laurence My dad was left handed and at school in the 20's and 30's was forced to use his right hand. My brother is also left handed and when my father found out that when he started school that the teachers were trying to make use his right hand he was straight down to the school to tell the headmaster in no uncertain terms that it was not going to happen, and it didn't. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
travelintrev Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Evenin all, What plank (other descriptions are available) arranges a meeting for 1:30 on a Friday afternoon then dont turn up for an hour.....hence as it's holiday weekend terrible traffic......Grumpy - you bet! As too flying, many years ago just before my first flight ( Jersey, for work) the company took on a number of fitters who were ex Handly Page. These guys had a job getting there heads round us "rough" plant fitters. (Even though we could accurately "drill" a one inch hole through 5/8" plate with a gas axe. ! Always telling us how accurate airplane engineering was...so first flight (gas mask bag full of tools, three foot long camshaft wrapped up in a sack as hand luggage) Looks out the window of the plane, patches on the wings held on with unevenly spaced pop rivets! They got some stick when I got back! Not used BA much but worst was returning from Bangladesh - told us "sorry no coffee or tea, only soft drinks" 12 hours with NO caffine!!! - but at least it was a cloudless flight along the Himalayas and across central Europe. Only used Virgin a couple of times -- Barbados (work) but got really bad attitude from cabin steward 'cos I did not want to buy anything from his trolley.....Now my airline of choice is KLM... Left handed Trev, (though one of my Grandfathers had the hand tied behind back treatment), My de-winton alike beckons after tea, Enjoy your evening Trev. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Happy Hippo Posted July 25, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 25, 2014 Olddudders: A legend, in more ways than one! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted July 25, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 25, 2014 Olddudders: A legend, in more ways than one! Aw, shucks! [as they say] 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurenceb Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 (edited) The one tool I have most problems with is (are) scissors, they and I just dont get on Laurence Why is it that you only see spolling mistuks AFTER you have posted Edited July 25, 2014 by laurenceb Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashcombe Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Don't forget the Bruce's chain of micro-breweries in '80s London, all named as pubs with "and Firkin" in their title. The "Phoenix & Firkin", which had seen previous life as Denmark Hill Station ticket office, offered tee-shirts saying "Phoenix my pint I'll firkin thump 'im!" Ferret & Firkin in Stafford, if I remember rightly. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium NGT6 1315 Posted July 25, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 25, 2014 Jumpin' Cracker and Rabbit Hutch hit the iron road: Look here for what this is all about: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/599/entry-14457-jumpin-cracker-a-new-job-for-the-gohlis-workshops/ 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold colin penfold Posted July 25, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 25, 2014 Don't forget the Bruce's chain of micro-breweries in '80s London, all named as pubs with "and Firkin" in their title. The "Phoenix & Firkin", which had seen previous life as Denmark Hill Station ticket office, offered tee-shirts saying "Phoenix my pint I'll firkin thump 'im!" And the fox & firkin which issued a t-shirt with "for fox sake give us a firkin pint" 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted July 25, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 25, 2014 Evening all. Went out for another walk and meal. Cultural stuff tomorrow or so I have been informed. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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