Early Risers.

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a bright and sunny village.  SWMBO has gone to fat club so a morning of moving baseboards and testing tracks beckons.

 

Glad to hear that things are working for you Jock.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[southern42]

Morning all from a very wet Palace of Attendance.  It is, as they say back home, enting down.  It has been for many hours.  It's rain we badly need but it makes everything soggy including the morning mood.

 

I wish for rain to fall over Andy IDs fires.  I know from very up-close personal experience just how savage bush fires are.  Google "Black Saturday".  We watched the fires take hold and spread from here.  We watched them flash over along a hundred kilometres of hills and we watched as towns were destroyed in seconds.  With the burnt ground still warm to the touch I then offered my services (strictly volunteers only) to my then employer, a major insurer, when we sent our emergency response caravan into the area and spent a week in the remains of Marysville dealing with the total loss not only of property, possessions and livelihoods but of life too in many cases.  It's sobering to consider just how you might prove your own identity with everything single thing you ever owned destroyed, never mind trying to remember your bank details to receive a payout.

 

In a more typical summer we are engulfed by smoke from fires for several days, occasionally longer, at a time.  Visibility is sometimes near zero despite the fires being often a long way away. The little flecks of black ash get everywhere.

 

If Moses spoke to the Lord in the burning bush he might well have been Australian

 

Dom - yes you are rather off the deep end here when learning to drive trams but the first types you learn are extremely easy to control (two pedals - stop / go with vigilance on the go) and very few people fail to make the grade.  Melbourne had its first tram strike in 18 years today for around four hours.  There's more to come I'm afraid.

 

To each and all - have a safe and happy day or sound sleep and peaceful dreams according to your time zone / shift pattern.

 

Some years ago, I was shelving the library books on my shift when I discovered "Smokejumpers: A Memoir by One of America's Most Select Airborne Firefighters" by Jason A Ramos and Julian Smith and, as it was quiet, I started to read some of it (somewhere in the middle of the book!).  Awe inspiring stuff. I did venture back to it a few times but didn't get round to reading it all.  I read Life on the Footplate stories these days (when the fancy takes me.) and way, way before either of these, Life on the Big Mountains, and even earlier (turn away those who are of a sensitive disposition) Enid Blyton adventure books.  I have family in Australia, so have grown up with the anxiety that accompanies these forest fires as they encroach on the wider neighbourhood and worry the distant relatives.  Thanks, all, for posting your experiences. Really interesting.

[edcayton]

You 

 

.  SWMBO has gone to fat club so a morning of moving baseboards and testing tracks beckons.

 

 

Jamie

 

You could politely suggest that if she helped to move baseboards she wouldn't need to go to fat club.

 

Ed

[southern42]

Oooohhh ..... overlooked a couple of things.

 

Good news.  The only passenger rail link between Melbourne and Adelaide, which was about to be withdrawn, has been bailed out by the South Australian gummint.  Linky

 

Bad news.  Peculiar Knob is to be abandoned.  Linky  It's next door to Iron Knob for those who don't know

 

 

 

And we worry about a short branch line.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. An item in the news this morning about the Clacton air show is its going ahead today despite some other air shows being cancelled after the disaster at Shoreham. On that subject video has just come to light showing the aircraft appearing to have a 'flame out' at the top of the loop, this would also explain why the aircraft stalled at the bottom of the loop (IIRC called a vertical stall). Personally I think the pilot was aiming for open ground beyond the road but didn't quite make it. The dismal weather at the moment means nothing much can be done outside but if the forecast is anything to go by tomorrow and Saturday should be a lot better.

[PhilJ W]

You 

 

 

You could politely suggest that if she helped to move baseboards she wouldn't need to go to fat club.

 

Ed

:blackeye:

[Gwiwer]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. An item in the news this morning about the Clacton air show is its going ahead today despite some other air shows being cancelled after the disaster at Shoreham. On that subject video has just come to light showing the aircraft appearing to have a 'flame out' at the top of the loop, this would also explain why the aircraft stalled at the bottom of the loop (IIRC called a vertical stall). Personally I think the pilot was aiming for open ground beyond the road but didn't quite make it. The dismal weather at the moment means nothing much can be done outside but if the forecast is anything to go by tomorrow and Saturday should be a lot better.

 

Clacton and Eastbourne shows are mostly over water.  Someone somewhere asked why was that not done at Shoreham - not sure if it was here, one of the Farcebook pages or on a news feed.  The airfield at Shoreham is just too far inland from the open sea to make this practicable.  You'd see most of the aircraft most of the time but only at some distance and with low-level vision obstructed by the sea-front flats on Beach Green.

 

I have watched the clips of the Shoreham disaster numerous times.  I see what might be a puff of smoke (or might just be momentary sun glint on the engine) as the aircraft is almost nose to the ground.  We can guess that in the very few seconds the pilot had available he might have attempted to clear the road and ditch in farmland.  Another clip now in the public domain shows a near head-on approach and the crash itself at very close quarters.  The aircraft is almost skimming trees then appears to drop like a stone a few critical feet and fails to clear the road.

 

The investigators have a mass of material to wade through.  Shoreham, surrounding towns and villages where the disaster has been felt, and the aviation industry, will await their answers keenly.

[BoD]

Bad news.  Peculiar Knob is to be abandoned.  Linky  It's next door to Iron Knob for those who don't know

 

I wonder where the sub editor learned to write such slick headlines.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Woke up late, just after nine. Still tired! Not doing much today. Matthew will be packing for his departure to The Netherlands tomorrow morning. He is flying from Southend so it won't even be a long journey from home to the airport.

Tony

[Oldddudders]

I wonder where the sub editor learned to write such slick headlines.

It has all the impenetrable terseness of the financial pages, written very much for the cognoscenti.

[BoD]

It has all the impenetrable terseness of the financial pages, written very much for the cognoscenti.

Now I know why I don't read the finance pages.

 

That and the fact I don't have any money.

[Oldddudders]

If I have it right, Eye-Fi lets you connect the camera to an existing wi-fi network. The cool thing about the Coolpix is that the camera becomes the actual wi-fi network, so you can link the tablet to the camera anywhere.

http://www.eyefi.com/

 

It creates its own wifi network, to which you can add your phone, laptop, tablet, so all your snaps are saved where you really want them. In the field this can be enormously useful, no doubt. My Nikon D750 does the same sort of thing.

[Happy Hippo]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. An item in the news this morning about the Clacton air show is its going ahead today despite some other air shows being cancelled after the disaster at Shoreham. On that subject video has just come to light showing the aircraft appearing to have a 'flame out' at the top of the loop, this would also explain why the aircraft stalled at the bottom of the loop (IIRC called a vertical stall). Personally I think the pilot was aiming for open ground beyond the road but didn't quite make it. The dismal weather at the moment means nothing much can be done outside but if the forecast is anything to go by tomorrow and Saturday should be a lot better.

Not a flame out!

 

Had it been so, the pilot would never have continued coming off the top of the loop and diving away, he would have rolled out to wings level and started a gentle descent to keep his airspeed up. At the same time he would have advised ATC he had a major problem. That is standard student pilot stuff...........call for help and keep as much altitude as possible, so that you can look for somewhere to make a forced landing. as the pilot was an experienced airline captain as well as a CAA approved display pilot, I doubt he would have continued to dive towards the ground in what would have been a flying brick.

 

This 'flame out' is the media speculation at work again quoting experts, whose only expertise seems that they can identify the pointy end of an aeroplane, and then  fill this out by making misinformed and misleading statements.  (And please don't get me started on the way the press twist and misquote  statements so that they are taken completely out of context).

 

If you look at the photo with any objectivity, you can see that the flash behind the ill fated Hunter, is not on the axis of the engine and appears much closer.  It's probably a reflection of the sun off the camera lens.  It is also only seen from this particular angle and is not visible on any of the other photographic evidence that is both plentiful and readily available.  That is my interpretation, which the experienced photographers on this forum will either concur with, or tell me to shut up!

 

If you listen to the videos, of which there are plenty, you can hear the engine performing without a falter throughout the manoeuvre.

 

The AAIB, whom I believe have a first class pedigree in their work, will make an informed albeit interim report, as soon as they have acquired enough evidence to support it.

Edited August 27, 2015 by Happy Hippo

[Barry O]

Morning all!

 

Good news on the over landed Rick as we travelled to our friends in Murray Bridge from Melbourne last year. A good way to see some countryside. Our next visit has this trip pencilled in again.

 

So its 31C and sunny here. Breakfast and post breakfast route march undertaken. May have to go and rest my eyes for a while.....

 

Is this new fangled solid state disk drives like core store? No visible moving parts but proof against a nuclear arms emp????

Baz

Edited August 27, 2015 by Barry O

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Good to hear that Jock's oramorph doesn't have the effect on him that bacon sandwiches have on me and that some pain relief has been effective.

 

The Shoreham 'experts' continue to spill out of the woodwork and I do wonder about the flameout theory as some videos were producing a very convincing jet engine sound as the plane came round from the loop.  I think itt is still all very speculative but an AAIB statement is expected by the end of the week which might clarify things on a factual basis rather than the assumptions of multiple 'experts' which have littered the media.  The police have also reportedly announced that they hope to have a  single lane (in each direction??) of the A27 opened on Monday although the weather has been hampering search work at the site.

 

To brighter things and the smell of freshly pulled leeks being converted into soup seems to be coming from the kitchen and in view of Pestival activities in Reading this weekend it is possible that today will become Friday when equated to Waitrose visit terms.

 

Have a good day one & all

Edited August 27, 2015 by The Stationmaster

[Tony_S]

Is this new fangled solid dick drives like core store? No visible moving parts but proof against a nuclear arms emp????

Baz

Only with lead lined underwear.

[Barry O]

Edited to sort out kobo inspired word alterations...

[jamie92208]

You 

 

 

You could politely suggest that if she helped to move baseboards she wouldn't need to go to fat club.

 

Ed

You are obviously a braver man that I Gunga Din.

 

Jamie

[The Lurker]

The police

and in other tangents, Giles York commander of said police force who was briefly interviewed yesterday was in my year at school.

[AndyB]

Afternoon all,

 

Just checked my gantt chart and it tells me I'll be working near Aberystwyth in Q2/3 of 2018. I won't call it "summer" as from previous experience one wouldn't have known. 

 

Regarding ladies only compartments, the GWR banned an elderly relative of mine for being rowdy on a train whilst going to a gals school in Shrewsbury; I believe she was swinging on the luggage rack and kicked a window out! Outrageous; I hasten to mention that she was a relative by marriage! 

 

A break in the weather means I'm going out to do some more MDF board cutting. 

 

Have a nice day everyone. Andy

[roundhouse]

Morning, well it is here

 

Another great day doing new brews. What a sunny day it was.

 

Today we ride Amtrak to Tacoma. Not been around that city so this will rectify that.

 

Andrew - we will be back in Portland  next year either before or after doing the Indianapolis Convention.

[Ohmisterporter]

Afternoon all. We found this poor chap on our drive the other morning. The first time we have seen a Long Eared bat in the flesh so to speak, but it was dead. About three inches in length of body. Enlightening to know that not all the bats we see flying around in the evenings are Pipistrelles, one of which flew inside our bedroom and hung from the ceiling. We opened the windows wide and eventually he found his way out. I can at least verify that fresh bat poo is soft and sticky. 

Too late for this bat but stay safe all.

 

[roundhouse]

I wonder if they have bats in this tower

 

Waiting at Portlans Union station for our train which is running about 30 minutes late

[jamie92208]

I wonder if they have bats in this tower

 

They may not have but I bet they don't have that supposedly endangered species 'The Great Crested Newt' that seems to spend it's time migrating from one proposed railway project site to another.

 

Jamie

[Tony_S]

They may not have but I bet they don't have that supposedly endangered species 'The Great Crested Newt' that seems to spend it's time migrating from one proposed railway project site to another.

 

Jamie

I believe in Holland that Field Hamsters have been known to appear at some industrial development sites.