Early Risers.

[Happy Hippo]

54 minutes ago, Kingzance said:

 

The Sports Club was rather poorly attended and has a new committee chairman, a nice enough bloke and who will probably be good, but heaven protect us from the waffle machine that is the other a Parish Councillor on the project committee. Her ability to engage in the language of local government b*sh*t knows no bounds and she is usually so far off-topic that I struggle to stay listening to her comments. She has an interest in children’s’ play equipment having been involved in the pre-school provision for the village and she now wants to create such facilities for weenagers / teenagers and apparently a new meeting room in the local Methodist Church complex yet forgets that this committee was formed to develop and perhaps subsequently manage the creation of a new sports pavilion and changing rooms.

Every time she goes off topic she needs to be reigned in:  Just interrupt by asking the Chair if what she is saying is relevant.

 

Brutal?  Rude?

 

She might get the message. 

 

 

It does work, or at least I think it does after my own experience with being asked to attend a local scout group committee meeting as the parent's representative.

 

The first meeting  was all over the shop with much of the content chat about other people of whom I  had no knowledge.

 

As the meeting progressed I found myself  interrupting just to try and keep things on track.

 

Even with my efforts it took nearly two hours!

 

The second meeting was a bit more dynamic, as the Chairman was absent and as the rest of the committee hummed and haa'd about what to do, I turned around and said I'd run the meeting!

 

I didn't wait for a vote of confidence, just told the secretary to get on with apologies for non attendance and to read out the previous minutes.  I than mildly castigated him for not having a copies available for each committee member. 

 

After that it continued to be quite brutal: Anything that started to drift off topic was steered forcefully back in line and anything that had no relevance to the meeting was just crushed by a now, power crazed river horse.

 

The meeting was done and dusted in just under 20 minutes.

 

I concluded by pointing out that, this was the way to run a meeting, not a social session where there was too much gum bumping in relation to what was achieved.

 

Strangely, I was not asked to attend again!

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

We’ve currently got a bit of sunshine, but we had rain earlier on this morning, thankfully the wind has also died down, I might even go outside and stand the 2 camellia plants upright, I didn’t see the point when it was still windy. This morning’s task will to be make a tray of rocky road so that Sheila can take it with her to her Zumba class tomorrow. There is a tradition that requires them to take cakes in on their birthday, but as hers is Sunday and she can’t make Monday morning’s class, it has to be tomorrow.  

 

Ah, kitchen’s free, back later. 

[Tony_S]

We often had meetings where I was the lowliest member of the team at the teachers centre but was often asked to chair them in our dear leaders absence. This was probably because I was on the central team and they were school and college based. I always ended the meeting in time ensuring we were first in the queue for tea and biscuits. This was considered to be a good thing. 
Tony

[TheQ]

When I was Chairman of a National sailing Association our AGM meetings would run on and on...  So we switched it to 1 hour 15 minutes before sailing,,  ( 1 hour meeting, a rushed 15minutes to get your boat ready)

 

Nobody wished to miss the sailing...

 

I've just wasted 3 hours... the loan unit the Boss borrowed to enable some calibration, turned out to be faulty, trouble was it would take 15 minutes to get to the bit that failed, So repeated runs to find the fault took ages..

[Joseph_Pestell]

I am a very expediting Chairman. First time that I chaired a Council Committee Meeting , it was all done in 40 minutes. Previously, they had been taking 2 hours.

 

Not quite so quick when I moved on to more "important" committees, but still about half the time previous Chairs had taken.

 

It's not that difficult. Just needs good co-ordination with the Secretary about the agenda and being totally ruthless with people about not going off topic. Perhaps I could replace Nicholas Parsons?

[Shedman5]

Morning, dry and sunny here, the wind has calmed down a bit thank goodness. We await Storm Dennis on Saturday which means a modelling day as we won't be going anywhere though it is forecast to be less severe than it has been recently.

 

Otherwise not a lot to report.

 

So Enjoy your day folks

 

Alan

[Sir TophamHatt]

Morning all!

 

Well considering I said I was put off modelling at the moment, I sure did some work yesterday!

 

Made a little shelf out of some decking off-cuts to hold my PA2, which actually looked better than I thought it would and is as solid as anything.

Also took a look with some fresh eyes at the Bachmann HTAs and worked out how I can make them couple to my stock, without replacing all the inter-rake couplings with Kadees.  Was actually pretty simple.

 

Getting a little anxious about Friday - assessment centre for a railway position I REALLY want.  But I'm a little confident that I am able to perform well in the role so only that and the interview and that's it for me for life then.

[jamie92208]

Afternoon all from The Charente.  Kitchen now tidy, most paperwork completed I might even get to the shed this afternoon.  Neighbours have called. Next pair of shutters now in the shed.  Even the sun is shining.  

 

Our church meetings used to go on till 10pm with a coffee break and most agenda items never got finalised. I was once asked to be the chair. We had finished by 8.30 and all items gad been finalised. They sat there open mouthed wondering what to do. Then went home. I was never asked again.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[The Lurker]

8 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 

 

Of the top of my head I can think of Honolulu (HNL), San Francisco (SFO)*, Oakland (OAK), Vancouver (YVR) and Nice / Côte d'Azur, all of which have major runways built either in the water or ending right at the water's edge. I have experienced all of these. For most of them the 'rabbit' approach landing beacons are on pylons in the water.

 

 

 

Of those I have only not flown into Oakland. I can add Faro where planes fly over the airport out to sea and turn round to fly back in, and Schipohl which is built on land reclaimed from the sea. In some ways it makes sense - a plane ditching in the sea might kill all on board rather than hundreds in surrounding housing.

 

Greetings from LBG, where it is cold, sunny and less windy than previously this week.

 

However there is not a lot else to report - I hope that those who are suffering improve.

[Ian Abel]

Morning all - HUMP day, though with me leaving tomorrow and a short Friday I guess I'm over the hump already

 

Yesterday some small progress on what I'm supposed to be here for, but mostly more <yawn>

 

With the jet stream still going bqlls out over the central US, Jemma got here 30 minutes ahead of schedule, picked her up and we had a nice dinner together - Yay!

 

Up early again this AM to get her back to JFK, she's taking the morning flight to Santo Domingo/Dominican Republic again.

Seems few folks want to bid that flight and she's not fussed either way, who can complain, 4.5 hours of work then relax by a pool at a flashy casino hotel by mid-afternoon!

 

Driving to the orifice from JFK adds another 15+ minutes eastbound, and today "ARRRGGHHHHH MY EYES, WHAT'S THAT IN THE SKY!!", from all those commuters who apparently forgot that the sun even exists, let alone rises in the east at precisely the time they are driving that direction! Slow going even though it's daylight and dry <sigh>

 

1 and clear/sun rising, expecting 7 for the high and dry all day apparently.

Edited February 12, 2020 by Ian Abel

[roundhouse]

Morning

 

Been a busy one so far with test running weathered locos and then installing a sound decoder - all crust earning.

 

I have also saved over £150 on one of our cars insurance yet staying with same company. However renewing my annual travel insurance has added £70 to it as a change in policy from last year, they now add that much for me being on the same prescription as last year and the year before. Thought it better to renew now rather than nearer the time we travel.

 

Flown into San Diego a number of times, always bumpy as we pass over Balboa Park. Stayed in a hotel with excellent views of planes coming into land.

However Hong Kong Kai Tak was the best

Edited February 12, 2020 by roundhouse

[polybear]

7 hours ago, TheQ said:

Many more buzz words spoken, much of which I have no idea what they are on about..

 

 The new American Director above our USA head of calibration hasn't got the idea yet she's now boss of all parts of the world,, She's just sent an email all about those using the coffee machine outside her office..

 

If you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullsh*t.  Invent some acronyms and abbreviations with a mate for the next meeting in retaliation.  Chances are they'll not ask what they mean, for fear of looking stupid.

 

Let me guess - this coffee machine is for executive use only.  All other plebs use the grotty one that makes crap coffee in the next building/floor below....

[southern42]

' afternoon all from red dragon land.

 

Cold-or-whatever symptoms on the wane but I can suddenly feel like going to sleep...

So, no venturing out...will see how it goes at the weekend.

 

I have always turned down an invite to be a club committee member, although I did become a sub-committee member of the MES with no requirement to attend committee meetings...     I  just submit reports, written or verbal, to an appropriate member, if need be.   Does me!

 

Talking about reports, recently, I completed the Figures spreadsheet for West Shore re our Public Running days last year.  Interestingly, it confirms that after we introduced tickets for passenger rides, although the number of rides fell, donations increased  by a significant amount.  

 

The next thing is to see how this year's figures compare as the last Committee meeting gave the go ahead to continue issuing tickets.  

 

Best go and do myself some lunch or lingering symptoms won't be my only problem...

 

Thinking of others smitten down with the lurgy, and other ailments...

keep smiling...    

___________

Best wishes

Polly

[J. S. Bach]

Morning owl from a cloudy Piedmont.

Two more airports that deal with water: Washington National and the Potomac River, Portland Oregon and the Columbia River.

 

[BoD]

14 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

The runway which crosses it is the longest one, 16R/34L with a small aircraft just lined up on it.

When I was teaching bearings and in particular back bearings, I started with aerial photographs of runways and asked if any one could see a connection between the numbers.  A surprising number spotted it.

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

And as usual generic greetings to the ailing, and the celebrating, and congrats to Mrs Rick on completing her PhD thesis - must be a load of her mind.

 

LASAR was duly attended, and a load of books were sorted and sent to We Buy Books - some raised surprisingly large amounts considering - a synosis of the writings and speeches of Enoch Powell was going to be ragged, but I scanned it on the offchance that it might be saleable - it wouldn't have been on our shelves even at £1.  We Buy Books offered £6 for it.  I guess that they must have a buyer, and I'll bet they don't sell it on at £6 - more like £15. 

 

And yesterday I had to do the fodder run, but had to visit three shops to get all we needed - and Aldi's car park is on the sea front at Morecambe, and the wind was enough to nearly knock me over - and that was two days AFTER Storn Ciara.  Well let's see what Dennis brings us this weekend.

 

Had an appointment this morning with the physio - he's a most pleasant New Zealander of Maori/Phillipino birth, and looks like he could easily play rugby for a living, not being a specialist physio - and he's surprisingly gentle, and would prefer the treatment to take longer rather than inflict pain - if only my last phyisos had been so good, I wouldn't have been so worried about being referred again - but I've got two conditions that need treating, and he's now taken over both.

 

Back tomorrow - well we'll have to wait and see.

 

Regards to all

Stewart

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon all.  

 

The memsahib is today lunching with former flatmates in some Eyetalian dive 'modern casual dining establishment' somewhere off, just about, the Charing Cross Road so dinner this evening will probably take place in a local 'Indian' restaurant -one of a couple in the town which is pretty good at what it does.  The one which used to do some rather good delivered food went distinctly down hill in terms of quality and consistency after a visit from the Immigration authorities enforced a major 'reorganisation' of its kitchen staff.

 

My dad used to get most upset about next door pinching about two feet off the garden in one place when they built their retaining wall.  i was never sure if he was right about that and if they actually nicked anything it was too steep to stand upright on and he only got going about it in his final decade or so but he was getting a bit paranoid anyway alas.  As a solicitor once pointed out when we were talking about boundaries what would happen if you scaled up a boundary line drawn on a map or deed - it would be quite wide.   And it can work the other way round - somebody in North Yorkhsire County Council wrote to tell me that I owned a piece of land I didn't know anything about, not that it's much bigger than a small tablecloth and only worth about 6d in old money.  However a planned roundabout was likely to impinge on it so they needed to find out who they had to pay for the pleasure (the roundabout has not been built, they found a cheaper way to alter the junction layout).

 

Enjoy the rest of your day.

[jamie92208]

5 hours ago, The Lurker said:

 Schipohl which is built on land reclaimed from the sea. 

It is I believe the only airport built on the site of a sea battle. I have vague  memories of a report of cannonballs being dug up when some building work was done. Now why can't I remember the latest set of orders posted by the Ayatolliah.....

 

Jamie

Edited February 12, 2020 by jamie92208

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. I have just had the gutter of the porch extended and a down pipe added for free, all part of next doors refurbishments. Due to a peculiarity of the design of the houses part of next doors porch pokes into my house and as the guttering doesn't match in shape or colour the builder has extended my guttering to just below the end of next doors guttering so that water will just pour out into mine and thence into the down pipe. The wall to which the down pipe is attached is next doors but the downpipe empties into my front garden. I'm going to make a soakaway beneath the downpipe, the hole is partially there already as there is an old rotten dead tree stump were the soakaway will be. Time for dinner and its club night tonight, be back later.

[AndyID]

3 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Morning owl from a cloudy Piedmont.

Two more airports that deal with water: Washington National and the Potomac River, Portland Oregon and the Columbia River.

 

 

Also LaGuardia. A plane did go into the drink there a few years ago.

 

Flights into Paisley (aka  Glasgow) usually come in over the river which is not far from the end of the runway.

[AndyB]

Evening all. 

Was a very early riser this morning; in the office at 6.45. A junior colleague had to be in early to do some work, so I figured it'd be good form to do an early start too. 

 

A propos the new diesel car, can anyone tell me what the advantages of the more expensive "ultimate diesel" fuel are over the cheaper varieties. There's about a 15p to 25p per litre difference hereabouts. 

Is it fuel efficiency, better for the engine, save the planet..?

[The Stationmaster]

37 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Also LaGuardia. A plane did go into the drink there a few years ago.

 

Flights into Paisley (aka  Glasgow) usually come in over the river which is not far from the end of the runway.

Back in the  mid '90s I had to take a late afternoon/early evening flight from Glasgow (Paisley) to Bruxelles - it was quite amusing watching what was no doubt the early evening rush hour as aircraft lined up taxiing ready to take off, 100% propellor driven.  The first jet to join the queue was the one I was on which in itself was an oddity as I'd thought it was a mistake when my secretary had made the booking and was told it would be a BAC 1-11 - on a British Airways flight (and no, not a code share job but a genuine BA flight).   Turned out that it really was a BAC 1-11, and very nice too in the forward part of the cabin.  At that time Hurn aviation had a small fleet of 1-11s all on charter to BA fully crewed by Hurn staff so seamlessly-ish appearing as very BA on the inside.

 

Definitely got some jealous looks among the 'plane cranks in the office that I had managed to get in some 1-11 'haulage' as that was one thing none of the others had got despite taking some rather oddball business flights over the years.

[AndyB]

52 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Also LaGuardia. A plane did go into the drink there a few years ago.

Happens to the best of us. 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/prince-gives-up-flying-royal-aircraft-after-hebrides-crash-1592247.html

[JohnDMJ]

 

 

8 hours ago, TheQ said:

When I was Chairman of a National sailing Association our AGM meetings would run on and on...  So we switched it to 1 hour 15 minutes before sailing,,  ( 1 hour meeting, a rushed 15minutes to get your boat ready)

 

One Society to which I subscribe manages to keep their AGMs relatively short (don't recall one much over 1 1/4 hours)

 

Simple 'trick' for every vote, which is usually well phrased as to be accepted by the Membership, only ask for the Against and Abstentions. By default, those in favour are the uncounted!

 

5 hours ago, roundhouse said:

However renewing my annual travel insurance has added £70 to it as a change in policy from last year, they now add that much for me being on the same prescription as last year and the year before. Thought it better to renew now rather than nearer the time we travel.

 

I used to have annual travel insurance but when I received my renewal quote last year, I decided that, for the number of journeys I do  each year, to look into per trip cover. So far, it's working well.

[Barry O]

Airport approached over water? Wellington, funchal , belfast (landing there in a F27 was fun), new Hong Kong (not as much fun as the old one) cairns..you sort of slide in sideways... avoid the mountain at the land end of the run way taking off though.

Baz