Early Risers.

[BSW01]

Goodnight everyone 

[monkeysarefun]

Apparently the Arctic weather pattern that produces outcomes like the Beast From The East up there  occurs with  much less frequency in the Antarctic but they say that its  happening at the moment and the wind is rated be me here as "brisk".

 

Despite that I am off to take the ute deep into enemy territory - to the 2024 All Ford Day at Sydney Dragway.

 

I may be some time.

Edited July 27 by monkeysarefun

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, pH said:

(London to Gretna is 309 miles; Gretna to Inverness is 295 miles.)

And Inverness to Thurso is another 110 miles again, or 164 miles by train.

 

Devon & Cornwall Police used to arrange overnight coffee and "Driver Reviver" stops at main pull-ins along the A30 when it was mostly old-style road and took a good deal longer to drive than it still does.  The levels of traffic crossing the border at Launceston overnight in the early hours of a summer Saturday morning could be ridiculous.  And of course many had come very long distances indeed having set off perhaps after work / school on Friday afternoon and had the sense of being "almost there".   Launceston to Newquay is at least another two hours and was more back then.  

 

All you've got now is the service areas most of which do not offer 24-hour food / drink service.  You can get snacks and cold drinks at the petrol station shops and sometimes a coffee.  But for full services you have Exeter then "Cornwall Services" near Roche Victoria and that's it.  Cornwall Services largely shuts by 10pm leaving only the Golden Arch Emporium to offer a minimal night menu.  

 

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

2 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Use the local’s by-pass. Off at Camborne West, old road through Roseworthy to Loggans Roundabout, through Hayle, left in Foundry Square. Right down Water Lane. Left through St Erth village and the back road to either Marazion or Crowlas 

Is that ok with a caravan?

Yes.  There are single-lane spots but towing vehicles go that way every day.  As do camper-vans.  It's also a bus route so if buses can get through so can almost anything else.  Don't be tempted to nip around the back of Hayle if towing though.  Strawberry Lane ford would be awkward and the hill leading away would be very tricky.  It's also a 7' 0" width limit.  

 

2 hours ago, Sidecar Racer said:

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Resizing the browser window to be narrower than full width (Windows + Chrome) has the same effect. Only the posts are visible. Popular posts are at the bottom and you have to scroll all the way down to see them. 

 

 

 Same with Firefox .

Sadly this does not work with Safari.  Everything just gets bigger or smaller.  I haven't found a way to change this in years.  

[PhilJ W]

All evening the has been a party going on just up the street from me. Fortunately it ceased at about ten p.m. so I should be able to get some sleep.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Andy Hayter]

3 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 

The real problem is why do the English (and I am being specific) insist on renaming so many of the cities and countries of Europe - then insist to English-speakers that the English name be used for that place when referring to it in their vernacular.

 

Does Roma need to be Rome? Does Milano need to be Milan. Napoli. Genova, Venezia, Firenze, Köln, München, Deutschland, Suisse/Schweizer, Österreich, etc, etc,

 

It sounds simple but there can be issues.

From your list is Köln or should it be pre-Nazi Cöln?

 And for multi-lingual lands you end up with some interesting options.  Do you know where Genf is in Die Schweitz?  Switzerland to others.

Or Bergen in Belgium?  

Is Basel, Basel or Bâle?

Antwerpen or  Anvers?

 

And then the Latinisation of non-Latin scripts.

Kazakhstan or Qazaqstan?

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

[iL Dottore]

18 minutes ago, Andy Hayter said:

It sounds simple but there can be issues.

From your list is Köln or should it be pre-Nazi Cöln?

 And for multi-lingual lands you end up with some interesting options.  Do you know where Genf is in Die Schweitz?  Switzerland to others.

Or Bergen in Belgium?  

Is Basel, Basel or Bâle?

Antwerpen or  Anvers?

 

And then the Latinisation of non-Latin scripts.

Kazakhstan or Qazaqstan?

 

 

 

I think you should use what the locals use. As French is an official Swiss language Basel or Bâle are OK, but not Basle (the English spelling, but pronounced the same as Basel - go figure)

For languages using non Latin alphabets or characters (Russian, Mandarin, Thai etc) I think that the closest Western phonetical spelling to how the place name sounds when spoken. 
 

Of course, if you don't want to deal with how furriners speak their gabble-gabble lingo, just stay in the UK and visit places like Worcestershire or Marylebone or Llanfair PG 

[jjb1970]

4 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

There is no such country as South Korea either - yet everyone knows what is meant by "North Korea" and "South Korea". I don't think it's a windup if those distinctions are used consistently - even if the formal names are (abbreviated) DPRK and ROK.

 

It's like using "France" instead of the République française / French Republic. 

 

If an entity is consistent with ROK, but uses "North Korea", then I would stipulate that is problematic.

 

No such country as "China" either. It is the People's Republic of China.

 

Then there are the athletes from "Chinese Taipei". 

 

Does anyone ever see the Hong Kong flag these days? (The flowery one, not the defaced blue ensign.)

 

 

There's a difference between conversational use and use in formal diplomatic environments.  A country defines its own name, once defined that's how they should be addressed formally. Diplomats know that, by addressing the Republic of Korea correctly and addressing the North as North Korea it's calculated to slight them. Something they don't deny in private.

 

Countries can accept any shortened form of address if they choose. Venezuela is Venezuela and seldom includes Bolivarian Republic of, the Netherlands seldom uses Kingdom of, Bolivia seldom uses Plurinational Republic of etc, but there are no other countries sharing their names and they accept the abbreviations.

 

The PRC accepts China or PRC. They're quite happy with China as it reinforces their 'one China' position. The Taiwan issue doesn't come up in UN bodies as the Republic of China isn't a member and there's a UN resolution from the changeover  from Taipei to Beijing which makes explicit that the PRC is the sole representative of China. Hong Kong China and Macau China have associate memberships as Chinese SARs. China isn't that bothered what others call it so long as it isn't accompanied by any claims that RoC is an independent state.

 

You do see the Hong Kong flag, it's used on HK registered aircraft and ships, is the flag used in Hong Kong and is quite widely flown by hotels, conference centres and such like and outside UN buildings.

[jjb1970]

When I first visited China it was very difficult as with one exception nothing was romanized and virtually nobody could speak English. If everything is foreign but romanized it's normally easy enough to get by but when everything is in another script it's very difficult. 

 

The one exception was air travel, even then airports had dual language signage, anouncements in the terminal and onboard were Mandarin and English and flight attendants were at least bilingual and in many cases more.

 

Even today China can feel quite alien. In Japan in the big cities a little effort to learn key phrases will go a long way but it's easy to get around as most key signs are romanized and trains include English announcements. If you make an effort and struggle more often than not someone will appear who speaks English to help. In China it's a lot more visitor friendly than it once was and getting around by train is a lot easier, but things like ATMs are often Chinese character only and much signage is still Chinese script only. Of course that's fair enough, why wouldn't things in China be Chinese but it can be difficult for visitors. Big cities like Beijing and Shanghai tend to be OK.

[jjb1970]

Another thing worse being aware of in China is that the retail economy has gone over almost entirely to local digital pay platforms, don't assume Visa and Mastercard will be accepted.  It's one of the few places I visit where local cash is still important as if you don't have the local digital pay systems cash is the alternative for many sellers. 

[jjb1970]

2 hours ago, Andy Hayter said:

It sounds simple but there can be issues.

From your list is Köln or should it be pre-Nazi Cöln?

 And for multi-lingual lands you end up with some interesting options.  Do you know where Genf is in Die Schweitz?  Switzerland to others.

Or Bergen in Belgium?  

Is Basel, Basel or Bâle?

Antwerpen or  Anvers?

 

And then the Latinisation of non-Latin scripts.

Kazakhstan or Qazaqstan?

 

 

 

 

This is a minefield for WW1 historians, especially if writing about the Eastern front. Many places swapped hands between Imperial Russia, the Habsburg lands and new countries, followed by more upheaval after WW2 and another round of upheaval after 1989. The best solution IMO is to use contemporary names with a key to give modern names, which gives consistency with source documents but it can be a very touchy subject. 

 

Another point to consider is that many countries use foreign names in international fora. Japan is Japan, not Nippon, China uses China, not Zhongguo,  Germany is Germany, not Deutschland etc. That's how they identify at the UN and in their own official documents. So using the international form of address is correct.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, Andy Hayter said:

And then the Latinisation of non-Latin scripts.

Kazakhstan or Qazaqstan?

Anglicization of Eastern European and Asian place-names is of course inevitable and necessary, so long as it is phonetically close - and we see the 'locals' revising their British applied names like Peking / Beijing, Nanking / Nanjing , Canton / Guangzhou, Madras / Chennai, Bombay / Mumbai etc.

 

This is needed for just about anything east of Bohemia.

 

But is "Firenza" that hard for the English? And how on earth does it mutate to Florence?  And why does it not happen to French cities (and for *some* part, departments). I assume Britons abroad wanted to make sure they were ordering Champagne - but were less picky about "claret": Burgundy / Bourgogne. And on Promenade des Anglais, they know how to pronounce "Nice". 

 

Edited July 28 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Basel or Bâle are OK, but not Basle (the English spelling, but pronounced the same as Basel - go figure)

Basel is used in the US.

 

Though of course there is the cross-pond pronunciation of Ocimum basilicum (basil) - Bayzil v bazzil. 

 

Then there's oregano - neither pronunciation sounds like the way locals pronounce Oregon (oary-g'n) NOT (orry-gone). Nevada is not ne-varda either, it's nev-adda.

 

Edited July 28 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

27 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

Many places swapped hands between Imperial Russia, the Habsburg lands and new countries, followed by more upheaval after WW2 and another round of upheaval after 1989.

Even before WW1 - Kaliningrad / Königsberg / Królewiec / Karaliaučius.

[BR60103]

There was a cartoon some years ago where the character was saying "It wasn't me; it was Qadhafi or Kaddafy or Gadhafi or one of those other guys"

 

 

[BR60103]

We went to Stratford this morning for a panel discussion on "Miller, Albee and Ibsen" (at the Shakespeare festival).

The person introducing the panel got a little mixed up as to whether it was Henry or Arthur Miller.

It's been over 60 years since I sat down and read all the Ibsen in the library and I've seen one play by Albee.

There was a major slowdown on the 401 highway from the second-last exit to the one where we get off ... and even farther.

 

[monkeysarefun]

 

 

What a friendly bunch Ford enthusiasts turned out to be..

 

Going from the greys, silvers  and whites of the modern cars in the public car park, through the gate and into the Candi-coloured world of 1970's cars was like that bit in Wizard Of Oz where it goes from black and white to technicolor:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually, that was one of the few unimproved Capris there. It has been perceived wisdom  here ever since Leyland Australia dropped a 6 cylinder into a Morris Marina that there's no English car that cannot be improved by sticking a bigger  engine in it, preferably a V8 -  bonus points for a supercharger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually I don't know what those Cortina owners were thinking. Not sure what they were like there but here  the Cortina from the TC through to the TF was a very ordinary car with poor handling due to coil front and leaf springs at the rear.

 

Ford Australia  then went and put in a 6 cylinder engine in it, your choice of a 3.3 straight six, or a 4.1 which made it a rocket ship in a straight line but  guaranteed to understeer  it into a tree at the first bend, especially in the wet. Not satisfied with that though, owners like those above decided "go hard or go home" and thus many have 5.8 litre V8's in them, again often with a blower.

 

Capris with the same treatment:

 

 

 

 

 

WE also got the Capri here, well the first couple of versions at least. It did struggle to find a market here due to its compact size and lack of V8 so was marketed to women and "inner city trendy types" (Nudge nudge, wink wink!)

 

To be fair though, it was an uphill battle when for less money you could get the local Falcon Hardtop, well the base model at least:

 

 

 

This was my dream car in my teen tears, the De Tomaso Pantera. It gets allowed into the show  due to it having a Ford V8 in it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 28 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

Its not a real car show here unless  someone brings along their Mad Max Interceptor replica

 

 

 

One exhibitor was doing interesting things to Ford Escorts.

 

Tricked up panel van:

 

 

 

 

Some kind of extended station wagon version

 

 

 

 

 

A convertible.

 

 

 

My favourite   US car, The 1964 Thunderbird.

 

 

 

 

Jag style wood and leather interiors leave me cold, in contrast I love the 60's ambience the US cars of that era manage to achieve.

 

 

Fords version of the ute was never as popular as the Holden was for street machines -  they were more tradie and farm vehicles, , but this is a tidy 1977/78 version

 

 

 

The local Anglia and Prefect community were out in force.

 

I have to admit that this was the one area of the show where I had no problems getting a clear shot,  free of onlookers getting in the way!

 

 

 

 

Edited July 28 by monkeysarefun

[TheQ]

6 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I think you should use what the locals use. As French is an official Swiss language Basel or Bâle are OK, but not Basle (the English spelling, but pronounced the same as Basel - go figure)

For languages using non Latin alphabets or characters (Russian, Mandarin, Thai etc) I think that the closest Western phonetical spelling to how the place name sounds when spoken. 
 

Of course, if you don't want to deal with how furriners speak their gabble-gabble lingo, just stay in the UK and visit places like Worcestershire or Marylebone or Llanfair PG 

Marylebone? Thas in lunun, theys speak funny darn there, and anyway my dear boy 40% of Londoner aren't British born and 23% don't have a British passport..

It's a bit like walking down a street in Great Yarmouth, you are lucky to hear English being spoken.

 

At the moorings Awl, picture at 06:30.

Since then I've SSS, and am sat now with muggacoffee number 1. This at least means the morning pill routine is sensible, take the pill on the boat , do the above then I can straightaway have a muggacoffee.

 

The cleaner is now doing the facilities block before anyone else surfaces.

 

There is luckily, already  light breeze.

 

Never really been interested in huge engined vehicles, though I admit 2ltr plus engined cars are much more relaxing to drive.

 

Years ago we'd have a line up of motor boats outside, plus caravans and tents at the back of the car park as people , stayed for the week. That died out until I was just about the only one staying here.. This year we 7 motorboats,  2 yachts, 4 caravans / motorhomes and Two tents .

 

At 08:00 I'll put the Flags up, then hopefully soon the galley volunteers will turn up cos I is getting hungry.

 

Time for muggacoffee number 2.

[Erichill16]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

What a friendly bunch Ford enthusiasts turned out to be..

 

Was that before you told them you were a Holden enthusiast.

[polybear]

8 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Sadly this does not work with Safari.  Everything just gets bigger or smaller.  I haven't found a way to change this in years.  

 

Just load up a second browser for use with RMWeb.

 

Bear here....

 

A decent snooze - and the Wee Wee Fairy decided to go annoy someone else instead.  That's a Tick.

 

Today?  A bit of Bertie the Bosch driving (only a short one, fortunately); after that it's a muddlin' day, to include the testing of two recent acquisitions plus some brass fettlin'.  Hopefully a Tick.

 

ION....

 

Recent car piccies has reminded Bear I saw an Opel Manta GT/E whilst on my Warehouse travels earlier in the week; I can't even remember the last time I saw one of those (52 left on the road in 2023, with 388 left on SORN).

 

And finally....

 

Just what is it with some people?

 

"A 42-year-old man was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of starting the fire by rolling a burning car into a gully near Alligator Hole in Butte County.

It is now the largest fire in the state this year, and has consumed an area more than 1.5 times the size of New York City’s five boroughs.

Cal Fire incident commander Billy See said the fire has been spreading at a rate of 5,000 acres an hour"

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd1dlzy04l8o

 

Strap him to a tree in front of the advancing fire and that'll focus his attention somewhat.

 

And finally, finally.....

 

Whilst the Plod Officer concerned went too far** when he "put the boot in" at a recent Manchester Airport incident, this latest video footage does at least explain why he was just a bit p1ssed off; it also goes to show that those crying "foul" were just a bit less than innocent as well:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3gekjyq3j7o

 

**Yes, I know the Plod are supposedly trained to be "above all that" - but how many of us could honestly say we definitely wouldn't be similarly p1ssed off?

 

Right, time to wriggle....

 

BG

 

 

[Coombe Barton]

11 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Use the local’s by-pass. Off at Camborne West, old road through Roseworthy to Loggans Roundabout, through Hayle, left in Foundry Square. Right down Water Lane. Left through St Erth village and the back road to either Marazion or Crowlas 

With a caravan??

[Coombe Barton]

11 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Is that ok with a caravan?

Nope

 

[DaveF]

A reasonable night's sleep and a bright fresh sunny morning, what more could anyone want (or need)?

 

The whole day beckons, apart from the usual Sunday activities there seems, so far at least, nothing urgent.

 

At that point I'll stop before anything goes wrong.

 

David

Edited July 28 by DaveF