PhilJ W

Morning all from Estuary-Land. My first flight was with the RAF. I was in the air cadets and summer camp was at a training station operating Varsities and it was in one of those. Six very noisy hours, we were each provided with a packed lunch and sick bags with the strict instruction that if anything missed the bag you had to clean it up. Now on to VE day. It wasn't marked in our household as mum was working as an auxilary nurse and dad was out east still fighting the Japanese. Now to get on with the day, be back later.

Goodnight all.

While your on that subject John.

I forgot to mention, Bob mentioned his hip problem and as Flavio said the best thing is to exercise without putting any weight on the offending joint. That is where the walker comes in useful, you can rest your weight on the handles and still get plenty of exercise and if you have one like mine with a seat you can rest whenever you wish. Only drawback is that they are not too great on uneven ground or on grass. I was going to say that BF stood for banged forehead but HH beat me to it.

One engine I rebuilt was a Ford 100E, a very simple side valve engine and therefore few if any problems. The only tricky bit IIRC was once the valves had been ground in was setting the tappets, this involved grinding the ends of the valve stems. I found out later that it was not strictly neccessary but my dad being army trained done it as a matter of course. My favourite engine to work on was the BMC B series, it seemed to be designed for the DIY mechanic.

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Managed to contact my friend this afternoon, the problem was as I thought. His autistic daughter had unplugged the phone. His lad as I mentioned is SEN but unlike BSW01's neighbours lad he is very good at ball games, his co-ordination is better than mine has ever been. I was looking at taking a few days out if lockdown is over by August but its just been announced that the Notting Hill Carnival at the end of August has been cancelled which means that they expect lockdown to continue. Time to clap, be back later.

I usedto do most of my maintainence before cars were fitted with computers. Most of what I knew I learned from my dad who had been a driver/mechanic in the army. I have stripped down and rebuilt a few engines but I couldn't do it now.

The Hurricane also had the advantage that it was easier to repair in the field. In fact it wasn't a shortage of aircraft that was the problem in the B-o-B but a shortage of pilots. A monoplane version of the Gladiator with a fixed undercarriage and Merlin engine was contemplated as a 'utility fighter' but was not proceeded with.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. The foxes were again at my bin bag this morning so I had to clean up the mess and re-bag it first thing. Apparently though the kebab shop also re-opened yesterday and the foxes should find better pickings there. I've tried to contact my friend a couple of times but his phone isn't answered but hopefully next week when some restrictions are lifted I might be able to call round. I know he must be at home but his autistic daughter has a habit of turning the ring tone volume right down when she's on her x-box. The G word looms so its be back later.

Goodnight all.

That must have caused a stink. In response to Andy's post 2 posts up.

John, your link isn't working. I have it also on my e-mail so congratulations to the young lady.

It used the same engine, a Pegasus XXI IIRC. The Hawker Hurricane was to all intents and purposes a monoplane version of the Hart/Audax etc. with a more powerful engine.

From what I understand the new tenant next door signed* the tenancy agreement the day before lock down that is why he was able to move in. The delay was in trying to hire a van to do the removal. *Due to his circumstances his sister signed on his behalf as his carer/responsible adult.

I don't no whether to give that a like or funny reaction. In the end its a like as others have done.

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Despite the lockdown the house next door has a new tenant moving in. Not a lot of detail at the moment but I doubt there will be noisy parties like the last lot. The new tenant is a disabled chap with his partner and her little girl. Apparently he suffered brain damage when he was a teenager that has left him with a mental age of 12. I hope to speak to him in the next week or so social distancing permitted. Another bit of news, the local chippie re-opened today so I had saveloy and chips for lunch, I can almost hear my arteries hardening now. I had to give up on Farcebook last night, the screen went blank. I did manage to get into the 'new' Facebook but thats even less user friendly than the 'old' Farcebook. I checked just now and the 'old' one is back up so I'll try a bit of catch up now.

When I got off the plane in Barbados it was like stepping into a sauna, 90 degrees F and very high humidity (mid October, end of the wet season).

My passport also expired about 10 years ago. Apparently while we were still members of the EU it was not absolutely essential for UK citizens to have a passport to visit Europe, only proof of identity. This came up on another forum recently when it was revealed that a member had travelled to Belgium a few years ago carrying only his bus pass as a means of identity. The crunch came when returning to the UK as they would not let him back into the country without a passport. Luckily for him he came from Dundee and so did one of the immigration officers who let him back in because "No one could fake that accent.".

Not really, its simly a case of checking new applicants and weeding out the Nigerian princes with money to give away. Its basically films and photographs with a local interest. Theres a couple of people who are quite prolific with such films and pics and those are allowed to post unchecked and so far there has been no abuse.

I've only flown across the Atlantic twice. Barbados as mentioned was in a Carribean Air 707, not bad but an 8 hour flight so it got a bit boring. Then in 1979 to JFK, that was in a BA 747 which was quite roomy as they didn't try to cram in so many seats. The only complaint was that they showed the same Star Trek movie on the way back as they did on the outward journey two weeks earlier. JFK was pretty awful even back then.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. My last flight was 18 years ago when I holidayed in Malta. I went with Air Malta, nothing particularily memoriable about them good or bad. My first commercial flight was in a Dan-Air Comet way back in 1977. I found out later that the Dan-Air Comet fleet was scrapped soon after. That flight was to Corfu just after the colonels had been kicked out and democracy re-instated. The terminal building at Corfu was then a prefab shed. All that I can remember was that it was a bit smelly near the toilets. Another terminal that was in the throes of construction when I passed through in 1978 was Barbados which wasn't bad considering it was a building site. The airport was Canadian owned or run, there was a lot of Canadian $ invested in the country which is a favourite holiday destination for Canadians. Now onto another subject, hows this for a man cave.>> https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bored-man-discovers-120-year-21974302 Literally a cave even though its man made (or carved out). If it could be kept dry it would make a great layout room.

Internal space on modern cars is generally poor. My car is larger than the Anglia Estate I had 40 years ago yet despite less space being given to the mechanicals (traverse engine) there is far less space inside. I carried a dining room suite in the Anglia at one time with the front passenger seat occupied. When I look around my current car you can see why with all the heavy door pillars, heavier and stronger seats, headrests and heavier padding. The last item, heavier padding also refers to myself and most of the occupants. I know which car I would rather be in in the case of a bad smash.

Goodnight all.

Unless he means one of those BMW monstrosities.