Musings and Thoughts

[Makko]

I assume that if they have to abort the take off and jettison the command pod, they have joined the two operational instructions "Eject!" and "Evacuate" as more concise and direct:

The Mission Control order is, therefore, "EJACULATE, EJACULATE!!!!"

Rgds.
Dave

[rogd]

Well the whole episode has been called a billionaires willy waving contest!!

[Malcolm G]

If you drive for four hours in the USA then you will still be in the same locality.

If you drive for two hours in the UK the local accent will have changed twice and a bread roll will have a different name.

[BobClay]

So true.
When I worked for BT for a year climbing poles I would travel up to 20 miles from my home town Stafford. If you went north into the potteries you would hear: "Dust tha nost ah bwut ?" (Do you know anything my good man ?)
If you went south toward the Black Country the same question would be: "D'yowm now anytheen are keeed ?"

Stafford of course doesn't have an accent. Pure English ....

"Avanyonyergorranyovemonyer ?" (Does anybody have said item about your person.)

[Malcolm G]

I am told that real Black Country folk can even tell whether the person comes from Dudley, Walsall etc and further afield, Stourbridge, Wolverhampton - All having their own slight differences in tone.
But, whatever you do don't call any of them 'Brummies'.

[BobClay]

I just spent the last weekend in Stourbridge with family. We had a belated Christmas Dinner with crackers, silly hats ... the whole deal. My present was a pint glass with a Wolf carved on it underneath of which it read 'Beer is Coming.' Games of Thrones fans will know about that.

Remarkable transfer of accents from Cornwall. Also utterly stunned at the difference in prices ... drank in the Stourbridge British Legion on Friday night, lager at £3 a pint. £3.80 in my local in Cornwall. (Same beer, and North Cornwall is the cheap end of the county.)

Got my haircut in Stourbridge (first one in 5 years ...) I now look like a f****** stockbroker.

[Malcolm G]

I know the British are fond of warm beer, but putting it on the hob to flash it up seems a tad extreme.
Don't they have hairdressers in Curnow?

[BobClay]

Well it made a good backdrop for the beer.

Hairdressers ?!?!?! I wanted to go to a barber .. !!! You know, with the red and white pole sign outside and none of these Dalek like machines all over the place. They've still got one in Stourbridge more or less on the main street. He had to cut off a large amount of hair with only the briefest of instructions from me. (I want it gone.)

When it came to pay (8 quid) I got out my debit card but he told they didn't do cards !
but he said there was a hole in the wall just up the street.

"You trust me to come back ?" I asked.
"Sure," he replied.
So I went up the street and punched out some cash (who the f*** has been using cash this last 18 months ?) then went back and gave him a tenner and told him to keep the change.
You wouldn't get that in Kernow I suspect.

[Makko]

Hi Bob,
When I worked for EIMCO Water Technologies, I got booted out of Rugby and banished to the newly acquired Jones & Attwood Titan Works. I would commute to/from Kettering daily!

The Works are at the end of the canal, and one of the historic warehouses looked, to all intents and purposes, like a U-Boat pen! I was told that it was where the anchor chains for the Titanic were embarked on a barge and shipped off to Liverpool for delivery to H&W, Belfast.

I had some interesting experiences there:

After packing up in Rugby, having "forgotten" to leave my 21" computer flat screen (I was working in Autocad), I moved into J&A. I was soon surrounded by curiosity seekers, having an ultimate model computer and the "screen"! Moreover, they were amazed that I had my own stock of stationery - In J&A (remember, this was 2005), they still had to take their diminutive pencil stub or empty Bic to "draw" a new one from the stationery window! Also, at lunchtime, a bell would sound and everyone had to vacate the building, the doors were locked until lunch was over, bell sounded, doors opened and workers would file back in!

You could only smoke in the old, cobbled, delivery patio behind the building. The sheds had previously been casting bays for drain pipes etc. One day, I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye - some fellows with flat caps and old fashioned dress, walking to the casting bays. I turned to look and, I trick you not, they were transparent! Ghosts or apparitions? I believe that they were!

My Nikon 6006 camera had been stolen. Just after starting in Stourbridge, I had to go "up into town" to get money out of the ATM. I don't know why, I was attracted to the Pawn shop, directly to the window with cameras. Now, the 6006 was an American version, bought in Houston. There was my bluddy camera with a different strap! I went in and asked to see it. Sure enough, the S/N matched. I said nothing and asked,"how much?". Twenty-five quid and in small weekly payments! I re-bought my camera, still have it but cannot be ar$ed with film nowadays (camera now is a Nikon D3300 with 128GB chip).

At christmas, for my eldest daughter's birthday (21 December), I took her and some school friends to Stourbridge to ride on a canal boat and look for Father Christmas, visit his grotto upon return and then a quick stop at McDonalds before returning to Kettering. It was a memorable day!

Only fond memories of my short time in Stourbridge. And yes, I was bewildered by the accent!

Rgds.
Dave

[YM-Mundrabilla]

Originally Posted by BobClay

Well it made a good backdrop for the beer.

Hairdressers ?!?!?! I wanted to go to a barber .. !!! You know, with the red and white pole sign outside and none of these Dalek like machines all over the place. They've still got one in Stourbridge more or less on the main street. He had to cut off a large amount of hair with only the briefest of instructions from me. (I want it gone.)

When it came to pay (8 quid) I got out my debit card but he told they didn't do cards !
but he said there was a hole in the wall just up the street.

"You trust me to come back ?" I asked.
"Sure," he replied.
So I went up the street and punched out some cash (who the f*** has been using cash this last 18 months ?) then went back and gave him a tenner and told him to keep the change.
You wouldn't get that in Kernow I suspect.

Would he have got the 2 pound tip if he had accepted cards?

[YM-Mundrabilla]

Dave,

You were not alone with the Bic ball point.

We had the same set up - you were issued one of those yellow Bics to start with and when it ran out you had to hand it in to get another one. Only trouble was everyone had an identical pen to start with but, inevitably, someone ended up with two and another without. I will steal yours before you steal mine!.

One had to requisition everything; paper, pens, pencils - the lot.
If one was caught without a requisition form to requisition more requisition forms you were stuffed.

It took a long while for the powers to realise that 'flooding the market' was cheaper in the long run.

Geoff (YM)

[Makko]

Completely "Dickensian"! I couldn't believe it, Geoff!
Rgds.
Dave

[YM-Mundrabilla]

Originally Posted by Makko

Completely "Dickensian"! I couldn't believe it, Geoff!
Rgds.
Dave

That was the era when I started work. Perhaps not quite 'Dickensian' but certainly the latter end of the era.
I started in the Head Office and everyone was obliged to wear a suit. You could take your coat off but if you fronted the Head of Branch one must wear a coat.
Long, long time before shorts were allowed but the wheel has turned and shorts are no longer allowed outdoors - long pants, long sleeves, crash hats and those brim thingys that attach to them.
Geoff (YM)

[Makko]

In my middle school, we couldn´t take our blazers off unless it was >26 C and the Headmaster ordered it! We were also checked for hair 2" above your shirt collar, etc. etc.! Good training for J&A setup.
Rgds.
Dave

[BobClay]

During the 60's I let my hair grow long (it was the in thing pretty much) and it stayed that way for many years.

My old man used to embarrass me about it. He was a World War Two infantry man in the Eighth Army and having crossed North Africa, gone up through Sicily and Italy he was wounded out as they moved North when Monte Cassini fell.

.... and the way he embarrassed me ? ...... He let his hair grow even longer !! (He was a bit mad, but being married to a mad Irish woman does that I think )

[Varley]

Not sure the stock exchange would accept tattoos 'on the floor', Bob.

Pa had a dragon on one arm and a heart with ribbon done 'Patsy' on the other. Patsy because it was a shortening of Ma's given name that he knew would annoy her the most!

Here he is (haven't one handy showing the tattoos):

[Makko]

One Reinsurer won't employ people with visible tattoos!
Rgds.
Dave

[BobClay]

A tattoo in my case was the result of five pints of Double Diamond. Came back from my first trip to sea at 19 years old and I thought I was Long John Silver.

I had it done in that most nautical of cities ... Stoke on Trent ..

[Makko]

I have two tattoos: An "M" on each bum cheek.

Depending whether I am on my front or back, it spells "MOM" or "WOW"!!

[Varley]

I suppose I should also have an M for MIMCO and a D for the Diamond D however I think my last berth's BS might have been misconstrued regardless of gluteal siting.

[ShipwreckX]

Originally Posted by BobClay

During the 60's I let my hair grow long (it was the in thing pretty much) and it stayed that way for many years.

My old man used to embarrass me about it. He was a World War Two infantry man in the Eighth Army and having crossed North Africa, gone up through Sicily and Italy he was wounded out as they moved North when Monte Cassini fell.

.... and the way he embarrassed me ? ...... He let his hair grow even longer !! (He was a bit mad, but being married to a mad Irish woman does that I think )

I did the same. If my old man had done that then, I would have said "far out!".

[BobClay]

Some days just don't go according to plan .....

[BobClay]

Wasn't quite sure where to put this .. a news item.

Hate to see a ship in a fix like this ...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-eur...f-man-58342316

[John Rogers]

Wind up your Groan Meter Bob, this ones for you.

How did Vikings communicate over long distance?
NORSE CODE.

[Varley]

I hear that the crew are confined onboard because the Island welcomes only careful drivers.