What have you noticed lately?

Smell of a new car to be a thing of the past.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/cars/news/new-...id=BHEA000

That's a pity, something I really like.

I've always admired Simon Calder travel corespondent for The Independent.



Good Morning Britain to Newsnight, there he is in his suit. You always know that he's put in the legwork himself: the number of times I've heard him say 'I've just come off the phone with so and so and he says....' or 'When I tried it....'.
He writes that his strap line is 'the man who pays his way', because he doesn't accept accommodation or transport from the travel trade.

A couple of years ago I noticed his email address was displayed on social media so I emailed him, saying what I have above and adding that I thought he was the nations' best expert. That evening, there was his reply thanking me.

Now it seeems he's fallen foul of hysteria.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/...id=BHEA000

Rather than hush it up, he thanks those members of the public for their opinion, details the comments received and leaves the reader or viewer to draw their own conclusions.
Journalists enjoy a mixed profile but I'd say this one deserves a praiseworthy one.

Some years go I lived in the Thames valley and if you do too you might have seen signs for Carters Steam Fair.

https://www.carterssteamfair.co.uk/

During the (normal) year they bring their event on village greens and fairgrounds. It's like the dodgy fairs of the Fifties and Sixties: Bumper Cars not Dodgems, What the Butler Saw, Wall O' Death and girls in high heels and stockings.
Of equal interest though is the power. No diesel generators or mains supply, no that's supplied by the locomotives. I remember one of the Engineers yelling at me in the darkness over the din of his charge: ''That's got that on it'' nodding in the direction of the Dodgems. The generator mounted on the front of the vehicle clearly under load, the engine shuddering and vibrating; power only just restrained.

Now one of those locomotives has sold for nearly a million. If you get the chance to see one in action. Up close and personal be prepared to be impressed.



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wi...e-54735107

I'll tell you who's going to miss out here and that's Fernanda
Normally Marcus would book her somehere like that for a photo shoot.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/wo...id=BHEA000

(31-10-2020 18:52 )Chrisst Wrote:  {snip}

Remember Fred Dibnah's

And it's only 40 days left to Christmas

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/uk...id=BHEA000

I know a lot about (RAF) Manston. I remember watching Lightnings doing circuits and bumps on the runway at night in the seventies.

The huge slab of concrete was laid in 1943 as one of three airfields designed to accommodate striken bombers returning from raids. It was equipped with FIDO.

The RAF left long ago but even now there's a presence as the Defence Fire Training and Development Centre is on site. Their principle tool was the foam carpet, fire retardant foam could be laid on the runway for a stricken aircraft to land on.

There's two famous persons associated with Manston. Firstly there's Freddie Laker whose first airlines operated from there and secondly Gerry Anderson who served his national service as a radio operator.
One day Anderson watched an aircraft land wheels up and years later conceived a different way of handling the emergency.

Christmas Eve, & we have snow in Yorkshire.

Strange one here, a spooky coincidence, almost, but not quite. Whilst browsing through the Forum I noticed that Charlemagne's rep count currently stands at 199. Nothing odd about that you might say, but when I delved a little deeper it turns out that the member that gave him his 199th rep, calls himself TonTon. Charle will no doubt get it, knowing a fair bit about cricket, I can explain to those less familiar. a ton is often used to describe a century or 100 runs scored by a batsman, however, 200 runs would be called a double century & not a TonTon !

BREAKING NEWS : Charle gets to 200 reps, aided by robert.f4