firbeck
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Posts posted by firbeck
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I've just taken the risk, here's our little pal peeping out of her nest:-
Here's the froggies in the pond still apparently going at it:-
Here's the bluebell, but it seems to have opened out today, it doesn't look very much like the English variety anymore.:-
Flash wasn't used in order to protect the innocent.
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Walkie talkies in 1932? Did they put the valves inside their helmets then or did they use pre-Dan Dare Space Phones, you know, those plastic thingy's connected with taught string, or proper tin cans to make them work even better. I'm trying to imagine an uninterrupted line stretching from Shakespeare Street to Meadow Lane, wouldn't Midland Station have got in the way.
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Sounds quite exciting in Lincs. Thats something I forgot about, we've got blubells flowering in the garden, the thing is, I don't know where the hell they've come from, not seen them before and I haven't planted any, they're the traditional English type as well, I daren't take a picture as they are under the Robins nest that we are treading carefully around at the moment as they abandoned the same nest last year leaving their eggs in place.
Robins can be resilient though. A few years ago I blasted all the crap off my garage roof and path at my previous house, not realising that the robins had made a nest in the hedge next to all my activity, just outside the back door. I suddenly became aware of this poor, soaked little bird frantically trying to protect her chicks. Poor little thing, I felt terrible about it, then the cats moved in so I ended up putting wire mesh round them, our Scooby Doo seemed to empathise with them and acted as guard at all times, Jack Russell allied with Robins against cats seemed to work a treat, they raised 4 chicks that year, they would hop around his nose and he couldn't care less, he knows the difference between his enemies and his friends.
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I'm not a ghost officianado, but had some wierd experiences, my father was the worst one for that, but more later.
I was always led to believe that the most haunted place in Notts was Annesley Hall, there's even a web site showing some alleged ghostly happenings there. Quite frankly, it is a creepy place, especially in it's current derelict state, I don't think that people are welcome there though, so don't go unofficially sniffing about, however there is a public footpath next to it and past the ruined church, I went up there with a load of students last year in the dark, and it is intimidating.
I've had some odd experiences in Peak District Youth Hostels many years ago, notably at Rudyard Lake and Ilam Hall, if you ever stay at Ilam, don't ever sleep in the dreaded room 13, the one over the entrance or go alone into the cellars.
My father always had a fascination with the subject of ghostly happenings, he once claimed to have seen a Victorian family wave to him from a gate in Dale Abbey, only to go back and find no gate and no house, my mother swears to this day that she can remember the incident as clear as if it was yesterday.
He always reckoned that when he died, he would endevour to come back and let us know he was alright. I'm no great believer of the afterlife, but we had some wierd experiences immediately after he passed away.
The night he died, and it was an unforseen accident, our dogs, who loved him, suddenly leapt to their feet, despite lying about fast asleep, and started frantically wagging their tails and barking and looking intensely at the place on the settee next to me, I could certainly feel a presence and when I said, OK dad I know your'e there, the dogs seemed to shrug, look at me and go back to sleep again.
The day after he died, we stayed with my mother, the next morning at 7:00 the alarm went off and woke us up, nothing wrong with that except that it was an old clockwork alarm that hadn't worked for years, let alone go off at the right time or even be set, well you couldn't, it was knackered.
When I returned home and went to work, I told everyone about my odd experiences and settled down to do some stuff on the computer. Without warning, everything on the screen slowly drained away and the screen turned blue at which point the mouse arrow turned itself into a white circular dot and fixed itself firmly in the centre of the screen, despite my efforts, nothing would bring the thing back to normal, I had to turn off the power at the plug in the end and even then, it was reluctant to turn itself off.
Other odd things happened too, I remember us all looking at each other as his ashes were being scattered and one of his beloved HST's passed by on the railway and let out a very long drawn out mournfull howl on it's horn, coincidence, who knows.
Just to prove a point, I've just been chatting to my neighbour over the fence and come back in to find that this message had been mysteriously sent before I'd finished it, I haven't touched the damn computer and the dog has been outside with me all the time, not that he's that clever, what do you think of that, I can't think of any explanation for it.
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I'm talking about my @r53 !!!
Although at my fighting weight I did get in the rear seat of a Tornado and a Harrier.
It could have been interesting if you'd had to eject!! Beefsteak leaves plane or would plane have left Beefsteak!!
I always thought that the smallest cockpit was in a Bf-109, all those Luftwaffe fighter aces must have been pretty short otherwise their heads would have been pressed against the glass.
Yes, I know it's a Buchon, same cockpit though.
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Not a swallow in sight down here yet, which is unusual as they always take over the stables pretty early on and can usually be seen zooming up and down the river by now.
The Robins have laid eggs in their nesting box and mr is racing about feeding madam who keeps peering out of the entrance, bless, unfortunately we have a mole attack in the flower bed below them, my usual trick is to stick a hosepipe down the hole and wash dog crap down the tunnel, the smell of a predator drives them away, but I daren't go too near to the nest.
The pond has been a source of entertainment, the males have been croaking for a while now and hopping around the garden, our Jack Russell doesn't know what to make of it, he chases after them but just wants a good sniff and stands looking in the pond at night listening to the racket. There's so much frogspawn in there now that the water levels risen, lets hope that our resident pike doesn't eat all the tadpoles, he didn't manage it last year.
The white marked blackbird seems to be making a nest on top of the Robin box, I don't know what they think of that, both he and Mr Robin keep landing on the chairs outside the window and staring at me, I'd better give them some wireworms, we've actually managed to breed some of our own this year.
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Please can he take ex Mundella Grammar School Boy David Pleat with him and allow him to clean the toilets, hopefully he will make a better job of that than droning on about the game that he never succesfully contributed to and knows nothing about, he might even meet the odd prostitute while he's about his tasks.
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Duxford, home of the Spitfire, this is at Flying Legends during the same year:-
How many of you have seen this number in the air at once:-
Lets chuck in half a dozen P-51's to join in the fray:-
Just a little bit of aerial jousting:-
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'Spring chicken to shitehawk in one easy lesson:-
Dagger,Dagger,Dagger,Dagger.....................................................
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My missus was in a management meeting when the Spitfire flew over her office yesterday, getting up and walking to the window she said, 'Wow that sounds like a Spitfire, I expect Pete will tell me which bloody one'. She said that they just gave her a blank look, she was very surprised and thought they were a little bit sad, particularly as one of them is a major in the TA.
Incidentally, I suspect it may well have been the newly restored privately owned Mk1a flying up to DX from Booker for a bit of tweaking, I'm sure I'll get to know.
Meanwhile, I'm sure you were expecting this, Duxford Spring Airshow about 12 years ago:-
Yes, this is our Caroline, the worlds only female Spitfire pilot.
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Trouble is, my dog has a tendency to attempt to sort them out as they hop around the pond, I'll have to take him on a PC course with regard to frogs and toads, there must be a relevant clause somewhere in the appropriate government websites, I wouldn't be surprised if they have employed a domestic local authority frog adviser on a huge salary.
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I went in the Dog and Partridge on Parliament St last Friday, John Smiths smooth was £1.75 a pint. In my local it's £2.45.
It's worth buying 'Smooth' so you can pour it on the floor in front of the landlord and ask them why they aren't selling proper beer, or is that what we are conditioned to accept these days.
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I appreciate that not everyone gets enthusiastic about seeing aircraft in their element, unlike myself, Beefsteak and Plantfitt, but doesn't the sight and sound of a Spitfire somehow stir the spirit of everyone for some reason or another, doesn't it hold people in awe at the sight of it, is it not probably the only aircraft that most people can identify and admire as it flies over.
I'm saying this because a Spitfire has just flown very low and slow over my back garden, it's interesting how my neighbours ran out of their houses at that unmistakeable sound and gazed upwards with a smile, that even the hoodies walking down the street looked heavenward and smirked in guarded appreciation, why is this, after all it's just an old aircraft, and a killer to boot, how come people seem to know of it, and love it so much.
Incidentally, for the keen types, it was wearing 1940 grey/black underwing camo, I suspect it was the BBMF Mk2, for the unitiated, the only flying Spitfire that took part in the Battle of Britain, the first battle won to save civilisation, whatever that means in the current scheme of things, what an example of our heritage, it deserves our respect, myself, I'm honoured to have seen it on this mundane afternoon, it lifts the spirits as far as I'm concerned.
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You were lucky, beer prices in London have always been horrific and still are around here, 30+ miles away. I hope you didn't actually buy a pint of Greene King by the way, however cheap it was.
Wetherspoons obviously lulled you into a false sense of security, but then, if they can do it, why can't the other places.
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E4-B command a/c currently in mid Atlantic followed by VC-25 (Air Force 1) and C-32 ( Air Force 2 ).
I don't know how far in the fighter escort will stay with them.
No parking currently allowed on the roads anywhere near Stansted Airport except in the main car park, only then if you have a proven reason to be there.
What a waste of bloody money, I gather that the UK security arrangements alone are costing £7.8m.
Doesn't our Gordon travel in a scheduled airliner.
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Taxying at 11:30 and 13:30 on wednesday 8th April, £6:75 to get in.
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Having bought up and destroyed the Hardy Hansons brewery at Kimberley, our favourite brewers Greene King are now asset stripping the pubs that they inherited from them, what a surprise.
The White Cow at Ilkeston has been sold by Greene King to Tesco's, or so they say, allegedly for them to turn into a Mini-Mart.
According to Greene King, the pub doesn't make any money, liars, it had a £262,000+ turn over in it's last tax year.
According to Greene King, Tesco's are to turn it into a Mini-mart, liars, no planning application for a change of use or consultation has been received by Erewash Borough Council.
I think it unlikely that this would happen bearing in mind that there is a large Tesco's up the road anyway.
Look out for another local pub landmark to be demolished to make way for housing.
Please follow my principles and refuse to buy any Greene King products, I know it's hard as they've wormed their way into pubs all over the country and they've tried to make themselves look socially aware by selling their p@ss for 99p at Wetherspoons (funny how they never reduce the price of their beers in the big supermarkets), but they're making so much money as a result of shutting down rivals and putting people out of work, that they can probably still manipulate the system and make a profit out of it.
They will probably eventually go the same way as those previous asset strippers, Whitbread and Greenall Whitley, the fat cat directors will leg it off to the Bahamas with their ill gotten gains and shut down their own brewery, they won't give a damn about putting their own employees out on the streets.
Last weekend the GK pub in the next village had a beer festival, what that means is that GK produce all these wierd and wonderful brews with long lost names such as Ruddles, Morelands, Ridleys, Hardy Hansons et al and kid the public that they actually mean something, well they don't, they all come out of the same big vat at Bury St Edmunds, you can see it from the road, it's all a big con, don't get fooled by it, no doubt each director has a slash in it to make it taste different, I wouldn't put it past them.
So when you see these nice bottled 'Real Ales' with those names in your local supermarket, don't buy them, you may as well buy GK IPA ( if you have any principles), it's the same stuff without the p@ss, or is it.
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Can someone buy Fynger an a/c identification book by next wednesday otherwise he'll be a nightmare!!!!!!
Story so far, Obama to arrive in AF1 at Stansted at 19:30 then taken to Central London in a presidential H-60 Blackhawk, AF1 then going to Mildenhall for parking up.
E4-B which is the US command centre, allegedly already at Mildenhall so that if Obama needs to deal with a nuclear war he can be whisked off to the Hall and conduct it from there, a back up E4-B is positioned in Germany. An escort of Johnson AFB F-15's to go to Spangdalem in Germany escorted by 6 KC-135 tankers which will deploy to Mildenhall.
I presume that those C-5's arriving at the Hall yesterday were bringing in the presidential helicopters.
The amount of a/c at Stansted is supposed to be incredible. Expected this afternoon is the Russian contingent consisting of 1xIL76 command centre, 2xIL62, 2xIL96 (presidential), 3xTU154. The M11 is supposed to be full of mysterious black limos with escorts going to and from Stansted into London.
The area around the airport is supposed to be heaving with police and special security stopping and checking everyone, the cargo area is full of presidential a/c from all over the world plus Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters.
Here lies my problem, due to the lack of funds, my car is off the road awaiting an MOT, which I'm hoping to get sorted later in the week with a cash injection, so at the moment, I can't go anywhere, yes, lifes a bitch, but I'm used to that by now.
You can catch an airport bus from Braintree to Stansted, but if anybody knows Stansted, you can't see sod all from the Terminal, no way would you see whats happening over the other side of the airfield without a very very long walk and I suspect that the police will have cordoned off the few viewing places anyway, so thats it, I'm stuffed.
I don't know how long the summit lasts and when everyone is leaving, but I may have a few days to get my MOT sorted and get to see something, we'll see.
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Very confusing all this, according to White House press release Obama due in UK tomorrow so AF1 due into Stansted 19:30 tomorrow evening, special headquarters E4-B and presidential staff C-20 due into Mildenhall at any moment, protesters are outside Mildenhall so perhaps they know something.
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AF1 due into Stansted at 19:30, it will probably go into the old passenger terminal, where I took those last pictures, but I doubt whether I will get anywhere near the place, I can't decide whether or not to nip over there as it's unlikely to fly over here.
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Russel Crowe is a Kiwi!!
There you go, I have to admit to my failed O Level in Sun Media studies.
If RC is a Kiwi, does that mean he might be up for a part in the new Dambusters film, perhaps as a bouncing bomb.
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Had it been AF1, your camera would have self detonated within 10 seconds.
As Mr Obama is heading in for the G whatever summit and the destination is not being revealed, a good idea, but the colours aren't quite right. There's a freight company that operates 747's out of Stansted, they carry out clandestine ops for the US government and that colour scheme fits the bill. They came in for some critism a few years ago for transporting LGB's into Israel for use against the Palestinians, refuelling at Stansted, then later Mildenhall, on the way. It was a bit unnerving to see them flying over my house at Finchingfield knowing what they were carrying.
There was another company operating 747's that used to fly into Stansted, these were all white with no markings and were rumoured to be operating for the CIA on behalf of the USN, I haven't seen any of those for a while, but I see one of the blue 747's at least once a day.
Heres a couple of wierdos I photographed at Stansted a few years ago:-
Belfast:-
CF-144 Guppy, now rotting away at Bournemouth Airport:-
Things have never been the same since the Russians were persuaded not to visit, still, when they jammed the undercarriage of an Ilyushin-76 into place with borrowed scaffold tubes, it's no wonder that Stansted weren't impressed with their company.
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If you think about it, apart from Robin Hood and Brian Clough, who else with a relationship to the area has had a film made about them.
I would have thought that the intigrueing lives of Byron and Lawrence would have made fortunes for the film industry, but I don't recall any major productions about them, perhaps someone local with a failed GCSE in studying The Sun should make the suggestion, write a script, and offer it to Tinseltown, it couldn't fail.
I'm not sure how Hollywood would cope with our living legend Sue Pollard, Cate Blanchett perhaps, with Russell Crowe as Leslie Crowther, well it makes sense, he's an Aussie, he must like cricket.
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I wonder how a film would go down over there about our lads conquering Iwo Jima or the Phillipines?
Not quite as daft as it sounds.
Did you know, that despite the Hollywood version of events in the Pacific, the British Pacific Fleet was actually the largest Royal Navy task force ever operated and by the end of the war against Japan consisted of 4 ( modern ) battleships, 17 aircraft carriers, which, with 300 aircraft provided 25% of the entire Allied air strength, 10 cruisers, 40 destroyers, 28 modern submarines plus countless other vessels.
The Formidable class of fleet carriers were more heavily armoured than their American counterparts which tended to be easily put out of action by Kamikaze attacks, the RN ships had concrete mixers on deck which allowed them to fill in the dents with rapid hardening cement and have them ready for action extremely quickly.
As far as Iwo Jima was concerned, the Hollywood movies don't tell you that the supporting bombardment was provided by RN Capital ships with our carriers providing combat air support, in fact on just one day during the operation, FAA Seafires shot down 8 attacking Japanese aircraft.
So the next time you watch the film on TV, feel very smug in the knowledge that those USN fighters shown over Iwo Jima would have more than likely been the FAA version of the Spitfire, not flown by Ben Affleck either.
Sorry Beefsteak, knickers in a twist, I meant to say that there has only been one full eclipse over Nottingham from the 10th Century to the present day, I would also imagine that during the time of the Crusades that the chances of any Muslims being present or welcome over here and surviving would be very remote, things don't change much do they. I do admit to not seeing any previous episodes and I did say it was all good fun, which it is.
The point is, why do they have to tamper so much with Nottingham's only true legend, though having said that, the film industry seem to have taken liberties with Mr Clough as well.
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I've never watched the BBC's latest take on Robin Hood, but I thought I'd give it a try last night.
So who writes this stuff, Maid Marion killed in the last series, what!! and we have an African Friar Tuck, no offence meant to anybody, but isn't that stretching the legend a bit too far in the interests of PC.
Then we have Robin running about with a composite bow that he presumably obtained from his mate Saladin, perhaps the writers should have gone the whole hog and introduced some more Merrie Men, Islamic warriors happy to come over from Palestine in a rowing boat, or maybe even in the back of an articulated horse drawn wagon from Calais via a cross channel ketch.
Perhaps we can look out for that later in the series, perhaps with a few Chinese and Indian take aways nestling against the walls of the castle or maybe a French farmers market, well the ruling heirachy were Norman so that makes sense.
Incidentally, did you spot the deliberate mistake.
Apart from the fact that only one total eclipse of the sun was ever visible from Nottingham in the entire 20th century and that was in February 1598, the sequence of such an event was considerably longer than shown, and what happened at the end of it, a 3/4 moon was shown over Robins right shoulder with the sun quite clearly shining from the opposite end of the sky.
Perhaps I'm being picky, because it was quite clearly all good fun, I just wish Robin would lighten up a bit and take his opportunities to kill off the bad guys when he gets all those chances though, it must be that crappy bow, stick to a good old English Longbow my son, look what it's about to do to the French at Agincourt.
Morris open top police car
in Pete's Nottingham Transport Forum
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Why not go here this weekend and you'll see it:-
I'm sure that they will be some keen type around willing to explain how a steam loco works as well.