Random Ramblings

[Compo 10,328]

DAVIDW #95: I suspect that the Chinese use space in part loaded containers in order to reduce postage to almost zero. I am currently awaiting some coarse muslin (Had to watch my spelling there!) which cost me about the same as UK postage alone would cost.

[PeverilPeril 3,279]

Compo #100 those temps were what the forcasters said on telly. Great pics - is that Loch Watten?

[TBI 2,351]

DAVIDW #95: I suspect that the Chinese use space in part loaded containers in order to reduce postage to almost zero. I am currently awaiting some coarse muslin (Had to watch my spelling there!) which cost me about the same as UK postage alone would cost.

The main reason Chinese postage rates are so low is they are subsidised. The global mail system is actually controlled by a function within the UN, whereby each countries postal rates are banded dependent on economic factors. Emerging economies like China get the lowest, subsidised by the richer countries.

[PeverilPeril 3,279]

The water that flows through our village reaches Nottingham the day after.

[benjamin1945 16,139]

Watch what you put in it then...............

[loppylugs 8,427]

You beat me to it Ben. :-)

[Compo 10,328]

PeverilPeril #102: The water is Loch Watten but only a bit of it I'll dig out a better picture for you.

[Compo 10,328]

Swans on Loch Watten for PeverilPeril:

Loch Watten in December:

Loch Watten in summer:

Trout (Brown) fishing boats on Loch Watten:

[PeverilPeril 3,279]

Thanks Compo. It must be 35 years since I fished there. Looking forwards to my trip to the Asynt region late May early June.

[loppylugs 8,427]

Nice loch. Does it have one of them monster thingies like Loch Ness. I was there in '67 but I never saw it. Does it even exist?

[Merthyr Imp 729]

Loch Ness in 1998 - a monster-free zone that day too:

[Compo 10,328]

Here you go....Nessie in all her finery:

[LizzieM 9,507]

I'm sure I heard on TV recently that there's a man been living in a caravan on the side of Loch Ness for about 30 years in the hope of sighting the monster.

[loppylugs 8,427]

I think that place is called Urquhart castle M I. I have almost the same picture taken on a stormy night there in 67. Looks like the sort of place the monster might show up.

Nottingham should get one. :-). They could put it in the lake at Wollaton Park. That would bring the tourist pennys in.

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

The desolation of Smaug

[Compo 10,328]

Loppylugs: post #111 is indeed Urquhart Castle. It now has a massive car park for coach tours and is usually crowded, being the 2nd most popular tourist hot-spot in Scotland. The local village of Drumnadrochit has two models of the Loch Ness Monster and a couple of visitor centres dedicated to taking yer money entertaining and educating the public.

[Merthyr Imp 729]

We went on a boat trip on Loch Ness that day and didn't see the monster at all.

To be fair, the trip wasn't advertised as being one where you could see the monster, unlike the boat trip we went on from Inverness where you were supposed to see dolphins - and which turned out to be just as mythical that day.

[loppylugs 8,427]

We still haven't answered the question. Does Nessy exist? :-)

[FLY2 10,108]

I've always had an open mind on this question, and would absolutely love it to be true.

The tourism would go through the roof.

[loppylugs 8,427]

Same here Fly. They say Loch Ness is very deep. Could have been something lurking there since pre-historic times.

[Michael Booth 7,364]

I doubt very much if one has ever existed and always believed it to be a tourist puller. The problem today is that if somebody claims to have seen it and they have a photo/film as proof, nobody would believe it because you can do anything with photos and films nowadays.

[MargieH 7,599]

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in (y)our philosophy. (Hamlet)

I would like to think there are large creatures living in deep lochs - there would probably be more than one! I don't think they would be mystical, magical creatures either, as some people say. Remember when it was thought that the coelacanth fish became extinct at the time of the dinosaurs, and then a live one was discovered in 1938 (and others since).

I try and keep an open mind on these things....... and wouldn't it be exciting if there was definite proof one day!

[Michael Booth 7,364]

Past sightings report that the head and neck are above water so therefore you'd assume that it comes up to breathe.

Because of this you'd think that it should have been spotted daily. Because it hasn't must mean that it's never existed.

[MargieH 7,599]

Perhaps it mainly surfaces at night? (I'm clutching at straws here!)

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

If this beauty was caught in Loch Ness it could be mistaken for Nessie