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Diverse Vinyl have it for £13.99.
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Mike Farrow
iTunes for .79p !
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I have noticed that every Aircraft Carrier that I have seen has the control tower on the Starboard (right) side; does anyone know why this should be so? It seems true irrespective of nationality or age of ship.
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Maritime law is the same everywhere and ships/boats pass port to port, except in the English channel where they pass starboard to starboard. Motor gives way to sail. I presume they are all the same side because everyone follows the same rule book unlike drivers!
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Hope they are aware of the point where they pass starboard to starboard rather than port to port...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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My favourite aircraft carrier story..........
ACTUAL transcript of a US naval ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October, 1995. This radio conversation was released by the Chief of Naval Operations on 10-10-95.
Americans: "Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision."
Canadians: "Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision."
Americans: "This is the captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course."
Canadians: "No, I say again, you divert YOUR course."
Americans: "THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES' ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH. THAT'S ONE-FIVE DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP."
Canadians: "This is a lighthouse. Your call."
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"ACTUAL transcript"
Some of these, I really DO wish they were true...but:
www.snopes.com/military/lighthse.htm
V
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Of course its not true - but it still makes me laugh.......It just might have happened.
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>>Maritime law is the same everywhere and ships/boats pass port to port, except in the English channel where they pass starboard to starboard.
That's news to me. The east bound traffic in the English Channel uses a designated zone on the French side and west bound traffic use a zone on the English side, with a separation zone between them. That still technically makes them passing port to port. Unfortunately there are still a few rogue ships that ignore these separation zones and steam on regardless, but the Coastguard are almost powerless to stop them.
The English Channel is one of the busiest shipping areas in the world, as beside east/west traffic there are numerous ferry crossings, fishing areas and pleasure boats. The Straits of Dover are also a pinch point not just for shipping, but the tides. This makes the water rougher as the tides flow up the Channel and down the North Sea, to meet off Dover.
How do I know this? I have sailed these waters since the 1960's.
--
Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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I have to be very carefull on this one owing to all the publicity surounding discrimination re adoption so please be carefull if you wish to reply.
My son and his Japanese wife have been trying for a child for some time now and am proud to have been able to help financialy but sadly without success having gone through losing the first child, losing the second child and even more distressing having to abort the third ,(which was concieved naturally) because of Downs Syndrome.
They eventually discussed adoption but after enquiring about this have now been told they are too old as she has now turned 40, my son has only just turned 30.
II just find this very sad that they are unable to adopt in this country and will now probably have to go to the expense and complications of moving back to Japan if they want adopt a child which they are desperate for.
Regards ..........sadly ........Mal.
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I know a couple on the adoption register who are both over 40. Maybe it depends also on the policy in your area, or perhaps the type of adoption you want--single baby, older child, family group etc.
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Single baby, better not say in what area, as censorship can be an issue on this forum.
Discrimination is my issue ..........say no more!!.
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Single babies are the most in demand by adopters so they will have the pick of prospective parents and family setups to choose from. I bet they get snapped up if they ask for a six year-old.
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Yes Bask. after "googling" I found this,
www.adviceguide.org.uk/nm/f_adopting_a_child.pdf
Considering that we are living longer I do feel they should consider raising the practiced, if not ilegal"age limit"?.
Is this not age discrimination?, surely it could be proved by experts that a couple over 40 can provide a stable loving enviroment to care for a baby as well as other groups could ?.
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My Dad was 43 when I was born. Presumably our legislators would tell me that made him unfit for purpose.
V
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They could look into adopting from Romania or Africa (Madonna) etc
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Even the perfect mid-twenties couple would struggle to adopt a baby these days as they are few and far between.
If you get to the point where you are that desperate to have a child that you are considering adoption, then surely you would be more open to options rather than specifying that it must be a baby?
You may find more help and advice at baaf.org.uk or if you google AdoptionUK
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What a great forum this is, no lazy text language style postings.I know it is useful for mobiles and is used mainly by the younger generation but as they get older it will eventualy be used by young and old alike for most writing done on keyboards.
It wouldnt surprise me if at some future date it is taught in schools!!!.
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What a great forum this is, no lazy text language style postings.
Just some atrocious grammar and punctuation! ;-)
......... it will eventualy be used by young and old alike for most writing done on keyboards.
Not by me, it won't.
It wouldnt surprise me if at some future date it is taught in schools!!!.
Heaven forbid.
--
L\'escargot.
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I'm so old fashioned I don't even use text language in my phone texts
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Phil
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I'm so old fashioned I don't even use text language in my phone texts --
No need to with predictive text, unless you're getting short for space and want to avoid sending a chained/double message.
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I am so old fashioned I never use phone texts .......never mind text language.
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Text language - this was taken from Sniff Petrol...
Letter? E-mail? Memo?
Whatever you?re writing, why not render it annoying and incomprehensible with ?TXT SPK???
Yes, from an informal note to an important business communication, there?s almost nothing that can?t be made to sound like the syntactically inept burblings of an emotionally retarded 12 year old with TEXT SPEAK! Why use the word ?to? when you could move your hands off the letters of the keyword and up to the number ?2?, thereby saving yourself the massive effort of having to type an extra letter AND making you look like an ill educated, snot dribbling moron in the process!
English is the proud international language of business, shipping and aviation. With TEXT SPEAK we can reduce it to the grunting, vowel-less, comma free, lower case lingua franca of the relentlessly stupid!
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I have a question. What exactly was the question that mal was asking about text language?
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He wasn't asking a quetion - he was making a statement. Hence the absence of question marks in his posting
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Afternoon all,
Every couple of days I face the mammoth task of cleaning the inside glass of our woodburning stove. Currently I use kitchen roll, vinegar and a bit of ash to give the abrasion needed without scratching the glass.
The thing is, it takes forever to clean with a tremendous amount of elbow grease.
Does anyone have a magic formula, where the baked on soot just falls off?
Thanks!
DB
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One of the woodburning stove experts will be along in a minute, but I seem to remember you shouldnt get a sooty glass, you have incomplete combustion. NOt enough air in the right place or something.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Hmm, we can adjust the air flow, but obviously we haven't perfected it yet! Two vents - one at the top of the stove just below the bottom of the flue, and one at the bottom where the ash tray is.
Normally we have both half open - which is obviously wrong, but the thing didn't come with instructions!!
Cheers,
DB
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Top open when burning wood and bottom if it is a multi-fuel jobby, i.e. coal, BUT not an exact science. We live in a high position and very exposed and sometimes the fires will just run away with all vents closed, so there must be a leak somewhere and some days like this morning they do not wish to know. It is said that it takes a year to get used to your fire and I think that is true. Usually a very hot burn will clean the 'glass' (which it is usually not), but once again this is not always true.
If it is wood you are burning then leave the ash in as wood burns better this way. If it is a Multi fuel burner and you only burn wood then take the grate bars out and buy some more plates for the base of the fire which stops the outer skin being literally burnt away.
VBR.....................MD.
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D
I use some stuff for cleaning woodburning stove glass, it's basically a weak acid. Brick cleaner would probably do the job, though I suspect it may be stronger than the stuff I'm using. It works quite well, probably better than your home brew. I've been using the same bottle for several years. You need to rinse off with copious amounts of water to get rid of the acid or you'll mark the glass.
I wouldn't worry about incomplete combustion, producing smoke is a natural part of the wood heating up before it ignites and the smoke is sooty. You'll also get tar deposited if you turn the damper extremely low.
JH
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I have the same problem and here is my method. Burn most of it off by getting a good hot fire going with clean tinder dry stickswith maximum draught. After it has cooled down give it a good dose of "Mr Muscle" oven cleaner and with a pair of rubber gloves scour the surface with course wire wool . Next use one of those tools that hold a stanley knife blade (scarston scraper?) and carefully remove the stubborn tar. Finish off with a fine grade wire wool.
Now sit back and enjoy the therapeutic calming effect of the flames licking around the logs.
And of course to avoid the build up of tar on the glass you must use dry timber with plenty draught.
Regards Mal. (written in my best english) ;-)
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Burning logs efficiently in a log stove depends on a lot of factors draught from the flue/chimney, type of wood, the amount of residual moisture in the wood, size of the logs, how you stack them, the efficiency of the stove, and most of all the adjustment of the draught.
It is an acquired art perfected after trial and error but in the end you will get it right.
Best of luck.
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French supermarkets and DIY stores all seem to sell efficient spray for cleaning stove windows, price around 3 euros. I was using some myself a couple of hours ago - a Sunday morning ritual. I could post some if it can't be found in UK.
My woodburner is a Jotul - well respected make and very efficient - and even they say some sooting of the glasses is unavoidable unless the grate is burning hard all the time with the doors closed.
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I have the same problem burning smokeless fuel. The stove is on 24/7 and only at tickover so smoking of the glass is inevitable. It'll only keep clear if it's burning pretty fast. My problem is it's never cool enough to clean so I just give it an hour at full blast occasionally which clears it a bit. The room is baking by then though.
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Jif, latterly known as Cif (or something) is effective on our stove.
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Jif is now Cif - the yellow version in a oval spray bottle is very effective for cleaning our gas stove and electric oven (especially the glass door), so I would imagine it will work equally well in this case.
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The cleaner recommended by (some) manufacturers for ceramic hobs and glass doors of ovens is Homecare "Hob Brite", which contains a very gentle abrasive. In the past we used things like Cif on our oven door glass and ended up with (albeit small) stress-raising scratches which resulted in the toughened door glass spontaneously shattering on two occasions. One door glass only lasted 18 months and cost over £120 to replace. From now on we intend to stick with Hob Brite. If the glass of your stove is similarly toughened then beware what you do to it.!
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L\'escargot.
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Cif on our oven door glass ........
In case it might be relevant (but I don't think it is) it's a gas oven.
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L\'escargot.
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I fail to understand how a liquid cleaner such as Cif (the yellow version) can "scratch" toughened glass...:-)
Even the white cream version would struggle.
It's more likely to be whatever cloth or similar you use to rub the glass with after applying Cif.
In our case one of those nylon/foam pads is used to get the softened grease off and then finished with a damp cloth.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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I think the sooty layer is itself a mild abrasive, it certainly feels scratchy when I rub it off with a wet cloth.
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It's more likely to be whatever cloth or similar you use to rub the glass with after applying Cif.
Bounty kitchen roll for all stages.
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L\'escargot.
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>>I fail to understand how a liquid cleaner such as Cif (the yellow version) can "scratch" toughened glass...:-)
Remember that it is toughened glass, not hardened glass, and as such, it will be just as easy to scratch as ordinary glass.
All toughened glass is is glass that has been heat treated to induce a compressive stress in its outer surfaces - the logic being that glass typically breaks by the growth of cracks from the surface, and these cracks need a tensile stress environment to initiate, so inducing a compressive stress at he surface makes the glass tougher. Note that for equilibrium, the glass in the bulk must be in tension to balance this surface compression, so any process which, possibly via abrasion, removes the outer compressive layer will seriously weaken the "toughened" glass, and render it weaker than standard non-heat-treated glass.
Number_Cruncher
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Thanks all. I've located a suitable product on t'internet that I might give a try. Until then, I've adjusted the airwash and will regularly arm myself with the vinegar!
DB
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Thanks all. I've located a suitable product on t'internet
What is it?
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L\'escargot.
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Hello,
I have an argument with a private health ins co, it is being handled by the FOS. I reckon the company owes me money and am concerned that if I continue to pay premiums I am just making the situation worse. The question is if I were to suspend payement of premiums whilst the dispute is settled will it jeapourdise my case? I assume not if I inform the co in writing, unlike perhaps car / household ins it is not really a prob if they in turn suspend cover. The FOS will not advise for or against the suspension of premiums.
Any thoughts?
Thanks.
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I've been told that if sky rats (pigeons) eat dried rice it kills them. I assume the thinking is that it swells up inside them. Can anyone confirm this or is it a fallacy? (It's got to be cheaper than buying a shotgun!)
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L\'escargot.
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From the RSPB website:
"Rice and cereals
Cooked rice, brown or white (without salt added) is beneficial and readily accepted by all species during severe winter weather. Uncooked rice may be eaten by birds such as pigeons, doves and pheasants but is less likely to attract other species."
Also, from generallyawesome.com/2006/mar22_2006:
"Everyone knows that dry rice is the pigeon?s Achilles heal. They can?t resist the grainy goodness. But once moisture makes the rice expand, it's not pretty," said local pigeon racer John H. Crabtree.
"Runny McGee" told GenerallyAwesome.com, by way of his animal psychologist/translator Fat Joe, that he has already commenced an awareness campaign about the dangers of uncooked rice to pigeons
He added that if George wanted to play dirty he was prepared to order legions of pigeons to reign down doo-doo on the heads of crowds of people in Yankee Stadium. Mr. McGee also added that he was in talks with local Seagull groups about the possibility of including militant Seagulls in the aerial assault. Such a thing could be the most devastating blow to attendance numbers since the baseball strike of the mid 1990?s.
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If the second article is correct, you might be making your situation worse!
HTH
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I seem to remember being told of "Grandad" making Seagulls a "Bicarb Butty", seagulls loved them, but not for long! as it made them explode!! :-) don't know if it works on "piddies" though!
billy
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Air rifle pellets are cheap (and definitely work provided you propel them accurately towards the pigeon at a suitable speed using the right equipment)
V
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Air rifle pellets are cheap (and definitely work provided you propel them accurately towards the pigeon at a suitable speed using the right equipment)
But if I missed the pegeon I might hit a neighbour, or his/her house!
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L\'escargot.
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Buy (or better, scrounge) a heavy steel plate minimum 3 feet by 2. This stops the hassle of shooting your neighbours. Do NOT use wood, as a pellet can rebound at almost the same speed it hits, directly back at you.
For the sake of being humane, practice until you can hit a small matchbox every time at whatever range you're shooting from.
Place the plate a distance from the house (perhaps in front of a shed if you're still concerned about missing the plate). Put a bowlful of grain in front of the plate. Wait. Shoot the greedy, flea-infested parasite in the head as it pauses between bites to look for predators. Don't even try to pluck it, just peel back the skin and remove the breast fillets with a sharp knife. Make a pigeon pie once you have three or four.
Problem solved humanely (you'll either kill it or miss it completely with a head shot), plus you've had a very tasty meal for a total meat cost of about a penny.
Also works with squirrels - rats with tails. Plus you can make slippers out of them.
V
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>>>>>But if I missed the pegeon I might hit a neighbour, or his/her house!<<<<
Not sure orf the distances but if you are firing close enough to hit a neighbour or their property you will be breaking the law.
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I thought we hadn't had a central heating question for a day or two.....
my oil fired boiler has taken to firing up for a few minutes at a time then firing up again a few minutes later. Sometimes it fires up for less than a minute.
It was serviced in October for the first time in years and the problem seems to go back to then, thinking about it now. I could of course call the guy back, but am I missing an obvious trick? Adjusting the control on the front (whatever that does) seems to make little impact on this on/off business.
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it sounds like the boiler is heating up ok but the pump is not working and taking the heat through the system
that would be my first idea ,check the pump is turning
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Whats the rest of it doing? Radiators getting warm? house nice and warm?
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Generally OK but I had to re-balance the rads a couple of weeks back so that the heat was reaching some newer ones in an extension, although the on/off thing was happening before I had to re-balance. Those newer rads just suddenly went cold around Christmas.
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Well the boiler cycling could have several causes, but most of them are to do with flow. As your rads are getting hot, the pump is obviously working. It could be
Air in system, (indicated by the sudden rads going cold) pump speed & flow wrong, scaled up boiler, even down to not enough boiler for the new rads.
I would drain down, descale, refil and new inhibitor, and bleed.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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is the boiler soley for the central heating or does it do the domestic hot water also?
if it does do the hot water, some boilers have the "hot water instant" option, whereby the boiler will cycle intermittently like yours is doing, so that you have hot water on-demand without having to wait for it to run hot when you turn on the tap.
cheers
billy
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is there a bypass valve ? Is it adjustable?
could be open or set at too low a pressure?
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Thanks for replies. Water is heated by the AGA. All rads have previously been as hot as you would want.
Where might I find this little valve that might need adjusting?
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I assume the "bypass" that adverse camber referred to is a short piece of pipe that connects the flow to the return in parallel with the radiator circuit. Its function is to ensure that there is always water flow through the boiler even if the radiator circuit is shut off for whatever reason. To ensure that the bypass doesn't rob the radiator circuit of too much flow it incorporates a manually adjustable valve ~ but don't ask me how you decide on the setting. The valve can come in various forms ~ I've seen gate-valves with a handwheel and "service valves" which have a sort of rotating ball which is turned either by a small handle on the spindle or a screwdriver slot at the outer end of the spindle. I would expect the bypass pipe (incorporating the aforementioned valve) to be just downstream of the pump. If the system has an indirect hot water tank then the pump will often be in the airing cupboard. If you have a combination boiler the valve may be within the boiler housing ~ but don't take this last sentence as gospel.
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L\'escargot.
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Depending on the layout of your system, it may not have a by-pass, and if your system is fairly new the by-pass may be an automatic one anyway.
As the boiler only provides heating, does the system have any motorised zone valves? If not then it possibly doesn't have a bypass.
What did your system do before the guy serviced it? Firing up for a few minutes sounds normal to me. Although being an oil boiler I suppose it should have longer cycles than a gas boiler. I'd expect running for less than a minutes to cause the inside of an oil boiler to soot up.
Did the guy by any chance change the thermostat during the service? A new one might have different on-off temperature ranges.
Or purhaps he cleaned a lot of soot out and that changed the way it runs due to improved heat transer to the water jacket
Does the boiler run for a long time from cold or does the cycling start soon after start up? Suggesting low flow
A descale as TVM suggests might help, but has a small risk of creating leaks!
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L'escargot and Sine, thanks for your comments.
There is no bypass around the pump. The system is old - probably early to mid seventies.
Don't know if the guy twiddled an internal thermostat, but the room thermostat is set at the usual temp, but chagning the temp doesn't seem to affect the on/off twitchiness.
I'll try to note if the cycling begins soon after start-up or after a good while.
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Thanks both,
There is no bypass and the system is pretty old at least 20 years.
Dunno if the guy changed an internal theromstat but chaging the room thermostat makes no difference to the twitchiness.
I'll make a note of whether it's worse or better at switch on
He certainly shifted a lot of soot as it hadn't been serviced for at least 8 years
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has the burner got a magic eye which might be sooting up , if fitted with this it would start up on bypass allowing fuel in then the eye takes over to tell it to keep allowing fuel through the solenoid ,a fault here could be the cause and can often be cured by a wipe with a rag on the lens (maybe older technology and not fitted ) other than that it sounds like a flow problem
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Assuming that your system has hot water cylinder storage and that it is fitted with a cylstat.
If this is the case have a look at the setting on the cylstat to see if it has been moved to a high setting when your man serviced it.
He may have done this to check if it was working OK and forgotten to turn it down again.
If this was the case the boiler would revert to firing up on demand from the boiler thermostat and not the cylstat if this was set to a lower setting than the cylstat. This is referred to as cycling.
However you would have been aware of this by having much hotter domestic hot water than usual.
The normal system provided the boiler is left switched on gets a signal by a live supply from either a room stat or a cylstat so obviously something is telling it to switch on.
Another port of call would be your programmer which may have been inadvertently changed to another setting but even so it would still need to supply the boiler through the cylstat or roomstat.
Or perhaps your cylstat has failed in a closed position.
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Has anybody used one of those sonic cat & dog repeller devices? and do they work.?
Am considering purchasing one to deter the neighbours cats from fouling my lawn and gravel beds- would prefer not to use chemicals or firearms- is a sonic device the answer??
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I've heard that they are only effective for occasional visitors. Regular visitors will get used to the noise and live with it, apparently.
Don't use chemicals, as they really don't work.
Firearms are an awful solution - a friend of mine's cat was shot with an air-rifle and it cost them £1,000 in vet's fees as well as severely impacting on the cat's quality of life for the remainder of it. A cat hit with an air-rifle pellet will look like it's just been surprised - it'll jump and run off. Then it'll probably die slowly in agony of peritonitis. Possibly in front of the family of the owner.
We advised our neighbours to deal with our cats by throwing water at them. Throw a bucket of water at a cat and (a) you won't hurt it and (b) it won't come near you again. There is a solution somewhere that combines a garden hose and an IR detector to spray cats that enter your garden. I suspect it'd do the job, but I can't recall where I saw it.
V
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We had one of those hose/IR things. It was very good, but had some drawbacks:
It was very expensive (about £60).
It obviously had limited range and so to cover the whole garden was impossible. We had to move it about from time to time.
It broke irretrievably after about a year.
You have to trail a hosepipe to it.
It catches you out, or visitors, when you forget it, which is either amusing or darned annoying.
On the plus side - it was the best deterrent ever at 100% effectiveness within its range.
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Why not try one of those high power pump action water pistols, a high power squirt of water should be just as effective as an airgun without the possibility of the cat dying of lead poisoning.
You can get one in toyshops for around £15.
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The TVM faithful hound FiFi is available for £15 day, a bone and a bowl of winalot., It wont get rid of the cat but FiFi looks cute dozing on the mat watching the cat.
If you want permanant cat removal, a belgian malinous is availble for a 1 off fee of £50, with free feline corpse removal. Mowing the bloodstains off the grass is optional. ONly for households that have BUPA cover however.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I believe that lion dung is very effective as the cat smell puts other cats off coming on to your property.
Certainly can recommend the high power water pistol - it's also great fun.
--
Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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In my smallish rural town (est. pop 6500) we have had a ?Pub-Watch? scheme in operation for a few years now. As with most ?Pub-Watch? schemes it is run by the local licensees, headed by the local community police officer.
Originally, anyone causing trouble, offence, or fighting in any of the Hostelries were ejected from the premises, reported to the Pub-watch panel, which decided their fate, usually a ban.
Then things were different,
You could now be Pub-watch banned from Hostelries if:
You are drinking/fighting etc in any of the town?s streets, regardless of the fact that you have not been drinking in any licensed venues, but have bought your drink from the ?offy? or supermarket
Then?.
You could be banned if you had been drinking at home, and had trouble, either domestic or otherwise,
You could be banned by pub-watch if you were convicted of a Drink-Drive offence,
Now?
You can be pub-watch banned for any Drink related incident, regardless?
You are also banned from buying Drink at any retail outlet in the town,
You are also banned from attending any ?private ?function in a licensed venue in the town,
And now?
*You can be banned ?for your own good!? if it is deemed you have an Alcohol related health issue!
They are trying to make it so that if you are on the pub-watch ban in one town, you are automatically banned in all venues in a 20-mile radius!
Eventually.. My question is:
Although I agree with the above, (except *) just who do they think they are? and where do they get the power to do this? Are these powers/restrictions legal? They are virtually running this town like a vigilante police force.
Does this not contravene any ?Human Rights??
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Totally unenforcable. If you want a challange to this I fancy a holiday in this town ! Pubwatches have got to comply with Human Rights legistlation and Data Protection. I would have a field day if a client's details were released to the local Watch after a Domestic for instance. Hardly proportionate or Data Protection complient. It would be the Police I would be looking at to do a shake down on. Game on I think. Nottingham Police came up with what is recognised as best practice in Pubwatch terms about five years ago, that had to go through various internal complience processes with Data Protection and HR laws. Do the commitee wear black shirts by any chance ?
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>>totally unenfocable
that was my first reaction when I first heard of the * marked item, that irked me slightly and prompted the post. As I said I agree with most of what they do, to a limit, but then i'm a "good boy" so a lot of it doesn't bother me personally, (unless someone knocks the Draught or Scrabble Board!), but i really think banning somebody "for thier own good" is outragous! these folk aren't doctors, and although nobody likes to see "old Joe " the "alcho" sat in the corner drinking himself to death, surely thats his own choice.
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You are absolutely right of course, PU. But, donning my black shirt and reactionary attitude, no account is taken of the "Human Rights" of those affected by drunken, yobbish behaviour. The committeee probably do not wear black shirts, but quite a few of the 14 year old drunken youths in my small town (pop 5000ish) do, as they congregate in the village centre, swigging their beer/cider/vodka hurling abuse at passers by, offending by their obscene language, chucking bottles into the road for cars to run over. Why, virtually every Monday as I pass by to work, is the small supermarket's window kicked in? Same with the newsagent's (which is also an offy?) Why does our Neighbourhood Watch weekly newsletter repeatedly report wing mirrors broken, cars that have been "run over" by drunks etc, etc every weekend? Why should I avoid walking through the High Street on a Sat evening because of the aggressive yobs that populate it? Why should I never dream of visiting a pub in my local larger town at weekend evenings because of the awful atmosphere and its apparent exclusive population of people aged 14 to 30 ish staggering around drunk?
.*******
Rant over, I think I will have a glass of the red stuff.
Cheers
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Phil
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The asterisks were where a sentence was removed which contained a common colloquial term for drunk.
It read (amended)
"There is a simple solution to these people's "human rights" not being offended by the pubwatch "blackshirts" - perhaps they should not get so drunk out of their heads that they think it is perfectly acceptable to infringe others "human rights"
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Phil
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Well the Nottingham model does actually cater for the yoblings you desribe, but what it also does is cater for a proper process to protect the innocent (yes there are innocents) who are given a voice. There are huge implications for the domestic issue which I am very uncomfortable with. I would imagine that there is some sort of tribunal or panel in the example quoted. Scenario. Police deal with a domestic whereby a drunken man abuses or is violent towards wife/partner or other family member. The Police then solemly pass details to the Pubwatch tribunal in order to ban the offender. Would you be happy for a group of licensees to discuss the details of the domestic's victim in some unconstituted forum ? I wouldn't. It appears from the OP description that some extra-judicial process is being put in place here. I'm sorry I may be coming accross as a lilly livered liberal here but certain values in soceity need to be protected. I withdraw the blackshirt comment as being innapropriate and banning people for their own well-being, this does sound very Orwellian to me.
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A few years ago I acted for a person banned under an ad-hoc pubwatch sheme. He was arrested for being drunk and disorderly whilst suffering some sort of fit. He was detained by Police and charged. His case never went to trial following medical evidence (which is still confidential in this Country even now) presented in a Newton hearing. Local Pubwatch tribunal met and banned him without him being involved in that process. It was closed door meeting, he was given a letter banning him from all the pubs in the area. I was stunned,this guy had never had contact with the Police prior to this event, he was effectively given a second trial and found guilty. I formally challanged them, this group of people had no written protocols - nothing.
Hiw is that right ?
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Hmm, i'm starting to get intrigued now,
Do all Pub-watch Schemes have to have written rules and protocols? are they accessible to the public for scrutiny on demand? and whom would one approach to see such docs, the Police or the Pub-watch panel? (wherever they hold their meetings)
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Billy,
There's no legal requirement for a written protocol, a protocol is there to protect the integrity of the process and to protect the members from litigation. Ideally a scheme should allow any person to view the protocols. Many Police Forces/LAs insist on having properly constituted Pubwatches as conditions of Licensing. Police, who largely arrange these are savvy enough to ensure that these protocols as bombproof as possible because they don't want to be sued by some chancer - simple as that. A Human Rights challenge would in practice be taken against the Police as the "authority", it's easy to moan about HR but they also protect you and yours from a lot of bad things happening to you. I would contact the local licensing Officer in the Police initially to see what the local stance is on these. I would then contact the local cop you mention. As a last resort you can always use that pinko bit of legislation to ask for a copy under Freedom of Information Act from the Police. In theory their meetings are private (around here anyway as they follow the Notts model) which is the whole point of all the legal protections of the Data Protection and Human Rights Act. These "tribunals" or "panels" are allowed to be shown photos of convicted individuals as this protection is essential. There is a lot of ill-informed rhetoric around Human Rights in this Country - people need to wake up to the realities of how this and other clumps of legislation quietly protect us.
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Thanks for the detailed reply PU,
As i don't really have any personal "gripe" about the way they do things, on this occassion I think I will get down off my soapbox and refrain from rattling the Hornets nest with my stick. That is of course until they say "billy, you shouldn't be drinking with your heart problem - your barred!" but "it's for your own good!"
Initial indignation satisfied for now,.
cheers
Billy.
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"How is that right ?"
It ain't PU - as I said above - you are absolutely right, and I mean that - but what is the solution to the problem of horrible, yobbish, violent, drunken behaviour which offends the rights of the ordinary bloke (and wife) going to/from the pub for a quiet pint or two?
Must admit I rarely go to pub these days - nice bottle of red with the wife at home more to my taste these days.
Time for a top up!
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Phil
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Philw,
from your description, I didn't realise you lived in the same town as me!
Rant totally acceptable, which is why I agree with a lot of what they have imposed, as it does help to curb alot of the problems you describe, however, there are loop-holes, anyone so banned can "paaarty" at home, as long as an un-banned person buys the bevvies, but if they are caught buying drink for a banned person.....they too can be be banned by pubwatch, also a banned person caught drunk, can be further banned.
Soon the pubs will be empty, we,ll all be drinking furtively at home, with runners from the next village bringing in the "hooch" under cover of darkness.
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I suppose, if all else failed; we could try behaving ourselves............. : - ]
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I can pay £60 for the genuine Canon battery , £12 on e-bay or any amount in between. Often you get what you pay for, although some of the stuff I see at work ( Leica Batteries and genuine HP RAM for instance) makes me think otherwise.
Can anyone recommend a decent make of battery (Canon BP-2L14 btw). Some company must make the real thing but without the Canon label.
thanks
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I bought an additional battery for an Olympus camera from the net - company based in Jersey. It was about third the cost of an Olympus badged part, but it lasts just as long. Both have provided 4 years service and neither show signs of giving up.
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I think the firm you mean is www.7dayshop.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=777
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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Worth a look at www.eurobatteries.co.uk. I've bought all sorts of rechargeables from them, no trouble and no quibble when one for my latest JVC camcorder didn't communicate. They're based in Bristol.
HTH
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Terry
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from them, no trouble and no quibble when one for my latest JVC camcorder didn't communicate. They're based in Bristol. HTH -- Terry
Oops! Sorry, that should be www.eurobatteries.com, NOT co.uk.>> Worth a look at www.eurobatteries.co.uk. I've bought all sorts of rechargeables
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Terry
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I'm looking for a freezer with a front door (going into a hole in the fitted kitchen). I was interested in a Miele - but have just learned that Miele don't make their freezers themselves - they come from Italy.
Are there freezers out there with an outstanding reputation?!
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The Italians are actually very good at domestic appliances. Fridges and freezers are quite simple things, any mid range model should be adequate. Usually what causes a fridge to be disposed off is the cosmetic things. I scrapped one a while back due to the door seals failing. The motor etc. was perfect but you couldn't buy the seals, they only came complete with a new door which was close to the price of a new appliance... So off we went to buy a new one...
Personally I recommend Zanussi, they've given us good service and represent a good quality/price compromise.
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Bosch, AEG.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Also Siemens, same as Bosch.
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A Miele is built to a supremely high standard - few, if any, other manufacturers come anywhere near it.
As I keep pointing out in this forum, my best mate owns an independent audio/visual/appliance outlet. He sells most of the best known makes, but knows if he sells a Miele product any potential customer complaints/problems are, for all intents and purposes, non-existent.
That's why I was quite happy to pay double the price for a Miele washing machine four years ago rather than buy a Hotpoint or similar low cost product - it's virtually guaranteed to be still performing faultlessly in 2023 when we'll almost certainly have departed from this planet.
Yes, I realise it might seem a waste of money if we won't be around to reap the full benefits, but quality always comes to the fore..:-)
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What's for you won't pass you by
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Please. Is there anyone out there who remembers a bicycle lights system in the 60's, which used a tubular metal canister mounted vertically on the down tube of the frame ( below the seat ) to house the batteries ?
The canister contained two or more D cell batteries and was closed by a spring loaded bayonet fitting cap. The system may or may not have been used in conjunction with a hub dynamo.
If anyone knows the manufacturer or knows of a picture or illustration anywhere on the net, I would be grateful to be advised of it.
Thank you.
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I remember them, but only fitted to Raleigh bicycles and painted the same colour as the frame. I haven't got any information on them, but (on the subject of lights) I did come across this website. tinyurl.com/3caa58 Having read it I've come to the conclusions that the lights of very few (if any) current cycles meet the regulations.
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L\'escargot.
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If anyone knows the manufacturer or knows of a picture or illustration anywhere on the net, I would be grateful to be advised of it. Thank you.
Here's a picture tinyurl.com/29zdnf
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L\'escargot.
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Ther might be something here tinyurl.com/ysutbd
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L\'escargot.
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Why not try The National Cycle Collection? tinyurl.com/24wvsf
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L\'escargot.
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.......... or if you're anywhere near Camelford ............. tinyurl.com/yuybv6
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L\'escargot.
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Thank you very much L'escargot, that is just what I was looking for.
Much appreciated.
Best regards.
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In common with L'escargot I remember the device, which was fitted to my father's Raleigh bicycle.
However, my recollection is that it took over temporarily from the normal dynamo lighting generated via the front wheel tyre when coming to a stop for obvious safety reasons.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Stuart - I think this battery back up was also associated with the much more efficient Dynohub system which seemed to take less effort to turn that the whizzy wheel on the tyre wall!
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I think this battery back up was also associated with the much more efficient Dynohub system >>
It may well have been, but as there were three different Raleigh bikes in the family at the time it's difficult to remember exactly what the arrangement was in the case of my father's machine - I do recollect though that it used batteries up at a fair rate, probably because they were much less efficient in those days.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Thanks Stewart.
I remember the unit on my fathers bicycle in about 1963. That it took over from the ( in this case front hub ) dynamo was another thing I was seeking to confirm.
Much appreciated.
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