Tempus Fugit

mountain watch: you certainly can't do that on the webcams now since dotet.co.uk screwed up their system gov.im/webcams half still aren't working and the rest never update !

maybe the crashes per month by eejit drivers is above average so they are trying to level it out over the year so that it doesn't look bad

... and when something does happen they don't just shrug shoulders and say 'cancelled', they put on an extra sailing (for a handful of passengers) of a fastcraft which has already done round trips to Belfast and Liverpool today, and be just about an hour late in UK. They also have engineers who can (hopefully) rebuild the engine and more or less resume schedule for freight overnight

maybe they bought the calendar from Dealz

just spotted this elsewhere but can't find the original source

road closed tomorrow (Fri) to allow repairs, presumably too foggy to work across the roadway

so who's the silly arse who wrecked the MER power lines at the bungalow ?

fake Irish

Manx Radio says they have a new port

sad to shuffle off this mortal coil so young R.I.P. fella (I think Manx Radio's news team must still be down the canteen, not a peep out of them !)

you wouldn't think there was actually a government bod supposed to be 'director of tourism' or even a 'head of tourism' would they have been considered appropriate to add their opinion ?

I think the business derived from cruise visits is a myth Most trips are mugged and trucked off to a series of MNH venues on a whistlestop tour with no benefit to the general traders of the Island, then they are off again. Before anything gets any further there needs to be positive proof of the benefit, not just overoptimistic crystal ball gazing

police now saying it is arson (4pm news MR)

Now now, behave yourself . maybe someone left an iphone7 in there :-o

anyone running a sweep on which one next, Castle Mona or C/t Golflinks ?

Arrow has been berthed in Larne for a while now, until needed to relieve BMC of frieght during the week, then ran for shelter off Red Wharf Bay (Lynas anchorage). After Barbara had passed she has gone back to Larne, where there seems to be a spare comfy berth (rather than swing on the hook somewhere)

bingo !

not much moving on the Mersey this morning except BMC ! BMC edging very carefully onto the berth eta: no cigar, back out in the river for another go !

BMC just docking in Heysham now (3.40) low tide is 18.00 so will have to wait for enough water (there's a dredger showing working around the entrance)

Arrow on the way back from Lynas anchorage

looks like a bit of delay getting into Heysham today, must be dooing some repairs en-route

Arrow coming in from anchor to do freight

lots of good memories in presious posts, I think I am lucky being born after the wars and wasn't of age when national service ended, although the younger years were nowhere as easy as these days (ice on the inside of the bedroom windows in the mornings), coal and log fires, end of rationing etc, there were buses, trains (including Peel and Ramsey lines), lots of coaches as the summers were buzzing with people and top class entertainment (although not being in Douglas couldn't go to that many). Manners were much better, if anyone came out with foul language they'd get a clip round the ear and told to wash their mouth out. Music from the days of Elvis onwards through the 60's but still like the oldies of Glen Miller and the big bands etc. but listening to Radio Luxemburg on 208metres (fading in and out as the night went on) and lots of other short wave stations from around the world. School didn't even have a computer when I left, I had assembled a kit of a Sinclair calculator, but usually used log tables and slide rule when learning my trade. When I started work I had an apprentice contract on MER which cost £2/15/0 for 3 months (2pounds 15 shillings). Petrol I remember at 4/3d a gallon (21p/gal, approx 4p/litre) when I got my first car, and on the run over the mountain to work you'd meet up to about 20 cars coming the other way, and in winter you could park across the tramlines on the prom Lots of places to go on a night out in the 60/70's, many of the Prom hotels had entertainment on, all along from Derby Castle, Crescent, Metropole, Palace with the largest ballroom in Europe (later the Lido), Castle Mona, Villa Marina, Gaiety, Renezvous, Villiers, Peveril, and out of town Alex Inn, Arragon, Belle Vue, Creg Malin, Beach Hotel etc. and people actually got 'dressed up' smart to go out (boys in suits etc.) Lots of country cafe's and tea rooms, Sartfield, Silverdale, Rushen Abby, Ballanarran, Sound cafe, Mooragh Park Etc., Lots of stuff happening in the winter, car rallies, badminton clubs, there were 13 rifle clubs and many other types of clubs and societies, it was funny when visitors would ask "what do you find to do in the winter ?" - it was more a case of when the summer was over all the clubs resumed activities and there weren't enough nights in the week to do all you wanted to do !..... and there was one boat each way to Liverpool in the winter We did go through some hard times with the fuel crisis, 3-day week etc, but if you had savings you could get good interest around 10%, you saved up for stuff or bought on Conister HP, things could be repaired rather than just bin them and buy another, lots of stuff was 'made in England' and things from Hong Kong were usually cheap in that new 'plastic' stuff and broke very easily. Our parents however lived through 1 or 2 world wars, lived by oil lamps and candle light, walked or cycled a lot, grew what food they could in the garden, many lost family members in wars, lived through 'make do and mend' years, knew all their neighbours, saw the introduction of NHS and if they were lucky lived to see men walk on the moon and had central heating.