bonatti

And yet on Douglas prom, outside the Sefton cultural quarter, they have placed a sort of Victorian'ish looking bus shelter amongst all the modern Chinese granite and stainless steel LED lighting. It's almost like they haven't got a scooby doo.

Err....try adding salt into the equation.

Jez, I believe, had plans to build new fire station where the hangars are (old Manx airlines hangar). That rumour has been circulating for quite some time. Just one of his many loopy, money no object, ideas if rumours are to be believed.

Think it’s a combination of both. There has been occasions airfield has to shut due to ATC being out of permitted working hours.

There’s no doubt current operating hours do cause problems on occasion, especially when weather is bad.

Presume Snowman means controlled remotely from NATS centre in Swanwick as LCY airport are doing. Unsure what benefits that would offer?

To be fair to EasyJet, they are the longest serving operator at Ronaldsway since Manx/BA connect.

Yes, the good old days indeed. Back then, the airport management ( in particular, Operations manager) actually discussed future plans and sought out ideas from the staff on the front line. How things have changed.

There is no doubt that people treat and see the mountain road differently to any other road on the island. Normal driver behavior goes out the window. As a regular user, i see more occurrences of tailgating than on any other road. And very, very frequently see drivers crossing over into the opposite lane to cut corners despite traffic coming the other way. Behavior that is far less evident everywhere else. With regulation, attitudes would change, as was proven with the 40 mph speed limit during lockdown. That was a bit extreme and very frustrating at times, but also quite pleasant not having the daily near miss occurrences that are common place up there. The mountain road is probably the safest section of the TT course for the racing, but the most dangerous for road users. Funny that.

That's my point. It obviously wasn't a major consideration when designing the junction. It may not be spaghetti junction, but it is a junction on one of the main commuter routes in and out of Douglas. And a very busy one a peak times of day.

That's obvious. But do you think a roundel will be more efficient at moving large volumes of traffic than a roundabout? And will it be safer? That will take time to judge i guess.

That's all well and good, but i would have thought, that when designing a major junction, two of the main requirements are - 1- Make it safe 2-Ensure traffic flow is maximised and efficient. So with that in mind, do you install an unproven roundel, where no one has a clue what anyone else is doing. Or install a roundabout, a proven method, where everyone knows what everyone else is doing ?

I hope your right. Just can't see it happening.

Eastern and Loganair struggled to fill a Saab on the route. Cant see it being viable with a larger E170. Unless subsidised of course.

i don't think that's the case. The vast majority of people who test positive will do the right thing. If people didn't want to isolate, they wouldn't bother going and getting tested.

Why aren't we using lateral flow tests? I know their accuracy isn't a high as a PCR test, but as we are supposed to be moving forward, it seems to be the sensible thing to do. If you have symptoms you test, and if positive, you isolate. Its about slowing rate of transmission rather than eliminating transmission, so there has to be a middle ground that will catch most cases, but not all.

But certainly a lot more sensible.

But think how much safer they could have been, if they had been moved to side of road.

Its crazy to think that 20 odd million pound later, and in a world of rigorously enforced H&S, that we are still going to have tram passengers having to alight directly onto a busy main road. Madness. Hypothetical i know, but I wonder if the Victorians would have run them down the centre of a busy main road if they had similar levels of traffic back then?

They have excelled themselves with this. It will be a massively popular photo opportunity. I wonder which part of it will be rubbed for good luck. ck .

Was kind of hoping for something as bad as the Ronaldo statue.

That's rather impressive. And it actually looks like them.

Would they of had to have traffic lights/signaling system if the horse tram tracks were kept completely separate to road? Or are they a requirement of going from double to single lane?

E-bikes flatten out the hills. I agree in that i don't think a huge amount of people will start using bikes to commute, its just too much hassle for most people who are short on time and don't like inclement weather. I do believe it will be a big draw for visiting families though if we have a large and varied cycling network. Is that enough to justify the spend? I'm not so sure, but I do think we are missing a trick with regards to cycling tourism. Mountain bike parks are extremely popular and we have plenty of terrain in which to incorporate that. Also, despite the shite state of the roads, there is some excellent road cycling to be had here with relatively quiet roads and varied terrain and some very good climbs.

Well, expect Roundels to start popping up all over the place. A bit like when we got roundabouts. First there was one. Then they were bloody everywhere.