IOMRS97

Bottom of Royal Avenue, Onchan in the 1920s.

My parents moved back to the UK in their 80s having lived here since childhood. They were considerably better off in the UK, getting all sorts of allowances they hadn't had on the IOM plus much cheaper weekly shopping. I think it depends on your financial situation. They didn't have a lot of money so perhaps had more to gain than someone who has more cash.

I got ride of my MT landline several years ago and went with Sure 4G wi-fi router. It's reasonable most of the time but does slow down occasionally depending on traffic on the system. As long as you can receive a decent signal you are OK. I started with a router from Sure but changed it to a Huawei one later which is more dependable.

Some recent trips with Stena Line were pretty quick on the vehicle check-in. Boarding card and cabin key (if you book a cabin) issued at check-in. And that's it. Boarding card not collected or scanned, You just board. This wasn't an exception, it appears to be the norm. Same procedure at both Birkenhead and Belfast.

Cycling on the mountain makes less sense than cycling on a motorway - although I am sure there are some who will say this should be allowed too...

As someone who has dealt with hundreds of traffic accidents on the island, many of them of a serious nature and a good few fatal I can assure you that the first thing is always to protect the scene. This might be possible by signage and the positioning of vehicles but in the case of anything significant it is essential to close the road. Apart from protecting those involved and officers attending it is necessary to preserve as much as possible of the scene in order to properly investigate and determine the cause. Since tyre and scrape marks and minute pieces of debris are often involved it may be necessary to crawl along the road for some distance so as not to miss anything. Then you need to take measurements - often dozens of them. Not something to be undertaken while traffic is zooming past! Leaving this to a quieter time is not an option as I have known a second accident to occur at the same location within 24 hours and trying to distinguish one set of marks from another is no joke.

No disrespect intended but he doesn't look the sort of chap who is going to suggest any changes...

Hopefully the Isle of Man shouldn't get a mention in this as we aren't a tax haven. http://news.sky.com/story/1672075/offshore-accounts-of-world-leaders-revealed

More weather-related delays today due to strong Westerly winds. Manannan was late getting into Heysham but BMC is still off Fleetwood, travelling slowly down the channel (according to Ship AIS) perhaps waiting to get into the berth once Manannan comes out. Edited to add - I notice they soon caught up on the backlog. Good effort by the SP Co.

I'm not surprised. They have removed a non-slip 'Shellgrip' type of surface and replaced it with a smooth one. I wonder why as the corner isn't, or wasn't, a particular accident black spot.

Looks like all our troubles will soon be sorted out - a good trick if you can control the weather and clean up all the debris in the Irish Sea! http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/gawne-in-talks-with-steam-packet-after-travel-chaos-1-7206482

I use Chrome and have booked loads of sailings with the Steam Packet - seven or eight this year alone - with no problems. The only site I've had problems with recently was Easyjet which took three attempts to complete the booking as it kept insisting on using Internet Explorer (now disabled!).

From what I can see the webcams are utterly unreliable and no help at all. They might as well be removed and sold for scrap. For example, this morning we have a 'now you see it, now you don't' view of Douglas Harbour indicating that the Ben is either at Victoria Pier, or perhaps has already departed - I wonder which? Do you mean HERE ? The central image is static and never changes - look at the pages for the other cameras.... The live feed is the left hand image No, the other one. One shows the ship while the other shows an empty pier - not unusual.. Many a time you can look at the 'live'web cams at night and see a daytime image, and vice versa. Might as well not bother!

From what I can see the webcams are utterly unreliable and no help at all. They might as well be removed and sold for scrap. For example, this morning we have a 'now you see it, now you don't' view of Douglas Harbour indicating that the Ben is either at Victoria Pier, or perhaps has already departed - I wonder which?

The fact that most of the fastcraft that operated on the Irish Sea have been withdrawn and replaced by conventional ferries must mean something. But everything will very soon be sorted out - http://www.manxradio.com/newsread.aspx?id=72643

Thank god we have Alf Cannan and a couple more who are prepared to represent the voters - not a good percentage I know but better than nothing.

http://www.manxradio.com/newsread.aspx?id=70730 Hard to see how this sort of thing is going to enhance the Isle of Man's reputation on the international stage - except as a laughing stock of course...

It seems the Isle of Man's idiotic toilet tax is exposing us to more ridicule - http://www.energyfm.net/cms/news_story_304982.html

Yes, but on a brighter note, at least Tynwald members pensions aren't affected... http://www.manxradio.com/newsread.aspx?id=69331

I must say the news from the minister is a great relief. Just when I was thinking, "Oh no! We've bought into another white elephant project" Our stake in Pinewood must now be worth millions!

Not that I was ever aware of Manxman1980. It was often the case that various dignitaries got to look over buildings that had been refurbished or newly built, often with suitable refreshments provided, but they were hardly going to be the ones to respond in an emergency. The only time I ever got a guided tour of anywhere was as a result of my own initiative. Having said that, in the case of Summerland, I doubt that I would have been much more effective even if I had known my way around the building. By the time I got there the only obvious way in (at least to me) was from the Port Jack side, up the concrete stairway, but the conditions even there were pretty bad. Looking through the gaps between the doors, it was just a mass of flame the other side and it was obvious that the fire was beyond control. I don't think I have ever felt so helpless in any situation before or since.

When Summerland was being built some sheets or Oroglas were damaged during installation and discarded off the end of the building nearest the Manx Electric Railway yard. After the fire, one of my jobs (I won't describe the others for obvious reasons) was to recover some of these broken pieces for analysis - I don't know by whom, possibly someone from the Home Office Forensic Science team. There was a lot of the stuff, far more than was needed for testing, and I took some of the surplus bits home. I found they made excellent fire-lighters and burned fiercely with little effort being required to ignite them. What a pity nobody thought to test them BEFORE they were approved for use in Summerland. Incidentally, I never heard anything about the result of whatever tests were carried out. I know it's easy to spot mistakes with the benefit of hindsight but another thing that sticks in my mind is the fact that prior to the fire, I had never been in Summerland. You might think it would have been a good idea to give members of the emergency services a guided tour, just in case there was ever a problem in the building.

Having witnessed the fire minutes after it started, I doubt there is any photoshopping at all. The fire spread very quickly and produced thick black smoke due to the nature of the material that was burning - it was, basically, plastic. It was a truly horrific event and the island was paralysed for days afterwards; the raw trauma lasted for years . The lady in the MTTV interview seemed to be reciting her sister's memory as well as her own and I am sure there would be crystal clear recollections and others more muddled; that seems to be the way of traumatic memories - the mind is very perceptive when in immediate danger but, when safe, it probably goes into shut down, both as preservation mechanisms. Nothing in the interviews that I watched indicated any kind of conspiracy and it is wrong for those not directly involved or affected to now, forty years later, start looking for one. If the reports on here are true about how the survivors were ignored and not even offered a chance to mingle with each other and recall the events that only they witnessed first hand, then the memorial service was a dismal and callous failure. Same here Gladys. When I got there, about 8.15, the flames were leaping across the front of the building from one Oroglas panel to the next in quick succession, accompanied by lot of black smoke.

In the e-mail I got I was asked to confirm if I was attending as there was a "buffet etc" after for those who attended!! People had a lot to talk about and nowhere to go, and a lot of them are now elderly, after all it has taken 40 years to get to this stage!Perhaps there was a church hall or similar that could have been used! It was actually very embarrassing!! The lady I sat beside hadn't heard tell of it and she only found out about the service at the last minute and she had lost relatives!! I heard a number of people say that there were others who hadn't known.It was cringeworthy! I got an invitation as a former member of the emergency services having been involved at the time, but there was no mention of a buffet. I assumed there would be a reception at the town hall for survivors and relatives. I'm sure there must have been.

How you can read the heartbreaking stories on here then glibly suggest the site should be used as a railway museum is beyond me. Nothing should be built there except a beautiful memorial garden. As someone who was closely involved on the night of the fire, I completely agree Manannan. To mind my, that would be the decent thing to do.