Cambon

45 minutes ago, The Phantom said:

Shrinkflation has been going on forever.  I'm sure the chocolate bars of my youth are about half the size now.  Have you seen a modern wagon wheel?  It's a skateboard wheel.

The cost of living crisis has accelerated it recently though.  But no one wants smaller sausages. 

Definitely. The large Dairy Milk bar was 8oz (227g). When it went metric, it reduced to 200g. A good few years ago it dropped to 150g. Now it’s 100g. Price remains roughly static, though, 

On 5/8/2024 at 7:59 AM, WTF said:

i wonder if any of the loading limits are down to keeping the boats draft as shallow as required to use the docks with the tides.

I’m not so sure if this is a red herring. Some of the Seatrucks are bigger and draw more water than Ben or Manxman. Not sure if they are having similar “difficulties”. 

1 hour ago, Roger Mexico said:

I looked at the numbers on this earlier in the year:

That's what always puzzled me about increasing the number of passengers.  For most of the time the passenger capacity on the Ben (275 cars, 636 pax) was never reached because car spaces filled up first and after the associated passengers were taken in account there were never enough foot passengers to make up to the maximum.   But most of the capacity increase on the Manxman (237 cars, 948 pax) has been in extra pax.  There's also space for 75 trailers, some of which could be used for busy periods for extra car space, but it seems an odd priority, unless they're hoping to do much more from Liverpool.  And if that's the case it would mean running a separate freight operation.

I can only assume that's it's another part of the Liverpool fantasy, where they assume that their wonderful new offerings will magically mean many more people will want to travel to/from there, all year round (even if the boat isn't up to it).

Yes, but as I said earlier, when I was on the Mamxman a week ago, five coach loads of tourists were put on before any other passengers. Taking up about the size of five or six containers, it also accounted for about one third the capacity of passengers. 

10 hours ago, Non-Believer said:

But let's be honest, it attracts a different economic demographic than the TT ever did and ever will, no matter what the DfE's nebulous delusion.

Motorcycling, even at GP level is a very poor relation of F1.

Oulton Park BSB last weekend was £22 per adult entry for Saturday practice, £39 for Monday races. Food not cheap. Similar prices to TT. 

On 5/1/2024 at 7:19 PM, La Colombe said:

 

The article/ news was sensationalist rubbish. The extra paperwork was expected, planned for and priced in. Expect the prices to rise anyway. 

7 hours ago, trench12 said:

Sailed on the 19.45 Douglas to heysham 24/4, Saturday  total numbers.. 8 cars 1 motorcycle , 9 foot passengers must put a dent in the averages

Sailed Heysham - Douglas on Sunday, 28/4, 14:15 sailing. Five full coaches and around 100 cars. Even given the size of the Manxman, it was very busy on board.

Just as a point. I was in the Falcons Nest at the weekend. A pint of ale was £3.60. Same ale in the Station Hotel, 50 meters away, £4.90. Station is a brewery pub. Bacon cheese burger, chips and salad, Falcon, 12.95, Station, 17.95. 
These are big differences. However, this picture is common throughout the island. Falcon gets my vote, and my business! 

2 hours ago, Happier diner said:

The usual method is via a network of cables. 

No! By smart meters. Doesn’t Matter where it came from. Charged on usage. 

5 hours ago, The Phantom said:

Where's that?  I thought they just craned and placed them from the barges that were sat off the runway. 

If from 26, you walk out around the end of the runway extension, as the path starts to turn left back up the hill towards Balthane, the ramp to water level is dead ahead of you. The crane was driven down it to the sea, then the rocks were loaded onto lorries and driven up the ramp. The ramp is still there. 

39 minutes ago, Non-Believer said:

It's to make them turn on the days when there is no wind 🤭

Or, blow the fog away from the airport so planes can land on foggy days. 

15 hours ago, Non-Believer said:

Ah, but we are world-leading experts on port construction now...we could also import a load of Norwegian rock if necessary.

A temporary ramp was built for the Norwegian rock. It is still there, and deep enough for the boat from Norway, which must have been pretty low in the water. 

1 minute ago, Ringy Rose said:

Licensed premises didn’t reduce their prices for spirits last year when the standard shot size dropped from 28ml to 25ml. They kept the prices the same and just pocketed the 10%.

It would be the same with VAT. Anyone who claims that VAT reductions would be passed on to customers is either deluded or a liar. And the reduction in VAT income would have to be found from somewhere.

Exactly! That is what happened after Covid, when VAT was lowered to encourage people to go out. Some lowered their prices, others didn’t. I have never returned to any of those establishments that didn’t. When I asked, the minister, he said it was up to the establishment. 

30 minutes ago, NoTail said:

I think Asitis has a certain point. If 40m was user to provide free solar panels to all then the demand on the MUA would diminish substantially.  Reducing their revenue and hence ability to repay their debts. We would all find our standing charges increasing to 1,000 per quarter or something. 

I am all for the green initiative. I have suggested before that all newbuilds have PV that feeds into the grid. Minimal additional cost that will be recouped in a few years. However, we have a very stupid, waste government. Look at the Lord St flats, sat there. They could be sold to genuine first time buyers, for knock down prices. 
Earlier, J posted a link to IOM energy usage and carbon output. About a quarter of the carbon was produced by electricity generation. Half was home heating. Think abiut that for a minute. If you are cold, put in a sweater. We don’t live in a cold country. If in doubt, try it sometime! 

22 hours ago, Moghrey Mie said:

Taking stuff for re-use and recycling avoids it becoming 'rubbish'. 

I agree, but last time I was there, very little was allowed to be removed. The southern site workers must have great eBay accounts! 

44 minutes ago, Sign in said:

Where can I find the data out about how much energy we have been using over the last 10 or so years? It might be further back, but we're on the 59th page and I'll look if its been said, although it'll be later tonight.

This sight may be helpful.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Power-consumption-in-the-Isle-of-Man-shown-as-proportions-of-the-different-uses-In-2018_fig1_350546569

18 minutes ago, Anthony Ingham said:

What a load of crap.  Have you seen the results of the geological surveys done up there to determine the foundations required?

Do you think they would be more of less on the rock down south than the sand up north?

Yes. The rock up there is generally slate, which crack’s easily. It will have to be blasted and reinforced concrete used. That is after all the trees are felled, the peat and wildlife removed (or killed) and a large part of natural countryside lost forever all for the sake of money. Because, it will not do anything to help climate change, but will bankrupt the island.

The main problem these days is psychological bullying. When I was a kid, everyone was bullied to some extent. Pointless pecking order, as described above. When it was my turn to receive abuse, I got my revenge on the rugby field. These days, I have heard they play touch rugby. 

13 hours ago, Anthony Ingham said:

Do you really think that they haven’t looked at this, and that you have better knowledge than the people making the decision?

Why do you think they have gone for earystane rather than Jurby then, assuming they have access to all the same info you do?

Civil Service NIMBYs

12 hours ago, Happier diner said:

Installation? That's hardly on the scale of designing and building a power station FFS.

How deep does the concrete need to be. Design done. Get a grip man FFS. 

You really have no idea, do you? A 200 metre high “sail” requires far stronger footing than a 20 metre tall building. This is a sail that puts great stress on the footings from many directions. The structural engineering bill per windmill will be in the millions. That is before any of the thousands of tons of concrete, per windmill is even ordered. 
Tell me, why do you think Jurby is an inferior site? I am curious, as it was originally chosen as the best, by some distance. Some of the many reasons I have mentioned above. Scard cannot even link into Castletown because of the solar farm at Billown.

1 hour ago, Happier diner said:

No. Totally different. Wind turbines, off the shelf. Simple to install. 

Power stations. Bespoke items. Complex design and construction.

Apples with pears. Some people in here do not understand risk. 

Rubbish! Installation is bespoke for each and every windmill. More Pink Ladies and Granny Smiths.

1 hour ago, Happier diner said:

How do you know?

Because there is not the road infrastructure, sea/ landing infrastructure, electrical infrastructure, basically there are no positives for the Scard installation. In addition, from a wind perspective, Scard is only good for southerly and westerly winds. 

Jurby, which was selected as the best place years ago, is virtually on the coast, with good road infrastructure, it is a brown field site already flat and ready to go. Electrical infrastructure is there, but not great. However, it can link in with the proposed solar farm at Andreas, work that will have to be done anyway. Jurby is also good for wind from 3 of the 4 directions. Installation cost will be a fraction of the cost of Scard. It is actually a no brainer.

4 hours ago, GD4ELI said:

You don't seem rather bright though.

Says the Cornish Piskie! 

2 hours ago, Happier diner said:

I doubt it.

No. There are more stupid places. A lot more stupid. It might not be the best but I believe the MUA own the land so it has a head start. What makes you think its the worst?

Cost of installation will be more than the cost of the windmills. 

1 hour ago, Happier diner said:

Do you think the UK give us renewable energy for free?

You could say this about a lot of things. That £40M for the asset would have to paid back to the UK one way or another. People don't build windmills for free and then send us the power without recouping the capital cost. Surely make sense to do our own especially when wind is something we have plenty of. You are being a little bit naïve

We have already paid towards the uks green ambitions by currency devaluation due to uk government borrowing to pay for the infrastructure and associated subsidies. 

Scard will cost £100 millions minimum. Completely ill thought out. The brown field site of Jurby, which has easy access to the sea for delivery, and good road access makes the most sense. The hills just south of Peel also make sense. But, Scard is possibly the most stupid place windmills could possibly be put. 
 

I am not against windmills. I am against stupidity and waste! 

47 minutes ago, emesde said:

It does seem ironic that when the brewery closed a pub and put a  covenant on it everyone wanted such action stopped. Perhaps they had it right and realised that there is not the demand for so many licenced places in an ever changing market. Even now I suspect that a few more establishments will close as there are too many chasing the same smaller amount of disposable income.The quality and value businesses will grow and there will be casualties for some others.

It is quite a good point, but on the other hand, if you go back 50-60 years, pubs were generally owned by the landlord, who ran it themselves, opening for a couple of hours at lunch time and a few hours in the evening as and when demand required. Overheads were minimal and the landlord could control the prices. 
Fast forward to now, and pubs are rented buildings, opening all hours and trying to be everything to everyone. It is simply not sustainable.  As I said elsewhere, pubs need to reinvent themselves and create a niche market for themselves.