Off Topic The "Discuss Anything Else" Thread

The port facilities (if you can call them that) in Dubai were fully taken-up servicing the numerous workboats supporting the offshore drilling rigs and production platforms. Absolutely no room for general cargo ships. I had no idea that there was such a balls-up with general cargo waiting to be offloaded. I usually had about four workboats and a helicopter to look after. Fresh water was a real headache, because rigs require a lot of fresh water for the drilling operation. The workboats I worked with were of a smaller type (Tidex) and could only take a maximum of 200-tons in their cargo tanks. Good job too. The Dubai water authority would only allow us 100-tons a go. The remaining 100-tons we got from the Halliburton water-making plant (that's all they would let you have at one time as well). One comical thing, the old boy who operated the Dubai authority water operation was a very old Afghan. My Indian assistant told me early on that a good trick was to buy him a tinned fruit cake from Fortnum & Mason (sold in the well-stocked Dubai supermarkets). Used to keep the old fellow very sweet and cooperative, so we nearly always had the max. 200-tons of fresh water in our workboat tanks when they departed for the rig. Ah, those were the days!

Edit: Rudey, you might ask the reasonable question of me as to where we got our materials/supplies from with the big cargo ships unable to offload their goods? The answer is, nearly all of our requirements were airfreighted in. Hardly saw a 'Bill of Lading' in those days, all 'Airwaybills'! Even fresh food was flown-in daily from places like Cyprus. You certainly had a terrible time of it all, my goodness, whereas I obviously had it very easy.

 

The Worlds gone mad, take 1...

Nirvana sued by the baby from Nevermind's album cover

I wouldnt mind he even re-created the photo pic later on in his teens...!!

 

wow , never suprised really , there’s always stuff if money ain’t no object , but i suppose you had to live there , we were passing through , admittedly v slowly , our ships food was ok , often have plenty of supplies , and as long as you’ve got good cooks you’re always looked after .....they did stop our drinks in saudi, and going ashore , seemed like a medieval kingdom , nothing ive seen or heard since has made me review that !

 

Very interesting article entitled 'Agents of Doom' by Luke Kemp, Research Associate for the Study of Existential Risk at Cambridge University.

It is a long article so one needs a bit of time to digest it all. I will be reading it again during the week. Really makes you think, absolute power in the hands of so few corporations/companies, institutions, and the like. Good grief!

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20211014-agents-of-doom-who-is-hastening-the-apocalypse-and-why

 

That's it, the world has fallen for the 'Global Warning' tag, UK's 'longest-lasting' snow patch melts away...

The last spot of permanent ice has melted away form its stronghold up in the Caringorn mountains and it's all down to climate change...!! It may well be that this is the answer, but local historians say that it has only melted away on a few occasions these past 300 years...!! So it may well come back...?!?

 

Germany's Olaf Scholz takes over from Merkel as chancellor

Are they dancing in the streets now ole Merkel has gone Oddy...??

Reading between the lines it looks like a positive for Germany with new fresh faced people in the top jobs and a maybe more a lean more towards the future than the present of Merkel as the lone figure head of the country...

 

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DOUBLE STANDARDS

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Boris Johnson has apologised for a video showing Downing Street staff laughing about a lockdown-busting Christmas party.
Boris Johnson has apologised for the "offence caused" by the Christmas party at Number 10 – but told said people should stop focusing on the scandal.

Leaked footage from No 10’s £2.6 million press briefing room emerged on Tuesday which showed former press secretary Allegra Stratton laughing as she appeared to rehearse answers to questions over the lockdown-busting Christmas party.

The video, which is reported to be from 22 December last year, refers to a party on “Friday” – which would have been 18 December, the same day The Daily Mirror reported there was a staff party where games were played, food and drinks were served, and revelries went on past midnight.

The prime minister apologised for the "offence caused" by the video – but added: "The public will not like to see confidence in these measures undermined.

"We are taking the steps necessary to protect the public by rolling out the vaccination programme rather than focusing on the events a year ago

 

I think what the public actually do not like is this **** publicly saying that “we are all in this together” when quite obviously we ****ing well are NOT.

 

I have just had to do the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) Information Security accreditation and clearly GCHQ have not got the Woke memo.

In the introductory video there was only one black person (a woman) in the eight people on the video about cyber security. All four Political Activists were young and white. The man in the Terrorist Organisation was not quite white and had a beard.

In the section about phishing, I wondered whether “Poor spelling and gramma!” was deliberate or intended as a reference to one of my parents’ parents.

Generally when I find I have loads of time to run a critique of some online official nonsense it means that there was no worthwhile content – just trying to teach gramma to suck eggs.

 

Ever dreamt of escaping to the country? Well we did for many years and finally did it. Sick of what London had become, we decided to sell up and move on. We were nervous about selling our house in the middle of a lockdown.
There was plenty of interest and we sold for above asking price. But it was a long road and this was our chance. We dreamt of the archetypal country cottage like you see in escape to the country but having lived in period properties we knew they would be money pits. So we took some time to reflect on how our future lives would be and eventually stumbled on a small development of eco houses and went with a bungalow. We wanted a low maintenance house with no stairs as we’d seen our parents struggle with stairs. I was a bit sceptical of new builds but was impressed with the build quality and finishes and all the fixtures are top spec. We have a 7.5 khw air source heat pump, much maligned but work very well in modern well insulated bungalows. Next 16khw solar pv with 9khw battery storage. This has been very handy as living in the country you tend to get power cuts which has happened we just flick to battery. In low khw days in winter you can buy cheap electric from the grid at night and sell it back at tea time the next day for a profit. We have a rain harvesting system that collects water and filters and then pumps to a pond. So technically we are almost off grid.
From a social aspect having lived and worked in London we thought we’d struggle but the sparse but local community have been very welcoming and we are enjoying the beautiful countryside. The horses have lucked out with a new livery yard just round the corner with a 100 acres, the horses can live out all year which was a struggle in the past. It also has a 5 acre lake stacked with carp and we were swimming in , in the summer.
I’ve bought into a pointer which is with a local trainer and we have 3 pointing tracks locally so we’re hoping to have some fun this winter. We’re still within striking distance of a couple of national hunt tracks and also my beloved Newmarket, unfortunately Cheltenham is a bit of a shlep now but hasn’t stopped me going.
There are bound to be some negatives along the way but with super fast broad brand, which we never had in London you can get anything in the sticks. Cases of Chablis lobsters from a guy I’ve met with his own trawler you know, all the comforts of home.
So if you wondered what happened? We did escape to the country.

 

What's not to like Florida...

 

Well, it is good that RP likes living out in the country, and is obviously very happy out there. I have tried it myself, both in Bavaria and in England when I was younger. But country-life is just not for me, and I have never been so content since I moved to Munich many years ago. Had to smile though, because, by sheer coincidence, my missus and I absolutely detest Lobster, so that's one point I should make!

Now, on the Chablis wine, that is a tricky one because I have always found that the cheaper Chablis wines are not always that good, in fact, an everyday 'plonk', so to speak. (Somewhere on my bookshelves lies a copy of an older edition of the 'World Of Wines' by Jancis Robinson and Hugh Johnson. Afraid I am just too lazy to try and find the darn thing! The book gives a wonderful account of wines all over the world.) And so, if I fancy a Chablis then I usually go the whole hog and buy a Premier Cru. Can be expensive, for sure, but a Chablis wine to really savour.

So, that's just another opinion from this old geezer!

 

I also like the odd glass of wine Swanny, more partial to a red than a white, but im not fussy either way. Ive been drinking some lovely Aussie Reds recently from the RedHeads vinery in the Barossa Valley of South Australia and like the reds from Chile & Argentina also. And like you i don't mind paying just that little bit extra for a quality drop as well, and with Xmas just around the corner will be opening a bottle or two to pass these wintery nights...

 

A very good red wine is the Merlot. Essentially a Bordeaux wine, not too dry, not too sweet. Australian Merlot wines are indeed
excellent. The name Merlot is probably a diminutive of the French name for a blackbird, i.e. 'Merle', hence the reference to the dark colour of the grape.

 

Well I for one hate ****ing city types moving out this way and building on the green fields. Pissing eco-homes!! Ruining the view from my cottage.

 

Ooh, not guilty Nass, thank goodness. Wife and I are born city types, but of course it does depend on which city nowadays. She is a 100% Munich lass, and I took to the city like a duck to water right from the start, many years ago. Do get your point though, damn tough to have your cottage blocked-out like that.

 

Of course the more expensive, the better.

 

Luckily for you Nass I considered that part of the country but found them to be miserable unwelcoming bastards, you know the type that hate immigration, nimbys. Beautiful view from my house btw.