Well, At Least Until After This Intro
Then we shall see, General Lee. Your Humble Scribe was wondering what to put in this Intro, when he chanced across a charming and picturesque video clip on the BBC's News website that had nothing to to with either misery or warfare, so we are all going to discover the delights of the Western Isles. Art!
Picturesque, nicht wahr?
No, it's not a scene from "Lord Of The Rings". This is a shot of the Isle Of Skye, one of the larger West coast islands off the Scottish coast, being in fact at one end of the Inner Hebrides. There are 9,000 people living there, of whom about half speak Gaelic. It's been a tourist destination for centuries as other Scots and those south of the border come to gawk at the scenery and hear the islanders gently mock them in an incomprehensible language. Art!
The red marker is Glen Elg, which got itself going as being the shortest distance between the mainland and Skye, and it's where a unique vessel does the ferry run between Glen Elg and Kylerhea. This vessel is the MV Glenachulish, and if Art will put down his brine-pickled walnuts -
It's a small ferry, as you can plainly see, capable of carrying six cars if they're not great big 4x4 off-road monster trucks. There used to be ferries like this all over the islands, and in fact when Conrad was merely three feet tall, he travelled on the Erskine Ferry across the Clyde. Art!
More capacious yet less picturesome
The old ferry was put out of business when the Erskine Bridge was opened in 1971.
ANYWAY the Glenachulish is unique because it's the last turntable ferry operating globally; it had been due to retire in 2007 when the skipper himself retired, so the locals bought it and maintain and run it.
When I say 'turntable' a picture gives a better idea of what I'm chuntering on about. Art!
Jo Crawford, the obviously proud Ferry Manager, says that the design is elegantly simple, just being well-balanced enough that a couple of chaps, or a single very husky one, can push it around for the cars to drive off. There's no need for the drivers to manage a bit of tricky reversing on a wet, slippery and narrow slipway, and it doesn't need a properly-constructed pier. This efficiency is why there were so many decades ago. One suspects that helicopters may have helped to see off the old turntable ferries. Damn your eyes, helicopters!
Donnie MacDonald - how more Scottish can you get? - was the skipper when the BBC turned up to film, and said that the waters in the area are tricky to navigate, thanks to tides, current, wind and lots of rocks. The Glenachulish laughs at tides. Art!
Jo promoting hard enough to make the Skye Tourist Board proud.
There you go, something a bit different for you. Okay, boys, back to the doom, gloom and big bad boom!
Them Canny Norks😇
You can tell we mean Norwegians because of the smiley emoji. Conrad noticed an intriguing metric on a Quora post. Art!
This monstrous and overbalancing piece of kit is a Norwegian oil platform. We Brits and the Norks have a lock on oil extraction from the North Sea. However, whilst British politicians <hack spit> gleefully spent the profits from North Sea Oil like kids in a sweet shop, the more sober Norks decided to put their profits aside in a special reserve fund. This is because they were rather a poor country and looked on financial binging with muted horror.
So.
Norwegian Special Oil Reserve Fund* 2000: $48 billion
Norwegian Special Oil Reserve Fund 2023: $1367 billion.
The Ruffian National Wealth Fund was down to $148 billion in January 2023. And that Nork $1367 billion is the equivalent of the entire Ruffian GDP for the whole of 2023. Art!
Lavvy The Liar, still seething that the Indians laughed at him
Don't worry, Lavvy - it's all going according to plan**!
Going Live
Today was Your Humble Scribe's first day on the phones at his new job, which, as per usual, I shall remain coy about. No mention of whom I'm contracted out to, as they are quite paranoid about security - Conrad no can use work PCs to create words of wit, wisdom and wonder. No mobile phones on the floor, and you have to unplug your PC-enabling dongle if you move from your desk so much as an inch.
Plus, my phone's internet connection died on the bus into work today - exceeded the data budget or some such shizzle - so I couldn't update nor post the new blog content. Bah!
ANYWAY Your Surly, Truculent And Incommunicative Scribe was talking for hours on end, ending up barely managing a batrachian croak by day's end.
For those who were wondering, no more 'On The Edge' photographs as I've posted all the good ones.
Bring Me A Delicious Helping Of Schadenfreude!
Yes, back to the BBC's 'Have Your Say' Comments, which cannot include swear words, as they would be banned and removed. So people have to be creatively malicious.
Not sure what value HYS on City games have any more. There is no meaningful football chat and so many embittered 40 + somethings struggling to come to terms with why the teams in red they decided to support when growing up, (because they won stuff) are no longer top of the pile.
- and again from Our Man Akimbo -
When all the red top plastic supporters think back to the days they were buying the league and taking the mickey out of City and their loyal supporters.
When they were crowing over how Roy Keane lorded it over Alf Inge Haaland.
If only they knew what was coming down the line.
Karma..
<cackles maliciously and tweaks moustache ends>
"The Sea Of Sand"
The Doctor is reunited with his beloved TARDIS at last, and proceeds to cause mayhem with it.
Travelling back in his own,
familiar, big blue box allowed the errant Time Lord to check on dates: his arrival back at Makin Al-Jinni occurred
on the 1st of April 1941, which meant he had very little time to spare before
the entire Axis forces present in North Africa passed either through or nearby
the depot at Mersa Martuba. Hours, in
fact. Hours before the bio-vore garrison
killed or captured humans en masse, sufficient to perpetuate the alien
existence on Earth. There might be
losses on both sides, but the bio-vores could repopulate far, far faster than
humans, given the bio-morphic energy available.
Luckily
he had arranged for a bait-and-switch delay with the Farmers back on
Homeworld. Thus, when the TARDIS
appeared on the platform at the Earth end of the trans-mat link, nearly fifty
Warriors surmounted the platform, pointing weapons (in some cases firing those
weapons) at the blue box.
A
minute later, those Warriors were suddenly firing at the big blue box whilst
standing on the trans-mat platform on Homeworld. Under a barrage of stunners from Farmers
lying in pre-arranged wait, the imported Warriors wilted and dropped, to be dragged from the platform.
Ah, cheeky and tricky all at the same time!
And with that we are so very done, Vulnavia.
* Actually the Government Pension Fund.
** Nobody's sure which plan. "The 12 Point Plan To Destroy The Modern Muscovy?"
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