[Bob Williams]

I was very happy some years ago when Motability lost patience with the AA and went to the RAC. My bad experiences with the AA over the years, including before ’95 when I first took a Motability car, were too many to list here. My son and daughter both had problems, both been with Green Flag for a good few years.

I had a really bad time getting the AA to understand that a guy whose mail came here, did not live here and never has lived here. He used a street with a similar sounding name in Louth town, with a number that does not exist. Obvious fraud, but after 6 letters returned to AA as “Not Known”, I finally managed to find and contact the CEO. Problem solved: CEO’s PA sent me 12 months’ AA membership. No family or friends wanted that, so I sent that back too, with the information that the AA was so inneficient and customer-unfriendly, that I would never use their services, but as a Motability customer, I am happy to be with the RAC.

For  John (JB) Write to the CEO, that’s how I got it sorted:

Simon Breakwell

Chief Executive Officer

AA PLC
Fanum House, Basing View, Basingstoke, RG21 4EA.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

That’s your actual necessary 8 hours a night Steve, maybe your body is telling you something? ???

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Thanks for that Wheels, I had to read it twice over but I understand it and the threat it represents. There will be people crowing about this, but there may be some heavy damage for Intel ahead. That is not good for anyone in the industry, not good for users of course.

My PC uses an AMD CPU, an FX-6300. Because at the time I built this desktop, it was what I could afford and it suited my modest requirements. It has served me well, but I would not dream of crowing about the troubles Intel are going to have. Users, and the industry, need at least two competing manufacturers, although Intel have been topdog for a long time now.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

I had to get up at 6 am for a drive to Scunthorpe General Hospital and an MRI scan to go with the CT job yesterday at Grimsby DPoW. I have about 6 hours a night, but broken up by at least one loo visit, thanks to the current problem. I go out like a light and sleep like a log, fortunately for marital peace I wake for the loo!

Before bed last night, I moved ours and neighbours bins under respective windows to escape the wind. For the first time in almost 15 years here, that did not work: bins all over the place on the deck. My dear old Gert was out of the bathroom first and picked them up. Knowing it was going to remain windy and get worse, I pushed them into the rear garden and behind the shed.

The roads to Scunny were bad, especially the A18/M180, which has long straight stretches of dual carriageway across open Lincolnshire land. Notices everywhere that Humber bridge was closed to High-Siders and working one carriageway only, which meant that all the trucks from Hull, M62 Eastbound traffic and North Humber were using the same roads as me. I was mostly driving with righte hand holding  the wheel towards the left. Trucks and other high-siders were weaving about, it was impossible to maintain more than 50 mph and I was leaving big gaps behind traffic in front. Quite a few trucks off the road and onto verges. One idiot in an Audi TT shot past me at about 80+, I spotted him a few miles further on. half-buried in a ploughed field. Much quieter and sunny coming back. I was away about 7 hours, a long scan and had to wait 2 hours before I could drive. So we had the worst sandwiches ever in Scunny Hospital Restaurant. It was that, dried up Pizza or some foreign muck that looked as if it had already been eaten at least once. Egg and chips would have been heaven. Added to which, the automated technological marvels that are the electronic hospital parking pay machines, both threw a hissy fit. Massive queue trying to get home, caused by one of two machines officially ‘Out Of Order’ and the other b***ixed by a stupid, gum-chewing tart who could not master her registration number and sent her mum to find it after 5 tries of entering several versions of what she THOUGHT it was. Mum came back with the correct version but the machine had given up by then. I was expecting a lynch party, lots of discontent behind in the ranks. “Technician” came down after about 30 minutes, opened both machines, threw an “Off-On” switch and they both worked. Fortunately he stayed to help the gum chewer work it out.

Got home in darkness and it must have been sunny at home, because the Solar Power Blue Tit above the front door was shining. Have to put a pic of that on sometime. Battening down the hatches for the night now.

 

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Steve I used to go Cross-Country in weather like that, loved it, in fact got a few wins and a lot of placings in conditions like that. “Used to” meaning up to my late 40’s, then life, family and work got more serious. I really loved running, one thing I really missed after first spinal injury came back to bite me and put paid to it when I restarted in early 50’s. When I was younger and fit, I would have loved running up and down your mountain!

There were a few young officers I used to run against in Army service meetings, some real Wodneys and Wuperts. All dressed in the best gear, me in grotty old shorts and naughty message T-Shirt*. I used to love running them into the deck over the last ¼ mile, turn around and run backwards for a bit, then steam away. I was hated by some of them.

*Example – “I Love EVERY Bas***d!”

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Just got back from CT scan, quiet in Grimsby until I set off down the A16, then felt the Tucson drifting a bit. Was worried until I saw that trucks and smaller cars were wandering about all over the place. It’s settled down now, quiet here, a few miles from the East Coast as the seagull flies sideways.

Richard I think that wind funnel is somewhere near Brighouse, on the M62. I was driving that road about 1974, when a hell of a blast took the Avenger I was driving, across all 3 lanes. Fortunately it was 3 am and there were not the Midnight Truckers we get nowadays, so I had the M62 almost to myself, (and a young lady from Huyton, Liverpool, a whole other story)

True story: when I was a workshop foreman, I drove one of the first Sierras, company car of a local SUDG windows & doors sales pillock person who worked all week and came home weekends. He brought it to me to check out why it wandered all over the road, one Saturday morning. I spent hours looking for steering & suspension faults, found nothing, had a brainwave based upon my Air Tech experience. Got my mate to drive it and stuck lots of woolen tassels on the rear panels, either side of the rear pillars. I watched these tassels and noticed that there were vortices spinning them round, instead of streaming straight out behind.

Came back and sent a message to Ford via a mate at the local dealership. He got an award from Ford for “noticing” this, gave me £50. Look at the first pic: rear quarter light (small window) – no strakes. Second pic – small plastic strakes fitted at the rear of the glass under the seals, to break up the vortices of air. Now, was the Ford design engineer asleep during wind Tunnel testing?

It stopped Sierras wandering across the road. Bob Williams, shouldabinadeziner. I thankyou!

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Many Happy Returns to Forumite!

(and congatulations to our {in}famous Leader)?

Have a great day, Spedley.

Forumite Cake:

 

Spedders Cake: (Excess Calories warning!)

 

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Drezha wrote:

I’ll have to take your word for it Bob as the website has crashed/down for maintenance

They are on their Christmas Break Chris. Started a week ago, back who knows?

They have decided to become a Charitable Trust sometime in the next year. Just when I thought things could not get worse…

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Have a great 2018 guys!

Check the medicine cabinet for headache pills for tomorrow!

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

You are right Steve, I wouldn’t have liked the SA 80. I had a look at one during a Cleethorpes Airshow, when the Cherry Berets put on a drop. I was talking to a couple of 2 Para lads and they let me have a play with one. 10 seconds of ‘instruction’ and I stripped it. Well, I mean it fell apart really. ? What a POS, it felt like something kids play with. Then they let me have a Gimpy and my hands ‘remembered’ how to strip that, it was a proper weapon. I asked for a belt of 7.62 so I could target shitehawks seagulls on the beach. Game over.

I don’t think you’re jaded, that may very well be the plan. I don’t know why the Party that always makes big, patriotic noises about how Great Britain is, always makes the worst Defence Cuts when they are in power. All the way back to Duncan Sandys, in his 1957 White Paper he cut all 3 of the Armed Forces. Sandys is also famous for saying that jet fighters and bombers were obsolete and missiles would take their place. RAF squadron were cut to pieces, new aircraft designs held back. We have been playing catchup ever since. Don’t have enough troops, naval forces or aircraft, not to mention equipment. Defence is a static target: now they have had to stop bullying the disabled and others claiming benefits, they are looking for another target. Reminds me of a Danish PM in Cold War days, who joked about replacing all their Forces with an answerphone message in Russian – “We surrender!”

I knew you were joking: it wasn’t planned, thinking about the kids stopped me. I was slowly being driven mad at the time though.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Long way from the same thing, but not dissimilar: my landlord Waterloo Housing Group, is one of the biggest Social Housing providers in the UK and has the absolute worst, clunkiest website you could possibly experience, with the most IT- illiterate idiots supposedly running it.

http://www.waterloo.org.uk/    – can’t supply the Resident’s page, for obvious reasons, but it is a Secure site.

I had not accessed the site for a few weeks, then attempted to do so. They threw me out as “Password Not Recognised”. I knew it was OK, checked back and found it in Firefox ‘Saved Logins’. Sure enough, I had the right one. Phoned, passed around the usual several Options, reported my complaint and was told to expect a call back. That came 4 days later and I was told by some supercilious pillock that they removed passwords of users who did not access the site for a period of 28 days “For security purposes.” I informed them that real websites with real Security procedures did not have to do that: I have accessed some more than 2 years after last time and had no problems. Did they not comprehend the significance of the “s” in the “https://” part of their site address?

It’s just another facet of a really krap organisation. Trying to report a Repair problem would be comic, if it wasn’t so stupid. I asked permission online on November 8th to make my rear garden low maintenance by making certain changes. They said allow 5 working days, then lost the message. I have asked again twice and received the same “5 working days” message. I give up and will just go ahead with it in 2018.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Chris, I thought it would have been something like that. I have visited the FAA Museum myself 3 times, last was  when staying in Dorchester on a coach holiday. The Concorde was still there when I left a few years ago. I liked the “HMS Eagle” setup, my brothers’ mate had been a Naval Air Mechanic on the Eagle and gave me his huge kitbag when I joined the Merchant navy at 16.

You would like the many attractions around Lincolnshire: BBMF and “Just Jane” the Lancaster they are restoring to flight at East Kirkby. There is what was RAF Manby a few miles away and a small town is growing around the former Squadron accomodation blocks and married Quarters, which are now a mix of District Council buildings and light industry. There is Vampire Way, Canberra Crescent, Javelin Road, Metor Road and Provost Road. Lincolnshire is Bomber County.

My Aspergers grandson joined the ACF in Louth, I tried to advise him not to do that as I knew what would happen. Sure enough, his condition made him unable to understand the discipline parts. He was 13 at the time and could not understand why they had to keep repeating the same 15 minutes of Drill before starting any actual technical stuff, and why his boots had to be shiny, when they were clean. I knew the W.O II who is 2/ic: an ex-CSM, he came to see me and said that GS would never take to it, was in fact a disruptive influence. He eventually joined the Scouts.

Weapons for me, was a big part of my service. First time I went on the Ranges to Classify, I found that I could not hit anything at 300 metres firing right handed, so they switched me to left handed and I found something that I was really good at. Eventually I became a 1,000 yard shot. Weapons appealed to me not simply because of their obvious purpose, but as efficient pieces of machinery which worked well and protected those who learned how to use them and look after them properly. I have always liked engineering, machinery and how it works, ever since stripping bike and car engines with my big brother on the backyard at 7 or 8 years old.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

The Duke wrote:

Hopefully, for her, it was the moving out of Germany that took 3 months in the planning and not the other

It went bad, Steve. Her dad had been an SS Camp Guard at Bergen-Belsen and his hate for me was gradually transferred to her. She was beautiful but hard as nails and eventually made up her mind that I was going to leave the Army and marry her, then we would both work in the Gasthaus together, make enough money and move on up. The original plan as first agreed when we got together, was that I would end my service at 12 years and then we would both move to the UK with the kids, who were registered with dual nationality by me at a British consulate. In the end she would not move and I could not stay, the last 18 months was hell on earth. I hated her screaming at me in front of the kids, had to go before I did something that would not end without one of us at least hurt.One example is that she could speak good English, but for the last 2 years just would not speak it. I knew she loved the kids and would not hurt them, would bring them up fine. It took a long time of trying to please her before I gave it up. When I left the Army a year later, I gave her all my gratuity to help the kids. Last I heard, she owned a big Tourist hotel, a Gasthof in a holiday resort called Adlertal: Valley of the Eagles. Quite a rich woman by now, but the kids left when they grew and will have nothing to do with either of us. Can’t blame them, but I have had another family now for over 30 years and had to stop worrying about what I could not help.

My back pages…

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Thanks Dave, appreciate it.

One of the few resolutions I made and kept, was a bit late in arriving. I swore to pack up my 30 a day ciggy habit on NYDay 1978, but not until I was physically sick over an engine, did I actually do it. In early February. GF at the time blew me out for not keeping it, but having to clean off your own Technicolour cough from an engine block before work on it can begin, is a good incentive. I went cold turkey and was helped by a workmate, who picked up the Embassy pack I threw across the garage and offered me one from it every morning. Being a bloody-minded bloke, I ignored him and he gave up after almost 2 months.

An earlier one was in 1975, when I swore to leave my German missus before I killed her. That was 3 months in happening.

I think that I have missed out on every other resolution, except to ask my Gert to move in with me on NYEve ’88. Second best decision I made: first was to marry the lass. Still don’t know why she said yes, probably tired her out. Nothing like persistent nagging to achieve a result…??

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Yes me too John. Be good to get a useful Newsletter for a change, I have unsub’d from quite a few over the years.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Thanks Steve and Chris, just want to get the MRI and CT scans done and see the results. I’m prepared for whatever the results are, I am up to facing whatever happens.

In view of your keen cadet stuff Chris, I reckon you would have made a good “crab”! ? I wanted to join the RAF from Technical School at 15 as a Boy Entrant, but my school then (1960) had a policy of making parents pay for each term missed if I left a year early. In the end I wound up in the Army Air Corps at 20, after training. AAC then referred to by the RAF as TWA, or “Teeny Weeny Airways” – from the Gutersloh and Wildenrath jet pilots who came to our Gliding Club. I asked a Lightning pilot why they loved gliding when they flew a Mach 2 jet – “You don’t fly those things, you just hang on, aim them and hope they don’t flame out! Without an engine, they fall out of the sky!”

Gliding was second only to downhill skiing, for me. Para drops 3rd. Gliding was peaceful once I mastered Solo, downhill was just exhilerating, Para drops good for the adrenalin junky I was then. I generally find that anyone who wants to work in an aircraft environment, had an experience when they were young. Mine was being taken to Airshows by dad at a very young age, and taken for a flight in a DH Dragon Rapide biplane at 8 yo, from Squires Gate Blackpool, around the Isle of Man and back. What was yours?

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

More a hope, a wish, than a Resolution.

MRI scan at Scunthorpe General on Tuesday. CT scan at Grimsby DPoW on Wednesday. Various tests in between.

Wishing and hoping that nothing nasty is revealed, but prepared for the alternative.

I can’t remember if I told you guys this, but watch out for these signs:

*A weak or slow urinary stream.
*A feeling of incomplete bladder emptying.
*Difficulty starting urination.
*Frequent urination.
*Urgency to urinate.
*Getting up frequently at night to urinate.
*A urinary stream that starts and stops.
*Straining to urinate.

Go see your GP if you get these, some of which I had for a while and did the dumb male thing: “Ignore it and it goes away”. It didn’t, it came back worse. I don’t want to put a scare in, but just keep an eye on yourselves and make it through 2018 and many more, guys.

I want to see my youngest grandchild married. And I want to see great-grandbrats.

 

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Lee: just recommended your Hosting on MSE.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

I like Night Mode, similar to the Kindle Read app on Hudl, phone and PC. Brightness can be adjusted to just how it’s needed. Nice one, Lee.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

I like it, did not think it was capable of improvement but I find the black bars/white text a better, clearer combination. On the desktop and the 8″ Hudl it’s fine but I haven’t tried it on the 5″ Wileyfox phone yet. The drop-down from Forums tab is good and the black background/white text combo works well with that.

EDIT: forgot to mention that it works well on Firefox with desktop and Hudl.

All in all, for me an evolutionary improvement. Keep on truckin’ Lee.?

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Author]

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