Next week[w/e 6th Aug]....
George Middleton
Sun: Jack overdoes things.
Mon: Siobhan feels the strain.
Tue: Brian thinks that two is a crowd.
Wed: It is open house at Brookfield.
Thu: Who is meeting at the Bull?
Fri: Revelations at the fete.
Any suggestions?
--
George
Robin Fairbairns
>RTeasers for the daily episodes:
>
>Sun: Jack overdoes things.
there there, jeck, you shouldn't get so frisky.
>Mon: Siobhan feels the strain.
about time too. let's hope she can find a shoulder to cry on, poor
woman.
>Tue: Brian thinks that two is a crowd.
the previous simon has also turned up unexpectedly. (fortunately he's
voiceless...)
>Wed: It is open house at Brookfield.
the decision's finally been taken -- roof'n'deeaveed aren't moving
back, but phil'n'jill are. `you can come too, dear', says jill to
shula.
>Thu: Who is meeting at the Bull?
the cat's raft race team are indulging in intimidatory practices.
>Fri: Revelations at the fete.
it's those angels with the fiery swords that always bother me.
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge
Paddy Smith
>
> Fri: Revelations at the fete.
>
Crikey, it's Ambridge's own millennial apocalypse story!
Four horsemen in the showjumping competition? The Am running as blood?
The whore of Darrington? I *knew* that Daniel was a strange child.
And I looked, and he judged the home-made cakes, and lo! Lynda Snell had
not won, and there was much whining and gnashing of teeth.
Janet ought to have her hands full.
Paddy
next year: Ragnarok!
Andrew Stevenson
George Middleton wrote ...
> RTeasers for the daily episodes:
>
> Sun: Jack overdoes things.
Oh lord. Didn't somebody recently say all this Hazel stuff was a reminder
to us that she existed, so we'd know who she was when Jeck snuffed it?
Can't think what he's likely to be over-doing that's going to give him
another heart attack, though.
> Tue: Brian thinks that two is a crowd.
He's the only man in Debbie's life
> Wed: It is open house at Brookfield.
Ruth and David are selling off all the "junk" that Phil and Jill left there
when they moved to the bungalow.
"Oh, sorry dad. I thought we'd swapped for good. We didn't want the
piano."
> Thu: Who is meeting at the Bull?
Tommy and Kirsty.
> Fri: Revelations at the fete.
I do hope Mrs Snell is not going to get tipsy and perform extracts from
Salome.
--
Andrew
Mary Kemp
<URL:mailto:Mi...@leton.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> RTeasers for the daily episodes:
>
> Sun: Jack overdoes things.
He wrestles in mud with Higgs while drinking a yard of ale.
> Mon: Siobhan feels the strain.
Her slacks are too tight.
> Tue: Brian thinks that two is a crowd.
..when the two are Debbie and Simon.
> Wed: It is open house at Brookfield.
The Roof blows off. David objects.
> Thu: Who is meeting at the Bull?
Jolene, William and the ghost of the drummer boy.
> Fri: Revelations at the fete.
William finds out that Jeck is his father and he has inherited his
accent.
> Any suggestions?
>
--
Mary SODAM. PISS Artiste (LSS), Keeper of the Golden Bog Brush. BTM.
NB. Anti-spam strategy.
Please take the mickey out of me when replying
ma...@mickey.ajl-electronics.demon.co.uk
Penny Mayes
>andy...@zetnet.co.uk (andy roberts) wrote:
>
>|
>|Thor Noggssen correctly predicts the End Of The World As We Know It.
>
>EOTWAWKI
>
>Looks to me scarily like
>
>WAÏTOUKé
>
>Is this an omen?
Dunno Niles, what is WAÏTOUKé?
Penny
How dogs and men are the same #4
Both mark their territory.
umra Nicknames & Abbreviations http://www.bigwig.net/umra/nicks.html
Niles
|
|Dunno Niles, what is WAÏTOUKé?
Say it out loud. Pronounce it like the French would.
--
| Niles, Leominster
"L'amour n'est peut-être que | ICQ UIN 12724766
la reconnaissance du plaisir |
Honoré de Balzac, _Le Père Goriot_ | www.niles.zetnet.co.uk
Stephen Bowden
>"Penny Mayes" <ma...@pTHEUSUALmail.net> wrote in message
><wfXn3.6332$V21.1...@nnrp3.clara.net> :
>>Dunno Niles, what is WAÏTOUKé?
>3rd attempt at a hit single from LWIII .
>The first was Dead Skunk and the second IWIWAL
You mean "IWI _were_ AL"...
Penny, if you were to ask your question aloud, it might answer itself.
--
Stephen
I don't know much about science, but I know what I like.
(Martin Amis)
Penny Mayes
>"Penny Mayes" <ma...@pTHEUSUALmail.net> wrote:
>
>|
>|Dunno Niles, what is WAÏTOUKé?
>
R
IC
ta :)
P
Iain Archer
>"Penny Mayes" <ma...@pTHEUSUALmail.net> wrote:
>
>|
>|Dunno Niles, what is WAÏTOUKé?
>
>Say it out loud. Pronounce it like the French would.
>
though, imo. Perhaps you've been aweigh tooo long? ;)
--
Iain Archer i...@montaigne.demon appended_to .co.uk
deva
George Middleton wrote in message <8usCFKA9...@leton.demon.co.uk>...
>RTeasers for the daily episodes:
>
>Fri: Revelations at the fete.
Jill thinks Linda's Viking theme is far too tame, and replaces the raft race
and Thor Knoggsen's axe throwing with the destruction of Babylon and the
defeat of the beast.
Dev
'ull
Niles
|Niles wrote on Thu, 29 Jul 1999
|>"Penny Mayes" <ma...@pTHEUSUALmail.net> wrote:
|>
|>|
|>|Dunno Niles, what is WAÏTOUKé?
|>
|>Say it out loud. Pronounce it like the French would.
|>
|It still sounds like a constipated Frenchman speaking English
|though, imo. Perhaps you've been aweigh tooo long? ;)
I saw an article about it in the French press. Y2K wouldn't mean much
to a frog.
--
"Un étudiant n'a pas trop de temps s'il veut connaître le
répertoir de chaque théâtre, étudier les issues du labyrinthe
parisien, [..] apprendre la langue, et s'habituer aux plaisirs
particuliers de la capitale" de BALZAC // www.niles.zetnet.co.uk
Peter Hesketh
<alex....@zetnet.co.uk> writes
>I saw an article about it in the French press. Y2K wouldn't mean much
>to a frog.
Yes. They don't need to abbreviate "thousand" to "K" as "mil" is
already only one syllable. One Frenchman whom I asked "Do you say "An
deux ka" or "An deux mil" replied that of course they said "An deux mil"
as it was to do with a problem with 2000, not 2048.
--
Regards, Peter Hesketh Monmouthshire UK
"Traa dy liooar"
(Traditional Manx saying)
Robin Fairbairns
>In article <37af3b35...@news.zetnet.co.uk>, Niles
><alex....@zetnet.co.uk> writes
>>I saw an article about it in the French press. Y2K wouldn't mean much
>>to a frog.
i find it pretty irritating, too.
>Yes. They don't need to abbreviate "thousand" to "K" as "mil" is
>already only one syllable. One Frenchman whom I asked "Do you say "An
>deux ka" or "An deux mil" replied that of course they said "An deux mil"
>as it was to do with a problem with 2000, not 2048.
depends on what sort of person it is. comms engineers use K as 10^3,
while computer engineers use it as 2^10.
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge
Chris McMillan
> Iain Archer <i...@nospam.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
> |Niles wrote on Thu, 29 Jul 1999
> |>"Penny Mayes" <ma...@pTHEUSUALmail.net> wrote:
> |>
> |>|
> |>|Dunno Niles, what is WAÏTOUKé?
> |>
> |>Say it out loud. Pronounce it like the French would.
> |>
> |It still sounds like a constipated Frenchman speaking English
> |though, imo. Perhaps you've been aweigh tooo long? ;)
>
> to a frog.
>
There's a column called 'millenium watch' and apparently Action 2000 have
had some really odd questions put to them - I particularly liked this one:
what happens to the widget at midnight? Have the widgets been programmed so
that they will work after midnight or should we buy bottled beer? (just as
well I noticed my typo - it would have read bear?)
Is the vaccination for the millenium bug available on the NHS?
So, why have we had no mention of the millenium bug in TA? Say, Alice
asking questions about it. (Can't think of anyone else of the right possible
age. Pip's a bit TOO young for this concept maybe?) What about some of the
elderly not being sure: yes, like Mr. Pullen or Mrs. Potter. Or what about
Mrs. Horrobin? Surely they can't all have worked out which of their
appliances are Y2K compliant - or which have computer chips?
(anyone else think that TA characters are all highly intelligent right now?)
Sincerely, Chris
--
Mrs. Chris McMillan. Tel. 0118 926 5450. e-mail:
ch...@mikesounds.demon.co.uk http://www.mikesounds.demon.co.uk/
Jim Easterbrook
> So, why have we had no mention of the millenium bug in TA? Say, Alice
> asking questions about it. (Can't think of anyone else of the right possible
> age. Pip's a bit TOO young for this concept maybe?) What about some of the
> elderly not being sure: yes, like Mr. Pullen or Mrs. Potter. Or what about
> Mrs. Horrobin? Surely they can't all have worked out which of their
> appliances are Y2K compliant - or which have computer chips?
One of my colleagues suggests that if any of us had any business sense
we'd have opened a "millenium compliance" store. Customers would pay us
25 quid, and we'd slap a "Y2K OK" sticker on their toaster, kettle,
breadboard or whatever (after keeping it for a day). Money back if not
satisfied.
--
Jim <http://pages.eidosnet.co.uk/~jim.easterbrook/>
1959/1985? M B+ G+ A L I- S- P-- CH0(p) Ar++ T+ H0 Q--- Sh0
Peter Hesketh
Easterbrook <jim.eas...@eidosnet.co.uk> writes
>One of my colleagues suggests that if any of us had any business sense
>we'd have opened a "millenium compliance" store. Customers would pay us
>25 quid, and we'd slap a "Y2K OK" sticker on their toaster, kettle,
>breadboard or whatever (after keeping it for a day). Money back if not
>satisfied.
You are too late now. They are there, in the market place, and the y
charge GBP50.00 per item.
--
Regards - Peter Hesketh, Mynyddbach, Mon, UK
"Isfahan-nisfi-Jihan"
Isfahan is half the world.
Paul Peters
<Ch...@mikesounds.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>Nor, in the UK from the questions being sent in to our weekly paper.
>There's a column called 'millenium watch' and apparently Action 2000 have
>had some really odd questions put to them - I particularly liked this one:
>
>what happens to the widget at midnight? Have the widgets been programmed so
>that they will work after midnight or should we buy bottled beer? (just as
>well I noticed my typo - it would have read bear?)
>
>Is the vaccination for the millenium bug available on the NHS?
>
I particularly liked the apocryphal (surely) story about the
Zimbabwean civil servant who was told to find out and do something
about the Y2K problem. He reported back that he had foundt hat it was
something to do with the calendar for next year, and he had ensured
that all the Zimbabwean government calendars would be Y2K compliant;
he had changed the days of the week to Mondak, Tuesdak, ...
The story about the Boston City Transportation Department may also be
apocryphal, but I do hope it isn't. They finally decided this March to
check whether Y2K was going to be a problem to them, and set up a
committee to implement a five-year plan to deal with it.
--
Paul the Cheerful Toad
Light a fire for a man, and he'll be warm for a day.
Set him on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
Simon Townley
Peters) wrote:
> The story about the Boston City Transportation Department may also be
> apocryphal, but I do hope it isn't. They finally decided this March to
> check whether Y2K was going to be a problem to them, and set up a
> committee to implement a five-year plan to deal with it.
:)
We should lend them John Prescott.
But Boston is doing great things at the moment, ripping out miles and
miles of the urban freeway which disfigures the area (as it is a major
road hub), and spending huge amounts of money digging tunnels underneath
the city for a new, less visible, motorway network. This may be the way of
the future for the rest of the world too ... he said, hopefully.
--
Simon Townley
Frances Dowd
<Ch...@mikesounds.demon.co.uk> writes
<snip>
>So, why have we had no mention of the millenium bug in TA? Say, Alice
>asking questions about it. (Can't think of anyone else of the right possible
>age. Pip's a bit TOO young for this concept maybe?) What about some of the
>elderly not being sure: yes, like Mr. Pullen or Mrs. Potter. Or what about
>Mrs. Horrobin? Surely they can't all have worked out which of their
>appliances are Y2K compliant - or which have computer chips?
>
>(anyone else think that TA characters are all highly intelligent right now?)
But you know time in Ambridge flows differently ... the months of work
that go into planning fetes, pantomimes, cultural exchanges ... let the
poor dears get over the eclipse first, then the Y2K problem should rear
its ugly head, ooh, about late October?
My money's on Susan Carter raising it first and then being sent on a
half-day training course about it.
from frances dowd at CHEFF
You don't need to wash up until you've eaten fish
Mike Ellwood
: But Boston is doing great things at the moment, ripping out miles and
: miles of the urban freeway which disfigures the area (as it is a major
: road hub), and spending huge amounts of money digging tunnels underneath
: the city for a new, less visible, motorway network.
Ah..thought you were going to say "to replace it with an Underground
railway system" or similar.
--
Mike.E...@rl.ac.uk
Andrew Wineberg
Chris McMillan <Ch...@mikesounds.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> So, why have we had no mention of the millenium bug in TA? Say, Alice
> asking questions about it. (Can't think of anyone else of the right possible
> age. Pip's a bit TOO young for this concept maybe?) What about some of the
> elderly not being sure: yes, like Mr. Pullen or Mrs. Potter.
I should imagine that Julia will take lots of advice from a nice young
man on the compliance of 'her' computer. Naturally, she can then tell
the whole of Borsetshire that Lower Loxley has been Y2K-proofed and
Atherton Lodge has not.
(mini-spoiler 1st August)
Perhaps the lady who saw Tim for advice on eclipse viewing is equally
worried about the prospects of the millennium bug infecting her
electronic devices.
--
AJW in Stanmore, HA7, Great Britain.
Details and Barwick Green at http://www.BTINTERNET.COM/~a.wineberg/
Andrew Wineberg
m...@unixfe.cc.rl.ac.uk (Mike Ellwood) wrote:
> Ah..thought you were going to say "to replace it with an Underground
> railway system" or similar.
If they are going to the bother of digging nuggering huge tunnels under
their fine city for their motorways, they might as well make them a
little bit wider and lay some rails down at the same time.
Simon Townley
<A.Win...@BTINTERNET.COM> wrote:
> In message <7o469n$1n...@newton.cc.rl.ac.uk>
> m...@unixfe.cc.rl.ac.uk (Mike Ellwood) wrote:
>
> > Ah..thought you were going to say "to replace it with an Underground
> > railway system" or similar.
>
> If they are going to the bother of digging nuggering huge tunnels under
> their fine city for their motorways, they might as well make them a
> little bit wider and lay some rails down at the same time.
Misses the point, rather, doesn't it?
The US is a vast place, with a well-established car culture. Cheap oil to
run around on, and no shortage of places to park. In large chunks of the
West and Mid-West you'd be more likely to see an elephant fly than a
traffic jam.
The older cities of the eastern seaboard have a problem. Somewhere like
Boston is in the way of an awful lot of cross-country journeys. No good
people getting all ecological and catching a train under the city if their
car is still where they left it on the other side.
You might propose something like the under-Channel Shuttle, but having
witnessed that in action, it's a pointlessly expensive way of doing things
which has just resulted in the permanent conversion of a lot of the most
beautiful Downs countryside near Folkestone into ugly marshalling yards
and parking lots.
Cars and cities don't mix. Let the cars drive underneath, it's an
acceptable solution, rather than trying to change the travelling
habits/aspirations/necessities of a nation.
--
Simon Townley
martin clark
something about...
> Boston is doing great things at the moment, ripping out miles and
>miles of the urban freeway which disfigures the area (as it is a major
>road hub), and spending huge amounts of money digging tunnels underneath
>the future for the rest of the world too ... he said, hopefully.
>
ground so that all the traffic can go round and round down there without
being able to get out at all :o)
--
Martin up in t' Pennines.
The lights are on but there's no-one at home.
To reply: leave out overnight.to.defrost.
Nick Leverton
Andrew Wineberg <A.Win...@BTINTERNET.COM> writes:
>In message <7o469n$1n...@newton.cc.rl.ac.uk>
> m...@unixfe.cc.rl.ac.uk (Mike Ellwood) wrote:
>
>> Ah..thought you were going to say "to replace it with an Underground
>> railway system" or similar.
>
>If they are going to the bother of digging nuggering huge tunnels under
>their fine city for their motorways, they might as well make them a
>little bit wider and lay some rails down at the same time.
Robin III, whose news server (which is also mine at work) is currently
in a prolonged fit of incommunication with the rest of the world, says
that Boston already has a rather good metro system with a number of
attractively coloured lines. Still, whilst respecting the need for
private transport for many purposes, personally I'm all in favour of
better mass transit in large conurbations.
Nick
K Richard W
Wineberg felt that the following contribution was appropriate
>If they are going to the bother of digging nuggering huge tunnels under
>their fine city for their motorways, they might as well make them a
>little bit wider and lay some rails down at the same time.
Given that all the experience to date shows that you have to widen the
route when converting a railway to a road I would have anticipated that
the route would be narrower if some rails were to be laid (unless you
want both or Chuckler is involved in the laying).
Driving back from Dover I noted that much ground adjacent to the
motorway is being cleared - presumably for a new railway.
--
K Richard W
LSS super-numerary
Stephen Bowden
>Robin III, whose news server (which is also mine at work) is currently
>in a prolonged fit of incommunication with the rest of the world, says
>that Boston already has a rather good metro system with a number of
>attractively coloured lines.
Ah yes, the MTA, as in that Kingston Trio classic...
"Let me tell you the story of a man named Charlie
On that tragic and fateful day
He put 10 cents in his pocket kissed his wife and children
Went to ride on the MTA...
I'm afraid that it does not end happily.
Ken Tough
>Driving back from Dover I noted that much ground adjacent to the
>motorway is being cleared - presumably for a new railway.
Channel tunnel rail link? A good bit of it will be tunnelled
(35 miles, I think?)
Anyway, the thought of being stuck for hours in a traffic jam
in a tunnel under Boston is pretty grim. They ought to just
build the buildings higher and cap over the top of the roads
they've got..
--
Ken Tough
Siderius Nuncius
Stephen Bowden wrote in message ...
>lev...@warren.demon.co.uk (Nick Leverton) wrote:
>
>>Robin III, whose news server (which is also mine at work) is currently
>>in a prolonged fit of incommunication with the rest of the world, says
>>that Boston already has a rather good metro system with a number of
>>attractively coloured lines.
>
>Ah yes, the MTA, as in that Kingston Trio classic...
>
>"Let me tell you the story of a man named Charlie
> On that tragic and fateful day
> He put 10 cents in his pocket kissed his wife and children
> Went to ride on the MTA...
>
>I'm afraid that it does not end happily.
>--
Do you know the ending? I've not heard that record for thirty years and
more, and still wonder whether George O'Brien was elected and got Charlie
off the MTA, or whether his wife still hands him his 2.15 sandwich through
the train window.
Thanks for the memory.
Regards
Sid
(Shepherds Bush, West London)
chris harrison
>
> lev...@warren.demon.co.uk (Nick Leverton) wrote:
>
> >Robin III, whose news server (which is also mine at work) is currently
> >in a prolonged fit of incommunication with the rest of the world, says
> >that Boston already has a rather good metro system with a number of
> >attractively coloured lines.
>
> Ah yes, the MTA, as in that Kingston Trio classic...
<pedantry>
MBTA, shirley?
</pedantry>
--
"Vi is a subset of evil"
chris harrison
http://www.lowfield.co.uk/
chris harrison.
Penny Mayes
>
>Driving back from Dover I noted that much ground adjacent to the
>motorway is being cleared - presumably for a new railway.
Yup, a huge scar on our landscape, running alongside the A2/M2 across
the Medway (and I always rather liked that bit) and further SE
alongside the A20. It is for the Highspeed Rail Link.
Penny
How dogs and men are the same #6
Both fart shamelessly.
umra Nicknames & Abbreviations http://www.bigwig.net/umra/nicks.html
chris harrison
> The older cities of the eastern seaboard have a problem. Somewhere like
> Boston is in the way of an awful lot of cross-country journeys. No good
> people getting all ecological and catching a train under the city if their
> car is still where they left it on the other side.
True, but removing the cars whose endpoints _are_ in the middle of the
city would make some of the through routes less congested. The MBTA have
built some large out of town car parks and put Metro stations on
top/underneath them (Alewife on the Red line springs to mind). LRT toyed
with this idea too, but hasn't actually seemed to have progressed very
far. Mind you, BR in the commuter belt has bought into this idea fairly
substantially.
> You might propose something like the under-Channel Shuttle, but having
> witnessed that in action, it's a pointlessly expensive way of doing things
> which has just resulted in the permanent conversion of a lot of the most
> beautiful Downs countryside near Folkestone into ugly marshalling yards
> and parking lots.
Without wanting to get into the argument about eight lanes of several
motorways heading down to the same point ...
> Cars and cities don't mix. Let the cars drive underneath, it's an
> acceptable solution, rather than trying to change the travelling
> habits/aspirations/necessities of a nation.
The States has, at least partially, resolved this - if you want to
travel long distance you fly. If you're poor you might get a train or a
coach, but Greyhounds and Amtrak are there for students, illegal
immigrants and foreign tourists (or combinations thereof).
Long distance car journeys are for films, in practice road trips do not
seem to be the preferred means of getting from A to B.
Andrew Wineberg
K Richard W <richard....@tesco.net> wrote:
> On Mon, 2 Aug 1999 (probably with umpteen other missing posts) Andrew
> Wineberg felt that the following contribution was appropriate
> >If they are going to the bother of digging nuggering huge tunnels under
> >their fine city for their motorways, they might as well make them a
> >little bit wider and lay some rails down at the same time.
> Given that all the experience to date shows that you have to widen the
> route when converting a railway to a road
Indeed. One freeway^W motorway lane is around 4.2m/14ft wide which is
probably, at a rough guess, around 50-70% more than would be required in
total for one rail line.
> I would have anticipated that
> the route would be narrower if some rails were to be laid (unless you
> want both
I did mean to suggest that both be laid. The cost would not be much
greater.
> or Chuckler is involved in the laying).
Why? What width is required in that case. (Says Andrew, whistling
nonchalently.)
> Driving back from Dover I noted that much ground adjacent to the
> motorway is being cleared - presumably for a new railway.
Channel Tunnel Rail Link? Do you mean to say that it is finally being
built?
Simon Townley
<A.Win...@BTINTERNET.COM> wrote:
Don't be so naive - he means to say that they're devastating huge swathes
of countryside in order to leave vast scars there for many years while
they dicker over who is or isn't going to foot the ever-escalating bill
for the laying of the imaginary track over which no-one can afford to run
the trains.
Chris H's point - that the motorways (in, for example, that self same part
of the world) are also a blight and a blot on the landscape - is a fair
one. You can't deny it. But these roads are wanted and needed and used
every day by thousands of people, who, it must be said, have paid
handsomely for them, and are prepared grudgingly to go on paying for them,
many times over.
--
Simon Townley
Bob Spowart
Andrew Wineberg wrote in message <492BEABC41%
>> Driving back from Dover I noted that much ground adjacent to the
>> motorway is being cleared - presumably for a new railway.
>
>Channel Tunnel Rail Link? Do you mean to say that it is finally being
>built?
>
Reminds me of some years back when I was investigating brake component wear
at Ashford Chart Leacon Depot. While waiting for the next train back to
London in a nearby pub, I over heard one person castigating BR for its
inability to match the SNCF TGV services, especially from Ashford to London.
Next breath, he was then castigating BR again for trying to place the CT
link a ½ mile from his home!
Talk about wanting it both ways!!!!
Bob
Ken Tough
>The States has, at least partially, resolved this - if you want to
>travel long distance you fly. If you're poor you might get a train
>or a coach, but Greyhounds and Amtrak are there for students, illegal
>immigrants and foreign tourists (or combinations thereof).
I've never really understood why the same flight booked
here can be maybe 50% to 100% more than if booked there.
I've heard of flights 1/2 way across the US for $29. What the ???
>Long distance car journeys are for films, in practice road trips do not
>seem to be the preferred means of getting from A to B.
Unless you want your car there for some reason. Though dunno
why you wouldn't rent-a-car. (I've seen rental rates in the US
for $4 a day. Why own one at that price?)
--
Ken Tough
Heather Knowles
>Given that all the experience to date shows that you have to widen the
>the route would be narrower if some rails were to be laid (unless you
Are you incinerating that I take up a lot of space when...
er...horizontal?
You're right, as it happens, but I'm still miffed ;)
--
luv Chuckler, the umra slapper
Keen member of HAHA
http://www.fanged.demon.co.uk
Ken Tough
>Chris H's point - that the motorways (in, for example, that self same part
>of the world) are also a blight and a blot on the landscape - is a fair
>one. You can't deny it. But these roads are wanted and needed and used
>every day by thousands of people, who, it must be said, have paid
>handsomely for them, and are prepared grudgingly to go on paying for them,
>many times over.
Then again, I've taken the Channel Tunnel to Paris, and would
gladly do it again. Fantastic. If only they had direct
service to Amsterdam too, I'd use that regularly, no question.
[Not quite sure whether they ought to have built a car tunnel,
but all this blah-blah about freight on the rails should
really be concentrating on taking (certain) stuff to european
markets by the train]
Then again, a few quick calculations told me building this
channel tunnel could never be financially feasible. How anyone
could be convinced to put a few billion pounds into it is
beyond me..
--
Ken Tough
Stephen Bowden
>Long distance car journeys are for films, in practice road trips do not
>seem to be the preferred means of getting from A to B.
Judging by the license plates at the tourist attractions that I have
been to over the past few days, there is still a fair amount of
roadtripping going on. And over lunch I was in conversation with a
couple who were driving their Cadillac Escalade (a luxury 4x4) home to
Mesquite Texas (just East of Dallas) from Cape Cod, where they had
been watching their son play baseball - they had driven up a week or
so ago.
Come Christmas (or "the Holidays" as we are supposed to call them) I
will be heading for Texas by road - two 10 hour days driving, or three
days if we are to preserve our sanity.
chris harrison
sja...@SPAMBLOKcompaq.net says...
> chris harrison <ca...@icparc.ic.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> >Long distance car journeys are for films, in practice road trips do not
> >seem to be the preferred means of getting from A to B.
>
> Judging by the license plates at the tourist attractions that I have
> been to over the past few days, there is still a fair amount of
> roadtripping going on. And over lunch I was in conversation with a
> couple who were driving their Cadillac Escalade (a luxury 4x4) home to
> Mesquite Texas (just East of Dallas) from Cape Cod, where they had
> been watching their son play baseball - they had driven up a week or
> so ago.
>
> Come Christmas (or "the Holidays" as we are supposed to call them) I
> will be heading for Texas by road - two 10 hour days driving, or three
> days if we are to preserve our sanity.
Madness .... preferred?
--
chris harrison.
http://www.lowfield.co.uk/
chris harrison
si...@sudbury.demon.co.uk says...
> Chris H's point - that the motorways (in, for example, that self same part
> of the world) are also a blight and a blot on the landscape - is a fair
> one. You can't deny it. But these roads are wanted and needed and used
> every day by thousands of people, who, it must be said, have paid
> handsomely for them, and are prepared grudgingly to go on paying for them,
> many times over.
Ditto the rail link?
But then, great swathes of the countryside are covered in housing, wanted
needed and destined to be enjoyed and cherished (well, maybe). Progress,
innit?
Mike Ellwood
chris harrison (ca...@icparc.ic.ac.uk) wrote:
: The States has, at least partially, resolved this - if you want to
: travel long distance you fly. If you're poor you might get a train or a
: coach, but Greyhounds and Amtrak are there for students, illegal
: immigrants and foreign tourists (or combinations thereof).
: Long distance car journeys are for films, in practice road trips do not
: seem to be the preferred means of getting from A to B.
I presume also by tourists though. We once contemplated such a
journey from the eastern seaboard to the mid-west, and were
not discouraged from this by our potential hosts (unless
they were hoping we would not make it :-) ).
I quite fancy a long rail journey in the states, but can one
still do that? Where? (I have seen rail holidays in/to
Canada advertised - not sure how much, if any mileage
was in the USA).
I have travelled by train from Poughkeepsie, NY to NYC with a couple
of IBMers, who I was interested to note would no more dream
of driving to NYC than I would (normally) to London, although they
drove a fair distance from upstate NY to work in Poughkeepsie.
--
Mike.E...@rl.ac.uk
Mike Ellwood
: coach, but Greyhounds and Amtrak are there for students, illegal
Reminds me that I heard someone (probably Alistair Cooke) say that
after air de-regulation in the USA, "ordinary" people could then
afford to fly, people who would formerly have taken the Greyhound
bus. This was much resented by the better off sort of people who
had always been able to fly, people such as Alistair I don't doubt,
as they then had to jostle with the masses. Yes, there is a
class system in America, Virginia.
--
Mike.E...@rl.ac.uk
Min Lacey
<m...@unixfe.cc.rl.ac.uk> used the electronic medium to say....
>I quite fancy a long rail journey in the states, but can one
>still do that? Where?
journey - I have since been told (on umra, natcherally) that that
particular journey is the cream of them....
> (I have seen rail holidays in/to
>Canada advertised - not sure how much, if any mileage
>was in the USA).
>
>I have travelled by train from Poughkeepsie, NY to NYC with a couple
>of IBMers, who I was interested to note would no more dream
>of driving to NYC than I would (normally) to London, although they
>drove a fair distance from upstate NY to work in Poughkeepsie.
other hand, my mate Alison (who's an awful driver) drove from Yonkers
all round NY - think it's a town/country thing.......
--
Min
See a pin and pick it up
And all day long
You'll wonder where the grenade is....
Rosie Mitchell
>>I quite fancy a long rail journey in the states, but can one
>>still do that? Where?
>I once went from Baltimore to Orlando, and it was a *wonderful* 17 hour
>journey - I have since been told (on umra, natcherally) that that
>particular journey is the cream of them....
I used to go quite regularly - well twice a year - from Grand Central to
Rome, NY. It took about five hours to do the 250 miles or so but was a
pretty classy ride - especially the first 100 miles or so to Albany,
where the tracks follow intimately the shores of the Hudson. Anybody
who has seen "North by Northwest" will be familiar with this stretch.
Rosie
--
Rosalind Mitchell - ICQ 13609015 - http://www.aida.demon.co.uk/rosie
"If there is one wish I would pray the Spirit to put into our Christmas
stockings, it is warmth, openness, passion, a bit of emotion that doesn't mind
making a fool of itself occasionally" [Gerald Priestland]
Liz Blades
>Apparently chris harrison <ca...@icparc.ic.ac.uk> wrote:
>>The States has, at least partially, resolved this - if you want to
>>travel long distance you fly. If you're poor you might get a train
>>or a coach, but Greyhounds and Amtrak are there for students, illegal
>>immigrants and foreign tourists (or combinations thereof).
'ere I've done the Greyhound as a foreign tourist and it was
fun,bought the 15 days for 300 dollars thing and managed 2000 miles or
so.Having said that I never want to see another Burger King or Dunkin'
donuts again.
The other thing I've done(with an airline) was similar,the cost was
much the same but you took a chance on a stand by seat being
available,the trick was to ring them up the day before to see whether
a seat was available or not and then change your plans accordingly.
>I've never really understood why the same flight booked
>here can be maybe 50% to 100% more than if booked there.
>I've heard of flights 1/2 way across the US for $29. What the ???
Ah well I've come across a contra situationwhere I had money to spend
as I had stood down from a flight.($600.00 dollars +)
I asked if I could fly a friend from Minneapolis to Atlanta and how
much it would cost(it was horrendous) but if I did the same trip from
Atlanta to MN it would be 1/2 the price I argued and argued with the
airline saying I didn't see the difference ah but they said you are a
tourist.Guess who did the flight?
>Unless you want your car there for some reason. Though dunno
>why you wouldn't rent-a-car. (I've seen rental rates in the US
>for $4 a day. Why own one at that price?)
Then they hit you with the insurance,the CDW and anything else you can
think of.
If you own a car in the USA your insurance covers you for car
hire,unlike here.
You will find that although the rental is cheap(This is from my own
experience) the insurance is very expensive.
Elizabeth
Niles
|
|Then again, I've taken the Channel Tunnel to Paris, and would
|gladly do it again. Fantastic. If only they had direct
|service to Amsterdam too, I'd use that regularly, no question.
AIUI, there is a plan to increase the high-speed link up there in the
near future, I was discussing it with better informed friends not very
long ago. Isn't AMS on the Thalys, though? That would be one change at
either Paris or Brussels.
I'm just waiting for the day when we get
<fx Voice of the Underground>
This is <br> London. Change at <br> London. for <br> Paris, Brussels,
and stations to Eastern Europe.
--
"Un étudiant n'a pas trop de temps s'il veut connaître le
répertoir de chaque théâtre, étudier les issues du labyrinthe
parisien, [..] apprendre la langue, et s'habituer aux plaisirs
particuliers de la capitale" de BALZAC // www.niles.zetnet.co.uk
Mike Ellwood
: Then again, a few quick calculations told me building this
: channel tunnel could never be financially feasible. How anyone
: could be convinced to put a few billion pounds into it is
: beyond me..
I reckon those brave capitalists sniffed government subsidy
(sooner or later) and put their snouts in the trough in
a Pavlovian reaction...
:-)
Bit like those other brave capitalists in the arms trade who
depend upon tax(over)payers money.
--
Mike.E...@rl.ac.uk
The Workers Flag is deepest red
Oh dear I've left mine home in bed
(no, I don't know what this means, either...)
Stephen Bowden
> Yes, there is a
>class system in America, Virginia.
But not much of one in West Virginia...
Stephen Bowden
>I quite fancy a long rail journey in the states, but can one
>still do that? Where? (I have seen rail holidays in/to
>Canada advertised - not sure how much, if any mileage
>was in the USA).
"Good morning America, how are you - don't you know me, I'm your
native son..."
The train called the City of New Orleans runs from Chicago to New
Orleans. The Sunset Limited runs from LA to Orlando via San Antonio
and New Orleans, the Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle, the
Silver Meteor from New York to Miami... The most beatiful rail
journey in North America is likely to be the Blue and Silver from
Toronto to Vancouver, which takes three days.
So yes, one can still do that.
Ken Tough
>Ken Tough <k...@objectech.co.uk> wrote:
>|Then again, I've taken the Channel Tunnel to Paris, and would
>|gladly do it again. Fantastic. If only they had direct
>|service to Amsterdam too, I'd use that regularly, no question.
>AIUI, there is a plan to increase the high-speed link up there in the
>near future, I was discussing it with better informed friends not very
>long ago.
Can't figure AIUI, and head hurts at mo..
Anyway, this week's New Civil Engineer has a cover story
"Boring to Budget" [sic]: CTRL: The first stretch of the
Channel Tunnel Rail Link is now well under way. But can it
be finished on time?" (No problem, according to Alan
Myers, contract manager for two bits of it) ['on time' is
2003]
>Isn't AMS on the Thalys, though? That would be one change at
>either Paris or Brussels.
Thalys? Boy, I'm much over my head here. What does that
mean? I thought it was on the Am.
Do the tracks not join anywhere? Different gauge or something?
You can get there with a change at Brussels right now, but that
defeats the whole purpose, taking you way out of the way and
adding a whole lot of time and inconvenience to the journey.
Flying is easier and as cheap, at about 3 hrs (incl to-apt
and check-in time).
>I'm just waiting for the day when we get
>
><fx Voice of the Underground>
>
>This is <br> London. Change at <br> London. for <br> Paris, Brussels,
>and stations to Eastern Europe.
I'm waiting for "This is the Penzance-Orient Express. All
stations to Beijing..."
--
Ken Tough
Ken Tough
>The most beatiful rail
>journey in North America is likely to be the Blue and Silver from
>Toronto to Vancouver, which takes three days.
Purty expensive, though, at a couple of thousand. Too bad that.
The middle bit must be a bit dull, no? (You can catch only the
mountain bit too, but oddly that's an over night journey)
--
Ken Tough
Andrew Wineberg
bla...@airtime.co.uk (Liz Blades) wrote:
> If you own a car in the USA your insurance covers you for car
> hire,unlike here.
IIRC, my dad's car insurance (on which my mum and I are also named
drivers) covers him as proposer (i.e. not the other two of us) when
driving hire-cars, although I think that the cover is for 3rd party
liabilities only.
Mike Ellwood
: Can't figure AIUI, and head hurts at mo..
As I understand it, but I don't blame you; some of the
"obvious" ones aren't, until they've been explained.
Unless you are Bletchley material.
: Thalys? Boy, I'm much over my head here. What does that
: mean? I thought it was on the Am.
Belgian fast train I think; Goes from Paris<->Brussels, and also
into Germany I believe.
: Do the tracks not join anywhere? Different gauge or something?
: You can get there with a change at Brussels right now, but that
: defeats the whole purpose, taking you way out of the way and
: adding a whole lot of time and inconvenience to the journey.
: Flying is easier and as cheap, at about 3 hrs (incl to-apt
: and check-in time).
I was quite impressed by a Hoverspeed journey I made there
a few years before the Chunnel opened. Hoverspeed to
Oostend, then a good train almost all the way, except that
you had to get out and get on a different train at Roosendaal,
but it was the same platform, so no hassle, just a bit of a wait.
OK, not as quick as the plane, but less stressful, if you weren't
in a hurry.
: I'm waiting for "This is the Penzance-Orient Express. All
: stations to Beijing..."
Reminds me: saw an educational film on BBC2 last night
about Tianamen Square. Had not seen it in such detail before.
That was nasty, very nasty.
--
Mike.E...@rl.ac.uk
Ken Tough
>> If you own a car in the USA your insurance covers you for car
>> hire,unlike here.
>
>IIRC, my dad's car insurance (on which my mum and I are also named
>drivers) covers him as proposer (i.e. not the other two of us) when
>driving hire-cars, although I think that the cover is for 3rd party
>liabilities only.
Yeah, that's the problem, it's never very clear what insurance
is what. If you book the hire on (certain) VISA, they are
supposed to supply a CDW as well. But will they? And theft?
And ? I recall paying about the equivalent of the car rental
in insurance. I'm sure all these things like VISA and AmEx
offer all these 'car hire insurance paid' benefits just because
they know most people won't feel comfortable taking them up
on it.
Usually, here, your insurance covers you third party when
driving -ANYBODY's- car, doesn't it?
--
Ken Tough
Ken Tough
>Ken Tough (k...@objectech.co.uk) wrote:
>: Can't figure AIUI, and head hurts at mo..
>
>As I understand it, but I don't blame you; some of the
>"obvious" ones aren't, until they've been explained.
Ahh... I was working towards AFAIK, which granted doesn't have
the same connotation.
>Unless you are Bletchley material.
UYABM, you mean.
>: Thalys? Boy, I'm much over my head here. What does that
>: mean? I thought it was on the Am.
>Belgian fast train I think; Goes from Paris<->Brussels, and also
>into Germany I believe.
Ahh, so the Brussels->AMS route is quick then. That's good, but
still too long :(
--
Ken Tough
Robin Fairbairns
no, not yet. ns (== br in dutch) is putting an enormous amount of
money into laying new fast track all over the country; one such track
is the one up from brussels.
until that's finished i don't suppose thalys will want to run into
holland (any more than the eurostar wants to run into england), since
it would have to proceed at a stately ns sort of rate.
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge
Penny Mayes
>
>Usually, here, your insurance covers you third party when
>driving -ANYBODY's- car, doesn't it?
Not if the car has been hired to you IME.
Penny
How dogs and men are the same #7
Neither of them notice when you get your hair cut.
umra Nicknames & Abbreviations http://www.bigwig.net/umra/nicks.html
Chris McMillan
> Reminds me: saw an educational film on BBC2 last night
> about Tianamen Square. Had not seen it in such detail before.
> That was nasty, very nasty.
>
(sigh) - why couldn't that wait until 26th August so I could have watched it
as well?
On the anniversary of Tiananmen, there was an R4 play which was part
fiction and part using footage from the time. Oh yes, it was nasty alright.
Sincerely, Chris
--
Mrs. Chris McMillan. Tel. 0118 926 5450. e-mail:
ch...@mikesounds.demon.co.uk http://www.mikesounds.demon.co.uk/
Chris McMillan
<URL:mailto:k...@objectech.co.uk> wrote:
> Apparently Niles <alex....@zetnet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> >Ken Tough <k...@objectech.co.uk> wrote:
>
> I'm waiting for "This is the Penzance-Orient Express. All
> stations to Beijing..."
>
Stop it, Ken! (I'd be joining at Reading)
Bob Spowart
Chris McMillan wrote in message ...
>In article <7oc34e$m...@newton.cc.rl.ac.uk>, Mike Ellwood
><URL:mailto:m...@unixfe.cc.rl.ac.uk> wrote:
>> Ken Tough (k...@objectech.co.uk) wrote:
>>
>
>> Reminds me: saw an educational film on BBC2 last night
>> about Tianamen Square. Had not seen it in such detail before.
>> That was nasty, very nasty.
>>
>(sigh) - why couldn't that wait until 26th August so I could have watched
it
>as well?
>
>On the anniversary of Tiananmen, there was an R4 play which was part
>fiction and part using footage from the time. Oh yes, it was nasty
alright.
>
Apparently the one in '76 was actually much worse than the one in '89. See
Nien Cheng's "Life & Death in Shanghai" for some details.
Bob
K Richard W
our lives would be enhanced by the following comments:
>Reminds me: saw an educational film on BBC2 last night
>about Tianamen Square. Had not seen it in such detail before.
>That was nasty, very nasty.
It was. China did not face up to the need to change then. I wonder how
it will handle the threat of mass knowledge through the communication
opportunities such as the internet etc are bound to bring. Much of
China remains poor but the areas where there are tourists do not seem
that poor in the way people are - because presumably the local economies
are better than the average in the country. PCs are becoming common (or
were a couple of years ago when we visited). Stories that mobile phones
were more easily acquired than waiting for a landline existed. Once
there is mass communication the ruling elite must surely find it more
difficult to control the dissemination of information and events?
--
K Richard W
LSS super-numerary
Simon Townley
<ma...@pmail.net> wrote:
> Ken Tough wrote in message ...
>
> >
> >Usually, here, your insurance covers you third party when
> >driving -ANYBODY's- car, doesn't it?
>
> Not if the car has been hired to you IME.
Nor if you are driving 'for reward'. Which can be a tricky one, if they
produce evidence that a group of you have consistently stumped-up,
whipped-round, whatever, for each others' petrol expenses over the years.
The (understandable, in some ways) paranoia of insurance companies
mitigates against a lot of car-sharing schemes. You have to be very
careful.
--
Simon Townley
Simon Townley
<M...@mygaff0.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <7o9hhk$1n...@newton.cc.rl.ac.uk>, Mike Ellwood
> <m...@unixfe.cc.rl.ac.uk> used the electronic medium to say....
> >I have travelled by train from Poughkeepsie, NY to NYC with a couple
> >of IBMers, who I was interested to note would no more dream
> >of driving to NYC than I would (normally) to London, although they
> >drove a fair distance from upstate NY to work in Poughkeepsie.
> In the Baltimore area, no-one I knew *ever* drove to New York. On the
> other hand, my mate Alison (who's an awful driver) drove from Yonkers
> all round NY - think it's a town/country thing.......
Think it's a NYC/rest of world thing. Most Americans, even quite sane
ones, are terrified (still) of NY, NY. Noo Yawkers of course play up to
this.
I have driven in NYC, and while you need to be fairly assertive, it's not
that much scarier than London on an angry hot day like today, and a good
deal less scary than riding in a yellow cab driven by an off-duty Taleban
warrior.
There are places I'd be less keen on piloting a car around - Istanbul, for one.
And Paris is more stressful, if you don't know where you're going. It's
all fluid curves and odd turns, whereas Manhattan at least is pretty
un-get-lost-able in.
--
Simon Townley
Peter Hesketh
<si...@sudbury.demon.co.uk> writes
>And Paris is more stressful, if you don't know where you're going.
Only if you have a passenger who notices if you go past the same
roundabout twice. The only advantage of one's wofe running off with
another is that you can make mistakes without castigation.
When driving alone, it doesn't matter if you go round the Peripherique
twice.
--
Regards - Peter Hesketh, Mynyddbach, Mon, UK
"Isfahan-nisfi-Jihan"
Isfahan is half the world.
Mike Ellwood
: Think it's a NYC/rest of world thing. Most Americans, even quite sane
: ones, are terrified (still) of NY, NY. Noo Yawkers of course play up to
: this.
True; one of the IBMers I had travelled with (not a native Noo
Yawker) said that everyone has a NY subway story to tell. His
was when bringing a party of out of town relatives to tour the
city, they had got separated, with the relatives getting on
the train, and him staying off, as it was not the one they wanted.
He was afraid for them as they did not know the city at all, so
he shot across the line up onto the opposite platform, and got
another train, somehow contriving to meet them at a station he
knew they would get out at (don't remember how the mechanics of
this worked), and it all ended happily.
: I have driven in NYC, and while you need to be fairly assertive, it's not
: that much scarier than London on an angry hot day like today
It seemed to move much faster, owing to the grid structure and
uniform pattern of traffic lights, I presume.
--
Mike.E...@rl.ac.uk
Nick Leverton
>
> no, not yet. ns (== br in dutch) is putting an enormous amount of
> money into laying new fast track all over the country; one such track
> is the one up from brussels.
>
> until that's finished i don't suppose thalys will want to run into
> holland (any more than the eurostar wants to run into england), since
> it would have to proceed at a stately ns sort of rate.
doesn't it go to Amsterdam already ? Before the service acquired the
Thalys moniker, the new trainsets were known as PKBA,
Paris-Bruxelles-Koln-Amsterdam.
Nick
Kate Brown
Aug 1999, Simon Townley <si...@sudbury.demon.co.uk> wrote
>I have driven in NYC, and while you need to be fairly assertive, it's not
>that much scarier than London on an angry hot day like today, and a good
>deal less scary than riding in a yellow cab driven by an off-duty Taleban
>warrior.
I can vouch for that, having spent time in Islamabad, though the yellow
cabs aren't quite as scary as the four-wheel drives belonging to the
Baluchi warlords, in which I have also been driven, surrounded by huge
fierce bearded persons with unnecessary quantities of live ammunition.
Min would have been quite at home...
Or is this a timely word of friendly advice to Peter Hesketh?
--
Kate B
London
Peter Hesketh
<elv...@cockaigne.demon.co.uk> writes
>I can vouch for that, having spent time in Islamabad, though the yellow
>cabs aren't quite as scary as the four-wheel drives belonging to the
>Baluchi warlords, in which I have also been driven, surrounded by huge
>fierce bearded persons with unnecessary quantities of live ammunition.
>Min would have been quite at home...
>
>Or is this a timely word of friendly advice to Peter Hesketh?
:-)
I think most of my time on the road will be in a coach, staying well
away from the frontiers.
Charles F Hankel
<ch...@dowd.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <ant31200...@mikesounds.demon.co.uk>, Chris McMillan
> <Ch...@mikesounds.demon.co.uk> writes
> <snip>
>
> >So, why have we had no mention of the millenium bug in TA? Say, Alice
> >asking questions about it. (Can't think of anyone else of the right possible
> >age. Pip's a bit TOO young for this concept maybe?) What about some of the
> >elderly not being sure: yes, like Mr. Pullen or Mrs. Potter. Or what about
> >Mrs. Horrobin? Surely they can't all have worked out which of their
> >appliances are Y2K compliant - or which have computer chips?
> >
> >(anyone else think that TA characters are all highly intelligent right now?)
>
> But you know time in Ambridge flows differently ... the months of work
> that go into planning fetes, pantomimes, cultural exchanges ... let the
> poor dears get over the eclipse first, then the Y2K problem should rear
> its ugly head, ooh, about late October?
>
> My money's on Susan Carter raising it first and then being sent on a
> half-day training course about it.
This should prove a humorous item as Tony Blair's much heralded task
force of 20,000 trained Y2Kers is still struggling for participants,
so maybe she could get an award as trainee number twenty.
--
Charles F Hankel
-------------------------------------
Hapless FAQer on the Wirral peninsula
http://www.mersinet.co.uk/~hankel/uf/umrafaq.html
Charles F Hankel
<k...@objectech.co.uk> wrote:
> Apparently chris harrison <ca...@icparc.ic.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> >Long distance car journeys are for films, in practice road trips do not
> >seem to be the preferred means of getting from A to B.
>
> Unless you want your car there for some reason. Though dunno
> why you wouldn't rent-a-car. (I've seen rental rates in the US
> for $4 a day. Why own one at that price?)
If going to the USA for more than about three weeks, it is a better
deal to buy a second hand car on arrival and get it insured locally -
take the local driving test if necessary (it doesn't take long).
Then, when you return to the airport, just take the car along to a
nearby used car dealer and do a deal. Yes, you're going to lose a bit
of money but it won't be anywhere near the price of renting. If you
really like the car, you could always arrange to bring it back over
here.
Charles F Hankel
<k...@objectech.co.uk> wrote:
> Apparently Niles <alex....@zetnet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> >Isn't AMS on the Thalys, though? That would be one change at
> >either Paris or Brussels.
>
> Thalys? Boy, I'm much over my head here. What does that
> mean? I thought it was on the Am.
The Thalys is the Belgian high speed train thingy - does Brussels to
Paris in about eighty minutes. The next stages in Thalys construction
are to connect into the German network and then a connection to
Amsterdam.
> Do the tracks not join anywhere? Different gauge or something?
> You can get there with a change at Brussels right now, but that
> defeats the whole purpose, taking you way out of the way and
> adding a whole lot of time and inconvenience to the journey.
> Flying is easier and as cheap, at about 3 hrs (incl to-apt
> and check-in time).
Amsterdam is a lot quicker and cheaper by air from Liverpool as well -
we've got a few Easyjet flights from here at, if you're quick, prices
that make the rail fare to London look like an expensive rip-off.
The Brussels-Paris Thalys service OTOH really knocks the stuffing out
of flying or driving and is less than £100 return. I posted somewhere
here that I was considering a trip to Paris at some time using this
service partly to visit friends there and partly because it is
possible
Charles F Hankel
<p...@phesk.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <simon-06089...@sudbury.demon.co.uk>, Simon Townley
> <si...@sudbury.demon.co.uk> writes
>
> >And Paris is more stressful, if you don't know where you're going.
>
> Only if you have a passenger who notices if you go past the same
> roundabout twice. The only advantage of one's wofe running off with
> another is that you can make mistakes without castigation.
>
> When driving alone, it doesn't matter if you go round the Peripherique
> twice.
Quite, or making the positive decision to make it thrice.
Chris McMillan
I turned my back for one evening (and a bit), and I've got 271 postings!
But I can tell you I have Nien Cheng's book on my shelf.
Nick Leverton
m...@unixfe.cc.rl.ac.uk (Mike Ellwood) writes:
>
>city, they had got separated, with the relatives getting on
>the train, and him staying off, as it was not the one they wanted.
>He was afraid for them as they did not know the city at all, so
>he shot across the line up onto the opposite platform, and got
>another train, somehow contriving to meet them at a station he
>knew they would get out at (don't remember how the mechanics of
>this worked), and it all ended happily.
Some NY Subway routes have both stopping and "express" services, the
latter skipping many of the stops. Normally the express has a different
route number, even though it serves the same tracks. I suppose if the
express train came just after a local one you could indeed overtake like
that and catch someone up. Somewhat like the District and Piccadilly
line west of Earl's Court, where they share the same route but the
Piccadilly doesn't stop at most of the stations.
The London Underground used to have a very few "skip-stop" services for
very lightly used stations. Brompton Road and, I think, Down Street on
the Piccadilly were two such. Passengers wanting them had to listen out
for the announcement, and the phrase "Passing Brompton Road" passed into
literary history as the title of a play, about an emancipated woman whom
life was similarly passing-by.
Nick
Chris McMillan
<URL:mailto:richard....@tesco.net> wrote:
> It was. China did not face up to the need to change then. I wonder how
> it will handle the threat of mass knowledge through the communication
> opportunities such as the internet etc are bound to bring. Much of
> China remains poor but the areas where there are tourists do not seem
> that poor in the way people are - because presumably the local economies
> are better than the average in the country. PCs are becoming common (or
> were a couple of years ago when we visited). Stories that mobile phones
> were more easily acquired than waiting for a landline existed. Once
> there is mass communication the ruling elite must surely find it more
> difficult to control the dissemination of information and events?
There has been quite a bit of trying to stop the porno type things of
course. I have a friend working at one of the Beijing Unis who has just
been seconded to a Canuck uni. for a year. Six weeks ago or so, out of the
blue, he e-mailed me to say he'd got a new pooter plus net connection.
The e-address was our equivalent of 'ac.uk', but I have now ascertained that
this is into his home system as his wofe will be using it while he's away.
I'm sure this is a perk for him, though, as he's a prof. these days. Maybe
I'll be able to find out a lot more about this subject over the next
academic year.
I also know of a school for the blind where one of the pupils (who speaks
English) is on e-mail. Whether that is a school or home system I don't know.
However, I do know that equipment for the blind in schools is almost
non-existent so this is probably for home too.
K Richard W
our lives would be enhanced by the following comments:
>In article <simon-06089...@sudbury.demon.co.uk>, Simon Townley
><si...@sudbury.demon.co.uk> writes
>
>>And Paris is more stressful, if you don't know where you're going.
I agree with that.
>
>Only if you have a passenger who notices if you go past the same
>roundabout twice. The only advantage of one's wofe running off with
>another is that you can make mistakes without castigation.
>
We were heading nicely in the direction of the Arc De Triomphe (and
doing quite nicely) when the car adjacent to the port side cut across in
front to take the exit to the right whilst the car on the right hand
side decided to take an exit to port. The two cars cutting acress in
front and just missing each other completely unnerved the wofe who
demanded we find another way back to the hotel.
This would have been OK had I had a good map. Ended up in a side street
trying to work out which way to go! I would much rather have carried
on.
>When driving alone, it doesn't matter if you go round the Peripherique
>twice.
>
>
If you can get on it - the nearest I had to an accident was trying to
join said ring road!
K Richard W
our lives would be enhanced by the following comments:
>I have driven in NYC, and while you need to be fairly assertive, it's not
>that much scarier than London on an angry hot day like today, and a good
>deal less scary than riding in a yellow cab driven by an off-duty Taleban
>warrior.
I have been driven around in NYC (and as the most junior person present
spent much of the time in the front seat). I felt that the driving was
not dis-similar to London and I do that fairly readily. OTOH being
drive is far more enjoyable particularly in the stretch limo sent to the
airport to collect you!
Bob Spowart
Chris McMillan wrote in message ...
>In article <7od0r6$t3p$1...@news4.svr.pol.co.uk>, Bob Spowart
><URL:mailto:B...@rspowart.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>> Chris McMillan wrote in message ...
>> >In article <7oc34e$m...@newton.cc.rl.ac.uk>, Mike Ellwood
>> ><URL:mailto:m...@unixfe.cc.rl.ac.uk> wrote:
>> >> Ken Tough (k...@objectech.co.uk) wrote:
>> >>
>> >
>
>> Which Tien en men massacre was that?
>> Apparently the one in '76 was actually much worse than the one in '89.
See
>> Nien Cheng's "Life & Death in Shanghai" for some details.
>>
>I turned my back for one evening (and a bit), and I've got 271 postings!
>But I can tell you I have Nien Cheng's book on my shelf.
>
"We have come to take revolutionary action against you."
A spine chilling and, on account of the oppression a courageous person can
resist very inspiring. A bl**** good read.
Bob
Charles F Hankel
<richard....@tesco.net> wrote:
> On Thu, 5 Aug 1999, I was milking the cows when Mike Ellwood felt that
> our lives would be enhanced by the following comments:
>
> >Reminds me: saw an educational film on BBC2 last night
> >about Tianamen Square. Had not seen it in such detail before.
> >That was nasty, very nasty.
>
> It was. China did not face up to the need to change then. I wonder how
> it will handle the threat of mass knowledge through the communication
> opportunities such as the internet etc are bound to bring.
My father spent a few years in China on His Majesty's Service in the
late 1920s/early 1930s. When I got loads of travel opportunities, it
was the only place he wanted to visit but, as the only flights in was
a twice weekly Pakistan International Airlines service, and visas were
as common as hen's teeth, this little adventure was never undertaken.
He wanted to see how China had changed because he believed that
nothing could be worse for the Chinese people than the situations he
had witnessed, and that the revolution could only have improved the
lot of the average person there. It's hard to imagine this alongside
the Tianamen Square fiascos of recent years, but it still may be true.
> Much of
> China remains poor but the areas where there are tourists do not seem
> that poor in the way people are - because presumably the local economies
> are better than the average in the country. PCs are becoming common (or
> were a couple of years ago when we visited). Stories that mobile phones
> were more easily acquired than waiting for a landline existed. Once
> there is mass communication the ruling elite must surely find it more
> difficult to control the dissemination of information and events?
Quite. Maybe the sea change that has affected Chinese society, moving
from a feudal culture of three thousand years standing into full
democracy is something that takes more than half a century to achieve.
Charles F Hankel
<G6...@soft255.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <kI1QEwAO...@phesk.demon.co.uk>, Peter Hesketh
> <p...@phesk.demon.co.uk> writes
> >In article <37af3b35...@news.zetnet.co.uk>, Niles
> ><alex....@zetnet.co.uk> writes
> >>I saw an article about it in the French press. Y2K wouldn't mean much
> >>to a frog.
> >
> >Yes. They don't need to abbreviate "thousand" to "K" as "mil" is
> >already only one syllable. One Frenchman whom I asked "Do you say "An
> >deux ka" or "An deux mil" replied that of course they said "An deux mil"
> >as it was to do with a problem with 2000, not 2048.
>
> At school (anyone else use "Le Francais d'aujourd'hui"?), there was an
> episode (?) in the textbook about the future. Because of the way French
> is pronounced, it took me some time to figure out what this londumil
> they kept going on about was.
We had to use "Le Français Vivant" because they were written by our
modern languages head. I got my O-level despite him.
Robin Fairbairns
>We had to use "Le Français Vivant" because they were written by our
>modern languages head. I got my O-level despite him.
that's nothing. for german, i had `deutsches leben' (erste, zweite
und dritte teile) which was written by my _dad's_ german teacher (who
was, i am assured, dessicated and aged in 1934). despite him, and
despite the fact that the publishers had seen fit to print it in a
gothic font, and despite the uplifting stuff in it (none of your how
to be topp armand for this bloke, there were discussions of dürer's
engraving "ritter, tod und teufel", which made a big impression on my
feeble 11-yo brain), i managed to get o-level german. but my grasp of
the language remains feebler than my grasp of french...
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge
Liz Blades
>We had to use "Le Français Vivant" because they were written by our
>modern languages head. I got my O-level despite him.
The thing I was taught from was the equivalent to the Dick and Dora
Books.
Much to my surprise(and that of my teacher) I got French O level a
year early and then advanced french O level the year later.
But can I converse in it? not a chance....read it,understand it yes
but speak it, forget it.
German was taught at my school in the third year but it was an option
that i chose not to take(much to my regret now) I was too busy
fighting to let girls take technical drawing instead of cooking(TD was
seen as a boys subject and Domestic Cooking as a girls)
I got really annoyed as boys were allowed to do the DC (we had a
couple from traditional bakers in the town) and us girls were
consigned to DC and no way were we going to be taught TD.
Most unfair,I suppose these days I could have gone to the EC to demand
it.
Cheers
Lizbuff
Heather Knowles
>that's nothing. for german, i had `deutsches leben' (erste, zweite
>und dritte teile) which was written by my _dad's_ german teacher (who
>was, i am assured, dessicated and aged in 1934).
We had 'Aufenthalt in Deutschland' (oh, the garbage I can dredge up in
what passes for my memory!! :) ), which was written in the 1930s,
although not printed in gothic script - and this was in 1973, so one
would have hoped the nuns would have bought new books by then!
We also had a German teacher from Bavaria who escaped from Germany as a
teenager and got very upset by some of the descriptions of the German
countryside.
Despite all this, I even got German 'A'-level!
--
luv Chuckler, the umra slapper
Keen member of HAHA
http://www.fanged.demon.co.uk
Robin Fairbairns
>Robin Fairbairns <r...@betsy.cl.cam.ac.uk> writes
>>that's nothing. for german, i had `deutsches leben' (erste, zweite
>>und dritte teile) which was written by my _dad's_ german teacher (who
>>was, i am assured, dessicated and aged in 1934).
>
>We had 'Aufenthalt in Deutschland' (oh, the garbage I can dredge up in
>what passes for my memory!! :) ), which was written in the 1930s,
>although not printed in gothic script - and this was in 1973, so one
>would have hoped the nuns would have bought new books by then!
hmm. my experience was in the late 50s, but the interesting point is
that my school couldn't possibly have bought the books at the time of
their publication, since it was only founded in the early 50s itself.
so they'd obviously bought a job lot of this bloody deutfches leben
from some other school that was going out of business...
>We also had a German teacher from Bavaria who escaped from Germany as a
>teenager and got very upset by some of the descriptions of the German
>countryside.
mine[*] had escaped from somewhere in austria, and never showed the
slightest sign of looking back. except that he died, of jaundice, in
a summer holiday spent back in austria.
[*] actually, i was started on german from these vile books by my
father, who spoke it well enough to work as a translator in pow camps
after the war. the said german teacher only got a look in when i'd
actually _got_ to the school and was out of the reach of my father's
tender ministrations.
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge
Siderius Nuncius
Robin Fairbairns wrote in message <7qul85$gmf$1...@pegasus.csx.cam.ac.uk>...
>Charles F Hankel <char...@cl.cam.ac.ukhankel.mersinet.co.uk> wrote:
>>We had to use "Le Français Vivant" because they were written by our
>>modern languages head. I got my O-level despite him.
>
>und dritte teile) which was written by my _dad's_ german teacher (who
>was, i am assured, dessicated and aged in 1934).
Ach, mein Gott, so did I. I think they'd at least abandoned the gothic font
by 1966, when I picked up the erste Teil, but it was a frightful book
nonetheless.
I changed schools at 14 when we moved from Swansea to Nottingham, and then
had Sprich Mal Deutsch!, which always looked to me as though it should mean
"Speak Bad German!" Much better text book, but not as much help as an
Austrian mother.
As for French, I trust that M. Whitmarsh is currently somewhere in one of
the lower circles of the City of Dis, le cochon.
Regards
Sid
(Shepherds Bush, West London)
Robin Somes
<bla...@airtime.co.uk> writes
>cha...@hankel.mersinet.co.uk (Charles F Hankel) wrote:
>
>
>
>>We had to use "Le Français Vivant" because they were written by our
>>modern languages head. I got my O-level despite him.
>
>Books.
>
Oh, not what I was expecting at all.
Ooops.
Got the 'o' and the 'r' the wrong way round in the 3rd word of the
Subject line.
Ah well, post it anyway.
robin
Dyslexia lures, KO
Penny Mayes
>>that's nothing. for german, i had `deutsches leben' (erste, zweite
>>und dritte teile) which was written by my _dad's_ german teacher
(who
>>was, i am assured, dessicated and aged in 1934).
>
>Ach, mein Gott, so did I. I think they'd at least abandoned the
gothic font
>by 1966, when I picked up the erste Teil, but it was a frightful book
>nonetheless.
I met it in 1964, complete with Gothic font but luckily my German
teacher abandoned it in favour something more recent (can't recall the
title but there was a 'heute' in there somewhere), the other German
set still had to suffer Deutsches Leben.
Then we moved and my new school was using DL :( I gave up German
shortly thereafter.
IIRC, the use of the gothic bits was quite reasonable even in the 60s
because those curious symbols for a double 's' and capital 'a' were
still in common usage in print coming out of Germany at the time.
Penny
HOW MEN ARE BETTER THAN DOGS #4
Men can be little bit more subtle.
umra Nicknames & Abbreviations http://www.bigwig.net/umra/nicks.html
Nick Atty
<siderius...@tesco.net> wrote:
>
>Robin Fairbairns wrote in message <7qul85$gmf$1...@pegasus.csx.cam.ac.uk>...
>>Charles F Hankel <char...@cl.cam.ac.ukhankel.mersinet.co.uk> wrote:
>>>We had to use "Le Français Vivant" because they were written by our
>>>modern languages head. I got my O-level despite him.
>>
>>that's nothing. for german, i had `deutsches leben' (erste, zweite
>>und dritte teile) which was written by my _dad's_ german teacher (who
>>was, i am assured, dessicated and aged in 1934).
>
>Ach, mein Gott, so did I. I think they'd at least abandoned the gothic font
>by 1966, when I picked up the erste Teil, but it was a frightful book
>nonetheless.
>
>I changed schools at 14 when we moved from Swansea to Nottingham, and then
>had Sprich Mal Deutsch!, which always looked to me as though it should mean
>"Speak Bad German!" Much better text book, but not as much help as an
>Austrian mother.
Ah yes, I remember it well. Herr Ehlers was always eating
Bratkartofflen (I've probably misspelled this, but I failed O level).
--
The shipping forecast is real, but The Archers live because people want them to - Tom Holt
kevin...@my-deja.com
ni...@nandj.freeserve.co.uk wrote:
> >Sprich Mal Deutsch!, which always looked to me as though it should
mean
> >"Speak Bad German!" Much better text book, but not as much help as an
> >Austrian mother.
>
> Ah yes, I remember it well. Herr Ehlers was always eating
> Bratkartofflen (I've probably misspelled this, but I failed O level).
At least a bit more active than Monsieur Dumesnil (in Mon Premier Livre
de Francais?): I can't remember him do anything more vigorous
than "fume sa pipe", the bastard, sitting there in his armchair while
Mme Dumesnil fait le menage. Les sprogues Dumesnil (whose first names I
have forgotten but let's call them Pierre and Jeannine) were equally
stereotyped: Pierre joue dans le jardin, Jeannine aide sa mere dans la
cuisine.
The best Latin homework we ever had to do was draw a picture showing
everything happening in exercise thing of Lesson whatever it was of
Book 1 (I never got to second-year Latin). For years that remained with
me as a scene of everything you would ever have seen on a typical day
in Classical times: the labourer ploughing the field, the lady (domina)
nominatively seeing the lord (dominum) accusitavely return to the
villa, the boys diving into the pool, the girls laying flowers (not to
mention the foundations of 2000 years of sexism) on the altar. The
really hard bit, though, was Caesar drawing up his cohorts on the
beach. I mean: what *does* a cohort actually look like? I'd never seen
one, let alone one being drawn up, so that part of the picture had to
be done as a really small-scale distant view.
Ah, well: Ars longa, vita brevis (she's got an enormous bum, that Vita
Brevis).
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
Robin Fairbairns
>Ah, well: Ars longa, vita brevis (she's got an enormous bum, that Vita
>Brevis).
that's awful unkind. she's just had a prolapse.
(i s'pose that's what _you_ get by only doing one year of latin: i
actually got the o-level.)
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge
Tony Walton
>
> In article <37d81a8c...@news.freeserve.net>,
> ni...@nandj.freeserve.co.uk wrote:
> > >Sprich Mal Deutsch!, which always looked to me as though it should
> mean
> > >"Speak Bad German!" Much better text book, but not as much help as
an
> > >Austrian mother.
> >
> > Ah yes, I remember it well. Herr Ehlers was always eating
> > Bratkartofflen (I've probably misspelled this, but I failed O
level).
Close enough (Bratkartoffeln). But you forgot the Spiegelei.
>
> At least a bit more active than Monsieur Dumesnil (in Mon Premier
Livre
> de Francais?): I can't remember him do anything more vigorous
> than "fume sa pipe", the bastard, sitting there in his armchair while
> Mme Dumesnil fait le menage. Les sprogues Dumesnil (whose first names
I
> have forgotten but let's call them Pierre and Jeannine) were equally
> stereotyped: Pierre joue dans le jardin, Jeannine aide sa mere dans la
> cuisine.
The Ehlers family certainly had their moments - who could forget them
going off on holiday to Spain? All waiting at the station. They're
boarding the train but find that Hans is missing. Where can he be?
Then he comes charging across the platform onto the train. "Where were
you"? "I was buying stamps for my postcards home". "Hans - what good
will German stamps be in Spain?" "Hans ist böse".
Miles better than those boring wossnames in "Le Français d'aujourd'hui".
The Bertillons, that was it. I bet they used to go on holiday with the
Dumesnils and discuss lawnmowers and the best route to avoid the
roadworks on the E45 past Clermont-Ferrand.
--
Tony
kevin...@my-deja.com
r...@cl.cam.ac.uk wrote:
> >Ah, well: Ars longa, vita brevis (she's got an enormous bum, that
Vita
> >Brevis).
>
> that's awful unkind. she's just had a prolapse.
Prolapse of stout party...
Kevin Flynn.
Stephen Bowden
> I mean: what *does* a cohort actually look like? I'd never seen
>one, let alone one being drawn up, so that part of the picture had to
>be done as a really small-scale distant view.
I believe that they gleam with scarlet and gold.
(32 cents)
--
Stephen Bowden
Rostrum Camera - Ken Morse
Nick Leverton
> kevin...@my-deja.com wrote:
>
> > I mean: what *does* a cohort actually look like? I'd never seen
> >one, let alone one being drawn up, so that part of the picture had to
> >be done as a really small-scale distant view.
>
> I believe that they gleam with scarlet and gold.
Purple and gold, no ?
N, expecting someone else to have beaten him to it whilst our news
service has YET A-BLOODY-GAIN been down.
Stephen Bowden
>Stephen Bowden wrote:
>> kevin...@my-deja.com wrote:
>>
>> > I mean: what *does* a cohort actually look like? I'd never seen
>> >one, let alone one being drawn up, so that part of the picture had to
>> >be done as a really small-scale distant view.
>>
>> I believe that they gleam with scarlet and gold.
>Purple and gold, no ?
Quite possibly. Do I get my 32 cents back?
Roll on next Friday when I finally get access to all the books and le
creuset that I shipped over here, and I can at last quote with
confidence and cook with cast iron. Or indeed both cook and quote
with cast iron confidence. Or confidently cast irony.
Kate Brown
kevin...@my-deja.com wrote
>
>Ah, well: Ars longa, vita brevis (she's got an enormous bum, that Vita
>Brevis).
or: Ars dimpla, briefs vital (the communal-changing-room lament)
--
Kate B
London
Chris McMillan
<URL:mailto:ma...@pTHEUSUALmail.net> wrote:
> Siderius Nuncius wrote in message <7qvrrb$n4t$2...@barcode.tesco.net>...
> I met it in 1964, complete with Gothic font but luckily my German
> teacher abandoned it in favour something more recent (can't recall the
> title but there was a 'heute' in there somewhere), the other German
> set still had to suffer Deutsches Leben.
>
For reasons I obviously don't know, we started on Latin and French as all
good grammar pupils did, but after 2 years, we suddenly switched to German,
and the Latin teacher left. (He'd also taught me French up to this point).
I can't for the life of me remember our German text book, though my various
other friends probably will - unless it was changed because those of us who
did the first GCE all failed, bar two swots (one of whom was a year younger
than I and was taking it a year early anyway).
>
> IIRC, the use of the gothic bits was quite reasonable even in the 60s
>because those curious symbols for a double 's' and capital 'a' were
I can't recall anything about a capital 'a', so that's obviously disappeared
in the last 25 years, but the double 's' has only just been dropped in the
latest round of changes. (somewhere I saw an article on these changes, but I
can't for the life of me think where: I haven't read a newspaper while I've
been away and I don't read them at home).
We were expected to work from the same text books as those used in
mainstream schools, so I do remember struggling with gothic script
(fortunately in those days I could read any type of printed text with little
difficulties, and with no specs). If one couldn't read print, one was sent
off to a school for the blind where languages weren't taught usually (except
probably at Chorleywood and Worcester College, the grammar schools for the
blind, but I didn't know anyone there at that time).
Alan Craig
>
> At least a bit more active than Monsieur Dumesnil (in Mon Premier Livre
> de Francais?): I can't remember him do anything more vigorous
> than "fume sa pipe", the bastard, sitting there in his armchair while
> Mme Dumesnil fait le menage. Les sprogues Dumesnil (whose first names I
> have forgotten but let's call them Pierre and Jeannine) were equally
> stereotyped: Pierre joue dans le jardin, Jeannine aide sa mere dans la
> cuisine.
>
Our daughter went to school in France for a year (the equivalent
of year 5, 8 years old). You'll be pleased to know that French
school books are _still_ like this.
--
Alan Craig Tel: +44 (0) 191 3742381
Department of Mathematical Sciences Fax: +44 (0) 191 3747388
University of Durham, DH1 3LE
England