Broithe

I twigged early on that we might be barking up the wrong tree.

This is alleged to be the only close-up photo of a Concorde flying supersonic. It was taken in 1985, from a Tornado, over the Irish Sea (it says, but probably a bit further south, I suspect). It was slowed up a bit, to around Mach 1.5/6 for the event. A Lightning was a fairly rough device. Not the most reliable aircraft ever built. As with many things, it was notable that they never really sold any. The Saudis had some, but you sort of have to pay them to 'buy' anything....

Lots of Lightnings - including one on a stick at the gate - and the front of one used for a flight simulator. Plus loads of other stuff, Vulcans, Canberras, Meteors, Argosies, Belfasts, etc - and loads of stuff passing through. The link I posted works, but the link on there to further pictures gets a 404 for me. About forty married quarters were rendered uninhabitable, plus loads of other damage- it looked like someone had run a Hoover over a life-sized model layout...

I often casually mention that we had a tornado at Akrotiri in 1969. People, of course, dispute this, not spotting that I have said it with a lower case t, rather than a capital T. https://www.limassolchamber.eu/En/26/articles/238/2016/10/07/Massive-disaster-in-Limassol-in-1969 There was a page with further pictures on there, but the link seems dead. The event was very violent, but with no fatalities on the base itself. There had been a tremendous hailstorm just before it came on land, so few people were outside when stuff started flying around and falling back down. Quite a few houses were demolished and we had a family billeted with us for a few weeks, whilst things were patched up.

People should pay heed to the good words. Their whole afterlife is at steak.

I understand that it was a good, down-to-earth sermon, with no bull.

Mmm, she might have to live south of the border, but it should be Portlaoise or Ballybrophy for her, I think.

Anyone who has paid proper attention to the shipping forecast would know that a wind can only veer in one direction, to the right. Turning to the left is backing. https://jollyparrot.co.uk/blog/the-difference-between-a-backing-and-veering-wind-489

Tralee Cummins. It could be changed every year...

If it was still open, Abbeyleix Day-Lewis. Roscrea Tsikhanouskaya.

Sorry for the late reply... We went to Emo yesterday and, chatting to the Information Officer, this photo was mentioned. She was unaware of it and I said I would source it for her. I found it in the book here, but it doesn't seem to exist publicly online anywhere. In Father Browne's Laois - on page 105.

Killarney Fassbender.

The chap across the road is from Kerry and he struggled with it. I love the fact that that was a genuine evening news item and it might as well have been in Klingon... Some my remember the old Pirelli tyre adverts. They were much easier to follow.

To be fair, it can be a bit of a challenge...

Galmoy Mine, in the north of Co Kilkenny, is in the process of reopening. I have heard talk of the fairly 'strong' ore from there being mixed with other ore from elsewhere, to achieve a more saleable product. I have an inside woman in there, I do know that she has been up to Navan recently. I might slightly interrogate her, if it doesn't rain tomorrow evening. Having escaped from 'industry' a while back, I don't generally get too involved with what she is doing there. One amusing thing, which happened recently, was that, being German and with a strong history in shipbuilding, she was surprised to come across a term in the waste water treatment plant which she didn't recognise. Goul Pump. Wanting to know what sort of specialist pump this might be, she made some enquiries, but Google was completely unhelpful, and it took her a fortnight to find out, without asking any of the generally older males in the organisation. There is a company in England called Gould Pumps, but their stuff is fairly ordinary and it is spelled 'Goul' in many places in the paperwork, so it was not that. It turns out that this may be the only Goul Pump on the planet. Eventually, she did find out what it meant and felt safe asking me on one of our hiking expeditions. "Do you know what a Goul pump is?" "Not really, but that'll just be the pump that sends the waste water into the River Goul, I presume". If I'd been listening carefully, I might have learned the German word for "Bollocks!".

HSTs are having some issues in Mexico. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0veas8J9ygJy11zXkYJX1aNb8u6jjMWqWxwTV8W2aLqhx7echzKGWM6f9ykU7gDb3l&id=61551481905785

Landslide in Norway cuts motorway and the adjacent railway. A long way round for the bus replacement service for a while yet...

And the chassis were black.

A crematorium that I have frequently attended in England has a sign on the last side-door, just before you enter the 'main arena' - it proclaims the availability of a defibrillator. To be fair, my informant there tells me that it has been used twice - but on audience members, rather than the main act. It also has smoke detectors in the apex of the roof.

Disappointed. In these modern times, it should surely be DCC Rail Freight..?

I have a set of the 1910 revision of the 1" maps, covering the whole of Laois/Queen's County and extending into the necessary parts of the adjoining counties. It shows the coalfield railways and I will (one day) create an overlay above the current Google Maps output. There is always a risk with maps of that era that they can show things that were intended, but may have been different in reality, or even never have happened at all. I have an old UK OS map showing the railway that ran behind my house in England, until 1976 - it shows it crossing the road via a level crossing, which it never did, it ran parallel to the road all the way, never crossing it. Presumably the intended route was supplied and the maps were printed before the revised route could be amended.

Today, that may have mutated into 'Carry a soft stick and speak bigly'...

I learned a long time ago that, unless there is a very clear reason to believe otherwise, then, when dealing with media people, journalists, presenters, etc., the end result will usually have little of reality involved in it. They generally only care about the 'look' and filling the time/space that they need to, in a way that will entertain people with little real interest in the subject anyway. That basic rule is even stronger today than it ever was. It's a bit like discussing conspiracy theories, etc - just not worth the bother most of the time.

A-hem. Things are not always what they seam. Let's get back on thread here now...