Broithe

True, but tests were carried out, successfully, to get one onto and back off an aircraft carrier - done without arrester gear or the catapult to assist.

Yeah, but that was more of a nickname for what was officially a Hercules. (Another category was general mythology)...

Or a Whirlwind. In a very slightly related subject, I once made a list of categories that aircraft were named after. Most had several entries - weather events, predatory animals, birds, prey animals, places, battles, famous people, general descriptions of attitude, insects, even (very oddly) fish, etc. But, I could only come up with a single plant-based name - the Bristol Sycamore. And, I often wondered if the RAF still had spares lying around for the original Westland Whirlwind when the very different later one turned up..?

I was doing a job for a wildlife trust in one of their nature reserves, not too far from both Shawbury and Tern Hill, in the 90s. The employee I was with had been expressing his concern about excluding non-native species from the habitat when he heard a sound in the distance, somewhat muffled by the dense foliage of the trees around us. "What's that sound?" "It's a Gazelle", I answered. This panicked him into searching around to find the interloper - there were Muntjacs about, but a gazelle would be just too much... Eventually, he recognised the sound as 'a helicopter', which was a sufficient generic term for someone with his interests. At least it wasn't a Lynx or a Puma, or he might have run off and abandoned me...

Perfection is difficult to achieve, but you have done it before, and will do so again, I'm sure.

The Guards here took to Facebook last week, warning people about leaving keys available. I was going to post this picture and say that I have never been so tempted to nick a car in my whole life - and what would they have chased after me with..?

Perhaps these houses have had the flue vaccination?

It would usually be 00 353 1 671 5809, from a UK phone.

Mmm, not as successful as it could have been for the return run...

For logistical reasons, I was in the bog, just before it crossed into Tipperary, but I did catch it, to some extent. I will make a better(?) effort on the way back up later.

The patron saint of Irish Railway Modelling.

The Russians already have a not-very-secret forward base in Laois. https://mapcarta.com/18950734

Or get the Chinese in and annoy the British, Russians and Americans in one simple manouevre?

Some might remember this trial run along the west coast a few years ago. That will have been a sharp landing where wearing seat belts would have been essential.

If aircraft carriers are to be bought, someone needs to carefully check that the toilets work...

Out with the dog just now, I was not sufficiently alert to spot that the sound that this was making was a train - so I only just caught it. Trundling along slowly and 'topped and tailed', it just wasn't the 'usual noise'. Heading south, in quite a sedate manner.

There's big money in childcare these days, he might as well keep the locos - and get some more.

Excellent news. I'll have the middle two weeks in July.

A sad loss. But, a wonderful legacy. Few people will have so many monuments in such scattered locations.

Pulled by the cops on the M6 (on the Big Island). Glenfield, a crane tank, with the crane bits removed. Two worn tires on the trailer and not being moved inline with the paperwork.

We had an obnoxious teacher who had a white Mini, with that white paint that quickly established a matt finish. One of the lads was convinced that it would be possible to lift it, with enough of us around it, and move it from 'his personal spot' in the school car park. This proved to be true, and we shifted it quite a way to the other side of the car park. Then, someone suggested that some water-based poster paint would be a good way to even further disguise it - so, it was quickly painted a nice red colour. At the time, I had a job after school, setting out stuff for the science classes for the next day. This meant that I was leaving and walking across the car park, just as he was discussing his stolen car with the two coppers that had turned up. He was standing with his back to the car, as he was looking at the vacant space where it had been, but the copper taking notes was facing in the opposite direction. He had just written down the registration number when he looked up and said, as I was 'innocently' walking past, "Would that be your car over there, Sir?" Between holding my breath and clenching my teeth, it's a wonder I didn't do lasting damage as I tried to vacate the scene without giving myself away...

Years ago, I had a pickup with a fibreglass top over the rear bed - very handy, but it made reversing on a turn very awkward. It was necessary to reverse into my drive, so I could emerge into the main road with much better visibility when driving back out. At the time, a girl two doors away had a boyfriend with a red Cortina, he always parked in the same place in the road and, if I pulled up right behind him, then a full left-lock would get me reliably into the entrance of my drive. This was very handy and I came to rely on it over the months that the romance lasted. Until one night when I pulled up, reversed in and got out of the driver's door - only to find myself ensnared in a very vicious rose bush that I haven't got. Extricating myself from the rose bush, I could see that I was actually in the front garden of a house about a hundred yards from mine. The car that I had pulled up behind was at least red, but it was an Alfa Romeo. I paid a bit more attention to fully establishing landmarks for a while after that...

I used to park my Honda in the same place on a Saturday, on my weekly venture into town, back in the 70s, when we still did stuff like that. There was a handy gap in the wall that created a useful short-cut from 'my spot'. The 400/4 was not a hugely secure vehicle and I arrived back there one day to find that it was absent. I was annoyed, but not greatly surprised, there had been at least two attempts at stealing it before. At that time, the town's cop shop was only about 200 yards away and was still open most of the time, so I went off to report the event. There were a few people in front of me at the desk - this turned out to be useful, as it meant that, by the time I was standing in front of the sergeant at the counter, I was able to say "Ah, I remember where it is now!", and leave him to deal with other more serious matters. I had arrived to find that there was no space for me that morning and had parked it about a quarter of a mile away, on the site of the demolished fire station... At the factory where I worked, we had a manager who was a constant source of amusement - every few days, he would perform some bizarre, but interesting, 'theatre'. One day, it was lashing down when lunch hour arrived, so he drove to the canteen in his company car. At the end of the day, when he went to go home, the car was nowhere to be seen - so, he called the police, who eventually arrived and questioned him about the event. "When did you last see your car, Sir?" "I drove to the canteen at lunch time." "Mmm, and did you drive it back here, Sir?" At this point, Malcolm realised that it had stopped raining as he ate his dinner and he had walked back to the office in the nice, warm sunshine...

And the process in between...

Enniscorthy. During the flood event - and after a good clean-up.