The AH Coffee Shop and Reading Room 06

[Handley_Page]

Last year there was an uproar when the gravestone of Gibson's dog and squadron mascot at RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire was replaced with one with the name 'N*gger' replaced with a dog silhouette; for better or worse, the dog, owned by the man who earned the Victoria Cross for his leadership and bravery, is part of history, name and all; he was killed the night Guy Gibson and 617 Squadron were flying the Bouncing Bombs into the Mohne, Edersee and Sorpe dams in Germany's industrial Ruhr Valley.

Descendants and family of the pilots in that raid, Operation Chastise, and the subsequent disastrous raid on the Dortmund Ems canal were not consulted, it was apparently replaced because Draper's, the custodians, were afraid of giving offense by leaving the name in place; the only offense taken was by those who lost their family members in the two operations, for whom the grave was a unique and very human reminder and monument to the Lancaster aircrews who were lost in those operations.
.

I remember when the matter came up: There's quite a few Ex-RAF blokes about and, to a man, they were horrified at this travesty, especially on faceache.
.

 

[TxRad]

It's coming up on lunch time so get ready for it. Fresh coffee and cinnamon rolls.

I figure another hour or so and all three of us will be stretched out on the sundeck basking in the sun in all our glory.

Housemate needs a battery for her car. The winter attack sapped it badly. It's over ten years old so... Time to replace it. To change it out means taking the left front wheel off and taking out a panel before you can even see the battery. Good car but bad planning.

 

[yowser]

It's coming up on lunch time so get ready for it. Fresh coffee and cinnamon rolls.



Housemate needs a battery for her car. The winter attack sapped it badly. It's over ten years old so... Time to replace it. To change it out means taking the left front wheel off and taking out a panel before you can even see the battery. Good car but bad planning.

What manner of vehicle might this be? Sounds like something you might find in a 50s/60s roadster of some sort.

 

[oggbashan]

What manner of vehicle might this be? Sounds like something you might find in a 50s/60s roadster of some sort.

My V70 Volvo has the battery under the boot floor, but if the battery fails, you can't open the tailgate to get at it.

The Owner's handbook has a special section on how to attach booster cables under the bonnet. Only then can you open the tailgate and change the battery.

A 1940s Austin had the battery under the driver's seat, but if the seat sagged too much, the metal springs in the seat would short the battery and you would have a hot seat, if not your pants on fire...

 

[ChloeTzang]

Thinks... ‘I wonder how Chloe’s Biggles story is going...’

Oooohhhhh you reminded me. Eek. Gotta finish Biggles

 

[TxRad]

What manner of vehicle might this be? Sounds like something you might find in a 50s/60s roadster of some sort.

A 2 door 2004 Dodge Stratus. EFI V-6 with an automatic. 32mpg on the highway and runs like a scalded ape. I love it except for getting in and out. I feel like I sitting in a gocart.

Ogg, I moved the battery in my 1972 Challenger to the trunk. I didn't need another 50 pounds under the hood. The 440 with a blower and two 4 barrels was already too much weight.

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

Oooohhhhh you reminded me. Eek. Gotta finish Biggles

Have you ever watched any of 'The Comic Strip presents...' from the BBC? It's basically a bunch of adult comedy performers destroying all those 'let's have an adventure with lashings of ginger-beer!' Enid Blyton stories; stories like '5 go Mad In Dorset', 'Red Nose of Courage', 'Roll-out The Gunbarrel', 'Five Go Mad on Mescalin' are the standouts for me.

Then there's the Python team and their 'Ripping Yarns' stories decimating all those classic old British stiff-upper lip 'come on chaps, we can do this' stories, like 'Tonkinson's Schooldays', which just shreds the 'Tom Brown's schooldays' classic (the part about boys being punished by having to wrestle the school grizzly had me on the floor), 'The Curse of The Claw', 'Roger of The Raj', and 'Across The Andes By Frog', and my personal favorite, 'Escape From Stalag Luft 112B' which just destroys every single German PoW war film Will has ever seen. If you like Monty Python (and I do) you'll love 'Ripping Yarns.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Yep. Along with my 50yo copy of "To think I saw it on Mulberry St" and "Biggles in Africa"...

Somewhere around I have Patrick Cook's illustrated version of "Biggles in Australia". It, uh, hasn't aged well.

I come from a place where the 'N' word is a racial slur and still carries those 'cotton-fields/Jim Crow' connotations, and it's not one I'm comfortable seeing in print or used in an offhand or condescending, paternalistic way in a children's storybook, or Gollywogs, which are nothing but blackface caricatures of 'Camptown Races' minstrels that until quite recently decorated the labels of Robinsons, a national-brand jam and marmalade maker.

Especially in the backwoods, a lot of places here still have golliwogs, and a lot of folk still haven't got the memo about blackface. A few years back Harry Connick Jr. was visiting Australia and was a guest judge on a talent show where a group of doctors did a blackface act. He had some things to say about it.

Biggles? Oh very Yes!
Bigglesworth always managed to travel to remarkable locations (the Gobi ?)
Algy & Ginger on hand to support him, too.

And Bertie. Don't forget Bertie.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

A 1940s Austin had the battery under the driver's seat, but if the seat sagged too much, the metal springs in the seat would short the battery and you would have a hot seat, if not your pants on fire...

So did the VW Beetle, but under the rear seat.

And I had a ‘hot seat’. No fun whatever.

 

[Handley_Page]

The BL Mini had a battery in the boot; and not very secure at that . . . . .

Time, I think, for a brew

 

[Haulover]

Yep. Along with my 50yo copy of "To think I saw it on Mulberry St" and "Biggles in Africa"...

Yep - after I graduated from Enid Blyton, I think I read every Biggles book!

 

[Rustyoznail]

Yep - after I graduated from Enid Blyton, I think I read every Biggles book!

I've got nearly every one of them. A fair few are very early editions. Because of him, I was dead keen on joining the RAAF, but I knew I couldn't be a pilot because of my eyesight. Biggles made that clear.

I turned up to our school's careers night and only wanted to talk to the RAAF. The Flight Lieutenant leaned over the table, tapped me on the glasses and said "We won't accept you with those. Go and talk to the Army or Navy. They're not so particular."

Pretty crushing for a 15yo. I just asked mum to take me home.

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

I've got nearly every one of them. A fair few are very early editions. Because of him, I was dead keen on joining the RAAF, but I knew I couldn't be a pilot because of my eyesight. Biggles made that clear.

I turned up to our school's careers night and only wanted to talk to the RAAF. The Flight Lieutenant leaned over the table, tapped me on the glasses and said "We won't accept you with those. Go and talk to the Army or Navy. They're not so particular."

Pretty crushing for a 15yo. I just asked mum to take me home.

Hubby has a whole shelf of Biggles books, 20 or more, inherited from his older brother, so mostly 1950's editions. I think he read each one once and never again, he just kept them around because they were his brother's rather than because he was super into them. As a boy, I think he was more into the 'Jennings' books, I think he identified more with the scruffy, naughty schoolboy than the super-poised Sopwith Camel/Spitfire/Jet fighter/helicopter pilot Biggles character. Will gave me this, you might like it:

ROYAL AIR FORCE OATH OF ENLISTMENT

I, Crabby, swear to sign away four years of my useless life to the Royal Air Force because I know I couldn't hack it in the Army and because the Marines frighten me. I swear to sit behind a desk and take credit for the work done by others more dedicated than me who take their job seriously. I also swear not to do any form of real exercise, but promise to defend our bleep test as a valid form of exercise.

I swear to uphold and defend the Crown, even though I believe myself to be above that. I promise to walk around calling everyone by their first name because I know I'm not really in the military and I find it amusing to annoy the other services. I will have a better quality of life than all those around me and will at all times be sure to make them aware of that fact.

After completion of my (hehe) "basic training," I will be a lean, mean, doughnut-eating, lazy-boy sitting, civilian-wearing-blue-clothes, Sick Bay Ranger. I will believe that I am superior to all others, and will make an effort to clean the knife before stabbing the next person in the back with it. I will do no work unless someone is watching me (and it makes me look good), will annoy those around me, and will go home early everyday.

I consent to never getting promoted -- EVER -- and understand that all those whom I made fun of yesterday probably will outrank me tomorrow.

So help me God.

Signature: ___________________ Date: _________________

 

[Rustyoznail]

ROYAL AIR FORCE OATH OF ENLISTMENT

I, Crabby, swear to sign away four years of my useless life to the Royal Air Force because I know I couldn't hack it in the Army and because the Marines frighten me. I swear to sit behind a desk and take credit for the work done by others more dedicated than me who take their job seriously. I also swear not to do any form of real exercise, but promise to defend our bleep test as a valid form of exercise.

I swear to uphold and defend the Crown, even though I believe myself to be above that. I promise to walk around calling everyone by their first name because I know I'm not really in the military and I find it amusing to annoy the other services. I will have a better quality of life than all those around me and will at all times be sure to make them aware of that fact.

After completion of my (hehe) "basic training," I will be a lean, mean, doughnut-eating, lazy-boy sitting, civilian-wearing-blue-clothes, Sick Bay Ranger. I will believe that I am superior to all others, and will make an effort to clean the knife before stabbing the next person in the back with it. I will do no work unless someone is watching me (and it makes me look good), will annoy those around me, and will go home early everyday.

I consent to never getting promoted -- EVER -- and understand that all those whom I made fun of yesterday probably will outrank me tomorrow.

So help me God.

Signature: ___________________ Date: _________________

Oh, you have no idea how relevant this is. Thanks.

 

[TxRad]

The evening coffee is ready for consumption so have at it.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Oh, you have no idea how relevant this is. Thanks.

Indeed.

The Almighty, it is said, created the Air Force to give the Army and the Navy something to agree on. ;-)

 

[TxRad]

Air Force? I always thought it was the Air Farce.

 

[NotWise]

Air Force? I always thought it was the Air Farce.

Air Force? Chair Force.

 

[SisterJezabel]

I got my first jab this morning! So far I don't have any better reception or run any faster, but am filled with nano-tech so who knows ;-)

 

[Javahead]

I got my first jab this morning! So far I don't have any better reception or run any faster, but am filled with nano-tech so who knows ;-)

Just don’t use your newfound powers to become a super villainess.

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

I got my first jab this morning! So far I don't have any better reception or run any faster, but am filled with nano-tech so who knows ;-)

Now that you can leap a tall Martini in a single bound, outrun a speeding hangover, or have the strength to pass on that third Daiquiri, you must come to the realization that with great power comes great responsibility; the ability to say 'wth, it's Happy Hour, gimme another nine of these!' is just one facet of your new powers, learn and use them wisely! Welcome to your new world of tea and alcohol, and remember, there's always a pub if you look in the right place!

 

[sirhugs]

I got my first jab this morning! So far I don't have any better reception or run any faster, but am filled with nano-tech so who knows ;-)

The Shadow knows....

(showing my age.... just old enough to recall reruns of he TV version of the series):

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of mem? [pause for dramatic theme music] ... the Shadow knows")

 

[Rustyoznail]

Now that you can leap a tall Martini in a single bound, outrun a speeding hangover, or have the strength to pass on that third Daiquiri, you must come to the realization that with great power comes great responsibility; the ability to say 'wth, it's Happy Hour, gimme another nine of these!' is just one facet of your new powers, learn and use them wisely! Welcome to your new world of tea and alcohol, and remember, there's always a pub if you look in the right place!

SJ is in Australia. There are pubs everywhere. You don’t need to look too hard.

 

[Cindy027]

SJ is in Australia. There are pubs everywhere. You don’t need to look too hard.

Acronyms do my nut in what is SJ please.

 

[TxRad]

Acronyms do my nut in what is SJ please.

SisterJezabel.

Now on to the morning coffee. It is as ready as it gets. Have fun.

I get my second jab next Toesday. I wonder what super powers comes with that. A little more freedom or so the experts say.