Old Weather Forum

That's the kind of ship's bell action that sounds most acceptable

New blog - https://oldweather.wordpress.com/2021/0 ... city-1941/

An Antarctic story which includes dodging penguins (for Joan).
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-21/ ... 100396612?

It is an Australian follow on from the Icebreaker story in the other Chat forum re the US polar icebreaker not being able to get to the Antarctic.
I looked at my Unread posts and found the US story, looked at my PC emails and found the Australian story now I cannot find the link to the US story to quote here.

One for Kevin (if he has not already heard about it).
"Scientists say rain falling on Greenland's highest point for the first time on record is another worrying sign of warming for the ice sheet, which is melting at an increasing rate."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-21/ ... 100396274?

On our way back from visiting grandchildren in California, I heard this tale while sitting in the San Francisco Airport at 10:30 a.m. The person was talking to a friend in northern B. C. hoping for a ride when they reached their destination at 10:30 p.m. I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but they repeated something several times and as they were only about three seats or eight feet away, I couldn't help it.

At some point, somewhere, they got a negative Covid test and went to the check in at some airport. I suspect, by later events, this was not in San Francisco. They were told they had the wrong type of Covid test, and they were booked on a flight at 9 a.m. the next day. Entry to Canada requires a PCR test, but the U.S. is OK with a rapid antigen test. (Considerably cheaper.) They left the airport, and discovered that they couldn't get a rapid PCR test until 9 a.m. the next day. Most places require one to two days between your test and your results. A rapid PCR test is even more expensive and few places offer them.

So, they called the airline and said they couldn't make the 9 a.m. flight because they couldn't get a rapid PCR test until then. The airline said, "Too bad. You missed one flight and turned down a second. Nothing more we can do."

So, they called "Fred", who was obviously well known to both the caller and the callee. Fred said, "I'll fix it."

So, they got a PCR test and the next day (perhaps ???) caught a taxi to the airport. On the way to the airport, the taxi was in an accident. They called 911, but I didn't hear why, because of airport announcements. Eventually the police let them go from the scene and they caught another taxi. Sadly, because of the time lost due to the accident and the police, they got to the airport too late to make the flight. They called the airline, and explained what happened. "You missed one flight, turned down another and missed this one. Too bad, nothing we can do."

So, they called Fred again. He got them another flight, but it was leaving at a different airport! So, they got a taxi at their airport and got tothe other airport. On the way, they realised that, because of all the confusion with the crash,t they left their computer in the first taxi. They called the taxi company who said they would get it to them. They were also offered a free whale waching trip, but they declined, saying that with their luck the boat would sink.

Anyway, they were now in San Francisco, and they told their friend that they were not leaving the airport until they got on their plane. And they were going to sit at the airport in Vancouver for the entire eight hours until they got their flight home.

We had one piece of luggage arrive in Vancouver, but it never made it here. Against that tale of woes, I can't complain.

Never mind Michael, give Fred a call.

I remember a song, possibly Flanders & Swan, with the refrain 'Right said Fred ,,,,'. When it was quite popular my Dad, a Fred, used to get teased by the family and some of his friends. Obviously this Fred had got hold of a copy and took it to heart.

You didn't, by chance, get this "Fred's" phone number, did you???

No, sorry...

Well maybe you could use one of those Flaming Ridicules Electronic Device's and ask the operator for it.

Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards Finalists announced

Whatever you do, don't eat or drink anything while viewing this, for your computer's sake

Great!

Excellent - as good as last year's.
Glad to see the penguins putting in a good show

AvastMH wrote: ↑Fri Sep 03, 2021 10:53 pm Glad to see the penguins putting in a good show

Yes, penguins do seem to appear a lot in this contest - along with monkeys and bears.

I recently traveled to Northern California through the Jackson Demonstration State Forest and came upon a "Steam Donkey." Thanks to friends from Shipopoly, I knew just what is was for and some of its likely quirks and character. A logger's version of a Donkey Boiler- the plaque on the site even made reference to sailors' names for steam equipment. While they do log in the forest, logging is managed and replanted. There were displays showing trees taken out by helicopter.