A few things

Firstly, go and play Puzzgrid. It’s like the wall on Only Connect, but online.

And if you want a 4-star difficulty challenge to begin with, try this one that I made earlier. I’m planning on making a few more (mainly they’re stored in my head at the moment, and quite honestly, I need the space.)

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Next up, remember this quote?

Well, my rule of thumb is going to be a bit broken if this happens

Wait… Watt*?!?
But that would mean 32 hours… and there are only 24…

Wow. Who would have thought that the straw that finally broke the network’s back was simply running out of enough hours to shed in a day?

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Then: Was Eyjafjallajökull the final volcano?

Year 9 iGCSE Geography dictates that one must do a class presentation on a volcanic event. And additionally, that one must build a model of said volcano to demonstrate your knowledge thereof.
I helped transport a model of Eyjafjallajökull (remember him?) into the school today, and was asked by the principal, who we saw along the way, if this was the final volcano project for our family.

I hadn’t really thought about it. But just maybe it was.

Volcano models are a rite of passage throughout your school years. You can learn more, and more, and more about them, depending on how far you want to go. You can do loads of geography, sociology, history, English, art and science about them. And yes, you can build models, from the super simple, through the vinegar and bicarb stage, and onto geographically and morphologically accurate representations, including glaciers, treelines, and – somewhat inexplicably in this case – a café.

And we’ve done them all. Twice over.

In total, our kids have over 24 years at that school.
And yes, this might well have been our family’s final volcano project. That’s actually rather sad.

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Also: Qatar Airways unilaterally cancelled several of our flights this morning without any explanation. And then emailed me and asked me to “Acknowledge the changes” or “Request a refund”. I think I’m going to have to click both buttons there, aren’t I? I don’t think it’s quite enough for me to choose between the two, given how much COLD HARD CASH has gone into buying the tickets, and the CONTINUING NEED to be in certain places at certain times – with accommodation and car hire and connecting flights already booked. Because of many reasons (but mainly because of emigrating nearly 20 years ago), I have done a lot of international flying. This is the first time that I have used Qatar Airways. And this really is the first problem I’ve ever had.

Sadly, we’re kind of tied in with them now, so we need to rearrange another lot of flights with them, and hope that these ones actually exist when we try to fly on them.

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And finally – in the style of Trevor MacDonald – this:

I mean, if even he is saying it, then it must be true, right?
Full marks for whoever cropped this meme (it wasn’t me) so that we were spared a sight of the offensive (and sinful) footwear.

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* so many apologies for this

This was England (and the IOM)

A lovely little collection of images in The Guardian late last week, promoting an exhibition which includes the work of documentary photographer Chris Killip.

This one is a fog-(on the Tyne)-gy Wallsend, dated on the site as being taken in 1976. But the Tyne Pride – one of the huge ships being built at the Swan Hunter shipyard which was the be-all and end-all for all the families living in that area at that time – was actually launched in late 1975, so I think that might be incorrect. They built BIG SHIPS there back then. Here’s a better view of just how big:

Mark I Raleigh Chopper FTW!

I know Chris Killip’s work from his time on the Isle of Man, mostly documenting Manx farming life in the early 1970s. Not a lot had changed in the previous 100-odd years for many of those communities at that time, and not a lot changed in the 15 or 20 years after that either, so I recognise quite a few of the places and scenes (and maybe even one or two of the people?) from my time over there as a kid.

There are plenty of those images on the Manx Museum ‘iMuseum’ site here.

Words

These ones from the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Queen’s Funeral earlier today:

People of loving service are rare in any walk of life. Leaders of loving service are still rarer. 
But in all cases those who serve will be loved and remembered when those who cling to power and privileges are long forgotten.

Indeed.

It was a wonderful sermon.
I just wonder if anyone to whom his words were directed, was listening.

Ducks at Skiathos Airport

Not the bird type of duck. That might possibly be dangerous:

But then this could have been quite nasty as well.

Skiathos is one of those places where the end of the runway is pretty much the start of a beach, and onlookers do gather to watch the shallow landings there. You might remember the infamous Maho Beach on St Maarten and the KLM 747s coming in to land there (webcam here, although the 747s don’t do that route anymore). But if anything, the south end of Skiathos Airport runway is even closer to the beach than even that:

Yes, that’s the Aegean Sea on the left and the runway on the right. We’re probably looking at about 30m between the edge of the apron and the edge of the water. I would measure the exact distance for you, but Google Earth has blurred the whole airport complex out in case the terrorists can’t work out how to use its sister app, Google Maps. Or… just go there.

Nothing to see here.

Bizarre.

Anyway, all of this preamble is because a Wizzair A321 Neo almost killed some onlookers by coming in PROPERLY LOW this week:

And that’s where the ducking comes in. The video is well worth a watch (plane lands at about 1 minute if you’re really pushed for time) and it also includes footage of the “famous” famous Air Italy 737-800 approach of 2013. But this one is definitely lower.

I don’t think anyone would have got hit if they hadn’t ducked (although Robert Wadlow would have got a new parting), but if you slow the video down to 0.25x speed and hit pause at the right place, you can see that the wheels are literally only 5m off the ground as they (just) pass over the guys standing at the Armco. (reference: A321 Neo wheel fully inflated is 1.2m diameter)

That’s a bit too close for comfort.

Quack.

Mass Karaoke

Busy day today. The electricians and the gardener actually turned up (long story), so I’m making many things happen with their assistance. And my bum hurts. Not my legs, not anything else. Just my bum.
Still on a high from last night though.

OK, so if you didn’t click through, that looks really dodgy. But I played football for the first time in over a year and it was great. Glutes, though. Eina.

Anyway, as I said, busy day, so here’s The Pub Choir from Australia singing Kate Bush.

What happens when 1600 strangers have a few drinks, then learn to sing Running Up That Hill in 3 part harmony?

This happens:

Just really nice, the sort of nice that only comes when people are just having a really good time. Sure yes, I know that this is one of those songs that’s come to the fore again because of Stranger Things. And here’s another one of them, but this time with full attribution:

Eddie Munson 4 Ever.