test please delete

[El_Diablo]

It's good night from me

TPD night shift it's over to you....

[EqualOpportunities]

It's good night from me

TPD night shift it's over to you....

All present and correct

[voodooflux]

That's enough for me - night folks

[NickFitz]

Now it's getting weird... and not in a good way

Returning home, there are still two coppers in the hall. By now they've set up a convector heater there, although I have to give them credit for not actually pitching tents.

I commented that I'd been intending to offer them the loan of my fan heater, but apparently this is not required.

I then offered them a brew, but they explained that they have flasks - as they pointed at their flasks, they were smiling at me with a "You're very nice to offer these things, but we don't need you and you're pissed, so fsck off" expression

Fair enough...

At this point a sergeant (a very attractive blonde female sergeant, as it goes - the brunette female constable is very attractive too) turned up and smiled most prettily at me as she saw her subordinates telling me to get stuffed in the nicest possible way.

Anyway the endgame was that I was thanked, and packed off back up the stairs to the place that I call home.

You'd think that at least one of them could have... no that's wrong, and a totally incorrect understanding of the term "public servant"

However... (dunh-dunh-dunnnnnh...)

I now have at least two uniformed (and uninformative) police officers blocking the approach to my flat. This means that I am protected to almost the same level as a member of the Royal Family!

Ho hum...

[NickFitz]

The thing that gets me is that no matter how dull and boring I strive to be in life, weird shit always happens where I am

I felt quite comfortable here - it's taken over three years for stuff that I have no control over to come out of the blue and trample all over my comfort zone.

Ah well... "Wotevah..."

Maybe life will get back to normal by next Tuesday. But FWIW, I get really annoyed when the coppers say "Sorry, I can't tell you"

I pay rent for that hall they're sitting in, but apparently their presence is none of my business.

FFS, I'm paying taxes for them to sit there. The least they could do is to accept a cup of tea (or coffee if they prefer).

Aaagh... wotevah

[EqualOpportunities]

The thing that gets me is that no matter how dull and boring I strive to be in life, weird shit always happens where I am

I felt quite comfortable here - it's taken over three years for stuff that I have no control over to come out of the blue and trample all over my comfort zone.

Ah well... "Wotevah..."

Maybe life will get back to normal by next Tuesday. But FWIW, I get really annoyed when the coppers say "Sorry, I can't tell you"

I pay rent for that hall they're sitting in, but apparently their presence is none of my business.

FFS, I'm paying taxes for them to sit there. The least they could do is to accept a cup of tea (or coffee if they prefer).

Aaagh... wotevah

Do you think it's time for another move Nick?

[NickFitz]

Hmm... when I went for a slash just now, I heard the cute female uniformed officer coughing and saying something about the cold.

I bet she's wishing they had my fan heater down there now.

I recognised the model of crappy convector heater they had - I had the same one provided in a rented room a few years ago. It was so utterly useless at supplying warmth that I went out and bought the fan heater that I offered the coppers the loan of

Still, if they won't allow themselves to be helped... it's not as if I'm using it... but maybe admitting that "We're freezing our tits off down here" might be tantamount to interfering with a witness for all I know

I used to like the Northern Line, BTW. I know nobody's brought it up, but I like it, and I miss it. It's a good line - vastly superior to such lines as the Metropolitan and the Piccadilly. I think this is mainly due to the introduction of the 1995 rolling stock.

(Worthy of note is that the footplates at the entrances to the carriages of the 1995 stock carry the date 1996 - this is to distinguish it from the 1996 stock deployed on the Jubilee Line in 1997. No, none of it makes any sense, but it's all true )

[NickFitz]

Do you think it's time for another move Nick?

Nope - I'll move when I'm good and ready. These things happen wherever you are.

I remember when that GoodYear airship (the Europa) broke away from its mooring at Cardington, drifted across to a nearby village, punctured itself on somebody's chimney and finally deflated across the road and several houses.

People didn't say "OMFG there's dead airships all over the place, I'm moving!"

Instead, they stayed in their homes hoping that somebody would move that deflated balloon away from their doors and windows so they could get out and buy a pint of milk.

Since then, not a single airship has accidentally deflated in the vicinity of their homes.

I think there's a message for us all there

[EqualOpportunities]

Nope - I'll move when I'm good and ready. These things happen wherever you are.

I remember when that GoodYear airship (the Europa) broke away from its mooring at Cardington, drifted across to a nearby village, punctured itself on somebody's chimney and finally deflated across the road and several houses.

People didn't say "OMFG there's dead airships all over the place, I'm moving!"

Instead, they stayed in their homes hoping that somebody would move that deflated balloon away from their doors and windows so they could get out and buy a pint of milk.

Since then, not a single airship has accidentally deflated in the vicinity of their homes.

I think there's a message for us all there

I'm sure there is - and I'm sure it's about airships.

You have, however, had what is approaching a perpetual Police presence in your hall for about a week now though

[NickFitz]

I'm sure there is - and I'm sure it's about airships.

You have, however, had what is approaching a perpetual Police presence in your hall for about a week now though

The airship is both a metaphor and a reality. Well, that one was. Incidentally, the mooring mast from which it broke away (due to a faulty weld) had originally been constructed for the R101

I created a Google Map using the "My Maps" thingy to show the Europa's adventures that morning - but it's completely impossible to actually get a URL for it. The user interface Google have put on there is so shamefully bad that it felt like using a Microsoft product, but worse

Anyway, last week the Police were dealing with that business down the road.

After the business on Wednesday night, they only popped in occasionally.

It's only today that they seem to have taken up residence. So, not that bad after all... in a way

I'd been thinking for ages of creating something useful that seemed to have been supplanted by Google's "My Maps" facility - now that I've discovered how shamefully poor said facility is, I might get back to my original idea.

Once it's working, the first post will track the aimless meanderings of the good airship Europa that day