Thread 13 - TalkLair: “I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.”

[Kucinghitam]

(Previous thread 12).

Looks like spring has sprung! Tulips, apple blossom and early hay fever are upon us. In the TalkLair, we remain hunkered down keeping cosy and warm, because "something something 'til May is out". The hearth is glowing, the walls covered in dubious artwork, books by non-approved authors line the shelves, rugs are down on the floors (and assorted pets curled up on them).

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

I've only been on one flight where there was WTF Turbulence, but I haven't flown much.

I keep thinking how it would feel to drop thousands of feet in such a short space of time. My brain can't grasp it.

Glad you found your dad okay, @Kucinghitam

I'm now thinking about the tracking of elderly parents. We tried putting a tag into an elderly family member's wallet but he always took it out again which was very frustrating as he was inclined to wander. He'd been in the army for years and once he went into a care home, he caused chaos. He may have been demented but the man could still take his room, and the plumbing, apart. One time he was found all ready to go, with the mattress taken off the bed and all his belongings stuffed into pillow cases.

I've done a few flights over Asia and the turbulence was horrible and seemed to go on for about ten hours. Not keen on flying.

@Vegemiteandhoneyontoast Hah, my dad also likes to dismantle random things. Nothing as big as his bed, thank goodness!

Going back 30+ years, I was on a short flight from KUL-SIN and not that long after take-off, the plane "dropped" precipitously, I don't know by how far. IIRC it felt exactly like those drop rides at an amusement park. Everyone screamed in terror. But we were all still belted because the light hadn't gone off yet, so there were no injuries. Some stuff thrown around the cabin, I think.

Worst general turbulence I ever experienced was about 25 years ago, IAD-JFK in a small propellor aircraft, there was thick cloud/fog coming into New York. Only time I've ever needed the sick bag.

The airpocket and turbulance thing yesterday was shocking. It's terribly sad about the poor man who died and all the others who were seriously injured. It sounds as though it must have been bloody terrifying.
@Kucinghitam I'm glad that they eventually found your dad but it must have been very stressful not knowing exactly where he was.

I had a feeling that they'd go for July 4th today when it became clear that they were going to announce the election because inflation was a bit better or something.

I would like to apologise to everyone for the weather. When I went into hospital the weather was still utterly minging with no sun to be seen. I went into hospital and spring arrived. I have no left and the weather is minging again. I feel that somehow it is all my fault. And v annoying.

Thirty years on I still remember being on a flight that hit serious turbulence unexpectedly. I think most people were strapped in anyway but the cabin crew got themselves belted in their seats ASAP leaving the drinks trolley to lurch drunkenly about the cabin. The plane dropped a long way and just when we thought it would stop, it dropped some more. Thankfully though nothing like as bad as that one yesterday and actually not the worst part of that flight. We’d already sat on the runway in Jamaica for a couple of sweltering hours waiting to take off, then got delayed some more during the refuelling stop in New York.

Forty minutes out from there, the captain announced that there was a problem and we were dumping some fuel and going back. What he didn’t do was explain that it would count as an emergency landing, so the fire engines screaming along the runway next to us when the plane touched down terrified a lot of people.

On the up side, a significant number of people wouldn’t get back on the plane so we had a lot more room when we finally took off again. Jamaica to the UK in a mere 27 eventful hours. Lovely.

This a brilliant way to deal with scaffolders who don't collect their stuff.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5080944-can-a-lone-older-woman-indulge-in-a-fucking-tradespeople-tirade?page=1

Ha! That's wonderful!

Extremely English, but much the same attitude.

"It seems the clutch has become detached from one of our engines, so we'll be making a small diversion to have a look at it. I'm afraid that means we won't be home in time to catch the end of the Test match but Australia is currently 20 runs up so it's possibly best to miss it."

My mum, who constantly thinks she won’t still be alive, say, next Tuesday, is currently wondering whether she can game the system by getting a postal vote so that her vote gets counted even if she dies before polling day. (She’s 98 but mostly well so there’s no real reason to suppose she won’t be around for the election. She’d very much like a new government but will doubtless continue to declare everything to be “all Boris Johnson’s fault!”)

@artant - Yes! She definitely should. I mean, even if it came out (which it wouldn't), it's not as though they'd be able to charge her.

I applaud her. My very self-righteous mother would have been 98 and would never have dreamed of doing such a thing. I'd have liked her a lot more if she had.

I think I might do a postal vote. It'll make things a lot easier for me and given how ill I've been on and off this year it might be the safest way to get my vote done. That said, I have no idea exactly which way I'll be voting at this point. Obviously not Conservative or Green. Almost certainly not Lib Dem because they're a shower of shite as well. I guess I'm just wondering if I'll have either a decent Labour candidate or a very decent a.n.other candidate.

I just hope the whole thing is done and dusted quickly because my god these things are so f-ing dull and tedious to the extreme.

I hope whoever is elected gets the UK back into the EEA asap so that I can order things from Amazon. I've stopped using it because of all the customs charges and faff.

@DeanElderberry - have you tried Amazon France/Germany? I used to use them when we were in Spain and Italy, though I think both Spain and Italy have their own Amazon websites now. Depends on the shipping costs, I suppose, but at least you'd avoid the bureaucracy.

<on edit> I suspect even if whoever takes over does try to get the UK back into the EU, it won't happen for years. I mean, would you trust the Great British Public not to agitate to leave again?

I have Gonners, but find making sure the DVDs that arrive are English language and region ?2 - whichever Europe is in - is marginally more complicated is I'm trying to order from small sellers in another language. It's usually DVDs. It was so much easier when ordering from the UK.

If I were the EU I wouldn't be in a hurry to let us back in to the actual EU for just that reason. But single market/customs union could be a different matter (if feeling awkward I might insist on Schengen as part of the package).

https://www.ilxor.com/ILX/index.jsp

i feel like I’ve stumbled into some sort of Other Place parallel universe

Ha! Yes - the other place with clunkier code.

I'm too old for that shit now.

Oh God, I think it’s triggering my PTSD!

I’m awake at 3am (as is the whole house) because the smoke alarm on the landing went off. In 10 seconds bursts, several times, over the past half hour. Proper going off, not the pathetic low-battery chirps. Nothing in the house is on fire. Google suggests that the alarming is also a low-battery thing, so we will have to get a new 9V tomorrow.

While I was googling “Why the fuck do smoke alarms only pull this shit in the middle of the fucking night and not in the daytime when the fucking shops are open?” I figured I could do some MNetting to cheer me up.

I dread that - mine has gone off, full screamer, several times during the day over the last month. The battery is fine, and there didn't seem to be any smoke or heat anywhere. I think it is dust, with or without the assistance of cellar spiders - I keep blasting it with with air in the hope of cleaning it out..

Two of ours were doing pathetic, low level beeps, last time I was away. My wife dealt with one by ripping the whole thing out of the ceiling and managing to detach the other from the bracket, unscathed, then breaking it - trying to open it.

Apparently, IABU for complaining about repairing the ceiling and asking her to buy replacements.

If the smoke alarms here go off it's always about 3am. One time it made me so cross I pulled it off the ceiling and threw it out of the window. We've got new ones now and they seem okay.

Bloody hell! Bit of an overreaction

Other thing about lying awake at night, is your mind wanders all over the place. I spent a long time thinking about the General Election, and how I've never felt so little enthusiasm for any of the options or the process or the eventual outcome.

I fucking loathe what the Tories have done to wreck almost everything decent about this country; they just need to FOTTFSOFATFOSM and that moment can't come soon enough!

But even without Labour's Sex Fudge (i.e. if I wasn't a reality-based person), I despair at what they think they're offering - so many people seem to think there will be a 1997-style bonanza of optimistic investment and largesse. In reality, they'll have nothing except a few worthless glittery rainbow crab-bucket-style politics-of-envy baubles to briefly dazzle the gullible.

As for all the other parties, they're all either infinitely worse than Labour from a reality-based point of view, or worse than the Tories from a right-wing-nut-job point of view, or completely pointless.

I feel completely politically homeless, but I feel like I just can't spoil my ballot yet another time.

Just delurking re: the alarms. I had this issue with my alarms last year - they will go off like that when the alarm itself needs replacing - not just the battery. They have a lifetime of around 10 years, then the entire unit needs to be changed.

They go off at 3am ish, as that is the coldest time of the day, when they are struggling to draw power. I had a looong time to work out what was going on as our communal alarms were triggering mine (linked system).