Thread 19 - TalkLair: "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long"

[Kucinghitam]

(Previous thread 18)

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...

In the TalkLair, the fairy lights are festooned on the mantlepiece, the tree is twinkling with baubles, the mince pies are in the oven, the MN legendary chicken is ready to feed the hordes. The denizens of the lair are a welcoming bunch, always eager for general chit-chat on all manner of topics. We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

so sorry. bad articles.

I don't know what exactly happened to prompt this, but my Echinacea plants seem to have thrived on the alternation of threats, extreme heat, and biblical rain and all four are now flowering - two of them very enthusiastically indeed. They have also grown noticeably.

So sorry to hear that, what arseholes!

Oh no Moto, that absolutely sucks.

Dammit moto that’s a bummer. Any chance of getting it back?

Thanks, folks. I'm not expecting to see it again, really. It's such an antique now that I didn’t think anyone would want to pinch it. Just going through the whole procedure with insurers is such a PITA, though.

Oh no, I sympathise entirely. You may remember mine was nicked, 5 years ago, the insurance paid out. Will you not get another old one with the money?

Have you tried Facebook etc, to see if it's advertised for sale? That's what the Police told me to do, but no luck.

Not yet, Sinner, I'm going to. I doubt I'd buy another bike; I hardly use this one these days. Remember yours being pinched.

Oh that’s really shitty @moto748e - hope you at least get a decent insurance payout but it’s hardly the same.

Sorry your bike got nicked moto

I had my prized push bike stolen 24 years ago. I'm still a bit sad about it.

Travel nightmare for DD1.

She's been on a school trip to Italy this week, due to fly home this morning. She messaged from the airport to say that the flight was delayed due to thunderstorms. Easyjet's website suggested that there would be a 2-3 hour delay. Then it emerged that the incoming flight had had to be diverted to another airport because of the weather and it wasn't clear when they would be able to get it back to the right airport. Then an hour ago, they've been told the flight is cancelled entirely.

No further details from DD1 or the school, I suppose because it is an ongoing situation and the staff will have to liaise with the travel agency or the insurers or something.

But the Easyjet website basically says "sorry, you'll have to collect your checked baggage and leave the airport" although they do add that they'll get passengers on alternative flights and/or hotel rooms.

I just can't see how anyone is going to get an entire school party back, where are they going to find a flight with a couple of dozen spare seats? In these circumstances do they split up the party (one teacher per group)? Do they just fly them back to anywhere in the UK?

Blimey, surely the answer is to put them in a hotel and fly them out tomorrow?

My guess is that there won't be 40 seats on the equivalent flight tomorrow, so the agency/insurance is going to have to find some other way.

They may well fly them back to wherever they have capacity and then shove 'em on a coach (or coaches, if more than one airport is involved). It'll be fine, and Naples isn't the worst place in the world to be stuck for an extra day or two. More Pizza!

I was once offloaded from a flight to NZ in Los Angeles - cyclone in the Pacific - and shoved in a filthy "hotel" in Inglewood. I rang my then partner back in London to ask him to let my sister know and when I told him where they'd put us he said "Lock your door and don't leave the hotel!" He was from (I kid you not) Beverly Hills.

Sorry, @moto748e - I hadn't seen your bike news. Nicking it from your back yard is particularly heinous and somehow makes it more personal.

Cheers, Gonners. It certainly puts you off getting another one, but I don't think that's on the cards anyway.

It does seem the end of an era, though; I've been moto748 online forever, since the early days of FU with @artant and a few others, must have been around 1999/2000?

It’s very odd talking online sometimes, when I think I’ve “known” a person and taken part in many friendly and funny conversations with him or her (sometimes not knowing which it is for a while) for decades. I think of that person as a friend and genuinely feel concern when something happens in their life, and a sense of loss when they die, and yet we’ve never met, or maybe met once at a meet-up a quarter century ago.

What does moto748e signify, @moto748e ?

That was the model of my bike, Ducati 748E. 'moto' means motorbike, in French and generally.

DD and cohort have landed back in Blighty! They all got bussed back to the hotel (thank goodness there was still space for them) and then in the wee hours of the morning went by coach to Rome, to fly back to Manchester. All they have to do now is get across the Pennines (M62 willing) and they'll be home.

That's good to hear, Kuc. Can’t they get a train from Manchester?

There's a coach, they have to be returned to the school grounds. Because reasons.

It must have been stressful, but they seem to have coped and it will be something for them to talk about for years to come.

Glad to hear it all worked out for them, Kuc.

I was worried about flights, after reading your post. My wife and her sister had been in Paris for a week and I collected them just after 10. They even landed 10 minutes early; we had very high winds, yesterday.