West London Thread August continued...

[Kewcumber]

shiny new thread to sully.

[sfxmum]

cov paddle has been away I am sure she will email you soon or I can do it in a minute

[ComeOVeneer]

That would be great sfx. DS is at nursery in the am but I am hoping to ask a friend who has a ds in his class to collect him and have him for lunch/into the afternoon. Will need to be home 3ish for school run.

[Paddlechick666]

CoV, no email. could you re-send?

foxie, i'm anticipating that we would all stay in the background somewhat and sit at the back. am sure you could bring ds2 and sneak out if he got noisy maybe? i took dd to my Nana's funeral and bf her when she got a bit shouty - she then slept thru most of the service.

the vicar actually made reference to the circle of life and dd being there. of course it's a bit different as it was the funeral of dd's great-grandmother....

trip was exhausting, didn't arrive till nearly 10pm then had to find the restaurant and join the team. stayed out till 2am then had a full day of presentations and discussions. it was good tho. best bit was it was a Bletchley Park and we got to see Colossus and Tunny which were instrumental in breaking the Enigma code.

Uber-Geek stuff but fascinating and our tour guide actually worked there during the war.

[Paddlechick666]

i've arranged to drop dd at CM at noon and collect her before 3pm.....

[sfxmum]

done

[sfxmum]

that is fascinating paddle code breaking is really clever stuff

[ComeOVeneer]

No worries paddle, have the info from sfx now. I will (hopefully) get friend to collect ds at 12.15 alomg with her ds and have her as back up for dd (in the same class at school as her elder ds) incase I don't make pick up.

[Paddlechick666]

sfx, cryptography is my work but i still find it fascinating if a little beyond my little brain sometimes!

Colossus has taken 7 years to rebuild and they've done it from one A3 diagram and 8 photos! One of today's laptops breaks a code in the same amount of time as Colossus can and sweats it doing it.

Enigmas were used for day to day stuff but the Lorenz machine was what Hitler and the High Command used as it had 12 wheels and was heaps heaps stronger.

The only way the codebreakers got a crib was when an operator sent a message which he then had to send a 2nd time. Breaking all the rules he used the original wheel settings but was too lazy to send the word "number" and substituted "no." instead.

Bingo!

On the back of this, they built the Tunney machine which functions exactly as the Lorenz. Without ever having seen an actual Lorenz machine and 2 weeks after the end of the war when one arrived they found the logic of what they'd built was an exact replica.

Amazing stuff, and we think we live in a technological age now!

[MrsRecycle]

Oh pc - that text set me off as well - am sobbing my eyes out. Poor 2Cute but what an amazing woman to want the world to know about him. I wasn't going to come as I thought I would be imposing but as she has said that, I would be honoured to come. I agree for all of us to stay back. Shall we meet somewhere beforehand? I'll be coming from Guildford.

Foxie, I personally think that it would be fine but I know some people that are in the mould that kids should not go to funerals.

I've just remembered my friend is a florist, I'll ring her tomorrow to see if she can do a wreath.

[sfxmum]

paddle geek that I am I read Enigma the book followed by a couple of books on Bletchley (non fiction)

speaking of things beyond my comprehension I have huge fascination with 'string theory'

MrsR i agree it is desperately sad and I think we should be there quietly to show support. If foxie going am asking for a lift otherwise I will probably take a bus, I know the 111 from Hounslow or Kingston goes past

[mellow2]

Hello everyone,

I'd like to contribute to both too. How much should I contribute?

QC,
Is it your usual email address for paypal?

MrsR,
Let me know how you want me to be paid?

PC,
That message made me really sad too.

I'm going to try and come on Tuesday but I won't know until Monday evening as work is manic. Can anyone give me a ride?

[mellow2]

Rest of Sept thread for when this one runs out.

[rosmerta]

Paddle, I know this is really cheeky but I was wondering if you were driving there? If so, would I be able to get a lift? I can come to yours if that helps.