In which case, it comes back to what I was saying to you yesterday… Invite the CAA surveyor for tea and biscuits, and have a chat BEFORE lobbing in an application. Get the correct gen regarding the CAA’s stance on whether the DA would be better off persuing the NDT programme or, as I suspect the replacement of parts. See if there is an avenue…

Nevermind the canopy… what’s Charlie Brown going to say when someone glues him to his seat?….

I have just created a new art installation which symbolises the modernistic perception of how the damage inflicted by global warming affects even the smallest populus centre. I am hoping to sell this social concept artwork for vast sums to someone who wears sandles.

If I don’t create the media frenzy which will make me feel like a god, then you are free to collect the knackered old fridge from from the village green where it was pushed out the back of a Transit van late last night.

I bet mine will last longer than that geezer’s engines once the scrap-stealing pikeys learn how to read…..

For the numbers of employees per square metre, its useless – as are all airports. The majority of the land is devoid of work space….

For general numbers of employees – its great. Thousands of jobs in a single location – as are all airports

For location – it’s the capital’s primary airport, so naturally it has a vast catchment area covering a couple of million potential employees – but how many are capable of working in a high security area?

Remember that Aviation is a global business, and the majority of employees are NOT from this country.

The retail employment opprtunities are the same as any large shopping mall – employment is transient depending on many things including rental rates for floor space. Generally, retail opportunities are limited – particularly beyond custom control.

Extra runways do not directly correlate to employment gains (once built) – more passengers may not require large amounts of new staff.

Any building development is good for employment within the construction industry, but how far can Heathrow expand? Probably not much. Being from the forgotten North, I don’t give a monkey’s about the exact nature of the extra runway arguement, but a better bet would be to build a new airport entirely. I like Boris’s island airport idea rather than extending a fairly old airport.

Until I read the news report. I was wondering just how big this two year old was, and whether she was, in fact, some kind of flesh eating monster!… In my experience (2 of), two year olds are quite small and easy to strap into seats. Whilst children of that age can be utterly unconsolable in so far as once the tantrum starts, not even sweets or other treats can shut them up. In this case I would say that the captain’s decision was unjustified – the child was strapped in and posed no danger to the aircraft.

In my view, it is the parents who should rightly be forced to learn how to control their kids (without violence) or deal with the consequences. Mine managed an 11 hour flight without a problem – colouring books, and an inexhaustable supply of patience and crisps works wonders, and again in this case the parents were winning.

This is the first time I’ve read the Victor Blog…. I distinctly remember this: http://victorxl231.blogspot.com/2012/02/mayhem-on-a1.html

A quality day…. Breakfast was at ‘RAF’ South Mimms…. The ‘gawping at the police’ was not quite as described… we in the back of the landy were actually pressed against the glass- utterly inconspicuous, honest guv. Happy days and sadly missed.

I may have misread it slightly, but wasn’t this thread initially talking about the managers of museums, ie. those in power, and NOT the volunteers? We know that the majority of volunteers will bend over backwards to help the public, and a few are there for the social aspects rather than getting mucky with bits of old engine.

The managers on the other hand seem to be, in the majority, ‘miserable beggars’. Naturally there are a few (some of whom are known to post on here) who have nothing but good words to say and who have a perpetual smile on their face. The rest are negatively affected by the pressures of operating a volunteer organisation. Some are on a quest for power and see the museums as their empires – always a set up for a fall. Some have no people skills, but are supreme businessmen, some are owners of collections which have got out of hand, some simply dislike the volunteers who have weaseled their way to high positions within the museum and are unable to get rid of them.

We all have bad days, and these ‘miserable beggars’ usually have more on their plate than we realise. Some are just naturally miserable though.

I think the majority of museums have decent staff within them, and hopefully the museums who have utter ***** in charge will last long enough to see a change in management.