However even though they should be up when the aircraft is shut down they soon begin to droop down as hydraulic

This sounds about right – as if you look at shots of parked Mustangs, the gear doors are often lop-sided, with one having lost more pressure than the other.

Concorde will not fly again. Fact. Get over it and channel your commendable energies into more realistic preservation/restorations.

There’s more chance of Lord Lucan duetting with Elvis than there is of Concorde flying again. Sad, but reality.

In that respect, I can’t for the life of me see any reason why anyone would enter such a race half heartedly. And aside from all the financials and titles, there’s also pride and the desire to better yourself, and that never leaves you.

Very true. City marathons pay well, but look how Kelly Holmes has become a front page celebrity on the back of Olympic success. I’d say conservatively her bank balance will have improved ten-fold since Athens.

I have to say I also disagree about the ‘small beer’ comment; she’s competed in five marathons, and with the exception of Athens she’s won them all, beating the UK and European record three times and the world record twice, which I believe still stands. And that world record time (2hrs 15mins plus a few seconds) is only a few minutes over my PB for a HALF marathon…!

Fair comment – but winning the Olympic title is what all athletes are ultimately judged by. Without her double golds Kelly Holmes would always have been remembered as a good athlete who was unlucky with injury – now she’s earned her place in folklore. Paula may well have the world record, but she ain’t got Olympic gold. Yet…

He pulled me over at Hindhead and told me off for flashing him because he was fed up that I’d not played his little game – oh, and for going a driving as fast as he was.

I’d have got his badge number and reported him to both his superiors and the local media. They’d have had a field day.

This fear is a serious problem for me – the last time I tried to get on a downwards escalator on the Underground I had a panic attack – since then I have used taxis

The missus is exactly the same Ashley. Personally I don’t have a problem with claustrophobia or heights, but insects give me the heeby-jeebies. ‘Orrible things the lot of ’em!

I would have had considerably more respect for Paula if she had walked home rather than pull out with all the hystrionics, that said she had considerably more media attention than the two cases I have quoted. But she knew that would be the case.

Indeed! The 400m runner was Derek Redmond in Barcelona ’92, and he was helped across the line by his father. Dropping out was cowardly, the Olympic Games is about taking part as much as winning. Did the athletes further down the field think “oh sod it, I’m not going to win, so I’ll drop out and tell everyone I’m not very well”? No – they ran on and had the satisfaction of finishing an Olympic marathon.