My trip into the office here at Gatwick (normally ca. 40 – 45mins door to door) took 90+ mins this morning due to fallen trees all over mid-Sussex- plus assorted debris/fence panels etc in the gutters and a number of localised flash floods.

The weather since has varied between “damned awful” and “bright and sunny” since then – currently its absolute ****e out there, low cloud, hevay rain, v.strong gusts etc.

A number of flights arriving here have aborted on finals and gone around again (or gone somewhere else?), and one or two have drifted past my office window in various angles of bank and drift. Arrivals board is showing many dleays or cancellations. Glad I’m not flying in or out of here today!

Paul F

Nice shots GA – a pretty typical mornings viewing from my office up here on top of the South Terminal at LGW, though they pass my window at pretty much eye-level 🙂 .

Paul F

I remember being astonished to hear somebody recommend a bottle of beer by saying “it’s 5% alcohol, which is a lot in such a small bottle!” I tell that story a lot because most people I know would find it difficult to understand that there are those who don’t understand such a basic mathematical concept.

And these same people are getting mortgages, credit cards and car loans and in many cases getting into unmanageable debt.

Just as calculators have robbed us of our ability to do mental arithmetic isn’t there a danger that the internet, on a mobile phone, will rob us of our need for general knowledge, or worse our ability to think for ourselves?

There are those or are literally illiterate but I think there are far more who just don’t know what they don’t know! They have an ‘awareness illiteracy’!

Well said that man!

I encounter far too many people who believe everything they read in the internet, and in the media, and who have not the slightest wish to question any of the “facts”, but simply accept what is put in front of them:

Maths? I’ve got a calculator for that! And if I can’t work out how to pay my mortgage or rent I’ll just default, and fall back on the state to bail me out.

Spelling? My word processor spell checks for me! Anyway, my SMS message doesn’t need long words…

General Knowledge? The wwweb knows everything, and I can tap into it anywhere – even on my mobile, so why bother remembering anything myself – thats too much effort!

Ability to Reason for myself? What? Why do I need that? My nanny state government knows whats best for me -look at their “sound bite” press releases that tell me this, they even do the maths to prove their point….. and the papers and TV programs tell me everything else I need to know..don’t they?

Maybe it’s not the inherent illiteracy thats my worry, its the seeming lack of desire to learn or understand, and the worrying underlying belief that no-one needs to know anything anymore, except what the current popular “personalities” are doing in their sordid, and relatively insignificant, private lives.

Why bother to try and learn “stuff” when you can live you life through the pages of the trashy “popular culture magazines”, and hope that one day you’ll be that famous yourself 😡

Of course, none of the erudite readers or contributors on the forums here fall into the above stereotype, but I am sure we all know, or work with some people who do…. worrying isn’t it?

Stunning shots TEEJ, simply stunning!

Love them all, esp the Tornado back seater who is waving back at you.

And the shots where the condensation cloud is just starting to form as wisps of cloud are great – the “rotated” shot of the Typhoon, and one of the Tornado pics show it perfectly.

More please!

Paul F

Pancreatic Cancer is one of the forms of cancer that is still often diagnosed far too late to allow a good outcome.

My Mother-in-Law went from diagnosis to death in about two or three weeks, prior to the symptoms (jaundice) that led to the diagnosis she had shown no obvious signs at all 🙁 . Surgeons did an exploratory op within a week or so of her seeing her GP but found her condition was already inoperable. She died a few days later.

Hope Mr Swayze has a better prognosis.

Paul F

Original Mini rules, the BMW is not a mini no matter what name is screwed to the boot

Absolutely – in terms of build quality and refinement then I have to conceded that the small BMW car (Sorry, whatever they may call it it is NOT a Mini) is far better, but thats simply due to 45 years progress in car design and build, and the increased customer quality expectation.

Issigonis’ quirky design was a radical departure from the (then) norm. BMW ‘s new car is nothing more than another run of the mill small car (but built no doubt to BMW standards) with a design that simply follows current design trends, and in some ways shows no originality at all, as other marques (VW’s new Beetle etc) had already shown the way in using retro design references before the BWM boys hopped on the bandwagon – absolutely nothing radical about it at all – apart from the impertinent use of a previously well established brand as a cynical sales ploy :rolleyes:.

Issigonis wins hands down everytime.

Paul F (Former (Austin/Rover/BL) Mini owner)

So without the kick up the backside and the passing on of experience, what happens to the other, less fortunate kids who are left to fend for themselves.

Potentially they drag down the “league table” results, and the overall success (or not;) ) of the government’s current education system. So, teachers will be obliged to add another hour’s literacy skills teaching to the school day, and/or extra resources will be allocated to the less fortunate children – while this may seem fine in practice, it does also mean that those who have acquired the pre-requisite skills and standards sooner suffer as the cash left to help them achieve their potential is spent on the less fortunate children…

Not saying this is right or wrong, but merely pointing out that the “hard done by” or “less fortunate” in the school system perhaps get a disproportionate spend compared to the brighter/more able children who have perhaps had the benefit of more parental support. Perhaps HMG would do better to direct spend at some form of “responsible parenting” skills system – so that teachers don’t have to make up for basic parenting deficiencies outside the formal schooling system?

My wife is fully trained pre-school supervisor and I know only too well (albeit secondhand) what a difference “pro-active” versus “indifferent” parenting can make to children in their formative years….and probably onwards through life. Mrs Paul F says the playgroup staff can soon tell which children “enjoy” parents who spend time trying to help their children gain vital life skills such as literacy and interpersonal skills, and which “suffer” parents who show little or not interest in their childrens’ development.

In theory all children in UK have the same opportunities in life, but, in reality, lack of parental support can (unknowingly) start “shutting doors” very early in a young person’s life 🙁 . Parenting is all about taking responsibility for your children, and it should extend beyond making sure they’ve got food on their plates and shoes on their feet… unfortunately some parents don’t see things this way, and they see “education” of their offspring (in it’s very broadest sense) as someone else’s responsibility 😡 .