Interesting, there is no time limit on this pledge, so you pledge support to those yet unborn, whatever their character or behaviour. A pledge made by people to their Gods. Pretty serious stuff to those who have a God/Goddess.

By the wording this pledge encompasses the line of succession for eternity, unless eventually enough of this royal family line fail to breed and they die out.

The succession line of course includes Prince Andrew, and perhaps more interestingly as a son of Charles, Prince Harry. I wonder how many want to swear an allegiance which includes Harry?

“I swear that I will pay true allegiance to your majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God.”

– There is speculation that over time Harry will be moved back into British and Commonwealth public life if he looses his wife or he & she go bankrupt.

– My housemate, a faithful Royalist of decades standing is horrified at the PR blunder of this new oath.
Even housemate thinks it out of touch, embarrassing and distasteful.

– Should not Charles be pledging allegiance to his people as their representative?

___________________

Aside from the above, how is the Church of England crowning Camilla as Queen when technically in the eyes of the Church of England she is perhaps not married to Charles, as it is ‘only’ a civil marriage?

Charles and Camilla had to marry via civil service at a Registry Office, as Camillas previous spouse is/was alive so their marriage was not acceptable/permissible to the Church and could not happen on Church premises.

Princess Ann remarried in Scotland (Church of Scotland), to enable her 2nd marriage to be accepted by/ take place in a Church. I have known people whose re-marriages were point blank refused by C of E Churches due to prior marriages ending in divorce, as they were considered to still be married to the first partner despite having legally divorced.

I am curious about the technicalities and the convenient ‘flexibility’ of the rules of the Church of England.

Can all divorcees with living Exes now remarry freely in the Church of England, have the rules of acceptance changed?

I have the 1030 plus, I find it great. The screen is a decent size. The battery life for me has been good, did a day out from about 9.30am to about 7.00pm, still several hours in the battery, screen on the whole time. I have no idea if it runs the full 24 hours promised, as I have never run it that low. You can get an extra battery pack (silly price backup, or was when I bought the main unit) or if not wet/raining you could I guess run it from any USB power bank.

You can set up multiple ‘profiles’ for route type / ride type. This includes route planning for cars and pedestrians and in fact I use the unit more for recreational walking than I do for the bike at the moment. Its been very good for that.

The mapping has loads of options, can choose a flat map or shading for contours etc and options to avoid certain road types. You can search for handy things like shops, hospitals and suchlike and it can search for addresses (at the time of purchase almost none of the bike sat navs could do this, its very handy).

Some of these features may be of less interest to those who love smart phones, but I hate them, so searching on the sat nav is good, with no phone call intrusion into the recreation part of my life.

The flexibiity of how it is set up is enourmous. I found it a bit ovewhelming on the first day or so and the manual pdf lacks massive of useful info that could be in it. YouTube is a friend here.

I cant comment much on the sports / health recording as I dont use that and dont bother with the various monitors you can buy and link to it.

It will work out all sorts of other things without the add ons, you can get a huge range of info on the screens, layout and content all chosen by yourself (such as hill grades, ave speed, estimated time to arrival at chosen point, laps, tons of other stuff).

Or you can just have a single bit of info on a screen page.

Its so flexible. A really handy thing is it will display ‘sunrise and/or sunset time’, great when deciding where to walk or ride in the daylight left or when to pitch or fold tent.

I really struggled to bring myself to pay for what was at the time Garmins top bike Sat Nav, the battery life and screen size were the pushing factors plus it was in a sale. It was a huge investment for me as I am not flush with money. Now, what must be a couple of years later, it travels with me almost every time I leave the house as its so useful/fun for walking and biking.

I feel, despite the horrible initial cost, that I made a really good choice when I got it (relief!!!).

If you have no patience with researching and setting up screens (pretty much a one off) it may not be for you.

1) It may be the owners of the property are afraid of being declared bankrupt, it may not just be greed. A lot of issues are hitting them hard and the ‘insulation of rental properties’ issue is also a huge expense looming on the horizon, in addition to the possible expense of heat exchangers if the house heating fails.

2) There is no genuine social housing left to act as a form of rent control (housing associations seem set up to pay large saleries not help tenants)

3) A friend owns a chain of rental properties. They chose to stop any rent increase at all during Covid and also are continuing to freeze due to awareness people cannot pay. They wish to keep any responsible, polite and friendly tennents they have. They are good landlords and maintain buildings/sort problems as they see it in everyones interest to be decent. As they were landlords starting decades ago, they have paid off all thier properties or bought them for cash in the first place (they have other substantial incomes). They have told me if they were not paid off, they would be getting out of landlordship as the way things are going, it would not be financially viable to continue.

4) Another friend has a 30 something son who has been trying to find a flat or similar in either Bristol or Cardiff. He had been looking for months and found many estate agents treated the situation almost as a joke ( as in we joke with despair, rather than spiteful) as there are so many desperate people who would take anything at almost any price if they could manage to fund it. He finally got something, as I think he happened to be the person in the Estate agents when the property came in for rent.

5) I have seen many accounts of bidding wars for property in the last few months in national newspapers. It seems the asking price for rent is now rather like the ‘guide price’ of auctions – ie no one ever pays that price, its always higher.

6) Try to find some value for your landlord that you can offer. A stable, helpful and decent tenent who is planning to stay for years saves them money and inconvienence. If possible try to get to the owner of the property if you can do it without being annoying.

7) My landlord friends stopped thier agent from throwing out a long standing tennent. The agency wanted to not renew the womans contract as on thier judegement she could not theoretically make the payments each month. However she had never defaulted on a payment in the many years she lived in the house, so my friend refused to agree to her eviction. The Agency was pissed and said the property owner (my friends) would have to take all the responsibility of her if she defualted in payments but my friends refused to throw on to the street an innocent person who had never been a problem.
Often the Agency is the bottleneck.

“Modern hyperglide cassettes are designed to throw of the chain under the slightest sideways pressure. The sweetspot for each gear is therefore incredibly narrow.”

I run Shimano thumb friction shifts front and rear, on a XT cassette. I have no problems at all with it and really enjoy using them, however my bike is used for road or off road tracks and paths, not high speed cross country runs.

My reason is I love quiet bikes, so was careful over hub choices too when building up the frame. I get a kick out of lining up the gear choice perfectly and being able to do fast sweeping gear changes across multiple cogs with one swipe of the leaver.

I have 3 other bikes with indexed gears, both flat bar and drops, but I love the friction change the best when terrain is appropriate. Its so satisfying. Its my favourite bike.

Yes, a bit worried as I have seen a few people mention some of the battery lives are poor (for a trip, not the working life span of the battery).

Started off looking at the one with 12 hours battery estimate (Garmin Edge Explore I think) but wondering about bigger batteries now, as all electronics companies seem to measure battery life with all the facilities switched off and only the most basic level of anything and dim screens running to push up the estimated battery life.

I thought if things got a bid dodgy I might be able to run something directly off a cable to a power pack, but since starting this thread I have seen someone say elsewhere that the battery port is in a position hindered by the mount on some (all?) of the Garmins, so prob not possible.

Sorry for long delay in getting back to this thread, did not expect to be missing so long. Such is life. Apologies.

Just another thank you to everyone who has kindly taken the trouble to suggest locations.

The lady in question will be starting her journey from midway between Preston and Leeds, but longer distance suggestions are fine, as she is not ill/sick so has no problems with travel itself – its the walking on rough ground she has problems with, and lots of good viewpoints etc are more than a few hundred yards from car parks.

Anyway, thanks again folks. All the best.

Dear All, some great suggestions, thanks for the ideas.

If you think of any more keep them coming…

I am sorry things are a bit trying for you at the moment. It might help to remember that Universities are really messed up due to COVID – its not that no one cares about you or any student, its that the staff are overwhelmed by the situation. The more practical staff ‘on the ground’ are often hindered by the people who control university policy etc and now by the governments often seemingly random last minute COVID policies. Most on the ground staff really care, as they can see the result of issues for students, unlike higher up managers.

If you decide to leave now, do you have anything lined up? Lots of charities are going down the pan – many animal welfare charities for example have stopped taking animals in and never expect to be able to afford to re-open. Charities of all types closing or stalling means less opportunity to volunteer. The National Trust for example is laying off huge numbers of staff.

Re casual work – in the last couple of years I have seen jobs advertised for staff in 3 different cafes (I live in the South West) – all of whom demanded a degree qualification in order to wait tables and pour coffee (total madness, but its still an issue).

In one of the papers I have seen they are getting between 650 and 2000 applicants for basic jobs as so many are already out of work and its going to be much worse by the New Year. Signing up as unemployed is a horrid experience, even people who have long employment histories get treated quite badly by the government these days if they have no choice but to sign on, as there is constant fear of being punished for quite trivial errors – no money means no food.

Perhaps start your own education while waiting for the Uni – start reading books or internet materials on essay writing, basic UK law etc. If you are bored maybe pick a chapter from a law book and write a practice essay on whatever it covers. Alternatively start a blog on University life or some other aspect that interests you, its something to show employers, displaying your intellect and writing skills.

I am sad to say that what you are experiencing at the moment will be echoed in the world of work too. Much employment is effected hugely by COVID, but also as you enter the world of employment you will find many many job descriptions have no resemblance to the reality of the job. They are glossed up, full of interesting opportunities and promotion prospects. In reality you are often stuck in a corner, doing repetitive boring tasks that never improve. After much dedication you see the job opportunities given to people from outside the company, often with limited skills and experience (sometimes because the boss fancied them at the interview. Yes, this does still happen. I know of several men who got jobs that way from female or gay interviewers, its not just women who get appointed for looks. I have even been told directly and openly by one interviewer he appointed a man for personal physical attraction, not skills). Don’t assume that if you leave the disappointment of Uni that working will definitely be wonderful and meaningful in comparison, with no loneliness or boredom.

Lots of life is sold on ‘added gloss’ rather than reality, University and jobs included. Consider any big move carefully and try to see beyond what you are told.

PS whenever you move into the world of work, always ask to see your potential workspace at the interview or before accepting the job. The reaction of the interviewer/s can be very very enlightening.

Good luck and all the best.

Dave,
interesting, will check these out later tonight. Thanks.

Jamiea,
I have a pair of Altura (40 litres total). I would like something bigger as I am moving bulk rather than weight. Its only for short hops of 10 miles or less. Often I will be using them to pick up groceries too.

I think if I was moving significantly heavy stuff or doing long touring a front set might be worth considering. I dont at present have weight/balance issues with my bike, but I have never ridden with front panniers to compare the experience, so I dont know what that would be like.

Thanks also for the other info, very helpful.

You could also try Spa Cycles who do touring stuff. Spares listed at the bottom of this link
https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m5b0s74p0/Bags-and-Luggage/Pannier-Bags

Thanks for the company ref. Which of the rides goes over the Severn?

Sorry we posted at the same time.
I did not know about the works. I live inland from the Bridge area.

You mean Olveston for those looking at maps, just down from Tockington. There is also an Alveston very near just to add confusion.

Just looking on Google maps – its only 0.1 of a mile from the end of the lane to the roundabout so you would not be on the duel carriage way for very long. Google estimates it at 1 minute of cycling.

You have to go around the same big roundabout below the Severn Bridge whichever direction you come from (to get to the North side direct access path), but you would be on the roundabout longer coming from Olveston as you would need to go 3/4 of the way round it instead of straight across.

If you came from Olveston and the north side was closed unexpectedly and the south open, it would be a more risky/difficult route to get to over to the south side from there as you would then have to both cycle along and then actually cross the duel carriage way, which is worse in my view than just cycling a bit of the duel carriageway if you came from Severn beach direction – you would be more exposed to traffic risks.

There is no perfect no risk approach for cyclists to this bridge on the English end, as the big roundabout cannot be avoided whichever way you approach. However the roads are much safer than they used to be as the traffic is no where near as bad as prior to the 2nd bridge being built. Yes, I have lived locally for that long!

Would be interesting in the name of your Touring company, if open to the public, if you are willing to share, no worries if not.

You dont have to go over the footbridge.

Follow the country lane on from the Aust ferry area on until you get to the duel carriageway, turn left. Straight across the roundabout, just at the services turning, is the bike path entrance for the north side.

You could try contacting Highways England directly for better info.

I agree the info coming out about the bridge is poor. Even poorer is the total lack of bike or pedestrian routes over the new bridge, no idea how they got away with that.

Thanks again to everyone for all the various ideas and information. Super helpful. Plenty to investigate & think on.
Cheers.

Andrewh, its OK, I did not overlook your suggestion and thanks lots for it. It sounds like they were on the ball for helping you out, good service. I used to be pleased with the mount as you can move everything on/off the bars super easy.

I wonder if as another alternative, I could get the Hope team to search my house for the missing lights ? 🙂

I have just been checking out the B&M Ixons – they look promising, though a couple of comments on the web are a bit down on some of the build quality – can anyone give me feedback on the build of the light and of the mount?

Ironically I had a pair of Hope Visions – one in blue and a red one that look a bit like an undulating coke can 🙂 but I have been out of cycling for around 10 years due to health problems, I know they are here somewhere, have turned house upsidedown looking. Sods law if I buy replacement lights I will find them the next day! However I cannot find them, so hence checking out other options. I did look on Hopes site last week assuming that a later upgraded AA version will exist, but no. Shame as I really liked the bike mount too.

Most bike lights seem aimed now at very well heeled off roaders (£££££) or at short distance commuters recharging at their desks most days. Not knocking office folk, I am one, just very disappointed at the scope of bike light design. It seems assumed everyone has access to the mains every day and does not mind daily recharging or huge financial outlay. Yeh, I am being a miserable git 🙂

Thanks for suggestions so far folks, very appreciated.

AA cost is not an issue as I use Eneloop rechargables for lots of things. I try to avoid non-rechargeables and one purpose only batteries. I have plenty to take camping as spare sets that I can charge at home and that will carry me over a couple of weeks holiday without needing to ‘plug in’ and can be used for other equipment in addition to the bike lights.

Given Andrew is still going to be doing ‘balcony’ duties and suchlike with the royal family, how long do people guess before he starts being given ‘public’ duties again on the sly, assuming he is not charged with anything, which seems likely given the Public Prosecutions have already ‘discouraged’ the Met from investigating before the BBC interview blew it open further.

I think he will be back doing public duties in less than 18 months with some low key stuff and they will build on that until he is back fully on board and in less than 4 years.

I suspect the arms dealing won’t be affected at all, in reality.

The Independent Newspaper – With Prince Andrew in retirement, it’s a bad week for despots and dictators

Not seen the interview yet myself, just comments in the papers. Lots of quotes of how he let his family down.

Not seen any quotes at all from him about how he has let his country down, or let down the people who pay for his lifestyle (UK taxpayers) or let down the taxpayers of other countries who have to fork out for personal protection for him when he visits thier countries).

Says it all, family before country – the little people dont really matter, rather like he says he does not have conversations with ‘staff’ so did not notice all the young girls drifting about as he seemingly viewed them as a form of staff, so not worth thinking about.

Re the pizza place, no staff who worked there or other parents or the kids themselves at the party seem to have come forward which seems…. well seeing him there would be remembered by someone.

Seems nasty to have individually named his daughter as part of his alibi when he could have said ‘one of my daugters’ or produced protection squad records instead (if he was there).

FULL BBC INTERVIEW ON YOUTUBE for those outside the UK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKQi3wzNFGQ

“How the hell else are kids supposed to deal with this world they’re in I don’t know.”

Same as people the world over have historically dealt with wars, plague, famine and brutal dictatorships. Oh, we don’t have those here at the moment…. So maybe kids in the UK could think they are bloody lucky and stay off the drugs before they wreck themselves and their families?

If you want to talk to your son, I suggest you look into the negatives of the supply chain outside of this country and also what can happen to the families associated with this if parents end up in prison/kids in care etc, and to the families/children of users and dealers in this country. Every drug purchase funds the sad back stories.

I used to know someone of 30 who started on weed when he was 14. By the time I knew him much of his shorter term memory was shot and he was seriously paranoid about even very basic things. He suffered from mood swings and had trouble holding down romantic relationships or even getting them started (despite having charm and looks). By the time I knew him he had also moved on to cocaine in addition to weed and occasionally to that horse tranquilliser that literally rots your bladder, sometimes leading to ending up with a catheter for the rest of your life.

He assured me he was ‘just a social user’ and could stop any of the drugs any time he wanted to, its just he did not wish to stop at this moment.

During the time I knew him he flushed it all down the loo twice in self despair but by the end of the week had gone out to buy more. By then he was using drugs to cope with going to work, then sitting in his car or going home at lunchtime to top up. He crashed his car going home one lunch time, no one else involved thank goodness.

I talked with him (not to him) about how his lifestyle was scaring his parents and siblings and that they lived in fear of his further deterioration and how that was so damaging the lives of others. He said by then he needed drugs to cope with his self esteem issues. He was also trapped by then with his social group, saying he would have to stop seeing all his friends as they were all users, so if he gave up he would have no social life and no friends, as they would not understand or support his wanting to step away from drugs. He said he could not cope with the loneliness and isolation and the social rejection of his ‘friends’ if he did not conform.

Its almost impossible to overcome the ego issues of addicts both alcoholics and drug users. They either fear to deal with their own vulnerability issues or get on the much worse band wagon of ‘We users are special people, innately superior to non users”. I have come across 3 addicts with that smug superior attitude, with no awareness of how that makes them look total ego manics to others.

I thought the guy I knew might change when his friend died of alcohol abuse at less than 35. Apparently the whole social crowd were stunned and shocked at his death, very ‘How could that possibly have happened?’ He said it made them all think about their lives. As far as I could tell they were all back on the drink and drugs in less than a week.

Last I heard he was finally going to counselling (good for him, I admire him for finally going), he would have been late 30’s by then. No idea if it worked out for him. I hope it did, as he wanted a partner and kids but the substance abuse had taken most of his chances by then and I suspect the memory damage and significant irrational paranoia were probably permanent. Shame as you could see underneath it all, there had been a really nice bloke in there. I used to wonder what responsibility his parents felt, given he was hooked on drugs by 14.

The 30 year old version must have been soul destroying for his parents and siblings. Every phone call must have sent a chill of ‘Is this the overdose call?, Is he dead?’ Living like that as a family must be beyond awful. I can’t even imagine the stress levels, the scarring of his families day to day lives.

Another person discussing their own past told me if they had been able to finance drugs, they would have become an addict and that in retrospect they were lucky to have been broke. They said drugs give you the illusion of feeling better about yourself (particularly cocaine) and also the social sense of belonging to a ‘group’. You want more and more to feel like this ‘better’ version of yourself and as a result hate the real you more and more. It does not seem unrealistic at the time to keep running forever towards this fantasy version of ‘you’ that in reality is just you becoming a pitiful drug addicted mess in other peoples eyes.

It was so sad you know, to watch a nice bloke of 30 going down the pan on a long, long slide from his teens.

“staff parking permits at the uni where i work are about £1.75 a week!!!”

You were lucky, both in price and in being able to park at all.

Sorry about the formating on my prev post, I dont post on here much these days and have screwed it up.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jul/04/cambridge-teaching-staff-to-protest-over-insecure-work

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/16/part-time-lecturers-on-precarious-work-i-dont-make-enough-for-rent

Try to find out if the staff are worn out, desperate or likely to have to change jobs mid course too.

Another thing to think of is the long term viability of your course. In the last 2 years I have seen 3 different cafes with ads in the windows for waiting staff. All 3 said the prospective waiters had to

already

be in possession of a degree.

What job does your child plan to get with his/her degree? Think with care. The days of automatic good jobs and pay with any old degree are very long gone. £40,000 plus debt is a lot to owe to work in a cafe. Ask a few shop staff etc if they have been to Uni, its scary how many have good degrees.

Schools idealise Uni and sell that idea to the kids as it looks good on the schools stats to have X number of pupils go on to higher/further education. All education now is for the benefit of the school or Uni, very long time since the child has been of any value at all except as a means to a governments ends.

In our place the student guides were told exactly what to say and not to deviate from it (they got paid to do the tours). I know at least one got reported to the tour leader for going off script in an unfavourable way. Uni now care about money and statistics, not people. I was glad to get out, it was turning into a dirty trade from one I was once proud to be part of.

If you get chance investigate the student cafes and eating places. Try to get chatting discretely with any students or staff still hanging around who are not involved in the official tours. Do not repeat what they say to anyone or they might be formally criticised for going off script.

An important thing to look at is transport to the site – even staff are discouraged or refused parking these days so you are totally vulnerable to public transport and fares. That can be make or break due to costs and available routes over the years ahead. Check these out before committing and remember councils are finding it increasingly impossible to subsidise some routes due to government austerity project. This stuff can also affect where you are able to live.

A lot of new student accommodation has irresponsible (in my view) wooden cladding (cheap decoration/insulation). Think of Grenfall when you look for places to stay. Wood burns well, much student accommodation is now in clad blocks of flats on campus.

Authorities backtracking already…

Mon 24 Dec 2018 12.02 GMT
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/dec/24/suggestion-that-drone-did-not-exist-down-to-poor-communications

“Suggestions that there may never have been a drone at Gatwick Airport were down to “poor communications” rather than a genuine possibility that the incident was baseless, police have told the government.”

“However, following the call, a government source said police accepted that there had been a communications failure.”

“There were more than 200 drone sightings, and police had taken 67 statements, including from police officers and airport workers.”

“It is understood that the Cabinet Office minister, David Lidington, pressed for the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence to update their rapid deployment protocol for signing off requests for military assistance.

The police and the Home Office were said to be working together to amplify the message that flying drones near airports is illegal.”

Not sure that will make a big difference – is there anyone in the UK who does not already know its both illegal and a stupid thing to do?

“Plenty of records of things which are almost certainly mass delusions.”

I can understand mass misinterpretation of something seen, of mistaking what you see, but not people seeing something that was never there at all.

It was not even a massed event, say a religious gathering for example, where a load of over excited people were all in the same location doing the same thing, promoting some kind of mass hysteria.

Reports must have come in from many locations and over a longish period.

I think they are back tracking / creating doubt and confusion to try and cover up a paid ransom or perhaps even as simple as trying to ‘downgrade’ the threat retrospectively, as the government is looking so bad over this event (no awareness of drone issues despite it being obvious, no planning, no military call in within a sensible time frame, possibility even the military were not adequately equipped etc).

There was no genuine threat at all, so the government were right not to pre-plan…

“Detective Chief Superintendent Jason Tingley added there was no available footage of the drones.”

“Asked about speculation there was never a drone, he said: “Of course, that’s a possibility. We are working with human beings saying they have seen something.
“Until we’ve got more clarity around what they’ve said, the detail – the time, place, direction of travel, all those types of things – and that’s a big task.”

23/12/2018 17:36 GMT
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/possibility-there-was-no-drone-activity-detective-says_uk_5c1fc27fe4b0407e907c2cd7?utm_hp_ref=uk-homepage

I find this puzzling, they only had around 50 sightings of the drone (that we know of) presumably a fair number from airport staff.

If anyone reported a sighting, esp given the seriousness of the ongoing situation, would you not ask at the time of it being reported where and when it was seen and what it was doing?

If there are so very many individual reports that it becomes a “big task” to collate the information then either the area is teeming with droves of liars and fantasists or people actually saw something. I find the police statement really odd.

How many people saw an emergence of the drone some time that day? At least 50 reports were made, but thats not a huge list of info to deal with, especially as you would see the police as practiced at handling huge amounts of info during cases.

If for arguments sake 10 people saw every emergence that would be a max of 500 reports which would seem more to have to study and collate, but if 500 people said they saw one, why would you even doubt the drone/s existed?

“This could have been dealt with very quickly”

I don’t think so, or they would have. Its pretty clear they just do not have the equipment available to deal with such a situation, not even some kind of tracker drone to lock on and follow the problem one.

Unless they were discouraged by some unknown statement or factor from tackling the drone, this situation is horrifying, given drones have been openly developing for years now and that companies like Amazon are working to develop package delivery services with them (to carry significant weights).

Personally, I would say they have restarted flights because of one of the following:
– someone informed the authorities the ‘event’ had finished
– they have located someone controlling the drone but do not want to inform the public
– or most likely, someone paid up a ransom but they hope to catch the perpetrator later.

Thanks for info, interesting.

Live updates here

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/gatwick-flights-disruption-live-updates-as-drone-sightings-cause-busy-airports-runway-to-close-a4022201.html

“All those people talking about hot swapping batteries etc – have you clocked exactly how little sighting we are talking about? I’d be amazed if the drones used have been in the air for more that 10 minutes in total in the last 24 hours.”

The only drones I have any knowledge of have batteries that last about 20 mins, which does not seem a lot, but then they are only consumer photography drones. What sort of flight time do commercials have on a standard battery?

How many million of pounds is being lost by the airport and air companies, per hour? Would make a big ransom look cheap perhaps?

I don’t think this is actavists.

For one, no one seems to be proclaiming ownership and activists are generally seeking publicity for their cause.

For two, this level of behaviour will destroy sympathy for their cause, even if its something along the lines of climate or pollution of some kind.

I wonder if they are refuelling the drones by very noisy locations, so the engines cannot be heard as they take off and land.

If they are self charging or carrying bulk batteries, I wonder if it would increase the radius they can operate in by much, esp if they are pre programmed.

I wonder if they have an ‘inside man’ at the airport, would seem a possible.

As no one is being killed (as in terrorists) its got to be for money, the expenditure and planning on this is too high for anything else in my view.

I wonder if this is a ransom situation?

No drones brought down because either they hope to track the perpetrators via the drones and they want the perpetrators enough to leave the drones flying or because the airport has been told there is a hazard present on the drones that would become an issue if the drones were attacked – which could easily be a bluff as who could tell?

Puzzling is that the drones must be coming down for battery replacements unless they are industrial size in order to carry extra power packs?

Drones are not exactly quiet, so why is no one hearing the taking off and landing of them?

I am alarmed there seems to be no planning for a drone situation and that it took so long for the military to be openly present / called in. Still, they cant even stop them doing drops at prisons can they… despair.

Colleague did a charity jump. Off work for 9 months with crushed vertebrae and damaged ankle. She was very lucky not to be paralysed and in a chair the rest of her life. Still having health issues 2 years later. She was the lucky one though, another colleague who had done multiple jumps did not survive his last jump and splatted at the side of an airfield.

Got to ask, is looking at a view worth this? How would you and your family feel about life in a wheelchair or forking out for a funeral for the bits gathered up?

More importantly, is putting your loved ones through huge anxiety each time you jump worth ‘the thrill’ ?

Its really not nice having a colleague killed for no good reason, not nice at all.

Not all conifer hedges are leylandi. Some where I grew up were of slow growing conifers. I would suggest taking a bit to a tree nursery or a real garden centre (not those that are basically general shopping centres) and getting them to confirm. Take a photo of the whole tree along as well.

Should they be draining and flushing the system in addition to the filter fitting?

Thanks for the original post.

I have known quite a few people who have been on long term antidepressants and 3 that have been on them over 10 years. My observations are not intended to cover 100% of people on antidepressents, but do, in my personal experience, cover the majority I have personally known.

People get trapped in rubbish jobs where they are unappreciated or undermined in various forms. People get trapped in personal lives where they are unappreciated, undermined, suffer from poor communication or are otherwise unhappy. Some of us, at some point in our lives get trapped in both situations at the same time.

I have seen people in both circumstances struggle off to the doctor. Generally they are immediately offered pills on the grounds the pills ‘will help’. Not mentioned is that they are fast to dispense, cheaper than councelling and get the patient out of the office.

it is implied genuine life change should be deferred and practical support for such change is almost non existent. Unhappy people are told that being depressed is intrinsic to them and therefore unavoidable, or that after having been on the antidepressants for months or even longer it might help them start to work through their problems… eventually. There is very little emphasis on what can be changed by the person themselves right away or in the very near future. So in reality people remain unsupported, in unchanged unhappy situations counting on pills to make things appear better. Pills becomes part of the process of learning to tolerate, accept and indeed expect that life is always miserable and we are powerless to change that. The option offered is not to challenge that belief, but to zone out on medication as the escape.

People are lazy, fearful, cling to familiarity and dislike change (yes, I do include me in that).

Often attempts at positive self change by an individual are resisted by the work place or by family or friends – “why move Fred to a new position we will just have to go through a recruitment process, we should stay together for the childrens sake they don’t notice our rows, you will never get another job, I cant believe you are prepared to take a pay cut” etc etc

So nothing genuinely changes. People remain unhappy. They take more pills. They then take more medication to counter the side effects of some of the antidepressents.

I know 3 people who have been on antidepressants and tolerated related side effects for over 10 years. In that time not one of them has tried to change jobs they hate/attempted to adjust unhappy personal lives. In conversation its “but I can cope with this while I am on my pills, I don’t need to change things”. All 3 of them have been hostile and resistant to any reduction of dosage let alone coming off and are not even curious about trying a lower dose, to even see if anything has improved in their heads over the 10 years of life they have been on the medication.

Some people are mentally ill and do need medication and this is not aimed at them, but many many people who take antidepressants are using it as an opt out from making worthwhile but intimidating change in their lifestyle. It is equally the fault of the (underfunded) medical system. No doctor should be legally permitted to prescribe antidepressants without the patient first completing a decent length of counseling to identify what is really wrong and get support in changing it.

There is too much profiteering in the manufacture of pills and too much financial pressure on the NHS to take the cheap route of pills over counseling and huge chunks of peoples lives are being wasted because of it, never mind the significantly increased risk of suicide which is known to be linked to some families of pills.

In some ways I am grateful for having met people on long term antidepressants. When I got health issues myself I was offered antidepressants but held out for counseling. I could see the people on pills tended to not change their lives and therefore had very much longer term unhappiness than those who took stuff for a very short strictly defined period, or those chose to take nothing at all, as the last 2 groups tended to adjust life to a better quality thereby curing the source of depression instead of muffling it.