Amateur Ramblings

Fade to Green

We voted last night. As usual, I seemed to be the only person in my office who planned to do so. Actual turnout was a little better.

I wasn't sure who I would vote for until polling day itself. I certainly knew who I wouldn't be voting for. In the end, it came down to the Liberal Democrats or the Alliance for Green Socialism. We both chose the latter, and it turns out that each of our votes constituted more than 1% of the 92 votes received by Allan House.

I am so disappointed that the BNP candidate, Mark Collett, received over 20% (over 900) of the popular vote. His openly racist policies don't even seem to have any relevance to our area of Leeds.

A plot too far.

This week saw the end of our twelve-month dabble in the world of allotments. Despite all the hours I put in last Autumn, I didn't get the feeling that sufficient headway was being made. I hardly visited over Christmas, although I did put in some Garlic and Winter Onions. Storms in January and February caused significant damage to the greenhouse (which shift back a foot and twisted, causing numerous panes to pop out), and I think blew away any remaining interest in trying to maintain the plot. I definitely would like to have an allotment in the future, but until then I will have to be content with growing herbs and cherries in our back garden.

Last weekend some friends came over and took away the the shed (which we discover had been broken into*), the greenhouse, and various allotment paraphernalia to their plot over on Dewsbury Road. So at least things have gone to a good, if slightly more urban**) home.

I'd like to thank everyone who has helped us over the last twelve months, especially Andrew Davies for helping to erect the shed, and Gemma's Dad for helping to transport this over from Wakefield; Martin, for all the help with the greenhouse; and my Mum and Dad for the tools, seedlings, digging and advice.

*Our wheelbarrow was taken, and was used to assist in the stealing of a number of rotavators.
**When we got to their plot, they discovered a used syringe in their unlocked shed.

The antidote to quiz-show hosts

Sad news about Humphrey Lyttleton, who has died aged 86.

The way of the Romans

The many small brainwrongs of people always amuse and frustrate me in equal measure. Over the past week or so I have been observing how familiarity breeds contempt.

Between York Road and Marsh Lane, I use Shannon Street to shave a couple of seconds off of my journey time. Many drivers do the same. At least, they did until last Monday, when the city-bound end of the street was blocked off. two signs on York Road explained this change, and there are no less than five 'road closed' signs on Shannon Street. Yet I was able to watch car after car driving right up to the new no entry signs before their drivers actually realised their route was blocked.

Also, I believe that one of the biggest signs of our impending extinction as a race is the increasing failure of pedestrians to press the button at pelican crossings. People seem to be forgetting that this simple action actually stops the traffic and allows them to cross the road safely, rather than waiting for minutes for a suitable gap between the cars (or for someone like me to come along and press the button).

Scrape

The final posting in this weeks 'Take-offs and Landings' series is the recent footage of a Lufthansa flight from Munich making it's first attempt to land at Hamburg during Hurricane Emma. Even though it's left wing scrapped the tarmac, I understand that it successfully touched-down on the second attempt.

Can't see the sky for the trees

I remember this when it was on the news. On June 26, 1988, a new Air France Airbus A320-100 was involved in an air-show when it crashed into a wood. I was surprised to learn that 3 people died and 50 were injured; I wouldn't have thought that planes doing stunts would be carrying passengers...

This film contains five different videos of decreasing quality. Click here for an interesting summary of the crash.

Ups and Downs

The absence of wind-socks means that the wind speed cannot be gauged, but I'm guessing that there is a fairly stiff breeze along this runway; it's amazing to see how little tarmac is actually needed to get a plane into the air.

Via A Welsh View.

Ski Slopes

Courchevel is an area in the French Alps, which comprises of a number of differently altituded villages, all called Courchevel followed by the height in metres above sea level. There's Courchevel 1300, Courchevel 1500, Courchevel 1650 and Courchevel 1850 (which is actually only 1750 metres above sea level).

Courchevel airport has something of a reputation amongst pilots, and today's video shows why. Not only does the runway feature a 18.5% incline, planes have to make sure that they hit the short landing strip and not the sheer rock-face that faces them for the duration of the descent.

Via A Welsh View.

Take-Offs and Landings

This weekend, I have been thinking a lot about travel; we have two actual proper holidays coming up this summer. In light of this, I will be mostly posting videos of interesting take-offs and landings.

First up, St Barts airport, which is on the main island of the Collectivity of Saint-Barthélemy in the French West Indies. The approach to the runway takes planes just feet above a main road (or the sea, depending on which way one lands):

More here. Via A Welsh View.

Vinyl Countdown

I love Vinyl Sleeve Heads, a collection of images which seem to expand the covers of record sleeves into the realm of the everyday.

More here. Via Yadogg.