The totally off-topic thread

[TheRealTMA]

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It was my birthday today and I received this small plant, let’s hope it lasts for many birthdays to come.

Happy Birthday, BB. Now don’t be prickly about your presents. At least you got one (some).

Edit: spelling

 

[Quickstatus]

Jeez, its big:

a floating city.. welcome to the future… but a bit dirty with all the smoke.. so much for clean ships

Smoke is the least of worries. Watch out for Gastro city.... Norovirus... P&O Throat...

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

Smoke is the least of worries. Watch out for Gastro city.... Norovirus... P&O Throat...

Capacity: 4,905 passengers (maximum occupancy) MS Ovation of the Seas is a cruise ship operating for Royal Caribbean International (RCI).

 

[Quickstatus]

Capacity: 4,905 passengers (maximum occupancy) MS Ovation of the Seas is a cruise ship operating for Royal Caribbean International (RCI).

Royal Caribbean recently had a Gastro outbreak:
Cruise ship undergoing 'full barrier sanitation cleaning' after 24 fall ill

But to be fair it’s not cruise line company specific. Mostly despite all sanitation measures, it’s the clientele who bring it onboard.

 

[JohnK]

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It was my birthday today and I received this small plant, let’s hope it lasts for many birthdays to come.

Happy birthday. A year older and wiser? Take good care of the plant.

 

[OZDUCK]

That sounds like luxury. When I was at high school classroom heaters were briquet ones. I remember a poor temporary teacher stood too close and burnt a hole in her skirt. .

Adding to the Monty Python theme. Briquet heaters - luxury. In Perth, in the late 1960's, the rooms at my High School that had a heater were wood fired - either open fireplaces or glass fronted freestanding space heaters. Admittedly they weren't used all that much.

And I still remember the day my friend threw a penny cracker into one. He hadn't thought it through very well as it exploded before he was even halfway back to his seat and made any protestations of innocence useless.

 

[serfty]

...
Not sure which part was the"little jigger" but could have been the on/off switch in the gas heater.

Your "little jiggers" were piezoelectric sparkers used to ignite the gas.

Piezoelectricity - Wikipedia

The thousands of volts (no guts) generated could be used to confound the electronics of an arcade machine.

 

[ALH]

Flat tyre on Hubbys brand new ute.

Phone NRMA and hubby hides while guy changes tyre or be a man and admit you just don't care to change it yourself and get monies worth out of NRMA membership?

I’ve had similar situations when Hubbys car wouldn’t start. He would take my car to work instead and I’d have to wait for RACQ. Then stand and listen to the condescending lecture about keeping battery water topped up etc

 

[Flashback]

We really need a hug button.

There are worse things in life, of course! We were glad we set out early this morning, managed to walk to Europa point (about 5 miles all up from our hotel as we're staying on the Spanish side) and get back just as the heavens opened. Hoped to take the cable car up the rock but too windy, has been closed for 2 days now - maybe tomorrow then! There has been some pretty wild weather today, amazing gusts of wind and oh boy, the rain! First BA flight today was cancelled but second made it - saw it land on the runway from our room. Fingers crossed for good weather tomorrow as not overly keen on a bus back to Malaga and flying out of there and getting home at some ungodly hour

 

[ALH]

I learnt how to change a tyre as part of the police driving training wing as a 21 year old coz it ain’t seemly for uniformed coppers to be calling the RAA. Plus we had to do it in a certain time.

When I first started driving (in the NT), my dad made sure I could change a tyre (and do a roadside repair/patch), jump start a car, fix a muffler, clean Points etc and even change the oil. No mobile phones in those days to call anyone.

 

[Flashback]

AFF Community News.... tut tut QF WP, who let your Q&A through without editing! Suspect it will drive some more members here though.

Q: Favourite thread on AFF?
A: The totally off-topic thread. It's one I started in December 2005 and is the longest continuously running thread. It's taken on a life of its own. Some very interesting discussions on any subject, ones that don'r rate their own thread or aren't flying related.

 

[ALH]

My cousins husband was killed changing a tyre on a street in Sydney many years ago.

This happened just recently to a young man on the Gold Coast Highway. He had pulled over into a repair lane and called his parents.

We passed the scene on our way back from seeing some fellow AFFers weekending on the GC.

It brought back some terrible memories for me.

 

[Flashback]

When I first started driving (in the NT), my dad made sure I could change a tyre (and do a roadside repair/patch), jump start a car, fix a muffler, clean Points etc and even change the oil. No mobile phones in those days to call anyone.

Just a long walk to a pay phone!

 

[ALH]

My record for mending tyres is 5 in a day. My record for fixing typos is considerably more!

Watched my dad do 17 patches in one day. Travelling from Tennant Creek to Darwin, back around 1966. Frustrating beyond imagination. I remember a lot of time sitting at the side of the road with the heat and the flies in those days.

We then moved on to 5 years of four wheel driving in Gove. We spent our weekends getting bogged.

Had a great childhood

 

[ALH]

Just a long walk to a pay phone!

A what now?

 

[ALH]

Hubbys hobbies are expensive. I use to joke that a mistress would be cheaper.

Not if he combines the two

 

[VPS]

When I first started driving (in the NT), my dad made sure I could change a tyre (and do a roadside repair/patch), jump start a car, fix a muffler, clean Points etc and even change the oil. No mobile phones in those days to call anyone.

My dad was the same, if you can't change you're own tyre you're not going anywhere

 

[Pushka]

The worst experience we had with a tyre was in SA outback, Wilpena Pound I'd say twenty years ago. No mobiles at that time. The rear tyre was absolutely shredded. It was Easter, 6pm. Cold. We had the kids with us. No one else around. We both knew how to change the tyre so we didnt panic as darkness closed in. We just got to do the work, we both knew what we had to do. We just hoped the spare was ok and that the jack behaved. Kids - early teen and 8 year old just watched as we did our work. Thankfully all sorted within half an hour. Kids were impressed. MrP and I just looked at each other thinking - how the F did we manage to pull that one off!

 

[Tonkatough]

Apologies for the ad hoc question - I'm sure the answer is there somewhere....
But I've searched and searched in AFF and Googled but just can't find the different posting membership levels eg. newbie, junior member, intern, established member.....
The last link I found was in July 2011: The totally off-topic thread
But I think they may have changed since then?

 

[Bindibuys]

I had to know how to do grease & oil change, adjust the brakes & change tyres before my father would give me the keys (and loan repayment book) to my first car - 76 Leyland Mini. Yes, I am a truckers daughter