Snapper

This is an old cheese finely served for your delight. Pass the crackers.... Top this for a speeding ticket... Two British traffic patrol officers from North Berwick were involved in an unusual incident while checking for speeding motorists on the A1 Great North Road. One of the officers used a hand-held radar device to check the speed of a vehicle approaching over the crest of a hill, and was surprised when the speed was recorded at over 300 mph. Their radar suddenly stopped working and the officers were not able to reset it. Just then a deafening roar over the treetops revealed that the radar had in fact latched on to a NATO Tornado fighter jet which was engaged in a low-flying exercise over the Border district, approaching from the North Sea. Back at police headquarters the chief constable fired off a stiff complaint to the RAF Liaison office. Back came the reply in true laconic RAF style: "Thank you for your message, which allows us to complete the file on this incident. You may be interested to know that the tactical computer in the Tornado had detected the presence of, and subsequently locked onto, your hostile radar equipment and automatically sent a jamming signal back to it. Furthermore, an air-to-ground missile aboard the fully-armed aircraft had also automatically locked onto your equipment. Fortunately the pilot flying the Tornado recognized the situation for what it was, quickly responded to the missile systems alert status, and was able to override the automated defence system before the missile was launched and your hostile radar installation was destroyed. Good Day..."

I'll post some snaps eventually, they are marooned in my laptop at the moment and I have just bought one of them they exfernal odd drives to get them off in bulk. Once I've worked out how to understand the instructions, i'll plug it in. Exciting times in Barnes Towers.

Things are becoming clearer

Prisoners also built the London dock. One of the brandy stores survives and part of the vaulted basement holds the Times and Daily Sketch picture library. A lot of people have seen the compulsory ghost. Not sure if he wears complete Imperial Guard uniform or not. The rodents don't wear the uniform at all - and we've all seen them, here. Some are as big as.....mice.

No one will ever be entirely happy and a balance should be found. But we should be able to have fun with the mistakes they make. However, altering history is another matter altogether which is quite unforgivable...hence U571 being mentioned. But to balance, have you seen the Sound Barrier, a British film on the subject???? The Yanks were keeping quiet - for they had actually done it first and kept the fact secret. Interesting. I refer you to The Right Stuff. Long book and a long film. Or else read Chuck Yeager's autobiography. I chatted with a bloke on Op Bolero who had actually met the man and found him to be, shall we say, not the kindest of souls. This really upset me, but I wasn't surprised.

This is all getting very undignified. What was the old line? "He's uncouth...couth him". Yes, well I never had a Fisherman's Friend and certainly never a Fisherman's Pie. I think we've all gone a bit off topic since I started this thread. So I am bowing out. You lot can be as yobbish as you like and you can keep your bicycles.

Seems reasonable. Keep up the reports. It will be a challenge to keep the wolves at bay - because for every bloke like you there will be a scavenger. Perhaps Major Gus, who I presume is enjoying a bit of break working in London (go to Dalston gus and you'll think you are in Kabul again - albeit with a Woolworths) from his usual activities, might be interested. Technically the thing might still be US Army property??????????????????????

Most people think I am mad and a bit of a story teller cum Walter Mitty - but the sad, or good fact remains, I don't have to make things up about me - because it's all true. I used to try and make myself sound a bit more interesting when I was younger, but to be frank, I had no take on what the particular interesting I had in mind actually was. My drinking buddies and friends all see me as a harmless eccentric who happens to know a bit about guns and stuff. I've had a varied career either on the edge of or in some pretty wild industries and have been a keen observer and frequent pariticipant in all manner of nonsense. The most important things is to never tell lies about yourself, because they have a bad habit of rebounding. So, all in all - yes...my workmates do think I am mad. And sometimes (though you should never start a sentence with and I think they almost wish they were more like me.

EYE OF THE NEEDLE. Good fun. Poor old Munga. This is a great thread begun in spirit a while back by Lightweight with his need for Hollywood war film re-enactments. If you look in Battle of the Bulge you will see all manner of PW kit. We definitely need a database of these howlers. I am a great fan of films that mix everything up. Tobruk is a classic. US half tracks cut up to look like German Sd.Kfz7s. among other moments. Keep 'em coming. I think there are Ford Transits in Mosquito Squadron/633 Squadron. I also like The Train - the final scene of the Germans retreating has some great bits of American and German kit in hun colours. The Laffly field car sticks in mind. M

COUGH (not a sound effect).

A truly superb quarterly magazine - Stand To, and regular magazine style Bulletins. Branches all do their own thing. I really enjoy it. The frightening thing is the incredible knowledge of people within the organisation. I'm happily ignorant. M

I've got on to my WFA chairman about the trench maps. Will advise when he comes back. MB

Yes, there is. But my email at home has nightmares attaching snaps to HMVF - and I was in no shape to continue Friday - so surrendered in favour of antibiotics. I've got some stuff to catch up with.....Will report soon. MB

What a great fleet. More snaps please, Croc. Welcome aboard.

Here's another view of Red Cross Corner from last year taken by my mate John. We've only been back a few days from our latest epic and he's already given two families info on their ancestors thru genes reunited. He's that sort of bloke. We snap a lot of graves and the plain fact is that the more eccentric reading old fashioned names always appeal and they actually make easier people to trace. For example: How you could you ignore the likes of a teenaged Highlander called Ebenezer McJannet? The name is priceless, but he is someones son and more importantly now, someone's ancestor who needs remembering. Someone called Jackson is another matter. Sometimes it's the unit names, medals, or even the colours of the stone that attract my lens. These are quite apart from the characters of the war who are often recorded, some of whom have achieved a kind of superior status. Just last week I finally got the chance to visit the grave of the commanding general of the 34th Division, Edwin Charles Ingouville-Williams. He was known as Inky Bill by his troops and was a damned good man killed in action. There are so many to see.

I'll get on it when I can.

le chocolat chaud went down well after a long haul through Thiepval Wood. It was only 3c having been 15 the day before and my old bones were unimpressed. How the archaeologists stick it out is beyond me.

I'm working and would probably have gone to Southend anyway. I'm just back from a full week on the Somme and sorting ideas for 2008. Saying 'have a good time' seems incorrect, but you know what I mean.

I'll be there, vehicle or otherwise. If the Iltis finds a new home I'll be seeking a new toy in time for the summer. If the Iltis stays, you'll be just as sad to see me.

yes please Barry.

Andrew knows far more technically than me. I bought mine for pretty basic reasons, I liked the look of it and it was modern enough to suit having young kids in it. Now I am selling mine, so i will step away from my vehicle for a mo out of correctitude. The Iltis is good fun, I don't imagine it is much different to an LR (having never driven one) or anything similar in the class. Like Andrew says, bits come from abroad and VW UK have just stopped getting bits from their store. The main man for bits is Achim Wagner in Germany who appears to have bought up tons of spares when the things were sold off by the Bund. He can set prices and effectively control the market. The Iltis is a parts bin on wheels as Andrew says but the main drive train stuff is the prototype for the Quattro. The main reason the vehicle was not Audi badged was due to corporate branding policy. My Iltis is a converted deisel and runs on a Passat 1700tdi. It doesn't make it a rocket, but the staying power and strength is there. Rust is an issue - mine has a small hole in the bonnet - apparently they can go weak there. Fitting the roof takes patience. My vehicle is a roadworthy road legal motor that needs the TLC I do not have the time to offer it, which is a shame because I love the old tub like mad.

I'm 'off the drink' at the moment and even tea repels me, which is a VERY serious matter. If you saw the pile of medications I'm munching through, you would think I was running a pharmacy. Mental health issues have always been a problem; which is how I got free rein on HMVF in the first place. This is a paradise for nutters and malcontents - refuseniks, they call 'em. Once I'd done my stint cleaning the kitchens I was straight into controlling the club house biscuit supplies. But since tea has lost it's allure, I'm a bit lost at sea. It's all a bit hard to digest(ive).

This place is definitely getting like the masons. Cleaning the heads is one thing, rolling trouser legs is quite something else. But if it's the only way to clean the drains, then I volunteer Jack for the job. He's paying the ground rent. In any case I'm sure they've all gone Dynorod everywhere else - we don't want any of that nonsense here. There is no such thing as bad chocolate, except maybe Hershey bars and I had some very unsatisfying Czech made Cadbury's Dairy Milk once. Never even knew they had a factory out there. That's just the trouble with some people round here...all fur coat and no Snickers. Pass the Tomazopan....

Will do and if I get problems I'll ask our branch chairman. But I'm not able to do this immediately due to stuff. Will get back asap.

I have dim recollection of a Scammell Pioneer coming down our street when I was tiny. I had the Matchbox version.Otherwise it was the Schoolboys Exhibition at the Olympia in 1968. I sat in a Ferret and got to hold a Sterling. There was also a Mechano Empire State building which seemed huge and a cabinet that included all the major football trophies held in England at that time including the World Cup. I was a nine year old in paradise.