Bonus

The last few days have been wet enough for me not to be able to go to work - but dry enough to shoot out for a couple of hours if I time it right! Todays ride included a singletrack section through "The Badlands". Normally there's a well worn "line" that you can follow at speed. Currently, due to lots of rain and almost no one riding the trails, the line is gone. Not a major problem until you get to a blind rise with a left or right turn on its peak - where a clue would be nice!! Anyway I'm happy to be out . . . . .

Sounds like the exact reason you never buy a second hand car that was previously driven by a sales Rep! (or Sarel vd Merwe) The A350 has Rolls Royce engines I think? I recently was surprised to read that some of RR's engines (not sure which) actually transmit data back to Rolls Royce all the time they are active. If a plane develops a problem mid-flight, Rolls Royce can "log on" so to speak and study the engines performance in detail no matter where in the world (or sky) the engine happens to be.

This article discusses the A340's in detail. https://simpleflying.com/saa-a340-sale/

When this was first mentioned I did think to myself "there's an opportunity for the dodgiest of SAA deals/cons yet!". Shut the thing down, allow those who've stollen millions to walk away, then allow the same people to "buy the business back for a Rand" all at the expense of the tax payer . . . . .

Including the new ones SAA just took delivery of?

Onto the last two episodes of Better Call Saul Season 5 now, and we have Fleabag Season 2 ready to watch...

Automatic Car - Tuck your left foot RIGHT UNDER THE SEAT! Or you'll be in trouble :-(

Yep. Remember that one too. Awful. The jet cartwheeling into the crowd and showering people with burning fuel. Truly horrible.

I remember seeing the Fairford accident on the TV News. The pilots were luck to walk away!

Remembering last summer! The long, light, warm evenings are nearly here again and I'm looking forward to it. Our restaurants have been allowed to open this week. Outside seating only and with a space between tables, but it's a step in the right direction!

Yep, without a seat belt, when the plane drops but you stay "where you are" you're in trouble!

I distinctly remember the Air France flight climbing to get over bad weather - you could hear the engine note change.

I've been watching Youtube videos of various planes hitting Turbulence. I've had a few bumpy rides over the years but nothing like some of the videos show! Almost every overnight flight between SA and Europe that I've ever been on has had a "rough patch" in the middle - as you fly over the hot African "Centerlands". Cold sweat time for me! The three most memorable bad occasions were: On an SAA flight, a B747 flying south. I was only a few rows from the very back of the plane and we spent an hour flying through some heavy weather where the plane was fish-tailing like I couldn't believe. Had never experienced that left/right motion before but apparently the 747 was known for it thanks to its huge tail fin. On an Air France flight south, (during the day actually) on a B777ER - we hit some bad air and dropped like a stone, twice. I loved the daylight flight because with a window seat you could actually see us weaving slowly between the Thunderheads! The two drops were bad though and when we landed in SA people clapped. I'd never seen that before. On a Virgin Atlantic flight flying north - an A340-600 - the plane hit some slightly rough weather over Botswana, just a bit of chop really, but over and over..... and it lasted until we crossed the Mediterranean after Algeria 9 hrs later! All night long. The problem with "light turbulence" is that you know it usually precedes heavier turbulence, so you're on edge waiting for it to happen...… Couple of things I have learned over the years - It takes an hour or so of slight bumping around for my body to "get used to it" and after that I'm sort of OK (in Spanish they say "Custombre") with the unusual movement of it. It takes very little actual bumpiness to adversely affect me - I've driven at speed down dirt roads in SA in a bakkie and had it 100 times worse, without a care in the world. I guess it's as much about "being in control" as anything? I always wear my seat belt. Every second I'm in my seat I'm belted in, just a bit looser in the night but still buckled up! I am aware that in anything but the most severe of storms the plane is actually going to be ok. Even when it looks like the wings are "flapping a fair bit" and that flashing light out there on the end of the wing is going up and down - it's fine...….. Onwards and upwards eh? :-)

What's the worst that could happen? ;-)

This Weir always remonds me of Northern Farm . . . .

First "Post Lockdown" Ride today and it was amazing! A couple of hours of MTB on my local trails. We've been allowed to go out and exercise for a week now but today was my first chance to get out. Nothing too serious - was just nice to get out and spin the legs. Saw a few other people out - some jogging and some riding, but Ainsa town itself was deserted apart from a couple of people outside the pharmacy. Was certainly a lovely day for it!

2 years before he became James Bond but 12 years after he started in films by the looks of it, and I don't recognise many of his previous films. His first film: "The Power of One is a 1992 drama film loosely based on Bryce Courtenay's 1989 novel of the same name. Set in South Africa during World War II, the film centers on the life of Peter Philip Kenneth-Keith, an English South African boy raised under apartheid, and his conflicted relationships with a German pianist, a Coloured boxing coach and an Afrikaner romantic interest. Directed and edited by John G. Avildsen, the film stars Stephen Dorff, John Gielgud, Morgan Freeman, Armin Mueller-Stahl, and Daniel Craig in his feature film debut."

Watched Layercake the other day for the first time. :-)

Just finished Better Call Saul S4. We're busy working out where on the Breaking Bad timeline we would be now - with the underground lab being built.

Saw a similar one years ago.... Visitor to an abattoir "How do you stun the cows" Worker "We tell them that private schools in the UK pay no tax becasue they're registered as chariities"

Flyby . . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa7hsRv8-Js

You and Whackhead Simpson . . . . . :-)

Good luck man! Keep us posted.

I saw the An-225 display at Farnbourgh many years ago. It turns so slowly you'd think it would drop out the sky but the wing area is massive and it just hangs there. A very cool machine.

I'd go see that! :-)