skykittykat

I agree, although the media has a HUGE part to play in all of this. The media villified Charles for having an affair, but not Princess, Diana of Wales, because she was attractive and young, whereas he was older, not attractive and his mistress was older than him and not at all attractive. It is a well known fact that Diana was the first person in that marriage to commit adultary and had Charles been King at that time, it would have been treason on her part. I think that anyone, regardless of age, social standing, etc, is entitled to a happy life and living their life with their true love. The only instance I agree with abdication was the Wallis Simpson episiode as both Wallis and Edward were Nazi Sympathisers and their union brough politics into it. Camilla, for all her media related ills, has never mentioned her politics. Liz p.s. One of my mother/fathers' friends is very close to Camilla and I won't say who due to prying eyes.

Nah, mid April... How about doing the old fashioned thing like jumping out of planes Liz

I may not be cool, but I'll be around and will jump with her! Liz

Apologies, but I haven't read through the whole of this thread, but I feel strongly about this and posted Many villages/people rely on the hunting season as it is during winter. Think of a village where there is the local pub, the B & B's, the local garage, the local store - they all count on the hunters and their families/friends as they give them business during the winter months - there are hardly any tourists at this time of year. There are also the people employed at the stables, kennels and estates. Hunting dogs cannot be made into pets. I went out with a pig hunter once and one of his bitches had a litter of puppies - he banned me from having contact with the puppies other than watering/feeding them as they were born to be hunting dogs. About the foxes - I bet if the "liberal Londoners" saw an urban fox in their back garden going for their little lap dog/cat, etc, they would be the first to call out the exterminaters and calling them vermin. The whole situation sets my teeth on edge - champagne socialist townies having a go at the countryside and abusing a law that was put in place to protect the nation to do it. Liz

My cousin used to be a F1 racer and my father's cousin set up the deal for Frank Williams' team. F1 is mainly the glamour and the culture. I think that F1 has been associated with the upper classes in Europe as when it started, it was only people with money/glamour who could do it . The culture in Europe is way different from the States - there is much more glamour associated with sports than in America. To be fair there is the Indiannopolis race on F1 now... NASCAR is accessible to everyone. Grab a beer in the tailgate and all that! Liz

Also, welcome to the forums. There is a quote in skydiving that I was told when I was a newbie: "There is no such thing as a stupid question, only a stupid answer" Enjoy your AFF. Liz

Emergencies only... Hammer and and small chisel (or such like implement) and if your technique is good, no glass or cork will break. Bottoms Up!!! Liz

And in the Isle of Man. Arizona had a tornado warning out again today and severe weather warnings in most of it's counties. Pinal county (where Eloy is situated) did escape - we had our bad rain last night when everyone was in sleepy land. Liz

The Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict a Riot Brought back good memories

It is, I can't eat it at all which is great for my diet. You know what I really miss about home - British humour, Private Eye magazine, cheap, cheap flights to mainland Europe, the papers, international rugby games shown live, selection of fruit/vegetables in the supermarkets, decent hairdressers (I refuse to drive 1 hour to Phoenix coz I'm not that vain!). What I don't miss is the weather, local council red tape, working, driving 1 hour to a dz and drinking coffee all weekend on the ground coz the weather sucks. OK, so I seem to miss more than I don't, but I do prefer here. Liz

Okay, Mr Pedantic, I stand corrected. Liz

While you can't jump due to the weather, ask someone at the dz to teach you to pack and then spend all day practising. At my old dz in the UK, we used to have packing days when the weather was bad as all students there have to learn to pack during AFF as there were no packers. Not only will you get more confident, but you will end up with more knowledge of how your gear is set up and works. Liz

I'm Scottish/Manx and living in Eloy. Liz

I put forward Kirk Verner.. Not only has he over 20,000 jumps, but he is so humble. Every skydive is a learning experience for him (his words) and he is an awesome instrutor. Kirk imparts all the knowledge that he has paid/trained for, for free and he personally follows all his "students". Liz

To quote American slang - Enough Already. What I see is that DJan has done her job as a RD in investigating an incident that others have tried to cover up. If you do something illegal, accept it, apologise and suffer the consequences - don't try and lay it on someonce else. Take responsibiltiy for your actions. Liz

You also have Dom's arse Check out the Women's forum..... Liz

A girl just showed up last year for a few days and went around saying weird stuff - one of the last things she said before being kicked off was that she was going to kill people. Most people leave their stuff in the hangar which is locked up, but while she was around, most of us took our gear home after jumping. She wasn't a jumper. We don't know where she came from or why she just pitched up. Liz

Are you getting all shy there Dom?? You guys rocked as to how well you all got on as a team, oh and the skydiving was pretty good as well Without letting out the "secret" - all the Storm peeps are cool and a lot of fun and it is a pleasure knowing you all. Liz

The 21 score round by Airspeed rocked!!!! The Seals were the medal stealers! We asked them to go Intermediate..... Our team - Simply Smokin' - sucked, but hey it was made up of 2 local teams from the A class 4-way - Norfolk 'n' Chance and No Uspa. You know what, it was great fun!!!! After posting a 1.2 average in Open, we got a special mention for the Sympathy Vote. We had a blast.

You can go on the waiting list and they will let you know on 15 Feb. Liz

Doubt anyone will have gone to any of my schools though, seeing as i live in South Africa. *** Same situation, though not South Africa... Buchan School - Isle of Man '77 - '87 St Georges' School - Switzerland '87 - '91 Waiariki Poly - New Zealand '95 - '96 Liz

Exotic Sky Adventures boogies - they rock and from what I hear, the Lost Prairie boogie is awesome. Liz

I am ashamed to admit to not knowing the answer, but if it is true, then it is quite ironic as King Henry VIII created the Church of England so he could divorce his first wife.... Liz

I got it through the American Embassy in London. If you check out your American Embassy in Germany on line, then it will give you the details and you can download the forms. You have to go for an interview (it is just with the guy behind a glass screen!) and they decide then and there if you are successful. Basically you have to show that you can support yourself for the time that you are here. As it was London, the date of the interview was about 3-4 weeks away from when I phoned to set it up. I got my visa and passport back 2 days after the Embassy visit. Liz

Hi there Rule no.1 - pick your entry airport carefully. Some airports are tougher than others, eg Housten and Philadelphia (to be avoided at all costs) . Orlando and Phoenix are very skydive friendly and also tourist friendly. Miami is also pretty good. LA and NY can be tougher. When answering questions, if you say that you are here to spend money skydiving, they love that, plus in your case you are not lying! If you look as though you are working, then immigration will be tougher on you. I would suggest getting a B1/B2 visa as you seem to travel here a lot - it cuts out a lot of the hassle and you can stay up to 6 months at a time without having a return ticket. I got more hassle on 90 day visas than on my current B1/B2 visa, even though I was only over here for a couple of weeks at a time. Now I stay 4 months, leave for a bit and come back. I'm not working here, so have nothing to hide at immigration. I doubt you will get many problems over the boogie, especially as you will have a ticket out of the country when you come back in. Hope this helps a bit. Liz