MikeJD

I don't suppose it's old enough to have a compact cassette player, is it? Because if it is, a cassette adaptor is a much better option - direct line feed from the iPod to the tape head. I had a Belkin FM transmitter for a while, and it seemed ok - the main reason I didn't persevere with it was because the FM airwaves are so crowded (largely with pirate stations!) - especially in London. I found it hard to tune to a frequency that would remain clear of interference if I drove more than a few miles. Depending on where your girlfriend's mother lives/ drives, that may not be so much of an issue.

Whether deliberate or not, you'd have to be incredibly insensitive not to notice how that design echoes the attacks. It's very similar to some of the most recognisable images of the century, worldwide. Is that enough reason not to build it? I don't think so. But I'd feel pretty uncomfortable in one of those outlying blocks. Especially in the event of an earthquake!

You beat me to it.

Wow, I guess those were the days

Well, there's a lot of irrelevant misogyny and macho posturing in this thread. And you forgot to ask if any women had skydived without their husbands knowing about it . But on the whole I'm with Squeak. If you really want to skydive then try to have a frank and reasonable discussion about it with your wife - and if that can't be done, have a heated one! But don't sneak off and jump behind her back. When it comes to the sport, I'm blessed with singledom - and past girlfriends have been jumpers, so it was never really an issue. But I get tired of hearing people's non-jumping partners being dismissed as the enemy just because they have their own priorities.

There's no such thing as a free dinner.

I've challenged myself to a whole lifetime. So far, so good!

Oh, don't even get me started on the snorers. No, seriously - so much of people's 'unhappiness' is self-inflicted. We seem to have lost all perspective - if we weren't all so determined to be irritated by every little thing, there'd be a lot less complaining going on!

Most skydiving accidents happen at ground level.

Just one of many benefits: another being that I can spell.

Sure they do. Haven't you seen 'Pushing Tin'? I'm sure that was a 100% accurate movie - right, John? :)

I guy can lift his own shirt, can't he? Personally I've been outed dozens of times. But that's down to the poor standard of spotting at my DZ.

Grand Caravans (and 'regular' Caravans!) are horrible in my book. They're relatively slow, they're generally uncomfortable to ride in and they have very limiting C of G rules. Unfortunately more and more UK DZs have been adopting them, and you're absolutely right - it all comes down to the cost. It's very hard to argue against that single-engine benefit. G92s are actually among my favourite jumpships - fast, with a big door and easy to launch from - but it comes down to how they're flown. I think the force of the slipstream isn't so much to do with the run-in speed as the propwash. If the pilot can reduce the power on that side during climbout and fly the aircraft out of trim, then it makes a big difference. I haven't jumped a PAC 750 - but that low tailplane does look a little intimidating, and I think gives away the fact that it's actually an adaptation rather than a purpose-designed skydiving aircraft. I think the PAC has pretty stringent C of G rules too, doesn't it?

Horse riding is a safe sport? Who knew?

I think if it's going to be useful to mention it, then it will probably be for your next job when you've been around the sport for longer and have more jumps under your belt. As a relative newbie you may just appear gung ho or reckless. After some time you've more chance of giving the impression that you can manage risk, assuming (fingers crossed) you've had no serious injuries. Hopefully you'll also have been part of a dedicated team, maybe even captained one, and have taken part in big organised events. On the rare occasions that skydiving comes up at work, my managers sometimes joke about adding it to the project risk register. When I tell them I've been doing it for nearly 20 years and I'm relatively unlikely to die on their watch, they tend to ease off a little!

Could be. Or maybe some udder reason.

I'm poorly qualified to judge on this because I've never made a night jump, but I'm going to stick my oar in anyway. From what I understand conditions on a full night jump, most especially the type of 'light', are quite different from those you get on a load that's just gone up a little too late in the day. So we're already compromised on validity. When 617 Squadron were training for the (night-time) Dambusters raid, much of their flying was actually done during the day with blue celluloid over the aircraft windows and the crew wearing amber-tinted goggles. I think this was to simulate moonlit conditions, but presumably other colours could be used depending on the requirement. This might be a silly suggestion, but if we want to give jumpers experience of reduced visibility or unusual light can we not just have them wear very heavily tinted goggles? Obviously we're talking about an exceptionally heavy tint, but they'd be easy enough to make. This seems a less risky, less complex solution to me: no need for the extra organisation or preparation that goes with night loads; full visibility for DZ staff on the ground so that they can watch jumpers open and find them should they land out; and if a jumper feels endangered under canopy, then the goggles come off. No goggles, no licence, of course, and there's the first problem - proving that you actually did the whole thing 'blind'. Any thoughts?

Are we back on your hot date again? Personally I like manual - as others have said, the co-ordination of all four limbs is part of the fun of driving - but we don't get much choice over here anyway. So when I do drive an automatic, there's also the unfamiliarity of everything being on the 'wrong' side. In a way I'm glad most American rental cars are automatic - it takes a bit of getting used to, but it saves me from continually trying to change gear with the door handle!

Thanks for that Shah, I enjoyed it. Good interview, Rossy came across very well and the host did a better job than usual with the subject matter. Cool!

That was one of the incidents reconstructed in 'Dead Men's Tales'. Well worth a watch if you can get hold of it - dramatisations of miraculous parachuting and skydiving escapes, and it's pretty well made. I remember the story that you're talking about included an interview with Jim Hooper who I believe was the owner at the time.

Someone I know was foolish enough to leave a rig unattended in a bag at the airport. It was considered suspect and 'made safe' by the authorities. Apparently when they later unpacked the main it opened up like one of those strings of paper dolls, with a hole punched through every cell.

But... but I thought Mork and Mindy lived there.

Haha, no! Or rather, they don't have to. 10:30PM was the Sunday closing time up until a few years ago (and you're right, they'd call last orders a little earlier than that, traditionally by ringing a bell). On other days it was 11PM, if I remember rightly. Either way, you had to finish your drinks within 10 minutes of closing time. The thing to do was find a place that would do 'lock-ins', where they'd just close the doors and keep serving - illegally, as far as I know. But anyway they've changed the licensing laws now, so many places are open at all kinds of hours. Having said that, after a brief flurry of all-night opening I think a lot of pub owners realised that the amount of business available 'after hours' didn't justify paying for the bar staff to stay on. So lots of them still close relatively early.

Yeah, and even as you guys get used to roundabouts (traffic circles), you'll still have to remember to go clockwise around ours. I think the real danger driving abroad isn't on your first day, because you're keyed up for it and concentrating hard. It's when you first start to relax. We once went on a road trip around Wales with an Austrian friend of ours, and he'd been driving in the UK for some time so he generally knew what he was doing. But we left our B & B one day and he just set off driving down the right-hand side of the road. It was a quiet road and early in the morning, so there was no other traffic around to give him a clue that he might be wrong. But I remember the look I exchanged with my other British friend: 'He's not going to realise, is he? Are you going to tell him, or shall I?'

Yes! One of my abiding childhood memories is hearing the milk float come round in the mornings, and the clink and scrape as the milkman deposited the new bottles (pints in our case) on the front step and collected the empties. The bottles had tinfoil lids, and if you left them out on the porch too long birds would sometimes peck through them to drink. I'd forgotten all about that! Our first phone line was shared with next door as well. Our neighbour was quite the talker, and it would be frustrating for my mother to have to wait to use the line. And in those days everyone would answer the phone by saying their number: "Huyton 3945". And not only did shops not open on a Sunday, we had early closing on (I think) Wednesdays too, when they'd only be open until lunchtime. I'm spoiled now - it's unthinkable to me that I wouldn't be able to buy a loaf of bread at 3am.