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Post by Biggles on Feb 27, 2012 23:50:15 GMT 1
If this cruise company thought things could not get worse it did today when the Costs Allegra had a fire in a generator room taking out all engine power and lighting. The ship is now after a may day call drifting not far from where Somali pirates operate in the Indian Ocean some way from the Maldives. Tugs are en route. I wold have though anyone of the Naval vessels deployed in the region may have been faster. The good news is it is still afloat.
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Post by Vasidae on Feb 28, 2012 9:18:52 GMT 1
Maybe they should have sailed with this.... Attachments:
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Post by Vasidae on Feb 28, 2012 9:19:33 GMT 1
sorry - couldnt resist that !
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2012 9:49:57 GMT 1
...and now they're going to be landed on a tiny island in the Seychelles which has only a rough strip for an airport, so it's going to take a long time to transfer them to the airport at Mahe. Take a look at the size of the strip on Desroches Island Seychelles in Google Maps.
It's definitely a daylight only good weather strip and there are no facilities whatsoever, apart from a small upmarket hotel, on the island. I suspect there are going to be a lot of complaints about this.
Edited to add: Common sense has now prevailed, and the ship will be towed into Victoria, the capital, which is much more capable of handling 1000 passengers.
Haynes Manuals! What would we have done without them in the old days, eh? You could never sell them on either, because the pages were invariably covered in tea stains and oily finger marks ;D
The All Aggro definitely needed one!
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Post by johnoakes on Feb 28, 2012 12:03:15 GMT 1
Love the Hayes manual--does that mean you once owned one? Brave to admit it.
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Post by Vasidae on Feb 28, 2012 12:28:49 GMT 1
Hand on Heart John - No I never owned one but I remember hiring one in Jersey many many years ago to get around the island, and it wasnt a great experience ! Im a Ford man, had 11 of them except for a short time with an obstinate Landy which I loved to drive but was expensive to run and suffered from Ignition problems and a compulsive drinking disorder at the petrol pumps. Looking back at the Allegro period brings back to memory the Ital,Princess,Toledo,Marina,Dolomite,Triumph 2.5pi and the Stag with its dodgy cylinder heads and the poundland version of it- called the TR7 , the list goes on and on! Come to think about it , I learnt to drive in a Toledo around AD1975 when the 7 litre Jenson Interceptor and the Dolly Sprint were the creme de la creme and when Jeremy Clarkson was still in nappies. Halcyon Days indeed !
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Post by ronturner on Feb 28, 2012 18:27:59 GMT 1
Well, I had two Allegros. (One following the other) Both of them were automatics and they proved very reliable and long lasting. Only recently I have been scanning and digitising all my family colour slides from way back. My goodness some memorable photos in there, and amongst them the Allegros with family and dog. out on visits and picnics. (I just came across a photo taken in 1975 with me, my wife, my first daughter and my cessna G-AXVB... All three are still in my life. We are all a bit older but like me, the C-172 continues to look real handsome and performs well.) RT
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Post by Biggles on Feb 28, 2012 23:01:56 GMT 1
Not a good car, as I mentioned I used one so called "High performance model" 1750 cc as a Police car. under hard acceleration when it came to change gear, it could actually change lanes.
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Post by johnoakes on Feb 29, 2012 9:33:45 GMT 1
;D Built a mini marcos--sure Ron can remember it----40mpg and 10 mpg of water because it didn't really work.LOL The back window fell in regularly--everytime it was closed.LOL
Varied selection after that --2 Reliants---Scimitars that is not Robins. had A Golf Estate for 11years--kept the savings in the bank for our house in France--did over 300,000 miles on 2 engines and 3/4 trips to France a year. But I never owned an Allegro--Ron had the Estate at least it looked good.
They still build French cars in France and the Franch love them--car parks are usually full of the home built products. Where did we go wrong.
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Post by davel on Feb 29, 2012 10:58:44 GMT 1
Getting back to Costa - Isn't this the line that cost us our shipbuilder Cammell Laird by cancelling an order for a ship section after it was built? Thankfully it is now up and running again.
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Post by maverick on Feb 29, 2012 11:53:59 GMT 1
They still build French cars in France and the Franch love them--car parks are usually full of the home built products. Where did we go wrong. It's not just France - go to Spain and everythings made in Spain, go to Germany and everythings.. well, you get the idea. We need to get back to building and buying British products again. Just how many Audi, BMW and Mercs are on our roads - seems every third vehicle is
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Post by ronturner on Feb 29, 2012 12:37:23 GMT 1
I quite agree, Maverick. When evaluating a product for purchase, I always give an extra point for something home made. Often the extra point is not enough to sway the decision, but sometimes it is and it makes me feel better. As one who spent a lifetime in manufacturing, I was always proud to be the supplier of quality goods made in the UK and was always grateful that people bought products which I made. Whenever possible we always incorporated UK made materials in out products. Same evaluation process. You would be surprised how difficult that was sometimes. As the years went by it became totally impossible to buy UK designed and made manufacturing equipment for our factories. I came round to the idea, a long time ago, that one of the problems with the UK was the lower class status afforded to engineers and manufacturers in our class ridden society. Its another subject you could really get me going on. Typical examples are the motor mechanic types portrayed in Coronation Street. A couple of blokes in boiler suits which are never cleaned or changed and with oily rags sticking out of their pockets. In Germany, several of my engineering friends have business cards which celebrate their status with the abbreviation ING in front of their names. The UK has to get rid of its class discrimination before engineering and manufacturing can really be appreciated, can really attract the right graduates and eventually begin to turn the economy around. By the way class discrimination works both ways sometimes . When I was a shop steward many years ago, I did good work for my colleagues until I let it be known I was a Conservative. Suddenly, I was not re-elected. Sorry to ramble.. Its a touchy subject. Even living in France I own a British Made car. A Toyota made at Burnaston.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 29, 2012 17:13:22 GMT 1
They still build French cars in France and the Franch love them--car parks are usually full of the home built products. Where did we go wrong. I had one of those once a Renault 30, it was hardly ever on the road. I was under the bonnet that much I could have qualified for one of those oily rag parts in Coronation Street. To top that I couldn't get it to go past petrol stations without it demanding a visit. Cost me an absolute fortune and was glad to get rid of it. Yes, where on earth did we go wrong ;D
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Post by Deleted on Feb 29, 2012 17:36:42 GMT 1
The UK has to get rid of its class discrimination before engineering and manufacturing can really be appreciated, can really attract the right graduates and eventually begin to turn the economy around. Don't get me started on this one Ron!!! We can't get jobs, despite having letters after my name I'm still driving buses but then again it is a job I really like. I can personally testify to the fact that despite having the qualifications to do the jobs graduates are let down time and time again with the words YOU DON'T HAVE THE EXPERIENCE. Perhaps this is one reason why British graduates leave the UK in their thousands every year and why those remaining take menial jobs - some even scared to put their qualifications in their CV's for fear of being turned down through being over qualified. When all else fails many turn to teaching or, out of absolute desperation, become employers themselves.
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Post by johnoakes on Feb 29, 2012 18:39:42 GMT 1
;D Excellent comments makes the forum the best read around--widest range of backgrounds and experience--MUCH better than our slanted and biased press and TV. stev-t Sorry you had a prob with the French car--I only ever had-- one a Puegeot diesel--not exciting but very reliable and cheap to run- virtues appreciated by the rural French
The factories in France are still turning out loads of cars and they are happily bought by the French ;We stopped doing that because the product was usually cr%%%% and often unavailable because the factory was on strike.
People in the 60s even bought the very outdated and clumsy VW Beatle because it WAS reliable in comparison to our cars--that is truly sad.
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