Michael Palaeologus

Coolio!

Its tomorrow Curry fans..

Too right. Ginger Power will dominate the 2nd decade.

http://www.militaryimages.net/photopost/data/750/Heinkel_He_112_FighterF.jpg Heinkel 112

Let me describe one possible scenario. The membership system at Unite is, shall we say, not exactly up to date. So to identify those members that are eligible to vote would have taken some time. The BA Unite activists had a bigger anti-management agenda, clearly knew that they had the momentum of their members opinions behind them and they had the opportunity to hit BA at Christmas. They knew that to wait for an accurate membership list would have taken a month or so. So, they took a flyer, so to speak. However, many Unite members have got cold feet because of the public reaction ("we knew we were voting for a strike, but not for the 12 days of Christmas"), they are, bless them, somewhat naive about the broader political agenda of their local representatives. Unite leadership will have known that they were facing a PR disaster but couldnt pull out because of the vote and 92% backing. In addition the Unite leadership is Brown-ite in its alignment and our PM had made it clear he was not happy with the strike action. Some-how ..... BA management found out that there was a problem with the vote, took it to court and got it turned over. Unite leaders can publically gnash their teeth but are no longer faced with a massively unpopular strike, the members will have time to settle down and there will be time for calmer heads to negotiate with BA management, side lining the hot headed BA union activists. Another day in the murky world in Trades Union internal politics.

Let that be a lesson to all you runners. Its not healthy. Stay in the pub. No panthers in our pubs, the occasional flatulant dog, no panthers.

We had a secret curry. Some of our number will not be able to make the next Curry Club, so we had an informal last night.

Next week everybody!!!!

The history of BA is that it was publically owned and had terms and conditions that were akin to the civil service. Thus their people get more time off and better pay than their competitors. Many of these historic T&Cs remain. Not surprisingly working for BA is the aspiration for many staff in the other airlines, especially those that work for the tourist airlines. However, this means that BA is saddled with excessive overheads that its competitors dont have. You cant argue the toss, BA flights cost more to get off the ground. Easyjet, Ryanair, etc are in a different business than BA and other full service, long haul airlines. There is a market for the long haul, full service carriers but they have to be efficient and BAs history means that its isnt. Virgin is dynamic, has a younger fleet and cheaper staff - it makes a profit. It is not surprising that the BA staff want to protect their favoured position, who wouldnt? But BA cannot afford it. The airline management may have to decide that if they stay as they are they will go out of business, if they take on Unite they might go out of business but they might not. The latter seems to be the lesser of two evils. So a Thatcher era industrial battle for survival commences. Even if BA "wins" it could be a phyric victory with its name so badly damaged that passengers stay away. Given this scenario, will a competitor attempt to buy BA? I would say no, if they did they would inherit the staffing problems. Better to let BA go the wall and then buy the valuable assets (mostly the routes, T5 and property portfolio) from the Receivers. Staff would be redundant. Some would be re-employed by the new organisation but on different T&Cs. The end of another historic Dinosaur that will have gone the way of Sabena, Swissair, etc.

Twice this weekend I came across a group of youths in our secure basement car park. The first time they scattered and left via the side doors, the second time there was a group of 3 of them smoking roll ups at the Oakhurst Grove end of the car park. I have reported this to Peverel. Could people please make sure that the car park gates shut behind them when they drive in. Has anybody else seen anything similar?

It doesnt make its way into Altima Court, but all the leaflets and menus for Pizza restaurants within 10 miles of here seem to.

Also - while I was at Silvester Road the chap in front of me was given not just the Parcel he had a card for but also a Parcel which had been at Silvester Road for some time, but for which he had not received a card. Again, apprently Contract Couriers were to blame. If these Contractors are so bad, why do they continue to use them?

I checked the website today, as suggested by Silvester Road. According to that my parcel hadnt even be delivered to me yet. Went up to Silvester Road, to be told that the parcel will be at Nine Elms. They are then delivering parcels from Nine Elms to Silvester Road. Not what I would call efficient. Apparently registered post is scanned when you take it to the Post Office but at no point until it is either delivered to you or returns to your local depot if "you are not in". So, if it goes to somewhere else in between (such as Nine Elms), there is no tracking of its whereabouts. I have to keep checking the website until somebody can be bothered to deliver the Parcel to Silvester Road and somebody there gets round to scanning it in. As before "Contract Couriers" are getting the blame for the delays and problems.

I arrived at Silvester Road this morning, 24 hours since the card was pushed into my mail box. Big queue from the office to the road. Stood for about 20 minutes only to be told "Its not here yet mate, try next week". I only live half a mile away! How does it take days to get back to the depot?

Cannock Brighton Harlesden Brixton Hill Camberwell East Dulwich

Full of the Christmas spirit I see Gimme.

That is clearly a fix. If any old boiler was extremely decrepit and wasteful its Dulwichmum... and she asbestos surrounding her condensor coil

No, no, no. You cant replace one thread with another - if Matthew123's post remains the last on that thread - you we him ?20. Hoisted by your own Petard as they say en France.

Some nice steaks included in this weekends M&S "2 dine for a tenner" offer and their Frites - which are rather nice.

One would need to wary of refurbishing the old boiler without proper safety equipment. Her winter draws (pulled on in October, removed in April) are lined with asbestos and were purchased from a Ukrainian Labour Camp craft fayre in 1962.

Wrap them in cling film first.

She just needs her tubes de-coking and re-bored and there will years of life in the old boiler.

Another one to be aware of; the Depots share vans and sometimes the drivers cant be arsed to check which "You were out" cards they are shoving through your door. Thus I found myself at a Post Office depot in East London, to be told that my post was at Sylvester Road. Sylvester Road did have the parcel and sort of shrugged when I raised the wrong card issue.

I am in Altima Court and work from home. Broadband speeds are not brilliant, I find that downloading stuff from iTunes etc takes forever. I think some work was being done to improve things; but dont expect a 21st century Broadband service.

HAL9000 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I seem to recall that albumen and yoke have > different microwave energy absorption coefficients > - so a naked egg cooks from the outside inwards > yielding something akin to a hand grenade. > > Don't quote me on this one, though. Oops, sorry Hal ...