Whitey Grandad

If it's any consolation the controllers at NATS don't know what is going to happen either. One of my staff was in the control room today and nobody seems to know what will happen. Instructions change by the minute and the controllers are not informed. As for the jet engine damage, someone who used to work at Rolls-Royce explained that the fan blades have small zig-zag channels about 1mm diameter for letting the air cool the blades. If this gets clogged up then the blades will overheat and the engine will be junk. If any engine has been flown through volcanic ash then R-R will have nothing to do with it.

:confused: If we were relegated we wouldn't be in the Champions' League. (Or am I being thick?)

The best hope is that the weather changes by the weekend back to the usual south-westerly patterns. That seems to be the case at the moment.

Oh don't, please. It doesn't bear thinking about.

Not if we win all our games.

There's a new television deal with the Far East that will bring in bundles of cash. I can't remember the amount but it is shedloads.

Wasn't the talk at the time that Markus was paying for it out of his own pocket? The point about capital expenditure is that it is normally amortised over a period longer than just one season, and we are a 'debt-free' club, whatever that means. We have been splashing a lot of money but we have also been taking a lot from the larger crowds and from the cup runs. The JPT alone would pay the purchase price for Rickie Lambert.

That would be capital expenditure and not revenue, and it has not happened yet.

They used to be preferential creditors but that has not been the case since September 2003. Now they have the same status as the others.

I've got two cruises booked from Southampton and the ferry to France is booked for the July jaunt down to Spain with the caravan so at least we'll still get our foreign holidays. What really gets me going is all this talk about how brave and exciting it was to spend two days on a bus and train to get from the other side of Europe. For people of my generation that was the normal way to travel. My missus went to Sweden on a school trip by train and two ferry crossings and I've lost count of the number of times I've driven 6 or 7 hundred miles in a day to get back to the channel ports. The ones I feel sorry for are those with weddings booked in Antigua and suchlike. For the others, sit back and enjoy the countryside.

Do you not think so? I'd like to see the figures but I would think that we must be close to break-even this season, if the initial purchase costs are not included and assuming a rent-free stadium.

I don't even want to think about it. It was interesting to see the bit on the tele about the Rochdale supporters who have gone 36 years since their last promotion.

Well they would, wouldn't they. You're quite correct, of course, it was Salina. Apparently the beach has sadly suffered from vandalism and erosion from motorboats since the film became popular. When I'm old I'd like to go and visit this and other off-the-beat places before it's too late. There' something romantic about islands (no, not this one).

There's a good film set on there called 'Il Postino' by Massimo Troisi. Look out for the girl: Maria Grazia Cucinotta.

I can't see it myself, but it would be really annoying if we eased up now and then the others slipped up in their last couple of games.

Vesuvius is one of the potentail super-volcanos and is 'overdue' another big one. Typically, the more smaller eruptions that occur, the less likelihood there is of a 'big' one since the magmatic pressure is relieved. The whole of the Bay of Naples was originally one giant caldera with the islands of Ischia and Capri part of its rim but that was a long time ago. 3m people live locally and will be affected by the next one but the authorities hope that they will have 2 or 3 weeks of warning and they plan to evacuate a large number of them. Yellowstone Park is another giant volcano waiting to happen and the ground there is swelling ominously. It shouldn't affect us physically but the American economy will be smothered for a very long time. Still, it might never happen... ...in my lifetime.

Yes. I prefer to think of it as insurance.

Ah... Did he say what I should do about it?

You forgot to allow for the weight of the mains lead. It's a common mistake.

Yes, they could have dented our promotion chances but you can't afford to pick and choose which games you will turn up for. The additional revenue will also have come in useful, no matter how wealthy the owner, and I'm sure that Markus enjoyed his day in the sunshine.

I was at the Bournemouth game yesterday and heard nothing along those lines. I go to their games now and again and as it happened I was sitting between two Saints regulars who do the same. I wish them well and look out for their results but I think that somehow we are far more important to them than they are to us.

We've got one of those in the workshop and it's not sucking as well as it used too. The whites of its eyes are a bit bloodshot and the pupils are dilated. Should I be concerned? As a responsible employer, what should be my course of action?

You missed out that tongue-in-cheeky smiley thingy. What's he planning to do? Land 747s on it in mid-Atlantic and then ship them back?

I agree with you on the whole but he has scored some potentially important goals lately.

That's what I can't understand. Even the Channel Island flights are grounded but they can go at low levels. Flybe aircraft may be turboprop but Aurigny are noisy piston buggers. They would just need lots or airfilters.