Monday Variety

 A I : Astounding Imagination!

Yet another titillating travesty of a tunnel. This one appears to be dangling from rafts floating on the surface of the ocean. Unbelievably, compilers of such daftness are using expensive so-calles AI software to "imagine" preposterously potty pictures.

But in this case there IS a real tunnel, albeit with artists' impressions as a dubious guide.

We also have what might be a real shot of one of the construction sites.

This is the Fenham Channel fixed link between Denmark and Germany.

Here is a hefty chunk of Denmark with, peeping in bottom left Fenham which is a bit of Germany.

It is the gap north of Fenham that is filled.

The orange line shown the new through route that os created by the tunnel.

Here are rail (BLUE) and Motorway (RED) links which use the tunnel.

Castles in the Air Loft!

A few days back,I we saw Peterville Castle, uprooted from its former site atop the railway tunnel by some curious intergalactic transporter beam. A corrugated card landform was added but then obliterated by yellow card.

The hills are now a lurid green, awaiting a selection of more realistic subdued washes of poster paint. Poster paint would not "take well" on the dark tones of the card, hence the yellow covering.

The top of the hills will be trimmed to a rolling upland shape!

While all this was settling, fbb started on his Metcalfe castle gateway kit.

But fbb would not be the bodging modeller we know and love (?) by just assembling a kit.

It needs adapting and re-purposing to fit the corner site.

So he began with one of the towers.

More to come, obviously, or it would be a very expensive tower!

Talking of Expensive ...

(Click on the image below to enlarge it) The Daily Mail, not renowned as a supporter of Mr Milliband and his chums, has discovered a projection well hidden in a quango report.

We already know that electric buses cost about twice the price if a good old diesel, now vilified as destructive of life, the universe and everything.

We also know that charging infrastructure us equally pricey!

We further know that there are grave doubts about the ability of the National Grid to deliver a big enough dose of the electric.

We ultimately know that it is all hanging together with the huge roll of sticking plaster labelled "Government Grants". What is more galling to those of us who think about it and equally annoying to the Editor of the Mail, is that it is you and me that are footing the bill.

Meet a bus professional.

Bill Cahill  has been around in the bus industry for a while and is now the big cheese at First Bus London.

Bill says that he is committed to net zero, BUT ...

... it is not going to be deliverable.

The whole set of proposals probably needs fewer sound bytes and a good dose of hard nosed and financial common sense.

Will we get it!

What do you think?

12p Worth of Petrol, Please. 

Mrs fbb filled up at Tesco - but was concerned that, after the fill up, the gauge still showed empty? Had she been scammed? Was the pump faulty? Was the gauge faulty? Was Mrs fbb faulty?

Mrs fbb was utterly convinced that the pump had made all the right gurgling and whirring noises commensurate with a standard upfill.

After some thought, fbb decided to return to their corner shop to attempt to fill up again, as fuel was necessary.

A possible second fill up was successful. 

Fortunately a Tesco "lad" was doing whatever Tesco staff do at an unstaffed filling station.

"Did you use your club card?" he helpfully queried, "because my manager can download the transactions so you can see what you were charged for."

He did and the fbbs did!

There is the modest price of a thankfully thankfully full (!).

And here is Mrs fbb's earlier transaction ...

... showing the purchase of a genuinely modest, but useless, 12p worth of go-juice!

How did that happen?

Neither fbb, nor Mrs fbb, nor the lad, nor his manager could explain it.

But isn't  technology wonderful?

 Next Angel Train P.S. blog : Tues 13 Jan