fbb coveted the more basic version of his childhood; the aim being to fire an arrow at something (or somebody?) and gleefully watch it stick. Except that it never worked. Unless the trajectory was dead straight and the target very clean and shiny, the arrows fell of in a depressingly regular act of failure. They didn't "stick".
Of course they weren't sticky at all and owed their principle (but not practice!) to this man.
Otto van Geuricke was Mayor of Magdeburg and he built the world's first effective vacuum pump. To demonstrate the strength of atmospheric pressure once the air inside was removed, he evacuated two hemispheres ...
... held together with an air-tight rim and then used two teams of horses to try to pull them apart. The above engraving is a bit hard to follow so an "artist's impression" will do a better job.
The horses failed - the air pressure on outside of the evacuated cups was too great, even for the strength or two teams of 15 horses each!
So back to Wightlink. Having boobed over the company's one remaining "Saint" class ferry ...
... Alan, our Senior Isle of Wight correspondent, sent the above puzzle picture. "What is different," he asked "about St Faith?" Of course, fbb, after six long years away from the Island, did not have a clue. Alan gave him one.
fbb still struggled despite the obviousness! So Alan sent another clue.
OK, the double deck loading ramps at the Portsmouth terminal - so what?
In the end, and in response to fbb's ignorance, Alan had to tell all.
Boats at Portsmouth are no longer tied up with thick pieces of string ...
... they are "stuck" to the quayside by modern versions of Mr van Guericke's hemispheres, or a slightly larger version of the suction cups on the end of fbb's never owned arrows. Here they are, next to a Wightlink "person" before installation.
Presumably, because St Faith is titchy compared with Victoria of Wight and St Clare, extra tinplate was needed to give the suckers something to suck on at low tide.
Before, left; and after, right. Windows in the passenger lounge are block, plus a hefty section of the openings on the car deck, both above the "LINK" of Wightink
Not new news, sadly, but new to fbb and thanks to Alan for pointing it out.
Similarly, there are "suckers" at Fishbourne on the Island ...
... visible this time in a slightly different position ...
... more amidships.
And here's a promotional video showing how it all works.
Clever eh?
Wightlink suggest that it will lead to faster turn rounds and, one guesses, it will need less staff. As long as they stick better than fbb's hoped-for arrows.
Whilst sending his puzzle pictures, Alan also sent a couple of interior snaps from Victoria of Wight.
Alan and his Mrs quite like the boat!
The Tale of The Two Terriers P.S.
Rails of Sheffield have just publicised "painted samples" of their £110 model of the class A1X "Terrier" ...
... and below is Hornby's £90 version.
Or is it the other way round? fbb thinks that expert "rivet counting" modellers will say that the Rails model is slightly more authentic. Some of the detail (upper picture) looks finer - BUT it is thus more likely to be bent or broken off with fumbling fbb-style handling.
You pays your money ...
Next "blue light" blog : Friday 22nd March
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