Terrorist scum to be shot

The Bali terrorists, who blew up a nightclub in 2002, have lost their appeal against being shot. There were 202 innocent people killed in the attack.

The terrorists claimed that being shot would constitute torture and could cause a painful death, and instead wished to be beheaded or killed by lethal injection.

Who cares that the scum might suffer a painful death? The scum did not think about the suffering of the victims so why all the uproar about whether or not they will suffer?

My personal opinion is that they should die by the most painful and prolonged method possible, after all, mass murdering scum like them deserve nothing less.

More on the story here.

More on Pebbles

The other day the local rag carried this update on Pebbles the Sainsbury's cat, who committed the heinous crime of scratching or biting a brat who could not leave her alone.

We would like to see Pebbles back too.

Young carers

I know how they feel! Helping those kids who have to look after a sick or disabled relative is a very worthwhile cause.

I remember being in that situation when I was 14 and having to take time off school - it was like going to school and then coming home and going straight up to the hospital, or having to get stuff from the chemists and do the shopping and other housework.

I remember having no one I could talk to about it, losing friends because no one wanted to hang around with someone who had to stop in to look after a sick grandparent and feeling very lonely.

Alot of the kids who are carers have alot more stressful time than I had, and providing activities and holidays for them is something very worthy. Please visit this site to find out more.

Spam e-mail!

Spam mail leaves people choking - Scarborough Evening News

According to the local rag - Scarborough Evening News - local businesses are "choking" under the weight of spam e-mails because they receive on average, almost 10 per day!

They should thank their lucky stars they don't have my e-mail inbox, most morning I have at least 20 junk e-mails, ansd this morning I have had 30 so far!

Those with only 10 don't know they're born!

Where is Pebbles?

Pebbles is the black and white cat that, for years, has lived around the Sainsbury's store in Scarborough. Now read the report in the link below:

Family's call after 'store cat' bites boy- COMMENT ON THIS STORY - Scarborough Evening News

Pebbles seems to have vanished into oblivion now, just because parents don't bother to teach their kids to respect animals and never to approach an animal and just start mauling it! Now, when the cat acts entirely naturally, it is blamed and classed as "dangerous"!

As an animal owner, I find kids a damned menace and parents of these kids often ignorant and stupid. I once owned a Dalmatian, and thanks to that damned Disney film, walking him could be a nightmare because stupid parents would let their brats come up and grab him (they never bother to ask whether or not the dog would like to be mauled by their brats, they just stand and let it happen and then blame the owner of the dog if there's a problem). The vast majority of animal attacks on kids would not happen if parents taught their little darlings never to approach and touch a strange dog (or cat). Instead of the owners ending up in court because of stupid parents, let the parents be fined because, at the end of the day, they are responsible for the actions of their kids, or at least they should be.

How many more animals must die needlessly just because of stupid brats and their (even more stupid) parents?

Holiday flights part two - BRU-EMA

Our return flight home was on 11th September. The weather had started to improve a bit just as the holiday came to an end which was annoying - we had a drenching in Zeebrugge on the previous Friday and one in Oostende as we left Delhaize on the previous Tuesday. 

We caught the train from Oostende via Brussels Zuid to the airport and went to Brussels Cafe for dinner - I had the very pleasant ricotta tortellini and Hoegaarden to drink - normally the only place in Belgium where I drink Hoegaarden is "T'awd Stee-amer", my favourite Zeebrugge pub.

Our flight was BD236, scheduled departure time of 17:05. We checked in with plenty of time to spare, and were given seats 14D and 14F, at least we wouldn't be on the back row again. We bought a bottle of jenever each and then went though security (where I always end up being searched!)

Once in the departure area, it was time for some spotting. For me it was a very good haul, as I am not lucky enough to be a regular spotter, I bagged many firsts on photo and video.

A couple of general views of the line up in BRU.

A new one for me - I had not bagged this Transavia livery before.

Two different Freebirds equals two more newbies!

BMI's flight to Heathrow gets push back.

I had never seen Helvetic before but one was parked very close to where we were sitting:

Pinkie gets push back, no idea where Pinkie was going.

Two other delights, which were more distant so I could only capture with the more powerful zoom of my video, were my first-ever Vueling and the Lufthansa CRJ "Little Europe". So all in all, it was a very pleasing afternoon for me.

Our flight was to depart from gate B09, and I was quite pleased to see that I would be going in my first-ever logojet - a "Star Alliance"-painted ERJ145 G-RJXI.

G-RJXI at gate B09.

At 16:51 we were called to board.

Boarding the flight. It was a full flight, unlike the mostly-empty one of the previous week.

We were greeted by the steward Gareth and another cabin attendant called Elizabeth was also on board.

We had a wing view, and another interesting bagging:

This unusually-coloured aircraft  was operating the flight to Leeds Bradford.

The Captain welcomed passengers aboard. She was called Hazel and the other pilot was called James. I thought it was great - a woman flying the plane while a man served the food and drinks! She said that we would be flying at 27,000 feet and the flight would last about fifty minutes.

We pushed back at 17:09 and taxied to runway 25R (?). We took off and 17:18, and below there is a video of the take off.

The aircraft climbed smoothly at first.

View just after take off. There was not too much cloud at this point.

As we climbed higher we hit some turbulence, and flew into clouds.

Going into the cloud.

As we flew through the cloud, we had quite a bit of turbulence. However, soon we were above the clouds.

Above the clouds.

The crew started serving the inflight snack. Normally I would avoid BMI sandwiches like the plague, but we didn't know what time we would eat again so I attempted a beef and salad sandwich.

The beef and salad sandwich.

The sandwich was soggy and doughy lumps stuck to my fingers. I ate half of it and by then I had had enough!

There was a choice of the beef, cheese (avoid at all cost on BMI), ham or egg.

Soon after the meal we started our descent into East Midlands.

Views as we came towards East Midlands.

It was quite clear on approach, and certainly calmer than the ferocious crosswinds we had last year.

Videos of the approach. Sorry that it is in four parts, I was having problems with the camera battery.

We touched down at 17:12 and taxied to the terminal, where a bus was waiting to take us to the arrivals area. We were through passport control very quick and our luggage was waiting for us when we reached the baggage reclaim area.

We caught the bus into Derby and then the train to Leeds, another horrible East Midlands Trains experience - paying for first class and enduring a carriage with messy tables, drinks in cardboard cups with wooden stirrers - an absolutely crap train company if ever there was one!

The flight was great, and so was the holiday, but in December we are sailing to Belgium and I don't know when my next flights will be.

Zeebrugge

Zeebrugge is one of my favourite places in Belgium. Going there in September you feel you have the place to yourself, and in the week the beach has been quiet. A trip to Zeebrugge (especially if you go on the train) involves a bit of walking. If you go on Monday to Friday you arrive in Dorp station, and then if you want to head to the beach area you walk all along Kustlaan past cranes and with trams and big trucks passing you at regular intervals. I find it quite an amazing place. 

We first went to Zeebrugge in September 2006, on a very hot afternoon. It was so nice to get into a bar - Old Steamer - and have a big glass of ice cold Hoegaarden beer. Now every time we go to Zeebrugge we have Hoegaarden in Old Steamer (Rederskaai). They used to have a fish tank in there but not any more.

For meals we discovered Old Barrel (Zeedijk). We have had mostly pork here - chops or ribs - but last time we had a beautiful steak as it poured with rain outside! The photos in the report were taken on our latest visit, which was ruined by rain.

Cat on Markt Plein. I think it's a British Shorthair.

A fishing boat returns to port.

I think the white boat is the one used for sightseeing trips on the harbour.

A cat outside Suffolk Ferry pub near Dorp station.

A containership below the cranes.

Zeebrugge marina. The low building behind the white van is our beloved Old Steamer bar.

Stalls on Markt Plein.

Markt Plein.

Near Seafront Maritime Theme Park.

Seafront flags.

I have many photos of Zeebrugge, taken near the beach, near the container area, along the marina, along Kustlaan and from the boat. I have too many to post in one go here, but more will follow.

I have not finished visiting Zeebrugge yet!