Jewels of the north? One of the joys of working the news beat on Budgie News is never quite knowing where you might be sent next: a press conference in Rome, a conference in Africa, a show in Brazil, a car boot sale in Potters Bar. The list is endless, but even the most hardened hacks took a second glance at this invitation: "We cordially invite you to attend the World Travel Awards 2007 Grand Tour, which will be taking place in the following beautiful locations: Abu Dhabi, Miami, Bali, Newcastle Gateshead, Turks & Caicos." Confused, we called our northern correspondent Neville "Newky" Brown to see if some remarkable transformation was afoot. Brown's reply, simple as ever was: "Divvent be sackless man. Wi global warming whee needs tropical islands an sun-soaked resorts when yee can enjoy a pint of broon in The Toon an Gyetsheed ?" Even more confused we checked our handy Geordie dictionary to translate this into: "You are mistaken sir. With our increasing seasonal temperatures and plentiful hostelries come and enjoy the local fare of Newcastle and Gateshead."
|
Twin Pin fan Nephew Ron Tannock, a former Scottish Aviation apprentice, writes indignantly from New Zealand to protest the omission of the Twin Pioneer from our recent post-war civil aircraft production table. "The editor notes that the listing 'excluded types produced primarily for military requirements that later entered civil use'," he says. "I believe the reverse is true. I see from my records that Swissair, Consolidated Zinc, Rio Tinto Finance, British International Airlines (Kuwait Airways), de Kroonduif, among others, purchased or leased aeroplanes in 1957 for civil airline or industrial roles before completion of the military assessment for use by the RAF." Tannock adds that "admittedly, while never an accountant's aeroplane, it was an outstanding success as an operator's aeroplane", and goes on to say it did everything from survey work and casualty evacuation to being a bomber and guided missile launcher. Yuck speak (series of 1,000,000) (Comments on a New York radio station from an interview with programme official about the ever-so-likely-to-slip "Marine One" Presidential helicopter delivery schedule.) "We continue to work through our developmental process, working very hard to bring this critical capability to the Office of the President. It is continuing to move forward and we're making good progress in the development efforts. We're continuing to work very hard toward that milestone. We've worked to mitigate the risk that we're seeing and as of today we're continuing to press very hard toward that date as our goal line." = It's late, Brian. |
|
Source: Flight International
