Rant of the Day v2.

[ribrash]

I see " The right on people " have super glued themselves to various structures in London.If it were me I'd leave them super glued until they'd cacked and pi$$ed their pants a few times.

[Pontius Navigator]

Fox, on 7/7 I was on a course at a high rise building on New Oxford Street. We were on about the 15th floor with full length glass windows looking North towards where the bomb had gone off.

All the office workers went to the window to see what was going on. I went to the bomb citadel in the central core; it was locked.

Earlier, at a Waddo Battle of Britain airshow, there was a bomb scare. The potential cordon area, including lots of parked cars, was huge. I took charge of a small sector that I could see. I got the AA man to reposition his truck and we improvised a barrier. Some car drivers inside my cordon pulled forward for a better view.

Earlier still there was an IRA era bomb scare in Doncaster. We forced out way out against the flow of people surging forward to see.

It was the same reaction as we see amongst many today - get the camera out and get a video, unlike the military who think "can I help" if not "I must get clear"

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

It was one of the things I used to do when teaching - gradually educate the students into the correct responses to potentially dangerous situations. I have to say that boarding schools in general were very good at it. Indeed the students were sometimes better than the new staff. There have been several occasions out on trips with stuff happening where our students were part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

[ian16th]

When we came down to the coast to die retire, this place became our centre for retail therapy. The supermarket therein became the destination of our weekly provision run.

The mall is a low single story structure, that has been expanded beyond its original plan.

My 1st impression of the low ceilings was that the place would be a death trap in case of a fire.

The supermarket has a single entrance, about in the centre of the Mall, and well away from any exits.

On my 1st trip there, I asked to see the manager, and asked him where the fire exits were. He pointed them out to me. They were very poorly signposted.

He then told me that I was the ONLY customer that had ever asked for this information!

[Pontius Navigator]

Fox, that reminds me. My BiL was a mature student at Lancaster. He is stout and looked overweight. The tutor instructed him to collapse with a heart attack.

Apparently the reaction of the typical student was horror and inaction.

[llondel]

On my 1st trip there, I asked to see the manager, and asked him where the fire exits were. He pointed them out to me. They were very poorly signposted.

He then told me that I was the ONLY customer that had ever asked for this information!

I'm guessing I'm in the minority that checks the fire exits at hotels. When in an aircraft I do check the relative distance to the exit behind me compared to the one I see in front, too.

[Capetonian]

I make a point of checking fire exits in hotels.

This is what happened last time I found one that was locked, Hotel Emporium at Castello d'Empuries. A total disgrace.


We had booked a single and double room for two nights and had phoned ahead and asked for quiet rooms.

When we arrived my wife and I were allocated a room on the second floor facing the road, which was very noisy, not just with road noise but the paper thin walls allowed the sounds of the TV and the speech of the people in the adjacent room to be heard obtrusively. Noise is a subjective opinion and open to debate, but this pales into insignificance compared to what happened subsequently.

I checked the fire exit on our floor to find that it was securely locked, and that there was no means of exit from that floor, other than the windows, or the lift (obviously not for use in case of fire) in the event of an emergency. I found a member of staff and asked her how one would leave the floor in case of emergency and she appeared completely incapable of understanding my concern over this matter, or simply indifferent.

I went down to the reception where my request for information as to why the fire escape was locked was met with equal lack of concern and then I was told it was locked because there were renovations being carried out on another part of that floor. I told them that not only was our room unsatisfactory because of the noise, but more significantly because of the danger that having no means of exit would pose in the event of a fire. The rooms on that floor should obviously have been closed for sale.

They neither apologised, nor offered an alternative room, upon which we said we would not be staying and they then became insulting and argumentative, pretending not to understand English or my (far from perfect) Spanish, including telling me that I should learn to speak the local language, Catalan. I told them that they were not fit to run a hotel, as they were putting people's lives at risk, given that at least one other room on the floor was occupied. I called them imbeciles, which they found extremely insulting, and I defend my use of this word on the basis that anyone who runs a hotel and deliberately puts guests at risk, is at best irresponsible, and at worst, an imbecile.

I have made an official complaint to the Generalitat de Catalunya, and have reported the matter to the local police, consumer organisation, and tourist authorities. I also intend to write to the local and national press and the various hotel booking websites which feature this hotel.

I would strenuously suggest avoiding this establishment, at least until corrective action has been taken. The situation which gave rise to my complaint is appalling, and the manner in which the complaint was dealt with exacerbated the situation. I regularly stay in hotels in many countries, I spend roughly 50 nights a year in hotels, and have never encountered a situation such as this.

As there is an associated Michelin starred restaurant on the same premises and under the same management, I have also written to Guide Michelin to raise this matter.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

More than half the people in the US with formal First Aid training would not, and as far as records go, do not assist at accident scenes. The main reason is not fear of legal suits, but a fear of mucking up. I did the Medic First Aid Instructor course as part of my scuba diving training. 80% of those who are scuba Medic First Aid trained do assist at accidents. The course is specifically designed to overcome the fear of making a mistake. It starts with CPR, on a non-breathing, no heartbeat victim, and one points out that you can't do this person any more damage because they are already clinically dead. And the students do laugh, and this does seem to work in encouraging them to actually use their training, the content of which is very similar to a one day First Aid course.

I stayed with a school party in one hotel where the alarm system went off around 10pm. It turned out to be a false alarm, and the manager informed the staff and ourselves that the fire alarm was now out of action till the next day, for want of parts. I was appalled to discover that staff from other schools, and one from mine, didn't give a stuff and went back to bed. I organised a fire watch rota through the night, as one would routinely do in the RAF. In general though, at all the boarding schools I worked at, every hotel would have been checked out by staff in their own time beforehand. One would occasionally be asked by a colleague to spend a night at a particular place they were thinking of using, if one happened to be touring in the area in the holidays.

[Pontius Navigator]

Fox, I remember one Rock lecture where he said 1st aid was optional but it you start you must continue.

The daughter of a friend had a very bad car accident at the Coningsby bridge. The RAF Wg Cdr SMO was seen on uniform standing with other onlookers.

[1DC]

Stayed at a hotel in Yosemite nearly forty years ago and the fire alarms went off just after dawn, i opened a window to see if i could smell anything but heard the sirens of the fire engines so knew it was serious. We as a family quickly dressed and left our rooms and went to the fire escape watched by the odd guest who had opened their doors to see what was happening. At the bottom of the fire escape at the meeting point the only people present were our family and most of the "blue rinses" with their big handbags under their arms!! The fire had been in the kitchen but was quickly extinguished by the staff. The fire marshall congratulated us for being one of the few sensible people staying in the hotel..
My two daughters were more excited because at the bottom of the fire escape about ten deer were grazing and took absolutely no notice of us.

[Pontius Navigator]

We were in a hotel at Scarborough and the alarmist kept going off in the hotel opposite. We could see a few people going down there stairs but others peeping out from behind their curtains.

Now if they had broadcast "Free bacon butties in the hotel opposite" I am sure they would have streamed out.

[Hydromet]

Stayed at a small hotel in Kamloops about 5 years ago. As we returned from a late dinner, the fire alarm went off and smoke filled the foyer and stairwell where we were. People seemed to evacuate fairly quickly, but several were with small children in their night attire.
I was very impressed with the hotel staff who brought out blankets and went around everyone waiting in the assembly area asking if there was anything they needed and keeping us informed as to what was happening. Fortunately, i turned out that a cloth had overheated in the kitchen, but there was no serious fire. I felt compelled to write to the management to thank them and their staff.

[ExSp33db1rd]

The cap gave him the cachet of authority

.

Young, Second Officer, 3rd Pilot/Nav. Whilst taxying a Steward came and told us that two passengers refused to sit down for take-off, and were demanding upgrading to First Class on some pretext of having "requested" this at check-in. The Captain told me to put on his gold-braided hat and four ringed jacket and go and sort it out. As I started to talk to the pax. we heard the sound of engines spooling up to take off power, so I asked if the pax. would rather stand in the aisle and argue with me, or let me go back to the flight deck and look after the take off ? Collapse of Stout Party(ies)

[Rwy in Sight]

ExSp33db1rd, are you the one who once landing in the US under marginal conditions you had an am American skipper withholding its take off just to see you performing the landing?

[Pontius Navigator]

Warning

In our new home yonks ago we had a chimney fire. We were awake and got children, 8 and 10 up and out and both dogs. I went back to tackle the fire. As it happens I 'invented' the modern water mist extinguisher. I had a garden sprayer and shot the fine spray up the chimney and it did the trick in short order.

Then we did a head count. 8 yr old was missing. At some point she had gone back to bed.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Hydromet - I've also experienced a fire like that in a Canadian hotel in Manitoba, with the same calm, pleasant responses by both staff and guests. It was at breakfast, and it's normal for Canadian kids to come to breakfast in a hotel in their jim-jams, so there was much lending of coats and blankets. The staff rescued the coffee pots and cups and brought them outside - winter in Manitoba!

[ExSp33db1rd]

ExSp33db1rd, are you the one who once landing in the US under marginal conditions you had an am American skipper withholding its take off just to see you performing the landing?

Yep, at Philly. "marginal" was the reported W/V if I recall correctly, Headwind reported at the threshold, crosswind mid-field and tailwind at the far end.

[Undried Plum]

"marginal" was the reported W/V if I recall correctly, Headwind reported at the threshold, crosswind mid-field and tailwind at the far end.

Lunch at Glenforsa?

[ExSp33db1rd]

Lunch at Glenforsa?

??

[Rwy in Sight]

ExSp33db1rd, are you the one who once landing in the US under marginal conditions you had an am American skipper withholding its take off just to see you performing the landing?

Yep, at Philly. "marginal" was the reported W/V if I recall correctly, Headwind reported at the threshold, crosswind mid-field and tailwind at the far end.

Glad my memory checked out. I take you did an excellent job.