ecuk268

Ah, the days of analogue phones. Spent many hours listening to conversations on my scanner. Heard quite a few blokes talking to their bits on the side. Once heard Jim Smith when he was manager down the road. The language he was using would make a sailor blush. Digital ruined it all.

The problem with Ryanair is that they don't actually go where you think. For Barcelona they fly to Girona or Reus both nearly 70 miles from Barcelona. For Frankfurt they go to Hahn (80 miles) and for Brussels they go to Charleroi (20 miles). So do your research first.

Depends how you judge a manager. Is a manager who does well with a mediocre team better than one that wins things with a team full of super-stars. Both have their strengths. I'm sure that managing a team full of millionaire prima-donnas isn't necessarily easier than a more modest outfit. Ferguson and Wenger seem best with the former and Lawrie certainly knew how to get the best out of a mixture of youngsters and older players who many thought were past it.

Not really surprised. It used to be a Saturday night ritual. Get home from The Dell and then round to the local shop at 6.30 to get the Footy Echo. The whole Echo setup has been going downhill rapidly in the last few years. Sensationalist headlines but very little actual news. Just loads of adverts and pictures of people's pets, babies etc that they invite you to buy.

Robert Plant was on a footy programme at the weekend. He's a big Wolves fan. His rock 'n roll lifestyle has taken it's toll - he looks about 95.

If you're after an apartment, there's been loads of detached houses in Upper Shirley knocked down and replaced with flats. The market's a bit flooded now so prices should be quite competetive.

In photos 35,36 & 37 there's a bloke fast asleep.

It amused me that Ceefax described them as "Pointless Pompey". They've been pointless for years.

I've got an HP Deskjet and I either buy HP cartridges off E-bay (lot cheaper than retail) or use Choice Stationery comaptibles which I've never had any problems with.

While we're on the subject of right-wing loonies, there was a report on the BBC website about a BNP member of the London Assembly who said that there had been 3 murders in Barking in the last week. When questioned, he admitted that 1 was in a different borough and the other 2 "hadn't actually happened yet".

I've often cried at Saints games, especially in the last couple of years.

Started taking my lad to the Reserves games when they were at the Dell when he was about 6. He liked that so his first league game was against Ipswich when he was 7. It was a cracking game, 4-3 with a penalty and a sending-off. Trouble was that he thought all games would be like that. 15 years later he's hooked and rarely misses a game home or away.

I went to school with him (not Burley).

Organisations like SISA need an enemy. They started with Branfo*t (quite rightly) and moved on to Rupert. Now, most fans are reasonably happy with things and hope to see steady progress, so SISA don't really have a reason to exist. Unless they can create a bit of conflict, they're out of the limelight.

Totton can be a pain if you work in Southampton. I travel every day from Southampton to the Waterside and the Totton by-pass going into town is often stationary back past the Rushington roundabout. It only needs a small shunt on the Redbridge flyover for everything to grind to a halt. Upper Shirley is the place to live (no riff-raff, please).

D-Day by Anthony Beevor. A balanced, detailed but highly readable account by a serious historian. It really shows how close the whole thing came to failure. Just tried Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco but found it very hard going.

I work for an Italian company and the unions in Italy are very powerful and it's quite difficult to sack people. Unfortunately that means when redundancies are needed the UK is favourite because of our weak labour laws. It also means that the Italian management have to consult extensively with their employees and disputes are usually resolved with a bit of give and take on both sides. European countries with strong unions and labour laws (France, Italy, Germany) are also successful economically. It seems to be only in the UK that there is such a strong "them and us" attitude. Companies who treat their employees well have a motivated workforce. You cannot force people to work hard. If people see that by working hard the company benefits and they share in this, you're more likely to have a happy (and therefore enthusiastic) workforce. Co-operation on both sides is required, not confrontation.

Mrs ecuk268 dropped us off and picked us up from the Marks & Sparks car park. No problems at all. From what I could see, there were loads of buses and it all seemed to be going quite smoothly after the game. The only thing was the concourse was absolutely jammed during the break. It took me about 20 mins just to go for a leak.

I heard that he still has an 80's haircut - a sort of mullet.

Burger King are more expensive but better quality. I had an Angry Burger last week but, due to the lack of chillies, it was only mildly annoyed.

This whole thread seems a bit fishy to me.

£50 for the Toshiba

One of the Apollo missions left a mirror on the moon which many universities use to measure the precise distance from earth to moon by bouncing a laser beam off it.

I would think that you are entitled to a new machine or a full refund. Have a chat with Trading Standards, they're usually very helpful.

I'm the opposite in that I have to take a tablet first thing in the morning before food (under-active thyroid). It says on the packet that digestive juices can dilute the effectiveness of the drug. Probably, taking them with food gives a slower release into the bloodstream.