snorbens_caleyman

I compared it with quite a few photographs of Marinas, just to be sure!

Mine was a Citroen GS Club. Air-cooled flat-four 1220cc engine kept the bonnet line low - and the spare wheel was under that bonnet, flat on top of the engine. Front-wheel drive. Disc brakes all round. Spade-handle handbrake coming out of the dashboard. Single-spoke steering wheel. Radio mounted vertically between the front seats. Wasn't a hatchback, but the boot lid was that vertical section where the number plate is, including the central part of the bumper. So there was a massive boot, and no sill to lift stuff over. I cut holes in the rear-window parcel shelf and basically mounted my speakers in the boot The fabric on top of the rear seats crumbled to dust, baked by the sun coming through that rear windscreen. First time I went under it, I was gobsmacked, because it was streamlined like a boat. The exhaust and brake pipes were set into channels in the underside, so that they didn't interfere with the aerodynamics. And the hydropneumatic suspension. Great when it worked. But we were on a break in Yorkshire when suddenly there was green fluid spattering across the windscreen, and we lost much of the suspension and some of the brakes. Limped into a garage in Beverley, where the owner took one look at it and said "There's the workshop. Use whatever you want - I'm not touching it!". Fantastic that Citroen was putting something like that up against the Ford Escort. But a little too complex and expensive for a first car.

A Morris Marina. One of the worst cars ever made My Dad had one on a rare venture away from Vauxhalls. I'd be driving along a country road, hit a bump, and suddenly find myself heading either for the ditch or for the other side of the road. It was years later that I discovered that this was known as "bump steer", and that the Marina was notorious for it. Below is my very first car, in 1980. Looking back, it wasn't a sensible choice for a first car when money was tight, but it was a fantastic car. I swear that to this day it was the most comfortable car that I have ever driven.

All true, but what Hancock, the UK* Government Health Minister, actually said earlier this week, when asked why 15,000 people were arriving in the UK every day with no testing, was that it would make little difference now since the virus is already widespread here. I can summarise that as "We're f***ed already". * Hancock is in fact only responsible for England, because health is a power devolved to Scotland, Wales and NI. A point which is never made clear when he speaks, nor in much of the reporting that I see, usually on the BBC and in the Guardian. I guess that you folks north of the border will be seeing much more of Sturgeon and the Scottish health officials.

Grossly unfair if, say, you were in 9th place on goal difference with more than a third of the season still to play....

I watched it all the way through a year or two ago. And I still got very nervous in the second half...

Re Mantis' photograph inside Telford Street - what was Hewden? A mis-spelling? HSBS was Billy Urquhart's company? A colleague of my father thought that Billy was boss of the bank HSBC.

If you have access to BBC iPlayer, then you can change the location - under "settings" - to Scotland, and get the Scottish channels. I have used it to watch Caley Thistle live on BBC Scotland and BBC Alba, but I assume that you can also see the programme after the live transmission.

https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/sport/gardiner-caley-thistle-could-not-relegate-another-club-by-voting-yes-to-spfl-proposals-196496/ "We could not countenance a situation where we could take a vote which would lead to redundancies at Hearts and Partick Thistle on Monday morning and goodness knows what at Stranraer."

Are there any online multiplayer soccer games? Could play out the remaining fixtures that way, with the teams being picked by the managers, and streaming or televising the matches. Though it could favour the team with the fastest broadband.

Gotcha! When I first saw it, it was indeed familiar. I was convinced that that was Cairn Gorm - maybe from Loch Morlich, but there aren't any churches there. It's Loch Alvie, a few miles south of Aviemore.

I think it's grossly unfair to the clubs who will be relegated - eg Partick - and to those which miss out on possible direct promotion - eg Falkirk. Would be much fairer to declare the season null and void, and distribute the money evenly. That would upset the likes of Dundee Utd and Cove, but you can't please everyone. Typical of the shambolic nature of football administration is that nowhere does it say what majority is required to pass this resolution. Is it a straight majority, a certain percentage, or what? And there is also this little gem of ambiguity: "If the resolution is approved, the SPFL has also committed to consulting with Clubs over the possibility of League restructuring ahead of Season 2020/21." That can only mean that before next season they will talk to clubs about league restructuring. It cannot mean that the league will be restructured ahead of 2020/21 - because then they wouldn't be able to say who is promoted and relegated!

I've eaten and drunk in it as the Waterfront, and would very happily go again. When it was the Black Bull, it had a bit of a rough reputation. We had a family friend - my Mum's best friend since they were young - and she lived in one of the small flats in Huntly Court, directly behind the pub. She went to one of the Free churches every Sunday, and then had to sneak unseen into the newsagents because buying Sunday papers was a big no-no. She never married, but had a wicked sense of humour, and was basically the epitome of a maiden aunt or spinster aunt (although she wasn't actually a relative). Anyway, we - especially my Mum - were gobsmacked one day when we discovered that she was in the habit of going alone into the Black Bull of an evening, having a port-and-lemon or two, and passing the time with the regulars. "Don't you know about its reputation?" "Rubbish! They are always very nice to me, and I've never seen any trouble." Happy days

One of my favourites is the Balvenie, and IIRC it's very close to Glenfiddich. Are we looking past Balvenie to Glenfiddich's warehouses?

I've just seen in yesterday's paper that the English and Scottish FAs have received permission from UEFA to remove the Saturday afternoon TV blackout for the remainder of this season. This would enable closed-door games to be televised, should the season be restarted. Personally, I still don't see the season being restarted, despite UEFA's insistence on no admittance to next season's European club competitions unless the season is finished. For a start, it would be impossible to restart immediately permission was given, because players will not be match-fit and the risk of injury would be high.

This just reported by the Guardian: "The Queen has recorded a special broadcast on the coronavirus outbreak to be broadcast on Sunday, Buckingham Palace said. " Another one who hightailed it out of town, and only then started telling us to pull together. Apparently Prince Andrew is the only one left in London

So you missed the opening of the Nightingale/ ExCeL hospital in London this morning?

Ah, OK, thanks. Thought it was a bit early for them to have reached that stage! One report says that these are the final standings, but another says that they haven't decided yet what to do about promotion and relegation.

All teams had only one game to play, and Bruges were 15 points ahead. So no, that's not likely to set a precedent for anywhere else!

I think it's the only sensible solution. It would be tough on clubs like Liverpool and Dundee United, but these are extraordinary times. I would hope that any club who challenged such a decision would get short shrift in court. And also hope that reasonable agreements regarding money can be made with sponsors, advertisers, broadcasters, etc - and season ticket holders.

How many can there be? Stornoway?

No close marking (so no change for us :)) Choreographed elbow-bumping to celebrate goals. Bring your own toilet roll, but certainly no wasting it by throwing it onto the pitch.

Not if he has had a test and it definitely shows that he doesn't have it.

As a postscript, all of this was made redundant when we decided not to travel. The reason for our trip was to see my Mum - next Sunday is Mothers' Day. But she lives in a care home in the town, and we decided that there is no way we can take the risk of introducing coronavirus into a care home. The likelihood is probably still low - though increasing - but the possible consequences are too awful to contemplate. Thought we were going to lose money on flights and hotel, but we see that Easyjet and Premier Inn are now allowing customers to amend "non-flexible" bookings. So I'll be doing that as soon as we have picked another date, well into the future!

I do think that something needs to be done, and would welcome larger divisions, whilst noting the consequent problem of teams being marooned in mid-table with little to play for except position. However, I can't see any changes being made for next season. The reason I say that is this season would then have started under one set of rules, especially those governing promotion and relegation, and ended, albeit unexpectedly, under another set of rules. Can't do that. For example, those teams which still had a chance of promotion, but which would miss out if you changed everything, would cry foul. In the Championship, that could be everyone beneath us except Partick. Can't start a competition under one set of conditions and end it under another. I think they will have to declare the season null and void.