Charles Bannerman

What kind of money did the man actually pay for books? My only dealing with him was when I placed two manky looking tomes from his shelves on his counter and he tried to charge me 18 quid for them! I left them lying there and departed, making voluble and unfavourable comparisons between his establishment and a jumble sale. He's usually willing to barter, you obviously lack the gift of the gab. Naw, we were just a little bit too far apart. I thought he said 80 but he actually said 18. However I also thought he meant pence whereas he was looking for pounds!! :P

Was that not MacDougalls TEMPERANCE Hotel... ie NO DRINK! :)

Within Western Civilisation, religion seems to have been replaced by Political Correctness, so yes... Western Civilisation probably IS doomed - and not because it has lost sight of religion!

Given that the game is definitely ON, is there perhaps a case for closing this thread which may now have become misleading since the original question no longer applies? Presumably the matchday thread is on its way in any case? PS - I informed Tommy this morning that he had been referred to on this forum as "the best groundsman in Britain." Those of you who know him will probably understand what I mean by describing his response as one of "indignant hilarity" - an emotion which, within my experience anyway, only Tommy can do! (Probably the closest I have otherwise seen was Diggar MacGillivray!)

Very sensible observation. My understanding is that an inspection would be very unlikely and that Ayr United are currently tucked up in bed in the Thistle Hotel. Hopefully Miss ICT's "mate" is of a similar view. Otherwise we are yet again in danger of unnecessary and extremely unhelpful confusion. So let's look forward to the recently unusual luxury of a home game in Inverness!

I largely agree with that Alex and, with a Body mass index of 23.3, don't see why I should have to be penalised and deprived of the food I need to fuel the 5 hours or so of strenuous exercise of which I partake to keep fit. In fact, rather than tax fatties maybe it would be better for them to give people who look after themselves and hence don't use much NHS resources a tax rebate. Someone earlier suggested circumventing any "maximum portion" law by buying two meals. Why should people who either need or can healthily accommodate a larger amount of food be penalised by the extra cost of having to do that? Also, the lifestyle habits which Alex describes above also mirror quite closely some of the reasons for the problems not a few sports are having in maintaining their performance levels. Finally, perhaps a rather more radical approach to all this fuss about stopping obesity. Why bother with the problem at all? Why take artificial measures to change the course of what is arguably no more than good old Darwinian Natural Selection which emphasises the survival of the fittest. If people are stupid and ill disciplined enough to allow themselves to get into such a state of obesity, then Natural Selection responds to that situation. A case for some kind of Culinary Darwin Award perhaps?

I could PM you with my detailed calculation or send you the envelope on the back of which I worked it out. :D

Wow!! That's an intriguing thought. These will have to be amazing heat exchangers! It's the concept of taking the heat from the AIR that intrigues me... or at least that's what I'm assuming is the case from the quoted passage. A wee bit of maths and science now - if that turns you off, just ignore the next bit! :D It's amazing what you can work out from the ballpark figure of the ?70 per hour that it's meant to cost to run the TCS system. That equates to around 200 litres of oil per hour which in turn, after a few more sums, equates to a power rating of approximately 2100kW. (All calculations very much back of envelope and fairly approximate! For the benefit of the scientifically inclined I am taking the heat of combustion of hydrocarbons as 47kJ/g) That, therefore, is the rate at which energy is required to run the system. Now to take energy at that rate from the air in order to transfer it to the USH and hence to the pitch, I calculate you would need to do the equivalent of passing the equivalent of 160 cubic metres of air through the heat exchanger, and cool it by 10 degrees centigrade - EVERY SECOND. (I had to look up the specific heat and the density of of air to work that out.) 160 cubic metres is the equivalent of four 4m x 4m livingrooms so that volume would have to be cooled by 10 degrees every SECOND! Also, remembering that the air is typically at -5, it would need to be cooled to -15 in this scenario. The TCS system, by the way, has a carbon footprint of about half a ton of CO2 per hour, but hey... they partly sold us the greehouse gas theory by ramming down our throats how bloody hot the summer of 2003 was. Well to follow that logic through, look how bloody cold the winter of 09-10 has been! :D To turn to the discussion on the general features of a USH system, I suppose the "efficiency" of the system could be measured in terms of the rate at which energy can be passed on to each unit volume of undersoil. Presumably the units would therefore be something like "kilowatts per cubic metre". The higher the value, the faster you can thaw a pitch out. But on the other hand if you are merely keeping an already soft pitch in that condition, you can presumably turn the thing down to a level which achieves thermal equilibrium - ie the rate at which heat is being lost to the "cold" air above equals the rate at which it is being supplied by the USH system. This is a very complex scenario. The variables (assuming that there is no limit to the power you can generate from your plant) would appear to be total pipe length, spacing between adjacent lengths of pipe (which is related to pipe length), thickness of pipe (given that a thin pipe with a larger relative surface area will transfer heat faster) and rate of flow of water through the pipes. At a qualitative level it would seem fairly clear that the closer the pipes are together, the more effective (and more energy consuming) the system will be. Then there are other factors such as the idea that the more piping you have, the less soil you have left that needs thawing in any case and also the rate of heat loss, principally by radiation and conduction. However there is also the notion that the higher the power per unit volume, the more chance there is of damage to the grass roots. Interesting topic!

I can update you on the situation as I saw for myself it at 2pm today at the Stadium. As far as I am aware the undesoil heating is ON. There was NO snow on the pitch and very little surrounding the stadium. However there were significant areas of the pitch with water lying on them. The feeling is that this will drain away quickly if the USH does its job and defrosts the surface. It is also worth noting that underlying temperatures are about 5-8 degrees warmer (OK... less cold) than they were last weekend. Tommy is once again putting a power of work into that pitch and getting it playable. I am not aware of any plan having been made about when to say yes or no but Thursday would be extremely early for a decision about a decision. Tomorrow should bring more clarity. HOWEVER if the A9 remains in its recent chaotic state, that could emerge as the biggest threat to the game. I would have to say I endorse Doofersdad's criticism of the 5 day forecast which I believe the BBC simply get from the Met Office. It is disastrously inaccurate. Over New Year I did an analysis of what they were saying about various days during the 5 preceding days. The variation through these 5 days in what they were predicting for, say, January 4th, was incredible and often way different from what ultimately transpired. For instance it is quite capable of ranging from predicting heavy snow to bright sunshine and what you get on the day is thick cloud. Similarly temperature predictions of -6 to +4 typically end up at zero. You really have to wonder if it is worth making forecasts like that public if that is the current capability of meteorological science and they so signally fail to predict what the weather is actually going to be like. I know that Tommy gets extremely annoyed about the unreliability of these forecasts in a situation where he needs accuracy.

I believe the excuse for this kind of rip off is to call it "Nouvelle Cuisine". And I will ignore Caley100's preceding calumny which I take to be retaliation for my earlier comments on another thread about his war service.

Yes, there's a big difference between educating kids in good eating habits and providing them with these opportunities at, for instance, school meals. I wouldn't pretend that the uptake is universal but every little helps. The idea of some kind of "fat tax" is appealing, albeit very difficult to implement. But maybe some consideration should be made of the possibility of surcharging the obese for healthcare they need as a result of their obesity. This is in effect what happens with smokers and drinkers who pay duty on these commodities in proportion to the extent to which they use them and hence to the likelihood of their using NHS resources to counteract the effects. What about this thought? There have been proposals from politicians (actually from the party whose leader looks as if he enjoys lots of ?9K lunches) to impose a minimum pricing regime on alcohol to prevent excessive consumption and hence abuse. There has been a degree of resistance to this suggestion. But is the prospect of implementing a minimum pricing regime not an equally logical solution for curbing the abuse of food? What would the public response be to that? I'm not actually suggesting this - merely inviting a discussion. Let me end with this anecdote. It's not all that long since the Scottish Young Athletes' League was sponsored by........ McDonalds! :024: A bizarre case of a healthy and fitness promoting activity for youngsters beong sponsored by the world's biggest manufacturer of junk food. On the other hand both sides of the Old Firm have for some time been sponsored by brewers.

It's called freedom of choice. The so called Nanny State is everywhere. What's the point of prosecuting Salmond for being too fat anyway? Nicola Sturgeon would just write to the court to demand a non custodial sentence or if he did get put in jail, Kenny MacAskill would just let him out again.

Now there's an idea! Maybe they should issue plastic cards on to which you can download an electronic record of your calorie consumption on machines in the gym and also the contents of your GPS if you are a runner or a cyclist. Then you can trade that in against the size of meal the Scottish Government say you are entitled to when you take it to your local restaurant. Don't knock it! It's not hugely different in principle from the bizarre and rather sad practice of "carbon trading".

Fat-busting laws are branded ?nonsense? 22 Feb 2010 Restaurants, fast-food outlets and supermarkets will have to cut portion sizes or face legal action under a new Government plan to combat obesity in Scotland. In addition to standardising portion sizes in ready meals and restaurants, the Government will scrutinise the composition of meals and snacks and assess the calorie value of linked products sold as ?meal deals?. The measures were unveiled yesterday by Public Health Minister Shona Robison as part of proposals to tackle the ?ticking time bomb? of overweight Scots. However, her proposals were met with scorn by leading restaurateurs, who branded them unenforceable nonsense. This is the top few paragraphs of The Herald's version of a story which has been doing the rounds today. I find it breathtaking that politicians are presuming to dictate to us by law what we can eat in a restaurant and what we can now. This verges on Stalinism. And all of that before you even think that this is being proposed by a party led by a man who looks as if he himself has indulged in a great deal too many ?9000 lunches!

No it doesn't. I was at the Caledonian Stadium for much of Saturday morning, directly observing events and speaking directly to the people involved which I continued to do over the weekend. Unfortunately the Courier would, unusually, appear to be in error on this occasion. Please, Don, do not be tempted to descend to the levels of Houndog and his apparent need to distort the facts in order to support his conspiracy theory and desire to find fault with the club.

How simple do I have to make this and apparently several other aspects of this issue for you? There was NO 9:30 inspection on Saturday!

I believe they were sold when the USH was installed. They are only effective down to about -3. As I recollect County have had their own for a number of years - perhaps 10 or more? I can recall a number of occasions over the period when County have done their best with them but they quite simply can't cope with some nights. I also remember about 10 years ago County experimented with bubbles of hot air - but only once! The ultimate solution - and I believe it has been tried although I can't remember whether it was as part of County's titanic battle to get their 1966 game v Rangers on or during Jags' 29 postponements in 1979 - is lighting fires on the park! Anyone prepared to phone Tommy and make that suggestion for this weekend?! While the referee was doing his inspection on Saturday soembody did make the point that in the event of summer football, pitches could become just as hard.

Clearly the Merkinch was a high priority target then! So are we to follow that Caley100's War Service amounted to time as a navigator/ photograhper in a JU52 which is presumably why he is able to recognise the aircraft with such facility and label his photo "Merkinch"? :025: I have to say I didn't realise that the actual site of the Longman airfield was as close to the Shore/ Citadel as emerges from the photo. I had always thought it was a bit further round, nearer the bridge and the stadium. However, since I also remember the black hangar it must have been pretty stupid of me not to have related it to the airfield. Present day Lotland Street or thereby is it? Indeed was there more than one hangar in, say, the 60s or later? Interestingly, despite the accurate German photo reconnaisance, Inverness was never bombed during the war. Presumably even the airfield (which they have marked as "Flugplatz") and the adjoining oil tanks were not considered high enough priority. Wick took a bit of a pasting, producing the first bombing fatality on mainland Britain in July 1940 and they tried to get Wick Aerodrome on a few occasions since it housed the air defence for the Fleet at Scapa. However dummy airfields and fires seemed to send the Luftwaffe off track. Invergordon also got a doing since it was a fleet base. They were going for the naval oil tanks which are still up beside the school. They onle ever hit one.... Number 13!... and the gap is still there for all to see.

Sorry to deprive you of another conspiracy theory opportunity Donald but if what I wrote at around 2:30 on Saturday hadn't already made these questions irrelevant then I can only refer you to Scotty's impeccably accurate account a few posts above this one. The only detail of that which I cannot personally verify is what was said by Chic or by anyone else on Sportsound that afternoon since at the time, having spent much of the morning at the "scene of the crime" (maybe I should withdraw that since it will only encourage Donald :025: ) I was shopping and lunching in Morrisons. I have on the other hand heard reliable accounts of what was said and much of it does not appear to correlate with what I saw at the scene. At this point I don't think I want to say too much more about what has become a live and running issue.

The version of events which I posted on this thread around 2:30 yesterday afternoon presents the facts which I gleaned from a number of calls to the club on Thursday and Friday and from spending much of Saturday morning at the ground as the inspection took place. A summary of that will be broadcast on the BBC's local bulletins for the Highlands and Islands tomorrow morning. I also note above with interest "strathyjags'" allegation about material he is under the delusion that I posted on something he refers to as "p and b". I understand this to be a football website but I am afraid that apart from that I have no knowledge of it at all. In any case, what would be the point of a humble peasant like myself commenting on the finances of Strathspey Thistle FC in contradiction of a figure so eminent that not only is he Club Treasurer but apparently also Club Lord High Everything Else, with a status so elevated that his name even takes precedence over that of the Club Chairman on the Club Website......... of which he is Grand Club Webmaster!? :D :015: :015:

Yes, it's interesting that despite 13 of the top 16 seeds being Mitsubishis, Subarus took the top two places and four of the top 8 places. I'm not long back from the Thistle Hotel where I was doing a couple of interviews. Jock Armstrong was really pleased with his drive. He won all five stages today, having finished third overall last time in what was his first Snowman for 20 years. Andy Horne was also pleased with his effort for 5th place and was reminding me that this was only the 2nd time in 12 outings that he's finished the Snowman. The stages were, predictably, very icy. Seems to have been a very good day overall. Mind you, Snowman day also has its hilarious side. What's the first thing I see when I go into Tesco's car park before 9am this morning? Two separate wee neds in beaten up old bangers with the obligatory aerofoil, ***** substitutes roaring, zooming round the place like there was no tomorrow. It happens every year! Out come the wannabes in their dozens. EDIT - the filtering system on this site appears to replace the correct medical and anatomical term for the male genital member with *s.

POST OF THE THREAD!!!! :( :( :) :021: :021: But come to think of it Alex... would you not have been safer also to have provided links to online dictionary definitions of "satire" and "irony"... just in case!!!!?

As a said in my recent post... "misinformation, confusion and downright fantasy". You should take that one up with your colleagues on Radio Scotland, from whom I was quoting, Charles... If I had been listening rather than doing my somewhat delayed shopping in Morrisons, I would have phoned in and put the record straight. (I just hope to God Miss ICT wasn't listening to that programme! :( )

As a said in my recent post... "misinformation, confusion and downright fantasy". Re Yngwie's quote of Billy Dodds.... I obviously cannot testify as to what Maurice said but can state that there was a high degree of confidence within ICT yesterday that the game would go ahead. And there was ONE INSPECTION AT 1115!

Due to the incredible amount of misinformation, confusion and, in places downright fantasy on this thread and having been across this situation since Thursday afternoon, I think I should place the following facts on record. The Inspection This was fixed late yesterday (Friday) morning for 0930 today, match day. There would appear to have been some kind of breakdown in communication within the SFA who appear to have arranged for a local referee to visit at 1100. Before anyone goes off on one about this, please remember that this delay might potentially have put the game on and appeared to be welcomed at the Caledonian Stadium this morning since conditions were steadily improving. The referee eventually arrived at 1115 and took a very long and detailed look at the pitch - in fact it was the longest inspection I have ever witnessed. (So I really do not know where Miss ICT got her totally fictional hearsay from.) On the basis of there being significant areas still solid at that time, he called the game off at 1135. This was very quickly relayed to the various websites and broadcasters. This decision gave no scope for a later inspection by the match referee who was due in at around 1230 by which time improving conditions MAY have (EDIT - I am now informed "HAD") rendered the pitch playable. I got the strong impression that throughout ICT there was a strong desire for that later inspection or any other means of getting the game on but the decision lies with the referee who also has to take into account travelling fans. It would not be proper of me to repeat any opinions I may have heard about how keen or otherwise QoS were for the game to go ahead. The Undersoil Heating SFL clubs are not obliged to use their heating so its discretionary use hence involves a financial balancing of the costs (which are approximately ?70-?90 per hour depending on the oil price) against the revenues from a Saturday as opposed to a postponed midweek game - also taking into account what the weather may or may not do. This is hence a very complex call. The decision to switch on the undersoil heating was made late yesterday (Friday) morning and full power was used (so Tommy was really working extremely hard on that treadmill all night - seriously though, Tommy put a huge amount of effort into trying to get that game on). I was told that at 4:30 yesterday afternoon the pitch was very much looking as if it was heading towards playable. However last night was extraordinarily cold and the stadium's waterside location did not appear to benefit fom its usual couple of degrees of warming. When I arrived there at 0945 today the temperature was still minus 2 although by then increasing. As a result the heating did not after all appear to have been able to take the frost out of the ground within the required time, even for an inspection delayed until 1130. As I left there was a feeling that a 1230 or 1300 inspection might have yielded a different result and as I write this I have just received a text expressing the opinion that the pitch was playable at 1pm. Apart from all that, it was quite an interesting morning. When I arrived I met Gordon Chisholm coming out of the front door and he asked me if I was the inspecting referee?.... which is quite flattering since referees retire at around the age of 48! :) Then, whilst on the phone, I was "attacked" (well not quite!) by Terry Butcher's dog - which seems to be the only creature within his personal orbit over which he is totally incapable of exerting any influence at all! :( :( Terry thought it was quite funny!