| Author |
Message |
G. B. Gurr
Guest
| | Posted on Thursday, September 09, 2010 - 03:32 pm: |   |
MY NAME is VAPADAW.
I am an attractive little cabin cruiser with a red hull and white superstructure, and early last month I developed a list at my mooring in the north of Belle Greve Bay.
Fortunately, a kind nearby resident saw my plight and gave my registration number (627) to the harbour master. My owner and a friend soon came to bail me out.
But two weeks ago the water came in again and I sank at my mooring.
Six days later my owner and two friends spent three hours towing me - still submerged - to another mooring nearer the shore, but close to rocks.
However, on a high tide 48 hours later I managed to refloat myself, but when my nearby friendly resident saw me swinging about on the end of a long line near the rocks he was concerned for my safety and informed the harbour master again.
But that was nine days ago. I became waterlogged again on the next high tide and no one has been to help me. Could some kind person please come and rescue me before I get too badly hurt ever to sail again?
G. B. GURR,
3F Richmond Court,
Grandes Maisons Road,
St Sampson's,
GY2 4JS. |
Anon
Guest
| | Posted on Thursday, September 09, 2010 - 03:27 pm: | |
READING your report about the possible redevelopment of the Guernsey Brewery by Comprop, ask the question: are they really thinking of a possible hotel?
The answer will, of course, be no.
The biggest money spinner, guaranteed, will be a block of flats, again.
Obviously this is going to have an effect on the parking around this area, and what finish will we have seeing Jamie Falla is involved again?
More concrete and 'glass', so watch this space.
Name and address withheld |
Anon
Guest
| | Posted on Thursday, September 09, 2010 - 03:26 pm: | |
FIRST of all I would like to say that I am not a police officer, nor am I related to one. I have never before written to the Guernsey Press but I feel so strongly about this that discussing it with my friends is no longer enough.
What is it with people having a go at the police during one of the most intense and difficult investigations for years? Yes, jump on the bandwagon, why don't you?
1. Publicans have had a go about lighting in Town and lack of police presence. May I remind the public in general that it's these same publicans who sell drink to already over-intoxicated young men and women until they no longer can look after themselves?
2. People have complained about the police not disclosing information about the first two attacks.
If they say too much, they're scaremongering, if they don't say enough they are not protecting us.
Unfortunately, the third attack happened long after everyone in the street knew of what was going on. It didn't stop young women walking home alone, or lead to their friends stopping them from doing so.
3. Then people complained because they didn't know if it was rape or a grope, as this would make a difference to people staying safe. Obviously the writer of that particular letter thought that it was acceptable for a female to be groped and were the police now making a mountain out of a molehill?
It's attitudes like this that breed monsters that rape women.
4. I guess bored with this issue, someone complains about the lack of police motorbikes on our roads at the moment.
Why are the motorbikes parked in the yard? Well, if I wanted to catch a rapist, I would go out on a police motorbike with the sirens on and the blue lights flashing.
Only a few weeks ago everyone was complaining that the police spent too much time on traffic duties.
5. So, with the above in mind, the new chief of police, who has just arrived on the island, whose force is working non-stop to solve serious sexual assaults and who has kindly offered to reply to someone's issues personally, is now under fire for not writing a reply in the local paper. Perhaps he should have made that a priority rather than support his team at this critical time.
Do the writers of these letters and articles have any idea of how many hours officers have worked, how many sleepless nights they had, how many rest days were cancelled, how many families didn't see their husbands, wives, mums, dads, sons and daughters for days on end? I don't either, but at least I don't try to lower their morale with uninformed, bigoted and ignorant opinions.
Well, some of us are grateful for the police force we have, for their efforts trying to catch the criminals, for every day that they get abuse from the children of the righteous and for doing their best.
Name and address withheld |
Sue Simons
Guest
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 08, 2010 - 05:29 pm: | |
AT THE request of my grandchildren, I recently bought a large box of Guernsey ice cream. When the ice cream was all eaten (within a few days) and the box licked clean, I was about to throw it in my recycling bag when I noted that it was not recyclable in the island.
Of course, I was surprised, not to say disgusted...
The States are always pushing for less waste in landfill and we as a family do our bit. Everything recyclable goes into the requisite bin. So I ask now: why can’t the Dairy use containers with the right P letters?
SUE SIMONS,
4, La Sapiniere,
Belmont Road,
St Peter Port,
GY1 1PX.
Editor’s footnote: Andrew Tabel, general manager, Guernsey Dairy replies:
‘Thank you for giving the Guernsey Dairy the opportunity to respond to your readers letter regarding ice cream containers and our environmental and recycling policy.
The Guernsey Dairy has a corporate and social responsibility to ensure that, wherever possible, it monitors, with the aim of reducing, every area of the business that could potentially have a direct or indirect impact on the environment.
The very successful ‘wash and squash’ initiative has seen more than 10.5 million milk and juice cartons recycled that would have potentially found their way to landfill.
The Guernsey Dairy together with Public Services and private sector sponsors (in this case HSBC Bank) recognised the environmental and community benefits that such a scheme would have for the island.
The ice cream containers used by the Guernsey Dairy are made from polypropylene (PP 05). This is the most widely used material in the food packaging industry due to the properties of the material.
Variations of polypropylene can be extruded into very thin film for packaging or moulded into tubs, trays and dishes. It has a wide temperature range (+160°C to -20°C) and good fatigue resistance at low temperature means it will not shatter when used for chilled/frozen foods. Some plastics tend to shatter when subjected to cold conditions leaving the potential for shards of plastic to enter the food chain if used inappropriately.
This has been identified in the Dairy’s quality management system and HACCP procedures and due to levels of protection required for food safety regulations we have refrained from using these types of material for our products.
Polypropylene packaging is not currently recyclable on the island. However, we do evaluate the use of lightweight materials on an ongoing basis but these need to be practical from both a production, storage and usage perspective.
The Guernsey Dairy will continue to adopt the same attitude and philosophy to that of our suppliers and will always endeavour to use packaging that is both from a sustainable source and that which ultimately can be recycled.
As a case in point the empty ice cream tub also has the potential for many uses once the contents have been enjoyed.
The message ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ used to bring about consumer awareness is particularly pertinent in this instance.
The Guernsey Dairy has a duty of care to both its customers and the environment and encourages the responsible and environmentally sound disposal of all waste. However, this has to be carefully balanced in terms of the products and packaging that we produce and use without compromising food hygiene and food safety legislation.’ |
William Audoire
Guest
| | Posted on Monday, September 06, 2010 - 02:30 pm: | |
Talking to a worried friend, it’s only when we are low in spirit and using the most private room in the house that we fall into reality and talk to our inner guardian to work out our worries. The problem is we are not taught at birth that we have a guardian within us.
I read that the ancient ones have written that the end of the world is coming in 2012. I doubt it – the Earth is cooling, not hotting up – we may get a shake to rebalance the ice melt.
My friend said the world is running short of fertiliser. If this is true then the world is in trouble food-wise. But the Guernsey glass growers could start growing the common truffle, that delicacy one finds in Perigord, France – harvest time October to January.
Gold is not rare on our planet Earth – there’s plenty of it. The high price is totally artificial and will dip.
Floods in Pakistan – could India suffer a drought? We know of the fires in Russia, but it’s a con trick if the price of wheat goes up, so study states.
Yes, I agree as read in the Guernsey Press, that they should bring back the old Fermain Bay boat trips – this is a place of beauty and beach and one has no need to walk up that very steep hill. And the old Randall Brewery should be designed to meet future needs, i.e. underground car park, ground floor for selling of cars, flats/ offices/ night club/ flat roof dining area and a top viewing point.
School holidays – the kids haven’t got the freedom we had. We’d take a loaf with a tin of corned beef and home-made lemonade, then camp on top of a beach. Not today – some sick, pomp-minded person would phone the police. No wonder we have vandalism. (Do not restrict teenagers from play, or adolescents will rebel on you.)
Leaving my friend, I said ‘you worried last year and everything worked out well for you. Why worry this year?’
WILLIAM AUDOIRE. |
Matt Waterman
Guest
| | Posted on Monday, September 06, 2010 - 02:28 pm: | |
OBSERVERS have been writing about the agenda for New World Order, controlled by the elite few, for many years now. Immediately after World War II, the key ways in which this would be achieved were:
1. To introduce a world authority called the United Nations (with associated bodies like the World Health Organisation), which could evolve into world government.
2. To continue to cause conflicts across the world and to use the fear of the Soviet Union to massively increase spending on nuclear and conventional weapons, thus adding to the fear of nuclear war and need for global security. To set up Nato and a UN peacekeeping force, which would eventually fuse to form a world army.
3. To create free trade areas in Europe, the Americas and Asia, which would be sold to people initially as merely economic groupings. Gradually, however, these would be evolved into centralised political unions with one central bank and one currency. (The EU is the most advanced of these.)
4. To advance the control of public opinion and to research and expand the understanding of how to manipulate the human psyche, individually and collectively.
5. To create a welfare state while destroying alternatives to the economic system and, when the desired dependency has been achieved, to dismantle that state welfare support, creating a vast underclass without help or hope.
6. To make fantastic amounts of money in the course of realising all these ambitions, via control of banks and large companies.
7. To continually add to the debt burdens of people, business and state, thus increasing the control exerted over them.
I hope to systematically work through these items in these pages in the next few weeks and show that one of the consistent policies being applied to bring about the above is that of ‘problem reaction solution’. A problem, sometimes completely imaginary, is created and a ‘big brother solution’ is promptly sold to us to solve it or protect us from it. Related to this, the strategy of discrediting the nation state, which will be the subject of my next letter, cannot be understated.
MATT WATERMAN. |
Peter Ozanne
Guest
| | Posted on Monday, September 06, 2010 - 02:27 pm: | |
WORLD Horse Welfare recently published the results of a survey in the UK. The president of BEVA (British Equine Veterinary Association) stated, ‘This survey has confirmed the presence of a wide variety of welfare related problems not only in the construction of premises, but, as important, is the way livery businesses are supervised and run. Problems are surprisingly widespread, action needs to be taken...’
I have personal experience of these problems, in Guernsey, and the resultant suffering caused to equines. Standards at some yards are low. The suffering of equines may not be obvious to non-horsy, and horsy, people who do continue to support these yards. It is therefore vital for compulsory licensing and approval, of business yards, by a recognised group such as the British Horse Society.
I am currently liveried at a British Horse Society approved yard and am pleased to report this yard is run to a very high standard.
Gee up Guernsey government: support BEVA, NEWC, ABRS, the Equine Insurance Forum, World Horse Welfare, BHS, Redwings and LACORS in their efforts to resolve these issues.
PETER OZANNE. |
Frank Le Blancq
Guest
| | Posted on Friday, September 03, 2010 - 03:14 pm: | |
I enjoyed your reader’s letter but tongue-in-cheek as it is, some of points mentioned deserve an explanation.
1. Jersey Met’s forecast in the Guernsey Press issued on 19 August made no mention of daytime rainfall. The forecast said ‘. . . perhaps a little drizzle in the evening’, so why your reader felt an urge to stay indoors that day only he or she knows. The word ‘perhaps’ was used to indicate uncertainty as to whether or not the drizzle would reach the island. There was no evening drizzle, but it wasn’t far away and hence some justification for the uncertainty.
2. ‘Jersey is bound to be five degrees warmer . . .’ Some exaggeration here, but in May, June and July, Jersey’s maximum temperature averaged 2.5C higher than Guernsey, a consequence of the location and geography of each island. In mid-winter Guernsey is usually warmer.
3. Regarding Channel TV and BBC Southwest, Jersey Met send them forecasts several times a day, but how they present forecasts is out of our control and should be taken up with those companies.
4. ‘Weather forecasting seems to have got worse and worse over the past few years’. The Guernsey Press forecast has been marked independently for several years and this statement is simply not borne out by the facts. The presentation of forecasts may be worse, but that is a separate issue.
5. Web-based weather sites such as WindGuru take their forecasts straight from a computer model (in the USA), with no human input to correct known errors or biases. A forecaster can often spot the errors and compensate – ‘adding value’ as we call it.
6. Your reader jokes about use of ‘north/south of the area’, but it’s no joke for those in small boats, with the phrase used deliberately.
Our CI shipping forecast area extends about 100 miles from latitude 50 deg. north to the Brittany coast. Often the wind speed in mid-Channel (the north of the area) and near the Brittany coast (the south of the area) differ by two Beaufort forces, the difference between a safe passage or danger for a small boat.
As I write the wind is force six in mid-Channel and force three at St Malo, but, according to the UK forecast, it’s force five to seven, which I suggest is not very helpful. The north/south split is to help those at sea (especially leisure boaters) to know more precisely forecast variations in wind speed and direction around our area.
It’s a response to comments by boaters and other marine interests in a survey some years ago.
I agree with your reader that the UK shipping forecast is cooked up on the mainland by someone who probably doesn’t know where the Channel Islands are, but he/she has commercial shipping on the high seas in mind.
I hope this explains some of the points and must also agree with your reader to forget about five- to eight-day forecasts.
The best we can do with reasonable accuracy is three to five days and, with some weather patterns, even that’s a struggle.
Finally, your reader can rest assured that my employers have never seen fit to pay me a bonus, let alone an enormous bonus.
Frank Le Blancq,
Jersey Met. Forecaster |
Martin Nickolls
Guest
| | Posted on Friday, September 03, 2010 - 03:13 pm: | |
I AM sitting writing this letter early evening (7pm) on 19 August.
The day has been beautiful. Since mid morning, warm sunshine and clear blue sky. Even now at this hour the sun is still shining and it is really warm – mind you about time.
I can see just a hint of high cloud coming in from the west but nothing too sinister.
If I had heeded the forecast published in the Guernsey Press today then I would be sat under an umbrella or indoors watching television trying to escape the drizzle and gloom that was due to occur this afternoon.
But not to worry, the Guernsey Press forecast for the next few days looks good with Sunday being particularly excellent with constant sunshine and warm temperatures.
But hang on a minute, I have just looked at XC weather on the net and lo it says it’s going to be cloudy and wet – surely not. Better check another weather site just to be sure.
Let’s see what WindGuru says – oh dear, that shows Saturday and Sunday being windy and cloudy with showers as well. Shall we try one more just to make absolutely sure that the proposed barbecue may or may not be on.
Let’s look at Weather Online – usually pretty accurate.
Wow, it’s going to be foggy all day. Oh no.
Now what should I do. I know, let’s look at Jersey Met – always on the ball.
Ignoring the fact that Jersey is bound to be five degrees warmer than us let’s see what they say.
Oh my gawd, it’s going to rain.
I suppose I should look at the good old shipping forecast but I reckon that’s been cooked up by someone on the mainland who isn’t quite sure where the Channels Islands are because they are always wrong and nearly always give a gloomy picture, presumably just to be on the safe side.
There’s always reference to ‘the north of the area’ on this forecast and it’s always windier there than ‘the south of the area’ – hate to live there.
As a last resort I will have to watch Channel TV’s weather after the news – or is that during the news – that’s always good for a laugh but nowhere as imaginary as the BBC forecast a bit later on because the two never agree.
And why does the woman who does the forecasts on Channel tell us in great detail what the past day has been like – we know that having just lived through it. Although there’s never an apology when they have got it completely wrong the night before.
Joking aside, the weather forecasting seems to have got worse and worse over the past few years.
The Met. Office in the UK now have these ‘super computers’ that are supposed to be accurate to within a gnat’s whisker.
Well, I’m sorry, but they’re not.
The only super thing about those computers must be their colour scheme because they certainly have not improved their forecasting capabilities – hasn’t stopped the enormous bonuses being paid to their directors though.
Forecasting should be limited to a maximum of 24 hours ahead – forget these idiotic five or eight day forecasts.
They are complete baloney.
It’s now 8pm. I’ve finished my rant and guess what – the sun’s still shining.
MARTIN NICKOLLS. |
Anon
Guest
| | Posted on Friday, September 03, 2010 - 03:11 pm: | |
I FEEL I have to respond to the article in the Guernsey Press on 19 August 2010 ‘Silence over attacks is surprising’.
I cannot believe that young women still felt that it was safe to walk home late at night on their own.
For the last year, maybe even two, things have been getting worse on the island — every other week reports have been of incidents.
I live in Les Canichers and a while back we had a very prominent police presence because of attacks of different kinds.
Every other incident has been reported, but these women still felt safe to walk late at night on their own so why would this have made any difference?
brijaneonisland@ cwgsy.net
Name and address withheld. |
|
Closed: New threads not accepted on this page
