It's a boy's thing ... or is it?!

[Dave2002]

Sorry, ER, it still looks like a block of flats plonked on top of a ship. Compared to ships like QE2 it's a graceless lump.

Dave, there was an article in The Lancet a few years ago that said that it was better to spend one's 'declining years' on cruise ships than in a retirement home - a higher ratio of medical staff to passengers, better food, better entertainment, better weather, more people so a better chance of getting away from people you didn't like, and above all cheaper.

Could have been an April fool article, and I doubt that one could get Social Services to pay for it. Better food - probably yes, and one gets served. Better entertainment - questionable, but probably better than being miserable at home or in a home. Better weather - Doing it year round could be problematic, depending where one goes. I met people who'd been on a 2 week cruise after Christmas one year - supposedly the the Canary Isles, with stops on the way there and back. It stopped once - the sea was so rough. Most people fell out of bed at least once each night. At the end of the fortnight everyone was offered .... guess what .... another cruise. Surprisingly some of them did take up the offer. Maybe you get used to it.

The problem, as with most end of life calculations, is knowing when to adopt such a strategy. If you get to be 80, and live in the South East, and have a house worth (say) at least £500,000, then if you plan to live to 95, you can sell the house, and spend over 30k per year on cruises. I'm not sure that works out, and you perhaps wouldn't get the level of comfort etc you want for £30k/year, but of course if you don't mind causing a bit of havoc, you could always jump over the side, if you're still able to, when the money runs out.

There is a suggestion that the very last cheque you write should bounce - though there might not be cheques in a few years anyway.

[Mr Pee]

There is a suggestion that the very last cheque you write should bounce - though there might not be cheques in a few years anyway.

I wasn't aware that there any cheques now- I can't remember the last time I wrote one, or indeed received one!

[LeMartinPecheur]

I wasn't aware that there any cheques now- I can't remember the last time I wrote one, or indeed received one!

Oddly enough, I've just written one to get some 35mm film developed.

Another on-forum-topic use for them is paying for tickets to chamber music society concerts that I help organise down here in Cornwall - 6 concerts through the winter. Our society has no card facilities and doesn't want them. One of several reasons I shouted loudly about the recent plan to abolish cheques. Another is that a number of school extra-curricular activities have no option but cheque payment.

Dead easy to wreck society by ill-considered 'obvious' changes

[Stillhomewardbound]

Lovely Comet images, Jonh B. I saw it flying at the Hatfield open day I mentioned and also at Biggin Hill. Yes, a flawed design but the first passenger jet in the skies and British, at that.

Speaking of another unique jet that ended its career this week after an astonishing 51 years since its first ever flight - the VC10.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-24165590

* Not my picture (but one day!). Looked for a credit but could find none. Probably RAF/MOD

[amateur51]

Lovely Comet images, Jonh B. I saw it flying at the Hatfield open day I mentioned and also at Biggin Hill. Yes, a flawed design but the first passenger jet in the skies and British, at that.

I understood that the flawed design was in fact finally discovered to be an attempt to cut costs by not using the original window design which led to metal fatigue & failure?

[Flosshilde]

Oddly enough, I've just written one to get some 35mm film developed.

Another on-forum-topic use for them is paying for tickets to chamber music society concerts that I help organise down here in Cornwall - 6 concerts through the winter. Our society has no card facilities and doesn't want them. One of several reasons I shouted loudly about the recent plan to abolish cheques. Another is that a number of school extra-curricular activities have no option but cheque payment.

Dead easy to wreck society by ill-considered 'obvious' changes

There was such an outcry about the plans to abolish cheques that the banks backed down - they just went ahead & abolished cheque guarantee cards, which of course means that the majority of shops & businesses won't accept cheques & if you do take a cheque for something there's no come-back if the cheque bounces

[amateur51]

There was such an outcry about the plans to abolish cheques that the banks backed down - they just went ahead & abolished cheque guarantee cards, which of course means that the majority of shops & businesses won't accept cheques & if you do take a cheque for something there's no come-back if the cheque bounces

Oh surely between them Gideon & Vince must have sorted this out by now?

[EdgeleyRob]

Sorry, ER, it still looks like a block of flats plonked on top of a ship. Compared to ships like QE2 it's a graceless lump.

Dave, there was an article in The Lancet a few years ago that said that it was better to spend one's 'declining years' on cruise ships than in a retirement home - a higher ratio of medical staff to passengers, better food, better entertainment, better weather, more people so a better chance of getting away from people you didn't like, and above all cheaper.

No problem Flossie,fascinating how we all see the same thing differently.

I find the sight of big ships thrilling,be it aircraft carriers or cruise liners.
I've been on a few cruise ships and just stepping on board is always spine tingling,for me at least

[Stillhomewardbound]

I understood that the flawed design was in fact finally discovered to be an attempt to cut costs by not using the original window design which led to metal fatigue & failure?

I'm informed enough, but the aircraft seemed to be subject to a lot of fatigue issues, beyond the windows.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehavilland_Comet

[Dave2002]

Lovely Comet images, Jonh B. I saw it flying at the Hatfield open day I mentioned and also at Biggin Hill. Yes, a flawed design but the first passenger jet in the skies and British, at that.

Speaking of another unique jet that ended its career this week after an astonishing 51 years since its first ever flight - the VC10.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-24165590

I always wanted to fly in a Comet and also in a VC10. As it happens, I achieved neither.

[johnb]

An interesting history of the flawed testing and planning is found here:

http://www.neam.co.uk/comet.html

I remember a programme about Britain's post war attempt to develop its technological advantage in aircraft design saying that the government's backing for de Havilland was very risky as they, it said, had been mainly a military aircraft designer and one with a patchy record.

Still, the Comet was one of the most beautiful aircraft that has ever flown IMO.

[ardcarp]

Sorry, ER, it still looks like a block of flats plonked on top of a ship. Compared to ships like QE2 it's a graceless lump.

Yes, a block of flats it is to me too. But better than a retirement home. Good idea

[Keraulophone]

I always wanted to fly in a Comet

The only time I flew in a Comet was on a cheap Dan-Air flight to Heraklion, Crete in the late '70s. One of their 4Cs had crashed in 1970 on a flight from Manchester to Barcelona, killing all 112 on board. I remember being struck by how narrow the cabin was, but proud of flying in the first-ever commercial jet airliner.