Octonauts

A little boy called Isaac (less than five years and 3 feet) asked me yesterday on one of the tours what kind of submarine was HMS ALLIANCE. Having answered his question to my satisfaction and, thankfully his, we moved on. Later on we met again in the cafe and his gran, him and I had another quick chat. Out of that conversation came the subject of Octonauts, of which I was competely ignorant. I've done my research and am now less so, and I'd like to introduce them to you.

Ladies and gentlemen, The Octonauts!

On Youtube

And the BBC

A Saturday at the Museum

Guiding on HMS ALLIANCE today and the visitors were out in force - and that can't be bad for the Museum. It's always fun taking the full trips (25 people) through the boat, talking about the technology, having fun with  the visitors and talking to the kids. Halfway through the boat having seen the accommodation  and after running the depth charge recording, one lady said I don't understand why men want to be come submariners. I had to respond that some didn't want to but 'Drafty' thought they might.

The other (older) guides are always worth listening to. One was on HMS TIPTOE, which was used in the film Murphy's War starring Peter O'Toole. The boat came in to HMS DOLPHIN to pay off, only for the crew to see a load of paint on the jetty with which they had to paint ship throughout. Only then did they find out what they were to do and moved across to the dockyard. Boats and ships alongside got their meals via 'muck in a truck' and when the director saw the quality of the food, he told the boat to cancel their order, and arranged for food to be delivered from a restaurant.

On another occasion (and another boat), they undertook firings of the Mk23 torpedo off Norway. Having fired many practice shots it came to firing a live shot and it was this one that decided to turn back on the boat. They did manage to get it to cut away from the boat and headed off to the bottom of the fjord.

George Burgess was another guide today. He was a Chief Petty Officer at HMS St George when it was sited at Eastney, home of Fraser Gunnery Range. HMS St George was where Senior Rates who had been selected for promotion went for the officer 'training' for 9 months. These were known as SD (Special Duties List) officers Judging by the beastings, survival training, escape and evasion it seemed more like a halfway house to special forces training.... HMS St George later moved to BRNC Dartmouth to become St George Division, before being totally subsumed into the college proper and SDs joined the junior trainee divisions but undertaking separate training - the so-called transition.

Skype for Beginners

My old friends Jim and Craig both asked me on Facebook what Skype might be.

Well, boys, at it's simplest very simply Skype is a way of being able to talk to people across 'tinternet for free if they both have Skype and a microphone.

There are other things that can be done with it:

One can 'chat' in text a la IM or FB Chat.
By loading your account with some pennies, it's possible to call phones in the UK and when calling abroad, at much cheaper rates than.
With a live call/chat,  files can be transferred.
One can subscribe to a Skype In number so that it s possible to be contacted anywhere in the world on one number.
Craig may find the conference call facility useful - that's not to say Jim doesn't only have one friend or colleague :)

I hope that's a simple but sufficient description for Skype newbies.

I would recommend Skype to anybody - it's a really useful tool, which, if on an unlimited data tariff, can even be used on mobile phones, thus circumventing phone charges. It's simple to download and set up.

Skype me at petechilcott

www.skype.com