Member Since: 13 Aug 2010
Location: Wiltshire
Posts: 13912
He does? Thought Nige had 'liberated' it all. I'll check he hasn't missed anything New Defender L663 110 SE (known as Noddy!)
Sold Volvo XC90 R-Design (known as Basil)
Sold - D4 HSE (Known as Gerty)
No longer the Old Buses original owner
231,000 miles and counting
05 S manual owned from March 2005
D4 Face lifted
Still original injectors and turbo
V8 Front brakes
BAS Remap, Allisport Intercooler and deCat
EGRs blanked
T-Max split charge
Hanibal Expeedition rack
Prospeed ladder
Duratrac tyres
IID BT
BAS FBH control
16th Nov 2023 11:17 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72790
He won’t have missed anything, apart from the cupboard inside the house that’s full of logs for when it’s wild & woolly outside. He doesn’t know about them.
17th Nov 2023 6:25 am
nigethecat
Member Since: 11 Sep 2016
Location: Marnoch
Posts: 4146
About that cupboard.....I want to see the sweets before I get into your windowless van... I'm not stupid!
Corris Grey D4 Commercial SE 2016
Zermatt Sliver 2007 D3 SE manual (gone)
Indus Silver D4 HSE 2015 (gone)
Bonatti Grey D3 HSE 2006 (gone)
White D3 S (LHD) 2007 (gone)
Firenze Red D4 HSE 2014 (gone)
Black RRS 3.6TDV8 2008 (gone)
Rusty Green Defender 110 1997 (gone)
Black FL2 HSE 2013 (gone)
17th Nov 2023 9:12 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72790
Hope you took our supply of firefighters and kindling too, for the sake of completeness!
Booooooootiful if not a bit wild day today weather-wise here, sun’s just going down and looking dramatic.
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Will bung up some pics from today’s highlights, Maeda Escarpment. Otherwise known as Hacksaw Ridge. Plus the Imp Japanese Navy’s underground HQ during the Battle of Okinawa. Need a bit of scoff and vino first.
17th Nov 2023 9:30 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72790
The area that was scaled is now smothered in vegetation, but this gives an idea.
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From the top it’s difficult to fit what is in the movie with the present geography but although the distances are short, they’ll seem an eternity under those conditions.
And on the top. The whole are was riddled with caves and tunnels, this one opening with perfect fields of fire over the approaches. Sorry re finger.
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And the “view” it had.
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At Desmond Doss Point.
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The view over the cliff. It was out over MCAS Futemna, watched an Osprey coming in and landing.
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US Corp of Engineers marker on the ridge.
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The killing zone between the top of the cliff and the other side of the ridge before it went down. It was tiny, an undulating lawn with kids collecting butterflies for a school (if such things exist) project.
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And some of the tunnel openings.
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It was deffo a highlight of trip, visiting Hacksaw ridge. A few locals chasing butterflies or going for a walk, and a few US service peeps (they all go to the same barbours) standing at Desmond Doss Point, prob thinking “what if this was me”, and us two trying to relate the film to what we saw in front of us.
Last edited by DSL on 17th Nov 2023 11:53 am. Edited 1 time in total
17th Nov 2023 11:07 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72790
And, to put the boot on the other foot, the Imp Japanese Navy underground HQ for the Battle of Okinawa. Again, much glossed over including that it was built with conscripted/slave labour in the few months before the battle. The videos do give a historical prospective, incl what was happening within the Imp Japanese military, most of which was summed up in my mind by “you were going to get your arrases kicked, why did you want so many of your own peeps to die?”. There were thousand of starving, injuried and dying peeps in these tunnels. It took the top brass to collectively commit suicide for the nightmare to end.
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SWMBO got a bit of a fright when I touched the morse key and it went BEEP
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Head height were a little limited but not too bad.
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Yes conditions would have been grim, but not as grim as the poor civilians above ground.
And on a happier note, bus back to hotel had a mini display by a USMC Orprey. The Commandant of the Marines obviously didn’t get the memo re air show so this will have to do.
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Off back to the biggest smoke (Tokyo) tomorrow. Airport Limo Bus to the, you guessed it, airport. Gonna miss Okinawa buses. Their lack of punctuality has been a god-send, unlike their firm seats and lack of legroom. Most of the time we’ve gotten to the bus stop well after the scheduled departure time, safe in the knowledge we’d get the suitably late earlier bus. More than once we thought Okinawa reminded us of Hawaii, Hawaiian time and Okinawan time are twins. No more getting bus #120, and watching it get later and later, then cheering what it caught up time. Back to Tokyo Meteo and tbe Yaminote Line. Our natural stomping ground.
17th Nov 2023 11:34 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72790
And good evening from Tokyo Bay. Back in The Big Smoke after flight up from Okinawa.
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18th Nov 2023 9:07 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72790
And for fellow av geeks out there, the flight from Okinawa to Tokyo.
Pre boarding air show, 2 flights of 4 x F-15Js heading out to defend the locals.
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Didn’t clock any bowing from the ground peeps but got a cheery wave.
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And the static lineup of the airshow. Decent pic quality, none of yer shoddy ANA windows! And in the back of the A350 so wing kind of got in the way.
Loads of P-3s
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Hawkeyes, first for me.
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More F-15Js than you can shake a stick at, and the hangers were stuffed with them.
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These had just returned from deterring Kim Il Scary. Gotta be a good job, walking on top of a fighter!
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And for the rotary wing part of the show.
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Some T4 trainers, for when the F-15 pilots get bored with going supersonic.
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A Mitsubishi biz jet, I think.
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And a King Air with a satellite dish nicked from a campervan.
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And, for something completely different, Fujisan.
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And now happily settled in the lounge of a very nice hotel overlooking Tokyo Bay. Great food and not one, not 2 but 3 types of Champagne. Working way through them, possible repeatedly, in the name of research.
And a killer view.
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Hic.
18th Nov 2023 9:47 am
Moo D3 Decade
Member Since: 13 Aug 2010
Location: Wiltshire
Posts: 13912
Del, I'm concerned, you're behind the wing Have you overspent the budget? New Defender L663 110 SE (known as Noddy!)
Sold Volvo XC90 R-Design (known as Basil)
Sold - D4 HSE (Known as Gerty)
No longer the Old Buses original owner
231,000 miles and counting
05 S manual owned from March 2005
D4 Face lifted
Still original injectors and turbo
V8 Front brakes
BAS Remap, Allisport Intercooler and deCat
EGRs blanked
T-Max split charge
Hanibal Expeedition rack
Prospeed ladder
Duratrac tyres
IID BT
BAS FBH control
18th Nov 2023 11:31 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72790
I know it appears that standards are slipping but both the flight to and the flight from Okinawa were freebies, ie using points from Air Canada and Qantas flights, so only real option was in the back. On the ANA flight there we blagged emergency exit seats, didn’t manage to do that on the JAL leg today. Luckily it was only 2 hours, would hate to do much longer, never mind London to Tokyo or, god forbid, London to Aus!
Next flight is ANA back to FRK, up the front this time, then BA to LHR T5. Assuming they’re not on strike or cancelled it just for fun of it!
18th Nov 2023 11:42 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72790
Only a couple of days left before flying back.
Lovely weather today, it’s getting towards the arras end of Nov but it’s still reasonably warm, the sun is shining and the sky is blue. In case peeps can’t remember what blue is, it’s at the top of the pics below.
Fujisan, from the area just S of this little bay. My Fuji has been ticked so no need to go up big tall buildings.
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Motor event, before the peeps went in. Queue of peeps to view the assembled cars was mahoooooooosive!
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More Mt Fuji.
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And general early autumnalness. Begs the question, have we missed autumn and going straight to winter?
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More Fuji, with a nautically industrial bent.
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Park next to container port. Unfortunately the ships full of boxes were a way away.
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The good ship Soya.
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And it’s potted history.
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Statue of Lib, not the NYC version.
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And back to the hotel for tea and medals, well coffee and a soak in the tub. Great watching the ships come and go.
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And offer assistance, encouragement and head scratching for the captain of one of the local dinner cruise boats that’s been helped in and out by a tug. Notice it’s being completely ignored by the hydrofoil on its way out.
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And a nice scene pre-sunset.
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Starting to get ready for getting home, cars have been taxed and not long until we’re checking in.
19th Nov 2023 10:07 am
Moo D3 Decade
Member Since: 13 Aug 2010
Location: Wiltshire
Posts: 13912
Looks like you were close to the Science and Innovation Institute / museum. Did you have a look at the Mammoth exhibition? There is a project to recreate them from the DNA they have.New Defender L663 110 SE (known as Noddy!)
Sold Volvo XC90 R-Design (known as Basil)
Sold - D4 HSE (Known as Gerty)
No longer the Old Buses original owner
231,000 miles and counting
05 S manual owned from March 2005
D4 Face lifted
Still original injectors and turbo
V8 Front brakes
BAS Remap, Allisport Intercooler and deCat
EGRs blanked
T-Max split charge
Hanibal Expeedition rack
Prospeed ladder
Duratrac tyres
IID BT
BAS FBH control
19th Nov 2023 11:55 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72790
We didn’t go in there, we did that when we were last here in 2019. Yesterday was just a bit of train riding, walk along the front and flop. I’m just getting over a bit of a cold again, lazy day was appreciated.
20th Nov 2023 12:34 am
nigethecat
Member Since: 11 Sep 2016
Location: Marnoch
Posts: 4146
Snow forecast at home for the end of the week... feel free to pop round if you want to get warm by a lovely toastie fire
I want to see the sweets before I get into your windowless van... I'm not stupid!
Corris Grey D4 Commercial SE 2016
Zermatt Sliver 2007 D3 SE manual (gone)
Indus Silver D4 HSE 2015 (gone)
Bonatti Grey D3 HSE 2006 (gone)
White D3 S (LHD) 2007 (gone)
Firenze Red D4 HSE 2014 (gone)
Black RRS 3.6TDV8 2008 (gone)
Rusty Green Defender 110 1997 (gone)
Black FL2 HSE 2013 (gone)
20th Nov 2023 10:25 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72790
Now can you just pop over and put our fire on just before we get up there? If there was any wood.
Lovely high teens today, bit breezy but nothing that even required a fleece.
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Now Frankfurt will be a different matter when we are there with a max of 5 and min of 2. Out packs are going to be tiny as we’ll be wearing most of our clothes.
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Have you overspent the budget? 
