The Hamsters back

[JeremyClarksson]

Tomorrow 20:00 BBC2 I believe.

I think people take Top Gears attitude to caravanning a little too seriously.

I wonder how many complaints there are about Al Murrays attitude to Europe or the frequent cyclist bashing that goes on in the media.

If you have an interest or a belief there will always be someone who takes the opposite view, particularly in the name of entertainment.

Personally I enjoy caravanning and Top Gear and do not see one as exclusive to the other.

 

[Guest]

Regardless of their attitude to caravanning, which is pathetic, I basically find all 3 of them like little boys who never grew out of short trousers. JC did have something to offer when he fronted the programme the first time round, when discussing cars from a technical point of view was important. Now it is a case of 'look at me playing the idiot'.

If you like it then go watch it, however 'Thomas the Tank' is probably more relevant. But then again I am just an old working f..t.

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

I've got to agree with SL. Take caravanning out of the equation and I honestly don't find them funny. I'm not interested in motor vehicles for a start, my only interest is if they can get me from A to B. But to watch three men talking about something I find boring and at the same time failing to be funny is purgatory, hence I don't watch the programme.

If I need a laugh give me Jethro, the two ronnies or Morecambe and Wise anyday.

I have to admit I did watch the caravan sketch and it didn't upset me at all but comedians they are not or ever will be. They should stick to doing what they do best, whatever that is. :O)

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

I've got to agree with SL. Take caravanning out of the equation and I honestly don't find them funny. I'm not interested in motor vehicles for a start, my only interest is if they can get me from A to B. But to watch three men talking about something I find boring and at the same time failing to be funny is purgatory, hence I don't watch the programme.

If I need a laugh give me Jethro, the two ronnies or Morecambe and Wise anyday.

I have to admit I did watch the caravan sketch and it didn't upset me at all but comedians they are not or ever will be. They should stick to doing what they do best, whatever that is. :O)

p.s. I surmise that there is a supposedly funny reason why he is called the Hamster???

 

[NorfolkMike]

Is it me ????

I must admit to being highly supportive of any negative publicity were caravaning is concerned.

I see no reason to encourage other people to get as much fun out of an activity as we do. Let them mock, let them poke fun. The less crouded are the sites. BE NEGATIVE, DO NOT ENCOURAGE OTHERS. DO NOT TELL THEM WHAT THEY ARE MISSING.(and stop shouting from the rooftops/soapbox)

ttfn

 

[Lol1]

I'm with you, Garry. I find Top Gear both informative and entertaining. JC is a god, Hamster is his son, with that 60s fellow there just for sanity.

Yes they can act like kids, but they get to do it in some very nice cars!

Take the show as it is meant to be taken, light hearted, boys toys and a sense of humor thrown in for your license fee.

Easily the best show on the beeb.

 

[Dusty1]

I'm with you, Garry. I find Top Gear both informative and entertaining. JC is a god, Hamster is his son, with that 60s fellow there just for sanity.

Yes they can act like kids, but they get to do it in some very nice cars!

Take the show as it is meant to be taken, light hearted, boys toys and a sense of humor thrown in for your license fee.

Easily the best show on the beeb.

Hear, hear

 

[cris_408518]

With high octane fuel runnning through my veins and an evil sense of humour Long Live TG and the boys.

Who wants to grow up any way, and I'm well on my way to 60.

 

[Dusty1]

With high octane fuel runnning through my veins and an evil sense of humour Long Live TG and the boys.

Who wants to grow up any way, and I'm well on my way to 60.

Well cris, I'm just there and drive a Caterham 7 for fun

 

[MarkG.]

I for one are glad the Famous Three are back !!!

They have brought new life to Top Gear. Yes, I have read Jeremy Clarksons book about how caravanners should be shot and exterminated but at least they are more interesting than half the Inputers to this column !

Here we go !

 

[cris_408518]

Dusty. I hold a record at a track day for wiping the smiles of the faces of a Lambo and two Ferrari drivers whilst driving a road legal Caterham running a race series engine.

From a standing start the 7 left them for dead running on Avon racing boots and lead the closest home by half a lap in 5 laps.

 

[Steve L]

First of all me being a petrol head, I have to say a hearty WELCOME BACK HAMSTER!

As the saying goes Cris, "It ain't what you got it's the way that you do it" that counts.

I get loads of micky taking at work for driving a puny Renault 5 campus (1100cc). But wonderful hand signals when I burn past the 2 Liter Astra immersher of my work collegue as he is trying desperately to look cool.

The 5 might only have 47 naturally asperated horses under the bonnet, but crack the whip and she can hold the corners like evo stick. Also being an ex-racer does help togehter with ROSPA cat1 training.

If I can do that with 47 horses just think how I go in a Lotus Exige. Bat of of hell doesn't start to describe it.

Steve.

 

[Lol1]

What another great show tonight, and this time, they destroyed a car instead.

Wonder what the nose weight limit of a Vampire is? (was)

 

[cokey1970]

Last night's Top Gear programme beat the final of Big Brother in the ratings. A victory for common sense!

 

[Garfield]

Top Gear is the best entertainment on tv, Two Ronnies, Freinds, Vicar of Dibley etc are hopelessly unfunny in comparison, JC's total contempt for the politically correct and tree huggers is a breath of fresh air. Motoring programmes from a technical point of view are generally boring unless it is the car you happen to be looking at. The mass of technical information needed to choose a car cannot be shown on a TV programme.

The crew may have been a bunch of buffoons towing that caravan but we have all seen that sort of incompetency at some time in real life!

 

[cris_408518]

Some may put their noses in the air re JC and the TG Crew.

But I loved the take on the road resurfacing, how many miles of empty road works have we driven past over the years?

I'm not sure how serious the H&S briefing was at the start, but from what I've heard of some jobs it could well be right.

I've spent 20 odd years using step ladders whilst working and now some H&S Numpty has declared them unsafe for firemen to use!

Whilst we have New Labour and current PC and H&S madness long live all at TG.

 

[Garfield]

A recent, well publicised report suggested that, as a nation we were happier back in the thirties, with genuine poverty, incurable, crippling diseases, most of us having to walk miles to work etc etc.

Nowadays, after ten years of labour sticking its nose into every aspect of life, banning this, banning that, supposedly to make life better for us. Younger people are crippled by high property values if they can buy at all, others spend half their working day sat in traffic yet the government opens the door to hundreds of thousands of foreign workers wanting houses and cars, it wouldn't be so bad if we could ship some of our unemployable thugs back in the opposite direction

 

[LMH]

Hi cris

quote: 'I've spent 20 odd years using step ladders whilst working and now some H&S Numpty has declared them unsafe for firemen to use' end quote.

Could you elaborate please because our lads are still using them.

Lisa

 

[cris_408518]

Firefighters banned from using stepladders

Last updated at 18:32pm on 17th January 2007

Firefighters have been banned from using other people's stepladders when fitting smoke alarms because of health and safety concerns, a fire and rescue service said today.

Humberside Fire and Rescue Service said the current procedure for fitting smoke alarms was under review after advice from the Health and Safety Executive.

The service has told staff fitting the alarms not to use stepladders or other equipment if people offer it to them because it "has not been evaluated".

Firefighters are not currently issued with their own stepladders.

Brigade spokesman Glenn Ramsden said: "The fire and rescue service is just like any other organisation and is not exempt from the legislation put out by Government to keep the workplace safe.

"In order to ensure our workforce and clients are safe we have to risk assess the task in hand and take appropriate measures.

"This includes introducing a safe system of work, which means that we take a look at all the aspects of the task and make a judgment based upon the possibilities of things going wrong."

Mr Ramsden said the service had fitted 15,000 smoke alarms in the last year but he had "no knowledge" of any injuries occurring.

"There is a fine balance between getting this right and providing a service to help keep members of the community alive," he said.

He said the fitting of smoke alarms in homes was essential to the survival of any family in a house fire and the service would continue to fit the alarms.

The Health and Safety Executive's Work at Height Regulations 2005 place a duty on all employers to ensure the safety of employees "where there is a risk of a fall liable to cause personal injury".

The rules state that employers must select the "most suitable equipment" and all work at height must be "properly planned and organised".

Mr Ramsden said several options for fitting smoke alarms were being considered, including an extendable pole, but a final decision had not yet been reached.

"When the best system of work has been selected and risk assessed all of this information is then put into a working document that tells our staff members how to perform that specific task safely," he said.

A spokeswoman for the Health and Safety Executive said they had been approached by the Humberside Fire and Rescue Service who had concerns over the use of stepladders for fitting smoke alarms.

 

[LMH]

Thanks for that. Our crews take step ladders with them when fitting smoke detectors. I'm going to print your reply off and circulate it around the station to get a feeling amongst the lads. I'll report back.

Lisa

 

[cris_408518]

ps.

Fire Fighters I've known have this habit of saving lives in there job at times and taking on the spot very quick risk assesment from what I know.

I would have assumed that they can make a fair assesment re using a ladder when ladders of varying types are used in their job.

 

[LMH]

Yes, that is true.

On a wholetime two pump station like ours, there's always either a Watch Manager or Crew Manager riding each pump, even for free hsc's. (The crews are called runners and riders).

Lisa

 

[Ewan_5130997]

I work within the police service in Scotland. It is reasuring to see that it is not only us that have gone PC mad. I look forward to things going full circle and returning to normality. The likes of Mr Clarkson are a breath of fresh air in a world gone mad.

 

[cris_408518]

Well I learnt never to play snooker darts or cards against Fire fighters a very long time ago, an old friend was a fire chief! One job he did was get the people out of depot fire at a large gas bottle plant. 15KG type bottles and others were blown hundreds of feet in the air on the edge of a well populated residential area.

I can't imagine him not being able to decide what step ladder is safe to use !

 

[LMH]

I've only met the Chief Fire Officer once. So I have to bow to your endless friendships with the powerful. (Smiley icon thingy).

Speaking about lpg's flying about reminded me of lorry fires. Lorry fires are very dangerous, when the wheels heat up and the vehicle is stationary, the wheels tend to sheer off. Very dangerous. Usually an Incident Commander is mobilised to those incidents.

Lisa