ot BP oil leak

[Rod]

Somehow that monkey always had the face of Derek Guyler.

(For those that remember Constable Turnbull, it might seem to make sense. But it doesn't to me.)

[Gib Bogle]

As it turns out, most of it just squirted out various holes. This suggests that the pressures involved are quite high. They are talking about cutting the riser off close to the BOP, and capping it. The potential problem with this is that apparently the riser has a kink that is acting as a partial obstruction to the flow. If they cut off the pipe below the kink (as is proposed) the flow will presumably increase, perhaps dramatically.

[Lobster]

Ron - out of interest, why couldn't my bomb (+/- umbrella) idea work...? David

[The Medway Handyman]

I agree. Push fit won't be any good, needs a compression fitting.

[JimK]

Shurely the divers could just hit the pipe with a lump hammer til it closes up....

JimK

[Bruce]

Sounds more likely to open up the hole and dramatically increase the flow of oil and gas.

Thanks for making me laugh, though. ;-)

[Bruce]

The Crazy Frog also reminded me of Deryk Guyler.

was a personal friend of my grandfather's - Deryk Guyler, that is, not the Crazy Frog. They were neighbours in Liverpool before WW2.

According to Wikipedia, Deryk Guyler's "Oh, yes!" catchphrase is the basis of the Churchill Insurance bulldog's lines in the TV advert, although they are spoken by Vic Reeves.

[Bruce]

And a smear of Plumbers Mait.

[Bruce]

I have dined out on that quite a few times ... it was on the same project, only a couple of weeks previously, where an adjacent services subway collapsed into our trench, severing some newly installed fibre optic cables, and cut off one third of the telephone lines in the City of London for a few days. We weren't popular.

Something else went badly wrong too, but it was too technical to be of much general interest. All in all, a jinxed job, and one that tested the limits of our insurance cover.

However, I have to be honest, and admit that civil engineering is too often a routine job, especially at junior levels in the early years after graduating. You might be involved in a fascinating mega-project but your daily duties can be pretty menial, and your contribution can seem quite insignificant.

It is also a matter of luck; your employer might be involved in some great projects and some dull ones. Someone has to do the dull ones!

The approach I took was to change employers so I could work on the projects that interested me. That was fun, and I had a very satisfying career, but as retirement approaches I realise that it had effects on my pension plans that I hadn't fully envisaged. :-(

[stuart noble]

IME (of retirement) you won't be spending as much as you thought. A pal of mine budgeted £100 a week for the pub, only to find he couldn't drink that much as he got older. Cruises and golf club subscriptions? Nah, can't be bothered

[Weatherlawyer]

Then got jobs in the Gulf Of Mexico? Or couldn't it happen at sea?

[Bruce]

That's some comfort, thanks. ;-)

[Bruce]

The sad thing is, I don't think that there is anything on earth that is immune from incompetence and negligence.

[Doctor Drivel]

Fantastic Maxie. Will you make the answers? Only Maxie can do this, no one else. What a man. Maxie has danced on Riverdance you know. Superb indeed.

[Doctor Drivel]

Maxie, you are clearly fantastic at jokes. What a man! Maxie, I bet your are an Englebert Humperdink fan as well. And I bet you have been to Amarillo as well.