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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 137180
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| Posted: 25 September 2026 at 1:19pm | IP Logged | 1
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My house has four heating zones, requiring four AC units. I have been slowly replacing them since I moved in 21 years ago. Only one original left. Reminds me of when I replaced the furnace in my previous house. The house had been built in 1845, and the unit was about as big as a Volkswagen, with huge pipes and doors. When it was removed I had the front left leaning against a wall. Don’t know if it’s still there. The unit that replaced it was about the size of a steamer trunk.
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Jonathan Kaye
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 September 2008
Posts: 132
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| Posted: 25 September 2026 at 4:05pm | IP Logged | 2
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The unit that replaced it was about the size of a steamer trunk.
***
I recall you mentioning some childhood transatlantic trips, and it occurs to me that those would have been on honest-to-goodness steamships!
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 137180
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| Posted: 25 September 2026 at 6:23pm | IP Logged | 3
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Yup. The Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and RMSIvernia.Quite the adventures for a lad of 3, 5 and 7!
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Peter Martin
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 March 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 16544
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| Posted: 25 September 2026 at 6:51pm | IP Logged | 4
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I was in London (the UK, not Ontario) on Monday and I was warm in T-shirt and shorts even in the evening. Got back to Canada and yesterday the low was 3 degrees C!
Still managed to go for a lake swim today though.
We have had a strange phenomenon this year where the leaves on our horse chestnut tree have been falling since mid August! All the maples are still green leaves though.
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James Woodcock
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 September 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 8695
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| Posted: 25 September 2026 at 7:30pm | IP Logged | 5
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We have just had the most spectacular orange sunset.
It’s going to be warm tomorrow
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 137180
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| Posted: 28 September 2026 at 2:12pm | IP Logged | 6
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Curious thing about my three Atlantic crossing, more than two weeks at sea, in total. I have no memory of going out on deck to watch sunsets. The second trip was the worst crossing on record, which might explain why we stayed “indoors”!
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Evan S. Kurtz
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 04 July 2022
Location: Canada
Posts: 458
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| Posted: 28 September 2026 at 3:30pm | IP Logged | 7
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I've never crossed the ocean on a liner, although I've proposed the idea to my wife before as a family vacation.
But when I was 12, my brother arranged for me to join him aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, the aircraft carrier on which he served. They few us out to Bermuda by plane, and from there by helicopter to the Eisenhower itself. I recall that the Eisenhower had more firepower aboard than all of World War II combined, though that might not actually be true.
On the voyage, I briefly got to see the bridge of the carrier. I recall needing to constantly wash my hands because I touched everything and everything was pretty dirty. Sleeping in the crew corridors was bizarre, because there were no windows, so no real sense of time down there. Oh, and I got tonsillitis which wasn't treated until we reached our destination in Virginia.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 137180
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| Posted: 28 September 2026 at 3:40pm | IP Logged | 8
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When I was 4 I was afflicted with osteomyelitis (nearly lost my right leg below the knee). I was released from the hospital on my fifth birthday, and a few weeks later we headed back to England. By then I had been fitted with a “walking cast” and so bounced around the ship, exploring. The cast was finally removed in England, just before I started school.
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Bill Collins
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 26 May 2005
Location: England
Posts: 11721
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| Posted: 29 September 2026 at 6:18am | IP Logged | 9
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One thing that puts me off cruise ships is that they're
human Petri dishes and the news of mass outbreaks of
disease on board always seems horrific.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 137180
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| Posted: 29 September 2026 at 12:06pm | IP Logged | 10
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What has happened, I wonder, in the time since Cunard carried out twice weekly Atlantic crossings without having to deal with plague ships?I suppose it is true that cruise ships encourage much more interaction among the passengers.
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Jason Ladwig
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 29 April 2020
Location: United States
Posts: 277
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| Posted: 01 October 2026 at 12:51pm | IP Logged | 11
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Sorry, been away so this may be a bit of a thread drift, but JB mentioned his fall earlier. This may help and may lead to JB becoming a real-life super hero.
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Jonathan Kaye
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 September 2008
Posts: 132
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| Posted: 01 October 2026 at 8:37pm | IP Logged | 12
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Yup. The Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and RMSIvernia.Quite the adventures for a lad of 3, 5 and 7! *** Did you ever draw any of them in your published work? (I remember a successor steamship, the QE2, was the setting for one of your Marvel Team-Up issues in the late 70s.)
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