So Obama is in town (NATO Conference Newport)

[Matt..]

A few more arrivals in front of the office today...


and the view from my desk window...

[bean455]

just remember this,The Worlds leaders are here to buy goods.The latest Milatary hardware from around the world will be showcased to them all.
If it does Wales any good in the future then great,unfortunately I doubt if it will.
So let's put up with an extra hour or so in traffic and witness some great spectacles from the Aviation world and hope we have no trouble why it's here.

[Matt..]

It's worth noting there's a 'meet the forces' event in Cardiff Bay on Saturday. Might be worth a look for families? I have a map of the site and everything that's going to be there and it looks like there's going to be quite a lot to see

[anonymous-user]

Lol, a minesweeper!, that'll be really fking useful in a Cardiff Bay!....

[hidetheelephants]

jmorgan said:

Symbolica said:

jmorgan said:

One thing for certain, that head of the Welsh Assembly will get his mug in some shots and say how good he is.

Of course.

https://twitter.com/fmwales/status/507080555071279...

He better tell em how we are oppressed by Westminster and how bad Cameron is to him and tell them not to need an ambulance as they will spend six hours in it outside A+E.

Ambiwlans shirley?

Edited by hidetheelephants on Wednesday 3rd September 19:22

[Matt..]

pablo said:

Lol, a minesweeper!, that'll be really fking useful in a Cardiff Bay!....

There are three minesweepers! Latvian, Lithuanian, and Dutch!

[jmorgan]

hidetheelephants said:

Ambiwlans shirley?

Edited by hidetheelephants on Wednesday 3rd September 19:22

I think we need to warn Mr President how he orders one to be safe. Point him in the way of the correct thread.

[s2sol]

They're all over the place. Tortworth Court and the Castle in Thornbury are full of armed police. Bristol airport is an absolute pain in the arse, and all the M4 and some of the M5 bridges around Bristol have police cars and recovery trucks on them. We live in Thornbury, and the flights over us have stopped being interesting a long time ago.

For the disruption it's causing, I'd much rather it was held at Lyneham or Brize Norton. The fence alone is a huge, unnecessary expense and inconvenience.

[MG CHRIS]

Dick Dastardly said:

covmutley said:

I've never seen anything like it. Police on every other motorway bridge from Cardiff to Bristol, police on very arm of the main roundabouts, huge numbers of police vehicles everywhere, squads of motorcycle outriders doing test runs. It feels the the whole place is one big fortress. The next few days are going to be interesting.

If anyone on here thinks this guy is exaggerating then I can confirm he isn't. South Wales at the moment is a bizarre place to be. Driving the M4 from Cardiff to Bristol today, I must have seen a few hundred coppers. Standing on bridges in groups of 10, on their motorbikes in groups of 8, riot vans in groups of 4, they were everywhere. Feels like being in one of the scifi films where the state is controlling us oppressed masses, like V for Vendetta.

Sorry but there more to south wales than the m4 down from the m4 up to Brecon its business as usual apart from a few aerial displays by some pretty awesome machinery. Ive only seen 1 convoy of 5 police bikes oddly going the wrong way up the valleys strange unless they wanted to get home to bed quicker.

It be over by the weekend its 2 days out of 365 days in the year.

[jurbie]

Dog Star said:

It really is bonkers - I'll ask the same question that others have asked - why can't this be held on a US aircraft carrier in the ocean? Simple to secure. Nobody need know where it is.

Makes no sense on any level.

Apart from the fact that it gives them a chance to lord it over us for a while, gently remind us who is in charge and we are entirely inconsequential to them as they could crush us in a moment if they so chose to.

We should call their bluff and organise a huge peaceful march up to the Celtic Manor and see what they do. probably a bit late to organise now but I'll get a Facebook page set up ready for the next time.

[bazza white]

Down the bay the other day on my working on my brothers boat spotted about 5 police boats out on the bay. They pulled my brothers mate over for a chat. So they are being pretty active.barrage is causing a few issues as its less frequent and they will not tell you when the lock will be open.

Leaving for work at 5am quite a few police vans and cars about and no cars I'm surprised Ive not been pulled over yet.


Some pretty funny photochops coming through on facebook

https://db.tt/KDLlH06S

[P-Jay]

Holly st

[TheJimi]

zoom star said:

We have had a 12 mile fence from Cardiff to Newport at apparently a cost of 50 million pounds alone...

Seriously, £50m for a 12 mile fence?

That HAS to be bks.

[TankRizzo]

pablo said:

Lol, a minesweeper!, that'll be really fking useful in a Cardiff Bay!....

Isn't that the old Dulverton?

[jmorgan]

TheJimi said:

Seriously, £50m for a 12 mile fence?

That HAS to be bks.

I can believe it. It ain't a bit of chicken wire. Then there are the installation costs weeks ago, taking down, bumping the bill up because its NATO and they can afford it......

[anonymous-user]

TheJimi said:

zoom star said:

We have had a 12 mile fence from Cardiff to Newport at apparently a cost of 50 million pounds alone...

Seriously, £50m for a 12 mile fence?

That HAS to be bks.

I thought £50m was the total cost of the operation, not the fence. It also doesn't go from Cardiff to Newport.

[petemurphy]

TheJimi said:

Seriously, £50m for a 12 mile fence?

That HAS to be bks.

they should have talked to michael eavis he could have done it cheaper.

have to say am very impressed by our warship it looks fab am amazed we have built such a thing these days!

[P-Jay]

Symbolica said:

TheJimi said:

zoom star said:

We have had a 12 mile fence from Cardiff to Newport at apparently a cost of 50 million pounds alone...

Seriously, £50m for a 12 mile fence?

That HAS to be bks.

I thought £50m was the total cost of the operation, not the fence. It also doesn't go from Cardiff to Newport.

Ha ha, no we've not spilt South Wales north-south of the M4 like cold war Berlin. It's am impressive thing all the same! It rings Celtic Manor and Cardiff Castle (there may be other ones too) size wise I would guess the Celtic Manor one is about the same as the one at Glastonbury, although twice as tall, it's also a 'wire' fence rather than a wall of steel like Glastonbury - if it did somehow cost £50m someone really should have called up Worthy Farm for some pointers.

In terms of Ombamageddon - at least form 10am this morning the roads around Cardiff are Chirstmas Day quiet apart from the Police, everyone must have decided to stay home!! The Police seem to be using the M4 between Jnc 32 and 33 as a race track for the day, there's a steady stream of marked 5 series flying along at well over a tonne only to turn around at the junction and head back again - the Police in boiler suits and blue caps look bored stupid - they seem to have dispensed with the Assault Rifles of yesterday and now just wield 3 foot (ish) batons, I say wield - hang of their belts as they stare off into the middle distance.

I did see a Helicopter that was only some grey and black paint away from being Airwolf and one of the big American looking truck from the MET, but otherwise it's just the 'usual' stream of very fast moving Volvos, BMWs and Bikes.

Edited by P-Jay on Thursday 4th September 14:44

[Badgerboy]

I went to my Cardiff office today, fantastic commute. I took the motorbike, as my office is within the exclusion/close road section so I just hopped a kerb to get into the car park.

Eerily quite with no traffic, just bird song from the park. The police milling around seem rather friendly, most are chatting to the public.

[anonymous-user]

"This town, is coming like a ghost town..."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wale...