G7 Summit - Cornwall - June 2021

[whole diary]

[grahame]

I agree that it would have been preferable for the PM to take the train rather than to fly.
I suspect that a special train would have been both cheaper and greener than flying.

Condemning the PM to an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) is perhaps going a bit far, but a Castle HST^▸ (High Speed Train) would seem to be suitable.

Other world leaders also set a very poor example in terms if the fuel used by numerous aircraft and road vehicles. Extinction rebellion have protested about this, near the Summit.

Flying in from around the globe in a squadron of planes, some elderly, to tell the plebs they're going to have poorer lives because we have to clean up the atmosphere isn't great optics.

I suspect the Communist Party of China, (they're opening coal fired power stations ad-libitum in China) will have found the whole junket very amusing.  And also striking a chord - the Chinese have no real electoral say in who makes their rules, and now, neither do we.  Nine representatives and their lieutenants in Cornwall setting policy direction, only one of whom I, or any of us, had any theoretical influence (?) in choosing

Was Greta's yacht not available?

There was also the electric coach option - but not without its problems.   From Cornwall Live:

A fully-electric coach has found itself stranded in Cornwall after being unable to charge at five different locations across the Duchy.

The Carbon Battle Bus is on a tour of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) and this week travelled from London to Cornwall but was unable to complete its tour after finding charging points did not work.

It came to Cornwall to tie in with the G7 Summit in Carbis Bay where world leaders have been discussing climate change and the need to reach targets for zero carbon.

[broadgage]

It does sound as though there might be something about the bus, that is not reliably compatible with existing charge points.
Despite the weight penalty it would in my view be preferable for the charging equipment to be built into the bus, requiring only a standard industrial power supply.

A 3 phase 32 amp supply is available almost everywhere and would supply about 23KW, a bit slow for a vehicle that size but still useful.

A 3 phase 63 amp supply is widely available and would deliver about 46 kw, or very nearly the same as the 50 kw chargers referred to in the report.

Even a domestic 13 amp supply would eventually charge it, and for a 12/16 hour overnight stop would help considerably.

[TonyK]

Sorry I'm late, I've been in Cornwall. Not for any reasons to do with the G7, in fact plans made before it was announced, but to take someone we know on a holiday that she would never be able to do alone.

We were relieved that we had chosen Marazion, by St Michaels Mount, as the first stage of our mini tour.



Relieved, that is, until Day 2, when the place filled with police, and not small ones. The officers wouldn't tell us what was occurring, so I asked the waitress at the pub (lovely fish stew, washed down with Proper Job) instead. She told me that Joe Biden and Boris Johnson were going to St Michaels Mount on Friday, leaving Carbis Bay at 0952 in a convoy, going via Levant, then via the A3074 to avoid the road works on the A30. They were going by boat at 1022, walking to the top of the Mount, before having a cream tea at 1126, before departure at 1201, for return via the A30. I asked if they would be putting jam or cream on first, but she told me that information was classified. In the event, the weather intervened, and the trip was cancelled. You couldn't see the Mount, so I'm not surprised.

On Friday, we set off for Tintagel, seeing a motorcade on the A30 before grinding to a halt. We ducked off along a lane, moving steadily through the Cornish countryside, until having to stop again. Two further convoys passed us close to Newquay:







which we think contained Chancellor Merkel and M. Macron. The rest of the journey was uneventful, other than having to go around the eastern side of the airport rather than on the coast road.

Can’t they do all this via Zoom? 

I can't stand video meetings of any kind, except the occasional one with the grandkids. I have to do them for work, where they follow the standard format:

"Can everyone hear OK?"
"Can everyone hear OK?"
"Sorry, I had the mute switch on. Can everyone hear OK?"
"No.....ernet not...iable.....kers at BT.....king nuisance..."
"Can everyone switch off their microphone when not speaking..."
And so on. I have usually by this stage frozen stock still for long enough for everyone to think my broadband has bust, switched the camera off, and settled down to the crossword. I have no doubt that Boris Johnson would do similar, and would probably get up for a drink, forgetting that he isn't wearing pants at some time early in proceedings. People would complain if our leaders didn't meet occasionally to talk about Putin behind his back, or remind Macron that he's losing his best pal soon, so it has to be done. In any case, the real horse trading is done by clever people in suits, behind closed doors.

[GBM]

Sorry I'm late, I've been in Cornwall. Not for any reasons to do with the G7, in fact plans made before it was announced, but to take someone we know on a holiday that she would never be able to do alone.

Did you manage to get to Eden before the V.I.P's; and also see the Red Arrows by any chance?

[TonyK]

Did you manage to get to Eden before the V.I.P's; and also see the Red Arrows by any chance?

We didn't go to the Eden Project this time. I did, however, take the precaution of booking a flypast for when we were in Bude.







(Alright, I didn't book them, I read a NOTAM. Please don't tell my wife, she'll think I conned her out of a special favour.)

[broadgage]

BTW^▸ (by the way), there is a railway on St Michaels Mount !
Not open to the public and not very well known.
Used to convey freight from the dock up to the castle. A very short line but with a steep gradient, cable hauled.

Originally powered by a gas engine but now electric, still used AFAIK^▸ (as far as I know).

[infoman]

Not sure if St Ives is one of the sea side places plagued with Gulls,as I don't visit it enough.

Just wondering some of the local gulls MIGHT have been "relocated"for the three day G7 meeting

[Andy]

Not sure if St Ives is one of the sea side places plagued with Gulls,as I don't visit it enough.

Just wondering some of the local gulls MIGHT have been "relocated"for the three day G7 meeting

St Ives gulls are among the worst, in my experience. 

[TonyK]

Not sure if St Ives is one of the sea side places plagued with Gulls,as I don't visit it enough.

Just wondering some of the local gulls MIGHT have been "relocated"for the three day G7 meeting

I can't remember a seaside place I have been that didn't have gulls, and that covers Ushuaia, Alaska, Fleetwood, Tokyo, Reykjavik and all points in between. They even show up in Halberton occasionally, at least 20 miles from the sea. If that happens, I know the weather is likely to take a turn for the worse.

[LiskeardRich]

Not sure if St Ives is one of the sea side places plagued with Gulls,as I don't visit it enough.

Just wondering some of the local gulls MIGHT have been "relocated"for the three day G7 meeting

Wonder if they were affected by the no fly zone

[Thatcham Crossing]

and also see the Red Arrows by any chance?

Saw them from Porthminster Beach in St Ives - fab 

St Ives itself was fairly quiet (although not dead by any stretch) during the G7. Saw the rail replacement buses on their route a number of times and they seemed fairly quiet also.

Came home yesterday, but on Tuesday St Ives was heaving, especially for a mid-week, term-time day.

[TonyK]

Not sure if St Ives is one of the sea side places plagued with Gulls,as I don't visit it enough.

Just wondering some of the local gulls MIGHT have been "relocated"for the three day G7 meeting

Wonder if they were affected by the no fly zone

You're thinking of bats, I believe.