Today’s pics (2025- )

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

The airport allows you to pull up right outside the doors and drop off/pick up for free.

Canberra airport is like that as well. You can even drive there just for the fun of it and no issues, plus if you're parking there in the long stay, you actually have to go via the drop off point first to get into the car park! It's a kind of U shape road (though the other way up) with the doors in the shortest bit and parking ask the way round. And you'll be able to park to pick up or drop off as well.

The upper tier is the drop off point, the bottom tier is the pick up point and if you get it wrong just go round again fit another try. That will take about 15 seconds!

 

[Barriehie]

Going to the spring for water.

 

[vernplum]

The bus service is a normal bus service but they also have a fleet of mini buses you can book to pick you up from your house and drop you where you want to go, that costs a mere £1.90!

The airport allows you to pull up right outside the doors and drop off/pick up for free.

That sounds better than über!

So I was reading about IOM and how big it is - about 220 sq miles which is only about 20% smaller than Singapore and has a population of about 85000. Can you imagine 5 or 6 million people in the same amount of space? (SG current population is just over 6M).

 

[JAS_OH1]

Yep. George Formby made a film about racing on the isle of man. They just celebrated the films 90th anniversary.

A flimsy connection me thinks but the Manx people are cheery folk ready to celebrate and laugh about a lot of things.

It strikes me the IOM is a proudly unsophisticated place, which is rather lovely.

You get a cardboard wheel to place on your car dash that you dial the wheel to the hour you arrived and the parking is free.

The bus service is a normal bus service but they also have a fleet of mini buses you can book to pick you up from your house and drop you where you want to go, that costs a mere £1.90!

Awesome!

The airport allows you to pull up right outside the doors and drop off/pick up for free.

Wow, it's not free elsewhere? US airports (at least to all the ones I have been to) will allow you to drop off/pick up for free in front of the doors, they just don't want you leaving your vehicles unattended.

The TT grandstand is free (no entry fee) and the concession stand is run by a charity so no hideous pricing asking £12 for a burger, instead it's £1 for a bottle of water and £1.50 for a coffee, £2 for a bacon butty.

That's very nice indeed!

They have some seriously hefty fines for some things though. Like £1000 fine if you don't park forward facing on the promenade or £6000 fine if you set foot on the TT course while the roads are closed!

And that's insane.

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

That sounds better than über!

So I was reading about IOM and how big it is - about 220 sq miles which is only about 20% smaller than Singapore and has a population of about 85000. Can you imagine 5 or 6 million people in the same amount of space? (SG current population is just over 6M).

Even when I try I really can’t imagine it! Are people stacked on top of each other? Are there any wide open spaces left?

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

Awesome!

Wow, it's not free elsewhere? US airports (at least to all the ones I have been to) will allow you to drop off/pick up for free in front of the doors, they just don't want you leaving your vehicles unattended.

That's very nice indeed!

And that's insane.

Airport charges here are savage. The minimum you can pay in Bristol is £7 for up to 10 minutes to drop off or pick up. If your car stops for even a second anywhere that’s not a chargeable car park you will receive a fine for £100.

Yes it’s crazy and the IOM justice system is also very harsh. I read in the IOM newspaper that a guy came over on the ferry and had a very small amount of weed in his pocket, clearly for personal use. They locked him up for two days then banned him from the island for 5 years.
Another guy moved to the island and bought a car, he had tax, insurance and MOT all in place but did not know that after 12 months he was supposed to swap his driving licence over for an IOM licence. They threw the book at him. Because he didn’t have a valid licence that meant his insurance was invalidated so they did him for not having valid insurance and driving without a licence, banned him from driving for 2 years after which he will have to take and extended driving test, and those things are no joke!

The £1000 fine for parking the wrong way round does work though, I didn’t see a single car parked that wasn’t forward facing. Apparently that is for the safety of pony and traps, the drivers can see clearly and aren’t going to reverse into them if they’re forward facing.

The £6000 for setting foot on the road after it’s closed it also for safety’s sake, the motorbikes taking part in the the road race will at certain points top 200mph (averaging 135mph on a twisty mountain course) so they wanted an effective deterrent to stop any unnecessary accidents occurring.
The marshalls of the race (these are volunteers who help keep the course clear and help in the event of an accident) are given significant powers, including the power to arrest people!

So yer, you can pop on a high viz and go power mad

 

[vernplum]

Even when I try I really can’t imagine it! Are people stacked on top of each other? Are there any wide open spaces left?

Yes they are. Most people live in high-rise buildings, as do I.

Are there open spaces? There are, yes. Here's a satellite view. You can see Singapore is roughly diamond shaped and that's Malaysia to the north over the water. In the centre and northwest there's quite a bit of nature reserve and jungle.

I live just to the southeast of the middle part which is called the Central Catchment Area (called so because it has most of the big reservoirs in it).

The view out of my bedroom window is like this; the hill you see is in the centre of that area and is called Bukit Timah (it's a couple of thousand hectares of preserved rainforest and I try to get out there a couple of mornings a week), so you can see it's not all concrete and there's a fair bit of greenery amongst all those houses, but those are mostly the exception. Landed properties (houses/bungalows) are only for the very rich.

The reddish/gray parts you see on the satellite are where the majority of the population live,and those areas look more like this. They're actually not that bad - the government and the National Parks board have done an excellent job of keeping open and community spaces green with plenty of trees at ground level, so Singapore is sometimes referred to as 'The Garden City'.

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

Yes they are. Most people live in high-rise buildings, as do I.

Are there open spaces? There are, yes. Here's a satellite view. You can see Singapore is roughly diamond shaped and that's Malaysia to the north over the water. In the centre and northwest there's quite a bit of nature reserve and jungle.

View attachment 132719

I live just to the southeast of the middle part which is called the Central Catchment Area (called so because it has most of the big reservoirs in it).

The view out of my bedroom window is like this; the hill you see is in the centre of that area and is called Bukit Timah (it's a couple of thousand hectares of preserved rainforest and I try to get out there a couple of mornings a week), so you can see it's not all concrete and there's a fair bit of greenery amongst all those houses, but those are mostly the exception. Landed properties (houses/bungalows) are only for the very rich.

View attachment 132721

The reddish/gray parts you see on the satellite are where the majority of the population live,and those areas look more like this. They're actually not that bad - the government and the National Parks board have done an excellent job of keeping open and community spaces green with plenty of trees at ground level, so Singapore is sometimes referred to as 'The Garden City'.

View attachment 132720

Thanks for all this lovely info.
That is all very much prettier than I imagined.

I think that is one of the major planning failures that occurs in the UK, the land is far more valuable to the developers if they can cram as many houses as possible into the smallest space which as you’ll already know doesn’t involve leaving green areas for the inhabitants. Modern houses here are ridiculously small, even the roads have been made so narrow you can’t park on them without blocking the carriageway.

I genuinely feel green land is good for the soul. When I come back from Spain’s arid landscape and see the lush green and pleasant land of Somerset it feels like my very being is having a long drink of something it didn’t realise it really needed.

 

[Barriehie]

Yes they are. Most people live in high-rise buildings, as do I.

Are there open spaces? There are, yes. Here's a satellite view. You can see Singapore is roughly diamond shaped and that's Malaysia to the north over the water. In the centre and northwest there's quite a bit of nature reserve and jungle.

View attachment 132719

I live just to the southeast of the middle part which is called the Central Catchment Area (called so because it has most of the big reservoirs in it).

The view out of my bedroom window is like this; the hill you see is in the centre of that area and is called Bukit Timah (it's a couple of thousand hectares of preserved rainforest and I try to get out there a couple of mornings a week), so you can see it's not all concrete and there's a fair bit of greenery amongst all those houses, but those are mostly the exception. Landed properties (houses/bungalows) are only for the very rich.

View attachment 132721

The reddish/gray parts you see on the satellite are where the majority of the population live,and those areas look more like this. They're actually not that bad - the government and the National Parks board have done an excellent job of keeping open and community spaces green with plenty of trees at ground level, so Singapore is sometimes referred to as 'The Garden City'.

View attachment 132720

I read somewhere that Singapore is making great strides to minimize heating in the cities with the design of using the trees.

 

[vernplum]

I read somewhere that Singapore is making great strides to minimize heating in the cities with the design of using the trees.

Having all that extra shade definitely helps.

 

[TastyReuben]