Silas Calls the Ball

'Call the Ball' is one of those American expressions that has no apparent meaning and, after researching it, you will discover it has even less meaning than you might have thought.  There is a light sent out from an aircraft carrier that appears as a ball to an incoming pilot and he or she will 'call the ball' after seeing the ball and taking control for the final approach to landing.  There is no clear link between this expression and any other human endeavour so, naturally, it is used extensively in mainframe operations.  'Lock and load' is also quite popular and this from a population of programmers which has likely never locked and loaded anything but a Daisy BB air rifle.  The interested student can try to discover why military expressions are so prevalent in mainframe computer operations but I am not that interested student.

The ball I am calling is for landing in Edinburgh today and I am waving it off.  The wind is already blowing up nicely and it was quite a battle yesterday from which I was still highly nackered (i.e. wiped out).  This is different from being shattered (i.e. hungry) and I am interested in these expressions.  As kids coming to America, the hardest thing to catch quickly was the slang and probably that's the same anywhere.


Here's a pic from yesterday and lefty shot it just before I rolled out.

How about this for the height of fashion statements, from the slippers to the sweat pants to the scooter laden with more stuff than it was ever supposed to carry.  It appears the days of riding in shorts, t-shirt, and sandals may be over!