steve666

Hi, we're bringing over 2 rather large barrage balloons dating from 1944. They are flatpack at the moment but fully inflated will be about 19 metres long and about 8 metres in diameter. My worry is, will they be compatible with Canadian air? I understand that Canadian air is at a higher pressure than the UK (100 kPa UK, 167 kPa Can) this can cause the balloons to 'flip' in certain circumstances. Should I maybe sell them on Ebay and buy 2 new ones one when I get over there? Are there any outlets such as gas stations who supply large amounts of helium? And what would this cost?

I mainly require them for preventing low level bombing raids by the U.S. Airforce on my home.

Thanks in anticipation.

printer

Don't worry Steve, i don't expect the US airforce knows where Ottawa is anyway.

Souvenir

It's a little early to be hitting the sauce, isn't it?

Bleech

Steve, Not only are they a poorer quality, you also have the flipping 'Canadian barrage balloon tax' on top of all that.
I really miss the UK balloon scene, blimps flying over the green hills as the morris dancers do their stuff outside a Shakespear pub ahh the memories.
Their Canadian counterparts are of course twice the price, only come in orange and are incredibly noisy. You will of course have to find a 5th job to finance the hobby and probablly have to can it as we have no holiday over here

steve666

Good point print, save me some money not putting them up

steve666

It's lunchtime! The only sauce I've been on is the HP kind.

steve666

Oh bugger. May have to keep them grounded then.

Managed to repair one blimp last year with Halfords bike repair kits, bought the whole store's stock in one go. The people in the Q behind me were not best pleased.

What!! How many weeks do you get annual leave!!!

Souvenir

If the USAF is ever told to bomb Ottawa, I'd hate to be a resident of Illinois or Kansas.

Bleech

Oh Halfords, how I miss Halfords. The friendly well informed staff, quality bikes etc. You just don't get that sort of service in Canada.
Well annual means every month doesn't it? In that case I get 0. In England I got 50 blah blah
http://www.calgaryballoonclub.org/

steve666

Does Canada have a similar store/shop?

So I need to be in Calgary then.
Check out this site, turn the sound up
http://www.bbrclub.org/

Bleech

And there was me thinking that balloons were supposed to be quiet

steve666

Hope you didn't get into trouble. You ARE at work aren't you?

dbd33

We have morris dancers here in Ontario and there are several sides in upstate NY; they're a weird bunch though, some are women. Typical really, they export a tradition and make a cock of it, like buying London Bridge and sticking it in the desert all the time thinking you was getting Tower Bridge.

No shortage of blimps here either, I gave up trying to do the kid's maths homework after a question that went roughly "Tommy Hilfiger's blimp is currently moored over Toronto Island, if it has a hole of size x ...... how long before it deflates" (originally in French, of course, le trou dans Tommy, etc. etc.)

All in all, cheaper to leave your blimps and get new, pig's bladders though, pig's bladders with history, them you wanna bring.

printer

I was in Halfords at the weekend trying to buy a refil for a car wash gizmo my OH bought me. The nice spotty faced youth said oh we only sell the unit we don't sell the refills.
You couldn't make it up i tell ya.

owen

Steve, you are moving to the new world, so it requires new ideas to solve the problem. Warbird-B-Gone Incorporated is a huge defence contractor for the Canadian govt based on Fort Erie Ont, a hotly contested piece of territory, of which the State of Delaware still claims sovereignty dating back to 1978.

Obviously, the constant bombing runs from the Rent-a-warbird inc, the commercial arm of the usaf, in the early 90's, were a real annoyance to the resident canucks, who would crouch under their Horton cups for protection. The well financed terror campaign controlled by leader of Delaware Dr. Henry Heimlich through his fund raising events such as the deadly Punkin' Chunkin', were forcing the canadian govt to act tough against this aggressor.

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I hope sheds some light on your USAF problem.