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Excerpts from the Staggering Stories Blog:


Staggering Stories Commentary #51: Primeval – Series 1, Episode 6
by Staggering Stories Podcast
Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:54

Summary: Adam J Purcell, Andy Simpkins and Keith Dunn sit down, superbatted, in front of ITV’s Primeval Series 1, Episode 6, and spout our usual nonsense! Nick Cutter is feeling time orphaned, Helen’s been up to no good with Stephen, Claudia’s feeling very specifically erased and Captain Ryan’s been a skeleton all along. But enough [...]


Staggering Stories Podcast #124: Holmesian High Jump
by Staggering Stories Podcast
Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:02

Summary: Adam J Purcell, Andy Simpkins, Fake Keith, Jean Riddler and the Real Keith Dunn talk about Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’ Sherlock: Series 2, have a retrospective on the year 2011, find some general news and a variety of other stuff, specifically: 00:00 – Intro and theme tune. 00:59 — Welcome! 01:34 – News: [...]


Staggering Stories Commentary #50: Doctor Who – The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
by Staggering Stories Podcast
Sun, 15 Jan 2012 10:54

Summary: Adam J Purcell, Andy Simpkins and Keith Dunn sit down, caretakered, in front of the 2011 Doctor Who Christmas Special, The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, and spout our usual nonsense! Cyril’s got oversized specs, Reg is following the light, the King and Queen and very wooden and Amy makes the Doctor moist. [...]


Staggering Stories Podcast #123: The Head, the Predictions and the Cardboard Box
by Staggering Stories Podcast
Sun, 08 Jan 2012 14:02

Summary: Adam J Purcell, Fake Keith, Jean Riddler and the Real Keith Dunn talk about the Doctor Who: ‘The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe’, our Predictions, Hopes and Dreams and Fears for 2012, see how wrong we were about our Predictions for 2011, find some general news and a variety of other stuff, specifically: [...]


Mr Dalek and the Twenty Throod of Novemby
by Staggering Stories Podcast
Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:03

This missed Christmas, so let’s instead try to fight off those New Year blues! To this end, we proudly present a new Mr Dalek Audio Adventure on our podcast feed. This exciting story, new to audio, is written by long time Mr Dalek fan, Benjamin F Elliott, and narrated by Siobhan Gallichan in the unique [...]


Staggering Stories Commentary #49: Doctor Who – Boom Town
by Staggering Stories Podcast
Sun, 01 Jan 2012 10:48

Summary: Adam J Purcell, Andy Simpkins and Keith Dunn sit down, unzipped, in front of the 2005 Doctor Who episode, Boom Town, and spout our usual nonsense! Margaret’s battling with bad breath, Mickey’s feeling some short lived character progression and Captain Jack’s a spare wheel. But enough of their problems, please sit down with us [...]

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Andy

Andy Simpkins is Moderately Vexed by… Scuba Diving Air Gauges and a Low Air Situation

Published: Sometime before 7th January 2002


A couple of years ago, I was on a diving holiday to the Egyptian Red Sea.

A most excellent time was had by all. One day, we were doing a dive on a wreck called the Giannis D. Not to be confused with the Enterprise D!

The aforementioned wreck is situated at a large coral reef called Abu Nuhas approximately 15 miles north from Hurghada where we were staying. The wreck lies at 23 metres depth and is surrounded by moderately strong currents. We were accompanied by a Swiss dive guide called Johnny and a pillock called Bart (I am from Belgium and I have had a sense of humour by-pass).

After an enjoyable dive we made our way to the surface accompanied by Johnny and Bart (I am from another planet). During a decompression stop, I noticed that I only had 10 bar of air in my tank. I safely made it to the surface and chilled out. However, Bart (I cracked a joke and nobody laughed) proved to be a true Belgian.

Not so much a gripe as a cautionary tale. Check your air gauges frequently at depth and ascend to the surface at a slow rate not exceeding 18 metres a minute with at least 30 bar in your tank when you reach the surface. Always adhere to what PADI and BS-AC tell you!