The Night Mail

[SM42]

19 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

We have recently had the same happen to our conservatory roof but judging by the amount of splatter it must have been a South American Condor on its holidays. Unfortunately I can’t take the conservatory to the car wash and since at present I can’t ascend ladders well just have to pray for heavy rain.

 

Dave

 

 

I fear your prayers may be answered soon

 

Andy

[Dave Hunt]

That figures - I was planning to go for a walk at Attingham Park this afternoon.

 

Dave

[Hroth]

16 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

When Jill was a girl her brother would sometimes put a well-worn sock in her pillow case 😖

 

Dave

 

Her brother must have been friends with Terry Scotts brother....

 

[Oldddudders]

1 minute ago, Hroth said:

 

Her brother must have been friends with Terry Scotts brother....

 

"'Ere - what 'ave you 'ad in your 'and? 'Ave you really? Urrgh!"

[Winslow Boy]

47 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

For mice read DH’s forefinger (which nearly got chopped off as a result).

 

Dave

You would have been able to swop ' how I got the end of my finger cut off' stories with someone of this parish when you met up if you had.

[rockershovel]

56 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

When we lived in Singapore our house didn’t have air conditioning, just ceiling fans, so Jill used to keep her makeup in the fridge. Like many other RAF wives she also kept freshly laundered knickers there as, “There’s nothing quite like having a shower then stepping into an ice cold pair of panties.”

 

Dave

Also true for BOAC trolly dollies in my AIOC days.... 

Edited April 27 by rockershovel

[rockershovel]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

Meths is much cheaper, and in the right conditions can really light your taste buds up.

See Kingsley Amis' short story "The Friends Of Plonk"

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

 

Only in the equivalent of a tupperware* box please!  Wouldn't want the sockiness to spread to edible items...

 

* Other storage box systems are available.

I would have thought that keeping socks and cheese in the same fridge compartment would allow cross fertilization of aromas.

[rockershovel]

3 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I would have thought that keeping socks and cheese in the same fridge compartment would allow cross fertilization of aromas.

Indeed. Doesn't do your socks any good at all

[Hroth]

37 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I would have thought that keeping socks and cheese in the same fridge compartment would allow cross fertilization of aromas.

 

Possibly resulting in spontaneous combustion!

 

There's nothing worse than finding a pound of Double Gloucester running out of the bottom when you open the door....

 

[jamie92208]

37 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

Indeed. Doesn't do your socks any good at all

I don't know, having been subjected to the delicate aroma of unwashed socks in cell areas after the owners boots had been removed, the aroma of a good requefort would be a distinct improvement.  One particular commu ity that I dare not mention were the worst.  I'm sure that @br2975would@br2975would agree. 

 

Jamie

 

 

[iL Dottore]

4 hours ago, rockershovel said:

If you think the Prosecco sold in England is undrinkable, you don't know the English. 

Oh, I know the English alright, I was being diplomatic.

4 hours ago, rockershovel said:

The English may buy large quantities of wine these days, but still have no palate at all.

And that’s a very English bit of understatement….

4 hours ago, rockershovel said:

They drink "supermarket red" (mostly Rioja) or "supermarket white" (Chardonnay) and regard £7 a bottle as expensive. 

Not only wine, many in the UK think that paying more than £5 for anything comestible is extortionate….

4 hours ago, rockershovel said:

Sparkling wine is basically ceremonial, like Brussels Sprouts at Xmas

Very sad. Napoleon had the right idea about Champagne: “in defeat you need it, in victory you deserve it”.

Sparkling wine should be enjoyed at any time….

4 hours ago, rockershovel said:

Beer, of almost any description, is a PROPER drink.

“Of almost any description” is - I suppose - a charitable way of describing the fizzy, alcoholic, lemonades that are the most sold (ahem) “beers” in the UK (according to Londonlovesbusiness.com)

 

Thank goodness for microbreweries say I, otherwise you’d all be drinking the modern equivalent of Watney’s Red Barrell - were the brewing conglomerates to get their own way.

[iL Dottore]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Meths is much cheaper, and in the right conditions can really light your taste buds up.

Do you know the price of methylated spirits in Switzerland, if you can find it?(some sort of umweltschutz thingy).

Now, whilst my circle of acquaintances is both broad and eclectic I have yet to encounter any toper who preferred tipple is meths (I do have a few acquaintances who drink lager, but you do need to make some allowances for your chums’ foibles).
 

Obstwasser is cheaper and tastes better than meths (AND you can use Obstwasser to fire your live steam locos….)

[Steamport Southport]

 

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

I don't know, having been subjected to the delicate aroma of unwashed socks in cell areas after the owners boots had been removed, the aroma of a good requefort would be a distinct improvement.  One particular commu ity that I dare not mention were the worst.  I'm sure that @br2975would@br2975would agree. 

 

Jamie

 

 

That'll be the Voldemorts.

[NHY 581]

40 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

That'll be the Voldemorts.

 

I had those once. Damn painful. Couldn't ride the bike for a couple of weeks. 

 

 

[rockershovel]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Oh, I know the English alright, I was being diplomatic.

And that’s a very English bit of understatement….

Not only wine, many in the UK think that paying more than £5 for anything comestible is extortionate….

Very sad. Napoleon had the right idea about Champagne: “in defeat you need it, in victory you deserve it”.

Sparkling wine should be enjoyed at any time….

“Of almost any description” is - I suppose - a charitable way of describing the fizzy, alcoholic, lemonades that are the most sold (ahem) “beers” in the UK (according to Londonlovesbusiness.com)

 

Thank goodness for microbreweries say I, otherwise you’d all be drinking the modern equivalent of Watney’s Red Barrell - were the brewing conglomerates to get their own way.

I will enter a vote for the much-maligned Watneys Red Barrel, with a special mention for its classic avatar, the Party Seven. 

 

Who really remembers the draught beers of that distant era? I cut my teeth, so to speak on Greene King and Tolly Cobbold, and both might politely be described as "inconsistent". 

 

Remember that the British already had a highly developed taste for long-lived beers, particularly India Pale Ale which had been developed for shipment to the Colonies in almost any conditions. 

 

Bass was another brewer with a lot of experience in that field. 

 

Keg beer was ideal for the British palate. Light, fairly tasty and not too strong (2-3 % abv), immune to the vagaries of the British climate and the indifference of the British landlord, well tailored to the British culture of drinking in groups or "rounds" it was a product of its time. 

[Hroth]

I remember a Watneys tv ad showing "terrorists" ineffectually trying to blow up a tanker of Red Barrel...  I never drank the stuff!

 

[jamie92208]

I once drank many pints of Red Barrel and didn't get drunk. I did say goodbye to it all in the Thames as the party was next to it then washed my mouth out with more Red Barrell. 

 

 

Jamie

[J. S. Bach]

Wow! You admit to polluting the Thames?

[Willie Whizz]

1 hour ago, rockershovel said:

I will enter a vote for the much-maligned Watneys Red Barrel, with a special mention for its classic avatar, the Party Seven. 

 

Who really remembers the draught beers of that distant era? I cut my teeth, so to speak on Greene King and Tolly Cobbold, and both might politely be described as "inconsistent". 

 

Remember that the British already had a highly developed taste for long-lived beers, particularly India Pale Ale which had been developed for shipment to the Colonies in almost any conditions. 

 

Bass was another brewer with a lot of experience in that field. 

 

Keg beer was ideal for the British palate. Light, fairly tasty and not too strong (2-3 % abv), immune to the vagaries of the British climate and the indifference of the British landlord, well tailored to the British culture of drinking in groups or "rounds" it was a product of its time. 

No. Just … no. 
 

Though I will concede your point on the “inconsistency” of some draft beers back in the 70s when I was an early CAMRA member. One of the four (yes, four!) medium-sized local breweries in Nottinghamshire was Shipstones - still sometimes delivered to City pubs by drays drawn by lovely white shire horses. Kept well, it was a beautiful pint. Kept poorly, or even indifferently, it could soon become sour and acidic. And by that point it was becoming harder to find landlords with the time and patience.
 

Compared to that, I suppose you could concede that the keg beers of the day were no worse, and were at least consistently dire, so you knew what you were getting and couldn’t complain. No wonder so many people turned to what passed in the UK in those days for ‘lager’, which was somewhat more readily drinkable because the keg chilling process killed-off any actual flavour, good or bad …

[Winslow Boy]

41 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Wow! You admit to polluting the Thames?

Probably 'improved' it's quality if truth be told.

[SM42]

Round here the Party 7 was a Worthingtons thing. 

 

Cut the top off the empty can and it was ideal for dropping the oil out of a Mini or Renault 16 at oil change time. 

 

The central part half of our  drive was unsurfaced for this activity. ( it also saved a lot of concrete)

Dig a hole. Insert can, remove sump plug. 

 

Store can about the garden for when you needed to get a bonfire going. 

 

Happy days

 

Andy

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, J. S. Bach said:

Wow! You admit to polluting the Thames?

As already mentioned with the quality of the Thames in 1971 it improved it. 

 

In those days keg was all there was but a couple of years later after leaving student land behind and joining the force I took a days annual leave to join my former colleagues and play the part of a soon to graduate chemical engineer for a recruiting tour of Bass at Burton on Trent.  They showed us round the brewery in the morning then took us to the hospitality bar for a long liquid lunch.  Only Worthington E and Carling Black Label were on offer, but actually tasted good.  Then a tour of the labs and finally we were shown into a whitewashed room with a brick shelf with some half pint glasses on it. Next to them was a brass tap. What's behind that.  15'000 gallons of draught Bass we were told.  Half an hour later they came back for us.  By then we had all developed a taste for real ale. 

 

Jamie

Edited April 27 by jamie92208

[pH]

47 minutes ago, Willie Whizz said:

One of the four (yes, four!) medium-sized local breweries in Nottinghamshire was Shipstones - still sometimes delivered to City pubs by drays drawn by lovely white shire horses. Kept well, it was a beautiful pint.

In three and a half years living in the area, I can’t have found a pub where Shipstones was being kept well, then. (I tried hard enough!) Of the local breweries, I preferred Hardy Hanson’s. And (IMO) we were lucky that the village we lived in had a Marston’s pub.