The Night Mail

[Tony_S]

57 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

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

I was in a pub in a forest in Kent in I think in  early 1973.  A friend had taken a group of of us  there as he said it had Youngs seasonal ales. While we were there, someone came in and ordered a pint of Red Barrel.The landlord said they didn’t serve it. The customer asked for the nearest equivalent and was given a glass of water. The landlord was a bit of a “character” but didn’t automatically ban students or motorcyclists like some places not that far away. 

[Canal Digger]

16 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

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. 

There used to be a sick humour joke about anyone falling into the docks in the middle of Bristol, dissolving before they could drown

[Oldddudders]

In the late '60s, early '70s, I would drink in the Sussex Oak at Warnham, but only if taken by a mate in his car, of whom there were two such. I had no taste for bitter at that stage, but it was evident that the brewery, Brickwoods, had a penchant for variable quality, from things the mates said. Don Cooper, the landlord, certainly knew what he was doing in the cellar, they said. Brickwoods were taken over by Whitbread, and, anecdotally, introduced all sorts of demon tech devices - like thermometers. While the Brickwoods product was now called Whitbread Trophy, it became absolutely predictable, I was told. 

 

[Willie Whizz]

30 minutes ago, pH said:

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.

So long ago now I can’t remember most of the good Shippo’s pubs by name to be honest. One I do recall was the Ferry Boat Inn at Stoke Bardolph, where you could sit by the Trent on a summer’s evening and really enjoy the taste and smell of a beautiful pint o’ Shippo’s … as long as the wind was in the right direction and you weren’t getting the pong from the Sewage Works!

 

Hardys & Hanson was actually my favourite if I could get it, though it was more common on the Notts/Derbys. border. Home Ales was reliable if unspectacular. Mansfield - well you may remember those adverts featuring Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev:

 

”He may be the Leader of the Free World/ the Life and Soul of the Party … but HE’S never had a pint of Mansfield!”

 

Happy days …

[SM42]

32 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I was in a pub in a forest in Kent in I think in  early 1973.  A friend had taken a group of of us  there as he said it had Youngs seasonal ales. While we were there, someone came in and ordered a pint of Red Barrel.The landlord said they didn’t serve it. The customer asked for the nearest equivalent and was given a glass of water. The landlord was a bit of a “character” but didn’t automatically ban students or motorcyclists like some places not that far away. 

 

A friend of mine who hails from Kent once told  of a New Year's Eve event at his local pub. 

It was a fancy dress event and there were several competitions. 

 

One was a caption competition, the picture was of a man holding up and admiring a pint of the house beer in traditional advertising poster pose .  

 

One entry which went down well with all except the landlord  was 

 

" Even the water's come in fancy dress this  year."

 

Andy

[Tony_S]

2 minutes ago, Willie Whizz said:

as long as the wind was in the right direction and you weren’t getting the pong from the Sewage Works!

Aditi’s parents lived within walking distance of both that pub and the sewage works. The sewage works had cattle grazing on it and the cow manure was much prized by local gardeners if they could cope with a lorry load. Aditi’s Dad had a substantial field and had a a small mountain delivered. There seemed to be a lot of tomato seedlings sprouting from where it was spread the following year. I did wonder if it truly was only cow dung! 

[Tony_S]

23 minutes ago, SM42 said:

It was a fancy dress event

When I worked at an Educational Computer Centre one of my colleagues decided to have a party for staff and families at her house. I have no idea how but our boss who was senior adviser for IT, head of centre etc, somehow had the impression it was fancy dress and turned up  as a giant fluffy yellow chick. She was very good about it. 

Edited April 27 by Tony_S

[Oldddudders]

A gay friend used to do a stand-up comedian routine at a pub on the Marston Vale. This went well until the night he announced "Tonight there is a birthday behind the bar", whereupon the two bar staff looked at each other and shook their heads. "One of the pork pies is 5 years old today!" And that was that for his booking.....

[PhilJ W]

3 hours ago, Hroth said:

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

They should have asked the local CAMRA branch for help.

1 hour ago, SM42 said:

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

Also a good substitute for creosote.

Edited April 27 by PhilJ W

[Dave Hunt]

In 2008 a chap who had been something high up at Bass bought a somewhat decrepit pub with a plot of land attached in town here and set about resurrecting the Joule's ale brand that had been produced in Staffordshire until the 1970s. His main reason for choosing that particular site was that it included a well, the water in which was from the same acquifer as that used by Joule's. From being a scruffy, run down pub it is now a very nice place to drink and enjoy some good pub grub with its own brewery making some decent beers. It also owns or runs some 15 or so pubs within 25 miles or so.

 

Dave  

[Dave Hunt]

Babycham. Ah, Jill's tipple of choice as a teenager, always requested with three cherries. In those days our favourite watering holes in Liverpool included the Rose of Mossley or in town The Philharmonic. The latter has the only Grade 1 listed gent's loo in the country.

 

Dave

[AndyID]

11 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Bear keeps his commercial quality Bread in the fridge - it takes a while to use a loaf and I never have issues with mould.

 

Hope you don't store your spuds there.

[Dave Hunt]

Well, the weather did indeed put paid to my hoped-for trip to Attingham Park this afternoon. Instead I tried to fix our ancient Technics record deck of at least 25 years of age which refuses to do anything remotely connected with playing a record. Sadly I was unable to find what is wrong so transferred my efforts to looking for someone who can fix it. I think I may have found one in Nantwich, which is only about 15 miles away so I've sent an email asking whether they can, in fact, help and hope to hear from them on Monday. My sons think that I should embrace new tech and get an Alexa or something rather than persist with vinyl records and such but although I have gone as far as CDs and even iTunes I still like playing my old discs.

 

Dinosaur, me? I've even got an electric soldering iron!

 

Dave 

[Northmoor]

8 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

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….)

During the pandemic, as many London Underground stations as possible had a sterilising hand gel dispenser installed near the ticket barrier.  A disturbing number used to get emptied by the local, well, desperate.  I remember a work colleague asking who would ever be so desperate as to do that.  I suggested they've underestimated (a) just how desperate homeless alcoholics can be and (b) how expensive an equivalent percentage alcoholic drink would be.

[Northmoor]

11 hours 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

Can you please confirm for the tape, Sir, that you are quoting Jill, there?

[J. S. Bach]

2 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Well, the weather did indeed put paid to my hoped-for trip to Attingham Park this afternoon. Instead I tried to fix our ancient Technics record deck of at least 25 years of age which refuses to do anything remotely connected with playing a record. Sadly I was unable to find what is wrong so transferred my efforts to looking for someone who can fix it. I think I may have found one in Nantwich, which is only about 15 miles away so I've sent an email asking whether they can, in fact, help and hope to hear from them on Monday. My sons think that I should embrace new tech and get an Alexa or something rather than persist with vinyl records and such but although I have gone as far as CDs and even iTunes I still like playing my old discs.

 

Dinosaur, me? I've even got an electric soldering iron!

 

Dave 

One of mine:

[Dave Hunt]

11 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Bear keeps his commercial quality Bread in the fridge - it takes a while to use a loaf and I never have issues with mould.

 

Commercial quality - oxymoron?

 

Dave

[SM42]

8 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Well, the weather did indeed put paid to my hoped-for trip to Attingham Park this afternoon. Instead I tried to fix our ancient Technics record deck of at least 25 years of age which refuses to do anything remotely connected with playing a record. Sadly I was unable to find what is wrong so transferred my efforts to looking for someone who can fix it. I think I may have found one in Nantwich, which is only about 15 miles away so I've sent an email asking whether they can, in fact, help and hope to hear from them on Monday. My sons think that I should embrace new tech and get an Alexa or something rather than persist with vinyl records and such but although I have gone as far as CDs and even iTunes I still like playing my old discs.

 

Dinosaur, me? I've even got an electric soldering iron!

 

Dave 

 

I've got my old GEC set up (which I inherited from my parents in the late 80s) which I hoping to resurrect at some point. 

 

3 speed turntable, 33, 45 and 78. 

I last used it around 1991. 

 

 

Andy

Edited April 27 by SM42

[Dave Hunt]

4 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

Can you please confirm for the tape, Sir, that you are quoting Jill, there?

 

Well, you did get awfully hot and sticky round the nether regions in the cockpit of a Hunter 😉

 

Dave

[br2975]

9 hours 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. 

.

A community, the professional knowledge and first hand experience of whom got me into trouble previously on this site.

.

And yes, I do agree.

[New Haven Neil]

11 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

One of mine:

 

Nice!  I have a Thorens....no jokey platter though!

[AndyID]

10 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

One of mine:

 

Erm, why is there a 1/4 inch tape spool on the turntable?

[J. S. Bach]

11 minutes ago, AndyID said:

Erm, why is there a 1/4 inch tape spool on the turntable?

Actually it is a platter mat, replacing the stock one.

[AndyID]

For our hi-fi aficionados:

 

Who made this circuit up for you, anyway? Bought it in a shop? Oooh, what a horrible shoddy job they fobbed you off with with.

 Surprised they let you have it in this room anyway, the acoustics are all wrong. If you raise the ceiling four feet... put the fireplace from that wall to that wall... you'll still only get the stereophonic effect if you sit in the bottom of that cupboard.

 I see... I see you've got your negative feedback coupled in with your push-pull-input-output. Take that across through your redded pickup to your tweeter, if you're modding more than eight, you're going to get wow on your top. Try to bring that down through your pre-amp rumble filter to your woofer, what'll you get? Flutter on your bottom!

 

(Borrowed from Flanders and Swann  "A Song Of Reproduction")

[AndyID]

2 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Actually it is a platter mat, replacing the stock one.

 

Ah! Looks pretty convincing 😃