Early Risers.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

A bright and sunny start to the day here in the northwest corner of England. We have blue skies and no wind or rain, so the plan is to spend the morning in the front garden, removing the few weeds that are in the block paving and generally tidying up. I will also give the box hedging a feed for the last time this year. After that there are no firm plans, but that could change. 

 

The worst offenders for delivery here are DPD, DHL and Hermes (now Evri) they are f@#&ing useless. UPS and Royal Mail are much better as they use their own drivers, but even they could improve.  

 

Back later.

 

Brian. 

Edited September 21, 2022 by BSW01
Add another courier

[NGT6 1315]

Cheers all. Quite nippy outside this morning, so I suppose I should have winter tyres put on within the next few weeks!

 

Parcel carriers here seem to be generally reliable, though I don’t envy them for the pressures they’re most likely under at all. I can’t remember ever to have had any grievances concerning parcel handling anyway.

 

Also, to lighten the mood for anyone in need, may I leave this here:

 

 

I wonder what an equivalent term to shanty would have been in Ancient Egyptian!

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, simontaylor484 said:

If you want to see couriers driving badly I suggest waiting about 5 minutes on the old Colnbrook High street 

Or on the Redruth - Portreath road where they emerge in convoy from the Amazon warehouse at Parc Erissey and turn onto the somewhat sinuous road making use of neither brakes nor indicators.  Minimum speed is well above the posted maximum. 

[simontaylor484]

Well I have dropped the car off.

All the bus routed round here have changed. I got a bus to Cas bus station the next bus that used to go right past the door of where I wanted to be has been changed to go through J32 outlet/Xscape.

The result was I ended up coming past where I had taken the first bus from the having to walk half a mile to the car hire place.

 

[PhilJ W]

When it comes to couriers most around here are pretty good. The one exception is UPS which is a load of carp. I was waiting for a parcel just before Christmas and they gave a delivery date but no time. So although I waited in all day nothing arrived but nothing showed up. There is no contact number or e-mail displayed only the website which just showed 'out on delivery' which it continued to show for the following week. They didn't even say where the distribution depot was (Thameside) and when I found it I was about to go down there to ask where my parcel was  when it (finally) arrived over a week late.

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from a grey and cloudy LBG.

 

A good night was had with a couple of friends, eating in an Italian near the top end of Covent Garden.

 

https://www.dallaterra.co.uk/

 

The food menu was fairly limited but tasty and reasonably priced. The wines the wine buff amongst us chose were equally tasty but less reasonably priced!

 

I was quite interested to see a Burmese restaurant almost next door in what is a newly redeveloped area. I must look at the menu for that as I have never knowingly eaten a Burmese dish.

 

As for delivery guys, round our way, they all seem pretty reasonable to me- I have occasionally had a missed delivery but more often from Royal Mail than anywhere else and usually we were out!

[simontaylor484]

Well the hire carvi have is a Renault Kadjar it seems a nice car but not ad solid as Vikingar the Volvo my Swedish tank. 

There are plenty of electronic devices I just hope the wiring/electrical standards have improved. The 51 plate Laguna estate I had was dire for electrical issues.

I only have it for a couple of days whilst 3 Poles work their magic.

I must admit I walked (more floated) out of the body shop due to paint fumes

[polybear]

3 hours ago, AndrewC said:

Greetings all from the boring borough. Still in meh mode. Chiropractor at lunch time so at least I escape the endless meetings of nothing for a couple of hours. <sigh> 

 

Like Simon, I've had stupidity from car rentals. Once upon a time we booked a Britrail rail-drive pass. This let us take the train, then pick up a car, etc. Booked car from Gatwick to Bath over 3 days. All good. Second booking was for Shrewsbury. Confirmation letter etc, all supposedly good. When we dropped the car at Bath I asked the girl at the counter to confirm our Shrewsbury booking. After several minutes of faffing about, she discovered the Shrewsbury location no longer existed. Closest available car was in Stoke. <insert naughty words here> Train to London, then to Stoke. Picked up a new roller skate with 2 miles on the clock. I think my coffee maker had more horsepower. Managed to get a drop off in Anglesea near the station with no drop charge for all the inconvenience. Went to drop the car with the letter from Stoke saying "no charges". Waited an hour past their supposed opening time. Nobody showed up. Finally dropped the keys wrapped in the letter. We didn't bother trying to rent another even though we still had 5 days of rental available. On returning home we received a £50 charge for dropping off instead of returning. A long phone call to tear them a new one until it Hertz was made. 

 

In other news....... eff all. 

 

Pumpkin spice latte at the ready. Enjoy the day. 

 

Bear was rather fortunate in that there was an Avis Depot Office actually inside The Great Empire - and we could hire cars at a discount rate.  I used them occasionally when flying from Gatwick as it was cheaper than leaving the Bearmobile in the long stay for a week or more; I could also leave the BMB at work (= secure) for the week.  Worked well, with no concerns about some tw@t dingin' the BMB in long stay.

 

In other news.....

Hedge No. 2 cut, along with the Conifer Bushes.  Big Tick.  That's basically the front garden of Bear Towers sorted.  Nearly New Neighbour saw me doing it and thanked me - though nothin' gooey, sticky and yummy on the horizon as yet.  Pah.

Right, time to scour the cupboards in search of suitable candidates for din dins.....

[45156]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Now if a Vario EW139 (with Turbine) were to be left on a certain Bear's doorstep, only to "go missing".....😉

 

 

According to my brother, it comes in a massive box, which he just managed to get into his car - which is a large one - it has to be, as it also carries the constructed model - and he "assures" me that delivery to work was also for security reasons, and not to hide it from his missus - he also "assures" me that his missus is fully aware of the 1800 Euro price tag for the kit alone, plus the motor, servos, and all the other ancillaries.

[DaveF]

 

The grocery order had its delivery time changed yesterday as everywhere had been shut on Monday and there had been no deliveries, so it arrived about 11.30.  There were a couple of things missing but nothing vital.  I went to do another check on the flat and found another thing to bring home - a big door mat which will be useful in the garage.  Surely there can't be anything else left there now that I could want?

 

Then I visited the park and had a pleasant walk round.  The dahlias are still doing well but som of the other bedding plants are about over.  At the war memorial there were a lot of flowers which had left in tribute to the Queen.

 

I have a very painful right  shoulder at the moment - it could be arthritis, an impingement or rotator cuff problems.  Over the years I have a number of X rays for it, nothing looks abnormal, just the normal wear and tear.  My GP and I agree it could be a result of writing on blackboards when teaching, old blackboards were fixed, so to write at the top you had to reach up all the time.  I know that it only gets painful if I am doing things involving reaching up or stretching out to hold something. I am now on the paracetamol diet, with some ibuprofen at night.  It was painful in the night but I got some sleep, I'll only ring the GP if it doesn't improve in a few days.

 

I tidied up more plants in the greenhouse including the cyclamen which are just coming into flower having been dormant for some time.

 

I also did a bit of modelmaking.

 

David

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Well, all posts are read and rated AGAIN - this is getting to be a habit - and the usual greetngs are on offer - but there appear to be some regular ERs missing - any news on them, anybody?

 

Well, today I had a lie in until 7.30 am - then it was helping 30747 to sort out her State pension, which was not as easy as it might have been, as according to the government website her 2021/22 NI contributions have yet to be posted and the DWP adivsor who was very helpful advised her to call HMRC on a different number to arrange to have the record updated manually - after a five minute series of button pushes and recorded messages about anything other than what she wanted to discuss, she finally got to a really rude and unhelpful advisor who stated that her NI record was up to date (it isn't) and that there was no need to manually update, and anyway there was no such process.  At that point 30747 hung up and we will check again in a couple of weeks to see ifher NI record has in fact been updated and her pension estimate is up to date.  I can feel an escalation coming on if it hasn't.

 

Then it was up into the loft where I've sorted all the boxes into bays and labelled each bay with what is stored in it.  There are still about 30 boxes to go through.

 

Then I was "allowed" to get up to date on RMWeb.

 

Oh and couriers around here - I now know the Evri lady, and we have an arrangement that if we're out, she will leave it in a safe place - ditto with the Royal Mail.  DPD were OK on the two occasions that we've had a delivery from them - but quite a few have their depots some distance away - one is in Kiddermister, and one in Birmingham - so if we ever have to collect, it could mean a bit of a drive.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

Edited September 21, 2022 by 45156

[Adam88]

58 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Well the hire carvi have is a Renault Kadjar it seems a nice car but not ad solid as Vikingar the Volvo my Swedish tank. 

There are plenty of electronic devices I just hope the wiring/electrical standards have improved. The 51 plate Laguna estate I had was dire for electrical issues.

I only have it for a couple of days whilst 3 Poles work their magic.

I must admit I walked (more floated) out of the body shop due to paint fumes

 

Of course 'solid as a Swedish tank' is only a relative expression otherwise it might not have bent so easily!

 

[The Lurker]

13 minutes ago, Adam88 said:

 

Of course 'solid as a Swedish tank' is only a relative expression otherwise it might not have bent so easily!

 

Simon hasn't reported how badly damaged the lamp post was!

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, The Lurker said:

Greetings all from a grey and cloudy LBG.

 

A good night was had with a couple of friends, eating in an Italian near the top end of Covent Garden.

 

https://www.dallaterra.co.uk/

The food menu was fairly limited but tasty and reasonably priced.

The food menu was also quite a jumble of regional specialities with, for example, Spaghetti alla Carbonara (Roman/from Lazio) sitting side-by-side with Lasagna alla Bolognese (Bologna/Emilia Romagna). But full marks to them for using the correct ingredients (such as guanciale instead of bacon in the Spaghetti alla Carbonara).

 

Outside of Italy (and, unfortunately, sometimes inside Italy in the touristy areas) I am very, very critical about Italian restaurants. Apart from the fact that I can cook “real“ Italian food as well as – if not better – than they can, there is also the matter that in nearly every country in Europe you don’t really get Italian food but a local variation: such as Germano-Italian, Brit-Italian or even Swiss-Italian (found in the German and French speaking parts of Switzerland and absolutely not to be confused with the cuisine of the Ticino - the Italian speaking region of Switzerland).

 

As to why the bastardisation of the originals? I suppose most people are happy to enjoy a “halfway house”between the comfort of the familiar and the strangeness of the truly authentic.  I wonder how many Brits on ER would willingly sit down to a portion of this: https://www.cucchiaio.it/ricetta/ricetta-bomba-riso/ - which is made with Pigeon or this https://www.cucchiaio.it/ricetta/ricetta-bigoli-salsa-dacciughe/ (made with anchovies).

 

I tend towards as being authentic as possible (being a purist) with my cooking, regardless of national cuisine. For example: whilst I maintain that  baked beans are NOT a mandatory component of a full British breakfast (I’d say that they are mandatorily optional),  if baked beans were to be on the plate they would be haricot beans in a plain tomato sauce and not Borlotti beans cooked with garlic, basil and other herbs and spices. Anything else would be culinarily incorrect – although such beans would be home-made from quality ingredients and not tinned.
 

Post prandial flatulence, caused by the fermentation of the oligosaccharides in the beans by the gut bacteria, is obviously an optional – albeit authentic – extra.

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

When it comes to couriers most around here are pretty good.

All are as good as the local drivers. 
 

All operate under significant pressure with well over 100 drops per run and not necessarily within the same small area. 
 

I don’t fancy finding even half that number of spots to park a van - however briefly - wondering if it will end up ticketed. The driver is responsible for any infringements.  
 

Most locally to the Hill of Strawberries are reasonably reliable and most use the same drivers on the run; I see the same faces most days delivering around the block and often at much the same time. They all seem to arrive around 4pm. 
 

There are occasional exceptions. Dr. SWMBO had something “delivered” a while ago which definitely wasn’t delivered here. The photo showed what might have been any parcel against any white wall - no address label showing to prove which parcel it was nor anything to suggest where it had been left. The card wasn’t even through the letterbox but on the outside doormat. It was completely blank. 
 

She finally managed to speak with someone at the courier’s call centre whose command of English seemed limited to saying that there was proof of delivery and calling her a liar. 
 

A week later a chap knocked our door proffering her parcel. It had, he said, been dumped outside his house which is half a mile from here. A good soul indeed. He could have just left in in the street thinking it was litter. The courier wasn’t remotely interested in that. 
 

Yes, Yodel, I am speaking of you. By what ever name you choose to go by this week. 
 

I had delivery yesterday. A dozen bottles of Bordeaux. Don’t all queue at the door - it’s only £8/bottle not the good stuff!  There was a large red and white label on the box with the words “Must be delivered undamaged. Driver is responsible for damage or misdelivery”. 
 

I wonder, with the greatest of respect, if the driving force of our delivery-van economy, understands words like “misdelivery”. But at least it was there.  The driver handed it to me with the words “This you” spoken with a strong Eastern European accent. And all was well. 

[polybear]

57 minutes ago, 45156 said:

.........and he "assures" me that delivery to work was also for security reasons, and not to hide it from his missus - he also "assures" me that his missus is fully aware of the 1800 Euro price tag.........

 

Bear would love to meet your brother sometime - he sounds a real scream.......🤣🤣

[Gwiwer]

2 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Post prandial flatulence, caused by the fermentation of the oligosaccharides in the beans by the gut bacteria, is obviously an optional – albeit authentic – extra.

Another immaculately-worded chapter in our culinary education. Thank you. 
 

I was watching Masterchef Australia last night for want of some light relief from other events.  As I dealt with “Tiramisu” from a plastic supermarket pot so they were required to create and present the very same. 
 

I have had some very good titamisi indeed. We were spoiled around Melbourne where Italian families vie for trade at their own restaurants. Lygon Street is famed for the owners standing outside pressing menus into the hands of passers-by who might become diners. Some offered free tasting bites from a mixed platter as well. 

So yes we have had some great Italian (or possibly Australo-Italian) food with Tiramisu being Dr. SWMBO’s favourite dessert option. 
 

Back to the supermarket pot. No alcohol involved. Very synthetic creamy goo. Dry sponge. Chemically-enhanced flavour, I’m sure. 
 

The tv version seemed to be an “interpretation of” as well. A ring of sponge with goo inside, a disc of tempered chocolate and more goo on top. Dusted with cocoa. 
 

Our best-ever was served by a restaurant called Casa Mare right next to Frankston beach. It is no longer there. After what was always a really good and filling main-plus-insalata out came the tiramisu. Not pre-portioned onto a plate but in a huge oval glass dish which occupied the waiter’s arm from hand to elbow. And out came a serving device similar to a large fish-slice. 
 

The dessert was loaded aboard this device until no more could fit. And was then expertly decanted to a large flat plate at table. A dessert of gargantuan proportions dripping with marsala and ensuring we required a taxi home.  Because after a bottle of wine over dinner and a grog-soaked dessert I wasn’t about to risk driving in a land where the law allows random testing and the police seem to be used as a state revenue-raising force. 

[simontaylor484]

39 minutes ago, Adam88 said:

 

Of course 'solid as a Swedish tank' is only a relative expression otherwise it might not have bent so easily!

 

It's more paint work on the nearside bumper than anything apart from a little part of the wing near the front headlight cluster.

 The head light unit lifts out completely so the damage is easily repaired. Luckily its a steel panel.

 

[TheQ]

Ah today's UPS takeaway  has just left.... 

How do I know in this window less room?

I've now got a good DAB radio signal..

 

I looked at that  Bomba di riso and thought.. 

 

Snake and pigmy steamed puddin..

Edited September 21, 2022 by TheQ

[simontaylor484]

53 minutes ago, The Lurker said:

Simon hasn't reported how badly damaged the lamp post was!

 I have only left a bit of paint on it.

 

[PhilJ W]

4 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

 I have only left a bit of paint on it.

 

The original paint or from the car?

[iL Dottore]

Whilst I can’t claim to have won any awards for my tiramisu, it is certainly much sought after. Generally, if friends know that I will be making a tiramisu, they will ask for me to make two serving dishes of the stuff: one to eat at the meal and one for them to take home.

The recipe I use is as about as straightforward and easy as any dessert recipe can be. The ingredients are: Italian mascarpone*, sugar, free-range egg yolks, a goodly quantity of café ristretto (recipes usually ask for espresso, but a café ristretto has a lot more coffee oomph to it), Savoyard biscuits (also known as langue de chat biscuits), a coffee liqueur (I use Kamok from the Vrignaud Distillery) and cocoa powder for dusting.

 

My “tweak” on  the original recipe is the use of a coffee liqueur. A common variant on the original recipe is to dip the Savoyard biscuit in alcohol and coffee, using Marsala, amaretto or a coffee-based liqueur. As tiramisu is Italian for “pick me up“, I think the use of a coffee liqueur is very much in the spirit of the dish and something I think only enhances the dish. 
 

Rumour has it that tiramisu has aphrodisiac effects and was concocted by a 19th-century Treviso brothel madam, to “perk up” her clients…

 

* you can get locally made mascarpone, but they do tend to vary in quality

[Tony_S]

29 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

 I have only left a bit of paint on it.

 

Bit of T-cut, it will be fine. A police officer used those words to Aditi once, after a motor bike had left a lot of black marks all along one side of her blue Clio. He was correct too. The rider ended up just in front of her car, most of his bike was buried in the BMW in the outside lane. Both cars were stationary at the time of impact. The rider needed more than T cut though. Aditi said all the traffic police on the A13 seemed really nice. She met a few during her rush hour drive up to London (and home again).

Once her car broke down near the M25. The AA couldn’t recover the car from the third lane so police had to be sent out. There was a discussion about whether she was still in the Met area or Essex. They eventually decided and a couple of very nice police officers soon arrived to facilitate the move to the side. 

 

Edited September 21, 2022 by Tony_S

[The Lurker]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

 

As to why the bastardisation of the originals? I suppose most people are happy to enjoy a “halfway house”between the comfort of the familiar and the strangeness of the truly authentic.  

I think that there is an element of that, particularly in the Uk where it is not just Italian cooking that gets this treatment. I also wonder whether there is also an element of using what was available at the time that the dish was first cooked in the UK - take "spaghetti bolognaise" as an example. I imagine that, back in the late 50s/early 60s when this dish started to seep into our collective consciousness, spaghetti was the only pasta you could get that did not come in a tin of tomato sauce, mince beef was used because that was readily available, and garlic would not have been used because despite the long British tradition of growing it, that was a nasty foreign food. As for olive oil, that was bought from the chemist to deal with earache and would not have touched a meal.

 

I couldn't find a 60s recipe but did manage to find a 1970s version of the recipe.

 

https://vintagecookbooktrials.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/spaghetti-bolognese/

 

 

[J. S. Bach]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

 ...snip... or this https://www.cucchiaio.it/ricetta/ricetta-bigoli-salsa-dacciughe/ (made with anchovies). ...snip...

 

Post prandial flatulence, caused by the fermentation of the oligosaccharides in the beans by the gut bacteria, is obviously an optional – albeit authentic – extra.

When we (a group of us post-model railroad club meeting clubbers) would go out for pizza after the meeting, I was the only one to want anchovies on mine.  I like them, especially when a paste is used instead of a "fish body".

 

As far as the second sentence, beans usually do not have too much of that effect with me.