Early Risers.

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

Why is a round pie always in a square box in a supermarket?

Because the cardboard on the outside is cheaper than the cardboard flavoured item on the inside, also it makes it look bigger.

Most supermarket pies are pastry containing gravy that has passed by some meat.

 

No pies in our tuck shops,  that would be sweets, peanuts etc.

 

School dinner "pies " were gristle in gravy with a pastry top of which you got one small square.. The other pies were " Scotch pies, " water pastry " top and bottom, with the top inset the top edge of the sides.. The school version was special in that the top was so inset you'd be lucky if there were a 1/4 inch of mince and onions in the bottom . The speelchucker just tried to change to mice for mince.. which might be appropriate.

 

Afternoon Awl,

Museum lectures attended, better than expected, our electricity bill last year was, ... £13,000!!!  Hence we are waiting for planning permission for solar panels on the roof. Being a listed building there are all sorts of requirements for not damaging the building and keeping them out of sight.

 

I think our new manager has learnt spouting woke at crotchety mostly old service men and service women will get a very unwoke reaction... So that piece of the lecture was basically, try to not upset anyone, but if you do, let him know so he can go into damage control mode.

 

We did have to do a practice fire evacuation, so we know what to do with the public. 

 

Managed to get into a shed where a type 14 radar on a lorry is stored,  it's returned from restoration. Took some measurements, the radar is almost the same as that which went in to Omaha Beach, though the lorry is a later one.

 

Spoke to one volunteer who's memory is definitely not what it should be, he reckoned Sir Robert Watson Watt was developing radar in 1975. Considering RWW died in Raigmore hospital In Inverness 1973,  a mile or so from my school boarding house,  that would be somewhat unlikely... Only 40 years out...

 

Ben the I don't like loud noises Collie is very unhappy, they are playing top gun above us.

 

As I was a good part of the way there, I went to the orange shed on the way back, 120kg of sand now deposited in the soggy hollows in the grass, 120kg of gravel deposited in the soggy hollows in the driveway, still more needed.

 

Now needed, ocular cover testing.

By gum that's a lot of sand and gravel for that matter. Would it not be cheaper?, more convenient certainly to just get a 'one tonne' bag of them and empty them as and when you have energy/time. 

[Tony_S]

56 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

No!

But I can order you one, if you like.

Good luck on finding a way to send it to the UK. I hope the Swiss are better at sending than receiving. The only way we managed to send a picnic hamper to Switzerland at the New Year was to order it from an Irish business. They had no trouble debiting our credit card and finding an appropriate courier service. Their default carrier to EU destinations declined but DHL delivered, well at least to a Migros locker. We assumed for non food items it was going to be simple, as we wanted to send a small toy to Zurich for our new great niece. We found an appropriate toy on the Swiss online store for Steiff . All went well, all the  addresses  were accepted but it would only allow credit cards associated with a Swiss address. So I tried exporting it from the UK online store and again it failed at the payment page as wouldn’t let me send to Switzerland. 
Eventually we found another toy retailer that will let us pay here and send to Switzerland, not a Steiff but still safe and cuddly. 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

@iL Dottore also believes that with all things PIE, serving proportions should reflect the importance of each ingredient:

 

 

Bear couldn't agree more.....

 

[iL Dottore]

7 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Good luck on finding a way to send it to the UK. I hope the Swiss are better at sending than receiving. The only way we managed to send a picnic hamper to Switzerland at the New Year was to order it from an Irish business. They had no trouble debiting our credit card and finding an appropriate courier service. Their default carrier to EU destinations declined but DHL delivered, well at least to a Migros locker. We assumed for non food items it was going to be simple, as we wanted to send a small toy to Zurich for our new great niece. We found an appropriate toy on the Swiss online store for Steiff . All went well, all the  addresses  were accepted but it would only allow credit cards associated with a Swiss address. So I tried exporting it from the UK online store and again it failed at the payment page as wouldn’t let me send to Switzerland. 
Eventually we found another toy retailer that will let us pay here and send to Switzerland, not a Steiff but still safe and cuddly. 

It works both ways - which drives me crazy.

 

Last year Mrs iD "persuaded" me to turn my notes, jottings, diary and blog of my time in Japan into an illustrated booklet. This was duly done (and was entitled "what I did on my holiday! by iL Dottore aged 67 and ¼")

 

I then went looking for someone to print and bind the booklet. In Switzerland the cost was either astronomical (something like £40 a copy) OR you had a minimum print run of 500 - 1000 copies (I only needed 20, I have no illusions as to my abilities as an author). So I turned my search to the UK and found plenty of places that could do exactly what I wanted for a very acceptable price. EXCEPT

• They either didn't ship to Switzerland

OR

• The site - after accepting all the necessary details (quantity, address, type of shipment) - refused to accept my credit card.

I ended up using one of the few small run not too obscenely costly Swiss printers - who only went and  had it printed in Germany (but still charged Swiss prices).

 

Some much for unfettered commerce!

[iL Dottore]

1 minute ago, polybear said:

 

Bear couldn't agree more.....

 

OK, it's a bit carb heavy (well, incredibly carb heavy to be honest).

 

Now, I know that you love industrial quality baked beans as much as I detest them, but a Baked Bean Milkshake?

Isn't that a bit extreme, even for a Poly Bear?

[polybear]

13 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Now, I know that you love industrial quality baked beans as much as I detest them, but a Baked Bean Milkshake?

Isn't that a bit extreme, even for a Poly Bear?

 

Not when it's got lemon flavoured buttercream on top.....

[Grizz]

When I arrived home this evening I discovered that Mrs Grizz had been baking and making. 
 

Ooooooooo I thought I wonder if there is any for me. 
 

Well apparently not. It is a bespoke birthday cake for a customer. And there aren’t even any scragg ends of cakey nibbles for me either!…as number 2 cub scoffed them at lunch time. 
 

The empty pint glass is just there to give a sense of scale. 

 

Surely no one person needs to have a cake that big. 

 

[Coombe Barton]

... The Enquiry is reinforcing some predictable themes. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/03/14/covid-uptick-flu-continues-down-enquiry-wales-day-12-pi-day/

[TheQ]

54 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

By gum that's a lot of sand and gravel for that matter. Would it not be cheaper?, more convenient certainly to just get a 'one tonne' bag of them and empty them as and when you have energy/time. 

It would be cheaper, it's about 50% more for their collected nominal 22kg large bags compared to delivered nominal 850kg jumbo bags per kilo.

But unfortunately the lorries they use have a built in loading arm, which needs clearance above it. Where they'd have to deposit it would be under the electricity cables ( two sets, one for us, one for the neighbour) which are only up about 18 ft at the house end, they droop in the middle. The alternative is to park on the single track road, thereby closing it, while they unload into the start of the driveway likely blocking that. 

I'm not even sure our driveway could take a lorry at the moment, even the " little red driving machine" © Gwiwer is digging in..

 

Years ago I cleared the back of the landrover went up to the nearest quarry and shovelled  just under a ton in the back. Then shovelled it out when I got home.. today my back wouldn't last one end.

A jumbo bag is near 150% the weight my general purpose trailer can take.

[polybear]

Bear here....

 

Yet another day at the Hospice - delivering to a couple of shops (which also enabled Bear to do a quick dash into Iceland for some nanas - putting a stack of Mr Kipling Iced Lemon Slices @ 60p/box on the Checkout was a pretty underhand tactic I thought**).

 

** And before you ask - no, Bear didn't.....not one.....😭  Not so long ago I would've cleaned up....

 

Much of the day was spent 'umpin & dumpin' though - shifting loadsa stuff from one Warehouse into the storage Warehouse; Izzy the iPhone reckons I've walked 3.1 miles today/8500 steps.

 

The Hospice donation point had a "right result" from one very kind person today - a Carbon Fibre Mountain Bike in very, very nice condition; worth "rather a lot indeed" (the best part of a £K on Ebay - and that's where it's heading).  Oh yes, and gift -aided too - so another 25% from the taxman on the selling price.  Huge, Huge Result - and Tick.  Apparently the owner has two other bikes at home.....

 

Bear gone.......

 

 

[polybear]

21 minutes ago, Grizz said:

When I arrived home this evening I discovered that Mrs Grizz had been baking and making. 
 

Ooooooooo I thought I wonder if there is any for me. 
 

Well apparently not. It is a bespoke birthday cake for a customer. And there aren’t even any scragg ends of cakey nibbles for me either!…as number 2 cub scoffed them at lunch time. 

 

 

Not even the mixing bowl to lick out??

 

21 minutes ago, Grizz said:

Surely no one person needs to have a cake that big. 

 

 

What makes you think the customer is a person??

 

6 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Years ago I cleared the back of the landrover went up to the nearest quarry and shovelled  just under a ton in the back. 

 

Bear saw a Series One Land Rover today - which is a fairly unusual sight in itself.

But this one was very unusual indeed - it was the pickup (Truck Cab?) version; not seen one of those for more years than I can remember

[Coombe Barton]

32 minutes ago, Grizz said:

The empty pint glass is just there to give a sense of scale. 

 

... and a sense of regret?

[Tony_S]

33 minutes ago, Grizz said:

is a bespoke birthday cake for a customer

I have mentioned this before but Aditi’s Dad had a friend who was a catering lecturer in a college but loved baking for celebrations. He offered to make a cake for one of FiL’s birthdays. FiL suggested 20 by 30. He meant cm but his friend made it in inches. We all had lots to take away 

Edited March 14 by Tony_S

[iL Dottore]

42 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Not when it's got lemon flavoured buttercream on top.....

When’s the funeral PB?
 

If you can eat that, your tastebuds must have died and gone on to their reward in the afterlife.

[The White Rabbit]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

@iL Dottore also believes that with all things PIE, serving proportions should reflect the importance of each ingredient:

Pie > chips > peas.

 

Surely pie>brandy>chips>peas? 

 

Though TBQH (and at the risk of going on Bear's list) I could quite happily do without the chips! 

 

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Bear couldn't agree more.....

 

 

That's disgusting! Olives on a pepperoni pizza? Ugh! 

 

[Winslow Boy]

40 minutes ago, TheQ said:

It would be cheaper, it's about 50% more for their collected nominal 22kg large bags compared to delivered nominal 850kg jumbo bags per kilo.

But unfortunately the lorries they use have a built in loading arm, which needs clearance above it. Where they'd have to deposit it would be under the electricity cables ( two sets, one for us, one for the neighbour) which are only up about 18 ft at the house end, they droop in the middle. The alternative is to park on the single track road, thereby closing it, while they unload into the start of the driveway likely blocking that. 

I'm not even sure our driveway could take a lorry at the moment, even the " little red driving machine" © Gwiwer is digging in..

 

Years ago I cleared the back of the landrover went up to the nearest quarry and shovelled  just under a ton in the back. Then shovelled it out when I got home.. today my back wouldn't last one end.

A jumbo bag is near 150% the weight my general purpose trailer can take.

Yes I can quite appreciate just how tiring it can be emptying those bags. Had to do three of them and wheel the stuff from front of house to bottom of garden. Apart from the distance something like 30 odd metres it was also down hill as well. Fortunately I was thirty years younger but even with that I was well and truly buggered.

[polybear]

16 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

That's disgusting! Olives on a pepperoni pizza? Ugh! 

 

 

Bear agrees - but it's great fun using them as ammo and firing them off the end of a fork at the other diners.....

[jamie92208]

11 hours ago, BSW01 said:

Good morning everyone 

 

Well, the overnight rain has stopped, so at least we won’t get wet going to and from the car. My first task this morning is to drop Sheila off at the church hall for her Zumba class. I’ll then stop off at the pharmacy and collect my prescription, then I’ll call at pick up the latest edition of RM, before retuning and loading the car with stuff for the tip. Once that lots been disposed off, I’ll call at the big orange DIY shed for some more glue, before returning home again. The plan then is to attach the final bits of skirting board and hopefully trim and fit the window blinds and all before dinner too! 
 

Anyway, better getamoveonthen, back later. 
 

Brian

Congratulations Brian on becoming a published author.  I read the newlt delivered MERG journal whilst trainspotting today.  Very Interesting indeed.  It was over 20 in the sun this afternoon.  I visited Andy and he is progressing well after his knee replacement.  Then Beth messaged me, poor little Emily has discovered that she can't F, Y. She's broken her collarbone falling off the settee.  They hadn't got a sli g small enough for her modified one with tape. She's still smiling though. 

 

Jamie

[Hroth]

59 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

That's disgusting! Olives on a pepperoni pizza? Ugh! 

 

I thought they were Deadly Nightshade berries, judging by the scale....

 

 

[Hroth]

Oh well, just finished washing the dishes.

 

Now to slump on the sofa with Classic FM on the Echo Orb, a muggadrinkingchoccy, a hunk of walnut cake and a book for when my hands are free of cake...

 

😁

 

[PupCam]

Good news!    The wallet survived the garden centre intact.

 

As it turned into rather a nice afternoon and I haven't been out on the bikes for a while I thought a short bimble (a bimblette maybe?) was in order.    

About 20 miles to Old Warden and back.

 

It would have been rude to miss a photo opportunity.

 

 

TTFN

 

 

[Erichill16]

7 hours ago, Gwiwer said:
 

Mushy peas have their place. It is alongside fush’n’chups at supper. Not at breakfast. 
 

My uncle used to have cold mushy pea sandwiches for breakfast, thickly sliced I believe.

[Erichill16]

6 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Dinner tonight, I think.

 

Chips will NOT be involved.

 

Looks a bit like my uncle’s breakfast but the layers of bread and mushy peas were much thicker and he definitely didn’t have the ‘red stuff’ on the top or the side salad

[pH]

3 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Then Beth messaged me, poor little Emily has discovered that she can't F, Y. She's broken her collarbone falling off the settee.  They hadn't got a sli g small enough for her modified one with tape. She's still smiling though. 

Lots of sympathy to Emily! I broke my collarbone when a bit older than Emily (3 or 4), also doing gymnastics on furniture.

 

I still remember something about the episode - going to hospital on a Glasgow Corporation bus, and going home on another bus with the same conductress.

 

My wife, my sons and their partners accuse me of worrying too much when seeing grandkids clambering about on chairs, sofas etc. but I broke my collarbone doing that - they didn’t!

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Well, despite my best efforts, I didn’t quite get all that I’d hoped I would. However, I did get the last 2 pieces of the skirting board fitted and one of the two blinds was cut to size and fitted. This was fitted above the outer French doors, meaning that I’ve still got the window blind to fit, but that’s too requires cutting to size first. 

 

After dinner Charlie came round and whilst he continued painting his war hammer figure, I build a 00 diamond crossing kit.