Early Risers.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Recovering from a horrendous trip back home from the Bay. The A64 was awash with caravans and very slow moving cars.pah!

 

At some point Vickers bought Roneo and used the brand to supply various types of office furniture. They had a separate printing division (Howson Algraphy) but had started to run that bit of the business down as the printing processes were changing so rapidly.

 

Worst printing process was the one used for copying A0 drawings at Barnbow.. it cleared the sinuses pdq.

 

Got a lot of tidying up to do as my friend Red Leader is here to do m9re work on the layout. That's after a day trip to Northumberland tomorrow.

 

TTFN 

Baz

[Tony_S]

37 minutes ago, polybear said:

Is that the stuff that's already been scoffed then cr@pped out of some furry animal before you get to drink it?

Certainly is. 

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

Very sad that he apparently didn't get to finish his model of USS Constitution

 

 

 

 

Agree. Although the Constitution, along with the Victory and the Titanic usually shares the same place in model shipbuilding esteem as the Flying Scotsman does in model railway ones, he was a lovely bloke. I remember quite a lot of too- ing and thro-ing emails between us as he tried to minimise the UPS postage charges.  He was so apologetic, even though it wasn't in any way his fault, and I just couldn't convince him that I was fine with the cost because even with the postage the total cost was still less than a locally sourced Proxxon saw would cost me.

 

Now I have several Proxxon tools - a scroll saw, a disc sander and a weird but very useful hand-held cutoff saw. All are brilliant, but they are plastic and mass produced, they just don't have the charm and precision  of the handbuilt saw.

Edited April 6 by monkeysarefun

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, from a very windy rock, looks like the UK will be cut off once again, 13c feels like a lot less.  Foreguess is for it to get worse and wetter before it gets better.  Long range is wet, garnished with more wet. Deep joy.

 

Baz, I don't think I have ever had a good clear drive along the A64!  Makes the A19 looks safe.

 

Mrs H is off getting Pilated, and the weather (see above) is not conducive to a walk along the prom (currently somewhat under water) so I stayed home to waste my time on here.  Seems like a good idea to me.

[Hroth]

16 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Certainly is. 

 

Good thing the animals ain't rabbits.  You'd be hard pushed to tell the beans from the rest...

 

[Hroth]

1 minute ago, New Haven Neil said:

Morning, from a very windy rock, looks like the UK will be cut off once again, 13c feels like a lot less.  Foreguess is for it to get worse and wetter before it gets better.  Long range is wet, garnished with more wet. Deep joy.

 

Baz, I don't think I have ever had a good clear drive along the A64!  Makes the A19 looks safe.

 

Mrs H is off getting Pilated, and the weather (see above) is not conducive to a walk along the prom (currently somewhat under water) so I stayed home to waste my time on here.  Seems like a good idea to me.

 

Dry and fairly calm this side of the moat....

According to the Met Office, its going to be sunny for most of the day, with wet expected by 8pm.

 

[DaveF]

It should be dry here today though with a lot of cloud and the wind about Force 5 to 6, sometimes gusting to 7/8 and about 18°C by lunchtime. 

 

I slept well and am up and thinking what to do today .  I have an invitation to an event at church for coffee and lunch organised by the PCC (parochial church council).  It is advertised as a chance to meet them and get to know others in the congregation.  It is actually to try to get more people to be on the PCC who basically do the day to day running of the place.  When I turned 70 I resigned from various society committees as I knew I was become resistant to change and didn't want to get in the way.  As I am now nearly 75 I will not volunteer to join the PCC.  If I did it would take me about a year to get up to speed and will I be able to do as much when I am coming up to 76?  I am perfectly happy to do things, like readings and intercessions and serving at communion while I am fit enough but not to organise things.

 

I sometimes wish other older people would "retire" and let younger fitter people who are less set in their ways take over.  I may not like what new people do but I was like that once and changed a lot of things the previous generation had refused to do anything about, both at the camera club and the Literary and Scientific Society.

 

Yesterday evening I noticed that Radio 3 is having "Friday Night is Music Night" each Friday at 7.30 now that Radio 2 have first moved it and now scrapped it.  I decided to try it and it was pleasant.  Some of the music was a bit different from the old days (showing my age, see above) but doubtless it will settle down.  However, like a lot of music on Radio I find the sound balance is not as good as it was.  Of course that has nothing to do with my age!  I suspect it is actually that things have moved on since I bought my current stereo set up a long time ago, a Google nest mini gives somewhat better sound a lot of the time.

 

David

[monkeysarefun]

10 minutes ago, DaveF said:

 will I be able to do as much when I am coming up to 76?

 

 

That still makes you younger then the two main US presidential candidates this year. And if the PCC  don't conform to your demands, just have an insurrection  - its not like you'll be held accountable or anything.

Edited April 6 by monkeysarefun

[DaveF]

6 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

That still makes you younger then the two main US presidential candidates this year. And if they don't conform to your demands, just have an insurrection  - its not like you'll be held accountable or anything.

 

I think your first sentence gives a good reason for not having old people in charge!

 

David

[Gwiwer]

10 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

Toy Dolls always make me smile.

The band. Capital T and D. To avoid any ambiguity. 
 

One of the few to have endured the trial by time and have been out their thrashing their kit since 1979. They have worn out quite a few drummers along the way. 

Olga is quite a handy guitar-wrangler too. 

 

Two of my favourites. Both covers. 
 

 

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

58 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

Dry and fairly calm this side of the moat....

According to the Met Office, its going to be sunny for most of the day, with wet expected by 8pm.

 

 

Still sunny here but howlin' with wind, getting a bit dodgy.  There's a big splurge (a metric unit of fluid volume) of rain just going to miss us to the south by the look of it.

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

The trouble with ‘pick your own’ or ‘fill your own’ is the risk of contamination. 
I’ve looked at a few outlets that sell this way but the risk is too great for me to consider using them.

A great idea to save on packaging etc.

The cafe/healthy living store in Penistone that we frequent does have fill your own washing up liquid etc.

I notice that many supermarkets have done away with the serve yourself salad bar. I never used them at all, certainly after I saw a mother use one of the serving spoons to feed her toddler and then put the spoon back in the food. 

Edited April 6 by PhilJ W

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

This site was being slow again this morning, took ages for this page to open. 
 

A rather dull start to the day, but at least it’s not raining, yet, although the wind is starting to pick up. Not a great deal planned for today, I’ll shortly be setting off to collect Ava, who is spending the day with us. So, after a drink, she’ll help me finish making the white chocolate and lemon cheesecake I began yesterday afternoon, which will be tonight’s dessert. After that, well it could be anything, although I expect she’ll want to do a bit of revision before dinner, as she’ll be soon sitting her GCSE exams. Gee, it only seems like yesterday when she was born! 

 

Back later. 
 

Brian 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Not a bad night, just one call out from bladder control. After that I didn't wake up until almost eight. My body clock still hasn't sprung forward an hour yet, perhaps the spring has broken. The letter re. my state pension dropped onto the mat this morning, despite it still being a pittance as I have an occupational pension which is taxable as I did not pay tax on the contributions. However NI contributions from which state pensions are paid are a tax so you are paying tax twice as both pensions are combined when calculating the tax.

[Andy Hayter]

Fresh potatoes?  In April?  Are you having a laugh?

 

Potatoes are planted in Spring once the risks of frost have largely gone or later.  They are harvested 60days (new potatoes) to 120 days later.   Except for the very southernmost bits of Europe, this means that all potatoes have been lifted by the end of October and they have to be since frost will kill the plants.  Cypriot and Egyptian potatoes can be planted and harvested just about any time of the year.  

 

It used to be that the stored potatoes were sprayed to prevent them from sprouting but this was discontinued in 2019 due to concerns about the breakdown products of the spray then being used.  Some spraying with a different inhibitor continues, but now most stored potatoes are kept at a very precise temperature and may be also subjected to a light dose of ethylene gas.  This gas ripens fruit but inhibits sprouting in potatoes.

Edited April 6 by Andy Hayter

[Captain Cuttle]

11 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

The factory was in Hornchurch and the site is covered by a Tesco's and a B&Q but is still known as Roneo Corner. 

Yes well remembered by Her Ladyship as she lived in Rush Green and worked in Romford. Much changed since the sixties when i first went out with her and looking on YT not for the better.

[Captain Cuttle]

40 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

howlin' with wind

As it is in Newton and got to go out this afternoon over to Totnes where all the arty types hang out to get all the frozen blueberries etc etc for our pain in the butt son. This happens every six weeks doh!

[Captain Cuttle]

11 hours ago, Captain Cuttle said:

Packing any vegetable or fruit in plastic bags

And the worst i have found are carrots! Tesco were selling mountains of these in plastic bags at 15p  a week or so ago. You dont realise that they are 85-96 percent water and most of one bag had already turned to mush after a couple of days. I used to grow all sorts here and my carrots were really tasty and stored well. Most now dont seem to have any or little taste and after washing them i dry with paper towel before storing. and you are lucky if they last a week.

[Andy Hayter]

Always take carrots out of the plastic bag as soon as you get home.  Wrap them in newspaper in small batches and place the the fridge.

 

 

[tigerburnie]

What's a newspaper? Don't think I have read one of those for at least 40 years .....................................................😎

[Coombe Barton]

8 minutes ago, Andy Hayter said:

Wrap them in newspaper

What's a newspaper? 

Oh, old technology ... :)

 

[Andy Hayter]

Ah!  I assumed you would still get those freebees pushed into the letterbox.

 

In that case use toilet paper - much the same thing in many respects.  (Kitchen paper is probably more suitable.)

[iL Dottore]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

 

That website has an interesting recipe for "Mum's Choccy Cake":

 

https://www.woorillacaught.com/mums-chocolate-cake/

 

- perhaps our resident Chef might like to test it?

 

It’s pretty much a bog-standard chocolate cake recipe, notable perhaps for using cups instead of grams/oz and the rather vague baking instructions. A moderate oven is 180°C to 190°C and I’d bake it at 180°C rather than 190°C and give it a few more minutes in the oven if necessary.

 

Cup size is more of an enigma as I can think of three different cup sizes, you can use (no sniggering in the back): US cup, Australian cup and British/European cup, they are all slightly different; although I think now people have pretty much standardised a cup as 250 ml of volume.

 

To elevate it from bog-standard you could slice it into two horizontally and fill it with a chocolate ganache (perhaps a white chocolate ganache as a contrast?) before sandwiching the halves together or you could add white chocolate chips to the batter mix before baking (or both). Neither icing nor buttercream would be appropriate here - you don’t want a chocolate cake to be sickly sweet (definitely a problem with bought supermarket chocolate cake, frequently far too sweet).

 

Tomorrow’s “cake of the week bake” will be a rhubarb crumble cake.

[monkeysarefun]

Just into the second half of the AFL before I realised that its the Cats vs The Dogs....  Who will win?

[Gwiwer]

19 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

What's a newspaper? 

 

14 minutes ago, Andy Hayter said:

toilet paper - much the same thing

I certainly remember the days when the outside privvy would be supplied with carefully-torn pages from the Daily Telegraph. The indoors lavatory had the luxury of Izal Medicated!  
 

Rough is as rough does. 
 

We were brought up hard in them days. None of this namby-pamby soft tissue then. 
 

In other news it is warm, sunny and very windy. Not as severe as the seaweed-mongers would have us believe, not too windy for Dr SWMBO to have set forth on the tricycle bound for the WI market and an hour or so sketching in church making use of her pastels and art-paper. 
 

But windy enough to have removed the well-anchored bike cover from the bikes (though not from its anchor points) and windy enough to have lifted a near-empty sack of briquettes over the wall from the neighbour’s.  
 

Stay safe. Keep yer hairs on.