Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

28 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

I've tried Ocado a couple of times too, so far at least their availability has been good

We use Waitrose for nearly everything. However the deliveries are sent out from the nearest large Waitrose store. This is in Southend so doesn’t stock too many Asian items. So when we want assorted pulses or Indian flour, an Ocado order goes out, often inspired by a loads of money off offer as “you don’t seem to have used us recently”. Ocado also stock Irish black pudding which is my favourite.  

[jjb1970]

I probably buy more M&S food now than when I lived in England since they're an excellent source for goodies from blighty. Pork pies, various other pies and pastries, a good selection of cheese, hot cross buns, crumpets and muffins (English muffins, what are called muffins here are the cake sort) and biscuits. The one thing I seldom buy there is sausage as there's a very good local supplier of British style sausages. I know it is probably a bit sad but it's nice to be able to get goodies from home. That said it's a treat, if M&S can be pricey in the UK they can be eye wateringly pricey here.

[southern42]

22 hours ago, BoD said:

They do say that if the Rowan berries are heavy and early then a hard winter is on its way.

 

I hope not...

 

22 hours ago, Hroth said:

On a more cheerful note.

 

Nice pic from southern42

 

 

23 hours ago, BoD said:

They do say that if the Rowan berries are heavy and early then a hard winter is on its way.

 

Might be useful to get a Holly berry corroboration.....

 

Holly I will have to check on now you have mentioned.

For now, we could look at some other evidence.

 

Wednesday's walk continue round the right hand side of the copse of trees to avoid the mucky muddy footpath which these walkers are on. 

 

When it is dry it is pleasant to sit on the stones and rest in the shade. The moss is rather wet atm unless you have something waterproof sit on! Trees surrounding and growing through old buildings is a familiar sight around here.

 

 

More sheep taking shade from the sun's glare.

 

A young standalone rowan tree with Anglesey in the distance.

 

Lower down I spotted a bit of heather in bloom.

 

Back down to residential level, the plastic bag is in evidence - being recycled by the looks of it! Some nice looking apples, too...

 

and plenty of wild fruit ripening.

Sloes gave me a very nice syrup for the *C* word, last winter. It went very well with my *C* pudding.

 

I tried one of the blackberries. Very sweet, unlike last season's! So, when the wind dies down, I shall be off to pick a few. 

 

 

What winter will be like, on this basis, we will see. We did have a bit of snow on several occasions, last winter, but just a smidgen compared with the winter of 1962-63. ("Snow 1963" film) Look it up! I could be in the Awls black book if I post it on here! The R word and all that!

 

I think I shall go off and collect me a few berries.

 

Afterthought: After much frustration of having to reload the images again <<don't ask!>>, Jones the Steam has posted Day 3 of his current journey.

 

Take care. Be good. Take precautions.

Polly

[AndyID]

6 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Whatever the physics it seems to work:

 

 

I'm sure it does. But not because there's twice as much rubber on the road.

[DaveF]

Most of my grocery deliveries come from Asda or Morrisons, both are usually quite good at providing things.  Asda also deliver books, DVDs, pillows and quite a lot of other non food items.  If they fail then Tesco, Sainsburys, Waitrose and Iceland all deliver in my area - but Ocado does not exist here.

 

This morning I went to Seaton Sluice and had a simple walk round Rocky Island, by the harbour.  It was mild but windy and too cloudy for good photos.  I saw some curlews methodically going round the rock pools looking for food, along with a number of oystercatchers.  There were also an assortment of gulls standing and lying on the rocks resting between flights.

 

I did think of climbing down on to the rocks - some are accessible by steps but decided that at 74 that might be silly as they are very slippery.  I didn't want to be the second person this week airlifted out after an accident.  So I just carried on with my walk and looked at the views.

 

Home again for coffee then I looked at some photos I took in 2005 and have never seen on a big TV screen before.  Then lunch.  Later on I finished pruning the Spirea and gave the greenhouse yet another tidy - I am always surprised at how quickly flowers come and go.  After that it was time for a rest followed by a bit of reading and a cuppa.  There is nothing planned for this evening but I will have an early night as I still feel tired.

 

David

[The White Rabbit]

40 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

We use Waitrose for nearly everything. However the deliveries are sent out from the nearest large Waitrose store. This is in Southend so doesn’t stock too many Asian items. So when we want assorted pulses or Indian flour, an Ocado order goes out, often inspired by a loads of money off offer as “you don’t seem to have used us recently”. Ocado also stock Irish black pudding which is my favourite.  

 

One difference I have noticed between supermarkets, Waitrose deliver from the nearest store (in our case, Otley, which is one of the smaller ones), Tesco deliver from some sort of regional distribution centre rather than the local store. 

 

Interesting you mention black pudding, I'm not a particular fan but do like it occasionally, I've been thinking about getting some next time out, there are a few things I think it will go well with. I did look for some soda bread too (on both websites) but couldn't find anything I liked the look of. 

[Tony_S]

7 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

Interesting you mention black pudding, I'm not a particular fan but do like it occasionally,

The one I liked from Ocado is Clonakilty. They also stocked their white pudding too. 

[Tony_S]

13 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

I'm sure it does. But not because there's twice as much rubber on the road.

I used to watch F1 races for the driving but now I am mainly drawn to the discussions about tyre choice. 

[AndyID]

6 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

I believe that when the HS 125 was being developed they tested the front end with the ‘bird gun’ at Farnborough. It was during those tests that someone omitted to defrost the chicken that they hey had bought at a local supermarket so the test rig was virtually demolished.

 

Dave

 

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/catapoultry/

[southern42]

On 18/08/2023 at 12:38, Gwiwer said:

Betty

 

Oooh, Betty!

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=721866198189920

[polybear]

Oops....

 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/64m-british-fighter-jet-ditched-in-sea/ss-AA1ftA0X?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=ea79e0dbebd84353b1b9e7a0f4696360&ei=23#image=1

 

A question for @Dave Hunt:

Is this an Aircrew screw-up, or Ground Crew, or both?  Bear's money is on the last one.

[TheQ]

Tesco's normally deliver from the "Extra" stores, though some of the larger "super" stores also have a .com section.

This means that you are not always delivered from the nearest store. 

[Ozexpatriate]

11 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

In Switzerland and Germany, an apple fritter is a slice of cored apple which is dipped in a sweet batter and deep fried (for batter think along the lines of the batter in fish and chips for the consistency).

11 hours ago, TheQ said:

Apple fritters cooked by mum were as per il Dottore's description.

I believe they were much the same in my formative days in Australia - though Mum didn't make them often. (I think she did but rarely. Too much work.)

 

In the US you will most commonly find them in a donut shop.

 

[AndyID]

Oh dear. That fire levelled 185 homes in Medical Lake, Washington last night. The average price of homes there is more than $400,000.

[Ozexpatriate]

59 minutes ago, AndyID said:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/catapoultry/

Chicken Guns.

 

The first tall tale of chicken guns I heard was from a University lecturer* who claimed to have worked on / knew a mate who worked on / etc / the BAC TSR-2.

 

* A high percentage of the faculty were expatriate Brits (or British immigrants if you prefer) so it wasn't entirely implausible.

 

In his version, a room-temperature bird carcass was used, but because the TSR-2 was intended to fly at such exceptional speeds an extra, extra powerful 'gun' was deployed. Researchers were surprised that there was no apparent canopy/turbine** damage after testing and reviewing the high-speed footage discovered that the bones were separating from the rest of the carcass and the impact was distributed, with subsequently lower momentum and impact. At this point they had to resort to frozen fowl to continue the test.

 

Or so the story went. True? I don't know. There are so many chicken gun stories - as noted by Snopes.

 

** Don't remember which and it doesn't matter

[Ozexpatriate]

12 minutes ago, AndyID said:

Oh dear. That fire levelled 185 homes in Medical Lake, Washington last night. The average price of homes there is more than $400,000.

 

And at least one fatality connected to the Gray Lake fire there.

 

I haven't seen an update on Yellowknife (NT). This is from yesterday:
CNN: Thousands scramble to evacuate capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories as more than 200 ‘unprecedented’ wildfires blanket region

 

Edited August 19, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[tigerburnie]

Folk leaving relatives ashes on the top of mountains are changing the soil by fertilising it and it is causing quite serious problems for the mountain plants, some thought needs to be applied.

[AndyID]

3 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Chicken Guns.

 

The first tall tale of chicken guns I heard was from a University lecturer* who claimed to have worked on / knew a mate who worked on / etc / the BAC TSR-2.

 

* A high percentage of the faculty were expatriate Brits (or British immigrants if you prefer) so it wasn't entirely implausible.

 

In his version, a room-temperature bird carcass was used, but because the TSR-2 was intended to fly at such exceptional speeds an extra, extra powerful 'gun' was deployed. Researchers were surprised that there was no apparent canopy/turbine** damage after testing and reviewing the high-speed footage discovered that the bones were separating from the rest of the carcass and the impact was distributed, with subsequently lower momentum and impact. At this point they had to resort to frozen fowl to continue the test.

 

Or so the story went. True? I don't know. There are so many chicken gun stories - as noted by Snopes.

 

** Don't remember which and it doesn't matter

 

I heard it first over thirty years ago from a Texan in New Jersey and the UK was not mentioned in that version.

 

Then there's the one about the fingers left stuck in the grill at the back of a VW after they were sliced off by the fan 😆

[Ozexpatriate]

6 minutes ago, AndyID said:

I heard it first over thirty years ago

My version was 'told' probably around 1982. TSR-2 was shut down in 1965.

 

The first chicken gun was built in 1942. Wikipedia also claims:

Quote

The UK's Royal Aircraft Establishment built a chicken gun in 1961

 

Edited August 19, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, southern42 said:

I tried one of the blackberries. Very sweet, unlike last season's!

Polly your blackberries look much nicer than those here. This summer is so dry. It's been hotter than "normal" but only a few days (earlier this week) were "stupid hot". Mostly it has been dry - we didn't get our normal rain in June.

 

The green in all your photographs looks like a different planet. Everything not irrigated here is parched and brown.

 

The first rowan tree I ever saw was on a trip to the South Island of New Zealand. (I'm not sure if I ever saw one anywhere else.) I don't believe there are any native to the Pacific Northwest.

[pH]

16 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The first rowan tree I ever saw was on a trip to the South Island of New Zealand. (I'm not sure if I ever saw one anywhere else.) I don't believe there are any native to the Pacific Northwest.

They may not be native, but they are definitely here. We have one in our backyard, as does the house next door. Ours, at least, seeded itself naturally.

[polybear]

Bear here.....

A second coat(?) of filler has been applied, sanded then primed ready for papering.  That's a Tick.

I also finished watching a Prime movie I started last week:

"Argo" - about the rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Tehran, Iran, under the guise of filming a science-fiction film during the 1979–1981 Iran hostage crisis; they were being given shelter in the Canadian Embassy prior to escape.

An excellent film - highly recommended.  However after reading Wiki it seems that the plot has glorified the CIA and barely mentions the involvement of Canada, amongst others.  Basically it's been "Hollywoodised" and there are many inaccuracies.  Still entertaining though, but not historically accurate.

It seems the film p1ssed off Iran when it was released as well - no surprises there.

 

BG

 

edit:

Oh yes, this may be of interest for those that may use Amazon for expensive purchases - a scam to watch out for:

https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/scamwatch-an-amazon-delivery-driver-tricked-me-and-stole-my-new-phone-a0lED0s92Efz?utm_medium=email&utm_source=engagingnetworks&utm_campaign=supporters&utm_content=Scam+alert+170823+-+Tricked+by+the+driver+-+RedB

Edited August 19, 2023 by polybear

[pH]

47 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

My version was 'told' probably around 1982. TSR-2 was shut down in 1965.

 

The first chicken gun was built in 1942. Wikipedia also claims:

The UK's Royal Aircraft Establishment built a chicken gun in 1961

The Royal Canadian Air Farce also developed a chicken cannon:

 

https://youtu.be/NLJ5q3-XJtQ

 

[pH]

58 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

Folk leaving relatives ashes on the top of mountains are changing the soil by fertilising it and it is causing quite serious problems for the mountain plants, some thought needs to be applied.

In what way?

[southern42]

43 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Polly your blackberries look much nicer than those here. This summer is so dry. It's been hotter than "normal" but only a few days (earlier this week) were "stupid hot". Mostly it has been dry - we didn't get our normal rain in June.

 

The green in all your photographs looks like a different planet. Everything not irrigated here is parched and brown.

 

The first rowan tree I ever saw was on a trip to the South Island of New Zealand. (I'm not sure if I ever saw one anywhere else.) I don't believe there are any native to the Pacific Northwest.

 

My first knowledge of the rowan tree (and laburnum) was growing up west of London where they were planted along the streets. I was not aware back then how poisonous they both were, not that I ever tempted to ingest anything from them so maybe I got a warning from someone. I just grew up believing you just did not eat them as in not the done thing.

 

I picked some blackberries this evening - about half a pint's worth. I shall probably cook up something with them, tomorrow.

 

To be honest, I am surprised everything is doing well, as plants were dying due to lack of rainfall earlier in the year followed by a hot spell. We are getting it now though - typical school summer holiday weather!

 

Edited August 19, 2023 by southern42