spikey

Ahah! The dreaded Ass Blaster. Can there be a Westerner alive who wasn't caught out by the water pressure when they used one for the first time? Edited to add as a Public Service ... https://southeastasiabackpacker.com/bum-gun-beginners-guide/

Permit me to take this opportunity of saying how much I appreciate your contributions to this thread. Thank you.

How fortunate you are to have one

If we were in the US of A, no doubt Mrs Spikey and I would be referred to as "preppers" on account of our habit of always maintaining enough supplies at home to last an absolute minimum of 28 days without having to do any shopping, so we've needed to do get in little in the way of extras. The kitchen cupboards being as usual full to bursting, what extra dry goods we have topped up with is currently stored in a carton on the floor in the corner of the ktichen. The carton's the one my see-me-through-the-winter order of modelling stuff came in in November. It's been in the kitchen with the stuff in it for over a week now. And this morning I finally noticed the branding ...

I look forward to the day when A&E departments do that. Something's got to be done before much longer to stop people misusing emergency services.

Oh doesn't it just. One of the highlights of my time as a wedding photographer occurred at a wedding at a church the vicar of which was one of the most pompous, egotistical and generally objectionable clerics I ever tangled with (and that's saying something). The very last guests to arrive were a middle=aged couple who had brought Dad with them, despite Dad being obviously well past his best before and seemingly oblivious to the world around him. Just before they manoeuvered him through the church door, Dad had An Accident. Bigtime. And Dad was not wearing his bike clips ... The couple did a swift about turn with Dad and got him through the gate at the far end of the path just as the bridal car turned up. I was there ready for the Bride Arriving snaps, so was able to warn her and her Dad to watch their step before I legged it back up the path, only to meet the vicar on his way out to greet the bride. Alas, in my haste, I somehow completely forgot to warn the vicar of the new decoration to his church path, with the result that he walked straight through it, with the hem of his cassock trailing therein. And to my delight, despite what the bride's father described as a "norrible pong" during the ceremony, Mr Wonderful remained totally oblivious to it until we got to signing the register, at which point the churchwarden brought him up to speed so he could do a swift wardrobe revision ...

Either, apparently, but always referred to as "blown". I have no idea why. All I know is that the old boy who once demonstrated the art to a group of us kids made it look so easy, which I very much doubt it actually is. It's really starting to get to me now that I can't remember what he used to make the holes without cracking the shell ...

Oi! Are you still allowed to ask questions like that? Yes. Collectors of birds' eggs did. That's why the eggs in old collections often have a visible hole at each end: one for outgoing contents and one for incoming air.

Martin, thank you very much indeed for that

Sorry, but I have to ask ... Could somebody please enlighten me as to why having the feedwater too warm is a Bad Thing?

Cheer up chaps. At least we don't have Trump running the show here ...

Ahah! Thanks, JImC. So I guess the boiler is clad pretty much as usual, the panniers butt up against that with the weight taken on those supports, and the straps over the top just hold the whole shebang together. Right ho - all we need to know now is what exactly takes the weight of a saddle tank full of water, and is there cladding all the way round the boiler under it?

I doubt it. Is that even possible nowadays?

Ah yes ... firebox shape hadn't dawned on me (and I now fear the supplementary question from the good lady "So what determined firebox type?"). Your mention of "ease of fitting" has got me wondering - what exactly do pannier tanks typically attach to? Do they sit over the boiler cladding, or does that stop above and start again below? And come to that, what actually takes the weight of a saddle tank and its contents? Oh gawd, what have I started now ...

Mrs Spikey has once again posed a question I can't answer, so I turn to the collective wisdom here ... If in the early 20th Century I had been designing an 0-6-0 tank locomotive, what considerations would have determined whether I went with pannier tanks or a saddle tank?

OK gents, much to think about, so once I've done some more research I'll pass the decision-making to the main target user i.e. Mrs Spikey, who will no doubt start by deciding what the budget is, and what sanctions are to be applied to me when I exceed it ...

I have indeed done that, so no worries there. Once I've had another coffee and done the sparrowfart supermarket shop, I'll no doubt be back with further questions, but in the meantime - thank you, gentlemen.

At present, if we wish to listen to our MP3 collection, we use the iPod in a Bose base station/speaker thingy, and until recently that sufficed. However, the iPod's HD is clearly on the verge of packing up, and I'm wondering what the alternatives might be to just getting it fitted with an SSD. What are the choices nowadays for playing MP3 files over speakers rather than earphones? All we need is something self-contained, mains powered, and with a shuffle play facility.

Monica Lewinskey goes into a dry-cleaners run by an old boy who's deaf and puts a dress on the counter. "Hi, me again" says she. "Can you get another stain off the front of this dress please?" Not having heard her clearly, the old boy behind the counter says "Come again?". "No, it's icecream this time" says Monica ...

Meanwhile, back on the subject of coronavirus, this for what it's worth ...

Gosh. I didn't even know you could buy frozen rice. Anyhow, when I did my usual sparrowfart sweep of Morrison's today I noticed the shelves were brimming with bogrolls, kitchen towels, paracetamols and hand "sanitiser", albeit with a limit of two per punter on the latter. Two hours later, however, a neighbour prevailed upon me to get her a few bits and bobs from Waitrose if I was passing it, which is what I normally do on account of all the bullsh1t with which they bombard the chattering classes offends my sensibility (who comes up with nonsense like "You can taste when eggs come from happy hens" on a big window poster, and why are they not stoned to death for their pains?). Sorry, where was I ... oh yes ... not a bogroll to be had in Waitrose, nor even a pack of kitchen towel! Don't know about hand "sanitiser" as in my haste to get out of the place I didn't look ...

Neither do I. I have never forgotten that prior to our course's first escape and evasion exercise 50+ years ago, we were assured by an RAF Regiment instructor that the meagre quantity of bogpaper included in our individual ration packs was sufficient to last us the four days: "All you need is three sheets - one to wipe front to back, one to wipe back to front and one to polish."

But, bizarrely, jars of it still have a BBE on them!

Well, we are about climate change, food waste, electricity production and so forth, so it's probably a "yes" to that

I have no idea, but I definitely remember instances of it. It was certainly still around within living memory.