eastglosmog

Think this is a great idea for a thread. I've got one of those types of hand drill (made by Stanley) which I still use occasionally, though it isn't quite that ancient (I bought it new in the late 70s). As my contribution, here is a picture of a pair of dividers I inherited from my paternal grandfather:

There'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover - W Kent and N Burton sung rather famously by a certain Vera Lynn

Song for the asking - SImon and Garfunkel

Eddie - It is quite true there were no serious health consequences of the MMR vaccine. However, owing to some dodgy statistics and public hype, there was perceived to be, with the consequence that many parents failed to vaccinate their children. They did not want their child to run the imagined risk of autism with the consequence that herd immunity to measles was dangerously reduced and their children were put at risk of the far more serious consequences of contracting measles as adults. I am surprised this insalubrious episode has been forgotten - it was not all that many years ago.

The Girl from Ipanema - Jobin, Moraes and Gimbel

I can't get no satisfaction - another one by The Rolling Stones

Pityme (one word) may be in Cornwall, but Pity Me (two words) is in Durham. It is important to know the difference, as otherwise you might end up 320 miles from where you want to be! Probably related to the Starveall farms to be found round these parts.

Those were the days - Gene Raskin (and sung by Mary Hopkins)

Which reminds me that Dancers Hill (as found in quite a few places) refers to the gallows.

Which is why we have a lack of take up of the MMM jab and a lot of adults now at risk of catching measles. Sometimes the greater good of the herd is more important than individuals.

Anything you can do, I can do better - Irving Berlin

With my pedantic hat on, the "Hammer" in Abinger Hammer refers to an iron forge, rather bigger than your average blacksmith's shop! The hammer being driven by a water wheel fed from a nearby hammer pond. Part of the 16th century Wealden Iron trade. Pedantic hat taken off. Of no relevance to the forgoing is that apparently Abinger Hammer was formally known as Shere Hammer

I have just heard that the St Patrick's Day parade has been cancelled - things must be serious!

If you want an excuse to panic buy soap, the following has just been sent round our office: "The following was sent out by a friend at Plymouth, who has a biological focused PhD and explains in simple terms why the Health authorities are banging on about using ordinary SOAP to reduce the risk of catching Covid-19. So there’s lots of people from the Health Service telling everyone that washing your hands is the best way to defeat Covid-19, but lots of people (most?) seem to think that this is a bit silly. Like how can washing your hands be SO important, and how can it defeat a virus that’s causing so much havoc worldwide?? Well here’s the science bit, because I’m a nerd who likes to know “why” something happens. The outer wall of a virus is made of lipids, they’re kind of like oils or fats, that’s a simple way of putting it. It’s called a lipid layer. Behind the lipid layer is the virus, it’s made up of proteins and RNA, which is kind of like DNA and it’s what lets the virus replicate. That’s really it, it’s that simple (unless you have a PhD and there’s a few on here with them, but this is for the rest of us who are a bit thick!). So, what about the washing of hands with soap? Here’s the part that nobody is being told, but it’s important (it’s especially important if your a nerd. Soap is made up of loads and loads of lipids, it what makes soap feel so soft and smooth.... When you wash your hands really well you get all these lipids on your hands. So if you have Covid-19 on your hands the lipids in the virus wall start to break down, because the lipids in the virus lipid layer are soluble in the lipids in your soap on your hands. So when you break down the lipid layer you end up destroying the proteins and the RNA. It’s kind of like years ago when your Dad used to clean a paintbrush with turpentine, it’s because the paint was soluble in turpentine.....it’s really that simple. Also, people are searching high and low for antibacterial soap....don’t bother. This is a virus, not a bacteria. Also, antibacterial soap is really just expensive soap. I’ve attached a pic of a virus, it’s a flu one but it doesn’t really matter. Break down the lipid layer with lipids in soap and you’ll kill the virus. You’re welcome. Feel free to share."

The thing that matters is the soil and the seeds within it. One of our quarry clients has successfully transplanted an ancient woodland soil onto a tip (although it was an awful lot of bother) and English Heritage are quite happy with it. Unrelated to the transplantation, but some years ago, there was a fire in the ancient woodland and our clients offered to replant the burned area, only to be told it was ecologically far better to leave the woodland to regenerate on its own (which it eventually did). There are no ancient trees in that bit of ancient woodland!

But in extremis, you can always use the book as a fire under your saucepan (well. it must have some use)..........

It makes a fellow proud to be a soldier - Tom Lehrer

And mine!

A vindication of a departed maidenhood - trad

You mean people also need to be taught that? Don't parents teach their children anything these days?

Yes, in the days before NHS dentistry and many old people being toothless, making sucking the contents of an egg the easiest thing for them to eat.

Yet its what my mother (still going strong at 99) taught me (with other basic cookery) before I ventured out into the big bad world.

Didn't Delia Smith (or one of those cookery writers) include how to boil an egg in one of her books?

The Baldwin and Alco pannier tank locos for the WD in WW1 (narrow gauge,of course).

There is another down near Swindon. Supposed to refer to the appearance of the mixture of soil and stone resembling a cats brain (if such a thing exists....).