Early Risers.

[Joseph_Pestell]

5 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Bear is correct.  There is the England Coast Path around the island now and there has long been a path, though not necessarily a Right of Way, around its perimeter.  I believe one could access the pub from that path.  I don't know about having your name on the gate as I never tried that but the bus was definitely checked by the sentry for anyone not in possession of the required permit.  It may well be (or have been) the case that - as with Thorney Island - one could legally walk around just outside the fence it but not through it.  

 

Why would anybody want to, given the amount of unexploded ordnance that there may be there?

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Nipped down to Tess Coe's for a few bits and bobs then a bit of eyelid inspection. Mention of Foulness reminded me of this:-

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170110-why-the-broomway-is-the-most-dangerous-path-in-britain

I did have a friend now sadly passed away who back in the 70's was first officer on the Hoveringham IV, a sand and gravel dredger. The practice was to sample the sea bed and if it was deemed suitable down went the suction pipe. This was off of Foulness and it didn't take long for the security to arrive and order him off.

[Tony_S]

12 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

there has long been a path,

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170110-why-the-broomway-is-the-most-dangerous-path-in-britain
 

Didnt really fancy attempting that one. 
Edit

I posted while Phil did too!

Edited November 21, 2020 by Tony_S

[Gwiwer]

7 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170110-why-the-broomway-is-the-most-dangerous-path-in-britain
 

Didnt really fancy attempting that one. 

The South West Coast Path passes through the Lulworth Ranges.  Plenty of ordnance there much of it having been propelled from the business end of tanks.  

 

In fairness the Range Walks are only open when the ranges are closed, are well marked and signposted ("Do Not Leave The Path" signs with a skull and crossbones plus exploding thing symbols) and the area is checked before the gates are opened.  One may normally walk through on weekends although a few each year are reserved for firing; one may also walk through daily during the summer holiday "no-firing" period approximating to the local school holidays.

 

A magnificent walk it is too from Kimmeridge to Lulworth or back and very taxing with some severe climbs.  You are rewarded with spectacular views on clear days however and the the knowledge that the names of Arish Mell, Bindon Hill and Worbarrow Down (which start by being Worbarrow Up) may be indelibly ingrained in your memory.  

[BokStein]

Evening,

 

Opticians optisced, provisions provised. Finances probed to see establish how I will pay for new spectacles. Provisions being consumed.

 

In other matters:

 

58 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

Purely on health grounds, the expiry date on some ingredients is coming up soon and using out of date ingredients would be a health hazard - wouldn't it?

 

At this point, I would usually quote an obituary to Common Sense. If it looks and smells OK and isn't moving, use it!

 

I've recently consumed a jar of marmalade with an expiry date in 2007. Heck, jams are a method of preserving food, as are cheeses, pickles and other processes such as tinning, salting and corning, for example. (Cheeses like Stilton are purchased mouldy and improve with age.)

 

Why does bottled water have a use by date?it's already been around for millennia!

 

IIRC, the 'use by'' date emanated from a certain supermarket (JS?) which wanted to ensure stock rotation.

 

The lack of application of Common Sense against the 'use by' or 'best before' police is the cause of so much wasted but edible and safe food being dumped.

 

Case in point, you buy a banana or a carrot as a loose item, where's the date stamp? You are forced to use your Common Sense!

 

In short, @The White Rabbit, use the dates as a guide but don't be ruled by them!

[Barry O]

All this talk of bombs... her indoors gas not been right today.. its a anniversary of the Birmingham pub bombings. She was a student at the Birmingham School of music at the time and has some very unpleasant memories of that night.

 

Baz

[Tony_S]

1 minute ago, Gwiwer said:

and the area is checked before the gates are opened.  

One day a child in my science class removed what looked remarkably like a mortar round from his bag and started waving it about. His big brother had found it while near Foulness. His “logic” had been it must be safe as it hadn’t exploded! The headteacher’s first response was tell the boy to take it home and not bring it to school again. Less senior staff suggested more sensible actions. It turned out that it was a test projectile(not explosive)  and someone came to collect it. 

[Barry O]

7 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

The South West Coast Path passes through the Lulworth Ranges.  Plenty of ordnance there much of it having been propelled from the business end of tanks.  

 

In fairness the Range Walks are only open when the ranges are closed, are well marked and signposted ("Do Not Leave The Path" signs with a skull and crossbones plus exploding thing symbols) and the area is checked before the gates are opened.  One may normally walk through on weekends although a few each year are reserved for firing; one may also walk through daily during the summer holiday "no-firing" period approximating to the local school holidays.

 

A magnificent walk it is too from Kimmeridge to Lulworth or back and very taxing with some severe climbs.  You are rewarded with spectacular views on clear days however and the the knowledge that the names of Arish Mell, Bindon Hill and Worbarrow Down (which start by being Worbarrow Up) may be indelibly ingrained in your memory.  

Even better if you get a tripround in a Challenger Tank. The local Sika deer are unconcerned by vehicles. Seeing the sun coming up while motoring down the ranges in a warm Autumn day is fantastic!

 

The land is well cared for (as is any MoD training land in Britain..the bits the farmers took over on Salisbury Plain are now a mess...

 

Baz

[Ian Abel]

Saturday and a very nice "brunch" prepared and partaken of.

French toast (no idea why it's called that, cue myriad responses and google searches!!) with maple syrup, bacon, grapefruit, all washed down with orange juice and coffee

 

Nothing much planned today, though having started our latest "puzzle" last night I'm sure there'll be some time devoted to that.

 

Later, a Zoom dinner/drinks with our friends who deserted us for Horidrizona

 

-6 and sunny getting the newspaper in, expecting +5 for the high, light snow forecast for tomorrow.

 

Tally ho...

[Tony_S]

17 minutes ago, Ian Abel said:

French toast (no idea why it's called that,

I have no idea either. My Mum used to give us French Toast which was toast that was only toasted on one side. I have no idea if that bears any resemblance to other versions of French toast. 

[The White Rabbit]

1 hour ago, BokStein said:

At this point, I would usually quote an obituary to Common Sense. If it looks and smells OK and isn't moving, use it!

 

I've recently consumed a jar of marmalade with an expiry date in 2007. Heck, jams are a method of preserving food, as are cheeses, pickles and other processes such as tinning, salting and corning, for example. (Cheeses like Stilton are purchased mouldy and improve with age.)

 

.... 

 

In short, @The White Rabbit, use the dates as a guide but don't be ruled by them!

 

OK, my bad, I forgot to add a  to the 'justification' of my decision-making process... 

 

But thanks for trying to distract ursine attention from my baking plans.

 

() 

[polybear]

Bear carried out more plasterboarding of the kitchen pipework today - fiddly bit finished, more to do.

Following a chip shop din dins Bear hit the Co-op (all fun around here...); among the goodies purchased were "Co-op Bakery Apple Puff Pastries" (four in a pack for a quid).  Why is this newsworthy?  Well I had one for tea and they turned out to be Mince Puff Pastries - this is actually a result since I only purchased the "Apple" ones because there weren't any Mince ones.....

Obviously a problem with the labelling during packaging - whether this could be a problem for someone with an allergy is anyone's guess; I've pinged off  an email to the Co-op to make them aware of the problem - they might just send me some vouchers for my "disappointment"....here's hoping

Other fun included setting up yet another "Alexa" gadget - this time an Echo Flex, which plugs straight into the mains socket with no need for an adapter.  It'll be fine for use in the kitchen, for questions/alarms/timers/BBC News etc. as well as controlling the Wall Cabinet Lighting via a Smart Socket.  The sound quality isn't as good as an Echo or Echo Dot, but I knew that would be the case when I ordered it; the main thing is that it'll do what I need and won't be cluttering up the worktop unnecessarily.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

French toast

I once asked my Francophone friend what it was called in France. He replied "pain perdu" ("lost bread") since the primary ingredient is day-old (essentially stale to the French) bread.

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Not much to report today. Not done much.

Watched football (Reds 2, Scabs 0)

Early(ish)  start tomorrow as we’re doing a supermarket run. I’ve no chocolate muesli breakfast cereal, smoked cheese and only one can of second favourite cider left. 

At the moment I’m not reading much. I’ve started ‘The order of the day’ by Eric Vuillard and according to the  Guardian ‘a gripping and mesmerising work of black comedy and political disaster ‘ I’m not impressed it’s only 118 pages and I just can’t get it finished. Next in the queue is a book by Henry Blofeld , ‘Squeezing the Orange’ I think.

ive also got a couple on Alan Touring and cracking the Enigma codes but I don’t think they’re bedtime reading.

I read more when I’m on holiday so not done much this year and I due spend too much on here!

Anyway, Goodnight,

Robert  

[Coombe Barton]

... and The Great Bosworth Bake ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/11/21/bullying/

[Gwiwer]

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

French Toast which was toast that was only toasted on one side. I have no idea if that bears any resemblance to other versions of French toast. 

The version offered here is also known as "eggy bread".  Quite why it is also "French Toast" is outside my knowledge.  It requires a couple of eggs to be lightly beaten into a flat dish or on a plate and the bread then placed one side then the other down into the egg until soaked in.  The "toast" is then carefully transferred to a hot pan wherein it, and the egg, is cooked.  We used a heavy cast pan with olive oil until SWMBO was advised to eliminate all fats and oils from her diet since when we have used a good quality non-stick pan with almost the same result.  

 

My preference is to have this served with crispy bacon and maple syrup neither of which is within SWMBO's permitted diet (though she will have a rasher of back bacon at times) but it also works quite well with banana sliced into the same pan and cooked lightly.  

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Interesting program on Channel 4 this evening. Britains most Historic Towns, the subject was Portsmouth. They showed the course of the line built to take Queen Victoria to the quay were she boarded a boat to take her to Osborne House. The track was lifted many years ago but a lot of the trackbed is still extant only grassed over. Next week they're doing Plymouth hopefully we'll see some more 'forgotten' lines. 

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

I forgot to mention in last nights post, that on my journey to and from the Trafford Centre I pass our small local independent DIY shop. There is limited parking outside the shop and usually there are no spaces. As I passed there on my way home, there was an empty space, so I pulled in and called for a few consumables and other bits and pieces. I asked if they had any offcuts of plywood sized anywhere between 20” and 22” square. A few minutes later he returned with a piece of 12mm ply 21” x 20”, that was near enough for me, so that was purchased along with some rust remover, White spirit a new spade handle, all for less than £18 result. This morning I cut the plywood into a 21” square and marked a drilled a 6mm hole in the centre. This will be used for the turntable base instead of the MDF I’d marked up last weekend, as I was concerned about it staying flat and true when ballasting the track etc. 

 

You may be wondering why a spade handle, whilst moving stuff about in the cellar I came across a spade that had lost its handle. I drilled out and removed the stump of the handle the other day, the new handle will be trimmed and fitted some time during next week. This will give me a second spade, a little smaller than the one I currently have, for less than £7, another result!

 

Anyway, back to today, more progress has been made on the turntable control panel. All the wiring is in place, the start and stop push buttons and their associated LEDs are wired up. Work has started on directional push buttons and and LEDs, there’s just a few more to do, I should get this bit finished tomorrow.

 

Tonight’s tea was tandoori chicken, I made the marinade last night, added the chicken and then left it in the fridge overnight. We ate about half tonight, the rest is now in the freezer for future consumption.

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

"eggy bread"

Aditi had a scar on her forearm from an “eggy bread” incident. It has disappeared now but was visible for a very long time. This happened about 40  years ago while we were visiting her parents in Nottingham. Her younger brother had been set a a task by his scout group  of producing what sounds like eggy bread but was called something else then. I suppose now it would be Travellers Toast. He was so pleased with its appearance he turned round and the pan collided with Aditi’s arm. She of course forgave him instantly!

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Adam88]

43 minutes ago, BSW01 said:

... returned with a piece of 12mm ply 21” x 20”, that was near enough for me, so that was purchased along with some rust remover, White spirit a new spade handle, all for less than £18 result. This morning I cut the plywood into a 21” square ...

 

Absolutely incredible!