Early Risers.

[Coombe Barton]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

Many modern domestic ovens have the "grill" function within the main oven

Had one of those once. Swore never again. Current (standalone, single width) cooker has a double oven, the top one isl also a grill.

[pH]

This is technically the Pacific Ocean, this afternoon:

 

 

It’s at the very end of Burrard Inlet - Vancouver is at the seaward end. There are many creeks flow into the inlet, so the water is much less salty here. It is tidal, and the ice was cracking as the tide fell and it was less supported.

Edited May 2, 2022 by pH

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, inner Temple Hare,

 

Woke with chest pains,. Thinking oh XXXX!!!!, Was just thinking of waking SWMBO, Then I let out a burp... Only the second time I've had chest pains caused by trapped wind...

 

Not surprisingly I'm wide awake now after 6 hours solid sleep.

 

Just watched a piece on UK TV about  the unusual amount of snow received in the western states and Japan. According to our weather forecast we're about to get unusually high temperatures for the time of year. I have a feeling we'll pay for that in a few weeks..

Today's forecast rain and 40mph winds. Ben's long walk will not be pleasant.

 

SWMBO's out at her weaving group today, so I had hoped  I'd be out trying the new paint removal sanding materials, outside on the boat, with Ben supervising.. But I may be confined to the workshop, so I'd better clear the Floor of metal bits and sawdust before Ben goes in there with me...

 

The workshop needs a good sort out , with the parts for the boat trailer now removed there's empty packaging to bin and odd unused bits to find a home for. 

 

To get toasties, I use toastie bags in a pop-up toaster.. not quite as good as a proper grill. We did have a toastie maker where you clamp the toastie in between two hot plates, but that fell apart.. not that it matters now, since I stopped eating bread nearly a year ago...

 

I think it's time to try for more sleep.. 

 

Time to put this gadget down.

[chrisf]

Many thanks for all the seasonal felicitations!  I enjoyed my short stay - three days - in Somerset, at Halsway Manor near Crowcombe.  There were 50 or so in the group, including a gorgeous black labrador puppy being trained as a hearing dog.  The food was very good and the bedrooms comfortable.  Those who wanted to dance had plenty of opportunity.  Sadly my limbs and joints would not do as they were told when I had a go at morris dancing.  Carols and other songs were sung so my lungs got some exercise.  On Boxing Day morning some of us travelled to Dunster to watch West Somerset Morris dance and perform a mumming play.  The weather was indifferent, not that it was of much concern except when the morris side was dancing.  Perhaps the best news was that if there was a TV on site it was well hidden, so I did not need to pack the Radio Times after all.

 

In other news, my cousin 88C reminds me that today is our uncle's 100th birthday.  He will be the first centenarian in the family.  I hope to be able to speak to him on the phone later today.

 

ATB, Chris

[iL Dottore]

Morning All,

 

Interesting posts about salamanders and ovens. Having had the pleasure of working in a professional kitchen that had separate oven and a salamander, that’s certainly the combination I aspire to (a club I belong to does its own catering and the premises we rent has a proper professional kitchen).

When we refurbished the kitchen at home (about a decade ago) we were persuaded to get an “all singing, all dancing” multi-function oven. Problem is, it doesn’t do anything particularly well: it has hot and cold spots, its “clever” multi-layer door has to be dismantled to clean it (and re-assembly is something that would be best done with the door removed) about the only thing it does adequately is the grill function and even then it’s waist high (i.e. inconveniently placed) and turns off anytime you open the door to check how the food is doing. To add insult to injury, a little research showed me that I can get a professional-kitchen salamander grill and separate pro oven for less than what I paid for this “domestic wonder”. Something to explore fully before the planned refurbishment of the kitchen in 2022.

 

Finally caught up with my Christmas Viewing. Rather poor this year, I thought. As always, the repeats of Paddington and Paddington 2 were a delight (I wonder if Paddington 3 is in the planning?), Death in Paradise was also enjoyable as usual but the Tennant version of Around The World in 80 Days was incredibly disappointing (actually, it was bloody awful). Can’t modern TV producers actually retell a classic story without having to “re-imagine” or “make relevant” the tale by chucking in things that never happened in the original? And let’s face it, Jules Verne, Jane Austen and the like will continue to be remembered for their work long after these semi-talented TV hacks have long been forgotten. Whatever next? Sending in Spitfires to provide air cover to Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo?  I think it says much about the parlous state of current TV when by far the best programmes over the Christmas period were two children’s films, an escapist Caribbean “who-dunnit” and a decades-old comedy-thriller-who-dunnit series (Jonathan Creek).

 

May have to “work” work today  if the clients have gotten their act together….

Edited December 28, 2021 by iL Dottore

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Things went smoothly for most of yesterday. Tested before the off. Bus into Leeds City Station (all passengers masked), chaos observed at the station due to "ongoing Engineering  works" and "staff shortages"  but my train departed on time.

 

Met up with some old friends at Leeds and Keighley, then a trip up yo Oxenhope. Took me back a bit .. a trip in a "steam heated" buffet Car. A pint of KWVR Pale Ale and a minve pie was consumed on the train.

 

A quick ramble up heart attack Hill at Haworth followed by a nice warm bed sandwich for lunch at the Fleece before our trip back to Keighley. We then had just under an hour to wait for our train back to Leeds. So..we went to Shipley to check out the "Shipley Triangle" and a lightly heated waiting room.. lots of ventilation and everyone masked up.

 

Train into Leeds was very busy, but everyone in view kept their masks on. A taxi transfer meant I arrived at the Cardigan Arms just before @roundhouse and his good lady arrived. There followeda bit of "world being put to rights" mingled with some excellent Kirkstall Brewery beets in proper, old fashioned pub.

 

Herself collected me and so ended a nice day.

 

Today involves some recovery time as her indoors is off to take Dr Eldest Herbert back to Didsbury.

 

Have as good a time as you can.

 

Stay safe!

Baz

[jamie92208]

6 hours ago, pH said:

This is technically the Pacific Ocean, this afternoon:

 

 

It’s at the very end of Burrard Inlet - Vancouver is at the seaward end. There are many creeks flow into the inlet, so the water is much less salty here. It is tidal, and the ice was cracking as the tide fell and it was less supported.

Would that be up near where The Old Canary restaurant  used to be.  A fabulous place to eat.

 

 

Anyway we are still over 100 miles from Ikea despite a hoolie ofca gale with rain last night.  It's still a bit windy but not raining.  A good meal was had with two friends last night, this included homegrown  sprouts, homemade  horseradish sauce and homegrown  apples in a apple crumble.  

 

The shopping awaits and then I might have the afternoon  to myself before we are off to some friends for a meal.  It's a hard life.

 

I used to hate schol milk in the 1/3rd pint bottles, leftin the playground so either full of ice un winter or gone off in the summer.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Very wet and windy here and it is forecast to stay that way for a while.

Decided that I didn't want to walk in the rain yesterday so had a lazy day and although we ate and drank the quantities were reduced quite a lot.  Watched some recorded rugby but rather annoyingly missed the fact that Quins were playing yesterday so will have to make do with the highlights programme later today.

Steve is popping in later so will probably have a beer here with him at lunchtime.  The Boss has suggested it's about time I visited the building at the end of the garden and "do something."  She may have a point.

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited December 28, 2021 by grandadbob

[grandadbob]

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

 

 Bus into Leeds City Station (all passengers masked), chaos observed at the station due to "ongoing Engineering  works" and "staff shortages"  but my train departed on time.

 

 

Granddaughter Abbie went to Leeds yesterday, train from Kings Cross was on time but her planned train to Huddersfield was cancelled due to staff shortages but she managed to get another one.

Edited December 28, 2021 by grandadbob

[Barry O]

2 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

 

Granddaughter Abbie went to Leeds yesterday, train from Kings Cross was on time but her planned train to Huddersfield was cancelled due to staff shortages but she managed to get another one.

And bits of leeds Station are being remodelled so no trains to Bradford.. trains to elsewhere either delayed or cancelled. . 

 

Frabjoy!

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Bright and sunny Spoke to soon, still some sun but looking a bit watery this morning but quite warm for this time of year. As Q said we may well pay for it in a few weeks time but by then we may well have another lockdown. Feeling quite good this morning, none of the feeling rough of the last few days. Glad to hear  that @chrisf enjoyed his break, and happy birthday to his centenarian uncle. I'm not sure as to whether I would want to reach that sort of age. At one time I did hope that I might make it but the debilities of old age are catching up on me. Fortunately the real nasties such as cancer and dementia I have so far evaded and I hope to continue doing so.

[tigerburnie]

9 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

What's it like? If you say it's OK I'll give it a shot.

I remember Billy Connelly advertising "Calibre" alcohol free lager, I thought if it's good enough for him I'll try it, to use a local phrase he would recognise it was shite....mince. bloody awful, I shall have a word with him if he ever comes over here again lol.

[tigerburnie]

50 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

Good morning all,

Very wet and windy here and it is forecast to stay that way for a while.

Decided that I didn't want to walk in the rain yesterday so had a lazy day and although we ate and drank the quantities were reduced quite a lot.  Watched some recorded rugby but rather annoyingly missed the fact that Quins were playing yesterday so will have to make do with the highlights programme later today.

Steve is popping in later so will probably have a beer here with him at lunchtime.  The Boss has suggested it's about time I visited the building at the end of the garden and "do something."  She may have a point.

Have a good one,

Bob.

If you look on the Premier rugby site you can watch the whole match on your computer, where I get to watch the games  for free.

[AndrewC]

Moaning all from the boring borough. 

Bloody windy and wet here. meh. 

 

Christmas and all the rest over and done with for another year. I think for me the best part of the whole thing is spending the day in the kitchen preparing the meals. Not sure what we'll do next year as we still have enough leftovers to feed a small invasion force. 

 

Its almost that time again where I pull the plug on as much online / social media as possible. So if you actually notice I'm not around in the coming weeks, it's because I'm hibernating. 

 

On that note, Have a Happy (early) New Year. 

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

It’s still raining and has been for most of the night, so no outside tasks will be undertaken today. Not much else happening here.

 

Glad to read that Chrisf had a good break. 

 

Back later. 

 

Brian

[pH]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Would that be up near where The Old Canary restaurant  used to be.  A fabulous place to eat.

The late and very much lamented Cannery restaurant was on the south shore of Vancouver harbour, between First and Second Narrows - 2205 Commissioner Street from old review sites. That picture was taken about 20km further east, right at the very end of Burrard Inlet. Search “Port Moody Recreation Complex” on Google Maps - we were on the Shoreline Trail on the shore there.

 

 

 

[TheSignalEngineer]

9 hours ago, chrisf said:

On Boxing Day morning some of us travelled to Dunster to watch West Somerset Morris dance and perform a mumming play.  The weather was indifferent, not that it was of much concern except when the morris side was dancing.

I saw an article yesterday about a Morris team painting their faces green rather than black to avoid upsetting a few people.

I wish people would realise that history is there and should be learned from, not edited to appease the sensitivities of the reader.

Blackface Morris predated the music hall minstrel acts by about 400 years and has a context related to our culture so should be recognised for what it is.

(Rant mode off - coffee time)

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2021 by TheSignalEngineer
This post has been edited because it seemed to offend a couple of people.

[Pacific231G]

1 hour ago, tigerburnie said:

  12 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

I had a bottle of alcohol free San Miguel with xmas dinner 

What's it like? If you say it's OK I'll give it a shot.

I remember Billy Connelly advertising "Calibre" alcohol free lager, I thought if it's good enough for him I'll try it, to use a local phrase he would recognise it was shite....mince. bloody awful, I shall have a word with him if he ever comes over here again lol.

I used to drink Calibre in the 1980s usually while unwinding in the club after directing South Today before driving home. It was indeed awful and tasted like it was made- as it may well have been- with a chemistry set rather than in a brewery.

I started drinking modern alcohol free beers a couple of years ago to help lose weight (it worked!) and they are generally pretty good. My current favourite is Peroni and it does taste like Peroni but I also drink quite a lot of St. Miguel and Becks Bleu which also taste like their alcoholic equivalents. When I want an ale - usually with Fish and Chips on a Friday-  I usually go for St. Peter Without. 

This reminds me that I need to put a couple of bottles of Peroni in the fridge.

Unfortunately, given how much I like red wine, the alcohol free versions of that just don't taste like wine . I suspect that it's a lot harder to hide the loss of 12% of alcohol in wine than the 4% in beer but low rather than no alcohol beers such as those from The Small Beer Company also work pretty well (When you read that Victorians were drinking gallons of beer every day and so avoiding cholera it was usually small beer rather than modern high alcohol beers they were consuming) . 

 

When it comes to wine I wouldn't recommend following this health advice from the 1920s .

Quart means a quarter litre not two pints but even so it seems that lobbying by the food and drink industry is nothing new. 

 

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, grandadbob said:

 

Granddaughter Abbie went to Leeds yesterday, train from Kings Cross was on time but her planned train to Huddersfield was cancelled due to staff shortages but she managed to get another one.

What on earth would possess anyone to want to go to Uddersfield at this time of year. I lived there for a year and worked there for a while.

31 minutes ago, pH said:

The late and very much lamented Cannery restaurant was on the south shore of Vancouver harbour, between First and Second Narrows - 2205 Commissioner Street from old review sites. That picture was taken about 20km further east, right at the very end of Burrard Inlet. Search “Port Moody Recreation Complex” on Google Maps - we were on the Shoreline Trail on the shore there.

 

 

 

I never realised that it went so far inland.

 

Jamie

[grandadbob]

Yippee, Whoopeee and Hoobloodyray!!!!

I may possibly have moaned frequently on these pages  about the bloke about 4 doors up t'other side of the road who has been building a large loft extension to go with the large rear extension and oversize garden building he already has.  The place has been a building site for about 3 years with continual noise and mess and rubbish blowing all the place.  Deliveries, hammering, power tools, shouting  etc sometimes during unsocial hours so that one or two people have had to give him words of advice.  I refrained because I'm possibly not as tactful as others and might have caused an International incident.  However I was thinking of going over this morning to have a word in his shell-like about the polythene (not) covering all of his scaffolding which with the wind again last night makes more noise than a man o'war going about!

All of a sudden I spied a dirty great scaffolding lorry and praise be, it's all coming down..  Lots of noise and shouting, there's about 6 of them conversing at volume in some foreign tongue but I don't care.

There may be Peace in our Time....for a while anyway until someone else starts pulling their house apart. 

[pH]

14 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

I never realised that it went so far inland.

That’s why Port Moody was selected as the original western terminus of the CPR. With the course of the line having been surveyed along the north side of the Fraser River, coming from the east,  the east end of Burrard Inlet was the nearest salt water. Supplies for the building of the line east from the west coast came by ship through Port Moody.

 

The Fraser River itself wasn’t a dependable route for ocean-going ships, being fresh water. It could freeze in winter and, even if it didn’t actually freeze in the lower reaches, there could be (and still sometimes is) ice carried down from further upstream.

Edited December 28, 2021 by pH

[grandadbob]

22 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

What on earth would possess anyone to want to go to Uddersfield at this time of year. I lived there for a year and worked there for a while.

 

 

About three  years ago Abbie went on holiday by herself to Greece and whilst there struck up a friendship with a young lass her age from Huddersfield.  They spent the holiday together and have remained firm friends ever since and visit each other whenever possible and Covid restrictions have allowed. 

Edited December 28, 2021 by grandadbob

[dave750t]

1 hour ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

 

I wish these people would realise that history is there and should be learned from, not edited to appease the sensitivities of the reader.

 

I wish some people would consider that "these people" might be sick to the back teeth of being presented with learning opportunities by, among others, p*ssed up middle aged men in fancy dress - "we love this village. Came for the scenery, stayed for the casual racism". There's plenty of opportunity to delve deeper into the history if you so desire without getting a demonstration outside the pub on a blank holiday afternoon. I have a good idea of what bear baiting looks like without seeing a live performance.

[PhilJ W]

11 hours ago, pH said:

This is technically the Pacific Ocean, this afternoon:

 

 

It’s at the very end of Burrard Inlet - Vancouver is at the seaward end. There are many creeks flow into the inlet, so the water is much less salty here. It is tidal, and the ice was cracking as the tide fell and it was less supported.

52 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

I never realised that it went so far inland.

 

Jamie

I collect old maps and marine charts. In my collection I have a chart of the area down as far as Puget Sound. I'll have to dig it out.