Early Risers.

[jjb1970]

25 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Not really much different to chocolate coated salty pretzels - which are also an add-in to ice cream.

 

My kids love those things, I like savory pretzels and pretzel bread but I don't like the chocolate coated variety 

[polybear]

4 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

One of the major supermarkets here used to claim one of their bread lines was "baked fresh in-store daily "  Which actually turned out to mean "bread that was made in Ireland, Germany and Denmark months earlier then frozen before being flown right across to  the other side of the world to be reheated in-store daily.. "

 

Their solicitor tied himself in knots trying to explain why that wasn't deceptive in any way:

 

https://www.smh.com.au/national/coles-found-guilty-of-passing-off-bread-made-overseas-as-freshly-baked-20140618-zsddz.html

 

 

 

The term "Smoked Scottish Salmon" means something completely different from "Scottish Smoked Salmon"; only the first one is The Real Deal.

 

4 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

The DPRK is one of the countries I'd really love to visit, primarily out of curiosity as it's one of the few countries in the world about which little is known and which seems to be different. The conventional wisdom is it is some sort of cartoon looney cesspit where people are killed in ever more imaginative ways by their rulers but most people probably lead their everyday lives and go about their business quite happily despite their political system. I see representatives of the DPRK at IMO and they're just normal people (though I'm sure they're heavily vetted and politically 'reliable' to be posted to London), I'd like to go there just to satisfy my own interest. I love the Republic of Korea, it's a beautiful country.

 

IIRC that in order to be able to live in Pongwotsit you have to be "one of the chosen ones"; sadly such tours are so heavily managed it's impossible to get a real feel about what the place is really like.  I'd rather like to visit the place but it's not worth the risk for me (I'm guessing it's not cheap to do either).  The closest I have been to DPRK is peering thru' the glass on one of the "Secret Tunnel Tours" from RoK; rumour has it that a young lad working in a place we used to visit** escaped from DPRK.

I agree with your last comment - RoK is indeed a lovely place to visit (I did dodge trying "Pickled Silkworm Pupae" or "Deep Fried Chrysalis" though.....).

 

(** I deleted the location - you never know who's reading......)

 

30 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

Anyone for chocolate coated potato crisps?

 

 

Oh yes....

Hmmm.....choccy covered LDC.......

Choccy Pizza?  🤣

[polybear]

10 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

And for those going to Bracknell tomorrow the road past the leisure centre is closed from 08:30 to 14:00 for the Bracknell Half Marathon.

 

Bear did ponder - but I'd already decided not to when I saw this.  So does that mean the car park is inaccessible?  

 

Bear here.....

I see the UK were only beaten by Germany at the sing-song last night.  To last place, that is.....

 

Today sees Bear doing yet more architrave work - though I'll not fire up the mitre saw before 10am cos' apparently it's Sunday and people might want to stay zeddin' a while longer than usual.

 

BG

[iL Dottore]

5 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

 

I visited the National Maritime Museum for the first time in many years last December and found it rather disappointing…

I lived in London until I was 12 years of age, which meant that I got to see all of the great London museums in their heyday. I think that I can safely say that, with very few exceptions, most of the museums are a shadow of their former self – in terms of presenting and explaining their huge connections.

 

The National Maritime Museum is a particularly sad case; when I was a lad, every single part of the museum was dedicated to displaying their artefacts, paintings and ship models (and they had a lot of ship models). Labelling was informative and didn’t talk down to you and the museum shop was simply a small add-on to the museum. When I returned to visit it after quite a few decades, I found that half of the museum was now dedicated to “administration”, the museum shop had spread like a cancer and was offering mostly tat, most of the ship models were now in storage (according to one of the museum volunteers, I spoke to), and the labelling had become infantile and puerile. And to rub salt into the wound, much of what was being displayed the museum was desperately trying to make “relevant” - i.e. appeal to a demographic that has no interest in visiting museums or learning about history.

 

I understand the need to have a profitable museum shop (it does help museum funding), but why oh why are so many of the offerings so dire? An awful lot of the “pocket money” offerings seem to have been blocked off the shelves of any toy store, rather than being a tie in with the Museum. It would also be nice to get high-quality exact replicas of some of the most famous pieces in the museums collection. Though these would undoubtably be expensive, I think that there would be enough visitors willing to pay for such items. I know that the British Museum, the Museum of Scotland and the V&A do offer a small range of high quality replicas, but it would be nice for the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the Maritime Museum to do the same

[polybear]

6 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

When I returned to visit it after quite a few decades, I found that half of the museum was now dedicated to “administration”, the museum shop had spread like a cancer and was offering mostly tat, most of the ship models were now in storage

 

I wonder if some Ship Models (and other exhibits, for that matter) have been taken off display because they were involved in the Slave Trade (or indeed some other historical event which we'd now rather not be reminded of)?

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Grey sky but it's dry and some sunny spells are possible later.  10°C now rising to 20°C.

Another slow start to the day.  Not many plans yet although I expect my usual Sunday breakfast will be prepared within the hour.

I might visit The Shed again and I will be watching rugby this afternoon.  Yesterday's match ended rather predictably with a home win for Saracens,  today's might be a closer run thing and although the home side (Sale)  are favourites I suspect TB's  (@tigerburnie)  Tigers will have a lot to say about that.

The Boss has just confirmed that breakfast will indeed be available around 09.30 so I need to gettamoveon and have a shower.

Have a good day chaps (and chapesses of course)

Bob.

[iL Dottore]

29 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

I wonder if some Ship Models (and other exhibits, for that matter) have been taken off display because they were involved in the Slave Trade (or indeed some other historical event which we'd now rather not be reminded of)?

My first visit back to the museum predates this current fad for “decolonisation” and most of the ship models had already gone into storage.

 

I find this whole “decolonisation” business absurd: rewriting the history books or hiding away “reminders” of the past doesn’t change the past and every country in the world has a whole closet full of skeletons (several, in most cases). I also think that it’s counterproductive - all that time, energy and money spent tinkering around the edges of an unchangeable yesterday instead of dealing with changeable now.

 

But I suppose addressing modern slavery and the like is more dangerous and certainly less profitable than “decolonising” The Last Night of the Proms or some such.

[Erichill16]

Morning All,

Tigger’s bounce been missing for while.

Dont know what today holds but paperwork is mounting up and the garden is looking a mess.

Swmbo’s foot is not showing much improvement and she still has trouble walking.

My team put  in a decent performance yesterday in the away leg so hopefully a positive result on Friday evening will lead to a trip ‘down the smoke’ at the end of the month.

I suppose I’d better get up as ignoring the jobs makes things worse.

I think another coffee before I start anything as I did have breakfast early.  @monkeysarefun, I am watching you!

Bettagetamoveon.

 

[Erichill16]

Last year I went to the Dutch railway museum in Utrecht and the museum itself was great but the shop was terrible. I just wanted a bit of something as a keepsake but the shop was full of kids toys that had very little relevance to the museum. In the end I bought a couple of retro poster style post cards to add to my collection of retro style post cards.

Better get going while I feel a bit more ‘energised’.

[Gwiwer]

10 hours ago, Hroth said:

Apparently the UK tried exporting Morris Minor Pickups to Australia as "Utes"

That’s not a ute. There’s nowhere for the beer fridge, tucker box, dogs, half a dozen head of cattle, electric winch, chains, blankets, pillows and doona (duvet). Why the latter?  In case you’re caught out bush overnight. With or without … errr … company. 
 

The Moggie pick-up is too small for even a pick-up; there’s no back seat for use after you picked up. 
 

🤣

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, from a well worn out Fraggle - kids still on 11 out of 10 power setting.  How on earth does something so small make so much noise? (And mess).

[PhilJ W]

9 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

If it didnt it would have been based on its performance in Australian conditions compared to local utes  rather than its "uteness".

 

Its not unlike the first mass produced Holden ute, the FX of 1953.

Speaking of which, I drew one up in Blender recently and a company here with a colour 3D printer knocked them out in all the prototype colours in  N gauge for last weekends Great Train Show at Rosehill, among various other cars I've done.

 

Theres not been any Aussie N scale Australian car  models available before so the sales were crazy, sold out in the first few hours!

 

 

15 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

That’s not a ute. There’s nowhere for the beer fridge, tucker box, dogs, half a dozen head of cattle, electric winch, chains, blankets, pillows and doona (duvet). Why the latter?  In case you’re caught out bush overnight. With or without … errr … company. 
 

The Moggie pick-up is too small for even a pick-up; there’s no back seat for use after you picked up. 
 

🤣

 

 

The problem is that most British cars are/were too small to make a good a Ute. Two that were though was the Standard Vanguard and the Austin A70.  Even Armstrong-Siddely had a fairly good stab at th Australian market, even describing their offering as  Ute. Another reason is that sales of pickups in the UK is a lot smaller than in Australia or the USA but light car based vans are far more popular.

[iL Dottore]

29 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Morning, from a well worn out Fraggle - kids still on 11 out of 10 power setting.  How on earth does something so small make so much noise? (And mess).

Now you know why clever Victorian parents sent their children down the minds/into factories/up the chimneys! It got the kids out of the house and provided extra beer money.

 

And if the kids got cranky, you could always soothe them with one of many popular opium containing products made for quieting children

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Quite mild this morning weather wise and its predicted to reach the low twenties later. Despite a good nights sleep I still feel tired so a few more ZZZZ's are required.

[PhilH]

Morning from the bottom, quite a nice one too. Not a lot to report, life has been jogging along quite quietly, just as I like it, no alarms and no surprises. Dental reconstruction finally done, having to get used to new bite action etc., but overall very pleased, my wallet not so much.

 

Talking of wallets, I have a pre assessment soon for my hernia op. It has been said by others that it was lifting my wallet that caused this problem, not so much for the amount of filthy lucre in there but the weight of moths gathered in there as apparently I don’t open it very often. As stated above my dentist can bear witness to the lack of veracity in that statement.

 

l’m about to go for the morning constitutional, nothing too strenuous just a couple of miles round the block.Then it will be mainly painting figures for the diorama I’m building, nothing to do with model railways, a depiction in 1/35th scale of a portion of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall being built.

In recognition of super Saints being relegated from the premier league I have my black underpants on. Having supported them as my local team for nearly 70 years I have learnt not to get too excited when things go well, or too upset when the opposite happens. Supporting Southampton is the biggest rollercoaster ever, at least there’s never a dull moment.

 

Whatever you’re doing enjoy your day!

 

Edited May 15, 2023 by PhilH

[The Lurker]

I was surprised about the National Maritime Museum when we first took Elder Lurker there - it was a shadow of what I’d seen as a child. But both boys have been more interested in the park, running up and down the hills.

 

it’s on the 286 bus route so easy to get to from here - and they liked the bus journey too!

[Coombe Barton]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

Bear did ponder - but I'd already decided not to when I saw this.  So does that mean the car park is inaccessible?  

 

Possibly not - only saw the sign as I was driving hime, and it was just on the car park entrance

[Erichill16]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Now you know why clever Victorian parents sent their children down the minds/into factories/up the chimneys! It got the kids out of the house and provided extra beer money.

 

 

Or if finances allow send them off to finishing school in Switzerland. 

[tigerburnie]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

 

The term "Smoked Scottish Salmon" means something completely different from "Scottish Smoked Salmon"; only the first one is The Real Deal.

 

As it's all farmed I don't think any of it can be called the "real deal" anymore, it's barely edible.

[jjb1970]

1 hour ago, The Lurker said:

I was surprised about the National Maritime Museum when we first took Elder Lurker there - it was a shadow of what I’d seen as a child. But both boys have been more interested in the park, running up and down the hills.

 

it’s on the 286 bus route so easy to get to from here - and they liked the bus journey too!

 

When I visited last year I enjoyed the boat ride more than the museum. The Thames Clippers, Uber boats or whatever they call themselves this week are an excellent way to get to Greenwich, it's great when they accelerate after passing Tower Bridge going East.

[iL Dottore]

28 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

Or if finances allow send them off to finishing school in Switzerland. 

Indeed. And sending boys off to serve as cabin boys in the Royal Navy and sending girls “into service” were other popular options.

 

Not forgetting, of course, there was always the option of (mythical?) “white slavery”*

 

My parents often said that they wished they could have sold me off to the highest bidder…..

…mind you a bottle of gin and a packet of gaspers were a lot cheaper in those days…
 

* given some of the kids I’ve met, I reckon it’d be the parents paying the slavers to take the sprogs…

[iL Dottore]

6 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

As it's all farmed I don't think any of it can be called the "real deal" anymore, it's barely edible.

Not quite all. Here on Switzerland you can get the real deal - with high prices to match (about SFr 60+ for 50 grams IIRC [so roughly £54 for 2 ounces])

[jjb1970]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

My first visit back to the museum predates this current fad for “decolonisation” and most of the ship models had already gone into storage.

 

I find this whole “decolonisation” business absurd: rewriting the history books or hiding away “reminders” of the past doesn’t change the past and every country in the world has a whole closet full of skeletons (several, in most cases). I also think that it’s counterproductive - all that time, energy and money spent tinkering around the edges of an unchangeable yesterday instead of dealing with changeable now.

 

But I suppose addressing modern slavery and the like is more dangerous and certainly less profitable than “decolonising” The Last Night of the Proms or some such.

 

I don't have an issue with museums telling the less commendable stories from our past, as it is all part of our history and we should reflect on the darker and shameful elements (and you are correct, every country has skeletons). But I think the last part of your post is what gets lost somewhat. We can't change the past but we may be able to influence the present and future. And in some ways I think we've actually gone backwards there.

 

The Imperial War Museum isn't that impressive these days either, but one thing I will give them is their Holocaust gallery is very well done, incredibly moving and by telling the stories of individuals it moves the Holocaust from being a statistic to human tragedies we can maybe start to comprehend.

 

I was very unimpressed with my last visits to the Science Museum and the Royal Air Force Museum too, they still have some excellent exhibits but the expansion of retail space selling (over priced) tat has afflicted them and as with the National Maritime Museum there was a sense of trying to be different things to different audiences. That said, the Graham White hangar at Hendon is wonderful, where they have their WW1 collection. 

[jjb1970]

On model ships, the museum to visit is the transport museum in Glasgow, it's a few years since I last visited but the Clyde Room had one of the finest collections of builders models anywhere and an enough reason to make an effort to visit. I love builders models of ships, one of the nice things about working in maritime as I do is the office decorations are often builders models. My current office as a nice model of one of the big Evergreen container ships.

[Erichill16]

21 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

 

 

My parents often said that they wished they could have sold me off to the highest bidder…..

 

I wonder what the reserve price would have been.