Early Risers.

[DaveF]

A tale of mild stupidity - on my part.

 

Like many people I have more than one email address, one is from my ISP/phone provider.  I've gradually moved most things from it as it is prone to receiving spam, their spam filter is quite poor.  I use it for their bills and a few newsletters along with some firms I've never got round to changing to another address.

 

I had noticed that I hadn't received many e mails from that address which I have set to be auto retrieved by one of my other email providers.  The ISP e mail is set to autoforward but it often doesn't, hence the auto retrieval.

 

When I looked up why I wasn't getting them I found that none had been collected since the end of July.  I wondered why.  Then it dawned on me, I had changed my password on the ISP's email but had forgotten to change it on the other e mail provider's site which collects the e mails from the ISP one so it could collect them.

 

I have now checked and deleted several hundred e mails!  In future I will check the ISP email most days just in case.  Very fortunately none of them were very important so there were no special offers missed, no unpaid bills etc.

 

It might teach me to be better organised.

 

David

Edited Sunday at 18:17 by DaveF

[Ozexpatriate]

10 hours ago, polybear said:

It's kinda worrying in this Bear's Book that a person can get a driving licence in Singapore (other countries are available....) then presumably not drive for years (literally) but come over to the UK (other countries are available....) and still jump into a car and drive.

What then would be your solution for overseas business travellers and tourists? Are you available to give everyone a lift?

 

Britain's public transport system is not up to getting people everywhere they want to go. At best it doesn't seem to cater to the locals very well.

 

These things are reciprocal. Britons are just as permitted to go driving on the right hand side of the road in places where that is the norm.

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

had to endure an artisanal burger

The paper suggests It was a panda burger?

[The White Rabbit]

Good evening and welcome to Masterchef...

 

It looks like Jamie had a hard life earlier - what horrors we visit upon ourselves in the name of friendship! 

 

Right, now sit up straight and pay attention at the back... Rabbit's recipe for Sunday pizza:

 

Take one Crostica and Mollica pizza base (if not approved of by il D, then described (sort of) as the best of a bad bunch) and let it defrost. https://www.crostamollica.com/products/pizza/ready-to-top-sourdough-pizza-base 

 

(If anyone really needs instructions on unwrapping this, then please stop reading right now)!

 

It is coated in a tomato puree, now I'm not the world's biggest tomato fan but I do think it's a bit thin - so I add perhaps 50-100g of a tomato sauce, in this case, from a Lloyd Grossman jar I had bought when on special offer. Some of Bear's pulped tomatoes would do a similar job. As well as adding dollops to the inside, I smear a bit on the crust, this helps it avoid getting excessively crispy/burnt. I add some tomato pesto in clumps - I guess you could mix with the sauce and smear on evenly but I prefer the small bursts of flavour the pesto gives to some mouthfuls - an edible bingo? Personal choice/preference. 

 

This time I added some watercress and chives - usually I'd go with fresh parsley but it's a case of what I had to hand. Sometimes the toppings might mask the flavours of the parsley but I tend to add it anyway, even if I don't taste it then it probably does me some good - parsley is supposed to be one of the 'superfoods'. 

 

 

Then it's time to add the base cheese - this time it was cheddar but I've used all sorts, from mozzarella to Red Leicester. A few gratings on top of the crust help add flavour and avoid this being a crispy desert. 

 

 

I then added some chorizo slices, peppers and a few pieces of Camembert. I like the latter on pizza as it provides a rich flavour to some mouthfuls. Like the tomato pesto mentioned earlier. And that was about it - I did give a shake of dried parsley over the top as I didn't use the fresh version earlier on. Waitrose's Chicken Seasoning is also a reasonable spice, it adds flavour to quite a few things without going OTT. 

 

 

 

Then it was 240 degrees for 11-12 minutes and Robert was my mother's brother... 

 

 

 

I've tried various toppings and most of them worked well. An egg in the middle sounded an interesting idea but causes cooking problems - if added early, it tends to make the middle of the pizza soggy, if added later, by the time the egg's cooked properly, the edges tend to be a burnt offering. Sliced sausages/ham/pepperoni usually go well. If using a non-spicy meat, I often add some basil pesto, again, little bursts of flavour. Mushrooms can be nice but are prone to release water and this can cause a certain sogginess. 

 

Conventional wisdom suggests cooking pizzas on wire - my experience is this can (occasionally) work but often it causes the base and crust to dry out too much and become a burnt brittle offering. So my default position is to cook on a Pyrex tray as in the pictures. But the bottom line is most people have their favourite 'wrinkles' and tastes - this is what works for me. 

 

Thank you and good night... 👍

 

 

Edited Sunday at 18:33 by The White Rabbit
Correcting RMW photo hissy fit

[SM42]

31 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Yes there showing a train being driven without a driver. What was the reason we paid those train drivers 80 K again.

 

That's not what I was thinking

 

Andy

[Tony_S]

56 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

Conventional wisdom suggests cooking pizzas on wire -

We have what looks like a normal oven tray but it has holes in it (tiny perforations) that is supposed to be good for pizza. Doesn’t make any noticeable difference. 

[BoD]

Evening all.

 

Just finished packing as we are heading off for a couple of days away tomorrow. No Polish sausages or (delicious looking) desserts I’m afraid.  We are heading North and East (or even further North and East for most of you) to have a look at some of villages around the Moray and Aberdeenshire Coast.  @tigerburnie I will give a wave as we pass. 
 

It is an area we have wanted to visit for a while now and (allegedly) there are some rather nice distilleries up that way and a couple of interesting (disused) railway viaducts.  
 

I will report back on the relative merits of apple pie as we go.

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Never chuck old bricks away especially those that match the ones the house is made of, as you never know when one might be required. Can't tell you the number of houses I've seen where mismatched bricks have been used to fill in round gas vents, soil pipes, window frames etc.

Indeed, I acquired a stack of bricks when a brick wall around the back garden collapsed (rotten mortar). I also acquired some roof tiles when some neighbouring houses were re-roofed. The style of tile are no longer made.

[New Haven Neil]

Is it me, or did those chips iD was feeding Jamie look rather, er, like frozen convenience stylee? 🤔

[Coombe Barton]

... I will also have the energy to become a grumpy old man and I intend to specialise in the art. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/09/15/postcards-from-home-2024-18/

[Ozexpatriate]

 

On home pizzas - much depends on what sort of base/crust is used.

 

On 14/09/2024 at 11:02, iL Dottore said:

The biggest problem most people have when making pizza at home (me included) is that few domestic ovens get hot enough, ideally you want to have the oven at about 400°C and use a pizza stone to help get that crisp base.

This is certainly true if you are using fresh dough and making Neapolitan style (there are others). For a fully or par-baked, purchased crust, hot enough to melt cheese is sufficient.

 

There are countertop pizza ovens (that can exceed 400°C)  - for people willing to purchase 'uni-tasker' appliances. I wouldn't want to use one indoors. 

 

On 14/09/2024 at 13:07, polybear said:

I did use a Pizza Stone though - for the very first time today in fact;

Did you pre-heat the stone? One was given to me as a gift. It came with instructions to bake off volatile ingredients before using for the first time. They should always be brought to full temperature before use.

 

1 hour ago, The White Rabbit said:

Conventional wisdom suggests cooking pizzas on wire - my experience is this can (occasionally) work but often it causes the base and crust to dry out too much and become a burnt brittle offering. So my default position is to cook on a Pyrex tray as in the pictures. 

57 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

We have what looks like a normal oven tray but it has holes in it (tiny perforations) that is supposed to be good for pizza. Doesn’t make any noticeable difference. 

When using a purchased, pre-cooked base, I put the pizza directly on the oven rack. For my preferences, I want the bottom as crispy as possible - so l like the hot air to make direct contact.

 

[TheQ]

Oi BOD, wave to me too,  as at the moment, as if I look out of the front and a little to the right of the house  I can see three bridges, that's two suspension and one cantilever painted red.

 

I have a stack of bricks from a pig sty wall I demolished, most are old Norfolk reds, flatter and thinner than modern bricks..

 

Our land is a combination of estuarine silt clay with the odd sand bank down the bottom of the garden overlaid by a foot or two of  farmed / agricultural loam.

The estuarine silt and sand banks are probably from when the river exit wasn't at Great Yarmouth but was 10 to 15 miles further north forming a Delta.

 

I noticed on antiques roadshow, a Victoria and Albert medal issued posthumously to a Swiss national, who was in the UK Red Cross during WW2, and volunteered to go ashore on DDay. He was killed on June 9th 1944, having rescued two Americans from a mine field and having already had a foot blown off. He went back for the third American, when he was killed by another mine.

 

I see another person has missed the orange one...

 

 

Goodnight Awl.

 

[jamie92208]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

And to finish, @jamie92208 had to endure an artisanal burger and a microbrewery beer.

😳

 

It's a hard life. Thanks to ID for the local knowledge. It's been a good day. 

 

Jamie

Edited Sunday at 21:02 by jamie92208

[polybear]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

What then would be your solution for overseas business travellers and tourists? Are you available to give everyone a lift?

 

 

No....

In my book it's surely a concern even if the Licence Holder doesn't go abroad; a person can pass their test then not drive for twenty years (or whatever) - but then quite legally jump into a car and go for a drive.  Is that safe?

 

2 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

I add some tomato pesto in clumps - I guess you could mix with the sauce and smear on evenly but I prefer the small bursts of flavour the pesto gives to some mouthfuls - an edible bingo? Personal choice/preference. 

 

 

Looks excellent - I'd like to add Pesto (I've a sneaky feeling that's what gives a Dr. Oetkers it's distinctive taste) but it seems a jar full from the Co-op only has a shelf life of about 3 days once opened; there's no mention of being able to freeze it either.  Is there a secret trick?

 

5 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I'm going to watch 'Nightsleeper' tonight (BBC1 9pm, second episode tomorrow same time). I hope it's a good'n without any howlers re. railway operations.

 

Let's see now.....

How about turn the Leccy off to the overhead lines??

 

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

We have what looks like a normal oven tray but it has holes in it (tiny perforations) that is supposed to be good for pizza. Doesn’t make any noticeable difference. 

 

Bear has just acquired a Pizza Stone - I'll report back.....

 

14 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Did you pre-heat the stone? One was given to me as a gift. It came with instructions to bake off volatile ingredients before using for the first time. They should always be brought to full temperature before use.

 

Oh yes - it got 250C for an hour+, as per instructions.  The instructions mentioned it was necessary in order to harden the stone prior to first use.  I also subsequently gave it extra time (the next day) to warm up to the 180C quoted for the Pizza Base; I think I might start experimenting with higher temperatures (maybe 210C to start with) when the next Pizza is cooked.

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

Is it me, or did those chips iD was feeding Jamie look rather, er, like frozen convenience stylee? 🤔

 

To me, they looked a bit "spotty".....

 

Edited Sunday at 21:16 by Hroth
Spelin. But it is past bedtime for a Sunday evening!

[polybear]

5 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

To me, they looked a but "spotty".....

 

 

Mouse Poo....

[Hroth]

3 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Mouse Poo....

 

Ick.....

 

ION

 

Just paid my water and wastewater charge, AKA the Water Bill.

I've used less water, and they charged me ten quid MORE!

 

I'll have to shower more often.....

 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Watched the first episode of Nightsleeper. Very confusing, it's difficult to tell who are the good guys and who's the bad guys for a start. I thought the same as @polybear, why not just switch off the power but then again if the villains have taken control of the entire network perhaps they can't  switch it off, though I can think of one way involving someone in a rubber suit with a length of wire.

[PhilJ W]

8 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Just paid my water and wastewater charge, AKA the Water Bill.

I've used less water, and they charged me ten quid MORE!

I'll have to shower more often.....

The water company shareholders want their dividends and the CEO's want their bonuses.

[Gwiwer]

Pizzas?  Bricks?  Grumpy old men?  There has to be a connection in there somewhere.  

 

Evening all.  Quite the weekend this has been.  A few new faces among our number too so while all are welcome I reserve comment for the moment on some of the matters closer to the heart.  If you know then you know how to contact me.  

 

Friend (third marriage just failed) duly arrived on Wednesday and only stopped yabbering when he finally got to sleep.  He left us for home yesterday afternoon having told us the same stories multiple times over, loudly, without allowing anyone to interject or even talk over him.  That made even the basics of suggesting meals challenging.  It also proved my patience (as if proof were needed) in that I could sit, stand or carry on with other things and just let him talk.  

 

Thursday was spent around the local area.  A visit to the watch.  An open-top bus trip along the coast to St Ives.  A main-road trip home because the return coastal bus had no driver.  And while most folk would have enjoyed the scenery and allowed me to at least offer some sort of commentary and identify locations as we passed there was to be none of that on this trip.  On the other hand the outbound bus had a defective ticket machine so we were simply "waved aboard" without being able to pay and the return bus had a driver who pulled up in St. Ives and positively flew out of the cab in the direction of the sea-wall with the words "Help yourself to the f******* bus; I'm having a meltdown".  Not terribly inspiring but again a free ride.  She did at least pull herself together sufficiently to drive safely and carefully.  

 

Friday 13th - much to Dr. SWMBO's disdain - we took the Great White Stomach Pump a/k/a Scillonian III to St. Mary's for the day.  The sea was as flat as it gets.  The wind was a light Force 2.  The sun mostly shone.  And we had two of the best crossings it would be possible to imagine.  Aside from listening to the monologue of course.  He's a canal boater and professed to having thoroughly enjoyed six hours at sea and not having to manage nor skipper the vessel.  

 

Today has been quieter.  We mostly rested our tired bodies and ears.  We know he got back OK if very late due to a trespass incident closing the GWR lines between Reading and Paddlington.  He needs a lot of help and support but the process started here.  He was talking more slowly by the time he left.  There were even short pauses.  There was acknowledgement that he urgently needs to speak with his GP.  

 

Job done.  So far.  And his now-separated other half?  She has moved into sheltered accommodation while she sorts her own head out.  

 

The 400mm lens earned its keep.  Even with image stabilisation it wasn't easy to focus on and compose a good shot at sea.  

 

As we left Penzance I spotted out old cottage, that in which I grew up, in Newlyn.

 

Ms. Cade's cliffside Minack Theatre in the morning light.  

 

Our colleagues at Gwennap Head NCI Coastwatch station logged us as we passed by.  The natural arch is seldom seen this clearly

 

Lands End from an unfamiliar angle and beyond it Cape Cornwall with our own NCI Coastwatch station showing up as the white building on the seaward slope

 

Out to sea we passed the inter-island launch "Thunder" making for Penzance off Longship's Lighthouse 

 

Approaching destination; we arrived via the preferred route over Crow Bar.  this shows parts of Tresco, Tean (uninhabited) and St. Martins.

 

"Escorted" into St. Marys by "Firethorn of Bryher" on inter-island duties and a couple of small pleasure craft.  The island is, I believe, the uninhabited Samson.

 

Scillonian III alongside at St. Mary's with the off-island ferries accepting transfer of luggage in their normal manner - it is craned directly from boat to boat.  

 

St. Mary's Harbour with Tresco and Samson in the background seen from above Porthcressa

 

On the return crossing we  sailed around St. Mary's using the deep-water channel as the tide was too low to cross Crow Bar.  This route takes slightly longer so is only used when necessary.  The sun offered some silhouette views and glints on the sea across St. Agnes and the uninhabited Gugh, Annet

and the Western Rocks - the most south-westerly outpost of the UK.  See also previous post.  

 

We passed close enough to Wolf Rock lighthouse, 9 miles SW of Lands End, for an at-sea 400mm telephoto image

 

And there was this odd moment when jet trail, cloud, and ship at sea combined .....

 

Returning past Longship's Lighthouse we found fishing vessel Harriet Eve, one of our regular crab / lobster potters, hard at work.  She's not as close as she looks.  

 

Finally we were welcomed back into Penzance with one of the local trawlers setting off to gather more fish. Jubilee bathing pool, Lloyds Bank / Market House dome and St. Mary's Church seen from different angles to the normal pictures. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SM42]

6 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Watched the first episode of Nightsleeper. Very confusing, it's difficult to tell who are the good guys and who's the bad guys for a start. I thought the same as @polybear, why not just switch off the power but then again if the villains have taken control of the entire network perhaps they can't  switch it off, though I can think of one way involving someone in a rubber suit with a length of wire.

 

According to a newspaper article about this series, they went to great lengths for authenticity. 

 

Not sure what route the train was on but it seemed to be  lot wider than any train I've been on. 

 

I only saw about 3 minutes of it and gave up. 

 

Andy

[Winslow Boy]

37 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

The water company shareholders want their dividends and the CEO's want their bonuses.

Plus they have to raise some deltics to pay all the fines there going to have to pay for not spending deltics on modernising there waterworks. Cynical me. Never.

 

But as a Pub Landlord has been known to say - where's the money!!!

Edited Sunday at 22:08 by Winslow Boy

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Goodnight everyone 

[PupCam]

On 14/09/2024 at 16:56, Erichill16 said:

Glad i didn't go to Stevenage.🫣

 

I'm always glad when "I didn't go to Stevenage".   Made it a bit tricky BA to go to work for 30 years though .......

 

On 14/09/2024 at 17:11, New Haven Neil said:

Um, not so early riser.  I is ris though, and done all sorts of husbandly duties taking Mrs NHN shopping etc. A rsther windy 16c most of the day, and not really very nice out although dry.  Mega heaps of washing done too, house is like a charity warehouse full of clothes hanging all over the place.

 

A question for the ER Collective - anyone got any idea how/what/where to get a microfiche parts list (no, not for one of Baz's rockets) printed or digitised?  Motorbike bits if you need to know, honest, not anything naughty or OSA restricted!

 

Readers must be getting very thin on the ground now!   I see your problem.

 

14 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I would be happy to, but I won't be doing much cooking for the next few months as....

1. I'll be in Japan for most of October
2. When I'm not in Japan I'll be overseeing the renovation of the new house (the one I bought last Friday)
3. When not in Japan I will be house-clearing our existing property
4. I'm still on a low carb diet AND
5. I'll still be working - with my hours ramping up as the new project I've taken on starts recruiting patients....

There won't be much time for cooking - it's going to be mostly soup, salads and sandwiches for the foreseeable future, with perhaps a few "fire and forget" dishes (like slab bacon, onions and cabbage cooked in the pressure cooker.

 

There won't be much time for muddling, either

 

Excuses, excuses.

 

ION

 

I had a very good but very tiring day yesterday.   First a chug over to Woburn on the Beeza for coffee and putting the world right followed by a chug over to Old Warden to the Bedfordshire Steam & Country Fayre.   It was good but tiring dragging around the fayre which covered an extensive part of the Shuttleworth park.  My friend was keen to visit the multitude of tat tool stands for bargains.    You know, the ones selling Chinese "High Quality" tools made from Chrome Vanadium Cheese.  In my experience there are very few real bargains to be had and  I'd rather have spent more time looking at the big steamy beasts.    It was extra tiring because the  Beeza was being rather recalcitrant in the starting department at times and more than six kicks for those with a Pacemaker is pushing it (no pun intended).   Never mind I enlisted the help of "staff" to start it on a couple of occasions so it was OK in the end.  Anyway,  we had a good day and the bikes joined the VMCC display as "late entrants".

 

We (Mr & Mrs P) binge watched the repeats of Canal Boat Diaries in the evening (certainly wouldn't be watching Strictly Come Prancing!) which were particularly interesting as he was passing through Greater Puppershire on the Grand Union Canal.   He scraped through the 3 Locks north of Leighton Buzzard prior to them being closed for 4 weeks.   

 

 

We had a very nice meal on the side of those locks in the "3 Locks" pub a couple of months back.     Unfortunately I may have nodded off a few times whilst binging.    A very early for me retirement to bed at 9:45 was most welcome and a good 9 hours re-charged the batteries albeit with the usual array of brief nocturnal interruptions.

 

This morning we went for a very nice new walk (for us) along the meandering Great Ouse east of Bedford and along the old track bed  of the Bedford to Cambridge railway.       Mapometer reports 2.5 miles, I must say it felt further!     Looking at the map we can easily extend it next time as I need to get back into far more regular exercise.  

 

 

We may have stopped for coffee on our return at the Danish Camp.

 

Night all.

 

 

Edited Sunday at 22:49 by PupCam
Too many Ps