Early Risers.

[DaveF]

I decided to go to the south today, at least south of the Tyne to an exhibition of things we are not supposed to mention on here - if you want to know more see Night Mail.  It was in (to me) the south of the country, as I had to cross the Tyne to get there.   It is on the edge of Sunderland at the Nissan Sports and Social club, by the Nissan factory - which has an enormous amount of car parking space, is warm inside, does pleasant food and for those not driving has a bar.

 

It entailed passing through the Tyne Tunnel, at present the northbound Tunnel is closed at weekends so the other one has one lane each way.  Going south was easy, coming back this afternoon was slow - about 300 yards from the Tunnel we stopped and nothing much came south for some time.  Judging by the flashing lights on some of the tunnel vehicles at the north end when I finally got there there must have been a breakdown or something.  I will try to avoid it at weekends until the work is completed sometime next Spring.  On weekdays it works properly.

 

I used my Tyne Tunnnel account to pay the toll, I received an e mail a few minutes after passing through to confirm that payment had been made.  All I have to do is check from time to time that there is money in the account and top it up when required.

 

The sun has been shining but it is still cool.  The sweet peas have survived the wind so I was able to pick another bunch when I got home.

Edit - The hold up was a broken down motorcycle.

David

Edited 3 hours ago by DaveF

[monkeysarefun]

7 hours ago, DaveF said:

Looking at it again it could well be a nuthatch, I used to know birds......

 

Speaking of birds, Fred The Cockatoo, who lives in a Wildlife Sanctuary in Tasmania,  is about to turn 110.

 

He got a telegram from Her Maj in 2014 when he hit triple figures and if he does make it he'll equal another famous  centenarian cocky, Cocky Bennett - who reached that milestone back in 1937 before dropping off the perch.

 

 

 

 

 

Unlike Cocky Bennett however, Fred is still fully-hirsute as he is shown here.

 

This clip may also give you an idea of what Australian birdsong can be like. Having a dozen of these appear on your back deck and break out into a screaming competition as they do does not make for a peaceful start to the day!

 

[Ozexpatriate]

11 hours ago, polybear said:

I scoff my Pizza using a knife n' fork too

You'll never get elected in New York with that attitude. Based on the news there might be an opening there.

[Ozexpatriate]

6 hours ago, Grizz said:

Whilst we are there, back in time, can we please just pop across to Randers in Denmark and prevent the Thor Brewery from being sold off to a big brewing corp…..

Perhaps you could have superglued yourself to the mash tun? 😉

 

The whole brewing industry has seen a bit of a "Cambrian explosion / Ordovician extinction" cycle over the last 20 years. 

[Two_sugars]

Evening all . . . . . British bureaucracy at its finest. . . Applied for my new licence on the 25th(wed), . . .licence arrived this morning.

 

DaveF . . .I was going to go there tomorrow, but I think I'll stay at home. . . .the anti-biotics and steroids didn't work so I've booked an appointment with a  nurse practitioner for Monday.

He'll probably refer me to one of the Doctors. . . Don't feel too bad but, not taking any chances.

 

hey Ho . . .Say Lavvy . . .

 

John

 

[rockershovel]

11 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

That’s some seriously good stuff. I know it as pizza al metro (it goes by other names) and it’s a lot closer to the original pizza (leftover bread dough, baked with a few scant toppings) than what we now think of as “pizza”  And with pizza al metro, the sky’s the limit when it comes to toppings (although I have yet to see any kind of potato topping).

 

Italy, especially Southern Italy, has some decent street food (arancini, pizza al metro, piadina…..).

 

It does seem that good street food is associated with the poorer parts of the world. And I think that it makes sense: with no money to buy but just what one needs to eat, eating from a street stall saves money - you only buy what you immediately eat and you don’t have storage and cooking costs. And if most everyone eats from street stalls, then prices are kept down and quality is kept up (apparently, some new apartments in Thailand are built without kitchens such is the ubiquitousness of eating out at street stalls) 

I've eaten some shocking rubbish from street stalls, particularly in Africa. Had some nasty squitters too. 

 

A propos Plod, successive administrations have attempted to put them in the position of deciding what the law means, with the risk of being contradicted by the Courts. This isn't healthy or desirable, as some of their actions during Covid demonstrated plainly. 

[Coombe Barton]

... Successfully tested both upstairs and downstairs smoke alarms simultaneously last night. Other people might call it cooking supper. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/09/28/postcards-from-home-2024-31-would-boris-really-have-invaded-the-netherlands/