Hroth

NFN, as they say....

Perhaps someone at the tail-end of National Service had a bad experience with the RAF, perhaps at your particular station, and had subsequently joined HMRC. It had taken him some 20 years before he was senior enough to unleash his revenge.... Just wondering! 🤔

One of the Sunday newspapers (the Sunday Express?) used to carry a strip about the horticultural adventures of an old gent who went by the name of "Adam the Gardener". The strips were collected into book form for aspiring amateur toilers of the soil to refer to. That was the only place I've seen double digging referred to! Just did a bit of "digging" and yes, it was the Sunday Express. I've also found a page of what you keen gardeners should have been doing a few weeks ago..... His curious jawline beard is as I remembered....

That's a bit unkind... 🙃 @The Johnster I've mentioned elsewhere recently that my dad had a Ford Pilot, slightly more upmarket than a 100e, but still fitted with vacuum windscreen wipers. I can vouch for their uphill efficiency. Whoever designed rhe misbegotten devices must have lived on the flat...

Joseph Swan invented the light bulb, he was from Sunderland... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Swan And the vacuum powered device that Ford used to move windscreen wiper blades were more erratic than described above, and would cease to function when most required!

And never try to "do your best". The critera should be how well the claimant can do "on their worst day". Some are their own worst enemy and will struggle to achieve the goals an assessor will set through pride, even if the goal is excessive. Oh well. Finished waterproofing the planter before lunch. It is now assembled and it and its companion are displaying troughs containing flowering things. Not a clue what they are, just cheap bedding plants I got some weeks ago!

Or the insulation under the air-smoothed casing?

Sunny. Warm. Gentle breeze. Wow. Just popped in to straighten my back and have a cool drink after spending some time painting the components of a raised wooden planter with shed/fence paint prior to assembly. Now to pop out to finish the rest before lunch. With any luck the warmth and breeze will enable assembly by mid afternoon. And off we go...

I see that the fine encampment of Telford is getting dragged over the coals on the BBC* at present! Education was addressed yesterday. Justice is todays topic. Unless I missed it, and it was covered before Education, Health will be examined tomorrow. Its not an attack on the place itself, more an exemplar of the effect government cuts over the past decades have had on essential services. * Other "news" purveyors are available.

You have to use real vinegar as flux, not that "non-brewed condiment" rubbish...

There were the "Ashtray Hair" adverts designed to discourage smoking on the grounds that it reduces attractiveness.

They should be glad there's no complaints and leave it at that!

Stick - End - Wrong.... But I'm sure you're just doing it for effect! 😜 Salmon fishcakes are nice too.

Wet, 12C and a strong breeze, with no improvement forecast through the day. Grump! ION With regard to smoking, I never knew either of my grandfathers, they died before I was born, but I understand they were both heavy smokers. My maternal uncle died far too young too, he definitely was a heavy smoker and went through packets of Senior Service like there was no tomorrow. Eventually, there wasn't. Is it just me, or is RMweb being just as slow sitewide as it usually is here? 🤔

Given the current electoral apathy, people try to assuage their feelings of utter helplessness by posting jokes at all and sundry. Its to be expected that the Involved at either end of the spectrum will feel they're being got at. In order to settle tensions, I feel that I must post the most anodyne joke I can think of. Here goes. When is a door not a door? ... ... When its a jar. Ithenkyew! (If necessary, I can break open the reserve Christmas Cracker collection.)

I'm used to slow responses when loading or posting to certain topics, sometimes resulting in notifications that "the topic is unavailable, try again later". However, over this weekend, the whole site appears to be exhibiting a similar behaviour, though not to the extent that it throws an error message. Is this a side effect of the advert problem, or is it something else?

Or vice-versa..

All By Myself - Eric Carmen

How about a "Groan" topic......

Don't give 'em the easy answer "its the direction the sun sets", tell them its on the left when they face North..... Given the original question, the next one would be "Whats left?" And a lovely combination of voice and natural trumpet.

Well yes, but some people do things even if they're especially banned.... Speaking of V8 "utes", if I were to even consider having one, it would be something like this... The colour would be ideal, but I bet it has vacuum windscreen wipers... Funnily enough, the last Ford my father had was a black 1950 Ford V8 Pilot. Its thirst for petrol was legendary, and the noise it made when the silencers blew out was colossal.... Something rather like this, but without the wing mirrors and the out of character white wall tyres. And we didn't have the funny little sticks attached to the front bumper. After that he never had a black car again, although he did have a dark blue Volvo 144 at one point. The nearest I've got to black was a dark grey Octavia!

Around that time, well a decade and a half before, I learned lots about cutting and shutting with gas axe, welder and grinder building a steel* narrowboat, so I suppose I could have turned a hand to it. * Apparently a lot of the steel used was offcuts from Cammel Lairds...

I live a mile from the sea, but the gulls can't be arsed coming so far inland. All I get is ruddy pigeons!

As Private Frazer would say...

Until he smokes while filling up....