Yes, I'm so happy, 2013!

[vivienr]

Or even....Yes, I'm so happy, July 2014!

Everyone around here is going bonkers after the announcement of the route for the Tour de France Grand Depart in 2014.
 Anyone who wants to put their picnic blanket down on Holme Moss had better get there tout de suit (although it is snowing at the moment so you need to be well wrapped up

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21057232

Unfortunately not going through my side of Huddersfield so our potholes won't be fixed.

[Maggi Young]

Three stages in England - how exciting!
We're BIG fans of the Tour .....     Is there any chance the snow will be gone by July, d'you think?

[David Nicholson]

Went to see Paul Carrack in Plymouth last night, what a cracking gig, what a cracking musician and what a cracking voice. Even the nearly 70 year olds were on their feet jigging, singing and clapping at the end. If anyone get a chance to go to a show in your area don't miss it.

[Maggi Young]

I can believe that was a good gig, David. Lucky  the weather hadn't closed in on you and kept you at home - I was surprised to hear you weren't digging your way out of a drift.

I'm having trouble being happy at the mo ...... and it's not just the weather .... I  cannot believe that I fell for all  Lance Armstrong's protestations of innocence all these years - the lying erk! 

[Anthony Darby]

This made me chuckle:

This is soooo true.
 
EATING IN THE UK IN THE FIFTIES

* Pasta had not been invented.
* Curry was an unknown entity.
* Olive oil was kept in the medicine cabinet.
* Spices came from the Middle East where, we believed,
they were used for embalming.
* Herbs were used to make rather dodgy medicine.
* A take-away was a mathematical problem.
* A pizza was something to do with a leaning tower.
* Bananas and oranges only appeared at Christmas time.
* The only vegetables known to us were spuds, peas, carrots and
cabbage; anything else was regarded as being a bit suspect.
* All crisps were plain; the only choice we had was whether to put the
salt on or not.
* Condiments consisted of salt, pepper, vinegar and brown sauce if we
were lucky.
* Soft-drinks were called pop.
* Coke was something that we mixed with coal to make it last longer.
* A Chinese chippy was a foreign carpenter.
* Rice was a milk-pudding, and never, ever part of our dinner.
* A Big Mac was what we wore when it was raining.
* A Pizza Hut was an Italian shed..
* A microwave was something out of a science-fiction movie.
* Brown bread was something only poor people ate.
* Oil was for lubricating your bike, not for cooking; fat was for cooking.
* Bread and jam was a treat.
* Tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves, not bags.
* The tea-cosy was the forerunner of all the energy-saving devices that
we hear so much about today.
* Tea had only one colour, black. Green tea was not British.
* Coffee was only drunk when we had no tea….. and then it was Camp, and
came in a bottle.
* Cubed-sugar was regarded as posh.
* Figs and dates appeared every Christmas, but no one ever ate them.
* Sweets and confectionery were called toffees.
* Coconuts only appeared when the fair came to town.
* Black puddings were mined in Bolton, Lancashire.
* Jellied eels were peculiar to Londoners.
* Salad-cream was a dressing for salads; mayonnaise did not exist.
* Hors d'oeuvre was a spelling mistake.
* The starter was our main meal.
* Soup was a main meal.
* The menu consisted of what we were given, and was set in stone.
* Only Heinz made beans; any others were impostors.
* Left-overs went in the dog.
* Special food for dogs and cats was unheard of.
* Sauce was either brown or red.
* Fish was only eaten on Fridays.
* Fish didn't have fingers in those days.
* Eating raw fish was called poverty, not sushi.
* Ready meals only came from the fish-and-chip shop.
* For the best taste fish-and-chips had to be eaten out of old
newspapers.
* Frozen food was called ice-cream.
* Nothing ever went off in the fridge, because we never had one..
* Ice-cream only came in one colour and one flavour.
* None of us had ever heard of yoghurt.
* Jelly and blancmange was only eaten at parties.
* If we said that we were on a diet, we simply got less.
* Healthy food consisted of anything edible.
* Healthy food had to have the ability to stick to your ribs.
* Calories were mentioned, but they had nothing at all to do with food.
* The only criteria concerning the food that we ate were ... did we like
it and could we afford it.
* People who didn't peel potatoes were regarded as lazy so-and-sos.
* Indian restaurants were only found in India.
* A seven-course meal had to last a week.
* Brunch was not a meal.
* Cheese only came in a hard lump.
* If we had eaten bacon, lettuce, and tomato in the same sandwich
we would have been certified.
* A bun was a small cake back then.
* A tart was a fruit-filled pastry, not a lady of horizontal pleasure.
* The word" Barbie" was not associated with anything to do with food.
* Eating outside was called a picnic.
* Cooking outside was called camping.
* Seaweed was not a recognised food.
* Offal was only eaten when we could afford it.
* Eggs only came fried or boiled.
* Hot-cross buns were only eaten at Easter time.
* Pancakes were only eaten on Pancake Tuesday - in fact, in those days
it was compulsory.
* "Kebab" was not even a word, never mind a food.
* Hot dogs were a type of sausage that only the Americans ate.
* Cornflakes had arrived from America, but it was obvious that they
would never catch on.
* The phrase "boil in the bag" would have been beyond our realms of
comprehension.
* The idea of "oven chips" would not have made any sense at all to us.
* The world had not yet benefited from weird-and-wonderful things
like Pot Noodles, Instant Mash and Pop Tarts.
* We bought milk and cream at the same time in the same bottle.
* Sugar enjoyed a good press in those days, and was regarded as
being white gold.
* Lettuce and tomatoes in winter were just a rumour.
* Most soft fruits were seasonal, except perhaps at Christmas.
* Prunes were medicinal.
* Surprisingly, muesli was readily available in those days; it was called
cattle-feed.
* Turkeys were definitely seasonal.
* Pineapples came in chunks in a tin; we had only ever seen a picture of
a real one.
* We didn't eat Croissants in those days because we couldn't pronounce
them, we couldn't spell them, and we didn't know what they were.
* We thought that Baguettes were a serious problem the French needed
to deal with.
* Garlic was used to ward off vampires, but never used to flavour bread.
* Water came out of the tap; if someone had suggested bottling it and
charging treble for it they would have become a laughing-stock.
* Food hygiene was all about washing your hands before meals.
* Campylobacter, Salmonella, E.coli, Listeria, and Botulism were all
called "food poisoning".
* The one thing that we never, ever had on our table in the fifties …
elbows.

[annew]

  How true.

[vivienr]

And true for the 60's too. At high school in the '70s we had something called curry but it could best be described as 'green mince'.

[Anthony Darby]

We had curry in the 60s because, when we lived in Loughborough, my mother took in Siamese students as lodgers and they made lovely Thai green curries, I am assured.

[Darren]

On the subject of food I could not resist posting this.

A colleague of mine in chemistry recently retired and we had a presentation for him on wednesday this week. Some of our lab staff spent their weekend making and icing this periodic table of the elements in cupcakes (inspired by an idea on the Royal Society of Chemistry website). I work with the nicest bunch of people. Though it was pointed out that the element with my initials is Darmstadtium (Ds), which is extremely unstable and probably very dense....

The two ladies with the initials 'Hg' were expected to fight over the mercury cake but one of them has given up cake for Lent so we were to be disappointed. 

[Maggi Young]

Now that's my idea of a good send off - just hope none of the cupcakes were very dense   

[Tim Ingram]

Darren - that has the potential of being the most superb teaching tool! Everyone has to describe the 'flavours' of the cup cakes they choose. My wife, who did Chemistry, can recite them very well, I just get hopelessly lost, but there are some brilliant books based around the Periodic Table.

[Anthony Darby]

One of my friends called me Sb all through college!

[Maggi Young]

One of my friends called me Sb all through college!

 

- My Hero Tom Lehrer

But Darrens's  Ds - Darmstadtium - isn't there, having only been found in 1994.....

[Anthony Darby]

A staple of any Periodic Table lesson.

[fermi de Sousa]

Very happy after the 35^oC yesterday to wake up to rain!
More than half an inch the best fall for awhile!
Here's hoping that a good autumn break is finally arriving - just in time for the Easter holiday - and bulb planting!
cheers
fermi
PS and "Doctor Who" starts again on Sunday