Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: Paul T on January 06, 2011, 01:08:00 AM
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Howdy All,
Just to start the Moan, Moan, Moan - 2011 topic. This should give Martin something to moan about, along with the empty bottle 12 year old Bushmills single Irish malt!! ;D ;)
I guess I should put a moan into here as well, this being the topic and all.....
The weather here is up and down like the proverbial yo-yo. One day it's raining, the next it's sunny. I'd compare it to an English summer, except we do actually get that yellow blazing ball thing up in the sky. ;) I'm not really moaning about the weather, as I am glad for the extra rain, but I feel awful for so much of Queensland that is under water at the present time. More towns bracing themselves for flooding now. The town of St George apparently had a 1 in 100 year flood only 10 months ago, and this one is expected to be 60cm higher than that one. :o
My thoughts go out to all those in the flood zone.
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Hi
The worst thing about being on holiday is looking at all the wonderful plants for sale and not being able to take them back home, oh well it's less plants for me to kill ::)
Angie :)
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Isn't it awful. At least if you're within the EU you should be able to take things home. When I honeymooned in Hawaii it was awful not to be able to buy a SINGLE THING plant-wise. :o here in Aus, I always make room for lots of things in my luggage on the way home. ;D
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Where are you Angie?
Paul I heard on the news last night that the flood area is the same size as France and Germany :o
France is 674,843 km2 / 260,558 sq mi
Germany 357,021 km2 / 137,847 sq mi
England 130,395 km2 / 50,346 sq mi
If my calculations are correct, I got a C grade, the flood area = 8000 Englands
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And a moan from me
I sent a text messge on New Years Eve to all my UK and Ireland contacts. There are many. It took 4 messages with multiple contacts in each. How many replied? 5!!!
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Mark,
Make that closer to Englands, not 8000. France and Germany together are around 1 million and England is around 130,000 (very ball park figures), which makes it close enough to 8 times England. Someone mentioned in the last few days here on the forum that it was the size of Germany and France added together and I was chatting on the phone to a friend in England this evening and when I told him that he was amazed. Until then he hadn't realised just how big the floods were.
And not good re the New Years txt messages..... should I admit to not even owning a mobile phone? ;D
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..... should I admit to not even owning a mobile phone? ;D
... and I thought there was only me ;D
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And a moan from me
I sent a text messge on New Years Eve to all my UK and Ireland contacts. There are many. It took 4 messages with multiple contacts in each. How many replied? 5!!!
I never got one Mark!
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Nor did I, Anthony.... though it may nbe that Mark only has my landline number!!
I even went to check my phone when I read Mark's post!! :-X
By the way, good to see you with Forum access again..... and thanks for our Festive parcel..... had us worried for a bit as we don't smoke cigars.... ;D ;)
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Hi Mark in America ( Houston ) leaving today. Hope the UK is sunny and warm and the snow is gone.
It's going to cost us £350 for car parking at Heathrow airport :-X I wonder if we maybe could try and claim it back since our flight was cancelled to London.
Can't wait to get back and see my greenhouse, hope all is well.
Angie :)
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Darn! I could have done with some Levis ;D
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Wishing you a safe and uneventful journey home, Angela.
Good luck with the claim for parking fees.... I can't say I envied you the drive down there to get the flight after your London flight was cancelled, but if anyone could or would do that it was you and Derek!
Not much snow left up here.... most of it is now ice. Roads may be really treacherous.... ca' canny, Quine!
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Sadly Anthony I deleted you :-[ I tried phoning you when my present arrived but the phone was always off. I assumed you cancelled your contract.
5 days until departure. Are you all excited now?
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here in Aus, I always make room for lots of things in my luggage on the way home. ;D
I know this is true Angie. I've seen him throw out the spare tyre, the toolbox, his lunch, clothing (kept the toothbush) and even Yvonne and the dog, to give more plant room. ;D ;D ;D
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Lesley,
I've told you not to exaggerate. You know that our dog doesn't come with us on holidays!! ;D
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here in Aus, I always make room for lots of things in my luggage on the way home. ;D
I know this is true Angie. I've seen him throw out the spare tyre, the toolbox, his lunch, clothing (kept the toothbush) and even Yvonne and the dog, to give more plant room. ;D ;D ;D
When my mum was still with us she always had a worried look as the car was filling up with plant material.
Sitting at the airport waiting to board, not looking forward to the 14 hour flight and then the 8 hour drive home ( Maggi will drive home safely ) At least I have all your posts to pass the time. Lots of catching up to do and looking forward to it.
Angie :)
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Well, I part will my last plants today. :'( Thanks to all who helped to swell the funds for my adventure down under. Two weeks to go! ;D
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Not long now Anthony. 8)
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Well, I part will my last plants today. :'( Thanks to all who helped to swell the funds for my adventure down under. Two weeks to go! ;D
Don't be sad Anthony we all promise to look after your plants and will post some pictures for you to see.
Just think once you get settled think of what you will be able to grow over there, by past history we are in for some delights.
Angie :)
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Who know what might happen Angie. We are starting off in Auckland and will see where the jobs take us.
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Anthony,
I wish you all well. I wish I was brave enough to leave my home. I would love to live somewhere that would have a warm summer that I could sit out in an evening. You will miss Dunblane as it is in such a lovely part of the country. I never new it was so lovely. We always come down to the late bulb show but never have the time to look around but after leaving your lovely home we had a good look at the area and it was beautiful.
At least we won't be losing you on this forum. Hope we hear all about your exciting times.
Please post lots of pictures once you have time.
Angie :)
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Just noticed today the leaves have all been eaten off the Cyclamen hederifolium under the lounge window. They were ok on Friday so I thought maybe the deer would leave them this year. I had them protected with wire netting last winter after them being eaten the previous two years, but was not able to get the protection in place myself this year and had not got round to getting one of my daughters to do it before the snow came.
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I think my goldfish tank might be home to the polyp stage of a fresh water jellyfish >:( ??? ??? Im not sure i want tiny jellyfish in my tank. I may have to kill them :o ( Or just buy a micro tank for the jellyfish ;D ;D ;D )
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Never heard of them Emma. Any photos or are they too small?
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Emma,
How would freshwater jellyfish have appeared in your fish tank? I'd be expecting the goldfish to likely eat them anyway?
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I suspect Emma might be describing Hydra, a freshwater 'sea anemone' lookalike?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra_%28genus%29
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I suspect Emma might be describing Hydra, a freshwater 'sea anemone' lookalike?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra_%28genus%29
Do you know, a Hydra never dies of old age?
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No its not hydra . I have had hydra in the tank before, and managed to kill the imortal little devils !!!!!
This is forming a mat of interconected polyps on the inner surface of the filter and in the tank. SOmeone on a fishforum belives they are freshwater jellyfish (Craspedacusta sowerbyi) isn't a true jelly fish, but a close approximation
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/jellyfish/freshwater.php
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I can photograph the polyp stage, i dont have any free swimming jellyfish yet. I have moved some polyps into a tank will less water movement. This might trigger the polyps to produce meduse, the free swimming stage.
The jellyfish can grow up too 2cm across. I think these might turn into a intresting new pet . I dont think they would be given a chance to grow in the tank with the goldfish, they eat anything that fits in their mouthes.
I can only guess that they got into the tank on some living plants i bought for the tank a few months back. Thats how some snails and hydras got in a couple of years ago.
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The THINGS :o :o :o ??? ??? ??? If anyone knows for sure what they are ,please let me know :)
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Aren't they Hydra? :-[ You already mentioned them - I must read before posting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hydras_(8).JPG (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hydras_(8).JPG)
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Nope not hydra , been there, killed those ::) these dont move round the tank (yet ?) they are all interconected into a mat of polyps . Hydras swim around , walk about , and are bigger than these Things.
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These have loads more tentcles than hydra. Hydra only have five
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Well that's the last time I'll write anything for the Daily Mail Weekend Magazine! >:(
Sent my snowdrops feature in only to have some hack of an 'assistant editor' add on a rewritten (and factually incorrect) intro and ending to make it more in keeping with the Daily Mail style. I've since been told by someone else who's written for the Daily Mail that this is what they tend to do - take your copy and turn it into a flowery hack job.
My intro was this:
The current craze in horticultural circles for snowdrops, or galanthus to give them their botanical name, is sometimes compared to the madness of Tulip Mania in seventeenth century Holland, due to the incredibly high prices that bulbs of the newest and rarest varieties can sell for at auction.
I then went on to write, very topically, about the incredibly high prices snowdrops sell for at auction before writing generally about snowdrops, which to buy to start a collection, where to buy them, where to see them, how to grow them, etc. The bulk of my feature has been left as I wrote it and is I feel reasonably well written (since I've been writing for over 30 years, including for various gardening mags and half a dozen gardening books) apart from the stupid intro and ending tagged on. I re-wrote these to correct the inaccuracies and try to make it less rubbish, but god knows if they'll take any notice! Bear in mind this feature is to appear on 5th Feb when the snowdrop season is well underway, so the timing mistake was the first thing I corrected. Anyway, here is the intro they wanted to tag onto the top of the article:
By Martin Baxendale
With a little bit of luck, and if our gardens don't get buried under another thick layer of snow, we should soon be getting a glimpse of what some people call milk flowers. By that I mean snowdrops, nature's own white carpet, celebrated as a very early and - given the harsh weather - optimistic sign of spring. One minute the ground is hard and unyielding, or so it seems; the next, Galanthus (to give them their botanical name) are peeping through all over the place, later to be outshone by the equally ubiquitous yellow daffodil.
But we shouldn't take snowdrops for granted, as there is a current craze in horticultural circles for some of the newest and rarest varieties, and big money is being paid for single flowers. It is being compared to the madness of Tulip Mania in 17th century Holland, when just one bulb would sell for ten times a craftsman's yearly wage.
And this is the ending they wanted to tag on:
So when you see the first snowdrops of spring poking through this month, welcome them as something more than nature's first stirrings of the gardening year. Because for some people they are, after all, an investment in the future - in more ways than one.
Remember, this is to be published 5th Feb, and I told them when the snowdrop season starts, peaks and ends. The sound you can hear is me tearing my hair out.
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It's not my kind of newspaper at all, and with hindsight I should probably have said no when they asked.
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THEIR intro is rubbish Martin. If I'd submitted that (aged 12 or 13) to my English teacher it would have come back with red pencil lines and a terse comment to "think again."
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That's pretty much what I thought when I first read it Lesley. And milk flowers?!! Where'd they get that from? Nature's own white carpet? That would be yer actual snow, wouldn't it?! etc, bloody etc.
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To call snowdrops "milk flower" isn't actually wrong and doesn't require much imagination as that is what Galanthus (greek: gala = milk, anthos = flower) means.
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Yes, that's the literal meaning of the botanical name galanthus, which I did know of course, but to say that some people call them milk flowers is just wrong - I've never heard a single gardener (or non-gardener) here in Britain refer to snowdrops as milk flowers, and no snowdrop collector in the UK would use that name. The way they wrote it makes it sound like people commonly refer to them as milk flowers, which is just not true - I think they got it from the Wikipedia entry for galanthus, which gives the literal meaning of the name in the first line.
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why dont you retract it?
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I did consider that, Mark, but I put a lot of work into it and hoped that if I rewrote the crap bits they tacked on and tried to get it back on the right tracks then it could still be okay - and maybe it will. Fingers crossed. Also they only sent me their stupid revisions at the very last minute, as the copy and pictures were already being sub-edited and planned into the magazine edition, which is due to come out in just a few days. So I was pretty much screwed - the friend who writes for them said, when I mentioned that, that they would probably just use the copy and photos I'd sent and ignore any attempts to withdraw my approval to publish.
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Well Martin you know what to say next time if you are asked again,had a similar experience with a mini magazine years ago,and now refuse if asked
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Really looking forward to a whole day in Queenstown yesterday, watching NZ play Pakistan, a one day game against a stunning high mountain backdrop and was planning to buy apricots, cherries on the way through Central and gather some wild plants of Thymus vulgaris which cover the hills in the Cromwell Gorge. I need more in my herb garden.
Leaving home around 7am I heard the first 3 or 4 overs on the radio (Pakistan no wickets down for about 35 runs!) then the rain came down and the game was eventually abandoned. Mooched around for a while, got my fruit and thyme and very wet, then home to sniggers from the other half.
I suppose Maggi would say it serves me right for wasting time on such a silly game. ::) Weather in Q'town today is expected to be very fine, warm and sunny. ???
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I might be considered to be ageist but: newspapers these days appear to have a mass of probably very well qualified 20/something journalists with not a scrap of common sense or world experience. They, well the London based ones anyone, appear to think that the whole world revolves around London/Covent Garden/Chelsea/ and the whole world is 20-30.
Ah well. Wish I was 20-30 again ;D
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You are full of wishful thinking David..... you should be more positive, like me... I have the body of a twenty year old and regret nothing.... of course, that might change when I have to let him go......... :-X
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;D ;D ;D
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go compaaare, go compaaare
compare the market dot com
Pain in the a$$ the lot of them.
My car insurance is up in March so I went to those annoying web sites to get a quote. Within seconds of me getting the list of quotes the phone and the mobile phone have started to ring. Those companies are like vultures. grrrrrrrr
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I just make up a number and my phone never rings ;D
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I just make up a number and my phone never rings ;D
That must be an age thing-so do I
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For weeks I've been trying to buy a new pair of slippers. The problem is I have a quite narrow foot (would that the rest of me was so narrow!!) and slipper manufacturers appear only to make slippers for people who's feet are as wide as barges. So my shoe size, 8.5, means I have to either buy a pair of size 9s that I could turn round in, or a pair of size 8s, and I would have to cut a hole in them for my toe. It is very FRUSTRATING.
There, glad that that's off my chest-or foot!!
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I'm too honest ::)
David I thinks Clarks do narrow fitting shoes. Have you tried Amazon?
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I just make up a number and my phone never rings ;D
That must be an age thing-so do I
Glad I'm not the only 'oddball' Tony, it surely must be an age thing. Anti social networking I think we could call it.
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I'm too honest ::)
David I thinks Clarks do narrow fitting shoes. Have you tried Amazon?
Honesty doesn't always pay :P
Clarks do narrow fitting shoes but not narrow slippers. The thing about Amazon is all the sending back and I'm sure there would be lots of it.
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Slippers? Never had a pair.
Sending back with Amazon is so easy. They pay the postage and return the item in the same box
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Slippers? Never had a pair.
You're not old enough ;D
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I go barefoot in the house a lot of the time.
I used to know a couple who were bare foot all year everywhere rain hail and shine. What was interesting was their big toes had moved inwards
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I go barefoot in the house a lot of the time.
I used to know a couple who were bare foot all year everywhere rain hail and shine. What was interesting was their big toes had moved inwards
Are you a foot fetishist by any chance Mark? :P ;D
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I go barefoot in the house a lot of the time.
I used to know a couple who were bare foot all year everywhere rain hail and shine. What was interesting was their big toes had moved inwards
Are you a foot fetishist by any chance Mark? :P ;D
Funny you should have that thought... my thought was how can he afford to heat the house enough to be able to walk around barefoot... all a matter of perspective, I suppose! :-X
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;D ;D ;D
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This is not a moan because I have just given up and settled down to enjoying my plants so just factual.
My wife who has been my domestic goddess for almost 42 years and during that time kept the home and me clean and neatly presented works three days a week in a charity shop.
They have just had a Health and Safety inspection by a jobsworth from the Council. She is now not allowed to use the vacuum cleaner until she has had training and the appropriate training log is completed.
This only applies at the shop because I have given her the okay to continue at home but have told her I will be looking for higher standards when she has had her training.
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Mmmmm.... how exactly does the council propose to test/train Mrs W ? They would be hard pressed to find someone with greater qualifications in such matters, I would think? I hope Mrs W is not going to agree to any training until she is satisfied as to the relevant certification of the council bod !
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I think she will see if she can get any useful tips on the basis never to old to learn. She found the training on how to use the electric kettle to boil water for tea electrifying.
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They have just had a Health and Safety inspection by a jobsworth from the Council. She is now not allowed to use the vacuum cleaner until she has had training and the appropriate training log is completed.
This only applies at the shop because I have given her the okay to continue at home but have told her I will be looking for higher standards when she has had her training.
I have to laugh, otherwise I will cry.
Can't believe how much the world has changed in such a short period of time.
Where did common sense go?
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Where did common sense go?
You may well ask, Helen. Such things are just daft.
I know there are good reasons for some of the regulations about nowadays, but so often they go so far as to be counter productive.
To take as an instance the suggestion made in the "name change" thread about getting involved with schools to promote gardening to small children....... that is well nigh impossible in Scotland now, because everyone going into the classroom or involved in any workshops, would need to have been fully certified by the police etc , with criminal record checks and so on, to make sure that there were no paedophiles involved with an activity for school children. Now, I don't suppose that many of our members would object to being investigated for that reason, but the fact is there is not the money for that accreditation in the schools outwith the essential school staff, and certainly not in the SRGC or for individuals to carry the cost. So, no chance to provide any such projects in practical terms.
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This is not a moan because I have just given up and settled down to enjoying my plants so just factual.
My wife who has been my domestic goddess for almost 42 years and during that time kept the home and me clean and neatly presented works three days a week in a charity shop.
They have just had a Health and Safety inspection by a jobsworth from the Council. She is now not allowed to use the vacuum cleaner until she has had training and the appropriate training log is completed.
This only applies at the shop because I have given her the okay to continue at home but have told her I will be looking for higher standards when she has had her training.
No wonder the Nation is in a bad way. Far too many jobsworths doing non-jobs. I admire your stance about appropriate standards for the home Tony ;D
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Where did common sense go?
You may well ask, Helen. Such things are just daft.
I know there are good reasons for some of the regulations about nowadays, but so often they go so far as to be counter productive.
To take as an instance the suggestion made in the "name change" thread about getting involved with schools to promote gardening to small children....... that is well nigh impossible in Scotland now, because everyone going into the classroom or involved in any workshops, would need to have been fully certified by the police etc , with criminal record checks and so on, to make sure that there were no paedophiles involved with an activity for school children. Now, I don't suppose that many of our members would object to being investigated for that reason, but the fact is there is not the money for that accreditation in the schools outwith the essential school staff, and certainly not in the SRGC or for individuals to carry the cost. So, no chance to provide any such projects in practical terms.
Good grief, Maggi......... I suppose that should have occurred to me.
Similar things are going on here and Australia especially where children are concerned.
I would hate to be a young parent these days, having to be careful of taking pics of kids, playing with them, hugging etc.
Always someone who can see evil where it isn't.....
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no foot fetish here, David, though I would like to have a size or two smaller. I take UK10 and if I could I would go down a size or two. A friend who is over 6 feet takes a size 7.
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no foot fetish here, David, though I would like to have a size or two smaller. I take UK10 and if I could I would go down a size or two. A friend who is over 6 feet takes a size 7.
Does he have problems balancing? ;D
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no - he's good at football
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Today 2nd February received the seed list from the Androsace group that was posted on the 15th of November and the closing date for seed requests was the 26th of November. How nice. :(
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:o :o
And I thought our postal system was bad at times. ???
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Today 2nd February received the seed list from the Androsace group that was posted on the 15th of November and the closing date for seed requests was the 26th of November. How nice. :(
Good grief, the backlog from the bad weather and the holiday season is even worse then we thought!
I know that Alan Hayes, who receives the SRGC seed requests, in the last week or so was getting mail delivered that was dated late November and early December.
At the time of all the snow and kerfuffle I remember speaking to our local Postie about it and he said that locally they couldn't understand what all the fuss was about! :-X
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Got my oil delivered this morning and the man said you must have been low as it took 1600 litres to fill up. My tank holds 1500litres, must have been more than low. When I moved here our first fill cost £280 this fill will cost me a nearly £900...Think how much lovely plants I could buy with this. now that's worth moaning about.
When my husband came back I told him we had our oil delivered and he said were you dressed like that when the oil man came, my reply was yes. What he was meaning was I had my jumper inside out, I had yellow kneeling pads on, pink gloves and red boots. Well I was in a hurry to get outside before the rain came.
Angie :)
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Angie, what did you say when the guy told you he put 1600litres in the tank?
Could the tank have a leak?
Plain old rip off??
My husband just said you dress like me haha!!
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... I had my jumper inside out, I had yellow kneeling pads on, pink gloves and red boots....
Sounds perfectly fine to me Angie ;D
Should a Garden couture thread ever appear then I'd have to keep a (very) low profile :-X
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I'm still trying to work out if not having the appropriate training will get me out of ironing, hoovering, washing dishes etc. ;D
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I think your dress sense is wonderful Angie and just think. It will have given the oil man something to laugh and talk about all day. You're spreading happiness. ;D
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I think your dress sense is wonderful Angie and just think. It will have given the oil man something to laugh and talk about all day. You're spreading happiness. ;D
I would hate to think what he thought, oh well when you get to a certain age who cares. Like I always say I am at my happiest when I am in my garden. It's my own little world.
I have never been into fashion...good job I will need to save money for my next oil tank fill.
Anthony I didn't think you would still be doing all those chores, thought you would be lying on a deck somewhere soaking up the sun with a cool drink. Nice that you are still with us. ;D
Angie :)
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So did you get it explained to you how he could put 1600 litres into a 1500 litre tank? Sounds like you've just been overcharged in a big way. Did you bargain him down?
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So did you get it explained to you how he could put 1600 litres into a 1500 litre tank? Sounds like you've just been overcharged in a big way. Did you bargain him down?
Hi Paul
You can't bargain with these companies. I try and shop around to get a good price but they always have a answer, usually saying oil prices have just gone up. Yes I did get a expiation. He said that the tank is a 1500 litre tank but you can get more if you fill it to the top, now does that make sense to you. My husband is going to check with the supplier of the tank tomorrow. I must say I have never got that amount into my tank before. The vehicles do have a meter on them showing how much fuel goes in.
Angie :)
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And that meter can be fiddled with by the sound of it. I'd be very surprised if you could fit an extra 100 litre into a 1500 litre tank that wasn't even empty to start with. :-\
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The tanks are always made larger to leave room for expansion of the fuel. They really should not be filled to the brim in case a rise in temperature caused it to overlow.
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Hi Tom that's exactly right. My husband contacted the suppliers of the tank today ( after me nagging him for a wee while ) and they said yes the tank could take that amount if it was empty. I suppose it must have been. Still had heating tho.
They said it's not advisable to overfill. So it's nice to have a answer. :)
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I joined the Hardy Orchid Society - after cancelling many other society subscriptions - and got an invitation to join their email group. I sent an email. It didnt go through so I sent it again. An email came through from admin who had stopped the email because I posted a link to my web site.
S/he was worried I would be robbed.
Just think how many photos are posted on this web site every day. Do we assume we will be robbed? No.
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The THINGS :o :o :o ??? ??? ??? If anyone knows for sure what they are ,please let me know :)
These are bryozoans Emma. Harmless filter feeding colonial animals that signify a healthy environment. I wouldn't worry about them The worst they can do is eat the suspended algae in the water.
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Poor Algie, no-one told me he'd been suspended in the water..... is there no hope for the lad? ::) ;D
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At least the only bears he'll meet will be tardigrades! ;D
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It's the tardy ones you have to watch out for! :o
;D
Nice to have you back, Anthony.
cheers
fermi
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Yes Fermi, I've been a bit tardy myself. 8)
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The THINGS :o :o :o ??? ??? ??? If anyone knows for sure what they are ,please let me know :)
These are bryozoans Emma. Harmless filter feeding colonial animals that signify a healthy environment. I wouldn't worry about them The worst they can do is eat the suspended algae in the water.
Thank you ever so much :-* :-* ;D i knew some one would know what they are. What a fount of knowledage this forum is ;D :-. After the hydras got some of my fish fry ,i was worried they might be harmful as they looked a bit simmilar. The bryozoans now have their own bowl to live in.
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The bryozoans now have their own bowl to live in.
Souper!
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clips/p00dxtxf/misery_bear_misery_bear_goes_to_work/
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clips/p00dxtxf/misery_bear_misery_bear_goes_to_work/
Martin, you perked up my day with Misery Bear, too funny! ;D :'( ;D
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Well yes, but the second one I watched, "Misery Bear's Valentine's Day,' has me in tears. :'(
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Well yes, but the second one I watched, "Misery Bear's Valentine's Day,' has me in tears. :'(
I have watched 8-9 of them now, he is a sad little guy befitting his name, but the human-like things he does, and how they somehow animate him, are still very funny. Leslie, you might not want to watch the Misery Bear Christmas or Misery Bear New Friend episodes :'(
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Oh dear, of course I now WILL watch them but will have some tissues handy. Martin, is the Misery Bear your child?
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Oh dear, of course I now WILL watch them but will have some tissues handy. Martin, is the Misery Bear your child?
No, nothing to do with me, Lesley. A friend posted the link to the going to work one on Facebook.
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Just watched a couple of episodes with Ivi and she burst into tears at the end of the Christmas one.
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Based on all these recommendations, I don't think I'll watch any of them. I don't fancy being miserable for the rest of the day. :'(
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But in a good way Paul. ::)
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There seems to be a block on watching them here at work but I did watch one when I was at the local library (I believe McMark knows about these things!). Very clever - "Dawn of the Ted" comes with a parental warning because of the horror!
cheers
fermi
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There seems to be a block on watching them here at work but I did watch one when I was at the local library (I believe McMark knows about these things!). Very clever - "Dawn of the Ted" comes with a parental warning because of the horror!
cheers
fermi
Haven't watched the Dawn of the Ted one yet, but will. My daughter (at college) reported the link wouldn't work for her either. Yes, I know about being temporarily blocked, and hanging out at the library ;D
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:'( :'( :'(
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Anne, looking at your avatar, I could swear that I saw the little bear move :o
But you shouldn't worry, yours is a Happy Bear. :D
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Scale bear is always happy sitting next to daffodils.
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After 16 months unemployment, I was hoping to post on the I'm So happy thread that I finally got a job. A few weeks ago, I had my first in-person job interview in over a year, with a small start-up tech company just 11 miles from my house. The day after my interview, which went very well, I received a job offer via email, albeit for only 40% of what I used to make, but I was aware of the low pay to begin with. I accepted, I need health insurance benefits, so I signed the job offer and sent it in. The day before I was to start, they sent an email telling me the job was filled, they reneged on the offer, finding someone willing to take even less $ than what they offered me.
The US unemployment rate stands at just a hair below 10%, but what that statistic fails to report, is that there is another 5% who have run out the unemployment benefits so they disappear from the statistic; the real number is closer to 15%. Desperation and depression sets in once again.
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So sorry to hear that, Mark.
But if they are "happy" to treat prospective employees like that it probably wouldn't have been a nice place to work.
cheers
fermi
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Sorry to hear that Mark. Don't let the bastards grind you down!
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So sorry Mark, try to stay positive mate.
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I'm sorry too Mark but I'm sure Fermi is right and you wouldn't have been happy there. Our system doesn't involve health insurance as yours does. I mean that one is not better insured whether employed or not.
Our lot keep talking about cutting benefits after a certain time but it hasn't happened yet except that those who have reached the possible end have to do retraining or community work or whatever. No-one is left to starve in fact but some come jolly close to it.
As well as the "disappeared" 5% you mention, there's the large percentage, especially of women, who are classed as "employed" because they may have a few hours a week of paid work. It may only be 5 or 6 hours. How can anyone live on that? No advantage to anyone except it makes the govt feel and look good that the unemployed statistic looks better than it actually is.
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They just don't know what they are missing, Mark!
Chin up, chest out, heart resolved, brain in gear ... try, try, try again ... and good luck!
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A really bad experience, Mark and I know how awful you must be feeling right now but the Forumists are (as they are so often) right on the button... you would never have been happy in a set-up with those morals and, I venture to suggest, you wouldn't have been long in that employment anyway... sounds to me like a dodgy company like that is not going to survive for long. :-X
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sounds to me like a dodgy company like that is not going to survive for long. :-X
Sorry from me too. It astonishes me that someone with your obvious intellect and skills can't get a job!
It sounds to me rather that you live in a dodgy country that is not going to survive for long...
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Not very fair, Mark
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I left instructions with my mother to keep the bird feeders filled with sunflower seeds. Last night she told me they have stopped coming ??? She topped up the feeders OK but with wheat. Not a bird in the garden today except the rooks and jackdaws on the grass eating the wheat I dumped
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They're plain stupid Mark !! >:(
Next time better !! :D
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Mark, I am so sorry to hear they reneged on the job, I know how frustrated and feeling down you must be.
Here's hoping the next offer comes soon and is a much better fit for you.
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A heartfelt THANKS everyone; you forumists are the best. :)
Filing my weekly unemployment claim yesterday reminded me I'm soon to become one of the so-called 99'rs (ninety-niners), the long-term unemployed who fall off the radar and don't even count as unemployed anymore. My sister-in-law works for the US government (US Dept. of Agriculture), she sent me a link to Federal Government jobs, searching on the State of Massachusetts with keywords matching my experience showed a small listing of jobs, all were for $27,000 per year!!! :o :o :P Couldn't believe my eyes, that's just a shade past the official "poverty level" for a family of four. Seems the clocks have been turned back 40 years, but not for healthcare coverage, which for my family is currently $18,600 year.
That's the other aspect of the US downturn economy, it's had the widespread effect of significantly rolling back salaries to such a degree, it'll take a decade or more just to regain the losses. Heard a statistic recently stating the average pay for steel workers dropped from $24/hr to $14/hr in the last two years, but people are willing to take the cuts just to keep their job, primarily because healthcare insurance benefits is inextricably dependent on having a job and hugely expensive.
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It's an insidious situation you have there, Mark - Work for whatever peanuts you get offered, and be grateful for it, or you're on your own if your kids get sick.
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...................Seems the clocks have been turned back 40 years, but not for healthcare coverage, which for my family is currently $18,600 year.
My God! inspite of all it's short comings we are lucky to have a National Health Service-long may it continue (although I doubt if it will!)
Just a couple of quotes from Nye Bevan who gave it birth.
"I would rather be kept alive in the efficient if cold altruism of a large hospital than expire in a gush of warm sympathy in a small one"
"Stand not too near the rich man lest he destroy thee-and not too far away lest he forget thee"
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I can't believe the cost of healthcare insurance in the US Mark though I know full cover is very expensive here too. Most people except those I would term as wealthy, just don't have cover at all. No-one misses out on healthcare but if not insured we usually have to go on a waiting list for what is termed "elective" surgery, such as orthopaedic etc where you may be in hideous pain but aren't going to die from it. I have to say though, that in a real emergency like my perforated ulcer in 2009, everything happens at top speed and without compromise, thankfully.
Not sure what the "official" poverty level is here. The average wage is around $45,000 I think. Mine is way under half that.
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Mark
I am really sorry to hear of your experience and hope the future is better.
I was going to make a political comment but feel such things are better left alone.
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Yup, the cost of healthcare insurance is through the roof here, and rises dramatically each year, as does deductibles, plus more restrictions about what's covered, etc. One of the quiet crisis situations among a particular demographic, are young people just graduated from college who find themselves in a situation where they can't find work, or only get part time work without benefits, thus have no healthcare. Traditionally here, once they're of certain age, (21 or 22, and graduated from college) they can no longer be covered under a parent's healthcare plan, they must get their own. One item that President Obama put into place, is coverage for young family members up to age 26, which I think is terrific.
Perhaps you've heard the noise from a certain supremely dufus population here who believe this new benefit is an outrage, or that any safeguards or improvements in healthcare legislation is tantamount to an evil socialist government take-over ::)
@Tony: I think you're wise to refrain from political comments, it is taking every inch of personal fortitude here not to scream about the political atmosphere here.
@Leslie: but without healthcare, aren't people at risk of getting seriously ill and losing their life savings? In the US, it is a sad state of affairs that most home foreclosures (of which there has been record numbers the last 2 years), bankruptcy, and complete loss of life savings, if from people losing a job then losing healthcare then coming down with a serious disease or illness, where the exorbitant medical costs wipes them out.
@Martin: you're a man of few words ;D
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No-one misses out on healthcare but if not insured we usually have to go on a waiting list for what is termed "elective" surgery, such as orthopaedic etc where you may be in hideous pain but aren't going to die from it.
Lesley - Do you mean you can get a replacement faster if you have extra - i.e. private - health insurance in NZ? I though NZ was like NS where all hospital stays, surgeries and health care - excluding dental, diabetic supllies (that one is a puzzle), corn/wart-removal and cosmetic - are covered by our government health insurance. I don't believe we can jump the queque for replacements or other procedures with extra insurance. Country-wide we have a max wait limit for replacements, well at least on paper in NS; if emerg then things work very well. I pay $90 month for two for extra coverage - covers 80% of drugs and most dental, trip home if out of country + full drug/health coverage out of country. Once a senior the government charges $424/yr for all drugs/vaccines etc. but you can get it free if you make under a certain amount per year.
Mark $18,000 a year is unbelievable and scandalous. I hope you can at least write-it off as we do with the $90/mo and the 20% drug charge? I had a friend in Va. whose husband racked up $100,000 hospital bill in 2 weeks and that was in 1975!
johnw
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@Tony: I think you're wise to refrain from political comments, it is taking every inch of personal fortitude here not to scream about the political atmosphere here.
@Martin: you're a man of few words ;D
I was trying to post to say I'd de-politicised my comment, in the interests of forum harmony, but had an editing glitch.
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One of the dufae might be one Ms. Palin who painted the Canadian health coverage as that of pinko-socialists and later admitted to sneaking across the border into Alberta for treatment. I doubt if we were able to find a cerebral match. I stop here. :-X Promise.
johnw
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@Leslie: but without healthcare, aren't people at risk of getting seriously ill and losing their life savings? In the US, it is a sad state of affairs that most home foreclosures (of which there has been record numbers the last 2 years), bankruptcy, and complete loss of life savings, if from people losing a job then losing healthcare then coming down with a serious disease or illness, where the exorbitant medical costs wipes them out.
No Mark because like the UK we have a universal availability to healthcare regardless of personal circumstances. If one has insurance one can recoup the (quite small) costs of doctor visits, prescriptions etc and can also get hospital treatment more or less on call. Without insurance one may have to be part of a waiting list but it still happens within a safety margin of time and all hospital treatment or surgery etc is absolutely free to all NZers, also to Australians and Brits visiting because of reciprocal arrangements. Prescriptions are not more than $3 per item and free after so many items per year for the rest of that year. We (Roger and I) have no medical or health insurance at all, can't afford it, so Roger's ankle surgery was waited for, for about 4 months but didn't cost a bean. My ulcer surgery was done with an hour of diagnosis and likewise, with 10 days in hospital and an angiogram as well, didn't cost anything at all. A visit to the doctor is free for 6 year olds and under and depending on the health centre one attends, can be from about $20 to $65 for adults. However, beneficiaries have what is called a Community services card which entitles them to heavily subsidised doctor visits. Procedures such as angiograms, any kinds of scans, ultrasounds etc etc cost nothing at public hospitals. Private hospitals will charge but are used mostly by those with good insurance.
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Our national health coverage though, covers neither optometrists nor dentistry. So insurance is a good option there. Many poorer people do without either, to their detriment. We in Dunedin are extremely fortunate in that NZ's only dental school is here and the students use the public for their learning. The standard is extremely high and costs about 1/10th of what the same work would cost from a fully qualified dentist. I go there myself. I think they charge only to cover materials.
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Our national health coverage though, covers neither optometrists nor dentistry. So insurance is a good option there. Many poorer people do without either, to their detriment. We in Dunedin are extremely fortunate in that NZ's only dental school is here and the students use the public for their learning. The standard is extremely high and costs about 1/10th of what the same work would cost from a fully qualified dentist. I go there myself. I think they charge only to cover materials.
Lesley - I'm surprised you have to pay for doctor visits as there is no charge here and we can go to the doctor of our choice. No optometry coverage here either unless you are in a high risk group like diabetics. We too are lucky to have a large university dental school just round the corner and the costs are minimal but I go to a dentist who obviously is doing major house renovations. I'm implant & crown poor these days and so have to forego a snowdrop or two. ;)
johnw
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Thanks Leslie, the healthcare system in NZ seems awesome, I hear the same said about Canada. If one has good healthcare insurance, as I do, then most everything is covered... but ONLY if you actually have bought the expensive insurance coverage, paid for out of pocket and partially by one's employer. Four years ago I landed in the hospital for 3 days with kidney stones, my insurance covered everything except my $100 emergency room co-payment, not bad. The insurance company still sends a statement of services covered, and I was shocked to see to see my bill (with $0 due) was $26,000 for those 3 days. What would 2 weeks in the hospital cost, about $120,000 dollars; enough to bankrupt some families.
John, you wrote: "$18,000 a year is unbelievable and scandalous." Couldn't agree more. Even though I'm unemployed, the State of Massachusetts has a benefit whereby I can maintain my "group healthcare coverage" from my previous employer, and the State pays 2/3 of the cost for up to 15 months... my last month of this benefit ends March 2011, then I get to pay the whole thing. Not only that, I will no longer have the benefit of "group negotiated" health care cost (like that really helped here), I will have to buy it as an individual family, at problably 25-30% more than the $18,600 annual cost now + will be subject to much higher deductable of $500 or $1000 for certain items.
The system is very broken here. Very good health care itself, but only if one can afford the insurance.
[addenda: just noticed, this was my 2000th SRGC post :)]
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Mark just caught up with your posts. Thought my problem was bad but after reading everyone coments and about the horrible way that you have been treated makes me mad. I hope that you soon will get a job and a wirthwhile one at that. It's not good everywhere by the sounds of things.
Anyway Mark congratulations that you have marked up 2000 posts. I can say that I enjoy reading what you have to say. Keep smiling you are among friends here.
Angie :)
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While we can all empathise with the problems of unemployment, we in the UK are so fortunate not to have to worry at such a stressful time about the possible impact of health problems to our family hitting us in the way Mark describes.
We can only imagine- with horror- the fear it must engender that a family member should fall ill in such circumstances. That's a stress that no-one needs.
So, in addition to my good wishes for a new job, McMark, I wish you and all your family the very best of health.
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I just cannot understand the USA. Surely the health of a country's population should be the number one priority for any Government and not be left to the size of your wallet.
I would not swop our NHS sevice for a private insurance scheme. Last year I had a good reason to be thankful for thr NHS service. After a routine test, my wife was called back for some more tests and x-rays, and then a meeting with the Consultant. Two days later she was in hospital, operated on, then more biopsies, back in again for more operations and then 18 weeks of chemotherapy. The treatment and aftercare could not have been bettered at any private clinic.
The cost to us including followup prescription drugs - zero. I have never minded paying tax and National Insurance for a system like this. Insurance schemes are calculated to make money for the companies who sell the policies.
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I agree Tom,
As a relatively healthy couple without children we are probably, so far, paying far more into the system than we get out but I don't begrudge any of it. The NHS does a fantastic job.
Mark - I echo everybody else's messages of commiseration and really hope things pick up for you soon.
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If, say, an elderly man living on the streets and obviously without either job or insurance becomes ill suddenly, here he would be taken to hospital and treated appropriately. What happens in the USA? Is he just left on the street to die? I know there are some proposed improvements which have made Obama unpopular with the rich and greedy but how can the Republicans in all conscience oppose them? From what I read in Time magazine, they are only partial and will take many years to roll out anyway.
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Lesley,
From what I've heard, he would be left on the streets to die. I couldn't believe it when I heard it, and I hope that McMark will tell us it isn't true. Our system here in Aus isn't as good as yours by the sound of it, but compared to McMark's it appears to be much safer.
McMark,
Commiserations on the job problems. I can empathise to a degree as I was ill for a number of years and was unable to work, then had to try to get back into work after that with a 7 year gap in my resume. Thankfully my horticultural knowledge got me a foot in the door. I've sent you a PM as well.
I can only wish you all the best, and hope that it all works out. All the VERY best for future opportunities. Hopefully we'll hear good news in the near future.
Take care,
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No he would NOT be left on the street to die.
Do the hospitals and clinics ask for your Insurance Card as soon as they see you? Yes they do. Would they refuse to treat you if you were dying. No they wouldn't.
I have seen the benefits and non-benefits of both sides of the health systems in the UK and the USA. Sherba has worked for both health systems. They both have their good points and they both have their bad points.
Before I came to the USA I had never had a colonoscopy, a prostate test or a kidney scan in the UK. Never been offered one, never asked for one. As soon as I came here, I was sent for all three...and without going into details, oh boy was I glad.
The USA is very proactive in treating patients.(Let's try and stop you getting anything so we don't have to treat it) the UK is very reactive.(Oh dear...you've got something.....well you're going to get the very best treatment to get rid of it....if you've got enough time left).
There will never be a perfect health system anywhere in this world because it costs money and money doesn't grow on trees. but to suggest people are left on the streets to die in the USA is absurd.
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Alan
are you saying that anybody without health insurance is offered all these preventative treatments as routine?
I agree with Tom and Darren the NHS is excellent .
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As far as I'm aware, you'd only get all those preventive procedures if you have health insurance. And if you get ill or have an accident without health insurance then you're very restricted in where you can go - usually only to a charitable foundation-type hospital where you effectively get free health care as a charitable act, not a right, and where the staff are usually swamped and overworked in pretty poor, not very well funded conditions. If you're dying then I imagine you might get emergency treatment at any nearby hospital but as soon as possible, and certainly if your stabliised and not bleeding to death I think they boot you over to a free charity hospital somewhere.
I think one of the big arguments in the US against private health insurance is that health provision based on insurance costs more than an nationalised system because the insurance companies make huge profits out of providing the insurance, so you have the cost of the health care provision and then the cost of the insurance companies' massive profits on top.
The main argument for private health insurance seems to be that a national health system paid for by progressive taxation would instantly turn the US into a socialist state. Yet so many other public services are funded from taxation without the Red Flag flying over the White House. Then again, there do seem to be a surprising number of people in the US who don't think anything should be funded from taxation.
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Alan
are you saying that anybody without health insurance is offered all these preventative treatments as routine?
No Tony....like everything else, you get what you pay for. What I am saying is that nobody would be refused emergency, life-threatening treatment if they didn't have insurance, and the thought of folks on this forum thinking that the USA would let you "rot where you drop" needed defending. Many people on this side of the pond are misled into thinking that the NHS is a freebie. Having paid into it for 40 years, it is no more free than the private insurance I have over here. It is structured differently but it is certainly not free. I am very fortunate that I am employed and have a subsidy from my employer which enables me to make a much reduced contribution for an excellent policy, and I might add, excellent health providers.
This is a very emotive topic, not helped by people on either side having little or no comprehension about each others systems, and relying on hearsay to make judgements.
Which country would I prefer to have medical treatment in? I would hope I never have the need to make the decision.
Do I prefer proactive investigation to reactive treatment? Yes I do.
Would I like to get top quality medical care without having to pay for it? Yes I would.
....but then I'd like to be able to grow Asiatic primulas in Kentucky and that isn't going to happen either.
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Well Alan, that's the thing. I have very little comprehension of the US system and only wanted some clarification. I'm pleased that you've clarified that particular impression, gained, mostly from Time magazine and a long article about the laws Obama had put in place, not to eveyone's satisfaction.
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Alan,
I am REALLY glad to hear that what I'd heard was wrong. That impression had more come from American TV shows, magazines, media reports etc. I wasn't just trying to be obnoxious, it is the impression that much of the media seems to give, and I am including the American media here, not just the Australian. We get a LOT of US shows, news coverage, etc, so much of what I've gone from has come from within the US I think, not just from biased foreign commentators (if you know what I mean). I am really pleased to be wrong.... very much so.
Thanks heaps for letting us know. 8)
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I have to say I still prefer the notion of universal state-funded healthcare for everyone rather than a two-tier or multi-tier system with the very best healthcare for those who can afford it and varying degrees of not-so-wonderful healthcare for those who can't. But yes please to more preventative medicine, and I have to agree that even our beloved NHS could be greatly improved. Maybe if we spent a tad less on stuff like nuclear subs and wars of dubious legality then we could have more of the kind of preventive screening procedures that Alan describes.
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Lesley, Paul, Martin,
I try not to get too emotional about these things but I felt there was a need to clarify the situation "as I see it". I am sure there are those in the USA who will vehemently disagree with me. There are those who are far less blessed than I am for whom the system is far from perfect, and yes, there are those who suffer because of their financial circumstances. It is a far from ideal system and needs radical reform. I just wanted to dispel the myth that pervades throughout the UK (and yes, before I knew Sherba I probably had the same misconceptions) that no insurance means no treatment.
Stay healthy Folks
Alan
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We do have a good few proactive measures available if one wishes. For instance there are national screening programmes for various cancers and other things and children in schools get automatic free hearing tests and the like. Dentistry in schools is free until age 16 I think, so perhaps we have the best of both worlds here. Part of NZ's problem is that a poplution of just 4 & 1/4 million still demands all the latest and best that technology has to offer and that can be provided by countries with much larger populations. But we are at the forefront in many areas of medical research too.
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Moan? Moi?
Oh well, alright then, just a little one.... I've just heard from Diane C.... telling me how nice and sunny it is in Spain and how there is lots of lovely rosemary and lavendula denata to scent the air........
So cold here my fingers are frozen and outside there's a fierce wind giving a nasty chill factor and Diane messages me to say it's sunny and fragrant .. flippin' holiday makers! If I didn't know she really deserves a break from all her work both employment and voluntary, I'd cut her off my virtual Christmas card list >:(
And I know I hate holidays... but it's different when you're freezing and your pals are somewhere warm!! :P
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It's been chilly over here as well over the last few days Maggi : 3-4°C - fog - sleet - dark and grey .... bweuk... all has come to a standstill in the garden.
Crocusses unopened since 4-5 days... :'( >:( No change anounced... :(
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It's been chilly over here as well over the last few days Maggi : 3-4°C - fog - sleet - dark and grey .... bweuk... all has come to a standstill in the garden.
Crocusses unopened since 4-5 days... :'( >:( No change anounced... :(
Luc glad to hear that we aren't the only place that's miserable. Like Maggi said it's horrible here. Had to clean my pond filter today as it started to overflow, fingers too were frozen. I have forgotten what the sun looks and feels like. :'(
Angie :)
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Wall to wall sunshine here all day, 14c and no wind, working in the garden in shirt sleeves. ;D ;D ;D
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Wall to wall sunshine here all day, 14c and no wind, working in the garden in shirt sleeves. ;D ;D ;D
Luc, Angie, just ignore Michael, he's trying to upset us..... let him be.... I saw a weather forecast that showed he'll need chest waders before the week is out! ;D
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Maggi,we need waders most of the year,( actually we are starting to grow web feed) only get the odd good day so we have to make the best of them. ;D
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Michael if it's the same tomorrow with you I am getting on a plane and coming over. Sunshine and Hepaticas that's heaven. Maggi you coming. ;D
Oh just to see the sun.
Angie :)
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Angie,rain all day tomorrow. :'(
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Angie,rain all day tomorrow. :'(
Sorry
Angie :)
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>:( >:( >:( my book's website has been removed, because did not click enough people on the advertisements :'( :'( :'( :'(
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Oh Erika, what a pity. :'(
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Things aren't going well with the sideline, Maggi?
No wonder - trying to sell snowdrops out of a warehouse!!! ;D
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No, times are tough.....that was my bakery, Cliff, the council closed it down.... elf 'n' safety they said.......
I'm going to use it for the 'drops next year though..... :D
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Was going to say it looks as if it's been touched by an earthquake but I guess that's not a funny subject right now. ::)
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Was it a chocolate cake bakery ?;D ;D ;D
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Telecom has been adding new Broadband cables (or whatever) to our connection up the road and making traffic movement jolly difficult. A digger which was tearing up the road and making a ditch about a metre deep along one lane has also smashed the splash box and while it has been repaired and re-erected, I suspect we don't actually have Broadband at present because everything is very slow and pictures take ages to appear on the screen, about a centimetre at a time, as back in the bad old days of dial-up. Hopefully it will be OK again soon and I'll have so many pictures to have a better look at, like the fabulous retic irises shown by Janis R.
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Yesterday was a really beautiful day, bright, sunny for a long period and just lovely.... I had a sore throat and a stuffy nose and to day I have a horrible headcold. Sneezing and feeling as bad as I look... red nose to beat Rudolf!
I'm going to bed... I hate colds! >:( :'(
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Just to cheer you up more Maggi, I found today a Cadburys Easter egg that you left in my car ;D ;D ;D
SORRY ::)
Angie :)
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Sounds more like man flu to me, more easily cured by whisky than chocolate
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Ah well, Angie, I guess the egg had a swift end?!!
Martin, I'm sure when I had my flu shot I asked for whatever Ian was having .... so it can't be man flu..... ::)..... .though today I've had a long lie and still feel awful, everything hurts and reading the posts from you and Angie made be laugh which brought on a coughing fit.... I'm not well! :P
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Take a break, Maggi, have a rest and get well soon.
Paddy
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There's a bit of swine flu about, which I believe the normal flu jab does not protect against. Turns out it isn't as nasty as everyone feared, but not pleasant either. Whatever it is, I hope you get better very soon. :) :) :)
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Thank you Maren . I think ;)
First Martin thought I was a bloke, now Maren thinks I'm a porker.... I'm feeling worse by the minute...... :'( :-X
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Get well soon Maggi.........I'll have a shot of bourbon for you. That should do the trick !!!!
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Thank you Maren . I think ;)
First Martin thought I was a bloke, now Maren thinks I'm a porker.... I'm feeling worse by the minute...... :'( :-X
You DO have THAT quote at the bottom of your postings, Maggi .... ! ;D
... And I thought you lived in a dry county, Mr. G.? ??? :D
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"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye." - Miss Piggy
Dag nabbit, hoist by my own petard...... again....... :-[
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... And I thought you lived in a dry county, Mr. G.? ??? :D
Sure do Mr. B..........but where there's a "still" (sic) there's a way
So that's what's keeping you all from visiting us, is it?
Take it from me, when Bud light tastes good.....you KNOW the world is a sad place !!!
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Thanks, cliff, for saving my bacon. ;) ;) ;) ;)
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Just have a good rest Maggi and forget about all the silliness here. You probably need a bit of sanity around you. I seem to have picked up a sore throat from spending two days with my son, his girlfriend, her neice, my daughter and her son, the cook, his lover and Uncle Tom Cobley as well as 3 dogs. Among other things, they set fire in the paddock to a scarecrow dressed in rugby gear. There was a good reason for this but no-one explained to me what it was. I was glad to get home last night. ::)
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... And I thought you lived in a dry county, Mr. G.? ??? :D
Sure do Mr. B..........but where there's a "still" (sic) there's a way
So that's what's keeping you all from visiting us, is it?
Take it from me, when Bud light tastes good.....you KNOW the world is a sad place !!!
I'm beginning to think I live in a dry country as the supermarkets don't sell spirits! I haven't had a drop of malt whisky since leaving Scotland! Mind you, the sign about the express checkout cheered me up: "12 items or fewer".
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You'll have to go to a bottle store or other licenced liquor outlet Anthony, for spirits. Or a pub or bar for drinks thereof. Only beer and wine in the supermarkets, not even fortified wines, the rationale being that spirits would be too accessible to the under age if in supermarkets.
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You'll have to go to a bottle store or other licenced liquor outlet Anthony, for spirits. Or a pub or bar for drinks thereof. Only beer and wine in the supermarkets, not even fortified wines, the rationale being that spirits would be too accessible to the under age if in supermarkets.
I thought kids these days tended to get smashed on cheap cider or alcopops not spirits?
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But perhaps because spirits are not so easily available. Having said that, a 16 year old about a year ago drank a whole bottle of vodka (obtained by his mates I think) and died that night. My grandson's best friend died exactly the same way, maybe 6 months ago. And a while back another kid, about 15, ploughed a stolen car into a house and killed two sleeping children. The vodka had been bought for him by.....his mother!
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I haven't had a drop of malt whisky since leaving Scotland!
OMG Anthony, have you made the right move ;D ;D
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I haven't had a drop of malt whisky since leaving Scotland!
I haven't had a drop in 67 years. ::) ;D ;D ;D
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I haven't had a drop of malt whisky since leaving Scotland!
I haven't had a drop in 67 years. ::) ;D ;D ;D
It's OK Michael, I think I've had your share as well as mine ;D
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I'm still smarting at having to leave several bottles behind. :'( There's only so much you can drink in a short space of time! ::) I think I tried whiskey in Dublin a few years ago (Jamieson - an Alloa chappy who could make it in Scotland so emigrated to the Emerald Isle). I'll stick to the real stuff. ;)
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I may be wrong but I think Scotch whisky costs less here than in its homeland. Something to do with the rate of excise charged by respective Customs depts.
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I'll investigate. ;D
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I'm still smarting at having to leave several bottles behind.
I'm sure it went to a good home Anthony.
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Can we have some rain please!? Just like last year my daffodils and Tulips are suffering.
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Just had a very hard afternoon. Friend gave us some Lysimachia Firecracker a few years back. In her poor stony soil it is a well behaved plant. In our richer stuff it has spread like mad. So I have cleared about 20 square metres of it. That is not the moan though. In doing so I had to dig up a fair number of clumps of Narcissus. In every clump at least half the bulbs had Narcissus root fly grubs in them. I hate them things!
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In every clump at least half the bulbs had Narcissus root fly grubs in them. I hate them things!
Very easy - chemical or fly swats. I have 5 around the garden. Three in the front and two at the back. As soon I see one I dont take my eye off it get the nearest swat and whack
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In every clump at least half the bulbs had Narcissus root fly grubs in them. I hate them things!
Very easy - chemical or fly swats. I have 5 around the garden. Three in the front and two at the back. As soon I see one I dont take my eye off it get the nearest swat and whack
Quite good for zealots and double-glazing salesmen as well! ;D
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Cats are too fast!
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dead right and they always stop a few meters away and glare back and check what is about to be thrown
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Probably just as well to have cleaned out the Lysimachia then because the flies will have been laying where the bulbs have been undisturbed for a long time and there is a good source of food for the grubs.
I have this nasty feeling that one doesn't see the flies until after they have laid their eggs so swatting is shutting the door after the horse has bolted. For Narcussus fly I go with a severe chemical remedy, suSCon Green, in my case, sprinkled in the planting hole when I plant (why do they spell it like that for heaven's sake?) or every time they are repotted if in pots. A very little stops the problem.
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I was told suSCon is coming off the market
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I wouldn't be surprised Mark. It's nasty stuff. It can only be bought here if one holds an agricultural contractor's certificate and for professional use. I don't but Roger does.
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I posted on another thread(can't find it now) that all my Trilliums had been killed by the frost,not so.It has now been established that it was a certain brand of Organic potting compost made from organic waste(no name given to avoid litigation) that I used in my compost mix. My brother who has a small nursery on the east coast has also lost thousands of plants using the same compost.Fortunately he discovered his mistake in time to re- pot some of the plants and save them. It had obviously not been given a conductivity test and contained some salts which killed the plants. Just wanted to warn others out there ,be careful what compost you use. >:( >:( :-[ :-[ :'( :'(
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On 23 April David saw this in our local supermarket, he couldn't believe what a bargain it wasn't and told Customer Services via email, they said they would rectify it, the next week it was still the same so he spoke to someone in store, they too were going to do something. Yesterday he took a camera just in case, and lo and behold it is still an amazing bargain!! He is not pleased, and as it is my drink of choice, neither am I >:(
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Could be worse Brian, e.g. '2 for the price of 3' ;D
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Is that a Tesco label? I must rush down now and give them the extra profit
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When you shop there they have a bit on the bottom of the bill showing where you make savings...I wonder what it says if you buy these!
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Michael,
That is awful about the Trilliums.
Brian,
Do you mind if I borrow David's time machine please? It would come in very handy I think to help establish my finances a little better than they currently are..... you know, nip forward to the 23 April and find out some sport scores or something? ;D ;)
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I'm confused - what am I missing? ???
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Tesco have made a mistake when working out the multibuy apple juice. Copella is very nice but not when the multi buy costs more than buying three singles
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It used to be that a larger size was always cheaper ( pro rata) than a smaller version... whether that was a packet of biscuits or a bag of sugar or a box of cereal but not now.... nowe you can be cheaper to buy several small packets than a "giant supersaver pack" ..... anoys the blazes out of this shopper >:(
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Ah...
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...and even worse ;D the large bottles were one price on one shelf and cheaper on another :o :o :o
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Just shows you have to check when purchasing. These sorts of thing get through. I once went to Tesco to buy some beer (just once ;)) and spotted that it was cheaper to buy two boxes of 6 bottles than one box of twelve identical bottles.
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Tesco have made a mistake when working out the multibuy apple juice. Copella is very nice but not when the multi buy costs more than buying three singles
I am not shocked at all! I am used to it. And I think it is no mistake!!
If you think of saving money or environment by buying refills of anything, the refill package is usually more expensive than the first one and often contains less stuff. I have checked spice, detergents and more. I never buy refills!
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Brian, I told my brother who works for Asda about the mistake made by Tesco. They could have been fined £5000 for misleading people.
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Blast, we must remember that one Mark.
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A gardening group came to see my garden yesterday. It is looking good right now but some rain would be good. Spring bulbs are over but early Geraniums, Iris and alpines are looking great.
My mother announced
"I hate this garden. I would like to see the beauty of the plants but all I can see are flowers. I want to see soil between the plants"
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My mother announced
"I hate this garden. I would like to see the beauty of the plants but all I can see are flowers. I want to see soil between the plants"
Only a mum could say that ;D ;D my dad always used to say to me can't you find anything else to do than gardening. He just couldn't understand that me and my mum could spend everyday in the garden.
Angie :)
Angie :)
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We mothers cans be contrary people Mark. You just have to smile tolerantly, and hope no-one notices us. ;D
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A gardening group came to see my garden yesterday. It is looking good right now but some rain would be good. Spring bulbs are over but early Geraniums, Iris and alpines are looking great.
My mother announced
"I hate this garden. I would like to see the beauty of the plants but all I can see are flowers. I want to see soil between the plants"
Mark, I do not agree with your mother! I would love that garden! I hate to see bare soil between the plants - or rather I see the bare soil as an opportunity to squeeze in more plants ;D
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Oh to have some bare soil! ::) Our house is rented so I'm stuck with the plants I have. Between the lollipop bushes (worse than lawns as they are three dimensional and an invention of the devil sent to torment me) and jade plants (another useless plant) is black matting covered with gravel. If I want to plant anything I have to scrape away the gravel, cut the matting and dig through the clay underneath, assuming their's not an ants nest to deal with. The matting and gravel seems an ideal covering for the ants homes! >:(
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Hi Anthony,
how long do you intend to stay at your rented abode? I think you miss a garden. You could have tubs, big ones??
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Hi Anthony,
Just to make you feel better your Cypripediums are doing really well. It's been great seeing them flourish.
Thanks for them. I just love them, bought another one at the conference.
What's Jade plants, can you post a picture.
Angie :)
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Lovely to hear the cyps are doing well Angie. 8) I'll take some better pics tomorrow, meanwhile here's our front garden with a jade plant either side of the front door and a variegated one by the letter box - another annoying object - when it rains the mail gets soaked and if you are away for a day the slugs eat your mail! There are 10 more jade plants round the back! Those yellow bushes under the lounge window must rank among the most boring plants on the planet. They have the odd tiny pink flower, but apart from that they are round green weed balls that need trimming. I have 7 of them! That number may be reduced as a couple look as if they might die sooner or later?! ::)
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Anthony
Those yellow bushes under the windows look like Coleonema pulchrum 'sunset gold' (a.k.a 'breath of heaven') --a wonderfully scented plant -----(crush/rub the leaves) with a mass of small pink flowers in the spring.
When allowed to grow in space ,(without the need for regular trimming ::) ::)), makes a low wide spreading ground cover.
You'll see it used all over NZ. ;D
Cheers Dave.
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Now I see that "jade plants" are Crassula ovata... or "money plants".... may be a good omen, Anthony? ;)
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Those yellow bushes under the windows look like Coleonema pulchrum 'sunset gold' Anthony --a wonderful scented plant -----(crush/rub the leaves) with a mass of small pink flowers in the spring.
When allowed to grow in space ,(without the need for reqular trimming ::) ::)), makes a low wide spreading ground cover.
You'll see it used all over NZ. ;D
Cheers Dave.
I suppose it will make a pleasant change from the smell of cut grass in my garden bin Dave? Ground cover is not something I would ever contemplate in a garden; it may have its place where no gardening is done from one month to the next, but to my mind it's a waste of space? I haven't seen it in the spring, but it seems to have little pink flowers on it now. They are so small and insignificant I need to be up close and have my glasses on to see them!
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Now I see that "jade plants" are Crassula ovata... or "money plants".... may be a good omen, Anthony? ;)
I would have called them money plants Maggi, but they seem to be sold as jade plants over here. We had one in the work base at school back home. Couldn't kill it!
It's taken me a long time to notice this is a parasite growing on a hebe in the back garden. Must be getting doddery in my old age? ::)
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Hi Anthony,
how long do you intend to stay at your rented abode? I think you miss a garden. You could have tubs, big ones??
Hi Maren,
at least a year. So far a couple of planters and one half barrel pond. One of the planters has a silver fern (Cyathea dealbata); the other some bedding plants (not my idea).
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Hi Anthony
I like the thought of money plants. It looks nice where you are, the blue skies look good to me.
Nice to see how the other side of the world looks.
Angie :)
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So everything in Auckland is not perfect Anthony?
I am looking for a house myself lately, FOR myself and Teddy, and a month ago found the truly perfect place. Only half the distance to work and town but the house itself had been beautifully renovated with new everything - carpet, curtains, paint and paper, fridge, washing machine and dryer, complete new kitchen and bathroom, 3 bedrooms and a long conservatory which SA bulbs would have loved. The place was about 1/4 acre and mostly well kept lawn but delightful landlord and wife said I could do whatever I wanted, dig up as much for garden as I chose and even were happy to gravel part of it for my little nursery. Only fly in ointment was rent price. I could do it while still working but since I expect that won't be for more than a couple of years now, I would have had to move out then and as I said to landlord, I wanted somewhere until I die and not another move anywhere. It would have suited them too, a young couple who expect to sell the house when THEY retire, in 20 plus years. So still looking. :(
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Here's the promised pics of the jade plants and lollipop bushes.
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Oh to have some bare soil! ::) Our house is rented so I'm stuck with the plants I have. Between the lollipop bushes (worse than lawns as they are three dimensional and an invention of the devil sent to torment me)
;D ;D
Here's the promised pics of the jade plants and lollipop bushes.
I think the lollipop bushes are one of the Pittosporum tenuifolium cultivars Anthony that have been limbed up --you'd pay big money at a nursery for that look. :D
A close up of the leaves would confirm either way.
Watch the pruning,(or else the devil will be after you ;) ), as in my experience they dislike cutting back onto old wood .
Cheers Dave
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Hi Anthony
That's a huge jade plant, mine one is in a tiny pot.
I like the lollipop trees :-X but maybe not a row of them . I have or should I say had one but he is looking dead. I would love to live there and grow all exotic plants.
Are plants expensive over there.
Angle :)
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Will take some close-ups tomorrow Dave. Angie, those ones are quite small. The two by the front door are well over a metre tall! As for exotics - I have frangipanis and proteas too!
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You have my deepest commiserations, Anthony. As Angie says, one is enough, already - I initially felt rather protective of my own small money tree in the face of your all-out-attack. I've kept mine in spite of the fact that it never flowers and is subject to regular depressing attacks from mealy bug, caterpillars and snails but staggers on regardless through it all. Your photo reminded me of the protest song someone almost sang:
Lollipop trees, lollipop trees
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
Lollipop trees, lollipop trees
And they all look just the same;
There are green ones, there are red ones
There are blue ones and there are yellow ones
Lollipop trees, lollipop trees
And they all look just the same
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Thanks Tony. The two at the front door are about to flower. I can't wait! ::)
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Oh Anthony I am so jealous, frangipani. I had one in my greenhouse but I only have a stick left now :'(
Bought it at Wisley, no chance of getting another one up in Aberdeen.
Angie :)
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Thanks Tony. The two at the front door are about to flower. I can't wait! ::)
With a modicum of luck you'll find that money DOES grow on trees. ;D
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Oh Anthony I am so jealous, frangipani. I had one in my greenhouse but I only have a stick left now :'(
Bought it at Wisley, no chance of getting another one up in Aberdeen.
Angie :)
I had to leave two frangipani plants behind. One was a cutting brought back from Bali in 2004; the other was grown from T&M seed. They were on my classroom windowsill at school and can flower in a 6" pot. I had terrible trouble with red spider. The leaves would get covered and the plants would then drop all their leaves and start again! 8) The best answer was the systemic vine weevil killer.
Thanks Tony. The two at the front door are about to flower. I can't wait! ::)
With a modicum of luck you'll find that money DOES grow on trees. ;D
I wish. :-\ Here are the close ups of the various lollipop bushes plus a view of the plants to the left of my drive and front door. The frangipani is behind Protea cynaroides. The two grey plants with the thick pointed leaves are Agave attenuata. There are some really big clumps of this in some front gardens! The lollipop bushes by the driveway appear to be different from the ones in the back garden.
We have had 5 days rain which has put 4" of water in the jar perched on a spar of my fence, which faces north. Nearby there are settling ponds to settle out sediment in flood waters. The outflow was higher over night, as can be seen by the weed on the barrier above the waterfall. Normally the water just goes down a Z-shaped channel. I've seen two species of shag - the little black (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris) and the little (P. melanoleucos) - perched at different times on that barrier.
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Anthony I used to keep my frangipani in my conservatory but it always got covered in red spiders, just couldn't control them. Interesting to hear that you used a vine weevil control. I put it in my greenhouse and the tops have went a bit mushy. I have cut it down but whether it will grow again will just have to wait and see.
Love the Agave attenuata 8)
I think I would love gardening over there.
Angie :)
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Hello Anthony
Thanks for the close up pics of the lollipop plants.
They show as i thought that your back door ones are a Pittosporum tenuifolium cultivar .
The different front of the house ones i think are Coprosma --maybe C.lucida
Cheers Dave.
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Thanks Dave. Natives, which is OK, although fewer would have been good. I notice a depression in the grass border in front of my house which used to contain a tree. All the streets around have trees 30 - 40 metres apart. The ones in my section are deciduous magnolias. Mine is missing! Further up the street are callistemon and round the corner are pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa). Don't fancy any of those. Would prefer a kuari, but I suspect it may grow too large? Moreton Bay fig? They have their own gravity, so need to think of an attractive small tree that wouldn't look out of place. I like sweet gum (Liquidambar spp.), which is planted in some of the borders at the Botany Shopping Centre, but maybe not? Any suggestions?
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Hi,
I cultivated a Pittosporum tenuifolium for 10 years on my allotment, carefully crafting it into a huge ball, ready to be placed outside my front door. Sadly, just at the time when it was at its best, it was stolen, together with a wheelbarrow and a lovely Corylus contorta, which I kept there to provide early food for bees. The thieves were obviously tipped off by one of my allotment colleagues (lovely bunch). :( Whatever you may think of your trees, Anthony, I treasured mine. :(
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What a great spell of weather. 8)
Just great for shifting all those pots off the patio and cleaning the paving. ;D
Just the job too for the heron which, free of all those pots, was able to walk to the pond, remove fish and stab seven holes in the butyl. >:(
Spent yesterday emptying the pond, removing the sludge, finding the holes, sealing the holes then straining the sludge to catch the taddies and damselfly nymphs!
AAAAAGHHHHH!!!!!!!
JohnnyD
p.s.
Repair was successfully effected using butyl jointing tape at £1.99 per metre rather than the extortionate cost of a 'butyl repair kit'. ;D
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Hope you weren't shopping at Albany yesterday Anthony. ???
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Hi John, yesterday I came out of my house with a coffee thinking I will sit at my pond a watch my fish in this lovely sunny day. I walked over and couldn't believe my eyes, I had a heron standing in my pond with a big fat goldfish in his beak. I threw my coffee cup at him thinking he would drop my goldfish but no he just kept trying to swallow it. I then threw my kneeling mat at him and finally he flew off. I am sure someone said these birds are protected. I wonder why. My poor goldfish was dead but at least he never got it and my cup was ok, these SRGC cups are indestructible ;D
Glad to hear that you managed to repair your liner, must have been a lot of work. I have fishing wire over my pond doesn't look that good but I get to many herons coming to visit. Wish they would find somewhere else to go.
Angie :)
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You realize don't you Angie, that tomorrow when the heron drops by he'll be at the back door wanting coffee to go with his fish?
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You realize don't you Angie, that tomorrow when the heron drops by he'll be at the back door wanting coffee to go with his fish?
... And an SRGC mug ... Support Regular Goldfish Catcher.
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Hope you weren't shopping at Albany yesterday Anthony. ???
No, the tornado missed us. In fact, two people emailed about it me from the UK. They knew more than I did. My brother has just sent me the Youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqb5SDL8J5o
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Argh; frosts! :-[ Ranzanias and Smilacinas have all been frosted, as usual...
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You realize don't you Angie, that tomorrow when the heron drops by he'll be at the back door wanting coffee to go with his fish?
... And an SRGC mug ... Support Regular Goldfish Catcher.
Hope he doesn't call back today, out for lunch with some SRGC friends so won't be able to chase him of this time. Husband got home last night and asked what was for tea, I said fish ::) ;D
Angie :)
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I believe heron was a very desirable dish on middle ages tables. :D
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I believe heron was a very desirable dish on middle ages tables. :D
Sounds good to me ;D ;D
Angie :)
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I believe heron was a very desirable dish on middle ages tables. :D
Sounds good to me ;D ;D
Angie :)
You need a big oven to fit the legs in, though, don't you? ::)
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Argh; frosts! :-[ Ranzanias and Smilacinas have all been frosted, as usual...
Do you have frost? I haven't had below 3C since March! Are you far inland maybe?
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I believe heron was a very desirable dish on middle ages tables. :D
Sounds good to me ;D ;D
Angie :)
You need a big oven to fit the legs in, though, don't you? ::)
I only have a wee oven but l could barbecue it I suppose. ;D
Angie :)
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Argh; frosts! :-[ Ranzanias and Smilacinas have all been frosted, as usual...
Do you have frost? I haven't had below 3C since March! Are you far inland maybe?
...but you're in the tropics, Rogaland is much milder than Agder even at the coast. I'm 25 km straight north of Mandal, borderline H2.
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There has been frost the last four nights. Last night it was -6.4 degrees Celsius, and it will be frost in the night too. Many plants are damaged.
We had very warm weather over Easter, and many plants begun grow too fast.
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I'm sorry to hear of those frosts. It is what we have been fearing, with the amount of fine weather we have had here, but so far we have been lucky. So far......... :-\
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Maggi you are lucky. Just shows the difference in only a few miles. I had a walk around my garden this evening and there has been a bit of damage to my plants. It's so annoying, things were just starting to look good. Oh well we can't have everything and I do enjoy having the sunny days.
Angie :)
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There has been frost the last four nights. Last night it was -6.4 degrees Celsius, and it will be frost in the night too. Many plants are damaged.
We had very warm weather over Easter, and many plants begun grow too fast.
Ulla, sorry to hear about your losses. Anything killed?
You are in the inland from Gøteborg then? Seems you have reasonable early springs though. Last year we had two frosty nights in May but so far none and the weather forecasts seem to be good in the next 10 days. Actually it is starting to get dry here. We had a shower with hail yesterday! A few tulips were destroyed but nothing serious so the water was welcome. Maybe we get showers tomorrow too - and I look forward to it ;D
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Ulla, I hope your plants will recover. After two weeks of exceptionally warm wheather for this time of year we now have frost every night. It went down to -4 C here and the flowers on my magnolias are all brown :'(.
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Thanks Dave. Natives, which is OK, although fewer would have been good. I notice a depression in the grass border in front of my house which used to contain a tree. All the streets around have trees 30 - 40 metres apart. The ones in my section are deciduous magnolias. Mine is missing! Further up the street are callistemon and round the corner are pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa). Don't fancy any of those. Would prefer a kuari, but I suspect it may grow too large? Moreton Bay fig? They have their own gravity, so need to think of an attractive small tree that wouldn't look out of place. I like sweet gum (Liquidambar spp.), which is planted in some of the borders at the Botany Shopping Centre, but maybe not? Any suggestions?
Anthony
I'm not sure how the system works in Auckland--i suspect that you may need to check with the 'Supercity' authorities --They may well supply/plant a 'suitable' tree.
Cheers Dave.
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I'm thinking Michelia "Bubbles". NZ bred and buttered even if it is somewhat Oriental. It would fit in with the locals. ;)
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Thank you for your compassion. It is too early to tell if plants have died. Many plants have the ability to re-shoot. All Cypripedium and Dysosmor have been under protection, they have no damage. But it is both ugly and boring when you have to wait for a second round of leaves and shot.
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Fermi's Will has given me his cold :'( First cold in about 2 years grrrr
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Fermi's Will has given me his cold :'( First cold in about 2 years grrrr
So you detest nothing to keep cold in the heat?
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Fermi's Will has given me his cold :'( First cold in about 2 years grrrr
Didn't know you could inherit a cold Mark! ;D
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Fermi's Will has given me his cold :'( First cold in about 2 years grrrr
Will said to say he has a cough not a cold! It must've been the windy weather at the Giant's Causeway, Mark! ;D
Hope you get well soon, those swifts will need monitoring!
cheer
fermi (in Novotel, Barcelona!)
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Thanks Dave. Natives, which is OK, although fewer would have been good. I notice a depression in the grass border in front of my house which used to contain a tree. All the streets around have trees 30 - 40 metres apart. The ones in my section are deciduous magnolias. Mine is missing! Further up the street are callistemon and round the corner are pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa). Don't fancy any of those. Would prefer a kuari, but I suspect it may grow too large? Moreton Bay fig? They have their own gravity, so need to think of an attractive small tree that wouldn't look out of place. I like sweet gum (Liquidambar spp.), which is planted in some of the borders at the Botany Shopping Centre, but maybe not? Any suggestions?
Anthony
I'm not sure how the system works in Auckland--i suspect that you may need to check with the 'Supercity' authorities --They may well supply/plant a 'suitable' tree.
Cheers Dave.
Kauri can grow to 50 metres plus. I believe Tane Mahuta is about 51 metres and thought to be some 2000 years old.
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:'( :'( :'( bug****
I can't believe it and I don't know what to write. Perhaps the pictures will tell their own story.
What do you think has vandalised this. >:( >:( >:(
Cypripedium lichiangense
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That must be heart breaking Graham? Slug? Caterpillar? I know how special that plant is. I never managed to grow it far less flower it.
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Oh Graham, that is ghastly. Slug or snail, we think, since the damage is "central" so to speak.
Slug pellets to protect the stem is essential now, since damage there would be a killer.
Our sympathies to your predicament.
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Graham
that is terrible. I think this is a favourite of slugs as mine was eaten of at the neck last year and I lost all the top growth.
I see mine now has two tiny shoots developing from the roots.
I put slug bait around them all on Sunday.
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Thanks, Anthony, Maggi, and Tony,
Slug pellets it is! I put some out last night around some other things never thinking this would be a tasty treat.
I had a horrible thought that it might be vine weevil which would have been a more difficult issue. But then the edges would have been chewed not the centre I think.
If it had only taken the leaf and not the flower it wouldn't have been so bad.
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Yes. I think Maggi's right. Some mollusc. You don't always see a trail. I would go out with a torch and check.
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Overnight and this morning we are having gale force north west winds, but cold when they're usually warm. All the lovely Titian-coloured leaved have been torn from the now quite large copper beech and are on top of my 48 trays of bulb seedlings (20 pots to a tray) so that it will take a whole day I should think, to remove them, otherwise the young bulbs as they emerge, and many already have, will be smothered. Other trays with herbaceous and shrubby plants are also covered so that's my work for the next day or two, hopefully before it rains again and turns the leaves to mush.
The power has been going off and on again all morning as well, leaving posts here half done and having to be redone. Went to put the kettle on but nothing happened. Some eucalyptus trees are down and branches broken from pines.
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Lesley hope there isn't to much damage. I am really used to high winds here and hate it.
Hope your power is back on.
Angie :)
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How annoying Leslie, here we are having the central heating replaced and the engineers are switching off water, electrictity at various times, at least we get warning!
From Woottens this morning:
"we are now dispatching our sweat pea collections"
they must have been running around a lot!
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Brian even with all that sweat it seems a bit late.
I know that Monty Don recently said there was no point in autumn sowing something I always do.
Mine are now a metre high and in bud. I always buy the seeds from Matthewman Sweetpeas. !00% germination and superb varieties.
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Jings, just seen the weather you've had on the news Lesley. Some people had lucky escapes!
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Brian even with all that sweat it seems a bit late.
I know that Monty Don recently said there was no point in autumn sowing something I always do.
Mine are now a metre high and in bud. I always buy the seeds from Matthewman Sweetpeas. !00% germination and superb varieties.
I presume they are potted Tony. Yes, I like Mathewman's I normally buy them at the Royal Norfolk Show after we have given their stand a gold medal!
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Brian even with all that sweat it seems a bit late.
I know that Monty Don recently said there was no point in autumn sowing something I always do.
Mine are now a metre high and in bud. I always buy the seeds from Matthewman Sweetpeas. !00% germination and superb varieties.
I presume they are potted Tony. Yes, I like Mathewman's I normally buy them at the Royal Norfolk Show after we have given their stand a gold medal!
Do not know I got them in this thread as it should be happy!
I germinate them mid September on kitchen towel and then grow them in white plastic cups with a drainage hole cut in them(to save money). They sit on the unheated greenhouse floor until mid March when I plant them out at which time they are making strong growth. I try to get the first flowers by the start of June.
Picture from 11th June a couple of years ago.
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I can turn the sweet pea story into a moan... why have the boffins not yet come up with a working scent button for computers? :'(
It would be the single best advance in technology from the Forum's point of view 8)
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OK if you could turn it off for the nasties and only use it for the sweet scents ;D
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OK if you could turn it off for the nasties and only use it for the sweet scents ;D
Yup, it will need to be optional! ;) ;)
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It's not as if we haven't been asking for it for a long time Maggi. With all the other stuff they can do, surely scent is very little to ask for.
Yes Anthony, the Otago Peninsula got it really badly, with trees down over the road out and that just a couple of days after it was closed for slips after the 150mm of rain we had in 36 hours. It's very sloppy here but the tree damage is not too bad, only pines and gums, nothing worthwhile. All firewood for next year.
Lovely afternoon yesterday and I worked madly on the leaf removal but today back to cold and damp, strong easterly wind, 7C at present.
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Pines and gums firewood? Wouldn't like to see the inside of a chimney after pine logs have been burned!
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Pines and gums firewood? Wouldn't like to see the inside of a chimney after pine logs have been burned!
All the time Anthony. Pinus radiata and Eucalyptus nitens. Our chimney hasn't been swept in the 11 years we've lived in this house.
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Don't you get a build up of creosote in the chimney flue?
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Don't you get a build up of creosote in the chimney flue?
This is all getting too personal for me I'm afraid! :D
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Just think wire brush and Dettol® Cliff, and hope it's your turn first.
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Just think wire brush and Dettol® Cliff, and hope it's your turn first.
:o :o :o :o :o That should cure my cataract, Anthony!!! ;D
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Don't you get a build up of creosote in the chimney flue?
There's been no evidence of it.
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Well, the cure is eucalyptus oil, so perhaps your two types of wood cancel each other out?
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Thought I'd watch the tennis tonight. For the second time I'm stuck watching Nadal instead of Andy Murray, which would be more appropriate for a New Zealand audience! The first time was two nights ago when they switched from AM to RN at 2 all in the third! It's not as if the match is remotely competitive or even entertaining. Nadal invariably has a face on him that could curdle paint. >:(
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Just popped though here to collect laptop...Ian is watching Murray play Berrer, who has just managed to win a game after umpteen advantages.... sorry Anthony!
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I see from the live feed on BBC Sport he's gone over on his ankle. Not good, meanwhile I'm subject to the man with a face like a torn scone on Sky Sport. :(
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Ah ha. It's on Radio Roland Garros.
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Major renovations in the garden! After putting it off as long as I could I have looked more closely at the damage wreaked by this winter on the 'Southern Hemisphere' part of the garden. A lot of plants have been killed which have been happy for many years - Thus Acacia pravissima, Myrtus luma, Pseudopanax ferox (I'm really sad about this, it was some 8 or 9ft high; another species, crassifolius is sprouting new buds all the way up the stem) and Grevillea 'Canberra Gem' (this has been in the garden for probably 20 years and was huge - its going to be uncomfortable to remove). Several Pittosporums have been badly damaged but are sprouting well low down. Pseudowintera colorata I don't think will but I have a soft spot for this very curious plant and saw a lovely form in Hester Forde's garden outside Cork, a much more sensible place to grow it. Crinodendron hookerianum lost all of its leaves but is growing out again well, even right at the tips of the branches. A friend with a plant higher up on the North Downs had no damage and her plant is flowering well. Its relative, the white C. patagua looks OK. Other plants haven't been damaged at all - Azara microphylla, which fills the garden with vanilla scent in late winter, is in rude health and my treasured rather gangly plant of Telopea truncata, the Tasmanian Waratah, has some strong vegetative buds (I think it may need some TLC to encourage it to flower but it grows well at Wakehurst Place, planted originally by Tony Schilling I think).
The piles of weeds and shreddings are growing alarmingly but hopefully at the end there will be lots of new places to replant. The winter was harsh (before Christmas) but didn't seem that much colder than at times we have had before - probably it was the fact that it stayed cold continuously and never warmed up during the day. Hopefully such conditions won't come again for a while!
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Would you like some seed of Acacia pravissima Tim? Germinates well and grows quickly.
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Thanks Lesley, yes I would. Up to now I thought this was pretty much the hardiest species here. I do have another, pataczekii, which is very different (not sure of its origins) and has come through the winter OK. My address is Copton Ash, 105 Ashford Road, Faversham, Kent, ME13 8XW. I normally collect quite a bit of seed through the autumn from the garden so hopefully may have something you would like. Thanks again.
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I watched An Audience with Michael Buble tonight. I recorded it on Monday which was a repeat.
I could hear that he was using Autotune!!!! I googled it and found many comments saying they heard it also.
While mentioning Google have you seen it today? Their logo today is a guitar with strings that work
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I watched An Audience with Michael Buble tonight. I recorded it on Monday which was a repeat.
Were you so stuck for something to do? ;D
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I think you've just burst Mark's buble? ;D
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it has Anthony.
Yesterday 32 people from a gardening group came to see the garden. All week I worked hard to tidy everything especially the back yard so they could see the troughs. I greeted them, told them how it evolved, the all year interest, the plants they can see. I left them to it only to be amazed that they all played follow the leader in to the back garden. A few asked questions "dont you worry about the size the hostas will grow to?" they're all miniatures. I caught one person nibbling allium leaves so had to tell everyone not to eat anything. My man whispered "Can I have an orchid you have lots". No one looked at the crevice bed, no one looked at the rockery
By 30 minutes they were gone. Some walked in and almost straight out again.
"Here's a gift for your trouble". £20!! I'll not be so stupid next time.
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Mark, if I could visit your garden you would be moaning in here because you couldn't get rid of me!! ;D
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That would be OK with me
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Mark sometimes people can't see good things under there nose,i have to agree with Helen walking round a plants man or plantswomans is garden is heaven and i am sure i scare people with my enthusiasm,you must meet some really nice people amongst them once in a while.If it hadn't been for the open garden scheme i wouldn't have met some really lovely people.
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Mark that's such a shame. I like Dave really enjoying seeing other gardens. I always come away with ideas and full of enthusiasm. I have thought about opening my garden but then l think what if people don't like it and I couldn't give people the names of plants and now that I have heard about your experience I don't know if I could do it.
Next time I am in Ireland I would love to see your garden and I would appreciate it. Hope it hasn't put you off letting others see what you have created.
Angie :)
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I guess the real plant people will appreciate whatever effort is made and what they see while the hangers on won't appreciate anything at all, except free cups of tea. There are some advantages in having a garden that is emminently non-seeable, and while my intentions always were to have a garden fit for visitors, it has never happened. I'm not unhappy about that now.
I won't ever forget the horrid woman who led a group years ago and poked Weldenia candida with her umbrella - it was a young but well flowering plant back then - and said to her chums. "I'd never grow that. Seeds all over the place." She also condemned Sax. grisebachii 'Wisley.' "I don't like cactus." Such people are best consigned to the rubbish heap of one's life and left to decay.
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I've just looked up both Weldenia candida and Sax. grisebachii 'Wisley'... wow to both!
(So it's safe to invite me over... I wouldn't poke umbrellas at or comdemn either! ;D )
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I guess the real plant people will appreciate whatever effort is made and what they see
Mark,
Please don't be put off by those who were rude and inconsiderate. The majority of people are not like this.
Sherba and I had the honor (responsibility) of organizing the Berea Garden Tour in May of this year. There were 8 gardens on the tour and we made a point of including 8 different environments. Ours, albeit a very young garden, was included and I gave two demonstrations on hypertufa trough making. The tour ran from 9 am to 4 pm. In all that time, I had literally 5 minutes when I had no-one to show around. We had over 100 visitors. Believe me, for all the effort we put in to getting the garden ready, it was far from perfect. It poured down, heavens hard, all day long. Not ONE person complained about the weather or the gardens. We made a point of letting everyone know that the intention of the tour was NOT to see the "perfect" garden, but (and Angie made this point in her post), to inspire people.
The cost to visit all the 8 gardens was $12 and we made a profit for the Berea Arts Council of $4000. The feedback we received from all the garden owners was extremely positive.
Take a look around the forum. I can almost guarantee that they would have appreciated your effort and your skill level. Give it a second chance. I'm sure the results will be different.
Best
Alan
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Well done $4000 that's brilliant. My friends , Helen and Bill Mcgregor ( srgc members ) have opened their garden for years and I have only heard them say on one occasion that they had a group of people that were more interested in the teas than the the garden. They are moving house, going to a smaller garden. I do hope they open this one as well. There new garden is a SRGC members garden and if full of exciting and wonderful plants. They always make good money for their charitys.
I have only had some of our members visit but what I get out of it all is the enjoyment of speaking to folks with the same passion that I have.
Lesley I liked your comment at the end of your post ;D and Weldenia candida is flowering for me now, I really really hope that it will seed all over the place for me, should have given that lady a poke with the umbrella :-X sorry.
Angie :)
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I agree with everyone - there is nothing like opening your garden to visitors!! We have done it for over 25 years through the NGS (which is such a brilliant scheme), and it has gone up and down quite a bit over that time but I only remember many kind comments. The tea, and especially cakes, do assume a lot of importance (!) - but even more are any plants for sale. Years ago Jack Elliott opened his garden at Little Chart Forstal, absolutely packed with treasures of all descriptions, but the queue of us outside waiting for the gate to open, just headed straight for the sales table (almost like the Snowdrop Gala from what I've heard!). We had a few memorable Group sales in Jack's garden and he was a very kind host.
If I had a Weldenia and someone poked it so absurdly some suitable gardening accident might come to mind!
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I doubt if the Weldenia will seed for you Angie. I've only ever once come across seed and that was in an AGS list perhaps 40 years ago. The late Jim Lecomte, nurseryman and importer of many good things, raised it at that time and those were the first plants in NZ but the current ones are from a different clone (Guatemalan instead of Mexican) and have proved self infertile. Maybe both clones are needed. However, if it DOES set seed, it forms undergound at the base of the flower tubes (they are stemless of course) so you would need to go fishing about with your fingers in the rotting debris as the leaves die away.
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Lesley that's very interesting, thanks. I am just happy to have the plant growing. I keep in in my greenhouse. It's such a beauty.
Tim I always head straight for the plant sales, you always get something unusual.
Angie :)
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Mark,
Will and I appreciated your garden! It was great to see the diversity of plants that you could grow in a small suburban lot and the great number of troughs and the way that you use them.
As Lesley says don't bother with those who don't appreciate it. Hopefully someone will be inspired and get an interest in our "wee treasures" from having seen them in your garden.
cheers
fermi
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I once was waiting for a friend in the reptile house at the now defunct Glasgow Zoo. I decided to people watch. There were several cages that were empty, and had a wee sign to say as much. People don't read. I watched several families. They spent about five seconds or so at a cage with an obvious inhabitant, as if to say "ticked that box", being no more interested in the reptile than its mere presence. At the empty cages they spent ages peering this way and that trying to spot what wasn't in the cage. I reckon if every cage was empty they'd have been there for hours! ;D
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I once was waiting for a friend in the reptile house at the now defunct Glasgow Zoo. I decided to people watch. There were several cages that were empty, and had a wee sign to say as much. People don't read. I watched several families. They spent about five seconds or so at a cage with an obvious inhabitant, as if to say "ticked that box", being no more interested in the reptile than its mere presence. At the empty cages they spent ages peering this way and that trying to spot what wasn't in the cage. I reckon if every cage was empty they'd have been there for hours! ;D
They told all their friends; "We think we saw three hundred and thirty four chameleons, they were beautifully camouflaged" :D
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I'm beginning to worry about my health. Yesterday when I got up, I went into the room where my computer lives and stood there for several minutes, with ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA ABOUT HOW TO TURN IT ON.!!! Went into kitchen and stood looking around vaguely wondering what to do. When Teddy and Cain came bounding up I didn't even recognise them. What on earth's going on?
Later I had to go into town for a meeting and though I got there safely, (18kms) I have no recollection of driving or seeing anything at all, or parking my car. I sat there for a while then had to apologise for being late. Apparently the meeting went OK because I wasn't carted off by men in white jackets but I really don't know what happened.
When I got home again Roger had cooked the porridge and gave me tea and after that I was fine again. Today likewise.
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LESLEY!
Get to your doctor!
It may just be your blood pressure or de-hydration but don't take any chances! (yes, I did shout at the start)
cheers
fermi
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I would agree. Don't take chances with your health.
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Don't delay please, Lesley ... get to the Doc!
It is possible you could have experienced a mini-stroke and you may be a danger at the wheel?
I would recommend twelve months of gentle gardening and forum therapy ... look after yourself pet ... we need you here!
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Lesley I do hope you have taken everyone's advice and been taken to the doctor - or better still have him visit. I know from experience that you never know what is round the corner and it is far better to get down there and be checked up. Don't delay, get down there and get sorted - or reassured. :-*
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I guess the real plant people will appreciate whatever effort is made and what they see
........honor.........
Careful Alan, your standards are slipping!! ;D
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I do things like that like walk in to a room to do something and cant remember what I was to do.
My mother has forgotten how to work the TV remote
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I do things like that like walk in to a room to do something and cant remember what I was to do.
Not, we hope, the smallest room, Mark? :D :'( :'( :'(
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well now that you mention it - I did wake twice during the night on Tuesday night
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I have noticed on my previous posts that under my profile picture is a wee yellow man going for a run . Noboby else seems to have one . Does this mean that I am the forumist most desperately in need of exercise and dietary restraint
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See . There he goes again!!!
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Lesley,
Rather a distressing experience for you and a distressing post to read. I do hope you have visited your doctor and are now under proper care and on the mend. Best wishes. Paddy
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Lesley,
not much to add to all the good advice, just please look after yourself. We need you here for your sanity, care and perspective. :)
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Jandals I havent seen that before. Maggi will know.
I clicked on it and it says - aim:goim?screenname=jandals&message=Hi.+Are+you+there?
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Yep . Sounds like I mucked up the set up . Cheers Mark . Hope you are Ok Lesley
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look at your profile and you will see
AIM:
This is your AOL Instant Messenger nickname.
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Stevbe, I think that unless you use that AIM messaging service then you have "mucked up " the set up in your profile..... I'm using Firefox right now which doesn't recognise the click in the way Mark describes. You can just remove jandals from that forunm profile section andthen click change profile to delete it.
Little running figures distress me too.... like you, I am built more for comfort than speed... waddlers of the world unite, eh?!! 8)
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Thanks Maggie . Unfortunately I don't know much about AIM and wasn't Firefox on the Thunderbirds . I have had a wee play and if the running man chooses to stay there then its his problem . Waddling is definitely the way to go in fact , I feel a song coming on
"I'm the waddleler
Yes I'm the waddleler
I am so round yes so round
and so close to the ground..."
;D ;D ;D
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Lesley have you made a doctors appointment. Bit worried.
Angie :)
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I should imagine Lesley's gone into hospital by now for scans and other tests, so we're unlikely to hear anything more from her directly for at least a day or two. From her description of the symptoms, I expect they'd want to keep her in for a while.
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Thanks everyone so very much for your concerns. I've had a couple of PMs as well and it's wonderful to know I have good friends out there. I feel fine now and have had no further episodes though I'm getting (mild) headaches which is unusual for me. It's probably just stress; there's a lot of that around here at present, various causes. However I have made an appointment with my doc but the soonest I can see my own, rather than someone else in the same practice, is July 6th. If it happens again in the meantime I'll be down the road to the surgery in double quick time, I promise.
As for hospital tests Martin, a couple of days in bed would be great but I'm too busy. ;D All those Galanthus seeds to sow, which arrived yesterday. My warmest thanks for them. :-*
I even made a chocolate cake yesterday. What a stupid thing that was to do. ??? I'll put the recipe on the Cooks' Corner as it's the best I've ever tasted I think. It was on the paper the half kg of butter was wrapped in.
I love everyone here. :)
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We love you too, so look after yourself :-*
Angie :)
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Looks like I was wrong. Have to say I'm surprised, Lesley. My mum had a mild stroke recently and was in hospital for two nights for scans and tests. She found one day that every now and then she couldn't get out what she wanted to say - milder symptoms than what you describe. Maybe it's that experience that makes me worry and feel that having some tests done would be the safe thing to do. Did you tell them at the surgery what the symptoms were? Sorry to sound bossy and opinionated. Just concerned. Mild strokes are of course completely treatable these days, so my mum's now fine.
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Just read all the above... :-\
Do take care of yourself Lesley !!
We don't want anything scary to happen to you !
All the best ! :-*
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Lesley, glad the snowdrop seeds arrived okay. Hope they germinate okay for you. Give them a good soak after sowing and don't let them dry out completely for prolonged periods and hopefully they should be okay. Not sure how they'll respond to your winter cold without a warm, moist summer first. Maybe the cold will make them germinate in your spring without a warm summer period. Be interesting to hear what happens, so please let me know. Presumably you had the same situation with Hubi's galanthus nivalis seed arriving in your autumn/winter. What happened there? Did they germinate the next spring, or did you have to wait a full year or more? And what about my corydalis seed? When did that germinate? Interested to know how sowing followed by immediate cold affects bulb seed germination.
And sorry to go on about the doctor stuff again, but are you really sure it wouldn't be a good idea to see someone sooner than the 6th, at least in the hope that it might rule out more serious worries and put your mind at rest?
Take care.
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I hate to be a bossy boots and nag you, but I'm with Martin on this... the 6th July seems a long time to wait. It may only be something easily put right, like an infection and the sooner that's done the better.
Think on, Lesley....take care :-* :-*
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It has been interesting to watch the internet at work since I joined the forum . One big family of happy gardeners showing , telling and caring . Thanks for being there to advise Lesley and please take their advice Lesley . You had better stay well or I will forced to come up the hill and have a cuppa :)
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I second that. You may wish to see a friendly face at the surgery, sometimes it can be someone who is new to you that can get to the root of the problem, should there be one, by taking a fresh look. As Maggi says, take care, and that means take it easier.
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Lesley - Excuse my frankness but it is presently 11:52 am Dunedin time and so you have no excuse now with all the sound advice given to get to your doctor or emergency today. Have Roger or a co-worker take you. A blackout like yours should be looked into immediately. Please drop everything (except the Shortia pot) and heed the advice of all.
johnw
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Lesley do take heed of all our concerns and, as my mother was apt to say at such times, go to the doctors and "Put a squib up their bum" so
you we all get some satisfaction :-*
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Dear Lesley....I've been locked out of the forum for the last two days so only just seen this thread. Firstly, get well soon...that's an order. Secondly, please don't procrastinate on health issues. two reasons. One, if it is something serious then the sooner it is seen to the better and Two, if it isn't serious, then why put yourself through the uncertainty. I'm with everyone else on this....head for ER and let them do tests.
Look after yourself, you are in our prayers.
A&S
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I see Lesley hasn't been active on the forum for very nearly 24 hours, which is unusual and I hope means she's gone into hospital for tests (and not that she's had further problems). Fingers crossed, and hope someone hears something positive and encouraging from her soon.
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Not wanting to take away from Lesley's health ....
My tearaway niece has announced she is pregnant which left her mum and dad in tears. She only goes to work when they need her and her boyfriend works only 20 hours per week at Burger King. They're living with his grandmother.
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Not wanting to take away from Lesley's health ....
My tearaway niece has announced she is pregnant which left her mum and dad in tears. She only goes to work when they need her and her boyfriend works only 20 hours per week at Burger King. They're living with his grandmother.
It's an all-too-familiar story, but a sad one nonetheless. In the long term, and both generally and specifically speaking, the answer is education. And by education, I mean no-expense-spared education for all, not just the privileged few, and education that doesn't just train people to work (if they're lucky) but also equips people with a wide range of essential life skills, including an ability to think for themselves, think critically and think constructively. It's a lot to ask of an educational system, but it's what children deserve. Unfortunately it's something they seldom get. Here endeth today's sermon. Sorry, working late and feeling bolshy. :)
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I agree Martin. A couple of years ago I attended a parents' meeting at the local high school about revising the teaching of health education, which included "the facts of life". There were two women there who were trying to bully the local schools (including the three primary schools) into dropping it, saying it was "the parents' responsibility". One of the women was a grandmother who didn't live in the town and had never had any of her children or grandchildren at the school. The other was a mother, also not from Dunblane, who's numerous (7) children were there on placing requests (instead of being sent to the nearest, or the local RC school). There is no person at home employed, and they live in a brand new semi knocked into one, given to them by the council, which had upset the neighbours. The children are even withdrawn from national certificate classes when human biology is being taught. I just hope the children can adjust! As for parents' responsibility. If you listen to what some kids learn from their parents or behind the bike sheds perceived knowledge hasn't changed since the dark ages. One of my former colleagues used to work on a farm down near Campbelltown during his school holidays. He was in the local pub with three of his farmer friends. One was saying that he and his wife had been trying for a family for quite a while without success. I won't go into details, but suffice it to say, the two farm hands offered a suggestion which made my colleague laugh out loud. They turned on him saying "what do you know? You're not married!". The depth of their ignorance was, apparently, clearly, flabbergasting! Parents' responsibility! Many parents haven't a clue and many, whether they are clued up or not, are too embarrassed or otherwise to speak to their children. There are too many old wives tales that people still actually believe with obvious consequences! For instance, more that one child has been immaculately conceived, as another of my (married - but not at the time) colleagues found out! :o
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I'm not sure how far the problem is one of education alone rather than a reflection of the lowered perceptions of the place of "family" in society as a whole? I don't want to upset the teachers amongst us, though I possibly shall, but I do wonder if they are really the ones who are best equipped to try to replace what used to be family related issues. Having said that, if they don't who will?
I worked with teachers over most of my working life and found many of them, particularly those engaged in pre-tertiary education, to be fairly innocent of the reality of the workings of society and the world. Maybe this had something to do with their lack of experience of the real world as they proceeded from school to university/teacher training and then, as it were, back to school again. Having said that I did come across some fairly naive beings in the tertiary sector too.
I well remember that when we first moved to Devon, with a fairly bright son (later to get a first in Politics) who seemed, at his new school to be making good progress in sheep identification but going backwards in his maths. Ah, they said when I raised this with teacher training professionals over coffee, when the National Curriculum comes in this will even out the blips you are experiencing. It hasn't though, has it. It's simply left out the "added value" that used to be part of the educational process and that has caused a knock-on effect in the way that society works now.
Lots of words and lots of "spin" but nothing on the ground. I don't know how to change it and it can only get worse.
Back to the flowers ;D
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A Devon summer.
Got into the car this morning with heavy mist and drizzle and the temperature gauge showing 14C to go to Exeter (yet more shoes needed!).
Arrived at the park and ride just outside Exeter, a journey of around 36 miles, blue sky, sunny, temperature gauge 25C.
Back to the car park, many shoe shops visited-no suitable shoes ??? - temperature gauge 32C.
Arrived back home, heavy mist and drizzle and temperature gauge showing 16C.
Bet it was nice in Yorkshire today!
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No, it's obviously not purely a problem of education. I was being a bit simplistic. But the education system seems to be the main (possibly only) place we have where a well-meaning society can (especially if started early) seriously hope to influence things and try to break the repeating cycles (behavioural cycles, cycles of poverty, ignorance, lack of self-worth, etc) that end up blighting so many lives. It may sound political and controversial to some, but one thing I feel strongly should be done is for private schools to lose their charitable status, which is basically a huge tax break for the privileged, and the extra tax income thus generated should be used (along with whatever else it takes financially from other taxation - including extra taxation of huge bankers' bonuses) to help to raise education for all children to the privileged level of the best paid-for private education.
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one thing I feel strongly should be done is for private schools to lose their charitable status, which is basically a huge tax break for the privileged, and the extra tax income thus generated should be used (along with whatever else it takes financially from other taxation - including extra taxation of huge bankers' bonuses) to help to raise education for all children to the privileged level of the best paid-for private education.
Well this is a very thought provoking thread and an interesting comment from Martin but it assumes that extra funding for "underprivileged" children will somehow make them amenable to actually learning. I would take issue with the fact that ALL those who come from a low socio-economic background are the culprits. There are many privileged children who believe the world owes them a living, and many low income children who take up the challenge of bettering themselves. Education, discipline and responsibility begins at home and should be supported throughout the formative years in schools. It is the lack of responsibility and respect for one's self that brings out the worst in people. I, as I am sure many people on this forum do, come from an honest, working class family. Low income does not necessarily mean low educational standards. The original posting on this matter relates to a lack of responsibility on the part of the two individuals. It has nothing to do with family values or education. IMHO.
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Right, well I couldn't stand the bullying any longer so on Friday night went to emergency clinic in town and they had me into hospital quickly for a scan. I don't know the results yet but am to go to the hospital again tomorrow morning (Monday). At 11.42am yesterday John (Saturday) I was working at the market and felt fine as I still do, though a bit headachy. Anyway, I can't thank you all enough for your very kindly concerns. I'll let you know what happens. As Ian said on the Bulblog thread, the Forumists are a wonderful and caring bunch of real friends...or words to that effect. I can endorse that to the max.
Martin I rarely am on the Forum from Friday night through to Sunday morning, because of the work mentioned above, I start at 6am (up at 4.30) and am so bushed when I get home around 2.15pm that I spend the rest of the day on the sofa with small dog and book, while Roger makes cups of tea. The work is, in most parts, very physical and I don't know if my knees and back will take a lot more but I go on as long as possible for the same reason everyone goes to work, paying the bills.
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This is good news, Lesley... better safe than sorry... hope the scan proves clear.
I'm not a great one for doctors but sometimes it just is necessary ! Well done for taking action. :-* :-*
I'll relax and go to bed now :)
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Lesley, glad the snowdrop seeds arrived okay. Hope they germinate okay for you. Give them a good soak after sowing and don't let them dry out completely for prolonged periods and hopefully they should be okay. Not sure how they'll respond to your winter cold without a warm, moist summer first. Maybe the cold will make them germinate in your spring without a warm summer period. Be interesting to hear what happens, so please let me know. Presumably you had the same situation with Hubi's galanthus nivalis seed arriving in your autumn/winter. What happened there? Did they germinate the next spring, or did you have to wait a full year or more? And what about my corydalis seed? When did that germinate? Interested to know how sowing followed by immediate cold affects bulb seed germination.
quote/]
Martin, Hubi's galanthus seed took an extra year so apparently needed the winter cold. But when it DID come up, it was like hairs on Teddy's back, very thick and prolific so I expect that will happen with yours too. It seems that so far at least, this winter is to be a mild one, as was last year's.
On the other hand, the Corydalis seed started to come up after just a month and was well away after 3. A few more have come up in the second year (3 now, isn't it?) and some have flowered, mostly nice pinks, pink and whites, and a few lavenders.
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Not sure what I did wrong there to have the post included in the quote. No matter.
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Good to hear you're okay, Lesley. Hope the scan shows nothing serious. The bullying had to be done though. ;D
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Good luck with your WOF Lesley. Better safe than sorry.
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Which reminds me that my car is due for one too. ::)
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Lesley, you made the right decision, and I'll think of you all day, waiting for good news, I hope. You know what? You gave me courage to go and have that lung X-ray yesterday. I had been postponing it for weeks...nothing wrong, thanks heaven. I'll pray that it is just the same for you.
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Bullying Lesley? Moi? Slight ticking off maybe......raised voice - maybe, but bullying?
Susan
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This is good news, Lesley... better safe than sorry... hope the scan proves clear.
I'm not a great one for doctors but sometimes it just is necessary ! Well done for taking action. :-* :-*
Hear, hear. Hope the news is good tomorrow Lesley...I can't believe we actually bullied coaxed you into action, but if we did it's a good thing, better safe than sorry ::) ::)
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Lesley it's amazing what us bunch can do on this forum ::) ;D it's just that we care.
My husband says sometimes to me, stop going on but I always say the day I don't bother is the day I don't care about you so be warned ;D
Take care.
Angie :)
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Good decision Lesley, all the best.
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The original posting on this matter relates to a lack of responsibility on the part of the two individuals. It has nothing to do with family values or education. IMHO.
Alan, sorry if I wasn't clear but I was talking in a general sense about the problem of young people ending up in bad life situations, rather than about the two specific people Mark mentions, who I don't know personally and don't feel qualified to judge in the way that Mark might. I just feel in a general sense that there's a moral duty to give all children the best possible start in life and equip them as best as possible for what life will throw at them and help them to avoid making bad life decisions. I appreciate that many people have a disadvantaged start in life and manage to overcome that but not everyone manages to pull themselves up by the bootstraps.
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The original posting on this matter relates to a lack of responsibility on the part of the two individuals. It has nothing to do with family values or education. IMHO.
I just feel in a general sense that there's a moral duty to give all children the best possible start in life and equip them as best as possible for what life will throw at them and help them to avoid making bad life decisions.
Martin et al,
Totally agree with you. I just have this propensity to jump on my soapbox when low income families and unemployment are blamed for the world's ills. Nothing personal you understand.
Best
Alan
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.......so on Friday night went to emergency clinic in town and they had me into hospital quickly for a scan. I don't know the results yet but am to go to the hospital again tomorrow morning (Monday).
Good luck with your tests Lesley. I'm sure you'll have peace of mind after the tests.
A&S
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The original posting on this matter relates to a lack of responsibility on the part of the two individuals. It has nothing to do with family values or education. IMHO.
I just feel in a general sense that there's a moral duty to give all children the best possible start in life and equip them as best as possible for what life will throw at them and help them to avoid making bad life decisions.
Martin et al,
Totally agree with you. I just have this propensity to jump on my soapbox when low income families and unemployment are blamed for the world's ills. Nothing personal you understand.
Best
Alan
No problem, Alan. I certainly don't believe in demonising low-income families. And I tend to jump on my soapbox pretty quickly too.
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Back to Neurology Dept, had to wait around for a long time, but that's typical.
Professor with medical student in attendance. Scan shows nothing sinister - no sign of tumour, embolism, stroke or anything they're concerned about. Suggested that stress is probably the problem and told me to take a holiday (yeah right). Also to keep appointment with own doc on July 6th which I will - and get a thorough check up. No medication prescribed, told to take paracetemol for continuing headaches. So - nothing to worry about. I asked about Alzheimer's onset and he said "if half the staff around here had as few symptoms as you show, I'd be a lot less worried." I took this to be a joke. ::)
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Lesley, sounds like a good result for you.
Maybe you can lie around with young Teddy a bit more often with the feet up.
I wish you could join up for Tai Chi classes, I can guarantee that would help relax and give you a sense of well being.
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Thank goodness for that Lesley. Much better to have your ( and our!!!) mind put at rest now and then get a regular check up on the 6th. I think I just heard a large collective Forum sigh of relief that you scan was clear.
Make an extra ten minutes a day to sit with a cuppa and cuddle Teddy.... it's good for you!
We can get Cliff and David making jokes now about whether or not a brain might be found on a scan of
most Forumists...... :-X
Aha! was just about to post this when I saw Helen's message.... two minds with but a single thought... to cuddle Teddy! Helen understands these things, she has that beautiful Cat of hers to reduce her blood pressure. 8)
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If you can't take a holiday, Lesley, have a look at these canine chums enjoying their beach break.... I was sent this link by a chum... it is rather fun....
YouTube - A doggy summer http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=pkPNa4DBFHI
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Excellent news, Lesley. Now stop lazing around and get those bloody snowdrop seeds sown!
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I've already done that Martin. I have my priorities right.
If my problem has been stress, it's only getting worse. Teddy has had a sore ear for a couple of days so yesterday before I went into town I took him to the vet and that little episode cost me $305!!!!! He has two lots of pills to take (antibiotic and something else) and some drops to apply. He literally had to be muzzled and tied down at the vet's and she's such a nice person too but Teddy wasn't having any. Back on Thursday to see how he's coming along so I guess that will be another $100. Where's the national health when you need it?
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Back in Scotia we had Heidi insured. Paid off big time as she had to have two lumps removed, under general anaesthetic, from one leg - one lump, only seen when the first, larger (benign) one was being removed, was potentially dangerous. That was nearly two years ago and no problems since (touch wood). It's orthodontic work for Lucy (why do dentists here call themselves "Doctor"? ???) that we are having to take out a mortgage on! :-\
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Here in Lancashire we have a saying; 'NO PET - NO FEE'.
Then you can lavish all your attention on your plants ... or your wife! ;D ;D ;D ::)
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I thought I might take Teddy to my own doctor next time. After all, if a penguin can get away with it, why not a little dog?
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Curiously, in the UK, you can be treated by a vet, but a GP is not allowed to treat animals. ::)
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Lesley great to hear things are ok, look after yourself, Teddy needs you.
I was surprised with my last visit to the vet. Benson took another stroke ( which was bad this time ) and after two visits to the vet and lots of drugs and off course the house visit I was £114. What I like about my vet is he doesn't ask if you have insurance before you put your second foot in the door.
Only thing now is a wish we had let him go to doggie heaven as he struggles now.
Angie :)
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Thank goodness for that Lesley. Much better to have your ( and our!!!) mind put at rest now and then get a regular check up on the 6th. I think I just heard a large collective Forum sigh of relief that you scan was clear.
Make an extra ten minutes a day to sit with a cuppa and cuddle Teddy.... it's good for you!
I think we all second that Lesley, good to hear that things are ok, but, you can never be too careful so make sure you have a thorough going over on the 6th ;)
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Quite so Brian.
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In the Alpine news there is a special offer on cold frames. I have been thinking about ordering them for a while,thingking like a Scot ( being thrifty ) now there's a bargain need to buy now. Then I was told the cost of courier £44 per frame. The courier that they use class us as The Highlands, which we are not, it's so annoying.
Anyone from Northhampton coming up to Aberdeen on holiday, off course you will need to have a roof rack.
Angie :)
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A letter I drafted yesterday. I do this when things annoy me. I thought it may get a smile. If any lawyers, university academics etc are reading I hope they have a sense of humour... I'm keeping the company name quiet. For now....
Dear *&$**% Insurance PLC,
Thank you for your recent quote, via Swinton, for our motor insurance. For the time being I shall refrain from commenting upon the extortionate price increases caused by the activities of persons refusing to take any personal responsibility for accidents and, instead, employing ambulance-chasing low-life members of the legal profession to put the blame on someone else.
My main point is to thank you for declining to insure my wife simply on the grounds that she is soon to be a student and insuring students is ‘against company policy’. The fact that she is the same person as you have insured happily for the last 20 years, is a very careful driver, and is now doing far less mileage than when she was working is obviously not sufficient mitigation.
If the policy was against university faculty I would sympathise with you. Twenty years of working with academics has left me with the belief that whilst one hand is giving them a PhD, the other hand is busy taking away their common sense. If they are as big a safety risk on the roads as they are in a lab then certainly you should not insure them.
I can, therefore, only conclude that something about being a student automatically makes one irresponsible and I thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will start monitoring her closely for signs of excessive partying, drug use, dubious taste in music and clothing, taking her washing back to her dad every few weeks, living on pasta and beans on toast etc. I am somewhat concerned that she might turn into a teenager again and I’m not sure I can take the strain at my age, despite practically living at the gym already. Again – I thank you for the warning and am on the lookout for assistance from a younger bloke and a set of jump-leads.
Yours sincerely,
Concerned of Carnforth.
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I sympathise Darren. Coming from Dunblane, where we are expected to end every sentence with "OK Ya", I can sympathise that insurance companies are blinkered and the box that says "student" will refer to some spotty Herbert who drives too fast and usually under the influence of something or other. A colleague of mine was bemoaning the fact that she was having to insure her daughter, also a student. Her poverty stricken neighbour (or so her accountant said), who's daughter was similarly challenged solved the problem at a stroke. Buy two cars and the second comes with insurance! Simple! Problem solved. Daughter has her own car which is insured at no extra cost (accountant again); no longer needs ferried hither and thither and the wife needed a second car anyway. ::)
My moan is trivial in contrast. I bought tickets to take the kids to see Harry Potter 7 (as I had done for the previous six). In the UK it is rated 12a (which I think is inappropriate - as I found out sitting next to a five year old whose father gave a running commentary to keep him from constantly asking questions because he hadn't a clue what was going on - they say that common sense is the least common sense), here it is rated "M" so suitable for "mature" audiences aged 16 and over! I would say "Heigh Ho", but 14-year-olds are considered adults in the local cinema and command adult tickets, yet I managed to buy 2 adult and one child ticket on line (the age rating was still undecided in NZ) last week. Lucy will now have to wait 4 years to see the film of the book she read two years ago. I could understand, but there is no 9 o'clock watershed on television in New Zealand, so you can get sex and violence at any time of the day. It's OK saying "but they put a disclaimer at the start", but how many times do you switch on the TV halfway through a programme? Collecting the tickets on Friday week is going to be an interesting experience. Another interesting happening was in a shop that sells games for PS3 and Xbox360. My son James (14) wanted a game which was rated M (PG in UK) and handed it to my wife. The teller refused to sell it to my wife as it was intended for an under age person! She bought it elsewhere 10 minutes later!
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Cracking letter Darren, you're a man after my own heart. Having worked with academics for most of my working life I particularly liked your third paragraph! Do you shout at the television as well? ;D
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television??
I turn it on occasionally to watch a DVD but that is about it. I reckon I watch about 4 or 5 hours worth of TV - as it is broadcast - per year. I do like a lot of old TV programmes but prefer to watch them on dvd. This gives me no opportunities to shout at it.
I'm also proud of the fact that I have, by choice, not been exposed to news media for 10 years. I found out about 9/11 three days after it happened when someone mentioned it at work..
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I definitely see your point Anthony,
Susan is strict about buying age appropriate computer games for our nephew. If he pesters for something else she tells him to take it to the counter himself, knowing he will be refused, in that shop at least. It's difficult for her to justify to him when all his friends have managed to get a copy.
Lucy sounds a bit like me when I was a kid - my reading age was so advanced I was reading Ian Fleming by 10. I wish I could read slower as I do not get value for money. Even the most doorstep-sized novel lasts me only 2 or 3 evenings! It was balanced out by my being rubbish at maths...
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Great letter Darren but it must be frustrating. Before I read your last paragraph I had visualised Susan out drinking all night, partying till all the hours, no housework done, so I had a good laugh when I read the last bit of your letter.
Why are we all put in these little boxes :-X
I hope Susan can refrain from doing all the things that they expect a student to do, Darren it might be to much for you. It's sounds like you like the quiet life.
Angie :)
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Not too quiet Angie. I'm not averse to the occasional rock concert! :)
Though I have noticed that the others in the audience seem to be getting younger. ;)
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I was vaguely academic years ago (probably quite an accurate description!), but have been a nurseryman and gardener ever since. It has never changed my deep fascination with the natural world and one of my favourite books remains 'The Living Garden' by E. J. Salisbury. Academia can easily lead to over-specialisation at the expense of common sense - thus at the beginning of Salisbury's book is the wonderful quote: 'Science is a first rate piece of furniture for a man's upper chamber, if he has common sense on the ground floor.' It's nice to keep walking from one to the other. I wish I had Darren's ability to ignore the television (but there are occasionally some really superb programmes - 'Earth Story' with Aubrey Manning was outstanding). However, I have pretty much given up watching the news and the world seems to still go by!
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I rarely watch the box apart from the news, much rather listen to the radio or a CD. I wouldn't want to be with out my daily news fix, even if I do shout at it, and apart from Friday, I'm a fixture with Newsnight.
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I have got onto some serious trouble over the years with the other half and offspring for shouting at box when the news is on. Thankfully I have almost given it up now apart from the odd outburst. I had a serious relapse last night though. :P
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I wish I had Darren's ability to ignore the television (but there are occasionally some really superb programmes - 'Earth Story' with Aubrey Manning was outstanding).
what Darren omitted to mention is that the TV point is in the coldest room in the house, so in winter unless you want to snuggle up under a blanket it is too cold to watch anything. ::)
One of my tasks for the summer is to get a new stove fitted in that room, but some how I don't think we will spend any more time watching the telly.
Susan
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What is worse than a cherry tree laden with fruit and no fruit cage? I'll tell you - it's a cherry tree laden with fruit inside a fruit cage that the birds can get into but not out of. I'm having to release blackbirds every day. Today it was dad and 3 kids plus they'd brought along a sparrow to join in. I've searched every inch for a way in and can't find one. I suspect teleportation. >:(
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Hi Anne,
Trees laden with cherries how wonderful, we only ever manage to get a handful off our trees.
we had a similar problem with a family of blackbirds when the blueberries ripened a couple of years ago. Found out the birds were getting in by pushing at the bottom of the netting, but once in they couldn't push the netting from the inside as it had curled up slightly. Only found this out when we saw them do it. Re-secured the bottom of the net by placing soil over it and haven't had a problem since, that we know of anyway. :)
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We have had a bumper crop of cherries this year and I put it down to our new little dog who sits on top of a frame under the cherry tree. He does this because it is outside our living room and he can watch us watching television!!
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The netting was pinned down all the way round, but I'll go and tug at it to make sure. Can I borrow your dog, Tim?
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Wilkin's of Tiptree used to employ a student to rattle a tin of marbles as he walked up and down between the cherry trees, ::) until they found out that if they put bird feeders out the birds ignored the cherries! ;D
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I don't think the blackbirds would go for feeders though. Anyway, picking the last of the gooseberries today, so only the redcurrants to come then we can take the roof off.
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My blueberries grow in a large fruitcage/tunnel on the allotment and for years, although always covered in flowers, they produced very little ripe fruit.
Then I decided to put a lock on and, surprise, surprise, now I get bumper crops. Amazing how shut doors increase fertility. ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;D
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Amazing how shut doors increase fertility. ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;D
Must work in the same way as power cuts........... ;) ::) :P ;D
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This poor little family is in the wars again. I generally take dogs for morning walks on local roads but in the late afternoon Roger takes them to a variety of places including local dog parks, along the Silverstream river etc and in the course of these walks he and dogs get to know many other dogs and their owners so that all dogs are quite comfortable and friendly with other owners than their own. Yesterday, Roger was greeted joyously by Murphy a huge Newfoundland, who hadn't seen our lot for a week or two. Roger was crashed to the ground, hit his head (sore but not really damaged) and had to be rescued because he really couldn't walk. I took him into A and E where he was found to have extensive muscle damage across his back and hips and bruised kidneys. Fortunately nothing broken. He is home but in great pain. He can't do much for a week or so, though is advised to walk and move about as much as possible. Pain killers will accompany porridge this morning.
This is bad enough but yesterday he was in the thows of mending the switches on my elderly oven and the job isn't finished, with the whole oven, the doors and back all separate (and all his various tools) and filling the kitchen so I'm having to do things around them, not easy. He won't be able to finish this for a few days and in the meantime I have shoved the oven back into place but it still isn't working. Just wondering if I can get a new one altogether. At least I can still boil the kettle.
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Crumbs, Lesley, you lot should carry a health warning. Newfies are such big dogs that Roger might easily have had worse injuries, even with escaping a cracked head.
What a to-do :-X At least tea which may be all you get to eat for a while, is good for recuperation :-X
Do you have Arnica gel or cream at home? I thoroughly recommend slathering it all over any sore bits .... works a treat for minimising bruising etc. Roger may regard it as adding insult to injury, in his current state, but heigh ho! ;D
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Arnica's good. Better than the slathering you'd get from a Newfoundland! :P
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We have no Arnica cream but I'll get some today. In the meantime he has a muscle relaxant, codeine for pain and also Voltaren suppositaries. ::)
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Ouch!
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Voltaren suppositaries. ::)
Ouch!
Hope someone in the household remembers to take off the foil wrapping otherwise it's a double ouch. :'( :'( ;)
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I have heard that, for the for the little amount of good they do, you might as well stick them up your bum! ::)
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This should cheer Roger up?
From Thomas Cook Holidays - listing some of the guests' complaints during the season.
1. "I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local store does not sell proper biscuits like custard creams or ginger nuts."
2. "It's lazy of the local shopkeepers to close in the afternoons. I often needed to buy things during 'siesta' time - this should be banned
3. "On my holiday to Goa in India , I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don't like spicy food at all."
4. "We booked an excursion to a water park but no-one told us we had to bring our swimming costumes and towels."
5. A tourist at a top African game lodge over looking a water hole, who spotted a visibly aroused elephant, complained that the sight of this rampant beast ruined his honeymoon by making him feel "inadequate".
6. A woman threatened to call police after claiming that she'd been locked in by staff. When in fact, she had mistaken the "do not disturb" sign on the back of the door as a warning to remain in the room.
7. "The beach was too sandy."
8. "We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as yellow but it was white."
9. A guest at a Novotel in Australia complained his soup was too thick and strong. He was inadvertently slurping the gravy at the time.
10. "Topless sunbathing on the beach should be banned. The holiday was ruined as my husband spent all day looking at other women."
11. "We bought' Ray-Ban' sunglasses for five Euros from a street trader, only to find out they were fake."
12. "No-one told us there would be fish in the sea. The children were startled."
13. "There was no egg slicer in the apartment..."
14. "We went on holiday to Spain and had a problem with the taxi drivers as they were all Spanish..."
15. "The roads were uneven.
16. "It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England it only took the Americans three hours to get home."
17. "I compared the size of our one-bedroom apartment to our friends' three-bedroom apartment and ours was significantly smaller."
18. "The brochure stated: 'No hairdressers at the accommodation. We are trainee hairdressers - will we be OK staying there?"
19. "There are too many Spanish people. The receptionist speaks Spanish. The food is Spanish. Too many foreigners now live abroad'"
20. "We had to queue outside with no air conditioning."
21. "It is your duty as a tour operator to advise us of noisy or unruly guests before we travel."
22. "I was bitten by a mosquito - no-one said they could bite."
23. "My fiancé and I booked a twin-bedded room but we were placed in a double-bedded room. We now hold you responsible for the fact that I find myself pregnant. This would not have happened if you had put us in the room that we booked."
They walk amongst us . . . and they vote!
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Just for the record, it was the attending nurse (pre doctor) who recommended and applied the first suppositary and Roger said the pain began to ease after about 10 mins. They are certainly more effective - he says - than various paracetemol/codeine products. Enough, more than enough said. ::)
Fermi will especially like No 3. :D and yes thanks, they'll cheers Roger.
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Fermi will especially like No 3. :D and yes thanks, they'll cheers Roger.
They obviously didn't go to the right places! There are numerous very high quality "European" restaurants in Goa but they aren't as cheap as the curry-houses! Infact because of the abundance of British tourists just about very diner has an "English menu" - mostly eggs and chips! ::)
I hope Roger is making a quick recovery and finishes installing your oven soon! ;D
cheers
fermi
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Goodness gracious me. Imagine going to Goa to eat egg and chips! ::) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpStoROu0XE
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;D ;D ;D Thanks, Anthony, I needed that!
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The egg and chips thing reminds me of that scene in the café in "Shirley Valentine".
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Some years ago I was on vacation on Menorca. Cheap package deal but the local restaurant was run by Spanish couple and their daughters who did all their own cooking and it was superb. Rarely have I ever eaten as well in a restaurant. Halfway through the vacation, a family of six or seven people from a town in Northern England (which shall remain nameless to protect the majority of that town's residents), came into the restaurant and all of them asked for sausage and chips. Nothing like enjoying the local cuisine is there? Having said that, I could kill for sausage and chips right now. It would go down well with the pint of Thwaites that Mr. Nicholson offered me yesterday. ;D
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We had sausage and potato bake last night. My memory of a bar in southern Spain at lunch time went like this: to the English bar man "I see you serve omelettes?" "yes". "What kind?" "Plain, ham, mushroom, tomato, cheese, cheese and ham, cheese and tomato................anything you want...........except Spanish!". We went elsewhere.
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Try asking for a proper sausage in Kentucky !!!! Whoever heard of FLAT sausages? Oh to be in Clitheroe at Cowmans Famous Sausage Shop.
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Ah Alan, the flat "Lorne" sausage is widespread in Scotland. :( A poor, pink, fatty, gristly thing, to be sure, it also goes by the name of "square slice" or "flat sausage" :-X
[attach=1]
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Whoever heard of FLAT sausages?
Quite a few people, I think ;) :)
www.scotlands-enchanting-kingdom.com/scottish-lorne-sausages.html (http://www.scotlands-enchanting-kingdom.com/scottish-lorne-sausages.html)
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I have a sudden urge to go back to Berlin.....
johnw - +15c and rather cool today.
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Way to go, John !!!!
Maggi, Vivien.....my comment was somewhat (ox) tongue in cheek ;D
but flat sausages and square eggs....gimme a break !!!
Having said that....there's a chippy in Lexington with the best fish and chips imaginable.
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There's a Scottish bakery nearby that sells Lorne Sausage (got a flier), but then they sell haggis in a tin, so I'm not hopeful. ???
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A wee notice for anybody who corresponds with Ross Graham - Kea seeds in NZ . His hotmail address has been hacked into and the contact list used .
Although he would rather be in an hotel in Madrid he is sitting by the fire in Dunedin , NZ and does not desperately need 2900 EURO to pay his bills .
He has had, however, problems with the hotmail people who think that he is the imposter and that the hacker is the legitmate user . So please disregard any URGENT message from hotmail . He can be contacted at ross.grahamATgmail.com ( replace AT with @ )
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Never realized his middle name was Murdoch! :)
Anthony if you want a really good haggis contact Leckie's Butchery in Dunedin. They do the real thing - and NOT in a tin.
I make a good Aberdeen sausage though how close it is to the original I don't know. It's very tasty though and is cooked rolled in a floured cloth and submerged in boiling water. Jolly good hot with vegs or cold in a sandwich or with salad or any other how.
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Good grief. Boiling sausage! Fry it in dripping or lard! ;D
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I make a good Aberdeen sausage though how close it is to the original I don't know. It's very tasty though and is cooked rolled in a floured cloth and submerged in boiling water. Jolly good hot with vegs or cold in a sandwich or with salad or any other how.
Lesley, can we have the recipe in Cooks Corner please ;D ;D ;D
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Good grief. Boiling sausage! Fry it in dripping or lard! ;D
I can certianly fry the sliced sausage Anthony though we usually have it just as is, but the whole sausage is boiled, simmered really, to cook it. It is about 35 cms long and 10-12cms in diameter, not for frying. When it comes out of the cloth it is rolled in soft white breadcrumbs and left to cool.
OK Helen, will do.
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How strange. :P
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Way to go, John !!!!
I thought you might appreciate those Alan. I did a count and took shots of exactly 107 display cases ( a bit of overlapping but not that much) in the meat department of one Berlin store!
johnw
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I love birds in the garden, but NOT Magpies. The number has increased steadily from 2 a week ago, to 6 yesterday.
Last year I do not remember seeing a single Magpie, just the pesky wood pigeons - best cooked ;)
Can anyone offer an explanation for the explosion in the population of Magpies.
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simples - chicks fledged a few weeks ago so you have a family party
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But why this year and not last year???
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a tree in your area must be big enough for a nest
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Many more Maggies here this year than I've ever noticed before, and before the families came along ?
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a tree in your area must be big enough for a nest
The protected wood has been there for centuries - another idea perhaps ???
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We've had a steady increase in magpies and this year they have taken over completely. Not a songbird in sight or earshot, no more dawn chorus at 4 a.m. Just the magpies' wretched rattling, but to their credit they don't start until 5:30.
They haven't got rid of the pigeons though, and I wonder whether it isn't a joint effort between them and the red kites, which have completely taken over the skies here in the Chiltern. Yes, I still say aaah when I see them, but they don't just eat carrion.
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I wouldn't imagine small birds would form a significant part of a red kite's diet. The crows robbed the wood pigeon's nest in the oversized hedge behind our house in Dunblane most years. We used to have a small flock of magpies that flew around the estate in the off season, behaving like a flock of black and white parrots.
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How strange. :P
Anthony surely you didn't expect New Zealand to be exactly the same as Scotland, only warmer? :D BYW, would you please email me Rafa's list. Thanks.
I'm sad to think of the wood pigeions as only pot material, according to Arthur. One of the things I most fondly remember about the UK was that soft crooning sound they made. I never saw one, but the memory of their song(?) lingers on.
Our native wood pigeon, kereru or Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae (irridescent blue/green/grey/crimson, with a snow-white sleeveless singlet) is highly protected but the Maori are doing their best to have it released from protection so they can hunt and eat it. They say it was part of their natural food resource and they should be allowed to continue with it. So far, the powers that be are resisting, thank goodness. Fortunately, it is relatively common around this area and it is wonderful to watch them land high in a lombardy poplar and bungy jump, almost to ground level, going up and down several times until the momentum of their initial heavy landing has run down. Then they fly off and back, and start over again. They are birds which love a good time. 8) They do decimate the buds and flowers of the kowhai tree though, Sophora tetraptera and love both the flowers and the purple fruits of fuchsias.
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Nothing surprises me Lesley. Boiled sausages, for me, have only ever been frankfurters for hot-dogs. Mind you, there are some Scottish foods that I still find curious, such as fried clootie dumpling served with black pudding, lorne sausage, baked beans, mushrooms, gegs and fried bread as part of a Scottish breakfast! :o I would have dumpling on its own cold, or heated up with custard! I'm quite fond of the Scottish national dish: chicken tikka massala. The NZ nation dish (butter chicken) is quite tasteless, but then perhaps my sample base is too small? We have quite the best fish and chip shop I have been too at The Hub, Botany. It's in the middle of a big fresh fish shop (Oceanz Seafood http://www.oceanz.co.nz/), so the fish is fresh.
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Anthony I am always disappointed if there is no fried Cloutie Dumpling at breakfast in Scotland :(
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We have quite the best fish and chip shop I have been too at The Hub, Botany. It's in the middle of a big fresh fish shop (Oceanz Seafood http://www.oceanz.co.nz/), so the fish is fresh.
Have you tried Bluff oysters yet Anthony --wild oysters dredged off the bottom of the waters of Foveaux Strait ,(at my back door ) :P :P :P.
Simply the best tasting oysters in the world .......Enjoy !
Cheers Dave
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I'm afraid oyster is one of my bogie foods. Must revisit it. 8)
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I'm afraid oyster is one of my bogie foods.
I think that says it all!
:P
cheers
fermi
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Is that an oyster on your plate? No it'snot!
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Seeing as there is not a bemused thread, I'll post here. Took my children to see Harry Potter. Apparently the M rating (suitable for mature audiences 16 and over) are just guidelines. I was by far the oldest in the sparsely populated cinema, and James, aged 14, was probably older than most of the rest. There was even a baby in a carry cot. I toyed with the idea of asking a responsible adult in the foyer about the ageing policy, but looking at the laddie who tears your ticket and the youngsters behind the counter I couldn't see one. I suppose the M rating clears the censor of any responsibility - they've labelled the film, you decide if it's suitable for your family. I must admit the baby only made a noise a couple of times, and sufficiently sotto voce only to add to the atmosphere during the quiet scenes. I reckon it could sleep through a thunder storm! ;D
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How strange. :P
One of the things I most fondly remember about the UK was that soft crooning sound they made. I never saw one, but the memory of their song(?) lingers on.
You wouldn't say that if they performed as a massed choir performance outside your bedroom window at 6.30 in the morning, followed by a tap dance routine on the roof which makes Riverdance seem amateurish. Oh yes, then the noisy flapping that passes for foreplay! And finally, feeling a bit peckish after all that exercise, they go off and nip the tops of the newly sprouted peas. Grrrr >:( >:( >:(
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Hmmm yes, that's what it's like, only mine start at 5am. They bellow across the valley to their mates / rivals.
Soft cooing, nope. Perhaps wood pigeons do that. Ours are the plain house pigeons, they boom. >:( >:( >:(
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We have quite the best fish and chip shop I have been too at The Hub, Botany. It's in the middle of a big fresh fish shop (Oceanz Seafood http://www.oceanz.co.nz/), so the fish is fresh.
Have you tried Bluff oysters yet Anthony --wild oysters dredged off the bottom of the waters of Foveaux Strait ,(at my back door ) :P :P :P.
Simply the best tasting oysters in the world .......Enjoy !
Cheers Dave
Dave, I am surprised you did not suggest to Anthony that he try some real Southern Man tucker. mutton bird accompanied by brussel sprouts ;D
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yesterday I was at the Giants Causeway and saw an American man doing something so stupid. He climbed to the top of the rocks carrying a baby kangaroo style - no he didnt have a pouch but one of those carrying things where the baby looks forward.
It was raining and the rocks were slippery ....
I took photos but my family said not to show photos of what he did
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Dave's right about Bluff oysters, the very best in the world. Pacific oysters from Nelson and elsewhere are rubbish, in comparison. However, the Bluff oysters are so expensive, more than $2 each, that only Aucklanders can afford them. ???
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I certainly did mean wood pigeons, in the UK, not your regular pigeon which flies in large groups and craps all over everything. They're a pain here too. >:(
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We have quite the best fish and chip shop I have been too at The Hub, Botany. It's in the middle of a big fresh fish shop (Oceanz Seafood http://www.oceanz.co.nz/), so the fish is fresh.
Have you tried Bluff oysters yet Anthony --wild oysters dredged off the bottom of the waters of Foveaux Strait ,(at my back door ) :P :P :P.
Simply the best tasting oysters in the world .......Enjoy !
Cheers Dave
Dave, I am surprised you did not suggest to Anthony that he try some real Southern Man tucker. mutton bird accompanied by brussel sprouts ;D
I suppose mutton bird will taste like guga, gannet fledglings caught and salted on the island of Sula Sgeir off Lewis in the Outer Hebrides? I've not tried it. :P I have the gene that allows me to enjoy Brussel sprouts.
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Now, I know I'm dyslexic but some emails are harder to follow than others.
Take this one received today - is it even written in English?
In Aberdeen 30 & 31 August…
…recognised leaders & facilitators of service user involvement*
who warmly invite you to participate in our innovative group learning sessions
“Total transformation achieved in my perceptions of
service user involvement - a light went on!”
(* service user involvement: we use this term to umbrella a wide range of participatory methods and concepts,
including co-production; participation; empowerment, community engagement; person-centred practice)
Coming to Aberdeen – expert training and advice in service user involvement from inspirational leaders in the field.
Courses on Mainstreaming Service User Involvement and practical Tools, Tips & Techniques for Involvement will run on
Tuesday 30th & Wednesday 31st August 2011 in Aberdeen.
Kindest regards, the I.E. team.
:o ??? ??? ::) :-X
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That could win a Plain English award Ian! Clearly they are going forward with their plans to implement functional organisational alignment.
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For people who speak such jargon I'd happily arrange dental realignment. ;)
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I found it difficult to follow also
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I think anyone speaking such gobbledygook would possibly be doing their dentistry by post? That reminds me, I was always fascinated how my violin teacher could rotate his wallies through 360o several times during my lesson! :P
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....and that's only the introduction. Imagine sitting through their group sessions ::)
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I think anyone speaking such gobbledygook would possibly be doing their dentistry by post? That reminds me, I was always fascinated how my violin teacher could rotate his wallies through 360o several times during my lesson! :P
Talking about plain English, "rotate his wallies", Anthony? :D :D OK - I googled it and now I know what you mean ... ;D ;D
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I found it difficult to follow also
I found it impossible to follow :o
Angie :)
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For people who speak such jargon I'd happily arrange dental realignment.
If you're wanting to arrange dental re-alignment........... ;D ;) ;D
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Garden ER of 5 - what a load of ....!
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I don't understand the problem...seems quite simple to me...can be summarised quite easily in one word........bull***t
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I don't understand the problem...seems quite simple to me...can be summarised quite easily in one word........bull***t
I'm inclined to agree.
Peter, I see you were having a flutter of the wallet :P
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It's clear as mud to me Ian. I really think you should take this unique opportunity and attend the whatever it is. Such a chance may never come again. ;D
Actually it sounds pretty much like the spiel of the guy who tried to sell me a new oven the other day. That was clear as mud too. ::)
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Ian could take the two courses offered by the purveyors of gobbledegook for only £290 plus VAT!
I've read the accompnaying brochure, which is every bit as bad as the introductory blurb and shows quite clearly that they are offerinmg to teach the blindingly obvious to the deeply stupid for a huge profit.
I am reminded of the young woman recently on the Aprrentice TV programme, who had " been taught by Al Gore, Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama and who had herself taught tens of thousands of young people" .... and whose career was built on spiel and the spread of spiel.
Beat the blazes out of actually DOING something for a living I suppose.
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Try this one!
www.sdlconnect2.com/SDWeb/content/0/0/SDL_RoT.swf (http://www.sdlconnect2.com/SDWeb/content/0/0/SDL_RoT.swf)
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Sorry Martin, I never open .swf links..... been told they're too risky for virus, bugs etc. Don't know if that's always true but I can't risk the
life-line machine. :-X
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"rotate his wallies" - Google didn't help me with that one and my brain is boggling. ???
I read yesterday that every time a Google search is performed it uses as much energy as a 100W light bulb lit for an hour. I think I'd better go round turning all the lights off. Actually, I'd have to go and replace all my low energy lightbulbs with 100W ones first, or I'd never be able to switch any of them on again.
It's been a long day.
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Have a restful night's sleep, Anne, dreaming of Anthony's violin teacher rotating his false teeth as A. worked his way through his lesson.
Question is, did the maestro rotate his false teeth horizontally or vertically? ??? That's what I want to know.
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Either way would put me off!
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The front always remained the front, so vertically through a front to back axis. I can still see him doing it. It wasn't a dream!
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Peter, I see you were having a flutter of the wallet
Nope, free advertising! ;D
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Peter, I see you were having a flutter of the wallet
Nope, free advertising! ;D
;D ;D ;D.... and why not, indeed! Most of the other SRGC dentists have retired.... Peter could clean up... if more of us had teeth!
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At least my teeth are my own - both of them. Lucy's about to have orthodontic treatment. Free in the UK; $8000 here in NZ!
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The front always remained the front, so vertically through a front to back axis. I can still see him doing it. It wasn't a dream!
Must have been like a castanet accompaniment to your lesson Anthony. Hope you played a lot of Spanish music.
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No Spanish music, but the pronunciation often became a bit Thpanish. ;D
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Hi,
I have been grinding my teeth (howzat for a link ;D) all week. I was refurbishing my roof garden and asked the neighbour if I could place a ladder in his garden to help hoist up the new railings. He said no, they didn't like the balcony, it overlooked his property and I could see right into his bedroom. In so many words, he wanted me to get rid of it.
I pointed out to him that he knew the roof garden was there when he bought the house, that it had been there for over 20 years. And he started mentioning planning permission etc.
Well, yesterday a planning officer came to inspect and he took some pictures. He reckoned he could see that it had been there for some years. He also confirmed the 6 year rule, which says that a structure that has been in use for 6 years is allowed to stay. But could I send him a copy of the invoice for the installation to confirm the date. Fortunately I had it on file, so I scanned it and sent it to him. According to that, the roof garden was installed 25 years ago. So it should be alright, but I am a bag of nerves. :'( :'( :'(
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Sorry Martin, I never open .swf links..... been told they're too risky for virus, bugs etc. Don't know if that's always true but I can't risk the life-line machine. :-X
Understand your reluctance although I'm sure this one is fine. Google 'The Mood Elevator' to get an idea of this bit of nonsense people get paid lots of money for!
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I notice that, sadly, this thread has now nudged ahead of the 'happy' thread in number of posts/pages for the first time this year...... :(
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There is just so much to moan about, though... trivial things and serious things like the awful bomb blast and gun attacks today in Norway.
Terrible things happening that we seem to be able to do nothing about. :'(
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Just nothing like a good old moan, and I mean nothing :P ;D
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Just nothing like a good old moan, and I mean nothing :P ;D
Nothing!!!! that's a bit negative isn't it.....look on the positive side...there must be something you can moan about ::)
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Yes, the Norway news is truly frightful and my heart goes out to our Norwegian friends on the Forum. As yet I've heard just the barest bones of it all but no doubt our TV news will fill me in this evening. It is thoroughly cynical of me but I'm hoping our languishing Labour movement can make some use of the tragedy, and do a little political harm to the right wing extremist who has ministerial ambitions at our Nov. election. He is, to my mind an evil man and very dangerous. This man rolled the leader of a small right wing party (we have proportianal representation) and bullied him into standing down in the new man's favour, even tho' he didn't even belong to the party, all right wingers and "who cares about the rest of you, so long as WE have lower taxes on our huge incomes and massive investments?" If I hate anyone, it is people like these.
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And to go on moaning (it's been a difficult day) and referring to Maren's post, why do (some) men think women want to look into their bedrooms? How b....y conceited and arrogant can they be? >:(
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Tragic news about Norway. I agree with you on both your points Lesley. Unfortunately the people who make the most money serve no useful purpose in my mind, yet they bleat when there are suggestions they should pay more tax.
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And to go on moaning (it's been a difficult day) and referring to Maren's post, why do (some) men think women want to look into their bedrooms? How b....y conceited and arrogant can they be? >:(
Lesley I was thinking the same when I read Maren's post. I think Maren would have nicer things to look at than peek into the next doors bedroom window.
Angie :)
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.. men think women want to look into their bedrooms? How b....y conceited and arrogant can they be? >:(
He may have had something worth seeing Lesley.....................................................
a Picasso on the wall perhaps :P :-X
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Bet it would have only been a print. The only man who ever "flashed" at me covered up very quickly when I asked what was he was trying to show me? I can't understand why women complain to the police about flashers (except where children are the victims of course). There are so many insulting things can be said, so quickly and effectively.
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Small talk ;D
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Lesley,
I recall a comedy sketch on television where a man flashed a lady and said, "What do you think of that?". To which she replied, "It's like a penis, only smaller."
Paddy
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;D ;D ;D
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Clever lady Paddy. ;D
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My new oven/cooktop still hasn't arrived but that's understandable with the snow we've had. Expected now on Friday morning and I'll make a chocolate cake first thing, then onto Cook's corner with the recipe. It's the best I ever made. :)
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That sounds worth waiting for Lesley ;)
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My new oven/cooktop still hasn't arrived but that's understandable with the snow we've had. Expected now on Friday morning and I'll make a chocolate cake first thing, then onto Cook's corner with the recipe. It's the best I ever made. :)
Lesley it's a pity I couldn't taste your chocolate cake, no point me looking on Cooks corner as I have only made a cake once before and it went on fire.
I was having friends round a while back and as I can't cook we just get a take away Chinese meal. Don't laugh but I put everything in the oven till we ate the starters and I melted all the containers. We couldn't even open the containers. So if I ever say come round for tea you are probally better giving it a miss.
Lesley already thinking of your chocolate cake ;D
Angie :)
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it's too warm today 26C ;D
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Too warm Mark? I reckon Susan would say the same. Personally I don't even stop feeling cold until the temperature gets past 30C...
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You slay me Angie. EVERYONE can cook; men and boys, even little children. Even Roger. ;D But if I can ever come to tea I'll bring it with me. ;D
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You slay me Angie. EVERYONE can cook; men and boys, even little children. Even Roger. ;D But if I can ever come to tea I'll bring it with me. ;D
I'm with Angie ... I can't even scramble bacon! ;D
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My nephew had to call mum to ask how he added water to the instant soup ;D
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You slay me Angie. EVERYONE can cook; men and boys, even little children. Even Roger. ;D But if I can ever come to tea I'll bring it with me. ;D
Lesley my mum was a cook, she couldn't get over how many disasters that I had. She was a cook in the Towns House, Aberdeen. She fed all the councillors for years, they were never happy about anything, nothing has changed there.
My mum tried to learn me German ,tried to show me how to knit, none I was good at but she did pass the love of gardening onto me. What more could I ask for.
Angie :)
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I'll bet you can fry an egg though Cliff. :D
By being a (reasonably) good cook I get to eat what I want for meals, not someone else's choice.
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I'll bet you can fry an egg though Cliff. : ;D
No, but I can grill a pilchard ... they crack eventually! ;D
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At last I've started repotting the daffs. I've had a 12 module tray in the kitchen for weeks since I did the chipping - each cavity holding a different clone of daff hybrid, carefully labelled, to pot up as insurance in case the chips fail. I took them out to my potting station, and put them on the table ready while I made up the compost. After bashing the lumps out of the JI compost with my rake, I leaned it against the table. You're ahead of me aren't you? ::)
15 seconds later I tripped over the rake which clipped the edge of the tray and catapulted bulbs and labels all over the accumulated pots etc that tend to congregate around me (not my doing you understand). After a long hunt, the bulbs are now all in one pot along with their labels, but since most were not flowering size, it'll be a couple of years before I can attempt to match them up.
That'll teach me. Except it won't.
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Been there, done that, Anne. Hence the number of snowdrop pots I have with a name on the front of the label and a note on the back "May be mixed with...and....and maybe also some...." etc.
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I still can't quite believe the Sky news item on the East Africa famine that I caught late last night while de-potting snowdrops, which the news reader prefaced with the words "The following report contains images of malnourished children". Just in case anyone wanted to look away. For ***** sake!!
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It's not just SKY, Martin
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Viewers can always avert their gaze if they find the images of starving children really starts to get too upsetting. It just amazes me that the TV people actually think it's necessary or desirable to forewarn viewers, presumably so that they don't have to see starving children at all, even for a second. We NEED to see them.
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I'll bet you can fry an egg though Cliff. : ;D
No, but I can grill a pilchard ... they crack eventually! ;D
You must be using a decent light then, which leads me to another moan, (I'm a grumpy old woman) the so called - can't remember what they're called, but the kind made of coils instead of a bulbous shape - lightbulbs, may be economic to use and may save the country millions in power, so we're told, but you can't read by the damn things. The light is so poor that you need 6 clustered around your book to see a word. I hate them and am replacing all ours with the old kind.
At one stage during our last (Labour) government, it was going to be made mandatory to use that kind and the old ones were to be no longer for sale. The new (right wing National) govt. dumped that little bit of legislation thank goodness, the only decent thing they HAVE done, in the last almost 3 years.
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It happens in the USA also Martin......They warn us that the pictures might be disturbing to some viewers. Just a shame they don't warn us when the politicians are coming on the news. Now that IS disturbing.
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Oh Anne, I almost weep for you (after I had my little schadenfreude moment of course :)). What a dreadful accident. But you are not alone. A couple of years ago I dropped a tray containing 20 small pots of newly sown seeds when I tripped on a gum tree root. I shovelled then swept everything up and put it all into the tray with labels but minus the pots but not a blind thing has germinated in the time.
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Need I say more? This shot was taken at 5pm today in the shade of the porch.....8 day forecast ? 7 days above 90 and 1 at 89. Did I really complain about the snow earlier this year? :(
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Now that is hot. My friends in Oklahoma have said they feel like vampires, everything is getting done in the evening. They said they have had around the 100 degrees for ages. I moan about our horrible weather in Aberdeen but I can honestly say I would be moaning if I was getting those temperatures. I would love to live somewhere that gets a temperature of around 25c for 10 months of the year. I just hate having one day warm and the next day freezing.
Angie :)
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You definitely couldn't live here Angie.....your chocolate would be in a permanent state of fluidity ;D
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You definitely couldn't live here Angie.....your chocolate would be in a permanent state of fluidity ;D
Dont worry I still would enjoy. I think it would be so lovely to sit out in a evening and have nice warm air about you. Bliss.
Angie :)
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Well chocolate sauce is very good too. :D
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Much more weather like this and I'll start slicing this poor plant up. ;)
johnw - +17c and torrents.
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Sorry to be dense, but....why?
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Sorry to be dense, but....why?
Lophophora williamsii.
johnw
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Much more weather like this and I'll start slicing this poor plant up.
But you'd probably feel worse before you felt better.
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Dense...denser...?
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Lesley,
This one has 'ethnobotanical' uses.
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Lesley, I am so pleased you are totally innocent of the properties of Lophophora williamsii.
"In New Zealand it is illegal to cultivate or prepare any plant of the cacti species Lophophora williamsii or Lophophora lewinii for the purpose of the production of mescaline."
So there you are. Just shows that your mis-spent youth wasn't all that mis-spent after all!
Susan
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When I saw John post Lophophora williamsii I thought I was seeing things! :o
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Thank you Susan, and everyone else. Now I see the light and can look back to John's original post and picture and have a giggle. :D I always knew my youth was "sheltered" but hadn't realized I'd been kept totally in the dark.
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I find the use of these and other plants used by tribes(Bruce Parry is a star) round the world really fascinating,i am not saying everybody should rush into there glass houses and chop up there cactus or there Daturas ect,but people have been using these plants for thousands of years to communicate with there spirit world and i would like to point out its our lot that frown upon the use of these and its us that are decimating our natural spaces,the peoples that use these plants respect and look after there landscapes,so maybe we all should ;D(just joking).
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Lophophora are, or at least were, legal to grow here but slicing certainly is illegal. I got the seeds years ago from Kohres in the late 70's or 80's. The plants survived my wilder years so reckon they will live on to old age. Amazing how small they are and they never seem to offset. Kohres have a superb list and all their seed sprouted like cress.
These are the seeds I bought at that time:
Lophophora echinata v. diffusa
Lophophora freyii
Lophophora williamsii
johnw - sun shining!
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When I saw John post Lophophora williamsii I thought I was seeing things! :o
Anthony - You could be! ;)
johnw
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Moan, moan, moan.
At the Chelsea Flower Show, Mary placed an order with Bowden Hostas, a special Chelsea Flower Show offer - a collection of five hostas and then another collection of their choice to be sent on our wedding anniversary.
Our account was debited €95 shortly after the show but no hostas have arrived yet. I have e-mailed a few times and yesterday I was told my hostas were to hand, ready to be dispatched, but there are question marks about the wedding anniversary collection - in the sense, "What wedding anniversary collection?" "What's that about?"
By chance, did anyone else attend the Chelsea Flower Show and place a similar order?
Paddy
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Mark posted a shot of Helenium Sahin's Early Flowerer recently. I cannot find that post. I search helenium, then by Helenium Sahin's Early Flowerer, then Helenium +Mark Smyth - nothing. Has it vanished?
Strange Sahin does not list it in their seed catalogues.
johnw
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I cannot find any reference recently to Helenium Sahin's Early Flowerer . Mark has written of both Helianthus kellermanii and Gazania Apache http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=7647.msg209758#msg209758 ..... bright daisies but not close enough!
Kristl showed it in 2008 http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2487.0
Either someone is pinching posts, or you saw it somewhere else, John..... you haven't been sniffing the succulents again, have you? :-\
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Maggi - Blame the succulents. Wrong site, wrong galanthophile. It was on John Grimshaw's blog. Owe you some Belgian.
BTW Strange Sahin's catalogues do not list this good Helenium!
johnw
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Maggi - Blame the succulents. Wrong site, wrong galanthophile. It was on John Grimshaw's blog. Owe you some Belgian.
BTW Strange Sahin's catalogues do not list this good Helenium!
johnw
John, it seems that galanthophiles are like the snwdrops themselves... seen one... seen 'em all, eh?!! ;D ;D
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I find the use of these and other plants used by tribes(Bruce Parry is a star) round the world really fascinating,
I'd like to take the plant that takes the tribe people to another place ;D ::)
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Mark posted a shot of Helenium Sahin's Early Flowerer recently.
He has now but it's over already
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yesterday I went to do some shopping including toothpaste. I was blinded by the variety and couldnt find the original Colgate Total. There must be 100 different tubes that do this, that and the other
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Never mind the selection of toothbrushes, all recommended, we're told, by various dental organisations. They just have to be putting out something "new" all the time to keep profits up. Load of garbage mostly. And tongue and cheek cleaners? Give me strength!!!
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Just use a soft bristle and brush for 2 minutes, and before eating, as your teeth surface softens when you've eaten.
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My dental surgeon had this bit of wisdom when I told him how happy I was with my electric toothbrush and now I felt I had control over my dental hygene. He said: "the only control with electric toothbrushes is the on and off switch."
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Sensible man. Nothing like a regular bristle brush and a little elbow grrease, not too heavily applied.
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It never ceases to amaze me where this thread goes!!
;D
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It never ceases to amaze me where this thread goes!!
;D
If it is waxed, between the teeth, I suppose? ;D
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and it is waining here, which is weally weally nice.
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::)
The lady on my SatNav excelled herself yesterday! I was taking James way out west to Rutherford College for a rugby match......"in one hundred metres, turn left Aye Why Are Street.................turn left Aye Why Are Street". I then turned left into Ayr Street!!! ::)
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I have voice control in my car and it's been over a year and she still cant understand my commands, replies with command not recognised, sat nav has never let me down yet ::) :-X
Angie :)
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A street on our way to Lucy's hockey is Aviemore Drive. It is pronounced Ay-(as in hay)viemore Drive on the Satnav!
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I have voice control in my car and it's been over a year and she still cant understand my commands, replies with command not recognised, sat nav has never let me down yet ::) :-X
Angie :)
Is it a Japanese car, Angie? :D :-*
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Just use a soft bristle and brush for 2 minutes, and before eating, as your teeth surface softens when you've eaten.
I never knew this, Anthony.
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Angie I've never heard of car that has voice control
"first gear"
"second gear"
"indicate"
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Angie I've never heard of car that has voice control
"first gear"
"second gear"
"indicate2
No Mark this voice control is just for changing your radio, CD or phone. I couldn't tell you what else it's meant to do if anything as I gave up after the first couple of days. It just doesn't understand my Scottish voice.
Is it a Japanese car, Angie? :D :-*
No, I think it's a Indian company that makes it, Range Rover Sport, my first one only lasted me 2 months before it broke down and they couldn't get replacement parts so they gave me a courtesy car for 4 months before I got a new replacement car. Six months driving for nothing. ::) ;D
Angie :)
Angie :)
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Thanks but maybe one must lose one's accent ;D
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Here accent is pronounce exint. ;D
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Thanks but maybe one must lose one's accent ;D
Mark I wish I could ;D
Anthony do the folks in New- Zealand understand you?
Angie :)
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not a moan - This evening I spoke to a Slovak friend who worked here in N Ireland for a few years. His understanding of my accent has gone down hill since he left
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Angie we understand anything that sounds like any Scottish or English or Irish TV programme. We can all speak Coronation St very well. ;D I can even differentiate between Canadian and American. It's to do with how Canadians pronounce the ou sound, somewhere between oh and ow. In American it's just ow, as in ow, that hurt!
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No Mark this voice control is just for changing your radio, CD or phone. I couldn't tell you what else it's meant to do if anything as I gave up after the first couple of days. It just doesn't understand my Scottish voice.
Angie,
That's alright, most of the rest of the world probably doesn't either. :P
I must admit that a thick scottish accent is very hard to understand, but no more than any other strong accent. Some Scots are perfectly understandable as well, so it is always variable.
Anthony do the folks in New- Zealand understand you?
Ah but Angie, is that actually anything to do with his accent? ;) ;D
Sorry, couldn't resist. :o ::)
Aussies can be difficult to understand as well, depending where they're from, but apparently mine isn't too bad from what I've been told. Or at least that is what they've told me. ;D Then again, when is was in Uni I was asked at times where I came from in Britain, as I apparently enunciated quite clearly and it came out sounding a british (apparently). ::) I of course have been trying to make myself as non-understandable ever since. 8)
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If they don't understand me Paul, it's because English isn't their first language. ;D Curiously, non-English speakers tend to understand Scots better than the English because we tend to pronounce words spelled differently to reflect that spelling, e.g. Stirling and Sterling are pronounced differently in Scotland.
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I have often wondered about the value of "speaking" a foreign language as opposed to reading and writing it. Ever country has its own local accents and regional variations. At school, you are taught the standard pronunciation but you later find that when you are in a foreign country, the replies to your speech are often incomprehensible due to regional dialects. At school, we had a French language teacher who gave us examples of regional accents in France. It would take a while to be accustomed to the differences and daunting if you had to deal with them in real time.
We need look no further than the UK. In Scotland, very few people speak the "Queen's English". The vocabulary is basic English with a good bit of Old Scots, Norse, Gaelic, French and other influences from our Colonial days that are not much used south of Hadrian's Wall. A simple example is that London has an Underground, Glasgow has a Subway.
My mother always used the word stoor instead of dust and I still do. As far as I know this is still used in Iceland.
When you think of the number of accents used in the Scotland, the mind bogles. Probably the three most difficult to understand as an outsider are Glaswegian, which is a local dialect influenced by waves of immigration during the 1800's. However, a Glaswegian would say that they cannot understand an Aberdonian. Rural areas such as Buchan in NE Scotland and East Ayrshire still have a good percentage of people who speak a Scot's dialect at home or at their work. Most children have two versions of English - one they use in the classroom and another in the playground.
I am sure that the same thing about accents could be said for Australia and New Zealand.
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I spent almost a year in the UK in 1980, not far from Durham.
Hearing Geordie speak was a real ear opener for me and I think almost any dialect would be easier to understand than it.
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My children's friends' eyes pop when our children speak to us, as their mode of speaking changes beyond all their recognition. Anyone listening to my Dad would know he was a Yorkshireman with no discernible Scottish twang at all, yet when he called on his brother Tommy in Halifax and spoke to the neighbour as Tommy was out, the neighbour thought he was Scottish!
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Paul that's one good thing about this forum we all sound the same. ;D ;)
Lesley do you get Coronation street over there.
Angie :)
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We do indeed Angie. It's the favourite thing of everyone over 60. The rest wouldn't touch it with a barge poll.
I think people pick up accents very quickly, without even realizing it. NZ school kids who go to the States on some kind of scholarship, usually sporting, like basketball or something, and are there for maybe 6 months, come home with very American sounds to their voices.
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Lesley,
I have found myself unconsciously adopting an accent if I am speaking to someone for a while. I try to stop myself, as it may come across that I am trying to make fun of them when I am not. I just find myself doing it without meaning to. ::)
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Lesley,
I have found myself unconsciously adopting an accent if I am speaking to someone for a while. I try to stop myself, as it may come across that I am trying to make fun of them when I am not. I just find myself doing it without meaning to. ::)
That's my problem, too. :-X :-[
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Lesley,
I have found myself unconsciously adopting an accent if I am speaking to someone for a while. I try to stop myself, as it may come across that I am trying to make fun of them when I am not. I just find myself doing it without meaning to. ::)
Och, I ne'er find mysel' doin' thaat!!!
Probably my last contribution to the forum for a while as I'm putting myself through the cataract operation again tomorrow (and even paying for the privilege this time), so my eyes should be 20 - 20 by the weekend (!), but they will then have to settle down for a few weeks before I can test some reading glasses and focus properly on this screen. After the 'uplifting' experience of my last operation (see below) I am REALLY looking forward (but blurred) to the event. ;D
During my last encounter with the surgeon I had the novel experience of rising up (seemed like 20 cms at least ;D) from the operating table when the anaesthetist inserted his needle into my eye - he had previously insisted it wouldn't hurt - he lied!!!
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Cliff,
Ouch!! Good luck with this round! Fingers crossed that all goes brilliantly and you're back with us in no time. We'd be lost without you. :o
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Cliff,
Ouch!! Good luck with this round! Fingers crossed that all goes brilliantly and you're back with us in no time. We'd be lost without you. :o
Aw shucks Paul ... cheers!
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Cliff,
Ouch!! Good luck with this round! Fingers crossed that all goes brilliantly and you're back with us in no time. We'd be lost without you. :o
Couldn't say it better. Look after yourself. Will miss your humor . :D
Angie :)
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Good luck, Cliff, am sure your sense of humour will help get you through the ordeal.
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Cliff, I do admire your intestinal fortitude for going back for a second round after your horrible experiences with the first eye. I know it is the sensible thing to do but it can't have been an easy decision.
We'll all hope that things go rather better this time and that your skewed vison of the world is soon quite out of synch with your skewed sense of humour!
Lots of love and kisses,
Maggi xxx
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Best wishes, Cliff. Hope all goes well and that you will be seeing all things clearly in the near future. Paddy
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Hey Cliff...... (is that one 'eye', or two )
Best of luck Buddy. We're sure you'll r'eyes' to the occasion. If you feel like recuperating in the backwoods of Kentucky, now would be a good time to see our garden. Looks much better through blurred vision.
Seriously now......we know how traumatic it was the last time, so good on you for braving it. Our prayers are with you for a full and speedy recovery.
Hugs an kisses, love and so much more from the Bluegrass Brit Boy & Brit Girl.
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OK, that's it, folks ... enough! Can't go to the operating theatre with tears (rhymes with 'ears" not 'airs') in my eyes ... many, many thanks to you all.
x
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They're just trying to butter you up Cliff. ;D
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They're just trying to butter you up Cliff. ;D
My (butter) cup runneth over, Anthony! ;D
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Keep smiling Cliff. All the best mate I think you're very brave.
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............ It's the favourite thing of everyone over 60............
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No it isn't.
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My very best wishes too Cliff. I hope it all goes well and you'll be able to see forever, on the dull days as well as the clear ones. Much love.
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Maybe this should be under weather topic, but I´m waiting for the summer´s first night frost >:( Hopefully Im wrong and we have "warm" late summer and autumn as last year.
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I learnt a new word this week: Hoon. Poor Heidi has been in the wars. She came back after her walk on THursday and I noticed thumb nail size red spots all over the carpet. A quick check and I found very deep 15mm long glass cut in her right toe of her right paw. A trip to the vet and some sterile super glue and a bandage and she seems to be okay. This morning I removed the glass from four broken bottles in the dried grass at the base of one of the ornamental walls. She was back at the vet today to have her bandage changed. Clearly some morons have had drinks whilst sitting on the nearest seat and just thrown the empties at the wall. >:( I will use the word hoon to describe these cretins as it seems to be used for that purpose here. Meanwhile, Heidi has to take life slowly until Thursday, otherwise the cut will reopen and she'll need stitches. :( She has a hospital drip bag to put over her foot to keep the bandage dry on her walks. This morning I picked up the bag and she immediately sat and raised her paw.
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A very good and well-trained dog Anthony. I'm so sorry to hear of Heidi's injuries and I hope all goes well with her recovery. You're right, "hoon" is used here for the idiots who behave badly in various ways, especially with alcohol and in cars, acting without care for others and giving not a damn about what pain or damage are caused.
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My current moan is just a small inconvenience really. After last night's weather forecast (heavy snow in the south maybe for 3 or 4 days) I took a quick trip to Mosgiel to get some bread as we were on the last loaf from the freezer. Found everyone had actually believed the forecast and there was no bread to be found anywhere in 2 supermarkets, various dairies and service stations. They had all co-operated with each other and phoned around so that the shoppers hadn't needed to ask at every one. No bread since lunchtime. They don't get any more on a Sunday and if the snow really gets going there will be none on Monday, maybe Tuesday as all Dunedin's bread comes from Christchurch or north and the motorways will likely be closed for a time at least. Roger's been threatening to get out his breadmaker for some time. Now he has to do it.
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Thanks for the very kind thoughts, folks.
Well, the op' is over and seemingly successful, but it was actually more painful and lasted far longer than the first experience. It appears that I have particularly long pupils that require deep injections to numb and anaesthetise, it is this depth that created the need for extra plunges with the needle and extra pressure to particular spots. The anaesthetist was quite open about the pain he would cause (as opposed to last time when his counterpart insisted it wouldn't hurt), and I gripped the table/bed to stop any jumping (in vain I might add). Only one in seventy have such long pupils it seems and they are usually the only ones to suffer during cataract surgery - I hope my children and grandchildren haven't inherited that particular gene.
I am actually typing this with the assistance (!) of a giant magnifying glass - not ideal, but useful until I can get the all clear to visit my optician for reading glasses in four weeks time.
My distance vision is now superb and will make the pain worthwhile in the long run - I had forgotten how clear and colourful this beautiful world really was (and how ugly the fires and riots)!
Thanks so much for the concern and the support, it was and still is greatly appreciated.
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Seeing the benefits already Cliff. Here's to health and a rapid recovery.
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Good to hear you are doing so well, Cliff. Continued improvement now day by day, I hope.
I always found that long pupils were good for basketball, by the way.
Paddy
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Lesley, we make all our own bread, use the machine to do the kneading and then cook it in the oven.
Fantastic bread.
We just use the french bread recipe which has no sugar, oil or milk.
Makes great toast too.
You might never want to buy another loaf again.
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Congratulations, Cliff. If you're already feeling it was worth it, then it really must be a quick recovery. Keep up the good work. ;D
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Good to hear you're on the mend Cliff, I'm not sure I could sit there and have someone work on my eye like that.
I suppose seed harvesting is out of the question this year? ::) ;D ::)
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I suppose seed harvesting is out of the question this year? ::) ;D ::)
I could always try coconuts, Peter! ;D
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Cliff, my eyes watered just reading your post!
If you can manouvre the magnifying glass Cliff I left some music for you on Reply 514 on the Happy thread. You can just close your eyes and drift away.
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Lesley,
I have found myself unconsciously adopting an accent if I am speaking to someone for a while. I try to stop myself, as it may come across that I am trying to make fun of them when I am not. I just find myself doing it without meaning to. ::)
Time for some mirth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfMUwCKtWMI
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Lesley, we make all our own bread, use the machine to do the kneading and then cook it in the oven.
Fantastic bread.
We just use the french bread recipe which has no sugar, oil or milk.
Makes great toast too.
You might never want to buy another loaf again.
Is that a recipe on the early pages of Cooks' Corner Helen? I seem to remember some bread recipes. Roger also machines the mixing but bakes in the oven but he lost the right recipe eons ago so it's all a bit hit and miss. I never buy milk now, it's become very expensive here but I make up milk powder every second day, very quick and easy, tastes EXACTLY the same and costs about half.
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Well done Cliff, and the surgrons. So pleased you don't have a third eye. :D
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Great to see you back Cliff.
My husband laughed at me when I filled my on line donor card. I said I am keeping my eyes but they can have everything else. He said but why would you keep your eyes. I replied I don't want anyone else seeing what I have seen in my lifetime. He just shook his head. Well they are my eyes ::) ;D
Angie :)
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Lesley, this is the recipe we use.
It came with a previous breadmachine and is the best for us.
French bread loaf.
Btw, we just use the dough cycle.
We use the ingredients for the 2lb loaf
Water- barely warm 1.5 cups ( 375ml)
Salt- 1.5 tspns ( 7 ml)
Bread flour, we use unbleached-4 cups ( 1litre)
Yeast, active dry , instant or bread machine ( we use bread machine yeast) 2.25 teaspoons ( 11ml)
Just put the ingredients in the breadpan in order of ingredients.
We bought a different brand breadmachine after replacing the pan 3 times, tried the recipe for French bread from the new machine's book but it wasn't as good.
If you try the recipe, let me know what you think.
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Cliff, my eyes watered just reading your post!
If you can manouvre the magnifying glass Cliff I left some music for you on Reply 514 on the Happy thread. You can just close your eyes and drift away.
I drifted away and now I'm back ... many thanks David ... music to my ears!
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After years of use/abuse my bat detector had to go back to the manufacturer. I sent it last Monday. It arrived with them on Tuesday, they fixed the broken solder and put it back in the post the same day.
Guaranteed next day delivery and insurance cost me just under £3.
To fix the solder and put it back in the post they charged me £20!!
It took FedEx 6 days to get it back to me.
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Probably my last contribution to the forum for a while as I'm putting myself through the cataract operation again tomorrow (and even paying for the privilege this time), so my eyes should be 20 - 20 by the weekend (!), but they will then have to settle down for a few weeks before I can test some reading glasses and focus properly on this screen. After the 'uplifting' experience of my last operation (see below) I am REALLY looking forward (but blurred) to the event. ;D
During my last encounter with the surgeon I had the novel experience of rising up (seemed like 20 cms at least ;D) from the operating table when the anaesthetist inserted his needle into my eye - he had previously insisted it wouldn't hurt - he lied!!!
Cliff, you were very unlucky then! Hope you fare better this time.
A relative of my wife had the cataract operation on one of his eyes earlier this summer. He drove to the surgeon, got the old lens removed and a new multifocusing lens put in. After a couple of hours he drove back home himself. (He is 75 years of age). For the first time in many, many years he could see properly!
In some months the other eye is due for a lens removal.
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I know that wasps are good for the garden, but they are definitely not wanted in mine - stung 6 times today when i must have inadvertently disturbed a nest - I did not stop to investigate further.
Luckily I am not allergic to their stings or you would be one Forumist fewer.
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That was very nasty for you Arthur.... did you take an anti-histamine to help with the stings. Useful even if you are not badly allergic, I believe, to reduce pain and I think it helps ensure that further stings do not generate a more serious reaction. :-\
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For the first time in many, many years he could see properly!
In some months the other eye is due for a lens removal.
This must be very reassuring to other road users. ;D
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For the first time in many, many years he could see properly!
In some months the other eye is due for a lens removal.
This must be very reassuring to other road users. ;D
Dear me, I hadn't thought of that.... it is really funny.... since I'm not in Norway!
Terribly funny, i suppose ;D ;D ;D ;)
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My Moan at the moment is rather trivial but due to some computer incompatibility I can't see many pics or even avatars on the SRGC Forum - no problems with NARGS though ???
As it's a work computer I can hardly ask the IT staff to work out "why" when I shouldn't be on a Forum anyway during work hours! (It's currently after hours here!).
An exception was the magnificient cake from Erika for Maggi's birthday - just as well as I wouldn't have known what to make of Maggi's comment otherwise! ;D
Even pics I post aren't available to me to see on the Forum so I hope they are posted the right way up!
cheers
fermi
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They've looked OK to me Fermi, but then I'm in the same half as you are. :D
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It must be due to a setting for downloads, fermi. Rest assured we can see your pix just fine.
Glad you did manage to see Erika's fabulous cake.... ;D :D
Hope you could NOT see the chocolate constructions sent by Johnw.... if you cannot see them I'm sure I'm not obliged to share..... ::)
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On Monday I ordered a compost bin from my local council. I went to their reception and paid for it. The depot is a mile / 1.5km from my house. Quote from the Australian receptionist - not that it matters
Receptionist "Delivery time will be two weeks"
Me "I'll collect it myself"
Receptionist "The public are not allowed on the site"
Me "I'll collect it at the gate"
Receptionist "They aren't allowed to carry heavy items"
Me "drive it to the gate"
Receptionist "They are out doing deliveries"
I gave up
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Mark when I called my local authorities about our bin for rubbish I told them I have to lift my bin into my car as I live up a dirt track road which is a fair distance from the main road and I really think we shouldn't be doing this, health and safety :-X
Her reply was can you not tie it onto your car and pull it down the road. I said yes we could tie it to our towbar but l think you would be replacing the wheels very frequently to our bin. Her reply was oh we won't do that the bin is your responsibility. Can't wait to see what happens in another few years when we can't lift the bin into the car. Why are they never helpful.
Angie :)
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Angie
Couldn't you leave the bin by the main road and take the rubbish to it daily :) ;D :)
Eliminates the heavy lifting and is good exercise. 8)
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Angie
Couldn't you leave the bin by the main road and take the rubbish to it daily :) ;D :)
Eliminates the heavy lifting and is good exercise. 8)
Yes that would be the perfect answer but they will not allow it. This is because there are five of us. But I am the only one that is a long way away. Two years ago we got one of those big bins like you see in the town but they took it away saying the grass verge wasn't wide enough and the bin was protruding to much onto the road. What I normally do is just take my bags to the depot. I did say what happens if I hurt my back with the bin, she just shrugged her shoulders. Maybe in a few years when I am to old they might do something about it. Maybe I could get a discount in my community tax ::)
Angie :)
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We also live at the end of a track and it is a one kilometre return journey with our wheelie bin each week . It is taken there attached to the towball of the car and a bungy cord is attached around the lid to keep it closed . We have been doing this for 8 years now and altough there have been incidents of arriving on site without the previously attached wheelie bin , we are still using the original wheels . Roughly 400km the bin has travelled
I am too scared to tell the council these facts because of....
"Wait a minute , 400 km . He needs plates on that wheelie bin "
"Is it safe . It will need a Certificate of Fitness "
"Has he got a class WB on his drivers licence'
"Unless he puts lights on it , he can only tow it during daylight hours"
"What weight restrictions are there on a wheelie bin under tow"
"What do you mean there aren't any . MAKE SOME!!!"
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Brilliant that 8)
My husband bored a hole in the lid and side of bin and fixes his bungy cord to keep the lid fixed.
I wonder how long our wheels would last for.
Angie :)
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I ordered a (small, I think 80 litre) rubbish bin about 3 months ago from the same people who contract to collect the DCC's rubbish collection. The bin per week costs less that the 65 litre thin black plastic rubbish bag we otherwise have to use and have to buy from the supermarket. I paid for it, put it in the car and went home. No problems. I had it filled in 15 mins. The rubbish bag has many retrictions about what can be put in it (we also have paper, can and glass recycling bins and use these weekly/) but the new bin will take anything. I've already cleaned out the potting shed and I can put garden stuff in it if I want to.
When I lived in Timaru, the council provided 50 free rubbish bags per household, one a week on the presumption that everyone went away on holiday for two weeks. Here, the rubbish bag the same size costs about $2.80 per bag and they'll only collect the bags with the council's designated logo so you can't even go for a cheaper option. My new bin per week costs about $1.95.
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"That didn't have anything in it, did it?" said Roger. "I've just wiped out the dust so I can put some paper clips in it."
Oh b....y h..l. Yes it DID, It was the seed of Rhodo hanceanum nanum, to be packeted for the seed lists and I was going to sow some as well.
"Well there was no label in it." I'll kill him! >:( >:( >:(
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Lesley,
Last week Calochortus tiburonensis got 'weeded' by someone, for the second year running, - two days after I'd pointed it out as something very precious to me. Such is life.
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Never mind Lesley, I've got some seed to send to you. 8)
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Hello Rob,
means you just have to do the weeding yourself. ;) ;)
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A further note on wheelie bins ... and also illustrating just what a sad unit I am . Here are two wheelie bin pictures ( Yes , I know ) taken in my travels .
Everything is bigger in America , including this wheelie bin seen on the side of the road in Utah
[attachthumb=1]
and here in nuclear-free New Zealand I get good mileage out of this picture taken in Arco , Idaho , the first city to have atomic powered electricity
[attachthumb=2]
"Now don't forget , dear . Rubbish in the green bin , recycleables in the yellow one and radioactive waste in the blue bin"
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"Well there was no label in it." I'll kill him! >:( >:( >:(
Well then you had better get a dog bigger than the last one you hired. ;)
johnw
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This isn't just any old moan - I've got steam coming out of my ears!
Some of you may remember me asking for info on germinating acorns from New Zealand, which came from progeny of a famous very old oak tree in a neighbouring village, the Cowthorpe Oak, once said to be the oldest oak in England (now dead and gone alas). In Cowthorpe today, along Oak Road is a group of beautiful oaks, about 350-400 years old, also thought to be seedlings of the original.
We were away last week, and came back yesterday. Today a friend rang to tell me that last Monday the oaks were cut down. I can hardly bear to type the words. It was a reputable (not much longer) tree surgeon business that did the deed, and traffic lights were installed, so presumably the highways dept knew. I just can't believe it. We will be out to see the damage tomorrow, and there will be Hell To Pay. >:( >:( :'( :'(
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Go for it Anne. Were they not protected by a tree preservation order?
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Give them hell Anne. On the face of it, sheer vandalism
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When it comes to TPOs local councils can do what they want. In my local park that dates back to the 1600s the local council cut down 300 trees "for safety reasons". Anything with a bend, over hanging branch, not straight, bit of rot .... got the chop. All part of a multimillion Heritage Lottery Grant
The canal ponds used to be stunning with white and yellow water lilies. Someone told them water lilies would have been about in the 1600s so they removed them. I heard they might be being replaced.
The canal ponds were lined with clay. 300 hundred years on they are leaking so they were going to line them with butyl pond liner until someone with their head screwed on stepped in. I did suggest puddling with sheep
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We wept.
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Here the happy chaps of Bartletts (http://www.bartlett.com/index.cfm) in action.
What the tree should look like. (tilly hat on trunk for scale is 30cm diam).
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How to kill a giant.
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How to do it- wait until most people are at work.
Close the road so nobody gets near.
Go straight for the trunk, don't remove any branches first.
That way, nobody discovers what is happening until too late.
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Three trees down before anyone can do anything, then a temporary TPO obtained to save the rest. He was intending taking them all out.
Bats were seen to fly out of the big one as it fell. Yes, Mark, I know.
Proceedings begun.
And no, to our shame there wasn't a TPO because nobody contemplated that the farmer could do such a thing. The council had already given assurances that if the road needed to be widened the would do it at the other side.
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I can't understand why this vandalism was done - I assume the tree surgeons won't be getting any more local business.
Would there be a case against the farmer/tree surgeons if bats were present, they may perhaps have had to do an environemental impact assessment? (Not that this helped on a local site here where the local council bulldozed scrubland on an old mining area they did an environmental impact assessment for three species: no badgers, they wouldn't have been able to dig in the ground; no newts, no pond/watercourse, no otters, ditto. so they went and levelled the site and 2-3000 dactylorhizas disappeared). :(
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Anne get on the phone to Bat Conservation Trust and speak to their legal team
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Legal stuff started, so I'll let you know what happens. There was a demo for the press this evening at the tree.
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Aaaaaaargh
Tesco have got tins of christmas selection sweets in store already.
Its only August for ------- 's sake
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A few garden centres down here have had Christmas cards on display for months.
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A shop in Todmorden has Millennium mugs and tea towels in assorted colours! ;D
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John, our youngest, has a summer job in a local department store, Shaws, and came home yesterday afternoon and asked the question, "I bet you can't tell what I spent the day putting on shelves?"
As you have noted elsewhere, it was Christmas material - decorations, mainly. He thought it was hilarious though he had sold a doll's house to a lady two weeks ago. She was buying it as a Christmas present for her daughter.
Paddy
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A few garden centres down here have had Christmas cards on display for months.
Same here and when I said that's a bit early their reply was we are putting all our Xmas decorations out three weeks earlier than normal this year we need to try and get some money in as it's been such a terrible year. I must say I haven't bought much this year but that's because they just sell the same stuff year after year.
Angie :)
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Besides, if they get the money in now, they won't get it in Nov/December and then they'll complain they had a bad retail season this Christmas. They can't have it both ways and we all only have so much to go around. Can't spend money we haven't got.
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I hesitate to say that they have the right idea in the USA where no X'mas merchandise goes on display till after Thanksgiving day! However there is hardly a week where there isn't some commericalised 'event' being merchandised, from NYE to Valentine's day to Mardi Gras to Easter, etc etc, but at least there's no X'mas stuff till the end of November! ;D
cheers
fermi
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Fermi, you clearly haven't found the permanent Santa & Xmas stores which abound in certain parts of the USA ::) ::) ::)
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Fermi, you clearly haven't found the permanent Santa & Xmas stores which abound in certain parts of the USA ::) ::) ::)
.... which would make an excellent target for rioters!
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Fermi, you clearly haven't found the permanent Santa & Xmas stores which abound in certain parts of the USA ::) ::) ::)
.... which would make an excellent target for rioters!
Hope they don't 'sack' the shops or 'sleigh' the owners ...
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Ho ho ho !!!!! You have been miss sled (misled) Fermi.........We actually have a Santa Shop in Berea which is open all year round...beautiful hand crafted work it is too (not the typical Made in China rubbish)......but way beyond the reach of paupers like myself. Some of the ornaments sell for over a $1000.
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I couldn't afford to go into those sort of shops, Alan! :o ;D
I meant the general run of the mill type super-hyper-markets which abounded across middle America. The small town I lived in (Ruston, La) boasted a super-Wal-Mart which is where I witnessed this phenomenom and for once I was grateful for the high degree of commercialisation in the States.
cheers
fermi
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My son (aged 14) applied for a part time job delivering a free news paper. It's a weekly paper. He is to deliver 150 and the remuneration is $5.50 (that's less than £2.25)!!! :o We'll work out the hourly rate on his first, and possibly only, outing!
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Delivering the freebie newspapers and the mass of junk mail is known to be the worst job in the country. I don't know why anyone would bother. It comes up from time to time on "Fair Go" and on the news programmes as a real rip off for willing kids. Seems to work out at about 2 or 3 cents per delivery. A disgrace entirely.
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My brother got better paid for his paper round 40 years ago! He got £3, which was a fortune then!
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Just to say that I really, really LOVE Summer in the UK. It's my favourite day of the year. :-\
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Gosh, that's twice as long as some of the summers in Dunblane! :-\
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;D ;D
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Her we have a saying, the summer is the greener winter.
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Sat down to watch Andy Murray. Saw first set. The channel then switched to the Nadal match and after I had watched him warm up for 10 minutes I switched off! Turned the TV off too.>:(
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Sat down to watch Andy Murray. Saw first set. The channel then switched to the Nadal match and after I had watched him warm up for 10 minutes I switched off! Turned the TV off too.>:(
I fell asleep early, after my son gave me the result of the second set + a break at the start of the third - woke up in the middle of the night thinking, "I bet he won in the end", turned the computer on just to check ... :D (slightly less moan, moan, moan!)
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I get annoyed when I sit down to watch a match and can't watch it to its conclusion because the programmers switch to another match. Oh for a functioning red button!
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Sat down to watch Andy Murray.
Who?
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Sat down to watch Andy Murray.
Who?
You'll just remember Pete and Ruby, David ... ! :D
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Sat down to watch Andy Murray.
Who?
You'll just remember Pete and Ruby, David ... ! :D
Who? ;D
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I could do with a good ruby! David won't understand as it's not chic.
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I could do with a good ruby! David won't understand as it's not chic.
Very good Anthony! Though you are MORE than welcome to the ruby ... the vile substance wouldn't pass my lips (or my nose for that matter)! ;D
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We're out for a Ruby tonight as a matter of fact and, as I'm not driving, a bottle or three of Tiger beer to wash it down too. The morning should be interesting! ;D
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Rather have emeralds myself. And Natalia photographed a beautiful diamond tiara. :D
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I'm so happy that Dunedin's first Rugby World Cup match is now over, especially the Farmers' Market that preceded it in the morning. We had wall to wall people there, including literally thousands of visitors from around NZ and from overseas including the 3 gentlemen below. But I'm moaning because Argentina didn't win the game. I was never going to support the English because they've stolen the All Blacks' playing colours. No reason on earth to wear black and in fact when they first ran onto the field there was an uproar, not supportive, from the capacity crowd. Although the English won, the great Johnny Wilkinson missed several very easy goal kicks. Unfortunately the Argentinians missed more. They seemed to kick as if they had to compensate for wind direction, a no-brainer in Dunedin's brand new glass-covered stadium.
(Another moan, since Dunetin rate-payers are paying for most of it.)
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Lesley i watched the match and as a English man i was not pleased with the black at all,like you its not a colour i associate with England.I thought we played very poor and was very lucky not to loose it in the last few minutes.
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Of course Dave, you're the man to recognise "poorly playing" ;)
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The black shirt was specifically chosen to wind up the kiwis. It has worked. I think it is a daft choice, but then the All Blacks alternative strip is white! ::)
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It has worked in winding up the kiwi supporters, like me, but the All Blacks themselves just smile enigmatically and don't bother about it.
We watched Wales and South Africa last night, a bruising game which Wales only just lost. A shame as they played better I think and certainly had the better of the ball. I felt the last play was stopped too early, barely full time and the Welshman could have got up the field for a drop goal.
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The alternative football strip of England is red. The Welsh are adult enough not to be wound up by that. No matter what colour you choose, there will be a team whose colours it is!
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The alternative football strip of England is red. The Welsh are adult enough not to be wound up by that. No matter what colour you choose, there will be a team whose colours it is!
Yes, but the Welsh haven't been called the "All Reds" for years and years, have they?
I think the All Blacks have a case for their annoyance. It's unnecessary for England to choose that strip and rather rude to their hosts. Whether it has been done out of malice or stupidity is a moot point :-\
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The alternative football strip of England is red. The Welsh are adult enough not to be wound up by that. No matter what colour you choose, there will be a team whose colours it is!
It's blue at the moment actually, thanks to the kit manufacturers who hope to sell millions of strips and make huge, and obscene, profits
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Blue! Better than grey! There are several of the rugby teams that have chosen black as their alternative strip, with Wales, Argentina and Canada being three. The England strip is mainly white with some red. Couldn't they just reverse the pattern and make it mainly red with white?
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I've often thought that the Warriors' woes (NZ's Rugby League team, playing in the Australian League competition) are caused by their having a new uniform every year and even more than once a year sometimes, with different colours in different proportions just about every time they're seen. Must give them some kind of split personality syndrome and it totally confuses the fans. ???
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I've often thought that the Warriors' woes (NZ's Rugby League team, playing in the Australian League competition) are caused by their having a new uniform every year and even more than once a year sometimes, with different colours in different proportions just about every time they're seen. Must give them some kind of split personality syndrome and it totally confuses the fans. ???
At least they are playing "proper" rugby not that namby-pamby 15 a-side game!!
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David! A Devonian supporting Rugby League, or a Notherner .who happens to live in Devon? Despite being a rugby union supporter I live close enough to RL territory and watch many matches on TV. RL has come a long way in the past 20 years. As a result it is no longer 26 rather overweight lumbering guys training on pints and pies. It is a fast attractive game with super athletes. Unoin has some lessons to learn here I think. Unfortunately professionalism has ruined the natural rugby union game forever I refuse to believe that my fellow countrrymen in Scotland XV are the best 15 players eligible for Scotland. They are probably the best PROFESSIONAL players available. The four home unions should look to reinstating amatuer international teams again. There are many excellent club players who simply cannot afford to turn pro
and we are robbed of their flair and talents.
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Lesley. Never mind the rugby - how was the Farmers' Market? Bet they didn't expect the tunrnout !
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David! A Devonian supporting Rugby League, or a Notherner .who happens to live in Devon?
.................training on pints and pies................................
I'm a Huddersfield lad by birth Colin and that's where the Rugby League was first formed. I used to play a bit in my youth, it was the training that attracted me ;D
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Colin, I don't have a final gate count yet (we have 3 entrances, with counting in quarter hours breaks from 6am until we closed at 1.30pm) but will get it today when I have a meeting with my boss. The market itself went wonderfully well with a big expansion out onto the street which we've never been permitted before. Lots of fun and though hard work and sore feet, I think we can say it was a great success. First new potatoes of the season too. Yum yum.
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I used to be a fan of league but in recent years the management, money and sex scandals that haunt the Australian game have put me right off, along with the on-field violence. I don't enjoy seeing grown men trying to beat the life out of each other. Union has its incidents too of course, but comparatively, it is a clean game, here at least.
You may be right about the Scotland team Colin. Commentators are suggesting that Georgia could beat them.
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You may be right about the Scotland team Colin. Commentators are suggesting that Georgia could beat them.
We are going to the Scotland v England match, so I don't have Georgia on my mind! :P
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What about Sweet Georgia Brown? :D
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Don't think I'll be writing any more gardening articles for the Daily Mail Weekend Magazine. Just received payment for my February feature on snowdrop collecting. So it only took SIX MONTHS of nagging them to finally get paid!!! That on top of the fact that their hacks tried to mess around with my copy and would have turned parts of it into ignorant-sounding hack rubbish just to suit their house 'style' if I hadn't pointed out all their mistakes and corrected them. No, really don't think I'll be doing anything for them again >:(
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Spotted today on the internet ... grieve with me please ...
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: - Knowing when to come in out of the rain; - Why the early bird gets the worm; ... - Life isn't always fair; - And maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies, don't spend more than you can earn and adults, not children, are in charge. His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition. Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault. Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife Discretion, his daughter Responsibility, and his son, Reason. He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers - I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame and I'm A Victim. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, do nothing.
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Amen, brother. :'(
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Very apt.
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Too true. :'(
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Totally agree!!!
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Fortunately Common Sense is like the Sun, it keeps coming up every morning!
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Fortunately Common Sense is like the Sun, it keeps coming up every morning!
Often shrouded in mist though Tim? :D ::)
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The examples are legion. We often go to Troon harbour to see what birds are about. Over the years access has been denied to more and more of the area with a proliferation of warning notices. The most stupid is "DANGER DEEP WATER". Who would have thought that a harbour for large ships would have deep water !!! You would injure yourself more if you fell 15 feet into shallow water and hit the bottom
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Is this when the tide's in Tom, which case it would be deep, meaning full?
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In fact we have been mourning his loss for many years now. If he comes up every morning, maybe someone will, in time, have the gumption to put out a helping hand and haul him to the surface again for a second life. Just occasionally those who miss him rebel and make such a fuss that the powers who destroyed him retract and give hime another chance.
Sorry Cliff. I'm writing a lot of twaddle here. What brought on this particular and heartfelt note?
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Is this when the tide's in Tom, which case it would be deep, meaning full?
A meaningful observation Anthony.
Golly I hate that word!
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In fact we have been mourning his loss for many years now. If he comes up every morning, maybe someone will, in time, have the gumption to put out a helping hand and haul him to the surface again for a second life. Just occasionally those who miss him rebel and make such a fuss that the powers who destroyed him retract and give hime another chance.
Sorry Cliff. I'm writing a lot of twaddle here. What brought on this particular and heartfelt note?
I'm afraid I don't know, Lesley ... it came to me as it came to you ... mere words on the internet.
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Who needs Common Sense when we have lawmakers?
What I mourn is the loss of quite a few Fritillaria bulbs. Yesterday I planted them thoroughly and today some creature has found and eaten all the bulbs ??? :'( :'(
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I sent some postcards to friends and relatives from Napier in July. They arrived yesterday. >:( Apparently New Zealand doesn't have "surface mail" for Christmas etc. cards. I wonder how these were sent?
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Who needs Common Sense when we have lawmakers?
What I mourn is the loss of quite a few Fritillaria bulbs. Yesterday I planted them thoroughly and today some creature has found and eaten all the bulbs ??? :'( :'(
As American TV detectives say, when they push into a grieving families to grill them, "I'm sorry for your loss" Hoy. I mean really sorry. Do you know what has eaten the bulbs?
Regarding common sense and lawmakers, we certainly can't have both! My particular bete noir, a thoroughly nasty man as right winged as Hitler and with as much compassion in his body as a bulldozer, now talks of de-criminalizing cannabis. This is ONLY to get votes at our Nov election and the reason he gives is that "it does no-one any harm." The de-criminalizing argument is a valid one among thoughtful people who deal with addicts and the results of cannabis use within families and society but that it should come from this man is obscene. That cannabis does no-one any harm is a downright lie. I know. I have had to deal with it in close family.
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I sent some postcards to friends and relatives from Napier in July. They arrived yesterday. >:( Apparently New Zealand doesn't have "surface mail" for Christmas etc. cards. I wonder how these were sent?
By rowboat? ??? You're right, we have no surface mail outside NZ and even within the country much mail goes by air, say from Dunedin to Christchurch let alone the North Island. To the UK it goes economy - up to 3 weeks, by airmail 5-10 days or priority 2-5 days. Courier takes 1-2 days but costs the earth. The others cost the earth too, but smaller bits of it. I generally go for airmail, 5-10 days but they all seem to be flexible and to depend on what volume is going. I sent my Frit Grroup seed list by email but either the attachment didn't work or maybe I forgot to attach. However, on the same day (9th Sept) I sent a paper confirmation with an email received from FG to say the paper arrived on the 11th but my sub, in GB pounds and payment for seeds, sent on the same day to a different officer of the Group, is confirmed by email as having arrived on the 24th! They went from the local PO together and surely should have been on the same flight so.....?
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Who needs Common Sense when we have lawmakers?
What I mourn is the loss of quite a few Fritillaria bulbs. Yesterday I planted them thoroughly and today some creature has found and eaten all the bulbs ??? :'( :'(
As American TV detectives say, when they push into a grieving families to grill them, "I'm sorry for your loss" Hoy. I mean really sorry. Do you know what has eaten the bulbs?
Regarding common sense and lawmakers, we certainly can't have both! My particular bete noir, a thoroughly nasty man as right winged as Hitler and with as much compassion in his body as a bulldozer, now talks of de-criminalizing cannabis. This is ONLY to get votes at our Nov election and the reason he gives is that "it does no-one any harm." The de-criminalizing argument is a valid one among thoughtful people who deal with addicts and the results of cannabis use within families and society but that it should come from this man is obscene. That cannabis does no-one any harm is a downright lie. I know. I have had to deal with it in close family.
I don't know the culprit - I had planted the bulbs on my shedroof to avoid slugs but some kind of bulb-devouring animal had found them. They left only holes in the soil. The holes looked similar to what rodents dig (they eat the corms of emerging Crocuses in spring but discard the shoots).
Some politicians say anything to get votes - I wonder what they really think? I once heard about a politician that he didn't need to collect his thoughts as he never had more than one.
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Some politicians say anything to get votes - I wonder what they really think? I once heard about a politician that he didn't need to collect his thoughts as he never had more than one.
Perhaps the only honest politician in history!
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I sent some postcards to friends and relatives from Napier in July. They arrived yesterday. >:( Apparently New Zealand doesn't have "surface mail" for Christmas etc. cards. I wonder how these were sent?
By rowboat? ??? You're right, we have no surface mail outside NZ and even within the country much mail goes by air, say from Dunedin to Christchurch let alone the North Island. To the UK it goes economy - up to 3 weeks, by airmail 5-10 days or priority 2-5 days. Courier takes 1-2 days but costs the earth. The others cost the earth too, but smaller bits of it. I generally go for airmail, 5-10 days but they all seem to be flexible and to depend on what volume is going. I sent my Frit Grroup seed list by email but either the attachment didn't work or maybe I forgot to attach. However, on the same day (9th Sept) I sent a paper confirmation with an email received from FG to say the paper arrived on the 11th but my sub, in GB pounds and payment for seeds, sent on the same day to a different officer of the Group, is confirmed by email as having arrived on the 24th! They went from the local PO together and surely should have been on the same flight so.....?
Even a slow boat to China wouldn't have taken as long! :( Perversely, three parcels sent from the UK last week arrived here in 4 days! I don't understand economy. The fact that it is sent airmail suggests otherwise. The mail still has to travel in the same way. Is it just stockpiled?
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Exactly that I think. The more paid for the trip the quicker it goes and the other stuff waits until there's a build-up, maybe enough to fill a container or something instead of a small bag.
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Headline in our local free paper (The Howick and Botany Times): "Scots no-show hoodwinked fans". Howick "adopted" Scotland as their world cup team, as they were based at the Pakuranga Rugby Club, nearby, for the last pool match, and one local Niklas Hansen had spent two years practising Flower of Scotland in preparation. However, the opportunity never came, as the Scotland team declined to make any public appearances in Howick during preparations for its final pool B game against England! Shame on you Scotland!
At last week's extraordinary Auckland Council meeting, called to commit more money to expand fan zone areas, one councillor said the communities of Howick, Pakuranga and Botany felt they had been "hoodwinked". She said Scotland was "the team none of us got a chance to see". "Howick never got the opportunity to truly host the team and show them some good old hospitality." This councillor was one of 9 who voted last week against an extra $1.5 million to come from Auckland ratepayers to top up the $4m committed by the Government for additional spending on the downtown waterfront fan zone.
In contrast to Scotland, the entire All Blacks team turned out at Pakuranga Rugby Club, just over a month ago, for a free gala day with coaching tips for the youngsters. 5000 fans attended! I went to James's school (Botany Downs Secondary College) sports awards dinner last week. The guest speaker was Tana Umaga. What a nice guy, and his speech was just what aspiring sports stars should hear. He then went back to the ABs training camp where he is helping with the coaching.
I must admit, I have been impressed with the organisation of the rugby world cup. I've been to two matches. I had hoped the second, quarter final 4, would have been the ABs against Scotland! We got a free bus from Botany Town Centre right to the stadium. It took half an hour and then the buses took us back after the match. Sweet as! 8)
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Pleased to see you are taking an interest in local politics Anthony. To the rest of us plebs it seems as if Auckland has unlimited money to spend on the RWC and will no doubt be calling on the rest of the country to pay for its new conference centre, just as we pay extra petrol tax to pay for Auckland's motorways and public transport system (remembering that my ancestry is Scottish and therefore inclined to be frugal, except where plants are concerned of course. :))
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I am really disappointed!! The two main Galanthus events in our region is at the same weekend AGAIN!
Why? Galanthus weekend at Kalmthout, Belgian, is at the same time as Galanthus weekend at Nettetal!
This is not funny. Why donn't they communicate? I think Nettetal was first with their date. So Kalmthout should communicate about this.
Sorry, but I really am disappointed.
Lina.
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This seems to be a real mistake from the organisers, Lina.... it cannot be best for their reputation even if they do think there is enough business for them both at one time. ???
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There was a large muscular bloke on my bus to work this morning. He was wearing only ladies underwear. It was 7:20AM, 8 degrees C and raining at the stop where he got on.
Why is this a moan?
Because being the most eccentric person on that bus is MY job! I can't top this without getting arrested so I'm throwing in the towel and going back to being as boring as the other commuters >:( ;)
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There was a large muscular bloke on my bus to work this morning. He was wearing only ladies underwear. It was 7:20AM, 8 degrees C and raining at the stop where he got on.
Why is this a moan?
Because being the most eccentric person on that bus is MY job! I can't top this without getting arrested so I'm throwing in the towel and going back to being as boring as the other commuters >:( ;)
The bus company shouldn't be allowed to hire drivers like that! :D
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Maybe he was any English rugby player on his way home from another dodgy party? 8)
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Maybe he was any English rugby player on his way home from another dodgy party? 8)
... Or a politician on his way home from another dodgy party? Isn't life great?
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............only if you get invited to dodgy parties! ;D
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Given his youth and the fact that he was travelling from town centre out to the University would support the dodgy party theory. :)
Cliff - I suspect that he would not meet the employment criteria for stagecoach buses Lancaster. For one thing he didn't look nearly grumpy enough...
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That's pretty much the standard dress for bus travellers in North Wales - in fact, that's prretty much the standard dress anywhere in North Wales !
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I didn't think he fitted the criteria for a little Briton? ::)
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Did he get off at Skerton Darren :P
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Obviously you know Lancaster well David!
Skerton bridge (a major part of the one-way system) is currently the site of roadworks caused by United Utilities so nobody is getting off there for fear of falling down a hole. According to stagecoach this is likely to cause major delays to bus services entering the city from the north. What is actually happening is that for much of the day the traffic flow is improved as there are lights controlling it instead of the usual lane-switching chaos as two roads meet on the bridge.
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Obviously you know Lancaster well David!
Lots of fond memories Darren. My Mum was born in Lancaster and early childhood holidays were always spent there and in Morecambe. No relatives alive now though and haven't been there for donkey's years. Relatives lived in the Torrisholme road area (Lymm Avenue, Bowland Drive) and I've memories of walks down Powder House Lane passed the Vale of Lune rugby ground and along the canal where, if I went too near the edge of the path, "Jenny Greenteeth" would pull me in. I remember Skerton Bridge very well.
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ground and along the canal where, if I went too near the edge of the path, "Jenny Greenteeth" would pull me in. I remember Skerton Bridge very well.
alas "Jenny Greenteeth" has been replaced by the "stench monster" who lives under canal bridges, as it crawls onto dry land to catch small children it turns into "sweaty socks" Or that is what my Niece and Nephew believe .... the joys of childhood, nothing like a bit of existential dread to get you through the day. ;D
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;D ;D ;D
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Howdy All,
Just a quick note to apologise for my absence of late. Has been a difficult year...... my wife is currently in Hospital and is quite ill, my "new" 5 month old laptop computer just lost track of it's hard drive and I have lost all emails, pictures etc since May (despite regular "backups" which apparently didn't work :'()..... and generally things are a bit tetchy right now. ::) Murphy's Law has been very busy of late.
So...... any important email from the last few months please resend. I have seed collected for some of your as previously discussed, but they can wait for chemo results etc before I am going to do anything with them. So sorry to have been such a stranger here of late, just been wrapped up in a few months of my wife's illness.
So please, any emails etc that you're waiting on please let me know.
I hope you're all well, and I'm going to try to get up here more often as I need a bit of friendly distraction right now. ;D
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Welcome back Paul and please may I wish your wife a speedy recovery.
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Welcome back Paul and please may I wish your wife a speedy recovery.
May we all echo Anthony's sentiments, Paul? Please pass on the affection and best wishes of the alpine world to your wife ... and chin up mate, we're all here for you!
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Welcome back Paul and please may I wish your wife a speedy recovery.
May we all echo Anthony's sentiments, Paul? Please pass on the affection and best wishes of the alpine world to your wife ... and chin up mate, we're all here for you!
Same here mate !!
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Paul,
I hope you see an improvement in your wife's health in the immediate future. Give her our best wishes and please also accept them yourself.
Looking forward to seeing you here more regularly again.
Best wishes, Paddy
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Nice to hear from you Paul, and best wishes to your wife.
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Best wishes to both of you from me too Paul. Nice to have you back mate.
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Thanks Folks. I shall pass on the best wishes to her. Chemo now hopefully commences on Friday, so fingers are crossed that this time it won't be put back again.
Thanks again everyone. 8)
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Oh dear, Paul, what scary and trying times for you and Yvonne. Give her our very best wishes and we'll all be hoping for a speedy response to the chemo for her.
There are any number of us you can pm for a moan or drop into the Forum for some virtual hugs.....and I hope you'll take the chance to do that when you need some "solidarity" with your chums here.
Hang in there, Pal, for Yvonne and for yourself - so frightening when illness strikes a loved one, but you'll get through it. :-* :-*
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Paul, the best wishes for you and your wife from me too.
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Paul, I know exactly what you are going through. I had the same experience from April to November last year. In that time I had about 50 trips either visiting the hospital or ferrying my wife up for tests and chemo. It puts things in perspective. All you can do is be supportive and keep a positive attitude. Thankfully, a year later, things seem to be OK. My thoughts are with you and there is daylight at the end of the tunnel.
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Thanks Folks. I shall pass on the best wishes to her. Chemo now hopefully commences on Friday, so fingers are crossed that this time it won't be put back again.
Thanks again everyone. 8)
Fingers crossed, thinking of you both, keep your spirits up. We are all here and thinking of you and your wife everyday.
Angie
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Hi Paul,
I wish you and your wife well. I've been through the same thing, 10 years ago. Chemo, Radiotherapy, Tamoxifen for three years...but I'm still kicking. Yes, my family suffered too - at arms length. All the best. :) :) :)
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Just the first time back on the forum since 2 weeks and reading your awful message here, Paul.
I wish your wife and you all the best and hope you both will be able to think positive. We'll keep our fingers crossed too!!
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Hi Paul,
sorry to hear that your wife is so poorly, we wish her a speedy response to the treatment. It must be a very difficult time for you both.
Take care
Susan and Darren xx
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Thank you again all for your best wishes. You have no idea how much they all mean right now. Chemo is definitely supposed to be tomorrow, there should be no further delay thankfully. Fingers crossed now as to it's efficacy. :-\ We live in hope.
Thanks again.
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Thinking of you both and hoping for the best, Paul. Love to Yvonne
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Dear Paul, I'm thinking of you both, especially of Yvonne and sending best wishes for successful treatment.
Please give her my love. It's been a stressful year for some Forumists and for my part, I hope next year will be much happier. But I hoped that at the end of last year too. It's said that we're not given more to handle than we can cope with but I find it hard to see why some people have so much thrown at them.
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I recently ordered an Eye-fi card for a camera. Just now I got this email from them:
"Thank you for your recent order. We appreciate your business.
We are at the point now where your order is ready to go, but we just
need to quickly view some sort of proof of address documentation
please.
Please provide us with a copy of any of the following: *Utility Bill
Copy (electricity, gas, water, phone, other personal account that
contains your full name and address details) Or, *Driving License Copy
Please ensure that the details on the documentation that you provide
to us match the details that you initially provided for your actual
delivery address. If this is not the case, please call us, or drop us
a reply email to let us know and we’ll see what we can sort out for
you.
If you’ve asked us to delivery your order to a work address, you can
simply forward us a copy of your business card (if appropriate), or
send us your email address – either will suffice.
I cancelled the order and asked for my money back! ::)
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Good for you Anthony. I think I would have made a comment along the lines of the recent indiscretion made by Tiger Woods' late caddie.
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I ordered the same item from Amazon and saved $40. This was an Australian company. Don't see why I need to send proof of my address. I'd paid for the stuff. I'm hardly like to send the wrong address! They'll learn.
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I'd suspect attempted identity theft, but then I'm paranoid.
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Could just be that they've had some problems with sending stuff to NZ that never arrived, or they've had people scamming them and saying that things never arrived or that the address they had sent them to was incorrect? They might have learnt the hard way that they needed some sort of verification? Asking for proof of address is pretty harsh though, but if they've been bitten often enough maybe they don't have much choice?
Just a possibility anyway?
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I don't think proving an address will stop scams. I've never come across it before and, as I said, I just cancelled the order.
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But, is "draw rings" the common pronunciation?
And, if so, why?
Paddy
Alas, it IS the common pronunciation, just as are libary and Febury. I believe it all started years ago when teachers or the boffins in education decided it didn't matter if children mis-spelt and mis-pronounced; didn't matter if their grammar was appalling so long as people understood it. It is symtematic of many areas within the world today when the lowest common denominator is the accepted standard, instead of striving for something better - and certainly achievable if only we were not all so damned lazy.
One that gets me every time is "one in every six people are treated for measles" or one in 4 children are below the accepted educational standard"... or whatever. When I was in Sydney for the first time, I saw a banner stretched across over a road from the airport. It read "Drive carefully. One in ever 20 pedestrians are injured by a car." I hear it several times a day. Feel free to label me anal if you wish.
You would have got on well with my mother Paddy. Drawring was one of her special hates. When I really wanted to annoy her I said "I'll just go into the drawring room and do my practice."
Edit by Maggi: that noise you hear is the sound made by Lesley's dear departed Mother whirling in her grave. :-X
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There are some good Scottish ones: modrun fillums (OK, from The Isles, perhaps) and pew-miss for modern films and pumice come to mind.
Looks aawrite tae me, just guid Scottish dialect :)
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Darren,
Your "lightening" would be quite common here, a habit brought over from Irish where a "guta cúnta", a "helping vowel" is part of the spoken language. Half-past seven would often be heard as "half a past seven".
Anthony's "fillum" is also commonplace; as is farum and the likes.
I suppose variations in pronunciation are to be expected but the drawrings still irritates me. I'll have to live with it, I suppose.
Paddy
I've heard 'fillum' frequently in Irish films and TV shows but never understood the linguistics behind it. Thanks - that is really interesting actually. Language and dialect fascinate me. Where Susan comes from on Walney Island chimney is pronounced 'chimbley' and Walney itself gets an extra 'l' - 'Walnley'. Just dialect of course and I can live with it spoken. Perhaps one day I'll find an expert in Cornish who can tell me what my surname means in it's language of origin rather than it's English meaning.
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There are some good Scottish ones: modrun fillums (OK, from The Isles, perhaps) and pew-miss for modern films and pumice come to mind.
Looks aawrite tae me, just guid Scottish dialect :)
Oddly enough I quite like to see Scottish dialect written like that, contrary to my previous post. :)
I just read a novel set in Sunderland where the only attempt to make the working class characters appear working class was to replace every spoken occurrence of 'you' with 'yer'. It nearly ended up in the stove... ;D
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Somehow there is a difference between dialect and sloppy speech .... hard to define but I know it when I hear it >:(
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Somehow there is a difference between dialect and sloppy speech .... hard to define but I know it when I hear it >:(
Well put Maggi - that is it exactly!
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Anthony,
I would have too. I was just trying to think of a reason why they might have done this. Sorry.
Edited to fix spelling mistake
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No worries Paul. I was puzzled and a bit annoyed with them. Saved me money in the end. I just wondered if anyone had come across it before? Your reason is as good as any I could think of.
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Somehow there is a difference between dialect and sloppy speech .... hard to define but I know it when I hear it >:(
Like teachers and pupils in my former place of employment saying "the bell's went"! ::)
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Been struggling for ages with our broadband speed. BT said we were right at the end of the line and the couldn't give us anymore. Then I mentioned that my husband has business broadband upstairs in our outbuilding and his system works much faster than what we have in the house. After a short visit my broadband is much quicker, nothing like the town gets but at least I don't fall asleep between sending emails.
Can anybody do anything about me getting more sun here ;D
Angie :)
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As an elderly biologist the one that annoys me is 'adaption' instead of 'adaptation' - written and spoken. Seems to be common now, even among those who should know better.
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Many such words are not pronounced "proply" Gerry.
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Dunno wat yur talkin bout, Anthony. :P
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Many such words are not pronounced "proply" Gerry.
Nor written.
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I don't think proving an address will stop scams. I've never come across it before and, as I said, I just cancelled the order.
I would imagine that this is a security measure to prevent misuse of your card. If anyone gets hold of your card details then they can obtain goods online and have them sent to any address they chose. When the fraud is detected by the cardholder then the card issuer is liable for the loss - provided the card holder has not been careless. Presumably the "thief" could not supply proof of address.
I was done when my card was used twice to purchase "trainers" in some stores in Florida. My card was compromised when I used it in Gambia.
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The ones that annoy me most are 'loose and loosing' for lose and losing!
It seems to be spreading :(
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Yes Helen, that's a habit that has really broken lose.........
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I have seen "leave" written in newspaper articles as singular for leaves! ::) I'm helping to supervise NCEA exams over the next few weeks. Apparently, I'm not allowed to use cellotape to repair torn papers. I wonder if violin tape is allowed?
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I would rather my bank did the security checks. I certainly don't want a company I don't know not only having my credit card details, but a copy of a utility bill so they, or perhaps a greedy employee, can use it fraudulently.
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And so many (here anyway) say gonna instead of going to; even worse, gunna. Then there are those who say "I'm going to go to....." instead of just "I'm going to....." Must stop this - or put it all in a separate thread. :o
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Many such words are not pronounced "proply" Gerry.
I had this one smacked out of me 60 years ago by an aunt along with probly. I was also made to repeat each morning I stayed with her, "Prop er ly and Prob ab ly." Still got on quite well with her by and large. Maybe that early experience gave me a respect for the language. :-\
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Anthony,
use Scotch tape, it's invisible. ;) ;)
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Good idea. There are so many poor imitations of Sellotape, which I have for everyday use, but the Scotch Magic tape is the best for repairing music etc.
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Went to the wedding of an old school friend last summer. Didn't expect to be attending his funeral eighteen months later. Dropped dead of a heart attack walking on the local hills with his wife. One of the nicest guys I've ever known. Some days life just sucks. This is one of those days.
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That's really quite tragic. A friend's daughter got engaged last Christmas. In April her fiancé felt poorly and had some tests. Signet ring colon cancer. They gave him two years at most. They get married in January and are putting on a brave face. As you say Martin, life sucks.
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Not much of a moan in comparison but I'm not happy either so...
I've had a lot of dreams since Teddy died, some pretty awful and some "ordinary" if not especially happy. Last night's though was odd in that while there were various unidentified people and animals involved, I also dreamed that I had 4 seedlings of x Jancaeamonda, the Jancaea Ramonda hybrid. I went out this morning to look but it was bound to be a disappointment. Not only were there no seedlings, there wasn't even a pot and never had been. It was such a believable dream as it happened. Maybe I'm just losing it completely. ???
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Not much of a moan in comparison but I'm not happy either so...
I've had a lot of dreams since Teddy died, some pretty awful and some "ordinary" if not especially happy. Last night's though was odd in that while there were various unidentified people and animals involved, I also dreamed that I had 4 seedlings of x Jancaeamonda, the Jancaea Ramonda hybrid. I went out this morning to look but it was bound to be a disappointment. Not only were there no seedlings, there wasn't even a pot and never had been. It was such a believable dream as it happened. Maybe I'm just losing it completely. ???
I rather like the idea that your subconscious is trying to give you something nice to help make up for your loss. Quite considerate for a subconscious.
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Well maybe, but it would have hit the mark better if I'd dreamed about a pot I really did have, and there had been seedlings in that. ::)
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Well maybe, but it would have hit the mark better if I'd dreamed about a pot I really did have, and there had been seedlings in that. ::)
The subconscious means well but unfortunately it's often not too clever. You have to give it points for at least trying. ;D
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:)
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Similar situation here Martin,our son went through an awful time,His girlfriend got a job in Leicester and he offered to move with her ,but she wanted to wait untill she had settled into the job first, so they decided too have a break for a while,whilst there she was taken ill ,and she would text Chris daily two or three times,and laughing that her mother was having to push her around in wheelchair,finally she went home feeling slightly better and text Chris on this particular friday evening to say that when she was better they should get back together again,Tragically she collapsed ad died at 10 o'clock on the Saturday morning poor chap was absolutely distraught,she was only 27
Thankfully now a year and a half later he has met some one else
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Just a minor irritation: Lucy is coming home from school (we think) with dozens of insect bites. Black fly, mosquito or what? We don't know. She's the only one in the family affected, so either it's where she is and we aren't, or she tastes good! She gets antihistamine to stop the itching, as the spots she's scratched will scar!
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Fresh Aloe Vera on the bite will help stop the itching as well. It seals it off from the air I think, and the itching diminshes rapidly. Works for mosquitoes and other things, well at least for me anyway. I've also found that the bottled Aloe Vera for sunburn relief has similar effects, although not quite as itch-free as fresh from a leaf.
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Thanks Paul. I'd forgotten about Aloe Vera. Must get a plant. It should grow outside here?
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Anthony,
It even grows outside in a protected spot for me. Just near the back wall of the house, but sailed through winter despite at least -9oC out in the open at one point this winter. 8)
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A friend ( I bought a couple of gecko cages off her via 'Trademe' and we got talking about wildlife - the four legged variety, not my youth), who is a nurse but keeps a frog (she also carves deer antler, bone and green stone http://www.bonewithattitude.net.nz/index.php - really neat stuff), called round to drop off some home-grown maggots, which will turn into flies for my geckos. She reckons it's sand flies. Lucy has no recollection of ever being bitten, but it must be most days, and I would suggest each fly has several attempts!
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Sandflies are brutal little beasts. They bite unseen unless you're in an area like Manapouri or somewhere on the West Coast where the air is thick with them and you can't help but see them in clouds. But here in the garden a single one will bite and you only know it's there when the sharp end goes in and releases its poison. You can still smash it sometimes, but it's already done the damage. I'd endorse Paul's note about Aloe vera. It works well as a de-itcher.
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This sign is above the Burger King in Pakuranga, East Auckland.
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Good Laud, what wonderful spelling. ;D
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Good Laud, what wonderful spelling. ;D
The missing letter must cause no en of laughs! ;D
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Perhaps whoever wrote it had a cold in the head? ;D They managed Sapphire all right though. :)
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Perhaps laudrettes syndrome?
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Not really a moan.....just an observation of how times have changed.
We were at the Berea Christmas Parade last evening. One of the floats belonging to one of the local churches had this beautiful wooden stable with Mary and Joseph and the infant Jesus. Absolutely precious......but when the float passed, the stable had a sign on the back saying "Like Us On Facebook"
.............and neither of us had our cameras with us !!!!!
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On a par I suppose, with the (also American) "drive thru" churches. You drive round the building picking up a printed text at a window, on the way. ::)
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On a par I suppose, with the (also American) "drive thru" churches. You drive round the building picking up a printed text at a window, on the way. ::)
God works in mysterious ways, Lesley ... especially, it seems, in the States. They even put belts around their bibles.
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On a par I suppose, with the (also American) "drive thru" churches. You drive round the building picking up a printed text at a window, on the way. ::)
Are you serious Lesley? There's a lot of "drive-past"churches, especially the ones that want you to shake hands with a rattlesnake but I've never seen (or heard of) a "drive-thru" church.
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God works in mysterious ways, Lesley ... especially, it seems, in the States. They even put belts around their bibles.
It seems I changed my habitat from one with a pub on each street corner to one with a church on each street corner. Church grub is certainly not as tasty as pub grub...believe me !!!!
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On a par I suppose, with the (also American) "drive thru" churches. You drive round the building picking up a printed text at a window, on the way. ::)
Hey...you're right Lesley. I just Googled "drive-thru churches" and there it was. Seems they are in Texas. Guess there wasn't enough room for a congregation all wearing 10 Gallon hats !!!!
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Does the bible belt work the same way as a chastity belt, and keep intruders out? What about a banana belt? What's the purpose of that? :D
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I'm thinking the drive thru church could hire out its premises or rather combine businesses and save land costs with something like a burger joint. Get your religion and your Big Mac at the same window. A bit like here where it was suggested once that better use of premises could be made in normally "closed" times, such as schools being available for their play yards and swimming pools during school holidays, one bright spark thought the "Kiri Te Kanawa Opera House and Panelbeaters' Yard" would be a good option. I've always liked that one.
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Does the bible belt work the same way as a chastity belt, and keep intruders out? What about a banana belt? What's the purpose of that? :D
Obviously that keeps a bunch of them out, Lesley! :D
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Does the bible belt work the same way as a chastity belt, and keep intruders out? What about a banana belt? What's the purpose of that? :D
The black American singer Josephine Baker wore a banana belt (& little else) in 1920s Paris.
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This is greenbelt. Well, actually it is Greenmount landfill site, one of Auckland's many extinct volcanoes used as such. You can see white pipes sticking out of the ground. I think the gas is being piped to 'the grid'? It is out of bounds to the public, so the land is just grass. Why then are the idiots that own it constantly cutting the grass. I have seen pairs of stilts; skylarks; pukekos; pheasants; masked lapwings; paradise ducks etc. I suspect, if they ever build a nest, it would be destroyed by the unnecessary grass cutting. You can see there is a fence near the top of the hill, where the grass isn't cut. One cut over the entire site at the end of the season is all that is necessary to keep the shrubs from taking over! The walls in the pics are in front of a fence between the landfill site and the football pitches.
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Have you talked to the powers-that-be about it Anthony? and pointed out the birdlife it supports? Not that that would necessarily discourage them from cutting, but pointing out that a single cut would be a lot less expensive just might do it. ??? You could write a letter to the paper. :)
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I think it would be pointless. They even cut the meadows in so-called reserves where there is no sport played and spray weed killer at the boundary between the grass and the wild shrubby areas, leaving a wide strip of bare earth. :(
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Start a campaign, Anthony. If nobody does anything then nothing will be done.
It's like the lottery, if you haven't got a ticket, you sure as hell won't win! ;)
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I knew I was doing something wrong! I've always said "when my ship comes in I'll be waiting at the airport". ::) I'll make enquiries and see if there are some reasons I haven't thought of?
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Please tell me I'm not the only one who doesn't want all my food items presented in a vertical stack in the middle of a huge plate that is evidently large enough on which to present the food PROPERLY.
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Please tell me I'm not the only one who doesn't want all my food items presented in a vertical stack in the middle of a huge plate that is evidently large enough on which to present the food PROPERLY.
Hear! Hear!
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Please tell me I'm not the only one who doesn't want all my food items presented in a vertical stack in the middle of a huge plate that is evidently large enough on which to present the food PROPERLY.
Have you been out somewhere fancy to eat, Anne, or just watching Masterchef on TV?
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On Monday I had to go to the Chiropodist because my wee toe was giving me pain after a few hours at work. By the time I get home its red and tender.
It had 7 corns. £20 thank you very much he said. He didnt even file off dry skin on the soles of my feet.
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Please tell me I'm not the only one who doesn't want all my food items presented in a vertical stack in the middle of a huge plate that is evidently large enough on which to present the food PROPERLY.
No m'dear, you are NOT the only one. You probably don't like to see either, the chefs with their long hair unconfined; tattooes from ears to navel; wiping their noses with the backs of their hands then smearing them down their filthy aprons, - and never a latex glove in sight - and using hands which we have no reason to believe have been washed, making the offending stacks. My kitchen is far from pristine but I think twice about eating out anywhere these days. All the above are commonplace on the Masterchef and other programmes.
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On Monday I had to go to the Chiropodist because my wee toe was giving me pain after a few hours at work. By the time I get home its red and tender.
It had 7 corns. £20 thank you very much he said. He didnt even file off dry skin on the soles of my feet.
One foot in the grave and the other covered in corns Mark?
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It had 7 corns. £20 thank you very much he said. He didnt even file off dry skin on the soles of my feet.
You could probably get your money back Mark by selling them off to a Masterchef kitchen. Corn and bacon quiche is very good. ;D They might take the dry skin as well. ???
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;D
I hope the next Australia vs New Zealand cricket test has the same teams if only because I'm fed up with this new word "dayboo" the commentators keep using. >:(
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You could probably get your money back Mark by selling them off to a Masterchef kitchen. Corn and bacon quiche is very good. ;D They might take the dry skin as well. ???
Lesley, you are such a treasure.
I don't remember the last time I had such a belly laugh.
Thank you!!
;D ;D ;D
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It had 7 corns. £20 thank you very much he said. He didnt even file off dry skin on the soles of my feet.
You could probably get your money back Mark by selling them off to a Masterchef kitchen. Corn and bacon quiche is very good. ;D They might take the dry skin as well. ???
A side of pork scratchings? :P
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Nowhere fancy - even our local pub. An advert in a free magazine (being Yorkshire these are the only kind I read) shows one of these offending constructions by their new 'chef'. I think at chef school they are taught how to hide their badly cooked food under a covering of garnish.
The dish is called "Pan-fried sea bass on a bed of sauteed potatoes and chorizo, topped with a trio of colour". How else do you fry something except in a pan?? "A trio of colour"?? :-X The recipe included advises one to "dress the plate with balsamic vinegar" - goodness, that's original and ground-breaking isn't it? I wonder how he thought that one up? Of course, if he didn't pile the food up so it only covered 10% of the plate's surface, he wouldn't need to dress the flipping thing.
As Lesley said, the chef has been busy building the pile of food with his fingers (probably wiped on that horrible towel hanging from their apron that chefs always use to keep their bacteria handy in) so it's probably cold by the time the poor waitress has got it to the table at a snail's pace so as not to topple it.
I feel better now. :)
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A new take on the 'Big Mac'?
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Please tell me I'm not the only one who doesn't want all my food items presented in a vertical stack in the middle of a huge plate that is evidently large enough on which to present the food PROPERLY.
You're not Anne. I think most Chefs; most Premier League footballers; all Turner Prize winners; all stars of screen, stage and radio; all politicians; most of the Royal Family; the traffic warden who works in Ivybridge; etc. etc. etc. have their heads so far up their own! they haven't a hope in Hell of seeing.
Or am I just getting old and crotchety? ;D
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Please tell me I'm not the only one who doesn't want all my food items presented in a vertical stack in the middle of a huge plate that is evidently large enough on which to present the food PROPERLY.
You're not Anne. I think most Chefs; most Premier League footballers; all Turner Prize winners; all stars of screen, stage and radio; all politicians; most of the Royal Family; the traffic warden who works in Ivybridge; etc. etc. etc. have their heads so far up their own! they haven't a hope in Hell of seeing.
Or am I just getting old and crotchety? ;D
Is that a rhetorical question? ;)
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;D ;D ;D
I've had a bad day!! ;D
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You're not Anne. I think most Chefs; most Premier League footballers; all Turner Prize winners; all stars of screen, stage and radio; all politicians; most of the Royal Family; the traffic warden who works in Ivybridge; etc. etc. etc. have their heads so far up their own! they haven't a hope in Hell of seeing.
Or am I just getting old and crotchety? ;D
Just sit down, have a packet of quavers and breve slowly.
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Or just go for the short answer, "Yes." ;D
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You could go over to the craft thread and make being crotchety an art! ;D
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You could go over to the craft thread and make being crotchety an art! ;D
I'm not needled by that ;D
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Its such a miserable day here but you folks always put a smile on my face ;)
Angie :)
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Angie
Its just a little breeze!
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Enough of a breeze to close schools in central Scotland. 25oCelsius here in Auckland. 8)
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The winds in Scotland sounded really terrible. Our news talked of winds to 240kms an hour. We get really uptight - and blown around - with winds of half that speed. I hope everyone is safe. Can't be many days they have to close the Forth Bridge!
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It was a bridge over troubled waters................................................................................ Yes, I know!!
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Is there any wonder the British retail industry is in the state that it is? Two illustrations.
I did some Christmas shopping this morning (early for me!!) and went to Marks and Sparks where I acquired a number of bags and then looked for somewhere to pay. On the whole floor I was on there were four tills each with a massive queue of people. I saw one bloke I knew in the queue and he said he had been waiting for nearly 20 minutes and hadn't yet reached a till. I joined the end of the queue and waited......and waited..... and waited. Fifteen minutes past and I had shuffled forward about four paces. A "suit", armed with a clip board (they always have clipboards!) meandered past and I asked if he was part of the management. He said he was the assistant manager. I told him how long I had been queuing and there were those who had waited longer. Well it's Christmas he said, there are always queues. I then asked what he was going to do about it and he said frankly nothing. So, after commenting further about the state of the industry; the lack of a "customer centred approach" (a phrase I find suits make a lot of use of) and why I should queue in his shop for the privilege of spending my own money, I hung the bags over his clip board arm and suggested he might then find something useful to do and put the contents back on the correct shelves..... and went home!
On the way home I called in at one of the Sheds. We need a new letter box (the ones that have internal draft excluder brushes). I found one, the only one in the store, but it was to fit a door 35mm in depth, my door is 27mm in depth. I asked a member of staff if they had any to fit narrower doors. No he said we don't stock any because we don't sell many so we only stock the 35mm one (???!!!). I asked him if he knew why they didn't sell many, no, he didn't he replied. Might it be because all the external doors you stock are less than 35mm ddep so the one you stock won't fit any of the doors you stock. I didn't know that he replied. So I went next door and consumed a couple of two shot espressos and went home!
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Is there any wonder the British retail industry is in the state that it is? Two illustrations.
I did some Christmas shopping this morning (early for me!!) and went to Marks and Sparks where I acquired a number of bags and then looked for somewhere to pay. On the whole floor I was on there were four tills each with a massive queue of people. I saw one bloke I knew in the queue and he said he had been waiting for nearly 20 minutes and hadn't yet reached a till. I joined the end of the queue and waited......and waited..... and waited. Fifteen minutes past and I had shuffled forward about four paces. A "suit", armed with a clip board (they always have clipboards!) meandered past and I asked if he was part of the management. He said he was the assistant manager. I told him how long I had been queuing and there were those who had waited longer. Well it's Christmas he said, there are always queues. I then asked what he was going to do about it and he said frankly nothing. So, after commenting further about the state of the industry; the lack of a "customer centred approach" (a phrase I find suits make a lot of use of) and why I should queue in his shop for the privilege of spending my own money, I hung the bags over his clip board arm and suggested he might then find something useful to do and put the contents back on the correct shelves..... and went home!
On the way home I called in at one of the Sheds. We need a new letter box (the ones that have internal draft excluder brushes). I found one, the only one in the store, but it was to fit a door 35mm in depth, my door is 27mm in depth. I asked a member of staff if they had any to fit narrower doors. No he said we don't stock any because we don't sell many so we only stock the 35mm one (???!!!). I asked him if he knew why they didn't sell many, no, he didn't he replied. Might it be because all the external doors you stock are less than 35mm ddep so the one you stock won't fit any of the doors you stock. I didn't know that he replied. So I went next door and consumed a couple of two shot espressos and went home!
That'll teach you to go Christmas shopping, David ... and how were you going to wrap that letterbox? Mrs. N. really doesn't deserve you!
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It would have been the highlight of her Christmas morning (after the morning kiss from me of course!) ;D
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It would have been the highlight of her Christmas morning (after the morning kiss from me of course!) ;D
Her only First Class male! x
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At least you've got a letterbox in your door David. We have this brick pillar thing on the front lawn which the delivery people cycle past (over the grass) and push the letters in without slowing down. >:( This morning it is a quarter inch deep in water, so our mail is soaked. Fortunately the bottom item wasn't for us - not even the right street - so it's got most of the wetting. :(
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It would have been the highlight of her Christmas morning (after the morning kiss from me of course!) ;D
Her only First Class male! x
Well, I'm not sure? ;D
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So, a good day's shopping then David. I have several times waited more than long enough in a queue then simply put everything down and abandoned the lot. Usually in the supermarket at a busy time. An infallible way to get attention though, it to hold your purchases firmly then make for the exit door. Someone will come immeditely!
No, in NZ we don't have mail delivered to the door, just to a letterbox usually at the front gate, or, in our case, a group of 7 of them at the end of the street (which, in fairness, is a country road). But if it's a parcel and too big to go in the box the rural delivery lady does bring it to the house and bangs on the door, such as the other day when my beautiful hanten arrived. I wish she wouldn't though, with boxes of plants. I've had to start having those delivered to a friend's address!
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I certainly appreciate the kindness and consideration of our local postman. Letters go into a box at the gate. Parcels will be put in the glasshouse or behind a pot at the door if we are away. It it strikes him as an important parcel he will leave it with our neighbours for safekeeping. All this to save us driving to the post office sorting office to collect it in person. If we are on holiday, he will keep the post in his van until we return.
Thoughtful people do still exist in this world.
Paddy
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...and well appreciated Paddy, and they don't do this for the money, it's because they are thoughtful and actually consider their customers! I can understand why the postman must deliver a letter with the wrong number to the address on the envelope, because that is what he is told to do! I can understand it, but it doesn't make it right. My Parents moved from Callander to Dunblane (12 miles away) in 1976. My mother once got a letter addressed :"Mrs Darby, moved from Callander"!
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Paddy my last postman sounds just like the one you have now. But they made him retire even though he wanted to carry on working. I used to put a bottle of whisky at the post box every year but this time I am not going to bother as all this new postie has done is moan and everything is a pain to do.
I wish my old postie would come back.
What really bugs me is there are so many folks out there that would love his job and have the feeling of a wage every week. They would have a smile on their face, not like this one :-X
Angie :)
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Can I come and be your postie Angie? I wouldn't moan about a thing. ;D
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It is snowing.
YUK!!
>:( :(
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Now it is snowing even more.
YUK with knobs on.
>:(
Many of my younger female colleagues seem to be mystifyingly excited about the snow. I guess i should be pleased that someone is happy about it.
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It stopped snowing - hurrah!!! Perhaps now is the time to lay in some supplies if we get snowed in which we did last year. Ok, let's get started: booze, food, reading matter.....salt. ;D
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It stopped snowing - hurrah!!! Perhaps now is the time to lay in some supplies if we get snowed in which we did last year. Ok, let's get started: booze, food, reading matter.....salt. ;D
Butter, lard ... ;D ;D
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Now it is snowing even more.
YUK with knobs on.
>:(
Many of my younger female colleagues seem to be mystifyingly excited about the snow. I guess i should be pleased that someone is happy about it.
I would rather have snow than all this rain >:(
However, today I could see a strange sight, something round and yellow in the sky. Suddenly I could see what is around me! Anybody who knows what it is???
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Now it is snowing even more.
YUK with knobs on.
>:(
Many of my younger female colleagues seem to be mystifyingly excited about the snow. I guess i should be pleased that someone is happy about it.
I would rather have snow than all this rain >:(
However, today I could see a strange sight, something round and yellow in the sky. Suddenly I could see what is around me! Anybody who knows what it is???
Your neighbours have fitted a huge light in the garden?
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Could be, Maggi ;D Has to be one in the hills on the other side of the fjord, and it is a movable one! ..and shortliving, it disappeared a few hours ago :o
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Could be, Maggi ;D Has to be one in the hills on the other side of the fjord, and it is a movable one! ..and shortliving, it disappeared a few hours ago :o
Ah, that will be one of those Northern lights! :D
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Cliff, the other side of the fjord is west, not north ::)
Maybe it is a Western light?
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Could be, Maggi ;D Has to be one in the hills on the other side of the fjord, and it is a movable one! ..and shortliving, it disappeared a few hours ago :o
Such lights are expensive.... they must have turned it off when they saw what it cost ;D
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Could be, Maggi ;D Has to be one in the hills on the other side of the fjord, and it is a movable one! ..and shortliving, it disappeared a few hours ago :o
Such lights are expensive.... they must have turned it off when they saw what it cost ;D
Yes! You're right! I got the source: A little south to west is Scotland. . . . . . ;)
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Cliff, the other side of the fjord is west, not north ::)
Maybe it is a Western light?
Perhaps a Best Western then?
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I ordered 3x 10 port seed feeders for birds in the garden. When they arrived one had two feeding points missing and the other two had one missing each. They must have seen they were missing. I phoned to complain and the guy said "do you have any at home to make them complete" grrr
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That damned cat - one of those THREE damned cats - was sitting on a trough when I drove in from my work yesterday. I opened the car door, picked a handful of gravel off the drive and threw it. Hit it too but only lightly because of the distance away. It left but when I went to have a look found it had been scratching among Oxalis laciniata which is doing quite well in the trough in two separate crevices. Not enough to dislodge the bulbs but enough to bare the underground leaf stems. I'll have to put wire netting over the troughs.
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Or razor wire.
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Or razor wire.
Or cat gut!!!! ;)
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Maybe I'll leave a note that I'll use its guts for garters - if only I used such things. ;D
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Moan of moans. Since the election of a right-wing gang of sleazebags called The Conservative Party Canada's international reputation has been in a nose-dive. Foreign policy contrary to everything we thought we stood for has been tarnished and now they've pulled us out of the Koto Accord. George Monbiot has summed up the situation perfectly in his recent article in The Guardian. Tempers are flaring here. Pierre Trudeau's son, now an MP, let loose in Parliament last week and called the "?envirnoment minister?" a name which neatly sums up him and his party, unfortunately he had to apologize to the Speaker of the House.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/nov/30/canada-tar-sands-copenhagen-climate-deal (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/nov/30/canada-tar-sands-copenhagen-climate-deal)
Luckily I do not know a single person who voted for this party.
We all knew they had a hidden agenda and now with a majority we are getting a nasty taste of it. But what lies ahead?
johnw
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At least our "new" govt - the same as last time but with a few new faces and more Greens in opposition, is reasonably reliably centre-right rather than extreme, thank heaven. The one real danger was left out in the cold but his party's slogan was "Protect the farmers from the Emissions Trading scheme." Since the farmers or their stock make a large proportion of carbon emissions and pollution of waterways and lakes, I don't see why they shouldn't pay a fair share of the new taxes the rest of us have to pay for petrol and many other things. The ETS is unpopular with everyone but it seems we are locked into it, as well as the Kyoto Agreement, unlike Australia and the USA.
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I don't like these trading schemes, where one country buys another's quota of pollution. It's as bad as Japan enlisting land-locked countries to back their barbaric whaling industry.
That article is not that recent John? This is: http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/12/15/justin-trudeau-calls-on-peter-kent-to-issue-his-own-apology-after-expletive-filled-commons-clash/
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I suspect that I might get shot down in butter-burning flames here, but politics and religion have more often than not been avoided on this forum and long may it remain so. I can fully understand the frustrations, disappointments and shattered dreams in individual circumstances/countries,etc., but how long will it be before the radicals, fundamentalists and Raving Loonies gather to add their words of hate, bile and discord. Where should poor Maggi draw the line, when would she be forced to step in, what might attract the stern red pen of Aberdeen?
We have had a number of heated debates over the years, but at least they were about our beloved plants. I, for one, hope that it remains that way!
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I'm with Cliff on that one but I can't resist adding one comment....at least most of us, but I doubt quite all, on this forum can say what we like on these topics in public without fear of anything worse than a verbal disagreement and...we have the opportunity to use our votes to change things. Which is just as well because ruling parties are like soap operas, the longer they are in place the more bizarre there plots become :(
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No one moans as eloquently or as effectively as David Nicholson.
Yeah, David Nicholson for President, Prime Minister, Pope, or whatever.
And all to the tune of "One Foot in the Grave".
Paddy
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Well, go on then but only if I get paid a salary for all three posts! ;D
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Well, go on then but only if I get paid a salary for all three posts! ;D
President of Yorkshire then? :D
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I suspect that I might get shot down in butter-burning flames here, but politics and religion have more often than not been avoided on this forum and long may it remain so. I can fully understand the frustrations, disappointments and shattered dreams in individual circumstances/countries,etc., but how long will it be before the radicals, fundamentalists and Raving Loonies gather to add their words of hate, bile and discord. Where should poor Maggi draw the line, when would she be forced to step in, what might attract the stern red pen of Aberdeen?
We have had a number of heated debates over the years, but at least they were about our beloved plants. I, for one, hope that it remains that way!
I agree with all the above comments.
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If we have a thread called Moan, Moan, Moan it's pretty inevitable that from time to time politics will pop up here. I see us as, in the main, a bunch of fairly liberal (with a small L) thinking people who find extremist politics repugnant and occasionally feel moved to say so when we see it in action. Surely that can't hurt? It's usually a very small part of the overall makeup of the forum and easily ignored if you don't want to join in. I don't want to make a big thing out of it but I have to say I feel a bit uneasy about the idea that we shouldn't ever discuss politics. It's all around us and part of life, and it even impinges on the natural world that we all love (just look at the issues around climate change).
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I don't mind you moaning, just don't get into any fights!! :-X
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I agree with Martin B.
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Well, go on then but only if I get paid a salary for all three posts! ;D
President of Yorkshire then? :D
Not on your life. Who could rule that lot ??? ;D
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OK, I'll go along with the general feeling here, though I agree with Martin that this thread is a safe place to have a moan about those things we feel strongly about and if one has no political opinions I suspect one hasn't an opinion about much at all that is important.
I've never been chastised here though I have had an extremely offensive private email from a Christchurch lurker person following the Chch earthquake. I've also been accused in a PM by a Trillium-L member, of antisemitism a few years ago. They're welcome to their opinions as I intend to hold to mine, unless shown they are wrong. I have an open mind generally.
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I can't quite leave this alone because again going to Martin's post, it's impossible to avoid politics in an everyday sense. We all make political decisions an a day to day basis. There was a time in the late 70s early 80's when NZ had issues with our blokes playing rugby in South Africa because of the apartheid practised there. Those who wanted the playing either in SA or here in NZ to go ahead regardless, kept saying "politics and sport don't mix" and the latter shouldn't be influenced by the former. This was utter nonsense of course. I believed then and still do that every time I bought a can of SA guavas for my fruit salad, I was making a political decision. I guess it's the specific grouches against governmental policy and practice that some here object to, rather than "politics" as such.
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I think I've been away from Yorkshire to leave one idiom behind: "what's yours is mine, and what's mine's my own". 8) I've met some growers like that in my time. ??? Easier to get blood out of a stone. Me: if I've got two, one's yours! :)
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Me: if I've got two, one's yours!
That's very sporting of you, Anthony.... I'd like Lucy, please. ::) ;)
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I think I've been away from Yorkshire to leave one idiom behind: "what's yours is mine, and what's mine's my own".
Too long away Anthony, & too genteel:
"What's thine's mine and what's mine's me own" (Leeds c. 1950)
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I think I've been away from Yorkshire to leave one idiom behind: "what's yours is mine, and what's mine's my own".
Too long away Anthony, & too genteel:
"What's thine's mine and what's mine's me own" (Leeds c. 1950)
also Huddersfield (ad infinitum) ;D
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In Norwegian: Ditt er mitt og mitt er mitt ;D
Or similar: " All think of themselves only I think of myself!"
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Well, go on then but only if I get paid a salary for all three posts! ;D
President of Yorkshire then? :D
Not on your life. Who could rule that lot ??? ;D
"All the world's queer, except thee and me, and even thee", as my Grandmother used to say, as we delivered the "Daily Worker".
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I think I've been away from Yorkshire to leave one idiom behind: "what's yours is mine, and what's mine's my own".
Too long away Anthony, & too genteel:
"What's thine's mine and what's mine's me own" (Leeds c. 1950)
I forgot the punch line:
"And if tha ever does owt for nowt do it for thi'sen."
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Not to mention "they're all oot o' step but oor Johnnie" as soldiers marched off to war.
I liked the joke when a woman phoned her husband on his cellphone and warned him to be careful driving as there was some idiot reported as driving the wrong way on the motorway. He replied that it was much worse then that. There were hundreds of them! ;D
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Well, go on then but only if I get paid a salary for all three posts! ;D
President of Yorkshire then? :D
Not on your life. Who could rule that lot ??? ;D
"All the world's queer, except thee and me, and even thee", as my Grandmother used to say, as we delivered the "Daily Worker".
"All the world's queer except thee and me, and I'm not reight sure about thee"
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There was a man from Huddersfield....
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There was a man from Huddersfield....
‘Ode to Nicho’
There was a man from Huddersfield,
With two flat caps and thus well-heeled,
Who drove his sheep from vale to moor,
Over brook and fell, o’er hill and tor.
His one intention, proud and strong,
To graze that grass that grew so long,
On a neighbour’s land that skirted his,
And neighbour’s wife, to steal a kiss.
Said neighbour, narked on both intents,
Threw stones and clods over joining fence,
Our cheery chappy ne’er hurt to heaven,
Just upped sticks and went to Devon!
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There was a man from Huddersfield
who had a cow that wouldn't yield.
The reason why it wouldn't yield
is it didn't like its udders feeled!
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Ah, Gerry, when I was young it was:
Eat all, sup all, pay nowt,
Hear all, see all, say nowt,
And if tha does owt for nowt
Allus do it for this'en
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I only vaguely remember that one Brian. But it's over 50 years since I left God's Own County.
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Correct, Bryan! Although we strive to achieve this lofty ideal, we never quite manage.
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Word perfect Brian.
I liked that one Clifford Wordsworth Booker. When I get a minute, and feel of poetic mind, I shall respond. It might take a while but I shall respond :D
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Me: if I've got two, one's yours!
That's very sporting of you, Anthony.... I'd like Lucy, please. ::) ;)
Send me the postage................only kidding. ;D Alas, we only have one Lucy. :'(
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OK - just a quick moan to get this off my chest:
After working hard with no holidays for months I come down with a cold 4 days before christmas and on the very day I finish work. I just started to recover from this and then managed to upset my dodgy knee last night so I'm going to be hobbling around for a couple of days, THEN this morning I woke up with conjunctivitis in my left eye and we had to go round to the pharmacist for some antibiotic eye-drops.
OK - I feel better now I've had a rant. I'd better log off before I manage to hurt my typing fingers or something.
Thanks. :)
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All together - aaaaah :(
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Aaaaaaaah-tishoo!
Not that I can moan about a cold because, as you know, my whole life is a holiday as I sit here day after day......
Moan? Who? Me? :-X
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Maggi, surely that never happens!
Darren, Mary sends sympathy as she has experienced conjunctivitis and says it is horrible. Speedy recovery.
Paddy
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My moan is being woken up at 6.55 a.m. to see if Santa has been! :-\
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I thought Mrs D might have been aware that he isn't real by now ;D
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Me too. Just as well her present doesn't need to be wrapped any more! ::)
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We thought our Cain had something nasty happening to his eyes yesterday and were wondering what to do about the vet last night or today, though there is always one on duty. However, by the evening he had recovered mostly and today his eyes are their usual gloomy selves (Springer Spaniels have a lot of reddish surround visible in their eyes. It looks awful but is normal.) So I think he'd perhaps got grass seeds in them as he wandered through the long grass and they had worked out by last night. This morning he ambled across the road and roused up the two rottweilers that live there. They barked and performed like lunatics until hauled inside. Cain wasn't bothered at all as he's totally deaf.
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My moan is being woken up at 6.55 a.m. to see if Santa has been! :-\
Much better the way we do it here - on the evening of 24th ;) Then I only have to be waken from the little nap after dinner.