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» Ship of Fools   » Community discussion   » All Saints   » Tea and biscuits or GIN and tonic? Britain 2018 (Page 5)

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Source: (consider it) Thread: Tea and biscuits or GIN and tonic? Britain 2018
Bishops Finger
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I rather wondered what Sarasa was thinking of by keeping GIN under the bed along with boots.....

Thanks to la vie en rouge and others re CHOCOLATE digestives - I thought perhaps those mentioned were a French delicacy.

I'm afraid I don't relish the idea of driving the Episcopal Carriage to Calais, preferring the first-class comfort of Eurostar/TGV trains on my expeditions to Frogland... [Big Grin] It's worth travelling by train in France just for the SNCF jingle.

Incidentally, some of the tastiest CHEESE I've bought in recent years was at a French market in Dumfries (SW Scotland) of all places. The lads concerned came from Brittany, and thought nothing of the perils of the trans-Manche ferry, plus 500 miles of Ukland roads, to get there... [Eek!]

IJ

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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)

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M.
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Mmm, damson gin! A colleague very kindly gave me some damson gin he'd made, just before Christmas. It was very more-ish but we rationed ourselves to small glasses as a treat.

He collects the damsons on the Downs. A very worthwhile thing!

M.

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Baptist Trainfan
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You might find it of interest to travel west of the Severn rather than north of the Solway ...
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Bishops Finger
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Well, I just happened to be in Dumfries, with my sister, what time the French market happened to be there too! (Our Ma used to live nearby).

I like the idea of specialist CHEESE shops, though.

Damsons, BTW, make excellent JAM, if you like your JAM a little piquant...

IJ

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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)

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la vie en rouge
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The French attachment to Nutella is quite bizarre, when you think how proud of their gastronomy they are.

It’s not unpleasant to the taste, BUT when you read the list of ingredients, it’s truly appalling. IIRC it’s about 80% palm oil and sugar. A mere 2% is actual chocolate. We never have it in the house.

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St. Gwladys
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Baptist Trainfan, although we're only about 20 miles from the M Cardiff, we've never visited that cheese shop. However, we'll be in Cardiff Saturday, braving the match crowds - we have to pick up an order, not realising Wales are playing Scotland at home.
I know it's a bit further, but there's a very good cheese shop in Capuchin Lane in Hereford. Most visits to Hereford involve picking up some Hereford Hop and some cheddar with fig and honey, which the shop assistant describes as "decadent"!

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Sioni Sais
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quote:
Originally posted by St. Gwladys:

I know it's a bit further, but there's a very good cheese shop in Capuchin Lane in Hereford. Most visits to Hereford involve picking up some Hereford Hop and some cheddar with fig and honey, which the shop assistant describes as "decadent"!

We rarely visit Hereford because it hits the wallet too hard! Very close to the cheese shop is Doughty's, a quilting fabric shop, and there's a shop specialising in model railways too. With those and a pub lunch it can easily be a £500 round trip!

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Baptist Trainfan
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Wally's in Cardiff also good, as is the (admittedly small) delicatessen in Monmouth.
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MaryLouise
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Oh the Mousetrap cheese shop in Hereford! I was there about eight or nine years ago and bought some local goats' milk cheeses (Ragstone and Dorstone), creamy and pleasant with the pale Powys honey, imported figs and homebaked biscuits. I went back to get some Stinking Bishop for a friend. The Hereford cheeses were expensive but very different from cheeses here in the Cape, much milder and more delicate.

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Pigwidgeon

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quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
We rarely visit Hereford because it hits the wallet too hard! Very close to the cheese shop is Doughty's, a quilting fabric shop, and there's a shop specialising in model railways too. With those and a pub lunch it can easily be a £500 round trip!

I hope your pub lunch is at The Lichfield Vaults, my favorite Hereford pub* -- and very near the cheese shop. I believe there was a Shipmeet there a number of years ago. (Unfortunately I was thousands of miles away.)

*I've done extensive research. [Big Grin]

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L'organist
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There's always the Marches Delicatessen in Abergavenny...

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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet

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Baptist Trainfan
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I think they're the same folk I referred to in Monmouth.
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Piglet
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I love Hereford Hop - we had it as part of a cheese-board at the end of an utterly fabulous meal at Howarth's in Ballasalla on the Isle of Man, and it was quite heavenly. I've very rarely seen it since, although we found some in Gunton's in Colchester when we were over a year or two ago.

There used to be a lovely CHEESE shop on the concourse at Liverpool Street station - I don't know if it's still there, as it's ages since I've travelled that way.

It's been snowing gently (but blowing about quite a lot) for most of the day - the forecasters are offering us about 6 inches of the stuff - so I'm in the process of making SOUP.

It should be ready for virtual tasting by the time you read this, so help yourselves!

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Baptist Trainfan
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The cheese shop is still there - and I never noticed it!
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Bishops Finger
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O fie upon you all, with this talk of CHEESE shops, GIN, and other such Frivolities!

With the 'State Of The Union' speech imminent over in Usania, we should all be preparing our immortal Souls for the End Times!

IJ

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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)

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Bishops Finger
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(I'll take up that offer of virtual SOUP, meanwhile. Pass the bread, please, someone - and where's the BUTTER?)

IJ

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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)

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Pigwidgeon

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quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
O fie upon you all, with this talk of CHEESE shops, GIN, and other such Frivolities!

With the 'State Of The Union' speech imminent over in Usania, we should all be preparing our immortal Souls for the End Times!

IJ

All the more reason for GIN, and lots of it!
[Big Grin]

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"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf

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la vie en rouge
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You’re doing it again.

Cruel shippieses torments us. We wants cheeses, precious. Must have the Roquefort.

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Dormouse

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quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:


I'm afraid I don't relish the idea of driving the Episcopal Carriage to Calais, preferring the first-class comfort of Eurostar/TGV trains on my expeditions to Frogland... [Big Grin] It's worth travelling by train in France just for the SNCF jingle.


IJ

If you like the SNCF jingle (which I find becomes a total earworm after a bit!) you might like this

David Gilmour "Rattle That Lock"

Apparantly Gilmour heard and recorded the jingle on his iPhone at Aix-en-Provence station while travelling to visit friends...It is definitely inspired by the jingle. In fact now when I hear the SNCF jingle I tend to continue singing the song. I'm surprised to find that apparentyly the lyrics are based around Book II of Paradise Lost. Who knew?!

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What are you doing for Lent?
40 days, 40 reflections, 40 acts of generosity. Join the #40acts challenge for #Lent and let's start a movement. www.40acts.org.uk

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Bishops Finger
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Thanks for that linky, O Dormouse!

Yes, the jingle does become an earworm, but I love it, and find that somehow it makes train travel in France even more special than it already is!

You may have gathered that I am a bit of a Francophile... [Big Grin]

(I refrain from mentioning the C-word, however).

IJ

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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)

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Gill H

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It is probably the sexiest train announcement jingle ever.

Oddly enough, at Charles de Gaulle airport last year we heard their jingle and wondered why they would use “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”.

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Bishops Finger
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Yes, it does sound....er....rather creepy, IMHO.

CdeG Airport Jingle

[Ultra confused]

IJ

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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)

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St. Gwladys
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quote:
Originally posted by Pigwidgeon:
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
We rarely visit Hereford because it hits the wallet too hard! Very close to the cheese shop is Doughty's, a quilting fabric shop, and there's a shop specialising in model railways too. With those and a pub lunch it can easily be a £500 round trip!

I hope your pub lunch is at The Lichfield Vaults, my favorite Hereford pub* -- and very near the cheese shop. I believe there was a Shipmeet there a number of years ago. (Unfortunately I was thousands of miles away.)

*I've done extensive research. [Big Grin]



--------------------
"I say - are you a matelot?"
"Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here"
From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)

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St. Gwladys
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Sorry, pressed the button too soon!
The Litchfield Vaults to s the only pub I know which has Greek Icons over the bar. They now don't a small stifado which you can order with fresh bread - gorgeous! [Yipee]

--------------------
"I say - are you a matelot?"
"Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here"
From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)

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la vie en rouge
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The voice of the SNCF is a lady called Simone Hérault. She is something of a minor celebrity.

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Baptist Trainfan
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The voice of the London Underground used to be an actor Oswald Laurence, who died in 2007. "Mind the Gap" - I think one station still uses the recording, although his announcement has been generally superseded.
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Bishops Finger
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Simone Herault's mellifluous and clear announcements are something of which France, and the SNCF, can be truly proud.

Here she is in action!

BTW, do we have the name of the chanteuse who actually sings the jingle?

I'd better get me coat, and go and 'ave me Tea, as we're drifting away from Britain...... [Ultra confused]

IJ

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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)

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Baptist Trainfan
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Dragging us back to the Proper Side of the Manche, John Betjeman had something to say about station announcers.
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Piglet
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I'm a bit late in checking in today - we had a friend round for supper (her husband's away and we thought we ought to keep her company). She brought her wee dog, an adorable Havanese called Tilly, who commandeered D's side of the sofa and tried to eat me (but in quite a gentle, affectionate-doggy kind of way).

Decent food (my beef casserole seemed to go down a treat), good wine and good company.

Now bracing ourselves for some more sn*w tomorrow ... [Frown]

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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music

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The Intrepid Mrs S
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I was in Boots yesterday, queuing to ask when my medicines might have come in. Behind me, a lady in a lime-green coat. At the do-it-youself print machines, a young woman with a child in a pushchair,accompanied by an older woman, possibly her mother.

The two at the photo-print place started to discuss how big an 8"x 6" print was - '8"x 6", did you say?' 'yes, 8"x 6"' repeat ad lib . Eventually my new friend in the green coat could bear it no longer and pointed out a suitably-sized frame to the older one, who looked at her disbelievingly and said 'Nah, that one's 6"x 8", she wants an 8"x 6"'
[Killing me]
With more patience than I could have mustered, my new friend pointed out that it could be hung in either direction, so amounted to the same thing; then returned to the queue where I was shaking with suppressed laughter.
[Killing me]
We agreed that it was just as well Boots had changed the sign which used to read 'Hand in prescriptions at the healthcare counter', because the healthcare counter was marked with a big sign saying 'Medicines'
[Killing me]
Mrs. S, who used to write instructions on the back of cans of paint [Help]

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'Lord, please give us patience. NOW!'

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Bishops Finger
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What a cheering picture of modern English life.

It reminds me of a Sunday afternoon in Homebase (God forgive me for violating the Sabbath), when I observed a family (Mum, Dad, two teenage girls) arguing VERY LOUDLY about the correct size of ironing-board cover they needed...

'You said 30 centimetres! (or whatever)'
'NO - YOU said 25 centimetres!!!'
'THAT'S TOO SHORT - we MUST have 30 centimetres'...

...and so on.

How sad - that was the best way they could think of of spending a Sunday afternoon. Fair enough - it was quite early, so maybe they hadn't had lunch yet.

'You said you wanted THREE roast potatoes!'
'No - I said only TWO! You know I'm on a diet!'
'Muuuummm....you know I HATE cabbage! It's not FAIR....'

IJ

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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)

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Baptist Trainfan
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quote:
Originally posted by The Intrepid Mrs S:
The two at the photo-print place started to discuss how big an 8"x 6" print was - '8"x 6", did you say?' 'yes, 8"x 6"' repeat ad lib . Eventually my new friend in the green coat could bear it no longer and pointed out a suitably-sized frame to the older one, who looked at her disbelievingly and said 'Nah, that one's 6"x 8", she wants an 8"x 6"'

Perhaps they didn't understand Imperial measurements. A good thing it wasn't a field, to be measured in yards, chains or furlongs.
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Bishops Finger
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Or even rods, poles, or perches....(which are all the same thing, IIRC).

Somehow, life was more interesting when we had halfpennies, farthings, half-crowns, etc., as well.

Mind you, adding up £sd was certainly more difficult....

IJ

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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)

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L'organist
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Adding up proper money was more difficult? Hmmm.

My small infant school employed two motherly ladies who decreed that we play "shops" at least twice a day: cardboard money, etc, etc, etc. You were started off by being asked to give change for one item, then add to items and give correct thange - I'm sure you get the picture.

By the time you graduated to being a Senior Infant (!) you could work out complex sums and give correct change.

I also remember being sent off to measure the playing field for marking out for Sports Day - very exciting because we could get close to the flamethrower used to mark out the lanes!

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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet

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shamwari
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Name and address of school please. Need to organise for some from the local Co-OP to visit.
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L'organist
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School no longer in existence - and it was the staff who made it, and I doubt that Mrs Carter is still teaching because she'd be about 120 years old by now, and her sidekick was older than her.

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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet

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shamwari
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So you were an an infant not a teacher?
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L'organist
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Definitely an infant when playing shops.

Of course, one had to have the dizzy seniority of being a Junior to measure out the field...

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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet

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Baptist Trainfan
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quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
Somehow, life was more interesting when we had halfpennies, farthings, half-crowns, etc., as well.

Mind you, adding up £sd was certainly more difficult....

Those tables on the back of exercise books were truly fascinating ... especially the little box in the corner mysteriously labelled "Troy Weight".

Mind you, we learned to count in base 12, base 20, base 14, base 16 ,,, without even knowing! And how do divide £1 into three equal parts, which we can't do today.

PS I am not old enough to remember farthings, though my sister is (just).

[ 01. February 2018, 17:32: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]

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Boogie

Boogie on down!
# 13538

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We moved to England from South Africa in 1969 so I had a cou-le of baffling years with £sd then, thankfully, 1971 arrived and I was back to the decimal currency I’d always known [Smile]

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Garden. Room. Walk

Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008  |  IP: Logged
shamwari
Shipmate
# 15556

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As Minister in a rural Zimbabwean Circuit in 1958 I was also the Circuit Treasurer. And we recorded everything in £SP. It took some doing.
Posts: 1914 | From: from the abyss of misunderstanding | Registered: Mar 2010  |  IP: Logged
balaam

Making an ass of myself
# 4543

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quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
[qb]Mind you, we learned to count in base 12, base 20, base 14, base 16 ,,, without even knowing! And how do divide £1 into three equal parts, which we can't do today.

Even 47 years on from decimalisation, I instantly thought 6s 8d.

Talking of pre-decimal currency, my mother kept a number of old 3d coins — no, not the many-sided brass things, the old silver ones — which would go into the Christmas pudding every year. One year the whole pudding, made to feed 13 people with large portions, was eaten by the dog. We got the coins back, but they were never cooked in the pudding again.

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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430

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You would have been quite OK, providing the pudding was well-cooked....

I'm old enough to remember farthings in use, and I still have some (along with other pre-1971 coins), kept against the day when Sanity will prevail, and the Proper Money will be reintroduced.

[Razz]

IJ

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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)

Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004  |  IP: Logged
balaam

Making an ass of myself
# 4543

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The coins were sterelised so they would have been fine. However the thought of eating them...

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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
Piglet
Islander
# 11803

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quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
... the dizzy seniority of being a Junior ...

That's making my brain hurt ... [Confused]

Mrs. S's story about the picture frame calls to mind a thing I saw on Facebook yesterday, which purported to be someone in Texas advertising house-numbers for sale.
quote:
I accidentally bought number 54, but I live at number 45.
Needless to say, the accompanying photograph was of a number 4 and a number 5, in separate packages.

The person who passed it on suggested that the original poster may have voted for Trump.

[Killing me]

It's been snowing (mostly big, wet flakes) for most of the day, but now appears to have stopped, which is fine by me. We don't need another cancelled rehearsal when we've got Evensong on Sunday (although looking at Sunday's forecast, that may be something of a moot point). I always worry when it just says "snow", as opposed to "light snow" or "flurries".

[Eek!]

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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music

Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006  |  IP: Logged
basso

Ship’s Crypt Keeper
# 4228

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quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
Or even rods, poles, or perches....(which are all the same thing, IIRC).

4 rods to a pole/perch.

Not that I learned that in school. In very non-agricultural suburban California, rods were a mysterious notation in the tables at the end of the book. I don't recall them ever being even mentioned in class. I doubt that any of my teachers knew what to do with them.

Some of my reading while digging in my family history suggests a time when they were well-known and widely used.

Posts: 4358 | From: Bay Area, Calif | Registered: Mar 2003  |  IP: Logged
L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338

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We were expected to know all the units of measurement up to a league - very useful when studying The Charge of the Light Brigade if you know how far is "half a league" (one-and-a-half miles, for those cursed to know only metric).

Of course, a knowledge of imperial measurement is still useful for students of horse racing.

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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet

Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012  |  IP: Logged
Jengie jon

Semper Reformanda
# 273

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quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
We were expected to know all the units of measurement up to a league - very useful when studying The Charge of the Light Brigade if you know how far is "half a league" (one-and-a-half miles, for those cursed to know only metric).

Exactly what sort of sense would 'one -and-a-half miles' make to someone who knows only metric. Last time I checked miles was another Imperial unit with the kilometer being the nearest equivalent metric unit. Yes I know a kilometre is 5/8 of a mile.

Jengie

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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge

Back to my blog

Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Piglet
Islander
# 11803

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I must admit the only metric units I use are for measuring rain and snow (although I usually mentally convert them, and D. will always ask "what's that in English?") and litres for petrol. The kilometres on distance signs I have to convert to miles if I'm going to have any idea of how long it might take us to get there.

One area in which I've gone "native" is measuring things in cups for cooking, although if I'm using a British cookbook I revert to pounds and ounces.

* * * * *

It snowed fairly steadily for most of the morning and a good bit of the afternoon, dumping about 6-8 inches, but seems to have taken a breather. And D. has just come in, and said that the gentleman across the road has cleared our drive with his snow-blower. What a total hero. [Overused]

I'm currently waiting for a batch of bread to finish baking, then we're going out for dinner; there's a restaurant not far from us called The Back 6 (it's part of a golf club) that's participating in Dine Around Freddy, and they're doing lamb shanks.

They'd better not have run out of them ... [Eek!]

We're treating it as my birthday celebration (my actual birthday's next week), but on the day we've been invited to some friends for a curry.

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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music

Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006  |  IP: Logged
Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564

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quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:

I observed a family (Mum, Dad, two teenage girls) arguing VERY LOUDLY about the correct size of ironing-board cover they needed...

'You said 30 centimetres! (or whatever)'
'NO - YOU said 25 centimetres!!!'
'THAT'S TOO SHORT - we MUST have 30 centimetres'...

That's a ...rather small ironing board [Biased]
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013  |  IP: Logged



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