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Thread: Yes, yes, let's talk about the weather! The British thread 2016
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Uncle Pete
Loyaute me lie
# 10422
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
I got a phone call from Herself this morning to say the Dr was favouring Monday or Tuesday for delivery then another call 30 minutes later to say she was being prepped for theatre immediately as he had changed his mind. By the time I got there it was all over - a boy and a girl, both doing well. Mother knackered. Names to be announced in due course (8 weeks). New father still shell-shocked but smiling.
Just a few minutes ago he called to ask me his wife's date of birth!
No photos yet but soon.
I was away so I missed it. Best of all possible outcomes. Sure my sister would agree. Looking forward to a whole gaggle of pictures. Email soon ![[Axe murder]](graemlins/lovedrops.gif)
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Even more so than I was before
Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
I could do with one of BT's reverse electric blankets ...
We have arrived! Fredericton is absolutely gorgeous - beautiful riverside location, pretty buildings, and on Friday evening the best sunset I've seen outside of Orkney (I have very high standards when it comes to sunsets).
Before we'd even been here 24 hours, we'd discovered three restaurants which would knock anything we could afford in St. John's into a cocked hat (we're currently staying in a grotty but adequate motel, so have to fend for ourselves for food).
Our journey was fairly uneventful, except for when we stopped in Nova Scotia for petrol, and D. started feeding the Pigletmobile with diesel ...
Fortunately I happened to look out of the car window and saw the word "diesel" on the pump, and we were able to push the car to safety, get a tow back to Truro where it was all mended. Poor little car. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
D's first Sunday in harness went really well; several of the choir broke off from their holiday cottages to be there, and we sang Byrd's Ave verum really rather well.
Now to get Château Piglet sold, and find a new château.
eta: the only thing we don't like is the bugs; we're both covered in horrid bites. We seem to be coping with the heat reasonably well, even though it's been around the 28° mark ... ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
[ 19. July 2016, 01:35: Message edited by: Piglet ]
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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
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
The shots on the Fredericton website look fabulous, Piglet. I hope the sale and purchase go through smoothly and without undue delay.
* * * *
My pharyngitis & cold has decided to come back and make my life miserable again so hospital visits are off my agenda for a few days at least - a medical person will be visited sometime today and curative drugs obtained My own GP seems to be away but I'll go and find another one for the duration, the new ENT wallah in town seems a promising prospect.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
My wife said last night (in jest): "Do you want the electric blanket switched on?"
I replied, "Only if you can get it to go in reverse".
Like this?
The very thing (I think)! ![[Cool]](cool.gif)
[ 19. July 2016, 05:40: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
We have arrived! Fredericton is absolutely gorgeous - beautiful riverside location, pretty buildings, and on Friday evening the best sunset I've seen outside of Orkney (I have very high standards when it comes to sunsets).
Excellent! Glad you're back and all is going well.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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daisydaisy
Shipmate
# 12167
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
We have arrived! Fredericton is absolutely gorgeous - beautiful riverside location, pretty buildings, and on Friday evening the best sunset I've seen outside of Orkney (I have very high standards when it comes to sunsets).
Excellent! Glad you're back and all is going well.
It sounds idyllic, especially when combined with the eateries that you're discovering.
Posts: 3184 | From: southern uk | Registered: Dec 2006
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
Horrid, horrid weather!
Just went to wander round one of the royal parks. It was hard to breathe, the air was so thick. Nothing pleasant about it at all.
And the air con in the office has just packed up. ![[Mad]](angryfire.gif)
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Speed restrictions on the trains so everything is either cancelled or at least half an hour late, but I'm sure I'll get home some time.
Blue skies, warm breezes, everywhere drenched in light and heat: this is how I remember childhood days. Just the smell of frangipani needed to bring those days back again.
(I don't mind not having the mosquitos.)
[ 19. July 2016, 14:40: Message edited by: Ariel ]
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
I do wonder how the railways manage in places like Hungary, where the summers are very hot and the winters very cold, i.e. a greater temperature range than here in Britain.
Perhaps the rails are made from a different kind of steel?
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
I do wonder how the railways manage in places like Hungary, where the summers are very hot and the winters very cold, i.e. a greater temperature range than here in Britain.
Perhaps the rails are made from a different kind of steel?
Would you like us to crowdsource some funding so you can go on a research trip to the railways of Hungary?
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
I've been there (though not recently). Trouble is, the language is impenetrable to foreigners!
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
When I used to commute into New York City by train, the switches in the tracks (hope I'm using the right terminology) froze when it got too cold (down in the teens or lower, Fahrenheit). It was not fun standing on an unsheltered platform in temperatures close to zero (F) waiting for a train that might not arrive for an hour or so. If/when the train finally got there it was packed wall-to-wall with freezing, angry commuters. (Please remind me of this next time I complain about the hot weather here in Arizona!)
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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
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Well that was fun.
One of the buses to the station broke down. There were speed restrictions on the trains which were all either delayed or cancelled and then severe signal failure meaning that all services were suspended. The station staff came round with free bottles of water. I commiserated with someone who'd been trying to get to a job interview scheduled for two hours ago and a man trying to get home from London to Great Malvern. Eventually we did get going. An off-duty railwayman and I worked on the Metro's cryptic crossword, helping each other out when necessary.
Two and a half hours later I got home. You get there in the end. It had been a good day with a lovely lunch with colleagues I hadn't seen for a while so I'm not complaining. Thank God it wasn't winter.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
I do wonder how the railways manage in places like Hungary, where the summers are very hot and the winters very cold, i.e. a greater temperature range than here in Britain.
Perhaps the rails are made from a different kind of steel?
Apparently it's complicated. We have expansion gaps in the rails that don't cope with these temperatures - the gap isn't big enough. Some countries have expansion plates or other ways of dealing with rails getting too big. Or some countries do use different materials.
Basically it's too long and complicated to type one handed.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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John Holding
Coffee and Cognac
# 158
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Posted
And yet the railways -- both commuter and long-distance -- in Canada and the northern US manage just fine without the kinds of problems you're talking about. Here the temperature in each year will vary from -40 C to +40 C as a matter of course, every year. These are on lines that have been working like this for getting on to 150 years. Even at the beginning, the temperatures were much as they are today, so it's not that the rails have been replaced with some new and exciting technology.
And the trains keep rolling. And we never seem to have stoppages because of "leaves on the line".
John
Posts: 5929 | From: Ottawa, Canada | Registered: May 2001
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
It seems to be a matter of what you're used to. When D. moved to St. John's in February 2003, there had been about half-an-inch of snow in Belfast and the whole place practically closed down; rubbish wasn't collected, schools closed ...
The day before he arrived, they'd had about three feet of snow in Newfoundland, and life just went on. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
I'm currently rejoicing in the reduction of the temperature from 28° to 22°, and bracing myself for Thursday and Friday, when it's due to go up to 29°.
Pass me that reverse electric blanket, someone!
BTW (forgot to mention it yesterday) - delighted to hear about Herself and the twins - long may they thrive! ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
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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
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Sarasa
Shipmate
# 12271
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Posted
Piglet - glad to hear you arrived safely, and that there are loads of opportunities for foodie research. Sympathies about the bites. Insects seem to like me, and their bites have made many a holiday rather itchy.
I'm very glad I wasn't trying to commute today, and even more glad I don't live where I used to. where a hole opened up on the tracks. .
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'I guess things didn't go so well tonight, but I'm trying. Lord, I'm trying.' Charlie (Harvey Keitel) in Mean Streets.
Posts: 2035 | From: London | Registered: Jan 2007
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Jack the Lass
Ship's airhead
# 3415
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sarasa:
I'm very glad I wasn't trying to commute today, and even more glad I don't live where I used to. where a hole opened up on the tracks. .
I used to live there too! I saw this on facebook from various friends who still live at various points along that line and once again was very thankful for moving to Scotland! Although having said that, a sinkhole appeared yesterday in Edinburgh too apparently, so I'd better be careful not to be too smug.
Glad that you arrived safely Piglet, and hope you can escape the grotty motel soon. Would it be worth renting somewhere for a few months first to get a feel for the place and give the more northerly Chateau Piglet time to sell?
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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog
Posts: 5767 | From: the land of the deep-fried Mars Bar | Registered: Oct 2002
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Ferijen
Shipmate
# 4719
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Posted
I was thinking, at 3 am when it was 26 degrees in the bedroom, that even WW might have had the window open last night.
I'm British, and I've had enough of summer, thankyouverymuch. It's particularly not fun with a thirsty three month old who, not a good sleeper at the best of times, was up every hour last night.
Hope that the search for a more permanent abode goes well Piglet. What do you know of the musical scene in your new place?
Posts: 3259 | From: UK | Registered: Jul 2003
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
My windows are open [and fly-screened] all year - and sorry to disappoint but at 26C I'd be looking for a blanket! How do you cope with cold like that?
* * * *
Saw girl baby from a distance today but I am full of lurgy so stayed at a distance and kept my mouth covered. Boy baby has since been discharged from NICU and has joined his sister and their parents in their room - his photos make him look worried about something or other. Possibly about how bossy his sister will be!*
*This is not an overtly sexist remark, just the voice of experience!
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
My windows are open [and fly-screened] all year - and sorry to disappoint but at 26C I'd be looking for a blanket! How do you cope with cold like that?
I came home yesterday evening, opened the windows, then realized that although I felt comfortable, the chocolate in my flat was so soft that it was best eaten with a spoon. Maybe heat tolerance is an age-related thing.
(Or maybe I'm just turning into a salamander...)
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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jacobsen
seeker
# 14998
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Posted
Do salamanders eat chocolate? If not, could I have mine back, please? (Damn - she will have eaten it before transfiguring. Mutter mutter.....)
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But God, holding a candle, looks for all who wander, all who search. - Shifra Alon
Beauty fades, dumb is forever-Judge Judy
The man who made time, made plenty.
Posts: 8040 | From: Æbleskiver country | Registered: Aug 2009
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
I now have pictures of both of the twins but, although my internet is coming through my phone being tethered by USB data cable to my PC, said PC is refusing to believe that it is all connected. This is officially Very Strange! Anyway I am tired so I'll see about sorting it in the morning then post them on fb for them what is interested
These antibiotics are really making me feel weary but possibly after I have had a bite of supper and the rest of the stuff I have to take [only another million tablets tonight] I might wake up a bit - a Vitamin C tablet is part of the batch and that normally wakes me up a bit.
With the impending return of The Proud Parents I suppose I'd better tidy the house a bit tomorrow and then must push Himself [upon his return] in the search for a lady wot does as we shall certainly require one, I think the parents may be a tad busy for a while.
As for the weather, the humidity is down a bit from the usual at the time of year but it actually feels a bit stickier, perhaps because there is no breeze at all.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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The Intrepid Mrs S
Shipmate
# 17002
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
Boy baby has since been discharged from NICU and has joined his sister and their parents in their room - his photos make him look worried about something or other.
First Grandson used to frown - it was utterly heartbreaking to see him look so concerned when he was only a few weeks old ![[Waterworks]](graemlins/bawling.gif)
Ferijen, The Former Miss S and SiL gave in and bought a mini-air conditioning unit in the last heatwave. First Grandson was so unsettled, and of course the more you soothed him the hotter he got, poor little sausage. Of course that did for any suggestion of summer for weeks ![[Killing me]](graemlins/killingme.gif)
Mrs. S, doting
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Don't get your knickers in a twist over your advancing age. It achieves nothing and makes you walk funny.
Prayer should be our first recourse, not our last resort
'Lord, please give us patience. NOW!'
Posts: 1464 | From: Neither here nor there | Registered: Mar 2012
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sarasa:
Piglet - glad to hear you arrived safely, and that there are loads of opportunities for foodie research. Sympathies about the bites. Insects seem to like me, and their bites have made many a holiday rather itchy.
I'm very glad I wasn't trying to commute today, and even more glad I don't live where I used to. where a hole opened up on the tracks. .
Why do they keep slapping the name sinkhole around for any hole anywhere? This was a sewer collapse, in an area where there are a lot of problems with old pipework, not a natural hole at all. They are always digging up the roads to replace leaking mains round there.
There are a lot of sinkholes along the southern banks of the Thames, as far as Dartford. This is a sinkhole. Greenwich hole.
[ 20. July 2016, 17:54: Message edited by: Penny S ]
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
Thanks for all the good wishes, folks. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Ferijen - I haven't really sussed out what goes on here musically (although there's a summer recital series in the Cathedral on Friday lunch-times). I understand there's a fairly vibrant musical community though, with festivals of this that and the other. D. is planning on reviving his own lunch-time organ recitals in the autumn; as he says, it gives him a good reason to keep practising, and extending his repertoire. There's a family of refugees arriving at the Cathedral next week from (I think) the Ivory Coast, and as they're still raising funds to help them settle in, he thought he might do a one-off concert to raise money for that.
We think renting the cheapest place we can find will be the way to go until Château Piglet is sold - there's not really anything else we can do unless we can persuade a bank to give us a bridging-loan, and so far they've been about as much use as a chocolate teapot.
The trouble with that is that most places aren't furnished, and our stuff (except for a few plates, cups, utensils and the bread-machine) is still in St. John's, so we'd have to beg, borrow or buy something on which to sleep and sit, and something off which to eat.
I suppose as long as we can find somewhere with a stove and a fridge, we can furnish the rest cheaply and take it from there.
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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
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mark_in_manchester
not waving, but...
# 15978
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Posted
quote:
I do wonder how the railways manage in places like Hungary, where the summers are very hot and the winters very cold, i.e. a greater temperature range than here in Britain.
Perhaps the rails are made from a different kind of steel?
Well, that led me to an interesting hour's read. Apparently UK continuously-welded rail is pre-stressed (stretched in-situ) so as to produce zero expansive force at 27 deg C. As the temp rises further, the rail tries to lift and/or buckle - heavy concrete sleepers and dense compacted ballast apparently help. When it gets very cold the rail shrinks and wants to snap - where temp variations are very large, the rail may be cut and re-stressed for a new average temperature twice a year.
I do miss the familiar du-du du-du; du-du du-du, accompanied by a rising motor whine and the odd flash of light on my bedroom ceiling, not so far from the district line and what I think was the Underground's least-used station.
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"We are punished by our sins, not for them" - Elbert Hubbard
(so good, I wanted to see it after my posts and not only after those of shipmate JBohn from whom I stole it)
Posts: 1596 | Registered: Oct 2010
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Barnabas Aus
Shipmate
# 15869
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Posted
Here in Australia, parts of the country have massive extremes of temperature from below freezing to above 40degC.
The transcontinental railway line, which for much of its distance passes through arid desert, has recently had a plague of broken rails as the overnight temperature has plunged. Conversely, in summer, derailments are likely due to buckling of the rails.
The additional challenge in this situation is that maintenance gangs may be hundreds of kilometres distant from the problem, and repairs to the single-track line could take more than 24 hours to be assessed and treated.
Posts: 375 | From: Hunter Valley NSW | Registered: Sep 2010
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luvanddaisies
the'fun'in'fundie'™
# 5761
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by mark_in_manchester:
and what I think was the Underground's least-used station.
Roding Valley your statement prompted my curiosity
(I don't think your one was that one though; you said District Line and Roding Valley is on the Central Line.
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." (Mark Twain)
Posts: 3711 | From: all at sea. | Registered: Apr 2004
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
One of the problems with the railways as we have them in the UK, and probably copied across the world, is grandfather rights. Much of the rail technology is comes from the early days of rail and hasn't been fully assessed to see if it is still fit for purpose. There is work on that assessment, but the complete re-engineering of the railways is a huge and expensive capital project.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Interestingly (perhaps not) they scrapped the rail speed restrictions yesterday on my line and I actually got home in time.
I did so, however, in a carriage where the airconditioning had broken down and the sun was blazing in through the double-glazed windows. Most people didn't want to sit in this carriage so I got an entire window seat to myself plus some free bottles of water which the train staff had thoughtfully left in the luggage rack for anyone sitting in the vicinity. It felt as if we were travelling somewhere much more exotic, though it was only the usual commute home.
quote:
Originally posted by jacobsen:
Do salamanders eat chocolate?
Staple diet, sorry. That and cheese.
(Speaking of which I've just remembered we're having another Cheese Day at the office tomorrow. I must get my act together and get some stuff for it tonight. I'm thinking Roquefort and maybe baking some sundried tomato and parmesan bread.)
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
Warning: this post contains nerdish material!
Mark in Manchester is right. There was a freight train derailment in Lincolnshire last year due to buckled track. There were several reasons for that but it was basically down to inadequate maintenance.
Interestingly (for some!) the report says that buckling is more likely if the weather gets suddenly much hotter rather than gently heating up over a period; presumably the latter gives a chance for localised stresses to even out. The old jointed track did incorporate expansion joints but fractures at the rail ends were frequent (and potentially disastrous,as at Hither Green in 1967.
There is an amusing story about the early days of preservation on the Talyllyn Railway. On a hot summer's day volunteers took out a bit of rail with a view to replacing it over lunchtime. It should have been a routine job, but the moment they took the rail out the adjacent sections expanded and they could only get the new bit to fit by laboriously sawing off a short section (by hand). The afternoon train did not run!
[ 21. July 2016, 07:16: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
We've had the wrong sort of leaves, the wrong sort of snow; now we get the wrong sort of heat ...
I've had a slightly productive day: I've submitted an on-line application for a job at the local university (not sure what they'll make of my antique Scottish qualifications ...) and we've discovered Yet Another Excellent Restaurant, this time one that brews its own cider, which is very nice indeed. I had a beetroot-and-goat-cheese panini, and D. had a chicken-and-chickpea curry, both of which were v. good indeed (and cheap).
We're going to like living here, especially if we can find somewhere to live.
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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
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
One of the not uncommon surnames around here, for those that indulge in such things in Kerala, is Panicker and I noticed recently that not far from the hospital where Himself and Herself and babies are staying is another hospital called Panicker's Hospital!
I think they specialise in Advanced Hypochondria.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
After horrible journeys home most of this week, yesterday being the honourable exception*, today I am still stuck travelling in, two stops from home over an hour and a half into my journey. Apparently the first tube I was on couldn't leave the station because the incoming train was driven over the points outside the station blocking both tracks. I bussed two stops down to arrive as the power was switched off so the poor buggers on the stuck train could be walked down the track to the station. I assume so a crane can be employed to move he train. I am so going to be late today, and I'm supposed to be SLT in charge this morning.
* According to Twitter I missed last night's joys.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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jacobsen
seeker
# 14998
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Posted
CKC - I feel your pain. 28 years of living in London, and the tubes always went AWOL when I absolutely had to be in Town on time. I still get missives from Transport for London, and it's never good news. Hoping it's not too hot and that you have water with you.
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But God, holding a candle, looks for all who wander, all who search. - Shifra Alon
Beauty fades, dumb is forever-Judge Judy
The man who made time, made plenty.
Posts: 8040 | From: Æbleskiver country | Registered: Aug 2009
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
I haven’t had a single straightforward journey home any evening this week. It’s been a mixture of speed restrictions, delays, cancellations, signal failures, and airconditioning breaking down. Last night was half an hour stuck on the tracks because of signal failure. Tonight is Friday night when extra people pack into trains to go away for the weekend and we’re often one carriage short.
On the plus side, we’re enjoying our Cheese Day at the office. We have Roquefort, Jarlsberg, Emmenthal, Cheddar with caramelized onions, Brie, St Agur, Wensleydale with cranberries, homemade sundried tomato and Parmesan bread, plus some fruit and other peripherals. We're happy.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
We've discovered Yet Another Excellent Restaurant, this time one that brews its own cider, which is very nice indeed. I had a beetroot-and-goat-cheese panini, and D. had a chicken-and-chickpea curry, both of which were v. good indeed (and cheap).
Clearly there are going to be serious Financial and Waistline Complications in your new position!
Aspall's Cyder (note the spelling) here in Suffolk is lovely, and they do some special light ones to drink very chilled in the summer.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Ariel's list of cheeses put me in mind that this week my Dr tried to convince me to reduce my intake of cheese.
He failed miserably.
He also said I should eat less fat but as I primarily use Olive Oil he can get knotted over that one as well. I don't eat any meat, and haven't for more than half my life. I hardly use salt [though I do use Marmite™ sparingly], I eat a little fish occasionally and I've only done that since the research about fish and depression was published and I'd be quite content without it - but I love the saute potatoes that accompany it.
I have tried, so far without success, to get the Delicatessen bit of our local Hypermarket to stock St Agur, which I completely adore. The manager keeps trying but...
My current favourite of the non-English or non-Standard cheeses is Gouda with Wild Garlic - lovely on a cracker or a piece of good bread or even just as it comes, it really doesn't need anything apart from itself. I would say that it is worth a King's Ransom but that is probably a pun too far!
I know I've said this before but if any of you ever gets a chance to taste Barkham Blue then give it a go - it's horrendously expensive and is like a [very] sophisticated St Agur with a double cream aftertaste. I think that lovely cheese shop in Monmouth may have it sometimes but don't go in that shop with a credit card or you'll be bankrupt in minutes!
* * * *
Himself came home this morning to get some sleep and to get their room cleaned ready for the arrival of twins early next week. As I was saying the other day I think we are going to have to get a lady wot does at least three days a week - just sweep, swab and dust. There are a few in the village who might be glad of a little extra. I think Herself is going to have her hands full for a while.
At lunchtime today, against all protocol, I was told the names for the twins - nice names! They won't be announced until the naming ceremony which should be 7 weeks tomorrow, 8 weeks from the day of their birth.
No Pete, I can't even tell you!
I was asked by a UK friend what the two little ones are going to call me and I replied that I thought it best if I play the strict Victorian father figure role and have them call me Sir - but I think he remains unconvinced that I can pull that one off. Quietly to myself I have the feeling that I am going to wrapped about some little fingers for the next however long!
No surprises there, then.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
I know I've said this before but if any of you ever gets a chance to taste Barkham Blue then give it a go - it's horrendously expensive and is like a [very] sophisticated St Agur with a double cream aftertaste. I think that lovely cheese shop in Monmouth may have it sometimes but don't go in that shop with a credit card or you'll be bankrupt in minutes!
I saw that in the farm shop I went to at lunchtime and I thought "Is that the one WW said he liked" but then I thought it wasn't so I didn't buy any. I don't remember how much it cost, but there'll be other visits I expect.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
... my Dr tried to convince me to reduce my intake of cheese.
I think he ought to be struck off - he's obviously a charlatan and a heretick. ![[Devil]](graemlins/devil.gif)
We went to the summer Friday lunch-time recital in the Cathedral today - piano duets, which was light-hearted and rather fun.
Very very hot day today - it's currently 31° with a Humidex of 37.
It's definitely a drier heat here than St. John's though; I don't remember it being over 30° when we lived there, but I certainly felt much hotter than I do at the moment, and I'm not currently even in a place with air-con - I've just got a tiny little table-fan blowing on me.
Could it be that I'm developing some sort of heat immunity, or is it just that the Pigletmobile has got air-con and we get cooled down every time we drive anywhere (or go into a shop or cafe or whatever)?
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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
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
Aspall's Cyder (note the spelling) here in Suffolk is lovely, and they do some special light ones to drink very chilled in the summer.
Aspall's is one of my all time favourite cider(cyder)s. You can get it in bottles in the north too, but I've only come across it on tap in two pubs so far: on Marylebone Road and in Knaresborough, neither exactly on the doorstep. Mmm, cider.
Re: cheese. On returning from holiday, my aunt sent me home with two boxes of tinned (tinned!) Kraft cheese. She loves the stuff, colloquially 'Melbourne cheese' as that's where it is imported from, and was especially proud when she told me it was cheddar. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the important word on the packet was 'processed' and that I could get the real kind at home.
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ArachnidinElmet:
[On returning from holiday, my aunt sent me home with two boxes of tinned (tinned!) Kraft cheese. She loves the stuff, colloquially 'Melbourne cheese' as that's where it is imported from, and was especially proud when she told me it was cheddar. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the important word on the packet was 'processed' and that I could get the real kind at home.
Bill Bryson claims that there were only two types of cheese available in Australia in the 1950s: "sharp" and "tasty".
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ArachnidinElmet:
Aspall's is one of my all time favourite cider(cyder)s. You can get it in bottles in the north too, but I've only come across it on tap in two pubs so far: on Marylebone Road and in Knaresborough, neither exactly on the doorstep. Mmm, cider.
Add Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds to that. I can't remember where, exactly, but definitely somewhere in the vicinity. (Now I'm going to have to embark on revisiting a whole range of pubs just so I can track down where it was. Life is hard.)
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
If you can find an Adnam's pub, they usually have Aspall's on draught.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
If you can find an Adnam's pub, they usually have Aspall's on draught.
If I find an Adnam's pub, I'm going to be drinking Adnams Broadside.
Unfortunately I don't think they exist in Arizona.
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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
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ArachnidinElmet:
Re: cheese. On returning from holiday, my aunt sent me home with two boxes of tinned (tinned!) Kraft cheese. She loves the stuff, colloquially 'Melbourne cheese' as that's where it is imported from, and was especially proud when she told me it was cheddar. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the important word on the packet was 'processed' and that I could get the real kind at home.
Those with HM Armed Forces connections know all about "Cheese, processed" or "cheese possessed" as it is known to all who have encountered it. Really, if it hadn't said cheese on the tin, you would never have called it cheese. Compo rations, which it formed a part of, deserves a recipe thread of its own.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
I have just read the Wiki article on processed cheese...
![[Projectile]](graemlins/puke2.gif)
The stuff tastes bad enough but the description - here - really made me feel quite queasy. I would rather eat a small[er] amount of something exquisitely tasty than ...
Words fail me.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
I don't know where Bull Bryson got that information from, certainly not correct from my experience.
Processed cheese was truly awful. It did have the advantage that it would survive unrefrigerated until opened, even in summer temperatures of 36 plus, very useful in remote areas where electricity for refrigeration was limited even in the 50s.
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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