Cycling UK Forum

Jdsk wrote: ↑6 Oct 2021, 11:30am This is unresolved:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanged,_d ... e_sentence

I agree - sorry I brought up this topic (a bit of unfortunate 'gallows humour' - literally) . Perhaps time to drop the debate and turn to less drastic means of curbing spelling/grammatical errors....

pwa wrote: ↑6 Oct 2021, 6:38am Bangers and mash with some side veg is also a favourite.

By odd coincidence that's just what we had last night. But before I'm accused of reneging on my meat-free habits, I should explain that the 'bangers' were neither of meat nor veggie lookalikes. They're 'Glamorgan Sausages', one of my specialities. Good honest down-to-earth fare, first devised in the Welsh Valleys I think.

OK for vegetarians but not vegans I'm afraid, they have cheese, egg and butter in them...

Oldjohnw wrote: ↑5 Oct 2021, 5:54pm

Perhaps we will have to rely on immigrants in the long term to fill the vacancies?

Did I read that right?

It's a strange world, full of contradictions, we live in nowadays - but I don't think that on this occasion Al is being inconsistent. Let him speak for himself.

Perhaps having just the word ANIMALS on the sign might be construed as a veiled insult. Isn't that what very uncouth persons are called?

Re "horse-drawn animals": in the good old days when there was "hanging, drawing, and quartering", I believe the 'drawing' part consisted of the unfortunate victim being dragged along the road tied behind a horse...

colin54 wrote: ↑4 Oct 2021, 9:57pm Trying to find some mention of this on-line, I also came upon a good detailed article about wartime food rationing which may be of interest (did you know for instance, eggs keep longer out of the fridge if you coat them with lard to seal the pores).

I read somewhere that sodium silicate solution (aka 'waterglass') was also used in wartime as a preservative for eggs. Possibly more veggie friendly than using lard!

There's also this method of course! All a matter of taste, probably not to everyone's liking. And no - they don't keep for 1,000 or even 100 years - that's just a popular myth. Before you ask: no, we haven't tried. There are some things we draw the line at...

Well, these guys evidently had to do it all from scratch.

I wonder what else the monolith taught them - aside from learning to beat the **** out of each other?

Emphatically - 'yes' - and I hope this doesn't sound like a boast. I suppose I learnt in my student days - once I discovered there was a better alternative to Vesta curries. This was to question a Pakistani fellow student about - yes! - how to make a decent curry. He duly provided me with a detailed recipe (which we still use, albeit minus the meat) and pointed out Asian shops where I could get the various spices.

It's quite possible that lots of people start off with a curry. It's the obvious thing that young folks want to learn about.

I think there are a few basics you need to master. One is chopping onions: not entirely intuitive and the cause of many sliced fingers! Another is making an omelette: I do a passable omelette but it'd never satisfy the likes of Masterchef or Michel Roux ... no matter, we like it! And thirdly, cooking rice without it congealing into a gooey mess (note: this does not apply to risotto or sushi rice which are meant to be sticky).

Next: I'm fully aware that this is not the right solution to the Climate crisis, but we much prefer cooking on our gas hob. Electric 'simmerstat' type hobs won't produce anything like as good a result, especially with something like Béchamel (white sauce). [did I mention Béchamel as another skill a budding Masterchef needs to master? Quite difficult].

Induction hob? Never tried one - would welcome comments since we may invest in one if the gas one needs changing out.

I'm much impressed with Al's comprehensive list (you could open a restaurant with that lot Al!) - and a surprising amount of overlap with our own recipe list - especially seeing as ours is meat-free.

Pebble wrote: ↑4 Oct 2021, 9:44am Does peelings and veg waste mixed among normal garden waste attract rats ? Have only started adding this to the compost this year, haven't seen any rats yet!

I'm not sure. The main thing that attracts our rats is the bird food. Oh yes - people have told us, don't feed the birds if you've got rats! A dilemma - we love watching the birds pecking away at the fat balls and stuff - even if it is mostly sparrows, starlings, and woodpigeons. And then of course Mr Rat turns up to feast on the leftovers dropped on the lawn.

As it happens, the metal post supporting our bird feeders presents no problem to Mr Rat. I've seen him scurrying up it as nimbly as if he were running across level ground...

As to compost bins - I don't think it's the peelings and stuff which attract them. It's the warmth. All composting generates heat. And so it's a nice cosy place to dig a burrow and crash out for the night - especially if there's a frost...

One word. Children.

It's inevitable that small children will leave some of their food uneaten. "Mummy, I don't like this, it's yucky!" being the usual excuse. I'd be prepared to bet that in a lot of households with kids, there's plenty of food waste. Not all Mummys will want to finish off what's on their child's plate...

Composting is good. We put all vegetable waste in the compost bin. But there's a downside to that. Rats. My argument is, so long as the rats are mainly interested in the rotting food and don't come near the house, we can tolerate them. Mrs P isn't so sure. She doesn't care to lift the compost bin lid and have a rat leap out at her! My suggestion, give the bin a good solid kick before lifting the lid, doesn't cut much ice...

We don't eat meat, but we do sometimes eat fish, and the waste from that does have to go in the landfill bin. Some people employ a wormery but we haven't gone that route yet. If ever. Rats again!

And there I go thinking St Michael is (or rather, used to be) the patron saint of Marks and Spencer.

Actually, I have visited St Michael's Mount. We went there about a month after the eclipse in 1999 - an eclipse which was mostly a washout for Cornwall folks, although some claimed to have got a glimpse from Goonhilly. The boatman who ferried us across (it was high tide) told us that the previous month he'd had his work cut out what with eclipse-chasing visitors - including Patrick Moore - but no-one saw a thing.

We have seen two proper total eclipses since then, in other parts of the world. I think we're done with eclipse-chasing now. Too old...

Mick F wrote: ↑3 Oct 2021, 2:05pm Ecosse?

What does that mean?
It's French for Scotland.

Don't you have your own name?

Plenty of 'own name' ones around as well.

thirdcrank wrote: ↑1 Oct 2021, 7:54am The Alf Garnett effect is nothing new, as Jonny Speight showed long ago

Have I just discerned a new variant of Godwin's Law?

Carry on a debate about Brex**it for long enough (in this case 104 pages) and inevitably Alf Garnett will sneak into the discussion.

But you ain't wrong! I've believed right from the start that much of Brex**it was fuelled by xenophobia - and indeed racism. In fact that's exactly what I remember shouting at a huddle of pro-Brex**it campaigners I encountered in the shopping centre before the referendum. They looked nonplussed - but they didn't argue back...

al_yrpal wrote: ↑30 Sep 2021, 10:00am Keep digging!

Nope. I'm not putting that on the back of my car! I'd go for the smileys though. Any way I can animate them?

This business about driving while disqualified is particularly worrying. How prevalent is it? One would have thought and hoped that "a driving ban means a driving ban", end of.

Maybe all motor vehicles need something like a fingerprint or iris scanner - and a direct link to the DVLA to check up on the driver. Perhaps one day that will happen...

reohn2 wrote: ↑30 Sep 2021, 9:13am In fact when I drive my car aboard I try and diquise my country of origin a much as possible to stop EU folk laughing at me
The other option is a LARGE sticker that reads "DON'T BLAME ME I VOTED REMAIN

Plenty of choice on t'web.

I think I might go for this one - specially for France!