"Oh Nuts!"

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Seeing that picture of Kopi with the walnuts yesterday....I thought today, I'd show you my nuts.

But first some suitable music.

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We actually used to sing "Here we go gathering.....", but never mind, local variations I expect.

But the strange thing is I have never seen any nut in May, especially on a cold and frosty morning.

These probably didn't mean real nuts, but knots, meaning something twisted together for the May Day celebrations. Posies maybe.

The word 'knot' gave its name to the weed we call 'knot-grass' and to the 'knot-gardens' of formal pattens and shapes we find today in the gardens of old houses.

I also believe that Purcell wrote a 'Knotting Song'.

But back to my nuts.

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This is the first year that the squirrels have not stripped my walnut tree completely.

In the past I had to get out before them in July and gather the small soft green walnuts and pickle them for Christmas.

But this year I noticed last week that there were still loads on the tree and that the green outer shells were splitting and allowing the nuts to fall out.

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Gathered up quite a load. What happens now I don't know.

Will they dry up in the shells and end up not worth eating?

Those in the pots are the one's from last year that the squirrels buried and then forgot. I get them coming up all over the place. I even found one in one of my hanging baskets!

As a engineer I know all about a different sort of nut......usually a six sided nut with a thread on the inside. As an apprentice we were always taught to use the correct washer behind the nut before tightening. There was this little reminder stuck on the workshop wall.

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"Paws for Thought"

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After Hazel's popularity on Sunday, I shall stick with the 'cat theme' today.

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Here's a song from 1932. Once again, the words are not worth bothering about.

A lot of these tunes were really written for Dance Bands and the words were sometimes added just to enable the dancers to sing along whilst dancing. It is described as a Comedy Song Waltz.

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Are your cats, right handed or left handed?

My ginger tom, Wesley, always gives me his right paw to hold (with my left hand), when I comb him, using my right. He never holds up his left. Hazel, 'on the other hand' keeps both paws firmly on the 'deck' when she has her grooming.

However, if I play with Hazel, she will always use her left paw to respond.

So either I have two very awkward pussy's or there is no truth in this bit of 'research' I came across over the weekend?

Psychologists found that females cats are much more likely to prefer their right paw while tom cats have a strong tendency to use their left when faced with difficult tasks.

Two researchers at Queen's University Belfast recruited 42 pet cats for the study.

Although the animals could use either paw for simple tasks they reverted to their favoured side for more complex tasks, the researchers found.

In one particularly difficult task – fishing a piece of tuna out of a small jar – all 21 females used their right paw.

But 20 of the 21 tom cats used their left while one of the males appeared to be ambidextrous.

In simpler games, involving grasping a toy mouse being dragged along on a string, they showed equal preference for either paw.

The researchers likened the pattern to the way in which humans would use either hand for a simple task such as opening a door but one or the other for writing.

"The more complex and challenging (the task), the more likely we're going to see true handedness," Dr Wells was quoted in New Scientist as saying.

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This is a rather old picture of a cat I once had, called Kopi.

Every Christmas she would remember where the tray of nuts was placed and would knock them off, onto the floor, with her left paw and then continue to 'bat' them all around the room for play.

I was always finding nuts under furniture for weeks after Christmas!

She must have done this at every one of her eighteen Christmas's.

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Feeling the cold?

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Dear Brother Jock, if you wear a Scotch ‘frock’,

Mind the cold doesn’t give you paralysis.

We’ve been searching for weeks, but can’t find your breeks,

So we’re sending a wee pair of Alice’s.

You may have noticed this a couple of days ago in one of my ramblings, but it leads nicely into a snippet I found in the papers yesterday.......

"...They have long been a staple in every woman’s winter wardrobe but now it seems leggings could become the must-have item for men too.

Leading department store Selfridges is launching its first ever collection of hosiery for men this autumn, admitting that inquiries have soared in the past year.

Dubbed ‘Mantihose’ and made by lingerie brand Unconditional the range will go on sale later this week with a pair of tights retailing for £70.

Stores have already sold male handbags dubbed ‘manbags’, leggings for men known as ‘Meggings’ and eyeliner for men described as ‘guyliner’, but now it seems metrosexual attitudes are extending to hosiery.

The “mantihose” is extremely versatile and we expect men to be wearing them not only as a way to as a way to give legs an extra boost of warmth on the chilliest nights, but as a true style statement.’....."

"Oh, dam it! I've gone and laddered my Mantihose!"

Can you just imagine it?

I think I had better give complicated things like Meggings and Mantihose a wide berth.

Went out for the day on Sunday, and when I got back a friend said to me,

"Do you know you've got your T shirt on inside out?"

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I'd been wandering around all day like this! I must be losing it.

You had better keep me well away from 'Meggings'.....I wouldn't know which bit of me goes in where!

Hang up the Wellies.

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Every five years or so I have to drain and clear out my 'brook' and ponds. There are seven in all and the whole job takes weeks (well it takes me weeks). I showed you here what it looked like in August and how the 'brook' no longer babbled!

On Friday I finally cleared the last one and filled the whole set-up with nice clear water.

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You can actually see the bridge now!

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And finally Hazel came up to check out

that the frog population had returned.

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Thank heavens that's over for another five years.

Time to hang up the wellies.

Wellies in the corner

And jackets on the pegs,

A gorgeous smell of cooking,

A basket, full of eggs.

Cosy slippers close at hand

All ready on the mat…..

Don’t take that fireside chair please,

It’s reserved for the cat!

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Trembling Hearts and Headaches.

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"Like the trembling heart of a captive bird."

This is one line from the song "First time ever I saw your face" sung by Peggy Seeger (posted on Tracker-Bar - Friday 18th).

Yesterday those words came straight to me as I held a very frightened partridge in my hands.

On hearing a crashing and fluttering coming from the greenhouse, I thought it may have been the cats after a bird.

But no. There was a bird knocking over all my pots of cuttings, but no cats.

It was a young partridge; not one of the common Grey Partridges, but the more unusual Red Legged Partridge.

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This bird is not a British native, but was introduced here in the second half of the 18th century strictly for sporting purposes. It is usually found in South Yorkshire, the Midlands and East Anglia. It is a fairly rare bird for this area but I have seen them before up in the fields at the back and this is only the second time I have had one in the garden.

This fellow in the greenhouse was only a youngster and did not have the full markings of the adult birds shown above.

These are 'ground' birds and are somewhat reluctant to fly, so I put him down on the lawn and he ran off at great speed.

It is a pity I couldn't have taken a photo, but I had to hold him with two hands.

Apart from the Christmas Partridge in a Pear Tree, I cannot relate this incident to some music, so still on the subject of birds.....how about Woodpeckers?

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This one above is from 1940 with some pretty awful lyrics.

He's up each morning bright and early,

To wake up all the neighbourhood,

To bring to every boy and girlie,

His happy serenade on wood.

Whereas this next one is the "Laughing Woodpecker" song from 1947.

If I remember rightly, it was always being requested on 'Children's Favourites' on the radio.

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"Ha ha ha ha ha"

Do you know somebody actually got funding to find out ......

Why woodpeckers don’t get headaches – winner, Ornithology, 2006

"Woodpeckers and Head Injury,", Lancet, 1976; "Cure for a Headache," Ivan R Schwab, British Journal of Ophthalmology, 2002

It is pretty baffling, when you think about it. Woodpeckers headbutt trees for a living, experiencing impact deceleration of more than 1000 times the force of gravity. So how do they prevent catastrophic brain injury? The difference between ordinary people and good scientists is that where we just wonder, the scientist finds out.

And a birdie dittie to finish...

There was an old lady of Harrow

Whose views were exceedingly narrow.

At the end of her paths

She built two bird baths

For the different sexes of sparrow.

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"Alice where art thou".

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Had a stroll along the river yesterday. The weather at the moment is particularly good for walking, neither too hot, nor too wet. In fact my garden hasn't seen proper rain for many weeks now.

It was in the marina that I found this lovely clinker built boat. Just the kind and size that I fancy. It is nice to see a wooden boat....far more character than all these fibreglass jobs....and that warm glow of real wood rather than that stark shiny white 'plastic'.

And a simple pleasant name to finish it off.

"Alice" actually turns up in quite a lot of music. It must have been a popular name years ago. I used to have an Auntie Alice..... but have to admit having never met or known another by that name.

This music is not about Alice but about an 'Alice Blue' gown. Now I have heard of 'Sky Blue' and 'Navy Blue' ......but a blue Alice?

Perhaps Princess Alice always wore blue?

Just a guess.

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It was popular in 1938, just before the war and was recorded by both Henry Hall and Joe Kaye.

Do you know the connection between the BBC series 'Open all Hours' and 'Alice'?

Arkwright has his beady eye a certain Nurse , but she was a Gladys.

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The signature tune to the series was "Alice where art thou".

And now for something completely different....

Dear Brother Jock, if you wear a Scotch ‘frock’,

Mind the cold doesn’t give you paralysis.

We’ve been searching for weeks, but can’t find your breeks,

So we’re sending a wee pair of Alice’s.

And now for something a little bit rude!

There was a young lady named Alice,

Who peed in a Catholic chalice.

The padre agreed,

It was done out of need,

And not out of Protestant malice!

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A Birthday Girl

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Happy Birthday dear Amy.

Happy Birthday to you.

xxx

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"Chordophones"

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No, not the old phone on the end of a cord...but

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Another one of my long line of restoration projects.

At first sight you'd say "Oh, yes, an autoharp"......but the leaflet describes it as "Conzert Piano Harp".

All these types of plucked instruments come under the title of 'Chordophones' and can then be subdivided further into a group called 'Zithers'.

They are all basically board resonators with strings stretched across the top.

The oldest in this group is the'Psaltery' which was found in Europe in the 11th century.

Others in this group include Board Zithers and the Appalachian Dulcimer. This later one not correctly named, as a true dulcimer is struck with hammers. It is more correctly termed a 'Plucked Appalachian Zither'.

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The above picture shows (1) a chord zither and (2) an autoharp.

Both instruments simplify the playing of accompaniments.....the chord zither has strings grouped as chords. Actually a three string triad and bass. The autoharp has dampers to damp all strings except those needed to perform a particular chord.

On the chord zither, the individual strings on the right hand side can be used to play a melody. Whether this is the same on the autoharp, I do not know. It would appear that you can only play chords, but I stand to be corrected. (Foody?)

Just posted up a video on Tracker-Bar - "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" (or to be strictly correct - Chorale from Church Cantata No 147 by J.S.Bach)

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Therefore my 'Chromatic Conzert Piano Harp' is nothing more than a 'Chord Zither'.

Here is a close-up of the chord strings. A thick bass string and a three string triad.

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With one missing string in the centre and a few more to the right. What I want to know is can you get short strings like this wound to order and how would you specify them. By thickness?

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Last Rose of Summer

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‘Tis the last rose of summer

Left blooming alone,

All her lovely companions

Are faded and gone!

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No flower of her kindred,

No rosebud is nigh

To reflect back her blushes,

Or give sigh for sigh.

The melody of ‘The Last Rose of Summer’ has a complicated history. In its earliest known form it was a street ballad of about 1660, purveyed by travelling harpers around Ireland. Over its life the traditional Irish tune has had many sets of words attached to it by various authors.

The verse above and I suppose, the most well known, was written by Thomas Moore and was published in 1813 as one of ‘his’ Irish Melodies. Many people at that time accepted Moore’s pieces as genuine Hibernian airs, but scholars were extremely critical of his handling of the originals. All Moore was doing in fact was to make the ‘rude country ballads’ more acceptable in the drawing-room of the day.

When true hearts lie wither'd

And fond ones are flown,

Oh! who would inhabit

this bleak world alone.

Leaving the dry garden and lawn, how about a bit of drying, as in preserving.

Wise Herb (Sage) was seeking advice of what temperature is best.

The following notes come from a Ministry of Food Leaflet of October 1946. I found a load of these leaflets when going through my mother's old cook-book, which was the subject on an earlier post.

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Drying is a very old method of preserving and is useful when there is a glut of fruit or vegetables. Drying should only be used for vegetables which will not keep if stored fresh as the food value of the fresh vegetables is greater than that of the dried.

Equipment necessary for drying is simple and inexpensive. Drying may be carried out in the oven, the airing cupboard or on the warming rack over the stove.

The essential thing is to have a constant gentle heat, the temperature, say, of a good airing cupboard, and a current of air to carry off the moisture as the food dries.

If the oven or a cupboard be used leave the door ajar to ensure the necessary draught.

If drying in the oven, use the heat left after baking. It may need to be continued on several successive days.

Some sort of tray is needed on which to spread the food for drying. It should fit the oven or cupboard and must allow air to circulate round the food.

Any one of the following would be suitable;

1. Oven racks (not solid trays) with muslin stretched over them.

2. Wire cake trays spread with muslin.

3. Strips of wood made into a square or rectangle to fit the oven or warm cupboard, with muslin stretched across and fixed.

4. For apple rings, a piece of clean twine or wooden rods on which to thread the rings.

The ideal temperature is 120’-150’ F, but it should NOT exceed 150’F.

This is much lower than any temperature used for cooking and is about the temperature of a good airing cupboard.

Greater heat cooks the food instead of drying it and may even produce scorching.

Slow heating prevents the outside hardening before the middle begins to dry.

"All Change"

Have you noticed how everyone seems to be clamoring for change?

Politicians are saying 'Vote for change', maybe, but change in which direction?

East Midland Trains just love to change things as their in-train announcements have a new word for stations: they’re now “calling points”.

This is even sillier than the silliness it replaces: “station stops” (as if, informed that the next “stop” was Leicester, a blind person might try to pile out of the window if the train stopped earlier at signals).

So now Leicester has become a calling point. The train, incidentally, is a “service”. We passengers are “customers”. And in railway-ese the verb “alight” has dropped its “from”. So passengers do not alight from the train at a station:

customers alight the service at a calling point.

Indeed, they all do when the service “terminates”.

Do you think communications boffins change ordinary English words for the sheer hell of it? Or are they just desperate to invent reasons for their own existence?

Music and Trains go together well on my LP by Dave Goulder.

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This to me is a real 'Golden Oldie'. I bought it in 1973 just when a lot of our railways were being closed.

Dave left school at fifteen and worked as a station porter at Kirkby-in-Ashfield.

He later transferred to the locomotive department to become a fireman after doing the usual spell as an engine cleaner and general labourer.

Most of the songs on the LP are on the sad side, but there are also some very amusing ones.

Two of my favourites are: "The day we ran away" and "Pinwherry Dip". This situation in the first is obvious, but the second song tells of a train going up an incline when a coupling breaks, halfway along the line of wagons. Being on a slope, they start to roll back down through Pinwherry Station and back up the slope on the other side.

"Ah, but now that the incline was in the reverse,

Those wagons are rolling once more".

This carries on for several hours...

"They were doing ten minutes a trip"

... until the wagons came to rest in the Dip. The inspector trying to get to sleep....

"But back at the station still lying awake....

.....I'm damned if I knew there were so many trains

in the best bloody part of the night"

And from the news.......

Because there is no rail link from Ffos-y-Fran opencast mine in Merthyr Tydfil to the Brecon Mountain Railway, the coal cannot be used to fire their locomotives.

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The mine's planning permission had stipulated coal could only be moved by rail after residents fought the development following concerns about noise and dust coming from the mine.

Therefore coal from Siberia 3000 miles away, which is brought to the ports, then in container ships to Hull, then by road to Merthyr, is being used.

Jayne Hills, the tourist railway's owner said the regulations were particularly annoying as the local coal would be ideal for use in the newly converted steam locomotive.

"It seems ludicrous that we could get coal from three miles away but instead are being forced to import it from 3000 miles away. I dread to think what the carbon footprint must be like of moving that coal but we have no choice," she said.

O, my god, give me strength!

The First Nowell?

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Some months ago I read that Jan had bought a 'Kindle'. An electronic book.

I said "I thought a Kindle was a collective noun for a group of kittens". I looked it up and it is actually spelt 'Kendel'.

Then in the same book I noticed that a group of cats is referred to as a 'Clowder'.

Jan reckoned this sounded more like a fish soup than a load of cats!

The book I found these in, listed about thirty names for groups of animals and another thirty for collective gatherings of birds.

I won't trouble you with all sixty but here are just a few;

For horsey lovers:-

A Harras of horses

A Rag of colts

A Stud of mares

A Pace of asses

A Baren of mules

And for those who like our feathered friends:-

A Nye of pheasants

A Brood of hens

A Muster of peacocks

A Flight of doves

A Badelynge of ducks

Now yesterday, whilst out for a walk over Winter Hill I came across my Christmas dinner!

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No reference in the book to a group of turkeys.....any ideas. How about a 'Nowell of turkeys'?

No that's a bit unkind.

And to finish....here's a little dittie on plurals:-

We’ll begin with box, the plural is boxes,

But the plural of ox is oxen, not oxes!

One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,

But the plural of moose should never be meese!

You may find a lone mouse, or a hole for mice,

The plural of house is houses, not hice!

If the plural of man is always men,

Why shouldn’t the plural of pan, be pen?

The cow in plural form is cow or kine,

But bow if repeated is never called bine.

If I speak of a foot and you show me two feet,

If I gave you a boot, would a pair be called beet?

If one is a tooth and the whole set is teeth,

Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be beeth?

If the singular is this, the plural is these;

Shouldn’t the plural of kiss be kese?

Then one may say that, and two will be those,

Your hat in the plural would never be hose;

We speak of a brother and also of brethren,

But though we say mother, we never say methren!

Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,

But imagine the feminine she, shis and shim!

So, English, I think you will all agree,

Is the Silliest language you ever did see.

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Things are Looking up.

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It is amazing what goes un-noticed a little higher off the ground than the shop windows into which we peer.

I was sat in Thame the other day, having a rest after trudging up and down the outdoor market, when I happened to look up at the wall above a shop.

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A Six & a halfpence Bazaar.

What an unusual sum of money!

Why not a whole round 6d?

This brings to mind a song that was written many years ago about dear old Woolworths.

There’s a wonderful emporium, just opened in our town,

By a celebrated merchant prince of very great renown.

Where you can furnish out a flat for less than half a crown,

And there’s nothing over sixpence in the store.

It’s owned by Mr Woolworth and it’s like Aladdin’s cave.

There’s everything you want there from the cradle to the grave.

If you buy a wedding ring, just think how much you’ll save,

For there’s nothing over sixpence in the store.

There really are some bargains here, that cannot be denied,

In the soap department once, a charming lady I espied.

I said, “How much are you, Miss?” She of course replied.

“Well, there’s nothing over sixpence in the store!”

Last Sunday I was in Amersham, Old Town at the Heritage Day celebrations when I spotted this, high up under the eaves of a cottage.

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24 June 1811

The Magistrates acting for this Hundred

have given peremptory Order to the

Constables and other Peace Officers to

apprehend all Common Beggars, Ballad

Singers and other Vagrants so that they

may be dealt with according to Law.

The area here, where I live, is known as 'The Chiltern Hundreds'. There are three of them.

A hundred is a traditional division of an English county, and the three hundreds of Stoke, Desborough, and Burnham are in Buckinghamshire. These three hundreds are situated in the hilly, wooded Chiltern Hills, which were once notorious as a hiding place for robbers.

It seems a bit sad to me to group Ballad singers in with vagrants and beggars.

And I like the term 'Peace Officers'. I wonder if these are a 19th century version of 'Plastic Plods'?....sorry.. Police Community Support Officers.

"Seeger, MacColl and Seeger"

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Yesterday posting carried the title

"Where have all the Flowers gone?"

This was co-written by folk singer Pete Seeger.

The Singing Chicken found all these 'Seegers' a little confusing, so thet's see if I can clear things up a bit.

Peggy Seegers' father married twice. Pete Seeger was born to his first wife and Peggy to his second. That means that Pete was her half-brother.

Both became famous for their folk songs and singing. You can see Pete singing "Little Boxes" on my post by that name on 26th June 09.

Peggy Seeger, whilst here in Britain, fell in love with, and married the folksinger/writer Ewan MacColl.

So to be fair to Peggy I have put up a video over on Tracker-Bar of her singing "The First Time ever I saw your Face". This song was written in 1958 by Ewan MacColl especially for Peggy.

The above shows a rather old LP from my collection which I bought in 1970.

This LP has on it gems such as "Dirty Old Town" written in 1946 and the even older "Manchester Rambler" written in 1933.

I have also put on Tracker-Bar a very old version of "Puff the Magic Dragon" from 1966 for Consumne Gal to enjoy (along with anyone else interested of course).

The reason these videos end up on Tracker-Bar is because, that is where YouTube sends them!

I can cut and paste them here but it is a bit of a pain and they don't always end up here in one piece.

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Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

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“We ate offal of all kinds in our house. Chitterlings for breakfast, roast stuffed heart for lunch, liver and bacon for supper. Sometimes golden fried sweetbreads with butter and capers, sometimes boiled pig’s trotters, hot and gelatinous, with salt and pepper and vinegar, and on cold winter days tripe in a creamy onion sauce with doorsteps of bread and butter. Hogs’ puddings (white puddings) with fried bread; thick slices of fat bacon with field mushrooms; crisp slices of black pudding, marbled with diamonds of pork fat and grilled tomatoes.”

“But my favourite meal of all was Faggots and Peas”

This was really what it was like all those years ago, but this was not written by me but by Keith Floyd. It is from the introduction in one of his cookbooks that I have.

He was actually a year younger than me and those lines above spell out exactly what it was like in my early days. I remember it all so well and I loved all that real tasty English cooking.

The only item I can’t recall having was sweetbreads with capers. Our Mom wouldn’t have heard of capers or sweetbreads let alone known how to cook them!

And now I read with regret of Keith’s passing.

I loved his programs and still have many of his series recorded on video and a couple of his books in my kitchen. Thanks Keith for all those recipes and entertaining times.

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Cheers

"Puff the Magic Dragon lived by the Sea"

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Last Saturday I played this for the children at the Birthday party. It always goes down well and always has done since it was written in 1963. The group who I always associate with this song, were Peter, Paul and Mary.

I was saddened to read this in yesterdays papers.

"Mary Travers, one-third of the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary who helped popularize the work of Bob Dylan and sang hits such as "Puff The Magic Dragon" has died, aged 72.

The group's version of "Blowin' in the Wind" by a young Bob Dylan helped transform the song into a civil rights anthem and introduced his music to a wider audience.

The group also scored big hits with "If I Had a Hammer" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?," co-written by folk artist Pete Seeger.

Along with "Puff," the group's other hits were "Lemon Tree," and "Leaving on a Jet Plane.

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Travers grew up in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. She was influenced at an early age by Woody Guthrie, the Weavers, Leadbelly and other major folk musicians."

I still treasure my old long playing records.

Be at rest Mary.

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A Cat's Whisker

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"Never mind 'Global warming', where's that pesky Blackbird?"

I received the following from my friend in Australia.

Read the following analogy and you will realize the insignificance of carbon dioxide as a weather controller.

Here's a practical way to understand Australia’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

If we knew the amount of carbon dioxide that GB human activity puts into the atmosphere we could swap it for the Australian figure of 0.18mm. It can't be very different?

Imagine 1 kilometre of atmosphere and we want to get rid of the carbon pollution in it created by human activity. Let's go for a walk along it.

The first 770 metres are Nitrogen.

The next 210 metres are Oxygen.

That's 980 metres of the 1 kilometre….. 20 metres to go.

The next 10 metres are water vapour…. 10 metres left.

9 metres are argon. …. Just 1 more metre.

A few gases make up the first bit of that last metre.

The last 38 centimetres of the kilometre - that's carbon dioxide.

A bit over one foot.

97% of that is produced by Mother Nature. It’s natural.

Out of our journey of one kilometre, there are just 12 millimetres left.

Just over a centimetre …. about half an inch.

That’s the amount of carbon dioxide that global human activity puts into the atmosphere.

And of those 12 millimetres Australia puts in 0.18 of a millimetre.

Less than the thickness of a hair.

Out of a kilometre!

As a hair is to a kilometre - so is Australia's contribution to what Mr. Rudd calls Carbon Pollution.

Imagine Brisbane's new Gateway Bridge, ready to be opened by Mr. Rudd. It's been polished, painted and scrubbed by an army of workers till its 1 kilometre length is surgically clean.

Except that if Mr. Rudd says "We have a huge problem, the bridge is polluted -there's a human hair on the roadway,."....we'd laugh ourselves silly.

There are plenty of real pollution problems to worry about. It's hard to imagine that Australia's contribution to carbon dioxide in the world's atmosphere is one of the more pressing ones. And I can't believe that a new tax on everything is the only way to blow that pesky hair away.

When Grandma put the kettle on.

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Nothing is safe from the ever growing power of the undemocratic eu.

Better lock up your daughters!

A couple of days ago it was washing machines and light bulbs......today electric kettles.

Officials from the energy and transport group are now studying coffee machines, mixers and vacuum cleaners with a view to making them more efficient.

Even the kettle is under intense scrutiny, with plans for a study into improving its energy efficiency. It is thought that researchers will look at kettles that heat a set number of cups.

Domestic Appliance Manufacturers said:

“Kettles are already as efficient as possible.

The only improvement would be not to have them at all.”

I feel a song coming on:

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There’s a Cuckoo clock to greet me on the mantel,

A dog that lies contented at my feet’

A cosy easy chair to rock away my care

And just to make the picture quite complete…..

Oh! The old kitchen kettle keeps singing a song,

Singing a song for me.

And as long as the kettle keeps singing a song,

I’m happy as can be.

I have my ups, I have my downs,

But I keep smiling when the whole world frowns,

‘Cos the old kitchen kettle keeps singing a song,

Singing a song for me.

Now I know you do not need a picture to show what a kettle looks like, but this one below is special.

It was given to my mother as a wedding present during WW2 so that makes it 69 years old and still going strong. I still have it on the stove and it is very useful during power cuts.

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When Grandma put the kettle on

So many years ago,

She reached towards a heavy range…

With black-lead all aglow

Where hung an iron kettle, filled

With water from the spring.

She stoked the fire and waited for

The kettle there to sing.

In later years when Mother said

“Let’s make a cup of tea”,

Her hands embraced a kettle made

Of copper bright, maybe;

Or even humble ‘tin’…but filled

From freely running taps.

She put her kettle on a jet

Of brightly burning gas.

Today, we put the kettle on

By plugging to a point.

No weary journeys to a pump;

No straining every joint.

But come what may - be kettles made

Of iron, or plated chrome,

In mansion or in cottage fair…

The kettle speaks of home.

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Heritage Day

Went off to Amersham on Sunday afternoon to listen to the band in the Memorial Gardens again.

But what have we here?

A gathering of local 'peasants' discussing fortnightly bin collections?

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A Sunday street’s a bygone street

That echoes someone else’s feet

And other voices soft and sweet,

From yesterday.

The main High St. was closed off and full of vintage cars.

What is going on?

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The board outside "The King's Arms" tells all.

(Click on pic to read the black board)

National Heritage of course. I had forgotten.

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So even more to see this Sunday. The park was full of stalls demonstrating Basket making, Bee keeping and how to make straw hats.

The children had face painting, Punch & Judy shows and this Clown on the most unusual "Four Wheel Drive".

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There was also a Fairground Organ from the Amersham Organ Museum and in the gardens the welcome sound of the local Town Band.

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A Sunday rest is gently blest

With memories that come unpressed

To fill the mind with all that’s best,

From yesterday.

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‘Washing Day’… was Monday

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No-one did washing on Sunday,

Lest they be called a sinner.

‘Washing Day’… was Monday,

…….and we all had cold meat for dinner!

First they came for our "light bulbs", next on their list are "domestic appliances".

Brussels continues to intrude into every aspect of our lives.

One of the new measures, which comes into force next year, includes banning washing machines without a cold-wash setting.

Cheap but inefficient fridges, freezers and dishwashers will be the next to be banned.

The new regulations will potentially see the cost of fridges, televisions and washing machines rise by £100 or more!!!!

I need cheering up.

Mother dear I'm writing you from somewhere in France,

Hoping this finds you well,

Sergeant says I'm doing fine "A soldier and a half".

Here's the song that we'll all sing, it'll make you laugh.

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We're gonna hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line,

Have you any dirty washing mother dear?

We're gonna hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line,

'Cos the washing day is here.

Whether the weather may be wet or fine,

We'll just rub along without a care.

We're gonna hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line,

If the Siegfried Line's still there.

A good rousing march from 1939. Word and music by Jimmy Kennedy & Michael Carr.

Up the lane and down the lane,

And all around about.

The petticoats on washing day

Are all a-hanging out.

Some are made of fleecy Wolsey,

Some are made of silk,

Some of them as green as grass,

And some as white as milk.

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Back to the good old days of the 'cold-wash'?

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"Vibration Tests"

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Saturday morning.....all packed in and ready to go.

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This was the first time in the car for the organ and I was a bit concerned about how vibration would affect it.

Would nuts shake loose? ....after all I had not used 'lock-nuts' or 'shake-proof' washers.

Could all this bouncing around dislodge the pipe stoppers and it would arrive out of tune?

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It was all a bit of a tight squeeze but no real problems.

I will have to think again on the arrangement in the back if I have to take the tent and things like picnic chairs etc.

It was a 220 mile round trip and overall it went smoothly. The worst bumping around it got, was within two or three miles of home. The 'potholes' around here are appalling.

Arrived in one piece with only one item needing attention. The vibration had caused the spring that tensions the idle wheel to have no tension!

Soon rectified, and on with the show.

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I would have taken a few more pictures except for one thing........it was a very hot day and all the little girls took off all their clothes and played around with 'water bombs', squeegee bottles and hosepipes!

Pleased to say, all the big girls preserved their modesty!

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Strange Shapes

In a bit of a rush today!

Just off to Kidderminster area for a bit of a family 'do'. In fact a double Birthday party.

So I need something quick and I was going to pop theses up last week on the tomato post but couldn't find them.

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I found the picture of the rabbit tomato in the papers, and it was one of the best I had seen.

My crop this year produced some strange shapes but none of them seemed to resemble anything on this planet. I wonder what causes them to go off into these unusual shapes?

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Oh, well, it's back to making chutney again on Sunday!

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Whilst on the subject of chutneys, have you ever tried pickled nasturtium seeds?

It has been a good year for these also. They taste very similar to watercress with that peppery flavour. A bit like capers.

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You need to sort out the small juicy ones from the old 'woody' ones.

Only pickle the small ones.

Those on the plate will be used for next years seed.

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