August 2008
1 post
June 2008
2 posts
Old Folk
Last week I happened to be leafing through the local paper when I came across an ad for a folk concert at The Rock @ Maltby. Now I used to go to folk clubs a lot when I was younger - like many people of my age, I first encountered live music this way in the 1960s, when almost every pub held a folk night of some description. I carried on going to folk clubs and concerts when I became a student,...
May 2008
4 posts
How to wire a Belling-Lee connector →
I am feeling very pleased with myself! The TV died a couple of days ago - Instead of calling out the TV repairman I thought I’d have a go myself, and eventually discovered that aerial wasn’t working. The fitting on the end of the coax cable had worn through the wire and the connexion had failed. I had never wired one of these up before but I managed to find some instructions and now...
April 2008
3 posts
Seafood or Pork Shumai (Siew Mai) →
Makes 32 dumplings Put together into a large bowl and mix well: 1 pound sea bass or other mild white fish fillets, finely chopped, or a combination of fish, shrimp, and scallops, finely chopped, or ground pork 1 large egg 2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger (about a 2-inch piece) 2 tablespoons minced cilantro 2 tablespoons minced scallion 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil 1 tablespoon fresh...
Energy Saving
I am usually the last to go to bed and the first one up in the morning, but the other morning I had an unaccustomed lie in. I came down to find my hubby in an extremely bad mood. He had spent over an hour trying to fix our microwave, which still refused to work, even though he had checked the socket, changed the fuse several times, rewired the plug and sworn at it very loudly! He didn’t have time...
March 2008
1 post
February 2008
10 posts
WatchMySpaceTV Videos: 7th Day (by JEBO) by JEBO
Watchhttp://www.myspace.com/ampersandescapesequence
EARTHQUAKE!
The first time in ages I decide to have an early night and I get woken up at 1am by the whole house rocking violently from side to side! I don’t remember hearing any noise, in fact afterwards it was deathly quiet but I have been told that there was quite a lot, so that may be what woke me up. I certainly felt it - it was as though the bed was bouncing. I lay there for a short while in the...
BBC NEWS | England | Earthquake hits much of... →
Food
Yet more leeks arrived in the veggie box this morning. I made leek and celery soup last week so today I have concocted a leek and potato bake that will go in the oven along with tonight’s roast chicken. Some nice purple sprouting broccoli came in the box as well, so we’ll have some of that tonight too.
BBC NEWS | Health | Music 'can aid stroke... →
green with a gun: The One-Tonne-Carbon Lifestyle →
January 2008
1 post
December 2007
3 posts
One Christmas a long time ago Santa Claus had problems. Four of his elves were sick so Santa got behind schedule. Then Mrs Claus told Santa that her Mum was coming to visit; this stressed Santa even more. He went to see his reindeer and found that three of them were about to give birth. More stress. Then when he began to load the sleigh he dropped the toy bag...
November 2007
9 posts
Cereal bars
Ingredients Makes about 25-30 bars (Vegetarian) 65g low fat margarine 160ml runny acacia blossom (or similar) honey 50g brown sugar 130g wholemeal flour 200g rolled oats 100g sunflower seeds 160g chopped dried apricots, dates and raisins mixed 50g chopped nuts (walnuts/pecans) 25g sesame seeds Recipe In a small saucepan melt the margarine over a low heat. Add the honey and sugar,...
More plumbing and a very cold house
The new shower unit arrived on Friday afternoon. Didn’t get the one I originally wanted as they had run out and wouldn’t have any more till mid December, so ended up ordering the more expensive one with a thermostatic shower. We were planning to go and collect the cloakroom suite on Saturday morning. However before we left I thought I had better check that our local B&Q had the...
A Beginner's Guide to Songwriting by Justin Currie
As there are so many frequently asked questions I receive through this site I thought it might be useful to set out a few standard answers in the blog section to save everybody time. I shall deal firstly with the issue of songwriting, a subject about which I know virtually nothing but am constantly quizzed upon by those presumably even more talentless than I. Of course, remarkable ignorance of a...
““Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy...”
–
The Consumer Paradox: Scientists Find that Low... →
October 2007
8 posts
Insulation
Well, the solar panels seem to be working OK. Today they heated the water in the tank to about 37 degrees - plenty warm enough for washing in. (Jon was brave enough to have a shower but I like it a bit hotter so will put the immersion on for half an hour to top it up before bedtime :lol: ) This afternoon we had a phone call from the insulation people to say they had had a cancellation, and they...
Sorted!
We now have a solar panel on our roof! It looks like this one, made from 30 pyrex vacuum tubes You can just see it on the top right hand side. It has been raining all day so now we have to hope the sun shines tomorrow to find out if it works!
On Thursday we had the water turned off almost all day and they took lots more floorboards up, and brought lots more plastic tubing and copper pipes. On Friday they fitted them all in somewhere under the floorboards! We now have a big solar hot water tank with lots of holes in the corner of what will be the new airing cupboard. They connected it up yesterday, and rerouted the mains water to...
Forward Planning?
I had it worked out so well! The painters were going to start on Monday, and then the solar heating lads were due to come next tuesday, giving me time to clear the room out. The painters came promptly on Monday morning and started painting, then on Tuesday morning I got a phone call from the solar people asking if they could come on Wednesday to take out the old cylinder and start on the...
Al scores the winning goal! →
September 2007
12 posts
YES!
Good news! - I was right, we do have cavity walls, and they are suitable for insulation. So we are having proper cavity wall insulation put in before it gets really cold, along with some more roof insulation to stop all the lovely heat from our new gas central heating boiler escaping straight out again! Unfortunately it just isn’t affordable for us to have a wood burning stove in the...
Golden Oldies!
Here are some of my old favourites: I used to listen to all of these on Radio Luxemburg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB-iBZEFezQ Perry Como, Buddy Holly, Craig Douglas, Adam Faith The original boy band! :lol: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKn6h2x5IcY The Everley Brothers This video is priceless! (I thought he was really gorgeous) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD7MHgskNwg Bobby Vee My mum...
Curtains
Have just spent a small fortune on ebay (well, about £40) on 3 pairs of long velvet secondhand curtains to keep some of the draughts out. One set for each of the half landings, and one for glazed door and partition in the inner lobby. Have also got someone coming round to see if we can get more insulation up in the roof space. I am convinced that our house has cavity walls despite being told that...
“Most walls in older houses are solid, of a single ‘leaf’. A cavity...”
– Bricks & Brass: External Walls
We've done it!
Sent off a cheque for the deposit on our new solar water heating system, and they will be coming the second week in October! We put the central heating system on last night. I just put on a jumper when it began to feel cold in the evenings, but himself was sat watching the football and it was getting a bit chilly in the sitting room. Have been looking at various options for the layout of the en...
Progress with the Plumbing?
The whole project has grown somewhat since I first discovered hot water leaking out of our tank. We have had about half a dozen firms in to give quotes and suggest various different ways of doing things, but we have finally sorted it all out and after looking at all the options we have decided to go for the complete package! They will be taking out the tiny old tank downstairs in the cupboard in...
