Post a bad thing that happened in your life today

[Thyrsis]

23 minutes ago, Bryan said:

However the sour dough starter idea is interesting thanks, and not something that I had previously encountered. My wife is slightly addicted to stotty cakes and I do have the genuine Greggs recipe - it's published in his book - so there may be further developments.

 

Had to look up stotty cake but I will definitely be giving that a go! Now that we’re into home made veggie soups season they would go well together.

Edited October 13, 2020 by Thyrsis

[Bryan]

12 hours ago, Thyrsis said:

 

Had to look up stotty cake but I will definitely be giving that a go! Now that we’re into home made veggie soups season they would go well together.

 

Confess that it's not my favourite, but Ok for a change from multigrain bread. 

 

Our younger son worked for a while in a London office with people from around the world. They had the pleasant custom of bringing samples of their indigenous foodstuffs for all to try on a Friday afternoon. When his turn came our lad took stotty, pease pudding and ham, which, apparently, went down well with most of his colleagues.

 

 

If you want to maintain the flat top you need to make a hole in the centre.

 

Edited October 14, 2020 by Bryan

[Bella]

Bad thing - had a tonsil removed a week ago and the pain is still pretty bad before meds kick in each morning.

Good thing - because of the risk of bleeding I get to take it easy in the city for two weeks! Doctor’s orders!

Another bad thing - can’t get motivated to process and upload... hopefully will find some motivation soon.

[spacecadet]

16 hours ago, Bryan said:

 

Not sure that we will be persisting with home made bread - I used to make a lot of pizza when the kids were at home, but these days we idly buy the occasional pizza. 

 

However the sour dough starter idea is interesting thanks, and not something that I had previously encountered. My wife is slightly addicted to stotty cakes and I do have the genuine Greggs recipe - it's published in his book - so there may be further developments.

We started out of necessity and I still bake a loaf every couple of weeks. The trick is not to knead too much. A few minutes is fine and just a couple of folds after the first rise. Then I just plonk it on a tray and take a chance with the shape. Or a Creuset pot if you prefer more of a bloomer shape. Delicious. It disappears much quicker than a commercial loaf.

Edited October 14, 2020 by spacecadet

[Allan Bell]

10 hours ago, Bella said:

Bad thing - had a tonsil removed a week ago and the pain is still pretty bad before meds kick in each morning.

Good thing - because of the risk of bleeding I get to take it easy in the city for two weeks! Doctor’s orders!

Another bad thing - can’t get motivated to process and upload... hopefully will find some motivation soon.

 

On ice-cream diet?

 

Allan

 

[Bella]

12 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

 

On ice-cream diet?

 

Allan

 

Pretty much Allan, that, yoghurt and soup ;)

 

A good thing is there is plenty of time for photography.

[Ed Rooney]

I had my tonsils out so long ago, in the early part of the last century. My gallbladder is gone too. I'm looking to rid myself of some other troublesome bits and parts. 

 

The building where I rent my studio flat continues to give me trouble daily. Today the elevator is out of order again and they were making changes in the lobby so we had to use the inconvenient back door. Last night the fire alarm went off again; the 22nd false alarm in the past year. And last night there was no WiFi. Grrrrrr

[Michael Ventura]

I managed to cut a finger last night while cooking (need to review my knife skills).  I thought I had it wrapped well but woke up in the night with a hand and sheets wet with blood, not a good scene.  So first thing this morning, I headed off to my medical provider and they fixed me up.  My daughter came over after her night shift at the hospital and has spent the day with me.  Perhaps feeling sorry for myself, I decided to take the day “off” and just take it easy and enjoy my time with her.

Edited October 16, 2020 by Michael Ventura

[Bella]

7 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

I had my tonsils out so long ago, in the early part of the last century. My gallbladder is gone too. I'm looking to rid myself of some other troublesome bits and parts. 

😆 Don’t get too carried away Ed, I’m thinking I might need to add some new bits and parts 😉

[MizBrown]

On 18/07/2020 at 06:36, John Morrison said:

Boris suggests we'll be back to normal by Christmas; I think we'll be back to somehwhere near normality when we have developed a vaccine that's both effective and safe. Than may be a year, or two, or five... or more...

 

Russians now have two candidate vaccines out, and the Chinese have two or three.   The Russians apparently shared information with Lancelet and the Sputnik vaccine appears to be safe, but efficacy isn't known.  Not much of this makes it into US media (I asked US friends who do follow media intently and they reported that they hadn't seen anything) but the BBC World TV channel covered some of this recently.

 

One of the problems is fatigue -- and people stop wearing masks unless someone close to them dies or is seriously ill.  The other thing is not everyone has the same experience with the disease and the survivors are noisier than those who don't survive or who have Long Covid symptoms.

[Betty LaRue]

4 hours ago, Michael Ventura said:

I managed to cut a finger last night while cooking (need to review my knife skills).  I thought I had it wrapped well but woke up in the night with a hand and sheets wet with blood, not a good scene.  So first thing this morning, I headed off to my medical provider and they fixed me up.  My daughter came over after her night shift at the hospital and has spent the day with me.  Perhaps feeling sorry for myself, I decided to take the day “off” and just take it easy and enjoy my time with her.

I’ve only cut myself badly once, while slicing a ham. That was because my knife was dull and I had to press too hard...didn’t have a finger out of the way. I could see bone shining. I did fine, but hubby turned white and had to lie down in a cold sweat before he passed out.

A few nicks here and there. Being left handed, I seem to appear awkward with a knife to my righty family. They shudder every time I pick up one. They’ll never forget that darned ham.

I hope you heal well, Michael. We all fail some time or another in getting out of the way of ourselves.

[Ed Rooney]

8 hours ago, Bella said:

😆 Don’t get too carried away Ed, I’m thinking I might need to add some new bits and parts 😉

 

I shall not ask what those might be. But remember that Bella means beautiful in Italian, so stay with the theme. 🙂

[Ed Rooney]

Yes, Michael—stay well and be more careful. I worry about having to seek medical help for something other than the virus.

 

In NYC I had a great set of knives that I kept sharpened. Since I have essential tremor, I'm extra careful cutting. I have no place to cut or do any dry preps in this flat. Here's my 4th knife after the smaller paring, the 10" chef's, and the bread knife.

 

 

.

 

 

[John Morrison]

10 hours ago, MizBrown said:

the survivors are noisier than those who don't survive

 

Can't argue with that, MizBrown... 😀

[gvallee]

Went to the servo yesterday. Aussie term for petrol station. Headed for the truck diesel bowser in full sun. Picked up the handle Ouch!! Burning hot. Grit my teeth and start pouring. Smoke is coming out of the pump. What?? The more I pour, the more smoke comes out. I'm now in a cloud.  Mind gets into overdrive. Searing hot handle, smoke, is this thing about to blow us up to the moon? Quickly put it back, close the cap, ready to drive the hell out of there. OH rushes to servo to tell staff. 'Oh yeah, we're low on fuel, that's why'. Never heard of it. 

[Bella]

On 18/10/2020 at 06:31, gvallee said:

Went to the servo yesterday. Aussie term for petrol station. Headed for the truck diesel bowser in full sun. Picked up the handle Ouch!! Burning hot. Grit my teeth and start pouring. Smoke is coming out of the pump. What?? The more I pour, the more smoke comes out. I'm now in a cloud.  Mind gets into overdrive. Searing hot handle, smoke, is this thing about to blow us up to the moon? Quickly put it back, close the cap, ready to drive the hell out of there. OH rushes to servo to tell staff. 'Oh yeah, we're low on fuel, that's why'. Never heard of it. 

Never heard of it either but I reckon I’ve nearly had third degree burns from my steering wheel some days 😉

[Bella]

On 17/10/2020 at 18:27, Ed Rooney said:

 

I shall not ask what those might be. But remember that Bella means beautiful in Italian, so stay with the theme. 🙂

Nothing too exciting Ed, just thought I’m getting close to the age where we start replacing hips, knees, etc. 😬

[Bryan]

On 17/10/2020 at 21:31, gvallee said:

Went to the servo yesterday. Aussie term for petrol station. Headed for the truck diesel bowser in full sun. Picked up the handle Ouch!! Burning hot. Grit my teeth and start pouring. Smoke is coming out of the pump. What?? The more I pour, the more smoke comes out. I'm now in a cloud.  Mind gets into overdrive. Searing hot handle, smoke, is this thing about to blow us up to the moon? Quickly put it back, close the cap, ready to drive the hell out of there. OH rushes to servo to tell staff. 'Oh yeah, we're low on fuel, that's why'. Never heard of it. 

 

Scary !  Nice to see a bit of sunshine though, it's raining here - again.

 

I drove into a service station yesterday to find that they had removed the pumps from the lane I'd chosen. Had to reverse out against the traffic. Bollards would have been good.

 

It transpires that they are installing new pumps that will deliver a precise amount of fuel that you specify, e.g. £20 worth. Given that I generally just fill the tank, this seems to me to be a solution looking for a problem. The new pumps allow you to pay at the pump which is good with virus about, but I had a voucher giving me bonus points on the purchase and I couldn't see any means of using it, so I paid at the desk. Such is progress.

Edited October 19, 2020 by Bryan

[gvallee]

Not really bad but... OH and I are sitting outside our mobile home having dinner. Let's the camera move back and show you the scene. We are in Birdsville, population 115, right in the middle of the Red Centre, i.e. the desert. The place is as flat as a pancake and we are the only ones there. A police car pulls over and the young officer asks us 'are you Rob and Gen ???? Now this is weird. They were just checking on Covid as Birdsville is near a State border but in  no official document am I called Gen. I wonder what their source was. Lovely chap by the way.

[Allan Bell]

14 minutes ago, gvallee said:

Not really bad but... OH and I are sitting outside our mobile home having dinner. Let's the camera move back and show you the scene. We are in Birdsville, population 115, right in the middle of the Red Centre, i.e. the desert. The place is as flat as a pancake and we are the only ones there. A police car pulls over and the young officer asks us 'are you Rob and Gen ???? Now this is weird. They were just checking on Covid as Birdsville is near a State border but in  no official document am I called Gen. I wonder what their source was. Lovely chap by the way.

 

Is probably an Alamy contributor or more likely seen you on facebook. May even be a follower.

 

Allan

 

[wiskerke]

13 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

 

Is probably an Alamy contributor or more likely seen you on facebook. May even be a follower.

 

Allan

 

 

The tow truck?

 

wim

[Colin Woods]

18 hours ago, Bryan said:

pumps that will deliver a precise amount of fuel that you specify, e.g. £20 worth

That is the standard here in QC - when you go to fill up you are presented with an array of choices $20, $50, $75, $100. Its probably a hang over from when people paid in cash, but now almost everyone pays with plastic so its pretty redundant technology. If you are paying with a card do you really care if you put in $49.96 instead of $50. Its a Quebec mystery, not quite as profound as Moving Day but still a mystery.

[Bryan]

Not today, but about a week ago I had cause to drive along the A68 road in the direction of Scotland.

 

Becoming long in the tooth I am tending to lose a bit of confidence when driving.  I've seen so many near misses over the years and recently had a car crash into me for no apparent reason, so I am now even more cautious.  Whatever, this road contains a series of blind summits that must have claimed the life of many a motorist or more particularly motorcyclist, to the extent that, at the brow of every hill, there are bold horizontal lines across the carriageway and large signs saying Slow Down.  Now, driving a hire car in which I appear to be just a few millimetres off the ground - our normal transport is a durable Yeti - I found these summits to be scary.  One moment you are staring into space without any idea where the road is heading, and the next you are plunging down.

 

Then along comes some eejit white van man child who sits on my boot.  I was very glad to turn off onto a quiet lane.

[Allan Bell]

35 minutes ago, Bryan said:

Then along comes some eejit white van man child who sits on my boot.

 

I had one of them yesterday on my way back from hospital. Wasn't just on my boot but was in it, or so it seemed. In my youth when I was driving with my uncle as passenger on time another idiot came on to my boot. Unc said he is trying to push you along but if you gradually go slower and slower he might get the message. I have practiced that the rest of my driving career. It works quite often but yesterday he would not back off so after slowing for a sharp bend, and checking the road was clear in front, I put my foot down and left him way behind in a haze of blue smoke. Diesels are good at putting out a smoke screen when it is needed.

 

Allan

 

[spacecadet]

9 hours ago, Colin Woods said:

That is the standard here in QC - when you go to fill up you are presented with an array of choices $20, $50, $75, $100. Its probably a hang over from when people paid in cash, but now almost everyone pays with plastic so its pretty redundant technology. If you are paying with a card do you really care if you put in $49.96 instead of $50. Its a Quebec mystery, not quite as profound as Moving Day but still a mystery.

With petrol at £1.20/litre, definitely!

 

2 hours ago, Bryan said:

Not today, but about a week ago I had cause to drive along the A68 road in the direction of Scotland.

 

Becoming long in the tooth I am tending to lose a bit of confidence when driving.  I've seen so many near misses over the years and recently had a car crash into me for no apparent reason, so I am now even more cautious.  Whatever, this road contains a series of blind summits that must have claimed the life of many a motorist or more particularly motorcyclist, to the extent that, at the brow of every hill, there are bold horizontal lines across the carriageway and large signs saying Slow Down.  Now, driving a hire car in which I appear to be just a few millimetres off the ground - our normal transport is a durable Yeti - I found these summits to be scary.  One moment you are staring into space without any idea where the road is heading, and the next you are plunging down.

 

Then along comes some eejit white van man child who sits on my boot.  I was very glad to turn off onto a quiet lane.

I love that road! We both come down the dips saying "Wheeeee!" like two-year-olds.