[Bob Williams]

Thanks Lee, spreading awareness of that one.

How are you and dad now?

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Pen-blwydd Hapus bachgen oed!

Have a good one, Dwynne!

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Think I mentioned before that my Gran was Romany, lovely, tiny lady but very strong, born 1878 in a caravan somewhere in the West Country. 13 children, 8 lived past infancy. Her meals were fantastic, full of veg and herbs she collected. Granddad was very Victorian, quite strict but gran had ways around his rules that baffled him, despite him being well educated. Never knew how they got together. I spent a lot of time at their cottage as a child. Granddad died in 1954, gran until 1967. I had leave while she was ill in what they used to call a Sanatorium, dad sat one side of her bed, me the other. Dad made a bit of a joke at gran’s expense and she asked him to lean over, then walloped him in the ear. “Oi told ‘ee afore, never too late fer a smack!” I cracked up. She passed a couple of days later, I loved that tough old lady.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

I am currently reading “Rifles” about the first 2 Rifle Regiments in the Peninsular Wars (Spain & Portugal) 1809 – 1813. As an ex-sniper, it was interesting to read about how Wellington used the regiments as the equivalent of today’s Special Forces, giving them the new-fangled rifle, training them to be sharpshooters, using new tactics of fire and movement, a version of which the British Army uses today.

Those men went through a version of Hell, because they were always in front of their own lines they had a high casualty rate. They were hated by the French because Wellington had them pick off their officers, hated by their own Oldphart Generals because they did not wage war as they did, by throwing lines of men at the enemy, war of attrition. Wellington thought very highly of them and protected them from the rest of the Army, but was not averse to having them flogged. I read of one Greenjacket who was given 200 lashes, survived and then was promoted at Badajoz for bravery.

As a former squaddie who occasionally misbehaved, I am personally glad they gave up that particular punishment. ??

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Wow your missus sounds like a female London version of me! Hard – working lady.

I was 5 when I first started errand-running, had 2 brothers 15 & 17 years older than me, oldest taught me to read and write when I was 3! Big bro taught me to use a book for errands, I used to go to the village shops on the trusty tricycle he bought me, which had a boot in the back between rear wheels. I knew most of the Co Op Dividend numbers in the village! Reason I had a trike first was the inherited Ricketts all 3 of us had: big bro had leg irons as a kid, I had huge long boots with steel inserts. Middle bro had really bowed legs. We all started with that trike until we had enough leg strength to handle a bike and roller skates. Big bro was a gymnast, I played football and eventually became a distance runner. Middle bro was just a Class 1, Grade A, 22 Carat pillock, still is at 86.

Dad and bro’s were miners, I tried it but hated it. From 8, my dad was injured for the first time and spent almost a year at home on crutches. There was no money at home and I went to the local butcher, got a delivery job. They would not allow an 8yo to do that now! I eventually took a paper round, then an evening one, then Sundays. From 8 until leaving school I would deliver papers morning and night, get up at 6 am on Saturdays, clean butchers windows, shop floor and tables, deliver meat on the basket bike. When I started Technical School it was 8 miles from home: some mornings I would bus it, mostly bike it after papers, come home and deliver evening papers in school uniform. Even when dad was back at work, I had got used to all that and carried on. I added Farm Labourer after leaving school, before I could get a place at Merchant Navy Training School 3 months later, still delivering papers and meat. I worked out that I was 30 bob a week worse off when I started at sea!

A neighbour and very good friend who knows all this once said “Kids wouldn’t do that now!” They would if they had to, I said, but be thankful that they don’t. I had to, no choice.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Oh, you don’t know how many ‘careers’ I’ve had! Seems like I was always working at something, from 8 years old. When I actually retired, if I had not found computing, might have gone stark staring bonkers.

Butcher boy, paper rounds (x3) farm lab0urer. That took me up to 16. Merchant seaman, collier, soldier/Air Tech, garage workshop foreman, Legal services secretary, (retrained after disability) then first self-employment as a designer/printer.

Now Granddad’s taxi service (unpaid) and SWMBO’s odd-job man (ditto) Neighbourhood tech and IT resource when they can catch me.

Don’t like inactivity, seen too many retired mates veg out and develop problems. Two are in Care Homes, Alzheimers.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Everyone has different needs for their printers: for many it’s just a case of knocking out a document, spreadsheet, letter or webpage copy/whatever, whenever. Compatible cart’s are therefore good enough for the needs, that’s OK unless you run into the kind of hassle that is always being reported about Epson. My son & grandson both have Epsons and they had the problem of refusing compatibles originally. Now, after a few years of use, both printers acccept the compat’s and happily print away.

I ask a lot of my printer, in terms of reproduction. My last career was as a self-employed designer and printer of business stationery, entertainment packs and brochures, and prospectuses for Independent schools. I needed the best reproduction I could get and I always had the best A3+ HP printer I could afford, using nothing but HP genuine Inktanks and Printheads. When I retired, I sold the HP monster and bought an A4 Hp Photosmart C5380, a 5-cartridge printer that has great reproduction: now almost 8 years old and still good. I still always use genuine HP cartridges, because I like to print out my own photos. I know that I can get them done cheaply on the High Street, but the actual editing and printing of my own photos, is an activity that I really enjoy. I have actually made a problem for myself, by designing and printing almost 100 Invitations for my granddaughter’s upcoming 21st. birthday party. So many have asked her who designed and printed them, that I have several requests for other work. I am considering this: at 72, should I begin again, despite  (because of?)  objections from my dear SWMBO? I think yes, but will choose my jobs on a case-by-case basis. More pension support is always useful. Don’t absolutely need it, but will definitely use it! Here I go again…

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

I have no intention of selling it JCD: it is not only a memento of my mother, but of her landlady friend, whom I met many times as a child. The relationship with my mam was always problematic after abuse as a kid, but it does serve as a memory that she had so many friends in every walk of life. It is actually a rare piece: there were only a few made by Jonroth Pottery of Staffordshire. I tried to have this valued once, and was told that the house would ‘get back to me’ after investigating why the base stamp was different to catalogued jugs, and why it appeared to be hand made and hand decorated, as opposed to most of the rest, which were not. When they ‘got back to me’ it was inthe form a straight offer of £50. I refused and they upped it to £200, by which time I knew I had something that was probably worth much more. I will never sell it though.

This is the back stamp:

I reduced it to Greyscale to cut down reflections. I have a great deal of pottery, mostly sourced from my aunt, who retired as a manager at Royal Doulton when it was still a Staffordshire based manufacturer. There is a one-off 21 piece teaset that she actually had made for my parents’ Silver Wedding. It is pristine, never been used. Should finance the Care Home! I love pottery, must be genetic as my mam worked in a Burslem Potbank called Woods.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Thanks Nolan.

I have printed out a comparison of the 2 tablets. Side by side, the Hudl is the better prospect regarding screen, resolution, SD storage (128GB vs. 64) and Wireless, but the question has always been reliability. Tab3 has a better O/S (6.0.1) than the Hudl (5.1). Cameras are almost equal. Going to setup the Hudl for SWMBO as a test: if she doesn’t like it, I will have it back!

Matrimonial give and take. Equality, my a**e!

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Current events demonstrate that war is still happening. Down in Dixie, they are furious about the banning of the Confederate flag and the destruction of statues. They have a point: to most of them, it is not racist, but a symbol of their history. Listen to Joan Baez singing “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” to get a flavour of the resentment. Slavery was evil and segregation was an inhuman practice, as was the burning of churches. But the war, that flag and those statues are a part of the whole of American history, I don’t understand why the US left cannot understand that. The USA was a deeply divided, polarised nation, even before The Trumper came to the White House.

I have a Confederate Memorial Jug, which is decorated with pictures of the CSA leaders, as displayed in stone on The Stone Mountain  Memorial in Georgia. This was left to my mother by a friend who was landlady of a pub in Nottingham. The landlady was given it by a Southern American serviceman who died in his B-17 over Germany. Once I could have earned a good price for this, had I ever wanted to advertise it in the States. Now no American can buy it and not expect to lose it in US Customs. I would never contemplate selling it, though. It’s in perfect condition.

 

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Yes Nolan I was leaning towards the Hudl, until over lunch, SWMBO got wind of the situation and thought it might make a better home for her e-books. Her Kindle is the original, with a much smaller screen and the ‘touch’ keyboard. So I will probably be stuck with the Tab3. If she ever makes up her mind which device she wants, that is. I have setup Kindle for PC and more e-books on the laptop, doesn’t use it. I would not give her the Tab3, the wireless would drive her mad. And me, by extension.

EDIT: Many thanks for the offer, I would not ask unless you definitely want to sell it, a working Hudl is a great standby. However, if you do decide to sell, let me know and I would buy it from you. I like playing with them and have quite a few bits lying around now. The Hudl was a great idea, hardware needed to be more reliable IMO. Charging ports are notoriously unreliable, for one, plenty still available. Batteries now only available as Chi-copies, had 2 of them, absolutely u/s.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

One of the first people I met when we moved into this Senior Citizen’s Ghetto, was a very big, very jolly old Scot who had just recovered from a quadruple bypass at 78. He also had just one working lung and an enormous belly which he swore he was looking after for a mate! He had just lost his wife a couple of years before we arrived. A more un-depressed individual I never met: Jim was always laughing, especially at himself. When digital TV arrived, I helped him buy and set up a TV and got the aerial guy in the village to fit an aerial, then got him a used DVD/VCR combo and rerecorded his VCR’s to DVD. Eventually Jim had to go into a local Care Home in town and he was a bit depressed by this, until I pointed out that his bookies and favourite pub were now only a short walk away, which cheered him up no end! I used to visit him regularly and often saw him in town, puffing away on his one lung, wearing his old 3-piece suit, fresh food stains always down the tie. He was 88 when he lost the last battle: Jim was such a huge bloke that I swear the pall bearers were buckling at the knees before they got him safely into the Crem. A real character, still missed in the Close by us older Ghetto inmates.

Dave, I didn’t have your ticker trouble, my fear before my spinal op was that I would be unable to walk. I now walk as much as possible, because I also share your belief in keeping the engine going. It takes me a long time to get anywhere, but I still have some of my old stamina from running days, I just keep going. I have to do much of it alone now, as SWMBO’s hip has just about packed up for good. There are apparently 4,000 people in Lincolnshire waiting for new hips.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Nolan, there may be an answer to your milk/Butter dilemma here:

” Butter is a mixture of fat of milk, buttermilk and water. After taking out cream from milk, it is soured with strains of lactic acid and bacteria called Streptococcus cremoris or Lactobacillus lactis. Cheese – Cheese is made from milk curd that has been separated from liquid portion of milk. ”

Looks like “friendly bacteria” is the reason you can take butter but not other spreads.

Steve I can’t eat curry, allergic to it since eating a bad chicken wing in HK years ago. Cows are not really a waste of resources: after all the milk, meat and other edible* bits are consumed, we get wallets, bike jackets, settees, boots and glue.?? In India they are gods: don’t mess with a Deity!

*Some not so edible, maybe.

 

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Good news about your dad Lee, hope you get back to 100% soon.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Last week I had a locally-caught Cod, from a mate who fishes off local beaches, says it’s best “…when there is some movement in the sea.” – He means when the North Sea is being thrown into his face with great force! Has 5 or 6 rods out into the surf, running about between rods when a shoal comes in, often catches lots of fish, gives a lot away but his freezer is always full. My SWMBO will eat only canned Salmon, which I view with disgust, I only eat fresh Salmon.

For a topping on the baked Cod, I used freshwater prawns. Fresh local lettuce, large leaf cress and salad potatoes. Salivating now, just remembering it. Nolan, can you take Buttermilk? We use Clover as a spread, and love it. Can’t eat some of the other stuff like Flora, tastes like something I used to grease brake caliper slides with.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

I love red meat far too much, but eat it only occasionally. Last night was one of those occasions: a small locally-bought Topside joint for SWMBO and I, cooked in the slow cooker but browned in the pan first. It was lovely, came with a bit of fat on the side and was all good meat when the fat was gone. The rest tonight with some of my neighbour’s fresh-picked runner beans. The gravy was magic, saved some for tonight. I worked for an old-school butcher from the age of 8 to 16, know my meat and the local butcher is a mate.

I could never be a Veggie, but there is nothing wrong with a mixed and balanced diet. A little meat with plenty of veg, that is how we evolved. It is historical, proven fact that animal protein is what gave the human brain the power to increase function, and therefore evolve Homo Sapiens into intelligence.

I usually eat mostly chicken, turkey or fish, always with veg. That’s a balanced diet.

Or beans on toast!? Fibre…..

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

JCD, IMO some of those forums are populated by a few smartass knowalls, who want to display their extensive knowledge (or lack of) without actually helping anyone. There are exceptions and not every site is like that, but that kind of misplaced arrogance would make me grind my teeth, if I wasn’t so careful with the ones I have left!

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

I would not go near Yahoo-anything without a tin hat, Dettol and gloves. Every malware invasion I ever had, was connected with Yahoo in some way.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

I work 7 days a week, seems retirement merely meant more additions to SWMBO’s To-Do List! ???

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

First thing I checked Ed. After Wasbit‘s excellent thread regarding browser extensions, I used the info there to clear the decks of any nasties. I see you gave it a +1.

https://forumite.co.uk/forums/topic/browser-leaks/#post-11305

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Author]

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