[Richard]

John, I am with you on that problem. I used to like onions in large quantities, I now have to have them in measured doses only, which is a shame because their anti viral qualities are well known.

Garlic is one that I never could stand, it makes me perspire like nothing on earth and then of course I spend the night drinking water by the gallon to calm, not cure the thirst.

Once you move into the exotic range with things like turmeric, then it might make me feel like I am living for ever as I spend the time doubled over, wondering if the loo would be a good idea or a cyanide pill. For several years my wife and I have been unable to go out for a meal as we have had to watch over our daughter 24 hours per day. We have taken her out with us a few times, but her stability is not assured. Anyway last Wednesday we decided that as she was being looked after by a support worker we would go out for a lunchtime meal. We were behind the schedule for our first choice meal so tried a Pizza somewhere else – big error. Something in the flavourings had me out of action for the rest of the day.

One thing that too many ignore is that different groups have evolved to digest things that are endemic to their lives. Others may develop a tolerance over time but many will not, some will go the other way and develop severe reactions such as anaphylaxis. Most northern Europeans can drink milk and eat cheese, other peoples cannot digest them so easily. Some can breakdown alcohol more easily than others, probably because fermented grains and other otherwise indigestible thing were a major source of nutrition in this country for much of historical times. The process of fermentation was also thought to have helped purify the water killing off water born infections.

In other extreme cases things like thalassaemia became endemic because those with the condition resisted malaria better. So they were able to (painfully) reproduce more children, so the list goes on, The Japanese sometimes eat a bracken, unfortunately it is implicated as a cause of stomach cancer, our liking for alcohol is no longer a life saver, etc. the lists are so easily bi-directional.

Many medicines have derived from once natural substances, (aspirin, antibiotics, digitalis, etc.) that have side effects muted and beneficial properties enhanced. Whilst I would be one of the first to admit that side effects are not always eliminated I would also be near the front of the queue to point out that each individual’s genetic make up will be a key to that issue. Some react negatively to treatments because of other co-existing conditions, one daughter cannot use minocycline, several of the family abreact to sedatives, etc. Unfortunately the study of genetic, ethnicity, or food ingestion patterns in relation to conditions and treatments, let alone tests for them is heavily frowned on by the so called social networking crowd.

I am unaware of any move to ban or bar otherwise safe foodstuffs from being ingested by anyone who so desires, though adulterated products do emerge from time to time only to cause severe problems. Adulteration with dangerous industrial colourings being a recent issue that caused problems with imported sub-continent flavourings. Which in my purely personal experience detract rather than add to the food stuffs.

[Richard]

Bob, Those Chums trousers look interesting, I cannot stand the so called modern look with a top band nearer to your knees then the right place. They always feel your knees is where they will end up in a flash.

I applaud your GD’s gift idea, she wants you to live and have fun – and thank you for your thoughtfulness. I think she hit the spot admirably.

[Richard]

Happily I did not come across those in my sorts of mosquito in my travels. Cockroaches and ants built like scorpions with a raised up rear portion were common. Camel spiders had a bad reputation but I am not sure that it was earned. The bats lived underground and of course came out at night, I should have spent the time to get some photographs, but the thought is a now development not a back then idea.  I don’t know what our geckos lived on but I guess there were enough flying things to go round. The dog learned that gecko tail is not at all nice to eat and clearly not a dog super food, he tried it once and always avoided them after that. The gecko of course grew a new tail.

[Richard]

I have heard of similar stories and possibly used such matters myself.

I knew of one years ago that was a parallel. A person was doing well and earned a promotion to a higher grade. The next available job turned out to require security clearance, which they would fail when certain ‘issues’ came to light, mainly concerning their student life and the ongoing activities of their spouse. They then got a rapid promotion to a safe, secure job elsewhere. All of this was within the space of a small number of weeks. Their rapid rise was somehow kept more or less under wraps to avoid highlighting the whole situation.

[Richard]

It looks like a good deal if you have something you really want, I got the message this morning but cannot think of anything I need. I will speak with the manager house keeping (and almost everything else) one more time.

[Richard]

It is the fabric quality, not the name that counts, if it feels like a recycled Kleenex tissue in the shop’s shelf, you can bet it will wash and wear (once) like one.  Years ago I shared a flat for a short while with someone whose friend managed a boutique. The friend told him his shop sold fashion not quality so don’t expect it to last a month. My experience of Primark goods is that they are cheap for a reason  as my eldest daughter found out. Some other shops are expensive for no justifiable quality reason. Some goods are less expensive because of the different construction methods used though most people would not see the difference. The retail jungle is very much buyer beware space.

Years ago at SWMBO’s direction we bought an expensive named make microwave it developed major issues with three months. To be fair the makers gave us a full refund after Curries tried to dodge their responsibilities. A Tesco special for well less than a third of the price lasted for years and has only recently been replaced. So pick wisely and the cheap item can work out better. Just don’t tell me the £1,700 (list price) shower door the builder used was better than the £90 replacement I fitted when the first one failed. The first one was the dreadful, bake on flake off white finish. The second was basic anodised aluminium which suffered no ill effect over many years. I suspect that the builder’s choice was affected by some sort of deal they got.

[Richard]

PlaneMan wrote:

Iceland (The supermarket, not the country) have vowed to replace all plastic on their own brand stuff within 5 years. Ed, Denmark also has recycling points where you get paid for recycling, I know bottles/jars and cans are accepted, not sure about other stuff. My waste (actual landfill) is pretty much all food packaging, I have about 1/2 a bin bag full (less when compressed) every fortnight in my black wheelie bin. Stupid thing is the ‘waste operatives’ (bin men to you and me) aren’t allowed to touch anything that isn’t in the black bin so they have to lean into the bin to remove the bag as it’s easier to just chuck the bag in the back of the wagon than drag the bin around. My recycling is usually about 3/4 of a green bag (same size as a bin bag) weekly. Food waste gets put into the outside caddy when the bag gets a bit full, it’s mostly tea bags and egg shells. The caddy gets manhandled to the kerb about once a fortnight but could go every week.

Our local supermarket had several different machines for recycling different types and gave a credit, but withdrew them because of the persistent sabotage and vandalism they suffered.

We are lucky , our council takes almost everything plastic; apart from the thin film plastic the rest is apparently accepted if it has a suitable symbol embossed. The recycling bin is already full but will not be collected until next week. The black bin gets two bags usually, one of week 1 and the other for week 2. Garden waste is also part of the recycling week’s collection.

[Richard]

PlaneMan wrote:

That Green Johanna would be great for mum’s place, they currently have 3 (maybe 4) large compost bins which are in various states of decomposition. They work well but take about 3 years to be fully ready.

That does sound interesting as you said traditional ways do take a long time. I am not sure I want a third bin chuntering away though if it was that good perhaps the old bin should be replaced. I will have to see what the story is.

[Richard]

Several of the pubs have closed down and become housing. The ‘Railway’ pub has certainly provided a large number of housing units as it was pulled down, the land was cleared and several blocks of flats were constructed, right next to the railway line. Dead easy for commuters, perhaps less easy for sleepers?

The PO is a couple of counters at the back of a shop so you queue past displays of racks of snack food and greeting cards, fizzy drinks and wine – to relieve the boredom on a slow day? At Christmas it can be grim waiting to get served, but at other times it is much better. The female staff are hugely better than the ‘missing link’ possibly male they briefly, but still for too long employed.

Great St Mary’s is one of three places of worship it was built from flintstone and mortar on a site that is believed to go back to pre-Domesday times (11th Century). The church has royal connections. Both Elizabeth I and Anne Boleyn, wife of Henry VIII worshipped here.

As for pubs there are now only three left  as far as I can recall with two of the closing in recent times, neither of the closed pubs were up market establishments, so it was not a surprise they went.

[Richard]

Bob, yes dioxins are pretty nasty and can persist though I understand they can also be treated fairly easily with quick lime. Just sprinkle the down wind area with an inch of two of quick lime and the plastics burner should be good to go, on second thoughts that might not be such a good idea. Industrial units use filters and scrubbers with the required materials built into them.

I guess we are lucky our council collectors are pretty good and we have a fortnightly green collection that can take not only garden stuffs but also food wastes. They actually prefer food waste in that bin as it gets composted rather than burred but in summer they are happy for the black bin to contains food stuffs rather than have it hang about. The Civic Amenity, also known as the tip is across the valley from us and less than a mile and a half away. It is useful for bulky stuff, though the scrap dealer – sorry metals recycler is on the same rout and nearer. They pay you for anything worth recycling. A couple of old taps and pipes were worth £8.50 in my pocket, there could have been more if I realised where they were sooner.

Garden shredders are great for turning waste into mulch or even rapidly usable compost, though the mower was as good on hedges clippings and easier than a brush.

[Richard]

Yes Bob, it claims to be a town with a town council but to be honest the main equivalent to a high street is about 140 yards long is medieval narrow and has almost all of the shops with several vacant and others regularly turned over. the main antiques centre is down by the railway station in what used to be the buildings forming parts of the malting industry. The small antiques shops are pretty snooty and do not last long. We used to have a LLoyds bank, very useful but it became a forced TSB, thank you EU. As a Lloyds Bank, it was useful but as a TSB it is about as useful as nipples on a fish. There is also a Barclays bank, not hugely useful either. The building society is essentially in the front room of one of the elderly houses, I’m not sure but it could be 16th or 17th century. The church had substantial associations with Henry the 8th and the surrounding estates were owned by various involved with the throne and several Royal wills. One was given to one of his wives, I cannot be bothered to look up which after a few glasses of wine, the universal ‘unwinder’. Beckham had one of the larger houses for a while, it was once a council building said to have been for wayward children. We have lived here almost 26 years, which makes is new comers, but by heck the place has changed in that time. We do have a couple of social necessities, a funeral director and a fire station, neither of which are in the ‘town centre’ most of which area is ‘listed’.  That has not stopped some god awful developments. Medical services appear to fancy the main road as a horn test route, it is also the designated bulk transport route, rather than the motorway 800 yards away, I just hope the sagging bridges fully understand! During the war the joinery works turned out wings for Mosquitoes and floated them down the canal for further assembly. It is now housing for the train dwellers.

[Richard]

To be fair to the village we also have a range of shops, well more like a top and bottom of shops. there are still two banks and one building Society, though I have no connection to any of them. We also have a number of antique shops and yes they, the hairdressers and several other shops do take cards. It is just that some cohorts of users are, how can I say this tactfully small money users and some even in the village are cash poor, though if they own their house possibly asset rich. There are clearly some for whom money does not grow on trees and possibly does not grow at all, though we have so far been spared the sight and difficulty of the destitute on the street.

You can easily spend the wrong side of £1,000 and more on a wedding dress and close to that on ladies frocks in some places, or £8 in a second hand clothes charity shop. The dress was probably sold originally in the pricey location. These example;es show the range of user demand profiles and financial acumen that need to be covered – some people might equally need only a postage stamp for 50~60 pence. The upmarket foodie place shut down suddenly a few months ago in the middle of a marketing drive. No one really knows why, though speculation suggests it was a combination of commercial rent and business rates along with local wage costs. The remaining food points are at the lower price end, say about £5 per plate. I don’t know if they take cards in any form – though I do know the car park with the slowest ticket machines in the world will take card payments. The first half hour is free and you can have an hour for 20 pence which makes card payments slightly odd.

In short it is a very mixed place, heterogeneous some might say which is why I suspect that evolutionary change may come slowly. One of the busiest trade activities is chemist shops we have two within fifty yards of each other and both are busy.

[Richard]

I agree, better solutions are needed, though shredded, mixed plastic might not be the best idea. Sorting it out would be hell.

Kill joy, Moi, no not really. Plastic fires can give off such health cures as Cyanide and Phosgene the WW1 poison gas. They were and probably still are what made building fires ‘unhealthy’.

A more limited range of easily sorted plastics would be good, I keep hearing that biodegradable stuff will be here shortly I have heard that for years. How will Joe or Belinda Soap be able to tell the compostable from the recyclable stuff? They often don’t even know that soiled nappies don’t count as recyclable.

[Richard]

Interesting Bob. I am aware of the shall we say ‘troubles’ of the well intentioned. Several years back child labour rules came in in one country. It appears that the employer(s) in at least one case were trying to do the right thing. Village girls were being recruited and housed in a boarding school, they worked part of the time in a factory, morning and afternoon alternate shifts with school ing on the other half day. Given board a lodging they had few expenses and were kept safe. However the goodie goodie squad came along and said the girls were too young. The factory closed, the girls were sent home and lost their education, the village families lost their cash earner and everyone lost out.

So, I am not automatically against Far East work, what I was commenting on was the drop in quality of Fruit of the Loom back in possibly the 1980s. Steve says they are now good and that band merchandise is now good quality from them. I bought a Beach Boys shirt back in the mid 80s. The cotton was obviously crap, the fabric had gone all sorts of odd colours when I last looked so it was not even good for car wash rags. Cue some disappointment, I had been there on the Mall for Bush’s inauguration party I think, another memory lost.

Getting quality clothes is a real issue, but I am not surprised after my time out in the Far East. The joke went like this, premium quality clothing goes to Japan’s big names, number one quality goes to Japan’s other outlets and the USA. number 2 quality goes to Europe and anyone else who demands quality. When the cleaner clears the floor shove the sweepings in a box marked for the UK, they buy anything as long as the price is low enough.

Japanese baby clothes lasted for months of wear and still looked new, two or three weeks of for UK baby stuff, shirts, baby grows etc. and they look like the aftermath of a months’ party.

[Richard]

Some plastics used to be lethal when burnt, I do not know what the current crop are like but I fear that if the fumes do not get you, a sudden almost explosive rush of fire might do harm. Plastics also have a habit of melting and sticking to everything in a horrid hardening mass.

I agree that the spread of single use plastics does appear out of control. We did get some chocolates and yes there was a lot of plastic used, cartons that should be useful but in fact just go straight through to recycling and as for the wrappers and packing parts – I agree.

You might need to check the calorific values of fuels you can use, anything that burns too hot or too cold can cause trouble and damage to the device.

[Richard]

The package has some rather ‘lumpy’ reviews, that said I do not know much more.

[Richard]

Steve, I have no doubt about that for you and others who do have a card or cards, but for those who do not even have bank accounts or only have accounts with few if any options it is going to be a challenge.

Add in the surcharges which you rightly say the rest of us are not prepared to pay and the charge card pudding mess gets worse in many areas. Those areas with say 15~20 betting shops and no free ATM are likely to get a ‘noticeable’ increase in anti social activities in the area.

I believe you can get money from a Post Office under some circumstances, if there is one anywhere near to the customer’s location.

However, none of this solves the issue of those who having been made bankrupt for example who face challenges getting any financial tools. Paying a ‘service charge’ on a tiny purchase would be a non starter if it doubled or more the cost you would pay. I admit to being out of touch with card issuers rules these days, maybe children can get them very young, I would not trust the cards to have anything much in the way of control options.

[Richard]

Ah yes Fruit of the Loom, I used to buy their cotton goods when I was overseas back in the 1970s. They were excellent, but over time the quality declined and I thought that they went bust back in the 1980s. Someone said they started to make cheaper stuff in the Far East. If they have regained their quality and name that must be good news.

I got a company logo windcheater back in 2000. The company is no more but apart from a worn lining and a missing zip pull the thing still looks wearable 18 years later. Expecting it to wear out a while back my wife bought me a Berghaus ‘system’ fleece with the removable extra lining.  I did not want to wear it for dog walking, going to the tip or other hacking about activities as long as my old one was ‘good enough’. It is surprising how some things just feel indestructible. Perhaps that is why they tell me a fashion industry was started to persuade people to replace serviceable clothes before they need replacing. It will not catch on (well not with me,) if something fits, well sort of and hangs together, it is good enough for me to wear.

[Richard]

I am not sure who uses cash in your village shops but could easily switch to other payment means, but in our case is it a wide mixture with small kids spending pocket money through to pensioners., are they all really going to go cashless for their postage stamps or penny chews? It might be that the 90% of these ‘small deal’ customers could be cut aside and the shop remain trading, but the main general shop is also the post office and a newsagent, a few people do still buy papers I am told though I have not done so for years. Near my daughter’s house a shop does a brisk trade in meter key recharging with credit-less customers putting a few pound cash on their key. Daughter’s house was repossessed from a bankrupt jobbing builder so had pre-pay meters when we started to recondition it to become habitable again. I charged up the keys with a previously unheard of payment to keep it heated over Christmas. The entire shop fell silent when I topped more than the five or ten pounds usually spent. The house was still unoccupied and it was £$%^&*() freezing and I knew the snow would make access difficult for a couple of days.

[Richard]

Sometimes tracking was in a hidden position, perhaps under a drop down flap somewhere. It might take several forms including a knurled knob if a barely detectable position.

[Author]

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