eBay is the root of all evil but I love it!!

GT6 is currently sat about awaiting further investigation and parts, lol! So, it is a little bit broken, all part of the fun... until you find it's the expensive bits that have gone wrong ... So I'm driving a youngster at the moment, a mere 35 year old MG!

I actually *REALLY* *REALLY* want a pre-war car but OH thinks it's not a very good idea at the moment ...

I still want one of these...

Are fresh figs meant to taste so weird? (Not to mention how they feel. ) Are they any better cooked or eaten with something else?

If you've bought them in England in the supermarket then they're probably not very fresh (it's not the season) and won't taste like proper fresh figs straight from the tree.

I'd quite like something like that too... need a fairy godmother with a magic money wand

I need one too Let me know if you find one

Just realised XK8 convertibles are down to about ?5,500 and S Type Rs down to about ?4,000! Mind you ?2,000 buys you an early XJ-R, ?2,000 for 4 litres of supercharged Jag, that's just criminal!

So's the petrol bill

Not as criminal as the petrol bill on 5.3 litre's of Jaguar's finest. Pre-HE, running on carbs of course

Seen as THAT V12 is a masterpiece of English heritage, I propose that to keep more beautiful Jaguar V12's on the road, anyone driving one get's half price petrol. For services to Queen and country, showing the British population EXACTLY what they are missing by dragging the British car industry to it's knees and driving about in boring euroboxes.

Enlightening to see which words do get past the censor...


Interesting. I'll make sure I try a properly fresh one if I get the opportunity.

Figs ripen in September here and if it has been sunny they are very sweet and with a dense flesh that sort of melts in your mouth (they are not nearly so nice if it's a wet September). They are squidgy when picked ripe and don't keep more than 24 hours, so they can't sell properly ripe ones in a supermarket.

Regular forum people will know that in past summers, I've packed a bag and gone on tours of parts of the UK meeting forum members, mainly in areas that are less likely to have events.

Am very tempted to 'do' France, with a nice SNCF rail pass, in August 2013...

Hear hear! The car in front is a Toyota!

I wouldn't mind if the people driving these Euroboxes, and universal electro-Japanese boxes got a move on; but having brought our motor industry to it's knees they insist on driving at 35 MPH on derestricted roads so that those of us who drive proper British cars, and are trying to keep Britain solvent, spend all day stuck in slow moving traffic.

Mind you, the new XJ got plenty of publicity during last year's Royal Wedding, whilst we also see plenty of glimpses of them on the News coming and going in Downing Street.

Personally though, I much prefer the look of the old XJ.

SB

Brilliant! let us know if you want some recommendations of places to stay / things to see on the way round!

If you can avoid holidays and sports fixtures which tend to induce them to go on strike you'll be ok.

I hear there are some lovely campsites if you want to keep accommodation costs low :innocent:

Sometimes people at work ask me by way of greeting "Are you OK" - it seems to be a substitute for "How are you". I still can't get past the initial slight panic of wondering what I must look like to make them ask if I'm OK - do i have blood pouring down my face, do I look disheveled, etc

..... And would they have time to listen if you told them you weren't OK, I wonder?

SB

Of course you get it in shops too, ' you alright there?'

It is rare to get someone who connects with my reply of 'I'm fine, thanks, how are you?' with a smile and a reply, but it does happen.

Somehow I can respond to this with the same "fine thanks and you?", but "are you OK" just evokes a different instinctual response!

Ha! I remember when one of these, and even one of the green routemasters used to get stuck up a particularly steep hill when we were on our way home from school. It was partly the fault of the conductor who used to just pile us all in (about 20 standing ). So half way up the hill bus would grind to a halt and go no further. On the double deckers the conductor used to turf out anyone on the top deck and we would have to walk up the hill and get on the bus that had, by then, got itself up the hill! 'Elf and safety didn't exist in those days.

Oh those were the days - helter skelter up and down the stairs and fighting for the front seats on the top deck of the old routemasters - and hanging on the pole, one arm outstretched and satchel flying!! And those lovely old tickets on clip boards and the leather pouch the conductor wore on a strap.

Kids don't have half so much fun now strapped into the back seat of the shool run mum's car!

The theme from Grieg's cello sonata sounds a lot like the Sigurd Jorsalfar triumphal march

*large sigh of nostalgia*

that is so cool

Depending on how much time you want to spend actually travelling you might be better off taking advantage of some of the excellent deals you can get on TGVs (prices such as 25 euros from Paris to Avignon) rather than spending hundreds of pounds on a rail card. As you're obviously planning this well in advance (!) you may be able to save quite a lot.

............. And Boy Scouts were allowed to go away on camp in the back of a removal van or similar.

SB

Glad you agree



Will do, thanks!



I'll keep my eyes open...

'Tis rather cool Back in days gone by, even buses looked good Now, you struggle to even find cars that look decent

Due a delivery, one of those 8am-6pm ones. It's OK, it's on a day I work from home, so it makes no difference, right?
Except that at the slightest sound I'm looking out the window in case it's them...
Also wish they'd hurry up. My husband should be home by 4pm, and I'll be off to my music lesson at 4.15pm. I keep checking the travel news for his tube line and roads, hoping hoping hoping he doesn't get delayed anywhere (if the delivery men haven't come by then...)

Husband got home just before 3pm
Still no sign of the delivery though...but now it is his problem not mind

I organised a redelivery for a parcel for yesterday - waited in all day...nothing. Wrote to Royal Mail. Arrive home today to find another red card on my doormat and an e-mail saying 'your parcel will be delivered today'.

Argh.

Back from the public duties in London. Missing them already!! But so tired, it was lovely to sleep in my own bed last night. And lovely to teach my lovely students today, I've missed them!!

Glad you had fun!

Thank goodness they did come when he was here and not this morning. It's a new cooker that's been delivered, and they refused to install it due to
a) it touching one of the cupboards on one side
b) the on-the-wall cupboard on the otherside overhanging the cooker by about 2 mm
c) the fascia on our cooker hood being a wooden door (so it looks like a cupboard)

So he took down the wall cupboard and the hood, and deconstructed the base unit. They then installed the cooker...and husband replaced all these forbidden items
The intention is that probably quite long term this cooker is the first step of a kitchen remodelling/re-fitting - so we'll make sure all the replacement stuff is suitable

Glad you got back home safely too

Thanks! And meeting up with folks....so lovely to see people. I think I need a week of sleep to catch up though Oh and one of my band friends is going to see if he can get me a couple of days work a week with him. So please cross your fingers as that would make all the difference at the moment - and it's a 5 minute walk from home!!

Fingers duly crossed...

And having read the instructions which come with the new cooker, our existing set up is actually perfectly fine. It was the installation company who insisted on the removal, it's not a manufacturer's recommendation...so at least I can sleep without worrying about that

It was lovely to meet you - I do like being able to put names to faces - I hope you didn't get rained on too much!!!

But if your OH hadn't been there to do the dismantling/rebuilding, this would have been in the Arrrggggh! thread Glad it turned out alright

Possibly going to be buying a 1956 Ford 103e Popular, which basically has pre-war technology but was produced as a cheap car in the '50's. If it's OK, could be my first old car Don't really count '60's / '70's stuff as "real old cars" ANYONE can drive a '60's car.

Am not at school today, so have researched...this looks quite do-able!

Now...do any French-based forum members want to see me?...

Has anyone else tried the chocolate Philadelphia?...

I have

It's nasty, horrible, vile stuff...

It's scrumptious!

My Sister likes it. Im not too keen.

Spread on a digestive biscuit, it tastes like chocolate cheesecake

I have but I can't decide whether I like it or not..... it is distinctly lacking in the nut department... the bit which makes nutella so scrummy.

Wow a form of cheese Barry doesn't like