Nice people thread 2 - now even nicer

PasturesNew

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

What was it??

I don't know, but with behaviour like that, does your Care in the Community Support Officer know you're unsupervised?

PasturesNew

Davesnave wrote: »

Here, we are too far from the rookery in the village to suffer the cacophony that creates. Some people we know have paid £500k+ to live next door to that!

There's a rookery over the road I think. Constant noise. In a big green tree, high up. Night and day noise. The neighbours directly under that paid about £350-400k to do so. I think one owns the tree though, so technically he could chop it down .... strangely though, he seems to allow seagulls to nest in his eaves .... then then !!!!!! on my car every time I leave it on the road/out the front.

harryhound

Hi Pastures

Long time no speak.
Have you been working on too much software overnight?
You seem to have gone into hyper posting mode?

Harry

lemonjelly

PasturesNew wrote: »

Maybe that's discriminatory. Could try to hang it on one of the following:
- lesbians/gays are statistically less likely to have a child
- younger people are statistically less likely to have a child
- older people are statistically less likely to have a child

Go back and demand your 'uman rights. I'm sure you paid the same as everybody else, so why are they discriminating against you ...?

Bizarrely, they'd have let me in if I was a p a e d o, but not as a fine upstanding member of the community! Wierd!

Ellie2758

We drove through the monkey enclosure and one little so and so nicked the rubber seal from my sunroof :eek:. The nice ranger lady rescued it for us afterwards but it hasnt been the same since

Davesnave wrote: »

LJ was talking of going to Longleat. Perhaps he's still there; it does take a while to do it all.......

I hope he heeded my advice about not driving through the monkey enclosure..... :eek:

I think RL's been a bit busy for quite a few of us. I've lurked, but haven't posted much, due to sheer tiredness. Then I get up at stupid times like this.....

(Actually, the cats woke me, tearing around after a mouse which has been in the house for days now. At one time I would have bothered about this, but I'm so used to them bringing stuff in now, they can just get on with it!)

tomterm8

Hm... apparently, someone has devised a method to read the chips in american passports at 70 metres, so they can just collect your name, address, and etc without even having to nick your wallet. It's the same technology they are planning to put into identity cards/ biometric passports in the UK.

Maybe a bad idea?

lemonjelly

A question for the gardeners here.
Last year, I tried cucumbers, & pretty much failed.

I tried again this year, determined to do a better job.
I am particularly proud of my cucumbers! Last year, they weren't too good. This year, they're phenomenal! 2-3 times the size of last year (I have planted them out, rather than leave them in pots). I'm wondering when to pick them. The plants still have many flowers on...

Any suggestions or tips?

John_Pierpoint

What sort of cucumbers?
There are "ridge" cucumbers that look a bit like this:
http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/gherkin-diamant-hybrid-cucumber-seeds-p-10587.html
There are exotic cucumbers like these:
http://www.realseeds.co.uk/cucumbers.html
Then there are the sort you normally buy in the supermarket that in normal summers need a greenhouse - a hot damp one at that:
(ie in theory not suitable for mixing with tomatoes & peppers & aubergines - though I used to get away with a polythene sheet between the two.)
When I had a greenhouse 1- -15 years ago one had to ensure the cucumber flowers did not get fertilised (the opposite of marrows) as they would literally look pregnant bulging with seed growing inside and tasting bitter. So lots of time spent picking off male buds.
However the plant breeders have been at work and these cucumbers are now as likely to get pregnant as a banana.

http://www.simplyseed.co.uk/cucumber-seeds/cucumber-seeds-passandra.html

Note the price per seed, compared to the outdoor ridge cucumber offered.it must be a specially pollinated hybrid or perhaps there is a way of getting it to produce male flowers.

Does Africa have any future or is it just a Malthusian laboratory?

Down on the three acre banana farm:

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1158321461232&pagename=Zone-English-HealthScience%2FHSELayout

Davesnave

lemonjelly wrote: »

A question for the gardeners here.
Last year, I tried cucumbers, & pretty much failed.

I tried again this year, determined to do a better job.
I am particularly proud of my cucumbers! Last year, they weren't too good. This year, they're phenomenal! 2-3 times the size of last year (I have planted them out, rather than leave them in pots). I'm wondering when to pick them. The plants still have many flowers on...

Any suggestions or tips?

You should harvest as soon as they look ready. The more you take, the more grow to replace them.

I have been growing some of those from Real Seeds listed by John, Tamra & Wautoma. They have both been cropping for six weeks or more. Tamra is the better of the two, but won't be available in future by the look of it.

I should add that I'm not interested in size (!) These six to nine inchers take virtually no looking after and just get on with it, which is what I want from veg. I don't want to !!!! about with F1 varieties, which are for commercial producers, and novices fooled by the blurb.

Davesnave

tomterm8 wrote: »

Hm... apparently, someone has devised a method to read the chips in american passports at 70 metres, so they can just collect your name, address, and etc without even having to nick your wallet. It's the same technology they are planning to put into identity cards/ biometric passports in the UK.

Maybe a bad idea?

We're still gettting to grips with chip & pin round these parts!

Seriously, I never realised how 'alternative' the rural economy is, till I came here. So many people engage in several activities, and for them, cash is king. If one offers a cheque, the response is, "I'll have to add VAT if you give me that!"

A few examples:

After waiting 6 months for a bill, I rang the electrician who reinstated a cooker point when we first arrived. "Oh, ain't no bill," he said, "you just put an envelope through my door with your name on it and £25 inside."

Last week, picking up my van after its MoT, the lady at the garage was quite shocked to find I wanted to pay immediately. "What, you want to pay now? Arthur sends out the bills at the end of the month. Then you has another month to pay.... see? " :o

Later, down at the egg farm, I booked-in to have my chimneys swept and found myself without cash. "No matter, just put it in the box when you'm passing." Many of us, me included, sell things at the side of the road. Yes, occasionally, goods and/or money may be stolen, but the self-service thing works 99.9% of the time. So far, though we've sometimes been short at the day's end, money has always rolled-in later with an explanation. It's mainly people who don't want to miss out on something, who grab it at the time.

Basically, the rural economy works on trust, plus an acceptance that to survive here, many people need two jobs. I know two postmen, for example, and they knock off around 13:30 to start their other jobs, which are agricultural.

Hmm, better not say anything about agricultural chemicals or red diesel!:rotfl: