grendel

well I could discourse on home mechanics or stargazing just as easily as bread (at least I posted my recipe in a new topic) Grendel

It strikes me - (and I am by no means a saily) that possible if the sailing ship is sailing gull winged, that if she deviated her course too much the wrong way (ie if the wind were dead aft and then moved to the wrong side for the sail) she might suddenly gybe and the boom swing to the other side (of course this knowledge has been picked up purely from reading the swallows and amazons books - where by trying to hang on too long with the wind from the wrong side of the sail caused a problem (swallowdale)). As such going down the correct side might make matters worse -by forcing the sailboat the wrong way. so might going to the wrong side to pass, either way a decision must be made and it would be easier if both captains indicated their intentions with plenty of time and space. courtesy costs nothing and in all probability could avoid an accident or at least confusion and complication. Grendel

PS when I was at school the 6th form brought the whole school out on strike because the head decided to not allow the lower forms to watch the house plays one year. after several hours it was agreed that each would be performed twice, once to the upper school, then again the next day to the lower school. Grendel

Ah schools, a topic I could waffle on about all day. My daughter went to a local secondary school, my wife became chair of the PTFA, when our daughter was bullied we were categorically told they didn't have a bullying problem, and that our daughter was the only one who was being bullied - this despite the fact that all of the other members of the PTFA had children who were the only ones being bullied. after she was knocked unconscious with a teacher watching (who did not intervene) we took her out of the school and enrolled her with the only other one available. This school was in special measures, it had a management team in and they fully admitted bullying happened, they also said that when it happened it was investigated and dealt with. (in fact at one point they were rated as the worst school in the UK). my daughter thrived there, worked hard, teachers were in short supply but they were good teachers (one teacher taught 2 classes at once via a audio visual link up, with 2 classroom assistants (one in each class) to help, everything was very progressive. my daughter went on to become head girl there and passed her exams. They did not do sixth form there, so she had to look round, her results were so good that she was taken on for the 6th form by a local Grammar school (rated in the top 10 of the country). Her old school came out of special measures and went on to become an academy, they then introduced a uniform, there was only one problem - the young ladies who attended objected to the hand of friendship logo the academy adopted, that adorned the breast pockets of the blazers (ahem, not a great location to have a hand positioned). Anyway the Grammar school tried to teach my daughter, she tried, but they had not accounted for the fact that she had done a different curriculum up to that point, there were gaps in her knowledge they didn't address which made progression on to A levels very difficult, my daughter failed at this top school. after a year out she went back to college and re sat her a levels, this time managing a pass. Since then she has gone to University (this was the point they found she had a mild dyslexia which was what had been making her learning difficult previously. She finished her law degree earlier this year managing a credible pass. All this goes to show that a bad school can teach someone who has the potential probably better than a good one that doesn't recognise that potential in the pupil. Both myself and my wife went to Grammar Schools, and found them quite rigid in their teaching methods, I think a pupil gets the best from any school that recognises their ability and has teachers who do their best to bring the abilities of the child to the fore, rather than rigidly working towards exam results and league tables. (I think part of the issue with the school that was in special measures was the problem that as a town with a local military barracks - this was the school a majority were sent to, every few years (usually just before exam times) the garrison changed and about 25% of the pupils left and took their exams elsewhere, and a new batch of pupils arrived to take their exams - I am sure this drastically affected their performance in the league tables. Grendel

As promised on the other thread, here is my bread recipe, I use the same mix for white bread, wholemeal bread, pizza bases and even cheesy rolls. I use the mix when hand baking or bread machine. in the machine :- in this order 325ml water, 2 tablespoons of milk powder 1 level tablespoon of sugar 5 tablespoons of oil about 20g of fresh yeast (we got a whole lot going cheap at morrisons and keep it in the freezer - it still works fine, just move it to the fridge for a few hours before use). then comes 3 cups of flour (that is american cup measures) for wholemeal use 30/70 or 50/50 wholemeal / white to finish 1 teaspoon of salt. then let the machine cook it on the sandwich setting for nice soft sandwich bread (3 hours). if mixing by hand it will need kneading for 5 minutes, allowed to rise for 45-60 minutes, kneaded again, and made into rolls of put on trays or in loaf tins, left to rise again 45-60 mins then 25 minute bake. this recipe has evolved from experiments, and because I was fed up with bread that was quite dry (the extra oil gives you lovely soft bread). If it rises then flops reduce the yeast a little, if it doesnt rise enough, either a little more yeast, or its too dry so a little more water. did I mention my Mum has cooked her own bread every other day for as long as I can remember (54 years at least) and her dad was a master baker. Grendel

I believe morrisons also sell fresh yeast too - or try any bakery that makes its own, fresh yeast is the secret to the taste. G

I will give you one handy hint for getting a decent tasting bread from a bread machine - the secret is in the yeast, visit the bakery section at Sainsbury's ask them for some fresh yeast (100g should do to start, and will be enough for about 5 loaves and wont break the bank - I cant remember if I was paying 30p or 60p per 100g)) the other secret is that the wholemeal setting on most machines is too long, the loaf rises then flops back down, I use the sandwich loaf setting. I have played around a fair bit with my recipe, it may just be you had a dud batch of dried yeast (or used the quick one where you needed the normal one). to start with be very careful measuring ingredients, especially the flour / water ratio, too wet it over rises and flops, too dry it doesn't rise (trust me I have experienced everything from Brick to something with the consistence of a crumpet). when experimenting only change one ingredients quantities at a time of you wont know which one does the job. another trick is to just use the machine to mix the dough, then do the rises until it looks ready - rolls work well with this method. when I get home I will ttry and remember to post my bread recipe. also you need to ensure that the yeast and salt don't mix too early (I put the yeast in the liquid then the flour with the salt on top) Grendel

just try the diamond shaped cheesy rolls at Lidl and you will be hooked Frank - when we get them we buy at least a dozen (sometimes 2 dozen) and I normally bake my own bread... Grendel

I had my card stopped once - I was on Holiday in Stratford and my card had been used to top up 2 mobile phones (mine and the wifes), they also stopped my credit card that we tried to top up the second phone with. I then just had the cash in my pocket, fortunately the hotel had been paid for, and I had enough fuel in the car to get home, apparently they had phoned before stopping my card - they phoned my home phone number - they said they got no reply - well I was away, so that wasnt very helpful - took them 3 days to reactivate the card too. Grendel

sort of L shaped but rounded on the front Alan? - or you could say P shaped with a flat on the bottom of the rounded bit. Grendel

Robin, how about converting an old thames barge to a convenience store. Grendel

we had a pigeon fly into a window at work, we know it was a pigeon because it left a perfect dust print of outstretched wings on the window, every feather was visible. Grendel

I have to say I am still hunting for my pics of the arrows from Manston, unfortunately I cant remember the year so only 111,000 photos to look through (2000+ folders).sigh Grendel

heres the view we got at Bournmouth Airport. Grendel

we also saw the red arrows last year at the battle of Britain memorial they made the final pass right over the memorial

bundle the cable up and slip into an empty toilet roll tube, then they dont tangle. Grendel

we used to go to Manston airport to watch planes (sadly the airport is now closed despite efforts to keep it open) over the years I have had Lightning's taxi across the road in front of me, we have seen Concorde land (it had the longest runway in the UK) watched the battle of Britain flight take off and land. There was one spot just outside the perimeter wire, probably a taxi way from the wartime, as the taxiway joined the runway just opposite, if you walked up to the fence on a display day, the red arrows would come up the taxiway 30 feet inside the fence, and turn onto the runway right in front of you (the noise even when taxi'ing is quite loud when the exhaust is only 30 feet from you) then they would line up on the runway in formation and the takeoff run would start just in front of you, (maybe 10o yards away on the runway). after the display they would strafe the runway at about 4m off the deck (with wheels up) then come round and land, touching down just past where we would watch from. the only other place I have been as close was at Bournmouth airport, where the garden of the air museum sits about the same distance from the grass runway they use. One time we were watching at Manston one lone red arrow came back to the airport trailing grey smoke, despite being obviously in difficulties, he still did a pass and wing waggle for the watchers before swinging round and landing. the plane was still there a week later as they had to ship a new engine in to allow it to fly again. Grendel

that is why you should wear safety glasses when working with the stuff, that said I have managed to get molten grinding dust in my eye, while wearing goggles, the trouble with that is it sticks and they have to pick it out with the point of a pin - not at all fun. Grendel

it might also be worth while contacting marquee companies to find where they get it or if they could supply it to you. we once made a tent canvas (Viking) from the backdrop curtains from an old theatre, or another source you might be able to get some second hand from would be the side curtains from lorries - maybe a haulage company might have some older ones that had been replaced. Grendel

most modern laptops have a slot for a standard SD card, so even if you dont have a cable you just take the card out of the camera and plug it into the laptop, easy peasy. Grendel

I have had to use insurance in a similar- potentially threatening situation, As some may know I used to do Viking re-enactment, this involved real (but blunt) weapons. One time while packing up the weapons had been gathered up and put ready to pack into the cars, a group of youths who had exited from the local pub turned up, and before we could stop them they had picked up weapons and were encouraging each other to be the first to attack us. not wanting injuries I started talking to them - asking them to put the weapons down. It was at this point that I realised their leader had backed himself into a bit of a spot, he couldn't back down in front of all his mates, and he didn't like the look of the way the 20 odd unarmed Vikings were looking at him as if appraising his abilities (any one of us could have easily disarmed him ). Spotting this I asked once more adding the fact that if he kept on we would have problems with our insurance - this gave him a let out, he was able to apologise and hand back the weapons, whilst making it appear that he was doing us a favour to his mates (thus not losing face). So by invoking the almighty insurance we were able to defuse a potential problem, sometimes people realise they are in the wrong, but need a way out without losing face in front of their mates / family. Grendel

the battery isolator should be close to the battery to minimise the run of wiring, personally I would have a isolator solenoid with a remote switch for preference, this would be a fail safe method as you would be remote while switching. in an explosion rated package. I have also been the subject of a battery explosion (internal fault - battery exploded when I turned the key on a van) in my case I was in the van and the battery in the engine compartment, so I avoided the spray of acid, but battery shrapnel was found up to 30 feet away, so presumably the acid went at least that far. Suffice to say, having seen that I dont want to be around if a battery goes up. I have also seen the effect a battery has on someones finger when they accidentally short across the terminals when using a screwdriver and their wedding ring touches screwdriver and the other battery terminal, having the wedding ring cut off was the least of his worries, for a while they were worried about saving the finger. (moral, take your rings off when working with batteries). I too work in the electrical industry (in the drawing office) we work at up to 33,000Volts, so we have a great respect for the stuff. Grendel

or you could just acquire a few spare boathooks, and take the hooky bits off the ends. Grendel

if you want a specific wood, then try here - http://www.toolsandtimber.co.uk/timber/wooden-dowels/ it does seem that lengths longer than 2.4m might be trickier. Grendel

even wickes has them - http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-28mm-Light-Hardwood-Dowel-FB157-2400mm/p/128529 Grendel