SteveO

You mean mature, as in ripe Camembert?

From Hull, Hell and Halifax, may the good Lord deliver us! Will definitely give this one a look.

Awoke at around 9 this morning and made a cup of tea for myself and Mrs O. Then half an hour of checking e-mails and activity on various forums before heading off to Canterbury for a hospital appointment. I waited for over an hour for a 2 minute consultation with a very nice but very busy lung consultant, who confirmed that my nodule has not changed in size or shape in the 2 years since it was discovered. Welcome news, but why couldn't they have told me by phone or letter? The bad news is that I will require a final CT scan next February after which, if there is still no change, they will sign me off. Then it was home for lunch, followed by an hour or so of pottering in my “man-cave”, where I am carving a little mouse from oak to grace our younger daughter's cheeseboard. I made one for our other daughter last year and word got around! After that, I spent another hour sorting out my growing pile of medical correspondence and then sat down with my laptop to put together a checklist for the sad upcoming task of winterising Windmill Lady. After Pointless and a sandwich, we set off to the village hall for a meeting of our local history group. For a village of 1500 people we have a long and rich history, going back to the Romans, who built a shore fort just below the village, through the Saxons, Normans and right up to the present, where the local aerodrome saw action in 2 world wars and was the starting point for record breaking flights by Amy Johnson and others. After an eventful day, it was off to bed, tired but very much wiser.

Bet you could do yourself serious damage with a Rodenator.

These beggars did.

Now that's what I call a fender.

We used to be plagued with moles in our last garden. My father in law (who I don't think liked me much) helpfully suggested that I burn a "mole candle" in one of the runs and he just happened to have a spare one. This thing was like a firework and on a still summer evening, I lit the blue touch paper, shoved the candle down into a fresh mole hill and awaited results. Within a minute the garden had turned from peaceful tranquility to a smoke-filled hell, as the acrid and probably toxic fumes came up from the tunnels under my feet, irritating my eyes to the point where I couldn't see and making me cough uncontrollably. Somehow I staggered back to the house and fell in through the door, then groped my way to the bathroom to wash the smoke out of my eyes. In my blindness, I was only aware of the sound of laughter. Not sure whether it came from our kids, who witnessed the event, the moles or both.

I hope the beaver was suitably moist. Nothing worse than a dry omelette.

We used to get delicious herrings fried in oatmeal when I lived in Scotland many years ago. Sashimi mackerel was one of the great treats when boat fishing in the channel. Fresh mackerel slashed gown the flanks, rubbed with oil, salt, grated orange zest and garlic, then barbecued on the beach on a warm summer evening is the way to go.

A handsome looking ship, inside and out. Congratulations! Steve

Never mind real trouble, you could find yourself in Great Yarmouth.

Hmmm. Lung nodules too? I got these. Maybe a Microbiologist thing perhaps? A whiff too many of ethylene oxide or glutaraldehyde? Steve

I would call it knackered

Remind me not to pop out for a leak in the middle of the night.

Brilliant! I suspect there are a few DFLs in Whitstable who would buy it. Cheers Steve

Good old hoof and horn or rabbit skin glue is what you need. Stinky and not very good, but traditional. If these haven't been invented by the British yet, you may have to resort to fastening the wood with little oak pegs.

And don't forget, Santa is an anagram of Satan. However, this is yet another reason not to buy Cadbury's mediocre fat-laden brown sludge, which may only be called chocolate due to a derogation that Britain obtained from the EU.

I hope that they get more use than the rental bikes in the car park at Horning. I have only seen them taken out a few times this year.

I don't for the life of me understand why BA can't operate a system like the DVLA, where your "tax" runs for 12 months from the month in which you buy it. The BA don't now have to worry about checking that toll plaques are the correct colour for the year now, so that excuse has gone. This approach would eventually also even out the workload by avoiding the need to toll thousands on boats in March. But then again, they are not elected or accountable and the man in the funny hat doesn't really like boaters, so why would they change.

Thanks WherryNice, that makes sense

An excellent programme. Apart from all the jumping about, the only point of confusion for me was that I thought that Water Rail was to be involved. Clearly I was wrong.

Screw on lenses are all very well but, as my sister found when she parked her VW T25 camper opposite her house, it was all to easy for some local scumbag to steal both rear light clusters. Cost her a packet to replace them too.

Careful, this could become terminal.

We nearly always wave and usually get a wave back. The only exceptions are a certain misguided type of Broom, Freeman and Saily owners, who think they are some form of minor aristocracy and are so far up themselves that they are wearing themselves like a wig. I hope there is a special hell for such people.

Hopefully, for Mrs gnat's sake, quite a lot thinner.