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My favourite truck stop. Farm Cafe on the A17 near Spalding / Wisbech. Sit at a table and the lass calls out your number when the food’s ready. Always fascinates me. Not for the fine diners amongst us!

You can still tell us funny stories about being locked in a shed...with a budgie!

Last Yankee doodle Dandy was on the AI just before Xmas on the way to the in-laws,,sang a couple of lines of it to the young waitress on ordering.......she was'nt impressed......never heard of it,, she told me,, ah well,,missed out dint she,, can't sing at all now,,mind you lots of things i can't do now,, Blow a balloon up Blow candles out Whisper sweet nothings Be heard when i laugh or even when i cry,, Shout 'fuck' when i stub my toe.. LOL......wish i could

Are you sure your legs are the same length?

Took this photo on a Caithness Field Club trip to Ousedale on the border of Caithness and Sutherland on Saturday morning. Believe it or not, a 96yr old man (He's 97 in December) turned up and managed to get within a hundred yards of where I was standing when I took this picture! There were NO tracks or paths on our route, just rough heather and bracken moorland. In the evening he was going to a wedding dance, anorl! I take my hat off to him!

I not only remember them, we had all of them with exception of the bean slicer and the jumper board. We had a Goblin vacuum that slid on runners. My dad also bought and attachment they went on the 'blow' end and had a spray gun for paining walls/ceilings. The result was somewhat less than stellar. The Teasmade we used for quite a few years, the Flatley dryer also did some good service albeit slowly. The 'flying saucer' bed warmer was high technology - it had a light bulb inside to provide the heat. The potato rumbler was not a success, the hose came of the tap more often than no

I think there was a secret conspiracy with those bottle tops and Betterware. When foil tops first came out (following the demise of the waxed card inner fitting tops of the fifties) they had a little flap which lay at the side of the bottle and which you could lift up and easily remove the top with no danger of finger in the cream or a newly painted ceiling. It was some time after the introduction of the foil tops that this flap disappeared with the need for the Betterware contraption. I well remember those Betterwear polish samples. I took one of the tins to school to polish

All tractors are large these days, other than those used in yards or paddocks. It’s no longer economical to farm with smaller machines. The problem is when these gargantuans drive on the narrow country lanes and break up the verges and damage the drainage. What adds insult to injury is that they are exempt from road tax and use duty free red diesel. This would not be so bad if they were used primarily on the farm but now, because of their higher road speeds, they are used to haul giant trailers to take the produce to the grain stores or the beet factories, a job that was previously done by hau

Remember the 'Betterware' bloke with his suitcase? Used to give away those little flying Saucer shaped plastic things for pressing foil milk bottle tops. Saved you from those 'Thumb in the cream.. cream on the ceiling' moments. I was also the official keeper of the one we had in Henry Whipple Juniors when I held the lofty rank of Milk Monitor. The Betterware bloke also gave away little 'sample' tins of shoe polish and all sorts of basically useless plastic freebies which were so effective I don't recall what most of them were. My mum was persuaded to pur

She looks lonely Compo, why didn't you go with her Rog

How many of these do you miss or remember? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-45733751

I was told during a trip round Massey Ferguson some years ago that the agricultural machinery makers liked to take their tractors to shows and county fairs where the kids can climb over them and get into the cab and generally pull things about. Apparently the damage they caused highlighted any weaknesses in the machinery which were never envisaged at the design stage!

Must be a REAL fleshy Mediterranean tomato - like we have, not one of those bags of tasteless liquid so common in England! I find dried porcini excellent as well. There is always a good stock of home dried mushrooms here and porcini are the favourites. A good soak in water (retaining the water for stock or soup base, of course) and they make superb flavouring for omelettes.

Another mushroom often neglected is the horn of plenty (Fr. trompette de la mort. It. trombetti dei morti - trumpet of the dead). They are fairly common (very common here) but being black or dark grey in colour, are often overlooked and/or thought to be toxic (due to one of their popular names). In fact, they are quite delicious. Serve lightly fried with bacon/pancetta on toast for a simple, very enjoyable snack or breakfast or hors-d'oeuvre. One thing to watch for is that the trumpet shape tends to harbour creepy-crawlies. Have a good look inside them before using.

Actually...it was Margie who said it. I've just quoted Lizzie quoting Margie! There's a psychologist in the USA who has conducted a survey into people who dream of being back at school long after they left. Apparently, it's one of the top five most common dreams people experience. He discovered that they all rated these dreams as unpleasant and asked them to grade how unpleasant on a scale of 0 to 5 (where 0 is mildly unpleasant and 5 would equate to a nightmare). A few people rated their school dreams 1 or 2 but the vast majority rated them 4 or 5. So, Margie, you're bucking the

There's an entire scene in Saturday Night Sunday Morning from that location.

Lincoln Steampunk 2018 And Mrs P with "Herecule Poirot" Rog

Off to trial a job on Monday to see if I like it and if I do, it's mine. Fingers crossed!

Aaayup Miducks. As you know we are often out in the countryside enjoying the scenery and completely getting lost (well sort of) deliberately. We always manage to get back home though, eventually. All part of the fun. Hubbs would like to replace our oldish SatNav for his birthday next week, and he only wants one to cover 'The British Isles' as we will only ever be visiting these isles, neither of us has any interest in going further afield. I wondered if any of you NS have a good or bad opinion on what is on offer in the shops and bearing in mind we can't spend a fortune, as we need to keep th

Sorry know knowt about trains so not sure if the Flying Scot is ficticious or the same as The Flying Scotsman . The latter made its first ever trip to Cornwall yesterday and my local Facebook groups have been full of photos of the event . People were on every vantage point to get pics as it wended its way from Plymouth to Penzance . Near Redruth yesterday .....(not my photo).

Yes been in both of those,, even did interviews in them.....

Yes Rog. I still call into that one, one of the few left, or Pennells Garden Centre cafe. I pass that way regularly.

Yes Ben. I used travel a lot on business and always looked forward to an early breakfast at a Little Chef. It was a great institution.

Looked him up Fly,, and yes just what i mean a face we all know but not the name,,glad to see he's still with us,, love cowboy films and cowboys........think in reality i'd sooner have been a cowboy Actor than a real one,, lol

The Professionals with Burt, Robert Ryan, Claudia Cardinale and the all time great Lee Marvin is one of my favourite westerns. Look up LQ Jones, the ultimate baddie, he must be well near 90 by now, and made literally hundreds of westerns. A great character actor.

We don't do Cowboys though Loppy..........just watched ''Lawman'' brilliant,,try to watch a cowboy film every day,,i'm absolutely hooked on em,, Lawman 1971,,starring Burt Lancaster and Robert Ryan,,but every face was well known,,like looking all the actors up on 'Wikie'......nearly all now passed,,tend to forget the 70s are now nearly half a century ago,,........anyway good ending to Lawman......all the baddies killed,, and Burt made love to one of their women,,then rode off into the sunset..........what could be nicer...........

Neither do I, because I can't remember where I got that from !

Not the greatest photo you'll ever see, but....

^^^You mean stalking haggis?^^^ Which begs another question: Do Australian haggis (haggises?) go round the mountainside in the opposite direction to Scottish ones?

That is rare. I've never seen one before. My son and I were big vintage tractor enthusiasts and used to go round all the shows and farm auctions. He was an authority on vintage tractors and had all the reference books. That was when he considered agricultural engineering as a career. He changed tack in the 6th. form and ultimately became a lawyer! He's still an engineer at heart though and has a comprehensive engineering workshop at his home. His Ph.D is based on the countryside and the legal aspects of access. He used to help on a local farm during school holidays and I used to get roped in a

A final word on socks: I bought a pair of matching socks from Marks & Sparks last year. When I put them on.......one was almost three inches longer than the other - odd, don't you think?

I'm not sure who they are but they say they are all around and although they know everything they are only telling us what they want us to know.

I often hear that from my wife PF , eg "what will they think if you do that". I did enquire once who are they, only ever asked once and never found out.

Mines a Noza Tec, a cheapo from E bay, does ok for every where we want to go, four different types of voice (mans voice,womans voice, in two different styles each) speed camera warning, tells you when you are over the speed limit,plenty of warning when to change position on the road etc, someone will be along in a bit with their sat nav experience, plenty to choose from though, mines just a basic cheapo like I said Rog

I should have taken a photo of tractors when it was the hazlenut fair. The square was full of men and their tractors. Wonder how many were sold. My neighbours son has 2/3 of different sizes. Hes very proud of them and they are spotlessly clean

Who are "THEY"?, it's a question I have thought of asking many times but I don't know who to ask, "They" say it's going to rain, "They" reckon it'll be alright "They" said it wouldn't work "They"said it would be all over by Christmas WHO ARE THEY? Rog

The old Radford Mill is being converted to residential use, and clearly includes a new bit sticking out at the front. Once completed I guess it might blend in, but at the moment it doesn't look too promising.......

sliced and lightly fried in butter and olive oil together with a sliced tomato and Served with a good quality spaghetti and a sprinkle of Pecorino.

Tractors are a niusance when they hold the traffic up AND destroy the road surface. Really the only time we have problems and theyre not really problems is when its vendemmia time. They come in all sorts of sizes laden with grapes. The trouble shooters are the ones that instead of wheels they have tank whatever you call them. Theyve ruined part of our road which apparently is going to be sorted in the near future. Oh and during the summer when its really hot the tractors keep us awake while they cut, spread and bale the hay or plough the fields. Sorry I'm not grumbling , I love livi

Porcini are delicious with a splash of pernod or fennel seeds.

The guys in La Capanna asked after you Nonna, and say hello back. Good meal and wine tonight!

Thing is though Lizzie that many of the best edibles don't look much like the white mushrooms you get in Tesco. And some of those that look superficially like the ones you get in Tesco are deadly. I can't repeat often enough that you really do need to know exactly what you've got before eating anything.

Come to light now that discarded clothes are now a threat to the planet because of the amount of plastic in them, Threads, a lot of todays clothing has man made fibres in them ie: plastic in some for or other, Britains are buying new clothes faster than the Germans,French and other EU countries,and the old ones end up in land fill, where is it all going to end? Plastics in the oceans,pollution in the atmosphere,mobile phone radio waves attacking our brains, cyber attacks on computers,hospitals, motor car electronics even traffic light sequences, are we safe from anything anymore? R

The long and short of it Rog

A short while ago there was talk of mice here and I didn't really pay much attention, especially on the best way to kill 'em. Mice must read NS and took my lack of response as being vermin friendly. I'm not and will gleefully crucify the little swines who took up residence under my cars bonnet and destroyed the engine cover sound proofing. I took the car for it's service today and the technician asked if I lived near fields. Strange question I thought. He went on to tell me there was a mouse's nest next to the turbocharger and it had eaten the insulation and attacked the wiring. Cats

What you doing these days ? I've lost track of where you work

Whilst out in Bulwell yesterday,,had a look in the 'Charity shops' hoping to find a nice 'Cravat' or two,,did'nt find any,,Bulwell not exactly the Cravat wearing centre of the Earth,, However did come across some great unusual Shoes,,Black lace up Suede with silver trimmings,,great for Dancing on Holiday,,sadly only size 8,, and i'm a 10,, then spotted a nice 'Trilby' Frank Sinatra style,,but too small,,as me Mam would say ''like a pimple on a haystack''......so if i had a smaller head and feet yesterday would have been a better day.

I've not been drunk for a long time but sure the room always spun clockwise.

Peebles and district: Peebles high street (two views) Town bridge over the River Tweed:

A few days south of the border saw me taking in Rothbury (Northumberland) and Peebles (Southern uplands of Scotland): The River Coquet at Rothbury Rothbury village green The Armstrong almshouses