StephenFord

Re #5 - Carni ! Really ! Two spoons - I suppose that's so that you can shovel it in faster, alternate hands. I'm quite shocked !

And I can play the fool.

Wonder if these elephant handlers do risk assessments? !

Comb and tissue paper; Blade of grass ! But really enjoyed Loppylugs playing the organ.

Horses? What's them? Are yer talkin' abaht the tennerclockosses? My mother in law still uses the expression.

Think it was Sri Lanka Compo was going to.

I like your reasoning Carni - but I think if you were going to eat four, and wanted to burn off the calories the same day, maybe you should have had them for breakfast?

The eggs are OK. So is the flour and milk. It's the frying bit that's a problem. In my book, the only real medium for frying is lard - and that's a swear word in the heart encyclopaedia !

Patiently? How does that work then Carni? ! Anyway, much as I love 'em, I think discretion will have to be the better part of valour following my heart attack last year. (Sob!)

Yes - a friend of mine used to reckon that Wimpey (the construction company) stood for "We Import More Paddies Every Year". But of course, it would be politically incorrect for me to say that now !

How are the Midland and London Road Low Level stations described? - Do they also specify the ownership?

#2199 - So, Carni, you'd get two big loaves for a pair of nickers?

St Ann's Chas. - don't worry - "going on a bit" is what we tend to do on here !

Seem to think shillings were for the electricity meter; pennies for the gas.

I think the price went up - well, it wouldn't go down would it? Can't remember when.

Re #2164 - Remember doing that in Westport, Ireland once - about 1970. Wanted to book a cabin on the boat from Dun Laoghaire to Heysham (after the Britannia Bridge had been burnt - before you tell me the boats went to Holyhead!) First, you had to wind the handle to attract the operator's attention. Then you asked for the number. Then she said, "There's a two hour delay on calls to Dublin, I'll book your call for 3 o' clock" [or whatever time it was]. Then you went back to the phone box at that time (hoping there was nobody monopolising the thing) and went through the rigmarole all over again,

Reminds me of the superb rhyme in Hilaire Belloc's poem about Lord Lundy who was for ever bursting into tears : "His grandmama (his mother's mother - who had some dignity or other, the garter or, no matter what - I can't remember all the lot) said 'O that I were brisk and spry, to give him that for which to cry.' An empty wish, alas, for she was blind and nearly ninety-three."

Not really hard to imagine - no TV in those days !

The giveaway in the Ilkeston Road picture is the entrance to Radford station on the brow of the bridge in the background.

I seem to remember it was "a gay little sprite" before the adjective had been hi-jacked to its present meaning.

Highfields lake was one of my regular Saturday or Sunday morning excursions with my dad when I was 3 - 4 years old. Always half an hour on a rowing boat. This destination was rotated with Wollaton Park, Trent Bridge (and a rowing boat on the Trent), the Castle, Victoria station (platform tickets were only 1d !), and occasionally more exotic places - like Woodthorpe Park, Arnot Hill Park, or Broxtowe Woods - no, don't laugh ! And, of course, if money was really tight - Melbourne Park - which didn't involve bus fares.

Well - it's a challenge isn't it? And with the local angle, much more absorbing than Sudoku !

Mercurydancer - good show. Hope it goes well. Don't forget to post some of your experiences here afterwards! O - and don't forget that you need a (very expensive) transit visa for Belarus - unless you go by a long and roundabout way, in which case you would probably need to cross Ukraine - and that may not be a very healthy option at the moment.

Possibly all five.

i.e. Rigley = wagons; Wrigley = Chewing gum !