DJ360

I tried to be kind to an animal once. We used to have a bit of trouble with mice, before I figured out that they were coming in under the door of the (integral) garage and then making their way into the house. I blocked off all of their entry routes and we've had no bother since. However.. the last mouse was a clever little so and so and defeated all attempts to catch it, until my youngest woke me early one morning to say she thought it was in her bedroom bin. I'd already told her not to leave any food related items in her room, but it looked like the little mouse was

Gosh! It did some serious digging after you dropped it off!!

Not sure which gig you are referring to, but I saw him with Cream at what was then Nottm Tech (Nottm Trent Uni now I think.) I have mentioned it before.

It's all here.. João Gilberto: Brazilian 'father of bossa nova' dies aged 88 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-48894651

Compared to what?

No need for it to be spicy in the 'hot' sense. Mine isn't. It can be as simple as chickpeas, a little lemon juice and olive oil, blended up. Cumin adds a little earthy fragrance.. very middle eastern but not 'hot'. Tahini is very 'umami' ish, and slightly bitter.. almost like a concentrated peanut butter taste. It's optional... as is garlic.. or the quantity thereof. I'd say just try it. A little pot from Tesco. You may be surprised. I really didn't fancy it until I tried it, but then I was an immediate convert.

I did, yesterday, but without the beans.. I'm a purist re: an 'English' and I never think beans are quite right with it. Tomatoes are acceptable, but must be cooked down so that there isn't half a gallon of juice sloshing abaahht on yer plate mekkin yer toast or fried slice soggeh.

It is so simple. I use a method where you blend the lemon and tahini first, then add everything else. But I'm pretty sure you'd get great results just by chucking it all in and blending for a few minutes. A lot cheaper than the supermarket variety and of course you can vary the mix, add other stuff, or whatever. In the middle east they just seem to mash all the ingredients up in a stainless steel bowl before putting very hot spiced oil on top, along with spices. I put my finished hummus in a bowl and top with a sprinkling of paprika and a drizzle of olive oil. I

Naahhh.. They're Hummers. The collective noun for them is a 'Stench'.

You don't know what hummus is?

It won't come to that. Only thing that occurs is that I need to check whether I still have sections labelled 'upstairs' and 'downstairs' sockets, as this would effectively be an upstairs socket wired with the 'downstairs' lot. I need to check this out with lights too. I used to have two sections labelled upstairs lights and downstairs lights. With new distribution board, I now just have two sections labelled 'lights'. It's not clear exactly what each breaker controls..something I still need to check out.

Anyway. This morning I made Hummus and had two slices of wholemeal 'Oat and Barley' bread, toasted and liberally spread with hummus, for lunch. Magic. I use: 1 can drained chick peas. 30 ml (approx) or juice of one lemon. 30 ml Tahini. 30 ml Olive Oil 1 small clove garlic (minced) 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin. 15-30 mls water, or liquor from the chickpeas, to adjust consistency. I'm getting quicker at this and can now assemble everything, make the hummus and have all kit cleaned and put away in about an hou

Brew, 15A was just force of habit from way back. I of course meant 13A. I'll be installing 2.5mm flat twin and earth, as used in all original power socket installations here. It's unlikely I'll need to use the new 'kitchen feeds'. All upstairs power sockets are fed from above, in the loft. Sadly all of that wiring is no longer easily accessible as it is buried under insulation and loft boarding. Even if it were accessible in loft, I'd be into dropping a wire through a stud wall and thus having to break into it at several points to get wires past 'head' and 'sole' plate and who kno

After first night in the new bed I awoke far too early but refreshed. I want to fit a new power socket in the bedroom so that there's one each side of the bed for bedside lamps etc., rather than the current arrangement of an extension lead. Due to the lie of the underfloor joists etc., I reckon the best bet is to go from under landing floorboards, using either original 15A wiring, or by breaking into one of the hefty new 'feeds' installed when the kitchen was renewed. I'm not entirely sure how to tackle this... Where's Benjamin when you need him? I almost got around to lifting landin

Margie, you could try selecting one decent shoot and letting it grow on. Then maybe train it as an 'espalier' or somesuch, up a bit of trellis. With proper pruning you may get a crop of decent apples, but I suspect the stump may eventually rot. Things will grow if you let them. On the subject of 'stump stories'. The year I had my heart attack, I decided to move a Peony (Sarah Bernhardt). It was a good 20 years old then... I still have it and it's in flower right now. Anyway, having read that Peonies don't like being moved, I decided to dig around it and try to move the roots

Yesterday I 'Rug Doctored' the interior of my car. Then, after she'd spent about 40 minutes emptyiing it of all the crud she fills it with, I did the same with Mrs Col's car. A chap on my other favourite site commented that he'd 'have to shovel the gravel out', before cleaning his wife's car. Mrs Col's was like the result of an unholy congress between a compost heap and a self-propelled skip. It's better now... Today I'm expecting delivery of a new bed. Also going to finish 'rug doctoring' some soft furnishings and the carpet in the hallway.. Actually it's a small porch..

Exactly. Take it easy Nonna.. you need to take time out to enjoy your good news.

So, my rental of a filthy and only partially functioning Rug Doctor officially ended at 11:00 a.m. However, after my call to Customer Services listing the catalogue of issues, they offered me a further 24 hours use of a machine from 12:00 noon today. I only needed to take the old machine back at 12:00 and collect another from a different locker... I arrived at 12:00 on the dot and put my rented and now much cleaner machine back in the locker, along with its faulty, (but now clean..) Upholstery Attachment. Moved to No1 locker and entered the code to get my replacement

Thing is Nonna, as you know 'fitted' carpets became the norm here from probably the 60s onward. It's true there's been a big move to rugs and laminates, or varnished floorboards and so on. My experience of laminate floors etc., is that they are always dusty, simply from being in the same room as people, soft furnishings etc. and need to be mopped at least daily, sometimes more. Probably more hygienic but a right royal PITA. I suppose ideally we should all have sofas etc., that have clearance underneath for cleaning, but we don't, and moving furniture everytime you hoover isn't e

The 'Saga of the Rug Doctor' continues... By the time I'd got the thing home and cleaned it up before use, time was getting on. I successfully cleaned the bedroom carpet and then set about the upholstery. Firstly, the upholstery attachment was filthy. Thick layer of sludge type stuff inside the cleaning head. Cleaned it up and attached it to the machine to find that the small water feed hose gets 'kinked' by the weight of the vacuum hose. Oh well.. Switched on and found that the 'trigger' on the cleaner head had no effect. Water was squirting out continually.. After a pretty qu

All done Brew. I found a video which recommended NOT putting the detergent in the machine, as it is impossible to get it all out and carpets get dirty again quickly. So, as recommended, I diluted the detergent at the same ratio as in machine, but just sprayed it onto the carpet and let it stand for 15 minutes. I used about four litres and put a bit more on wear areas and less on bits covered by the bed and so on. Then just used the machine as normal but with warm clean water rather than detergent mix. It worked a treat. Next up, made sure the tank was empty and did another pass '

Just been to collect a 'Rug Doctor' carpet cleaning machine from Tesco in Haydock. Ten mins from here. Not a promising start. Had to enter the keycode for the locker about 30 times to get the door to open. Lifted the machine out and tilted it slightly to figure out how to extend the foldaway handle... Result.. half a gallon of water on the floor. Had to inform staff so they could get it cleaned up. Slip hazard. Then took the machine out to my car and laid it on its side to drain another couple of gallons of water out before placing it UPRIGHT in car, which meant chucking

Today I went to the NorthWest Hi Fi Show at Cranage Hall in Cheshire. It's a smaller and more 'intimate' show than the big one in Bristol. Very friendly and relaxed. Always bump into some old friends and acquaintances from both the 'punter' side and the industry side. Today we kept bumping into Dean, who is a science teacher from Sheffield, but also something of a legend in hi fi and music circles, due to his encyclopaedic knowledge of all things R&B, Motown, Soul, Reggae, etc. A good bloke. I'm not looking to buy any kit, as I'm happy with my present system, but

Tell us your nearest coffee place Ben, and I'll stand you a Double Espresso next time I'm in Nottm.

Terrific to see Ben back. Hope you get sorted my friend. Be good.