Compo

I did all the usual stuff but this is the first batch that has had an infection. Probably not as sterile as I thought.

You are meant to remove the collar studs before you iron - makes it much easier.

Are you sure it was a p[iper and not someone strangling a cat, Loppy?

Yer razzers are nice and early NBL. Mine are still in flower!

Asiatic lillies doing nicely in dappled shade:

Mrs Compo used to be a senior social worker. She says that Social Workers have meetings to discuss having meetings.

ARGH! You promised to let me know when you were up so that we cold get a pint together!

The language around my little county is a form of ancient Doric. After 25yrs in the far north I still can't fully understand a full-speed conversation among locals. Even a basic greeting such as "Ftlikeeday?" can be confusing when spoken in full accent.

Until the late 1960s there were families living in the coastal caves around the county town of Caithness, Wick. Sadly they've all gone now - wonder if they ate each other to extinction? Come back Sawney Bean - all is forgiven.

This past fortnight it has been the Clegs (Biting flies) that have been the big problem up here. They love the hot, dry weahter and are biting in their thousands all over the far north. Midges prefer dull, damp days.

Had an interesting 90 minutes in an online discussion about mental health issues last night. Given that I'm almost 100% insane I enjoyed it very much and to top it off I earned £30 for taking part - which was nice

Nice one OZ!

Field poppies:

Panicking today. My younger sister is visiting tomorrow for her 59th birthday and I have still not fitted the marzipan to the cake - what's the betting the icing doesn't have time to set

Congratulations, Dennis!

My little sister is visiting tomorrow on her 59th birthday. for tea I plan to give her something our mother used to make when we were small. A beef stew with dumplings followed by what she called Rhubarb tart. You may know Rhubarb tart under a different name - it is a yorkshire pudding mix with chunks of rhubarb cooked into it.

When our estate was createded from new in 1955 a row of shops was situated at the bottom of our road. The fruthest shop to the right of the bolck was a grocer's shop run by a Mr Williams. Over fifty year s later, when my mother was becoming senile, she was found walking to Mr Williams' shop one evening in her dressing gown, clutching a twenty pund note....going for the groceries for the family.

It's the remains of the carapace of a Spider Crab, Lizze - edible and good. They grow to about two feet across (including legs) if allowed to mature.

During the 1980s, there was a pub in Darwen, Lancs., that sold a "Greedy Pig" grill. It consisted of all the usual meaty suspects witih an added fried egg, some tomatoes and fried bread. It was expensive but each time you finished a meal and left a clean plate your name went down on a list. Next time you ordered one you got a little extra and so on until it got to a point where you couldn't possibly eat any more - then you went back to square one. A great gimmick for selling food though!

I used to love the "Blockbusters" they served in The Empire Café. Tea (in those rounded, white, cups/mugs) and a blockbuster: a tanner the lot.

I think I must have been around six years old when the school bully caught me on top of a wall. It was only about three feet high but for a wee laddie it seemed big. He came along the wall and started pushing me. For once I pushed back and he fell - he never bullied me again.

I remember these holidays in the early 1950s when East coast beaches had ex WWII DUKWs ferrying people along the beach for a ride.

Ian123 said: "Barricades made from ration boxes." Reminds me of my days at Plessey Telecomms. A section leader had an open plan room so to satisfy his sense of self importance he built a barricade of empty boxes between himself and the workers. Each Friday evening a bunch of us working on overtime in the next room would dismantle his castle and stack the boxes in a corner. On the following Monday the wall would appear agin. This went on for several months - I've no idea who he thought might have been undermining his sense of self importance ............. We nicknamed him "Adria

On the subject of photographers leaping out at you in Skeggy: Here's a photo taken by such a photographer circa 1955. Note the number in the bottom right-hand corner.

Whatever happened to "Elbow Grease"? I spent nine hours working on my old range cooker yesterday. Worked hard at getting the carbon caked cast iron back to a raw grey metal surface and then ran out of elbow grease and had to sit down with a pint to recover. In the old days I had elbow grease to spare but these days it is in very short supply.