The Engineer

I agree with FLY2 that they shouldn't be oiling the butterflies. Each butterfly has a stainless steel shaft, sitting in a pair of brass blocks which are attached to the cobweb wheel. The blocks were new this year. Some slight misalignment of the mounts coupled with the shafts not being true meant that the butterflies didn't all swivel freely (small ones seemed worse - maybe due to less mass). I did drill out the blocks slightly to counter some of the error but some butterflies still wouldn't swivel freely. It was (and still is) on my snagging list to align the mounts nearer to true (i.e.

The rule-bending ethos of VW should fit in nicely at Red Bull Racing.

I would put all small print in Room 101. Maybe it's my age, but increasingly I just can't read it.

I hope they are true to their word and continue to look after it. Given that they have decided to give it 'a coat of looking at' after just three months of operation, I'd say that bodes well for the future. Let's remember that despite the restoration work we did, it's now 43 years old and the majority of the parts are original - bits will continue to wear (while it runs) and corrode (while it sits in a chlorinated pool). Great to hear that the good folk of Nottingham and our most welcome visitors have flipped 1,250 quid in so far, all going to 'When You Wish Upon a Star' The Emett Engineer

The sun is good for around another five billion years before it becomes a red giant and fries the earth. The more likely terminal event for life as we know it is an asteroid impact, something as big as the one that did for the land-based dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Those astronomer types are keeping an eye out and nothing big enough is expected in the next few years but they can only look so far ahead. I'd say "carry on and keep calm" for now.

When I saw the thread title "Nellie Bisby" I thought "Where have I heard that before?". Well when I was around 6 yrs old, we lived in an old stone detached house called Stoneycroft on Arnold Lane, between Wilton St. and Wallis St. Set in an acre of land with a pear orchard and a Bulwell stone wall all around (with broken glass in the top to deter climbers). We were only there for a year (rented) before moving to Bulwell. Stoneycroft was later demolished and a factory was built on the site called Spreckley and Evans, some sort of label printers - still there I think as "Spreckley" and the p

But it can be cold during grass-growing season - remember June '75 when it snowed in parts of the UK?

If it's old guys singing badly, I'll add Macca to that list. He's lost whatever he had.

10W40 is fine Mick. The 10W is the 'winter' viscosity, i.e how thick/thin it is when cold (colder climates need lower numbers). The 40 is the viscosity at normal operating temperature (rated at 100 degrees C). If there's an SAE prefix, that's the Society of Automotive Engineers who set standards (worldwide but emanating from USA). 2-STROKE OIL - AS YOU'VE GLEANED, YOU DON'T NEED FOR 4-STROKE, BUT FOR INFORMATION: Necessary for 2-stroke engines because the way a 2-stroke works means that it can't have oil in a sump. This special oil is mixed with petrol (ratio advised by manufacturer) bef

Apparently, the FaceBook 'dislike' button will exist so that you can convey the sentiment of 'how sad' or 'oh dear' to empathise with a bad experience (such as someone's cat has died). Personally I dislike FaceBook in toto so it's not an issue for me. Can anyone empathise with that?

Bumpity bump... Not sure where/who I got this from but I understand that the Bulwell stone wall between Vernon Road and the railway was required to be tall so that the trains didn't frighten the horses working on the road. Guess that fits with the railway being responsible for constructing Vernon Road.

Methinks there's a little scaremongering emanating from the press on a slow news day. This story has been doing the rounds at least since last year, citing several urban areas (including Nottingham), and particularly Bristol where they have a mayor who is allegedly 'anti-car'. Today's Nottingham Post article suggests that any scheme to surcharge diesel would apply to buses and taxis - it doesn't specifically mention private transport. The WHO (World Health Organisation) has asserted that Particulate Matter in category PM10 (particles smaller than 10 microns) should be no greater than 20 m

MORE SHOPS Just remembered another shop at bottom end of Bannerman Road; Frank Hunt (be careful in pronouncing his name!), general grocer with one of those scary bacon slicers (a machine, not a person). Fishing tackle shop was next door. Round the corner on the Vale was another Frank: Frank Ellis, greengrocer (his father had the shop before him so it must have been well established). I remember mam regularly buying a 56lb bag of King Edward potatoes and Frank Ellis would deliver in person at 'close of play' - he walked to our house with the bag on his shoulder.

Interesting thread (being a Bulwell resident 1964-1984). #74/#75 Three Crowns pub - the car sales was New Crown Motors (became Vauxhall dealership then their parts dept.); maybe named after the pub? #184, Enigma1st's photo of Main Street - bus is old format T plate, so registered bet Aug 78 and Jul 79. It would have been 12 years old by the 1990s so the photo may be earlier? (how long did NCT keep buses?) #61 and others; the Carberry brothers. I believe their father was a chemistry teacher at The Becket grammar school. #111/#113/#126: Steeplejacks on Radford Road near Shippo's. I think

You may recall earlier in this thread I mentioned asking the City Council for a list of Roseberry House attendees under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. They have responded with a refusal notice based on the anticipated cost of retrieval of data and also citing the Data Protection Act. Dear Requester Re: Request made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 This Authority has considered your request which was received on 10th August 2015 and our response to your questions are shown below. A list of names of children attending Roseberry House Skegness during its operation by Nottin

We need to stay focused and local. Can I suggest a topic specifically about bicycle threads used by Raleigh through the years? Maybe someone has photographs? If a little too narrow in content, we could cover bearings, axles and gears. There are seven bottom brackets on the Emett Clock, each with a No.5 axle. I have a Sturmey Archer book somewhere that covers three and four speed hubs. Stuff you can't buy anymore: A Raleigh bike made in Nottingham. Sad.

I concur that BSP is a thread, not a spanner size. BSP is tapered to allow a tight fit and reduce the chance of leaks. Other threads include the unified UNF/UNC but these use imperial 'across flat' spanners (same as AF - American Fine). When I was working on 'The Clock' I had to resolve a mix up between 5/16" UNC and 5/16" Whit as the threads are quite similar (differing only in the angle of the groove) - the tell-tale difference was the size of the screw head (UNC being smaller heads). Now who's being a bore? Still have my old Whit and AF spanners, bought from a tool shop on Hall Street,

Enigma1st showed me this brilliant website run by Nottingham City Council. It started years ago as the NOMAD (Nottingham Online Maps And Data) project where they collated various geographical data and made it interactive and on-line. http://info.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/insightmapping Among lots of data it has historical maps and aerial photographs of the City and County areas that you can overlay with a current map. By using a slider, you can cross-fade from old to current to see how it has changed. At the top of the screen where it says 'Road map', select 'Historical'. You then have two s

I reckon the lower arrow marks the spot I was thinking of (the Wilko's car park area) though don't know how the residents would have gained access (Spring Road vs. Market Place). Incidentally, another property shown is Church House; my uncle and aunt lived there for a while (meaning my aunt didn't move far from her parents across the road).

Here's a twitter feed dedicated to Notts pictures: https://twitter.com/NottsPics

The 'colour works' in #3 and the chimney in #5: was that Percy Andrews dye works? Enigma1st - if you have any other info on residents, it was the Bennett family I was researching. The Bennett's daughter married my uncle Bernard in 1932 so I'm guessing they were there around that period. All I have is 'lived in a cottage on Spring Road'

Were the cottages actually on Spring Road or were they accessed from the Market Place? One of my uncles lived there. They were demolished to build the Coop I think and would have been where it is now Wilkos car park.

From a HSE webpage: EC Decision 2008/865/EC for sodium chlorate was published on 10 November 2008. The dates for withdrawal of plant protection products containing sodium chlorate are given in Regulatory Update 05/2009. Would explain why it's not generally available for domestic use but there are exceptions, hence it can still be sourced.

You'll find Wright's Coal Tar soap is just fragranced nowadays. In the old days, carbolic acid (phenol) was extracted from coal tar and used in soap among other things (any pitters will recall PHB soap). An EU Directive stopped the use of phenol in soaps, cosmetics, etc. but allowed it to be used in medicines (hence you'll find it in Germolene for instance). Anyone determined to get the real carbolic deal should look to Jamaican shops but even then you have to check for ingredients. It's generally pinky-red in colour.

My current bugbear is people using reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself) when they should be using personal pronouns (e.g. me).