banjo48

Not sure about english ants but here in oz we get infested with the buggers, the best cure is a bait which the workers take to the nest and it kills the queen, which in turn wipes out the nest. A simple bait is some peanut butter and honey with some borax powder mixed through, takes a few days but works. Can be put inside a bit of pipe or under a saucer to prevent pets from eating it. The nests you have now are all new colonies from when the flying ants turn into queens and start more colonies, every flying ant has the ability to start a new nest. Other option I used

#811 DJ360, had the cardiac CT scan last year, nothing to it really apart from you get a weird "I've wet myself" feeling when they inject the contrast, I did anyway and they did warn me about it. As for my other woes, my little forehead trapdoor seems to be finally healing and looking less like frankenstein than before. but they inform me it was successful and they managed to remove the nasty pretty well. So all good here at the moment.

Catfan The old post office building was originally the mechanised parcel sorting office, I worked there on it's construction, and many times after it opened. The place is literally full of blue asbestos (crysidilite sp.) very nasty stuff indeed, we were there when it was found to be carcegenic and cause mesothelioma. We were told to have regular chest xrays and if affected we would be covered, whatever that means in todays age. It was literally boxed in to seal it away, with hundreds of sheets of plywood, it was supposedly fireproofing for the steel structura

Many happy memories of Skeggy, learn't to swim there on a day trip into Butlins with my great aunt, donuts, fish and chips all happy times. Then when I was a teenager I decided to go there on my pushbike with a mate and camp, camped on the sand hills somewhere to the north side and a bloody gale came in and blew the tent away in the middle of the night ! skidaddled back to home like a wet rat next morning. Still head to the east coast for a day trip, usually Cleethorpes first then head down to Mablethorpe and skeg and back to nottm, when I return to the uk for a holiday.

Bit of a follow up to my woes, the good news is they say the graft has taken well, but every time I look at it to apply some special ointment I nearly pass out, and I can assure you I'm not normally squeamish ! the wife won't come near me without the dressing on as she can't look at it or she faints too ! 40 odd staples were painfully removed during the first dressing change after a week. To say yuk is an understatement but they assure me it's early days and it will get better. At least the pain has now subsided, the little man that was in my head hammering has obviou

Just had probably one of the worst weeks of my adult life. Had a funny quick growing mole removed from my left temple a few weeks ago, got the call back a couple of days later, not a melanoma but a very rare, very fast growing invasive nasty carcinoma so got to have more skin removed asap, problem, not enough skin on head to get a good boundary, so go to see a plastic surgeon quick time and went in last wednesday for a removal and split skin graft. Actual operation under general was no probs, but the pain afterwards, my god ! been on panedine forte and oxycontin for n

Might add, when I first met my wife at Gedling miners welfare, I was actually with Ralph and Will, we were a well known trio at the time, we saw these 3 girls, and picked one each, Ralph picked Val, Will picked Bella and I got my future wife ! Ha ha how amazing that we will celebrate our 50th anniversary this year and they all said it wouldn't last. Even my wife's elder sister tried to break us up as she said we were far too young to be in a serious relationship. But now I'm really going OT. As a follow up to your remark above, I love looking up my past, even

DJ360 I knew Dawn well, and only last met her a few years ago on Westdale lane, she was visiting her mum in the sheltered accomadation about half way down on the right hand side. Small world isn't it ? I knew the family very well as the older brother, Mick, was my brothers best mate. There was quite a few kids in the family and one of the older sisters lived there with her husband. Will try and wrack my brain for the names. Another brother was Barry, another daughter Debbie but thats it for now, Oh the married daughter was Grace. Ralph had a seriou

The photo of Baileys is a bit confusing as that corner area was always full of tables with displays of fruit and veg outside the shop, I went to school with the son who lived there, think his name was Andrew but may stand corrected. Some confusion may arise as in the early days, mid 50's there was some big houses with large front gardens abutting plains road around that area, one such house was my old school mate Will, his house was huge and had a stables/barn to the rear and side, it was straight across almost, from the top of Breckhill road, some terraces were either side but on

From my distant memory, Mapperley tea gardens was on Haywood road, my mum used to go dancing there, I believe the area fronting it on the North side of Haywood, was open land all the way through to plains road (or Mapperley Tops as we called it. Somewhere near the now Co-op shop, the original co-op was at the top left corner of Gretton road. And yes Baileys have been there forever ! I moved to Mapperley as a 4 year old in 1952-3,

My wife failed her test in the uk , 5 times due to being unable to reverse park ! she nearly gave up but I made her persist with another test, by now she was 6 months pregnant with our twin daughters ! She did the test again and when she got to the reverse bit, she explained to the test inspector that her "bump" would not allow her to do it properly as she was hitting the steering wheel with it ! Anyway he must have felt sorry for her as he let her off and passed her then. Might add in just over 30 years later, she still cannot reverse park and often drives round

My old dad did the pools religiously for years, then one Sat night he screamed "I've got 8 draws ! " the Sunday we were all running around in a daze wondering how we were going to spend it. On the Monday dad took the day off work and we all drove down to Leicester (Vernons I think) to get his winnings, in he went all happy then a while later came out all glum, there had been that many claims he only won a miserly amount, don't think it even covered his day off and petrol to get it. Poor old bugger was so disapointed but carried on doing them regardless even though he never won

Had a pair of Wharfdale Kingsdales, big and ugly but boy they sounded good, think the front speakers were Lintons. Used to think I was hifi buff till an old acquaintance introduced me to his gear, he was quite a wealthy successful business man by then, he had some very nice uk made gear, cannot for the life of me remember but maybe Linn ? know the deck was a Linn sondeck (sp) He never switched the deck off, it was always turning quietly away as he recond it was much better quality sound and no rumbles or whatever as it was warmed up ! Always remember him putting o

Great story and memories John, welcome to the group. I too knew Stu in the very early years, posted somewhere in another thread here I think, I used to play with him on Caunton avenue near my great aunts house, when I used to stay there as probably a 9-10 year old (maybe a bit younger). I used to "steal" or borrow my great aunts sons air pistol and those dart things and we'd have a great time shooting them at an old gate with a makeshift target on it, think it was the top access gate to the Hungerhill allotments maybe. Our paths crossed again many times in later life and

Pellets can make a big difference on most air rifles, and usually there is one particular one that suits a gun best. When I bought my air rifle the gunsmith chronographed it with about 10 different brands and weights. I was then given the print out and a selection of the best performing in both accuracy and power. And I'll agree that my rifle is no good whatsoever in an enclosed shed or grain store, just too powerful, I have considered selling my 0.22lr and buying a .177 low power air rifle just for ratting or pigeons inside. Also simpler to store as no live ammunition to worr

#94 Maybe in the UK but here in Oz my Weihrauch HW100T is rated at 33ft/Ibs with a velocity of around 950ft/sec. My real rifle, a Bruno 0.22lr. I used to hunt feral animals, mainly rabbits and cats and more often choose my air rifle now, instead of the "real" one, it is super accurate up to around 100m. and cheap to operate. Both require a full firearms license and are both classified as firearms, and have to be stored accordingly.

In't it funny when us blokes go for one of these wonderful rear end with a rubber snake jobs, it's always a very attractive lady that appears to do the biz, yet when my good lady last had hers she got a lovely big bloke with very hairy arms (her words not mine) maybe they do it deliberately.

My wife's elder brother did a heap of soft furnishings and curtains for her over the years, and became very friendly with the family, when he told people he knew Freddy's mum, most thought he was joking ! ( I did when he first told me)

Here in Oz ticks are a fact of life when the weather warms up, especially in kangaroo populated areas. I have to use a flea and tick control on both my dogs full time, I tend to switch between Advocate and Frontline or whichever is on special at the time. Another problem here is heart-worm in dogs and cats, a very dangerous parasite that can eventually kill the animal by strangling their heart from the inside. We give a monthly chew which stops any infection but has to be used for life ! there's a yearly injection too but my springer spaniel has a bad reaction to it. I

Margie Nothing serious, mainly to scare away 28 parrots (that's what they are called 28's here in W Australia ) that tend to roost in trees near us and drive me crazy with their raucous cries at 4-30 am in a morning ! A quick shot with some loose fine gravel soon moves them on to annoy somebody else.

We actually called our catapults Gally's or Gallies. I actually still use a proper bought catapult sometimes still now, black widow I think it's called, uses round hollow rubber tube that is also used on spear fishing guns, and has a metal frame with wrist support.

#13 My local chemist at corner of Mapperley plains and Gretton road, can't remember his name, short tubby little fellow with frame less bottle bottom glasses, must have known what I was up to when I used to buy my salt peter, pemangamate of potash and other goodies for my childhood "bomb making " enterprises ! We even used to make our own charcoal and grind it up ! We then moved on to weedkiller and other sweet things that went bang ! I used to buy "Jetex" fuse from the model shop up past the Porchester pub, great stuff for our experimentation at the time, my brother had a litt

Used to love going to Charles Town, there was another similar shop up a narrow street just round the corner from the Co-op on Parliament street. Can't remember the name of street of shop though. I remember it sold lots of ex wd gear, I bought some aircrew throat mikes, god knows why.

David Swan, now there's a name from the past ! Did you use to work for BT I wonder ? then leave to start to grow spuds on a Lincolnshire farm ?

Must have driven or rode my bike past there many times and never ever noticed that spot before ! spent many an hour in the Inn for a Penny though.