philmayfield

‘A very pithy summary’. Yeth!

I noticed that yesterday, driving towards Nottingham. Hawthorns into leaf, lots of blossom. It seemed to have happened almost overnight. Our grass is about 10" tall, thick and lush but still too wet to cut

Walter Bates now appears to be owned and run by the O’Reilly family according to Companies House. No sign of Bates anymore.

I’m not sure who’s running Bates now. The old man is long gone. His son Phil used to work for Geoff Simpson the electrician in Arnold. He later worked for me as extrusion manager for a couple of years but went back on the road as a contract electrician. I last saw him at a funeral about 20 years ago and he was working with his brother installing kitchens. He must be retired by now. He did know about 105E engines though as he spotted a gasket in my office from a Caterham 7 I was working on.

No! Posh fish pie in a crusty pastry. Just finished it. Not my favourite really. Steak and chips tomorrow - proppa food!

No, I think Plains Motor Co., which was further along towards the Miners' Welfare, was owned by another acquaintance of mine, Chick Wheelhouse who later moved to Gorse Hill Garage, then Lortas Rd, and ultimately Nuthall Rd. That was the sort of car he would sell back then.

I’ve been on a ferry across the Mersey well before that song was written. I think it was the Royal Daffodil. We went to visit one of my dad’s old workmates who lived in a prefab in Speke. It must have been in the ‘50’s. My girlfriend was at college in Liverpool and I used to go up there some weekends in my Healey Sprite. That was when Liverpool was the place to be. I later knew Alan Sytner who used to own the Cavern Club. He opened the Nottingham BMW dealership with his brother Frank on Mapperley top. I’ve been driven by Frank who was a racing driver. Even being driven through Nottingham by hi

We’ve got salmon en croute for dinner tonight. None of yer foreign rubbish!

Chicks/chips whatever.

Used to go down the cattle market with my dad to buy day old chips when he kept hens. Little fluffy things they were.

Was it tattooed on her backside!

You’re right Barrie. I just thought I’d give her a little treat away from the rigours of the kitchen. I’ve filled her car up with fuel as well and that cost me £80. I’m just too kindhearted for my own good. I hope she appreciates it.

He does go on a bit doesn't he.

….or trade in the wife and get a newer model!

Sorry. Half was eaten and half went in the bin. Or did you mean pictures of the young lady? I would have looked like a voyeur discretely trying to snap her!

I love the quote from George Galloway. 'Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak are two cheeks from the same backside!'

Perhaps he has other ways of expressing joy? Re ‘expressing joy’ ’After very carefully expressing joy in suitable language, my Indo-Japanese servant brewed my coffee.’ It’s amazing what lies in the depths of the memory. It’s a mnemonic for the anterior venous system of the frog. That’s a useless piece of information!

Will Col be dancing in the street today?

As a special treat I went to the Burton Joyce chip shop yesterday. Two haddock and chips with mushy peas - all for £23.20!! The battered fish was indifferent, the chips (enough for 8 people!) were soggy and the peas were a luminous emerald green. It was Greek so perhaps that’s how they eat them. Maybe the Chinese variety from Southwell next time after I’ve saved up. I’m sitting in the Jag dealers in Lincoln at the moment whilst a problem is sorted on my wife’s car. An amply proportioned young lady keeps bringing me coffee to alleviate the boredom.

I’m a peripatetic, but then it’s all Greek to me!

I’m more of a cynic actually.

She’s a cordon bleu cook and I’m a cordon bleu eater. It’s a marriage made in heaven.

I always buy my wife a cookery book at Christmas. She never reads them! Last Christmas it was ‘The Hairy Bikers British Classics’. No doubt it will be in the singular next year.

I’ve just been into the library to check (I know it sounds pretentious but we do have a room with lots of books so we call it ‘the library’) and I’ve found my old school hymn book, ‘The Public School Hymn Book’. Now that was pretentious! I was latterly in the choir (god knows why) so I had a much larger hymn book with musical notation. I must have returned that one. No charge was made for our hymn books though.