davep5491

Some of the 'donkey' engines fitted in the back of Mr Whippy ice cream vans ran on TVO. I used to work on the vans helping my dad when I was about 14. The engines were 4 cyl. Fords which had low compression ratios achieved by fitting a thicker head gasket. A Mr. Pearce held the Whippy franchise in Nottingham ably assisted by his son Roger Pearce. On the same site in Basford they also had a factory making Golden Crumpets.

nonna I've not seen her since about 1974/5 but another girl called Sonia worked at Cripps, Sonia married into the family that owned the Commodore, she ran the Tudor grill and bar she was still in touch with her a few years back.

nonna. I'm sure that it is the same person. Most people would use the spelling Sheila but she signed Shelagh. Occasionally I would drop her off at Cockington Road as it was on my route home. She mentioned that she knew someone on a new road called Wollaton Paddocks opposite Glaisdale Drive. Would that have been the riding school originally? It all seems to tie up, just checked Ancestry Shelagh Shipman married Jeremy Glover in Southwell 1972.

Nonna, Do you think that there may have been a Sheila and a Shelagh in his life? Shelagh worked in Reception at Cripps small very pretty black-haired girl and Jeremy used to pick her up from work. She lived on Cockington Road, Bilbororough.

Glovers Oil and Grease Ltd. St. Peter's Street Radford. see Nottingham Live, 58 pictures of life in Radford. 2nd pic. also refers to soaps and disinfectant. Jeremy married Shelagh Shipman who worked for Cripps on Triumph Road.

Jones the barber's original shop was next door to my grandma's sweet shop, Dorothy's, later owned by my aunt. The shop on the other side was a greengrocers I believe, then there was a path to Dr. Ryan and the allotments. I wonder how accurate my recollections are from about 1949.

I can remember the filling station being called the Blue Star Garage mid to late 50s.

Is the pattern a chat up line in Morse code?

And a decoke after 8 to 10,000 miles and a full service if you were going to Skeggy. Dozens of grease nipples needed feeding now everything is a sealed for life component checked by a person with surgical gloves and a sharp pencil, all for just £50+ pounds per hour.

Forgot about that one.

Paraffin waxes in diesel fuels gel in extreme cold weather conditions clogging up the systems. In my Scottish depots before the introduction of 'winter fuel' it was common to add a gallon of petrol to a tank of diesel and failing that to light a small fire under the tank. What's a risk assessment?

Back in the 60s, as well as diesel fuel being hygroscopic the problem was made worse as excess unused and by then warm fuel would be returned to a cooler metal fuel tank creating condensation. Modern fuel injection systems are far more sophisticated and fuel tanks are mainly plastic and I believe fuel filters now include a water separator so not a lot to worry about. If I had a vehicle with an inline injection pump and a metal fuel tank I would certainly want a water trap.

And other gears on some makes, remember having to learn to double de clutch. Rod operated brakes pre hydraulic, can you imagine?

After forgetting my wallet one night and having to rush back to our hotel to collect it on my daughter's advice I decided to set up Apple Pay on our phones. My wife loves it! Security is by face recognition, once set up no pin nor account numbers are required and will allow her to buy whatever, whenever and accepts her instructions no matter the mood. I think that I've just made myself dispensable.

DJ, Stents and angiograms were available in 1996 not sure about routine though. After a few problems in 96/97 I had numerous ECGs, monitors and an exercise tolerance stress test. Nothing was revealed and I was told to forget about it and just enjoy my life. A few weeks later I was back in dock and a wise experienced cardiologist decided to carry out an angiogram, a quadruple by pass was required. Unfortunately in 1997 the waiting list was 12 months for heart surgery even though my prognosis was not good. Luckily I had private health and it was done the following week.

I knew that Phil, that's why I made the comment.

60s Victors were possibly the most notorious rust buckets ever, did you have a new car for each lesson? The car I learned to drive in was Ben Siddon's workshop runaround, a well used Jowett Javelin.

Top left behind the A40 - looking at the wraparound screen I think possibly a 60s Victor.

BK It does take a bit of work but you can book Waitrose up to 10 days in advance, currently there are lots of slots 15th to 17th March in my area. To secure the slot I add a couple of bottles which takes me over the £40 and then amend the order the day before delivery. I've not been in a supermarket since March last year.

I have a Waitrose delivery once or twice a week, got one this afternoon at 3.00pm. Surely being higher ranking than myself BK you are entitled.

Are you pulling rank BK?

Not so Lizzie, my father was born a Prince, I am a Prince and my aunt was born a Prince.

My cousin married a Viscount and Baron, her mother was born a Prince. Does that get me in?

They had to be issued because they didn't have masks at all. I and several people people around me were wearing masks and were not required to change them. Just one person was asked to replace their mask as the one they had on did not meet NHS requirements.

No not me Lizzie, I had my jab early last week at Kings Meadow. If he looked like me in my profile he wasn't old enough for a jab. My wife had her jab yesterday at Kings Meadow and I kept her company in the quite lengthy queue, I was amazed at the number of people who had to be issued with masks before entering the building.