Oztalgian

Looking back to when we left the UK and bringing up three kids in OZ we just had one small galvanised rubbish bin and it held all our rubbish for the week. Today we have three bins one bin collects almost exclusively packaging for recycling as everything comes in cartons, boxes, trays and heavy blister packs. Back in the day paper and cardboard would have gone on the coal fire or in the garden incinerator. Garden waste would have been put in the compost heap and then back on the garden. Today we seem to be inundated with P.E.T soft drink bottles in our waste streams, are we drinking

Didn't he used to host the quiz show Eggheads?

Now I am retired and due to the casual lifestyle here in OZ I only have 3 semi formal shirts, the rest are collared casual polo shirts, the same goes for tailored trousers and I no longer own a suit. Summer wear is usually a T shirt and shorts, winter is cotton track suit pants with a fleece top. I don't own an overcoat. A drizabone oilskin jacket suffices for a cold rainy day when I am outside.

Back in the day I used to love fishing at Fiskerton, you bought your day ticket at the Bromley Arms. My favourite spot was the "beach" at the end of the wall in the direction of Hazelford. You had to watch out for the John Harker barges ast they would was your gear away. It was quite an expedition to get there as the MDT bus service through Fiskerton, the 209, was only every two hours. The luggage space under the stairs was often rammed with fishing boxes and baskets, rods were usually with you in your seat due to risk of damage. The bus ride was quite pleasant, through, Farnsfield, Edingley,

In our council area we have three bins, A green lidded 240 litre bin for garden waste, lawn clippings, weeds, prunings etc. a yellow lidded recycling bin for waste paper, cardboard, plastics etc. These are collected every second week, our general waste bin, 120 litre, is collected on alternate weeks to the others. There are a couple of things that come into play. Very few soft drink and beer bottles and cartons ever end up in the recycling bin as they have a 10 cent deposit on them and people save them and take them to a collection centre to get their money back. Remember the th

Brew, In answer to your comments. There is FOI in Australia, but responses are often heavily redacted claiming and confidentiality, security and any other nefarious reason they can think of to not give us the information. I strongly object to using taxpayers money to entice sporting celebrities and entities to our state. If their offering is so good they would not need government support. The AFL season runs from now until September, The Adelaide oval holds 40,000 people if 30% of the crowd use public transport on free tickets that is 24,000 free trips each week for 24 weeks. Wi

Saw something on our local news tonight that made my blood boil and makes me want to take a piece of 4x2 to see if I can knock some sense and reality into our State Labor premier and his ministers in government. Today the state government announced that bus and train travel would be free to all patrons going to the Adelaide oval for the AFL season that hold a match ticket. How much is this going to cost? I doubt if they will tell us. This announcement comes on top of the government spending millions in sponsorship to get interstate AFL fans to come to South Australia for the "AFL Gat

Sack the no hopers that are currently in the team as they have no passion for the club and are only there for the cash. Develop a local/UK youth policy, Forest were at their best when they developed local talent and took them through to the first team. Buy "that man" Macauley Langstaff from Notts and Davis Keilor-Dunn from the Stags and give them a go. Stop importing unproven expensive international "talent" many of whom are not up to the standard required for the EPL. Do a full review of player recruitment staff and methods as it obviously has been a failure. S

There are some interesting interpretation of some of the lyrics in Penny Lane. Definitely the best ever Beatles "single" as it had Strawberry Fields Forever as its 'B' side Most Beatles fans know that the Number 46 Liverpool Corporation bus went to Penny Lane, fewer knew that the 73A also went via Penny Lane as did the 77. I learned these useful facts from trivia nights at the pub

Caerphilly cheese was the only cheese my dad ever took in his "snap tin" down t'pit. He always said it was made especially for the miners in South Wales and did not sweat in the hot areas of the mine.

Forest - Go down 1-0 away at Brighton with Andrew Omobamidele scoring an unfortunate own goal in the 29th minute. Forest could have equalised immediately after the goal but Origi could not beat the Brighton 'keeper in a one-on-one situation. Forest never really looked like scoring apart from one chance by Chris Woods that brought a fingertip save from Verbruggen, and the Seagulls dominated possession ensuring Forest's chances were few and far between. Forest are 17th on the ladder three points above Luton who they play on Saturday. To say it is a must win game is an understatement, as if they

County - Trying to work out what has gone wrong at Meadow Lane. They have the leagues joint top scorer, Macauley Langstaff with 23, and he could have easily added to his tally against AFC Wimbledon. Daniel Crowley comes in at 13th place with 13 and David McGoldrick at 16th with 12 goals making up a total of 69 goals. Second highest in the league and only 3 less than the Stags who top the table. The problem is that they have leaked 68 goals, the second worst in the league. Can Stuart Maynard do anything to arrest the slide. if so what? They have not won at Meadow Lane this year. How long will t

A correction to the Stags report Stockport scored a late goal, 90+3, against Newport County to go second, three points behind Stags with a game in hand but with a nine goal disadvantage on goal difference.

County - Crumble to another defeat 0-2 at Meadow Lane. An unfortunate own goal by Cornell Rawlinson in the 80th minute after coming on as a substitute in the 60th minute. AFC Wimbledon put the game beyond doubt 5 minutes from the end with a goal from K. Balmer. Since Williams left County's performances have been erratic at best and from being genuine contenders at the start of the season are now also rans in 15th place. AFC Wimbledon collected 5 yellow cards throughout the game. Away at Crawley Town on Tuesday evening. I am not sure how long Maynard will survive. Stags of to a flyi

No doubt that the "need" for libraries has diminished due to the interweb but our local library appears to be well patronised. My wife still prefers to read an actual book rather than reading on a tablet or Kindle.

The Ribblehead Viaduct is a magnificent structure, to stand underneath it and look up is awe inspiring. When we were there we also went to see the church at Chapel-Le-Dale where there is a memorial to the railway workers. Records at the church indicate that there are over 200 burials of men, women and children who died during the construction.

I left in 1975 to come to OZ. I was so fed up with the bloody mindedness of the militant unions. When I came here we could manufacture vehicles from the roof to the tyres and now thanks to the flat earth economists and the stupidity of successive governments we no longer have an automotive industry. Are cars cheaper now that they are all imported, of course not. We lost many skills through this economic vandalism and now China, Japan, and other SE Asian or Eastern European companies build our cars. I'm glad I am retired

I live in Adelaide and can give you a Mansfield accent. Is that near enough?

Steam engines "double heading" relies on the skills of the driver as each engine is controlled separately. The front loco leads the train with its crew setting the speed and operating the brakes. The crews communicate via the whistle on the lead loco with pre-arranged signals. Diesel or electric trains a coupled electrically so there only needs to be a crew in the first engine

I was lucky enough to see the Flying Scotsman in 1989 when it did a parallel run with Australia's iconic steam engine 3801 in the Hunter Valley NSW. During its trial runs in 1998 it came past on the railway line that was close to our house on the southern outskirts of Sydney on a run down to Port Kembla. The lineside and local stations were packed by rail enthusiasts to see her come by. Here she is seen double heading with 3801 (Photo from East Coast Heritage Rail)

I'd be interested in hearing what those posting in "Anything Political" think of the recently handed down budget.

Doom and gloom have descended upon our usually happy little home. Why you might ask? The new AFL(Aussie Rules) season kicks off tonight. From now until September the media will be saturated with AFL coverage often leading all the news bulletins and newspaper headlines. I don't give a rat's rectum if Joe Bloggs has a corked thigh, Billy Goat has done a hammy or Errol Flint has strained his groin in some extra curricular activities. After American Football it is the stupidest game on the planet. If you miss the main goals, 6 points, you still get a point for missing but not by too far. The

The Allegro is a tad boring, the adagio is a lovely part but by far the worst is the Rondo. Overall, not a patch on Acker Bilk's Stranger on the Shore.

What about Beethoven's 6th Symphony, the Pastoral Symphony

Stags - After taking the lead in the 15th minute Stags now give Wrexham a chance to draw level on points by going down 1-2 at Field Mill against 5th placed Milton Keynes Dons (doesn't sound like a proper football team does it?). Is this a re-emergence of the wobbles? We will see when they play mid table Swindon on Saturday at home.