Oztalgian

There was one in Mansfield for years too.

Where we are the neighbors on either side and across the road have started a "tool pool" We chose one of the main brands where there was a large choice of tools and interchangeable 24 volt batteries and when one is needed we just swap them. Saves buying the whole range and everyone has a battery charger and a battery so always ready to go. When required we share the work also and pool the green bins to get rid of any green waste.

On most Sunday mornings I get up early, cook myself a full English breakfast on the BBQ with a little assistance from the microwave and weather permitting sit on the patio eating it whilst watching the sun rise over the ocean. This Sunday's breakfast was ruined by the packaging numpties who have changed the packaging of a staple breakfast food, baked beans. For years all tinned goods have come with a ring pull tear off lid and when I came to open the tin, guess what? No ring pull top, they have gone back to the old style closure where you have to use a can opener and as we did not have a

I agree Loppy, I've finished with two and four stroke small petrol engines, and most mains powered tools. Any new tool I buy from now on will be battery powered. No struggling to start them, buying fuel and oil, mixing fuel, undoing tangled leads or falling over them, take the tool from the hanger, pop the battery in and away you go. When you have finished put the battery back in the charger, job done.

Wasn't he the "Hot Chestnut Man"? I also enjoyed his character voices in "Tales of the Riverbank" and our kids were brought up listening to cassette tapes of his readings of Rev. W. Awdry's "The Railway Stories" on long journeys in the car. I have always loved roast chestnuts they are available here and in one of the hills towns a man stands on a corner selling them roasted in a brazier. As kids we used "winter warmers", a large tin can with holes pierced around the lower half with a long length of fencing wire so we could swing it round our heads and get the coals really glowing to

The car companies say that the only time the owners ever look at the vehicle owners manual is to change the clock for daylight saving. I don't have to change mine as the newest cars' clock takes its time from the GPS satellites and changes automatically. Haven't driven the other car for weeks but I have to set that one manually.

After you have finished polishing your headlight lenses don't forget to rub some high UV sunscreen into them it will help them to stay clear longer. Then again in the UK winter maybe you wont be seeing too much sun.

I always thought that nuns had wheels as you never saw their feet, a bit like Daleks. Meanwhile back at the scullery, back kitchen, pantry, utility room, I remember the scullery being in an alcove off the kitchen it was curtained off from the kitchen and I do remember it having a "stone" which was a very thick piece of concrete? that was used to put milk jugs, butter and cheese dishes on to keep things cool. There was a meat safe in there too and it had cheesecloth "curtains" that dangled in a water trough to improve the cooling. Strangely enough the bathtub was hung on a nail in the

Good one Willow, anything by Johnny and the Hurricanes was good for the Goose Fair especially the Waltzer and the Whiplash. Or this one

Interesting that the NHS Covid 19 app will not work in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland as they are using different apps.........SNAFU I like the concept of QR codes for places you visit and the fact that the NHS app works after 5 minutes contact unlike ours which is 15 minutes. You phone has to be on and blue tooth enabled for it to work and I can see there are already concerns about privacy but the government has assured everyone that there data is safe and secure Ha! Ha! I always know where my mobile phone is, it is on the table next to my chair usually with a flat batter

nonnaB I bet the citizens of the USA wish they could say the same as they have the GOP(Great Orange Plonker) looking after them.

I hope you have better luck with the Covid app than we have had. Here the Federal government released the "Covidsafe" app last April it cost AU$2.5 million (1.4 million quid). The government will not release how much it has spent advertising it. To date it appears to have been downloaded by around 7 million out of a total of 18 million mobile phone users in Australia. The department that runs the app has refused to give information on how successful it has been in tracing contacts that have not been reached by normal methods. My guess is that it is not many otherwise they would be telling

nonnaB, Our news media are reporting that the Italian government has mandated the use of wearing masks outdoors in Italy. You and yours take care

Max Boyce is the only poet I know of that writes poems about Rugby

Cease and desist it's getting worse, you are making spectacles of yourselves, but I'll keep an eye out for more puns

Yesterday we lost two artists from different parts of the musical spectrum Rocker and guitarist Eddie Van Halen aged 65 probably best known for "Jump" Reggae singer Johnny Nash best know for "I can see clearly now" The soundtrack of my youth gets ever quieter.

I wonder why there is so much difference country to country as the source of all the stuff is likely to be the same A reasonable quality 6 Kw system here fully installed is $5,000-6,000 that's 2,800 - 3,300 quid. A lot cheaper than the UK and this does not include any government rebates. A similar mid range 6 Kw panel system with 10 Kwh battery back up fully installed is 9,000 to 12,000 quid. Again rebates are available. As with everything quality can vary the prices. The sun does tend to shine more here in Australia than it does in the UK as in Adelaide we have around 2,8

The Great Orange Plonker goes into hospital with Covid 19 and emerges three days later fully cured? Where have we heard this before? Oh yes! he must be the Messiah

DJ 360 Didn't you know that Jaguars are notoriously unreliable and have quality problems. Might have been worse you could have bought Range Rover frames.

Given the failure at the end of last season and the dismal start this year it was inevitable. Having a revolving door for managers is not the solution, there is something more fundamentally wrong within the club. A good start for Chris Hughton would be to clear out all the under performing players, particularly the international imports and develop a coaching/ scouting system to develop local talent. I would rather they lose bringing through local talent than lose with a lot of overpaid prima-donnas with no passion, pride or commitment to the club.

Just a point to ponder. The very very best solar panels are at their peak 25% efficient at converting solar energy into electricity. This drops off depending on the angle of the sun hitting the panels, the amount of dirt and dust on the panel and the age of the panels. They are also vulnerable to large hailstones as many people in OZ have found out recently. We have 6Kw installed on our roof and a solar hot water system. A lot of the electricity generated goes into running the pool pumps but for nine months of the year we pay nothing for hot water heating. Not sure what I will do when these ne

So, the orange buffoon is back in the White House after allegedly having had corona virus diagnosed three days earlier and needing oxygen? He is now telling Americans not to let Covid 19 dominate them and that he is better and not to be afraid of it. Below in italics are his reported words. DJ360 is spot on its all about him. What about the 208,000+ US citizens that have died, many as a direct result of his incompetence, how many of them got the medical care and access to drugs that Trump had? "Don't let it take over your lives," he said. "Don't let that happen. We're the greatest country

For the same reason that Andy Warhol painted Campell's soup cans He liked soup

So the GOP (Great Orange Plonker) supposedly suffering from Covid 19 gets in his heavily armoured hermetically sealed tank and goes for a drive whilst in isolation to jolly up his supporters and puts his entire security detail at risk. Whilst I would not wish anyone dead I sort of hoped that if he does have Covid 19 he would have a near death experience that would change him into a more humane person with some empathy for those in the US who are ill or unemployed.

Well said Loppy, from afar and sometimes from within we only see what the media chooses to show us and that inevitably comes with its own bias, either that of who owns the media outlet or that of the producers and presenters. From the land down under I would say that if the Democratic Party had been able to come up with viable alternative the result would have been a foregone conclusion but as it is, to me it looks like 50/50 and all that that is likely to bring from the Trump camp. As for the political situation in the UK it reminds me of this quotation "We the willing, led by