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They do make good wine, Phil. Emily and George who lived in Garden Street, when I was a child, often made damson wine, along with damson cheese. They'd go out into the countryside near Lambley, where they came from, gathering the fruits of the hedgerows as folk did in those days. By Christmas, there would be elderberry wine (from the previous year) and all sorts of goodies in jars and bottles.  I still have Emily's winemaking book.  My father once made marrow wine from one of its recipes. A tad powerful even for him! He never tried it again.

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Just got back from QMC again........the last eight days have been a bit Traumatic to say the least,,...blood tests,,X-rays,,and today a visit to a Consultant........cut a long story short......problem

Result........CT Scans all clear......just got letter..been sweating for a fortnight......

Two years ago today..........my life changed forever,,,about this time i was on my way down to the operating theatre for what turned out to be a ten hour operation...........its been life changing in

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I can see the wine attraction. Very akin to a grape. I’ve  been looking online for a suitable pitter but there doesn’t seem to be one dedicated to damsons. Cherries are much easier to push the stones out of. I’ve read some horrendous tales of people chopping the ends of their fingers whilst trying to pit damsons. I could tread them in zinc tub I suppose. It seems such a waste to leave them but I’m sure the wildlife will be greatfull. Next year there will probably be a poor crop as so often happens after a glut.

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2 hours ago, Jill Sparrow said:They'd go out into the countryside near Lambley, where they came from, gathering the fruits of the hedgerows as folk did in those days. 

‘In those days’ ?  We still gather blackberries from the lanes round here.  It’s free food and so delicious either in a crumble or reduced to a Couli  to pour over ice cream.  Paul has picked about £40 worth this year (going on Tesco prices- even more from Waitrose I expect). The freezer is getting quite full.  We are very fortunate living here as people are always giving away apples (and sometimes other fruit too) at this time of year.  
Btw the blackberries are all big and juicy - not like  the small hard gritty ones growing on the side of the roads.

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I found enough blackberries in a corner of the garden to make a blackberry and apple pie but I don’t think there will be any more. There’s brambles in the corners of the field but they’re completely devoid of fruit. It seems strange when we have a surfeit of everything else. I saw some magnificent blackberries hanging over the fence in the car park of Lidl in Bingham but I felt a bit guilty about being seen picking them! I am looking forward to gathering mushrooms from the field but I think we need a bit more rain. The grass is sprouting and looking very verdant after this summer’s haymaking.

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@MargieHYes, I collect wild berries but people these days, or the majority of them, don't seem to have any idea what they are and tend to be suspicious of anything not in a plastic punnet from the supermarket! In the same way, they tend to have no idea about wild birds or butterflies. Too busy glued to their mobile phones. Very sad. They are missing so much of nature.

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My neighbour gave me a bloody great bag of blackberries that her family picked for her. She very kindly went to all the trouble of laying them on a tray for freezing. So it means I can take them out the freezer and just take one, if I wanted. (Not all stuck together).

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I went to a funeral last Tuesday. A dear friend who, had she not shuffled off on 8th August, would have celebrated her 97th birthday today.

 

She was very wildlife conscious. Spent a fortune feeding the birds, foxes, etc in her garden and since she was housebound the greatest pleasure of her days was watching them enjoy their food. The blackbirds were almost knocking on the door, demanding their sultanas with menaces.

 

I will never forget the day she said there was a knock at the front door and there stood two little boys with something wrapped up in a towel. They wanted to know what it was as they had no idea.  It was a hedgehog! Dorothy initially thought it was a joke but soon realized these two boys really didn't have a clue about wildlife and they decided to consult her because she knew a lot about animals.

 

The hedgehog took up residence in her garden and was cared for royally. Sadly, it shows how we have become divorced from the natural world.

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3 hours ago, Cliff Ton said:

Just seen my first 72 car reg.

 

Five days into September, that's later than usual.

 

The scarcity of new reg vehicles is due to the ongoing supply chain issues, primarily semi conductors, that all manufacturers are experiencing. Some dealers are quoting up to 12 months wait for the most popular models and most manufacturers are now offering 'preferred/recommended' grades which, for the most part, are lower spec and don't require so much brain to run them. Our brother & sister in law were quoted 6 months wait for a new Dacia Sandero back in March, latest is that's been pushed back to the end of October and could be even later.

 

Having worked at Toyota for 28 years and seeing cars roll off the line every 60 seconds (at peak volume) 443 working minutes in a shift, 2 shifts a day plus overtime I don't really notice new car registrations anymore!!

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Talking of fruit where can I get greenages from? My grandad use to have a tree in his garden, but sadly now gone, both garden and grandad.

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@ Arnold, meanwhile used vehicles are fetching double the Blue Book prices for their age. I paid $17,000 for my truck four years back, used, 90,000+ miles and I can get $25,000 for it today, it's a 2011 Chevy full size truck, no rust, clean, 4wd, auto, everything works, well maintained.

Closest that has happened like that is when I traded my Ford Cortina, basic model, brand new when I bought it for $4000, brand new around 1982, and traded it in for a new Suburu four years later, Lots of miles on it from doing 100 mile trips from home to work and back and loads of touring holidays.

 

 

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5 hours ago, Jill Sparrow said:

I collect wild berries but people these days, or the majority of them, don't seem to have any idea what they are and tend to be suspicious of anything not in a plastic punnet from the supermarket!

We have lots of blackberries growing on the sides of roads and on the edges of the fields. It is the same variety that you have in the UK. It is an invasive weed here and if you find it in any of our national parks or roadsides it is quite likely to have been sprayed by a toxic chemical so getting them from the supermarket is the safest bet.

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1/ Waiting game this morning.........

Cuban Heels due between 9 and 11......so i'll be strutting into Bulwell an inch taller....wonder if folk

ul recognise me?

2..oh yes waiting for Donna as well....David Essex must have been good....:)

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@Ayupmeducksyou're absolutely right about used car prices. I've got a small Toyota Aygo runaround, 5 years old 12000 miles that I thought about trading in 18 months or so ago. Checked on a car valuation website at the time and they offered me £5000. Now they're contacting me every couple of weeks and are offering over £8000....crazy

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You should see the prices of brand new pickups this side of the pond!!

With cars getting smaller, more and more people are buying full sized pickups, safer in accidents, as comfortable as expensive cars with the added feature of a cargo bed.

Some of todays cars I call sewing machines on wheels, no protection at all in a crash. When I first came to the states, tiny cars wouldn't sell, people wanted large comfy "Yank Tanks" Now you see little old ladies driving Dodge Ram trucks with 6L V8 engines, crew cabs with all the bells and whistles.

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Most of the popular car types in the UK have actually got progressively bigger in recent years. 

Sadly, that hasn't stopped huge numbers buying Chelsea Tractors to effectively intimidate others and overfill parking spaces.

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20 minutes ago, Ayupmeducks said:

You should see the prices of brand new pickups this side of the pond!!

With cars getting smaller, more and more people are buying full sized pickups, safer in accidents, as comfortable as expensive cars with the added feature of a cargo bed.

Some of todays cars I call sewing machines on wheels, no protection at all in a crash. When I first came to the states, tiny cars wouldn't sell, people wanted large comfy "Yank Tanks" Now you see little old ladies driving Dodge Ram trucks with 6L V8 engines, crew cabs with all the bells and whistles.

 

All new cars sold in Europe have to be submitted to the Euro New Car Assessment Programme where they are tested for child occupant, adult occupant, vulnerable road user (pedestrian-cyclist etc) and safety assistance performance. Vehicles are given a star rating from 0 - 5, the higher the better, so buyers are able to understand how much protection they have in the event of a crash. I know from my own experience that the design of vehicles has been changed mid way through projects when initial test results have come back from MIRA (Motor Industry Research Association) in Nuneaton 

Toyota design the structure of their cars, even the small rollerskate sized ones :P, as a high tensile steel cage in which the occupants sit to make them as safe as possible 

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