Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Both tired - National Trust Committee Meeting

Today was our big day at the Mansfield Chapter of The National Trust so I have no 'taken today' photographs to show.

Picture 1 is a corner of Melbourne Church taken in right sun on our WoW day there. An excellent corner I think for Magwitch to leap out from. Although the Church is old, the building in the shadows looks very old indeed.

Little needs to be said about the Chip Cob picture. I think we could publish 'The Chip Cob guide to the East Midlands' we could no doubt obtain a grant and I feel the book would sell.

Not a project for me though, or Y, because since this morning I am Vice Charman and she is Secretary. She had already agreed to be Minutes Secretary but one thing led to another.......

The election for Vice-Chairman was interesting and showed the need to do some spade work. When the Chairman reached the Office my proposer immediately proposed me and my seconder at once 'seconded'. No-one offered to propose Gary, so he self-proposed himself, and then couldn't find a seconder. So I was returned 'by default' as it were.

The meeting was lively but useful. Our new committee members Val and Ron did extremely well. Val was interested in and has agreed to serve as Membership Secretary and Ron is going to help with the raffles, very important now that Y has other responsibilities; he is also going to join the 'Outings' Sub Committee and will offer a welcome helping hand to Jean.

With all this happening we want to spend the morning tomorrow sorting out Nat Trst matters and I shall have to opt out of WoW tomorrow. Reg fully understands and it was good to hear on the phone more details of his and Maureen's tutoring week in The Wye Valley (see his previous comments) and I'm sure his students learnt a lot.

Comments......Jill.....I'm so glad that Magwitch is still hiding at the back of Melbourne Church. He won't get you in Chiswick ...... With sorrow I have to agree with you about Delia. I can make a good bolognese sauce in half the time. Quickly brown some mince and a diced onion, pour over a jar of bol. sauce mix, add an additional pinch of oregano and either oven-top it, stick it in the oven, or micro-wave it while you are doing the spag.

And while it is always a pleasure to see Sister Wendy Beckett I am not at all interested in Delia's devotions. But Y disagrees feeling it added to a 'rounded' programme.

Bungus....... The purple-sprouting in Lidl is good. It is a veg that doesn't keep and theirs is self-evidently very fresh.

The Dancing Slipper was, as has been described, on Central Avenue, and this is a recent picture of the site. I can't attribute the picture to an author because it was simply on a site about WestBridgford. Suffice it to say that it isn't mine, except to say that I cropped it and therefore made some contribution.

Even though never a jazz buff I have heard of most of the names that have been mentioned. I must confess to thinking that Clinton Ford had a great voice. It was my hope to produce a link to a YouTube video of him singing but I failed so the above link will have to do.

'No' to the new TV question. We have been thinking of buying a new one for at least 2 years but the current one is around 12 years old and we acquired it because Radio Rental made us an offer we couldn't refuse when we ended our contract with them. I don't think they thought it was worth sending a van for it. But it has been a good telly.

Congratulations on your Radio Nottingham spot. Can you post a link to the 'cockpit' piece ?

AnonymousRob...... Your French seems pretty good to me. I failed 'O' level and had to retake it in the November, for potential university entrance requirements.

Re the babes. My picture is stored in my Walagata account but http://mars.walagata.com/w/radiogandy/Icons/Lines/babes02to2_line.jpg should get you to it. My method of cribbing icons pictures and links etc is to right-click anything I fancy, then 'save as' and it goes into My Pictures where one can use it at will. What I do then is to upload it to my Walagata account, that stores it and accords it an http: etc..... ref, whereupon I can then insert it online via either the link system, or the insert picture method. Perhaps easiest if, next time you come round (soon I hope) I can physically show you.

I use my Walagata Account alot and their plus plan works out at less than £5 a year. Plenty of storage capacity for photos, icons, word documents, videos, anything you choose to store.

Jill...... Haven't you all seen some fascinating people. Y and I really want to see Willie Nelson during his forthcoming tour. The nearest to us is Manchester... but we are thinking about it. I managed to find a YouTube this time of him live. I guess Ro might like it.

I've rambled on too long. Catch you tomorrow.





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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I must have misunderstood about the TV I thought you had bought.

As to the cockpit, in the mid sixties I visited The Lion with a landlord friend of the landlord to play a friendly game of dominoes (I forget the name of the game but something ‘cross’ where you each have 6 dominoes if there are four of you, 5 if there are five, etc. Two dominoes are placed face down in the centre and whoever has the double six puts that on top (if no one has it, the double five) and anyone can go in any direction but no number can be played on until the double is down; or something. If you can’t go you pick another domino from the pile. Playing for 5p stakes it was possible to lose several pounds in a good session.
When we had finished playing, the landlord took us down to the cellar, then down again, then down again. And there was a cockpit in pristine condition with raked sand ready for a fight. I do not know whether fights took place or whether it was just kept so clean and tidy to be shown off. Only now does it occur to me that it might also have been used for dog fights.
I have never come across anyone else who knows about this, but a caller on Radio Nottm this morning mentioned that he had been down to at least the sub basement in the 1940s, where it was just full of junk (that is what caused me to email the presenter).

I managed a Pass in School Cert French (the oral let me down). I believe I could make myself understood in France but wouldn’t have a clue as to what was being said to me!.

Rob:
Yes, it was a good win for Stags but did them no good in terms of League position. County’s draw saw them slip a place to 3rd from bottom. For the drop, it looks most likely to be Wrexham (who have a game in hand) plus either Stags, Notts, or Macclesfield. At worst it will be the two Notts clubs. That would be a shame for Mansfield but an even bigger one for County as the only remaining original member of the Football League.

Jill:
Thanks for the info on Delia’s crab cakes. I may give that a whirl as we have a couple of tins of crab which may well be past their SBD or UBD (nothing to do with Frank Sinatra). I will need to consult RG on the number of chives to use (left to me it would be a handful).
Her soup sounds very unimpressive.

Following on from haslet ot aislet:
About a month ago, I bought a black pudding (Irish?) from Lidl and gave most of it to friend Alan who enjoyed it. I bought another last week which he did not like – too much barley – although I had a couple of slices which I enjoyed (supertaste in decline?). Discussing it, led to wondering what white pudding consists of. Wiki says:
White pudding or oatmeal pudding is a meat dish popular in Scotland, Ireland, Iceland (Lifrarpylsa), and Newfoundland. It is also quite popular in Devon and Cornwall, where it is known as Hog's pudding. It is very similar to black pudding, but does not include blood. Consequently, it consists of pork meat and fat, suet, bread, and oatmeal formed into the shape of a large sausage. Earlier versions (pre-1990) often had brain matter (sheep) added as a binding agent.
In Scotland, white pudding can also be known as Mealy Pudding. It consists of suet, oatmeal, onions and spices. Some versions of Scottish white pudding are suitable for vegans, in that they contain no animal fat, vegetable fat being used instead.
The pudding may be cooked whole, or cut into slices and fried. It is an important feature of the traditional Irish breakfast. White pudding (as well as its black and red relatives) is also served battered at chip shops in Scotland as an alternative to fish (see fish and chips). When served this way, accompanied by chips, it is known as a White Pudding Supper. In Scotland, it is also a traditional companion to mince and tatties.
Red pudding (Scottish - Fife) does not have blood but pork meat and fat plus the bread/oatmeal and spices (presumably inc paprika or chilli). Mostly deep fried, either battered or not.
If I come across either the red or white, I’ll give it a go.

Anonymous said...

Having read about Abel Magwitch on Wiki yesterday, I am thinking of launching a Magwitch is Innocent campaign. It seems clear to me, from my knowledge of offenders gained over the past 11 years, that he was as much a victim as a perpetrator. In particular he suffered at the hands of a class-ridden, corrupt, system where judgements were made on appearance and birth, not evidence. Given the circumstances of his childhood he never had a chance and cannot be held to blame for his actions. Free the Magwitch One!

The problem of speaking a little of a foreign language is that you can give the impression you speak a lot of it. There have been numerous occasions when I've ordered something in a shop (almost always a cake shop in France) and been asked questions I don't understand by the shop assistant. My response has always been the same, ie to look as stupid as I feel. It's probably fair to say, though, that I understand more French than I speak but that is down to confidence, or lack of it. I'm very, very slowly getting to grips with basic Italian but Spanish has always eluded me. Yet, I'm told, Spanish is very easy to learn - but not in my brain it ain't.

I can write short pieces, eg about a paragraph, very easily in lots of languages simply by using one of the free translation services available on the web. It worked for me yesterday.

This is the previous paragraph in Russian:
Я могу написать короткие части, eg о параграфе, очень легко в большом количестве языков просто при использовании одних из свободных услуг по переводу, доступных на сети. Это работало для меня вчера.

I only ever knew about black pudding because my mum came from Northern Ireland and she used to eat it. It also seems to be a feature of the 'traditional English breakfast' in the north of England. The first time I came across white pudding was on holiday in Scotland. I'm not keen on either but like haggis.

RG, VC - for valour. Congratulations. How strange to have a electoral system where you can nominate yourself. Gary won't be your best mate for a while, I guess. With reference to your Walagata Account, does this mean your pictures are not stored on your computer's hard disk but somewhere in cyber space on someone else's disk? I'm just trying to get my head around the technology as I don't understand it. Maybe Reg can explain?

Do you not add any mozzarella to your bol sauce, or as we say in Italia, ragu? I note the divine Delia also uses this word at www.deliaonline.com but her recipe takes 4 hours in the oven. Is this the one being referred to on the blog?

Parmesan over the top just before serving is essential in my view but I think I recall reading you don't like it? Mozzarella does a good job as well. I like to put Italian Seasoning in the ragu.

Rob

Anonymous said...

Of course Magwitch was good. But he was very frightening. A bit like Santa.

Bury is, of course, the traditional centre of English black pudding making.
I think it only became part of the 'traditional' Full English in the late 1970s. I first encountered it, about that time, at a Hilton Hotel at Warwick.
Previously I had only had it cold in a sandwich.

I made what maybe a ragu (I only have a smattering of Italian and it isn't in my It/Eng dictionary) yesterday. Onions & garlic fried, add a tin of toms, a couple of pieces of roasted peppers, simmer until reduced. We had it baked on a split aubergine (mine with finely grated parmesan) with jacket spuds. OK apart from the aubergine which neither of us rate highly.

Anonymous said...

Of course Magwitch was good. But he was very frightening. A bit like Santa.

Bury is, of course, the traditional centre of English black pudding making.
I think it only became part of the 'traditional' Full English in the late 1970s. I first encountered it, about that time, at a Hilton Hotel at Warwick.
Previously I had only had it cold in a sandwich.

I made what maybe a ragu (I only have a smattering of Italian and it isn't in my It/Eng dictionary) yesterday. Onions & garlic fried, add a tin of toms, a couple of pieces of roasted peppers, simmer until reduced. We had it baked on a split aubergine (mine with finely grated parmesan) with jacket spuds. OK apart from the aubergine which neither of us rate highly.

Anonymous said...

Wikepedia says:
Ragù - Italian term for meat-based sauce
(which seems to make it the same as French ragout)
Ragú - Unilever brand name for sauce products.

Sorry about repetition of previous comment.

Anonymous said...

Rob, I don't know but believe there are a great photo galleries in the sky where images from some programs (picasa)are stored. I belive my phone is like that, on its camera setting ,you have to send the pic, to the Vodaphone gallery in the sky. Then they charge you for getting it back, needless to say I don't use it.
Bungus. I heard your radio mention and remember being told about the pit under the Lion in years gone bye probably when drinking in there.
More on the Slipper I understand there was a jazz club held upstairs in the TBI. The Dancing Slipper was a location not a Jazz Club It was used for other things,
John, a friend, who did lots of recordings there tells me he started in 1958 and it had existed prior to that. Jazz finished in 1969 approx and it closed in 70-71. Health and safety would go ape nowadays 400 people in one room with one narrow stair access, apparently their was a fire escape but it was difficult to find and get at.
One of our steel erectors worked behind the bar and I used to give him a pound note in exchange for a pounds worth of sliver and my beer order. No wonder we used to go regularly. Remember when beer was that cheap even if you payed.
RG WOW today a walk from Cromford along a path in the woods along side Via Gelia ponds and old buildings unseen from the road.
The Landlady at the Cliff has had her eyes done "I can see how handsome you all are now " we shall have to take you some time for her delight.