HOUSEHOLD TIPS NOT FOUND IN WOMAN'S WEEKLY

[Stanley]

Or alcohol which is even worse....

[Tripps]

I do my best to try and keep up, but wasn't the last campaign to get the Coop to stock up with Condor Green label or some such. Now a campaign to get St Bruno?

[Stanley]

Dead right David, their stock management software and response to customers is dire. 10 X 25g Bruno arrived yesterday.... I continue to attack the Co-op....
Today's tip, fight the good fight!

[Tizer]

I wonder why a tobacco brand is named after a saint, especially one who lived before tobacco reached Old World?

[Stanley]

Tiz, see THIS for a possible explanation.
When using hard spices in a meat dish which is to be slow cooked over a long period they can be added at the start of cooking. However, fresh leafy herbs like mint etc. should be added at the last minute, preferably after the heat has been tuned off, as the essential oils evaporate more easily.

[Tripps]

Here's a tip.

Don't peel fresh ginger - you'll waste a lot of what you've paid for.
Just grate it into the dish, I promise you will never notice.

[Stanley]

Good one David. So many foods have the highest concentration of nutrition and taste in the peel. Same applies to ducks and geese. If you skin them before cooking they taste of nowt! (I once skinned a very old goose when times were hard, impossible to pluck it. Result was a disaster.....)

[Bodger]

during the war a couple of lads in Hadfield Derbys. tried some illegal butchering, they killed a pig but then skinned it, pork everywhere !

[Stanley]

My dad and Harry White made a bigger mistake than that Bodge. They got hold of a side of beef and left it hung in the cold room of a butcher they knew in Brinksway, Stockport. When they went back later and asked for the beef the butcher said "What beef is that?". Sadder and wiser men!

[Stanley]

Not a bad plan at this showery time of the year to get some Daz washing powder and sprinkle it on stone flags and wall tops. Brings stone up lovely and the effects last for a year.....

[Stanley]

Gets rid of moss on smooth stone flags as well. It can be very dangerous....

[Tizer]

Not a bad plan at this showery time of the year to get some Daz washing powder and sprinkle it on stone flags and wall tops. Brings stone up lovely and the effects last for a year.....

That could get you in trouble here because the run off from homes often goes straight into drainage ditches and they discharge into rivers. Councils and the Environment Agency are are tightening up because there's been a rapid increase in the proportion of each property's area being give over to hard standing (front gardens in particular).

[Tripps]

I bought a power washer last year, (bargain of the week at Aldi) and finally plucked up the courage and energy to use it last week. Result - very good - patio revealed colours of flagstones that I had forgotten about. I'll do a photo. I also, on the advice of my lad, bought one of those expanding hoses to feed it, since the one I had always kinks up. That seems to be a great success as well.

[Stanley]

Too late Tiz, I applied the Daz yesterday. No direct run off into ditches though, soaks away into the ground under the path and it will be a long time before it sees the light of day again.

[Stanley]

There is no such thing as inclement weather, just inappropriate clothing! Today looks like a chance to deploy the old maxim, and your brolly!

[Stanley]

If a dripping tap annoys you, do something about it! I have one and it has to be stopped!

[Cathy]

I rent my place and often have to wait for things to be fixed. I can't sleep with any noise at all so if I have a dripping tap I always put a sponge or chux or folded hand-towel under the offending tap until the 'nice plumber man' comes.

[Big Kev]

This "tip" may be of use to someone, it was to me; plasterboard adhesive (for dot and dab) can also be used as a very good filler for taping and jointing plasterboard. I was given a bag along with some boards and half a roll of scrim tape that were left over from a project, it worked very well

[Stanley]

I never liked working above head level even in the days when I was in my prime. These days it is purgatory and I avoid it whenever possible....

[Stanley]

When you look in the mirror first thing in the morning, don't look for the wrinkles and grey hair. Look to see if you are a good colour with a clean tongue! If they are OK you are doing as well as can be expected.

[Stanley]

Take notice of your companion animal's behaviour. It is a direct reflection of your condition. A well balanced owner means a civilised dog! Conversely, the opposite applies, if you meet a bored nasty dog, look at the other end of the lead and guess what you'll find.....

[Stanley]

If you want to please a woman, let them talk without interrupting them and actually listen.

[Stanley]

That went down like a lead balloon didn't it but it is a good tip!
Today I shall be listening to my own advice and tackling that bloody dripping tap!

[Tizer]

If you want to please a woman, let them talk without interrupting them and actually listen.

Tory minister will have to learn that lesson all over again!

[Stanley]

Does this mean the resurgence of the handbag? I have a story for you.... My mate Daniel Meadows was once commissioned to do some snaps of Maggie and got permission to do some test shots in the room where the pic was to be done to get accurate light levels etc. He did that and successfully got his snaps. As is usual, he sent the contact sheet of the film to the editor who had commissioned him and was surprised to get an excited phone call congratulating him of a notable coup! One of the test shots Daniel had done was of Maggie's handbag sat on a desk and this was the first time anyone had got a pic dedicated solely to this famous weapon!
The repair of the dripping tap is a complete success and my quality of life is much enhanced. Why did I put up with it? Mr Pirsig would be delighted. He described examples like the dripping tap as 'gumption traps' a valuable concept, the world is full of them and we should identify and eliminate them.....