THE FLATLEY DRYER

[Big Kev]

I did some work at GCHQ back in the 80s, it took longer to be vetted than the actual job took

[Stanley]

When I worked for Rochdale Electric Welding we did some repairs at an atomic energy establishment in Cheshire. I remember two things, the induction process took almost two hours and they had difficulty finding us an electrical connection that would give us 30amps. That was why, when we had the choice, we always took our plant wagon with us as it had a Lincoln diesel driven welding set and an air compressor but many firms got so that they didn't like the noise we made....

[PanBiker]

I did a weeks work in Garth Prison a category A place. The do's and definitely dont's took about 2 hours in the office. I did nearly three weeks in Kirkham Prison, category D. Expected at the gate waved forward and pointed in the right direction. Only one rule, (make sure you take everything home with you). I spent one hour in Lancaster Prison and then turned the networking job down that was offered, the walls were three feet thick!

[Whyperion]

My mole tells me that Argos Colne the standalone outlet near ASDA will be moving into Sainsbury's Colne in the coming year. It will take place when the lease on the Argos shop runs out.

Makes economical sense to me, I would imagine Burnley Argos will be the same.

one reason for having lots of shop facings though, 1) ensure the competition does not get a shop - Aldi have moved into a former Argos a short walk from the Sainsburys Store. 2) Attract passing custom - OK less of what Argos as such was about. 3) Additional storage space - might be useful given Brexit etc stockpiling, of course the opposite is true , you probably dont need double stocks with daily deliveries if you rationalise outlets from 2 to 1. 4) Restrictions from planning when building large stores on the floorspace for selling 'comparison' goods.

[Stanley]

What used to get me was the fact that most of the people doing the induction courses were the junior members of the Elfin Safety team. They were giving instructions to blokes who had done a lifetime in the job and knew full well that they would have to break the rules in order to do the job. The management knew that but the people giving the induction had no idea. that was the case, it was all gospel to them. In most cases it was a CYA exercise so the management could stand in the witness box and say "We told them".

[chinatyke]

In most cases it was a CYA exercise so the management could stand in the witness box and say "We told them".

It's also so that you won't find yourself stood in front of a coroner!

[Stanley]

Same thing China. I could relate many instances of working practices outlawed by H&S but management turned a blind eye because they knew that otherwise the tasks couldn't be done. This was common with boiler maintenance because many of the operations involved working in very restricted confined spaces. These are still happening now so really they can't be described as Flatley Dryer territory.

[Stanley]

I was struck yesterday by the large numbers of people out shopping. I shall be going to the cathedral of choice as soon as they open to do my usual weekly shop, nothing extra and nothing will be wasted. That means that I might be Flatley Dryer material as I don't think this is common. Why do we associate Xmas with excess? I've always wondered and I remember when we were a family the food bill was no different at Xmas than any other time. It seems particularly thoughtless when we consider how many people are actually going hungry. I saw a figure the other day that estimated one household in five having a hungry child, Can that be true?
I went for a furtle and found this.... "Unicef said it was helping children in the UK for the first time because the pandemic has increased food poverty in Britain. It estimates there are children going hungry in a fifth of households.". HERE'S the full BBC article.

[Tizer]

Have you seen this related story?
`Jacob Rees-Mogg accuses Unicef of 'playing politics' over UK food campaign' LINK

[Cathy]

Stanley I find it hard to believe that your food budget did not change at all over Christmas. Did you have a different meat on Christmas Day, or a special pudding or Christmas cake? If so , it must have cost more. Or did your wife save a little bit of the usual food budget thru the year and then spend it on the Christmas Day meal, and in that way the cost wasn’t noticed?

[Stanley]

No I hadn't seen that Peter. As usual Rees Mogg is the scandal. He simply can't accept the fact that there are deprived families in the UK after ten years of Tory policies. He is the disgrace!
Cathy, I am not married and live by myself and so know exactly how much I spend and yes I am certain there are no extras. At the moment Xmas dinner looks like a sausage and veggies. I had six mince pies given to me as usual by a young friend and I know Susan has baked a very small Xmas cake for me. That's the extent of my extra treats. I'm also certain that nothing will be wasted, I do the cooking and make sure that all that goes out is the peelings!

[Cathy]

I was referring to , as you wrote, when you were a family Stanley.

[Stanley]

Even then it hardly changed Cathy, we ate well all year round and it didn't change at Xmas.

[Stanley]

I found myself in Flatley Dryer country this morning when I opened a drawer to get a new piece of Scotch Pad. I realised that there was a pile of old collars and leads gathering dust in there. They have all gone in the bin. I keep finding remnants of Jack and his predecessors and they are all in the dustbin of history now.
Gordon Prentice reminded me this morning of another bit of Flatley country I share with Her Maj the Queen. I didn't know but she has given up on dogs also as hers die off. Question is am I in good company....

[Stanley]

The weaving shed at Bancroft in 1977. Definitely Flatley Dryer territory!

[Stanley]

It's not easy to keep finding examples of Flatley Dryer Syndrome but I have a funny feeling that after January 1st there might be a plethora of examples.

[Tripps]

I like 'plethora'. Had a manager once who was fond of it - and we used to gently tease him by getting 'dearth' in, every time he used it.

One minute you have a plethora and before you know it - it's a dearth.

[Whyperion]

We had/have a long Christmas Break this year. I recall years when Christmas Day Being on a Friday, and no significant Sunday Trading meant the real need for a large Chicken by Christmas Eve, if not a Turkey. This year the large Turkey's were somewhat overstocked (cannot remember that), but today Poundland, Iceland, Asda, Lidl, Aldi were all closed, I did not go in my Large Sainsburys having exhausted most of their inventory on Christmas Eve, the local co-op is a small local one selling pre-pack stuff at high prices anyway, so it was a bus trip (I could have Walked), to Morrisons, rather little in the way of fresh veg etc, with no deliveries in due to the Christmas Day shutdown and presumably lorry drivers and stocks still somewhere around the Dover area. With Tier 4 restrictions most of the other department stores etc remaining were closed, so the town was nearly still, large handfuls of folk at most. So some essentials, but stores will open Sunday - unlike the years of the 1970s, though with heavy wetness forecast the desire to search for a post christmas bargain - relatives have over done us on things coated in Chocolate - is less appealing. Come Monday the Easter Eggs will start to fill the supermarkets. So a strange mix to a more still Christmas holiday time, without the family though, and an almost ceasing of Boxing Day shopping fun as a new memory to make. In many places of course buses and trains have not been running on Boxing Day - something of relatively recent years as a tradition, but the Boxing Day Football in the 70s used to be local derby games, some of which has been attempted in the schedules this year. With the public holiday carrying on to Monday, what has been a recent tradition is the piling up of rubbish in the communal bins, this year its mostly the recycling bins as with less family get togethers its the amazon packaging that is filling everything up, we might get a bin visit by tuesday - with the austerity years of fornightly collections who knows as the holiday times are badly planned, and of course with the rain everything will be sodden. So , some throwbacks to years past, some newer traditions continue - and the Queen tops the Christmas Day TV Viewing Statistics!

[Stanley]

Nice one David.... I do like a good archaism every now and then. There's a dearth of them in most modern communication.

[Stanley]

My Flatley Dryer subject today is Knur and Spell. If you don't know what I'm talking about have a look at THIS Wikipedia article.



Here's a demonstration at Sheffield. The old bloke is using a trap, a small spring loaded mechanism that flicked the knur in the air when tapped with the spell. You can see it against his waistcoat.
There are some efforts to bring the game back but it will never achieve the popularity it had in the late 19th century.

[PanBiker]

You get the same hand, eye coordination now from game consoles.

[plaques]

My pal became one of the last Wold champions at knurr and spell. The club, if you can call it that, is made entirely from wood. I did a bit of wood compression for him to improve the density. The little pot ball is generally hit on the run rather than a standing position. Also, not mentioned outside the gaming circle is that its a big gambling game, Don't tell Tripps.

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[PanBiker]

Belting! (in more than one way) video that one Ken.

[Stanley]

Good video!

[Stanley]

I can't think of a connection with the Flatley Dryer but I tripped over this image this morning and knew I wanted it on the site! I love dogs and whippets in particular. This one is enjoying life!