OneGuyFromBarlick

was the long lost father pleased to be found David?

I'm sorry my Chapel Porth photo interrupted the flow of David's wonderful family story - although his family history post is timed before mine it wasn't there when I posted and I didn't get the usual warning that someone had posted while I was writing mine.

It's also a coincidence that I've recently mentioned some of my relatives being, like David's family, in poultry farming in a big way but in Wilpshire, Blackburn. My side of the family had little contact with them until I researched family history and then it suddenly all came together and we met and swapped stories. They benefited from me extending my research to include their side and we benefited from their stories, photos and clarifications. My father had been given the impression by his parents long ago that `the other lot' had somehow got a lot of money that should have belonged to our side. The true story is that both sides lost out to a third party! Perhaps poultry farming leads to complicated families!

I might have told the story before of how a friend of mine was told by his mother on her death bed that she'd had a child before marrying his father and that this half-brother now had a haulage business in Manchester. This was the first my friend knew of it and he thought no more until one day he was driving on the M6 when he realised that the wagon in front of him had the brother's name on it and `Manchester', plus a phone number. He got his phone out and called the number, asked the man's name, told him I'm your half-brother and said "Stop at the services and I'll explain". They met and had an interesting discussion!

Loved your beach pic Tiz!

June spoke to her dad whilst she was with us, (after a little bit of preparing the ground...). All seemed OK and everyone appeared keen to meet up. Fingers crossed all goes well tomorrow!

Rosetta has found Philae! `Philae: Lost comet lander is found' LINK
Not bad going, being able to know what's going on 683,582,588 km away from Earth and to spot a small object on a comet only 4km in diameter! The distance has increased by about 3000 km in the time it took me to write these last few words. Have a look at the live data here: LINK

I've seen funny things happen at Mway services but that's a first Tiz.
I rang Pendle Recycling yesterday and they told me it was OK to put computer junk in the grey bin with non-recyclable trash. Half a bin full got rid of straight away!

I noticed the rear tyre on my bike was flat, not just deflated but totally flat. I took the back wheel off and had a good look at the tyre but could not see anything in it. I took it off and inspected and there was nothing apparent on the inside of the tyre either. Rim tape was in good order so I pumped up the inner tube and shoved it in the sink, nothing, no leaks and the valve is in good order. I decided to pump this up to pressure and leave it overnight to see what happens.

I fitted a new inner tube that I always carry and pumped it up. The inner tube and tyre is rated 2 bar minimum and 4.5 max so I shoved 2.5 bar in and set the wheel aside for refitting tomorrow. I made myself a brew and went to sit down and heard an almighty bang. I went back to my wheel to find the new tube has exploded, its blown the tyre off the rim at the valve! Don't know what's going on here unless its a duff tube. I'll have another look tomorrow. I have another new tube or I will see how the old one fares overnight

Check your pressure gauge for accuracy Ian?
How nice it is to work with good Cast Iron.
Later, this grabbed me. LINK. A new headmaster clamped down on minor transgressions of the school uniform code and refused entry to 60 pupils. This triggered a protest by parents and the police had to be called. I think Mr Tate needs to have a bit of guidance in man management, or in this case, parent management.

The pressure gauge is integral to the foot pump and has a red line indicator for the correct pressure. I pumped it up to the same level as all the other tyres on our bikes. Max on the tyre and tube is 4.5 bar, 2 bar is minimum for correct inflation of the tyre. I know the feel of the pump when it's getting near, it was no different to any other time I have used it. If I had nipped it putting it in I would have expected a gradual deflate not a catastrophic failure. It wasn't a cheap tube either (Schwalbe). I'll see what it looks like when I pull it out. The "old" tube is surprisingly still inflated with no loss of pressure overnight, I might just shove that one back in.

All that inflating sounds like too much hot work this weather...

Pleased to report that after half a century's separation, the family reunion looks to have gone well, with both generations very pleased to meet each other!

Glad your family reunion went OK David. I was a lot warmer today mowing the lawn, field and paths at the Clarion!

Anyway here is the sorry image of the new tube failure.



Completely blown out near the valve seat. You can see my foot pump with its indicator at 2 bar. I inflated to 1 stroke above this to allow for release of the air line. No mending that one! I think it must have been a faulty tube. I have refitted the original which I could find no fault with and inflated to the same level, it's perfectly OK up to press. I'll leave the wheel out tonight and refit tomorrow if it keeps its pressure.

Thank goodness you weren't riding the bike when it exploded!

Back wheel wouldn't be a problem but if this tube had gone into the front!

The old tube is holding up, cant understand why it went down though. You always get a bit of natural pressure loss through the valve. The recommendation is that you re inflate every 30 days. I only checked it 2 weeks ago or so.

That straight line failure at the top looks suspicious to me Ian....
Busy day yesterday, cleaners in, roofers inspected roof and cleaned gutters. Janet Geldard came and the registration forms for the LPAs are in the mail for Oz and Margaret and Janet's signatures. I have found a home for the co-ax cable and of course there was the progress in the shed. I was ready for my afternoon's sleep!

PanBiker you should always look on the bright side. Inflation has gone down with a bang. A new tube will lift the commodity purchase index. The accident insurance will have made massive savings increasing the dividend potential. The NHS will be able to close another A&E department, even more savings to the tax payer. So your misfortune has a silver lining.

Nice one Plaques.

Old tube is still up so the wheel is going back on the bike.

Sorry to raise such a distressing matter but anyone who has had the Bubble Butt advert imposed on them will have realised with horror that they have been multiplying! There are a dozen on each side now..... Words fail me.....
How nice it is when you are doing a ticklish job to have the luxury of absolutely no pressure!
The failure (yet again!) of my El Cheapo low voltage desk lamp in the front room. I lost patience, binned it and I shall replace it with the LED lamp with base that Mick gave me for the shed. I find that now my eyes are improved I don't use it.

Please forgive me for still marvelling at this week's revelation of our family mystery!

Here's a picture of Kenneth Thompson with son and daughter, meeting for the first time in 54 years.

It's brilliant David. Keep marvelling as long as you wish.

I agree...marvelous!

How complicated families can be. I can't get my head around not having contact with kids for that long... (Not meant as a criticism, just an observation about how convoluted family matters can look from the outside) When Janet Geldard visited the other day to finalise the LPA registration submissions I asked her about her experiences drawing up wills and LPA applications and she said that she was constantly amazed by how complicated some families are. She said that dealing with ours was a pleasure, so simple and direct.
My 'new' Taylor chuck! I shall attack it today!

I've just posted this pic in Steam Engines and noticed a very rare occurrence. Click to enlarge and look at the left hand bottom corner you'll see a peculiar shaped waste bin. This was the hod that was part of the standard kit for extinguishing incendiary bombs during the war. The bombs were thermite, a composition that can't be extinguished with water. You had dry sand in the heavy galvanised hod which you poured over the bomb and then used a double ended tool, a hoe blade on one end and a scoop on the other. You laid the hod down on the ground and using the hoe/scoop you dragged the sand and the burning incendiary into the hod. You could carry it away to safety then.

Another bit of WW2 heritage can be glimpsed on this picture showing the last stages of Bankfield Shed demolition (taken last Monday).

Just to the right of the cleared area, you can see what I call a pill-box (am happy to be corrected on naming of parts!).

The material piled up against the wall in the medium foreground is intended to help retain the pressure of the canal bank.

Since this picture, slanting props have been installed at each point of the new block wall where a cast iron pillar would have held the roof up. (Looking again, I think it's the location of every other pillar where a prop has been installed - a black plate has been fixed to the blockwork at these positions.)

Looks like that's it for a while in this neck of the woods.

Not sure about that structure next to the engine house David but this one on the tower at the entrance to the site is definitely a pill box for defence. I've pulled this out of the 1963 aerial view of the shed. Would you believe I can't find my pic of the entrance?

I think you've previously posted info from Ken that the building with the slot in it was a WW2 machine gun post Stanley.

Have finally succumbed to the need to say 'haven't we got a lot of berries this year?'!

This picture was taken along the old railway line at Earby when I was doing a circular walk from Northholme.

The Rolls entrance tower is a giveaway with the machine gun ports. I would imagine the roof of the tower would have been an ARP lookout as well.

Regarding the hedgerow, there has been a very good crop of fruit this year. Sally has been very productive so far with Bilberries, Pears from our tree and Blackberries, we have inherited a lot of plumbs from a friend as well. We have a full cupboard of jams, jellies and chutneys. We noticed yesterday that the sloes were almost ready, nicely plumped out but as true as a seasonal fruit they will be better in Autumn in another 10 days or so, we may get an odd morning frost by then which is the traditional time to harvest. Stuff the meteorological seasons, the hedgerow is a dead giveaway to our transit round the sun.