Search found 99 matches

by BillHowcroft
15 Sep 2022, 09:51
Forum: Stanley's View
Topic: Stanislaw Bajkowski's story
Replies: 24
Views: 3840

Re: Stanislaw Bajkowski's story

Back in the 70, when I worked in the Sheffield steel industry, I rented an attic room in a house full of single Polish men (@ £2.75 rent per week). My favourite friendly Pole had been captured on the first day of the war just inside the border from Germany, survived the work details and starvation d...
by BillHowcroft
07 Feb 2022, 13:50
Forum: National Service
Topic: National Service
Replies: 64
Views: 22486

Re: National Service

Not been here for a long while. Really enjoyed Stanley's stories of his time in the army - well written.
by BillHowcroft
10 Oct 2017, 06:20
Forum: Reading
Topic: READ ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?
Replies: 1828
Views: 280104

Re: READ ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?

Wonder if he ever married?
by BillHowcroft
10 Oct 2017, 06:10
Forum: Puzzles & Quizzes
Topic: MYSTERY OBJECTS
Replies: 19879
Views: 2125105

Re: MYSTERY OBJECTS

I was going to suggest it was a bearing pad from a machine but it's not oil-stained.

How about it's part of a textile washing or bleaching machine?
by BillHowcroft
05 Oct 2017, 07:39
Forum: Fun & Jokes
Topic: Old fashioned clean jokes
Replies: 4731
Views: 534100

Re: Old fashioned clean jokes

Where did Napoleon keep his armies? In his sleevies! We shall overcomb. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. Th...
by BillHowcroft
30 Sep 2017, 13:52
Forum: Fun & Jokes
Topic: Old fashioned clean jokes
Replies: 4731
Views: 534100

Re: Old fashioned clean jokes

Some crackers to share round.
by BillHowcroft
30 Sep 2017, 13:40
Forum: Current Affairs & Comment
Topic: ENERGY MATTERS
Replies: 3925
Views: 556231

Re: ENERGY MATTERS

Fascinating website.
by BillHowcroft
30 Sep 2017, 12:48
Forum: Crafts
Topic: SHED MATTERS 2
Replies: 2566
Views: 494573

Re: SHED MATTERS 2

Never tried boot polish on wood. Must give it a try.
by BillHowcroft
30 Sep 2017, 12:40
Forum: Puzzles & Quizzes
Topic: MYSTERY OBJECTS
Replies: 19879
Views: 2125105

Re: MYSTERY OBJECTS

Shame they put that piece of softwood across the top.
Did the gears mesh?
Biscuit roller?
by BillHowcroft
28 Sep 2017, 07:36
Forum: Current Affairs & Comment
Topic: ENERGY MATTERS
Replies: 3925
Views: 556231

Re: ENERGY MATTERS

I think that when the Chinese bring small to medium battery storage costs down to an acceptable point, smaller scale local generation including personal roof solar will become economic and make us wonder why we subsidised some of these prestige projects.
by BillHowcroft
27 Sep 2017, 20:45
Forum: Current Affairs & Comment
Topic: ENERGY MATTERS
Replies: 3925
Views: 556231

Re: ENERGY MATTERS

British Gas are sending me invitations to take out a Loyalty programme and get Rewards.
I think they're implying they appreciate Customer Loyalty but they really want is Customer Inertia.
Time for a change.
by BillHowcroft
27 Sep 2017, 20:26
Forum: Fun & Jokes
Topic: Old fashioned clean jokes
Replies: 4731
Views: 534100

Re: Old fashioned clean jokes

A length of rope walks into a bar. The bartender looks at him and says "get out, we don't serve ropes in here!" The rope goes outside and cuts himself in half and ties his two sections together. Not pleased with his appearance, he takes a comb and combs out his ends. He walks back into the...
by BillHowcroft
27 Sep 2017, 19:22
Forum: Puzzles & Quizzes
Topic: MYSTERY OBJECTS
Replies: 19879
Views: 2125105

Re: MYSTERY OBJECTS

Looks like an assembly fixture of some sort.
Too clean for ceramics.
Is it for soldering silver tea pots?
by BillHowcroft
27 Sep 2017, 06:52
Forum: Nostalgia
Topic: HOUSEHOLD TIPS NOT FOUND IN WOMAN'S WEEKLY
Replies: 5235
Views: 592280

Re: HOUSEHOLD TIPS NOT FOUND IN WOMAN'S WEEKLY

I used to get that job too but, being brought up in an area too posh to scrabble for dung, got the whole street's findings.
by BillHowcroft
27 Sep 2017, 06:43
Forum: Local History Topics
Topic: STEAM ENGINES AND WATERWHEELS
Replies: 2575
Views: 412818

Re: STEAM ENGINES AND WATERWHEELS

I think I've still got a battered copy of The Efficient Use of Fuel in a box in the loft. In the mid-70s I was using it for steel-works energy efficiency studies. A lot of good British technical literature was triggered by the war whereas the Americans seemed to generate it during peacetime as well.
by BillHowcroft
26 Sep 2017, 21:11
Forum: Puzzles & Quizzes
Topic: MYSTERY OBJECTS
Replies: 19879
Views: 2125105

Re: MYSTERY OBJECTS

Got that. Should have tested the link.
by BillHowcroft
26 Sep 2017, 11:12
Forum: Puzzles & Quizzes
Topic: MYSTERY OBJECTS
Replies: 19879
Views: 2125105

Re: MYSTERY OBJECTS

So it's a pica pole like this one briarpress.org/25566 ?
How long is it and is it double-sided?
by BillHowcroft
25 Sep 2017, 21:13
Forum: Puzzles & Quizzes
Topic: MYSTERY OBJECTS
Replies: 19879
Views: 2125105

Re: MYSTERY OBJECTS

Knowing your background, is it from the textile industry for checking the pitch of the warp threads?
by BillHowcroft
25 Sep 2017, 12:25
Forum: Technology & Communication
Topic: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY
Replies: 6615
Views: 944830

Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

As I started my apprenticeship the old En steel grades (Emergency number steels from 1941 not to be confused with the current Euro Normative standards EN) were being replaced so good old En8 became 080M40 where 080 means plain carbon-manganese steel and M stands for mechanical properties and the 40 ...
by BillHowcroft
24 Sep 2017, 21:25
Forum: What, Where, When, We, Who, Look & How
Topic: WE ARE WHAT WE EAT
Replies: 1644
Views: 282103

Re: WE ARE WHAT WE EAT

I thought the meat processors used everything but the squeak/moo/baa.
Don't the less attractive bits go into dog food?
by BillHowcroft
24 Sep 2017, 21:21
Forum: Stanley's View
Topic: A LOAD OF PIG SWILL
Replies: 10
Views: 3162

Re: A LOAD OF PIG SWILL

My farmer colleague says they used to get scrap biscuits as pig swill when he was a kid and they used to sort out some of the better ones for themselves. His dad still has one pig and the house next to his is unoccupied with an orchard. He was loading windfall plums into a wheelbarrow as a treat for...
by BillHowcroft
24 Sep 2017, 21:12
Forum: What, Where, When, We, Who, Look & How
Topic: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?
Replies: 16430
Views: 1893540

Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

We have a patch of delphiniums half way down the garden that every year we keep threatening to rip out because they don't flower.
Sure enough flowered this morning.
by BillHowcroft
24 Sep 2017, 21:04
Forum: Puzzles & Quizzes
Topic: MYSTERY OBJECTS
Replies: 19879
Views: 2125105

Re: MYSTERY OBJECTS

I was about to suggest it was a hook rule similar to this one.

Image
by BillHowcroft
22 Sep 2017, 20:38
Forum: Stanley's View
Topic: A LOAD OF PIG SWILL
Replies: 10
Views: 3162

Re: A LOAD OF PIG SWILL

My first employer was Billy Butlins who had their own pig farm and collected all the swill from the camp kitchens. I thought the swill collection got linked to one of the pig diseases getting transferred between farms. I agree with Stanley's views on healthy exposure to bacteria and I try to get a b...
by BillHowcroft
22 Sep 2017, 20:22
Forum: Current Affairs & Comment
Topic: MEDICAL MATTERS
Replies: 7578
Views: 840569

Re: MEDICAL MATTERS

They advise different coloured texts and backgrounds can help some dyslexic children with reading.

I too find some text/background combinations difficult in both colour magazines and on computer screen.. I am slightly red/green colour blind.

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