OneGuyFromBarlick

From your mouth to God's ear Maz! You have it exactly right. It's also an advantage to have a range of interests so that if Physical problems preclude the pursuit of one, another can be deployed that doesn't rely on you being active. A further piece of advice from experience is to have interests that allow you to keep advancing, not ones where age degrades your ability. It's a big mistake to start something like fell-running just at the time when nature is telling you it would be a good idea to slow down. I get to be a better fitter every day because of practice in the shed, very satisfying and better for you. (As long as you don't try to cut your finger off!)

My dad didn't have any hobbies and I've said before how mum found him another job after he'd retired. She got fed up with him moping about the house so she deliberately suggested a walk to a pub that took them by a wholesale decorator's shop and stopped to look in the window. What a coincidence! There was an ad saying they wanted someone to work behind the counter full time. They took him on, found him very reliable and competent and he ended up managing the shop. Mum was pleased! They got to know her too and she eventually did some work in one of their other shops. An ideal outcome!

I can't understand people with no hobbies or interests. They must be devoid of curiosity and determination.

I don't know whether it is nature or nurture Tiz. I suspect the latter because surely all children are curious? Perhaps it wasn't encouraged and the instinct degraded. One suspects that boring jobs could have the same effect. Whatever, it's definitely a handicap. Like you, I am never bored! It came in handy yesterday, Kev was spared taking out a second mortgage to buy another towel rail...... 5 minutes on Mrs Harrison and he was sorted. He said he enjoyed watching me do it.

I've made a slight modification to my sink cleaning routine each morning. When I've brushed the pot out I give the base of the tap and the overflow hole a good brushing as well with bleach. Can't think why I didn't do it before. It's beginning to show, things looking brighter and cleaner. All right, I know I'm obsessive about my sink but I feel better knowing it's clean and bright!

"A soldier should be like his rifle, clean, bright and slightly oiled" Old habits die hard and nowt wrong with that!

My tip here has been sorely learned. If you don't like the look of the tyke serving food at the motorway service station, don't buy and even less consume said food....

I sense there's a story behind that post Julie!

Another one Julie, is "don't buy fish 60 miles from the nearest sea!"

Are you alright Pet? Have you spent time in the bathroom?

Julie..... Do tell!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you oversleep don't rush to catch up. I learned this lesson years ago when I occasionally overslept and set off 2 hours late to deliver milk at a diary down the country. Just tram along at your usual pace and accept the fact that you are late. Things go wrong if you rush!

"Don't pee before your water comes" as my dad used to say. I remind myself of that while my brain reviews the worst that could be waiting for me as a result of my blood test but it's hard not to have some trepidation......

If your latest stew starts to ferment, don't immediately assume that something bad is happening. It happened to me yesterday and I decided that somehow a yeast organism had got into it so I gave it a good boil and carried on. There have been no bad consequences and it tastes lovely. Never happened to me before but in the immortal words of Douglas Adams, "Don't Panic!!"

Now that I am back on my feet, and being mildly concerned about Stanley's post about yeasty stews, I will reiterate. If you don't feel comfortable about a food premise, don't buy from it. Your gut feelings are probably right. That is a week's holiday with a new puppy that I will never see, however I am happy to tell you that I slept most of my way through it.

Glad you are feeling better, Julie.
A new pup? Do fill us in! (Another Spaniel?)

Stanley, I've never "fermented" a Stew in my entire cooking life! I'm not sure how you managed that...but it must have been a combination of things including temperature/sugars/yeast.

And me Maz, it's a puzzle but perfectly OK and incidentally, very tasty. I think some cuisines ferment cabbage. There might be a clue in there.

Fermented food is very good for your gut!
Look in the Pets topic Maz, there is a photo from a couple of weeks back of Julie's pup, it's a Munsterlander. My friend has one, they are very glamourous and impressive dogs!

Jack is not glamorous, he's a pain in the butt!

Foods fermented under acidic conditions such as beer and pickles by yeast and appropriate bacteria are safe. But beware of any fungi that could be described as mould and are not expected (i.e. not blue cheese etc), especially if the food is not strongly acidic. Low level contamination with these may not change the taste or texture and can be killed by cooking but they can produce carcinogenic mycotoxins which can survive the cooking.

"Carcinogenic Mycotoxins".
Strewth!.Steer clear of them, Stanley! I'd be fishing them out with a slotted spoon...

Cheerful stuff Tiz.
Me too Maz! If there were any I must be immune to them 'cause I finished the stew yesterday with no ill-effects....
Today's tip, beware of having experts on chemistry in the kitchen!

It might be unpleasant but someone has to tell you these things! Mycotoxins were a big issue in the 1980s and 90s, mainly because they were found in some peanut products at the time. Manufacturers using mouldy peanuts. But the fungi are out there in the wild and found on most vegetables and fruits. They're not a problem unless allowed to grow and form colonies.

I know Tiz and I value your opinion. I suppose that what's in my my mind is that it's a good job we aren't as aware of these things as you are and it's a good job I was ignorant of the dangers in the days when I was eating my butties in the cab with unwashed hands loaded with more microbes from cow muck than you could poke a stick at. I survived and attribute my splendid immune system to this constant ingestion of things that were not necessarily good for me. All the evidence that I have seen tends to convince me that there is a place for total sterility in some areas but not in others.

The place for sterility is the sink and taps, the dish cloth and towel, the chopping board and the lavatory. If you get them right you aren't far wrong!

Agreed Stanley. And hand washing. The best way to stop any bugs entering your system will always be washing your hands!

Agreed Maz. My best move last year was discovering disposable vinyl gloves for the shed. My hand are a lot cleaner since then.
I sat there yesterday watching the snooker with my feet in the U4A Memorial foot spa having a foot maintenance hour and reflecting on the fact that if your feet are OK the rest of you stands a chance. I'm lucky in that I have good feet. I put it down to genes and always having worn good boots and clogs. So today's tip is look after your plates of meat!