MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Gloria]

Oh Wendy, you could have saved me a headache.

[Wendyf]

No! I spent ages going through photos of towers and light houses and holiday cottages but dismissed them all including Belle Tout.

[Stanley]

That was a good one! Well done Gloria!

[Stanley]

Try this one, what's going on here and where is it?

[Gloria]

Looks like a tug o war around the corner of a building.

[Stanley]

I can see why you thought that Gloria but sorry, no,

[Big Kev]

They look to be jacking the building up. Somewhere in the US I reckon.

[plaques]

Protecting the buildings round Trafalgar Square against possible damage resulting from Keir Hardie's anti war speech 1914.

[Tizer]

I'm with Kev. They moved big buildings that way in the US.

[Stanley]

Kev is close enough. It's jacking a building up in Chicago in the 19th century to get enough fall to install a drainage system. See THIS Wiki article for the details.



Some of you may remember this so I don't expect it to have legs. But what can you tell me about this?

[Tizer]

Soap?

[plaques]

Far too posh for us. We used good old carbolic for years. The big selling point was that the Ivory soap would float so you never needed to search the bath to find it. With only 2 inches of water in a tin bath this was never a problem.

[Cathy]

Definitely soap.

[PanBiker]

There is a fun experiment for kids by shoving it in a microwave to show how air expands with heating. The bar when heated in the microwave will expand into foam. After extracting you can squeeze the air back out and turn it back into a useable shape for your ablutions.

It only works with Ivory soap because it is the only brand that is manufactured with integral air bubbles which is what makes it unique in it's floating capacity.

[Marilyn]

Witchcraft!

[PanBiker]

Science.

[PanBiker]

I still like the Imperial Leather trick for indicating the correct temperature when heating aluminium for bending.

[Stanley]

Far too easy as I suspected. P got it first of course. Love the two inches of water, I remember it well! Try this one....



Can you tell me exactly what this man does for a living?

[Big Kev]

Is he a 'knocker-upper'? Tapping on upstairs windows to wake people up for work?

[Stanley]

Sorry Kev, no.

[Wendyf]

Is he a crossing sweeper?

[PanBiker]

Shorter stick than a knocker upper, maybe a hook on the end, is he a lamp lighter?

[Big Kev]

Is he a crossing sweeper?

I reckon you're bob on there Wendy

[Tizer]

Sweeps up horse dung from the streets? Mind you, with a bowler hat on he might be one of those millionaires that don't let on that's what they are!

[Wendyf]

I recognise a yard brush when I see one! Did I mention that I got a new one for Christmas?