OneGuyFromBarlick

If you are waiting for an expected improvement in your condition or dealing with a very deep wound in your mate's back, be patient! If you do the right things it wall all come right in good time.

If you see something you have been coveting for years at a reasonable price and it you can almost afford it, go for it! You'll never regret it.....

Retail therapy?! What have you bought?

It is ok...I just read What attracted your attention today...

It was a moment of madness Maz. I have been wanting to read Whitaker properly for years. David Nelson offered to lend me his two volume first edition but I refused saying I would never feel comfortable because they are so valuable. So today's tip is If you do something like this, find someone to blame it on! I've told David what I have done and that it is all his fault.

If you find that something is bugging you, don't fret, just do something about it! That's always the right course.

Routines are a good thing but don't be afraid of varying them if there is an advantage to be gained. We cut our walk short this morning because of the cold and imminent rain. A good decision, we are back in the warm and perfectly dry!

Today's tip is for the government. It is the height of folly to cut back Public Library funding at any time!!
[Mind you, that's what has allowed me to buy a rare book at a good price so there is a silver lining in every cloud.]

Another library tip. They sell off very old books at a cheap price and it's worth keeping an eye on what they're selling. Now and then a gem turns up and our library sells the books off at 20p each. Last week for 20p I picked up a large format 1970s book on IK Brunel with lots of information and plenty of useful graphics. I've read books about him before but usually with few accompanying pictures. This one also has more of his background and lots of quotes from his diaries. I notice that when he got excited or annoyed he ended the sentences with a string of exclamation marks - just like some people do in their email messages today! I was amused by a story about when he was convalescing after his near death in the Rotherhythe tunnel collapse. He was told to take it easy and went off to Brighton to convalesce but he wrote in his diary about walking on the prom in the morning then "going to a restaurant, fancy party etc etc". He collapsed and had to be returned home and someone was quoted as saying that he probably had too much of the `etc etc'! He was then sent to Clifton, Bristol, to convalesce on the basis that there would be less `etc etc' but this was how he came to be involved in building the Clifton suspension bridge and in building a railway to the south-west (GWR). So, we can probably thank the `etc etc' for the ensuing engineering feats!

Part way through a biography on Brunel 1974 edition. I didn't know that his father Marc Isambard Brunel was a top class engineer receiving a Knighthood for his work. Isambard is a Norman name of Germanic origin, meaning either "iron-bright" or "iron-axe". The first element comes from isarn meaning iron (or steel). The second element comes from either biart-r (bright, glorious) or from barđa (a broad axe). My book cost me 50p, 'damn it'.

I've always thought that Marc Isambard was the better engineer but more conservative and publicity shy. Very few people mention his son's failures like the atmospheric railway and his ill fated 'Gaz engine' (Powered by compressed CO2). My favourite story about him is when he got the coin from the Xmas pudding stuck in his throat and when the surgeons failed to remove it he designed a machine to whirl him round and centrifugal force ejected the coin. Very typical of the man!
I suppose that makes today's tip 'If the doctors fail you, use your head and have a go yourself!'

According to my book it was a half sovereign and he was doing a conjuring trick with it in his mouth when he swallowed it by mistake. He made a pair of tongs for the doc to extract it from his throat but it didn't work, hence resorting to `the wheel'!

When the early stage of building the Clifton suspension bridge was suspended (no pun intended) there was only an iron bar stretched across the Avon Gorge with a basket to move stuff from side to side. One night a man, probably inebriated, tried to use it and got stuck halfway across and had to be rescued. Brunel got in trouble for letting this happen but, typically, he turned it to advantage. He took a boy with him and travelled across in the basket himself, proving it was possible and safe (!?). Then he promoted trips across the gorge for four people at a time in the basket. For a while this was his only source of income. What a chancer!

Tizer wrote: ↑11 Mar 2019, 11:04 hence resorting to `the wheel'!

Subsequently immortalised in the Ingoldsby Legends,

All conjuring's bad! They may get in a scrape
Before they're are aware, and, whatever its shape,
They find it no easy matter to escape,
it's not everybody that comes off so well
From 'leger de main' tricks as Mr Brunel.

You're right of course, I was relying on memory and it failed me. I think the word that best describes him is impetuous! Not the best attribute for an engineer but that was what drove his designs outside the envelope at times. We remember the successes. George Roebling, the man who built the Brooklyn Bridge was very similar, if you have a spare moment look up the story of his struggles to build it. Best account I know is David McCullough's 'Great Bridge'. (LINK TO BOOKFINDER)

When you get a bright idea for a Cunning Wheeze it might be a good idea to sleep on it and take advice..... ( have a certain ex-prime minister in mind....)

If the weather is bad, no point grumbling, just dress appropriately and get on with it!

Do not expect prompt replies to enquiries directed at a local Council. They are under-staffed and have no concept of efficient communications!

Driving rain is far more wetting than rain with no wind. Remember this when dressing! I hate wet trouser legs and hate wind even more, it disorients me!

I realise I have a touch of OCD when it comes to my sink but it is very satisfying to see it reflecting like a mirror as a result of my daily cleaning with bleach and a spot of detergent on the scotch pad. It's like the patina you get on bright parts of a steam engine when they are rubbed down daily. You can't get that quality of shine any other way..... (Yes, I should get out more.....)

If you have to de-bone oxtail segments after initial cooking ready for a stew, don't muck about, wash your hands well and do it with your fingers! Apart from anything else the fat is a good hand moisturiser!

Here's a tip - Take care when you sprinkle dried sage on your mushroom omelette that you check the label and it's not actually nutmeg.

And another tip. If you find yourself sprinkling nutmeg on your omelette it's time to visit the optician for new glasses.

For the DIY fans. We have all experienced dragging a wood screw out with pliers or pinch bars leaving the hole far too large for the replacement screw. Normally the hole is packed with a couple of broken matches and we hope the screw remains central enough for reassembly. A simple recovery method is to open the hole up to accept a suitable plastic masonry plug and use the screw as normal.

That's a good one and I have used it often.

Treasure your flush toilet! Remember what your ancestors had to put up with.
On recalcitrant woodscrews. A smart blow with a hammer on the screwdriver handle can sometimes aid removal, it can't do any harm. The shock can break the seal between the screw and the wood. Another tip is to try a small tightening movement before trying to extract it.

All sorts of 'penetrating' oils are sold but one of the most effective is to apply heat to the frozen bolt or screw and then melt tallow on to it. A paraffin wax candle end is almost as good. Then more heat. In the case of a woodscrew, use a soldering iron.This is very effective and cheap!