Anti nostalgia
Comments
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secretsam said:
We had one, and later at university my house had one. Dreadful. The colour of the waste water!!! Still, better than washing by hand...briantrumpet said:Twin tub washing machines, in which the clothes just got more and more twisted up, and the washing water got dirtier and dirtier. Lovely.
Actually, I don't mind washing by hand, or rather, by foot. In house no.2, I haven't got a washing machine, just an enormous bucket that I put in the shower tray, and tread the washing like grapes. Rather therapeutic, and I get very clean feet too.0 -
*Censored* that for a gamebriantrumpet said:secretsam said:
We had one, and later at university my house had one. Dreadful. The colour of the waste water!!! Still, better than washing by hand...briantrumpet said:Twin tub washing machines, in which the clothes just got more and more twisted up, and the washing water got dirtier and dirtier. Lovely.
Actually, I don't mind washing by hand, or rather, by foot. In house no.2, I haven't got a washing machine, just an enormous bucket that I put in the shower tray, and tread the washing like grapes. Rather therapeutic, and I get very clean feet too.
It's just a hill. Get over it.1 -
Is house number 2 accessed via a time portal? Are you secretly having an affair in another era? What I'm really asking, are you Nicholas Lyndhurst in Goodnight Sweetheart?briantrumpet said:secretsam said:
We had one, and later at university my house had one. Dreadful. The colour of the waste water!!! Still, better than washing by hand...briantrumpet said:Twin tub washing machines, in which the clothes just got more and more twisted up, and the washing water got dirtier and dirtier. Lovely.
Actually, I don't mind washing by hand, or rather, by foot. In house no.2, I haven't got a washing machine, just an enormous bucket that I put in the shower tray, and tread the washing like grapes. Rather therapeutic, and I get very clean feet too.0 -
I was going to be charitable, and suggest economic reasons...but then I thought "house number two..."elbowloh said:
Is house number accessed via a time portal? Are you secretly having an affair in another era? What I'm really asking, are you Nicholas Lyndhurst in Goodnight Sweetheart?briantrumpet said:secretsam said:
We had one, and later at university my house had one. Dreadful. The colour of the waste water!!! Still, better than washing by hand...briantrumpet said:Twin tub washing machines, in which the clothes just got more and more twisted up, and the washing water got dirtier and dirtier. Lovely.
Actually, I don't mind washing by hand, or rather, by foot. In house no.2, I haven't got a washing machine, just an enormous bucket that I put in the shower tray, and tread the washing like grapes. Rather therapeutic, and I get very clean feet too.
It's just a hill. Get over it.0 -
Nah, the house is in France so probably feels an urge to go native and behave in the backwards manner of his hosts to get the full experience (
just in case!) 1 -
C'est la maison secrète, n'est-ce pas?secretsam said:
I was going to be charitable, and suggest economic reasons...but then I thought "house number two..."elbowloh said:
Is house number accessed via a time portal? Are you secretly having an affair in another era? What I'm really asking, are you Nicholas Lyndhurst in Goodnight Sweetheart?briantrumpet said:secretsam said:
We had one, and later at university my house had one. Dreadful. The colour of the waste water!!! Still, better than washing by hand...briantrumpet said:Twin tub washing machines, in which the clothes just got more and more twisted up, and the washing water got dirtier and dirtier. Lovely.
Actually, I don't mind washing by hand, or rather, by foot. In house no.2, I haven't got a washing machine, just an enormous bucket that I put in the shower tray, and tread the washing like grapes. Rather therapeutic, and I get very clean feet too.
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Rinsing the soap out and squeezing dry is the hard bit.briantrumpet said:secretsam said:
We had one, and later at university my house had one. Dreadful. The colour of the waste water!!! Still, better than washing by hand...briantrumpet said:Twin tub washing machines, in which the clothes just got more and more twisted up, and the washing water got dirtier and dirtier. Lovely.
Actually, I don't mind washing by hand, or rather, by foot. In house no.2, I haven't got a washing machine, just an enormous bucket that I put in the shower tray, and tread the washing like grapes. Rather therapeutic, and I get very clean feet too.
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TheBigBean said:
Rinsing the soap out and squeezing dry is the hard bit.briantrumpet said:secretsam said:
We had one, and later at university my house had one. Dreadful. The colour of the waste water!!! Still, better than washing by hand...briantrumpet said:Twin tub washing machines, in which the clothes just got more and more twisted up, and the washing water got dirtier and dirtier. Lovely.
Actually, I don't mind washing by hand, or rather, by foot. In house no.2, I haven't got a washing machine, just an enormous bucket that I put in the shower tray, and tread the washing like grapes. Rather therapeutic, and I get very clean feet too.
Hence the grape treading technique in the big bucket for the rinsing too. It's especially nice in August when lots of cold water around the feet is the closest I'll get to paddling in the sea.0 -
Pross said:
Nah, the house is in France so probably feels an urge to go native and behave in the backwards manner of his hosts to get the full experience (
just in case!)
It is indeed the house in France. It's actually just from a practical point of view - I've got virtually nothing to go wrong there (as long as the plumbing doesn't blow up) - no gadgets or machines to malfunction, because if friends go to stay, I dont want phone calls saying that something isn't working.
I wouldn't mind being there right now.
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I bit off topic Brian but I had a look at your blog and see we were both at our respective French houses for a similar period in July/August (we are in the Lot - 46).briantrumpet said:Pross said:Nah, the house is in France so probably feels an urge to go native and behave in the backwards manner of his hosts to get the full experience (
just in case!)
It is indeed the house in France. It's actually just from a practical point of view - I've got virtually nothing to go wrong there (as long as the plumbing doesn't blow up) - no gadgets or machines to malfunction, because if friends go to stay, I dont want phone calls saying that something isn't working.
I wouldn't mind being there right now.
That was the only visit we made there in 2020.
Like you we closed down the house and quarantined back in the UK.
No idea when we'll be going back and just hope the house doesn't have problems (although we have good neighbours).
“You may think that; I couldn’t possibly comment!”
Wilier Cento Uno SR/Wilier Mortirolo/Specialized Roubaix Comp/Kona Hei Hei/Calibre Bossnut0 -
Rinsing involves filling the bucket lots though which is annoying, and I'd be amazed how much squeezing you can do with your feet although I haven't tried that technique.briantrumpet said:TheBigBean said:
Rinsing the soap out and squeezing dry is the hard bit.briantrumpet said:secretsam said:
We had one, and later at university my house had one. Dreadful. The colour of the waste water!!! Still, better than washing by hand...briantrumpet said:Twin tub washing machines, in which the clothes just got more and more twisted up, and the washing water got dirtier and dirtier. Lovely.
Actually, I don't mind washing by hand, or rather, by foot. In house no.2, I haven't got a washing machine, just an enormous bucket that I put in the shower tray, and tread the washing like grapes. Rather therapeutic, and I get very clean feet too.
Hence the grape treading technique in the big bucket for the rinsing too. It's especially nice in August when lots of cold water around the feet is the closest I'll get to paddling in the sea.
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dabber said:
I bit off topic Brian but I had a look at your blog and see we were both at our respective French houses for a similar period in July/August (we are in the Lot - 46).briantrumpet said:Pross said:Nah, the house is in France so probably feels an urge to go native and behave in the backwards manner of his hosts to get the full experience (
just in case!)
It is indeed the house in France. It's actually just from a practical point of view - I've got virtually nothing to go wrong there (as long as the plumbing doesn't blow up) - no gadgets or machines to malfunction, because if friends go to stay, I dont want phone calls saying that something isn't working.
I wouldn't mind being there right now.
That was the only visit we made there in 2020.
Like you we closed down the house and quarantined back in the UK.
No idea when we'll be going back and just hope the house doesn't have problems (although we have good neighbours).
I'll be very sad indeed if I can't get there in August, so I really want the French to get their ârses in gear over covid, but they are doing less well over their lockdown (pointless restriction on exercise distance, and a curfew that is ineffective while schools remain fully open) and vaccine roll out (not least as there seems to be a sizeable proportion of the population who remain sceptics).
I'm kind of resigning myself that it might be the October half term, if not August. Yes, I've got a lovely neighbour too who would tell me if there was a problem: best of both worlds - in a tiny hamlet with close neighbours and a good town nearby, but in the middle of the mountains.0 -
Platform Tickets0
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Platform tickets are still required at some stationsCharlie_Croker said:Platform Tickets
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Modern barrier systems making it hard to help someone not travelling to assist with luggage or a less able-bodied passenger is worse.0
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Really!elbowloh said:
Platform tickets are still required at some stationsCharlie_Croker said:Platform Tickets
I wasen't aware of that, bummer0 -
It used to be that all barriers were manned, if still the case just ask nicelyCharlie_Croker said:
Really!elbowloh said:
Platform tickets are still required at some stationsCharlie_Croker said:Platform Tickets
I wasen't aware of that, bummer0 -
They're all supposed to be manned, or left open if no one is available, but sometimes they forget.surrey_commuter said:
It used to be that all barriers were manned, if still the case just ask nicelyCharlie_Croker said:
Really!elbowloh said:
Platform tickets are still required at some stationsCharlie_Croker said:Platform Tickets
I wasen't aware of that, bummer1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
You can just ask. I have never had a problem doing that.Pross said:Modern barrier systems making it hard to help someone not travelling to assist with luggage or a less able-bodied passenger is worse.
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Would never work. The developer would just endlessly find that they just can't get hold of the granite and bung concrete down instead. It would be a nightmare in paperwork and sloppy results.Pross said:
I feel that all disciplines involved in a project need to have some willingness to be pragmatic and be prepared to compromise to a degree as the reality is that nothing gets done otherwise. It's fine to say "we want natural granite paving" but if some comes back and says they can't get hold of sufficient quantity and, for example, that it doesn't have sufficient skid resistance to be acceptable in safety terms then provides an alternative, very similar material, that addresses those requirements there needs to be some acceptance. It's not just a cost issue. We get similar issues with ecologists, even when they are supposedly working for the Developer.elbowloh said:
Tbf, why would they? They are conservation officers, not development assistance officers. The planners/estimators/designers should/would have known the requirement before they started the scheme and price it up accordingly. They shouldn't assume that they can beat down the spec.Pross said:From my (thankfully) limited experience of conservation officers they live in this strange past world and have no consideration on the wider issues around a construction project. Their insistence on using real stone kerbs and paving can add so much cost to a scheme that it no longer becomes financially viable and that's before trying to actually find a supplier of the materials they want. If you're lucky there'll be some available from where they have been taken up in other areas. Then you might have the added H&S issues of handling a 3' x 2' paving flag rather than smaller modern units.
I worked on the project to redevelop Kings Cross Station, which also involved having to work on the bit of the underground station that is part of St Pancras (grade I listed), For the brickwork we had to reject 85% of the bricks that were delivered as they didn't sufficiently match the existing bricks.
There is an example of this in Leeds - incompetent redevelopment of an old building on Briggate caused the façade to collapse. You'd not know now - it looks the same. But knock it with your knuckles and you'll find it's all fibreglass. Some would think that's fine but it isn't. It's tawdry and cheap and they shouldn't have been allowed to get away with it.
We should be glad for conservation - there's loads of new buildings going up in Leeds and almost all of them are cheap crap that won't last 40 years before they achieve the slum status of the buildings they replaced. Where the old buildings are kept a) they don't age and date so rapidly and b) they tend to improve the quality of new buildings surrounding them (albeit not enough).
As for the ecologists - your "even when they are working for the developer" is a bit alarming - they are not there to enable the development but to provide a technically correct and independent assessment of the circumstances. They can suggest mitigation measures but whether the outcome of the assessment suits the developer or not should be irrelevant.
Faster than a tent.......0 -
Some old buildings are lovely; some are just the cheap developer housing of their day thrown up to make a quick buck. They've just happened to be just well enough built to not fall down, and just cheap enough to not be worth doing up. Time is not a great editor.rolf_f said:
Would never work. The developer would just endlessly find that they just can't get hold of the granite and bung concrete down instead. It would be a nightmare in paperwork and sloppy results.Pross said:
I feel that all disciplines involved in a project need to have some willingness to be pragmatic and be prepared to compromise to a degree as the reality is that nothing gets done otherwise. It's fine to say "we want natural granite paving" but if some comes back and says they can't get hold of sufficient quantity and, for example, that it doesn't have sufficient skid resistance to be acceptable in safety terms then provides an alternative, very similar material, that addresses those requirements there needs to be some acceptance. It's not just a cost issue. We get similar issues with ecologists, even when they are supposedly working for the Developer.elbowloh said:
Tbf, why would they? They are conservation officers, not development assistance officers. The planners/estimators/designers should/would have known the requirement before they started the scheme and price it up accordingly. They shouldn't assume that they can beat down the spec.Pross said:From my (thankfully) limited experience of conservation officers they live in this strange past world and have no consideration on the wider issues around a construction project. Their insistence on using real stone kerbs and paving can add so much cost to a scheme that it no longer becomes financially viable and that's before trying to actually find a supplier of the materials they want. If you're lucky there'll be some available from where they have been taken up in other areas. Then you might have the added H&S issues of handling a 3' x 2' paving flag rather than smaller modern units.
I worked on the project to redevelop Kings Cross Station, which also involved having to work on the bit of the underground station that is part of St Pancras (grade I listed), For the brickwork we had to reject 85% of the bricks that were delivered as they didn't sufficiently match the existing bricks.
There is an example of this in Leeds - incompetent redevelopment of an old building on Briggate caused the façade to collapse. You'd not know now - it looks the same. But knock it with your knuckles and you'll find it's all fibreglass. Some would think that's fine but it isn't. It's tawdry and cheap and they shouldn't have been allowed to get away with it.
We should be glad for conservation - there's loads of new buildings going up in Leeds and almost all of them are cheap censored that won't last 40 years before they achieve the slum status of the buildings they replaced. Where the old buildings are kept a) they don't age and date so rapidly and b) they tend to improve the quality of new buildings surrounding them (albeit not enough).
As for the ecologists - your "even when they are working for the developer" is a bit alarming - they are not there to enable the development but to provide a technically correct and independent assessment of the circumstances. They can suggest mitigation measures but whether the outcome of the assessment suits the developer or not should be irrelevant.1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Can really recommend the Lucy Worsely documentary on the blitz.
It's not what I was expecting which was jam and Jerusalem or general twee-ness.
What it was good at was getting at what the Blitz was like and teasing apart what was manufactured propaganda with a view to keeping the public from panicking (the tropes we're likely more familiar with) and also what the genuine blitz spirit was; more around community led responses and having the gov't follow the successes.
What was good was it wasn't saying the "blitz spirit" didn't exist - quite the reverse - but it was more communities stepping in where gov't wasn't present/failed to look after each other. Locals made their M&S start offering up food for the homeless families - this was so successful the gov't copied it - homeless families were not looked after by the state so the community would take them in, etc etc.
And with that you get the politics and bickering that come with local community action - who's allowed in your shelter (no jews or foreigners in some instances but not others).
Even things like the tube - initially they shut the tube until public pressure got too big - and then there because there were no toilets it was actually quite gritty. And then you get people who would buy tickets late in the evening to get better spots in event of a raid.
It's all common sense when you think about it. Anyway, I would recommend.0 -
Where can I find it? I have heard from others that the "blitz spirit" was a load of old cobblers, invented at the time to keep up morale.rick_chasey said:Can really recommend the Lucy Worsely documentary on the blitz.
Didn't crime reach record levels then?
It's always amusing to see the rose-tinted vision of the UK that some people have. Talk to realistic older people and historians and they'll tell you it's utter bo11ocks. Racism, sexism, classism, all sorts of $exua1 crimes going on, plus diseases that we've now forgotten about and air that would kill you.
It's just a hill. Get over it.0 -
On iplayer. "Blitz Spirit with Lucy Worsley"secretsam said:
Where can I find it? I have heard from others that the "blitz spirit" was a load of old cobblers, invented at the time to keep up morale.rick_chasey said:Can really recommend the Lucy Worsely documentary on the blitz.
Didn't crime reach record levels then?
It's always amusing to see the rose-tinted vision of the UK that some people have. Talk to realistic older people and historians and they'll tell you it's utter bo11ocks. Racism, sexism, classism, all sorts of $exua1 crimes going on, plus diseases that we've now forgotten about and air that would kill you.1 -
having chatted to people who were there the Tube was a nightmare with drunks shouting and fighting.rick_chasey said:Can really recommend the Lucy Worsely documentary on the blitz.
It's not what I was expecting which was jam and Jerusalem or general twee-ness.
What it was good at was getting at what the Blitz was like and teasing apart what was manufactured propaganda with a view to keeping the public from panicking (the tropes we're likely more familiar with) and also what the genuine blitz spirit was; more around community led responses and having the gov't follow the successes.
What was good was it wasn't saying the "blitz spirit" didn't exist - quite the reverse - but it was more communities stepping in where gov't wasn't present/failed to look after each other. Locals made their M&S start offering up food for the homeless families - this was so successful the gov't copied it - homeless families were not looked after by the state so the community would take them in, etc etc.
And with that you get the politics and bickering that come with local community action - who's allowed in your shelter (no jews or foreigners in some instances but not others).
Even things like the tube - initially they shut the tube until public pressure got too big - and then there because there were no toilets it was actually quite gritty. And then you get people who would buy tickets late in the evening to get better spots in event of a raid.
It's all common sense when you think about it. Anyway, I would recommend.
I think it is common knowledge that the Govt chained the gates shut to the Tube and only gave in as it was obvious that people were going to break in. The logic was that they did not want thouands of people dying in one go as it would be a propaganda disaster.
If you look at this picture of Bank you can see what they meant
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That’s what is good about the programme.secretsam said:
Where can I find it? I have heard from others that the "blitz spirit" was a load of old cobblers, invented at the time to keep up morale.rick_chasey said:Can really recommend the Lucy Worsely documentary on the blitz.
Didn't crime reach record levels then?
It's always amusing to see the rose-tinted vision of the UK that some people have. Talk to realistic older people and historians and they'll tell you it's utter bo11ocks. Racism, sexism, classism, all sorts of $exua1 crimes going on, plus diseases that we've now forgotten about and air that would kill you.
It is a very objective look at the realities of what Blitz spirit was.
It most certainly isn’t a programme pedalling a British exceptionalism agenda.
Doubt it fits with the approved history our leaders want.0 -
Yes the conclusion was a bit pointed, but I also think there was a recognition that there was a 'blitz spirit' in the sense the community by and large did come together and did grit through it and did, by and large, look out for each other, though it was more out of dire circumstances and no real opportunity not to.morstar said:
That’s what is good about the programme.secretsam said:
Where can I find it? I have heard from others that the "blitz spirit" was a load of old cobblers, invented at the time to keep up morale.rick_chasey said:Can really recommend the Lucy Worsely documentary on the blitz.
Didn't crime reach record levels then?
It's always amusing to see the rose-tinted vision of the UK that some people have. Talk to realistic older people and historians and they'll tell you it's utter bo11ocks. Racism, sexism, classism, all sorts of $exua1 crimes going on, plus diseases that we've now forgotten about and air that would kill you.
It is a very objective look at the realities of what Blitz spirit was.
It most certainly isn’t a programme pedalling a British exceptionalism agenda.
Doubt it fits with the approved history our leaders want.0 -
It's really quite surprisingly gritty in places.
My Grandad was a fireman in Bristol (yes, places other than London were bombed!). I never really asked him about it, I didn't want him to go through it again.
https://bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000sm7s
It's just a hill. Get over it.0 -
People bemoaning the despicable supermarkets and online retailers must have forgotten what life was like before when the village convenience store would charge what they could get away with (no doubt this still happens in more remote places - I remember as a teenager an elderly person in front of me in the village store complaining they were charged more than the RRP printed on a product and being told that was the price in that shop so take it or leave it).
If you were shopping for anything remotely specialist you would were at the whim of stock availabllity, having to travel somewhere that had the specialist supplier and having to pay the price set by a limited market.0
