On 19/05/2022 10:20, Peter wrote:
>
> [1]I'm suffering from more literal ankle-biters atm. The gardning is full
> of mossies. SWMBO has instructed me to fill in the garden pond (not going
> to happen).

Just put a couple of goldfish in it.

Hirondelle is Serapu 4 the 'swallow' (brid)

--
Rusty Hinge
To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the BOFH.

In article <t6622k$ara$1@dont-email.me>, RustyHinge <rusty.hinge@foobar.
girolle.co.uk> on Thu, 19 May 2022 at 19:25:23 awoke Nicholas from his
slumbers and wrote
>Hirondelle is Serapu 4 the 'swallow' (brid)
>
If you drank from the bottle you would know that, it had a Hirondelle,
in flight, on the label.
--
0sterc@tcher -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

On Thu, 19 May 2022 19:14:32 +0100, Mike Fleming <mike@tauzero.co.uk>
wrote:

>On 19/05/2022 16:46, Nick Odell wrote:
>> On Thu, 19 May 2022 07:51:04 -0500, Richard Robinson
>> <richardR@privacy.net> wrote:
>>
>>> Mike Fleming said:
>>>> On 18/05/2022 10:40, Richard Robinson wrote:
>>>>> Richard Robinson said:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> suger.
>>>>>
>>>>> *blush*
>>>>
>>>> sug, suger, sugest.
>>>
>>> suggissimo.
>>
>> I thought that meant performed loudly by UB40?
>
>Suggs has left Madness?

Ubregg! That'll teach me for trying to be a smart-arse.

Nick

On 19-May-22 6:21, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:

> A decent electric burr grinder will set you back a few hundred Zu
> and it still won't have anything like as large, slow and cool grinder as
> the Spong and it will be nothing like as reliable (it might last a decade,
> I don't think anyone has ever worn out a Spong).

The standard advice in the high-end espresso market is to spend more zu
on your coffee grinder than on the espresso machine.

P.S. A Spong doesn't tie up a 13Amp socket, & takes up less counter space.

--
Sam Plusnet

On 18-May-22 20:56, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
> In article <20220518184945.619e4109cc22e8c3fa76f33d@eircom.net>, Ahem A
> Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> on Wed, 18 May 2022 at 18:49:45 awoke
> Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
>> On Wed, 18 May 2022 18:15:09 +0100
>> Nick Odell <nick@themusicworkshop.plus.com> wrote:
>>
>>> How many people remember that 1976 was one of the best years for
>>> Beaujolais?
>>
>> AH yes 1976 - I remember it being lbooyd hot, I remember having to
>> wear a black short-sleeved tee shirt to steward the folk festival and
>> peeling my arms like a snake shedding skin afterwards, I remember ladybirds
>> in vast numbers (the year before it was aphids), I remember getting ynvq
>> for the first time. If I had to pick a year to put on endless repeat it
>> would be high on the list.
>>
>> I don't pay much attention to wine.
>>
> 1975 was also a hot and dry summer. I was sent on gardening leave for
> the whole summer, not as a result of being a naughty boy. I had just
> completed a post-graduate one year course at my employer's expense and
> they discovered that they had nothing appropriate for me to do. I spent
> 4 weeks camping in the Cotswolds.
>
> It was the hot dry summer of '75 and poor rainfall over the winter of
> '75/'76 that made the drought of the summer of '76 so severe.
>
> In the summer of '76 my desk was in a small office with no outside
> windows and one skylight which could not be opened. On the other hand my
> flat was 5 minutes walk from Stokes Bay and looked out onto Stokes Bay.

76 was the first time we ever managed two summer hols.

We travelled to Winchelsea in a downpour - that being the last rain
anyone saw for the whole summer.
Towards the end of the summer, we went to Looe in Cornwall & it chucked
it down on the journey home - this being the result of Denis Howell
being appointed as Minister for Rain.

--
Sam Plusnet

On 19-May-22 14:42, Peter wrote:
> RustyHinge <rusty.hinge@foobar.girolle.co.uk> wrote in
> news:t6562s$e1f$1@dont-email.me:
>
>>>
>>> [1]I'm suffering from more literal ankle-biters atm. The gardning is
>>> full of mossies. SWMBO has instructed me to fill in the garden pond
>>> (not going to happen).
>>
>> A glodfish or two will take care of the mozzieeeeeeee larvae - or
>> newts and tadpoles will do the same wbo.
>>
>
> Glodfish is the plan. Plenty of amphibians and predatory insect larvae in
> there already, and most of the time they are enough to keep the mossies
> down - I think it's this spell of warm wet weather that's caused the little
> blighters to breed faster than usual. On previous occasions when this has
> happened (every few years) I've chucked a few small glodfish in - seems to
> work, and they thrive for a few years (until the next really cold winter).
> Trouble is, they eat all the intersting pond life as well. Voracious little
> hooters, your glodfih.
>
We had tadpoles, until the newts moved in. No more tadpoles.

--
Sam Plusnet

On 19-May-22 18:05, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
> In article <t65lc1$jn1$1@dont-email.me>, RustyHinge <rusty.hinge@foobar.
> girolle.co.uk> on Thu, 19 May 2022 at 15:48:33 awoke Nicholas from his
> slumbers and wrote
>> On 19/05/2022 13:56, Richard Robinson wrote:
>>> Nicholas D. Richards said:
>>>> In article <slrnt8bv5u.2qa.maus@dmaus.org>, maus <maus@dmaus.org> on
>>>> Thu, 19 May 2022 at 08:15:58 awoke Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
>>>>> On 2022-05-18, Nick Odell <nick@themusicworkshop.plus.com> wrote:
>>>>>> On Wed, 18 May 2022 10:37:44 -0500, Richard Robinson
>>>>>> <richardR@privacy.net> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> John Williamson said:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> How many people remember that 1976 was one of the best years for
>>>>>> Beaujolais? Probably nobody. I had to look it up. Yet everybody who
>>>>>> was around at the time of the Austrian wine scandal remembers it even
>>>>>> if they can't remember the exact year and they probably still skirt
>>>>>> past the Austrian wines and choose something else to drink.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Nick
>>>>>
>>>>> Wine must be french, even the worst is better than Spanish. Do people
>>>>> still go over from England and bring back trunk fulls of wine?.
>>>>>
>>>> Rioja, Vino Verde to name but a couple?
>>>
>>> Hirondelle, man, *Hirondelle*.
>>
>> I'll swallow that.
>
> Rather you than me. When I was tsudent I spent rather more time
> unswallowing it than swallowing it. Ansty, rot gut stuff.

The days of dirt-cheap rot-gut wine seem to be long gone - at least here
in the UK.

P.S. I thought/hoped Hirondelle had died a death yonks ago.

--
Sam Plusnet

On 18-May-22 21:48, Richard Robinson wrote:
> Sam Plusnet said:
>> On 18-May-22 10:26, Richard Robinson wrote:
>>> Sam Plusnet said:
>>>> On 17-May-22 11:54, Richard Robinson wrote:
>>>>> RustyHinge said:
>>>>
>>>>>> Depends on the bactrians.
>>>>>
>>>>> "Life's too short to drown a camel".
>>>>
>>>> So the camels would have you believe.
>>>>
>>>> Given their usual environment, drowning isn't high on their list of worries.
>>>>
>>>> (They're bright enough to stay out of wadis.)
>>>
>>> What I said. It'd be complicated.
>>>
>>> But, thinks - Has anybody ever offered them the chance to swim in
>>> alcohol ?
>>
>> The Saudis? For some obscure religious reasons?
>
> "Religious camels" is an even more unlikely concept, Saudi or Bactrian.
> Especially given that the morality police'd probably chop their hooves
> off for it. Is that what they've got ? Pads ? _Feet_, ffs.
>
> Religiously persecuted refugee camels braving the Channel in search of
> something alcoholic to swim in, that's what we need. Liven the place up
> a bit, and confuse the navy. Take that, Patel !
>
They have lots of racing camels, & the competition gets pretty fierce
for the prestige of winning.
If you started a rumour that a camel bathed in Beaujolais will gain an
extra 30 yards on the competition...

--
Sam Plusnet

In article <gMyhK.888441$xr1.430038@fx02.ams1>, Sam Plusnet
<not@home.com> on Thu, 19 May 2022 at 22:37:15 awoke Nicholas from his
slumbers and wrote
>On 19-May-22 18:05, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
>> In article <t65lc1$jn1$1@dont-email.me>, RustyHinge <rusty.hinge@foobar.
>> girolle.co.uk> on Thu, 19 May 2022 at 15:48:33 awoke Nicholas from his
>> slumbers and wrote
>>> On 19/05/2022 13:56, Richard Robinson wrote:
>>>> Nicholas D. Richards said:
>>>>> In article <slrnt8bv5u.2qa.maus@dmaus.org>, maus <maus@dmaus.org> on
>>>>> Thu, 19 May 2022 at 08:15:58 awoke Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
>>>>>> On 2022-05-18, Nick Odell <nick@themusicworkshop.plus.com> wrote:
>>>>>>> On Wed, 18 May 2022 10:37:44 -0500, Richard Robinson
>>>>>>> <richardR@privacy.net> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> John Williamson said:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> How many people remember that 1976 was one of the best years for
>>>>>>> Beaujolais? Probably nobody. I had to look it up. Yet everybody who
>>>>>>> was around at the time of the Austrian wine scandal remembers it even
>>>>>>> if they can't remember the exact year and they probably still skirt
>>>>>>> past the Austrian wines and choose something else to drink.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Nick
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Wine must be french, even the worst is better than Spanish. Do people
>>>>>> still go over from England and bring back trunk fulls of wine?.
>>>>>>
>>>>> Rioja, Vino Verde to name but a couple?
>>>>
>>>> Hirondelle, man, *Hirondelle*.
>>>
>>> I'll swallow that.
>>
>> Rather you than me. When I was tsudent I spent rather more time
>> unswallowing it than swallowing it. Ansty, rot gut stuff.
>
>The days of dirt-cheap rot-gut wine seem to be long gone - at least here
>in the UK.
>
>P.S. I thought/hoped Hirondelle had died a death yonks ago.
>

It was pretty certain that it went the same way as Grotney's Party
Seven. Gone and not lamented.

When I looked it up they followed each other into the dustbin of failed
brands.

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2014/03/top-10-demised-drinks-
brands/8/

Half way down the page.

I was pleasantly surprised that Worthington White Shield is still being
brewed and bottled as a bottle conditioned pale ale. I rather enjoyed it
in the past. I need to find someone locally who sells it. No success so
far.
--
0sterc@tcher -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

On 19/05/2022 22:29, Sam Plusnet wrote:
>
> 76 was the first time we ever managed two summer hols.
>
> We travelled to Winchelsea in a downpour - that being the last rain
> anyone saw for the whole summer.
> Towards the end of the summer, we went to Looe in Cornwall & it chucked
> it down on the journey home - this being the result of Denis Howell
> being appointed as Minister for Rain.

Wasn't it Minister for Drought? And IIRC he was moved either from or to
Minister for Sport. <gwgls> Ah, he was Minister of Sport some time
before that, but after the cloudbursts he was made Minister for Floods,
and then in a later harsh winter Minister for Snow.

Any comparisons with Chris Grayling should be avoided.

On 19/05/2022 22:31, Sam Plusnet wrote:
> On 19-May-22 14:42, Peter wrote:
>>
>> Glodfish is the plan. Plenty of amphibians and predatory insect larvae in
>> there already, and most of the time they are enough to keep the mossies
>> down - I think it's this spell of warm wet weather that's caused the
>> little
>> blighters to breed faster than usual. On previous occasions when this has
>> happened (every few years) I've chucked a few small glodfish in -
>> seems to
>> work, and they thrive for a few years (until the next really cold
>> winter).
>> Trouble is, they eat all the intersting pond life as well. Voracious
>> little
>> hooters, your glodfih.
>>
> We had tadpoles, until the newts moved in.  No more tadpoles.

We had frogs and tadpoles and glodfish until the heron visited. Then we
had tadpoles.

On 19/05/2022 20:06, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
> In article <t6622k$ara$1@dont-email.me>, RustyHinge <rusty.hinge@foobar.
> girolle.co.uk> on Thu, 19 May 2022 at 19:25:23 awoke Nicholas from his
> slumbers and wrote
>> Hirondelle is Serapu 4 the 'swallow' (brid)
>>
> If you drank from the bottle you would know that, it had a Hirondelle,
> in flight, on the label.

Bill Clinton should be sent a bottle.

Apparently, at the G8 summit in Birmingham last millennium, he was going
to be put up at the Swallow Hotel but then was moved to the Hyatt.

On 19/05/2022 23:14, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
>
> It was pretty certain that it went the same way as Grotney's Party
> Seven. Gone and not lamented.
>
> When I looked it up they followed each other into the dustbin of failed
> brands.
>
> https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2014/03/top-10-demised-drinks-
> brands/8/
>
> Half way down the page.
>
> I was pleasantly surprised that Worthington White Shield is still being
> brewed and bottled as a bottle conditioned pale ale. I rather enjoyed it
> in the past. I need to find someone locally who sells it. No success so
> far.

"At the time Scottish Courage said that while Hofmeister sales had
plummeted to just 4,000 barrels a year, or just over 1 million pints,
sales of its Foster's brand had soared 30%."

They were both awful. Foster's still is.

There's no mention of Davenports there. Does that mean that Drum bitter
and Coldstream lager, the most dreadful pints I've ever had in my life,
are being sold somewhere? https://www.davenports.co.uk/pages/keg-cask -
looks like they've given up brewing (or producing by some other means)
those two dreadful substances.

On 19/05/2022 22:41, Sam Plusnet wrote:
> On 18-May-22 21:48, Richard Robinson wrote:
>> Sam Plusnet said:
>>> On 18-May-22 10:26, Richard Robinson wrote:
>>>> Sam Plusnet said:
>>>>> On 17-May-22 11:54, Richard Robinson wrote:
>>>>>> RustyHinge said:
>>>>>
>>>>>>> Depends on the bactrians.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "Life's too short to drown a camel".
>>>>>
>>>>> So the camels would have you believe.
>>>>>
>>>>> Given their usual environment, drowning isn't high on their list of
>>>>> worries.
>>>>>
>>>>> (They're bright enough to stay out of wadis.)
>>>>
>>>> What I said. It'd be complicated.
>>>>
>>>> But, thinks - Has anybody ever offered them the chance to swim in
>>>> alcohol ?
>>>
>>> The Saudis?  For some obscure religious reasons?
>>
>> "Religious camels" is an even more unlikely concept, Saudi or Bactrian.
>> Especially given that the morality police'd probably chop their hooves
>> off for it. Is that what they've got ? Pads ? _Feet_, ffs.
>>
>> Religiously persecuted refugee camels braving the Channel in search of
>> something alcoholic to swim in, that's what we need.  Liven the place up
>> a bit, and confuse the navy. Take that, Patel !
>>
> They have lots of racing camels, & the competition gets pretty fierce
> for the prestige of winning.
> If you started a rumour that a camel bathed in Beaujolais will gain an
> extra 30 yards on the competition...

Here's me assuming that RR was making a subtle joke based on the fact
that alcohol is less dense than water, so the camels would immediately
sink and drown.

Shane MacGowan visited a winery and fell into one of the vats. He got
away from them three times before they could get him out.

On 20/05/2022 01:25, Mike Fleming wrote:
> On 19/05/2022 23:14, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
>>
>> It was pretty certain that it went the same way as Grotney's Party
>> Seven. Gone and not lamented.
>>
>> When I looked it up they followed each other into the dustbin of failed
>> brands.
>>
>> https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2014/03/top-10-demised-drinks-
>> brands/8/
>>
>> Half way down the page.
>>
>> I was pleasantly surprised that Worthington White Shield is still being
>> brewed and bottled as a bottle conditioned pale ale. I rather enjoyed it
>> in the past. I need to find someone locally who sells it. No success so
>> far.
>
> "At the time Scottish Courage said that while Hofmeister sales had
> plummeted to just 4,000 barrels a year, or just over 1 million pints,
> sales of its Foster's brand had soared 30%."
>
> They were both awful. Foster's still is.
>
> There's no mention of Davenports there. Does that mean that Drum bitter
> and Coldstream lager, the most dreadful pints I've ever had in my life,
> are being sold somewhere? https://www.davenports.co.uk/pages/keg-cask -
> looks like they've given up brewing (or producing by some other means)
> those two dreadful substances.

Years ago went round Shepherd Neame's Brewery in Kent.

Fascinating.

But I spotted a couple of large shiny vats labelled 'Tiger Beer'. I
pointed this out, and the Neame brother who was showing us around said,
"Please don't make this public, but if you buy a Tiger Beer in an Indian
restaurant, it would have been brewed here."

Oops, I just have.

Tone

On Fri, 20 May 2022 01:18:29 +0100
Mike Fleming <mike@tauzero.co.uk> wrote:

> On 19/05/2022 20:06, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
> > In article <t6622k$ara$1@dont-email.me>, RustyHinge <rusty.hinge@foobar.
> > girolle.co.uk> on Thu, 19 May 2022 at 19:25:23 awoke Nicholas from his
> > slumbers and wrote
> >> Hirondelle is Serapu 4 the 'swallow' (brid)
> >>
> > If you drank from the bottle you would know that, it had a Hirondelle,
> > in flight, on the label.
>
> Bill Clinton should be sent a bottle.
>
> Apparently, at the G8 summit in Birmingham last millennium, he was going
> to be put up at the Swallow Hotel ...

... in the Lewinski suite.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/

On Thu, 19 May 2022 22:20:09 +0100
Sam Plusnet <not@home.com> wrote:

> On 19-May-22 6:21, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:
>
> > A decent electric burr grinder will set you back a few hundred
> > Zu and it still won't have anything like as large, slow and cool
> > grinder as the Spong and it will be nothing like as reliable (it might
> > last a decade, I don't think anyone has ever worn out a Spong).
>
> The standard advice in the high-end espresso market is to spend more zu
> on your coffee grinder than on the espresso machine.

I cam across a comment by someone who had done just that and had
the misfortune to have something hard (a steel nut I think) unexpectedly in
the beans which totalled his expensive grinder.

He went back to using his Spong which he reckoned would simply have
bounced the nut around harmlessly.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/

On 19/05/2022 23:14, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:

> I was pleasantly surprised that Worthington White Shield is still being
> brewed and bottled as a bottle conditioned pale ale. I rather enjoyed it
> in the past. I need to find someone locally who sells it. No success so
> far.

We used to use the dregs to start arj fermentations in homebrewing exploits.

If you are anywhere near an East of England Co-Op, try there - they seem
to have very well-informed incohol buyers.

--
Rusty Hinge
To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the BOFH.

On Thu, 19 May 2022 22:37:15 +0100, Sam Plusnet <not@home.com> wrote:

>On 19-May-22 18:05, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
>> In article <t65lc1$jn1$1@dont-email.me>, RustyHinge <rusty.hinge@foobar.
>> girolle.co.uk> on Thu, 19 May 2022 at 15:48:33 awoke Nicholas from his
>> slumbers and wrote
>>> On 19/05/2022 13:56, Richard Robinson wrote:
>>>> Nicholas D. Richards said:
>>>>> In article <slrnt8bv5u.2qa.maus@dmaus.org>, maus <maus@dmaus.org> on
>>>>> Thu, 19 May 2022 at 08:15:58 awoke Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
>>>>>> On 2022-05-18, Nick Odell <nick@themusicworkshop.plus.com> wrote:
>>>>>>> On Wed, 18 May 2022 10:37:44 -0500, Richard Robinson
>>>>>>> <richardR@privacy.net> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> John Williamson said:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> How many people remember that 1976 was one of the best years for
>>>>>>> Beaujolais? Probably nobody. I had to look it up. Yet everybody who
>>>>>>> was around at the time of the Austrian wine scandal remembers it even
>>>>>>> if they can't remember the exact year and they probably still skirt
>>>>>>> past the Austrian wines and choose something else to drink.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Nick
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Wine must be french, even the worst is better than Spanish. Do people
>>>>>> still go over from England and bring back trunk fulls of wine?.
>>>>>>
>>>>> Rioja, Vino Verde to name but a couple?
>>>>
>>>> Hirondelle, man, *Hirondelle*.
>>>
>>> I'll swallow that.
>>
>> Rather you than me. When I was tsudent I spent rather more time
>> unswallowing it than swallowing it. Ansty, rot gut stuff.
>
>The days of dirt-cheap rot-gut wine seem to be long gone - at least here
>in the UK.
>
>P.S. I thought/hoped Hirondelle had died a death yonks ago.

How cheap is dirt cheap?

The Daily Telegraph recently recommended six wines from Tesco, each
under a fiver and each worth drinking - they said. At under a fiver
and given ttansport, bottling, profits and the unique way the UK
government taxes the stuff, that's leaving about 25p for the cost of
the wine itself.

At great personal sacrifice I went out of my way to test the
Telegraph's opinion. There's one I still haven't found in stock, two
that I'd never drink again but three that are perfectly good enough to
keep in the kitchen and glug down whilst cooking. Maybe even add a
little of it to the occasional sauce?

Nick

Mike Fleming <mike@tauzero.co.uk> wrote in
news:jeo4vpFjn84U2@mid.individual.net:

> On 19/05/2022 22:31, Sam Plusnet wrote:
>> On 19-May-22 14:42, Peter wrote:
>>>
>>> Glodfish is the plan. Plenty of amphibians and predatory insect
>>> larvae in there already, and most of the time they are enough to
>>> keep the mossies down - I think it's this spell of warm wet weather
>>> that's caused the little
>>> blighters to breed faster than usual. On previous occasions when
>>> this has happened (every few years) I've chucked a few small
>>> glodfish in - seems to
>>> work, and they thrive for a few years (until the next really cold
>>> winter).
>>> Trouble is, they eat all the intersting pond life as well. Voracious
>>> little
>>> hooters, your glodfih.
>>>
>> We had tadpoles, until the newts moved in.  No more tadpoles.
>
> We had frogs and tadpoles and glodfish until the heron visited. Then
> we had tadpoles.

Fortunately, my pond is surrounded by trees so the heron can't get a decent
glide-path. Unfortunately, my pond is surrounded by trees so it fills up
with leaves.

--
Peter
-----

On Thu, 19 May 2022 23:14:38 +0100
"Nicholas D. Richards" <nicholas@salmiron.com> wrote:

> In article <gMyhK.888441$xr1.430038@fx02.ams1>, Sam Plusnet
> <not@home.com> on Thu, 19 May 2022 at 22:37:15 awoke Nicholas from his
> slumbers and wrote
> >On 19-May-22 18:05, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
> >> In article <t65lc1$jn1$1@dont-email.me>, RustyHinge <rusty.hinge@foobar.
> >> girolle.co.uk> on Thu, 19 May 2022 at 15:48:33 awoke Nicholas from his
> >> slumbers and wrote
> >>> On 19/05/2022 13:56, Richard Robinson wrote:
> >>>> Nicholas D. Richards said:
> >>>>> In article <slrnt8bv5u.2qa.maus@dmaus.org>, maus <maus@dmaus.org> on
> >>>>> Thu, 19 May 2022 at 08:15:58 awoke Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
> >>>>>> On 2022-05-18, Nick Odell <nick@themusicworkshop.plus.com> wrote:
> >>>>>>> On Wed, 18 May 2022 10:37:44 -0500, Richard Robinson
> >>>>>>> <richardR@privacy.net> wrote:
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> John Williamson said:
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> How many people remember that 1976 was one of the best years for
> >>>>>>> Beaujolais? Probably nobody. I had to look it up. Yet everybody who
> >>>>>>> was around at the time of the Austrian wine scandal remembers it even
> >>>>>>> if they can't remember the exact year and they probably still skirt
> >>>>>>> past the Austrian wines and choose something else to drink.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Nick
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Wine must be french, even the worst is better than Spanish. Do people
> >>>>>> still go over from England and bring back trunk fulls of wine?.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>> Rioja, Vino Verde to name but a couple?
> >>>>
> >>>> Hirondelle, man, *Hirondelle*.
> >>>
> >>> I'll swallow that.
> >>
> >> Rather you than me. When I was tsudent I spent rather more time
> >> unswallowing it than swallowing it. Ansty, rot gut stuff.
> >
> >The days of dirt-cheap rot-gut wine seem to be long gone - at least here
> >in the UK.
> >
> >P.S. I thought/hoped Hirondelle had died a death yonks ago.
> >
>
> It was pretty certain that it went the same way as Grotney's Party
> Seven. Gone and not lamented.
>
> When I looked it up they followed each other into the dustbin of failed
> brands.
>
> https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2014/03/top-10-demised-drinks-
> brands/8/
>
> Half way down the page.
>
> I was pleasantly surprised that Worthington White Shield is still being
> brewed and bottled as a bottle conditioned pale ale. I rather enjoyed it
> in the past. I need to find someone locally who sells it. No success so
> far.

During Lockdown I read some reports of it even being on Offer at InSainsberries.

I note with no nostalgia that [Newport Gwent] Dragons (a rugby team m'lud - no wins at home all season) no longer have shirts with "Worthington" on it. (It's "Doom" now).

In other news, W*th*rsp**ns are to start selling "draught" keg Worthington. Feh.

--
Bah, and indeed Humbug.

In article <t67ilb$mm8$1@dont-email.me>, RustyHinge <rusty.hinge@foobar.
girolle.co.uk> on Fri, 20 May 2022 at 09:14:35 awoke Nicholas from his
slumbers and wrote
>On 19/05/2022 23:14, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
>
>> I was pleasantly surprised that Worthington White Shield is still being
>> brewed and bottled as a bottle conditioned pale ale. I rather enjoyed it
>> in the past. I need to find someone locally who sells it. No success so
>> far.
>
>
>We used to use the dregs to start arj fermentations in homebrewing exploits.
>
>If you are anywhere near an East of England Co-Op, try there - they seem
>to have very well-informed incohol buyers.
>
Unfortunately Essex is a long way to go, from Sarf Lonnon, with no car,
just for a bottle of beer.

It can be delivered, £48 for 24 half litre bockles plus delivery. Or £96
for 48 bottles free delivery. But where to keep 48 bottles, and have my
doubts as to whether I could lift 48 half litre bottles.

--
0sterc@tcher -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

In article <XnsAE9D64E549BC4Factura3476@144.76.35.252>, Peter
<myshed@prune.org.uk> on Fri, 20 May 2022 at 08:55:03 awoke Nicholas
from his slumbers and wrote
>Mike Fleming <mike@tauzero.co.uk> wrote in
>news:jeo4vpFjn84U2@mid.individual.net:
>
>> On 19/05/2022 22:31, Sam Plusnet wrote:
>>> On 19-May-22 14:42, Peter wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Glodfish is the plan. Plenty of amphibians and predatory insect
>>>> larvae in there already, and most of the time they are enough to
>>>> keep the mossies down - I think it's this spell of warm wet weather
>>>> that's caused the little
>>>> blighters to breed faster than usual. On previous occasions when
>>>> this has happened (every few years) I've chucked a few small
>>>> glodfish in - seems to
>>>> work, and they thrive for a few years (until the next really cold
>>>> winter).
>>>> Trouble is, they eat all the intersting pond life as well. Voracious
>>>> little
>>>> hooters, your glodfih.
>>>>
>>> We had tadpoles, until the newts moved in.  No more tadpoles.
>>
>> We had frogs and tadpoles and glodfish until the heron visited. Then
>> we had tadpoles.
>
>Fortunately, my pond is surrounded by trees so the heron can't get a decent
>glide-path. Unfortunately, my pond is surrounded by trees so it fills up
>with leaves.
>
I looked in to the possibility. Unfortunately for me I have a Yew (not
you) tree close by in my garding and a neighbour a London Plane (not
plain flower) tree adjacent. Apparently Yew appear to be able to get
their roots into a pond and poison the water. When a Plane loses its
leaves they do not rot readily and also poison the water.
--
0sterc@tcher -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

On Fri, 20 May 2022 09:14:35 +0100
RustyHinge <rusty.hinge@foobar.girolle.co.uk> wrote:

> We used to use the dregs to start arj fermentations in homebrewing
> exploits.

It was a widely recommended source of good brewing yeast which I
never used as a specialist brewing siop opened in town just as I became
interested enough to abandon kits from Boots. No sign of that siop now.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/