Stormy Weather

[mangerton]

good one!

It's a damp dank day today, ideal for warming food. Tomorrow, like last Sunday, cold and bright - before a rainy week, am I right?

Hope the Tagine is good, and your curry too, mangie... I trust that (as ammy would say) Johnny Cash will not be serenading you when you awake on Sunday.

I had a surreal work trip to Morocco some years ago. Had some delicious Tagine near Marrakech, but the real gastro treat was Pastilla: minced spiced pigeon meat in pastry parcels with icing sugar dusting... Like a sort of sexy exotic samosa... Really amazing

Thank you! I must however admit to seventy year old plagiarism

I'm pleased to report that I was short of money - Cash-free, in fact - this morning.

[Anna]

Brrr! <shiver> Thick, thick, frost and only 0.5° when I got up this morning, but it's sunny and crept slowly up to 9°. My tagine was successful and instead of couscous I served bulgar wheat into which I mixed chopped flatleaf parsley, coriander and mint. That went down well.

I had a surreal work trip to Morocco some years ago. Had some delicious Tagine near Marrakech, but the real gastro treat was Pastilla: minced spiced pigeon meat in pastry parcels with icing sugar dusting... Like a sort of sexy exotic samosa... Really amazing

The new Yotam Ottolenghi cookery programme about Mediterranean food on More4 was in Marrakesh, I've just noticed there is a repeat tonight at 8.00pm if anyone is interested. Next episode (tomorrow 9.00pm) is on Turkey.

[amateur51]

Brrr! <shiver> Thick, thick, frost and only 0.5° when I got up this morning, but it's sunny and crept slowly up to 9°. My tagine was successful and instead of couscous I served bulgar wheat into which I mixed chopped flatleaf parsley, coriander and mint. That went down well.

The new Yotam Ottolenghi cookery programme about Mediterranean food on More4 was in Marrakesh, I've just noticed there is a repeat tonight at 8.00pm if anyone is interested. Next episode (tomorrow 9.00pm) is on Turkey.

His latest book Jerusalem is a bit of a winner too so I must take a look at the TV series, tho my first priority is catching up with The Killing III.

Bright sunny, clear blue sky here in NW2 tho cloudiness is forecast for later this afternoon

[Nick Armstrong]

The new Yotam Ottolenghi cookery programme about Mediterranean food on More4 was in Marrakesh, I've just noticed there is a repeat tonight at 8.00pm if anyone is interested. Next episode (tomorrow 9.00pm) is on Turkey.

Thanks for that! May watch - to my annoyance I am marooned here when I should be driving out in the glorious sunshine today, to lunch with friends in the countryside... I emerged this morning to a puncture and it's the first I've ever had. The wheel defied my attempts to remove it...

[Anna]

Thanks for that! May watch - to my annoyance I am marooned here when I should be driving out in the glorious sunshine today, to lunch with friends in the countryside... I emerged this morning to a puncture and it's the first I've ever had. The wheel defied my attempts to remove it...

Gosh!! Shall I rush over with my vehicle jack and wheel-nut wrench with extension bar and locking wheel nut adaptor? It would be no trouble ...... Are you not a member of the AA or similar?
Actually, I never knew you owned a car, thought as a committed cyclist you probably just hired one now and again. Now, there's a thought - get a hire car or a cab!

[Nick Armstrong]

Gosh!! Shall I rush over with my vehicle jack and wheel-nut wrench with extension bar and locking wheel nut adaptor? It would be no trouble ...... Are you not a member of the AA or similar?
Actually, I never knew you owned a car, thought as a committed cyclist you probably just hired one now and again. Now, there's a thought - get a hire car or a cab!

Grateful thanks. The image of Anna in oil spattered overalls wielding a 1m wrench is extremely restorative

In fact I am an AA member (in more ways than one, nothing to do with booze thankfully) and they sorted out the seized nuts () and then I had to go over Du Côté de Chez Vindepays...

We could have made a party of it.

I've yet to have lunch.

Nice sunny day though... Would have been more miserable had it been pouring...

[Anna]

Grateful thanks. The image of Anna in oil spattered overalls wielding a 1m wrench is extremely restorative
I've yet to have lunch.

Oh. What can I say, not only do I have a set of socket spanners and a power screwdriver, but I really cannot advise Caliban on lunch in Shepherds Bush!

[mangerton]

Oh. What can I say, not only do I have a set of socket spanners and a power screwdriver, but I really cannot advise Caliban on lunch in Shepherds Bush!

Goodness! I don't know many ladies of whom that could be said. That's more than I do at the moment, as my power screwdriver recently gave up the ghost. It will need to be replaced soon.

Do you have a soldering iron? I think all homes should have at least one.

[Anna]

Goodness! I don't know many ladies of whom that could be said. That's more than I do at the moment, as my power screwdriver recently gave up the ghost. It will need to be replaced soon.

Do you have a soldering iron? I think all homes should have at least one.

I have to admiit, I burnt a saucepan of bulgar wheat, at the first attempt. The second was brill!
That's so awfull

[Bryn]

... The wheel defied my attempts to remove it...

Too much torque, that's your problem.

[EdgeleyRob]

Clear blue sky today but very cold,yet again perfect dog walking weather.

[Richard Tarleton]

A rare dip into this thread.

Those thinking of replacing their car should check whether the one they want to buy actually has a spare wheel. On picking up my last (before retirement ) company lease car - a Ford Fiesta - I looked in the boot to familiarise myself with the spare and tools. I did a double-take on discovering there was no spare wheel - not even one of those skinny ones. Just an electric pump that works off the cigarette lighter and a device that squirts gunk into the tyre, sealing it. This only works if you have a pinhole puncture, and is only good for a short run to the nearest KwikFit or ATS. No good if you've gashed your tyre on a discarded horseshoe somewhere out of mobile signal in the Cambrian Mountains.

The one puncture I had while I had this wretched vehicle occurred just outside our local Tesco, and even that lost me a morning's work, as opposed to the 10 minutes it would have taken me to change the wheel (WD40 for siezed wheel nuts, by the way, Calibs) as I've had to do about 100 times before.

This is of course a conspiracy between the car and the tyre manufacturers. Whereas a puncture can be repaired, the green gunk renders the tyre irreparable and it has to be replaced.

Several manufacturers are going down this route, others are sticking with spares. Run-flats - don't believe a word.

[amateur51]

A rare dip into this thread.

Those thinking of replacing their car should check whether the one they want to buy actually has a spare wheel. On picking up my last (before retirement ) company lease car - a Ford Fiesta - I looked in the boot to familiarise myself with the spare and tools. I did a double-take on discovering there was no spare wheel - not even one of those skinny ones.

Just a thought - have you looked under the carpet in the boot, RT? And underneath the car at the rear?

[Richard Tarleton]

Just a thought - have you looked under the carpet in the boot, RT? And underneath the car at the rear?

Do us a favour ams Yup, no spare. It's deliberate policy by the manufacturers. Ford, and others.

[Nick Armstrong]

Do us a favour ams

(WD40 for siezed wheel nuts, by the way, Calibs)

Do us a favour Richard!

As a cyclist, I'm never without a can - and of its even more effective cousin, teflon-based TF2. Neither worked (That said, I don't have a can in the car - I only had access because the flat happened outside the house.

Yes, before the current motor, I had one that didn't have a spare. Luckily in the two years I had it, I had no need. It is daft, I agree.