What's made you grumpy today?

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Well, I've survived the night folks! Tooth, or rather the resulting hole in my jaw, is certainly no more painful than yesterday and possibly a little better. The bits around where she cut into the gum and also cut out a bit of the bone are, unsurprisingly, very sore even if you just explore them gently with your tongue, however if you leave it alone the residual pain is pretty dull - a bit like a bad bruise. In fact it's not unlike what I remember when, as a schoolboy, I had a big fight with a bigger boy who was bullying me. He landed me a right corker to the jaw and, for several days after, my jaw felt much as it does right now! I did manage to give him a few punches to remember me by and he never bothered me again but he was so much bigger than me that the outcome of the fight was pretty easy to predict. Strangely? with this extraction, what's troubling me most is pain around the jaw hinge points. Which is what reminds me so much about how I felt after being in that fight all those years ago. Mind you, the tooth extraction was a pretty brutal process, for some of the time I was having to support my chin with my hands.

Eating a nice big bowl of porridge as I'm writing this and really enjoying it as all I had yesterday, apart from cups of tea and coffee, was a bowl of soup and a small piece of soft bread.

Thank you everybody for the expressions of support.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I do believe in the benefits of full fat milk, as child we were quite poor as my mother brought us up on a widows pension, so at school I got the job of milk monitor, it was in the days that a 1/3rd pint of milk was offered to all school children, this meant that I got to drink all the bottles not used that morning.
It turned out later my second ex wife also had that school job, but used it so she could avoid drinking the milk! So that, along with drinking several litres of original Coca cola every day had a negative affect.

I remember those dinky wee milk bottles very well Mike. My grandfather on my mother's side had a number of business interests including a farm estate, which was where he lived too. It was a dairy herd of Guernsey cows, or were they Jerseys? I was very young at the time. I remember very well going into the dairy when milking was going on and watching the milk running down the convoluted outside of the cooler into the churns underneath. If you were lucky the dairyman would be there and stick a small, long handled, stainless steel cup into the stream of milk and you got to drink it - It was soooooo creamy! Never tasted milk like it before or since.

My Mum had, what now a days would be called "dairy intolerance" and couldn't drink milk etc at all. her teeth were terrible and visits to the dentist, with us in tow, were very frequent. In one way this was a good thing as we kids all got used to visiting the dentist from a very early age however I've often wondered if her dairy intolerance was the cause and whether she passed this on to us by way of us all not having very great teeth?

 

[porta]

I remember those dinky wee milk bottles very well Mike. My grandfather on my mother's side had a number of business interests including a farm estate, which was where he lived too. It was a dairy herd of Guernsey cows, or were they Jerseys? I was very young at the time. I remember very well going into the dairy when milking was going on and watching the milk running down the convoluted outside of the cooler into the churns underneath. If you were lucky the dairyman would be there and stick a small, long handled, stainless steel cup into the stream of milk and you got to drink it - It was soooooo creamy! Never tasted milk like it before or since.

My Mum had, what now a days would be called "dairy intolerance" and couldn't drink milk etc at all. her teeth were terrible and visits to the dentist, with us in tow, were very frequent. In one way this was a good thing as we kids all got used to visiting the dentist from a very early age however I've often wondered if her dairy intolerance was the cause and whether she passed this on to us by way of us all not having very great teeth?

Seek out ‘raw milk’ sellers, farmers selling milk straight from teet to bottle

 

[bugsymike]

Seek out ‘raw milk’ sellers, farmers selling milk straight from teet to bottle

I have never tried that, though one of my old customers grew up on a farm in Cornwall so did drink it all the time as a youngster, although as he got older he barely drank milk, said he preferred G&Ts (Gin and Tonic) from his time in the Merchant Navy and later as a pub landlord.
Jock, Margaret Thatcher I believe stopped the school milk, hence she got the nickname Thatcher milk snatcher.

 

[porta]

I have never tried that, though one of my old customers grew up on a farm in Cornwall so did drink it all the time as a youngster, although as he got older he barely drank milk, said he preferred G&Ts (Gin and Tonic) from his time in the Merchant Navy and later as a pub landlord.
Jock, Margaret Thatcher I believe stopped the school milk, hence she got the nickname Thatcher milk snatcher.

https://rawmilkproducers.co.uk/

 

[AndyRKett]

Seek out ‘raw milk’ sellers, farmers selling milk straight from teet to bottle

I believe raw milk is completely outlawed north of the boarder. It is not legal to sell in the UK in shops or supermarkets, hence only being available from the Farmers directly.

It contains a large amount of potential infection risks such as listeria, E.coli and salmonella, I would strongly advise anyone against drinking it but even more so after dental proceedures where any infection can easily spread Via the open wounds in the mouth and into the blood stream leading to some very serious complications such as sepsis and cardiac problems such as endocarditis and cardiomyopathy.

I have first hand experience of the latter when my father had a dental procedure very similar to Jock's about 7 years ago, got an infection and ended up with cardiomyopathy and his heart function dropped to 11%, he was very seriously ill for a very long time and even now has severe heart problems as a result.

The medical evidence shows no benefit to drinking raw milk but plenty of problems with it.

although as he got older he barely drank milk, said he preferred G&Ts (Gin and Tonic)

This is probably better for you than drinking raw milk and I would definitely subscribe to that.

 

[bugsymike]

I believe Raw Mike is completely outlawed north of the boarder. It is not legal to sell in the UK in shops or supermarkets, hence only being available from the Farmers directly.

It contains a large amount of potential infection risks such as listeria, E.coli and salmonella, I would strongly advise anyone against drinking it but even more so after dental proceedures where any infection can easily spread Via the open wounds in the mouth and into the blood stream leading to some very serious complications such as sepsis and cardiac problems such as endocarditis and cardiomyopathy.

I have first hand experience of the latter when my father had a dental procedure very similar to Jock's about 7 years ago, got an infection and ended up with cardiomyopathy and his heart function dropped to 11%, he was very seriously ill for a very long time and even now has severe heart problems as a result.

The medical evidence shows no benefit to drinking raw milk but plenty of problems with it.

This is probably better for you than drinking raw milk and I would definitely subscribe to that.

Out of curiosity I did do a search and the nearest supplier to me is around 20 odd miles away, I had heard of health considerations regarding it, so will stick to my full fat "past your eyes, cos past your eyes is best", it was good enough for old Ernie.
After a night out a long time ago on Gin, that is one thing I will not drink.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Out of curiosity I did do a search and the nearest supplier to me is around 20 odd miles away, I had heard of health considerations regarding it, so will stick to my full fat "past your eyes, cos past your eyes is best", it was good enough for old Ernie.
After a night out a long time ago on Gin, that is one thing I will not drink.

I don't think, at my age, "Raw milk" would be a good idea. Never looked into it in any depth but I remember all the stuff about pasteurizing milk to make it safe. In fact I "discouvered" filtered milk a couple of years ago. I buy the semi skimmed variety from Lidl because I find it out lasts standard milk by a long way - so doesn't go off for maybe a week after opening (kept in fridge obviously) I buy a 2 litre container once a week and that works our grand. Mrs J uses "white water" - which is the red carton fully skimmed stuff. I can't make a decent cup of tea with it so I buy the filtered semi skimmed which tastes no different to the standard green top semi skimmed. I remember "good old Ernie" and his fastest milkman in the west, they wouldn't air half of what Bennie used to get away with in these politically correct times.

Some years ago, before she died, we used to make up a four with Mrs J's best friend and husband and we'd go on cruises - think we've done at least 15? On most of the ships there would be a two for one drinks night every night with most of the bars taking part. Trouble was it wasn't the same drink in the same bar every night. I've always been a whisky, or maybe bourbon, drinker but the other 3 are G&T consumers, so our pre dinner excitement would be going round the ship to track down which bar was doing the G&T two for one offer. Sometimes we never found it but it was fun trying - for as long as our legs held out. The occasional intermediate refreshment had to be taken of course. By the end of the first cruise I'd got to quite liking G&T

 

[bugsymike]

I don't think, at my age, "Raw milk" would be a good idea. Never looked into it in any depth but I remember all the stuff about pasteurizing milk to make it safe. In fact I "discouvered" filtered milk a couple of years ago. I buy the semi skimmed variety from Lidl because I find it out lasts standard milk by a long way - so doesn't go off for maybe a week after opening (kept in fridge obviously) I buy a 2 litre container once a week and that works our grand. Mrs J uses "white water" - which is the red carton fully skimmed stuff. I can't make a decent cup of tea with it so I buy the filtered semi skimmed which tastes no different to the standard green top semi skimmed. I remember "good old Ernie" and his fastest milkman in the west, they wouldn't air half of what Bennie used to get away with in these politically correct times.

Some years ago, before she died, we used to make up a four with Mrs J's best friend and husband and we'd go on cruises - think we've done at least 15? On most of the ships there would be a two for one drinks night every night with most of the bars taking part. Trouble was it wasn't the same drink in the same bar every night. I've always been a whisky, or maybe bourbon, drinker but the other 3 are G&T consumers, so our pre dinner excitement would be going round the ship to track down which bar was doing the G&T two for one offer. Sometimes we never found it but it was fun trying - for as long as our legs held out. The occasional intermediate refreshment had to be taken of course. By the end of the first cruise I'd got to quite liking G&T

Since "lockdown" I have frozen milk which I buy in bulk from cash and carry, then pull out one to defreeze in fridge whilst drinking the current one. It does look a little horrible when frozen/brown , but once defrosted and shaken looks and taste alright, so I only need to buy roughly every three weeks, the date I am using is 10th March, I use fairly soon after defrost and would never drink one that smelt or tasted off.
Initially I was sceptical about freezing milk but not any more. I buy 12 x 2litres at a time and drink it all myself unless daughter calls round and wants a cup of tea and grand daughter a glass of milk.When I have porridge I use just under 1.5 pints, less with cereal of course. By the way there are 7 bottles in that draw and more in another freezer.
I tried semi skimmed when it was promoted around 40 years ago, but paying for coloured water seemed a bit strange.
Health wise my theory is both my parents died of cancer over two years of illness, so my hope is however painful a heart attack will be quicker, but time will tell.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Since "lockdown" I have frozen milk which I buy in bulk from cash and carry, then pull out one to defreeze in fridge whilst drinking the current one. It does look a little horrible when frozen/brown , but once defrosted and shaken looks and taste alright, so I only need to buy roughly every three weeks, the date I am using is 10th March, I use fairly soon after defrost and would never drink one that smelt or tasted off.
Initially I was sceptical about freezing milk but not any more. I buy 12 x 2litres at a time and drink it all myself unless daughter calls round and wants a cup of tea and grand daughter a glass of milk.When I have porridge I use just under 1.5 pints, less with cereal of course. By the way there are 7 bottles in that draw and more in another freezer.
I tried semi skimmed when it was promoted around 40 years ago, but paying for coloured water seemed a bit strange.
Health wise my theory is both my parents died of cancer over two years of illness, so my hope is however painful a heart attack will be quicker, but time will tell.

If we're off on holiday or know we're going to be away for more than just a couple of days - not so often now we're older, but did it quite a bit when younger - we always just stick any spare milk in the freezer. Yes, it does look pretty disgusting when frozen but is absolutely fine once it's thawed again.

Mrs J forced semi skinned on me many years ago, she said it was good for me! I just got used to it and now actually rather like it. youngest grandchild is still fed blue top and I have tried it but find I prefer the semi skimmed. As to health/diseases and how we will go to meet our maker. My Dad liked a good drink which affected his health and he had a number of heart attacks but recovered. We always thought it would be a heart attack which would take him but it was actually a massive stroke which got him in the end. They lived in one of the bigger borders towns and Dad had his own business so he was able to come home for his lunch every day. He would have his meal in the kitchen and then have a half hour's nap/rest in the living room before returning to his business for the rest of the day. On "the day" he had his meal as usual and went through for his wee rest. Mum would take him a cup of tea but on this occasion, by the time she'd made the tea and taken it through he'd gone, sitting, apparently quite peacefully, in his big armchair. Apart from the shock for Mum it was a very good way to go. Hope I'm as lucky. My recently deceased brother died in his bed during the night with a heart attack. The doctor said he doubted if he knew anything about it as there were no signs of distress.

 

[bugsymike]

I think most of us if we had a choice would just like to flick a switch when our time comes.
I always love the joke about grandad dying peacefully in his sleep, unlike his passengers.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Some may remember me asking for help with where to find and disconnect the blue and me unit on my boy's Punto recently. I got several answers and, in particular, thanks to Andy in Norfolk for his very clear advice and lunchbeers for the encouragement. The day before it's MOT was due he was "charged down" in a very narrow street, by a driver who smashed his door mirror and kept going. Luckily it was only the mirror glass and plastic cover. He gets his car MOT'd at one of the garages where I'm well known and they fitted a new glass and cover for just the price of the parts which then enabled a clear MOT pass to be issued. Thought we were on course for doing the B&M "delete" and he'd be in the clear for another year of happy motoring. He's just rung me to say he's been run into - rammed up the rear if I understand his rather irate description - and the damage is considerable. The woman driver was foreign - so difficult for him to understand - but has given him her details and insurance company. He managed to drive the car home ( a short distance) but say's it's too badly damaged to use. It's a 2012 plate so I'm guessing the insurance company will likely write it off. Just don't seem to be able to " win" with anything just now!

 

[AndyRKett]

Some may remember me asking for help with where to find and disconnect the blue and me unit on my boy's Punto recently. I got several answers and, in particular, thanks to Andy in Norfolk for his very clear advice and lunchbeers for the encouragement. The day before it's MOT was due he was "charged down" in a very narrow street, by a driver who smashed his door mirror and kept going. Luckily it was only the mirror glass and plastic cover. He gets his car MOT'd at one of the garages where I'm well known and they fitted a new glass and cover for just the price of the parts which then enabled a clear MOT pass to be issued. Thought we were on course for doing the B&M "delete" and he'd be in the clear for another year of happy motoring. He's just rung me to say he's been run into - rammed up the rear if I understand his rather irate description - and the damage is considerable. The woman driver was foreign - so difficult for him to understand - but has given him her details and insurance company. He managed to drive the car home ( a short distance) but say's it's too badly damaged to use. It's a 2012 plate so I'm guessing the insurance company will likely write it off. Just don't seem to be able to " win" with anything just now!

As no one (or at least you’ve not said so) has been injured consider it a blessing

Saves all the headaches of sorting out the car’s problems, yep a massive inconvenience for your boy but now you get to take your mind off things doing what all car people love doing and trawling the internet to see what cars are available.

 

[StevenRB45]

Best of luck with the search Jock..

Market is currently bonkers with very old cars retailing for prices that make new or nearly new ones seem reasonable.

Price spread is about 3 grand between 12 year old and 6 year old car...and 3 more than that would have you looking at pre-reg when we were looking.

New car prices are being forced down by oversupply but used prices are still high...

 

[Cheest]

Not car issue, MOT, or Toyota related.

As I am getting more and more ambulatory, Mrs.Cheest and I went to an industrial supply house about 35 miles away. She let me drive.There is so much road construction in the area around the supply house that the even the GPS got confused. I needed some steel and bronze rod for a couple of lathe projects. It was all cut and packaged when we arrived. Other than the construction, the trip was good.

For me to get into her little Jeep, I have to go down two steps, on crutches, into her garage. I lean the crutches against something and hop on one foot to the car. She brings down my scooter and puts it in the back of the car. My crutches stay in the garage. Away we go.

We get back and I do my struggle to get out of the car while she digs out the scooter. I get on the scooter and grab the rod stock. I say, “I’ll take this stuff to my garage and pick up the mail on my way back. I’ll close your garage door when I come in.” “Okay”, she says.

So, Flintstoneing my right foot down the driveway while holding onto 4’ long cardboard tube under my left arm. I probably look like a jousting redneck. Into the street to the other driveway, up that to the service door on the garage, store the stuff, and return to whence I came. I stop at the mail box, grab what’s in there, look up driveway to her garage. JHC, she shut the garage door. My effen crutches are in there. All the overhead doors have openers but are older doors without an outside keypad. Crap. No matter where I go to get in the house, I have to go up two or more steps. I can’t do that without crutches when I can’t put weight on my left foot. I text her that she shut the door, my crutches are in there, and I can’t get up the steps. She texts back, oh ****, sorry. All she needed to do was hit the button to open the garage door and we’d be good. Nope. She brought the crutches in and to the front door while I’m hoping not to rained on.

All I can do is sigh.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Some may remember me asking for help with where to find and disconnect the blue and me unit on my boy's Punto recently. I got several answers and, in particular, thanks to Andy in Norfolk for his very clear advice and lunchbeers for the encouragement. The day before it's MOT was due he was "charged down" in a very narrow street, by a driver who smashed his door mirror and kept going. Luckily it was only the mirror glass and plastic cover. He gets his car MOT'd at one of the garages where I'm well known and they fitted a new glass and cover for just the price of the parts which then enabled a clear MOT pass to be issued. Thought we were on course for doing the B&M "delete" and he'd be in the clear for another year of happy motoring. He's just rung me to say he's been run into - rammed up the rear if I understand his rather irate description - and the damage is considerable. The woman driver was foreign - so difficult for him to understand - but has given him her details and insurance company. He managed to drive the car home ( a short distance) but say's it's too badly damaged to use. It's a 2012 plate so I'm guessing the insurance company will likely write it off. Just don't seem to be able to " win" with anything just now!

Things seem to go in threes. Hopefully thats it for now.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

As no one (or at least you’ve not said so) has been injured consider it a blessing

Saves all the headaches of sorting out the car’s problems, yep a massive inconvenience for your boy but now you get to take your mind off things doing what all car people love doing and trawling the internet to see what cars are available.

Quite right Andy, no one hurt. In fact I'm just off the phone to him and they are going to try to manage with just the one car - luckily their "good" car 2017 KIA Rio. This might work out as his wife, who's a journalist, works largely from home.

Best of luck with the search Jock..

Market is currently bonkers with very old cars retailing for prices that make new or nearly new ones seem reasonable.

Price spread is about 3 grand between 12 year old and 6 year old car...and 3 more than that would have you looking at pre-reg when we were looking.

New car prices are being forced down by oversupply but used prices are still high...

Although they're going to try to manage with just one car they've become used to having the two and, as Mrs J and I have learned, once you become used to having that convenience it's difficult to give it up, I'll be keeping an eye out for any bargains and passing the word on to the wee garages in the area where I'm known.

It happened in a 25mph limited part of the town. Two lanes going straight ahead with one going right. He was in the middle lane probably going very slightly over the 25mph he tells me, with cars in the right lane being held stationary by a red light. As he was passing her N/S rear three quarter she suddenly, without indicating or giving any other sign, turned left out of the lane she was waiting in and wiped out his O/S front wing - The driver's door doesn't open and close too well either Dad, said he. The woman, who was obviously quite shaken immediately admitted liability and said she would say so to her insurance - We'll see how that pans out. Unfortunately on the short drive home he noticed the steering wheel wasn't straight when he was going straight! Oh dear, looks like it may be more than panel damage.

They're picking up the car on Tuesday to fully asses it. I'll give you all an update when the outcome is known.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Bought a new mower from Aldi. Actually is very good. I just cut all our grass with about 1.5 batteries worth. All mowing now free coutesy of the solar panels. At £70 for the mower, £25 for the battery and a charger at £15 is pretty good value. Stupidly I thought buy one for youngest daughter, so I bought two. Today she announces starkly she didnt want it. Shes now moving along with 1st house purchase and will surely need it at some point. So I now need to decide whether to keep it as a spare or take it back. I ve just offered it to teh other daughter. Hopefully shes more gracious and will see the benefit of a brand new mower FOC.

I have about 500m2 of grass and the battery mower is well up to that job if anyone else is looking at them. Having spoken to the factory customer services for some further advice I gather its a new Worx mower, adapted to take Aldis universal batteries. I bought an Aldi finger sander at Christmas and have been well pleased. AT least the mower uses the same charger so I have now just 7 different chargers. Small cordless drill, mini circular saw, garden pruning saw, Dremmel, Ryobi drill / impact wrench, Chainsaw, and the ALdi Ferrex stuff. Good thing I have a small workshop in the house to house them. I also laid out for a hand held chainsaw pruner. I see so many branches lying on the verge and can keep us in fire wood now I have something to trim them down to car boot size. Ive already done several long outstanding awkward pruning jobs and a few chopping up jobs which would have cost more to have done than the tool cost at £40. I have a couple a very big old rose bushes that will be pruned later, it should make mincemeat of them.

In due course these things will sell again on eBay so overall it will be cost effective.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I also laid out for a hand held chainsaw pruner. I see so many branches lying on the verge and can keep us in fire wood now I have something to trim them down to car boot size.

This brought to mind one of my oldest friends who, after Christmas, drives about in his car collecting Christmas tree bases. You know, the type which are basically a chunk of tree trunk with a hole in the middle into which the Christmas tree is secured. He takes them home and chops them up for firewood. He greatly laments the success of artificial trees which mean there are not so many of these for him to collect!

 

[The Panda Nut]

This brought to mind one of my oldest friends who, after Christmas, drives about in his car collecting Christmas tree bases. You know, the type which are basically a chunk of tree trunk with a hole in the middle into which the Christmas tree is secured. He takes them home and chops them up for firewood. He greatly laments the success of artificial trees which mean there are not so many of these for him to collect!

I know it may seem a bit skinflint, but I can easily collect £500 worth of fire wood each year while cleaning up the hazards of verges within a few miles. There always seem to be stuff in teh road after windy weather and its never removed, it just lays around until it rots. So if anyone thinks so, yes Im mean!