Peggy's Mundane Thread

worried of penzance wrote:

Mapperley, darling wrote:

hairy bittercress, wild ransoms, pea shoots, deep fried dandelion heads, and samphire gathered from the great ouse. a lovely salad and all for free.

im off up to kwop to raid the bins at nine.

Well done Mapps. Pea shoots, chick pea shoots, alphalfa, I've always got some on the go, especially this time of year.
I used to skip dive too, but that's a young man's desire. It somehow doesn't feel so right on when you're getting on a bit, and attracts the wrong sort of attention.
Never tried the samphire, and don't trust my mushroom spotting capabilities either... I have to grow food now to trust it.. Have tried a narrowboat on the Ouse though, down near March on the middle levels. Strange river.

Had samphire for the first time yesterday and very nice it was with my trout.

Amazing really all these fashionable foody things that chefs are gathering for free and old delicacies like tripe, pigs trotter and offal which were frowned up for such a long time.

I think the offal thing is cool, all the poor people ate it for years because that's all they could afford or like us if you keep pigs you eat everything but the squeak. Nowadays top chefs are cooking you up a slice of bollock framed with some entrails and charging you £100.

Went to B & Q. Then did the worst phone interview ever for a job that I would have been perfect for. Still in it if only fucktards that cant use phones applied though. Heres hoping.

Steve

We shopped in Tesco as they were offering 10p of a litre of petrol for a £60 spend.

I feel dirty.

Watching a bit of Flog It! on BBC2.

Linda, a middle-aged, perhaps 45 year old mother and her daughter Kim (perhaps 12) have a very interesting item to show to our erstwhile presenters. Kim's grandmother, Linda's mother-in-law, donated them an item she bought in 1957 from a Fayre at Cambridge Guildhall as she thought it went well with the colour scheme they had in the kitchen, but now Kim and Linda have amended their kitchen the colours don't really 'go' so they are keen to get rid however they think there might be a hint of value in it.

The presenters looked the item over, it was a vase of some sort, and they were impressed by it's deep orange colouring and it's seamless chequered merging on the pattern. "£90" the expert said. "Surely we can get more than that?" the presenter asked.

The bottom of the vase had the inscriptions 'Ruskin' and '1931' on it, which basically means that it was made in Mr. Ruskin's factory in 1931. The presenter was very excited by this, as the factory was situated near Birmingham, so for the item to have ended up in Cambridge was quite some achievement. We (the enraptured audience) were also told that the factory closed in 1935, so it must have been an item made about 4 years before the factory closed.

Linda and Kim were quite disappointed by the figure quoted as they were hoping for a formidable sum of around a couple of hundred pounds to put towards a week in exotic France, but the eager presenter in his drab gray, ill-fitting suit persuaded them that it could go for much much more at auction, so the likeable pair took what looked like a rare foray from their straight and narrow little lives and 'went for it', much to the delight of the enraptured audience.

The nameless auctioneer, which is to say that we (the enraptured audience) were not informed of his name rather than him not possessing one, was a youngish fellow of perhaps 30 years of age who was sporting a white short sleeved shirt, which was chequered red and perhaps 2 sizes too large for his wiry frame. He began the bidding at £30 and Linda and Kim clapped their hands as the item immediately attracted interest from what could only be described as a buzzing crowd. The bids flew in, £35... £40, £50, £55...£60...

Suddenly the crest of the action-packed auction was reaching it's zenith and the joyous grin on Kim's fat little ginger face quickly evolved into something entirely less savoury, the furrowed deluge of follical rouge on her brow becoming ever lower as her dreams of some Gallic teen summer romance faded before her eyes.

The fine auctioneer in the white, chequered red shirt did his utmost to invoke another surge of interest, perhaps knowing that he was being filmed for the televisual box and keen to look good for the numerous honeys no doubt watching at home, however in spite of an interested telephone bidder, represented by an elderly lady wearing an out-of-place pink coat, the auction made exactly...

£90.

" The presenter was very excited by this, as the factory was situated near Birmingham, so for the item to have ended up in Cambridge was quite some achievement."

Iv'e got a blue vase that has "made in China" on the bottom so feck knows how many millions thats worth then. I'm going to have to hide it in the freezer now iv'e told you lot that.

Paul Martin the presenter of flog it is Cornish.

I saw it once where s charity shop volunteer brought in a painting that someone donated by leaving it on their doorstep.

She was going to buy it herself for £20 because the scene was similar to her childhood home but felt it wasn't right without having it valued so they had it valued at £50 by an "expert" who offered them £40 for it.

The shop volunteer bought it herself for £50 and heard flog it was coming to town and decided to go along and see what it might make. She promised that if it went for good money she would give that amount to the charity and take her £50 back.

It was valued at about £1000 and it sold for £3500 ish and at the end said she would only give the charity £500.

The moral of this story is the bloke who offered them £40 is a tw@t.

It was the first time I've caught Flog It!; The other half normally has the channel flicker and sticks it on some inane drivel. Having gotten one glimpse, FI! will certainly be added to my list of must watches each week.

Mock Cuncher wrote:

It was the first time I've caught Flog It!; The other half normally has the channel flicker and sticks it on some inane drivel. Having gotten one glimpse, FI! will certainly be added to my list of must watches each week.

What I like about it is unlike Antiques Roadshow, where the ordinary folk with semi-precious household articles always say they wouldn't possibly sell it even though you know they're on their way to Cash Converters straight after the show, the peasants on Flog It are there to make some cash and they don't care who knows it.

"What will you do with the money"?

"I'll probably put it towards a holiday Paul" "Or I'll buy fags and booze and if there's any left I might venture to the seedy side of Tavistock and pick up some cocaine cut with Shake and Vac"

Yah yah, foreshore.

It is prapper amusing on the Antiques Roadshow to see so many people pretend they are there out of pure historical curiosity, only for eyes to light up when a good price is quoted – or go dull when the fascinating find turns out not to have a huge financial value. You can almost picture Great Uncle Albert's letters from the trenches being chucked out of the car on the way home when it is discovered they are not a gold mine, just a piece of family history.

Mock Cuncher wrote:

Yah yah, foreshore.

It is prapper amusing on the Antiques Roadshow to see so many people pretend they are there out of pure historical curiosity, only for eyes to light up when a good price is quoted – or go dull when the fascinating find turns out not to have a huge financial value. You can almost picture Great Uncle Albert's letters from the trenches being chucked out of the car on the way home when it is discovered they are not a gold mine, just a piece of family history.

"Oh the sentimental value is immeasurable" says mother cancelling the all inclusive Carribbean holiday and phoning the jewellers to see if she can return the pearl necklace.

i find Bargain Hunt crap. but i do like 4 Rooms

I religiously follow Bargain Hunt but can't stand Dickinsons Real Deal.

Six Swifts flying North across Poole Bay towards Bournemouth, lovely.

my fridge is rattling

At the moment it looks like a rubbish year for swifts, swallows & martins. I've seen hardly any so far.

Yesterday evening I saw a grey wagtail on the wires outside my house - not an especially unusual bird but one that I see far more often dipping into streams or similar.

My friends mum was on Antiques roadshow when it was in Tavvy a few years back, when we were round her place for dinner not long before she showed us a vase or figurine and said, oh it's made by so and so, in the year so and so (I didn't actually listen to her as she is quite a boring lady) and its worth about £800. Anyway when AR came on the telly there's Mary with her china piece. When the valuer told her what is was her eyebrows shot up in surprise, no really? same as when he told her where it was made, No really? Then he told her it was worth £800 and you have never seen such a look of surprise on any bodies face ever. I struggle to watch it now as I wonder if everybody on there is being so duplicitous.

knecht wrote:

At the moment it looks like a rubbish year for swifts, swallows & martins. I've seen hardly any so far.

Yesterday evening I saw a grey wagtail on the wires outside my house - not an especially unusual bird but one that I see far more often dipping into streams or similar.

Agreed about he swifts and swallows, also did you know that the Pied Wagtail eats mainly Tarmac?

I've never seen Flog It!, Bargain Hunters, Cash in the Attic or indeed more than the closing credits of Antiques Roadshow. Life's too short to spend in front of the telly innit.

Taking my mum to the library today. Will probably have a nap after.

Iggy wrote:

knecht wrote:

At the moment it looks like a rubbish year for swifts, swallows & martins. I've seen hardly any so far.

Yesterday evening I saw a grey wagtail on the wires outside my house - not an especially unusual bird but one that I see far more often dipping into streams or similar.

Agreed about he swifts and swallows, also did you know that the Pied Wagtail eats mainly Tarmac?

I am just seeing the odd one or two when I am out and about. Amazingly wagtails can still fly after a large meal of the stuff.

I could be a daddy in the next few days I am a volunteer with the national trust for the Plym Peregrine project and we are expecting a happy event in the next few days.

Going to a wedding today - working not celebrating .....

My favourite Antique Roadshow moments:
1 An archetypal little old lady who brought a "nice" piece of furniture who was told to sit down and then informed that it was an internationally important museum piece worth untold billions (I may have exaggerated the value). She did look genuinely shocked!
2 The Martin Brothers owl.
3 A woman who was absolutely adamant that her very large painting was worth many thousands after being told it was worth only a few hundred. She argued back that it had been valued by a famous expert, Tom Keating. The experts who had gathered simply laughed and said he was an expert forger who couldn't be trusted to value a page in a magazine. Exit humiliated and very angry lady still arguing her case.

I got bored with the number of people who knew they had something valuable who simply wanted to be told how much richer they were.

I watched the news and a documentary on David Bowie in someone's house a few weeks ago. That was enough for me to last the next 6 months.

Is there a camera set up on the Plymbridge peregrine nest?


I had never heard of pied wagtails eating tarmac. So I just googled it..... gullible is my middle name......

knecht wrote:

Is there a camera set up on the Plymbridge peregrine nest?


I had never heard of pied wagtails eating tarmac. So I just googled it..... gullible is my middle name......

..............................................................................................................

Yes there is a camera on the rock face but it is not in use as it has a fault and apart from that it would not be any use as they have nested on the far left of the quarry out of reach of the camera.

Well..... birds eat grit ........ so why not tarmac? I'll stop digging my hole now.

There's a peregrine falcon nest upon a Vodafone mast in Southampton which can't be moved for legal reasons. Lots of dim scummers on Vodafone will be without signal til June as a result.