As a kid I can remember having a condom counting contest at Greenwhich.
No skateboards back then.
It is getting better. When I was eight it was declared biologically dead ( 1964, it was dead before that ) . If I am right the last salmon caught in 1861. Recently salmon are back. David Walliams got Thames belly when he swam it's length recently. The problem is many sewer systems are very old. When it rains flood water builds up in internal sewer lakes, eventually it enters the river directly as overflow water. Better that than flooding the streets with the same. The London sewers were designed by a Mr Bazalgette. He got it right including the use of the new Portland Cement. It was a cheaper product that had no long term trials to suggest it a better choice. Mr B was told by government to cure the smell of London. The cure was a big advance.The Embankments that look so much part of London were part of it. This also helped the Underground Railway as it was an easier route to follow the sewer where possible. Mr B's big idea was to catch the tides and take it out to sea. His pumping stations a work of art in both technical and the aesthetic terms. He over engineered it. This means it can take modern flows. He used engineering brick that are semi vitrified, a good choice. Commonly used for railway viaducts. His relation is a TV director.
Those condoms, I remember them !
Those condoms, I remember them !
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There is a lot of worry about the Bazalgette main sewage system....especially in areas of London where large family houses have been converted into a warren of bed-sits and small flats. I remember a big scare about 18 years ago in the Maida Vale area where virtually every house is now converted to multi-occupancy.
I am not surprised it all works well to this day. When it was designed and built, my guess is that they enginnered a lot of future into it, anticipating heavier use. That, and use of more sturdy materials, made it last so long, although I'm sure stretches of it have been remodelled since then. What I think is truly critical is the maintenance - most cities having problems with sewers don't do a good job of maintaining them, which causes blockages and chokes.
The "toys" Kitchenaid sell now are plastic even more worthless than the metal ones. Use full life maybe 3 years. The mixers are still good thou .
When Bazalgette designed the sewers London had a population of about 3 million. A third of what it is now.
However he was very generous with headroom. He took the place with the highest population density, imagined they all pooped a LOT, came up with a sufficient diameter for the pipes and then doubled it.
At least according to wiki.
However he was very generous with headroom. He took the place with the highest population density, imagined they all pooped a LOT, came up with a sufficient diameter for the pipes and then doubled it.
At least according to wiki.
I took notice of the Kenwood story as it strated in Belgium at a industrial show. Mr Wood saw industrial mixers and wondered if one could be made for 1/3 the price which still would be high. That is exactly what he did and he somehow caught the imagination of the food world. Even the BBC who usually went as far a inking out the words on products in a very crude way would not hide it was a Kenwood they used in cookery shows. Zena Skinner would always say " you don't need a mixer like this but it certainly speeds it up if you can ". I have a Magimix 4200, can't get too excited about it. In the modern world it seems to be the new Kenwood. CD verse LP ?
Magimix and Chef are completely different beasts. In a well equipped kitchen both are useful altho the magimix comes with a lot of blades you only use once as the time saved is taken up in washing up!
I guess people don't make bread/cakes/mince that much now. dough in a magimix is not a happy experience.
I guess people don't make bread/cakes/mince that much now. dough in a magimix is not a happy experience.
Dejan. Listeing to Naxi Serbia. Pictures at an Exhibition. The OB speakers are now working OK. If I tidy the house you will be welcolm to have a listen should Colleen not have a holiday in mind at the time. I will show you the Cotswolds if you like ? Both the tourist version and the one I know.
You obviously don't have a mind for analogy. The idea is how most people buy what they think others will approve of. I absolutely agree my Magimix will do what you say and will be well liked for that. I often find just using a fork and mixing bowl will get me there. I have never owned a Kenwood Chef. Even if I rarely used it I would love to let it be known I have one. I had a very cheap Magimix clone. It was good. The ex gave me the Magimix. It just turned up ome day. I think the big deal here is I owned up to never being a Chef whatever I do. I am not gifted ( lazy ). My ex is Belgian and is an excellent cook. My daughter says I am a better cook. That is like rock music better than classical. My daughter likes English food!!!
My wife uses the bread maker to mix then place it in the oven . Only works for bread as the maker beats the dough to death not for pastry . Large difference from industrial to home (hobby) use in my experience. Kitenaid's mixers are an off shoot of Hobart an industrial equipment company . Had one now for 25 years cleaned and greased the gear every 20 years whether it needs it or not.
Nige, it's a new world out there.
In 1997. I purchased two Mitsubisi air cons, one for my wife's room and another for mum and dad. They cost me around 25-30% more than other known btamd names like Panasonic, etc. IN all thet time, it never so much as hiccuped, and the speed with which it cools down a room is hard to believe. It's a regular 12.000 btu unit which works and feels like it was an 18.000 btu. Inside, it's all copper and light alloys and the heat exchnager is a joy to behold.
Because of the configuation of roos in my apartment, the oulay is such that I need a minimum of two units to keep the whole apartment reasonably cool. To make matters worse, my ceiling is in fact a reinforced concrete slab. So I have two walls under direct sunlight from sunup to about 12 noon, and a ceiling until about 6 PM. The temperature differential is 5-6 degress C abve outside air temp. Three years ago, this hit 42 deg C, or about 107 deg F on a few days in summer. My old LG koncks out at around 37 deg C.
Yesterday, I replaced it with a Japanese made Daikin air con. The moment you see it, you know that's something else again. The heat exchanger is abou 30% larger than is common in the commercial air con world, and the price is a goodly 40% above the class average, even twice the price of cheaoer units out there. But if you have ever examined the insides of commercial air cons, you immediately see it's inomparably sturdier and heavy duty orientated, The real big kick is switching it on. It has three fan speeds to choose from, and in the lowest and medium speed you get silence instaed of whooshing air which is the norm. At highest speed, yu do har a very low whooshing noise from cubic meters of ait being moved out. I have never heard an air con that quiet, I didn't even know that was possible.
Inside, copper piping, metal connections, almost no plastics.
All of which made me very happy. Quality still exists out there, at a price as always, but it is there. Of course, the real test is how long it will work as advertised, but I suspect it will be a long, long time, I expect it to be around to see off at least two generations of el cheapo models. And I am a very carig owner, I have them cleaned up and serviced every year in April, before the hea starts up. And it's operating range is quoted as from -10 to +48 deg C (I never use them as heaters), and it's classed as an A+ electrical device.
In 1997. I purchased two Mitsubisi air cons, one for my wife's room and another for mum and dad. They cost me around 25-30% more than other known btamd names like Panasonic, etc. IN all thet time, it never so much as hiccuped, and the speed with which it cools down a room is hard to believe. It's a regular 12.000 btu unit which works and feels like it was an 18.000 btu. Inside, it's all copper and light alloys and the heat exchnager is a joy to behold.
Because of the configuation of roos in my apartment, the oulay is such that I need a minimum of two units to keep the whole apartment reasonably cool. To make matters worse, my ceiling is in fact a reinforced concrete slab. So I have two walls under direct sunlight from sunup to about 12 noon, and a ceiling until about 6 PM. The temperature differential is 5-6 degress C abve outside air temp. Three years ago, this hit 42 deg C, or about 107 deg F on a few days in summer. My old LG koncks out at around 37 deg C.
Yesterday, I replaced it with a Japanese made Daikin air con. The moment you see it, you know that's something else again. The heat exchanger is abou 30% larger than is common in the commercial air con world, and the price is a goodly 40% above the class average, even twice the price of cheaoer units out there. But if you have ever examined the insides of commercial air cons, you immediately see it's inomparably sturdier and heavy duty orientated, The real big kick is switching it on. It has three fan speeds to choose from, and in the lowest and medium speed you get silence instaed of whooshing air which is the norm. At highest speed, yu do har a very low whooshing noise from cubic meters of ait being moved out. I have never heard an air con that quiet, I didn't even know that was possible.
Inside, copper piping, metal connections, almost no plastics.
All of which made me very happy. Quality still exists out there, at a price as always, but it is there. Of course, the real test is how long it will work as advertised, but I suspect it will be a long, long time, I expect it to be around to see off at least two generations of el cheapo models. And I am a very carig owner, I have them cleaned up and serviced every year in April, before the hea starts up. And it's operating range is quoted as from -10 to +48 deg C (I never use them as heaters), and it's classed as an A+ electrical device.
Naxi isn't much of a station. See if you can get Radio Karolina at 106.3 MHz, that's where I am most of the time. Or City Radio at 102.2 MHz.
Naxi comes up on my Panasonic PVR. I will have a look for others. Radio Venice comes up also.
When I was in Cuba the air con worked?? Everything looked very broken. Maybe fixing cars is next to fixing air con for a Cuban meachanic?
I have been listening to mostly 78's tonight. Al Bowlly and Duke Ellington. If you remember ages ago I was trying to perfect a system to play MP3 and 78's. Well I have that. 78's are so joyful and detail is stunning compared with forcing the music through a mincer ( a radio for example ), you hear 1927 and really want to be there. My speakers have no crossovers except a bass choke to stop the 15 inch job doing mid band. The 12 inch 12 Lta does about 40 Hz to 8 kHz and is not filtered. The tweeter is protected by a 3u3 cap to blend at 6 kHz. In many ways a better sound than Quad ESL 63. Distorion is reasonable. I did dope the 12 Lta. It took some courage to do that. EQ is + 12 dB 30 Hz with 100 Hz turnover, + 6 db 20 kHz 7 kHz turnover. Piano the very strong ability. Opera very good and odd things like the 8 Bit Beatles are stunning. Piano seems sometimes more real than sometimes real life is. Not all pianos are equal and these speakers let you know. What surprises me is how real bass is rare and can come when least exspected. I was listening to Le Sacre de Printemps, stunning bass and so many things making different notes. Colleen was listening to something she knew well and couldn't sing along. I said to her you never heard the bass before and it is doing your head in. She looked pleased and said " yes the bass is unknown to me ". The Quads hint at this. They just will not take the power to go all the way. The Magneplanars do it better in most ways except they beam badly . The gap is closing. Not bad for $300.
When I was in Cuba the air con worked?? Everything looked very broken. Maybe fixing cars is next to fixing air con for a Cuban meachanic?
I have been listening to mostly 78's tonight. Al Bowlly and Duke Ellington. If you remember ages ago I was trying to perfect a system to play MP3 and 78's. Well I have that. 78's are so joyful and detail is stunning compared with forcing the music through a mincer ( a radio for example ), you hear 1927 and really want to be there. My speakers have no crossovers except a bass choke to stop the 15 inch job doing mid band. The 12 inch 12 Lta does about 40 Hz to 8 kHz and is not filtered. The tweeter is protected by a 3u3 cap to blend at 6 kHz. In many ways a better sound than Quad ESL 63. Distorion is reasonable. I did dope the 12 Lta. It took some courage to do that. EQ is + 12 dB 30 Hz with 100 Hz turnover, + 6 db 20 kHz 7 kHz turnover. Piano the very strong ability. Opera very good and odd things like the 8 Bit Beatles are stunning. Piano seems sometimes more real than sometimes real life is. Not all pianos are equal and these speakers let you know. What surprises me is how real bass is rare and can come when least exspected. I was listening to Le Sacre de Printemps, stunning bass and so many things making different notes. Colleen was listening to something she knew well and couldn't sing along. I said to her you never heard the bass before and it is doing your head in. She looked pleased and said " yes the bass is unknown to me ". The Quads hint at this. They just will not take the power to go all the way. The Magneplanars do it better in most ways except they beam badly . The gap is closing. Not bad for $300.
How odd, we do cake and dough for quiche/gnocchi/pasta every week, and my Magimix of 20 years is as lively as on the day I bought it.
(Have to admit I do bread in an automatic. My Kitchenaid pro mixer can do bread dough all day, but the cleaning afterwards isn't worth it nowadays with a household shrunken to 4)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs5pmSGGJ-I
World would be a boring place if we were all the same. I never got on with cake mix in a food processor compared to a chef with a K-beater or even a handheld mixer. I do have a breadmaker as like to wake up to fresh bread (as does Memsahib). If I had a blendtec for blending tasks and a chef for mixing tasks I would be happy.
Oh and a kitchen big enough to fit them all in!
Oh and a kitchen big enough to fit them all in!
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