what I have learned today.

[T42]

How many letters?

[Efrogwr]

That there used to be a golf course in Nant Ffrancon.

[Torslanda]

That there is a place in Wales called Nant Ffrancon . . .

[rogerzilla]

That Brian Blessed is 81.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6323128/brian-blessed-farmers-c-word-badger-cull/

"who was dressed as a Tudor king" 

[andytheflyer]

That there used to be a golf course in Nant Ffrancon.

Given that I could not fathom how you'd get a golf course in that valley - mainly since with my geologist's hat on I was thinking about the top end near Ogwen Cottage, I had to look it up.

http://golfsmissinglinks.co.uk/index.php/wales-64/1066-nantffrancon-golf-club-llanberis-gwynedd

So, Efrogwr, you are absolutely right and the next time I'm passing through Bethesda, I'll be looking out for just where it might have been, whilst trying to recall which Bethesda pub it was in around 1973 (when I was an undergrad on field trips to the Snowdonia volcanics) that still gave you your change in £sd instead of that new-fangled decimal stuff.

[Tim Hall]

That there used to be a golf course in Nant Ffrancon.

Given that I could not fathom how you'd get a golf course in that valley - mainly since with my geologist's hat on I was thinking about the top end near Ogwen Cottage, I had to look it up.

http://golfsmissinglinks.co.uk/index.php/wales-64/1066-nantffrancon-golf-club-llanberis-gwynedd

So, Efrogwr, you are absolutely right and the next time I'm passing through Bethesda, I'll be looking out for just where it might have been, whilst trying to recall which Bethesda pub it was in around 1973 (when I was an undergrad on field trips to the Snowdonia volcanics) that still gave you your change in £sd instead of that new-fangled decimal stuff.

The Douglas Arms.  It was still doing it last time I was there, although I think they've given up now.

[andytheflyer]

That there used to be a golf course in Nant Ffrancon.

Given that I could not fathom how you'd get a golf course in that valley - mainly since with my geologist's hat on I was thinking about the top end near Ogwen Cottage, I had to look it up.

http://golfsmissinglinks.co.uk/index.php/wales-64/1066-nantffrancon-golf-club-llanberis-gwynedd

So, Efrogwr, you are absolutely right and the next time I'm passing through Bethesda, I'll be looking out for just where it might have been, whilst trying to recall which Bethesda pub it was in around 1973 (when I was an undergrad on field trips to the Snowdonia volcanics) that still gave you your change in £sd instead of that new-fangled decimal stuff.

The Douglas Arms.  It was still doing it last time I was there, although I think they've given up now.

Ah!  Thank you Tim. I had a minor worry that with the passage of anno domini my memory is not what I thought it was and that I was simply remembering an urban myth - but you've restored my faith in my recollections. Somebody else knows about it! 

I do recall that it was a bit of a shock, buying a pint with new money and getting the change in old.  Dunno how he managed to keep stocks of the old coins though.

I feel a day trip to Snowdonia coming on.......

[T42]

The missus is on a great campaign of book reorganisation, and apart from clouds of dust that sets yrs. trly. sneezing, has just turned up a slim volume that the Inlaw Paw received as a freebie for joining the Folio Soc about 25 years ago.

It's called Novocento, and turns out to be a French translation of the monologue by Alessandro Baricco on which the film The Legend of 1900 was based.

I never knew we had it.

[Efrogwr]

That there used to be a golf course in Nant Ffrancon.

Given that I could not fathom how you'd get a golf course in that valley - mainly since with my geologist's hat on I was thinking about the top end near Ogwen Cottage, I had to look it up.

http://golfsmissinglinks.co.uk/index.php/wales-64/1066-nantffrancon-golf-club-llanberis-gwynedd

So, Efrogwr, you are absolutely right and the next time I'm passing through Bethesda, I'll be looking out for just where it might have been, whilst trying to recall which Bethesda pub it was in around 1973 (when I was an undergrad on field trips to the Snowdonia volcanics) that still gave you your change in £sd instead of that new-fangled decimal stuff.

The Douglas Arms.  It was still doing it last time I was there, although I think they've given up now.

Ah!  Thank you Tim. I had a minor worry that with the passage of anno domini my memory is not what I thought it was and that I was simply remembering an urban myth - but you've restored my faith in my recollections. Somebody else knows about it! 

I do recall that it was a bit of a shock, buying a pint with new money and getting the change in old.  Dunno how he managed to keep stocks of the old coins though.

I feel a day trip to Snowdonia coming on.......

I was at Ogwen Cottage on Sunday; Arwel Johnston ( son of Frank of tea shack fame) thinks that the golf course was near the Bethesda end of the valley. The clubhouse was at Tai Newyddion.

[pcolbeck]

The blue coloured paint used by Record on their vices and planes is BS381C 110 Roundel Blue the same colour as the outer blue circle on WWII RAF roundels.

[andytheflyer]

I was at Ogwen Cottage on Sunday; Arwel Johnston ( son of Frank of tea shack fame) thinks that the golf course was near the Bethesda end of the valley. The clubhouse was at Tai Newyddion.

Ah!  The Tea Shop!  Much missed.  I recall, as a young slip of a lad, getting from the top of Tryfan to the Tea Shop in 45 minutes, because it was going to close for the day and my climbing partner and I wanted a tea.  My legs have never recovered.  Indeed, it may be that descent is responsible for the rather chunky thighs I've always had for my rugby front row and rowing careers.  And why I'm slow on a bike...….

[T42]

Strops don't just work on chisels & so forth, they work on supposedly disposable scalpel blades too.

[ElyDave]

Wilf Lunn is still with us

I remember Vision On from my dim and distant childhood, but had no idea he is only 6 years older than my dad

[rafletcher]

That kaolin poutices now require a prescription. 

[Torslanda]

Thanks to yesterday's 'Shed & Buried' marathon/binge, I discovered that Chater-Lea made motorcycle combinations for the AA. I'm sure the programme stated that Sturmey-Archer made the gearboxes but I'd consumed some 'refreshment' and TBH I'm not certain.

The story went they completed the order and promptly went bust.

[Mr Larrington]

Sturmey-Archer certainly did make motorcycle gearboxen back in Olden Times.

[rogerzilla]

That kaolin poutices now require a prescription. 

You need a prescription for 5% sodium chloride eye drops (hypertonic, used for Fuch's dystrophy).

[Cudzoziemiec]

That kaolin poutices now require a prescription. 

You need a prescription for 5% sodium chloride eye drops (hypertonic, used for Fuch's dystrophy).

But OTOH, a couple of days ago Mrs Cudzo sent Cudzo Jnr to get her some ibuprofen, she'd bruised a muscle or something. "They won't let me buy that," he says, "you have to be over 18." I had a feeling that might be correct, but also felt that it was no disaster if I had to go out and get it later and it was good to send him out anyway. But they did sell it him, so there aren't age limits on that.

[Beardy]

Today has been declared the first annual World Bicycle Day by the United Nations.

[ian]

Walgreens just sold me a 1000 ibuprofen tablets. I’m think I’m covered for the next few headaches.

[rafletcher]

That kaolin poutices now require a prescription. 

You need a prescription for 5% sodium chloride eye drops (hypertonic, used for Fuch's dystrophy).

At least that uses purified water (even if it’s unnecessary for eyes). Kaolin is China clay paste AFAIK.

[Wombat]

The blue coloured paint used by Record on their vices and planes is BS381C 110 Roundel Blue the same colour as the outer blue circle on WWII RAF roundels.

Pcolbeck, Thank you! 

I have a nice recent Record vice that I'd like to keep decent, but I've been given an old gigantic one, which I'd like to refurbish and repaint, when I've got my workshop built.  It currently has an insufficiently flat floor (Why does latex self levelling screed "go off" so quickly?), and 3 and a half walls, so we're getting there.

[andytheflyer]

Kaolin is China clay paste AFAIK.

It is indeed.  Kaolini(ite) is a clay mineral, resulting from the decomposition of the feldspars in the granite intrusions in Cornwall. There are quite a few other clay minerals (e.g. Bentonite, Montmorillonite, Illite, etc....) all with slightly different chemistries and properties.  Think of clays as layer cakes, with two silicate layers separated by some ions bonded to the silicates.  Bentonite is a derivative of volcanic ash and was named after the Fort Benton area of Wyoming and is widely used as a drilling mud in the oil and ground engineering industries.  They all have differing abilities to 'suck' in (adsorb) other ions into the ionic layer, and that's what gives Kaolinite its medical (or pottery) uses.  Useful things, clays.

[ElyDave]

bentonite is also used as a fining agent in beer and wine manufacturing

[Mr Larrington]

Bentonite is also used in toothpaste, so it's clearly dangerous stuff