Canny lass

Day 183 of isolation for me today. The house has been cleaned from top to bottom and the garden has had the overhaul of a lifetime! Every tree has been pruned, some in late spring some this month. Knowing we'd be at home through the summer we over-fertilised the lawns in an attempt to kill the moss, which has made a strong take-over bid these last few years. It's been a great success, though it has resulted in an increased need for grass cutting, 2½ hours every other day since May! This job has fallen to yours truly as the OH's skills were needed elsewhere (repairing a collapsing balcony and re-laying the patio under it). Together we have also widened the driveway by 50 cm by digging out the lawns which had grown into it over the years. We've resurfaced with 30 tons of natural gravel - all raked out by hand. Being at home we've been more in touch with what's going on around us. We've always fed birds and squirrels (which have their very own resaraunt here) but this year I've reared a family of five who seem to have lost their mother. They've all flown the nest now but I've adopted a hedgehog instead, who moved into my OH's workshop among all the oily rags , old paint tins, dried up paint brushes and a miriad of other "things that might come in handy one day". Then there's been mushroom and berry picking. I do this every year but I this summer have excelled myself: 27 litres of chantrelles, 16 litres of ceps, 8 litres of wild raspberries, 16 litres of blueberries and 11 litres of "lingon". I had to look this up and it seems they are called "cowberries" in English. I've never heard this before but, on the other hand, I've never seen them in England either. The freezer's full and so is the jam shelf in the pantry. We've only left the house three times for essential errands: collecting a passport from the police (the issuing authority), vaccination against TBE and a hospital visit for my OH: We get out and about to the surrounding forests and lakes for walking and swimming and use the telephone and Skype for family contact - we've become great grandparents for the first time so it's been used an awful lot as we are unable to visit. Things seem to be going well, generally speaking, for the country as a whole and we pensioners are to recieve a pension increase and a tax reduction next year, by way of thanks for staying at home! I need a holiday!!!! How's the situation in Bedlington today? Heard on the news today that the North East is being locked down. Must be bad when we are hearing about it here. .

There have been a lot of suggestions as to the whereabouts of Puddlers Row at Bedlington Station. Just to add to the confusion, Evan Martin in his book Bedlingtonshire Remembered says the following (page 57) in relation to the Barrington and Choppington brickworks: "Local worthies Dr James Trotter and Thomas Glassey, encouraged miners to take shares in brick companies. Glassey himself bought Puddlers. Row at Bank Top and renamed it Glassey Terrace before emigrating to Queensland". PS Thanks for the tip-off, Eggy. A thoroughly good read!

Here it is! A bit late but we've had real summer weather today so I finished off the gardening chores before it gets dark. 1. Nairobi is the capital of which African country? 2. Which planet is nearest the sun? 3. What name, derived from the Latin for ‘old man’, is sometimes given to the legislative assembly of a country? 4. Which wine is flavoured with pine resin? 5. Which organ is inflamed when you are suffering from Nephritis? 6. Which swimmer won seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympic Games? 7. Who was the last prisoner to be held at the Tower of London? 8. Which bottle size is equivalent to 12 standard bottles? 9. Which West End and Broadway musical was adapted from T.S. Elliott’s Old Possum Poems? 10. How many points win a game of Cribbage? 11. What name is given to an eagle’s home? 12. What do we call the chemical process by which a substance combines with oxygen to produce heat and light? I’ll bet you didn’t know …. William Wordsworth was, at one time, thought to be a French spy and was followed for a whole month by a detective. Answers on Thursday.

Naturally, I should have said on the LEFT. I haven't known my ass from my elbow for many years but not knowing right from left is unforgivable!

sharp witted as usual!

Neither did I! I didn't know the woman personally, so I'm not in a position to say. When I refer to myself as a "woman of a certain age" I don't mean born in the 17th century.

Answers to last week's quiz: 1. No ball 2. Oscar Wilde 3. A pine cone 4. Knitting 5. Amplitude modulation 6. Goat island 7. Who Framed Roger Rabbit 8. Gail Devers 9. Airedale terrier 10. You forgot 11. Five 12. Vitamin D I thought I'd made it really difficult this week. Clearly I underestimated the amount of trivia you people already know. I must try harder tomorrow!

Last photo, from Claire Gates: That's Dorothy (Dot) Lumsden (with glasses) on the far right.

This week's quiz: 1. What does a cricket umpire signal by raising one arm horizontally? 2. Which writer was imprisoned because of his relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas? 3. A strobilus is another name for what? 4. What was the occupation during the French revolution of a tricoteuse? 5. When referring to radio waves what do the initials AM stand for? 6. Which island separates the two principal parts of Niagara Falls? 7. In which film did Bob Hoskins play Eddie Valiant? 8. Who won the women’s Olympic 100 metres in 1992? 9. Which terrier is the largest of the terrier breeds? 10. In mythology what happened if you drank the water of the River Lethe? 11. For every seven white keys on a piano how many black keys are there? 12. The deficiency of which vitamin can cause rickets? I’ll bet you didn’t know …. Queen Christina of Sweden had a 10 cm long cannon which she used to fire cannonballs at flies! Answers on Thursday.

Answers to last wek's quiz: 1. Roderic (Rod) Evans 2. Judy Garland 3. Brighton and Hove Albion 4. Social Democratic Party (SDP) 5. Marsupial 6. Tegucigalpa 7. The Potteries 8. Barnes Wallis 9. 1.5 miles 10. Lloyd George 11. Barium 12. Full of woe You lot are getting too good at this! Going to make them more difficult!

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I nr apgze fr my sping msks. Bt thks awy.

This week's quiz: 1. Who was the original lead singer with heavy rock band Deep Purple? 2. Who was Liza Minelli’s famous mother? 3. Which football league club used to play at Goldstone Ground? 4. Roy Jenkins was the founder of which political party? 5. What type of creature is a ‘flying phalanger’? 6. What is the capital of Honduras? 7. What name is commonly given to the area around Stoke-on-Trent? 8. Who invented the bouncing bomb (and no, it wasn’t Bobby Ball)? 9. Over what distance is the Classic horse race ‘The Oaks’ run? 10. Who coined the phrase “a land fit for heroes to live in”? 11. Which reactive metal is represented by the symbol Ba? 12. If Monday’s child is fair of face what is Wednesday’s child? I’ll bet you didn’t know …. Queen Elizabeth I was the first English queen to see herself in a mirror. She banned them from court as she aged. Answers on Thursday

Answers to last week's quiz: 1. First to fly non-stop across the channel and back. 2. 1979 3. Thin 4. A colt 5. Aldershot 6. Porsche 7. Longleat 8. Eight 9. Falklands War 10. Archery 11. Spoonerism 12. None, but peahens New quiz tomorrow.

New quiz! 1. Charles Rolls founded Rolls Royce in 1906 but what aviation record did he set in 1910? 2. In which year was Lord Mountbatten killed by the IRA? 3. If you were described as an ectomorph what would you be? 4. What is a young male zebra called? 5. Which football club folded in 1992 after 66 years in the League? 6. Who designed the Volkswagen car? 7. What is the country home of the Marquess of Bath? 8. How many furlongs in a mile? 9. In which conflict did Prince Andrew fly a helicopter? 10. In which sport could you have a York Round and a Hereford Round? 11. What name is given to expressions like ‘catch the town drain’ and ‘tasted two worms’? 12. How many eggs does a peacock lay in a year? I’ll bet you didn’t know …. Russian maps used to show Moscow a few miles away from its actual position to confuse guided-missile programmers. Answers on Thursday!

I know the feeling! I'm the same about Hollymount. It's killing me not being able to get to a decent library because of the travel restrictions for 'people of a certain age'.

I agree. I've never considered the primary purpose of the Mechanics-, or any other, institute as purveyors of alcoholic beverages (though clearly, this has occurred at some time. For me, it's an educational- rather than a drinking establishment. It's obviously been an important feature of Bedlington life for many years and worth finding out about. Start a topic. There,s loads of questions I could ask.

From one researcher to another, it’s always worth looking a second time at the nine tenths of the one percent of what has previously appeared to be absopletely nothing to do with the subject being researched. Getting someone else to take a second look is pure genius! Good luck with the research. Keep us informed! The Victorian times in Bedlington are soooooooooo very interesting, judging by the census books. On the question of Mechanics Institute vs. Institute, it would appear that many MI:s became simply institutes. I have no facts as such but I’ve wondered if it might reflect: a) a widening of the availability of knowledge to other than ‘mechanics’, so to speak. b) A linguistic phenomenon of shortening. Language is lazy! It doesn’t want to jump hurdles to get out of the mouth so Mechanics Institute is shortened to Institute. In Netherton, that shortening process went one step further. We simply called it the ‘tute’. On a more serious note, were the Mechanics Institutes always licensed premises or did that come later?

Answers to last week's quiz: 1. Chinese 2. India 3. Dick Fosbury 4. Salmon 5. Barbara 6. Ice skating 7. Tarzan’s son 8. Manila 9. Are you lonesome tonight, Wooden heart, Surrender 10. The base of Nelson’s Column inTrafalgar Square 11. A prison 12. Cubit New quiz tomorrow.

Two compliments in one! Not 'thick' and I'm 'young'. You're spoiling me! Are you perchance looking for extra points in this week's quiz?