MISC AND MASH

by Bill Exley

MISC

1 . Do you realise that Today, was the Tomorrow that you were worried about Yesterday, and all seems well ...Or... Always look forwards and not Backwards . - . All the following, sayings / or Pearls of Wisdom were observed and a few recorded over the last 40 years .,

2 . Worry is like a Rocking Horse, it gives you something to do, but you get Nowhere at the end of the day . . Or . . People quite often don't say what they mean, .. but they also, invariably Always mean what they say . - To add a quick ending on, such as , " I was only Joking/ Kidding" , is irelevant, it is showing you their innermost thoughts, as to what they Really want to tell you . . Or . . the original version, - . 'Many a True word is spoken in Jest' - ref. - Uttered by a Mr Jeffrey Chaucer. ( b.1347 : d.1400 at 53 yrs ) - >

3 . There is a Past which has gone Forever, but there is a Future which is still our own ... Origin... An ornate flat pebble, bought on a beach in Victoria, Australia .. in 2004 ... Or .. just a few names of our 'U.K. Chippies' - . 1 / The Cod Father . . 2 / Haydock Plaice ( ref : fm. Liverpool & Racing) . . 3 / Frydays . . 4 / The Chip Inn . . 5 / The Frying Squad . . 6 / Oh my Cod . . 7 / Mr Chips. . ref. / an Olde - English play (Goodbye Mr. Chips) - a story written around a leaving teacher, at Leys School, Cambridge, (1914-18) . . A moving play we saw in Bedfords' Civic Theatre. - 1980's . . 8 / The Plaice to Be . . 9 / Chip in Dales (Otley, Yorkshire) . . 10 / A Fish called Rhondda . . 11 / The Town Fryer, in Sandy, Beds, and many, many other signs. - Oct-2022 / Mr Blex

4 . Now, don't ever forget , that if you go into a ? - . Amnesia methinks ? . . Or . . The origin of 'Tesco' ? came about by two business friends using letters from their names, to launch Tesco Stores . - Mr Jack Cohen and a Mr T.E. Stockwell - in 1919, - Sainsbury's in 1869 ! - - 28/8/2022 / Mr Blex . . Or . . The Fastest indoor sport in the world is Badmington, with the Shutlecock travelling at 500 km/hr, or 310 mph . The feather structure acts as a 'brake' to slow it down to hit, as so the Parachute /s of a descending space module into the sea . !

5 . I was told years ago, that the only silly question, is the one that's 'Not' asked, it's the only way to learn . . Or . . Don't forget that arguing with a fool proves there are two . . Or , . Don't forget that your Will Power / Opinion , to you , or your own idea / feelings , is stronger than anyone else's on this planet. It is yours to keep by right, your idea or opinion is yours , it 'maybe' wrong until you are enlightend or corrected to change your view point . I knew of a solitary objector to a Business Decision at a meeting, where he did Not want to give in and 'comply' with the Consensus vote, (majority) - Later in time, at the end of it all, it was his ideas that was correct and fitted the criteria better . . Or . . Do a quick search on the 1957 Black & White film ' 12 Angry Men ' starring Henry Fonda . The story is a prime example of this ' Item 5 entry' . its' Author re- enforces my trivia . . Or . . Where is St Stephen's Tower in London ? See link to The Oak , the tree of knowledge.

6 . It's Nice to be Important , but it's 'More' Important to be Nice . . Or. . If you try you might, if you don't, you wont ! Like a new Job, to say something, make a move, take up a new Sport / Activity or Art . . Or . . People can't hear you Thinking, don't stay silent - always Speak Up , you may even have the answer . . Or . . What would you find in Pandora's Box ? - ref. Greek Myth. - Nothing, Wealth, Hope or Problems for all ? - For Answer see The Oak , the tree of wisdom . . Or . . back to Index Page . . I will be here at Entry / 6 .

7 . Measure twice , then Cut Once, a carpenters' Tip . . Or . . If things don't change , they'l stay as they are. ...Or...Don't ever be Backward at taking that step Forward. . Or . If it.s not broken, don't try and Fix it, leave well alone . . Or . . Look Good and you will Feel Good. - the Bee's Knees / Smart, for interviews etc, isn't Black for a Funeral, or mourning ? . Or . . Why are Mens' buttons on the right and Womens on the left - hand side when a garment is on ? or does it matter ? z . z . z

• Buttons have been around for over a thousand years and made of many materials, the Poor had smock type clothes, . . Or . . 'The Hoi - Polloi' , the masses, or The Common Folk, the Us of 'Us & Them' , So we have the gentry with clothes that buttoned up and fitted, the ladies even had a maid, or dresser to help them, so it was easier for the person in front to button one up... / ... Or ... P.S. - I said it was Trivia - ! ( 21/08/ 22 / Mr Blex )

8 . If you think 'near enough' is 'good enough' then work for our Competitors - A local Ad. for skilled metal workers - 1979... A fully paid up member of - The Ivor Sawnitoff Group, and the 'Antidisestablishmentarianism'. Soc. 1757 . . Or . . The Amazing Mr Pascal. - At the age of only 18yrs of age, a Mons Blaise Pascal designed a working model of a Mechanical Calculator, in 1642 ! - 380 yrs ago, using wheels and cogs etc to do Additions, Division, Subtraction and Multiplications. He made it to help his Father in his work as a Tax Inspector and his Sums . He was a Child Prodigy and at ease with Maths, (or Math), Philosophy and Theology. - (Maths/Mathematics, the study of)

After making Ten Prototypes before he was happy, he showed it to the Lord Chancellor of France . - . From the 1500's onwards ornate, intricate spring driven watches & clocks were already being made by Skilled Craftsmen, the top antiques of today ! - (the study of Horology) - Then we have the Orrery, but that is another 'story' with connections to past Poets, Artists and the ancient Chinese, going back to 150 B.C, ! - @ 17th Oct 2022

9 . Do you realise - that if a Nanosecond (or 10 to the -9 zeros ) became a Second, a second would then have to Equate to 32 Years ! ! .(The Opposite or Mirror Image) - Do the Maths (or Math) 60 = 1 Min , x 60 = 1 hr , x 24 , then x 365 etc .. / ... so Seconds in a year = 31.5 million, x 32 = 1,008, million , now we have our +9 zeros. / . It is a 1,000 - millionth, or one Billionth of a Second .

Some of my work along with Colin Hinson, 1963 to 1994, involved the use of Nanoseconds and even Pico seconds within our Job Premise, 10 to the minus 12 zeros, so a Trillionth of a second. Now used in Micro Technology, Computers and data transfer and Laser Design systems . Lasers are now used today in Tatoo Removal and Pigment Treatments, with the minimum side effects. -

10. In the 'realms' of Time and distance, the speed of Light as we know, is 186,000 miles traveled in One Second, or 670 million per/hr. - so one light year is 24 (hrs) x 670m X 365, (days) = one Light Year etc. so a fair distance ! - One Star we know of is 'Kepler 90' and it is 2,840 Light Years from the Earth ! ! - Johannes Kepler was a 17th century Astronomer and Mathematician and has a Telescope named after him, a retired one is now in space launched by NASA. - Ref. - Stephen Hawking, Scientist. ( b. Oxford, U.K. 1947 / d. 2019, U.K ) ... Or ... > An Astronaut - the word or definition , not a person means - 'a Star - Sailor / Stars, Astro & Naut / Nautical / Sea, Water -etc . >

• 10a . A minor Mr Blex Rumination : Our Life Span used to be termed as 'Three Score Years and Ten' - (if you are lucky that is. (70yrs old ) , now it is common to get to the mid 80's and beyond, (to a Century ?) - With relevance to my Para. / ref. 9 above , our whole Life Span equals a Half of a Blimk of the Eye. - Does our spirit go to the Cosmos / Stars , or a Dreamland ? - I suggest we are too complex a being to later be a write-off. : Many Religions follow this belief , - e.g. the Egyptians, Catholics, and Vikings with their Valhalla -
• 10b . I wonder if Dogs are able to sense or 'see' a Ghost, Spirit (Spectre) , among all their other Unique Talents they have. - Like the ability to smell, then realise when Insulin Levels are low (they will warn their owner by a Paw Tap), . also bad-drugs , money and explosives in a car or baggage, or a Person under Snow or Rubble. ? - Very hard to prove either way, re Ghosts, Dogs can sense Danger and protect it's Owner to the limit.
• Natures' own ultra powerful, precise G.P.S. System, as used by the Arctic Tern, Swallow, Bee, Homing Pigeon, (during wartime), the Eel and Salmon / via rivers in the U.k. etc, - 1 / The Arctic Tern's young will later return within a few feet to it's first nest, by Area, Beach and the excact nest spot. . The journey can be between 25 to 50 thousand miles, between the North & South Poles, (due to bad weather etc.) - returning back to the same nest spot on a beach.
• 2 / Bees tell the others by a letter Z shaped 'air-dance' at the hive, the excact flower and pollen/ nectar and a 'compass bearing' , to only feed the Queen Bee the same food, and up to 7 miles away ! - We can not replicate the same details today, as we rely on 4 to 5 Satellites to help us. (using the Earths' Magnetic Field perhaps) - where in this miniscule body do they learn, store , then transfer (convey) the informationn to others ?

A 'ROUND TUIT' ?

At long last, we have just been informed by the Barnsley (Yorkshire, U.K.) company of 'ARKWRIGHT & SON' that they have a sufficient quantity for each of you to have his (or her) own, so GUARD IT WELL. These 'Tuits' have been hard to come by, especially the Round Ones. This is an indispensable item, it will help you to become a much more efficient worker. For years we have heard people say, " I'll do that when I get around to it'' Now you have a 'Round Tuit' of your very own, many things that have needed to be accomplished will get done. Origin - on a 1960's kitchen plate.

12 . The Beerhouse, or Alehouse, the official term as in records sourced, was typically a Pub but 'No Bar' and just a cosy room with Table Service for your Beers / drinks like a mini 'Night Club', being Hand - Delivered to the tables. An Alehouse Lic. could be obtained for Two Guineas a year ( £2 .10p ) by anyone to sell Beers on their own premises, but Not to be taken away, this Beerhouse Act came in during 1830 but altered in later years.

• Ravensden, Beds. - a nearby village, had a typical Beerhouse called 'The Case Is Altered' and set amongst a row of cottages on a hill in the village. This sadly closed during the 1990's, as it was always a popular Must visit by our American visitors to Bedford and our Corn Exchange with its Glen Miller connection, within their holiday itinerary. (See my Index page) - The room where you drank was like a Time Machine, set in the 1950's, with prints of our Royal Family, flags and ornaments of a bygone era. For other examples, see para's - 4 & 5, on my Index page. In years gone by, a Beerhouse was granted an Alehouse Lic by the local authority. (see my Index Page, - re / more on Major Glen Miller)
• A 'Public House' or Pub, was licensed by the Brewers Act of 1828, so liable to a random Police Inspection at any time, day or night, this ensured that the strict drinking times were observed. A Beerhouse was within a Cottage or House , the 'Cellar' or 'Tap - Room' usually in a nearby spare room, where the casks of Ale would be 'tapped' and kept to the required conditions, as near as possible. This is where the term a 'Tap - Room' originated , as opposed to the 'Best Room' or 'Lounge Bar' (our Lounge of today in a house, the posh Lounge Bar in a Hotel) - for the Ladies.They would then be apart from the men's' smoke and language used by the Factory or Land Workers. The Drinking room would have had a nice Open Fire for the drinkers' comfort on a chilly night, the men enjoyed a drink, as Pubs were all open most of the day until the introduction of more rigid drinking hours. I thought that all the Beerhouses had gone by the 1930's & 40's, being so quaint and old fashioned, but there were exceptions e.g. The Oak up to 1958 and others later.
• Back to - either, The Oak - , Queens Head - , Wheatsheaf or The Crown Beerhouses of Blunham, or main Index Page with the Blunham Village Homepage - by Colin Hinson @ the top L.H.S.

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• Yorkshire Homes ... around the 1950's & 60's, the Front room, or Best room of a two up / two down terraced house (Our 'Lounge' of today) - was where the cherished minature china was on show with special crystal glassware, all proudly displayed within a Mansion - Polish aroma, so only used when visitors arrived. - Origin - my Auntie Floss, Barnsley. - People were very Houseproud and spotless, even to the point of 'Scouring', (a clean and colouring) of a front door step and washing the pavement down. You would see the usual Blackened areas then pure white paved sections as you walked down a street.
• The house walls were all blackened over years of coal fire pollution. Later newcomers had their houses pressure cleaned, revealing smart Yorkshire stone-work. - * - To visit Blunham in the 1920's thru' the eyes of a child , by Jim Ellis ( courtesy of Colin Hinson ) visit Blunham Memories- written at 89 yrs old.
• Whist in the Era of 'Olde Yorkshire Days' : - about c1946 - 50, - My memory cells can Still recall, - Nipsy and Toss the Pennies games with Men / Miners gathering up on Wosbro' Common ( Barnsley, Yorks ) on waste ground , and bet on a game of Nipsy' - They would place a pointed shaped piece of hardwood (Ebony etc, about 3 ins x 1 ins. diam ) on top of an upturned brick , and hit the Tip carefully with their Nipsy Stick several times, making it spin, to judge the height catch it, and they would then swipe it over many, many yards ,. The longest hit Won all Bets . Then we had Toss the Coins / Pennies , it was a very popular and Very High Money stakes and also Illegal game . (also played in Scotland) . Just two old English Pennies placed on the back of the hand , then tossed and a one Shout of Odds or Evens. It was so tense and addictive, they even paid a teenager 6 old pennies to watch out for a Police intervension. on two corners .! !

13. 'Our English Language'

I take it you allready know, of tough and bough and cough and dough

Others may stumble, but not you, on hiccough , thorough, dough and through

Well done ! and now you wish, perhaps, to learn of less familiar traps.

Beware of heard, a dreadful word, that looks like beard and sounds like bird

And dead , it is said like bed, not bead , for goodness sake don't call it "deed" !

Watch out for meat and great and threat (They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.)

A moth is not a moth in mother, both in bother, broth in brother, and here is not a match for there

Nor dear and fear, for bear and pear. Then there is dose and rose and lose, just look them up ,

and goose and choose. and cork and work and card and ward, and word and sword and do and go.

Thwart and cart. Come, come I've hardly made a start ! A dreadful language.

Man alive I'd mastered it when I was Five !

ref ... 'Trivia' collected over 60yrs by Mr Blex - / - 12th Oct. 2020

Just as an afterthought, I would like to Choose to sing in a Choir, at the bottom

of a Chasm in the Peak District. - (The Phonetics of c,h,'s) - Mr Bill Ex or / Mr Blex ?

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14. 'Detail' : - In this sentance, there are Three misteaks, what are they ? - Or , - Where is a Dado-Rail in a normal Dining Room stucture ? . - see end of The Horseshoes for the answers . . Or . . Back to Index Page,

A bit of Lateral thinking . . me thinks' - With assumptions - An English Engineer . working in the Middle East is sentenced to Death for a crime by Beheading. The local Prince shows mercy to him, as a fellow Graduate from the U.K. - so spares him, but puts him in a cell for Life and fed. This cell has two Doors / Exits , say 1 and 2, controlled by two guards , say Guard A and Guard B.

He is informed that one guard Always tells the TRUTH and the other, Always tells LIES and that Exits 1 and 2 lead to certain Death, or certain Freedom and only known by both guards : The Prince says to the prisoner, "you are allowed 'only' one question to ask any Guard , they know the outcome of the exits," - What is the question?. The prisoner works out how to walk to freedom (with no risk) - by asking this one question, with a certain result, what is it ? - For the Answer to solve this - : Ask the Queens Head

15. 'The Rules of Life / Wife' ... Rule - 1 . I can always do anything she wants. - 2 . One word from me, and she does what she likes. - 3 . I am the Boss of the house, when she is not there. - 4 . I must always agree she's Right, even when we both know she is Wrong. - Rule 5, please note, that Rule 3 only applies, if The Wife has said so. - 6, The Boss must know what The Wife is thinking, at all times.

Acknowledgements - : With very kind permission of The Wife - : 2022 / Mr Blex

16.A good example 0f . . 'When Drinks in, then Wit is out' ... Hedy Lamarr, a Filmstar in the 1940's Black & White film days, was also an Inventor. - She picked up all her knowledge just by listening in at Dinner Parties and talk of Torpedoes and more. She was in the company of Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini and others, with her husband Fritz Mandl a munitions manufacturer. She took up an avid, but surreptitious, interest in the subject. - Now her ideas are found today within - WI Fi, / G.P.S. / Blue - Tooth and C.D.M.A. technologies. .

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She left Austria, her birthplace in 1937, at 23 yrs old, for the U.S.A. and her film career. . ' What a Plot for a Film ? ' - We have a Glamorous Socialite Harvesting secrets from the German Reich under their very noses. If she had been found out, she would have been Shot, there and then ! . - . They say that Truth is Stanger than Fiction . - . For more on this subject see my link to The Oak Beerhouse / Blunham and Hedy Lamarr - (12/07/ 2022)

And Mash of 1903

• Mash, - A mixture of Hops, Grain or Malt, steeped in Hot Water with an active yeast, to form a Wort , part of the Beer making process ... Some a closley guarded recipe. The U.K. has apprx 34 different types of Hops , U.S.A. - 18 and many others in Germany and The Czech Republic ... Or it could be the smashing up of freshly boiled potatoe, (perhaps with a knob of butter, a dash of milk or even try Mayonnaise I have been told ! ! ) , with added fried sausages, as part of an English dinner, Bangers and Mash - . Or ..In Yorkshire, to make a 'Mash' (a Mug or Pot of Tea) - a Brew up - (Brewery) ... Or ..." Hey-up, si'thee, we'ill all have a Brew " - (Listen up to you all, - we will all have/ take a break now) - the Yorkshire dialect.

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• During my researches of our Bluham Pubs ( mid 1980's ) I came across some interesting facts of nearby villages, but Only relevant to the year 1903. These were Northill , Moggerhanger and Sandy , copied from a large 'Brewery Ledger' (apprx. 18'' x 8'' when closed) seen in a Sandy pub. There was a 'staggering' 16 Pubs/ Beerhouses in Sandy during 1903, but only 2 known of in Moggerhanger, The Rose with a Thomas Mardlin behind the bar, and The Old Guinea with Fredrick King, serving up Pints, - (The Guinea Pub is still thriving today serving up fine food and ales) - @ 13/03/ 2023 - Mr Blex - followed by the -

NORTHILL Pubs / Beerhouses, 11 in all for 1903

The Crown / Martha Marson ,

The Kings Head / Henry Brinklow ,

The Rose & Crown / James Nottingham

The Royal Oak / Arthur Woodward

The Sugar Loaf / Samuel Matthews

The Lion / James York

The Queens Head / Sidney W. Ebbs

The Gardners Arms / Samuel Stanford

The Barley Mow / George Truin

Two recorded, No Name/Sign at all, so probably just an old cottage / Beerhouse - see Ref 12 entry above

1 - Sarah, Ann Darnell - & 2 - Joseph Nottingham

It was a pleasure to discover the above information as it was written in the typical Ornate style of the time

Ref / a Brewer's Ledger seen 39yrs ago in Sandy - / - Mr Bill Ex / or Mr Blex, or see : -

The Adventures of Mr Blex

Last Revision by Bill Exley on - 20th Mar - 2023 : back to Index Page with our Blunham Home Page , @ Top / LHS