Pop-up toasters. Underrated, IMHO. I don't know how I used to put up with the old burn-your-bread-to-a-cinder toasters. Funnily enough though, some things (I am told) that were (are?) popular in the UK never caught on here - like electric overblankets and Teasmaids (Teasmades?).

My Sunbeam electric duvet, (doona to ockors) was fabulous.

Had to fight to get into me bed at nite, kids and dogs.........Sheeeeeeesh.

Yes, not available in OZ, I went to Sunbeam, Box Hill, but nobody had heard of the.

Me dad said he shoulda pinched mine.

Teasmade were available, but dumb.

I actually bought a pop-up toaster that had a computer chip in it. Bloody thing stopped working in no time!

Electric blankets, both under and over, are anathma to me, I have never suffered from the cold and the thought of roasting alive as you sleep...

Also, back when I was a heavy smoker I had a teasmade to wake me up in the morning. Steaming hot cuppa and a few smokes before I got out of bed. Ahhh, bliss. Yes those times have changed too!

I still have mine, it is a Kenwood, great toaster, till I put a soft cracker in to crisp......

....... now it is uneven toaster with chips and ashes...... a cremater.......LOL

Akshully still going fine, seems to have solved problem of uneven toasting. itself

My current one's been going for about four years - never missed a beat. Sunbeam 4 slicer. It's a boomer (and only $20 or so, from memory). I just can't understand why the heck they would want to put a computer chip in the thing. After all, how perfect does a piece of toast need to be? It's a bit like my clothes dryer - chip, no timer - it 'senses' when clothes are dry and then stops.

A mate brought his Teasmade over from the UK, but never uses it (offered to give it to me, but I wouldn't get much use out of it either). He had the same problem you did - he wanted to buy an electric overblanket, but they are just not available here.

I have had my toaster for 18 years. I can verify this because it was a wedding present and my wife and I are married for 18 years on the 10th of April.

I have had my toaster for 18 years. I can verify this because it was a wedding present and my wife and I are married for 18 years on the 10th of April.

What, no fondue set?

Oh yes, I have a fondue set as well!

Don't tell me; you took it out of the box, had a quick look, nodded to each other and said something like "Aww, that was kind of them. We'll have to invite them round sometime and we'll use this". Nod approvingly and then put it back in its box and then shove it in that really handy cupboard under the sink. Remember it about 18 months later when you need a plug for something more worthwhile. That is, pretty much any other electrical appliance in the known world. Oh, unless it's an electric can-opener, that is. We received one of those as well. Guess where that ended-up?

But that was 20 years ago and another life...

E: typo

I like listening to my husband's stories, we are the same age, but our growing up experiences are lightyears apart.

I was a typical American suburban kid, Dad had hepatitis when I was born so he waited to go pick mom and me up from the hospital, took her home and drove himself back to the hospital. My husband saw his first 4 wheeled vehicle when he was about 10. I grew up watching Sesame street and the Electric Co. He remembers a neighbor had a TV when he was around 10 (sounds like that is when development first came). They ran it off a generator and sold snacks and drinks to pay for the gas. His dad had one of the few radios around so whenever bad weather would hit, the whole neighborhood would gather round his house to hear the forecast on the radio.

Now his dad has satellite (UBC!) a mobile phone and a truck. Got to give the man credit, he learned how to drive a truck when he was over 50, so he isn't doing so badly.

ive used electric blanket...did not roast Suegha..loved it actually....am thinking I will need one for the coming winter.....

Electric blankets? Ahhh yessss. I well remember the midwinter nightime sprint - clothes off - pyjamas on - teeth brushed - into bed in about 30 seconds. These were the days before central heating, we had a coal fire in the living room and a couple of paraffin stoves so basically the house was freezing. Never kept the electric blanket on while in bed - too hot and too dangerous.

But before electric blankets we had hot water bottles. Heavy duty rubber pouches filled with boiling water and put into the bed about 30 minutes before bedtime. Scalding hot when you got into bed, creepily cold in the morning.

I remember before we had a pop up toaster the sound every Saturday and Sunday morning of my dad scraping the burnt toast. You toast it, in the oven's grill, until it is black then scrape it back to the shade you like.

Teapots, who (probably limited to us Brits) still uses a teapot with loose tea and a strainer? Not forgetting the tea cosy that mum usually knitted.

Whistling kettles before them new fangled electric ones that turn themselves off when boiling.

Tin openers, not those wall mounted ones but hand operated gadgets that removed the tin top producing a jagged disc of metal similar to a death star. Most tins these days are ring pull so no need for tin openers at all.

Phil,

I think i may be your long lost sister, who disappeared about 35 years ago under strange, unresolved circumstances....

My mum was able to use one can of baked beans to feed five of us!! With other food as well, of course.

I like listening to my husband's stories, we are the same age, but our growing up experiences are lightyears apart.

I was a typical American suburban kid, Dad had hepatitis when I was born so he waited to go pick mom and me up from the hospital, took her home and drove himself back to the hospital. My husband saw his first 4 wheeled vehicle when he was about 10. I grew up watching Sesame street and the Electric Co. He remembers a neighbor had a TV when he was around 10 (sounds like that is when development first came). They ran it off a generator and sold snacks and drinks to pay for the gas. His dad had one of the few radios around so whenever bad weather would hit, the whole neighborhood would gather round his house to hear the forecast on the radio.

Now his dad has satellite (UBC!) a mobile phone and a truck. Got to give the man credit, he learned how to drive a truck when he was over 50, so he isn't doing so badly.

This really does show the differences, not just in time, but in cultures.

ive used electric blanket...did not roast Suegha..loved it actually....am thinking I will need one for the coming winter.....

The very thought makes me claustrophobic! I think this is one of the men/woman differences. My wife uses our heated seats in the car when it's not cold and she'll put extra bedclothes on her side of the bed. She has never mentioned an electric blanket though.

Phil brings back memories of icy cold housing. I used to lay my clothes out beside the bed and leap out and get dressed so quickly. Leg it down stairs where mum had lit the fire. Sit eating a massive bowl porridge trying to get the heat into you that you needed for the day ahead.

We were happy but cold!

It gets cold enough here in winter for me to want to escape each year, so I'm blowed if I know how you put up with the winters in the UK. Nothing wrong with the lecky blanket. The idea is to poke a woollen under blanket on top of the lecky (between the lecky and the sheet). No way would I be without one in winter.

Speaking of 'escaping winter', my visa for this year has just come through and the mongrels have given me a triple-entry TR instead of the usual O, which, of course, means I have to do two border runs instead of just the one (tourist visas are only good for two months). I rang the consul and the bloke there gave some cock-and-bull story about the rules changing again (within the last month). Me thinks he talk with forked tongue. Not happy Ralph!

I can see why you are annoyed! Bummer!

I think what he's probably on about is that it seems that they can now give multi-entry tourist visas (up to 6 entries, or twelve months). It doesn't stop him giving me a double entry O though - which is what I paid for ($180, as opposed to $45 per entry for TR... and, of course, no change supplied). When I rang him, he said I should just get a retirement visa. I may have to actually consider that for next year, in the circumstances. I think I'll wander over to the visa forum in the next few days and see what the experts reckon.

It gets cold enough here in winter for me to want to escape each year, so I'm blowed if I know how you put up with the winters in the UK. Nothing wrong with the lecky blanket. The idea is to poke a woollen under blanket on top of the lecky (between the lecky and the sheet). No way would I be without one in winter.

Speaking of 'escaping winter', my visa for this year has just come through and the mongrels have given me a triple-entry TR instead of the usual O, which, of course, means I have to do two border runs instead of just the one (tourist visas are only good for two months). I rang the consul and the bloke there gave some cock-and-bull story about the rules changing again (within the last month). Me thinks he talk with forked tongue. Not happy Ralph!

Phil, best tea is made in a good heavy china teapot, teabags if in a hurry, but nowhere as flavoursome.

COLD ENUFF>.....

Sheeeesh, Melbs winters are certainly worserera than what I experienced in UK, or anywhere in Europe.

Reason I sold up and came home to Auckland.

In Melbs, leckie blankie a necessitie.

The cold southerly off the bay is cold enuff to freeze dry a polar bear's ba_lls.

......otherwise as I often state, Melbs is the best city I have lived in or visited, on this planet.

Hope Melbourne doesn't change too much, love to visit.

Some food for thought there, Pete.

Tea: If I get one of my tea cravings (usually jasmine), I fill up my thermos with it and leave it by the bed. Still piping hot in the morning and teasmade not required.

Melbourne winters: I would have thought that winters in Auckland would be colder. As to your view that Melbourne winters are colder than in the UK/Europe, we'll chalk that up to poetic licence.

Melbourne as a liveable city: Agreed - during summer. During winter, it's a miserable, grey mongrel of a place (but not as bad as Blighty!). It's amazing how many backpackers and real tourists (there's a flame thread in the making!) still come here in our winter, though. I say to them, 'What the heck are you doing here when it is summer in your home country?' Most of them say, 'I just wanted to see Melbourne. I'm only here for a vew days then up north to Queensland.' Gawd knows why they bother...

To see as much as they can see perhaps? I remember chatting to backpackers in Ireland who wanted to see everything which meant spending no time in any one place - fleeting visits would give me stress!

Correct. As I said, backpackers are not real tourists (they're moths... attracted by the lights).

Good analogy there mate!

I have had my toaster for 18 years. I can verify this because it was a wedding present and my wife and I are married for 18 years on the 10th of April.

Congratulations to your wife and to your good self for tomorrow then. Please pass this one on to your wife from me:-

Yours truly,

The Colonel, Win

Now back to the topic in hand.

Saw the very first episode of "Crosswords" in Wales on in Black and White, on holiday.

Bob Dylan was one of me Fab's and still is today, but do you remember back in '65 this:-

Barry McGuire: "Eve of Destruction"

The eastern world, it is exploding

Violence flarin', bullets loadin'

You're old enough to kill, but not for votin'

You don't believe in war, but what's that gun you're totin'

And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin'

But you tell me

Over and over and over again, my friend

Ah, you don't believe

We're on the eve

of destruction.

Don't you understand what I'm tryin' to say

Can't you feel the fears I'm feelin' today?

If the button is pushed, there's no runnin' away

There'll be no one to save, with the world in a grave

[Take a look around ya boy, it's bound to scare ya boy]

And you tell me

Over and over and over again, my friend

Ah, you don't believe

We're on the eve

of destruction.

Yeah, my blood's so mad feels like coagulatin'

I'm sitting here just contemplatin'

I can't twist the truth, it knows no regulation.

Handful of senators don't pass legislation

And marches alone can't bring integration

When human respect is disintegratin'

This whole crazy world is just too frustratin'

And you tell me

Over and over and over again, my friend

Ah, you don't believe

We're on the eve

of destruction.

Think of all the hate there is in Red China

Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama

You may leave here for 4 days in space

But when you return, it's the same old place

The poundin' of the drums, the pride and disgrace

You can bury your dead, but don't leave a trace

Hate your next-door neighbor, but don't forget to say grace

And... tell me over and over and over and over again, my friend

You don't believe

We're on the eve

Of destruction

Ah, no no, you don't believe

We're on the eve

of destruction.

------------------------------------------------------------

and the rest is what it is, History.

As me signature says:-

"Today is the first day of the rest of your life" - enjoy it.

Yours as always

Win from Kan

Thanks for the good wishes kan, I will pass them on to 'her who must be obeyed' tomorrow!

Yes well done to Mr and Mrs Tigs. 18 years married and never had a (successful) argument! Here's a minstrel to go with Kan's flowers

Yes well done to Mr and Mrs Tigs. 18 years married and never had a (successful) argument! Here's a minstrel to go with Kan's flowers

Yeah, always makes me laugh when people say 'x years married and never had a cross word!' Yeah, never done a crossword maybe!

My wife and I get on really well, but we are human, so occasionally annoy each other!

Reminds me of that old joke. My wife and I only argue about two things. Sex and money. I think she's charging me too much!

Congratulations! Here's to the next 18.

Er, how does that grab you?

Typo

Congratulations! Here's to the next 18.

Er, how does that grab you?

Typo

Grabs me nicely! Wow, 2 threads offering us congrats, I love Bedlam...

If you mention the '60s and TV in the same sentence, then I tend to think of "The Prisoner". I just loved that series. I mean, it comes across as pretty weird even now, but then? I have to admit that I used to divide the world into those that liked it and those that didn't. In a way, I suppose I still would. It's so abstract, so utterly surreal and makes very little sense. Hang-on, just like Bedlam...

Oh, and it was the beginning of my love-affair with the Lotus 7. KAR 120C, where are you now?

E: missing comma

Correct. As I said, backpackers are not real tourists (they're moths... attracted by the lights).

Backpackers, IMO, are merely trying to cram as much life into a year or two so they can sit around pubs back home wowing those that never travelled with their tales of derring do in far and distant lands.

Then I think of us wrinkly old contractors sitting around swilling beer swapping tales of places like Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Chad, Libya, Warrington , Stavanger and Sakhalin Island and the multitude of crazy characters that go with the job. We're not so different from the backpackers just that we have spent the best part of our lives working in these places, getting paid megabucks and p1ssing the whole lot up the wall.