EVEN DOGS DO YOGA
JUst woken up. BILLY JOEL is singing PIANO MAN in my head.
How many things have you bought more than once that you didn't need to ?
Since living in LONDON, I have bought no less than eight LONDON A-Z's, God knows where the ohter seven went, I certainly have no idea. I admire people who have stuff that's old, stuff that shows they look after things. My mum has the same bread knife she's had since I was a kid. Stuff you've had for ages becomes your friend. It reminds you who you are and where you came from.
I wish I still had the little tartan flask I used to take to school. Itwas the first thing I can ever remember having to be resposible for and it was always full of barely warm tomato soup, delicious.
Last week, whilst in the Lake District, I thought I'd go in search of another tartan flask...
There are certain things in life that make a person feel more wholesome, more decent, a more rounded individual. A flask is one of those things, a hot water bottle is another, a butter dish, a biccie tin, a nice slice of cake. I feel people that have these things in their lives are people who know what's important.
The Lake District must be the ideal location in Britain to shop for a flask, as every other shop does indeed sell flasks
But also get this.... for some bizarre reason last week every shop had on "A FLASK SALE ! ", seriously, every single one. Flasks as cheap as you'd ever seen. And what flasks. State of the art silver cylinders, beautiful and smooth, sexy. Some came with safety heat concealing pump lids whilst others boasted of leather carry cases. Special heat retaining mugs could be bought separately, single flasks, family flasks and all of them to a tee UNBREAKABLE !
Unbreakable ? where's the fun in that ? Unbreakable ! That was my responsibility... not to "smash my flask." Not to throw my bag down, not to let it get hit by a football, not to sit on it. If a flask is unbreakable, it needs no looking after. It's a child that has fled the nest, able to go to town on it's own on the bus. It is an independent flask.
The unbreakability of the new flasks was only the beginning of my woe, for a 'tartan' flask was nowhere to be found - unbreakable or otherwise. Nowhere.
I felt then as a feel now, a certain emptiness at the passing of the popularity of the little tartan flask. Who took it upon themselves to declare the little tartan flask defunct, redundant, unwanted, orphaned ? Who damn it !
And then it occured to me, why on earth were they tartan on the first place? what a strange design for the outside of a flask. In fact why would anything be tartan, other than a kilt ?
So, in the end, I bought a silver flask, figuring any flask is better than none... It should've been ĂĆ14.99 - was in fact just seven quid. A friendly bargain.
Shortly after carefully preparing a brand new flask of tea, off I yomped on a walk designed to rekindle the old flasky wholesome feelings but alas of course it was not to be.
Sure, the new boy did it's job when it came to sandwich time by providing me with a couple of pipng hot cups of Northern Yorkshire's finest cha. But they were too hot and they weren't stewed enough. They tasted too much like tea should. I can get that anywhere.
Somewhere along the line, someone's made the flask more efficient, better at it's job. But with the smoothing out of a character's foibles, comes the smoothing out of the character itself. The new flask stood there staring at me on a bench proudly overlooking Rydal water, steam billowing from it's funnel, resiliant, strong.
But for all it's stainless steel shimmer there was not a twinkle in sight.
The love had gone.
x
(Above text taken from "My Flask and Me." One of several short stories about a boy and his childhood. Other titles include, "Carlyn Richardson, I want her to be my girlfriend" "Fifteen pee's not pocket money, it's slave labour" and "The first day I had that feeling 1"> COPYRIGHT CONTROL, OUR LAWYERS ARE WATCHING.)
Comments
Flasks - yet another example of improvements in technology not necassarily being a good thing.
There is nothing better than the taste of coffee that has been shaken and stewed and slightly cooled in an old flask.
Now, if there is all that technology about, why can't they make a flask that re-creates that? It does, after all, seem to be what everyone wants . . .
Buneos dias, good morning chrisoph
well i've been up a bit and i woke up with the dangermouse theme in my head.
things i've bought but didn't need to mmm theres a question. well off the top of the head i bought some blank cassette tapes god knows why probably just a prevbiable walk in't past lad.
you and rebecca could the real life dangermouse and penfold(ha! ha! ha! ha!)
catch y's laters
going to buy some guitar strings
Morning Chris,
I am pleased to say that your blog reads like you are truly back to normal. I was worried about you yesterday when I read the first draft that you posted and read doom and gloom and imagined you sat at your computer bashing your head on the keys shouting why me!! You did put us all right and yesterdays show was greatĂąâŹÂŠĂąâŹÂŠ..thanks!
I am bemused to read that you went to the Lake District in the hope that you would find a tartan flask? I do not want to be too picky but you may have had better chance in the highlands of Scotland? I do reckon you will be inundated with tartan objects so I hope you realise what you may have stated :-)
I bought my wife a pair of tartan slippers one year and I can tell you they did not go down very well :-( The devil in me would buy another pair for her though :-)
Enjoy today, I am looking forward to the showĂąâŹÂŠĂąâŹÂŠagain!
Keith
Thanks Chris, that took me back in time to sitting under a mobile classroom when it was pouring with rain eating my cheese or ham sandwiches with a cool cup of tomato soup from my red tartan flask, couldn't possibly have lunch indoors, then it's not a picnic!
Right off to take some water samples from sites in the Ashton-Under-Lyne, fun, fun, fun and another picnic lunch out of the back of my work van with my trusty unbreakable green flask full of steaming fresh cafiterier brewed coffee, how things have changed!!!!!
Luv, Sarndra X.
Chris,
Loving the outdoor short stories - didn't Boots (the Chemist) do a fine line in 'Tartan' flasks?
If not, can I recommend a little time at a friendly car boot? Tartan flask a plenty - each with its own story and character (no extra charge).
Silver flask DO develop character after time though - each dent tells a story. Eventually the 'odd' taste to tea develops and once a few adventures are shared, this silver bullet will become your firend too...
Keep on walking....
Jez
I had a tartan flask in which I would take hot drinks to school. I can still feel the desolation when I opened my bag to discover, that I had in fact broken the inside and now cold tea was seeping its way into my English vocab book. Which bit was going to be worse, telling my Mum or telling the English teacher why the book was crinkled and sticky, because of course it was sweet tea.
What is a vocab book? The same as a French vocab book. We had to write down 50 english words and their meanings each week. Thus I know what the word lupine means. That was useful.
Good morning
The sun is shining here which has made me very happy.
I used to have a little flask to take to school too, it was turquoise blue with a white cap. It too has disappeared into flask heaven. I do still have a little torch that my dad gave me when I was a little girl. I used to use it to read my books and comics under the covers when I was supposed to be asleep. I still use it to this day, it works perfectly. My dad died when I was a quite young so it's extra special. When people are asked what would you try to save if there was a fire, it would have to be my torch.
Have a lovely Wednesday everyone
xx
Morning Chris,
I too remember the Tartan flask and well brewed tea. Still enjoy a cuppa when I go up to spend time with Mum in Scotland. She has a dinky little silver one bought new at the Car Boot for 50p (Treasure)
Know I am home when she and I spend a day shopping or Booting, then get a fish supper to share down by the Shore.
Still have my hot water bottle which has infact been used these last two nights trying to ease the pain in ear and throat from tonsilitis at my age! Feeling ill and sorry for myself and missing home looked for your blog after listening to your how which always brightens my day.
Might try a tin of Tomato Soup later Looking forward to tonights show. Have a great Day, Am of to do some work now Cx
Ah, those far off childhood memories..... For some reason the summers are always sunny and warm, the days long and the countryside empty of other people who would clutter the scenery.
I think thats the think about far off or childhood memories - they have become 'rose-tinted' over the years. I recently returned to my home town - to see how the place had changed and to renew some old memories - only to find the place almost un-recognisable, change by the developers into something new and shiny.
I guess that the thing about our cherished memories - you should leave them as just that - memories, and to try and 're-live' the experience and feelings of the long gone past will only utimatley result in a feeling of dissapointment.
So....cherish the memories you hold dear, and enjoy each new day as a new experience - for we are all now living in tomorrows past....
Sorry if I'm being a bit too philosophical. Anyhow - enjoy live, live it to the full.
Hi Chris and fellow bloggers....
Mmmmmwah!
Things from Childhood......... I remember those flasks too... my dad had one with a little bottle for putting milk in .............that was a tartan one too..... :)
I really envy my husband's collection of childhood "stuff": he still has everything ...... all of his books , toys , games,...... everything ...... we sometimes play the games , many of which I'd never seen as a child. I've read several of his books including Moonfleet ( which I mentioned in an earlier blog) and Winnie the Pooh ( Which I'd never read as a child). On the flipside, I have only one item from my childhood, it's a handmade book made by my Great Grandfather for my ninth birthday .... in it.....is the complete collection of Fish Cards which were being given away in Shredded Wheat during 1974/75...... I remember it taking forever...... to collect the whole set,.... and he needed to two sets to make the book ...... in the front of the book there is a beautifully hand written message...This Album of Fishes and their Habitats was made especially for Rachel * **** for her ninth birthday- April ** 1975. On the back page there is the cut out and keep, wheel of fish facts that was printed on the Shredded Wheat Box....The book is my most treasured possession. A fine example of: what we do for ourselves, dies with us, but what we do for others and world, lives forever.
Last night, we were watching football .....well..... I was curled up..... half sleeping behind my husband on the sofa with my head resting on his chest.... the football he was watching: was Brazil v Wales....Odd; I thought.... as he's neither Brazilian nor Welsh but when I heard the " pissssst" of a can of larger being opened...... the penny dropped on my life of puzzling over men and football....... It's nothing to do with football at all......... it's all about the larger...... I concluded...... Oh yes..... you see... it's not really on...... to sit and drink larger while watching Eastenders or other regular TV........that would be..... well...... just not cricket. So when a guy fancies a quick can or two ... he scans the TV listings for any of the 60 channels showing any football match anywhere in the word and bingo! Get the larger out................ ............
Proff Tom.....from yesterday......I wasn't sure what it meant so looked it up........ Bunny Boiler..."An obsessive and dangerous female, in pursuit of a lover who has spurned her.". (hand on my hips with an incredulous look)........ I think you have the wrong girl.............. but it made me smile........
Keep smiling :)
Rachel
tsk tsk Chris, surely you know that real love takes time to develop, everyday living, battered by experience. Patience my boy....love your flask.....one day you will have a treasure!
If you want to recreate the taste of old style flask tea - try a day with the army! The tea that is brewed and then taken out to the troops in the field has no recognisable relation to normal tea! But it's normally so cold that you are grateful for anything warm and hot!! The chefs in my TA unit are so bad that this weekend we had tea that could have easily passed for leek soup. It was green and had a layer of grease on it - Yeuk!!!
happy blogging
Alison xxx
Ah Chris. What a lovely story to read first thing on a Wednesday morning. Just what I needed to cheer me up (my boss wants to 'talk to me' today so nervous and needed cheering up)!
The one thing I really remember being given to 'look after, don't lose, be careful etc.' was a key to our house. I would have been about 6 or 7 at the time and it was during the summer holidays. That key was so special to me as I felt like a real grown up. The key was a very unusual shape - straight from the 1940's, suiting our 1940's house. I have often lamented how 'normal' keys are today and I really hate the gimicky ones.
However, things come full circle. 6 weeks ago I moved out of a flat and bought a new house and Dad kindly changed my locks for me. New house equalled little spare cash so Dad recycled old lock barrels that he'd been hoarding. So guess what key I now have? Yes the gorgeous 1940 style key that I was first given aged 6 or 7. It made my day, I felt that I'd really 'come home' and it made me think where I've come from and how lucky I am.
Enjoy your day everyone,
C x
Morning Chris Baby!!!
Kno what you mean about flasks - it took me right back to being a child - on a day out - you couldn't wait for lunch for cheese sarnies and tea, and the tea always had a certain taste to it and it was wonderful - todays flasks are good but the tea doesn't taste the same - or is it just us thats changed as grown ups??!! - our flask was red if I remember correctly.....
And about things that have been around for years and become your friend - I have some dishes from my wonderful Grandmother that we used when I was small - my Grandparents ran a farm and Sundays was open house - big roast dinner anybody welcome, and everytime I used them it takes me straight back there and sometimes I wish I could go back - they really were the best days ever.....
As always Luv u lots Chris - big love to all the other bloggers
Mayhem
xx
All feels a bit odd blogging alongside a famous dude. My first attempt, but I liked the cut of your thread and it stirred memories that had me back in a time and a place I had lost amongst the here and now.
It sparked a great memory of me, as a wee nipper, putting a marble in an empty old tartan flask and listening to the great noise it made as I swirled it round faster and faster. I remember several attempts with differing marbles until ... large marble dropped in ... oops ! That fantasticaly, youthful heart wrenching moment when you realise you have seriously messed up. The look in to see broken mirrored glass, but not realy understanding how it got there. That 'my Dad will kill me, hide the evidence' feeling whelling up. Thanks for sharing.
Rich
Hiya Chris
My mum has a chopping knife that has a wooden handle on it and the blade is still very sharp despite it having a gap in it. This chopping knife is her favourite and she will never throw it away, despite the fact it has a gap in it. It tells a story of how, years ago (before I was a twinkle in their eyes), my dad was doing some DIY (we call him Selwyn Froggit - dodgy spelling? - for reasons you will come to realise) and had set about doing some rewiring (in days before plugs automatically came on electrical products etc). His 'tools' were the chopping knife and screwdriver. All of a sudden my mum heard a huge bang and shouted to my dad several times with no response. She ran into the room he was working in and saw him on the floor looking dazed at the knife (I'm sure his hair must have been stood on end but since I wasn't around that artistic licence is in my head only). He'd forgotten to turn the electricity off and had basically cut into the wires with power full on. My dad was fine - just stunned! The knife had a gap blown into it by the force of the electrical bolt. I think it's the best knife I've ever chopped vegetables with.
You can't improve on things that you had in your youth. Time marches on and 'improves' things but it's your memory that keeps the items as perfect as they are. Umbrellas are another thing you can't get now that are as good as they were when you were little. Every brolly I have now is buckled from the strain of being blown in the wind. Now it could be that I never used a brolly when it was really windy, that the wind is now stronger than it used to be or, as I really think it is, brollies are just not as good as they used to be!
Your tartan flask didn't just hold your soup wonderfully for you, it holds and encapsulates a whole part of your youth. I bet if you found a tartan one today (tried Scotland??) it wouldn't be as good as the one you had in your youth.
Mike Garrett has hit the nail on the head completely! Well said Mike. I'm going to sit at my desk and recreate my youth as opposed to doing vacancy advertising!
Lots of love
Clare
xxx
Well,
I feel its important to welcome you back proeperly today... Yesterday you seemed rather annoyed!
Isnt it strange the way technology develops... Some of us need it to develop for our jobs and livelyhood, & some of us haven't caught up & really dont understand what the fuss is all about (lucky bleeders) for instance as a graphic designer the programmes we use to create our ideas is constantly changing so we need to work fast in order to keep up, new version & updates appear virtually every day & to be honest not always with a huge amount of success!
I find it funny that the developers of products feel the need and feel that we have a demand for products to be renewed, upgraded, enhanced & expanded all the time... A flash should keep things warm, or indeed cold, why does it need to be unbreakable, why does it need to have a heat resistant seal, the old ones didn't, the old ones didn't leak... surely through tampering with these products... they found the leak and made it a problem!
They have a need to make things better when they should just leave well alone... Why is there no cure for Cancer yet, the hole in the ozone layer... People are to busy fixing what doesn't need fixing!!
Concentrate, stop for a minute, listen to the world and listen to what its trying to tell you!
I was only thinking yesterday about a great holiday I had as a child with my parents, walking and watersports on Lake Coniston, didn't quite appreciate it back then but would very easily disappear away for a weekend there to revisit the smells and the sights, I even spoke to my girlfriend about it and she eventually came around to the idea!
Anyway must crack on... Hope your all well and enjoy this as much as I do...
Now you've got me yearning for my yellow Muppets Roughneck flask with a red top.
It was crap at keeping anything warm - I think hot chocolate was my tipple of choice in those days - but it certainly cut a dash on the packed lunches table.
I too had a tartan flask when I was at school! There were two in the house - one mostlty green the other mostly red. My Dad told me it (the red one) was the Fraser tartan of my Scottish paternal grandmother's line. I'd go loopy if it couldn't be found. Sometimes the school milk was warmer than what came out of that flask! I'll ask my mum if she still has it. If she does, it's yours. She keeps everything that isn't broken. Dad keeps the broken stuff to be fixed one day........ x
On this subject there's a super book called 'The Nature of Things' which is about how 'things' take on our energy. I think you'd like it. I have a dirty old well thumbed copy you could borrow.
I recently aquired the dining table and chairs that my mum and dad bought when they were married in 1950. I can still remember climbing onto them when I was 2 (1968) and my legs dangling when I sat on them. I can remember being 5 or 6 and looking forward to the day when my feet could touch the floor. I can remember sitting underneath one and drawing on the fabric under the seat with a big green marker pen. The marks are still there. As I got bigger one of my Saturday jobs was to polish the leather seats for my pocket money so I hated them for a few years! It's the only dining set my mum and dad ever had and they still look fabulous (thanks to my polishing methinks)!
Mum and Dad's attic has it all going on for me. It's amazing what they have kept. My brother and sister have no interest in the stuff whatsoever unless it has a monetary value. It's a shame they see things that way. "They know that price of everything and the value of nothing". I think Oscar Wilde said that. x
I sat with my dad for an hour or so last night looking through his old photos. Of course there aren't many pre 1960 but every one has a story and I love his stories. They'd make a good documentary. It's the way he tells them. I saw one picture of his brother, Danny, when he was in South Africa with the navy during the war. Simonstown I think. He's pictured with a huge dog who was called Nuisance and was listed as an able seaman. Aparrently the dog would help find drunken sailors and bring them back to ship if they were missing. He was also used to send messages by train. A lovely story.
I've drifted........apologies! I'm posting this anyway as I'd love to know if anybody else has heard of a big dog called Nuisance who served in the navy during WWII.
Another happy sunny day ahead. Work until 3.30 then home to try to change the oil and air filters on my car because someone said I couldn't. Kept me awake last night it did. I'm such a child. My darling media grad son wants to film me because he thinks he'll catch me swearing on film! He posts things on You Tube. I'll let you know if I make the grade. Three years at uni......seems like such a waste.........
A happy day to all.
Debs xx
As all families do, ours has 'in' jokes.
The flask.
Back in the mists of time (and indeed I think it was a tartan of some description, possibly blue, definitely thermos) my uncle's flask got broken whilst being used by someone other than my uncle.
The breakee (I think it was my brother) later asked my uncle if he could borrow said flask, then when my uncle told him it was all right to use it, he said it's ok, I already have, and I've broken it...thus putting him in the clear because he'd already been told he could take it...
There was a long discussion following this regarding the taking without asking theme, and now whenever a family member needs to borrow anything at all we make the request 'Can I borrow your flask?'
Isn't flask a great word - it's one which the more you say it the more meaningless it sounds! Where does it come from?
Oh my God. I think you may have finally lost the plot! But yes flasks do bring back memories of picnics when on very long car journeys. Always with sandwiches with tomatoes in them which always make the bread soggy!!
Angie
I too, used to have a little tartan flask for school. It must be a Warrington thing. I loved that flask but it met with a tragic demise.
I was cycling to school when I stopped at the junction of Wash Lane and Station Road, just by the railway bridge and that chip shop near the Cantilever Bridge. Behind me, was Mr Thomason (Geography and PE master) sitting on his moped. As I pedalled across the junction he lurched forward, lost control of his vehicle and hurtled towards me.
I swerved and hit the iron railings. He hit the curb, fell of his moped and smashed the brake handle. He seemed to think it was my fault. I took exception to this accusation and defended myself with what I thought was a valid and rigorous testimony. He gave me detention.
When I arrived at school, I opened my rucksack and found that the little tartan flask was cracked and leaking. all over my Maths homework. Mr Smith (Mathematics master) took a dim view. I defended myself with what I thought was a valid and rigorous testimony.He gave me detention.
Two detentions before assembly. But that paled into insignificance at the thought of that broken little tartan flask.
well I just spent 20minutes writing on yesterdays blog about saying no only to send it and realise you had then posted on today's blog - need to get my timing better! I had no time to write last night!
flasks always make me thing of my dad - holidays to the seaside in a caravan! magic - funny even when it rained we had a gd time - my kids moan like mad if it rains on hols!!!
enjoy the flask - it will get better - just like new shiny trainers - wear it in a bit and it will improve with age!
Anyone who wants to read by dirge on saying no - it's on yesterdays blog!!!
better go to work now!!
love Dot
Hey everyone!
I always remember tea and coffee from flasks tasting so much milkier than usual tea and coffee - why is that? I bought a new half size flask a few years ago for walking - it's so much lighter in my rucksack than a fully grown model and, unless I had a walking companion to share it with, there weren't enough bushes to crouch behind if I'd drunk a whole big flask to myself! But I also thought it was "too new" and "too silver". But, Chris, just because they're unbreakable, doesn't mean they don't dent. And mine now is looking very dented and lived in and I love it like an old friend! (Or at least I would still love it if my other half hadn't decided that it's so much better suited to his fishing trips than to my walking trips. I think though that's because he's got whiskey in it now!)
Take care everyone, happy Wednesday. (By the way, does anyone else have trouble working out what day it is? I typed up a load of documents yesterday for my boss's meeting today, only to find out that I should have typed them out Monday for yesterday - where is the week going?!)
Susan
xxx
Hi Chris,
Must say that only now and again do I scan through your blog and the comments of your listeners/fellow bloggers but the flask has brought out the blogger in me.
Don't you think that the reason we look so fondly at these items is that we live in an entirely disposable world? How many kids today will be pulling their PS2's out of the loft in 30 years and showing their kids "what they had to make do with in their day"?
I've just finished sanding down and waxing 4 chairs that my father bought in 1959. Could have dumped these and gone out to IKEA/MFI for replacements but these chairs hold a lot of fond memories of family meals round the table, boozy poker schools and in my childhood they were lined up, covered with an old sheet and became a submarine!
Agree that flask coffee (as it was) had a taste entirely of its own. Wonder how many people were 'full on flaskers' adding milk and sugar directly to the flask (an extra sugar for luck!!) or were inclined to keep these separate by seeking out the smallest Tupperware pot (and complementary milk jug) as obligatory bought by their mum at the last coffee morning. Only to forget or lose the spoon and end up pouring in excess amounts of sugar and using (burning) your finger to stir. As an aside why can we never find matching lids and containers for tupperware in the cupboard...?!
Well the sun has come out here so I'm off to sand the table that came slightly after the chairs. (1974) I remember the first night that it was in the house it was christened with a family poker night and my Mum had everyone under strict orders to put their cans/bottles on coasters so as not to mark the surface - Dad allowed a cigar to fall off the ashtray and burn the table. No matter!! Like all men of inebriated intelligence he proceeded to remove the unsightly mark with the sandpaper edge of a box of Swan Vestas!! Mum wondered why there was a tablecloth on in the morning - but not for long! I might just leave that mark alone when I'm sanding. Don't throw out your memories!
Greetings!
"Too much stuff drags your bag" I once heard Jim Kerr say (I'm sure he nicked it from someone else but I am not sure who) and I wholeheartedly agree! Being fond of "stuff" - old or new - is fine but sentimentality about old stuff is the path melancholy!!
Live life to the full! It's people that matter - the older the better. Far more interesting - especially the ones who have friends dating back to their childhood.
Hey y'all,
I didn't have a flask but do remember how my mum wrapped hot pies in tea towels before setting off on our annual holiday to North Wales. We'd travel until lunchtime and then stop for a picnic by a lake and the pies would be unwrapped and were the perfect temperature and smelled fantastic. You couldn't fit a pie in a tartan flask.
I have never blogged before.... so here goes.
Things I have bought more than once that I didn't need to....
Hair Straighteners!
After my hairdresser experimented on me with her brand new hair straighteners a few years ago - burning my forehead and my breakfast table!!
I decided to buy some for myself. I was shocked at the price - so I bought a middle of the range set. They were so big and bulky, and being so petite I could hardly get my hands round them.
So I invested in some more expensive and smaller ones. After 4 months of occasional use - they fell apart. Wires hanging out! Could I find the receipt - no!
So I gave up for a while - and then whilst in London on business - I had a spare couple of hours. So I went shopping and bought some glass hair straighteners, instead of ceramic ones. What a waiste - I might as well not do anything.
But - I never give up! So next time my hairdresser came I made a note of the make she uses - I went on their website - and ordered them. And finally I have some ceramic ones that are ergonomically friendly and work. And I have kept the receipt safe - somewhere?!
So now I have 4! Sorry guys to bore - but I felt the flask story more of a male thing.
I had a matching flask and lunchbox - The Muppets - but never, never had hot drinks in it. Whats the point of cold stuff in flasks? Why did we do that? I shall be pondering the point all day...
It is definately a flask day in the Lake District today, very wet and misty. Many flask memories from my youth, the most vivid is coming up to the Lakes in the rain and sitting with parents, sister and grandma in the car eating sandwiches with the good old flask cups sat precariously on the car dash board steaming up the windscreen. we had two flasks a red one and a blue one, one for tea and the other for coffee - milky coffee, I remember the responsibility of having to watch the milk pan on the stove for making the coffee for flasks - and getting to turn the gas off when the milk started to boil - you had to turn it off in the split second before the milk spilled over the top.
My grandma was amazing for keeping things forever, well she was just amazing generally...especially at making us laugh, on the same rainy trip to the Lakes she asked a question about why all the little boats on windermere had toilets on the back... she hadn't ever seen an outboard motor before. We laughed.....
J x (Windermere)
frighteningly Canadian
I never had a flask but I do have my Grandmothers marmalade pot which I love and now keep my marmalade in. Hopefully one of my children will want it on their breakfast table one day along with my treasured butter dish which I've had for 15 years and Delia Smiths Complete Cookery Course purchased 18 years ago!
Go buy a butter dish and a nice teapot today Chris and look after them, they will become treasures in your life. Its not too late
Its a lovely sunny day in Cambridge but I am longing for autumn days. Long walks through dry leaves, bit of cake in front of the fire with the Telegraph and the shipping forecast
When I was at school I had a flask (two-tone blue) that was named by my friends as The Unbreakable Flask. This was actually GREAT FUN!! We would throw it out of the window during lessons on the first or second floor, then rush down at lunchtime to see if it had broken!! This went on for months until one day it broke - my hot chocolate was ruined that day but we all laughed hysterically.
Chris, you are being too hard on your new flask. Constant comparison with a flask which is now gone (defunct in fact) will always leave you feeling flat. The new flask's finest moment is probably yet to come (maybe watching a winter sunrise when a steaming hot cup of tea will be truly appreciated). Future memories of moments shared with the new flask will then rank alongside of those of the old flask, although they will always remain different. While it is honourable that you treasure the memories of childhood flask so highly, constantly reminiscing for flasks loved and lost will prevent you from fully appreciating the future.
P.S. Using this as a template, flasks can easily be interchanged for friends, family or lovers.
i had a tartan flask which I took to school. I hated it. It smelt of Chicken Soup, which I hated with a passion. Still can't eat chicken soup to this day without thinking of that dratted flask.
Dogwith No Brain
I am not a blogging-pro so give me a hand here...
Is it like the PM turning up to House of Commons, rambling about something random and then all the MPs using that as inspiration to ramble for a while too?
Mind you - the PM only does it once a week - do you really do this every day?
WOW!!! That's energy...
Ahhh, the tartan flask... I remember it well but it was mum and dad's, never mine. How I coveted that flask! Loads of childhood memories came flooding back right there, thanks. How do your thoughts get to be so random yet evocative at the same time?!
Biccie tins... another of those things that are really important. Ours was one of those tins that we had eaten all the biscuits out of at Christmastime and it was then recycled for 15 years! Those tins were really useful actually, remember taking the ingredients for cookery lessons in it too! I recently bought my first proper tin, a true indication that I am a mum - hope my kids have the same fond memiories of the new spotty tin as I did of the old battered, recycled one...
How strange you ask such a pertinant question! The other week, I bought a flask AND one of those fancy "keep your coffee warm" cups in the same day.
Now at the time, I applied bloke logic - flask for long trips, fancy "kycw" cup for short trips (i.e. every morning on the way to work!).
But then I got home and told my wife I've bought both. Does woman's logic kick in next? Oh yes! (in a Vic Reeves-style Churchill dog, Oh Yes!) "Stuart, why do you need both of those? You never drink coffee in the morning - you are a usual bloke - shower, teeth, clothes, shoes and into the car!"
Good point I suppose. So I reverted to bloke logic. "But what about when I travel for work?" I was a beaten man this time.
"You never stop long enough to pour yourself a cuppa. It's a waste of money. Anyway, do you like my new Mulberry handbag? Got it in the sale... ĂĆ400!"
Now tell me, who's got the better logic - fella and the flask & fancy "kycw" cup idea, or the Mrs and ĂĆ400 worth of not very much leather to cram old tissues and a mammoth purse into?
Sorry for ranting, but your musings sent me off on one! All the best Christ - keep up the good work with you and SB on the traffic.
PS - it's not tartan I want, it's the matching Mr T thermos flask and butty box!
hi guys and gals, i didnt have a flask when i was yonger, i went to school dinners so had the mash pots, buttered to death cabbage and wonderful carmel cake, that i used to have the receipe, but lost that!!!
*6 *pengiun what does lipine mean???
*28* i have an "ology -- if you bought you hair straightners on your visa or card, you could take that into the shop and see if they would except that as proof of purchase. if the item was faulty they should give you the same item in return of refund you the money.
i do however have a flask now big blue thing that i "borrwed" from the airline that i used to work for . we use it for tea amd coffee and hot chocolate but i never ever remember that it is still going to be hot and therefore burn my tounge!!!
have also used it for keeping hot dogs hot. you know the really horrid things that the kids love, well i cook them up and then pop them into the flask then take some rolls with us and we have hot dogs. really good when its cold and your off on a walk .....but unless you have 2 flasks, i dont, we dont get the tea or coffe, and this particular airline flask is perfect for stewed sweet tea!!!
my book club tonight still looking for ideas of a good thriller can anyone help???
barb
woke up singing evita soundtrack, saw it at the weekend still singing it!!
I have bought DVD Players. One each for the kids room and a Combi DVD player for our room then a DVD player downstairs, and guess what the kids watch there DVDs in our room. I wonder why is the bed comfortable.
Lake District is a fantastic place to visit wonderful lakes and shops expecially if you are buying flasks. I think every single shop sells kendal Mint Cake, like the one coated in chocolate.
Well at least it's mid week the kids returned to school thankgod, but it'll be the weekend soon.
Mark
just had a quick lunch (shared with dog and husband working at home today) quickly read through the new Lakeland catalogue for 'storage solutions' which came in the post and oooh'd and aaaah'd over all the lovely things tha i think we need! Then logical head stepped in and said - you silly fool - no you don't so sorry lakeland it's gone to the recycling bin (where do they get the undies they show int he pictures of clothes driers - my washing NEVER looks that clean, or frilly to that matter)!
What's this got to do with flasks (i hear youall cry espevially Suzanne who was unhappy at the previius rambling blogs) well they sell flasks!
back to work
love Dot.
PS What do you do about smoking builders when no one living in the house smokes and the smoke permeates into my office and everywhere else in the house? I'm loathe to tell them not to as they may not finish the job!
Hi chris. i'm a virgin blogger so here goes.
Childhood picnics where your sandwiches had been in a hot plastic box all day and the tomatoes had that funny taste to them, but it meant you were on a day trip.
A few years ago on a day visit to Mablethorpe, lincolnshire coast area, we visited a little shop that didn't look much from the outside, called Suzanne's museum i think, when you went in it was full, and i mean full, of all the things from your past, you could buy anything in the shop or they were happy for you to just walk around looking at the stuff, it was fantastic. we spent ages saying "oooh we had one of those... and those..."
Might have to have a trip soon to see whether its still there.
Fi
Chris,
You might be in luck. I'm sure we've got an old tartan flask sitting around at home (Weymouth), feeling unloved, seeing as me and my brother (especially him) have become obsessed with the modern sleek'n'sexy ones, especially ones made out of, or mentioning, titanium.
Does it matter that it's a blue tartan, and the metal's a bit rusty.
cheers
toby
I tend to buy eggs far too often that I apparently don't need as I find myself throwing the old past their use by date ones away before I replace them with the new box......mind you a friend recently told me that you can ignore the use by date as apparently eggs have a much longer shelf life than they are given credit for. She says the only time she turned her nose up at an old egg was when she cracked it open and it had dried up inside.....I'm not brave enough to test the theory, but does anyone know if this is true? (about eggs being OK past their use by date, not what my friend did).
Cheerio x
PS I don't know whether it counts as a thriller, Barb (#39) but what about Perfume by Patrick Susskind? Fairly grim and the sort of thing I'd imagine a book club would devour......?
dear chris
hope you are okay today-
chris i do think you are sensitve and lovely and witty and all good things so i get really mad in a frustrated kind of way when you say you are going to the pub on your todd (maybe you did go with someone who know's!) but that was the last thing you said last night before you went off the air and left me listening to music which is not to my taste at all.
i hate it when you go on your own, i wish i lived in london so that i could say come over for tea!
anyway then i felt sorry for you as you said the music mercury awards people didn't invite you. why don't you just let your fellow bloggers take you under our wings and give you a big cuddle and a kiss?
i am so going to have to get on the train and come there to give you a cuddle - all you want is a woman to give you some loving and love you forever. that is what i have figured out am i right?
bless you - i can't understand why you haven't found a bird yet - if you did get one soon that would be nice for you but then your bloggs would maybe be less frequent as you would be busy doing other things?
anyway changing subject - how long are you going to do the blogging thing? if you finished soon then could we definately have a farewell party for bloggers? in the party if you came along you could to try and guess who we were? is that a good idea or what! maybe if your sun eve show comes back you could invite your bloggers on? these are things i thought about while in bath - i thought they were good ideas!
maybe not- have a nice day
love juxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Emma #44 - I buy eggs from my local market which don't have use by dates on - and I sometimes keep them for weeks! Delia has a way of telling if an egg is fresh - something to do with the white of the egg in relation to the yolk. Her How to Cook book 1 explains.
Alison x
I'm so sorry to spoil the romance of the Tartan Flask. I think they were first around in the sixties. This was a fashion thing when ladies (even non scottish ones wore kilts. This could have been due to the popularity of Dr Finlays Casebook on Tv at the time.
I think any flasks made after 1970 were infact copies of the originals.
Blue Angel Rachael hope you don't take me too serious......
WHAT TO GET THE GUY WHO (thinks he) HAS EVERYTHING
It's David Beckham's birthday and wifey gives him a present to unwrap. David looks at it puzzled and asks what it is.
"It's a fermoss flarsk" says Posh.
"Wassat for?" asks David.
"It's for you to take training wiv' ya. It keeps 'ot fings 'ot and cold fings cold", says Posh.
"Ah fanks babe. That's really great", says David.
Next day at training (this was some time ago...) Wayne Rooney says:
"Wotcha got there Becks?"
"It's a fermoss flarsk Wayne".
"Wossit for?" asks Rooney.
"It keeps 'ot fings 'ot and cold fings cold, Wayne" David replies.
"Wotcha got in it then?" says Wayne.
"Coffee and ice cream".
Apologies, xxx
Hello!
Well coming late to the proceedings due to horrible work, it's nice to reminice about lunching outside at school with my Garfield flask in my ALF lunch box....ah those were the days!! ;o)
Definitely nice to find stuff that you've kept with you for years. In spite of moving my worldly possessions around with me for years as a student and beyond I still have a biscuit tin that doubles as a cake tin I had from school when we did cookery lessons and I seemed to make fairy cakes each week. Maybe I should fill it with some baking tonight?!
Have a good rest of the day all!
Cat
Chris,
Those things you mentioned that make one feel more wholesome, decent etc, for me it's candles and a backup tin of split pea soup. Also a recipe book, even if I never use it, having it on my shelf and occasionally wandering through it on a Sunday afternoon makes me feel productive. Moosewood cookbooks are great because she writes all these great comments and tips along with the recipes.
Natasha
Dot (41) re: smoking. Are you in Scotland? Cos your house is their workplace and that would mean it is illegal to light up.
Sx
Now I have seen everything.
to the Debster
flask joke made me laugh lots - well done!!
love Dot
Must stop dipping in to this blog I am getting no work done
I had a Mr T flask - got teased mercillesly by two lads in my class about it - my mum used to put it in a little carrier bag in case it leaked and that was glass - wo betide me if anything happened to it! Come to think of it, what did happen to it?!
I wish I still had it now to enjoy tea in my greenhouse, what fun is retreating if you don't do it properly? A mug just wouldn't do it - I need to feel as if I'm getting away, as if 60 feet is 60 miles.
After weeks of hearing you talk about it on your show I have finally decided to find out what 'Blogging' is. And what happens when I do, I get depressed as I never had a flask!
Following your thread of things you have bought more than once, I have 3 London A-Z's, 2 Basingstoke, 1 Guildford, a couple of Birmingham and even a Paris. Out of those places I have lived in Guildford!!
On a personal note, I have been single for 2 years now and tried looking for love, I've given up. Apparently if ya don't look it will find you?????
Your a gorgeous chap, who wouldn't want ya! I'll marry youxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Oh Chris, I too used to have a little tartan flask in my school bag filled with what I thought was nectar: Maxwell House with two sugars and coffee mate!!! What wonderful memories of listening to the ±«Óătv1 charts on Thursday lunchtimes!
Thanks for the memory - are you sure you haven't missed your vocation - you ARE a fantastic writer - looking forward to more short stories!
Love the show and GREAT to have you back - Stuie was OK - but you're the man!
Fliss
x
Susie mac #50
found a solution - I am gonna ask them to smoke in the other bit of building which is closed off to my office, so when they need a smoke break they will have to walk an extra 10 metres - hope their lungs can cope - tho it will have to wait til tomorrow as they have disappeared again......................................................................................................................
love Dot
Chris,
You mentioned when setting out for your Hols,that you were taking Anthony Bourdains Kitchen Confidential and/or A chefs Tour.Both are a great read.Have you read them yet?
Seems all I read now are Inside the kitchen industry type books..Larry
I don't get the heading bit...."Even Dogs Do Yoga"....I never get the heading bit. Does it bear any relation to what you write underneath coz when I was at school the heading had to relate to the text beneath otherwise it was nonsense. Please explain Chris. x
I was told years ago that cats never get up after a sleep without a full stretch and I do it to this day. I can't imagine anybody not stretching in the morning. Chris, you once had a lady on your show saying that over 50 the best single thing you can do for your body is stretch. x
Talking of marks on things (such as flasks) as reminders of events I've just been asked by a colleague how I got a little scar on my forehead........well, Chris, that day in the studio when you were pushing yourself back on your wheelie chair I decided to do the same across my laminate floor. What a buzz! By about my tenth go I was getting very confident and gave it too much wellie......really smacked my head against the wall 17 feet away and bled! I am now very fond of the little scar I got the day I wheelied with Chris Evans:).
I have several other scars on my head from various encounters with things over the years including a Corgi (dog not car) and a pancake - that was hilarious - still makes me double up! As a fellow Arian do you have head scars?
Oooh - time to leave work. Catch you at 5.
Debs xx
PS Thanks Dot. Gald you liked my joke. I'm getting no work done either but I am 'prioritising' and my firm is always banging on about that....x
Hi Chris,
I'm guessing that the blog is playing up as its telling me there are no comments, at 3.45 in the afternoon I doubt that!
Having read your blog I have had a quick search on ebay and there is 1 tartan thermos flask available, from Canada. It looks old and well used, so maybe this is the one for you? That sounds awful, please don't read any comparision between the flask and yourself into my ramblings!
Currently sat at work trying to summon the energy and motivation to put a few deliveries away, and as always I turn to your blog for some inspiration / procrastination.
Thye oldest thing I have from my childhood is a teddy bear I won in a bonny baby competition, way back in 1973. He is slightly battered as I enjoyed chewing his ear, and he was yellow and white, and is now various shades of grey. He isn't really a prize possession but I couldn't part with him now.
Anyhoo, suppose I should get on. Finish at 7, same as you - and may join you in spirit in an after work drink.
Much love and squeezes.
Mariella Wolenski, apparently
I also had a matching flask and lunchbox combo!
In my flask I had some weak (why always weak?!) diluted orange in the summer and some soup in the winter. That went well with my sarnies and cold hard boiled egg. (My mum even packed a little pinch of salt to sprinkle over it!)
Every week my mum spent Sunday afternoon making us tray bakes - caramel squares, mint squares, fifteens - for our lunchbox treat. For years I envied my friends' Wagonwheels and Blue Riband bars! I always wondered why they were so keen to swap theirs for mine. Of course now I know that its was because my mum's baking was fab!
Lunches have never been as good as that!
Mums are great!
Sorry, back again!
But I saw the 'Yoga for Dogs' book on amazon! More than that I also saw pilates for dogs! Why aren't these people just 'throwing sticks' for their dogs!
All of this waxing longingly of the perfect imperfection of things of our youth reminded me of an interesting and relevent story. I heard this from a Business/Marketing Professor ages ago so someone correct me if I am wrong...
Betty Crocker introduced us to the cake mix in the 1950's. So much simpler than making a cake from scratch...you just add an egg, water, and oil. That seemed to do it for a while. Then someone at Betty Crocker got the bright idea of making the cake mix even easier...they created a mix so that you only needed to add water. Forget the eggs, forget the oil, all you have to do was add water. Apparently, sales of Betty Crocker cake mixes plummeted...no one wanted a cake mix where you just add water. After some market research what they learned was that the public 'liked' the thought of adding eggs and oil becuase it gave them some feeling of making it themselves. Just add water was too instant.
A morality tale? Will we eventually begin to reject the "just add water" convenience of our present and go back to the "from scratch" mentality of our youth? Perhaps we already are seeing it. hence...the tartan flask.
Hi Chris ..... and the blogettes :)
Even Dogs do Yoga! Is this an anagram?
of.... Good Evans, ye God........
Keep smiling
Rachel
x
This blogging marlarky is so much fun. I am sure the fairies will get dinner on and the house to resemble something other than a tip whilst reading this lovely blog, maybe not.
Love the Beckham joke and the tale about the game of breaking the flask at school. Dot and Rachel, I feel like I know you really well and Dot, sorry about the builders. I know they are ridiculously slow, expensive and messy but I really think you have got off lightly. Cowboys and invisible men has been my poor excuse for builders.
I love the show but the girls keep nagging me to "turn it down" as it distracts them from the delights of cbeebies.
On a tangent -not that it happens on here at all, but is there is anywhere in this country that you can buy a drinks bottle for school which DOES NOT LEAK? I must have been through about 10 and they all leak pouring water over children's book bag.
Better get on so I can justify a break at 5:05pm.
Theresa
Hi Chris, just sat down to read your blog, and your comment on things we keep buying made me think of paint brushes. I'm always buying new brushes from B&Q cos I just cannot be bothered to wash them out. Especially when you have to use turps!! We,re having our house painted at the moment and I was very impressed to see our painter carefully washing his brushes. Bet he's had them for years. I thought I was alone on the "one use brush" but I mentioned it at work the other day and lots of blokes gave a knowing nod of approval.
Great show Chris, good to have you back.
Ade
bye bye andy murray.
you can enjoy the new york eateries now.
Paintbrushes - I do the same! I stand firm though that they don't make paintbrushes like they used to. The amount of hairs that one brush can leave on a wall whilst painting is staggering.
Hi Chris
I still have birthday cards from my lovely Grandpa that he sent me when I was 5 and 7........how cool is that as I'm 46..........
One of them has a rocking horse on the front and is pale blue and soft and lovely to touch........
My Cherry tomatoes are ripening fast and taste delicious.........I still get loads of runner beans..........I think I will grow some potatoes in a bucket for Christmas dinner........
Chris, would you like to come to Christmas dinner this year, I have a big table and my family would be most welcoming.........
Lots of love
Anna
I love your show. Never liked you much on the TV; too brash: but on the radio, BRILLIANT. I try to listen every day
Ho Chris,
Oh woe is me!! our computer at work has blocked your blog, it says site prohibited, gracious whats a girl to do when she reaches her desk at 7.55 with a cup of tea but can't read your blog? Do any bloggers out there have any helpful sugestions?
on the subject of flaskes my grandma had a green tarten flask that went on many hols with the family, ah nostalga!!
Well willhave to read the blog at teatime instead, let the family wait for their tea.
C ya
jan
I wish I'd had a flask. On a school trip(unknown to me) my mum decanted some lemonade from a huge bottle into a smaller old (empty) sherry bottle. Unfortunately the sherry bottle had a cork stopper so after a while being rocked and rolled on a rickety old school bus the cork eased itself out of the bottle drenching my rucksack and trickling lemonade along the floor of the bus. I denied all knowledge of the mystery spillage at the time but looking back I probably should have explained what happened, my school mates probably thought I'd weed myself !!!!
If I have a Porsche flask, does it mean I'm having a midlife crisis ??
great show tonight - I did text but it probably won't get read.
putting tea on plates, YMCA came on the radio - what can I say - first few bars everyone stopped what they were doing , ran to kitchen we all stood in a line and did the dance! fantastic!
Jiggled along to we love to boogie during the tikka masala then danced to Duran Duran whilst clearing up. Even the LH said 'he's playing some corking music 2 nite'!
10 year old says hello everyone and any good wevsites for topic on Italy??
Must go - got a client to see! Looking forward to the blog tomorrow - no more flask contribututions but the dog is lying on the sofa asleep with tongue hanging out and in a very strange position - could be classed as yoga!!
Love Dot.
PS belle and Sebastians Boy with the Arab strap would also get us dancing!
hot ribena from my snoppy roughneck flask.....mmmmm! or tea with sugar from the tartan thermos - only allowed sugar when on a picnic.
parent still have a variety of flasks and other stuff. their house is a tip but i can't bear it when they throw anything out
late today have a great evening all
mackiexx
Hi bloggers
Just listening to the show - Ryan Adams' "New York, New York". Remember hearing that this song's video was filmed 3 days before 9/11, so was the last one to feature the Twin Towers. A very sobering thought!
A x
Cracking show tonight Chris am waiting for Big Frank and New York New York in a mo, great timing, I have a rehearsal (am dram!) tonight and we always use this for a warm-up! here goes---start spreading the news... Catexx
Great idea Ben
They should have a retro button which when pressed turns the outside tartan, makes the sound of a breaking flask and then goes through a shaking and stewing cycle.
im a builder and it seems every builder has tools that they have to buy all the time coz they dissapeasr !! mine is filling knifes ! know no matter how maney i buy i never have any in my tool box! a mate of mine has the same trouble with stanley knifes ! he buys them every weak coz they disapear !! my stanley knif like your flask is an old friend ! i only wish i could say the same for my filling knifes !!
Chris,
When we appear in Blue we are not VIRGINS..
Nice too no at 37 lol
Mark
Hi All!
Dot might be a help for your 10 year old as it's a general magazine/website about all things Italian with a blog site and forum etc so they could ask for more advice. Are they wanting general knowledge or more directed information? I have a very good friend who lives in Sicily who can give some top tips as well about life there. Let me know if they want more advice and will quiz my Sicilian mate... not a mafioso I hasten to add!
Don't ever use a paintbrush at all, use rollers, far more fun! for one thing they are like big spongey things that you can clean reasonably easy and another thing is that you get fine flicks of paint splatter all over you when you've done so you look like you've really done a good paint job... on yourself as well as the walls!
I had a plastic flask that I took to school and had rose-hip syrup in it! I was an odd child!
My parents not only have a blown to bits knife that can still chop veggies well, but their Hygiena kitchen units are removable and at least 44 years old! They put them outside during this summer whilst they had the floor done in the kitchen and the tops went black! They've finally got to get new kitchen units and it's been a complete trauma! The dining table, chairs and sideboard are all wedding gifts that they still use to this day.
When someone (really sorry can't remember your name now and can't find your blog!) said about covering the chairs to make a submarine and someone else (sorry again!) about writing on the chair bottoms and polishing the table and chairs etc brought back so many memories of my childhood. My sister and I used to hide under the table and think no one could see us. She once fell asleep under there when she hid from the window cleaner. And I think we've all hidden under there when the Jehovah's Witnesses called around and we giggled away so loud they must have heard us. As for the dollies tea-party that I had for my 9th birthday (no dollies present only humans - only females - only family members! i was an unsociable girl!) has memories of my sister Jane being thrown out of the house for being so naughty, but she looked at us through the window stuffing her face with sandwiches and making us laugh so much. There was water and tea all over the tablecloth soaking the table, Annette (sister), Gillian (my 'special' sister as she's so close to our family), mum and I were weeping with laughter when the phone rang. Netty answered it and burst out laughing. Fortunately it was Gillian's brother. I don't think he's recovered from that welcome. Since then our family meal times have never really been calm and we always end up weeping with laughter. We also get chronic indigestion! wonder why!
sorry for babbling on... Chris, your blogs just make memories flow and flow!
Lots of love to all!
Clare
xxxx
This comment kind of covers both buying something you didn't need to and childhood nostalgia. When I was a wee girl I had a 'scratch & sniff' book (remember those?) called Little Bunny follows his nose. I kept it all these years and my 2 year old son loves it (though the smell has gone out of all the 'sniffs'). Anyway, one day it disppeared off the face of the earth - I turned the house upside down looking for it and it has vanished. It wondered if it was still published - though unlikely 30 years later. Anyway, found it on Amazon! Although it has changed slightly it is essentially still the same book and the 'sniffs' have the smell again! Son is over the moon and probably hasn't noticed that it's any different. Now I'm just waiting for the old one to turn up again . . . which you know it will eventually. Lost my lip brush the other day, spent ĂĆ10 on a posh new one then found the lost one next day!
Howdy to all.
Nothing ceases to amaze me any more, having read todays blog to my mother she came out with her bread knife and proceeded to tell me she'd had it for 29 years. I think it must be a mother thing, i'm sure I'll learn one day when I become a parent.
Caz x
hi just a quickie from me i love listening to frank sinatra i've got some cds the best of franks music
BRILLIANT OH YES(AS churchill would say the dog not the other one!)
cheers
see y's latrs
Just to gloat,I am the proud owner of a large Tartan flask. Tea tastes awful, and it has a cup that wont screw tight. It's as old as the hills and has lived in my kitchen cupboard for over 20 years.
After reading todays blogg I am after the inevitable. A tartan Biccy tin. The search it starts!
Hi Chris, I am the answer to all your golfing prayers. If you want an effortless 300yard drive, straight long flowing iron shots and nonchalant ability to putt with laser-like accuracy, I shall leadeth you to golf in lush pastures. I can teacheth you all that you need to know about golf. I have the skill, the power and the glory to make you scratch.
If you care to answer this prayer I, Harold Cooper, will place you on that high alter of scratch golf and beyond !!
Hi Christopher,
Your chat about flasks today reminded me of my dear Dad who passed away 18 years ago very suddenly - he was only 58 and a heavy smoker. Ah well,what will be will be obviously.
Anyhow, my Dad used to have a HUGE tartan flask that he used to take to work with him every day. Mum used to make the tea in a HUGE teapot for him first (so that the tea in the flask wasn't stewed) added several teaspoons of sugar and loads of milk. Manna from heaven he used to say (in Welsh).
Don't know what happened to the flask after my Dad died, probably Mum gave it to a charity shop as she couldn't bear to throw anything of my Dad's away.
I've not seen a tartan flask since then, but I will make it my mission in life (well this weekend anyhow) and see if I can find one. If I do, I'll send it to you just for being such a nice bloke.
If I can't find one - well you're still a nice bloke.
The girls at workand I have decided today that a decent cup of tea can't be made from the tap water in our new office, so we've resorted to using the water from the water dispenser - guess what - the tea is now brilliant. No nasty tang or anything just lovely tea.
Don't tell our Director of Finance though - if she finds out it'll be waitressing at the nearest cafe for us - the water from the dispenser is very expensive as we use the big bottles that sit on top of the cooler.
Try it though - there is a definite difference.
I'm waffling here but I don't care. Cooped up in front of a pc at work and then I come home and sit in front of this one writing to you - can someone please tell my brain it's time to stop typing.
Off to bed shortly, got a brilliant new book by James Patterson - nothing like a bit of intrigue before sleep.
Do you know - when I get home from work, I sometimes just sit in the car - reluctant to switch the radio off as your programme is so entertaining.
When you first started on the Drive Time Show, I wasn't at all sure whether I could get used to you as I'd grown fond of Johnny in the four years since I returned to work (after being home for 18 years bringing up the tribe) - but guess what - I think you're brilliant.
You're a breath of fresh air. Even better - Johnny sometimes sits in for Terry, to whom I listen in the morning. Best of both worlds.
Anyhow - the sandman is knocking on the door telling me it's time for bed - so off I go.
Do you actually read all this stuff - or just selected items?
Kind regards
Myra
Hiya Chris
Laughed so much at show earlier. My brother also killed his pet hamster- I'd forgotton all about it!
Kelloggs was allowed to run free around my brothers bedroom when he was out. Got in one evening and strode into his room(wearing 12 hole docs!!)- trod on poor kelloggs and squashed him flat!
Lets have a hot topic- How we killed our childhood pets!
Great show- thanks
Debbie X
hi
Know what you mean. When I left home and set up home with husband to be had a tray with home sweet home on and still have it 20 years later. A friendly tray, very faithful.
Karen x
Flasks were far too much responsibility for me.
However I remember having a plastic bottle, shaped as a hipflask, to take my weak orange squash with me on School Trips. The yellow screwtop leaked, and if it was a warm day the juice tasted of warm plastic...
My favorite packed lunch was cheese singles and hoola hoops (preferably beef). I had to place them longways so that they would pop when you bit into the sarnie; if placed end-up it would hurt your gums.
The first thing I had to care for was a guinea pig.
Not very well as it died a fornight later as did my school friends too. We had a joint burial in the local woods. After a few weeks, curiosity got the better of us and we decided to dig up the remains to see what was left! ....orrible
Peaches - No, no, I still can't kiss you - Post Snog Blog Shock!
One day Joe was walking across a building site and saw his foreman pouring coffee from a Thermos flask.
"What's that you've got there foreman?" Joe asked.
"A Thermos Flask," said the foreman.
"And what does that do?" says Joe.
"Well," said the foreman, "if you put anything hot in it, then it stays hot, and if you put anything cold in it, then it stays cold."
"That's fantastic!" said Joe. "I must get myself one of those."
The next day Joe sat eating his lunch when his friend Mick came in.
"What's that there Joe?" asked Mick.
"A Thermos Flask," replied Joe.
"And what does that do?" asked Mick.
"Well," said Joe, "if you put anything hot in it, then it stays hot, and if you put anything cold in it, then it stays cold".
"That's marvelous," Mick exclaimed. "And what have you got in there now?"
"Well," said Joe, "I've got two cups of coffee and an ice-cream."
Exit stage left, to thunderous applause.
Adore you
Morwenna
My mum (who is seventy and a bit) has had the same fork for mixing baked (yorkshire) pudding since she got married more than fifty years ago. This means that the tines are between a half and a third of their original size!
Great show, Malcolm.
I had a pump bag as one of your texts commented on the show Chris, only mine was called Wilma and I loved her to bits, cant remember her dimise though. That got me thinking, it's all in the mind isnt it, the stuff we fondly remember and have no further physical contact with, therefore we are bound to have fond memories of it (the mind does that you know). Your little flask Chris was really naff, so to speak, it didnt do the job as well as todays ones. Yes I know thats what makes it so appealing but, well, does it, really? I bet at the time, a thought process must have gone through either yours or your mums mind 'Gosh I wish this tea didnt taste so much like dishwater'.
Still we hold on to our fond memories and sometimes even beef up the object of our desires, a bit like girlfriends. I still have cracking memories of one of my first 'Gail Skid.......' (just in case she reads these). She was fantastic and for two pins I'd rush out now and marry her, but was she really as brill as I remember her to be....not so sure now. I think I'll stay living in the present and chace the girl of my fantacies at work.
See you ron
Martin
I'm very offended on your behalf, Chris, when the blog page shows 0 responses (in this case) to your blog when you've had closer to 100, and something like 35 yesterday when you had a similar number.
If your popularity rating is ever judged by responses to the blog, you won't get the brownie/boy cub points you deserve!
You've got a huge crowd of enthusiastic shloggers here.
Hi Chris and the blogettes
Mmmmmmwah!
Well, I did some market research last night, on the old, " how much do you love me" question ... so....... there we were tucking into our dinner, after a hard day in the office ... ( I say hard...... it's not real work is it?) . and I casually dropped the question in ......... how much do you love me?, I said, with a smile.... ... of course.... I'd imagined that the answer would be something spectacular ( we've been married for just three months).... "all the world" perhaps or "this much", accompanied by a huge, overly choreographed, gesture of size with his arms, but....... No! ............ He looked at me , as, dead pan as you like... and said, " it's not possible to quantify an abstract noun"....... .......well there's romantic ........
Keep smiling
Rachel
x
Hi all,
have been racking my brain but I cannot remeber having a personal flask. To be honest, the only flask memory I have is of going on holiday with my parents to the Isle of Wight, I was about 10, we didn't have a car so we travelled by coach from Birmingham. They forced me to drink tea from the flask which I didn't like the taste of and some little while later I threw up on the coach. Nice eh! still remember the mortification and being given a right bolicking. Hate coaches, Hate flasked tea or coffee...ok for hot water tho, don't mind having a tea bag and using the hot water.
I did buy a very posh very expensive flask in Switzerland when I was 17, it had a solid wood surround I thought it was great. I never used it once cos it looked so nice as a bit of objet...went all around the world with me and I still never used it. Donated it to my landlady before coming back to the UK. Is this boring or what...no blurb from chris yet for jolly Thursday, am going out with some girlfriends tonight so looking forward to catching up on some goss.
Happy thursday bloggers. take care now x
i like you show i tank it will go long way becouse you are geastest chris i like you music becouse you are a funny pleaes would you play queen we are the champion
i love your show becouse i love lots of your music
like bonjovi and queen
Chris
The tartan flask in the Lake District went the way of the Oxo tin used as a sandwich box. "Get over it"
Malc.
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Hi Chris,
I too Have been looking for a tartan flask for several years. I have a Royal Enfield motorbike with hand tooled leather panniers and have always felt that what would really finish that tea by the road experience is a tartan flask. Sadly my endless searching has been fruitless. If I ever manage to find a supply, rest assured I will get one for you too.
Paul