Having recently set up my own cocktail bar I was very keen to see if I could find the cocktail menus from some of my favourite cocktail bars. Sadly all of them have now closed and finding menus proved very tricky but I have now found 2…
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0Silly alcoholic drinks that actually worked
In a recent zoom call the conversation turned to drinks we used to have around the turn of the millennium. Some of these sound pretty bad but really were much better than expected…
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0Scaife family history, ancestry and heritage
I’ve been working on a family tree for the last few years and one of the things I’ve discovered if that almost anyone offering information wants money in return. Whilst I have membership of one or 2 of the most well known sites I have ofdten stumbled across interesting discussions on other threads but have been unable to post a reply without signing up, or someone has left an e‑mail address that has since been abandoned. So I thought I’d share a little information here about some long dead ancestors in hope that someone searching for information might find it and get in touch
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0Local Wildlife
I’ve recently taken an interest in the local wildlife population as news of species decline is always in the news and we have done lots locally to try to help the wildlife thrive. I couldn’t think of a good reason not to share the pictures somewhere so here they are
0Helping the Environment
I’ve been meaning to start writing some “political” articles for a while, and thought I’d start by sharing some ideas for little changes you can make that are good for your environment and often good for your health and your wallet too. Where I live in England we only have 2 real choices for government: a party that believes in individual liberty and capitalism in an almost totally unrestricted sense, which leads inevitably to significant wealth disparity; and a party that believes to varying degrees in some policies to redistribute wealth and a fairer society but also seems to find itself wanting to over-reach and interfere in areas of peoples lives that government need not and should not meddle in. Sometimes it is genuinely difficult to find a balance, but very often both parties miss easy wins. My suggestions are for those kinds of “easy wins” and whilst not all of them are suitable for everyone, I hope everyone can find something useful
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3Collection of model railway designs
In the last few months I’ve made a collection of model railway designs as possibilities for a new layout. Whilst I wont end up building most of them I thought I’d share them here in the hope they might inspire other people.
0Travel Books
Reading is one of the great joys of being on holiday, but since most of my articles are about travelling around Europe, I’d like to use this article to recommend some European travel books specifically.
0European travel maps
Through my various travels I have built up a good collection of travel maps for European cities, and routes through Europe.
1Model rail gradients
Model railways, like the real thing, tend to be fairly flat. If you want ot have more complex layouts with gradients you need to plan carefully in advance, and avoid the temptation to create an unrealistic (and undriveable!) incline.… Read Full Article
0Controlling pests on indoor plants
I grow tomatos, cucumbers, chillis, lemons and olives in a south facing conservatory. Over the last 5 years I’ve suffered with a range of vermin attacking my plants, it seems to be a different type of pest each year after I’ve conquered the previous pest. Below I cover a few successful ways I’ve found to control a range of pests.
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