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Grunger, thanks. I quite liked the idea that you could opt to be a totally silent nun or someone who sang the night away - no difference!

PS What does a nun-like life entail? I don't think I fancy it much.

Malone

The only nuns I have known were teachers. I think a lot of praying and abstinence is required, so perhaps it does not suit me. This has reminded me of your great "birds of pray" joke from last year.

Nice to see Egg Spoon and Artisan in the Times yesterday, after recent discussions.

Grunger

My mother taught me to put vinegar in the pan when boiling eggs. I dont know why. She did not mention a float test though.

Hello all
Jigjag, what a nice welcome. We once went to New Brighton on a school treat.
Did they do a risk assessment?
Freezing cold water, stomach pump if swallowed. Sand in the (egg) sandwiches. For most children the furry (sic) was no doubt a treat, for me just same old, same old. Return to Liverpool on furry, bus back to school, bus back to Pier Head, furry to Woodside, bus home. Only good thing , a few opportunities to avoid paying the fare. I can't imagine what New Brighton is like today. Was there ever an Old Brighton? Or Nether Brighton, Brighton Wallop?

Statins are my hobby horse. I would not take them for large amounts of folding money.

Most of us must remember when the advice for a painful back was strict bed rest! Also after a varicose vein operation, which killed my Aunt Rosalind (the rest, not the operation). Why should dietary advice be any different? I am looking forward to the day when low fat diets are properly busted.

Ah , busted. Now, that's a good word.

Rosalind

Yes I remember those bus and ferry journeys well. Now the train up the Wirral is so fast and frequent, makes such a difference. New B is much changed now, for the better in my opinion. Supermarkets, shops, bars, ten-pin bowling, fairground, theatre, great fish and chips - it has everything!

I will take your advice and ask the surgery if I really need statins. My diet is much better than when I was put on them.

I just found this nice addition to the "trix" words-

Newcastle Quarter Sessions 1843
Persecutrix, Margaret Ann Dewar
(Catherine Kidd sentenced to 1 month's imprisonment with hard labout for "simple larceny")

Rosalind, interesting that Chambers differentiates simple larceny, petty larceny, compound larceny and grand larceny (that being larceny of property of the value of one shilling or more). And I like persecutrix.

Goodness, I wonder what trivial item Catherine had stolen? Two years later she was sent down for nine months for stealing a "tin-can, having previously been convicted of a felony". This word seems to mean a more serious crime.

One shilling in 1843 is still only about £5 today

OED has both persecutrix (rare) and persecutress. “One who persecutes, or harasses others on account of opinions or beliefs”. 1484 from the French persécuteur