Ivor the Engine
Nowhere man
Maybe someone can give Baldrick and his 'crew' a call?
Rain?
- Thread starter nomad97
- Start date
Ivor the Engine
Nowhere man
nomad97
Resident Geek
Now that was a cunning plan.
Yorky
Fullritis Member
I've been trying to remember when I last encountered "stair rods". I think it was before our house lights were converted from gas to electric. C. 1955?
Merlin
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Touch of nostalgia for you then Yorky:
My grandmother had a vet similar set, and would use "Brasso" on them every now and again, which meant that the set of roughly 13 of them had to be unscrewed first (to avoid the polish marking the carpet) and then replaced once the job was done.
I bought my first house in 1972, and the previous owners had left some filthy carpets behind. The stair carpets were fitted with hinged stair clips instead of stair rods, which made the job of removing the carpets easier if they were being replaced with full-width ones instead of the narrower runners.
There was an Ideal Home style exhibition in Manchester at that time, and one stand was demonstrating a powder detergent which neutralised the iodine he squirted on his shirt. He followed that up with the stuff used then to "black" front steps, and it removed that in seconds as well. I was taken-in by the demonstration, and bought several boxes as it wasn't sold in shops. They lasted me for years, and did everything I expected of the product, one of which was to return that stair carpet back to the original colour - saving me a small fortune by not replacing it. The carpet was still down in the hall, stairs and landing when I sold the house four years later! I've no idea what it was called.
My grandmother had a vet similar set, and would use "Brasso" on them every now and again, which meant that the set of roughly 13 of them had to be unscrewed first (to avoid the polish marking the carpet) and then replaced once the job was done.
I bought my first house in 1972, and the previous owners had left some filthy carpets behind. The stair carpets were fitted with hinged stair clips instead of stair rods, which made the job of removing the carpets easier if they were being replaced with full-width ones instead of the narrower runners.
There was an Ideal Home style exhibition in Manchester at that time, and one stand was demonstrating a powder detergent which neutralised the iodine he squirted on his shirt. He followed that up with the stuff used then to "black" front steps, and it removed that in seconds as well. I was taken-in by the demonstration, and bought several boxes as it wasn't sold in shops. They lasted me for years, and did everything I expected of the product, one of which was to return that stair carpet back to the original colour - saving me a small fortune by not replacing it. The carpet was still down in the hall, stairs and landing when I sold the house four years later! I've no idea what it was called.
Ivor the Engine
Nowhere man
Its now been p!ssing down for the last 2 hours, here in SSK. It nearly stopped my 'beer-o-clock!'
Prakhonchai Nick
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Same in PKC, and started up again just now.
Merlin
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Is that where Bill's mother lives??? (I'm sure that someone will explain this to our Colonial friends.)
Rice
Resident Smart Arse
Please Do....
Prakhonchai Nick
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Apparently an English phrase picked up by a Welshman. I had never heard of it, but it is explained here.................https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-37550178
nomad97
Resident Geek
Thanks, as a southerner I had never heard that phrase or saying.
It's looking a bit black over Bill's mother's, is often heard in the English Midlands when dark clouds appear on the horizon, heralding rain. But who is Bill?
"When I was a young boy the only person I knew called Bill was very old and it made me wonder how old must Bill's mother be?," said Matt McHugh, who contacted BBC News seeking the origin of the phrase.
"And why does she move house so much?"
Some believe "Bill" refers to William Shakespeare, whose mother Mary Arden lived in Stratford-Upon-Avon.
However, the smart money is on Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last German emperor and king of Prussia, abdicating at the end of World War One.
Germany's foreign policy at that time echoed Wilhelm's changeable and blustering character, according to the Open University.
Black Country poet Brendan Hawthorne said: "If there was stormy weather coming from the East they would say it's black over Bill's mother's."