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I hate to mention Christmas, but?

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Re: I hate to mention Christmas, but?

Postby herbidacious » Thu Nov 26, 2020 10:40 am

I do. We used to have a big school fair every year and this featured. My dad had a cast iron Victorian vice (of the wood working tool variety - otherwise it was just his pipe) which was deployed to get into coconuts. It's the old food-stuff I really dislike... although the fresh off the tree one I had in Barbados years ago was good.

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Re: I hate to mention Christmas, but?

Postby herbidacious » Thu Nov 26, 2020 10:44 am

On a non-foody front, I ordered a letterbox Christmas tree for my mother last night.
Last edited by herbidacious on Thu Nov 26, 2020 11:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: I hate to mention Christmas, but?

Postby Stokey Sue » Thu Nov 26, 2020 3:27 pm

karadekoolaid wrote:Spread it on the garden, Terry - it´s good for the grass.


Probably better for the rats - you should see the little furry blighters hanging round where the ducks and swans are fed looking for scraps, Harry the Heron standing by in case of baby rats or small fish hoovering up the crumbs :gonzo :gonzo :gonzo

The rats are in tip top condition, they could pass for show rats with their glossy coats and cheeky grins

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Re: I hate to mention Christmas, but?

Postby Pampy » Thu Nov 26, 2020 4:41 pm

I live close to a large park which has a couple of lakes filled with swans, geese, ducks etc (and the obligatory heron). There used to be a real problem with people feeding scraps to the birds and rats banqueting on it. They were in fine condition and some were enormous. The council has now put signs up all over asking/telling people not to feed the birds and the rat problem has reduced significantly.

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Re: I hate to mention Christmas, but?

Postby Busybee » Thu Nov 26, 2020 5:03 pm

Pampy wrote:I live close to a large park which has a couple of lakes filled with swans, geese, ducks etc (and the obligatory heron). There used to be a real problem with people feeding scraps to the birds and rats banqueting on it. They were in fine condition and some were enormous. The council has now put signs up all over asking/telling people not to feed the birds and the rat problem has reduced significantly.


DS used to live in Preston and the local park had such notices up. We live in the countryside so are used to seeing rats at this time of the year when there are fewer food choices in the fields and so they tend to come in from the fields and you see then around barns, haystacks etc.

I did read that there has been a rat population explosion due to lockdown. I must say that the ones we see are much bigger than Smitch’s and certainly not as pretty!

BB

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Re: I hate to mention Christmas, but?

Postby Pampy » Thu Nov 26, 2020 5:22 pm

I live in a very quiet area with big fields less than 10 yards from my house so we do see rats at times (along with mice, shrews, foxes, deer etc). The problem in the park was that the rats were overrunning everything and often took eggs from the bird's nests. They had no fear of people and because the children's play area was close to one of the lakes, I think parents were concerned for their children's safety.

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Re: I hate to mention Christmas, but?

Postby Pepper Pig » Thu Nov 26, 2020 5:54 pm

As you know, we had a rat problem about two months ago and had to call the pest controllers in. They’ve moved elsewhere now, there doesn’t seem to be a day goes by where I don’t see a Rentokil or similar van in the road.

Glad you bro is beginning to feel better Suffs.

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Re: I hate to mention Christmas, but?

Postby smitch » Thu Nov 26, 2020 6:32 pm

Busybee wrote:
I did read that there has been a rat population explosion due to lockdown. I must say that the ones we see are much bigger than Smitch’s and certainly not as pretty!

BB


Ha ha I’ve just had to put my 4 breeder girls on a diet. They’re huge compared to my rescue rats and are starting to get a bit chubby.

I’ve never seen a wildie around here. We have heron plus mink living along the canal. There are also some owls living close by, they’re very noisy in the middle of the night.

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Re: I hate to mention Christmas, but?

Postby KeenCook2 » Thu Nov 26, 2020 7:37 pm

Hickybank wrote:Just looked in my food cupboard & yes Desiccated Coconut is in there , best before Oct 2018, tried it, tastes o/k mabye I should use it. A Curry perhaps


I add it to cakes, replacing some of the flour - it's nice in banana bread. And I've added it to soups as well, when I haven't got any block coconut.

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Re: I hate to mention Christmas, but?

Postby Stokey Sue » Thu Nov 26, 2020 10:07 pm

I’m a bit puzzled that the rat population has increased in lock down, there was far less takeaway litter on the streets, and less debris around restaurants. Perhaps rubbish collection faltered in some boroughs but not here

I keep thinking I see mice, but they are probably an illusion, there’s no other trace of them and they aren’t taking bait though they’ve previously loved the mouse pasta

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Re: I hate to mention Christmas, but?

Postby Pepper Pig » Thu Nov 26, 2020 10:15 pm

All the council tips were closed at the beginning of the first lockdown Sue. Also there were a lot of reports of rats nesting in car bonnets because cars were not being used.

Our rat man said the firm had never been so busy!

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Re: I hate to mention Christmas, but?

Postby Stokey Sue » Thu Nov 26, 2020 10:26 pm

I’m sure our tips were only closed for things you drop off yourself, which wouldn’t generally be things that feed vermin, they were doing street collections round here

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Re: I hate to mention Christmas, but?

Postby Pepper Pig » Thu Nov 26, 2020 10:36 pm

Ours were closed for at least a month to everybody including trade and there was a very gradual return. There was no recycling when they first reopened - everything went over the wall and they had taken down all the partitions. Although those are now back we still aren’t anything like back to normal. You have to book a slot and it’s very restricted. Our bin collections weren’t regular either as they didn’t have enough Covid-free dustmen.

And our post is still terrible. We are lucky to get four deliveries a week.

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Re: I hate to mention Christmas, but?

Postby herbidacious » Fri Nov 27, 2020 12:09 am

We had no rubbish collection at all for almost a month at the beginning of Lockdown I. We had a shanty town of cardboard at one point which I did think could provide a nice home for vermin. (The Crack Fox in the Mighty Boosh kept popping into my head.)

I thought there was also some suggestion that lack of food waste on the streets was driving them into houses? Just conjecture, though, I guess.

We have had three lots of mice this year (may have had them once before, briefly in the last 11 years here) but in each case explicable, and kind of my fault. Our cats have their uses, thankfully.

How lovely to hear owls, Smitch. I have only ever heard them when at our house in France (where we have plenty of wildlife - indoors and out :shock: )

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Re: I hate to mention Christmas, but?

Postby slimpersoninside » Fri Nov 27, 2020 12:20 am

I didn't realise rubbish collections had been affected!

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Re: I hate to mention Christmas, but?

Postby herbidacious » Fri Nov 27, 2020 11:33 am

I think not this time round. Lucky you not to have had cause to notice :)

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Re: I hate to mention Christmas, but?

Postby WWordsworth » Fri Nov 27, 2020 12:25 pm

General waste has been collected as normal all year.
Recycling and garden waste was collected monthly rather than fortnightly for a short while.
And we don't pay extra for garden bins.

I discovered this week that textiles can be put out on recycling day.
(Only lived here since 1986)
I had a sort out of bed linen and towels, and the kennels didn't want it.

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Re: I hate to mention Christmas, but?

Postby Pepper Pig » Fri Nov 27, 2020 12:51 pm

slimpersoninside wrote:I didn't realise rubbish collections had been affected!


When the first lockdown began Harrow and Brent had the highest rate of Covid infections and our local hospital, Northwick Park, a very high death rate. Both boroughs have a high BAME population and many multi-generational families living together. It was bound to impact on all levels of council staffing.

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Re: I hate to mention Christmas, but?

Postby Earthmaiden » Fri Nov 27, 2020 1:04 pm

Covid hit our crews too but they battled on even if they were a day or two late sometimes. I think they've been wonderful. The tip was closed throughout the first lockdown but afterwards they adopted a booking system which seems to have worked quite well.

I think one of our biggest problems has been people dumping things outside charity shops. It has caused a lot of nuisance and from the items left is clearly just people dumping unwanted things out of desperation. A local shop had a whole pile of dirty old clothes and a large mattress left outside on the pavement the other day. There are signs everywhere advising people it will be classed as flytipping but apparently the shops are not allowed to install CCTV which films the pavement as it affects the rights of ordinary people walking along there. When you consider that we are all constantly under surveillance nowadays it seems ludicrous. It's amazing that on busy streets with constant traffic, even at night, that no-one is ever seen doing the tipping.

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