The message
from emon (Rhiannon S) contains these words:
Subject: Strawberries
From: Jaques d'Alltrades
Date: 24/01/2004 15:24 GMT Standard Time
Message-id:

The message
from Victoria Clare contains these words:

This has been a very mild winter so far!

Shhhhhhhhhh!


Speaking as someone who has twice woken up to find ice on the INSIDE of her
bedroom window, don't tempt fate.

Huh! Speaking as someone who has woken to find ice on the *INSIDE* faces
of his bedroom walls .......

And that with two Aladdin table lamps and a Valor 2" wick paraffin
heater going full blast.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

Subject: Strawberries
From: Jaques d'Alltrades
Date: 25/01/2004 12:31 GMT Standard Time
Message-id:

The message
from emon (Rhiannon S) contains these words:
Subject: Strawberries
From: Jaques d'Alltrades
Date: 24/01/2004 15:24 GMT Standard Time
Message-id:

The message
from Victoria Clare contains these words:

This has been a very mild winter so far!

Shhhhhhhhhh!


Speaking as someone who has twice woken up to find ice on the INSIDE of her
bedroom window, don't tempt fate.

Huh! Speaking as someone who has woken to find ice on the *INSIDE* faces
of his bedroom walls .......

And that with two Aladdin table lamps and a Valor 2" wick paraffin
heater going full blast.

Youch, you win.
--
Rhiannon
http://www.livejournal.com/users/rhiannon_s/
Q: how many witches does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: depends on what you want it changed into!

The message
from emon (Rhiannon S) contains these words:


Speaking as someone who has twice woken up to find ice on the
INSIDE of her
bedroom window, don't tempt fate.

Huh! Speaking as someone who has woken to find ice on the *INSIDE* faces
of his bedroom walls .......

And that with two Aladdin table lamps and a Valor 2" wick paraffin
heater going full blast.

Youch, you win.

Had a lad of eleven staying at the time and he lurked in a sleeping bag
in front of the fire, but when it really got cold, he moved into my room
and had the sofa, and all the eiderdowns and blankets were pressed into
service, plus the two lamps and the Valor stove.

There was an iron water butt outside: about 3' 6" high and 3' across,
and during that spell of weather it froze solid. There was an indicated
(max/min thermometer) of -20°C.

My neighbour gloomily pointed out that the wind was from the north-east,
circulating round a stable high pressure area, and there was no higher
ground than our bit of the East Anglian heights between us and the
Urals. According to the weather man the wind was coming straight (well,
in a curve, really) from Siberia.

That was the patch of weather we saw the big cat tracks in the snow.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

Subject: Strawberries
From: Jaques d'Alltrades
Date: 25/01/2004 16:33 GMT Standard Time
Message-id:


That was the patch of weather we saw the big cat tracks in the snow.

Ooooh, let me get my hot chocolate and marshmallows and you can tell us about
that too)

I love a scarey big cat story. I've only ever seen one fleetingly.
--
Rhiannon
http://www.livejournal.com/users/rhiannon_s/
Q: how many witches does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: depends on what you want it changed into!

The message
from "Ophelia" contains these words:

Anne Jackson wrote:

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for my new Phyllostachys Nigra, rather!
(Well, it just cost me 54 quid!)

Phew.... big money!

O keeping everything crossed for you)

Big plant! I've had my eye on it for over a year, and finally took
the plunge. G

--
AnneJ
ICQ #:- 119531282

The message
from "Ophelia" contains these words:

Anne Jackson wrote:

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for my new Phyllostachys Nigra, rather!
(Well, it just cost me 54 quid!)

Phew.... big money!

O keeping everything crossed for you)

Big plant! I've had my eye on it for over a year, and finally took
the plunge. G

--
AnneJ
ICQ #:- 119531282

The message
from emon (Rhiannon S) contains these words:
Subject: Strawberries
From: Jaques d'Alltrades
Date: 25/01/2004 16:33 GMT Standard Time
Message-id:


That was the patch of weather we saw the big cat tracks in the snow.

Ooooh, let me get my hot chocolate and marshmallows and you can tell
us about
that too)

I love a scarey big cat story. I've only ever seen one fleetingly.

Wasn't particularly scary. Winter of 1978/9. Snow everywhere. I'd broken
my kneecap in Essex (one-point landing on a block of concrete while
carrying a heavy bumper and towbar) and we had to get me back to Norfolk
to feed my rabbis.

Unsuitably plastered by some GP at the local hospital (You should have
seen the fuss the Norfolk & Norwich technician made!) I couldn't drive
my Moggy 1000 van, and I couldn't carry buckets in that state either, so
as the Essex schools were only running examination year classes (tanker
drivers' strike) I grabbed a lad I knew and two of my friends drove us
and my van up there.

Later, still unable to drive the van we walked into the nearest town to
do some shopping. We took the back route in because it was shorter.
There wasn't even a tyre-track: the road was quiet at the best of times,
and we came upon a line of prints in the middle of the road, about the
size of a ginger-nut.

Odd, distinctly odd.

"Steven, you're a Scout: what would you say those were?"

"Dog. *BIG* dog."

"Nope. If they'd been dog tracks you'd see the clawmarks, especially in
this depth of snow."

He had another look. "Well, what are they then?"

"Cat. They're rounder than a dog's, too."

He allowed this to sink in and then said: "****ing big moggy!"

We followed them for a bit and they went through a gap in the hedge and
continued beside it, and at the next gap returned to the road and then
crossed over, disappearing into some woodland, where we did not try to
follow.

I got some plaster of paris in the town, meaning to mix it with snow and
see if I could get a cast of one, but they had melted too much on our
return.

I wrote to someone I was at school with, Barry Paine, who was a BBC
wildlife producer, and he wrote back to say that such reports were not
uncommon, indeed, had been so for centuries. It is believed by some
authorities that there may be an indiginous lynx-sized wild cat which
was nocturnal and very shy.

However, I would have said by the stride that this animal was more
leopard-sized.

I saw a black panther-like animal one foggy night some years later, and
about ten miles from where the prints were, and (probably) the same
animal was seen by the local head keeper, his wife and his underkeeper
while out lamping for foxes one night, about a mile from that spot.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

"Anne Jackson" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Ophelia" contains these words:

Anne Jackson wrote:

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for my new Phyllostachys Nigra, rather!
(Well, it just cost me 54 quid!)

Phew.... big money!

O keeping everything crossed for you)

Big plant! I've had my eye on it for over a year, and finally took
the plunge. G

It would need to be big for that price)

O

"Anne Jackson" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Ophelia" contains these words:

Anne Jackson wrote:

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for my new Phyllostachys Nigra, rather!
(Well, it just cost me 54 quid!)

Phew.... big money!

O keeping everything crossed for you)

Big plant! I've had my eye on it for over a year, and finally took
the plunge. G

It would need to be big for that price)

O

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...

I love a scarey big cat story. I've only ever seen one fleetingly.

Oh Rusty that was a good one)

Have you heard if anything has been seen since?

Wasn't particularly scary. Winter of 1978/9. Snow everywhere. I'd broken
my kneecap in Essex (one-point landing on a block of concrete while
carrying a heavy bumper and towbar) and we had to get me back to Norfolk
to feed my rabbis.

That is very kind of you Were they all in a home for Rabbi pensioners?

O grinning

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...

I love a scarey big cat story. I've only ever seen one fleetingly.

Oh Rusty that was a good one)

Have you heard if anything has been seen since?

Wasn't particularly scary. Winter of 1978/9. Snow everywhere. I'd broken
my kneecap in Essex (one-point landing on a block of concrete while
carrying a heavy bumper and towbar) and we had to get me back to Norfolk
to feed my rabbis.

That is very kind of you Were they all in a home for Rabbi pensioners?

O grinning

Subject: Strawberries
From: "Ophelia"
Date: 26/01/2004 08:13 GMT Standard Time
Message-id:


"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...

I love a scarey big cat story. I've only ever seen one fleetingly.

Oh Rusty that was a good one)

Have you heard if anything has been seen since?

Wasn't particularly scary. Winter of 1978/9. Snow everywhere. I'd broken
my kneecap in Essex (one-point landing on a block of concrete while
carrying a heavy bumper and towbar) and we had to get me back to Norfolk
to feed my rabbis.

That is very kind of you Were they all in a home for Rabbi pensioners?

O grinning

Hey! that was going to be my joke.

--
Rhiannon
http://www.livejournal.com/users/rhiannon_s/
Q: how many witches does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: depends on what you want it changed into!

Subject: Strawberries
From: "Ophelia"
Date: 26/01/2004 08:13 GMT Standard Time
Message-id:


"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...

I love a scarey big cat story. I've only ever seen one fleetingly.

Oh Rusty that was a good one)

Have you heard if anything has been seen since?

Wasn't particularly scary. Winter of 1978/9. Snow everywhere. I'd broken
my kneecap in Essex (one-point landing on a block of concrete while
carrying a heavy bumper and towbar) and we had to get me back to Norfolk
to feed my rabbis.

That is very kind of you Were they all in a home for Rabbi pensioners?

O grinning

Hey! that was going to be my joke.

--
Rhiannon
http://www.livejournal.com/users/rhiannon_s/
Q: how many witches does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: depends on what you want it changed into!

On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 08:09:35 -0000, "Ophelia"
wrote:


"Anne Jackson" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Ophelia" contains these words:

Anne Jackson wrote:

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for my new Phyllostachys Nigra, rather!
(Well, it just cost me 54 quid!)

Phew.... big money!

O keeping everything crossed for you)

Big plant! I've had my eye on it for over a year, and finally took
the plunge. G

It would need to be big for that price)

It's Wimbledon strawberry prices
--
Martin

"martin" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 08:09:35 -0000, "Ophelia"
wrote:


"Anne Jackson" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Ophelia" contains these words:

Anne Jackson wrote:

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for my new Phyllostachys Nigra,
rather!
(Well, it just cost me 54 quid!)

Phew.... big money!

O keeping everything crossed for you)

Big plant! I've had my eye on it for over a year, and finally took
the plunge. G

It would need to be big for that price)

It's Wimbledon strawberry prices

each?