THE BRITISH THREAD II

We officially exchanged on one of the houses today, so I'm quite a happy old Hector, breathing an audible sigh of relief.

Merry Christmas to one and all!

I'm getting pissed tonight after a large curry with the lads.

Got the Crimbo Radio Times today...

Shall I tell you what's on?

Go on - have a guess...

Gone with the bloody wind
Bugsey bloody malone
Dragons bloody den
Love bloody actually

Still it wouldn't be Christmas without a good moan about the telly.

And no Great Escape?

x

I got stopped by the police in town last night for using my mobile phone while driving.
Let off with a caution, but not very graciously.

Morning all.
I got stopped by the police in town last night for using my mobile phone while driving. I was picking our kid up from the station, round about eleven.
Let off with a caution, but not very graciously.
Still, good. Merry Christmas to the Manchester rozzers, a fine body of men. Although it was a woman.

You know that a cold is nature's way of keeping you at a distance from people you don't want to be around....

Mobile phone + driving illegal here too, and as for drink driving, there is ZERO TOLERANCE and you are deprived of everything, as far as I can see.

Dog jeopardises pie championships

The dog wolfed down 20 pies (pic: Wigan Evening News)
A greedy dog was entered in an eating championship despite nearly ruining the contest by wolfing down 20 competition pies in one sitting.
Charlie, a bichon frise, raided the fridge of 1995 champion Dave Williams while his owner was distracted by a pigeon flying up his chimney.

The contest was saved by frantic calls to bakers for a new batch for the World Pie Eating Championship, in Wigan.

But instead of being in the doghouse, Charlie was entered into the contest.

The dog saw his chance when Mr Williams was busy attending to the pigeon at his home in Preston, Lancashire.

Full up

He wolfed down 20 pies and damaged a further 10, organisers said.

Tony Callaghan, owner of Harry's Bar which stages the competition, said: "Charlie could have jeopardised the whole competition but luckily we managed to get a fresh bake this morning.

"The twist is that Dave has turned up this morning saying he wants Charlie to enter the contest.

"We've nothing in the rules to say dogs can't compete so he will be lining up against the other pie eaters and judging by his performance yesterday he's got a great chance of winning."

However, it seems that Charlie was still full from Wednesday's mammoth eating session as Mr Williams revealed that he did not even finish his competition pie.

Rescue dog

The winner was 42-year-old Adrian Frost from Wigan who downed his pie in a record-breaking 34 seconds.

Mr Williams said: "Charlie was a rescue dog and has habit of picking food up from the street.

"We think this trait has stuck with him because he never knew where his next meal was coming from as a youngster so there was no way we could be angry with him for eating all the pies yesterday.

"However, it seems that he didn't have much room for anymore today when the competition was staged."

Past competitions used to be judged on the number of pies eaten by competitors in a three minute period but after falling victim to the "healthy eating lobby", the format was changed last year.

A separate vegetarian competition was also introduced after "relentless pressure" from the Vegetarian Society, Mr Callaghan said.

Science & Technology
You are in: Manchester > Science and Nature > Science & Technology > The Science of Pie

The Science of Pie
The term 'pie-eater' may be a gentle jibe at the good folk of Wigan. But the townsfolk are very proud of their love of pies. And making pies is a serious business indeed. In fact, you could say it's an exact science...

At Harry's Bar in Wigan, preparations are under way for the World Pie Eating Championship on December 15, 2005.


The science of Pie
For the uninitiated, such a contest conjures up images of lardy blokes randomly shoving any old pies down their throats in a messy pie fest. Think again.

According to Tony Callaghan of Harry's Bar, the pies have to be produced to strict guidelines - and only the world's top pie-makers need apply for the honour of making the Championship pies. This is where the science of pie comes in.

"I've taken expert advice from our chefs. We need world-class hand-made pies, consistent in size and texture.

The cooked dimensions need to ensure a diameter of 12cm and a depth of 3.5cm inches, and a pie wall angle from base to top of between zero and 15 degrees."


Venue: Harry's Bar in the Clarence Hotel
Spongification - or facial spillage?
"These pies have to be top quality," says Tony. "we don't want the cream cracker factor resulted in a dry mouth and therefore what we would term a 'swallow-stall', nor do we want a filling that is over-absorbent and therefore provokes spongification in competitors' bellies thereby delivering premature digestive over-capacity.

"A pie that is too crumbly will produce a contest that could result in facial spillage and thereby short-weight consumption - and loss of credibility in the eyes of the world's gastronomes.

"A pie with too runny a filling might well result in some fast eating times but would not be representative of the quality of pie expected of the world's top pie-makers."

World class
So will a Wigan pie-maker rise to the challenge? And what shame would it bring on the town if an 'outsider' won the tender to make the Championship pies?

"We are confident a pie-maker from Wigan will provide and deliver pies to the appropriate standards and specifications, however in the interests of promoting regional good will we may possibly consider pies from outside of Wigan."

Entries are invited from all over the world, although early indications are that the most distantly-based competitor will be from Ashton-in-Makerfield.

"If the Americans can stage a world championship with baseball teams only from America, then we can do this with pies in Wigan and still maintain our world championship classification."

No, it's dark.



But are we downhearted? Certainly not!

No, I don't get it.

Anyway, Spendi is absolutely wrong about the meaning and origin of the cancan.

McTag wrote:

No, I don't get it.

Jacques Offenbach made nice music for French Cancan.

For example, Scènes de la vie parisienne.

Anyway, Spendi is absolutely wrong about the meaning and origin of the cancan.

McTag wrote:

No, it's dark.



But are we downhearted? Certainly not!

Bottled Aussie sunshine for sale.

Have I got a deal for you!

1 pound each jar (plus post and handling)