oilworker

What I cant actually understand is how it burned down - given that glass and steel are inflammable what was actually burning? Were they holding a rubber and horsehair fair at the time or something?

Mr Punch

Sorry - in fact "Harry Lauder" was more of an invented character than a real real person - Henry lauder (his real name) always appeared in the character and dress of an irascible wise-cracking scotsman with exagerated scots accent and mannerisms .

luges

Aquarius moon is correct. The small drink referred to is a "wee deoch an doris" which along with "keep right on till the end of the road" (the anthen of Birmingham City FC) were Harry Lauder's biggest hits. The very crooked thing was his walking stick which he was often pictured with.

in fact it was WW1. There is another famous song about taking a small drink (in gaelic) penned by the same composer and singer.

we had yodel just above - never mind - ogled

Yes - and St. Andrews (note the s) is what - and what is sung there?

What connects the patron saint of Scotland and Karren Brady?

No not father Charlie - think of an institution she was invloved with when she was much younger..

Although there was always something very crooked about this character, Karren Brady would've been happy to sing his praises.

This character encouraged the imbibement of a small libation prior to us taking our leave of one another

Dick Whittington?

You don't need to sand down to the bare wood - just enough so that the "shine" is taken off the gloss - after the sanding process the gloss paint should look like a bit likematt - then the subsequent coat of paint will be able to stick to it. To sand down a nornal sized door should take about ten - fifteen minutes of sanding.

Woodwork can be overpainted with any oil-based paint - be it gloss, matt or satin. The key to a good finish is preparation - this means you have to give the woodwork a good rubbing down with aluminium oxide paper (or similar). As far as i am aware there is no substitute for this process for applying any paint on top of gloss. Does anyone know different?

oddly

You can paint gloss on top of gloss but you need to sand the existing gloss work down fisrt to provide a key for it to stick to (otherwise it will just peel off ). The same goes for matt on gloss - sand down first. The best brand of gloss paint is called "Sikens" - more expensive but wull stay bright and white much longer - for this reason professional decorators don't like using it - it lasts too long!!

yodel

dealt

ideal

caped

sepia

piles

I'm a biker (of the pedalling type) - why not ditch the leathers and make the leap to human power? Much more pleasant in this weather!

pause