CLOSED - THANKS to all customers for the last few years

Right thats it night all,well done H,the czech`s in the bank..

Blackburn deserve to visit the Den next year after missing a penalty; another lucky win for Chelski. How long can their luck last?

Hoe gaat et met u?





Hands up, how many of us have actually spent a night op de dam?

Spent a year in Amsterdam on a juicy little contract. Best fun ever. Great place to be based..... Only place I ever found a Uruguayan restaurant...

DD, usually do some sea fishing on holidays. Take my carp gear and fish a pier or boat

Spent many weeks in NL when I worked for Shell, never understood a word of Dutch though but then i didnt need to. We used to go to an indian restruant in Amsteram where the staff didnt speak dutch either, they all spoke English !

Should have added I used to spend a few weeknds there in the late 70s, including the miky way club and the paradiso !

Morning Guys

Phew strong gear last night at this place! I'll just have a quick fry up then I'm off over the road.

Do you mind if I leave my Capitals here please?

Jessie...aren't you being a little presumptious that your mob will still be in that division...lol.

I do think we oughtta go down; we've struggled with an inferior team for too long with poor Directorship, changing managers at a whim.

However I really wouldn't be suprised to see 'Arry pull something out of the bag and do a great escape as some of the stuff above us are also pretty awful.

Maybe some Russian Crook who'se got no right to be in the Country will arrive, wave a cheque book and be hailed as the new 'Messiah'.

It really beats me how our Politicians priciples allows and welcomes these stalinist mafioso into the country and how the fans and everyone else puts up with it, shame they don't all vote with their feet and blackball the clubs.

But they wouldn't do that, would they!?!?

Morning guys...mind you don't leave too many, 7F, or there won't be mushroom on your plate.

Morning all,

7thFloor so is it 7F or thloor now?

I was hoping bunny would be along with a bit of a snack ;-( so I had to make do with some fish fingers.

Morning all. Just brought in a delivery of warm croissants, pain au chocolat and danish. Hot coffee on the go, tea in the pot and fresh OJ for those that prefer.

Could rustle up FEB if anyone is desperate.

All these Dutch connections. Used to keep our sailboat there in the Winter.
My wedding ceremony was in Flemish ........ perhaps that was the start of the downhill slide!!!!!! No, Netherlands is a great place to be - have had lots of fun there and nice people.

jj50, croissants, lovely, just in time I was about to have some fish fingers.

You summed up NL nicely, lots of fun and nice people, I like their attitude and the way they don't seem to take anything too seriously.

absolutely agree. i'm about to light up some stuff we bought over in amsterdam last year. no, you're wrong, it's a balmoral cigar! not forgetting that "roken is dodelijk".

Morning All and thanks as always to JJ for sorting out the feeding
of the 5,000's - how you doing JJ? We seem to have missed each other
recently in here.

Croissants please and some yummy blackcurrant jam....mmmmmmm

Lunch will be a haddock bake, topped with creamed potatoes & cheese
or steak and kidney pie for those who prefer flesh and innards ;>)
All served with baby carrots and brocalli.

A selection of cheeses and fresh fruit to follow - well you can't
eat stodgy fattening desserts all the time chaps!!!

> The next time you are washing your hands and complain because
>the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things
>used to
> be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:
>
> Most people got married in June because they took their yearly
>bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were
>starting to
> smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body
>odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.
>
>
>
> Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of
>the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other
>sons and men,
> then the women and finally the children. Last of all the
>babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone
>in it. Hence the saying,
> "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."
>
>
> Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood
>underneath.
> It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats
>and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained
>it became slippery
> and sometimes the animals would slip and off the roof. Hence
>the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."
>
> There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.
>This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings
>could mess up
> your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet
>hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came
>into existence.
>
> The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than
>dirt. Hence the saying "dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that
>would get slippery
> in the winter when wet , so they spread thresh (straw) on floor
>to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they adding more
>thresh until when
> you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece
>of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a 'thresh
>hold."
>
> (Getting quite an education, aren't you?)
>
> In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle
>that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added
>things to the
> pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They
>would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold
>overnight and
> then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that
>had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot,
>peas porridge
> cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."
>
> Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite
>special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show
>off. It was a
> sign of wealth that a man could "bring home the bacon." They
>would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and
>"chew the fat."
>
> Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid
>content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead
>poisoning
> death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next
>400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
>
> Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt
>bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top,
>or "upper crust."
>
> Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination
>would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone
>walking along the
> road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They
>were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family
>would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would
>wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake."
>
> England is old and small and the local folks started running
>out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would
>take the bones to a
> "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins,
>1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and
>they realized
> they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string
>on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through
>the ground and
> tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard
>all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone
>could be "saved
> by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."
>
>
> And that's the truth... Now, whoever said that History was
>boring ! ! !

Excellent piece of research Hilary. :>)

great post Hils!

brilliant - went very well with the coffee.

Bloody hell Hickey, wondered what you'd been upto!

Bloomin' evenin' classes will be the ruin of sexy women!

it's an edyakation cafe!

by the way if the number 13 is so bad, why is it reflected so many times on the u.s. $1 bill-- 13 levels in the pyramid, 13 stars, 13 arrows, 13 stripes, 13 leaves, and 13 olives? is it because of the original 13 colonies?