RE: Products we remember - 12

Was it something I said ?

This thread has hit a brick wall again, but as Phil is still with us I think it's time to celebrate anew.

Not exactly a product in the usual sense....Ginger Beer Plant.

SB may remember my home made ginger beer.
The basis of this fine refreshing beverage is a jam jar with a gound ginger and sugar wort.

I think can I dig out the original recipe if anyone is interested but it is something like this......

Half fill a jar with water, add one teaspoon of ground ginger and one teaspoon of sugar every day for a week, or maybe two to start with.
After the prescribed period, mix the contents of the jar and divide into two. Put one half back in the jar and continue feeding as before.
take the remaining half into a bowl and add the juice of a certain number of lemons and a certain quantity of water, maybe 4 to 8 pints, and perhaps some more sugar.
Mix well then bottle using fizzy drink bottles.
I used to use Corona pop bottles, I suppose the PET modern day equivalent should be up to the job. Store the bottles in a cool dark place where they won't cause too much damage when they explode.
Proper crates were good for this as they prevented chain reaction explosions.

After a sensible but short period of about a week the Ginger Beer was ready to drink.
This cycle is repeated indefinitely using only one half of the jar's contents each time.

No artificial additives or sweeteners, and very few people, are harmed in the manufacture of this product.

VM

I remember Mobo Scooters, only really made out of tubular steel, quite heavy, usually repainted because they were passed on from someone else, they were as cheap as chips, and as tough as old boots. But when a kid got one It was like an adult getting their first car.

Did you ever make nail guns ?
Can't quite remember how they were, but bits of wood with loads of elastic bands wrapped around them in some sort of configuration,
creating a force to shoot nails and other small objects, wonder if it would be classified as a dangerous weapon these days.

I think a nail gun has always been classified as a dangerous weapon.
What was it we used to make with clothes (dolly) pegs and bits of old cycle rubber innertube?

I think if you were to show the kids today how to make a nail gun, you would get arrested. Just look at all the fuss a couple of years back about the plastic bb guns and they hadn't got enough force to penetrate an ice cream.

Nail guns weren't good enough for our crowd down the Beezer canal .22 air guns were the minimum. I had a beaut of a BSA Meteor which anybody will tell you was a fantastic air rifle.

Phil

What / where is the Beezer canal, Phil?

Phil

Sorry I forgot we had you people from the posh areas with us. The Beezer was what we called the canal that rub alongside of the BSA works on Golden Hillock Rd Small Heath. There was a whacking great piece of waste land at the back of the works. I think it is now the Ackers Trust where they do dry slope skiing and canoing and other outdoor activities. I just wonder if they get more people there now that it's all legitimate than when we used it and when we were all trespassing.

Phil

So Beezer sounds like BSA, i should have guessed.
I've been down there, I think, we followed the River Cole and arrived at the back of the storage yard of BSA. There was lots of wooden boxes with armed services marking. I understand that some bad lads would go in and help themselves to a variety of ex Army items.
I came away with some brilliant hard leather pouches with belt loops, just right for keeping my ammo in.

VM

VM
Poor people tresspassed everywhere, it was the only way they could get anywhere.

VM

The thing is when I was a kid, canals were treated like private property. All the gates were locked and there was always high walls or fences to overcome. But it never stopped us kids from getting in.

Nowadays they can't do enough to get you down along the cut.

Phil

They probably thought you would frighten the horses.

We would have been more likely to eat them.

So you Barged your way in then..........

SB

No barges in the canal down the Beezer when I used to go down there. I think all the empty safes and abandoned getaway cars dumped in the cut along with the old beds and bike frames made it difficult to navigate.

Phil