SavesYouTime,Work and Money!

CUTS WATER BILLS AND MOWING AS MUCH AS 2/3
Would you believe a lawn could be perfect when
watered just once? In Iowa, the state’s biggest
Men’s Garden club picked a zoysia lawn as “top
lawn – nearly perfect.” Yet, this lawn had been
watered only once all summer to August!
In PA, Mrs. M.R. Mitter wrote “I’ve never
watered it, only when I put the plugs in…Last
summer we had it mowed 2 times…When everybody’s
lawns here are brown from drought, ours
stays as green as ever.” That’s how zoysia lawns
cut water bills and mowing! Now read on!
ENDS RE-SEEDING
NEVER NEEDS REPLACEMENT
Plug in our zoysia grass and you’ll never have to
spend money on grass seed again! Since you
won’t be buying seeds, you won’t need to dig and
rake – then hope the seeds take root before birds
eat them or the next hard rain washes them away

NO NEED TO DIG UP OLD GRASS

Plug in our zoysia grass and you’ll never have to
whatever. Set 1” square plugs into holes in the soil
1 foot apart, checkerboard style. Plugs spread to
drive out old, unwanted growth, weeds included.
Easy instructions with your order. If you can put
a cork into a bottle, you can plug in Amazoy.

FOR SLOPES, PLAY AREAS AND BARE SPOTS

You can’t beat Amazoy as the low cost answer for
hard-to-cover spots, play-worn areas, or to end
erosion on slopes.

IT STAYS GREEN IN SPITE OF HEAT AND DROUGHT

“The hotter it gets, the better it grows!” Plug-in
zoysia thrives in blistering heat, yet it won’t
winter kill to 30˚ below zero. It just goes off its
green color after killing frosts, begins regaining
its green color as temps. in the spring are consistently
warm. Of course, this varies with climate.

CHOKES OUT CRABGRASS AND WEEDS ALL SUMMER

Your established Amazoy lawn grows so
thick, it simply stops crabgrass and summer
weeds from germinating!

NO NEED TO SPEND MONEY ON DANGEROUS CHEMICALS

Every Plug GUARANTEED TO GROW
IN YOUR SOIL No Ifs, Ands Or Buts!
Read a guarantee no grass seed can match!
Won’t Winter Kill. Amazoy has survived
temperatures to 30° below zero!
Won’t Heat Kill. When other grasses burn out
in summer drought and heat, Amazoy remains
luxuriously green.
Any plug failing to grow in 45 days will be
replaced FREE! To insure maximum freshness and
viability, plugs are shipped not cut all the way
through. Before planting, finish the separation with
shears or knife. Our guarantee and planting method
are your assurance of lawn success backed by more
than five decades of specialized lawn experience!

Mortlake, London - Industrial History

A survey of 1617 makes no mention of any kind of industry in Mortlake, but in the period from 1619 to 1800, a few small businesses were founded close to the river on the north side of the High Street. All but one were destined to be relatively short-lived, but the earliest known, the Mortlake Tapestry Works served to set the scene for the future industrial nature of the Mortlake riverside. The tapestry works was soon joined by a sugarhouse and by 1703, there were malt houses, which were later followed by two small potteries and two small breweries during that century. Of all these activities, only brewing has survived.

MORTLAKE TAPESTRY WORKS
Mortlake’s most illustrious industry, the Tapestry Works, was established in 1619 under the patronage of James 1st. Henry IV of France had started a similar venture in Paris in 1607 and there can be little doubt that it’s success impressed the Stuart court. There were two factors that made Mortlake justifiable: it’s site by the river ensured a degree of humidity essential in weaving in order to relax the tension on the warp, whilst the river itself provided a satisfactory means of transporting the bulky products.
The site of the tapestry works, now a pleasant open space overlooking the river, is marked by an inscribed granite memorial which was unveiled in 1996. The true memorial to the weavers, however, are the Mortlake tapestries themselves which have survived to grace the walls of palaces, castles, stately homes, museums and private collections throughout the world.
In recent years, a local public house was re-branded as “The Tapestry”, a play perhaps on both local history and it’s Spanish themed (Tapas) menu.

SUGAR BOILING AND MALTING
Sugar refining on the Mortlake riverside was carried on in 1688 by William Mucklow, a Quaker at premises between the river and the High Street to the east of Bull’s Alley. By 1729 it was in the hands of John Bentley, the last known sugar refiner in Mortlake, but around thirteen years later the sugarhouse was no longer in use and the building became the first Mortlake Pottery. Malting was a thriving local industry from the seventeenth until well into the nineteenth century. Together with Nine Elms and Wandsworth, Mortlake was one of the main centres supplying vast quantities of malted grains to the many breweries situated in and around London. In 1811 there were five malt houses and Leigh’s Panorama of the Thames shows the Mortlake riverside fairly bristling with malt house cones in 1829. In Barnes a malt house fronted onto the Terrace with its rear on Back Lane, the surviving section of which was renamed Malthouse Passage in 1890.

THE SANDERS’ POTTERY
It is not known why John Sanders, a Lambeth potter, chose Mortlake to start a new manufactory c.1743, but perhaps he became aware of the suitability of the site of the disused sugar house: potteries needed substantial volumes of clay for the pots and coal for the kilns -both were heavy and unavailable locally, so that waterborne transport was a basic need. John Sanders remained active at Lambeth until his death in 1758 and it seems likely that his intention was to have his son William run the Mortlake venture; indeed this is what William did for the next 32 years, and after his death in 1784 the pottery was continued by his son John until 1794. Thereafter the pottery had various owners, but after April 1823 it is listed as empty.
Despite 78 years of production, Sanders did not mark his wares and anything that survives is, therefore, concealed within the large mass of similar London tin-glazes pottery sometimes, and misleadingly, called Delft ware.

KISHEREWARE
The second Mortlake Pottery was begun by Joseph Kishere, himself once a worker at the Sanders factory and son of Benjamin Kishere, who was overseer forSanders. Around 1800, Joseph married a Miss Griffin and, Tto quote a local historian, “had a little money by her” which together with a win on the state lottery enabled him to begin his own business.
Kishere pottery has been described as amoung the most decorative of the London stonewares. It is a tough, durable pottery with a high survival rate, and by good fortune a great deal of it is marked. Marking is often in the form ‘Kishere Pottery Moatlake Surrey’, the mis-spelling of Mortlake more common than not.

Tip of the Week 1

Having troubles when shaving?

Then try rubbing some hair conditioner onto you stubble a few minutes before you shave. Then use shaving gel /foam on top.

This gives a nice smooth shave without the PAIN!

Take This Dance

Take a look at this great website that gives us a peak into the very near future when content is tailored to the individual.
The site features an excellent music video that is played in real time from various sources across the web. The music alone is worth the visit let alone the other great content.

The site was created as a final year project ‘Brave new world’ by Thorsten Konrad. I don’t know what course he was on but I can guarantee that he passed. www dot takethisdance dot com 

Nation awaiting outcome on bank charges

Although the High Court test case into bank charges in the UK took place three months ago, the nation is still waiting with bated breath to find out what the conclusion of the presiding judge is. After the case had been heard the judge said that he needed time to consider all of the facts, and most industry officials had been expecting to hear the outcome in April.

However, the judge has now decided that he needs another three months to consider the facts, and therefore the verdict will now be delayed until July, leaving millions of consumers wondering whether they will get a refund on their credit cards bank charges. There are many claims still waiting to be dealt with as court cases into bank charges were suspended until after the test case.

There are concerns that the delay could mean that banks are no longer certain about how much they owe customers, as there will not be full records going back six years by the time the verdict comes through. If banks are made to cut their charges to a more reasonable level then there could be billions of pounds worth of refunds for banks to deal with.

The test case was brought by the Office of Fair Trading, which said that the charges applied by banks for unauthorised overdrafts and bounced cheques were unfair, because they were far higher than the actual cost incurred by the bank.

Saving water

How to save water by following these tips:

Fit a ‘Save a flush’ (harmless crystals) in your toilet cistern can save around 1 litre per flush. Saving around 2,000 litres of water per person per year.

Install a Hippo -for cisterns with a 9 litre flush or more- could save around 5,000 litres per person per year.

Have a shower instead of a bath - this can save around 300 litres of water a week. Bur not a power shower as they can use more water than a bath!

Turn off the tap when cleaning your teeth. This can save around 6 litres per minute.

A faulty dripping tap can waste up to 140 litres a week. Fix it as soon as possible

Choose an energy efficient dishwasher as this saves on water and electricity. ‘A’ rating machines are the most economical.

Carry out full loads of washing only - a full load will use less water than 2 half loads.

Keep drinking water in the fridge thismeans you don’t have to run the tap to get a cold drink.

Fill your kettle with only enough water for your needs, this will reduce your fuel bills also.

Insulate pipes and leaver heating on a low setting when you are out to avoid bursts during cold weather.

Using a water butt in your garden will collect rainwater that can be used throughout your garden.

If your water is metered then check for leaks by turning off the water, take two readings several minutes apart. If the readings are different there could be a leak.

Hoss - The Baby Giraffe

Hoss, it turns out, is a strapping lad, even for a baby giraffe.

The newest addition to the herd of reticulated giraffes at Busch Gardens arrived less than a week ago and is the largest baby giraffe born at the park.

Hoss — named after the burly character of Hoss Cartwright on television’s “Bonanza” — was 6 feet, 2 inches tall at birth and weighed about 191 pounds. That’s on the large side for a baby giraffe, said Aimee Jeansonne Becka, spokeswoman for the attraction. “A baby giraffe is typically 4 or 5 feet tall,” Becka said. It’s the fourth calf born to giraffe parents Cupid and Sterling.

Watching porn at work

When they found out that one of their staff had been visiting porn sites while at work, Kinokawa City Council , Japan suspended him for 3 months and demoted him.It was discovered that he had been spending around 3 hours every day for the last 8 months looking at nude pictures.

Angry residents of Kinokawa City complained that the punishment wasn’t enough.

America - good / bad ?

A good friend of mine has recently returned from a month of touring America. He clearly enjoyed his holiday and overall thought the people were very friendly. One of the things he did notice however was that the opinion they have of their country is not in line with how he experienced it.

During a discussion with a friend in a bar, he mentioned that the US credit card system was way behind that in his own country. On overhearing this an American approached him and said that he was wrong and that America had a great credit card system. My friend explained to him that US credit cards didn’t even have chip and pin technology and that it caused him lots of hassle every time he used his card. He gave an example where he tried to fill his vehicle with fuel but could only have fuel that cost a maximum of $50. When he questioned the owner he told him that he had been ripped off too many times to allow more. He gave a few more similar examples of difficulties he had experienced during his time there. The American didn’t like what he was saying and left in a huff.

This and other stories my friend told me got me thinking that it would be a good discussion to open on this blog. I don’t want it to turn into an anti American discussion (there are enough sites for this already) but would like to know of experiences you have which show America ahead or behind the rest of the world in behaviour, technology, infra-structure, politics, and any other subject you would like to add.

It would be good if you could also add your country of residence to your comments.

Tina Turner to tour again

Tina Turner has announced that she will tour the US starting with a concert at the Sprint Centre in Kansas City.

Turner (born Nov. 26, 1939) retired from live performances in 2000. Since then she has collaborated with other musicians and sung vocals on several albums.The music press has greeted the news with great expectation and excitement.

Her new tour is due to begin on Oct. 1, 2008 which means she will be a month off 69 years of age.