Turn off the tele and get out in the shed!
by steamtug on Jul.29, 2010, under General
What is the fascination with cooking shows on the tele? Did you know the number 1 most viewed program on TV is a cooking show? As if anybody is going to attempt to cook a “peach flamboyant zingatta” for their husbands tea tonight! And as for Gorganzalla cheese… what’s wrong with good old Kraft Cheddar since Coon became politically incorrect? (Whoops… was I being sexist just now?)These TV cooking shows are all restaurant food anyway, the technology for which should be kept behind big stainless double doors with a little circular window to allow 2 waiters to work without crashing into each other… that’s the most we need to know about restaurant technology! (“And now viewers, Mr. Steamtug will attempt his famous lamb chop, mashed potatoe and peas!”)
Have we really slunk so low as to become a nation of bogans? Why don’t they go back to putting something interesting on TV like watching fat people loosing weight, or celebrity fat people loosing weight! (It would be more interesting than watching future Prime Ministers debating their pathetic policies that they created only 5 minutes ago because it might gain them some support)
I think it’s because our television is swamped with so much American rubbish, (which incidentally is there only for American’s on holiday in Australia) that to get their quota for local content, the TV stations go for something cheap and easy like a cooking show. Or stick 5 bogans in a house with no communication with the outside world and see how long they last before there is a fight. Honestly???? What are they thinking.
That’s why when they come up with something interesting like the recent tele-movie about the “Hawke” years of government, that is historical, educational and a jolly good yarn as well, that it gets record ratings. There should be more worthwhile historical data presented in this format so we Australians can assimulate with our national identity. Any wonder why teenagers today are all speaking like Americans! Fair Dinkum… how much can a koala bear?
So, during the week I turned off the tele and Tom and I got together and visited our mate Philip, and his Dad Richard’s shed where they are in the finishing stages of construction a half size Wallis and Steeven’s Traction engine! A very exciting project that Tom has been helping with.
You may recognise Philip and Richard, as they are part owners of the shed at the Lake Goldsmith steam rally I recently attended, where I helped to fire the boiler in their shed. Now they are working hard to get this project finished before the next rally so that we have a new toy to play with!
The Wallis & Steevens company of Bassingstoke, Hampshire England produced steam traction engines, rollers and other farm equipment around the turn of the last century. This little example should be a powerful toy with it’s 2 inch bore, single cylinder steam engine.
After our evenings work was done, we retired upstairs to the train room. Here Richard has set up a fantastic 3 tier model railway layout boasting more than 100 metres of track. There are 2 full loops around the main level with a large marshalling yard, with an adjoining track that circles twice around the wall, climbing all the way until it reaches an upper marshalling yard at the top. Tom and Richard conspired against Philip who was managing the upper yard by sending up trains faster than he could turn the engines around on the turntable and send them back down. Eventually Philip cheated by sending a huge coal train down the mountain with only a tiny shunting engine in control! It was all great fun, and much more interesting than the tele!
Meanwhile, in my workshop I have bits of Adaqua’s engine spread across my work bench. The cooling water system and manifold coolers all being refurbished before re-installation ready for some heavy summer cruising, including hopefully my long held ambition to steam across the open ocean to King Island. Roll on Summer!
And as for the tele, here is something interesting to watch… click the link below, and if I ever get this bad, please shoot me! (a nutter and his steam whistle collection)
July 30th, 2010 on 9:33 pm
People have been attempting to recreate dishes from the cooking show- spikes in retail sales of certain items were recording after this items (eg. brains) were used on the program. For people to be inspired to go out and cook premium quality fresh food is a real positive from the show. Sorry, but 4 million people disagree with you.
August 3rd, 2010 on 1:55 pm
Learn to cook new and interesting food – not a bad thing. Isn’t the lamb chop, mashed potato and peas the staple food of the aforementioned bogan?
Playing with model trains at your age indeed.
As for Hawke it’s a shame they did’nt let fact get in the way of a good story. Both Messers Hawke and Richardson agreed the a large degree of poetic licence was taken, although Richo was pleased they got a thin guy to play him (I suppose that only adds to the fiction component) If you get a chance Graeme Richardsons book “what ever it takes” is a good read.