Thread 6 - TalkExiles: "Yup, still round."

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous threads (thread 5).

Gather here all ye refugees from the JTT Flat Earth Society, welcome to the reassuringly oblate spheroid of MN! Ye all already know the answers to the questions "How the heck do I format my post?" "Why can't I edit my typos?" "What do those acronyms mean?" and most importantly, "Where is everybody that I used to know?"

So really we're all here just to chat randomly.

I remembered you were a fan, @angelico53 . CMW is indeed a great song. I'm afraid I'm pretty ignorant about John Hiatt, I remember Mississippi Plates, and that's about it!

It would be great to have footage of the molasses flood, to see how it flows in that quantity.

Some nice wood and plaster details in this: www.propertypal.com/woodburn-house-9-croft-road-holywood/807776

@Kucinghitam - I see from that WIki page that the flood has more recently been known as the "Boston Molassacre". This has led me to listen to an all-time favourite, "Alice's Restaurant Massacree".

Now I've got a "you can get anything you want"* earworm.

Thanks.

I have just heard about the Great Molasses Flood

Yes it's fascinating and horrifying!

I mean, I love treacle, but I can actually envisage how dangerous it could be in large flowing amounts.

Me neither.

I'm a huge John Hiatt fan, and Molly Tuttle/ Amy Turtle is amazing

There was a great beer flood in Oxford st in 1814. Sounds great til you find out it killed 8 people.

Today finally, the builders have started pulling my old bathroom out, the one that had leaked and cracked, and there could be some horrific news incoming.

Artistic Lydia (previous owner) had taken down a wall in the kitchen, which I assumed (1) maybe wasn't load-bearing and (2) if it had, would have an RSJ as there is a "step" in the ceiling.

After a morning of crashing and banging, the chaps have just told me that the direction of the floor joists indicates that it was a load-bearing wall, and that the ceiling-step looks too small to have an RSJ in it.

They'll know exactly what's under the bathroom floor in about half an hour, and have promised me they'll find a way to sort whatever they find.

But I'm seeing ££££ and many weeks of ARGH ahead.

That sounds scary @Kucinghitam - hope it’s not too spendy!

Casualties aside, beer flood does sound good and at least it caused fewer deaths than the molassacre.

Those food disasters make the Banbury Custard Explosion sound tame in comparison.

In 1981, there was a dust explosion at the Bird’s Custard Factory in Banbury. A hopper – a container used to hold particles that have been collected from expelled air – became overfilled, creating a dust cloud of corn flour that ignited due to nearby electrical equipment. The explosion blew the roof off the building and 9 workers were injured. As custard is made when heat and water are added to custard powder, the water from the fire engines that came to put the fire out created gallons of custard inside the building, which then came pouring out.

Horrible Health and Safety Histories: Dust Explosions | Amalgamate Safety Risk Management (amalgamate-safety.com)

(Not sure how much dramatic licence my source has taken)

I've saved that one for the QI X for explosions research topics when we get to that series. ISTR we did the molassacre a few years ago.

Update: The wall does have some sort of a supporting steel plate under it, thank Glod. I think I've aged about 30 years in the past 30 minutes. Even the builders looked utterly relieved.

Eek! Fingers crossed they do find a suitable support in there @Kucinghitam .

Ah - a happy crosspost.

Indeed @BinturongsSmellOfPopcorn! The builders are sounding a lot chirpier than they have done all day. The bathroom is now an ex-bathroom, nothing left but a few tiles and some bare floorboards. And a huge hole in the floor where the leak was (and the apparently dangling wall).

Tomorrow the bathroom components will be delivered.

Oh. Spoke too soon, as I was typing, one of them came down to turn the stopcock back on and there was a frantic NONONONONONO bellowing from the ex-bathroom. I think we have a leaking pipe situation.

Okay, I’m really liking the sound of the custard explosion!

I’m also not liking the sound of leaking pipes. Hope calm is restored to the former bathroom very soon @Kucinghitam

As custard is made when heat and water are added to custard powder, the water from the fire engines that came to put the fire out created gallons of custard inside the building, which then came pouring out.

It's pretty well-known that fine powders like flour and custard are explosive, but I have to say that the thought of gallons of custard pouring out is very appealing. I'm imagining the delicious vanilla-y aroma.

It would be rather lumpy custard.

Bathroom woes sounds pretty awful, Kuc. And expensive! To think I've been worrying about a dripping shower! "Supporting steel plate" doesn't really sound like a proper lintel; hope it's good enough.

@MmePoppySeedDefage

Yeah, sorry about the Crossroads brain-fart! 😀

"Supporting steel plate" doesn't really sound like a proper lintel; hope it's good enough.

It's OK (phew) after my initial excited update an hour ago, they lifted even more of the floor and crawled around with head torches, and it is an RSJ. The "step" in the kitchen ceiling had looked not big enough, but turns out that was because part of the ceiling had been lowered.

That's good to hear, at least no structural issues, then.

Yes, one less thing to turn my hair white!

How funny, I was just reading about dust bombs yesterday in a Stephen King novel.