h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ah, yes, that's what I remember, paul, the colour does seem to vary with either the light in the photo or else there are different shades of the Rosa.

I thought my Gran had some that were more reddish brown.

Perhaps the colours and the patterns vary.

I think I prefer the Rosa to the Blue.

Are they of the same origin and vintage?

You've not heard of a punnet? Yes, a plastic or perhaps cardboard? container, often with a lid, usually in fact used in connection with strawberries.

A punnet of strawberries.

Of course a lot of other fruit comes in punnets, a punnet of blueberries, a punnet of raspberries, but somehow strawberries are associated with the word punnet.

You've dunnit! said the punnet (to the strawberries. You made me famous)

mvp will know about punnets. As a poet, thought, she will *not* approve of my dunnit/punnet rhyme. heheh.

We have a cascade of strawberries. Punnets have chili's growing in them!

A cascade of strawberries?! That sounds extremely awesome. What does a cascade of strawberries look like?

Chillis in a punnet?? You wunnit! said the punnet. The special prize for creative use of a punnet.



In theory we have a trug, because we live in Sussex.

In practice we don't. (have a trug)

My Dad always had a trug with him, when gardening. He'd load it with vegetables.

I read an article about the Sussex trug just the other day, how they are keeping alive the tradition.

A Sussex trug is a handmade wooden basket, with the wood shaped into bendy bits. For a more accurate description of this skilled craft, you can look further afield.

The village I was brought up in was famous for its trug production.

It seems that Queen Victoria purchased several trugs for members of the Royal Family at the Great Exhibition of 1851.

We never had punnets or trugs - we usually just put everything in a paper poke till we got home. Unless you had a peck of anything, then you put it in a peck basket.

I started collecting fine china in 2000. I went way too far with it. I imagined needing to replace pieces that became broken, but only one plate ever broke in 20 years. I bought four place settings of every pattern. I think I will give a lot of it to charity -- Savers has a drop-off location up the street from me.

It would be nice to reclaim more of my floor space. Depriving the mice of nesting spots is also important.

My sister managed to accumulate a fair amount of china over the years - also inherited some. She says she's lucky, though: she has plenty of grandchildren.

My mother-in-law had a Meissen tea set, which she thought was valuable. However, after she died a valuer looked at her possessions and said the Meissen cups and saucers were seconds and not worth much. My sister-in-law has them.

I have one big Portmeirion dish, which I like, but a think a whole collection would be just too much pattern!

Portmeirion, as in 'The Prisoner'? Sounds intriguing.

For those who never look at the Front Page, here's some Blue Willow which is on it this week: A87981961

"Blue willow" was the favorite pattern for Aunt Bea on the Andy Griffith Shiw.

Also, I note that Dmitri's tag line is "Not banned in China." Maybe they approve of your china.

I should change that soon, but haven't thought of anything. The tagline came about because somebody published a list of site banned in China, and we weren't on it.

Given sufficient time, any online discussion will eventually devolve to pottery patterns...Firecloud is a patternleft on Navajo pottery that gets too close to the flame while being fired...Also, because Tea Garden depression glass

I have a cousin who used to teach ceramics in Kansas. Ceramics includes handmade pottery.

I actually just had a flashback to a lecture hall in Munich. The professor was talking about ancestral humans who lived in Europe who are called 'Bandkeramiker'. If enough time passes, our entire civilisation may be known by its pottery.

This means, of course, that in the far distant future, there will be a paper about the 'Melmac People of Western Pennsylvania'.

Don't get me started on melamine.

Good evening, ye universal experts.



This is all very interesting.

I can understand the collecting of china. Or glass. I'd like to collect glass. All things glass.

We don't have the space to store any such collections, in fact, which is probably good. .

I did collect key rings when I was a kid. It was really good, because all gift shops sold key rings, and other places too, garage shops, newsagents, key rings were everywhere.

Actually, I think they still are. Key rings are everywhere! I didn't have any keys to put on them at that time, , but that wasn't the point.

I also collected badges to sew onto the sleeves of my anorak. So when we went on family holidays I looked like a total anorak, all bedecked with badges. I loved them.



The origins of Firecloud is fascinating! By this I mean the flame pattern left on Navajo pottery, although of course, the origins of Firecloud, as in the Phredster, would also be most interesting. I want to see some pics of those Firecloud patterns now.

My parents had a ceramic plate that hung on the wall of the landing outside my bedroom. It had a kind of 3d picture on it, like, you could run your hands over it, feel the textures. I called it The Fisherman Plate. I was obsessed with it, although I can't remember the picture in detail now.

It was of a fisherman's hut, or maybe an old cottage, not sure, there were nets hanging over some beams, and the old wooden door was open, so realistic, and you could see boats and the sea beyond.

I must ask my brother about it, where it came from, and where did it go? It disappeared at some point later on. It probably came from a junk shop or something, but I always felt it had a significance.

In later years my brother brought back a few 3d plates from second hand shops and gave them to my mother when she got depressed, but they looked really gimmicky in comparison to The Fisherman Plate.

If I was a novelist, The Fisherman Plate would be a chapter heading. Fortunately, I'll only ever get as far as the heading.

(few minutes later)

Just checked Google Images. Oh lordy, there's hundreds of ceramic 3d wall plates. I wonder if the Fisherman Plate is in there? That would be strange.

Googling 'images of Fishermans plate" brought up hundreds of seafood platters from various chefs....I'm going to cook dinner...