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[Porkscratching]

Interesting, never heard of bullace before, maybe I've been calling bullaces damsons all these years !
Do they also go dark red when stewed ? The ones we used to find did...
I guess they're all plum family at the end of the day..

[agg221]

Interesting, never heard of bullace before, maybe I've been calling bullaces damsons all these years !
Do they also go dark red when stewed ? The ones we used to find did...
I guess they're all plum family at the end of the day..

Bullace, damson, common plum, sloe and mirabelle are all types of small plum (Prunus genus, along with cherries, peaches etc). There are several species in there - spinosa, cerasifera etc. and a lot of hybridisation between them which creates a lot of intermediate characteristics, usually classified as domestica. There are however some general groupings of physical characteristics which pretty much describe the 'type' of each in general convention, although what they are known as locally/colloquially is a lot more variable.

Mirabelles (P.cerasifera) grow on bigger trees which don't sucker. They can be red, yellow or purple, ripen in July and are sweet enough to eat raw.
The damson and wild plum types (domestica) ripen next, through August and September. Wild plums are sweet enough to eat raw, just small, and may be anything from green to yellow to purple, whereas damsons are a distinct group and have a much stronger, more intense flavour (although Merryweather is marginal for being classed as a damson as it is sweeter and less intense). This means they are usually cooked. It is the intensity of flavour in damsons which means they work well in flavouring spirits and has them classified as a distinct group - subspecies institia. Most damsons are elongated rather than spherical (again, Merryweather is an exception).
Sloes are next (P.spinosa) in September/October. They are distinguished by smaller trees with much more spines and exceedingly astringent fruit making them inedible raw. The tannins are broken down by alcohol, hence sloe gin is not astringent and neither is the flesh afterwards.
Bullace are the last to ripen - October to December. These are also varied in colour from pale green (known as white) to yellow and purple and spherical shaped. There are some distinct named varieties. Bullace are like a hybrid between sloes and damsons - small and very acid until they are properly ripe (Shepherd's may not actually ripen enough to eat before it is destroyed by frost).

However, the above groupings are pretty fluid as they are all constantly hybridising anyway!

Alec

[oddjob]

Thank you for all the soft fruit advice, I've learned a lot! 
Would they be any good for making gin or should I go find sloes.

Ps, sorry for filling up this thread mods! Feel free to move us to Alan's sloe thread.

[maindy]

Old girl went for a mot, straight through no problems really pleased with that as couple of months ago she was waiting in pieces on the drive for a new chassis.

[nathanglasgow]

Broke a rear half shaft this afternoon Just pulling away from a junction on a slight incline when it went bang and lost drive. Of course the freewheel hubs were disengaged at the time so no handbrake. Had to roll back down the hill to the flat so I could get out and lock the hubs. Only had 5  miles to go back home with yellow lever down so hopefully not too much carnage in the diff. Second time in 6 years that one has snapped. Don't know which one yet as stripping it down is a next week job.

[nathanglasgow]

Now just got to knock the rest of it out of the diff
It was the short one that broke last time. This time it's the long one.

[nathanglasgow]

The rest came out with a bit of a fight

[jkhackney]

In preparation for a fall trip, yesterday I ran the petrol night heater as recommended to get the "stink" out of the combustion chamber. A courtesy to other campers. The thermostat turned it off after a while because it was a warm day and the interior had heated up nicely.

I forgot to turn it off, though, leaving it on "thermostat" overnight in the garage, and it was a cold night.

I happened to pass by the garage this morning and heard a clicking, like a fuel pump ... ?

The heater was running, the garage was toasty warm and very stinky indeed!

I'm glad none of the cats were locked in there overnight!

Jeremy

[mrutty]

Just cleaned the Dist and ordered all new parts. Now clean the plugs. Running very rich so need to look at rebuilding the carb.

[34058]

I was using some  scrap useful bits that I saved from my SII's original 2l Diesel engine (which died a very terminal death in 1975) and another 2l Diesel engine that was given to me at the time, to de rust the inside of a rotovator petrol tank, when I noticed a difference.  There are two types of injector clamp bars.  One has rounded ends, the other has squared ends.  Does anyone know which are the earlier?

 

David.

[Smokey 11a]

Walked past it and thought, as it's not been used for months maybe time to move it on...

[maindy]

New sump gasket and oil change, fingers crossed the leak is gasket and not rear crank seal.

[Rambler]

Having adjusted and bled the brakes, I took Luna for another test run.  She drove great, with much improvement on the new brake hardware.  My temp gauge rose to normal (close to the red at the top), but fuel was showing empty.  It might be I need to put a few more litres in the tank to have it register. 
My speedo has stopped working, but I think this was me pulling the dash apart and back again a few times.  My next task to investigate, while I will also be fitting the other side (drivers) bench rear seat.

[Larry S.]

Put Grover's tub on yesterday and added the rear lights today.

Someone has FINALLY moved into my area that actually owns, AND drives a Series Rover!!  It's a '63 2a 88 like mine, but mine's a Station Wagon.  Got to spend several hours getting to mess with it today.  It's name is "the Hippo" and has a solid brass hippo as a bonnet ornament!!

Get this...it's owned by a female and she wants to learn to work on it and maintain it.  Her husband (passed away a couple years ago) bought it in 2000.  She wants to keep it going, and use it, as a way to honor him.

It stinks, it filthy and looks like it's been to hell and back - in other words - it's perfect!!

It still has it's original Solex and it's the kind with the heating element and different style of cold start switch.  I'm not 100% sure, but it sure looks like it has an original alternator!! 

She reminds me of myself when I first got Grover - clueless...       

I was able to show her several things she had no clue about, such as the wading plug hole.

Also, as some of you know, Grover has the short barrel locks and no keys.  I've had a handful of people send me various keys to try, non fit.  Believe it or not she has the same style of lock and one key AND IT FITS MINE!!  Now I have a key code so I can get blanks!!!

Yesterday and today have been very good Rover days.

[-OTTO-]

Change starter!

kind regards