what is the best thing you ever got out of a bran tub?

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or lucky dip generally obv

― mark s (mark s), Sunday, 6 July 2003 22:22 (twenty-two years ago)

i was in charge of one at the church fete: it made £22!!

― mark s (mark s), Sunday, 6 July 2003 22:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Ummm...what in the heck IS a bran tub? You don't want to know what it makes me think of.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Sunday, 6 July 2003 22:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I had not thought of bran tubs for several years. Thank you mark s. I think I got some kind of aeroplane out of one once.

― N. (nickdastoor), Sunday, 6 July 2003 22:45 (twenty-two years ago)

it's a small barrel full of bran (or more likely wood-shavings) in which can be found a MULTITUDE OF SMALL PRIZES!!

(the comedy ilxor answer = tub girl, just to get this out of the way...)

― mark s (mark s), Sunday, 6 July 2003 22:51 (twenty-two years ago)

and where would you encounter a bran tub? are they just lining the streets?

― oops (Oops), Sunday, 6 July 2003 22:53 (twenty-two years ago)

THE CHURCH FETE!! focus ppl please

― mark s (mark s), Sunday, 6 July 2003 22:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I first read this as "brain tub" and thought the question kind of re-animator-esque and creepy.

― Nicole (Nicole), Sunday, 6 July 2003 22:56 (twenty-two years ago)

So you reach into this tub of bran (or whatever) and pull-out a surprise? This is so different from what I was thinking (which had to do with fiber and bran muffins and such).

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Sunday, 6 July 2003 23:04 (twenty-two years ago)

i assume this was the low-tech predecessor of the robot claw game? are there time constraints in this bran tub, or can you root around happily all day?

― Elmo Oxygen (elmo oxygen), Sunday, 6 July 2003 23:09 (twenty-two years ago)

exactly

― mark s (mark s), Sunday, 6 July 2003 23:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I got a small paint box once. Generally I prefer the lolly scramble, where you can see what you're getting.

― isadora (isadora), Sunday, 6 July 2003 23:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Do you ever encouter, well, things that aren't intentionally put into the tub? I think I might be a bit reticent to reach down into a tub filled with stuff that I can't see through and root around for a while - I mean, do people wash their hands before reaching in and stuff?

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Sunday, 6 July 2003 23:13 (twenty-two years ago)

i've never seen a time-policed variant: generally things are wrapped so as to baffle

― mark s (mark s), Sunday, 6 July 2003 23:18 (twenty-two years ago)

We had the "fish pond" - you put a fishing pole over top of a short wall, behind which someone crouches and attaches a prize to the end of your line. The best thing I ever got was a little address book, which I still use today.

― Poppy (poppy), Sunday, 6 July 2003 23:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Excellent! Address book users of the world unite! Banish the mobile hegemony! NB best thing I ever won in a Bran tub was a polystyrene model of a Hawker Hurricane what which did WIN THE WAR and what have you.

― Matt (Matt), Monday, 7 July 2003 01:07 (twenty-two years ago)

also the varient with the rubber duckies in a pond and you fish for them with a magnetic pole (the duckies have magnets) and then the number on the duckie goes to a prize.

this was more of a small-carnival type affair as i recall.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Monday, 7 July 2003 01:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Bobbing for apples! I've never been very good at it, though.

― Christine 'Green Leafy Dragon' Indigo (cindigo), Monday, 7 July 2003 02:54 (twenty-two years ago)

They only thing I've ever won at a church or school carnival was at a raffle - I won the cake that I'd baked and donated.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Monday, 7 July 2003 04:39 (twenty-two years ago)

We had the "fish pond" - you put a fishing pole over top of a short wall, behind which someone crouches and attaches a prize to the end of your line.

No need for the inverted commas. This is actually the way real fishing works too.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 07:42 (twenty-two years ago)

THAT WAS A FIX!!

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 7 July 2003 07:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Best thing I ever got out of a bran tub was a yo-yo with no string :(

― C J (C J), Monday, 7 July 2003 07:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Best thing was a dirty Mills and Boon called "Officers' Ladies" which caused much self-discovery in the undersigned.

― Sam (chirombo), Monday, 7 July 2003 08:22 (twenty-two years ago)

A dirty Mills and Boon?! Was is in the 'Silhouette' series?

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 08:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Life In The Country is so damn weird. And here was me thinking it was all White Horse weeding and Country House visiting. Church Fetes? I have heard of such things, but the idea is terrifying!

― kate (kate), Monday, 7 July 2003 08:27 (twenty-two years ago)

It's not just the country, kate. We had a bran tub (and a guess the length of the eel) at our church fete in Peckham.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 08:36 (twenty-two years ago)

The only place that scares me more than the country is the suburbs!

Actually, scratch that. I'm not scared of DEEP country where there is no one else around, and I'm not afraid of cities, but suburbs scare me more than anything else on earth.

― kate (kate), Monday, 7 July 2003 08:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I haven't heard anyone call Peckham a suburb for many years. I suppose technically it is, but I kind of think like things have to get a bit leafier and further out. Inner city suburbia.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 08:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Where is Peckham? If it's not Zone 1 (MAAAAAYBE 2 at a stretch), it's suburbia.

― kate (kate), Monday, 7 July 2003 08:52 (twenty-two years ago)

(Really, if it's not in Zone 1, it does not exist.)

― kate (kate), Monday, 7 July 2003 08:54 (twenty-two years ago)

¡zone 2 is so not suburbia!

― RickyT (RickyT), Monday, 7 July 2003 08:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, Peckham is Zone 2 and like, 6 mins or something from London Bridge on the train.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 08:57 (twenty-two years ago)

I will PERHAPS give you parts of Zone 2 at a stretch, but Peckham is off in the wilds way down South where bananas grow and South of the river is Not Really London by default. It has a shopping mall, it is suburbia.

― kate (kate), Monday, 7 July 2003 08:58 (twenty-two years ago)

It has a shopping mall, it is suburbia.

Islington is suburbia?

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 08:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Oxford St is suburbia?

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Since they built that Angel thing, yes, Islington might as well be suburbia. I object to shopping malls in urban centres. Stop blurring the boundaries of urbia and suburbia and stop trying to make EVERYWHERE look and behave like a fucking suburb. This irritates me no end.

― kate (kate), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Soon it will be too late
Bobbing for apples can wait
We know you're used to sixteen or more
Sorry we only have eight

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I am not a huge fan of the Angel centre (apart from the handy late opening Borders), but I hardly think it makes Islington suburban.

― RickyT (RickyT), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Kate, you have to read Edge City.

London has a lot of potential for category error due to organic development, obviously. 'Urban' areas like Peckham were, 100 years ago, all fields round here (my pal Nellie's family had an old crate of freehold certificates indicating they owned most of Peckham, Nunhead and Camberwell in C19).

Anyway the US suburban equivalent of the bran tub is Perkins' wishing well.

― suzy (suzy), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:11 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't know Nick. Maybe it wasn't Mills and Boon, but it was like Jilly Cooper without the tremendous humour and characterisation.

(actually I quite liked Jilly Cooper for the sex too)

Another thing I won - an "economic thriller" detailing a future stock market crash - it was called "The Panic of '89". Even at the time I wondered about the wisdom of writing a book with such a limited shelf-life ahead of it. But I guess that's why it was in a tombola.

And (lots of xposts) Peckham is as far away from suburbia as you can get without falling over (into a vat of yams and dead goats obv).

― Sam (chirombo), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:14 (twenty-two years ago)

WAAAAH!!

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:15 (twenty-two years ago)

tombola != bran tub!

― RickyT (RickyT), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, good point. I don't think books should be in bran tubs anyway. It is too easy to guess what they are. Including the contents, obv.

Has anyone ever tried 'the popcorn box trick' in a bran tub?

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:20 (twenty-two years ago)

It has a shopping mall, it is suburbia

Can I just say Elephant and Castle?

― Sam (chirombo), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Can I borrow a feeling?

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:24 (twenty-two years ago)

No.

― Sam (chirombo), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I am categorically AGAINST South Of The River. (Except Blackheath which is actually quite nice indeed, but then again, I might be prejudiced there.)

― kate (kate), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:32 (twenty-two years ago)

blackheath = plague pit kate

plague pits in london = the popcorn trick attempted in a bran tub?

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Blackheath is NOT a plague pit. Don't make me go home and get my Secret Britain book which proves that it is not a plague pit. I forget what it actually was... I think it was a secret system of caves or underground subsidence or something like that that prevented people from building on the heath, but not a plaguepit. I was all excited about the idea that it might be a plague pit and disappointed when I found out that it was not. :-(

― kate (kate), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:38 (twenty-two years ago)

But kate you are against South London for the wrong reasons. I'm opposed to North London, but my reasons are perfectly valid - proximity to Old Street, horrible restaurants, loathsome slimy touch of inhabitants, Camden, etc.

― Sam (chirombo), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:42 (twenty-two years ago)

All the reasons you list for hating North London are the reasons that North London is so great!

― kate (kate), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Haha Mark C to thread, who will not accept that Barnes may as well be in buttfuck Egypt... *I* can get into central London in less time than he can.

(OK I have said that far too many times now. Sorry Mark.

― Archel (Archel), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Please! The bran tubs.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:48 (twenty-two years ago)

It was much quicker for me to get into Central London from St.Albans than it was from Tooting! But that has nothing to do with both of them being suburbia of differing kinds. Actually, St.Albans = sub-ruralia. i.e. they THINK they are a village, but they are not.

― kate (kate), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Barnes is just plain ODD. It's not even suburbia. It's like some sussex village plonked down in the middle of London.

― RickyT (RickyT), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorry, I made one comment about suburbia/the country and derailed an entire thread with the London Minutia Obsessives.

― kate (kate), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorry - anyone who argues that the Islington from the Angel up is not suburban is clearly talking nonsense.Canonbury and Barnsbury are aching suburban.

― Pete (Pete), Monday, 7 July 2003 10:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Is anywhere posh and residential suburban? Is Belgravia suburbia?

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 10:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Of course strictly speaking London's urbs = the Wall and so almost all of what we call London is suburban (except Westminster which will have had its own urbs I suppose but I bet they were rubbishy ones). I also suppose each little old village had its limits too but that may be taking the whole pedantry thing too far.

If the distinction between urban and suburban being drawn here is between gritty inner city / cbd workzone on one hand and dormitoryville on the other, then each of the areas mentioned above are mixed, that seems obv to me. Most of Peckham feels grittier and innercitier than most of (say) Clerkenwell to me. That said, I live in a leafy boulevard near a lovely big park. Thinking in zones misses so much stuff.

I'm very pleased with the thought that Peckham is the suburbs because I think the whole "I hate the suburbs" thing is desperately played out and these days the thing is to get the hell into the suburbs as fast as you can (cf whoever it was back then ect ect). If I'm scared of anything it is commuter belt ribbon development detached house towns. That's mainly because I've only ever been through them.

― Tim (Tim), Monday, 7 July 2003 11:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I meant to add: the best thing I ever gout out of a bran tub = some bran. It beats sawdust by a short head.

― Tim (Tim), Monday, 7 July 2003 11:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I have not being paying attention to the latest developments in ribbons. Please fill me in.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 11:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think there have been ribbon developments for a long time Nick, I think new towns kind of killed them a bit. I wish I knew more about planning issues. I read a book once, but I have forgotten most of it.

Haha gout. Cabbage was forcing me to drink port yesterday so I obv have it on the brain.

― Tim (Tim), Monday, 7 July 2003 11:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Depends Nick if you're talking suburban as meaning "less than urban" or to feed in the vague idea of dormotory towns into this idea (which is what most suburban hate comes from). I'm not sure if Belgrvia would fit into either of these definitions, certainly not the second.

Westurban maybe, since its a given that all cities really shit bits are to the west of the centre.

Go look at South America for ribbon developments. The Green belt did more to kill of ribbons than new towns.

― Pete (Pete), Monday, 7 July 2003 11:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Archel, you live in London on Sea with vicious townies, no parking, roads that stink of piss and sky-high property prices. Barnes is what Brighton *should* be. This jealousy will get you nowhere.

(oh, and 16 minutes to Waterloo isn't quite what I'd call a million miles away. The only difference is that I manage to get a seat on the train every morning, unlike zone 2-ers)

I now love Chirombo Sam, as much for his teenage wanking confessions as his OTM-ness about north London.

Bran tub? No idea, but I once one a magnum of champagen in a raffle for which I'd been selling tickets.

― Mark C (Mark C), Monday, 7 July 2003 11:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Guess the length of the eel

I don't know what to say about that, I really don't.

― C J (C J), Monday, 7 July 2003 12:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think I've won anything more than one of those aeroplanes, with the little plastic proppelors.

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 7 July 2003 17:40 (twenty-two years ago)

We used to have fete's out in quasi-urban Acton. In Acton Park to be exact, there'd always be a fire engine on display, people selling home made cakes and stalls of people selling their junk. And, of course, the fishing game where you could win one of those aeroplane toys. I got a helium balloon once, and kept it by my bed all night, in the morning I felt really sick, coz all the gas had escaped.

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 7 July 2003 17:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Jel, you are a wuss - most people can inhale the helium in a balloon directly without ill effects. How big was this balloon?

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 17:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I am still dying at N.'s invocation of "the popcorn trick".

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 7 July 2003 17:51 (twenty-two years ago)

guess the length of the eel

Someone asked me to do this once, boy, I guess I got that wrong.

― luna (luna.c), Monday, 7 July 2003 17:54 (twenty-two years ago)

N., I'm not most people.

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 7 July 2003 17:54 (twenty-two years ago)

and when I say really sick, I just mean a bit unwell.

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 7 July 2003 17:58 (twenty-two years ago)

I still say it may have been just a coincidence.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 17:59 (twenty-two years ago)

You're not crazy, Jel; you're just a little unwell. (I know, I know; I can't tell.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 7 July 2003 17:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Stay awhile, maybe then you'll see a different side of him.

― luna (luna.c), Monday, 7 July 2003 18:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm doing a medline search on adverse affects of helium, I think N may be right about the coincedence theory.

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 7 July 2003 18:08 (twenty-two years ago)

what abt the side-effects of listening to someone snoring all night in a squeaky cartoon voice?

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 7 July 2003 18:13 (twenty-two years ago)

that'd be awful.

There was an article from Japan about someone dying inside a helium balloon, because they were in an environment with no oxygen.

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 7 July 2003 18:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, as I say, the size of the helium balloon is key.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 18:23 (twenty-two years ago)

The size of the person may have some bearing on matters, too. (I'm just guessing here though).

― C J (C J), Monday, 7 July 2003 18:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought size wasn't supposed to matter?

― luna (luna.c), Monday, 7 July 2003 18:57 (twenty-two years ago)

I have met jel and he was normal-sized. Perhaps he used to be tiny though.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 19:00 (twenty-two years ago)

It's gettin hot in herre!

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 7 July 2003 19:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Jel is not normal sized. He is tall and thin.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 7 July 2003 19:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, but if he were squashed inside a balloon.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 19:04 (twenty-two years ago)

let's try it at the next FAP

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 7 July 2003 19:08 (twenty-two years ago)

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 19:09 (twenty-two years ago)

And then we'll all go around singing Robyn Hitchcock's "Balloon Man" over and over and over....

― Christine 'Green Leafy Dragon' Indigo (cindigo), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 01:19 (twenty-two years ago)

(note to self, avoid next FAP and balloons)

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 06:17 (twenty-two years ago)

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