Bananananana Disaster

Yikes, but this story is 3 years old (16 January, 2003). I wonder how
they're getting on?

"Dave Larrington" wrote

Quoted message said:

"Edible bananas may disappear within a decade if urgent action is not
taken to develop new varieties resistant to blight."

In article <[email hidden]>, POHB

() said:

Yikes, but this story is 3 years old (16 January, 2003). I wonder how
they're getting on?

So it is. I shall have Words with my Sinister Agent...

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
Funny... You don't /look/ like Martha and the Vandellas!

Dave Larrington said:

In article <[email hidden]>, POHB

() said:

Yikes, but this story is 3 years old (16 January, 2003). I wonder how
they're getting on?

So it is. I shall have Words with my Sinister Agent...

Did he tell you banana skins could be deployed within 45 minutes?

--
Dave...

In article <[email hidden]>,

dkahn400 () said:

Dave Larrington said:

In article <[email hidden]>, POHB

() said:

Yikes, but this story is 3 years old (16 January, 2003). I wonder how
they're getting on?

So it is. I shall have Words with my Sinister Agent...

Did he tell you banana skins could be deployed within 45 minutes?

SHE said, and I quote: "Don't care, bananas are yuk." Young people
today are /so/ eloquent.

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
Stop it! You're scarin' the Hippo...

Dave Larrington said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

dkahn400 () said:

Dave Larrington said:

In article <[email hidden]>, POHB
([email hidden]) wrote:
> Yikes, but this story is 3 years old (16 January, 2003). I wonder how
> they're getting on?

So it is. I shall have Words with my Sinister Agent...

Did he tell you banana skins could be deployed within 45 minutes?

SHE said, and I quote: "Don't care, bananas are yuk." Young people
today are /so/ eloquent.

wasn't it a Carry On film where someone gave someone else a
bananananana and they bit into it without peeling it and spat it out in
disgust, "you're supposed to take the skin off" so they did, and ate
the skin, which tasted much nicer ;-)

I prefer potato skins to the insides.

Dave Larrington" wrote

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"Edible bananas may disappear within a decade if urgent action is not
taken to develop new varieties resistant to blight."

and POHB top-posted:

Quoted message said:

Yikes, but this story is 3 years old (16 January, 2003). I wonder how
they're getting on?

My first thought on seeing Dave's OP was "that sounds like rather an old
story".

"Edible banana" seems like something of an oxymoron to me, though.

--
Danny Colyer <URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/>
Subscribe to PlusNet <URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/referral/>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

in message <[email hidden]>, Danny

Colyer (') said:

Dave Larrington" wrote

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"Edible bananas may disappear within a decade if urgent action is not
taken to develop new varieties resistant to blight."

and POHB top-posted:

Quoted message said:

Yikes, but this story is 3 years old (16 January, 2003). I wonder how
they're getting on?

My first thought on seeing Dave's OP was "that sounds like rather an
old story".

"Edible banana" seems like something of an oxymoron to me, though.

There are many, many species of banana, of which only a few are normally
eaten by humans.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

Age equals angst multiplied by the speed of fright squared.
;; the Worlock

In article <[email hidden]>,
MartinM <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

wasn't it a Carry On film where someone gave someone else a
bananananana and they bit into it without peeling it and spat it out in
disgust, "you're supposed to take the skin off" so they did, and ate
the skin, which tasted much nicer ;-)

There's a joke about a nun, a housewife and a prostitute in a train (not
important other than to bring the three randomly together) and how each
eats a bananana. It's very visual so I can't explain it here.

--
congokid
Eating out in London? Read my tips...
http://congokid.com

Upon the miasma of midnight, a darkling spirit identified as Simon
Brooke <[email hidden]> gently breathed:

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Danny
Colyer ([email hidden]'😉 wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Dave Larrington" wrote

Quoted message said:

>"Edible bananas may disappear within a decade if urgent action is not
>taken to develop new varieties resistant to blight."

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

and POHB top-posted:

Quoted message said:

Yikes, but this story is 3 years old (16 January, 2003). I wonder how
they're getting on?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

My first thought on seeing Dave's OP was "that sounds like rather an
old story".

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"Edible banana" seems like something of an oxymoron to me, though.

Quoted message said:

There are many, many species of banana, of which only a few are normally
eaten by humans.

ISTR a "normal" banana has the mushy bit we eat filled with hard and
ineddible seeds. The ones without the seeds are a mutation and the only
way to "breed" the plants is to take cuttings, effectively making them
all genetic clones and hence all susceptible to the same diseases, hence
the blight problem.

Didn't there used to be dedicated banana vans in railway freight
service? Did these have any special arrangements for the protection of
the cargo from bumping, as bananas bruise easily?

--
- DJ Pyromancer, The Sunday Goth Social, Leeds. <http://www.sheepish.net>

Broadband, Dialup, Domains = <http://www.wytches.net> = The UK's Pagan ISP!
<http://www.inkubus-sukkubus.co.uk> <http://www.revival.stormshadow.com>

Pyromancer said:

Didn't there used to be dedicated banana vans in railway freight
service? Did these have any special arrangements for the protection of
the cargo from bumping, as bananas bruise easily?

http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=tbn:xpTtDBJg26DhWM:http://www.geocities.com/ferrobanana/images/FyffesHornby.jpg

there were certainly model ones (but there were aslo Polo mint,
Duracell etc so sot sure if they existed in real life)
remember the giraffe car?

Pyromancer said:

Didn't there used to be dedicated banana vans in railway freight
service?

There did - I've got an O-gauge model of a Great Eastern Railway one
somewhere.

Quoted message said:

Did these have any special arrangements for the protection of
the cargo from bumping, as bananas bruise easily?

From what I remember when I made the model (which must have been at
least 30 years ago) the difference between it and a normal van (apart
from being painted yellow) was that it had steam heating pipes. Summat
to do with ripening them on the journey, I s'pose.

--
Andrew

Naqerj said:

From what I remember when I made the model (which must have been at
least 30 years ago) the difference between it and a normal van (apart
from being painted yellow) was that it had steam heating pipes. Summat
to do with ripening them on the journey, I s'pose.

Indeed - the bananas were shipped unripe to keep them, er, unripe, and
were ripened on the train journey between port and big cities.

R.

MartinM said:

Pyromancer said:

Didn't there used to be dedicated banana vans in railway freight
service? Did these have any special arrangements for the protection of
the cargo from bumping, as bananas bruise easily?

http://www.geocities.com/ferrobanana/images/FyffesHornby.jpg

Quoted message said:

there were certainly model ones (but there were aslo Polo mint,
Duracell etc so sot sure if they existed in real life)

There were real ones but they weren't plastered with advertising. The
thing that was special about them was that they had heating.

This is only a model, but you get the idea.
http://www.the-hewsons.demon.co.uk/images/gwr10TfruitB.JPG
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

Naqerj said:

Pyromancer said:

Didn't there used to be dedicated banana vans in railway freight
service?

There did - I've got an O-gauge model of a Great Eastern Railway one
somewhere.

Quoted message said:

Did these have any special arrangements for the protection of
the cargo from bumping, as bananas bruise easily?

From what I remember when I made the model (which must have been at
least 30 years ago) the difference between it and a normal van (apart
from being painted yellow) was that it had steam heating pipes. Summat to
do with ripening them on the journey, I s'pose.

Presumably it's that bananas go seriously fluffy and nasty if they get
stored at below 10 C, rather than actually to ripen them.

--
Ambrose

Richard said:

Indeed - the bananas were shipped unripe to keep them, er, unripe, and
were ripened on the train journey between port and big cities.

And they taste wonderful when they're picked ripe (or riper). Luckily where
I live now I can get bananas, mangoes and loads of other fruit picked just
a couple of hundred miles up the road; lovely! Shame about the bloody
potatoes though 🙁

Graeme