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  1. Women, eh? They’re everywhere, bless ‘em! Even here, at the Afterword blog! But it’s understandable that their sweet voices aren’t much heard in the brawny testosterone roustabout that is the blog. Truth be told, they’re a little fearful of “joining in the fray”! Generally, they’re happier just “sitting back” and admiring what the menfolk get up to – and nothing wrong with that!

    But with this very natural (and becoming!) timidity in mind, every year I like to offer the distaff side of the parish their own (finger-waggle) “safe space” without “us blokes” butting in! So – come on, girls! Let Hubby get his own tea for once, and join in the fun! Poppy! Take off that housecoat and join the Afterword Hen Party! Fatima! Put down that knitting and have a natter! It’s “Liberty Hall” here – feel free to chat about anything that interests you as a woman – how to keep Hubby happy in bed (and the boudoir!) – the latest knitting patterns – household “tips” and hints – it’s YOUR thread, Ladies! Never mind if it’s “that time of the month” – it’s this time of the year!

    • Just to give your thread – and it is yours, gals! – a little help, here’s a topic for you to discuss!

      Your “fellah” wants to spend another night “down the boozer” with his mates! How do you react?

      – Offer to give him a lift there and back
      – Call up a girlfriend and put on an impromptu steamy lesbo show to keep him home?
      – Use the spare time to catch up on ironing his underpants?

      over to you, ladies!

  2. Oddly enough we’ve just had breakfast in bed and The Light said that this was the first time she had seen a man multitask, as I was holding a pastry over a plate with one hand while scrolling down my iPad with the other. I observed that if women would only learn to plan and prioritise they wouldn’t have to multitask, and might actually got stuff done.

  7. Good Lord! Talk about setting yourself up for an epic, bone splintering fail. What, in Gods name makes you think that any sane woman would come within a million miles of this place? I’ve been lurking for years, and can honestly only remember two women ever contributing anything. Hannah, who used to bake cakes for the fucking “mingles”or something, and tragically some bird who teasingly posted a photo of herself just after getting out of bed. This predictably led to the site going into meltdown and some deluded sad sack actually begging her to ” please go out with me”. Women want real men. Not some pseudo intellectual member of the Goombay Dance Band. And lets face it, even when slightly macho things are discussed on here like the Premier League, it comes across like Charles Hawtrey reading the classified results. Pathetic!

  8. I don’t mean to be a Karma pedant, but reincarnationally speaking, this thread should be open to all as in previous lives and those yet to come, we experience the spectra of human gender as part of our spiritual growth and development, and in regards to said previous incarnations, we maintain these gender experiences in our psychic field, and thus we can all contribute if we can but tap our Akashic data.

    ( Speaking as a former Druidess and Gold Rush Brothel Madam).

  11. I will do no such thing. I spent hours chanting incantations as I daubed erotic occult woad sigils on my man totem. Everything is in alignment dude.

  12. No, seriously, this is beginning to piss me off just a little tiny bit. You make an effort to be nice. You throw some scatter cushions around and light a few scented candles. You say – ever so nicely – Come on in, pet! Welcome to your world! What you wearin’? You show some fuckin’ interest in them, and you get the big brush-off. One single comment from minibreakfast. Gutted is the word that springs to my mind at least. I’m beginning to think they just don’t deserve us, that’s what I’m beginning to think. Look – these fuckin’ curtains with flowers I put up. Makes me fuckin’ cry, it does.

        • And I always forget he was taller than the others.

          To be fair, he was normally sitting down.

          If this scintillating comment doesn’t bring the chicks flocking to this thread, my boaby’s a Davey lamp.

              • Thanks for that. It’s obvious, but I never knew that before.

                Founded in Luton in 1905, Commer became part of the Humber company in the 20s and then the Rootes Group in the 30s.

                Commer vehicles were rebadged Dodge in the 70s, following a buyout by Chrysler.

                The Commer name ceased to exist in 1979 after Peugeot purchased Chrysler Europe.

                If that doesn’t get the girls hot and bothered I don’t know what will.

                • If memory serves, Johnny, Commer was a British manufacturer of commercial vehicles which existed from 1905 until 1979. The company started as the Commercial Car Company (CCC) in Lavender Hill, South London where it produced its first truck, a 3 ton RC type in 1907. A couple of years later the first bus was produced and from there the range of vehicles grew to include car derived vans, light vans, medium to heavy commercial trucks and buses and military vehicles. The Commer brand was exported widely. Commer designed and built its own diesel engine (TS3) for its heavy commercial vehicles and these are much sought after by collectors today.

                  With the outbreak WWI the Commer Factory factory turned its attention to the manufacture of military vehicles for the British Army producing over 3000 vehicles by the time the war ended. Commer struggled in post war Britain and in 1926, having gone into receivership several times, was acquired by the Humber group which can be dated back to 1868 when the company’s founder, Thomas Humber, operated a bicycle factory. In 1931, Humber in turn was taken over by the Rootes Group.

                  And get this, girls! The Rootes Group had been founded by William Rootes (later Sir William) in Kent but had moved to moved to Maidstone prior to WWI. During this war Rootes repaired and rebuilt aeroplane engines. By 1924 Rootes were the largest car and truck distributor in the United Kingdom having acquired many other companies including Hillman, Hummer, Talbot, Sunbeam, Minx Alpine and Karrier Hillman was intended to be the basic brand, Singer slightly more upmarket, Sunbeam the sports brand and Humber the luxury models. Commer and Karrier were the commercial vehicle brands, with Commer initially manufacturing light vans and the Karrier badge appearing on heavy vans and light duty trucks. Karrier can be traced back to Clayton and Company, a 1904 company that started making Karrier cars. In 1920 changed the company name to Karrier Motors Ltd Commer acquired Karrier as part of Rootes acquisition of Karrier in 1934. As uncanny as the Rootes group was for picking winners they had a lapse in judgement when visiting Germany’s Volkswagon plant and determined the beetle would have little success as a small car.

                  Commer, like all other British manufacturers made a full range of military vehicles for the war effort. Some models were still in use by the British Forces up until 1980. British comedian Frank Muir who served in the British Army is reported to have commented famously “The Commer has come to a full stop” when reporting a Commer truck broken down on the roadside! What the actual fuck, right!

                  The Superpoise range was introduced in 1939 and had semi-forward and full-forward control options. They were 1½ to 6 tons with either a 6 cylinder petrol or Perkins diesel engine. A new Superpoise range was introduced in 1955 with 2 ton to 5 ton payloads.

                  In the late 1950s and 60s, some Karrier vehicles were fitted with the iconic Rootes TS3 two-stroke opposed piston diesel engine as fitted in Commers commercial trucks. During the 1970s the Rootes Group was taken over by Chrysler Europe and the Commer name was replaced by Dodge. Peugeot then purchased Chrysler Europe in 1978 and the Commer factory was run in partnership with Renault’s truck division. It continued to produce the Dodge commercial truck range fotr a while but eventually they ceased production and mainstream Renault trucks and buses went into full-time production in the early 1990s.

                  It gets better: many Commer vans and trucks are noted for being fitted with the Rootes TS3 engine, a two-stroke diesel three-cylinder horizontally-opposed piston engine which came to be known as the ‘Commer Knocker’ due to the unique knocking sound it produced. Later Commer vehicles came with Perkins and Cummins diesel engines, and less commonly Mercedes diesel engines.

                  Commer produced the Commando bus just after WW2, and the Avenger on 28 February 1948, deploying the TS3 engine in the Avenger in 1954.

                  Commer became known in later years as a maker of vans for the British Post Office, in particular the Commer FC which was introduced in 1960 with an assortment of body styles. After both engine and interior upgrades it was renamed the PB in 1967 and the SpaceVan in 1974 afterwhich it was then sold as Dodge or Fargo until 1976. Commer and Fargo names were dropped from the range the same year.

                  The Commer TS3 diesel engine was specifically designed by the Rootes group for use in Commer trucks during the 1950s and 1960s. It had started its development with Tilling-Stevens who had based it’s design on a Sulzer Brothers concept. It didn’t however become a reality until it went into production with the Rootes Group when they bought out Tilling-Stevens in 1950 (hence the TS in the name). Tilling Stevens had been a builder of petrol electric transmissions and automobiles. Sulzer is a Swiss mechanical engineering firm with its beginnings in 1775. Rudolf Diesel worked for them in the 1890s and Sulzer built its first engine in 1898. Today Sulzer is a publicly traded company with international subsidiaries with its shares listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange – that’s right, that bunch of Swiss cunts.

                  Released in 1954 the two stroke compression – ignition TS3 was the first diesel engine used by Rootes Group and operated quite differently from other diesel engines of the day. The 3.25 litre engine developed 90hp which was equivalent to contemporary four-stroke diesel engines of more than twice that capacity. The engine was used in industrial applications as well as in Commer commercial vehicles. Production of the TS3 ceased in 1968 after the Chrysler acquisition.

                  It was unusual in being an opposed piston engine, an engine where each horizontal cylinder contains two pistons, one at each end, that move in opposition to each other. Both sets of pistons drive a single crankshaft whereas most opposed piston engines have a separate crankshaft at each end of the cylinder. It was learning that the TS3 engine used a single crankshaft beneath the cylinders, each piston driving it through a connecting rod, a rocker bellcrank and a second connecting rod that saved my life after my fourth wife left me. The crankshaft had six crankpins and there were six rockers. The engines gained a reputation for good performance but the quill shaft was somewhat prone to breaking if over-worked. As the horizontal cylinders were lower than a vertical engine, the engine was mounted beneath the floor of the cab and the need for a bonnet or hood was removed. Sorry – I’m crying again. Fuck it.

                  The 3.25 litre engine developed 90 hp (67 kW), equivalent to contemporary 4-stroke diesel engines of more than twice the capacity.

                  And hey – get this: the legendary Commer is one of the unsung heroes of the Australian road transport industry. It was such a common sight on Australian roads it was hardly given a thought, that is, if it were not for the famous knocking sound that made it stand out from the rest. The distinct knocking sound that could be heard for miles giving the truck its famous ‘Knockers’ nickname. The first Commer in Australia were not very successful and even the “refined” (pardon my mirth, ladies) version released in 1953 caused problems for operators. The highways at the time were little more than narrow winding bush tracks and the Commer was renowned for its habit of de-coking, or melting its pistons as it struggled to complete the task at hand.

                  Drivers of Commers had to have a fairly extensive mechanical background to keep them going. However, many old timers today tip their hat to the Commer Knocker. Its’ work in the Australian outback was more arduous than the Commer had been built for. The more conventional diesel Perkins engine eventually replaced the Commer engine as the preferred option for power. Some operators, such as Norm Elliott of Benalla, Victoria, fitted a V8 Perkins with a V-belt bogie drive. This allowed for a bigger payload and maximum use of the extra power. The demise of the Commer Knocker in the 1970s marked the end of an era in Australia’s road transport history. Fuck it. Nobody cares. Kids today? They don’t want to know.

  14. Excuse me for being late, but I actually spent the morning swooning at a picture of Gregg Allman while doing some stitching (can’t someone invent “spaghetti” straps that can actually take some pressure…?).
    Just want to say that I would never use a hoover with technology newer than 1979.

    Thank you.

  19. Well, I can’t really say I’m looking forward to the 4th Annual Ladies Only thread.
    Been a bit of a disaster all round, I’d venture. My theory is that the site is infested by too many weedy, wet noodle, non-dancing, metrosexual beta males. All very sexually non-threatening and, therefore, very uninteresting to hot women. Poor show, chaps. You’re an absolute shower.

  20. In spite of all the h8rz, the moaners and the whiners, I think this thread has been a modest success. There’s been enthusiastic support from some of the ladies – and minibreakfast – and if it hasn’t exactly been the lesbo hot tub “womens’ issues for women” forum I’d hoped for, we must bear in mind that not every woman wants to be “freed” from looking after her man! So – to all the naysayers out there – remember! The lasses who didn’t find time to contribute are too busy going down the offie to get another six-pack for their fella, or repainting his man-cave in matt black, or maybe just at the gym, keeping trim for the man in their life!

      • That could be it. In a private email, Poppy thanks me for the information about Commer (Johnny and me, above), which she’s learning by heart for her Salad Club lunch next week. So there’s that.

        Look! A plane!

              • If I remember correctly, Johnny, Sydney S. Guy registered Guy Motors Limited on Saturday 30 May 1914, the same day he departed his position as Works Manager at the Wolverhampton company, Sunbeam, hounded from his position by unsubstantiated allegations of Satanism. A factory was built on the site at Fallings Park, Wolverhampton.[1] and by September 1914 production was underway on the newly designed 30cwt lorry. This employed a much lighter form of pressed steel frame, unlike the more commonly used heavy rolled steel channel frames of the time. This made the vehicle able to cross difficult terrain and a 14-seat poster bus built based on the design was used for crossing the Scottish Highlands, which was a waste of fucking time.

                In 1915 Guy came under control of the Ministry of Munitions, Sir Petey Poncikins, and production was focused on the war effort. The factory continued to produce 3,000cwt lorries which were supplied to Britain’s allies in the First World War. They also produced Twat and Minge radial aircraft engines, Fruity truck engines and Cockthrob gearboxes as well as being the country’s largest maker of depth charge lunchboxes. For their efforts during the war Guy received a pen and pencil set from William “Missy” Weir, Secretary of State for Air. Due to orders from the ministry Guy prospered during the war, expanding its factory and became an established name in British manufacturing. Big fucking deal at the time.

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