Cold Ale - The Blokes' Thread! [Archive] - Page 25

MarkBastable

07-19-2012, 02:37 AM

How about, Insouciance. That’d be a good title. It’s a ten-dollar word and appropriately pretentious.

This is very odd. On another forum, an American made exactly this point about exactly this word - that it was pretentious - though I think they valued it at five bucks. Other Americans agreed. And all the Brits went, "Huh? I mean, not a word that's going to turn up in a Justin Bieber song, admittedly - but certanly not unusual."

As the Yanks were well-read and the Brits were unpretentious, and all of them were in love with the English language, I sort of concluded that the word just isn't used much in the States.

But then the question became, "Why does this word provoke such a scornful reaction when so many other little-used words don't?"

And I think it might be because it sounds a bit French. And I have actually heard an American pronounce it as if it were very recently French, with a nasal '-ance'.

Now that's pretentious.

Gilliatt Gurgle

07-19-2012, 11:37 PM

I had to look it up and listen to a recorded pronunciation.
The voice sounded like a pretentious Yank and I'm guessing he was paid about ten bucks by M Webster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbk81X6WHA4

.

Sancho

07-20-2012, 12:35 AM

This is very odd. On another forum, an American made exactly this point about exactly this word - that it was pretentious - though I think they valued it at five bucks. Other Americans agreed. And all the Brits went, "Huh? I mean, not a word that's going to turn up in a Justin Bieber song, admittedly - but certanly not unusual."

As the Yanks were well-read and the Brits were unpretentious, and all of them were in love with the English language, I sort of concluded that the word just isn't used much in the States.

But then the question became, "Why does this word provoke such a scornful reaction when so many other little-used words don't?"

And I think it might be because it sounds a bit French. And I have actually heard an American pronounce it as if it were very recently French, with a nasal '-ance'.

Now that's pretentious.

Insouciance…Insouciance…Insouciance, Just the sound of it, the way it rolls off my tongue, makes me want to tilt my head slightly back, put my eyelids at half-mast, swirl my snifter of cognac, and look right down the ridge of my nose at whoever it is I’m talking to. Ah-hem, pah-don moi, whomever.

I have no idea why that word evokes such a sharply negative reaction when it falls on American ears, and I can’t speak for all of them, but when it enters one of the two attached to my head, my first reaction is usually: Insouciance!? Who the hell’re you trying to impress?

Ah well, I may have been hasty in my judgment. I’ll try harder to like the word. And you’re probably right: it’s only a 5-dollar word. I’m willing to take my change in shillings. I have always thought of it as a fun word if artfully delivered by a precocious youth. Speaking of which, I’m not all that familiar with his music, but I’m sure The Bieb’ made a wise business decision by not using it in a lyric. Besides, I think he’s Canadian, and while Canada is in North America, I’ve found that the people there prefer to be called Canadians rather than North Americans. I mean, back in 1776 we did give them the option to throw in with us and bail on the crown, but they had a loyalty streak a mile wide. Also the cooler clime’ up there doesn’t lend itself to the hot-headedness we have down south, I think.

Whoa, veered off track there.

You and I have chatted before about tacking on an overly French pronunciation to an Anglicized French word (homage, I think), and I know your feelings on the subject. I tried to tune in to how much that happens around here, and I’ve concluded: not much. I have noticed more and more people pronouncing croissant qua-son rather than cra-sant. But around my house, given half a chance, we’ll cut that sucker in two and slap some meat and cheese between the slices, and call it a Cra-sand-wich, not a Qua-son-wotch.

Anyway, I think I tend to lean away from French pronunciation. A couple of months ago I was standing in a customs line (queue) behind an Air France Flight Crew. So naturally I’m trying to chat up the Stew’s. They would visibly cringe every time I said 'Air France' (rhymes with their pants). They, of course, said 'Air Fronce' (rhymes with bare schwance). What fun. I think the girls kind of liked me.

But lately I am hearing more people using Latin American Spanish pronunciation for names and places. I know a woman named: Maria Cecilia Flavianna Garcia de la Rosa. Go ahead, try it. It’s fun to say. Roll those Rs.

MarkBastable

07-20-2012, 03:04 AM

It's fine. I suspect your attitude to the use of words is much the same as mine and everyone else's. To wit....

Anyone who uses a word I don't like is a pretentious arse.
And anyone who doesn't like a word I use is an illiterate pig.

prendrelemick

07-20-2012, 03:11 AM

Here's one Justin might like to cover .

Girl with your insouciance
Girl you got such confidence
(You say that with a french nuance)
Let us go upon Vacance
we can fly upon Air Fronce.
You'll get to laugh at my bare schwance.
So au revoir et bon, bon chance.

Sancho

07-20-2012, 10:28 AM

Mick, I actually laughed out loud when I read your song lyric. Not the throw-away electronic ‘lol’ but the real deal. Also I may have sprayed a little coffee on my keyboard.

It's fine. I suspect your attitude to the use of words is much the same as mine and everyone else's. To wit....

Anyone who uses a word I don't like is a pretentious arse.
And anyone who doesn't like a word I use is an illiterate pig.

Ha Ha. It’s all perspectival, eh? It reminded me of this quip by George Carlin:

Have you ever noticed that when you're drivin', anyone goin' slower than you is an idiot? And anyone goin' faster than you is a maniac?

Since I’m on it, here’s more Carlin on driving:

Here's one of those things you have to do every time you drive, especially if you're in a hurry. It happens at you approach a red light, and you find several lanes of cars ahead of you. As you roll up to the pack, you have to decide which lane to get into. You have to guess which looks like a good bet to take off quickly, so you can move out fast when the light turns green. With half a block to go you have to decide who's going to be the really fast ***hole in this group up ahead.

Forget the Volvo, she's listening to public radio, and drives the way she lives - with fear and caution. You'll want to avoid that Toyota with the fish symbol; Christians drive as though Jesus himself was a traffic cop. And, by all means, ignore the Lexus with the heavily made-up, bejeweled pig woman. She has the reflexes of an aging panda.
Ahhhhh! Here's the correct machine to get behind: a Camaro with four different shades of primer paint and a bumper sticker that says "I date my sister." This guy's a real risk-taker; full of crank, and on his way to an AC/DC concert. You'll be home before you know it.

prendrelemick

07-21-2012, 03:15 AM

You're preaching to the faithful. Queueing and the shrewd assesment of queues is what we Brits do best.

Paulclem

07-22-2012, 04:45 PM

I heard a really interesting story yesterday down at the allotment. There's an old lady who comes in each week for 6 eggs - we get them from a nearby farm. We also sell honey produced by an apiarist who keeps the bees on the allotment. As she saw the honey she said her Grandad had been a beekeeper, and had lived for over 100 years. She then went on to tell me how he made the wicker hives himself, and kept to the country tradition of telling the bees if anyone had died, got married etc. I'd never heard of this, and so I just looked it up.

http://tribes.tribe.net/b9b544af-89e5-4aa7-8dec-c917f83c3bd7/thread/4b0c62fc-0f5d-449a-8b6a-12c9767accfe

http://www.dailygrail.com/blogs/shadow/2005/7/Telling-Bees

Anyway, she went on to tell me that on the day her Grandfather died, all the bees left the hives and went onto the thatch. They returned to the hives after he had died.

Oddly enough, I saw my first ever swarm today. My mate on the committee showed me where they were, and then went off to phone the beekeeper.

Paulclem

07-23-2012, 05:46 PM

Last couple of days at work before the summer hols.

So I've got my list... from the missus... of the things that need doing. I might also be able to get on top of the weeds for the first time this ... ever. Top of the list is the paintwork - not too bad. Then there's filling in the holes made by the old uncle's extra heavy shelving that came down last week. Good job it was in the night. It was right over where she sits. I might need re-papering...gah.

Then there's the painting the conservatory, and getting more gravel for the teeny garden we have out front. Gravelling is ok, but getting it back from B&Q is the hardest work. I have a sack truck, but still.

Then there'll be the weeds that will have sprung up again. And the grass out the back of course.

And then there's that little list of not quite jobs that need doing - fixing a handle, or clearing a cupboard, or emptying the drawer so that you can get more stuff into it again....

I might go for a summer job if there are any...

Gilliatt Gurgle

07-23-2012, 11:28 PM

...Ha Ha. It’s all perspectival, eh? It reminded me of this quip by George Carlin...

Since I’m on it, here’s more Carlin on driving...

You're preaching to the faithful. Queueing and the shrewd assesment of queues is what we Brits do best.

The queue subject brought to mind the Public Nudity thread and this video courtesy of Emil...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0A9-oUoMug

I heard a really interesting story yesterday down at the allotment. There's an old lady who comes in each week for 6 eggs - we get them from a nearby farm. We also sell honey produced by an apiarist who keeps the bees on the allotment. As she saw the honey she said her Grandad had been a beekeeper, and had lived for over 100 years. She then went on to tell me how he made the wicker hives himself, and kept to the country tradition of telling the bees if anyone had died, got married etc. I'd never heard of this, and so I just looked it up.
...

...summer hols.

...Then there's filling in the holes made by the old uncle's extra heavy shelving that came down last week. Good job it was in the night. It was right over where she sits. I might need re-papering...gah....

Summers hols ?

anyhow, the bee articles were interesting. The Swiss milk story was quite strange and I enjoyed the part where the hive rotated.

Thanks for the allotment updates.

Here we are under the typical high pressure dome that settles in each summer, allowing temps to rise and lawns to die.

prendrelemick

07-25-2012, 02:09 AM

Paulclem

07-25-2012, 04:07 AM

Summers hols ?

Here we are under the typical high pressure dome that settles in each summer, allowing temps to rise and lawns to die.

Summer hols - summer holidays. Today might be my last day at work for this academic year - huzzah.

Our lawns are growing like the clappers due to the wettest June and July on record. My weeds are also doing well, though the veg is not so good as the cloud has obscured the rain for a lot of the time.

At the moment it's very hot, but rain is again forecast for the weekend. I do prefer it cooler.

Gilliatt Gurgle

07-25-2012, 11:28 PM

The juggernaut of the English Cricket team, that has been rolling along sweeping all aside and crushing those who stood in its way, an unstoppable force, charged with momentum and potential - Hurtled down upon the South Africans where the wheels fell off, the head lights cracked and the engine stalled.

The South African's must be riding on Ernie Els coat tails following his win at the British Open.

Summer hols - summer holidays. Today might be my last day at work for this academic year - huzzah.

Our lawns are growing like the clappers due to the wettest June and July on record. My weeds are also doing well, though the veg is not so good as the cloud has obscured the rain for a lot of the time.

At the moment it's very hot, but rain is again forecast for the weekend. I do prefer it cooler.

Wish we could get some of that wet over here. I'm guessing the cooler weather is good for the broccoli. Are you growing broccoli at this time?

random closing video...

Mae West singing a Doors song - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGNOwCzpq3E

.

prendrelemick

07-26-2012, 02:59 AM

Thanks for the video. Mae was in some ways a female version of Jim.

The most unlikely cover I ever heard was The Swingle Singers doing Led Zep's Whole Lotta Love. Unfortunately it seems no one has put it on Utube.

Meanwhile the Olympics have started with a bit of flag swapping japery. I bet the North Koreans are still laughing.

soundofmusic

07-26-2012, 03:06 AM

prendrelemick

07-26-2012, 03:32 AM

Of all the bars in all the world...

How ya doin Sounds?

Yes, things have changed around here. Carrot juice?

Paulclem

07-26-2012, 03:53 AM

MarkBastable

07-26-2012, 05:18 AM

I see Mark's finally posted his own face...good show, Mark

Actually, the previous one was my own face too. I've always looked good in make-up.

prendrelemick

07-26-2012, 08:16 AM

Rolf Harris - Stairway to Heaven.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot8KBcPzAsw

soundofmusic

07-26-2012, 11:18 PM

Of all the bars in all the world...

How ya doin Sounds?

Yes, things have changed around here. Carrot juice?

Ah, but you knew I would have to come back here; all the other bars meant nothing to me....Of course, Carrot juice? Forgive them Lord, they know not what they do:cryin:

Hi Sounds, how's it going?

I was looking for Griff and Jones version of Purple Haze done with a synthesizer.

Hey Paul, I've been in a bit of a haze myself; don't know if I ran into a griff; though it is likely there was a Jones or two.

Actually, the previous one was my own face too. I've always looked good in make-up.

Well, you look great out of makeup too, Mark.

Rolf Harris - Stairway to Heaven.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot8KBcPzAsw

Gracious, I dont quite remember Stairway to Heaven sounding like that...and that is the biggest gourd I've seen in a while; you could feed the whole neighborhood with that:smilielol5:

Gilliatt Gurgle

07-27-2012, 05:28 PM

Okay, I see the whole world has went mad since I've been here...where are all the women? Where's the booze?

I see Mark's finally posted his own face...good show, Mark; I always say if you look good, you should show it...me on the other hand, I think I'll keep my double chins to myself. ...

Welcome back Sounds! You're a sight for sore eyes. We're still nursing the bottle, but the women have all gone no thanks to the Blue Hair ladies guild that meets next door.
We sure had us some good times during the pre code years didn't we...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4_R5cQVU1o&feature=relmfu

.

prendrelemick

07-29-2012, 07:23 AM

In order to celebrate our reputed male shallowness whilst following the Olympics, I thought the Turkish flag bearer was tres gorgeous.

Paulclem

07-29-2012, 06:46 PM

I want one of these for the bike.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFoUL_bIotw

And one of these.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRUX9Ouqfss

soundofmusic

08-01-2012, 02:44 AM

Welcome back Sounds! You're a sight for sore eyes. We're still nursing the bottle, but the women have all gone no thanks to the Blue Hair ladies guild that meets next door.
We sure had us some good times during the pre code years didn't we...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4_R5cQVU1o&feature=relmfu

.

Thanks Gilliatt...ah, those were the days; I'll have to check out the blue haired ladies guild, I wonder if they sponser trips to Chippendales.
Wow, where did you find that video...Harlow right? Of course, I might be tempted to call Jimmy Cagney in to put a grapefruit in her mug if she sang that song to me haha

In order to celebrate our reputed male shallowness whilst following the Olympics, I thought the Turkish flag bearer was tres gorgeous.

I liked your little Samoan dude...though I would have liked him better in bicycle shorts.

I want one of these for the bike.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFoUL_bIotw

And one of these.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRUX9Ouqfss

I want this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DbOS1J6kFM

Paulclem

08-01-2012, 06:10 PM

That's a good one.

I'm enjotying the Olympics. Some great competition, and here in Coventry we're hosting some of the footbal. The town centre has been buzzing in a very pleasant way today. Lots of tourists, and the local council has made a good effort to clean up and improve the centre, and get some markets in to fill the squares.

I was just passing the women's rowing today on the big TV in town, and westopped to watch them win it. The crowd was really good and applauded the team. It was very nice.

prendrelemick

08-02-2012, 02:28 AM

My fear that the rain would spoil the spectacle of the beach volleyball was quite unfounded.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k78/prendrelemick/olympic-babes-09834.jpg

Gilliatt Gurgle

08-02-2012, 07:35 AM

I'm happy for you, I knew you were frettin over that for some time.

Rechecking the schedule, we have women's trampoline on the 4th and team synchronised swimming starting on the 9th.

prendrelemick

08-02-2012, 12:35 PM

Course, it's Jess Ennis I'm really looking forwards to seeing, that girl's stomach is a wonder to behold.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k78/prendrelemick/3498.jpg

Gilliatt Gurgle

08-03-2012, 10:16 PM

Course, it's Jess Ennis I'm really looking forwards to seeing, that girl's stomach is a wonder to behold.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k78/prendrelemick/3498.jpg

Nice six pack she's got there!

http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Misc%20Album/Sixpackabbs.jpg

btw-sounds like Jess has a great start

.

prendrelemick

08-06-2012, 02:41 PM

It seems that the Dutch have selected a full squad of supermodels for their womens hockey team. It's indecent how attractive they are.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k78/prendrelemick/01afc310b5928aa1f39d933f34811c2e.jpg

Just as pleasingly they can play a bit too. I only wonder where they find the time to practice between all those FHM photoshoots .

Mrs P disagrees and reckons the best looking team are the these obviously miss-named coxless fours.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k78/prendrelemick/article_206327fd0dd306df_1344095540_9j-4aaqsk.jpg

LitNetIsGreat

08-06-2012, 05:26 PM

Damn, did I miss those beach volleyball and the Dutch Hockey games?

Mutatis-Mutandis

08-06-2012, 05:27 PM

I rarely find Olympic women attractive (those field hockey Dutch women being an exception). They're too muscle-y, it erases all curves. That chick,s stomach above just looks weird to me. The gymnasts all have these weird Hulk-like necks. Most of the track and field and the ever popular beach volleyball players look too mannish.

Paulclem

08-06-2012, 05:49 PM

[QUOTE=prendrelemick;1160283]

Mrs P disagrees and reckons the best looking team are the these obviously miss-named coxless fours.

Misnamed coxless fours - classic line.

I spent four hours in the bank today ... I know,,,, and there wasn't even a hold up! Still I have some new lifecover...

I did notice in the wall upstairs a big red neon "RAID" sign which I've never noticed before. It does set the imagination going when you're waiting around. Do they still say "OK this is a stickup", or "Everybody on the floor... move!" anymore? I didn't like to ask the nice assistant in case she thought I was preparing a script for future use. I wonder what the current "bandit etiquette" is?

prendrelemick

08-07-2012, 02:31 AM

The bandits have been welcomed in, given jobs and are now running the banks.

Paulclem

08-07-2012, 08:33 PM

So bandit etiquette woud now go something like:

"What can I do for you today Sir?"

I was in there again today - the bank, (I'm not suddenly hooked, I was returning signatures). I asked whether they thought my wife would be suspicious if I suggested her going on the life policy at a later date. I think the answer was an unverbalised:

"Wha' choo talkin' 'bout, fool?"

Silas Thorne

08-07-2012, 08:50 PM

prendrelemick

08-09-2012, 02:49 AM

You could become an MP with suchlike peccadilloes.

Gilliatt Gurgle

08-11-2012, 04:52 PM

bump - We were about to fall off the front page.

Really? I'm attracted to fine-boned beauties, but also to solid 'I can snap you over these smooth legs' women. :D

D**n, your leg snapping comment just made me realize I missed the women's wrestling!
Did anyone catch that? any wardrobe malfunctions?
I was able to watch a bit of women's tarmpoline and synchronised swimming though -I'd like to be tossed in the middle of that.

LitNetIsGreat

08-11-2012, 05:34 PM

Oh I can't tell you how good my Golden Hen is.:cheers2: That's after a few days flirting with other birds and 3 sets of tennis followed by a bike up the hill, smashing!

prendrelemick

08-11-2012, 06:01 PM

I had a pint of Terrier last night, I hadn't done owt to deserve it - I hadn't been flirting with a dog or anything- but it still slpped down well.

LitNetIsGreat

08-11-2012, 06:41 PM

Good man. I’ve not had much experience in the dog department, but I wish you luck – I prefer the golden birds if I can get my hands on them.

I certainly feel I deserve it though, as yesterday I was sat on Devonshire Green eating raspberries in the sun. Today I laboured in my deckchair finishing off my delightful Three Men in a Boat. Life is a bastard.

Now I am conversing with a Mr Wainwright having just finished off two small pizzas, don't worry I'm biking in the Peaks tomorrow so I'll burn it off up the hills.:) (And down them into Castleton for a pint of course.)

Paulclem

08-11-2012, 06:49 PM

I had a pint of Terrier last night, I hadn't done owt to deserve it - I hadn't been flirting with a dog or anything- but it still slpped down well.

I tried a local Tetleys last week, as you asked. It tasted as I remember, but the body of it was quite flat, unlike a hand pumped version.

prendrelemick

08-12-2012, 03:13 AM

NOooo a flat Tetleys that's terrible ! I had a proper one at Odsal on sunday, it was lovely, downwards bubbles and everything.

Neely. Is that the famous Mr Wainwright? Are you planning a sojourn in The Lakes?

MarkBastable

08-12-2012, 08:15 AM

I was able to watch a bit of women's tarmpoline and synchronised swimming though -I'd like to be tossed in the middle of that.

If any Brit takes advantage of this to make a smutty gag, I shall be very, very disappointed.

Gilliatt Gurgle

08-12-2012, 09:36 AM

They won’t and I must say I’m proud of them for it. Oh sure, they noticed it left there on the bar like a page torn from 50 Shades of Grey stained with the tears of an old golden hen, but they only gave it a brief glance, shrugged their shoulders and immediately returned to that which is appropriate for a Brit; the discussion of ale.

prendrelemick

08-12-2012, 05:44 PM

I saw a perseid tonight.

Paulclem

08-12-2012, 07:45 PM

I saw a perseid tonight.

A what?

I saw a Kingfisher yesterday. Fantastic blue. We have a brook near to us which runs through green belt land with trees and undergrowth. It's fantastic to see one here.

Gilliatt Gurgle

08-12-2012, 10:19 PM

A what?

I saw a Kingfisher yesterday. Fantastic blue. We have a brook near to us which runs through green belt land with trees and undergrowth. It's fantastic to see one here.

Here you go Paul..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseids

The next few nights are peak viewing if you have clear skies.
Grab a lawn chair, blanket and flask, lay back and enjoy the show.

.

prendrelemick

08-13-2012, 10:36 AM

If any Brit takes advantage of this to make a smutty gag, I shall be very, very disappointed.

It did put me in mind of spawning salmon.

Paulclem

08-13-2012, 03:52 PM

Here you go Paul..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseids

The next few nights are peak viewing if you have clear skies.
Grab a lawn chair, blanket and flask, lay back and enjoy the show.

.

Thanks Gil. My knowledge has increased. :D

New washer came today. The door on the old one packed up, which is annoying as the engine etc has worked brilliantly for the six years we've had it. I originally ordered one from Argos, but they could have taken up to 35! days to deliver. Mrs Paulclem nearly had a fit at the prospect of going down to the brook every day and slapping the whites on the stones.

So we cancelled that one and ordered one online on Friday. It came today - free delivery. Brilliant.

MarkBastable

08-13-2012, 04:15 PM

New washer came today. The door on the old one packed up, which is annoying as the engine etc has worked brilliantly for the six years we've had it. I originally ordered one from Argos, but they could have taken up to 35! days to deliver. Mrs Paulclem nearly had a fit at the prospect of going down to the brook every day and slapping the whites on the stones.

So we cancelled that one and ordered one online on Friday. It came today - free delivery. Brilliant.

It's a roller-$^$*ing-coaster, your life, isn't it? Honestly, you and MrsP pack more thrills into a lifetime than most people are fortunate enough to experience in a fortnight.

(Incidentally, I have never seen a kingfisher. I wasn't entirely sure that they weren't mythical, like unicorns and Joan the Wad and Judas Priest fans.)

Paulclem

08-13-2012, 04:50 PM

It's a roller-$^$*ing-coaster, your life, isn't it? Honestly, you and MrsP pack more thrills into a lifetime than most people are fortunate enough to experience in a fortnight.

(Incidentally, I have never seen a kingfisher. I wasn't entirely sure that they weren't mythical, like unicorns and Joan the Wad and Judas Priest fans.)

:D

I know. It's been a slow week. Next week - painting the conservatory and digging the allotment - again.

Paulclem

08-13-2012, 04:59 PM

There's been a lot of of snobbery on the Olympic Mania thread. I suppose Emil's initial tone set the pace, but there's no end of posters who want to have a go at the lower end of the cultural spectrum.

I was going to give a long, frank and detailed explanation of what educational opportunities existed in Yorkshire in the 60s and 70s - pointing out where any of us could have caught the royal Ballet and opera - if we could have afforded it.

Mick said it all when he comented "What education?".

So I've come down to the club for a quiet pear cider and to declare that I've never liked ballet or opera, and I don't feel left out by the fact. :D

prendrelemick

08-14-2012, 04:01 AM

I'll get that Paul, and the same for myself, (or should that be me or I - I was never taught grammer) please Parker.

The thing that annoys me is the assumption that I don't like "high" art because I'm ignorant of it, rather than because it is not to my taste.

The mantra "I know what I like" is always ridiculed by cultural highbrows and called ignorance simply because they have no answer to it.

Here you go Paul..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseids

The next few nights are peak viewing if you have clear skies.
Grab a lawn chair, blanket and flask, lay back and enjoy the show.

.

Excellent - A Gibbous Moon - sounds so poetical.

Paulclem

08-14-2012, 05:27 AM

I'll get that Paul, and the same for myself, (or should that be me or I - I was never taught grammer) please Parker.

The thing that annoys me is the assumption that I don't like "high" art because I'm ignorant of it, rather than because it is not to my taste.

The mantra "I know what I like" is always ridiculed by cultural highbrows and called ignorance simply because they have no answer to it.

Cheers. Most welcome.

I agree. Annoying it is. At least I don't have to pretend to appreciate anything.

I wasn't taught grammar either. I learnt it on the job as a teacher.

MarkBastable

08-14-2012, 06:19 AM

I think that in order to appreciate any art form, you have to understand its conventions and forms - the context in which it works - because all art is created in the tension between inspiration and form.

And to understand that stuff, you have to put the work in. So to 'get' ballet, you have to know enough about what all those moves 'mean' and how they ought to be done, and whether they are being done well.

And you're only going to put that work in if there's something that grabs you when you first encounter it. Me, I've never been in the least grabbed by ballet - or, actually, by any kind of dance. So I'm not prepared to put the work in - there are other things I'd rather do with my time. This is not to say that ballet is pointless or - actually - that it's more 'highbrow' than any other artform. It just means that there's nothing in it that appeals intrinsically to me.

The problem with Emil's position is that if, as he suggests, all rock music is rubbish, he has to come up with an explanation as to why a lot of highly-intelligent, articulate and art-savvy people like it so much and find value in it. His usual explanation is that we've all been brainwashed by the mass media and we're gullible victims of a huge scam. I don't think that's so - but then, if I were a brainwashed dupe, I would say that, wouldn't I?

I thought of Emil, actually, while I was watching the closing ceremony, and I thought, "The likes of Emil won't understand this at all - and given the purpose of the thing, I'm not sure that's fair. It ought to be easily accessible to him, and me, and my kids, and my mum, and Mo Farah's gran in Somalia."

Even within its own terms I thought it was pretty patchy, I have to say. So I'm not even going to defend it as a celebration of British popular music of the last fifty years.

prendrelemick

08-14-2012, 08:12 AM

^You've hit so many nails on the head you could've re-roofed pauls shed!

There is also the content to consider as well as the artform. I went to the ballet when The Northern Ballet was based in Halifax, It was fantastic. I went again to see something else and fell asleep. I love rock music - but not The Doors. I hate jazz - but like.. err..No, I hate Jazz.

But where does taste come from? why does something grab you in the first place.

Sancho

08-14-2012, 03:24 PM

I read somewhere that your brain is particularly open to music from around age 15 to around age 25, much as it is particularly receptive to language from toddlerhood to around age 12. (is toddlerhood a real word? El Sancho was dropped on his noggin more than once when he was a toddler.) At any rate, the theory was: most people tend prefer the music they listened to during their late teens - for the rest of their lives.

My dad still listens to Harry James and I'm still cranking Led Zeppelin. He still hates Zep, and hearing Harry James' trumpet makes me want to punt small animals.

Paulclem

08-14-2012, 06:21 PM

I agree Mark. I looked into a bit of abstract art in a very patchy way, and came to see what Mondrian, for example, was trying to do. I like it more because of this, but still prefer representational art.

I have no problem with people who like what they like - ballet, opera, rock - it's really none of my business. I applaud people who go with what they like. What I don't like is the "my likes are better than your likes" attitude, particularly when it is well educated and sometimes priviledged people looking down on what they refer to as low culture. I'm afraid it does make my hackles rise somewhat. I shouldn't really as they are ridiculous in their prejudices, but I am aware that certain aspects of culture is really only open to a few. Sure anyone can go to an opera, but, as you said, there's the schooling in the forms and conventions needed. We didn't get that in school in Yorkshire in the 60s and 70s, and I doubt whether many do now.

Paulclem

08-14-2012, 06:23 PM

Sancho

08-14-2012, 11:07 PM

It sounds plausible. Perhaps it's because at those ages we have strong life experiences which are imprinted with the msic at the time. I know as we raised the kids, we didn't have the music on so much.

Imprinted is a good word, but I think there's more to it than an association with important life events.* If I'm remembering the article correctly, it had to do with the developing brain, and the brain sort of wiring itself for a certain type of music during those years. Since the age range is fairly well along in brain growth, I'm thinking it's probably the prefrontal cortex that is being imprinted.

I'm sorry I don't remember all the particulars, but I'm willing to bet it was a Discovery Magazine piece by neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks. He's also got a very readable book out entitled, Musicophilia, all about music and the brain.

*events like finding yourself parked by a lake in 1972 Oldsmobile Delta 88 (her car), late on a Saturday night, both of you in the back seat, both of you mostly naked, Rod Stewart's Maggie May playing on the radio (her station), and wondering how can one guy be so lucky. I still like that song. A couple of years ago, my wife (La Roja) and I went to see Rod Stewart in Vegas, and voila, got lucky again. I'm thinking Mr. Stewart is a freaking aphrodisiac for women of a certain age. Also I've always felt a little guilty about the California Potato Chip I left on the vinyl upholstery of the Olds.

prendrelemick

08-15-2012, 02:37 AM

Ahh, the old guilt thing - pleasure must be followed by guilt! That potato chip (metaphor?) is your scourge.

I went to see Rod with a mate and two girls in the early seventies. The rejection afterwards has not put me off him.

Sancho

08-15-2012, 11:48 AM

I was trying to stay with the nostalgic flavor of the post by using 70s slang. I first heard a California Potato Chip described in Peter Benchley’s novel, Jaws. It’s kind of gross, but it goes something like this: when you and your special lady friend are swapping genetic material in the back seat of a car, some of it will inevitably drip onto the upholstery. If left unattended and if the seat happens to be vinyl, the next day as the car bakes in the hot sun, it will dry out and curl up into something resembling a potato chip. That’s where the slang falls apart across the pond. How about a Brighton Beach Crisp?

Also, Mick, what were you thinking, taking a girl with scruples to a Rod Stewart show?

prendrelemick

08-15-2012, 12:30 PM

^ That is everything I feared it would be. A Brighton Beach one would soon become fungal rather than crispy.

Worst of it was my mate was not disappointed ... and we could hear them!

Gilliatt Gurgle

08-16-2012, 10:41 PM

...Next week - painting the conservatory and digging the allotment - again.

I'm a bit behind.
Was it the painting comment that led to high art?
Who knows, now that you’ll be painting the Conservatory you may develop an appreciation for the high arts being around all those dancers and musicians.
Perhaps you can draw inspiration from Paolo Veronese’ frescoes.
A couple I think would go well with the allotment:

Prudence and Manly Virtue

http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Paintings%20Drawings%20and%20Sculpture/th_PaoloVeronese2fromwebgalleryofart.jpg (http://s963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Paintings%20Drawings%20and%20Sculpture/?action=view&current=PaoloVeronese2fromwebgalleryofart.jpg)

Nobleman in Hunting Attire

http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Paintings%20Drawings%20and%20Sculpture/th_PaoloVeronese1fromwebgalleryofart.jpg (http://s963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Paintings%20Drawings%20and%20Sculpture/?action=view&current=PaoloVeronese1fromwebgalleryofart.jpg)

Paulclem

08-17-2012, 04:45 AM

I'm a bit behind.
Was it the painting comment that led to high art?
Who knows, now that you’ll be painting the Conservatory you may develop an appreciation for the high arts being around all those dancers and musicians.
Perhaps you can draw inspiration from Paolo Veronese’ frescoes.
A couple I think would go well with the allotment:

Prudence and Manly Virtue

http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Paintings%20Drawings%20and%20Sculpture/th_PaoloVeronese2fromwebgalleryofart.jpg (http://s963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Paintings%20Drawings%20and%20Sculpture/?action=view&current=PaoloVeronese2fromwebgalleryofart.jpg)

Nobleman in Hunting Attire

http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Paintings%20Drawings%20and%20Sculpture/th_PaoloVeronese1fromwebgalleryofart.jpg (http://s963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Paintings%20Drawings%20and%20Sculpture/?action=view&current=PaoloVeronese1fromwebgalleryofart.jpg)

We went for green again.

It took a few hours - most of those shifting stuff around and painting the edges you can't get with the roller. I'm ahead with the jobs.

Paulclem

08-18-2012, 07:47 PM

Alas, the old Auntie's cat has expired. Henry - my wife had begun to call him skeletor as he looked so old and rough - was about 17. He'd had a good life, fed mainly on chicken and tuna with the free run of the Old Auntie's house.

I got a call yesterday from my wife to go over. my duties were to dig the grave in the flower border whilst my wife and son took him to the vet. Apparently, the vet didn't even examine him, but just decided on the look of him.

So I've painted the conservatory and put up the new blind - twice, (you know the story - she didn't want it there).

I'm currently digging up my potato crop. it's been all putting in the ground and taking out over the last couple of days. :D

Gilliatt Gurgle

08-21-2012, 11:10 AM

We went for green again.

Ahh, Neo Minimalism.
Good call.

Alas, the old Auntie's cat has expired. Henry - my wife had begun to call him skeletor as he looked so old and rough...

...I'm currently digging up my potato crop. it's been all putting in the ground and taking out over the last couple of days. :D

Sorry to hear the news about Henry, I suppose a fitting marker with proper epitaph is next on the list.
How's the potato yield this year?

MarkBastable

08-21-2012, 11:26 AM

So I've painted the conservatory and put up the new blind - twice, (you know the story - she didn't want it there).

I was reminded of this. From a book...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Looking through the kitchen window I could see the shed that Dad had built. The Condesa had been nagging for months about the bikes rusting in the side-return and the wheelbarrow being unsightly parked at the edge of the patio, so one day when she was out, Dad put the shed up as a surprise for her. When she got home he took her out to the garden, proud of his efforts. For a man who never really mastered scissors the successful erection of a shed was a remarkable and unprecedented achievement.

“It’s close outside the kitchen window, that ugly thing!” my mother said. “I don’t want to look at that all day!”

Dad bit his lip. “Well, it’s there now. I’m not going to move it.”

“Why not at the end of the garden where trees hide it?

“Look, you said you wanted a shed. You’ve got a bloody shed.”

“And the colour! So orange!”

“It’s new wood! That’s the colour new wood is! It’ll fade.”

This went on for about an hour. Actually, it went on for years. Whenever Dad mentioned how nice the garden was looking, the Condesa would say, “Yes, except your bloody ugly shed.”

I used to worry that my parents didn’t really like each other – they argued like this constantly. I didn’t know then that the terms of a relationship are a secret hex incomprehensible to any outsider.

prendrelemick

08-21-2012, 02:25 PM

Mmm mine was one of those cup and toothbrush holders. I put it above the middle of the sink when it obviously should've been on the right.

And another thing! When there is a job that needs doing why does she keep reminding me about it every six months?

Paulclem

08-21-2012, 03:30 PM

In the Old Aunties garden are buried Henry, Blackie, Blanc, Lassie and Sacha to my knowledge. There's probably more from the mists of time. My wife buried Blackie - a cat - but I had to re-bury him after he either:

1) Became undead and rose from the grave... but had left it a bit long and was in a bit of a state.

or:

2) A fox got him up as he was buried too shallow.

I kept the fox off/ kept him in his grave with a slab after his reburial.

The taties are doing great thanks. I've just got two rows to dig up. The rest are stored in bags in a cupboard. I'm pleased this year.

Well today was floor laying day. I decided to go cheap and put down vinyl tiles that are shaped like laminate flooring. They look good, keep the dust floating about for the vac, and can't be torn up by the dog. They are also very cheap.

Unfortunately, I ran out of a discontinued line, and, having checked with Mrs Paulclem, went ahead - alone - and got a different colour. Our lounge is now two tone. Mrs Paulclem has already informed me that she'll be ordering a more suitable colour off the internet to replace the contrasting light Maple tone.

So floor day will return sometime in the future. (My only consolation is that they were relatively cheap, but, being knackered, I was in no condition for the news). There's a pear cider in the cupboard.

prendrelemick

08-21-2012, 05:34 PM

:smilielol5:

My Dad did our front room floor with free off cuts of industrial lino he picked up from a building site. The result was an interesting fusion of different shapes and colours - sort of Mondrain meets Picasso.

Paulclem

08-21-2012, 05:42 PM

I bet that was brilliant. Style and taste is overrated. I'm hoping the contrast will grow on Mrs Paulclem. I don't hold out much hope though.

Paulclem

08-22-2012, 05:27 PM

No, my hopes were dashed. It has been floor day 2, and the floor of the lounge is now a maple monochrome.It looks good - clean lines - but I preferred the two tone.

I had to rip up half the vinyl I laid ysterday, and then re-lay it in one colour. I'm knackered again.

On another note, Mrs Paulclem has instituted a sticker chart for the dog. The primary aim of this is to wind up our two children, but I have pointed out that todays eccentric behaviour may result in pushing the dog around town in a pram and calling it "my baby". If it gets to that stage though, there won't be any point wearing a "I told you so" badge.

Sancho

08-22-2012, 09:54 PM

Delta40

08-22-2012, 10:31 PM

Paulclem you should check out Michael Leunig's cartoon Awful aspects of spring - the new dog digs up the old dog.

prendrelemick

08-23-2012, 02:19 AM

:lol:^

Our front field has 30 years worth of unmarked graves of beloved animals. I get very nervous when the latest is to be interred in case I dig up Don or Pod or Ginger. I don't mark the graves to discourage Mrs P from getting maudlin over a long dead guinea pig or cat.

prendrelemick

08-23-2012, 05:21 AM

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Vegas as a young man, and been royally naked in the high-roller's suite with a bunch of babes, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Vegas is a movable feast.

Ah-hem, I may have borrowed some of that.

So that's why they say what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

It seems alot of fuss about nothing, I mean who hasn't played naked billiards with a couple of chicks in a Vegas penthouse.?

Sancho

08-23-2012, 05:58 AM

Agreed.

Perhaps E.H. wouldn't mind too much if I add one more clause to his sentence.

... because whatever happens Vegas never stays in Vegas.

Paulclem

08-23-2012, 03:32 PM

Paulclem you should check out Michael Leunig's cartoon Awful aspects of spring - the new dog digs up the old dog.

Excellent.

Nothing can convey the smell though.

Edit: just corrected my small to smell. Don't you just hate it when your off the cuff typed witticism is ruined by keyboard ineptness.

Gilliatt Gurgle

08-23-2012, 10:46 PM

...It seems alot of fuss about nothing, I mean who hasn't played naked billiards with a couple of chicks in a Vegas penthouse.?

I have a hard time believing Sammy did, but Dino and the rest of the Pack likely participated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38GV-J6GzvI&feature=related

MystyrMystyry

08-23-2012, 11:36 PM

Indeed Gilliatt!

As for Harry, who's to say it's even him? I mean look at the disguise - look at the disguise, the disguise, I say - that could be anyone under the hat and shades.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/08/23/article-2192282-14A0B7B1000005DC-218_634x679.jpg

prendrelemick

08-24-2012, 01:55 AM

That's the best disguise I've ever seen! - Who's that in the hat stood behind him?

prendrelemick

08-26-2012, 08:52 AM

Another cloud burst yesterday, and this time it washed away our road because of a blocked culvert. The only comfort is I now have the oppotunity to burst into the National Trust office (It's their road to maintain) full of rightous indignation and declare,"I told you so".

This is very important to a curmudgeonly old git like me

Two years ago they re-did the road and replaced the large square stone slab culvert with a plastic pipe - that was a constriction - then they managed to put it in in such a way that it only took half its full capacity. When the first downpour happened a few weeks later, I noticed this and TOLD them. They said they'd keep an eye on it. I told them again the next time, then I gave up.

So anyway I've spent this morning clearing rubble from the mouth of the pipe and filling in the gullies and removing the boulders that have appeared in the road.

The trouble is I've made it passable for the moment, so nothing will be done.

Gilliatt Gurgle

08-26-2012, 09:50 AM

...Two years ago they re-did the road and replaced the large square stone slab culvert with a plastic pipe - that was a constriction...

Pie aren't squared!!

Bake 'em one of these to drive the point home:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/10/photo-of-the-day-pi-pie.html

.

prendrelemick

08-26-2012, 11:08 AM

:lol:

A half-baked one would be more fitting.

Paulclem

08-27-2012, 02:14 PM

The rain finally came - just as I was planning to pop down to the allotment. Not the road destroying type, but just rain unsuitable for working the ground.

Just a week to go before I am thrust into the maelstrom that is Enrolment week. Anything can happen in Enrolment week, though the rule:

1% of the students caused 99% of the problems

generally holds true.

Gilliatt Gurgle

08-27-2012, 10:42 PM

The rain finally came...

...before I am thrust into the maelstrom that is Enrolment week...

Send some of the rain our way. "Maelstrom" such a great word.

There's a thread out there about crossing the Rubicon.
This past weekend I took my son out to get some new duds for the upcoming school year.
I figured why not grab a couple pair of breeches for myself.
There was a time when my inseam number was greater than the waist line.
The Rubicon is met when they equal. I crossed the river a few years ago, but kept my distance within view of the banks, now I can't even hear the water.

prendrelemick

08-28-2012, 02:41 AM

Paulclem

08-31-2012, 02:45 PM

Just got back from Heathrow. The lad's on his way to Japan. After waiting and travelling on the coach, the lad was already over the Urals by the time I got back.

prendrelemick

09-01-2012, 04:11 AM

A small world indeed, (as long as you're not on the M6.) Mine came back from China last night. He rang up from Schiphol at 8 and was home before midnight. Fortunately his Company will no longer allow him to have a private lift (me) to and from the airport. This is because they were sued in America by someone who crashed while running one of their employees to JFK.:rolleyes:

Gilliatt Gurgle

09-01-2012, 04:48 PM

As a lad I paddled in the Rubicon at 32/32
Then came marriage, and that pulled me through, (In the wrong direction)
Now alas my legs to waist do show a deficit,
I think they must've gone an' shrunk a bit.

Glorious.
We'll add it to the wall of shame behind the bar.

Just got back from Heathrow. The lad's on his way to Japan. After waiting and travelling on the coach, the lad was already over the Urals by the time I got back.

Good luck to him, in his edeavours.

..........

Another typical saturday night at the Blokes Bar...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlNZF1QLrbw&feature=related

.

Paulclem

09-01-2012, 07:10 PM

That was an amazing clip. That's never happened in any bar I've been in except the Bloke's bar.

The dancing, as I remember it, was more jiggy with a bit of posturing.

Paulclem

09-07-2012, 06:41 PM

Whew. Just finished enrolling hundreds of people at my building and others around the city. Pretty tired now, but it's over for another year. I presume you chaps are also very busy.

Good news - England beat Moldova 5-0, and looked good on it. It doesn'tmake them worldbeaters by a long chalk, but we can qualify for the next world cup.

MarkBastable

09-07-2012, 08:58 PM

Good news - England beat Moldova 5-0, and looked good on it. It doesn'tmake them worldbeaters by a long chalk, but we can qualify for the next world cup.

It comes to something when it's worth noting that we can qualify for the World Cup.

Paulclem

09-07-2012, 10:03 PM

It comes to something when it's worth noting that we can qualify for the World Cup.

Looking at the quality players in the premiership, you can understand my concern. We've got good players, but not much morqe.

prendrelemick

09-08-2012, 03:04 AM

It comes to something when it's worth noting that we can qualify for the World Cup.

We'll take whatever we can get.

Gilliatt Gurgle

09-16-2012, 12:07 PM

We’re experiencing a nice gentle rain this morning, perfect for reading outside among the trees by the creek.
While pausing to…

Soak up the sound of flowing water,
the dripping flipping of leaves,
a chorus of Wren’s
and black caps on Chickadees

My mind returned, like clockwork
(on days like these)
to that big footed beast
and his coat full of fleas.

Okay, enough of that.
I’ve been remiss in keeping you up to date on the TBRC.
So, let’s see what’s happening in the piney woods out east.

Excerpt from article; “The Valley of the Apes” http://texasbigfoot.com/index.php/news/news/48-news/223 :

“Over the last three years, the Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy has intensified its efforts in an area it refers to as “Area X,” located in the heart of the sparsely populated and rugged, 7-million-acre Ouachita Uplift region....”

Something relevant to the Forums; a book review on The Beast of Boggy Creek

http://texasbigfoot.com/index.php/news/news/48-news/218:

I’m adding this to my book list after I finish Solzhenytsin (naturally).

“Your Feets Too Big”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in1eK3x1PBI

.

Paulclem

09-17-2012, 04:28 PM

Will you be going on any research expeditions yourself? It sounds like fun.

I was down the allotment again this weekend. Me and the chaps have been repairing the road into the allotment with a tarmac you can buy in a bag. It's good stuff you can get from the local DIY - we have B&Q over here. I may use it to repair the Mother-In-Law's drive. It's amazing what you can learn.

I planted 150+ onions - Red Electric and White Shakespeare. I had to snigger as the white Shakespeare are "globe" onions. Some horticultural joker no doubt. I also planted some Mooli seeds. They are white radishes that grow quite long. Good for stir fries apparently. I haven't had mch luck this year, but I'll let you chaps know what they're like if they're any good.

prendrelemick

09-18-2012, 03:28 PM

Paulclem

09-18-2012, 04:50 PM

Did any of your fruit ripen paul, ours were a dead loss. Even the wild stuff like blackberries and bilberries haven't done much. Lack of sun I suppose.

In the old days my mum used to organise us kids to go black berrying and we'd pick a tin bath full. she'd make about 40 lbs of jam and a load of pies. The rest would be turned into wine and stored in gallon plastic containers.

It all sounds wonderful, but we were sick of them by Christmas.

I got a few strawberries early on, but the rest has been a dead loss. Lots of people with pears and plums have said it's been a bad year. Even the blackberries haven't been too good.

I made some blackberry wine when I was student. It was really nice - the nicest wine I made.

prendrelemick

09-19-2012, 02:13 AM

Yup, blackberries make the best wine. Ours was stored on the top shelf in the pantry. Me and my mate used to climb up with armed with a rubber tube and suck a bit out of each container, it was delicious.

Gilliatt Gurgle

09-19-2012, 07:07 PM

Quote Paulclem - Bigfoot expeditions
As you likely gathered, I was being facetious, but the more I joke about bigfoot and reference the TBRC, it does begin to sound like fun.
Of course, I'd likely be the one wedging bits of brown fur in tree bark, staying toward the back of the march throwing rocks into the woods at night - what was that?!

We get blackberries here as well. I haven't had them in the form of wine, but I do recall picking them and eating them with my Fruit Loops cereal and cold milk. Also good in Luck Charms.

Elderberry wine was mentioned a few times in the Hitchcock movie we watched recently. Have any of you tried the Elderberry?

prendrelemick

09-20-2012, 02:35 AM

I made some elderberry wine once, it was ok. There isnt much else you can do with elderberries - they are one of those things that look nicer than they taste.

We used to use the unripe hard green berries as ammo for pea shooters. You'd bite into the cluster and pull them off with your teeth, then shoot them down the hollow stem of a Himalayan Balsam plant. It was a sophisticated way of spitting at each other, as more gob than berry would be delivered..

Gilliatt Gurgle

09-20-2012, 10:54 PM

haha. nice story.
I'm reminded of the slingshot wars we had using acorns. You can imagine the welts.

Right now, I'm pokishing off the second glass of a Chilean Cab Sawv.
pretty good

prendrelemick

09-21-2012, 03:28 AM

I'm more of a Merlot man, Had a nice glass or two of Australian the other day, Half went in the beef casserole so I had to drink the rest.

MarkBastable

09-21-2012, 09:35 AM

I'm more of a Merlot man, Had a nice glass or two of Australian the other day, Half went in the beef casserole so I had to drink the rest....

....of the case.

Paulclem

09-21-2012, 02:16 PM

I made some elderflower wine once. I left the stalks on though, and so the taste left something to be desired. I always managed to get it down in the end.

I'm afraid I'm a wine pleb. I know nothing, though I recognise the names. It might be because I invest in the cheapest if I buy any. I've taken the pearls and swine analogy to heart.

Gilliatt Gurgle

09-21-2012, 07:36 PM

...I always managed to get it down in the end...

As a good bloke should-leave nothing to waste.

It has been a rough week, one deserving of a treat.

Two six packs and a bottle of Jim Beam
(click on pic for larger)

http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Misc%20Album/th_IMGP2736_zps39def32a.jpg (http://s963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Misc%20Album/?action=view&current=IMGP2736_zps39def32a.jpg)

prendrelemick

09-22-2012, 03:01 AM

Your books are looking a bit "foxed" there GG.

Talking of rough weeks, its holiday time for us. We're heading for The Lakes and should arrive there at the same time as a large Atlantic depression. I mean there's rain and then there's Cumbrian Fell rain. At least we'll be getting the authentic Lakes experience.

Gilliatt Gurgle

09-22-2012, 06:54 AM

"The Lakes" - I was curious.
Assuming this is what you are referring to http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/

Beautiful !

Yes, the books are quite worn or "foxed" as you put it.
The 1916 Manual of Chemistry (the taller book to the right of the Spaten) looks like a lab experiment gone awry.

prendrelemick

09-22-2012, 08:36 AM

Yes it is lovely - here's what the tourist sites don't mention.

http://www.alexanderspagesonanything.com/rainfall-in-lake-district-and-devon---for-sue.php

Sancho

09-22-2012, 11:59 AM

That website is oddly addictive, Mick, and found myself trying to think of a question for Alexander and also looking around for my checkbook.

Paulclem

09-22-2012, 06:58 PM

Have a nice time in the Lakes Mick. It certainly is a fantastic area.

Gilliatt Gurgle

09-25-2012, 10:26 PM

I wonder how the weather's doing for Prendrelemick.
Here it's still very warm and dry. Wish we could get some of the Lakes "Cumbrian Fell" rain. A cool front is supposed to arrive this weekend with 50% chance of rain. Hope we're under the 50% cloud.
Well it's been lonely round here, that sucking sound you hear are all the folks heading out to the great art debates. It's just me, swingin doors, a juke box and a bar stool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxfgkDzL5Po

.

Sydneysider

09-26-2012, 12:37 AM

Hi guys.

I am having a rare day off. Later I may head down to the harbour to a waterside bar where they make killer bloody Mary's. It is a nice sunny day here in Sydney.

MarkBastable

09-26-2012, 05:18 AM

I am having a rare day off. Later I may head down to the harbour to a waterside bar where they make killer bloody Mary's. It is a nice sunny day here in Sydney.

...don't drag us into your private hell....

Sydneysider

09-26-2012, 06:13 AM

Ha! The wind really picked up so I walked up the road and visited a very nice Greek restaurant. Nice meal and some good wine. I live in inner Sydney surrounded by fine restaurants and cafes selling great coffee.

Hell on Earth! My booking for tomorrow also fell through. If the weather is good I am going to play golf on a course over looking the Pacific ocean.

Chances are I will stay in and practice all day. Gigs all weekend though...

Scheherazade

09-26-2012, 06:48 AM

Sydneysider

09-26-2012, 06:59 AM

It is 8.56 pm and 17 degrees C here in Sydney.

My only concern is the state of Aussie cricket!

This is why I am a happy user.

:-) :-D ;-)

Gilliatt Gurgle

09-26-2012, 10:29 PM

Hi guys.

I am having a rare day off. Later I may head down to the harbour to a waterside bar where they make killer bloody Mary's. It is a nice sunny day here in Sydney.

Howdy Sydneysider, nice to see a fresh mug around here.
Ale, sports, poetry, females, music, allotments, plays, you name we cover it.

Welcome.

MarkBastable

09-27-2012, 02:03 AM

Ale, sports, poetry, females, music, allotments, plays, you name we cover it.

This is not entirely true. I mean, I tried to promote a conversation about the thematic allusion to classical myth in nineteenth century European art and it got absolutely nowhere, despite my pitching it as 'clock the hooters on that allegorical preRaphaelite....'

Sydneysider

09-27-2012, 02:13 AM

Howdy Sydneysider, nice to see a fresh mug around here.
Ale, sports, poetry, females, music, allotments, plays, you name we cover it.

Welcome.

Thanks mate.

Am not great with poetry, but the rest is fine with me. Cricket season is approaching. All smiles here. Music of course is my lover. So all good there.
Females are becoming more beautiful with each of my passing years. Sadly time has the opposite effect upon me. Ale never goes out of style.

Nice to be here. :-)

prendrelemick

09-27-2012, 04:05 AM

This is not entirely true. I mean, I tried to promote a conversation about the thematic alluson to classical myth in nineteenth century European art and it got absolutely nowhere, despite my pitching it as 'clock the hooters on that allegorical preRaphaelite....'

Nice try, should've tied it in to Twilight.

Coming home tonight, if the floods have cleared.

Gilliatt Gurgle

09-27-2012, 10:02 PM

This is not entirely true. I mean, I tried to promote a conversation about the thematic allusion to classical myth in nineteenth century European art and it got absolutely nowhere, despite my pitching it as 'clock the hooters on that allegorical preRaphaelite....'

In fact that's a perfect example of "...you name it we cover it" Given the cyclical nature of our subjects, I'm sure this, or some variant, will be coming back around.

Nice try, should've tied it in to Twilight.
...

or Fifty Shades of Gray - aka The Ashcan School

Thanks mate.

Am not great with poetry...

Nice to be here. :-)

Poetry courses through Blokes blood. You’re wise with that modest positioning at the outset.
I mean, just look at this brilliance:

(excerpts from the Blokes 2010 Christmas play)

Bigfoot:
No use crying over spilt milk,
But lethal weapons of that ilk,
Those blunt, milk-jugg-knockers,
Should be kept firmly in their lockers.
Or handled with the utmost care,
Lest they ruin all your breakfast fare. ………courtesy Premdrelemick

(The locker’s clasp fails. A tidal wave of mammantous flesh and fur sweeps breakfast vittles to the floor)

Madam:
Thou furry knave go sweep the floor
The Lucky Charms and grits du jour
Spotless I expect the floor to be
Or contents of my locker you’ll never see.

Go now and empty the chamber pot,
a loathsome task for thy male lot.
Let not foul drop escape the rim
I’ll have you scrub the floor with your gin. ……….courtesy Gilliatt

Bigfoot: (Soliloquy – delivered while sitting on a chamber pot thumbing through Vanity Fair)
For Madam thinks she always rules the roost,
And so her ego I shall give a boost.
But as I scrub the dishes, wipe the plates,
And let her off to nightclubs with her mates,
I snigger to myself for I still know,
That even as I clean I rule the show.
To other's eye it seems my claim's a sham,
With all the work I have to sweat and cram.
And as you toast your friends and glasses clink
I know my place, it's she who only thinks. ………courtesy Paulclem

(Scene ends with Bigfoot tidying up, but forgetting to empty the chamber pot)

Paulclem

09-28-2012, 06:11 PM

prendrelemick

09-29-2012, 02:36 AM

Not bad really, we did have two days of continuous heavy rain, and some intense showers, that gave MrsP the chance to shop for a cardigan
Then we had three drier days for me to go wandering off over the hills.

Before it rained

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k78/prendrelemick/kentmere.jpg

While it rained

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k78/prendrelemick/539423_10151432434643312_1221215334_n.jpg

After it rained

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k78/prendrelemick/249543_10151432434228312_130220074_n.jpg

In Cumbria they understand rain, they know how to handle cloud bursts - or a bit o' drizzle as the locals would say. So 8 inches falling in 48 hours was no problem, it all ran off down well defined routes into Morcambe Bay. There's none of this building on flood plains up there.

.

Paulclem

09-29-2012, 07:21 PM

Nice pictures Mick.

Went to Birmingham today for the anniversary. We looked round their art gallery, which had a theme of Love and Death and featured Rossetti's pictures amongst others. The one that stood out for me though was Lowry's picture of Trafford in Manchester. Of course I can't find that particular one, so I've posted a link to one of Huddersfield. Brilliant.

http://www.l-s-lowry.co.uk/llowry-huddersfield.html

There was also an exhibition of the recently found Staffordshire Hoard - a collection of what appears to be scrapped gold and silver from jewelley and swords. Some of it dates back to the 5-6th Century. The gold filligree work was really impressive, and was inlaid with garnets.

http://www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk/

Unfortunately, the collection is scattered around the Midlands, and so it was just enough to give us a taste of the whole thing.

We then went for lunch at the Trocadero Bar on Temple Street, which turned out to be an F&F - food and football. They did have a quieter room at the back where we could eat though, and it was very nice.

Gilliatt Gurgle

09-30-2012, 02:14 PM

Ahh - past poetic glories.

Good to read again. Have you got much material for this year Gilliat?

How were the lakes Mick? It was the worst September rain in thiry years wasn't it? A bit unlucky.

Welcome Sydneysider. We'll be in the bar later for a jar.

Yes; It brought a tear to my eye reading those again.
For this year's play we have a title, a theme, but not much of a script, that is to say, we are woefully lacking in poems.

I'm afraid I scared Sydneysider off.
That was too much too soon.

Not bad really, we did have two days of continuous heavy rain, and some intense showers, that gave MrsP the chance to shop for a cardigan
Then we had three drier days for me to go wandering off over the hills.

......

After it rained

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k78/prendrelemick/249543_10151432434228312_130220074_n.jpg

In Cumbria they understand rain, they know how to handle cloud bursts - or a bit o' drizzle as the locals would say. So 8 inches falling in 48 hours was no problem, it all ran off down well defined routes into Morcambe Bay. There's none of this building on flood plains up there.

Beautiful.
I'm still keeping an eye out for Tetley's over here. No luck so far.
btw- you brought some of that Cumbrian Rain back with you. We had a nice rain all day Saturday.

....There was also an exhibition of the recently found Staffordshire Hoard - a collection of what appears to be scrapped gold and silver from jewelley and swords. Some of it dates back to the 5-6th Century. The gold filligree work was really impressive, and was inlaid with garnets.

http://www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk/

Unfortunately, the collection is scattered around the Midlands, and so it was just enough to give us a taste of the whole thing. ...

Fascinating.
The level of detail is amazing.
Thanks

prendrelemick

10-04-2012, 07:01 AM

Paulclem

10-04-2012, 10:01 AM

I wish they'd straighten that hoard stuff out.

It was probably squashed by a modern tractor anyway so it wouldn't harm the historical narrative.

I could soon knock them back into shape if they're afraid to.

Yes - we were a bit disappointed as there were only a few pieces - more of a Staffordshire Sample than hoard. What's there is nice stuff.

MarkBastable

10-04-2012, 06:34 PM

Alfred had me made from Albion's everglade
And I made him to lie with me whence all my troubles fade.
You may have read the signs - beware of strange designs.
For though the victors write the books, the loser speaks the lines.
So let's now both be gone. 'Tis far to Avalon
And though we go our different ways, I'll see you there anon.

http://cardsahoy.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/alfred_jewel.jpg

Slowly slipping into history feel us go
With these times another age could never know.
See the photos - black and white, and quaintly dressed,
Stood in queues of people smiling, sorely pressed.

Your silent room is the collection of your ways.
Every shelf is built of all those different days.
And those much younger cannot understand by half
The wireless, living room, the faces round the hearth,
The ration books, and Matthews out there on the wing,
The corner shop that sold us almost anything,
The farthing in the change, the sirens and the planes,
Puffing Billies shunting eras down the lane, down the lane.

You know we'll soon be gone from here, year upon light year.
We'll take the stories with us there - the memories are dear.

One of those days in England: mum was rustling up the grub
And dad was off out propping up the pub.
One of those days in England that you just could not forget.
From the mists of secret morning to the golden red sunset.

And though the time fast slips away, it's long enough to laugh and play
Around the fireside making hay, dreaming of tomorrow...
Oh, you know...there's no today.

Roy Harper Excerpt from One of Those Days in England

Gilliatt Gurgle

10-04-2012, 08:12 PM

I had something silly to say about Paul's Man Booker comment on the poop art thread being likened to the Hoard run over by a tractor, but Mark's post put me in a different frame of mind.

That was nice Mark, gave me pause.
I raise my glass to Glorious Albion.

prendrelemick

10-05-2012, 03:40 AM

Paulclem

10-05-2012, 04:25 AM

I'm contemplating your posts from a Whetherspoon's pub before I go in to work. They do a fine coffee and toast and jam which the lady just brought me by announcing " toast and preservatives". Then glancing out of the window a funeral cortege passed. Humour and poetry and poignancy and history. And it's just an ordinary day... or perhaps no day is ordinary. There, I've added philosophy.

Paulclem

10-05-2012, 06:31 AM

I had something silly to say about Paul's Man Booker comment on the poop art thread being likened to the Hoard run over by a tractor, but Mark's post put me in a different frame of mind.

Yes - tractored would be a good description. No to worry.

MarkBastable

10-05-2012, 07:50 AM

Slowly slipping into history, that's me.

The past is surer than the future.

I remember a catchy little love song by Roy Harper called One of those days in England. I don't think it was the one above though.

You probably remember the single - but if it's a lovesong, it's a lovesong to a nostalgic past - of a relationship, and of a country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOPC8O4ne-E

On the album (Bullinamingvase), the single is the opening track, and the second side is One of Those Days in England (Parts 2 - 10).

Gilliatt Gurgle

10-05-2012, 09:50 PM

Slowly slipping into history, that's me.

The past is surer than the future...

^ How fitting as I reached the big 5-0 today!
Fifty shades of gray falls from the comb.
Any pointers you 50 somethings would like to pass on?

.

prendrelemick

10-06-2012, 02:16 AM

Happy Birthday GG

The big 5-0 is really not much different from the puny and unremarkable 4-9 Apart from it being an excuse for a bigger party.

Meanwhile, it's time to choose your pipe and slippers.

You probably remember the single - but if it's a lovesong, it's a lovesong to a nostalgic past - of a relationship, and of a country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOPC8O4ne-E

On the album (Bullinamingvase), the single is the opening track, and the second side is One of Those Days in England (Parts 2 - 10).

OK here's what's happened; In my head I start humming "One of Those Days in England" and it morphs into "Too Good To Be Forgotten" by the Chi-lites An easy mistake to make .

prendrelemick

10-11-2012, 07:40 AM

Read it and weep (or should that be wince) boys!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/9597105/Warrington-Wolves-prop-Paul-Woods-eye-watering-wound-lands-him-a-berth-in-sports-Hall-of-Pain.html

Paulclem

10-11-2012, 06:17 PM

Read it and weep (or should that be wince) boys!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/9597105/Warrington-Wolves-prop-Paul-Woods-eye-watering-wound-lands-him-a-berth-in-sports-Hall-of-Pain.html

I heard about that the next day. It's a tough game. I noticed when I used to play that players who came into the game late seemed to suffer much more than we did. I think the game got harder as you grew older into later teens, but you grew with the pain.

soundofmusic

10-14-2012, 04:04 AM

For Shame, I leave you guys alone for a while and you become profound! Ah well, what is a girl to do?

Gilliatt Gurgle

10-16-2012, 11:21 PM

For Shame, I leave you guys alone for a while and you become profound! Ah well, what is a girl to do?

That's why we need you to stick around.
Don't be a stranger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ5scTEHH6Q&feature=BFa&list=AL94UKMTqg-9DBsf0uuN8eBuGt3Ew3NB-8

gbrekken

10-19-2012, 09:35 AM

^ How fitting as I reached the big 5-0 today!
Fifty shades of gray falls from the comb.
Any pointers you 50 somethings would like to pass on?

.

Keep breathing and kicking!

Paulclem

10-19-2012, 06:28 PM

So the Mother -in-Law falls over outside Saisburys the other day and grazes her lip - you know the injury - the sensitive - I've just had a cold sore graze that develops into an ugly red scab.

The lady at the checkout asks if she's ok, and when she tells her what's happened, the nice assistant makes her go to the cafe and have a coffee whilst they fetch a first aider. The Mother - in - Law, a determined soul who has an inflated sense of embarrassment - does a runner from the cafe and goes home, thinking that they will send for an ambulance and make her go into hospital. (This happened a couple of years ago when she fainted at the bus stop). Then - worried that they will start a nationwide hunt for her - phones them up and apologises for doing the runner.

So my wife went to see her as soon as she heard to make sure he was ok, which she is. She refused to go out yesterday though. My wife wondered why - thinking that perhaps she wasn't feeling as well as she might and was worried about falling again. But no, it wasn't that. The Mother - in - Law, who is 81 and four foot nine, was worried that people might think she'd been fighting. Of course it was the first thing I asked her when I saw her today.

Gilliatt Gurgle

10-19-2012, 09:20 PM

Keep breathing and kicking!

Thanks for the pointer gbrekken!
It's good to know your out there and checking in.

So the Mother -in-Law falls over outside Saisburys...
...But no, it wasn't that. The Mother - in - Law, who is 81 and four foot nine, was worried that people might think she'd been fighting. Of course it was the first thing I asked her when I saw her today.
haha, you're ruthless, never let an opportunity go to waste.

Gilliatt Gurgle

10-20-2012, 10:23 AM

Excuse the double posting.
Last weekend I took part in some blokey activities.
My sister had a couple of old, large trees that died and had to be cut down. One was a 62 year old oak (counted the rings) and the other was a Hickory about the same age. The weekend was spent reducing the canopy branches down to trunk, cutting the trunks into rounds and then splitting. Branches thatwere too small for fire wood were taken to the burn pile. My brother operated the 30 inch chain saw, I worked with the 16 inch and my son worked the hydraulic log splitter and dragged branch bundles to the fire.

Son working the splitter:

http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Misc%20Album/th_IMGP2813.jpg (http://s963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Misc%20Album/?action=view&current=IMGP2813.jpg)

A load of firewood for home
All I need now is some of that "superb Dumas dung":

http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Misc%20Album/th_IMGP2816.jpg (http://s963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Misc%20Album/?action=view&current=IMGP2816.jpg)

Saturday night fire:

http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Misc%20Album/th_IMGP2832.jpg (http://s963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Misc%20Album/?action=view&current=IMGP2832.jpg)

A "Walking Stick":

http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Elements%20of%20Nature/th_IMGP2828.jpg (http://s963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Elements%20of%20Nature/?action=view&current=IMGP2828.jpg)

prendrelemick

10-20-2012, 11:02 AM

I on the other hand have been breaking up melomine and chip board cupboards for our fire, it's just not the same. We're all backwoodsmen at heart.

Paulclem

10-20-2012, 03:55 PM

And I've been clearing the lad's room for the arrival of our Japanese exchange student. (I needed the strength and perseverence of a woodsman for that). The student is very nice, and has just had supper with us. My 17 year old daughter paid my wife and I the ultimate compliment when she said:
" Can you please pretend to be normal".

I call that a result.

prendrelemick

10-21-2012, 01:26 AM

Ha ha! A slice of life right there Paul. I remember the eldest daughter pleading with her mother to act normal when she was bringing her young man home to meet us.
"Of course I've already warned him about you" she said.

Paulclem

10-22-2012, 05:35 PM

It's a laugh isn't it. My wife and daughter have both blocked me from their accounts on Facebook because of my "silly" comments. And all the time I thought they were comments filled with wit and invention.

Gilliatt Gurgle

10-23-2012, 10:47 PM

I on the other hand have been breaking up melomine and chip board cupboards for our fire, it's just not the same. We're all backwoodsmen at heart.

I had a good laugh from that.
As long as your not using to smoke your meat. Imagine the taste of mellamine smoked London broil!
btw- you might want to check the flue for glue deposits.

It's a laugh isn't it. My wife and daughter have both blocked me from their accounts on Facebook because of my "silly" comments. And all the time I thought they were comments filled with wit and invention....and intelligence.

Paulclem

10-24-2012, 05:13 PM

...and intelligence.

Thanks Gilliatt. I don't question the blocking. Thy'd probably come up with a raft of reasons.

It's been a harassing half term this year - lots of work, and the feeling that you're just keeping the head up out of the water. Anyway, one of the things that keeps cropping up is parking. At work we have a small 38 - car car park, which the owner has decreed is for staff only. We have 10 classrooms with a potential of 100 to 150 learners for each session. There are occasional flare ups and complaints naturally. Yesterday someone left their car running right in the middle of the car park for about 10 minutes, so no-one could get in and no-one could get out. It raised a bit of blood pressure I can tell you.

I'm also on a local facebook group where we are in contact with our local councillor who will investigate local problems which are largely related to - yes - parking. I don't know what you chaps think, but it seems that it is a constant problem - perhaps there's no problem in Texas, and maybe there's more space for you in Yorkshire. Here, though, it looks as though we'll have to re-design the road system around small estates like ours and/ or have parking permits. They predict that car ownership in the UK will cintinue to rise by millions. I don't think the job's going to get any better.

prendrelemick

10-25-2012, 03:09 AM

We have local permits for residents round here and everyone else is pay and display. Parking IS the main issue for town centres, everything else is just rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. Mrs P used to try and use the bus - it was difficult and inconvenient - and then the service was cut. She works in town and can't park anywhere near her work as the places are all for one or two hours only. I haven't a clue what the answer is though. I suspect we will have to just keep muddleing through.

RicMisc

10-25-2012, 03:25 AM

Thankfully, parking is not a problem I have to deal with in my city. My city was built around thirty years ago and therefore we have a very modern infrastructure. Enough parking space everywhere, even in the city centre. We have separate bus lanes so the buses don't interfere with regular traffic, which results in very efficient public transport. So infrastructure-wise I'm very happy with my city. However, we do have a lot of cities like Amsterdam and Utrecht where parking is a problem. We therefore usually go by public transport in to the city centre because that saves us a lot of money and time. Since The Netherlands is quite a small country and our big cities are located very near to each other most intercity public transport is very doable and in-city public transport is usually very good as well. I don't have much to complain about except for the rush hour traffic around the big cities, that's a pain.

prendrelemick

10-25-2012, 01:48 PM

Paulclem

10-25-2012, 03:12 PM

I spent a few days in Holland, and the public transport is brilliant. Having trains and buses, all integrated and on time, regular and cheap, shows what can be done. And those bike lanes that are actually respected and used.

Yes. The coverage here is patchy. Birmingham has a good service, but it is big enough to sustain the levels of service. I bet it's not so good up your way. The trouble is it would also take a major shift in attitudes from car drivers to do it. I know people who would never contemplate travellingby bus.

Paulclem

10-29-2012, 05:37 AM

Speaking of public transport, we took our Japanese exchange student to London for the day yesterday. We got cheap train tickets, but the journey was 2 hours, and pretty busy. The trip back was really hot, with the place crammed up with people with luggage - there's nowhere to put cases. Luckily we had none. The London bit was good, but as usual we has far too little time to get round.

We spent quite a lot of time around Parliament, Westminster Abbey and the monuments. Great stuff.

RicMisc

10-29-2012, 08:14 AM

I spent a few days in Holland, and the public transport is brilliant. Having trains and buses, all integrated and on time, regular and cheap, shows what can be done. And those bike lanes that are actually respected and used.

Hahaha, opinions differ on that subject. I can tell you that. The NS (the national railway company) is criticized a lot over here. But I'm glad someone has something good to say about them, finally :). I do agree that Dutch public transport is quite good, but us Dutchies tend to nag about the slightest things xD. The bike lanes are the best thing. My city has separate bike lanes everywhere and we also have separate bus lanes so regular traffic and public transport don't interfere.

Gilliatt Gurgle

11-01-2012, 08:58 PM

Here, it is all about the car.
Transportation infrastructure has been centered around the automobile for so long it is difficult, at least here in the DFW area, to develope mass transit systems that can follow logical, efficient patterns, not to mention the efforts in changing the public mindset.
Nevertheless, efforts are being made to develope transit train systems. Dallas has had the DART system for some time that includes buses and trains. New lines are reaching out to suburbs. Denton County, to the north of Dallas/Ft. Worth, has developed a transit train system refered to as the "A Train" that links up to the DART system south.
I live in Denton County and plan to give the "A Train" a try at some point.

Paulclem

11-10-2012, 06:13 PM

The Japanese Student leaves tomorrow on an 11 o'clock plane from Birmingham. She has, of course, been extremely polite, nice and no trouble whatsoever.

It has, though, been like living in a guest house for three weeks. Up at 6, table set with napkins, and a choice of stuff for breakfast - croissants, toast, cereal... no more slumping in front of the telly watching the BBC News with my porridge, putting off the moment I venture out with the dog.

She leaves tomorrow, as i said, but my wife has grown to rather like the Georgian Tea Room formality, and, though it is nice to have a conversation on a morning with my wife and daughter, I think the daughter will revert to her 15 minute toast grab and rush out of the door. The other thing is that we have to listen to local radio and not Planet Rock, or anything lively. They have these tedious - used to do it on Radio One 30 years ago - competitions, where everyone is ever so slightly wacky which is not what I want on a bleary, not yet sun up morning. Ho hum.

E.A Rumfield

11-11-2012, 01:40 AM

I just got back from Mexico. Those Mayans can really bring down a discotheque.

Gilliatt Gurgle

11-11-2012, 01:08 PM

The Japanese Student leaves tomorrow on an 11 o'clock plane from Birmingham. She has, of course, been extremely polite, nice and no trouble whatsoever....
... where everyone is ever so slightly wacky which is not what I want on a bleary, not yet sun up morning. Ho hum.

Is this your first exchange student venture? Seems like it would be a rewarding experience.
It is the everyone or everything so slightly wacky, that has forced me to set the alarm to wake me at a time that many would think uncivilized, but it allows me the calm I crave before the sun rises.

Coincidentally, my son and a friend had an all night gaming party. They are still sleeping, or attempting to, here in the den with me.
I enjoy these rare occasions, blessings from God if you will, when I'm provided with a captive audience being forced to listen to the likes of Spike Jones...

"Chloe"...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y02l0ZZht1U&feature=related

-----
Mayan disco

A charactersitic they picked up from the Ancient Aliens

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/29/Chariots_Of_The_Gods.jpg

prendrelemick

11-11-2012, 01:31 PM

Course the Aztecs were more into jazz.

Sancho

11-14-2012, 05:15 AM

And nowadays the sons and daughters of the Mayans and the Aztecs seem to be into the accordion.

Paulclem

11-15-2012, 06:14 PM

Is this your first exchange student venture? Seems like it would be a rewarding experience.
It is the everyone or everything so slightly wacky, that has forced me to set the alarm to wake me at a time that many would think uncivilized, but it allows me the calm I crave before the sun rises.

Coincidentally, my son and a friend had an all night gaming party. They are still sleeping, or attempting to, here in the den with me.
I enjoy these rare occasions, blessings from God if you will, when I'm provided with a captive audience being forced to listen to the likes of Spike Jones...

-----
]

No, we had an exchange student last year too as part of my daughter's exchange visit. We ran as a guest house then too.

I'm still feeling the fallout, as my wife often doesn't have breakfast, and my daughter grabs her as she rushes out. That leaves me in the conservatory listening to the blah on the radio - though I do tend to put Planet Rock on.

Gilliatt Gurgle

11-23-2012, 11:51 PM

We were about to fall off the front page again.
Nothing much to offer.
Let's see... I just got back from a two day Thanksgiving celebration at my sister's home.
My son backed a tractor into our car, fortunately he was able to slow it down just before impact, but we still ended up with a 4 inch split in the bumper.
"split"...Did you Blokes ever imagine we would have plastic bumpers?

prendrelemick

11-25-2012, 04:14 AM

...Did you Blokes ever imagine we would have plastic bumpers?

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k78/prendrelemick/bumper.png

Sancho

11-25-2012, 10:58 AM

Ha ha

Ur, I'd kinda like to bumper.

Gilliatt Gurgle

11-25-2012, 12:32 PM

.

Ha ha

Ur, I'd kinda like to bumper.

Haha!

I can't top that, unless I play off the concept of "bumping" the Blokes thread...nah that's too soft.

Sancho

11-27-2012, 08:07 AM

Alright then, as previously promised, during our discussion of the four-stroke internal combustion engine (which Bastable tried to hijack into a discussion about Duchamp’s art, but was quickly reigned back in), a quick post about the importance of top-end lubrication.

http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/marvel.jpg

Need I say more? It’s a toolbox in a can. It lubes valves, frees up sticky lifters, helps seat piston rings, unclogs carburetors and fuel injectors, and does oh so much more. You can put it in gas (petrol as you blokes say). You can put in oil. You can put it on your morning oatmeal. Marvel Mystery Oil works in mysterious ways. I just used a capful of the stuff to coax the reluctant engine on my wood chipper back to life.

prendrelemick

11-27-2012, 02:08 PM

We used to have something called Red-X to keep our Minis and Hilman Hunters in tip top condition. I remember getting some for my moped (Puch MS 50D) It still only did 26mph flat out.

Sancho

11-27-2012, 08:36 PM

Paulclem

11-28-2012, 05:27 AM

There's probably not as much need for Marvel now that we're burning unleaded. Although it still comes in handy for a small engine that's been sitting in the barn a while and has a gummed up carburetor. Or in a small airplane engine that burns 100 low lead, which despite its name has a lot of lead in it compared to car gas.

As for speed, I've always thought it to be relative. In aviation, it's relative to altitude: things happen a lot faster at 100 knots in the treetops than at Mach 2 up at 40,000 feet. 26mph ain't bad on a Moped, and I'll bet you'd be somewhere inside of an hour over there on a scooter. Over here, by contrast, I could drive a '67 GTO with a 455cu V-8 flat out for 4 days on Interstate 20 from Georgia and I still wouldn't be to the West Coast. I might not even be out of Texas. The only exciting road feature happens somewhere between Abilene and El Paso where I-20 merges with and becomes I-10. Woo-Hoo.

The size of your place is difficult to comprehend being from such a small country. 15 minutes one way brings me to Warwick - on a Sunday morning without the traffic anyway. 30 minutes the other way and I've passed the international airport and arrived in our third largest city - (the second, Manchester, and the first, London, are 2 and 1 hours drive away respectively). It's 45 minutes to Stratford, and probably, as we're slap in the middle of the country here, 2 and a half to three hours will get you to a coast in two directions, four hours to the south, but considerably more to the North through Scotland. If someone drove for four days from here, they would be deep into Europe - (as i'm no driver, then I've reached the end of my speculations).

I may have told you this before, but anyway. A teacher friend of mine once went to Florida on holiday, and before she went I asked if she was going to "pop" up to see her sister in LA. She laughed - she may have even scoffed - and informed me that the distance to Florida from the UK was about the same as the distance from Florida to LA. I'm from a small town in a small country. What can I say?

Sancho

11-28-2012, 08:38 AM

Haha. Yep, the scale of this place can throw you off. Florida to L.A. is a fur piece. And even Americans who are accustomed to driving in the East, are thrown off when driving out West. When you're used to crossing a State line every couple of hours, the Western States can seem absurdly big.

Here's a regionalism: There is another L.A. that's a lot closer to Florida than Los Angeles; in fact, it's part of Florida. The panhandle of that state is sometimes affectionately referred to (by a certain set of folks) as L.A. - Lower Alabama - also known as The Redneck Riviera. There, you can feel comfortable fashioning a pair of swim trunks out of an old pair of camouflage army trousers. High fashion on Fort Walton Beach.

prendrelemick

11-28-2012, 09:14 AM

Sancho

11-28-2012, 12:05 PM

That's a good-looking machine, Mick. And I think we're in agreement and have had similar youth experiences - going mobile meant pure freedom.

Oh great, now I've got that tune by The Who stuck in my head:

I don't care about pollution
I'm an air conditioned gypsy
That's my solution
Watch the police and the taxman miss me
I'm mobile

Sheesh, I can't seem to remember to buy my wife flowers on our anniversary, but I can remember thousands of lyrics from the 70s. So let's tilt a cold one to all the miles we've traveled as "air conditioned gypsies."

MarkBastable

11-28-2012, 01:05 PM

The size of your place is difficult to comprehend being from such a small country. 15 minutes one way brings me to Warwick - on a Sunday morning without the traffic anyway. 30 minutes the other way and I've passed the international airport and arrived in our third largest city - (the second, Manchester, and the first, London, are 2 and 1 hours drive away respectively). It's 45 minutes to Stratford, and probably, as we're slap in the middle of the country here, 2 and a half to three hours will get you to a coast in two directions, four hours to the south, but considerably more to the North through Scotland. If someone drove for four days from here, they would be deep into Europe - (as i'm no driver, then I've reached the end of my speculations).

I may have told you this before, but anyway. A teacher friend of mine once went to Florida on holiday, and before she went I asked if she was going to "pop" up to see her sister in LA. She laughed - she may have even scoffed - and informed me that the distance to Florida from the UK was about the same as the distance from Florida to LA. I'm from a small town in a small country. What can I say?

Old Brit gag about Americans....

American in Somerset: So, this your place, bud?

West Country Farmer: Yerrs, that it be. Arl of it, from the tree down there boy the riverr, roight up to the cattage on the hill o'er yonder.

American: Man, my spread back home, you can step outta the house after breakfast, get in the truck and drive west - come lunch, you'll still be on my property.

Farmer: Aye - we used to have a truck like that.

--------------------------------------------

America, yeah - it's huge. When you fly over it, looking down for hours at the huge expanse of the place, you realise that, in statistical terms, the entire country is unpopulated. There's near as dammit no one there.

A couple of years ago we drove - or rather my American wife drove - from New York to South Florida. There's one long road that goes all the way. (I48? 68? I dunno...) Because the highway's so straight, and because there are so few other cars on it, Anne flicks on the cruise control and then sits with one leg bent underneath her, and the other bare foot on the dash, and a single finger hooked over the bottom of the steering wheel. It drove me nuts, it looked so casually dangerous.

And that road, apparently, is a really busy one compared with those that cross the mid-West.

However, for a real comparison of big, check this out....

http://0.tqn.com/d/goafrica/1/0/b/Q/true-size-of-africa.jpg

Sancho

11-28-2012, 02:26 PM

Old Brit gag about Americans....

American in Somerset: So, this your place, bud?

West Country Farmer: Yerrs, that it be. Arl of it, from the tree down there boy the riverr, roight up to the cattage on the hill o'er yonder.

American: Man, my spread back home, you can step outta the house after breakfast, get in the truck and drive west - come lunch, you'll still be on my property.

Farmer: Aye - we used to have a truck like that.

I've still got a truck like that, which brings us full circle back around to the importance of top-end lubrication...

You guys probably took I-95. It runs down the East Coast. It's also a cash cow for Southern States whose state troopers make it a habit to harvest speeding tickets from folks with New York or Connecticut tags. Anyway, the interstate highway system goes like this: even numbers run east-west and odd numbers run north-south. The long ones are counted in tens from west to east and from south to north. So I-5 runs up the West Coast (California, Oregon, Washington) and I-95 runs the Eastern Seaboard. I-10 runs through the Southern states out to Los Angeles and I-80 runs across the Northern Tier. Loops around cities take their name from the through route and add a 2 onto it: I-85 runs through Atlanta and Loop 285 goes around the city. Spurs are numbered like Loops except they start with a 5 or a 6.

I know, that's more than you ever wanted to know about the U.S. Interstate Highway System. But just in case you ever get a hankering to take the most boring road in the world, try I-40 between Oklahoma City and Amarillo. It's straight as an arrow and it's as boring as watching the grass grow. In fact, it's exactly like watching the grass grow. The road builders were kind enough to put buzz strips on the shoulders though. That way you can sleep the whole way - when the road buzzes, you snap awake and straighten out the car. No problem.

Gilliatt Gurgle

11-28-2012, 06:51 PM

... the world was my oyster thanks to my Hog.

This is how I'm imagining Mick back in the day... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4Siszu8rxc

....Farmer: Aye - we used to have a truck like that.

However, for a real comparison of big, check this out....

http://0.tqn.com/d/goafrica/1/0/b/Q/true-size-of-africa.jpg

Great story and Africa...well I can't even begin to imagine how long that Puch would take from top to bottom.

...But just in case you ever get a hankering to take the most boring road in the world, try I-40 between Oklahoma City and Amarillo. It's straight as an arrow and it's as boring as watching the grass grow. In fact, it's exactly like watching the grass grow. The road builders were kind enough to put buzz strips on the shoulders though. That way you can sleep the whole way - when the road buzzes, you snap awake and straighten out the car. No problem.

That’s is a pretty long stretch. The occasional thud from a Jack Rabbit or Armadillo, will shake you awake as well.

For the history buffs, Sancho’s stretch of Interstate 40 generally follows historic Route 66.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_66 (Scroll down and you’ll see the leaning water tower at Groom - I honked at the tower once when passing by)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg2EbJy-9dc

As you approach a town, the Interstate bypasses the town, but the side road to go into town is typically the original Route 66. A perfect example is found in Shamrock Texas.
Sancho next time you make that run, be sure to drive into Shamrock and feast your eyes on a Route 66 architectural wonder; the U -Drop Inn at the corner of Route 66 and Hwy 83

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-Drop_Inn

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9d/U-Drop_Inn.jpg/640px-U-Drop_Inn.jpg

Our firm, along with another architect that specializes in historic preservation, was involved in the restoration. I was fortunate enough to be involved in the project and made several trips out there.

I remember trips out west took even longer in my 1966 VW Beetle. When driving in Colorado, I was forced to stay on the shoulder going up the mountain. Downhill was no problem.

prendrelemick

11-29-2012, 07:21 AM

More like this to be honest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKnoffPV8m0

And no sign of Karen Black either.

Ah, Get your Kicks on Route 66. Probably the most famous road in the world.

Talking about wide open spaces, I read in a National Geographic about a reporter in Australia who pulled up at a gas station/local store and asked for the Smith's place. The owner told him to go down the road a way, take the first right and you can't miss it. A hundred miles further on he saw an oil drum at the side of the road with "SMITH" painted on it next to a rough track. Two Hundred miles later he arrived.

Paulclem

11-29-2012, 12:15 PM

Old Brit gag about Americans....

American in Somerset: So, this your place, bud?

West Country Farmer: Yerrs, that it be. Arl of it, from the tree down there boy the riverr, roight up to the cattage on the hill o'er yonder.

American: Man, my spread back home, you can step outta the house after breakfast, get in the truck and drive west - come lunch, you'll still be on my property.

Farmer: Aye - we used to have a truck like that.

--------------------------------------------

America, yeah - it's huge. When you fly over it, looking down for hours at the huge expanse of the place, you realise that, in statistical terms, the entire country is unpopulated. There's near as dammit no one there.

A couple of years ago we drove - or rather my American wife drove - from New York to South Florida. There's one long road that goes all the way. (I48? 68? I dunno...) Because the highway's so straight, and because there are so few other cars on it, Anne flicks on the cruise control and then sits with one leg bent underneath her, and the other bare foot on the dash, and a single finger hooked over the bottom of the steering wheel. It drove me nuts, it looked so casually dangerous.

And that road, apparently, is a really busy one compared with those that cross the mid-West.

However, for a real comparison of big, check this out....

http://0.tqn.com/d/goafrica/1/0/b/Q/true-size-of-africa.jpg

I was watching some news report last night and the minister for houses - or something - was saying that less than 10% of the landmass in England has any kind of development upon it. To listen to people here you'd think that we were in danger of squeezing each other into the sea. You can see it when you go by train - fields- fields -fields - fields - fields - town.

I think what they're really referring to is available resources. We're supposed to be very densely packed as a country as well. You get this figure of 80 people per square mile or something - which is a misleading figure which sounds like a lot but takes up a tiny amount of a square mile.

When I have time I will be relating the tale of Mr Orifice.

Paulclem

11-29-2012, 07:17 PM

So, my wife told me a few weeks ago about Mr Orifice. He's a bloke who gets on the local bus and sits near the front. My wife is not one of those women who are cleaning nuts - though she does of course like a clean house. Nor is she naturally squeamish by nature, having worked as a staff nurse fo a number of years. She is, though, particularly offended by the antics of Mr Orifice, and tries to either get a different bus or try to sit at the front so as not to view his particular ... eccentricities.

She has described, in rather graphic detail, what it is that Mr Orifice gets up to, and he basically sits at the front of the bus and picks at his head. He starts, relates Mrs Paulclem, with his scalp, fastidiously picking any bits off, rolling them between his fingers and dropping them into the aisle. He then progressese to each ear, picking and gouging out any loose ends and similarly rolling, dropping and flicking the detritus into the gangway.

Mrs paulclem has begun pointing out this unsociable behaviour to people she knows on the bus, (for which they are really grateful). I wonder, though, whether you blokes would notice? I probably wouldn't, as I usually have my nose up against the screen of my Kindle. I wouldn't notice, and I think I could barely raise a care about this obsessive picker who runs the risk of being lynched by irate ladies on a particular bus.

Sancho

11-29-2012, 10:50 PM

Yuk. Another argument in favor of automobile ownership. Here's my contribution to the strange-but-true real-life-public-transportation tales: About ten years ago I was riding the A-Train through Brooklyn, bound for JFK Airport, and I wound up sitting across from a mentally retarded guy with turrets syndrome. At least that was my nonprofessional opinion of his condition. Anyway, every once in a while he'd stare off in the distance and yell, "COKE," and the woman he was traveling with would reach into her bag and give him a can of Coca-Cola. It was good entertainment for a long ride on a local train. Well, somewhere along the line a gal with a huge set of fake knockers climbs on board and this guy zeros in on her chest like a laser. Everybody in the car is watching the show now. And it doesn't take long before the guy's pants start to grow. He was a big fella, I'm here to tell you. The woman he was traveling with wasn't a bit phased; she simply put her shopping bag on his lap and said, "hold this for me, Melvin."

Talking about wide open spaces, I read in a National Geographic about a reporter in Australia who pulled up at a gas station/local store and asked for the Smith's place. The owner told him to go down the road a way, take the first right and you can't miss it. A hundred miles further on he saw an oil drum at the side of the road with "SMITH" painted on it next to a rough track. Two Hundred miles later he arrived.

I've never been to Australia, but I've heard similar tales of the Outback. Here are a couple of book recommendations, since this is, at least nominally, a website about literature.

The Songlines, by Bruce Chatwin

One for the Road, by Tony Horwitz

Both authors wrote about their travels in the Australian Outback, and although published 10 years apart, their trips nearly coincided (if I'm remembering correctly). They wrote about some of the exact same places. They've may have met some of the same people along the way. In fact, as I was reading along, I kept expecting them to bump into each other.

Anyway, it was an interesting contrast in perspective. Chatwin, British, mid-forties, was an established writer, probably already sick, and only a couple of years from death. Horwitz, American, mid-twenties, and just getting started in the writing business. Horwitz hitchhiked it (YGTBSM).

So there's an American and a British take on the Outback. The only other book I've read about Australia (also a recommendation) is by a guy who's sort of in between the two countries:

In a Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson

prendrelemick

11-30-2012, 05:01 AM

Paulclem

11-30-2012, 12:03 PM

It was only because of a train journey I took about 10 years ago that I discovered the true identity of the writer of all those Beatle's hits. It was a bloke called John from Castleford who sat next to me travelling from Blackpool to Halifax. After penning such hits as Love Me Do and She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah and then going on to more experimental stuff like Lucy (John's wife)In The Sky With Diamond (John's cat ) Paul MaCartney promised him he would see him right by leaving him the Island of Mull in his will. It was probably the most entertaining train journey I had ever been on. The last thing John mentioned was a trip he'd taken to London in the 60's where he'd seen a tramp in a cafe. "And that's how I came to write Streets of London by Ralph MacTell"he said.

Haha. I made it a rule never to completely trust anyone from Castleford, though at that time I used to mainly know miners. (An unruly lot at the best of times).

The bus and train - unless you're on a crammed one - is quite relaxing. That is until some person starts with the inconsequential phone call at full volume. On our way to Manchester last year there was a guy on the coach who kept phoning different people up and telling them the same thing. Those with head-phones donned them, whilst the rest of us spent the trip looking round and and raising our eyebrows at each other in that resigned "there's always one" kind of way. I had to snigger when he kept telling people of him ringing Sharon, but that she never answered.

Gilliatt Gurgle

12-01-2012, 12:41 AM

After reading about Mr. Orifice, I couldn't help but think of Goldmember and his dead skin.
Anyhow, I was on a bus trip a couple years back during which two audible tween 4-H girls were carrying on about animal husbandry, spending the better part of that conversation on methods for studding goats and pigs.

prendrelemick

12-02-2012, 01:34 PM

Haha. I made it a rule never to completely trust anyone from Castleford, though at that time I used to mainly know miners. (An unruly lot at the best of times).

I remember walking up Wheldon Road on match days, swapping jewels of wit and subtle repartee with residents of that fair borough.

Gilliatt Gurgle

12-02-2012, 02:42 PM

Been listening to the Flying Burrito Brothers
Here's a Blokes theme song for the day...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bmcT4qieI4

.

Paulclem

12-03-2012, 06:43 PM

I remember walking up Wheldon Road on match days, swapping jewels of wit and subtle repartee with residents of that fair borough.

I can easily imagine.

Quite a few of the team we played for - Wakefield Trinity Colts - came from Castleford, and I think they had no end of trouble with their local peers. They regularly told us about fights in their nightclub - The Kiosk, (a fine place which I visited once). I think they were regarded as traitors. Worse still, one went on to play for Leeds and another one Bradford. They were a bit handy though, and you could expect a saloon bar brawl if you went out with them - which we did in Blackpool. (Missed the brawl though).

Never heard of the Burrito Brothers Gilliatt, but watching the vid led me on to read about Gram Parsons - fascinating if tragic stuff.

Paulclem

12-04-2012, 09:14 AM

So I've suddenly acquired a greenhouse. At 10.15 this morning I had no greenhouse. At 10.45 I had one. A neighbour saw me on the street and asked if I still had the allotment to which I replied I had. He then asked if i would like a greenhouse. The vision of an aluminium frame with panes of glass was gradually modified to a plastic put together frame with plastic glass. "Ok" I thought. "Glass is bad on an allotment as it often gets broken in high winds." I said I'd call round and take a look sometime and went happily off with the dog. Just after getting home the doorbell went and the neighbour had brought round the instructions and some small parts and announced that it was ready to take.

So I went round and gathered up the very numerous parts of the put together greenhouse, which, without a good diagram, would be a nightmare to put up. Luckily I have the instructions. The reason for his sudden keen ness to divest himself of the greenhouse then became apparent. His wife had been nagging him to get rid of it.

So it is now stuffed down the side of our house waiting for action. I wonder if I'll get round to it this year?

MarkBastable

12-04-2012, 11:55 AM

Paulclem

12-04-2012, 01:05 PM

I'm holding a fiver that says it'll still be stacked in the side return come Easter.

Yes. As I was stuffing it away I was thinking - "Oh no! What have I done?". He did rush away grinning and rubbing his hands.

Scheherazade

12-05-2012, 08:12 AM

I'm holding a fiver that says it'll still be stacked in the side return come Easter.I have a great faith in Mrs Clem's persuasion powers. I'll put a tenner that she will make sure they are not stacked there by Easter.

prendrelemick

12-05-2012, 01:05 PM

I think it'll be gone by tomato planting time.

Sancho

12-05-2012, 10:51 PM

El Sancho wants in on some of this action. I’ve got a Jackson (a twenty) that says the greenhouse is up by the next equinox.

My advice: throw away the instructions (they’re confusing and evil) and get yourself a couple of rolls of this stuff:
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/Duck_Tape.jpg
If you can’t fix it – Duck it.

Gilliatt Gurgle

12-05-2012, 11:32 PM

...So it is now stuffed down the side of our house waiting for action. I wonder if I'll get round to it this year?

I’ll bet my copy of the Old Farmer’s Almanac he’ll have it up by the next harvest moon.
It will make a nice addition to Paul’s field of folly’s complimenting the Ivy League sheds.

Remember this: (post 4728)

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?43406-Cold-Ale-The-Blokes-Thread!/page316

.

El Sancho wants in on some of this action. I’ve got a Jackson (a twenty) that says the greenhouse is up by the next equinox.

My advice: throw away the instructions (they’re confusing and evil) and get yourself a couple of rolls of this stuff:
[img]
If you can’t fix it – Duck it.

Leave it to Sancho to bring us back around to the Duct vs Duck contrivesy.

Sancho

12-06-2012, 02:09 AM

Yep. You know, since that controversy, I’ve learned the etymology behind “Duck Tape”: it is so called because it is a Cloth Tape, and the type of cloth that the gooey stuff is infused into is – Ta Da – Duck Cloth.

Anyway, once again, aluminum tape is better for duct work. Duck Tape leaves behind a messy residue that’ll require another fine product remove it from the ductwork: “Goof Off.” (gasoline works too, but be sure to snuff out your cigarette first.)

So then, concerning Paul’s construction project, and considering that it’s an unnatural act for a man to use a set of instructions, El Sancho has a solution. In fact, I’ve recently tossed all the shop manuals in my garage and replaced them with this simple yet effective wall chart:
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/flochart.jpg

Scheherazade

12-06-2012, 08:27 AM

I think it'll be gone by tomato planting time.I will take that but just to be clear when does one plant tomatoes?

Remember this: (post 4728)

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?43406-Cold-Ale-The-Blokes-Thread!/page316Also, Gilliatt should get a special mention for remembering what Paul mentioned 1500 posts ago (more than 1.5 years ago).

Sancho ~ We follow a similar action plan in my household as well... Only that WD-40 and the Duck Tape are replaced with this:

http://www.rxpcchina.com/images/2012062116332623643497w128h128urong/waste-bin.jpg

Sancho

12-06-2012, 11:09 AM

Ah yes, Scher’, we’ve got one of those too.

Also we have one of these, which is where my furniture building projects usually wind up:
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/fireplace-1.jpg

MarkBastable

12-07-2012, 05:55 AM

You are right, like good wine good beer should be savored, not guzzled ...

Oh, crap. All these years I've been guzzling wine, good or otherwise. I'm never been much of a one for savoring anything, really. 'Get it down yer neck' is pretty much my watchword.

Gilliatt Gurgle

12-07-2012, 10:14 PM

Oh, crap. All these years I've been guzzling wine, good or otherwise. I'm never been much of a one for savoring anything, really. 'Get it down yer neck' is pretty much my watchword.

Hear, here!, and to think, Tom "Stonewall" Jackson's words of wisdom from 6212 posts back, still rain true to this day.
We haven't seen him around these parts in while.
btw- I was talked into test flying a new Kentucky bourbon by a Parker type at local spirits store, it is Wathens Kentucky Bourbon- single barrel.
Pretty good with RC Cola.

prendrelemick

12-08-2012, 04:12 AM

Quiz night last night, We came second and won a tube of smarties, but that's besides the point. NEVER MIX YOUR DRINKS even if you are in a celebratory mood after getting a Spice Girls question right. It's not worth the hangover.

Gilliatt Gurgle

12-08-2012, 08:12 PM

Do you remember the Spice Girls question?
Blokes are wise to keep their drink in one genre once started.
I would have to say, Mad Dog 20/20 creates the most lethal mix if you were to venture outside of your drink of choice for a given occasion.

prendrelemick

12-09-2012, 04:25 AM

It was along the lines of "Which group had three consequtive Christmas number ones" and he gave the years in question.

Many would be ashamed of knowing such girlie trivia, but when a tube of Smarties are at stake one must swallow one's pride.

Any way, we were out again last night, at Harry's 80th birthday party. His son is married to a Russian, who had brought some of her Russian girlfriends from Huddersfield, and some Russian wodka from Irkutsk. I think a quiet day is in order today

Sancho

12-09-2012, 10:58 AM

It's all in the pacing. That said, pacing is easier with beer, unless there's Belgian beer involved - that stuff is lethal.

Spice Girls, huh?

Sancho and his old lady went to a Christmas show last night at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center in Atlanta. The Spice Girls weren't there, but the opening act was the band, Totsy. Oh man. Santa likes Bad Girls Too.

They opened for The Brian Setzer Orchestra. There's no way I'm going to miss that guy when he comes to town. I think he's got more fingers on his fret-board hand than most people. And I've gotta tell ya, the man truly seemed to be enjoying himself up there. I've been to too many shows where the band is just going through the motions. Not these guys. They rocked the house.

prendrelemick

12-09-2012, 04:34 PM

Totsy! They turned out to be exactly what their name suggested they'd be.

Paulclem

12-09-2012, 04:51 PM

Allotment update.

I'm now the chairman - the most interesting part of that being running meetings, (including the casting vote clause), and accepting prizes on behalf of the association. Otherwise I'm the "young guy" helping the Site Manager shovel stuff.

We won third prize in the Coventry and District Allotments Society's 2012 Best kept allotment site category. (There were three entrants, and we came third, but we won £100, and it is this I will be accepting in June at a buffet lunch. Apparently the food is nice).

We have split from the other two sites and are about to set up our bank accounts next week, and mulled wine and mice pies will be in the offing in the shed the week after next. Mmmmmm

Gilliatt Gurgle

12-09-2012, 07:10 PM

Congratulations Paul it is good to be King.
I cant' help but imagine the elder members were "grinning and rubbing their hands" like the greenhouse guy.

Sancho

12-09-2012, 09:42 PM

Totsy! They turned out to be exactly what their name suggested they'd be.

Yep, Mick, of all the guys who regularly post on the Bloke’s Thread, I think you’d’ve appreciated their show the most. I’d never heard of them, but I genuinely enjoyed their set (enjoyed it a little too much, according to my Señora). Ah-hem.

Totsy, Dope on a Rope:

http://youtu.be/DESTk4YKpx8

Paulclem

12-10-2012, 05:05 PM

Congratulations Paul it is good to be King.
I cant' help but imagine the elder members were "grinning and rubbing their hands" like the greenhouse guy.

Yep. That, and they have the real jobs. To be fair, they have more time than I do, but perhaps they wanted to include me.:D

.Busy week coming up, but the tinselled end is in sight. Christmas ties on tomorrow.

prendrelemick

12-12-2012, 04:37 AM

Mrs P arrived home from her Womens Institute jamboree last night claiming the highlight of the evening was the Sex on the Beach! Whatever happened to jam and Jeruselem?

Paulclem

12-13-2012, 09:23 AM

Waiting for the bus last night in town - I was working a little late and I've bust my front wheel - I was treated to "My Way" by two drunken old geezers who were on the street smoking outside The Coventry Cross pub. They were awful but enthusiastic, but they did have trouble singing it together. I had to laugh.

The illustrious street that houses The Coventry Cross also has another rough pub a few doors down. This one is opposite my bus stop and often has karaoke. Marvellous entertainment after a Saturday shopping trip. It also amuses me that there are invalid scooters parked outside, often with their drunk owners leaning on them smoking. Haha.

prendrelemick

12-16-2012, 03:43 AM

BBC Sports personality of the year tonight. And for once there was plenty of sport shown on the Beeb.

The overseas winner is nailed on for Ussain Bolt. After that I don't know, we've had a year of unimagined riches. Laura Trott who won 2 golds didn't even make the short list. I think it is between Mo Farrah and Bradly Wiggins, but there are plenty of other contenders - Jess Ennis, Andy Murray, Ellie Simmonds.

Gilliatt Gurgle

12-16-2012, 03:05 PM

Looking back, it is amazing the success you guys had in the Olympics.
Was it the alignment of planets?, playing on home turf?
Keep us posted on the results.

------

Happy birthday Mark!

http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Misc%20Album/th_IMGP2880.jpg (http://s963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Misc%20Album/?action=view&current=IMGP2880.jpg)

-------

Mick,
as mentioned on your other thread, I thought I'd share a little on the "Type Writer", assuming you're interested.

It is essentially the M1903 Springfield rifle 30.06 caliber.
The rifle type was used extensively in WW I in fact my Grandfather carried one with the 143rd fighting in France in 1918.
When WW II broke out we were just beginning to manufacture the M1 Garand, but production couldn't keep up.
So the Army supplemented by producing upgraded version of the M1903.
In order to further the production of the M1903, Springfield contracted with other companies with similar tooling as rifle manufacturers.
Smith Corona was one of those companies.

Yours truly with the "typewriter" shooting at target from about 3 years ago:
...

Son:
He barely weighs more than the rifle, hence the severe arch posture trying to counter balance the weight.
Note the ear protection and finger off trigger until he is set.

...

prendrelemick

12-16-2012, 05:14 PM

I recognise the "junior" stance, my boy and daughters used to shoot clays (skeet?) exactly like that, they still managed to hit more than me.

Gilliatt Gurgle

12-17-2012, 09:19 PM

I recognise the "junior" stance, my boy and daughters used to shoot clays (skeet?) exactly like that, they still managed to hit more than me.

"junior stance" I like that description.
Yes; "skeet" , though I have no clue of the etymology.

prendrelemick

12-21-2012, 03:02 AM

Sancho

12-21-2012, 10:37 AM

But den when Boudreaux missed dat 'gator wit his gun, he hit Thibodeaux instead. Keeled him dead. So he had to go tell Madam Thibodeaux dat her man was shot dead down in da bayou. Boudreaux weren't no good at dat kinda stuff, so he try and think hard 'bout what to say. He been thinkin' da whole way over to Thibodeaux's cabin. Finally he work hisself up and go knock on da door. Mrs. Thibodeaux opened it:

Madam Thibodeaux: Hep ya?
Boudreaux: Is you da widow Thibodeaux?
Madam Thibodeaux: Why no. I'm not a widow.
Boudreaux: Da hell you ain't!

...and so it goes down in Cajun country.

Also, I'm thinking Lance Armstrong won't be short listed for any Sportsman-of-the-Year honors this go around.

prendrelemick

12-21-2012, 04:48 PM

It probably went down better than "bereavement councilling" yu-heah

Curses! The World didn't end. Now I have to go Christmas shopping.

Gilliatt Gurgle

12-21-2012, 05:58 PM

Skeet could be Norwegian for shoot, or it could be a misheard exclaimation by by a Louisianian backwoodsman - sheet I meeessed!

Meanwhile Bradley Wiggins won sports personality of the year and is in danger of becoming a style icon. The Cricket went well in India - England taking the series against all expectations. I've given up on the footie where petulence and cheating is overshadowing our beautiful game.

also referred to as "clay pigeons".

But den when Boudreaux missed dat 'gator wit his gun, he hit Thibodeaux instead. Keeled him dead. So he had to go tell Madam Thibodeaux dat her man was shot dead down in da bayou. Boudreaux weren't no good at dat kinda stuff, so he try and think hard 'bout what to say. He been thinkin' da whole way over to Thibodeaux's cabin. Finally he work hisself up and go knock on da door. Mrs. Thibodeaux opened it:

Madam Thibodeaux: Hep ya?
Boudreaux: Is you da widow Thibodeaux?
Madam Thibodeaux: Why no. I'm not a widow.
Boudreaux: Da hell you ain't!

...and so it goes down in Cajun country....

haha brilliant !

It probably went down better than "bereavement councilling" yu-heah

Curses! The World didn't end. Now I have to go Christmas shopping.

There's still a few hours left here.
So far it's relatively calm, smattering of alto stratus clouds, a group of Chickadees and Juncos are foraging for a few morsels in the Oaks and Elms.
UPS delivery just pulled up with a package, The old lady quickly ran out to intercept it. (I bet it's my Keats - better be hardbound)
The pets aren't showing any signs of impending doom.

It's 4:00 pm CDT, let's see how the evening hours turn out.

Happy Birthday Paulclem!

Green Allotments...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-xwenJ-Cw0

prendrelemick

12-22-2012, 10:31 AM

Happy Birthday Chairman Paulclem.

Now, real pigeons used to be used for practice. You'd get your butler to release them from the battlements, and blast away with your black powder firing muzzle loader. This was fine while the supply of pigeons - and the butler's nerve - held up. Later, some bright spark invented a hollow glass sphere and a catapult to launch them. For realism, the spheres were stuffed with pigeon feathers so you,d get a satisfying feathery puff when you hit one. Later, expensive glass was replaced with rough fired clay and the clay pidgeon was born.

Paulclem

12-22-2012, 06:02 PM

Thanks Gilliat and Mick. I had a good day.

My wife also bought me a bottle of Jim Beam with honey. I don't know whether this is breaking a rule of the club, but I really like it. I like Southern Comfort too as i have a sweet tooth.

Chairman Paul has a ring to it. certainly the Allotment Association is not a democracy, though this is more by way of inertia rather than despotism.

prendrelemick

12-24-2012, 09:42 AM

The Pope has been going mad Christmas shopping on Ebay this year. Fortunately his credit is good........

.....He has Paypal infallibility

Paulclem

12-26-2012, 05:25 AM

How was your Christmas Day chaps? I'm rather thinking that I'd like to do things differently next year - a buffet instead of dinner, even go out. Our dinner was great as usual, but it just dominates the whole day with the usual catering stress that goes with it. It probably won't change.

We were talking to the lad in Japan on Skype before we ate yesterday. His Grandma and the old Auntie were able to chat to him and see that he's alright. (At the moment he looks like Jesus with long hair - which is probably due to hair cutting inertia rather than deign). I regularly send him messageson Facebook and we have conversations if he's up or available. He doesn't seem so far away. The tech is great.

prendrelemick

12-26-2012, 06:44 AM

Excellent Christmas thankyou paul, got my morning jobs done, then cooked the dinner, I really enjoy it. This year there were only five of us so it was very relaxing.

Today there are 13 or 14 coming.

At the moment I am on here to avoid watching The Railway Children, which always gets me.

Gilliatt Gurgle

12-26-2012, 06:08 PM

That rain and snow pulled through !
We recorded about 1.6 inches of rain followed by approximately 2 inch snow.
Another white Christmas in three years.

Santa is losing his touch though. The Keats I wished for turned out to be a critical analysis of his Odes.
All I wanted was a collection of his greatest hits as long as it included "To Autumn".

The Pope has been going mad Christmas shopping on Ebay this year. Fortunately his credit is good........

.....He has Paypal infallibility

That's a keeper. Hope you don't mind if I borrow it from time to time.

Paulclem

12-29-2012, 06:06 PM

I had an interesting time today mooching around a very wet Coventry centre. I seem to get better ideas if I'm out and about - the TV rarely stimulates me - and so I went up town on the pretext of getting some necessities, but spent most of the time wandering around and drinking coffee in a Costa cafe. I wrote a few Haiku, and finished reading a book on Russia in WW2 by Richard Overy on the handy kindle.

Anyway whilst i was up there I remembered we'd got a Vologograd Place near the City Centre. Volgograd used to be Stalingrad before the de-Stalinisation of the Soviet Union took place under Khruschev. I decided to pop down there and take a few photos. (I'll post them when I find the micro SD adapter).

Volgograd Place is a bit strange. It seems a funny place to have as a tribute to the city Coventry is twinned with. (Coventry actually twinned with Stalingrad during the battle - the first city ever to twin with any city). It's beneath the concrete monstrosity that is the ring road around the city centre. It used to lie in the path to the Coventry and Warwickshire hospital before they closed it a couple of years ago, but it has always been a place leading to the rougher part of town, with a local homeless hostel and an alcoholics' treatment centre nearby. I used to meet my wife when she worked in the casualty and various wards, as at night it is barely better than a subway, as you can imagine the types of blokes you would see - and still do see - hanging around there.

This is to do the original tribute a bit of a disservice though, as, when it was first developed, the ring road was a source of pride to the city and formed part of the post war regeneration of WW2 damage. It was opened by the then Mayor of Volgograd, and includes a kind of art installation in concrete. I used to walk past - or rather through - this installation and wonder how anyone could think it was at all appealing, and what was the artist thinking of.

Since I saw the plaque and name though, the whole thing seems to make a brutal sense. What you have is the usual pathway underneath the ring road made with flagstones which is flanked by mounds of concrete with blocks sticking out at various angles. It was after I read the plaque that i realised that the smooth flagstones represent the river Volga, and the rubble like concrete at the edges represents the ruins of the city that was then Stalingrad.

I see the place differently now, though I still tend not to frequent the place at night.

I've found a picture on the internet. The lady walking with the push chair is walking through the river. You can see the rubble on the other side of the river. Interestingly, when it was opened it had water features, and no doubt will have looked a lot better.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iancvt55/6619073339/

Here's another set of 4 - scroll down to the third set of four pics.

http://www.talkingbirds.co.uk/masterplan/stivichall/01_dell_sculpture/02_08_mission.html

prendrelemick

12-31-2012, 04:20 AM

A memorial made of concrete somehow suits Coventry.

I don't know why but I always think of concrete when I think of Coventry. I mean that in a good 1960's way, when optimism and confidence and concrete came together and rebuilt war ravaged cities in the pristine white stuff. When enthusiastic publicly funded Architects were sweeping their drawing boards clear of clutter, and shuttering and pouring out the future. When ancient Vitruvian proportions were replaced by the ubiquitous 1:2:3 of readymix .
Heady times and short lived.

Paulclem

12-31-2012, 04:35 AM

Paulclem

12-31-2012, 06:10 PM

Happy New Year chaps.

DocHeart

12-31-2012, 06:11 PM

Happy New Year Paul, and everyone!

Gilliatt Gurgle

12-31-2012, 06:52 PM

Happy New Year Paul, Doc and all.

“Gin by the pailfulls, wine in rivers,
Dash the window glass to shivers!
For three wild lads were we, brave boys.
And three wild lads were we.
Thou on the land, and I on the sand,
and Jack on the gallows tree!”

Found in Scott's Guy Mannering

qimissung

12-31-2012, 07:55 PM

Happy New Year, guys! :cheers2:

:leaving:

Gilliatt Gurgle

01-04-2013, 09:54 PM

Office life can be interesting at times.
The social committee decided to hold a cookie competition today (Friday). Contestants could either make their own cookies or purchase their favorite type of cookie for judging, I opted for a little of both.
Why not take an ordinary orange colored Voortam Vanilla Wafer and modify it?
While deciding what to do with the wafer, I had the Spotnicks playing "Orange Blossom Special" in the background (it's about a train) then it hit me!

I present "The Orange Blossom Special" ...

http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Misc%20Album/th_IMG_0038.jpg (http://s963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Misc%20Album/?action=view&current=IMG_0038.jpg)

Recipe:
Voortman orange wafer cookies,
spread a bed of melted chocolate on top
Press small marshmallows into chocolate bed.
Line cookies up in the form of a train on pizza box lid.

Then play this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DhLnuh7TQI&feature=endscreen&NR=1

http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Misc%20Album/th_IMG_0037.jpg (http://s963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Misc%20Album/?action=view&current=IMG_0037.jpg)

btw- I came in at about 6th place, but my presentation along with being the only contestant to incorporate a theme...

got a few laughs

prendrelemick

01-05-2013, 10:04 AM

MarkBastable

01-05-2013, 10:23 AM

That thar was some fancy finger pickin!

On the theme of confectionary that looks like something else, Mrs P introduced Mushroom Buns from darkest Lincolnshire into this household many years ago. Thats a mini bakewell tart with chocolate butter icing on top that has grooves in it radiating outwards from the centre - to look like mushroom glans- and a marzipan stalk on top.

A quick image search on google shows they are unknown in the wider world.

I'm not an expert in the field of marketing cakes - or even promoting the idea for a new type of cake - but I would suggest that if Mrs P is explaining this confectionery innovation to the ladies at the Women's Institute in the same terms as you have used here, what might be killing the thing stone dead is the use, in a butter icing context, of the word 'glans'.

Just a thought.

prendrelemick

01-05-2013, 11:08 AM

I'll admit "Chocolate Glans" are underused in the field of confectionary decoration. I don't know what I was thinking about - but GILLS are what I meant to type.

Paulclem

01-05-2013, 03:57 PM

Perhaps not...

Warning - naughty cake!

http://www.thecakegallerysf.com/x1ratedcakes/item.nhtml?profile=x1ratedcakes&UID=111

Sorry...

stlukesguild

01-06-2013, 12:51 AM

Should have stuck with the beers and ales. hell the wife even bought me a box of fabulous beer for Christmas (I knew I married her for some reason) including four bottles of Avinger Celebrator:

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSFxMAsWeuGA_LsvSdFLO397QV6yhjN8 oVEgkoXQx9MuklFcrtsmA

Ballast Point Imperial Porter (virtually like stout meets espresso!):

http://bonbeer.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/ballast-point-victory-at-sea-coffee-vanilla-imperial-porter.jpg

and half a dozen others that I can't wait to delve into.

Unfortunately (or otherwise) tonight was Mexican night... Cazuelada, Enchilladas, Tamales, Queso and Chorizo... and Tequila!!!

Tequila in Margaritas and Tequila shots!!! :eek6::shocked::eek2:

Now I'm finishing off the evening the only way possible...

With the Stones blasting:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c5op-Y6WtCI/TVindO51RhI/AAAAAAAAAHg/o15uPLlssNk/s1600/Rolling_Stones_Let_It_Bleed.jpg

And a big glass of Bourbon!!!

Hahhahahahahahhahhahahhahahahhahhahahhahhaha!

If I get up tomorrow I'll let you know.:cheers2: