The Night Mail

[Compound2632]

Just now, newbryford said:

 

Is it:

"Where's my crocodile?" 

 

Close: "Toss me the crocodile."

[SM42]

 

5 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Close: "Toss me the crocodile."

 

Or more correctly.

 

"Give me the crocodile."

 

But context is everything so either works. 

 

Andy

[newbryford]

6 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Close: "Toss me the crocodile."

 

Just now, SM42 said:

 

 

Or more correctly.

 

"Give me the crocodile."

 

 

 

And make it snappy......

[Dave Hunt]

 

 

3 minutes ago, SM42 said:

Or more correctly.

 

"Give me the crocodile."

 

But context is everything so either works. 

 

OK I'll PM my address.

 

Make sure it's well packed

 

Dave

 

[Compound2632]

16 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

 

Or more correctly.

 

"Give me the crocodile."

 

But context is everything so either works. 

 

Andy

 

Krzystyna is swimming at some distance from the boat, as I recall, so Andrzej has to throw the crocodile rather than just pass it. So I aimed for a more idiomatic rendering.

[SM42]

18 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Krzystyna is swimming at some distance from the boat, as I recall, so Andrzej has to throw the crocodile rather than just pass it. So I aimed for a more idiomatic rendering.

 

Just goes to show how translation can go several ways depending on the situation in which a sentence is used. 

 

This is a concept I found hard to grasp as a youngster learning French at school.

Not helped by thinking that every word in English had a French equivalent and translation  had to be word for word. 

 

It all suddenly became clear where I was going wrong  just after I met the future Mrs SM42 and the concept of thinking in different language and accepting that less could mean more or vice versa in a foreign language came into my consciousness. 

 

Polish grammar still makes my head hurt though. 

I gave up learning the rules ( too complicated) and just go with what sounds right. 

I have about a  70 -75% succes rate.

 

Andy

Edited January 18, 2023 by SM42

[Winslow Boy]

33 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

Just goes to show how translation can go several ways depending on the situation in which a sentence is used. 

 

This is a concept I found hard to grasp as a youngster learning French at school.

Not helped by thinking that every word in English had a French equivalent and translation  had to be word for word. 

 

It all suddenly became clear where I was going wrong  just after I met the future Mrs SM42 and the concept of thinking in different language and accepting that less could mean more or vice versa in a foreign language came into my consciousness. 

 

Polish grammar still makes my head hurt though. 

I gave up learning the rules ( too complicated) and just go with what sounds right. 

I have about a  70 -75% succes rate.

 

Andy

 

I knew that I was going wrong somewhere when I tried to get my head round French but I couldn't quite grasp it. Looking at it written down I could just about get the jist of what was being said but verbally not a chance. Now I realise that if I'd got a French girlfriend/wife/mistress - pick which ever you feel appropriate, it would have led to a totally different life. Thirty years of marriage, three children and a home in the Dordogne/ Divorce, re-marrage, divorce, one child, broke - take your pick.

[SM42]

I do at least try to learn how to say thank you wherever I go.

So far Latvian, Polish ( of course) French, German, Russian,   Japanese,  Italian, Spanish and Dutch. 

All with various degrees of strangled pronunciation and getting them mixed up

 

The biggest problem I have is trying not to default to Polish when anywhere in Europe except Poland and not using my limited  French in Poland. 

 

I once went through four languages at Gutersloh services before I got to German 😳

 

Andy

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[AndyID]

Staying with friends in Sandy, Utah. It's a little bit South of Salt Lake City. John and I plan to Ski at Alta tomorrow. It's not far from here.

 

The drive down was uneventful. It's "only" 700 miles but the speed limit is 80 mph most of the way and the traffic was very light. Cruise was set at 82/83.

 

The freeway crosses and re-crosses the Continental Divide at around 6000 feet ASL and there was snow being blown across the road on some stretches but other than that the road was clear. Mind you, that can change really quickly but not today fortunately.

[Dave Hunt]

12 hours ago, SM42 said:

Not helped by thinking that every word in English had a French equivalent and translation  had to be word for word. 

 

One of the guys on another Squadron at a base where I was in Germany thought himself a bit of a linguist but he used to translate things word for word, e.g., he used to puzzle the Germans by saying things like 'Gut genug' for good enough but as a phrase in German it is meaningless.

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

Greetings from a white and picturesque North Hipposhire where it snowed again last night and this morning. I've been hearing about school closures, people being unable to get to work etc. but our milkman got through OK from several miles away. Makes you wonder sometimes.

 

Dave

[SM42]

25 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Greetings from a white and picturesque North Hipposhire where it snowed again last night and this morning. I've been hearing about school closures, people being unable to get to work etc. but our milkman got through OK from several miles away. Makes you wonder sometimes.

 

Dave

 

Some years ago one of our staff phoned in saying that he couldn't get in because of the snow. 

Unfortunately his colleague on shift had arrived on time and had effectively driven past his house and travelled twice as far.

 

The problem is I think, that we didn't have any significant snow for many years, so a generation of drivers grew up without seeing it and thus had no idea how to deal with it. 

 

This was amply demonstrated 20 odd years ago when Brum was gridlocked by people doing the wrong thing. 

It took me 4 and a half hours to get to work that day instead of the usual 45 minutes

Around 3 hours of that covering around a mile and all because there was a short downhill followed by a short uphill. 

Nobody seemed to know how to cope with these obstacles. 

 

Way back in the 70s, one of my teachers gave up trying to  drive into work in the snow and walked to work.

 

He arrived at 3pm. He had walked around 30 miles. 

 

Not sure if he went home that night though.

 

Andy

[coastalview]

3 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

Greetings from a white and picturesque North Hipposhire where it snowed again last night and this morning. I've been hearing about school closures, people being unable to get to work etc. but our milkman got through OK from several miles away. Makes you wonder sometimes.

 

Dave

No snow on the western side of the county, although some fell in Shrewsbury this morning, however, within 15 minutes it had gone.

 

Went for a walk around Attingham and it was very slippy with ice in places. The rivers are still really high but thankfully on the way down.

 

Some people seem to struggle driving on a sunny day let alone in the snow...

[bbishop]

Hasn't this become a nice, friendly thread , in the absence of the pachyderm?  No demands for cake, more cake, even more cake or else he will exhibit photographs of a GWR branch line.  Bill

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, bbishop said:

Hasn't this become a nice, friendly thread , in the absence of the pachyderm?  No demands for cake, more cake, even more cake or else he will exhibit photographs of a GWR branch line.  Bill

He has access to 24 hour cake supplies at the moment. 

[Winslow Boy]

56 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

He has access to 24 hour cake supplies at the moment. 

 

And don't forget the alcoholic mouth wash to help it go down as well.

[Happy Hippo]

Currently in Santa Cruz along with Dasher, Prancer, Donner, Blitzen......

[SM42]

Someone had to go and mention him and we get a visitation from across the waves

 

 

Andy

[Compound2632]

8 hours ago, SM42 said:

Way back in the 70s, one of my teachers gave up trying to  drive into work in the snow and walked to work.

 

He arrived at 3pm. He had walked around 30 miles. 

 

Not sure if he went home that night though.

 

That's why there are school closures - it's not that it is difficult or dangerous for the kids to get in but that not enough staff can get in - they, on the whole, live well out of catchment (for obvious reasons).

[Dave Hunt]

Although there has been some thawing today, there is still a couple of inches of the white stuff on grassy areas and the back roads and footpaths are somewhat slushy. It's freezing again now so underfoot could be a bit tricky. It's a good thing that HH is missing as the muddy hollow is probably more like an ice bucket.

 

Horace the cat seems to be getting over his Saturday night trauma and is back in charge of the house. I'll be glad when his antibiotic course is finished on Saturday as getting it down him twice a day is what is is technical called a right pain.

 

One benefit of the snow is that all ideas of anything to do with gardening or other outdoor pursuits have been officially put on hold nd I was able to spend a significant part of the last two days in the workshop up to my usual bodgery.

 

TTFN

 

Dave  

[BoD]

8 hours ago, SM42 said:

The problem is I think, that we didn't have any significant snow for many years, so a generation of drivers grew up without seeing it and thus had no idea how to deal with it. 

I was lucky in a way because there was snow when I was learning to drive.  After one fairly substantial fall I was convinced that my lesson would be cancelled but no, my instructor turned up, took me to some quiet snow covered country lanes and in effect said “let’s have a good play and see what it is like driving on snow”.  Whilst you can never be 100% confident on snow that hour and a half taught me an awful lot for which, at times, I am still very grateful.

 

 

[Dave Hunt]

Having learned to drive in the mid '60s and lived for a significant part of the '70s in Germany I've managed to spend a fair bit of time driving on snow but even so, I always go cautiously when encountering the white stuff. That may be because I've more than once spun on snow and have several times been going downhill effectively as a passenger despite sitting behind the wheel. At least I've learned how to minimise the chances of having an accident on snow but also how not to inconvenience everyone else by blocking the road.

 

Dave 

[SM42]

2 minutes ago, BoD said:

I was lucky in a way because there was snow when I was learning to drive.  After one fairly substantial fall I was convinced that my lesson would be cancelled but no, my instructor turned up, took me to some quiet snow covered country lanes and in effect said “let’s have a good play and see what it is like driving on snow”.  Whilst you can never be 100% confident on snow that hour and a half taught me an awful lot for which, at times, I am still very grateful.

 

 

 

Having a play in the snow where there is little to hit was where I learnt what can and can't be done and what might happen 

 

It's much harder to do now with ABS ( leave 1/2 mile stopping distance at 20mph) and electric handbrakes don't help. 

 

Using the snow  help control the vehicle is something I don't think many younger drivers would know about.

 

Andy

[newbryford]

17 minutes ago, BoD said:

I was lucky in a way because there was snow when I was learning to drive.  After one fairly substantial fall I was convinced that my lesson would be cancelled but no, my instructor turned up, took me to some quiet snow covered country lanes and in effect said “let’s have a good play and see what it is like driving on snow”.  Whilst you can never be 100% confident on snow that hour and a half taught me an awful lot for which, at times, I am still very grateful.

 

 

 

As long as the pupil was at a decent standard, that's something I would always try and do with my lot when I was instructing.

 

They used to cancel tests for a bit of snow at Blackburn as the test centre was (still is) located 100 yards down a "private" road that wasn't gritted. Yet everywhere else was gritted and clear, even including the test centre car park........