The Night Mail

[Dave Hunt]

The great pain in the ar  kitchen rebuild today saw the plumber do his stuff and on Wednesday the quartz worktops are due to be fitted. So, tomorrow is a day without Hunt Towers being invaded by workmen various you suppose? Wrong! Just in case I should get complacent and my wallet have a day off we are getting a new staircarpet laid so bang go another few Deltics. 😥

 

Dave

[pH]

8 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

… bang go another few Deltics. 😥

 

Pop go the diesels?

[Dave Hunt]

10 hours ago, DenysW said:

Whilst not contesting @iL Dottore's catering remarks, there are two key advantages of baseball over cricket. Mostly: it ends in 3-4 hours - no rained-out on the 5th day and ending in a draw. Partly: at least some of it take place close enough to the expensive seats for spectators to be able to see it. 

 

When I worked in San Diego I used to go to baseball games and not only enjoyed the experience but also managed to pick up some of the terminology and the nuances of the game, which can be quite a tactical exercise. As far as test cricket taking too long is concerned, wasn't that the reason for the invention of limited overs and one day international matches? I suppose that for dyed in the wool cricket afficionados such matches aren't the 'real thing' but I do think that matches that drag on for days only to end in a draw because of weather or one team that has no real chance of winning simply stone-walling until they run out of time are not something to be relished.

 

Dave  

[SM42]

But that is all part of the tactics of the game. 

 

See England's early declaration at Edgbaston. Playing the weather forecast as well as the game and it nearly worked. 

 

The nuances of cricket are many and varied. Even saving a loss to get a draw is a tactical move

 

Andy

[Tony_S]

11 minutes ago, SM42 said:

The nuances of cricket are many and varied. Even saving a loss to get a draw is a tactical move

The current test captain and coach do seem to like the idea of trying for the win if possible though.  

[pH]

31 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

When I worked in San Diego I used to go to baseball games and not only enjoyed the experience but also managed to pick up some of the terminology and the nuances of the game, which can be quite a tactical exercise.

Explanation of baseball from the movie “Bull Durham” (a great movie, by the way):

 

“This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball. You hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.”

[Winslow Boy]

15 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

The current test captain and coach do seem to like the idea of trying for the win if possible though.  

 

That's not very sporting. I thought it was how you behaved when you lost that made you a gentleman.

[Northmoor]

44 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

When I worked in San Diego I used to go to baseball games and not only enjoyed the experience but also managed to pick up some of the terminology and the nuances of the game, which can be quite a tactical exercise. As far as test cricket taking too long is concerned, wasn't that the reason for the invention of limited overs and one day international matches? I suppose that for dyed in the wool cricket afficionados such matches aren't the 'real thing' but I do think that matches that drag on for days only to end in a draw because of weather or one team that has no real chance of winning simply stone-walling until they run out of time are not something to be relished.

 

Dave  

Dad loves almost all cricket, I don't follow the County game at all but love Test cricket, the fact that it can last five days is half the appeal!  It's a tactical contest like a chess match.  The really limited over 20/20 doesn't appeal although I can see why it was created; as for The Hundred, it seems to be aimed at people whose attention span won't even stretch to 240 balls. 

 

I do wonder why some sports are so desperate to appeal to the people least likely to be interested.  It's like people who complain about motorsports like Formula One, saying that everyone should drive the same cars to make it fair.  Funny then, that they seem to have never heard of the dozens of one-make championships run at British racetracks.  They're not generally televised though and I've often thought F1 is motorsport for the spoon-fed.

[Darlington_Shed]

Greetings! Just back from a very enjoyable evening at a riverside gastro-pub in west London. Colloquially known as Boys Night Out, it's a bunch of old blokes whose daughters were at primary school together - the mums were always organising coffee mornings and lunches so us dads mounted a counter-offensive. Mums' events have been very sporadic for more than a decade but us dads are still going strong - 7 or 8 old gits, usually involving copious quantities of dead meat and red wine. What could be better?

[AndyID]

We watched the latest episode of Endeavor last night. I'm afraid we got slightly lost. A lot of characters from a previous series were mentioned and I can't remember any of them 😄

 

I think I need a flowchart.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 27, 2023 by AndyID
speeling

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

We watched the latest episode of Endeavor last night. I'm afraid we got slightly lost. A lot of characters from a previous serious were mentioned and I can't remember any of them 😄

 

I think I need a flowchart.

I think this is deliberate.
 

By mentioning obscure characters that popped up 3 episodes ago for 5 minutes, the producers are pretty much forcing you to binge watch the series. Remembering an obscure character from episode two is a lot easier when you watched episode two only three hours previously and not three weeks previously.

 

Furthermore, if the producers have a bit of a sadistic streak in them (and some do), a number of obscure characters referred to in today's episode actually never appeared in any previous episode. Which, when you think about it, is rather a clever way of suggesting a Hollywood blockbuster sized cast on a Coronation Street budget.

[AndyID]

17 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I think this is deliberate.
 

By mentioning obscure characters that popped up 3 episodes ago for 5 minutes, the producers are pretty much forcing you to binge watch the series. Remembering an obscure character from episode two is a lot easier when you watched episode two only three hours previously and not three weeks previously.

 

Furthermore, if the producers have a bit of a sadistic streak in them (and some do), a number of obscure characters referred to in today's episode actually never appeared in any previous episode. Which, when you think about it, is rather a clever way of suggesting a Hollywood blockbuster sized cast on a Coronation Street budget.

 

Shades of "The Missing Page"

 

The other night we watched "Ghost Town" with Tea Leoni and Ricky Gervais. Some of the throw-away jokes were brilliant, particularly the bits that involved the Great Dane 😄

[zarniwhoop]

23 hours ago, rockershovel said:

The thing I've always found puzzling about cricket, is the way that nation teams seem to be on top form one year, and quite useless the next.

As someone with zero interest in cricket, or related things such as Brockian Ultra-Cricket and Krikkit, but an interest in some sports, I think it is entirely normal that an athlete or sportsperson is on top form for a while, and then either off their best, or even almost useless in that activity.

[Oldddudders]

I say chaps, this really isn't cricket!

 

https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/66022949

 

[polybear]

8 hours ago, Northmoor said:

I do wonder why some sports are so desperate to appeal to the people least likely to be interested.  It's like people who complain about motorsports like Formula One, saying that everyone should drive the same cars to make it fair.  Funny then, that they seem to have never heard of the dozens of one-make championships run at British racetracks.  They're not generally televised though and I've often thought F1 is motorsport for the spoon-fed.

 

I'd find F1 much more interesting if every driver drove a different Team's Car for the next race - by the end of the year they've all had a drive in every car.  Whoever then wins the Championship (Driver & Constructor) really can say they're the best.

In the early 80's there was the Yamaha RD350 Pro-Am Series - Yamaha would prepare all the bikes for each race and riders were allocated a bike for a race simply by picking the ignition keys out of a hat; they could only do very limited changes to the bike (tyre pressures, suspension settings etc.).  Exciting?  Oh yes, and some - loads of young riders, all with something to prove.  It was absolutely MAD and brilliant to watch, though I only saw it on the telly (the best place I think, cos' you get to see the whole race and not just one corner etc.).

 

[AndyID]

Not a great week for billionaires.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/chicago-business-executive-philanthropist-jim-203234104.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

 

[Happy Hippo]

16 minutes ago, AndyID said:

Not a great week for billionaires.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/chicago-business-executive-philanthropist-jim-203234104.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

 

The cynic in me thinks there will be a rash of billionaires trying to outdo each other in the most spectacular death stakes.

 

Hesperus P Arbuthnott III died today when his parachute failed when he tried to skydive into the sun.

 

The Space Force reports that attempts to recover the body 'might be tricky'.

[NHY 581]

26 minutes ago, AndyID said:

Not a great week for billionaires.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/chicago-business-executive-philanthropist-jim-203234104.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

 

 

 

I wonder if his demise is unconnected to his efforts to galvanise other business owners to fight violent crime in Chicago..........

 

Rob

 

 

[Canal Digger]

22 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

All this talk of cricket and cream teas(e).

 

You have no idea!

 

https://www.attitude-dance-school.com/creamtease

 

 

What, I thought that you only had eyes for the St Jenny of the Red Unmentionables!

[Happy Hippo]

10 minutes ago, Canal Digger said:

What, I thought that you only had eyes for the St Jenny of the Red Unmentionables!

I have no singular obsessions, but have a wide ranging curiosity that allows me to appreciate many of the finer things in life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I have no singular obsessions, but have a wide ranging curiosity that allows me to appreciate many of the finer things in life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can quote understand 3 of those but  no 2 is definitely iffy. 

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

9 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

I can quote understand 3 of those but  no 2 is definitely iffy. 

 

Jamie

It's not a pannier!

[jamie92208]

20 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

It's not a pannier!

It's still a totally wrong colour. 

 

Jamie

[polybear]

5 hours ago, AndyID said:

Not a great week for billionaires.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/chicago-business-executive-philanthropist-jim-203234104.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

 

 

This one dodged a bullet:

 

https://news.sky.com/story/titanic-sub-implosion-billionaire-was-offered-cut-price-tickets-for-doomed-voyage-but-pulled-out-over-schedule-clash-12908345