Early Risers.

[choo1choo]

Leroy?....he works in Arkwright's...hardly a fitting position for a new Royal Prince.

[pH]

How dare you! Today I registered the MRLP as a political party. I'm running for POTUS in 2020. I just need to set up my reality show and I'll be all set.

Just realised you could have saved yourself the trouble of setting up a new party. Instead, you could just have opened a US branch of this Canadian party - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros_Party

[jamie92208]

Leroy?....he works in Arkwright's...hardly a fitting position for a new Royal Prince.

The saving grace is that they apparently told the other royals at the wedding on Friday that must have really upset a certain so called Princess by totally upstaging her.

 

Jamie

[81C]

 News of another royal sprog has me reaching for the sick bag and my late fathers comments would probably be unprintable. 

 

your only jealous that Harry didn't ask you for your hand in marriage.     

[Coombe Barton]

Been told today that the garage has another car for me. They rejected five as not good enough. Get to see it tomorrow, if I can get away from work early enough.

[roundhouse]

Good evening.

 

Back home yesterday via Manchester after a few good pubs there at lunchtime. A great weekend up in Cumbria despite the rain and looking forward to next years show.

 

Today round to Mums to help sort out the new burglar alarm before brother departed back to Devon then home to do a bit of cleaning then fitted a Hornby TTS sound decoder in Lord Beaverbrook. Not bad for 40 quid.

 

Back to Mums tomorrow to meet someone who may come up with a solution for her conservatory roof. Its OK but there is a slight leak that appeared over the weekend. I must get on with tasks around our house soon.

[Ozexpatriate]

Then came the announcement from Kensington Palace.  This may be seen as treason but I for one do not give a donald duck that the Duchess of Sussex is with child and until long after the sprog is born we will not hear the last of it.

And when they did the morning's papers on R4's Today they spent a load of it dealing with Australian newspapers (huh?) and their coverage of the royal visit there. Is the BBC really so obsequious and unchallenging?

I must admit ....That following certain job related interactions with a certain well connected family....I went from staunch monarchist to ardent republican overnight!

 

Recent news, marriages, births etc have done nothing to change my mind!

News of another royal sprog has me reaching for the sick bag and my late fathers comments would probably be unprintable. The only thing that stops me from being a republican is Donald Trump, be careful what you wish for. 

I have not really had any interactions with royalty. The Queen drove past my infant school in Somerset. We took my parents to London and Prince Philip was driven out of what I think was Horse Guards. Dad was horrified at the sloppy presentation of arms etc. A new building for computer related subjects was due to be opened by a member of the royal family. I was asked if I could attend as I had helped with some of the network systems. I declined on the grounds that I would be otherwise engaged that day. Nice boss said let him know what that was when I had thought of something. It didn’t matter as quite a few people wanted to go. I am glad I didn’t have to read all the how to behave advice though.

The saving grace is that they apparently told the other royals at the wedding on Friday that must have really upset a certain so called Princess by totally upstaging her.

your only jealous that Harry didn't ask you for your hand in marriage.     

The Royal Family is an existential component in the global ecosystem of gossip magazines. Without them the entire confection would collapse overnight. Supermarket shoppers all over the English-speaking world would be at a loss without their copy of Hello / US Weekly / People / Women's World / Whatever.

 

The real challenge is for the royals to monetize their value to this ecosystem. 

 

Frankly, I suspect the royals sell more ink in the US than they probably do at home. The classic cognitive dissonance that many Americans possess who simultaneously celebrate independence from the monarchy yet retain a slavish preoccupation with their intimate lives is fascinating to me. The economy seems to need them. There's only so much show-biz and famous for being famous gossip to fill the column inches.

 

I think my Dad was pleased to 'guard'* the dock (during his naval service days) when HMY Brittannia tied up at New Farm in with HM aboard. I believe this was the 1963 visit.

 

* I use this term loosely. There's a photo of Dad and some other RAN sailors grinning and armed to the teeth (the service bayonets at their sides were their only weapons). They were part of an honour guard.

[New Haven Neil]

I'm with ChrisF's Donald Duck.  Little love for that family here, as the Manx consider themselves subjugated to the UK, and anything that represents that authority is treated with disdain.  They want home rule of course but just how a country of 80,000 could sustain and defend itself does not seem to penetrate their ideological thinking. #sigh#

 

Whilst I love this island, I have no time for the idiotic dreams of Mec Vannin. Kind of like the Manx National Front IMHO.

[New Haven Neil]

Tony, I love that photo!  What a lovely young couple you were.  Were we ever that young? Hell...…...

[Tony_S]

Tony, I love that photo! What a lovely young couple you were. Were we ever that young? Hell...…...

We had never seen it until yesterday. Although Aditi’s family would not attend our wedding they did come round to the pragmatic view that they had tried everything to stop us getting wed and decided a couple of months later to have a Havan which is a Hindu ceremony that can be used for almost anything it would seem .

Aditi’s uncle and a cousin who lived in SAN Francisco had pretty much on the spur of the moment decided to come and had bought the Polaroid camera in duty free, Aditi as quite insisrant that she wasn’t going to wear a red sari to the havan. She pointed out that she had at her wedding.

My dear wife can smile to order for photos. I usually can’t. Aditi’s Dad took up photography so he could avoid being photographed.

Tony

Edited October 16, 2018 by Tony_S

[Tony_S]

Before my newish iPad started informing me about breaking news I didn’t know too much about current royalty. As Apple seem to source their news from the Sun and Buzzfeed you can imagine the content. I will tame it eventually. When we have been on cruises the American and German passengers seem to want to interrogate us about the royals. The hotel we stayed in in Austria didn’t have gossip magazines in the foyer but rather serious ones about trees and lakes and sustainable agriculture.

[AndrewC]

Just realised you could have saved yourself the trouble of setting up a new party. Instead, you could just have opened a US branch of this Canadian party - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros_Party

I have a friend that ran for the Rhino party. They wanted ro repeal the law of gravity as the country needed more levity.

[Tony_S]

I have a friend that ran for the Rhino party. They wanted ro repeal the law of gravity as the country needed more levity.

I liked the plan to change Canada’s finances from gold standard to snow standard

[Ozexpatriate]

When we have been on cruises the American and German passengers seem to want to interrogate us about the royals.

I'm not surprised by that at all.

 

The hotel we stayed in in Austria didn’t have gossip magazines in the foyer but rather serious ones about trees and lakes and sustainable agriculture.

Very proper Germanic sensibilities there.

[Tony_S]

I'm not surprised by that at all.Very proper Germanic sensibilities there.

Well, the language was German!

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[lightengine]

The saving grace is that they apparently told the other royals at the wedding on Friday that must have really upset a certain so called Princess by totally upstaging her.Jamie

They clarified that comment later. They told Madge before the wedding

[lightengine]

The Royal Family is an existential component in the global ecosystem of gossip magazines. Without them the entire confection would collapse overnight. Supermarket shoppers all over the English-speaking world would be at a loss without their copy of Hello / US Weekly / People / Women's World / Whatever.

 

The real challenge is for the royals to monetize their value to this ecosystem. 

 

Frankly, I suspect the royals sell more ink in the US than they probably do at home. The classic cognitive dissonance that many Americans possess who simultaneously celebrate independence from the monarchy yet retain a slavish preoccupation with their intimate lives is fascinating to me. The economy seems to need them. There's only so much show-biz and famous for being famous gossip to fill the column inches.

Gawd bless you guv, but in laymans terms please.

Once, I couldn't even spell cognitive dissonance, now I think I might have one somewhere

[Ozexpatriate]

Once, I couldn't even spell cognitive dissonance, now I think I might have one somewhere

Sorry - it's holding contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time.

[Barry O]

Evening to most.

Cricket umpired.

Doctor seen (complete with trainee who took 10 minutes to measure my blood pressure...bless!)

 

Our lettings agent in Barrow about to get a letter from our solicitor..incapable? No just totally incompetent.

 

I don't mind the royals as most of them do a lot of work helping people without mouthing off about it. Only met one..the Princess Royal who always spent a lot of time supporting the families in the Armed Forces.

 

Time for a mugadecaff and some sleep!

Positive thoughts to all who are missing or ail.

 

Baz

Edited October 16, 2018 by Barry O

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone

 

Not a lot has happened today, except for the two shopping trips. Mind you, whilst at Waitrose, I bought myself a new beer, a bottle of Harviestoun Old Engine Oil. So I opened it tonight and it was quite nice, I’ll get some more when we next go.

 

Goodnight all

[newbryford]

Forgot to mention the ice hockey Sunday night.

Hawks playing Nottingham Lions who have the unenviable average result of 1-11 after 8 games.

After a dash up the M1/M6 from Milton Keynes, I missed the faceoff by two minutes and we're one goal up by then.....

4-0 at end of P1 and looking very sharp.

 

Players come out for start of P2 and before the game resumes, there's an issue with the ice and a crack in it.

Player safety is paramount as if a blade edge catches in it, then who knows what the result may be.

 

It's pretty obvious that the Lions don't want to carry on and despite repairs to the ice and the referee okaying it, the Lions still refuse to play.

 

Match abandoned.

There are discussions going at the league management committee as to what the eventual outcome will be.

 

In some respects, I hope it's a wake up call to Planet Ice who own the rink to get it sorted out. 

I think I've mentioned before that the rink isn't flat with a hump in the middle and has acquired the nickname of "The Hill". And it's getting progressively worse.

Even the Zamboni wheel spins as it climbs it...

 

Junior NB and myself will be ticking another away rink off this weekend as we visit Judge Dread territory for a cup game against the Hull Pirates. Not expected to win, but I know the boys will give it their best.

We're booked on the same coach as the players - they sell off the seats to supporters to subsidise the away travel costs. We've done it before and it's a good laugh with the other fans and team.

Just need to arrange pickup from the home rink car park as because we're not driving to Hull, there may be a cheeky tipple or two consumed.

 

Work Weds with more new product testing. Version B is looking good!

 

Enjoy the Hump folks.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

The C*****mas message is nearly ready [famous last words].  One topic that I wished to cover has been abandoned after eight attempts for want of the right words.  Yesterday afternoon I stumbled across that wonderful website "The man in seat 61".  I had been lookng for simple directions for those travelling from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon in Paris, which a friend and I will be doing on 21st December.  I found them and much else besides, which will come in very handy when it comes to putting together short city breaks after I've been to Oz.  It looks as though it will be very easy to compare the costs and travelling times as between rail and air.

 

Today sees Area Group lunch in Harpenden.  With the aid of my bus pass I can travel there and back for £5.40 by train and not subject myself and the Polo to all that the M1 can throw at it.  The bonus is that should I fancy a second pint of Spitfire I can jolly well have one with a clear conscience.  With, typically, eight of us round the table it can be a convivial gathering.  We need to discuss the issue of submitting a group report to the EMGS newsletter.  In the most recent issue the editor appealed for contributions, yet could not find space for ours.  Far be it from me to suggest that anyone is speaking with forked tongue!  A job that may or may not get done before I set off for Harpenden is to write the notes of last night's AGM.  It should not take long [more famous last words].

 

As I type this, John Humphrys has lamented on Today that one in four households had already bought mince pies.  Well may he lament.  The late great Paddy Roberts wrote: "Merry C*****mas, you suckers, it's perfectly clear that you fall for it all a bit sooner each year".  Although it is unwise to leave all the festive shopping to the last minute, if you lay in stocks of Noel nibbles you can bet your bottom dollar that they will get consumed well before the big day and have to be replaced.  The grocery trade depends on exactly this.  Me?  I did my present shopping a month ago and will give the present to the recipient on 8th December.  Barring accidents, the cards will be in the post on or before 30th November - which is why I have been working on the seasonal message already.  Now where did I put those cards?

 

Usual warm thoughts to the distressed and missing

 

Chris