Early Risers.

[iL Dottore]

Good morning all,

 

Up early again as little Lucy, who is well on the way to recovery, decided she needed to go out for a quick whizz at 4 o’clock in the morning (I think I may need to decrease the liquidity of her meals. I think I can safely say that she back to being properly hydrated again). So, an early breakfast, an early read of RM web and back to a very interesting (and thought-provoking) history book “The Phoney Victory - The World War II illusion”

 

The premise of the book is that World War II for the UK far from being a crusade against the forces of evil (which is the popular conception of that war) was an unmitigated c**k-up from start to finish. Definitely thought-provoking, polemical, contentious and certainly not afraid to slaughter sacred cows and tread on (historical) toes. Whether or not the author makes his case is still open, but it is still early days yet and I’m only onto the second chapter.

 

TBH I like reading any sort of book which challenges either my world view or my assumptions. I may end up finishing the book, putting it down and thinking to myself “what a load of utter b*llocks” but I will have had an intellectually stimulating and possibly eye-opening journey.

 

@Erichill16 I wonder if you can tell me whether cricket on the radio would it be classed as a narcotic or a soporific . I suspect it is up there with baseball on the radio as one of the most stupor inducing broadcasts that there are.
 

I have nothing against cricket per se, but I think it is one (of very many) sports that are best played than watched. But to be fair, there are a number of popular spectator sports which in order to play you would have to be seriously well-heeled. For example, I can’t see a bunch of friends getting together in the local park in order to have a quick, friendly F1 race before heading to the pub on a Sunday morning.

 

The kitchen beckons today: I have some individual apple pies to make, a boiled fruit cake to bake and an oxtail to turn into a classic Roman dish (coda alla vaccinara) - which I will serve with polenta and a green vegetable of some kind for dinner.

 

Enjoy your Saturday

[monkeysarefun]

16 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

have nothing against cricket per se, but I think it is one (of very many) sports that are best played than watched.

So you have a spare 5 days then?

( 4 days if playing England).

[BR60103]

I spent a while last weekend  navigating the system to buy tickets for The Magic Flute at the cinema. SWMBO now has cold feet and we probably won't be going. She is also reconsidering The Mikado The Messiah the following weekend. 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

55 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

But to be fair, there are a number of popular spectator sports which in order to play you would have to be seriously well-heeled. For example, I can’t see a bunch of friends getting together in the local park in order to have a quick, friendly F1 race before heading to the pub on a Sunday morning.

Blue water sailing and polo come to mind where the well heeled can in fact get together on a Sunday, though they bring their own hampers of champers rather than needing to retire to the pub.

 

Tangentially, in many places golf might be greatly impacted by climate change.  I spotted an article on the subject this evening: Climate change crisis: Golf courses on borrowed time as Earth's weather patterns become wilder

 

Edited December 11, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

33 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

( 4 days if playing England).

And that included dodging thunderstorms from what I hear.

[chrisf]

How do

 

I was cross yesterday to discover that I have mislaid my rainbow bobble hat.  It could be anywhere.  Realistically there is no point in trying to find it.  Fortunately the replacement cost is negligible and an order has been placed.  I have at least one other bobble hat, which at this time of year is good news, but I had been so pleased to be able to buy the one which is lost.  Oh well, what would life be without minor irritations?

 

Best wishes to all, especially the poorly canines

 

Chris

[jamie92208]

7 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

What do you do with the good looking ones or shouldn't I ask?

Isn't there a joke that ends with the line "and the sphinx's inscrutable  smile" that might explain it.

 

Jamie

Edited December 11, 2021 by jamie92208

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

@The Qseems to be unable to find ERs. Perhaps he has accidentally  banned it?

 

Today is tree putting up day. I am 1 I/C putting the tree up.. herself does most of the bauble hanging, lights fitting etc..

 

We have to visit an Open session about yet more crazy ideas of how to make a local roundabout safer...and it won't as the numbers they are using are very out of date and are not really about accidents on the roundabout..pah!

 

@monkeysarefun time your ground staff found out how to prepare a wicket...

 

And so..another day closer to Christmas..humph!

 

Time for my mugatea!

 

Stay safe!

 

Baz

[monkeysarefun]

31 minutes ago, Barry O said:

monkeysarefun time your ground staff found out how to prepare a wicket...

It's been a bit tropical up there, they've had something like 350mm of rain in the last 2 weeks, that and the Brisbane humidity,  grass has gone crazy!

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from a chilly Estuary-Land. At least the warmer weather is on the way and its going to be getting warmer tomorrow. The change in the weather has bought Arthur Itis out so the Nurofen has been deployed. @chrisf You know as well as we do that as soon as your new rainbow bobble hat arrives the old one will magically reappear. Glad to hear that the ER canines are recovering and they are back to their usual selves. Thats it for now, be back later.

[polybear]

10 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

I'm not sure whether it is true or not but when I was in the Falklands it was rumoured that some of the islanders were clearing minefields by turning sheep into them.

 

Dave

 

B'stards.

And of course any that do set one off and are injured get no help cos' no-one will go in to help it.  So they'd die a painful death.

 

10 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

In contrast the US seems to be all about cows and 'steers'.  Nor does lamb seem to feature in US movies and TV shows compared to pork and beef. 

 

 

There's one or two old-time cowboy films with sheep in - it usually ends up in a fight cos' the local ranchers (the baddies, usually) take offence at the sheep scoffin' the grass.

 

9 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Then the corpses are put out to be recycled by the owls and other scavengers.

Sheep are used to keep the blighted areas of WW1 battlefields tidy in France. I saw them grazing in the woods on Vimy Ridge in the areas that humans can't enter. Every now and again they do set things off but no one seems to bother.

 

As above....

 

 

[BoD]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Isn't there a joke that ends with the line "and the sphinx's inscrutable  smile" that might explain it.

Now why did I read that as ‘the sphincter’s inscrutable smile’?

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Dry here with a glimmer of something bright through the clouds. Rain is forecast later.

Today will start with some domestic engineering tasks and then there will, as usual, be some rugby watched later.  Lots of  matches on offer this weekend.  

 

4 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Isn't there a joke that ends with the line "and the sphinx's inscrutable  smile" that might explain it.

 

Jamie

  

Actually that line is in an old  rugby song called "The sexual Life of the camel".  (Sung to the tune of The Eton Boating Song.)  It can be found on Google but if you are easily offended I suggest it's best to leave it alone.  

Right, The Shark is calling me.

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited December 11, 2021 by grandadbob

[Adam88]

12 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Sheep:

US: 5.2 million, largest population in Texas: https://beef2live.com/story-top-10-states-sheep-lambs-0-117992

Australia: 68.1 million, down from a 1970s peak of 180 million: https://www.mla.com.au/prices-markets/Trends-analysis/sheep-projections/

New Zealand: 26.2 million, in slow decline: https://www.mla.com.au/prices-markets/Trends-analysis/sheep-projections/

UK: 21.8 million, also in decline: https://www.mla.com.au/prices-markets/Trends-analysis/sheep-projections/

of which, 10.0 million in Wales, 6.6 million in Scotland, 2.0 million in Northern Ireland.

European figures here: http://www.sheepnet.network/node/303

There are annual fluctuations, not all data is for the same year.

 

That number alone must be enough to cover an area the size of Wales.  Oh, it does.

[tigerburnie]

Morning, up before it was light to go to the Forfar farmer market, Hairy Coo, Pheasant and enormous eggs procured for the coming weeks, 1 degree and very frosty, yet it's trying to rain? Fires lit and so is the Christmas tree, but not with a match for the latter..................................have a nice day all.

[Barry O]

2 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

It's been a bit tropical up there, they've had something like 350mm of rain in the last 2 weeks, that and the Brisbane humidity,  grass has gone crazy!

very soft and very variable bounce - would have scored 3 out of 5 in our league...

 

 

Baz

[Barry O]

58 minutes ago, BoD said:

Now why did I read that as ‘the sphincter’s inscrutable smile’?

you need to go and lie down in a dark room for a while @BoD!

[J. S. Bach]

6 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 ...snip...  Climate change crisis: Golf courses on borrowed time as Earth's weather patterns become wilder

Breaks my heart!

[BSW01]

Good afternoon everyone 

 

The overnight rain may have stopped, but the skies are still grey. A bit late on parade today, as I’ve been out to collect Ava, who once again is spending the day with us. However, for a change, she is spending most of it with Sheila who is attempting to teach her how to cross stitch. Ava seems very keen yo learn, but at the moment she is just learning the basics, ie, straight lines and blocks. It’s early days yet, but so far she seems to doing ok. 

 

Back later. 

 

Brian

[Gwiwer]

13 hours ago, BoD said:

I wish ewe hadn’t done that.

Only stating the bleating obvious ...... 

[Gwiwer]

Good morning all. Well not at all morning actually but who’s counting?  
 

Around 100 attended the village carols last night which was a bit better than two years ago.  In a temperature close to zero the band managed to hit more right notes than the crowd. But no-one sings in tune at carols, do they???   

 

 

I woke this morning with what Scots would call a “sair heed”. Not alcohol-induced I hasten to add. The mulled wine was good and warming but only one cup was consumed. And one glass of unmulled white later with the fission-chips. 
 

Now that’s cleared it is on with the mundane. Have a good weekend. 

[TheQ]

8 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 

 

Tangentially, in many places golf might be greatly impacted by climate change.  I spotted an article on the subject this evening: Climate change crisis: Golf courses on borrowed time as Earth's weather patterns become wilder

 

nope climate change won't stop them , there are golf courses in Saudi,

plastic grass for the T , with a open sided high  tin roof, to keep the sun off, the fairways are rolled and sprayed with an oil substance that  goes hard..  Plastic grass for the green..

[PhilJ W]

3 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Good morning all,

Actually that line is in an old  rugby song called "The sexual Life of the camel".  (Sung to the tune of The Eton Boating Song.)  It can be found on Google but if you are easily offended I suggest it's best to leave it alone.  

Right, The Shark is calling me.

Have a good one,

Bob.

Here it is, but as Bob said don't open it if you're easily offended.

https://www.thesmugglers.nl/the-sexual-life-of-the-camel

The last two verses are my favourites'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTUmIPVyhXg&ab_channel=UnionOfSound-Topic

 

Edited December 11, 2021 by PhilJ W

[polybear]

9 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I have nothing against cricket per se, but I think it is one (of very many) sports that are best played than watched. But to be fair, there are a number of popular spectator sports which in order to play you would have to be seriously well-heeled. For example, I can’t see a bunch of friends getting together in the local park in order to have a quick, friendly F1 race before heading to the pub on a Sunday morning.

 

 

Many moons ago (the web suggests 1981) Bear & Cousin Bear won a pair of tickets to see "Condorman" at the flicks - all you had to do was get the registration number off the car used in the film - which would be driving round Worthing Town Centre from 10am.  Well we went outside the cinema at half 9 to find that very car sitting on a trailer.....so at about a quarter to ten we phoned the magic number and hung on until someone answered - which took about 15 minutes.....

Anyway, the film shown before Condorman was.....The Lord's Taverner's - playing cricket....

And how did that go down with a Cinema full of kids?  Not well would be an understatement.....

[45156]

Afternoon All,

 

Three days running is somewhat of a record for me nowadays, but I've managed it.

 

A bit of skipping has happened to get here, but I've managed to catch up with a number of threads where my presence has been lacking.

 

Generic greetings to all fellow ERs are on offer as ever.

 

I may been a tad greedy while doing the shopping yesterday, as Lidl which is where we get our weekly shop are doing a special weekend offer - South African rose wine at £2.99 a bottle, bought 2 and 100g of excellent 74% dark chocolate at 39p a bar.  I was limited to six bars per person, so I bought 6, and 30747 bought 6 - then as we passed the other branch of Lidl on the way to Home Bargains, I nipped in for another 6 and another couple of bottles of South African rose.  This morning, I went in again as we passed on the way to Lancaster, and wanted a few more of the vino - totally sold out, and six more bars of chocolate making 24 bars in all.  I just hope I don't go off it now.

 

Tonight our whisky loving young friend is up from Northants to do a pre-festive visit to his parents, and he will bring some rarities for me to sample - and I am on tablets which I have been warned by the Dr, pharmacist, and the box label and instructions inside are an absolute no-no with alcohol - and also it is due to chuckitdarn here from about 3 - and it's just started, so we need to drive down anyway - I hope he will so a take-away for me.  I remember the last time he came up, he brought 6 for me to try, and two of them were upwards of 58% ABV - I had a bit of a problem walking home in a straight line.

 

Will I make it four visits here in a row?  Who knows?

 

Regards to All

Stewart