Early Risers.

[Erichill16]

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 

 

And the terrible news is...

 

It's my whisky drinking hand!😩😡

Do you want me to send some straws? 

 

 

Edited July 5, 2022 by Erichill16
Grammar

[Ozexpatriate]

12 hours ago, brianusa said:

Still going on here in GH - one of the noisiest for ages. 

It was here too Brian. Around 10:00pm with aerial bursts visible through the tall fir trees it looked a bit like the end of Return of the Jedi. Mostly it was done around 11:00pm.

 

An artillery battalion formed up in a church car park on the other side of my next door neighbours. They were launching salvos of air bursts at a rate of about one per second, then stop for a few minutes and start over. This continued on and off until at least midnight.

 

There was a direct line of sight from the bursts (over my neighbours' back wing) to my bedroom windows so it was very loud. Happily I didn't have to smell a lot of cordite smoke.

 

The church had their car park resealed only a week ago, but whatever the revelers were doing, they seemed to have cleaned up after themselves and I didn't see a lot of scorching or refuse.

[Ozexpatriate]

11 hours ago, Barry O said:

perhaps the powers that be in the USA make some changes

Not a chance, sadly. Without being too political, with the bill recently signed into law, Congress has done about as much (or little depending on one's perspective) as it is likely to do.

[simontaylor484]

1 hour ago, Erichill16 said:

Do you want to send me some straws? 

 

 

New paper straws are carp they disintegrate rather rapidly 

 

Becoming ambidextrous with they whisky may be an idea or is the other hand for the large Churchill cigar

[jamie92208]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Just back from the GP - no fractures or dislocations, just a capsule tear in the knuckle joint. That's the good news.

 

The bad news is that it will take about 6 months to heal and for a lot of that time I must keep it strapped up.

 

And the terrible news is...

 

It's my whisky drinking hand!😩😡

I'm sure that a man of your calibre could use the other hand or get Mrs ID to hold your glass for you.

 

Jamie

[simontaylor484]

I notice that the eco nutters have started gluing themselves to masterpiece paintings first the Haywain and now Da Vinci's Last Supper.

 

Bl00dy idiots these paintings are irreplaceable treasures that deserve to be on public display.

 

Why don't they go and glue themselves to D wing in Parkhurst

[grandadbob]

Flavio. Mate. You are a guitarist so I'm pretty sure that you won't have a problem using any hand or even your feet to hold a glass if push comes to shove.

I'm right handed and my daughter commented yesterday that at least my op wasn't on my beer drinking hand.  I then sent photos to show that she should know her father better and even if I was left handed nothing will come between me and my beer:

 

 

Right way: 

 

Wrong way:

 

Edited July 5, 2022 by grandadbob

[simontaylor484]

I used to be able to drink a pint of beer in one with out touching the glass. You had to pick the pint pot up with your teeth then tip your head back and drink like mad or you ended up with a wet shirt.

Something else I learnt at Uni 

[Ozexpatriate]

17 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

But without a nascent US, would Spain or Mexico (if there had been a Mexico in an alternate timeline) have given up that territory?. The current US Southwestern states would have likely remained in their hands or become a nation in their own right.

This is where your inexorable tide comes in*.

 

* Groan if you like.

 

With a British northeastern North America, bordered by a Franco/Spanish western North America along the Mississippi, we would have inevitably seen places like New Orleans as a prominent battlefield of the Napoleonic wars.

 

(Including the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, Gulf Coast ports like New Orleans, Mobile Bay, Tallahassee** were all battlefields.)

 

** Ooops, I meant Pensacola  - thanks Dave.

 

The Spanish Empire was bloated and doomed - someone would have claimed Mexico from Spain - the Mexicans, the French* or the British. In a vacuum, Russia would have claimed the Californias. They did establish Fort Ross in 1812.

 

* Who actually tried very hard to do that during the Second French Empire and it was of course Napoleon's invasion of Spain that triggered the Mexican War of Independence.

 

A big counterfactual (stipulating a failure of the American Revolution) is what would become of the Proclamation Line of 1763 which (rewarding indigenous support in the Seven Years / French and Indian War, in particular the Iroquois Confederacy) prohibited Anglo-American settlement beyond the Appalachians. Might there have been sovereign native nations recognized by Europeans?

 

I know what the tide of colonialism suggests and Canadian history is a guide.

 

Edited July 5, 2022 by Ozexpatriate
Pensacola, not Tallahassee

[iL Dottore]

16 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

I'm sure that a man of your calibre could use the other hand or get Mrs ID to hold your glass for you.

 

Jamie

Sadly, two drawbacks with your excellent suggestions: firstly, Mrs ID is currently in the Holiday Hovel and secondly, I always use my left hand to hold my Cuban cigar.

Quite frankly, there is nothing quite as so pleasurable as erudite conversation with a knowledgeable and educated companion, a wee dram of a good 20yo single malt whisky and a Cuban cigar - preferably something on the lighter side like a Romeo Y Julieta.

 

Living well is truly the best revenge!

[simontaylor484]

I cant fault your cigar choice @iL Dottore Montechristo were another favourite Villager if I was "slumming it" and lastly King Edward Imperial.

 

My mum never moaned when I smoked cigars but she went bonkers when she saw me smoking a cigarette (I was 27 at the time)

[jamie92208]

12 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

I used to be able to drink a pint of beer in one with out touching the glass. You had to pick the pint pot up with your teeth then tip your head back and drink like mad or you ended up with a wet shirt.

Something else I learnt at Uni 

My party trick at Uni was to sit in a sort of lotus position and drink a pint holding the glass between my feet.  There may be a connection between that and and my lack of academic success.

 

Talking of beer I found  Golden Sheep ale on sale in a local branch of Intermarché today. It would have ben rude not to buy a couple of bottles.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

12 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Sadly, two drawbacks with your excellent suggestions: firstly, Mrs ID is currently in the Holiday Hovel and secondly, I always use my left hand to hold my Cuban cigar.

Quite frankly, there is nothing quite as so pleasurable as erudite conversation with a knowledgeable and educated companion, a wee dram of a good 20yo single malt whisky and a Cuban cigar - preferably something on the lighter side like a Romeo Y Julieta.

 

Living well is truly the best revenge!

Does that come near to supping some of M Balluet's 20 yr old cognac, whilst chatting and watching trains in good company at Brigg.

 

Jamie

[New Haven Neil]

A scrappy day was had, rushing about looking for stuff we can't get at home, then seeing the bloke nephew was buying the van off to get the deposit back - at least that's a grand recovered for him.  Saw a sign for Penderyn distillery ....no, don't like the stuff.

 

Plotting route now to south Wales, notice we may pass through a place where there may be a factory shop that just may sell O gauge items.  Oops.  Now how to tell SWMBO....who is driving...hmm.  Anyone spot the issue?

 

Passed Polly's home village again, wondering how to pronounce it without causing offence.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I'm sure Captain Cynical employs an equivalent of Q who could surely come up with a whisky glass holding device. Anyway, Norris is through to the semi finals and England beat India so good things do happen (unless your names Boris Johnson). One of our ward councillors (a Tory) died a few weeks ago and the poll for her replacement takes place in two weeks time, be interesting how it turns out. Rather unusually the poll is on a Wednesday (the 20th) rather than a Thursday.

Edited July 5, 2022 by PhilJ W

[Ozexpatriate]

3 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I'm sure Captain Cynical employs an equivalent of M who could surely come up with a whisky glass holding device.

Q Branch surely? 😉

 

Edited July 5, 2022 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

4 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Norris is through to the semi finals

But now he's Novax fodder*

 

* Paraphrasing Jabba the Hutt (bantha fodder)

 

[brianusa]

All is quiet in sunny GH this morning after yesterdays noisy fourth.  The neighbours roof is finished so no more hammering so silence reigns once more.  They copied our upscale roof going from a '90s brownish colour to a colour that looks like slate and as its a bigger roof than ours they must have paid more.  The cost for ours was around K7,  good job it doesn't happen very often but we had a paint job at the same time for about the same price but it all looks good now! 

 

Now to let the bank balance rest!😐

       Brian.

 

[PhilJ W]

27 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Q Branch surely? 😉

 

Sorry wrong letter, duly amended.

[The White Rabbit]

Evening all. Not much to report, several bad nights on the trot, so I haven't felt up to doing very much. Even before then, I seemed to have a nasty dose of malaise, possibly caused by dealing with some medical admin issues. When I went through the sequence of events and what harm has been caused for my statements, it got me down. Both that such an extensive and consistent sequence of [nasties] could happen and concern for the future.

 

The odd PM sent. Eyes rolled at some news items. A little dead-heading and seed collecting done. It's been very windy recently, and with a fair few showers, so not much sitting out done. Not many sparrows or blackbird sightings, so maybe they have finished nesting. Perhaps I went to a boring university, no-one tried drinking with their feet or with teeth. A few did try the Yard of Ale challenge, though that usually resulted in wet shirts and tears (at the waste of ale). Fingers crossed for a more upbeat second half of the week. 

[PupCam]

Some processing of yesterdays images has occurred.  The first point to note is that airliners have joined the satellites that try and Photo-bomb my images.   

This was the very first photograph!

 

 

 I feel a modicum of success has been achieved.    ~120 images were stacked to produce this, which I think is my sharpest image of the moon yet.

 

Still, plenty of room for further, future improvement 😀

 

 

Night Awl!

 

Alan

[BoD]

Rhetorical question of the day…

 

Does anyone, anywhere have a picture of GDB smiling.

 

[Gwiwer]

Safely returned from my travels. The old railway route is a pleasant enough country walk but not the most interesting 11 miles I  know of. 
 

I recalled the days of Standard tanks hissing easily through Sussex with scarcely a gradient to trouble them. Probably with a Bulleid 3-set or maybe a trio of Mk1s. My clearest memory however is of “Thumper” diesel units on the route in its last year. 
 

26,000 steps were walked if my app is to be believed which includes the final mile up from Henfield station site to the bus stop in town. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

Does that come near to supping some of M Balluet's 20 yr old cognac, whilst chatting and watching trains in good company at Brigg.

 

Jamie

Definitely on the same page Jamie, definitely on the same page!

[iL Dottore]

19 minutes ago, BoD said:

Rhetorical question of the day…

 

Does anyone, anywhere have a picture of GDB smiling.

 

There’s a scurrilous rumour going about that GDB had his smile surgically removed a number of years ago…

Edited July 5, 2022 by iL Dottore