Early Risers.

[The White Rabbit]

3 hours ago, TheQ said:

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and caldron bubble....

 

Yes I copied it, it's easier than typing it out, but I think you can guess which play we did.... 

 

 

Ach, it's 'the Scottish play' - not ******. We did the latter for our English Lit as our Shakespearian element and I was one of the set crew for an am-dram performance of Mr Shakespeare's play. I must confess, I expected Henry Tudor to look different.... 

[grandadbob]

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

 Only the cleverest boys went to to take Eng Lit O level. 

 

That bold bit didn't apply at my school Tony 'cos I took it and passed!   🤪  "Once more unto the breach dear friends" for us and I can still remember the first 8 lines but after that it gets a bit blurry.    Also did "Venture To The Interior (Laurens van der Post) and some poetry but can't for the life of me remember what.

 

Amazon delivered one parcel but advised the other was running late and won't be here until tomorrow or Wednesday.  Nothing urgent so that doesn't matter apart from the fact I'll have to stay in and wait for it.

 

Surprise visit from Abbie this afternoon, she had a day off and after visiting her hairdresser popped in for a couple of hours on her way home.  

 

The Boss vetoed the rest of the steak pie tonight as she fancied salmon.  I'll have the pie tomorrow.

Another glass of Black Stump is about to be poured.

 

 

Edited January 9, 2023 by grandadbob

[polybear]

42 minutes ago, PupCam said:

I was going to do that after I'd given the latest meter readings the other day.    Then I got the revised bill .........

 

I know they've been going on for sometime warning of steep price rises but FLAMING NORA!      We are now on two woolly jumpers each and heating not going on until the evenings!     

 

Heating?  What's that?? 😕 

 

42 minutes ago, PupCam said:

Advice to @polybear:  Make sure you are sitting down when you read the next bill and I'd have the Resus Unit number on Speed-dial if I were you.

 

 

Why are Bear's chips all soggy?

 

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Only the cleverest boys went to to take Eng Lit O level. I was quite relieved not to be included. 

 

A certain Bear took it - it was that or French, and the (French) French Teacher was a right Dragon.  No Brainer.

I have a Grade E Certificate somewhere - everything else I took was a C (or CSE Grade 1) or above, so no worries there.  Let's face it, just how many Employers give a sh1t about an Eng. Lit qualification - so Bear concentrated on the useful stuff instead.  

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Just finished off the venison casserole for dinner, delicious. Parsnips, peas and runner beans were included in the casserole and that set me thinking. What vegetables would be best with venison? or do you just have your favourites. Not much else to report, Arthur Itis and the eczema are quiet tonight. We never had English Lit. when I was at school but over the years I've read things such as Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and quite enjoyed it. I have a copy of Shakespears works but I only use it for reference.

[Gwiwer]

27 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

Ach, it's 'the Scottish play' - not ******. We did the latter for our English Lit as our Shakespearian element

That Scottish play, Lord of the Flies, The Pardoner’s Tale.  My Eng Lit texts. Did I do well?  
 

24 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

Once more unto the breach dear friends"

No. For the simple reason that in our case it was much more like “Once more unto the beach, dear friends”.  The delights of sun, sea, sand and s** far outweighed any “need” to learn about what happened when Birnam Wood came to Dunsinane or such like. 
 

It wasn’t all blissful enjoyment though. There were evenings for which “The night grows deep and foul - what hour is’t?” might have been written. 
 

And there were those moments when it all went wrong and one’s attentions were summarily dismissed with “Adieu, pigeon-house. Thou burr that stickest only to nappy-fortunes. The serpigo; the stranguary; an eternal ineffectual priapism seize thee”.  (From John Marston’s “The Malcontent” which was forced upon us as a school play).  
 

I never did well at Literature. English Language was another story. Quite literally. As I regularly achieved 100% in mock exams and was commended for essay-writing style. I ended up with a Grade 2 O-Level. Perhaps the examiner was feeling less than generous having found no fault with grammar and comprehension but was obliged to read their 100th essay of the day.  
 

 

[Tony_S]

23 minutes ago, polybear said:

- so Bear concentrated on the useful stuff instead.  

Not doing English Lit has had one good result. Aditi thinks I am lacking in that area so when choosing a topic for me to answer in the  final bit of Trivial Pursuit she tends to select Literature. Not studying Eng Lit did not mean I didn’t read a lot. We haven’t played any board games for years now. 

[The White Rabbit]

14 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Just finished off the venison casserole for dinner, delicious. Parsnips, peas and runner beans were included in the casserole and that set me thinking. What vegetables would be best with venison? Or do you just have your favourites....

 

My suggestion would be that the choice of 'best' or most suitable accompaniments depends most on the method of cooking, both them and the meat. (Not to mention one's personal preferences in veg). My own preference is that for 'game' meats - whether venison, hare, rabbit, pigeon - they often go best with 'field' vegetables, like onions, mushrooms and parsnips/carrots. We tend to use onion, shallots and mushrooms quite a lot in the casserole itself, with parsnips and peas being cooked separately. We have had carrots and runner and broad beans with venison but (our preference) is for other veg. Carrots and parsnips are usually parboiled then roasted with a coating of herbs. I'd never use sweetcorn or baked beans with venison but do have them with other dishes. 

[iL Dottore]

The joys of business travel.

A company sponsored “wee dram” nightcap.

In regards to English Lit - not what you’d call an immediately useful. But having a large vocabulary and knowing how to write (skills you get from reading a lot and reading widely) is most useful. As a result I can write a report in such a way so as to - say - make Ben the I want out Collie’s adventures appear as the innocent frolics of a happy dog or as the savage predations of a demon dog. As far too many can tell you: words have power. By having a large vocabulary and a good grasp of good writing, you can wield that power very effectively.

[polybear]

14 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

That Scottish play, Lord of the Flies, The Pardoner’s Tale.  My Eng Lit texts. Did I do well?  
 

 

Bear had to suffer Brave New World, Othello and Wuthering Heights.........

[PhilJ W]

4 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

 

My suggestion would be that the choice of 'best' or most suitable accompaniments depends most on the method of cooking, both them and the meat. (Not to mention one's personal preferences in veg). My own preference is that for 'game' meats - whether venison, hare, rabbit, pigeon - they often go best with 'field' vegetables, like onions, mushrooms and parsnips/carrots. We tend to use onion, shallots and mushrooms quite a lot in the casserole itself, with parsnips and peas being cooked separately. We have had carrots and runner and broad beans with venison but (our preference) is for other veg. Carrots and parsnips are usually parboiled then roasted with a coating of herbs. I'd never use sweetcorn or baked beans with venison but do have them with other dishes. 

And @jamie92208 has a bigger choice with his venison living in France, truffles anyone?

[Ozexpatriate]

9 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

The weather looks changeable, we've had blue sky, peltitdoons and rainbows already.

Sounds very familiar.

 

When I awoke it was quite dark, but 20 minutes later when I decided it was time to go walking it was much brighter and there was on and off clear sunshine amongst dark clouds along with some rainbows. As I made the turn to head home the sky to the west was very dark indeed and about 15 minutes from home your "peltitdoon"* caught up with me, but had stopped around the time I reached my driveway.

 

* Well, a different one.

 

At it's hardest I was walking by a home where someone was on a roof (removing holiday lights I think). He was not enjoying it and appeared relieved to have not fallen. As it wasn't pleuting when I set out, the rain pants and waterproof boots were not deployed (though I do carry the rain jacket when things are iffy). The boots were soaked and my knees got very wet despite the layers that were deployed.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, The White Rabbit said:

Ach, it's 'the Scottish play'

29 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

That Scottish play, Lord of the Flies, The Pardoner’s Tale.  My Eng Lit texts. Did I do well?  

14 minutes ago, polybear said:

Bear had to suffer Brave New World, Othello and Wuthering Heights.........

Curious to hear what people had in common. There wasn't a class called "English Lit" where I went to school.  It was just called English.

 

We probably did the immoral bard every year covering (at least):

• Romeo and Juliet
• Julius Caesar
• The Scottish play
• Othello

But none of the Tudor propaganda/fan fiction "histories" come to mind, even "Dick, three-eyes".

 

And others like:

• The Lord of the Flies
• Great Expectations
• Brave New World
• Future Shock
• To Kill a Mockingbird

I could swear we did something by Isaac Bashevis Singer but none of his published works rings a bell, which is a bit of a head-scratcher. No Brontës though. No small amount of random poetry, (including, of course, some "bush poetry"*) but at this remove I couldn't give you a complete anthology.

 

* Like How M'Dougal Topped the Score

[pH]

I heard a rhyme yesterday which neatly sums up the recommended actions in ‘interactions’ with various types of bear:

 

If it’s brown, lie down (Grizzlies are territorial and react to challenges. Being submissive may save you.)

 

If it’s black, fight back (If a black bear attacks, it probably sees you as prey.)

 

If it’s white - goodnight! (Polar bears are not cuddly, LDC-eating softies, despite what you may read around here. They are very efficient, carnivorous hunters.)

 

P.S. There were no recommendations on what to do if encountering a pizzly or a grolar.

Edited January 9, 2023 by pH

[Tony_S]

4 minutes ago, pH said:

f it’s white - goodnight! (Polar bears are not cuddly, LDC-eating softies, despite what you may read around here. They are very efficient, carnivorous hunters.)

Even if you eat them you might die, a small portion of their liver will probably kill you.

[Ozexpatriate]

"Brave New World" is one of those good "degrees of separation" topics.

 

The title is of course from a line in The Tempest - "O brave new world, that has such people in't."

 

And the inspiration for The Tempest is most likely the real life drama of the 1609 storm that wrecked the Sea Venture (incidentally 'discovering' Bermuda) during a failed resupply mission of the Jamestown colony in Virginia.

 

Ultimately the shipwreck survivors cobbled together two pinnaces from bits and bobs and local wood and sailed on to Virginia only to discover that the colonists wanted to leave and all set sail only to encounter a new resupply fleet ten miles from Jamestown.

[Ozexpatriate]

Am pleased that "the internet" is behaving better today.

 

Yesterday some with malicious intent were using RMweb to attack me. The anti-virus software shut down the RMweb browser tab as the target of the attacks on a couple of occasions later in the day. (This didn't happen with other websites.)

 

I gave up for the day. Happily it's not happening so far today.

[Coombe Barton]

Anyone comment on this?

[Tony_S]

6 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

comment on this?

What would being aged  in the shadow of St Michaels Mount do to the whisky? Unless it is in barrels in the sea? I don’t think whisky is produced in Essex though it is in Suffolk. I just don’t have any interest in whisky since my heart problems. I haven’t been told not to drink, there isn’t any desire to do so any more. Odd really. 

[Gwiwer]

11 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

Anyone comment on this?

O-level Geography FAIL.

 

"In the shadow of St. Michael's Mount" maybe.  The name suggests "Helston" which is a good 10 miles along the road and not in the shadow of the aforesaid Mount.  But "Duloe Blend? ..... Duloe is around 70 miles east between Liskeard and Looe.  

 

Must admit I've never come across a legal Cornish whisky before.  

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. The local wildlife is a but noisy tonight. What with the foxes making little foxes and the muntjac calling each other plus a few I can't identify. Now to get back to Farcebook.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

"In the shadow of St. Michael's Mount" maybe.  The name suggests "Helston" which is a good 10 miles along the road and not in the shadow of the aforesaid Mount.  But "Duloe Blend? ..... Duloe is around 70 miles east between Liskeard and Looe.  

Given a bit of promotional / advertising license that didn't bother me.

 

What confused me was:

MADE . USING ... CRAFT . BEER

DISTILLED . IN . JACKSON . 

 

Is Jackson a place in Cornwall? Perhaps they named the still "Jackson"? Colour me confused there.

 

There's little material difference in the wort between a craft beer and a whisky prior to fermentation, but it's an odd description.

[petethemole]

According to the website the still is indeed named Jackson.

[PeterBB]

2 hours ago, grandadbob said:

 

That bold bit didn't apply at my school Tony 'cos I took it and passed!   🤪  

 

 

Ditto and our the set  book was Great Exceptions.

[Ozexpatriate]

21 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Unless it is in barrels in the sea?

An Oregon winemaker is experimenting with clay amphorae (à la the ancients). He has a couple of versions of a pinot noir - one fermented in amphorae, but aged in wood, another aged in amphorae as well. I tasted one the other day and enjoyed it.

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Not doing English Lit has had one good result. Aditi thinks I am lacking in that area so when choosing a topic for me to answer in the  final bit of Trivial Pursuit she tends to select Literature. Not studying Eng Lit did not mean I didn’t read a lot. We haven’t played any board games for years now. 

 

I think she may have twigged.