Early Risers.

[Jock67B]

Morning all from a so far thunder free Clacton on Sea,

Hard to believe that there has been so much around us, for instance Benfleet and Kent just across the sea, and we didn't get any. It was terribly close however and both of us were awake a couple of times in the night due to overheating!

Have been acting as taxi service most of the morning : Joanna to her physio appointment, Archie the Westie to his fortnightly transformation to a white dog (hopefully lasts for a few hours!) and Freddie the great grandson to his nursery end of term bash. Oh and while you're passing Morrisons, can you just...........!

Stewart, sounds like a good Scottish start to the day - luckily my cholesterol is low! I too have discovered the 'tattie' scones' at Morrisons but their version of the 'Scotch Pie' hasn't, I suspect, seen any mutton! The sliced sausage reminds me of the wonderful produce of Millers the Butchers who amazingly re-located from Dumfries where I was born, to Dunbar where I lived for a short time in the early seventies. An incredibly old fashioned establishment with separate shops for raw and cooked meats with a common entrance/exit which held a kind of 'check-point Charlie' wherein 'old' Mrs Miller sat to collect all the monies! What superb service and quality 'sans pariel'. I used to have my Burn's night haggis sent from there by rail annually until the business sadly closed after the death of the eponymous owner. What incredible sites ERs and RMweb are for awakening lost memories!

Polly ,Neil and Stewart all mentioned difficulties with uneven surfaces - always a worry for me, having been warned that I must not fall over. The springy ash walking stick with a non-slip rubber tip is invaluable when it comes to maintaining balance. Beats me how they describe them as 'pedestrian' when they're difficult to walk on.

Hope you all avoid the promised severe weather,

Kind regards,

Jock.

PS Stewart, is the wife called Elaine perchance?

Edited July 18, 2014 by Jock67B

[petethemole]

I discovered why Silly Point and Silly Mid On are so-called at 13. Fielding at the former I got a ball full tilt in the mouth. Split lips, gums and lots of blood but no tooth damage fortunately. After a quick wipe down in the bogs I carried on playing; no choice and no sympathy from the master in charge, apparently I should have caught it! I went off cricket after that despite being an erratic but effective bowler.

[Jock67B]

Pete (Trisonic),

Did you have the pleasure of meeting or playing with Johnny Winter? There are a couple of super short vids of him in the Guardian and Telegraph web sites today. How fast was he?

Sadly, I missed the recent passing of Tommy Ramone but noticed an obit when reading the above. It must have been an unlucky group to have been in as they've now all gone. I guess the candle was burned at both ends!

I might be a boring old classical fan, but I like to listen to all sorts of music and appreciate talent when I hear it (The Elgar Cello Concerto is playing in the background with Jacqueline DuPre leading - another untimely death!).

Kind regards,

Jock.

[Oldddudders]

I might be a boring old classical fan, but I like to listen to all sorts of music and appreciate talent when I hear it (The Elgar Cello Concerto is playing in the background with Jacqueline DuPre leading - another untimely death!).

.

I am in no degree a classical fan, but am aware that more than one virtuoso has been taken prematurely. Kathleen Ferrier, Dennis Brain, Dinu Lipatti all come to mind as well as JDP.

[The Lurker]

Cricket balls tend to hurt only when you drop them....

 

Having said that I have a few head injury tales from days opening the batting in the Northampton Town league/ Alliance Premier; the time I top edged the first ball of the match from the left arm quick into my forehead and into the hands of silly mid on: it stunned me but not so much I didn't try to pretend I hadn't noticed the edge, and took guard. The umpire was having none of it (and he was our umpire too!; the time I was felled by a very slow beamer. As I lay there the other batsman suggested we take a run for leg byes as the fielders hadn't collected the ball; and the time where a ball flew vertically up into my cheekbone (I was trying to practice getting my head well over the ball) the seam cutting my eyebrow (4 stitches, no anaesthetic) and my eye swelling up there was no chance of getting the contact lens out - the doctor eventually succeded the next day with some tweezers.

 

But I loved playing cricket and none of the above put me off; I found cricket had a place even for batsmen who modelled themselves on "our Geoffrey" or Chris Tavare; in my case it was because I knew my limitations and tried to play within them. When a match is 45 overs a side with a draw option, there's plenty of time for amateurs to have a go. Although the team were strangely cricitcal when I batted all of the 45 overs for 38 not out once, even though it secured us the one point we needed to avoid relegation - they'd never managed two seasons in that division before.

[Simon G]

Not a bat, but a very near miss with a ball - our PE teacher decided to "teach" us cricket as a change from making us play football, or as he sometimes did, lecturing us about the finer points of golf, and one of the batsmen put the ball high into the air, and it was descending at a h*ll of a rate 45156wards, and some of the team were screaming that I should catch it - but I'd been told how hard the ball was, and decided that not trying a catch was safer than a cricket ball in the head which is what I would have collected.

I unfortuantely was hit on the head by a cricket ball many years ago.  It was a Cumbria league match at Cockermouth and our opening bowler bowled a short ball to their opening batsman, who hooked it my direction at Deep Backward Square.  I was looking into the sun and failed to catch the ball, but it hit me on the forehead instead.  The crowning insult was that it went over the boundary for 6, and if would only have been 4 if I had missed it altogether!  I have never heard of anyone else heading a cricket ball for 6!

[Judge Dread]

 

 

even for batsmen who modelled themselves on "our Geoffrey" 

 

 

"Sir Geoffrey"  if you don't mind! 

[The Lurker]

Does anyone remember Three of a Kind? There was a weekly sketch of a Yorkshire Guru, one of whose mantras was "Geoffrey Boycott one hundred not out"

[Ohmisterporter]

Afternoon all. Popped into Gregg's this morning for a Danish pastry. Seventy pence each or two for a pound, I bought two. The price tag on the display stated seventy pence to take out or eighty five pence to eat in. Seeing there is nowhere to sit you would have to stand in the shop to "eat in". I wonder if anyone actually pays for the privilege of eating in the shop? I had visions of buying the bun and eating it there and then, would an assistant rush round the counter and demand an extra fifteen pence? I think the two for a pound offer only started after a pound bakery opened in town.

Have a good day all.

[New Haven Neil]

 Beats me how they describe them as 'pedestrian' when they're difficult to walk on.
 

Kind regards,
Jock.
 

snip<

 

I'm torn with the damn things Jock - my friend's wife is blind, so I support anything that helps, but it doesn't stop me cursing them when I can't avoid walking on them!

[Ian Abel]

POETS day arrives... with it 18 and cloudy, expecting to clear some during the day and reach 27. We've a steady rise in both temperature and humidity over the next few days expecting 33 by Monday and the humidity reaching 86+% by then, steaming and "ugly", weather I like to avoid.

 

Cricket - my only comment for now - when I taught a group of US high-schoolers how to play cricket (which they all thoroughly enjoyed I'll add), the most amusing part of it ALL was when they learnt that there were "silly" fielding positions. The parents thought those priceless also, given they all considered the game pretty silly in the first place!

 

Recieved a package of two single-slips yesterday, the repalcement for long crossings that just don't work well - pity it'll be next week evenings at the earliest I can depoly them!

 

PANIC mode starting to set in around the house - the choir party at our cabin is tomorrow (24-hours and counting!!!);

  Acquired most of the food, chicken, bratwurst, veggies, condiments and assorted other essentials we're providing yesterday evening - shops better here than there

  Baked some brownies and raspberry crumble bars

  Mrs made what looks like a years supply of homemade baked beans!

  Still need to shop for sundry other items - and the balance will be provided by the "pot luck" offerings of everyone attending.

 

We're headed up there late afternoon, taking the grill from here to give us two grills for preparing the food - and I'm not sure we might decide to take the kitchen sink too!!!!

Have about 20-25 folks RSVPed and will be interesting to see how it plays out. They're now predicting a 40% chance of thunderstorms, if so, it'll be a challenge to see how we get all those folks in a fairly small cabin if it rains! We also may end up with a LOT of food to personally consume <sigh>, severe weather warnings are the things that dissuades folks from attending these things the most.

 

Limited "easy" access to the web once up there, so may or may not read/post until Sunday evening at the earliest after today.

 

Have a great weekend everyone, say either cool, warm (DonB), dry and/or whatever climatic conditions suit you and are attainable

[trisonic]

Pete (Trisonic),

Did you have the pleasure of meeting or playing with Johnny Winter? There are a couple of super short vids of him in the Guardian and Telegraph web sites today. How fast was he?

Sadly, I missed the recent passing of Tommy Ramone but noticed an obit when reading the above. It must have been an unlucky group to have been in as they've now all gone. I guess the candle was burned at both ends!

I might be a boring old classical fan, but I like to listen to all sorts of music and appreciate talent when I hear it (The Elgar Cello Concerto is playing in the background with Jacqueline DuPre leading - another untimely death!).

Kind regards,

Jock.

Has Johnny died? He was playing in New Jersey a couple of months ago. I don’t really go for the “fastest guitar slinger in the West” kind of thing - you play fast and you play slow, I like dynamics.

Johnny has had a hard time, last time I saw him he had to play sitting down (Eric’s big guitar party in Chicago - it’s available on BluRay).

Poor chap, he’s the only person I’ve seen who has varicose veins on his face...(I don’t mean boozer’s blood vessels, either). He was saving for an Op.

 

Somewhere in this house I have the complete box set of du Pre’s recordings - and very fine it is too. The cello has an almost identical range to the guitar. I like playing classical cello licks on my Les Paul, almost identical timbre - with the right amp...

 

 

 

Best, Pete.

[trisonic]

Jock,

Dunno whether you have heard this from a young EC at 21 in 1966 but it has some examples of both cello and violin tone, try about 1:07 and scattered throughout.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et_t5SQe8lA

 

Don, Shut your ears, mate!

 

 

Best, Pete.

[NGT6 1315]

Afternoon all. Hooray for holidays!

 

Just cooling down a bit after food purchases in this oppressively hot city. No storms predicted here before Monday, tho...

[45156]

Hello again

 

Three times in a day - this is just like old times - 30747 called into work, and I got to make the dinner - decided on roast dinner today, so that I can make a Korma tomorrow.

 

Jock 67B - I think that there are still several really good sources of sliced sausage, but all well North of the border.  There was a guy who came to Lancaster market a few times selling all the great Scottish delicacies like ashet pies, Scotch Pies (with a goodly mutton content) and also quite rare, onion pies as well (with two holes), Tattie Scones to die for in packs of 12, bridies, fruit pudding, white pudding, Ayrshire bacon, and many many other beauties including morning rolls and plain loaf.  Sadly I was one of his few customers, and was happily spending upwards of twenty quid a week with him, and he was chucking more than he was selling - so he called it a day, and I was back to the pale imitiations that I can get locally. 

 

I am stuck on a course at the mo in Morecambe, and needed a Mars Bar in a hurry one day, nipped into the nearest convenience store to the venue, which turned out to be a Polish/Asian grocer who had a fridge full of oscure Polish beers at £1.00 a can, and starting at about 6% ABV (difficult to tell as the cans are all in Polish) - there's a couple where the number 8 appears - still £1.00 a can.  And by all that's powerful, these are amazing brews.

 

Peeper for dinner is going, and 30747 just rang to make sure dinner is on the hob.

Stewart

edit  Just as I was typing, 30747 can in the door - I think that the colleague giving her a lift home must be a contender for the F1 championship - the same drive takes me about 15 minutes - they did it in 10!

Edited July 18, 2014 by 45156

[gordon s]

Came out of the Supermarket, heard an unusual noise and looked up.  This made my day….:-)

 

http://www.farnborough.com/Public/page.cfm/Action=library/libID=6/listID=2/libEntryID=56

[shortliner]

I wonder if that is the one that used to live at RAF Barkston Heath?

[Donw]

The cello is a beautiful instrument however lacking perfect pitch I did find the lack of frets made it more difficult to play than the guitar.

Don

[45156]

The cello is a beautiful instrument however lacking perfect pitch I did find the lack of frets made it more difficult to play than the guitar.

Don

I have got good pitch, but still graduated quickly to fretted instruments - it was more the bowing than the noting that kn*ckered me on the string instruments, though.

 

Oh yes, and in case anybody's in the least interested, here's Lily doing what she does second best (the first best being to get up to all sorts of Sussex Spaniel mischief)

[AndyB]

Came out of the Supermarket, heard an unusual noise and looked up.  This made my day….:-)

 

http://www.farnborough.com/Public/page.cfm/Action=library/libID=6/listID=2/libEntryID=56

 

Likewise. heard nothing, but saw smoke trails for....

The Red Arrows!

[PhilJ W]

 Beats me how they describe them as 'pedestrian' when they're difficult to walk on.

 

Kind regards,

Jock.

 

snip<

 

I'm torn with the damn things Jock - my friend's wife is blind, so I support anything that helps, but it doesn't stop me cursing them when I can't avoid walking on them!

Another bugbear when you have hip problems is dropped curbs where you can suddenly find yourself trying to place your walking stick on thin air.

[southern42]

Pete (Trisonic),

Did you have the pleasure of meeting or playing with Johnny Winter? There are a couple of super short vids of him in the Guardian and Telegraph web sites today. How fast was he?

Sadly, I missed the recent passing of Tommy Ramone but noticed an obit when reading the above. It must have been an unlucky group to have been in as they've now all gone. I guess the candle was burned at both ends!

I might be a boring old classical fan, but I like to listen to all sorts of music and appreciate talent when I hear it (The Elgar Cello Concerto is playing in the background with Jacqueline DuPre leading - another untimely death!).

Kind regards,

Jock.

 

I was lucky enough to see Jacqueline Du Pres in concert in my student days.  Absolutely mesmerised.

[iL Dottore]

I have got good pitch, but still graduated quickly to fretted instruments - it was more the bowing than the noting that kn*ckered me on the string instruments, though.

 

Oh yes, and in case anybody's in the least interested, here's Lily doing what she does second best (the first best being to get up to all sorts of Sussex Spaniel mischief)

002.JPG

What a pretty girl and she looks so innocent..... Well Mrs iD has made up her mind, she will arrange to introduce Schotty to Chana (http://www.grenzenlose-hundehilfe.de/chana1.htm) and if they get on, well we'll have another dog! (Mrs iD has gone all mystic on me and has said "fate will decide"). We both think that Chana has character, but though we both think Iris is beautiful (see a previous post or http://www.grenzenlose-hundehilfe.de/iris.htm), Iris will grow up to be a strapping lass - about 60 - 70kg and as Mrs iD can barely manage 28kg of Schotty when he goes bonkers, Iris will be too big for her to manage should Iris decide to go charging after something... So little Chana may be the next canine adoption... Mind you, Mrs iD and I are already squaring up for a fight... Chana will most definitely need a new name (I refuse to yell across a park a name most Swiss will take for an Indian restaurant entree) I say she looks like and will be a "Lucy", Mrs iD wants "Cully". What do you fellow ER denizens think? (it may be worth mentioning before you vote that Mrs iD's short list of names for the dog now known as Schotty included "Chip" and "Larry"!!!)

 

That's all for now, have a lovely evening

Edited July 18, 2014 by iL Dottore

[BoD]

Lucy? Cully?

Almost anagrams.

If you and Mrs ID adopt her I think she would be Lucky.

[Ian Abel]

What a pretty girl and she looks so innocent..... Well Mrs iD has made up her mind, she will arrange to introduce Schotty to Chana (http://www.grenzenlose-hundehilfe.de/chana1.htm) and if they get on, well we'll have another dog! (Mrs iD has gone all mystic on me and has said "fate will decide"). We both think that Chana has character, but though we both think Iris is beautiful (see a previous post or http://www.grenzenlose-hundehilfe.de/iris.htm), Iris will grow up to be a strapping lass - about 60 - 70kg and as Mrs iD can barely manage 28kg of Schotty when he goes bonkers, Iris will be too big for her to manage should Iris decide to go charging after something... So little Chana may be the next canine adoption... Mind you, Mrs iD are already squaring up for a fight... Chana will most definitely need a new name (I refuse to yell across a park a name most Swiss will take for an Indian restaurant entree) I say she looks like and will be a "Lucy", Mrs iD wants "Cully". What do you fellow ER denizens think? (it may be worth mentioning before you vote that Mrs iD's short list of names for the dog now known as Schotty included "Chip" and "Larry"!!!)

 

That's all for now, have a lovely evening

I like "Lucy" personally, BUT, knowing how these things can go (I generally defer to the Mrs preference when names of pets, especially those she selects, are chosen), I deny ALL knowledge of ever having mentioned ANY preference - especially for your choice -  if cross-examined!!!!  

Having said that, it was my choice to name Bob...  then again, the rest of the houshold thought we were only taking him in temporarily until a home could be found  for him.

 

Starting to pack up for the weekend here, so laptop will be off soon... enjoy the weekend everyone - if you're going to Farnborough, post some pictures  please...

Edited July 18, 2014 by Ian Abel