Early Risers.

[Rugd1022]

Meant to add to my post above but pressed send too soon... driving past Bescot last week on the M6 I saw the BOP being bulldozed, a sad sight indeed.

Edited March 20, 2018 by Rugd1022

[Tony_S]

I sent a package by Special Delivery to a family member. The signed for signature could be checked online. Apparently the recipient was F Off.

Turns out their postman would sign for stuff that would fit through the letter box.

[Ian Abel]

Chewsday!

I need a weekend to recover form the last three days <yawn>

 

"Cousins Party" on Sunday went on forever, didn't even get home until 9PM! Certainly a good event for those directly related and who all grew up together, including the Mrs.

 

Yesterday was the Memorial service, went extremely well, Mrs eulogy was perfect and well received.

 

There was ONE hiccup, that you'd not prefer have happen - we arrived at the church 45 minutes early before the reviewal to make sure everything was in order;

Couldn't fine the urn Mrs and her sister had provided the cremation service, instead a cardboard box with the "obvious contents"!

The services director was there expecting us to "provide the urn at the church". This had been taken a week or more ago to their offices. Panic ensued until they discovered that the person usually orchestrating events was on vacation and there was a mixup in the "notes". Fortunately the place is only 5 minutes from the church and they sorted it in short order - did have Mrs and her sister quite distraught though for a few minutes while frantic phone calls were made!

 

For those who may be interested in a brief history of the life of a 100 year old "women's baseball pioneer", here's the obit from the Sunday paper;

http://www.startribune.com/mary-anderson-pioneer-of-women-s-baseball-dies-at-100/477177513/

 

The after service family gathering continued back at one of the family homes and again lasted till 9PM - I really DO need a weekend soon, to recover

 

So, spring officially arrives in two hours and 25 minutes here, and to CELEBRATE, it's -2 with light snow falling. Expected to remain that way all day with 1-2 inches of cover.

 

Roll on HUMP day so I can see the weekend in the distance -

[Gwiwer]

Bagpipes!!!!!

 

A handy expletive but also, when well played, something of an interest here. There is something uniquely stirring about the massed pipes and drums in full flight and something equally evocative when a single piper, unseen in the dark, breaks the silence of the evening as happened to me once when awaiting the overnight train to London at Crianlarich. They have even been used by rock musicians and their bands as diverse as Roy Wood’s Wizzard and Runrig.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MjKICkcugsU

 

Must be the Celtic blood in me

[TheQ]

My Favourite is Dark Island...

It Helps I used to live there...

https://youtu.be/HCSh1S_9Lgs

 

The Dark Island

Away to the west's where I'm longing to be,
Where the beauties of heaven unfold by the sea,
Where the sweet purple heather blooms fragrant and free,
On a hilltop high above the Dark Island.

 

Chorus
Oh, isle of my childhood, I'm dreaming of thee,
As the steamer leaves Oban and passes Tiree,
Soon I'll capture the magic that lingers for me,
When I'm back once more upon the Dark Island.

 

So gentle the sea breeze that ripples the bay,
Where the stream joins the ocean, and young children play;
On the strand of pure silver, I'll welcome each day,
And I'll roam for ever more the Dark Island.

 

Chorus

 

True gem of the Hebrides, bathed in the light
Of the midsummer dawning that follows the night
How I yearn for the cries of the seagulls in flight.
As they circle high above the Dark Island

 

https://youtu.be/nIbhUbsIIGc

Edited March 20, 2018 by TheQ

[Rugd1022]

Just switched my work mobile on, voicemail from my oppo at Toton saying ''job caped, you lucky little b*st*rd!''. Job jobbed, as they say! I'd better hide in case there's any DIY that needs doing.... 

[BoD]

I may have mentioned it before - there is a pub near Northallerton called The Cat and Bagpipes.

I've no idea how the name might have originated other than perhaps when placed under the arm and squeezed hard they both sound the same.

Edited March 20, 2018 by BoD

[Happy Hippo]

My SWMBO   is GWR Star class 4040.     

The Obergrumpenfuhrer would probably qualify as one of the GWR Saint Class: 2905

[Ozexpatriate]

Welcome to spring, the real spring, not the fake spring, being foisted upon us by meterologists.

Welcome to this year's second 'First Day of Spring'  (the meteorological 'First day of Spring' was on 01 March).  In celebration of the equinox snow has finally vanished this morning out at the front of the house but still a few small patches plus some on a shed roof in the back garden.

In the antipodes meteorologists always went with the version starting at the first of the month and did not pay much attention to the position of the sun. The notion that summer started on December 21 or so would have been completely absurd there. It was well and truly summer at the beginning of December.

 

Here the meteorologists tend to use the astronomical dates to mark the seasons and it does seem to better suit the climate here with it's generally mild, gradual warming and cooling. Having said that, this year Spring really did start in early March, with our last wintry precipitation in February.  The earliest flowering trees are not quite in full bloom. They should all pop in a week or two.

 

I have long found the naming convention of the northern summer solstice as "midsummer's day" a bit incongruous. Despite the length of daylight it is very much less summery than late July or early August. 

[jamie92208]

Bagpipes!!!!!

 

A handy expletive but also, when well played, something of an interest here. There is something uniquely stirring about the massed pipes and drums in full flight and something equally evocative when a single piper, unseen in the dark, breaks the silence of the evening as happened to me once when awaiting the overnight train to London at Crianlarich. They have even been used by rock musicians and their bands as diverse as Roy Wood’s Wizzard and Runrig.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MjKICkcugsU

 

Must be the Celtic blood in me

I love to hear the pipes in the right setting. The two evocative times for me were,

a) when we stopped at Glenfinnan en route to Mallaig and someone was up in te hills practising for a forthcoming event and

b) At a Ceilidh in a tin tabernacle somewhere north of Stornaway at abut 3am when a local band played a lament about the Iolaire disaster ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMY_Iolaire)and several of the band memebrs had family connections to those that were lost. This was in 1970 and I have never been able to locate a copy of the song. All the ones that I've found have been written much later.

 

As to a loco for SWMBO, If I used her Sunday name 6201 would be appropriate but I suspect that her everyday name of Beth was probably some sort of industrial so I better not suggest that one.

 

Jamie

Edited March 20, 2018 by jamie92208

[pH]

Many other areas of England had their version of great pipes, with no or up to three drones, with one or two chanters.

 

 

Intriguing! I'm having difficulty trying to imagine how you would play those.

[BoD]

I remember a walk in the Lake District that included the path around Blea Tarn. It was late winter and there were just the two of us when suddenly we heard the sound of a lone piper.   We eventually spotted him far up on the side of a fell playing his slow lament and to this day we still don't know why he was there. Blea Tarn is in a bit of a hollow and the sound of the pipes echoed around the fell sides and seemed to fill the whole valley...... it was both a haunting and moving experience.

[Coombe Barton]

Intriguing! I'm having difficulty trying to imagine how you would play those.

 

Like this

 

[Coombe Barton]

My first experience with live bagpipes was whilst I was at school and we went to the barracks where there was a Scots regiment. Bagpipes at close quarters.

 

My last live was at a ceilidh in Aberdeen university where we danced to bagpipe and bass guitar.

[pH]

Like this

 

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

Thank you. That really was intriguing!

[chrisf]

Mention of the double chanter reminds me of a creation of the late and amazing Packie Byrne of Donegal.  He played two tin whistles at once with the aid of a shower hose.  Spellbinding!

 

Chris

[The Stationmaster]

Managerial failure - vacuuming instruction overlooked.  No doubt tomorrow I'll pay the price for her error, or may be she took pity on me after delivering our morning cuppa 2 hours early, at 07.00 instead of 09.00, due to a clock watching error on her part 

 

Ian (A) fascinating piece about your MiL, someone needs to keep that memorabilia under lock and key as I bet the baseball ephemera collectors will be looking at it with very green eyes and someone might have malicious thoughts about an early route to a fortune.

[roundhouse]

Another delayed journey home due to earlier problems at Avis only to be stuck in the queue for a third time trying to get my other halfs ticket changed. Not the ticket office staff fault as a Southern just don’t staff the ticket office we’ll enough. However I was getting wound up again so she told me to go wait in the pub.

 

Now sitting here with a pint and a half of Harvey’s Old.

 

So much for no beer till the weekend.

 

Edit she has just got into the pub , couldn’t sort the ticket out as the paper ticket was accidentally set up as a touch in ticket so she has to go back again once sorted out on another day as thy have to reset her account.

Edited March 20, 2018 by roundhouse

[Ozexpatriate]

.... someone needs to keep that memorabilia under lock and key as I bet the baseball ephemera collectors will be looking at it with very green eyes and someone might have malicious thoughts about an early route to a fortune.

I had formed the impression from the obituary that the Minnesota Twins (a major league baseball club) indeed had the memorabilia under lock and key and intended it for public display. The list of signatures may not mean anything to people unfamiliar with baseball but it is very impressive indeed.

[Ian Abel]

 

Ian (A) fascinating piece about your MiL, someone needs to keep that memorabilia under lock and key as I bet the baseball ephemera collectors will be looking at it with very green eyes and someone might have malicious thoughts about an early route to a fortune.

Fortunately that's all taken care of - the Minnesota Twins organization have it all in a display case (on permanent loan from the family) is housed in a special section where much memorabilia is displayed. There is a possible change in the future as they have discussed creating a museum to house all this across the street in a separate building they own.

 

Any miscreant considering "obtaining" these collectable would probably go for some of the more valuable baseball stars' gloves, bats and other items before my MiLs display...

[New Haven Neil]

Evening.  Busy day, one short at work and lots to do.  I got about 70% of it done!

 

Ah, pipes.  Two things in music can move me to tears almost - massed pipes (or that lone lament on the hill over Blea Tarn!) and a large church organ (preferably with a 32' diapason/bombarde) being given a good workout, maybe with Widor's Toccata (5th Movement).  Odd for an atheist/humanist, but I love church organ music.  Gert van Hoef (D-M, one of yours!) is a superbly talented young organist, gifted in fact, worth looking up if you like that sort of music.  His new wife (his registrant) is worth examination too!

[Purley Oaks]

I love to hear the pipes in the right setting.

Ah, the pipes! Everyday on the corner of Waverley Bridge and Princes Street, tourist tat.

 

Mention of the double chanter reminds me of a creation of the late and amazing Packie Byrne of Donegal.  He played two tin whistles at once with the aid of a shower hose.  Spellbinding!

Chris

Reminds me of Dick Heckstall-Smith playing two saxophones at once. Wonderful stuff.

 

Just getting started with the final episode of Shetland. Love it!

 

Mal

[Gwiwer]

 

 

 and a large church organ (preferably with a 32' diapason/bombarde) being given a good workout, maybe with Widor's Toccata (5th Movement).

Better still Saint-Saëns Symphony No.3 in C Minor.  Preferably with the volume notched up.  This was our "wedding music".  SWMBO was allowed to choose anything else she wanted but this I had chosen long before I ever knew her.  Just in case ..... 

 

[Barry O]

Night awl.

 

Baz

[JohnDMJ]

General comment based on many above posts: with seemingly so many of us at Ally Pally on Saturday, could I suggest a meet at the Gaugemaster stand around 12:00 (I'm not, technically, working but can be on call as at all shows I attend!) for group relocation to a more suitable location, e.g. the Palm Court Bar?