Castle Aching

[CKPR]

6 hours ago, Hroth said:

Perhaps now we need to brick up the Chunnel too?

 

 

[robmcg]

5 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Interestingly, or maybe not to anyone except me, the happiest and least worried person in my family at present is my aged mother.

 

She lives a very secluded life already, has experience of ‘holing up’ when she broke her leg three years ago, has an excellent support network for provision supply etc, a garden that she tends with care, and is as fit as a bucket of fleas.

 

Everyone else needs to engage with the world; she has long found contentment in doing barely any of that, and what she does do is strictly on her own terms!

 

 

 

Good on her.  I equally have little trouble existing alone for long periods without contact with people, with experience of being bed-bound for over 23 hrs/day with pressure sores as result of 46 years paralysed T5 para, I used to live alone in a cottage, life became slow, I had books and radio, no computers back in the 80s , and I still often spend long periods without contact with others except such as here, but there is a cat which rather insists I open a door about 5.30am and feed abut 5.30pm. If I was desperate I'd have a cat door installed, but one has to do one's duty.

 

I think of the Victorian or dare I say it Edwardian days when being alone or hardly in contact with strangers was the norm in many places.

 

I wonder if that relative isolation had some bearing on lack of immunity to the 1918 flu after WW1? 

 

Of course my experiences have little relevance to people with 'normal' lives, children, schools, work, and so on, and with very-near-death injuries and extreme luck I tend towards being a bit odd regardless. A very nice vege garden and tons of tomatoes currently help isolation feel less than dire.

 

The one thing one cannot survive without is a nice cup of English tea...

[DonB]

Quote:-

 

" 5 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Interestingly, or maybe not to anyone except me, the happiest and least worried person in my family at present is my aged mother.

 

She lives a very secluded life already, has experience of ‘holing up’ when she broke her leg three years ago, has an excellent support network for provision supply etc, a garden that she tends with care, and is as fit as a bucket of fleas.

 

Everyone else needs to engage with the world; she has long found contentment in doing barely any of that, and what she does do is strictly on her own terms!"

 

My Best wishes to your mother too. 

I would dearly love to emulate her, but the distaff half of this household has a long list of tasks for jobs for which I have the tools and parts to complete  ..... bl00dy Covid !9

[Edwardian]

2 hours ago, Donw said:

 

Well that amused Marion greatly. The concept of a dawn raid armed with only a Paddington Bear stare and perhaps the odd cough ....

We are fortunate in that sometime before the pandemic started the supermarket was offering reduced prices on two 9 roll packs and ever on lookout for bargains she had taken the offer. The local Coop gets a delivery each morning, We often see the lorry unloading as we return from walking the dogs we may be reduced to hanging around to await the stuff being put on shelves as flour, pasta and rice have all been cleared from the shelves seemingly for days. 

 

Don

 

 

 

Glad to be of service.

 

I recall that in my early '20s my pals and I had a Moment of Self-Realisation upon finding ourselves queuing outside the Museum Tavern in Bloomsbury at 11 o'clock one morning waiting for it to open. As I recall, the realisations were, in sequence, (i) gosh, this tells us something profound and unsettling about our lifestyle; and, (ii) which means we'd better have a drink to settle our nerves.

 

I can now add to that the reality of my early '50s; queuing up outside Morrisons at 6.30 in the morning to buy loo roll. I cannot see that as any kind of improvement. 

[Buhar]

2 hours ago, Talltim said:

Are they the same person or has she gone on an extra-curricular holiday?

It is the same person .  She sort of took it over as a job after watching the professionals who did a bit of stonework right at the beginning of the renovation and I have slowly been relegated to fetching, carrying and mixing, plus forking out for special chisels and trowels.  I still get to play with the angle grinder, but I have to cut to the lines she's drawn.

 

Alan

[Edwardian]

On 17/03/2020 at 20:51, Buhar said:

I'm not self-isolating for any reason, but there doesn't seem any sense in going into town without very good reason.  I will get some building bits tomorrow to keep me occupied (and make some progress on the cottage, the renovation of which has only taken four years so far).  Unfortunately, my wife (and stonemason) is stuck in Turkey which has just gone into lock-down and my Mum's care home has, quite properly, banned visits, so I am on my own in a very rural location. 

 

Seeking a source of light in these dark times I (and I'm sure I'm not alone) would be grateful if parishioners could increase the volume of posts on here.   However, please note there are standards well established in respect of of erudition, displays (modestly) of obscure knowledge, polite discourse, wry humour, Australian humour, oblique politics and general warmth.  If model railways get a mention, that can only be A Good Thing.  

 

A number of parishioners do stray elsewhere on RMWeb, if things get similarly interesting on another thread, please provide what I believe is called, in the vernacular, a "heads up".  

 

Take care everyone

Alan

 

Alan,

 

I'm sorry, I'd missed your post first time round in the hurly burly. 

 

I note the special category of Australian humour, which, I feel has added something to the topic of late, so long may it continue. I mainly achieve "general warmth" at that point during the night when three Labradors decide to sleep on top of me.

 

Like you I find myself increasingly on my own these days (apart from the three dogs who sleep on top of me). I am very sorry indeed to hear that you are separated from your wife.  I cannot imagine how hard that must be, but it must be a worrying time for you both. 

 

 

1 minute ago, Buhar said:

It is the same person .  She sort of took it over as a job after watching the professionals who did a bit of stonework right at the beginning of the renovation and I have slowly been relegated to fetching, carrying and mixing, plus forking out for special chisels and trowels.  I still get to play with the angle grinder, but I have to cut to the lines she's drawn.

 

Alan

 

What a girl!

 

J

[robmcg]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

 

Alan,

 

I'm sorry, I'd missed your post first time round in the hurly burly. 

 

I note the special category of Australian humour, which, I feel has added something to the topic of late, so long may it continue. I mainly achieve "general warmth" at that point during the night when three Labradors decide to sleep on top of me.

 

Like you I find myself increasingly on my own these days (apart from the three dogs who sleep on top of me). I am very sorry indeed to hear that you are separated from your wife.  I cannot imagine how hard that must be, but it must be a worrying time for you both. 

 

 

 

What a girl!

 

J

 

In the spirit of colonial solidarity I can offer my little wisdoms.

 

Yesterday having read a pile of rubbish ideas in Stationmaster's thread about Covid-19 I wrote a post containing some of the more dire and absurd theories which either have or will gain currency in such vehicles of truth and justice at the BB or Guardian.

 

Poor Andy York had to censor them, except the one proclaiming a flat earth, which he allowed to remain. And I have apologized for wasting his time.  I had failed to appreciate how stupid people are and how easily my theories (mostly about methods of getting rid of Trump 'at any cost' or similar conspiracies)  could be copied and pasted without context, damaging RMweb.

 

I actually have a friend who maintains my wheelchair who believes the UN is an evil empire and has a headquarters under the UN building in New York, and our ex-PM Helen Clarke is a witch. She was in the running to be Director-General...  she is called 'Satan's Grandma' by some. He believes they worship at an altar...   this guy READS A LOT  ...  presumably unlike most of his cohort and thus he KNOWS A LOT.

He is also hard to shut up once he gets going. He has contact of course with many disabled people....  

 

Thus by quoting some of his ideas IN JEST I transgressed by underestimating the nature of social media, and wasted Andy's time...  again.

 

With China now saying Covid-19 started in he USA  WE ARE CLEARLY IN AN AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT.  My caps lock has  gone mad, what more proof do you need?

 

At least this thread tends to know of a world before 1980..

 

..and how we beat Russia in WW2...

 

 

Edited March 19, 2020 by robmcg
typo

[Compound2632]

Perhaps we should compare and contrast with some Edwardian conspiracy theories. One of my favourites (for its sheer absurdity) is the idea that Britain was being infiltrated by an army of German secret agents in the guise of nannies and governesses.

[robmcg]

13 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

Perhaps we should compare and contrast with some Edwardian conspiracy theories. One of my favourites (for its sheer absurdity) is the idea that Britain was being infiltrated by an army of German secret agents in the guise of nannies and governesses.

 

Were they pretty?   We need photos for this.   A photo* does not lie.

 

*  conditions may apply

[Edwardian]

44 minutes ago, robmcg said:

 

the UN is an evil empire and has a headquarters under the UN building in New York,

 

 

 

Wow, its headquarters located under its headquarters. No one would suspect. 

 

33 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

Perhaps we should compare and contrast with some Edwardian conspiracy theories. One of my favourites (for its sheer absurdity) is the idea that Britain was being infiltrated by an army of German secret agents in the guise of nannies and governesses.

 

It's all true .... 

 

 

[monkeysarefun]

Spotify today  suggests I will like this song, the heartless app.

 

Sing along from inside your toilet roll fort.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2020 by monkeysarefun

[Nearholmer]

My son has been bombarding me with Coronavirus songs from the strange bits of the internet that boys visit, videos made by groups of lads, and some of them are both musical and witty (which doesn’t mean “ something like Flanders and Swann”, this is modern musical, which is to say fast and loud).

[Annie]

New Zealand has just closed its borders to anyone who isn't either a legal resident or a citizen.  Just recently the local councils in our district were getting upset over foreign tourists who were freedom camping and voiding their bowels where they pleased despite public conveniences being available so that will certainly sort out that problem.

[monkeysarefun]

3 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Perhaps we should compare and contrast with some Edwardian conspiracy theories. One of my favourites (for its sheer absurdity) is the idea that Britain was being infiltrated by an army of German secret agents in the guise of nannies and governesses.

 

 

Not a conspiracy theory  as such, but due to Austraila being a little behind the times 1915 was still the Edwardian era, so attached is an account of a Jihadi terrorist attack on Australian soil way before the rest of the world caught up and had them.. Also features an Australian Picnic special:

 

 

https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2014/november/1414760400/nicholas-shakespeare/outback-jihad

 

 

Edited March 19, 2020 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

12 minutes ago, Annie said:

New Zealand has just closed its borders to anyone who isn't either a legal resident or a citizen.  Just recently the local councils in our district were getting upset over foreign tourists who were freedom camping and voiding their bowels where they pleased despite public conveniences being available so that will certainly sort out that problem.

 

Us too.

 

Things will become interesting regarding which of our countries Russell Crowe, Split Enz, Crowded House,  Lamingtons and Phar Lap are allowed to  enter given that they are all claimed by us  as Australians

Edited March 19, 2020 by monkeysarefun
theres 2 ells in russell.

[Donw]

4 hours ago, Buhar said:

It is the same person .  She sort of took it over as a job after watching the professionals who did a bit of stonework right at the beginning of the renovation and I have slowly been relegated to fetching, carrying and mixing, plus forking out for special chisels and trowels.  I still get to play with the angle grinder, but I have to cut to the lines she's drawn.

 

Alan

 

Sounds rather like my wife. When we were building an extension to a stone cottage it proved to be  more effective for her to lay the stones and me to do the mixing, fetch and carrying. I built a support to stand on to do the hiher levels which made her visible to passing traffic. Major Bishop who onwed a 14th Century fine house (open to the public) told me he had a job for her if she needed one. Despite being a pensioner she is still doing this sort of stuff. The majority of the Bricks we used to build garden walls were reclaimed from outbuildings we demolished and were cleaned up and laid annew by her.

Don

 

[Dave John]

Heh, if I had any money I'd be investing in a keyboard manufacturer. Folk must be wearing them out by the ton load

 

But stuff it, heres a pic of a couple of bits of resin I have been playing with over the last two weeks. Almost done now, but at least its back to pre grouping railways.

 

 

  

[Regularity]

13 minutes ago, Dave John said:

its back to pre grouping railways.

Getting back on to;ic?

You’re disgusting!

 

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

6 hours ago, robmcg said:

 

With China now saying Covid-19 started in the USA  WE ARE CLEARLY IN AN AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT. 

 

 

 

Oh how I miss the old USSR - if the coronavirus had struck when they were around then it would have been them rushing in to claim they invented it before the US.    

[Annie]

3 hours ago, Donw said:

 

Sounds rather like my wife. When we were building an extension to a stone cottage it proved to be  more effective for her to lay the stones and me to do the mixing, fetch and carrying. I built a support to stand on to do the hiher levels which made her visible to passing traffic. Major Bishop who onwed a 14th Century fine house (open to the public) told me he had a job for her if she needed one. Despite being a pensioner she is still doing this sort of stuff. The majority of the Bricks we used to build garden walls were reclaimed from outbuildings we demolished and were cleaned up and laid annew by her.

Don

 

Back during my rural farming days when I was a fit woman of thirty something I taught myself how to build a drystone wall and then proceeded to build a wall or two at the house I owned at the time.  There was a quarry on the off-shore island where I was living and stone was cheap so it was a worthwhile exercise.  Stone is no respecter of fingers though so proper stout leather working gloves were essential equipment.

[St Enodoc]

15 hours ago, dunwurken said:

Fife.

[St Enodoc]

14 hours ago, Hroth said:

Terrys Chocolate Oranges.

Can you get the dark chocolate ones? They're as rare as hen's teeth round here, even in normal times. 

[St Enodoc]

6 hours ago, Annie said:

New Zealand has just closed its borders to anyone who isn't either a legal resident or a citizen. 

Likewise here.

[St Enodoc]

6 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Austraila being a little behind the times

I thought that was only Queensland?

[St Enodoc]

6 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

Us too.

 

Things will become interesting regarding which of our countries Russell Crowe, Split Enz, Crowded House,  Lamingtons and Phar Lap are allowed to  enter given that they are all claimed by us  as Australians

Phar Lap? Have a heart...

 

One consolation - nobody is likely to challenge our neighbours' claim to L&P.

 

By the way you forgot the pavlova.