The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, Adam88 said:

 

Avian names are the norm in guiding.  I once knew a young lady who answered to Dodo.

Never heard of any answering to any type of Tit. (or Thrush for that matter)

 

Although at a Scouting event I once met a female leader who told me: 'I am Brown Beaver'.

 

'I'm sure you are,' I replied, keeping a straight face.

Edited December 20, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[J. S. Bach]

I have to confess, on Friday I did something that have not done in more years than I can remember; I went into a liquor store and bought a bottle of hard stuff!  It is a half-pint bottle of Bacardi Gold rum bought to spice-up some eggnog. Whew, this rum does not taste anything like the rum that I remember! I was thinking about asking for Pusser's Rum but considering where I live ........................ Anyway, about a half-ounce in a two-quart bottle really does not give a lot of kick; which is really what I was seeking. Flavor and not inebriation is the wanted result.

[simontaylor484]

My cousin brought me a bottle of Pussers Rum back from the States 15 years or so ago. I was more used to drinking Lambs or Captain Morgan my favourite is Brugal from the Dominican republic .jeez the stuff was like paint stripper i could only drink it straight from the bottle it didnt seem to burn so much.

Until a year ago when i had my breakdown i used to keep a bottle of Lambs in the cupboard purely for medicinal purposes (honest Guv)

 

 

 

[jamie92208]

6 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Never heard of any answering to any type of Tit. (or Thrush for that matter)

 

Although at a Scouting event I once met a female leader who told me: 'I am Brown Beaver'.

 

'I'm sure you are,' I replied, keeping a straight face.

I guess I have met a few that coukd be of the great variety but so far have never seen a coal or blue one.

 

Jamie

Edited December 21, 2020 by jamie92208

[Oldddudders]

Sherry's flat overlooks a large green surrounded by a wall. Year-round you can watch people and their dogs come and go. On the opposite corner of the green is All Saints, Babbacombe, where Sherry has been made most welcome since she moved in 6 years ago. She regularly plays piano and/or reads the lesson at the 9.30 service on a Sunday. Covid has placed huge restrictions on how worship may be conducted, so some innovation is required. Yesterday they held a carol service on the green, with music by the Torquay Brass Band. The weather was kind-ish, and the only downside was the lesson being read by the local MP. This individual is what the late Simon Hoggart in the Grauniad would describe as a lickspittle, so Government policy is never challenged. His reading, despite a microphone, was inaudible due to his failure to project, a weakness that I think Sherry had detected in him before he was elected, as she'd directed him in a Murder Mystery event. But carols are carols, and a brass band has a traditional sound that rouses, so it all went quite well. 

[rockershovel]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

Sherry's flat overlooks a large green surrounded by a wall. Year-round you can watch people and their dogs come and go. On the opposite corner of the green is All Saints, Babbacombe, where Sherry has been made most welcome since she moved in 6 years ago. She regularly plays piano and/or reads the lesson at the 9.30 service on a Sunday. Covid has placed huge restrictions on how worship may be conducted, so some innovation is required. Yesterday they held a carol service on the green, with music by the Torquay Brass Band. The weather was kind-ish, and the only downside was the lesson being read by the local MP. This individual is what the late Simon Hoggart in the Grauniad would describe as a lickspittle, so Government policy is never challenged. His reading, despite a microphone, was inaudible due to his failure to project, a weakness that I think Sherry had detected in him before he was elected, as she'd directed him in a Murder Mystery event. But carols are carols, and a brass band has a traditional sound that rouses, so it all went quite well. 

 

Peterborough has the curious anomaly that the development of the City since the 1970s places most of its population outside the historic Constituency boundaries, so the MP bearing that title spends much of his time informing people that he isn’t, in fact, their MP. The area in question lies within the Constituency of NW Cambridgeshire, a county it isn’t in fact in (having reverted to a Unitary Authority in 1998). 

 

Historically it has also been within Huntingdonshire and Northants. It has never been in Lincolnshire, although Peterborough postcodes extend as far up the A15 and A16 as Skegness. On a clear day, views of Norfolk can be discerned from the Cathedral. Like Muck, it has never been seen from Eigg. 

 

Under the circumstances it seems only logical that the MP actually representing most of the City is one of those Westminster hippogriffs, a non-practicing Hindu of East African origin; so the whole festive season from Eid to Hogmanay passes without his intervention, as does most of the rest of the year, to little discernible local regret. Being an erstwhile Chairman of the Conservative Party, he appears far too Grand to actually canvass support, although we do receive an occasional free sheet from the other Peterborough MP (who my wife refers to as the “King Over The Water”, by which she means Gunwade Lake). 

[TheQ]

Mum was just a traditional Brown owl.

 

Rum, I have some lambs left in a cupboard a bottle I inherited, I've had a bottle of Pussers rum I was awarded by the sailing club I liked it..

 

Having had Alan Lamb as our MP for some years , who retired at the last election we now have a traditional political family MP, who seems to be one of those that will forever hide in the background as a backbencher..

 

[Happy Hippo]

Grey and wet today: Just out of the shower!

 

I need to travel over the Shrewsbury pretty soon.  I have a gas filler valve and boiler top up kit to deliver to a friend. No stopping, just through the letter box and away.  I'll incorporate it with a trip to deliver the Christmas presents to my son and his family.

 

I just drop and go.

 

The trip also gives me a chance to exercise the BMW which has been stuck on the drive for the best part of two months, so needs a good run out.

[Tony_S]

12 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

have a gas filler valve and boiler top up kit to deliver to a friend

No pressure to do this then!

[rockershovel]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

Mum was just a traditional Brown owl.

 

Rum, I have some lambs left in a cupboard a bottle I inherited, I've had a bottle of Pussers rum I was awarded by the sailing club I liked it..

 

Having had Alan Lamb as our MP for some years , who retired at the last election we now have a traditional political family MP, who seems to be one of those that will forever hide in the background as a backbencher..

 

 

I don't see anything inherently wrong about being a backbencher. I seem to recall that the late Rt Hon Jack Ashley was one, for example. 

 

 

 

[chrisf]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

Having had Alan Lamb as our MP for some years

I think perhaps you mean Norman?

 

Chris

[Happy Hippo]

4 minutes ago, chrisf said:

I think perhaps you mean Norman?

 

Chris

I hope we are not going to start lambasting each other over mistaken first names.

 

Too much mention of sheep might attract NHY 581.

[chrisf]

5 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I hope we are not going to start lambasting each other over mistaken first names.

Oh, have I got someone's name wrong?

[Tony_S]

38 minutes ago, chrisf said:

Oh, have I got someone's name wrong?

I suspect a play on Lamb / lambasting...

[Tony_S]

Allan Lamb and Ian Botham used to advertise Lamb and Beef some years ago.  They were cartoon characters based on their cricketing nicknames Lamby and Beefy. 
 

[tomparryharry]

'Twas the first Monday before Christmas. As is the tradition here, I sometimes cook some of the sprouts.  They have plenty of seasoning: salt, pepper, and a touch of butter when drained.  I do this on the fireman's shovel, as I find I can 'cast' the sprouts from the kitchen straight into the dustbin. 

 

For me, the only downside is the waste of salt, pepper, and the touch of butter.

[Winslow Boy]

Be careful what you wish for. Our previous MP Hazel Blears and our current one,  Rebecca Long-Bailey          were both supposedly 'high fliers' as they had shadow cabinet positions. It still didn't make either of them any more competent. The greasy pole of ambition doesn't differentiate I'm afraid.

 

Not certain which of HH's activities could be classed as essential - delivery of C...........o pressies or bottle gas valve. It will need some mulling. I may be some time.

[rockershovel]

19 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Be careful what you wish for. Our previous MP Hazel Blears and our current one,  Rebecca Long-Bailey          were both supposedly 'high fliers' as they had shadow cabinet positions. It still didn't make either of them any more competent. The greasy pole of ambition doesn't differentiate I'm afraid.

 

Not certain which of HH's activities could be classed as essential - delivery of C...........o pressies or bottle gas valve. It will need some mulling. I may be some time.

 

Interesting piece in the Spectator on this latter point. It seems that the actual substance of latest restrictions are quite limited, in the legal sense that they are mostly “guidance”. Can you be prosecuted for disregarding “guidance”? It seems not... but if a police officer offers the interpretation that your purpose is not appropriate, you CAN be prosecuted for disregarding that guidance. 

 

So, the law is anything a police officer says it is, unless and until the matter comes to court - at which point, it is a matter for the jury or magistrate, as it might be. If they regard the guidance as unreasonable, so be it; you are free to go. 

 

This also appears to mean that Cressida Dick’s statement regarding what the police under her remit would, or wouldn’t concern themselves with, is within her authority - it constitutes an interpretation of guidance, or passing the buck straight back, depending on how you look at it. 

[rockershovel]

51 minutes ago, tomparryharry said:

'Twas the first Monday before Christmas. As is the tradition here, I sometimes cook some of the sprouts.  They have plenty of seasoning: salt, pepper, and a touch of butter when drained.  I do this on the fireman's shovel, as I find I can 'cast' the sprouts from the kitchen straight into the dustbin. 

 

For me, the only downside is the waste of salt, pepper, and the touch of butter.

 

Dr Johnson would agree, I’m sure, given his view of cucumbers! 

 

[rockershovel]

36 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Be careful what you wish for. Our previous MP Hazel Blears and our current one,  Rebecca Long-Bailey          were both supposedly 'high fliers' as they had shadow cabinet positions. It still didn't make either of them any more competent. The greasy pole of ambition doesn't differentiate I'm afraid.

 

Not certain which of HH's activities could be classed as essential - delivery of C...........o pressies or bottle gas valve. It will need some mulling. I may be some time.

 

One recent Peterborough MP is best remembered for one of “those” incidents involving “social media” and was succeeded in turn by the first MP to be dismissed under the Recall Act. The next incumbent served 153 days before losing in a General Election. It’s a bit soon to say much about the latest chap, but it’s hard to feel that actual representation of the electorate is being well served by all of this. 

[Winslow Boy]

11 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

 

One recent Peterborough MP is best remembered for one of “those” incidents involving “social media” and was succeeded in turn by the first MP to be dismissed under the Recall Act. The next incumbent served 153 days before losing in a General Election. It’s a bit soon to say much about the latest chap, but it’s hard to feel that actual representation of the electorate is being well served by all of this. 

It is no surprise given the fact they are being selected from the same gene pool that contains the idiots who thought getting on a packed train would somehow mean they wouldn't catch the virus. And where they I hear you ask .......

Edited December 21, 2020 by Winslow Boy
No n't

[Happy Hippo]

If one pushes a stick into a bucket of dung (your choice of type) and give it a stir, then once it has stopped swirling it looks exactly the same.

 

I think you can apply this to many walks of life.

[simontaylor484]

One problem with Mps these days is they dont come from the areas they serve in a lot of cases our Yvette Cooper is no exception her predecessor Sir Geoff Lofthouse was a local man and ex miner and understood many of the problems faced in this area many todo with pits closing

 

 

[rockershovel]

56 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

If one pushes a stick into a bucket of dung (your choice of type) and give it a stir, then once it has stopped swirling it looks exactly the same.

 

I think you can apply this to many walks of life.

 

Oh, that’s harsh! 

 

I read Peter Mandelson’s book, The Third Man, a while ago. He is a very intelligent, articulate man, untroubled by modesty (false, or any other sort) and it’s an engrossing read; as a picture of life and times at the very heart of the New Labour Project, there is nothing like it. 

[rockershovel]

19 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

One problem with Mps these days is they dont come from the areas they serve in a lot of cases our Yvette Cooper is no exception her predecessor Sir Geoff Lofthouse was a local man and ex miner and understood many of the problems faced in this area many todo with pits closing

 

 

 

While I wouldn’t dispute your point as far as it goes, it’s no guarantee. The late Dr Brian Mawhinney was much respected locally and an active constituency MP, and he was Irish with an American wife (I don’t believe that she ever became a British National, unless she took dual nationality)

 

Both of Labour’s recent incumbents in Peterborough were more-or-less local. 

Edited December 21, 2020 by rockershovel