The Night Mail

[iL Dottore]

31 minutes ago, GMKAT7 said:

When I had my hernia repair op in 2021 I had a spinal anaesthetic and the area was pre-numbed before the big needle went in.

 

Cheers, Nigel.

I would hope so.

 

They use pretty large bore needles for spinal anaesthesia.

 

Now, something for those NOT of a nervous disposition (and more than the average layman/person would wish to know) a review article on spinal anaesthesia! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537299/

 

AND there is not one offensive word in there (well, perhaps with exception of "T4. N1pple" - which refers to a dermatomal landmark).

[PhilJ W]

Then there is rhyming slang. Hampton is rhyming slang as illustrated here.

Few if any of the 'nannies' have cottoned on to rhyming slang.

[GMKAT7]

Good afternoon folks,

 

One of my old work colleagues used the phrase 'Dukes of Argyll', as in polishing the...

 

It took a while before I realised he was talking about the 'Chalfonts', also rhyming slang, as in Chalfont St Giles :)

Although they are a medical condition, so should be acceptable to the thought-police.

 

Cheers, Nigel.

[Willie Whizz]

15 hours ago, Northmoor said:

And where people say Eh-yup, which is a Yorkshire and not a Manchester term.  A memorable advert, but clearly created by a Southerner who'd never actually been North of Watford.  I preferred the one spoofing aftershave adverts, with Melanie Sykes in the ice cream van.

Er …. Us people from ‘t Queen of ‘t Midlands will have something to say about the origin and attribution of that phrase.
 

Round here, it is usually coupled as a greeting with an affectionate “me duck”. 

[SM42]

4 hours ago, GMKAT7 said:

Hello Andy (SM42),

 

Duck is also usual for Derby/Derbyshire, both male and female addressed the same!

 

Or for those more fluent in other languages, mon vielle canard (me old duck) also serves 🤣

 

Cheers, Nigel.

 

I spent 3 years living in various towns that make up Stoke on Trent, including Stoke itself.

 

I got used to being called duck and also got used to words being missed from sentences. 

 

Conversations along the lines of 

 

" What did you do yesterday with your day off?"

 

" I went town shopping and then went pub"

 

Happy carefree days with class 20s on MGR workings and class 56s and 20s stabled in the up bay. 

 

 

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Today, Nyda and I have decided to treat ourselves to a day out.

 

With the weather looking a bit variable, we will have to take it as it comes, but it will incorporate a visit to Eccleshall so that I can drop my smallest rifle off to it's birthplace.

 

It's going back for a full service which will see all the springs and seals replaced.

 

They will also be able to accurately set the power output on the bench using a type Chronograph that measures the speed of the pellet between two points., whereas my Chronograph has to be attached to the rifle, which is OK for testing, but adjusting is a lot more difficult. 

 

Yes, it is a job that I could do, but for the price they charge, and the time it would take me, it's not worth my while.

 

I once took my shotgun in to a place near King's Norton  for the firing pins be replaced and a general service. 

 

It was like walking into a time warp. 

 

Ancient oil  impregnated floor boards, green machinery with a nice oily sheen,  wracks of tools above solidly built workbenches, man in a cow gown running the place and the smell of oil and metal.

 

It was the sort of place you see in old sepia  photos

 

Andy

[Steamport Southport]

Eh up! I see we are back on the subject of The Macc Lads with all this Midlands talk....

 

We can even throw in a Hampton!

 

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, SM42 said:

 

I once took my shotgun in to a place near King's Norton  for the firing pins be replaced and a general service. 

 

It was like walking into a time warp. 

 

Ancient oil  impregnated floor boards, green machinery with a nice oily sheen,  wracks of tools above solidly built workbenches, man in a cow gown running the place and the smell of oil and metal.

 

It was the sort of place you see in old sepia  photos

 

Andy

Sounds like AA Brown and Sons in Alvechurch!

[SM42]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Sounds like AA Brown and Sons in Alvechurch!

 

It was definitely in Kings Norton, but name noted for the future. 

 

I've managed to get my house husband jobs done and get on a quick run to Gadki. 

Well it would have been quick without thd accident on  the A2.

 

The gantry signs of a red triangle with a car on its side was overstating things a bit though. 

 

Only a few EMUs to be seen but the Polish air force put on a show to keep me entertained

 

EN57 753 pulls in whilst the final F16 of a flight of 4 turns in on a short approach

 

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

Our trip out today started in sunshine ,but by the time I'd dropped the rifle off, it was raining.  We tried Bridgmere garden centre, mainly for the Hobbycraft outlet, but I noted that Hobbycraft no longer stock Really Useful Boxes(RUB).  Their replacement own brand box is a little cheaper, but not of the same quality, so I left empty handed.

 

I then came back to Shropshire and passed Market Drayton, creeping under the Hunt Towers MATZ, (We didn't stop for fear of infectious diseases) and went shopping in the large Lidl at Newport.

 

It was still raining when we got home, so we ended up doing a bit more preparation for the arrival of the Reading mob this coming Sunday.

[Oldddudders]

8 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

The thought of sha**ing in daylight would send them skyrocketing, never mind Saturn launches.

It still does me - I can hardly wait! 

[J. S. Bach]

12 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Unhappily, I’m not offended!
 

Oh, there is some slight innuendo (and I’ve heard better C&W songs), but nothing really upsetting. Certainly no mention of ****** or ********** or even ***** *** *****!!!

I do not class Afternoon as country & western (no matter what the others may call it; no pickup trucks, no dogs, no twangy banjos, etc!), more like mild folk rock; whatever, the song did chart and did quite well. Even I liked the catchy tune and words.

From Wikipedia:

""Afternoon Delight" is a song recorded by Starland Vocal Band. It was written by band member Bill Danoff. In the US, it became a #1 single on July 10, 1976 and earned a gold record.".

 

Note that it took me 43 years to finally buy the single! 🤔

[DenysW]

5 hours ago, Willie Whizz said:

‘t Queen of ‘t Midlands

You are confusing Nottingham with (at least one of) Leicester, Coventry, Lichfield, Tamworth, Walsall ... the list is almost endless because it does not include the unlamented Trent Station.

[SM42]

Free day tomorrow so will be heading to Pila and ending up in Inowroclaw via a couple of places en route to mooch about and a visit to the Zninska Kolej Powiatowa. ( 600mm gauge) 

 

I took a ride on this with Mrs SM42, probably around 14 years ago.

 

Be nice to re visit but no time for a ride. Instead I may visit the railway museum at Wenecja if it is open. 

 

Andy

[Dave Hunt]

8 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

re needles for spinal anaesthesia.

Now, something for those NOT of a nervous disposition (and more than the average layman/person would wish to know) a review article on spinal anaesthesia!

I have had three orthopaedic operations using spinal anaesthesia and would go for it every time instead of generals but since my upcoming operation is a spinal decompression on three discs and vertebrae it has to be a general - I did ask the surgeon if it could be done with local anaesthesia but he said that since I would be flat on my front for several hours and if I moved a millimetre during the procedure it could leave me paralysed the answer was no, it has to be general. Ho hum....

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

It still does me - I can hardly wait! 

 

As the old rhyme goes:

 

Hooray, hooray the first of May

Outdoor nookie starts today

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

Today has been one of dodging hither and thither. With Jill being icky I've been chief cook, shopper and bottle washer and in between times I've tried to get some tidying up done in the shed followed by photographing the layout for an article in MRJ. Sadly my photography skills are right up there with cycling goldfish so for every twenty shots taken, maybe one is usable. I did manage to do a bit of work in the shed as well, finishing off some fire buckets and wall mounting brackets and a horse dray. In amongst all of this a friend phoned to ask me if I could go over and witness some legal signatures and in so doing I was offered a beer and a cheese scone - well, it would have been rude to refuse wouldn't it? Hence I am somewhat knackered so after a session on RMW a bit of overnight eyelid inspection will probably be on the cards.

 

It's a rich, full life providing you don't weaken.

 

Dave  

[Dave Hunt]

It is now time for the aforementioned prolonged eyelid inspection to begin so good night/day/morning/evening to you depending on your longitude.

 

Dave

Edited March 28 by Dave Hunt

[pH]

1 minute ago, Dave Hunt said:

It is now time for the aforementioned prolonged eyelid inspection to begin so good night/day/morning/evening to you depending on your latitude.

 

Dave

Latitude???

[SM42]

13 minutes ago, pH said:

Latitude???

 

Either could apply 

 

It might be the middle of the day at some latitudinal extremities. 

 

One of the perils of a night shift at North Pole Depot is that it last 6 months. 

 

Andy

[New Haven Neil]

Ahh, southerners, bless their cotton socks.  They do sometimes have pre-conceived ideas about us unintelligible northern picts.

 

 

 

As for addressing people, here it is 'orrite gurl?' or 'orrite boy (or orrite feller? if over 60)?'

 

And 'yessir' is often heard after a statement, 'she'll be orrite, yessir'.  Yessir is sort of more yezzer in pronunciation.

[AndyID]

13 hours ago, SM42 said:

 

Can't you just switch it off and on again?

 

Andy

 

You might if you knew it was happening 😀

 

This issue only comes up when digital logic samples input from some asynchronous source (for example, an operator pushing a button). There are various ways to minimize the probability that the input will be misinterpreted which make it extremely unlikely that will ever happen but it's not possible to eliminate the chance completely.

[Willie Whizz]

2 hours ago, DenysW said:

You are confusing Nottingham with (at least one of) Leicester, Coventry, Lichfield, Tamworth, Walsall ... the list is almost endless because it does not include the unlamented Trent Station.

No, no - all mere ‘Pretenders to the Throne’. 
 

As the old rhyme used to go:

 

”Where North meets South,

   The bit between

Is NOTTINGHAM,

   The Midlands’ Queen!”

 

Though of course you missed out Derby, which redeems your list somewhat in our eyes. 
 

“Ah, Derby - a place where Men are Men

   And Women (and Sheep) are glad …”

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, DenysW said:

You are confusing Nottingham with (at least one of) Leicester, Coventry, Lichfield, Tamworth, Walsall ... the list is almost endless because it does not include the unlamented Trent Station.

What was so bad about Trent, where else could you catch a train to eithevLondon or Sheffield going in either direction.   Good for a getaway though I did enjoy my year in Nottingham. 

 

Jamie

 

 

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[iL Dottore]

18 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

One of the euphemisms I hate is when a needle wielding nurse says, “You might feel a slight scratch,” to which I usually reply, “Oh, it felt like someone sticking a needle in my arm to me.” (Other parts of the body are available)

 

Dave

I thought that the accepted terminology to be uttered upon giving an injection to a patient was “you’ll feel a little pr1ck” (the “p-word” being - until recently - a perfectly respectable English word). Perhaps it’s now banned by the NHS because of the hours of innocent amusement it afforded grubby skoolboys and those for whom “mind in the gutter” would be a step up.

 

One of the arguments for censorship is to protect the tinies. To a certain extent I would agree, but have any of those promoting such censorship actually hung around with the little darlings? Apart from the fact that Lord Of The Flies was a documentary and not a dystopian novel, the language the average 11 year old uses would make a sailor blush and make a RSM seem at a loss for words. And as for the average teenager…..

 

Anyway, a few more thoughts:

 

Being a teenager is a relatively recent phenomenon, until the 20th century for the majority there was childhood and then - when able - you went to work. Child or adult - pretty uncomplicated.

 

Swearwords (or “effing and blinding” as some would have it) are seriously overused. When every other ****ing word is a ****ing swearword, they loose their ****ing power to shock. They should be used like salt, pepper and chillies: in just the right amount at just the right time.

Finally, anyone who has really mastered the English language and knows how to use antistrophe, dysphemism, hyperbole, litotes, periphrasis and other tools of rhetoric, can easily be cutting, caustic or downright nasty without once using an offensive term or a swear word (Winston Churchill is credited with gibing at Attlee as “a sheep in sheep’s clothing” and a “modest man who has a good deal to be modest about.” - cutting and caustic with nary a bad word)