Early Risers.

[Ian Abel]

How about living in "Nowthen", town (the actually call it a City!!, but I'm hard pressed to accept that as it's a population of 4,500), about 36 miles due north of me 🤪

 

Morning/afternoon.

Busy holiday weekend, starting off with Trevor and myself heading to the cabin Friday to install the new roof on the shed.

MY knees were killing me after that little episode, didn't help that it was 31-32C most of the time we were working on it.

 

Rest of the weekend was a long string of relaxing, happy hour partying and a few walks with Whitney.

 

Back working now, and of course the US has effectively declared the summer is OVER since Labor Day is some marker to decide it's all downhill from here.

Schools are back in now, so seeing the school buses touring the neighborhood at newspaper time, and again at afternoon tea time.

 

Good weather all weekend, and we had an unexpected and unexplained power outage Sunday afternoon for a couple of hours. Was a very large area, but rumor had it was some transformer breakdown. Luckily it wasn't hot and there was a nice breeze, so no-one suffered unduly, unlike those out to the west of the US.

 

Today 18C first thing, 30C the expected high, sunny, not rain in sight.

 

Carry on.

[Gwiwer]

5 hours ago, PupCam said:

But you do need local knowledge ......

 

I give you Flitwick, Bosham, Cosham and how could anyone forget Happisburgh!

Even local knowledge won’t distinguish between “COSS’m” and “COSH’m”. 
 

My late mother, who spent some of her younger years living and later teaching there, assured me that the former was how “COSS’m people” knew it whereas the latter was used by “Pompey folk”. 
 

I’ll see your Happisburgh and raise you Broadwoodwidger, Woolfardisworthy (there are two of them each pronounced differently), Trottiscliffe and, from a land downunder, Wunghnu and Baan Baa 

[simontaylor484]

We can now hear distant rumbles of thunder no rain yet though.

[Gwiwer]

6 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

. I'd need someone musical to explain any difference between Northumbrian, Scottish and Italian pipes though. 

Scottish pipes can sound quite good. 

Northumbrian pipes sound strangled

Italian pipes are also known as Canneloni and are better eaten than played 😂

 

[pH]

6 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

I have heard of Italians having pipes as well. I'd need someone musical to explain any difference between Northumbrian, Scottish and Italian pipes though. 

 

This may help:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bagpipes

[Gwiwer]

22 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Clapham, in Yorkshire can also cause confusion. Not only does it still have a railway station but it used to be a junction. I wonder if our Cornish expat has dealt with anyone at the house of fun wanting to find the path up Ingleborough.

 

Jamie

Whilst I’m well aware of that one I have yet to meet anyone mistaking it for the House of Fun.  The paths most often asked for are those up St. Johns Hill (leading to the shops) and Lavender Hill (leading to the courts!) 
 

Oddly perhaps I do get asked quite frequently “Is this Clapham?”  To which the reply is “It is Clapham Junction”. 
 

Which isn’t in Clapham. It’s in Wandsworth. There are five other stations which carry the name all of which are in Clapham: North, Common and South are on the Northern Line tube, High Street is on the South London Overground line and plain Clapham is in North Yorkshire. Meanwhile Wandsworth has stations at Town, Common and Road all of which are also on different lines and which keep me on my toes when asked for that name. 

Other like-sounding names include Hayle and Hale (Cornwall and Cheshire, both with stations)

 

[J. S. Bach]

15 minutes ago, pH said:

This may help:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bagpipes

 

Ah, the New World is pipe-free!

 

Well, at least according to Wikipedia!

 

EDIT: It would not surprise me to find that some of the New World tribes had something similar.

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by J. S. Bach
To add some thoughts.

[Ozexpatriate]

12 hours ago, Barry O said:

Places in County Durham.. Toronto near Bishop Aukland and Canada.. yes all of it, in Easington Colliery.

Perhaps worth noting that the one in Ontario was earlier called "York".

 

It was the capital* of Upper Canada and burned by the Americans in 1813, which allegedly inspired the raid on Washington DC in 1814 when the White House was burned down, before the wrath of (the weather) god chased the invaders out of town with a violent storm (that possibly had tornadic winds).

 

* a generous use of the term. 

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by Ozexpatriate

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Been sorting out the layout, the exhibition is only seven weeks to go.

8 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

Swanee whistle and kazoo accompaniment anyone? 

 

I have heard of Italians having pipes as well. I'd need someone musical to explain any difference between Northumbrian, Scottish and Italian pipes though. 

 

Could CC warn us when he's going to make shocking statements? Message received loud and clear but I'm glad I wasn't drinking a muggertea when reading that post about baked beans... 

I seem to recall  an item about a town in Italy were they make and wear tartan.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

... the US has effectively declared the summer is OVER since Labor Day is some marker to decide it's all downhill from here.

Despite turning the page on the calendar and all the hyperbole over the incipient football season, it remains summery here but there is a sense of change in the air. (Changes in the length of daylight are noticeable at this time of year - we lose 90 minutes of daylight during the month.)

 

Yesterday was hot (33°C) and we've not had measurable rain since early July. Another week or so will set a record of consecutive days of no measurable rain. We might also reach the record level of days over 90°F / 32.2°C for the year. August had the warmest average temperature on record. 

 

It is much hotter south of here - California and Southern Oregon.

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by Ozexpatriate

[Coombe Barton]

... next week it’s induction and meet the students. My quandary, do I say that we’re using Excel or let them find out? ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/09/07/scotland-and-ireland-accelerating/

[PupCam]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 Well I think I'll go and rescue the diecast Corgi Lynx from the cupboard - I need to turn a brass column to mount it on, along with a shorter column to mount a separate item on;.

 

Now what could that separate item be I wonder? 🤔😉

 

I know! It's a model of a flight test observer in full immersion suit I reckon!   🤣

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

It would not surprise me to find that some of the New World tribes had something similar.

Closest thing I can think of is the Andean (pan) pipes/flutes, but they don't have a bag.

[Ozexpatriate]

RE: Reused place names.

 

Discussion on reused place names made me wonder which British place name appears most frequently worldwide - there are a number of references to York, for example.

 

The internet obliged with an article from the Daily Wail.

Quote

The top 10 most influential British place names

1. Richmond (55)

2. London (46)

3. Oxford (41)

4. Manchester (36)

5. Wellington (35)

=6. Bristol (35)

7. Springfield (34)

8. Arlington (31)

9. Newcastle (29)

10. Plymouth (24)

I know of several versions of Richmond but would not have guessed it at the very top.

 

There's a Wellington Point near old stomping grounds. Named in a fit of early 19th century colonial patriotism - Waterloo Bay, Wellington Point and St. Helena Island (which incidentally housed a worse-sort-of convict prison).

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by Ozexpatriate

[Coombe Barton]

8 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Andean (pan) pipes/flutes,

Many years ago, last century, my mother in law, with the phrase "you like CDs, don't you?" presented me one Christmas with two CDs "Love themes on the Pan Pipes"

The next Christmas she'd found a triple boxed set "More Love themes on the Pan Pipes"

 

She died in 2006

They're still in their cellophane wrappers.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

4 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

They're still in their cellophane wrappers.

There is a 2008 South Park episode entitled "Pandemic".  (My emphasis.)

 

The IMDB synopsis is:

Quote

With Craig's help, the boys start up a Peruvian pan flute band to make money. However, they are detained by Homeland Security and sent to Peru to end the "Pandemic." In the pan flute bands' absence, giant guinea pigs invade South Park.

It is, at it's heart, a commentary on the horror that is pan flute music.

[pH]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

I seem to recall  an item about a town in Italy were they make and wear tartan.

Probably one of the two places described here:

 

https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/welcome-barga-most-scottish-town-italy-1466534

Edited September 7, 2022 by pH

[polybear]

Bear here....

 

Postie delivered the last remaining piccy frame this afternoon - it's for a photo to go in the last remaining space in the Beary Lounge - so framing and hanging will be on the cards in the morning.

The Corgi Lynx was recovered from the wardrobe, along with other associated bits required for the display piece; I was somewhat dismayed to discover that one of the bits (a bulkhead connector) isn't a mating half for the other part (Q - that'll be those bluddy Souriau type jobbies) as the keyways are different) - if only I'd checked when I "salvaged" them (they were heading for the bin before long anyway) a couple of years back.  That'll be a big fat Turdycurses.  Still, I have a Plan B - drill the guts out of the bulkhead connector (just leaving the shell) and then take a dremel (ok, a minicraft) to the inner and make the two parts fit - once done it'll be undetectable.

[The Lurker]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Perhaps worth noting that the one in Ontario was earlier called "York".

 

It was the capital* of Upper Canada and burned by the Americans in 1813, which allegedly inspired the raid on Washington DC in 1814 when the White House was burned down, before the wrath of (the weather) god chased the invaders out of town with a violent storm (that possibly had tornadic winds).

 

* a generous use of the term. 

 

And IIRC the book on the history of Canada I was given on my 8th birthday (we were at Niagara that day and all my sister and I cared about were ice creams) it was known as Muddy York because the roads were so bad. I am sure that it then went on to mention corduroy roads as some kind of improvement 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, PupCam said:

 

Now what could that separate item be I wonder? 🤔😉

 

I know! It's a model of a flight test observer in full immersion suit I reckon!   🤣

 

Many, many moons ago a certain Bear - in the height of a very hot summer - was about to go for a Lynx flight over the Bristol Channel (tough job - but some Bears' gotta do it...) and was all kitted out in a goon suit and thermals (bluddy cold in the Bristol Channel, even in summer); the Crew Chief took one look at me and asked that immortal question:

"Sweaty Bollox?"

Oh yes.  🤣

 

 

[polybear]

And another one bites the dust:

 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/cars/news/another-putin-ally-killed-by-car-bomb-one-of-many-in-series-of-attacks/vi-AA11yF7v?rc=1&ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=ae885832eb9047bfde077265e5404d4e&category=foryou

[simontaylor484]

It looks like being an ally of Putin or an Oligarch is becoming one of the Worlds most dangerous professions 

[polybear]

Bear has just discovered that the print-off Returns Label (Tracked 48) that Amazon provided for the return of the plastic boxes has enabled me to arrange for postie to collect it from Bear Towers (via the Royal Mail website - saves me luggin' it down the road - it's not heavy but pretty bulky) for the princely sum of.......diddly squat.  😀  The price is right - and worth bearing in mind for the future.

[J. S. Bach]

16 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

It looks like being an ally of Putin or an Oligarch is becoming one of the Worlds most dangerous professions 

 

Reminds me of an old song "WORKING MY WAY BACK TO YOU":

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by J. S. Bach

[J. S. Bach]

2 minutes ago, polybear said:

Bear has just discovered that the print-off Returns Label (Tracked 48) that Amazon provided for the return of the plastic boxes has enabled me to arrange for postie to collect it from Bear Towers (via the Royal Mail website - saves me luggin' it down the road - it's not heavy but pretty bulky) for the princely sum of.......diddly squat.  😀  The price is right - and worth bearing in mind for the future.

The USPS has a similar program.