Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

3 hours ago, TheQ said:

So of course, while having lunch and a pint some wind turned up but not a lot.

Alka Seltzer is good for the wind.

[Tony_S]

3 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Just to whet the appetite he usually serves a treacle bread

Treacle and Guinness bread was one of the features of the menu at the  hotel we were at last week. The butter was a choice of sea salted or beef infused. No idea how it tasted as I had the French white bread with ordinary butter. They had quite nice triple cooked chips too but I like the ones served at the present pub/hotel/restaurant more. 

I was amused this morning one of the hotel guests came down to be seated for breakfast and was greeted with “with or without dog”. Like us that guest was without dog! I suspect round here banning dogs would lose a lot of custom. When we first had Robbie hardly anywhere in our part of Essex allowed dogs in pubs. Lots do now. When we arrived here there were so many I wondered if it was compulsory to have a canine companion. Perhaps that is why we are in the hotel annex rather than the main hotel! Aditi did comment that the walk to the hotel for food is half the distance we used to walk from our cabin to our restaurant on QM2. 

[Gwiwer]

Afternoon all

 

A busy weekend here. Yesterday we hosted friends for dinner. Today we hosted different friends for afternoon tea. All were impressed by the Distant (Signal) West and how quickly we have made a comfortable home here. All were also graced by His Furship curling up and sleeping on their laps. That’s new - he has always hidden from strangers before though has usually shown himself at some point. 
 

This morning I was somewhat under the weather. I suspect I slept poorly but also for too long which left me being slow to wake and very slow to surface and be a part of the day. 
 

Dr. SWMBO took herself off to the clock tower / war memorial for the wreath-laying and reported that around a dozen “casual” observers were there over and above the representatives of uniformed organisations. 
 

She had intended to also go to the service afterwards but settled for a coffee instead and came home. 
 

It’s colder now. Definitely single-figure temperatures. Somewhat wet intermittently but with some quite bright intervals. Tomorrow is forecast to be sunny but very breezy reducing the actual temperature from an advertised 15C to just 8C.
 

Let’s see what happens. 

[Hroth]

24 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Alka Seltzer is good for the wind.

 

Perhaps we ought to send planes out to sprinkle Alka Seltzer (other remedies are available...) over Storm Debi*?

 

* Who the hell named that one?  I suppose we were lucki not to have Storm Barbi, though we might get Storm Ken...

 

[iL Dottore]

At TK's the amuse bouche: a little fried bread basket filled with a mild horseradish creme and chip shop "scraps"

[iL Dottore]

The first course: truffled chicken, ham hock and black pudding terrine with griddled sourdough bread, cornichons and a chutney.

Nice, but the truffled chicken was slighty too salty for me (but I use very little salt in my cooking)

[Ozexpatriate]

11 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

A school in  Villers-Bretonneux has this sign on it, though it'd be interesting to find out if the pupils still know why its there.

It might help if the sign were en Français.

 

Like so:

10 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Another permanent reminder across a school building and above the blackboards are the words:“N’oublions jamais l’Australie” – “never forget Australia”.

 

[tigerburnie]

26 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

Perhaps we ought to send planes out to sprinkle Alka Seltzer (other remedies are available...) over Storm Debi*?

 

* Who the hell named that one?  

 

The Irish apparently

[Ozexpatriate]

1 minute ago, tigerburnie said:

The Irish apparently

Surely they would have used something like "Saoirse" that has to be pronounced for you.

[iL Dottore]

The main course: roast beef, stuffed Yorkshire pudding, cauliflower cheese, red cabbage, roast potatoes, gravy and horseradish cream.

The beef was just perfect (but could have been a wee bit hotter), the spuds were.... well, if they were a model railway they'd be Pendon or Copenhagen Fields,  the cauliflower cheese was rich and unctuous and the gravy was good enough to drink directly from the jug, I was a bit apprehensive about the stuffed Yorkies (stuffed with the crunchy scraps from carving the beef) as last time they were very salty, but this time: spot on.

 

The individual components may not be large portions, but all together - you certainly get filled up!.

 

Now dessert or not??? (and - of course - a whisky digestif)

[Hroth]

7 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

The Irish apparently

 

I thought they inflicted Kieran (other spellings are...) on us?

 

[iL Dottore]

They just brought me the Whisky menu, one is: The  Macallan 25 years-old Double Cask (50ml).....,

 

.......£245.00!

 

A wee bit expensive, I'd say

[Ozexpatriate]

Armistice/Remembrance/Veterans day continues in the form of the NFL's "Salute to Service" field 'decorations' - painted behind the end-zone and sideline staff (coaches etc) wearing vaguely military-inspired colours* in "tribute".

 

* A drab brown this year - available for sale, naturally. It's different every year. I find such things quite contrived.

 

Some of the college games I watched yesterday did something similar - with less hype and merch.

 

Oddly the NFL game I'm watching this morning is not so emblazoned - but the broadcaster made it the feature of their halftime show.

[Sidecar Racer]

12 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

The main course: roast beef, stuffed Yorkshire pudding, cauliflower cheese, red cabbage, roast potatoes, gravy and horseradish cream.

The beef was just perfect (but could have been a wee bit hotter), the spuds were.... well, if they were a model railway they'd be Pendon or Copenhagen Fields,  the cauliflower cheese was rich and unctuous and the gravy was good enough to drink directly from the jug, I was a bit apprehensive about the stuffed Yorkies (stuffed with the crunchy scraps from carving the beef) as last time they were very salty, but this time: spot on.

 

The individual components may not be large portions, but all together - you certainly get filled up!.

 

Now dessert or not??? (and - of course - a whisky digestif)

 

 I've just looked at his Christmas day offering , £ 275 , per person .

 

 My first two week holiday to Spain cost less than that .

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

13 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

They just brought me the Whisky menu, one is: The  Macallan 25 years-old Double Cask (50ml).....,

 

.......£245.00!

Not unlike Rémy Martin Louis XIII Cognac - often as much as $500 for a 1.5 US fl oz pour (44ml).

 

The 750ml decanter* retails around $3,500. 

 

* Made by Baccarat, Saint-Louis, and Cristallerie de Sèvres.

 

Edited November 12, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[iL Dottore]

5 minutes ago, Sidecar Racer said:

 

 I've just looked at his Christmas day offering , £ 275 , per person .

 

 My first two week holiday to Spain cost less than that .

 

 

Is that including wines??? (probably not).

 

I tend to avoid Christmas and New Year's Dinners/Feasts/Banquets/What have you as I find them incredibly overpriced and - even with the more expensive places - it tends to be production line - almost industrial - food given the numbers of guests served.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Dinner has been eaten, chicken with broad beans and rice. The other half of the bread and butter pudding for dessert. Now to put the kettle on, be back later.

[BoD]

49 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Surely they would have used something like "Saoirse" that has to be pronounced for you.

No, because it had to be a name that started with D.

 

Unless, of course, that is how Saoirse is pronounced.

[Ozexpatriate]

5 minutes ago, BoD said:

No, because it had to be a name that started with D.

No problem:

Damhnait

Darerca

Doireann

Dearbhail

Dubheasa

[The White Rabbit]

If you were feeling malicious, you could have gone for 'Dearbhfhorghaill'. (Daughter of Forgall if you're asking...). 

[TheSignalEngineer]

During my career I came into many talented people from prize winning modellers, musicians and sports people amongst others. 

One particular chap, Lyun Davies, stood out as a wizard at preparing presentations and reports. He always had an eye for detail and what went together well.

Since retirement he has concentrated on his art and craft work.

 

 

This link takes you to one of his artworks based on a conversation with his grandfather, a Somme veteran.

I've posted it as a link to the page on Lyn's website to respect his copyright and show his other work.

https://www.lynsart1955.com/copy-of-bright-harbour-1

 

It always strikes a chord with me this weekend as my great uncle was killed at Delville Wood on the Somme and Anne's great uncle was posted missing presumed dead a week earlier at High Wood about a mile away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Coombe Barton]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

over Storm Debi*?

 

* Who the hell named that one?

Irish met office

[Gwiwer]

We have had enough storms here thank you very much but had the Cornish named her she might have been Demelza (a place name thought to mean the hill-fort of Maledaf and borrowed by Winston Graham for a character in Poldark; now widely used as a girl's given name) , Delen (Petal), Derowen (Oak), Derwa (a Celtic saint possibly one and the same as St. Ia from which St. Ives is derived) or Dywana (a legendary Cornish ruler).  Delennyk if she turns out to be only a "little petal" 

 

The sky is weeping steadily but not as violently as it was earlier.  We a re not in the currently-predicted track of Debi.  

[Coombe Barton]

@iL Dottore Hope that the Icelandic Volcano Fagradalsfjall doesn't spew ash and disrupt flights

 

I can't pronounce it either.

 

 

Edited November 12, 2023 by Coombe Barton
Added name

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

The main course: roast beef, stuffed Yorkshire pudding, cauliflower cheese, red cabbage, roast potatoes, gravy and horseradish cream.

Tonight, we had roast beef, potatoes, unstuffed Yorkshire pudding, a cauliflower and broccoli cheese, red cabbage, mashed swede, sugar snap peas and gravy. Not forgetting some creamy horseradish. As we are in Yorkshire the plate wasn’t visible. I didn’t  have a starter but I did have a dessert. Beer was Dark Horse Brewery Hetton Pale Ale. Aditi managed to consume an espresso too. 
On the way out I had to admire a friendly Border Terrier too. Hard work being on holiday. 
We had a ride on a train today from Oxenhope to Keighley  and back. We didn’t go on any steam hauled service but being in a small rail bus was fun. We didn’t explore the delights of Keighley or Haworth today but did look round the display shed at Oxenhope. Aditi didn’t want to drive back to Malham in the dark (or to be precise be driven in the dark). Didn’t meet any Highland cattle out for a stroll today. 
My car looked “professionally weathered” but today’s rain has cleaned it a bit. 
Tony