Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Not many options for dinner tonight, cottage pie or cottage pie, the fridge is now bare, so it's a big shop tomorrow. It certainly rained earlier and the wind is still blowing. Now to watch 'Digging for Britain'.

[PeterBB]

On 03/01/2024 at 13:41, Grizz said:

Erm with out wanting to sound picky and definitely not wanting fall into the wokerati camp…IIRC I think the current term is apparently ‘Older People’ or ‘Older Persons’…..I had this informed at me by a MK1 feisty ‘Older Lady….female (other terms are available)….who informed me in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t old and asked me what I thought old meant? After around 7 minutes of being ‘re-educated’ I now have a much clearer understanding of what this ‘Older Persons’ definition of it was. She told me that she walked up to 7km a day and drank a schnapps with her breakfast every morning. As yet she hasn’t invited me to join her for a liquid morgenmad.  

Semantics - together with an awlful lot of so-called changes in addressing people I am 'old' not elderely or older person and definitely not a 'person with xyz' ,I have  a condition sumarised by a single word!  How this also messes with the English language and the use of  'precis' (French origin and missing the accent here!) exercises that we were familiar with in school days and which editors still use extensively.  The PC brigade is responsible for a lot of 'nonsense changes' in this language of ours.

 

Added to what has becme a rant, the use of 'think' instead of the correct 'thing' has reached the disastrous stage of being 'accepted' as earlier the use of different 'to' rather than the correct different 'from' in the latest lexicon dictionary acceptable word usage.

 

Rant over.

[Coombe Barton]

Supper tonight is a chuckitin - lamb mince bought from Sainsbury's this evening as a last day good item (i.e. mucho reduced) , onions, mushrooms, chestnuts, a couple of chopped tomatoes and potatoes, all now simmering in a red wine stock (from a stockpot) and awaiting consumption in about half an hour. There is enough for more then one meal, so that may be eaten tomorrow evening or it meat be tomorrow lunch sorted.

 

[Coombe Barton]

... Following on my reinvention as a Viking yesterday, I asked ChatGPT to write a Haiku about Vikings. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/01/04/sounds-of-the-season-2023-33-covid-and-flu-data-long-covid-and-vikings-again/

[PupCam]

Evening All

 

I went for a Mid-week chug on the Beeza this morning with a bunch of mates.   Well, it was time it had an airing.      It appears that it travelled 45.5 miles and the furthest point reached from Pupper Towers was The Globe pub, situated by the Grand Union Canal just to the north of Leighton Buzzard.   Well, it would have been rude not to go in and have a coffee and some (but not Puppers) had a slice of LDC.  

 

While we were waiting for the pub to open at 11:00 a bunch of walkers  came past.     One of them turned out to be one of my former work colleagues.   We started training together back in the early '70s and then spent the next 12 years working together in the same department.   After that our paths crossed every now and then (usually when Puppers was on the scrounge for materials, equipment and/or facilities for various projects).     He retired from the GE a couple of years ago and strangely enough doesn't miss the place at all.      Funny that 😉.   Anyway, nice looking pub, it looks like I might have to go and investigate further with Mrs Puppers at some point although I fancy that travel will be by Mondog on that occasion.

 

We had an eclectic mix of motorcycles for the run, the Beeza being the oldest by a country mile and it looks surprisingly shiny ............ in photographs 🤣.  

 

 

It doesn't look bad for a well-used 85 year old does it!

 

 

Other than that and the fact that it is now rather damp in Puppershire there's not a lot to report.

 

TTFN

 

Alan

 

 

 

 

 

 

[monkeysarefun]

8 hours ago, Hroth said:

And if you could throw in a reference (with diagrams) to the formation of ox-bow lakes, you'd definitely be in the running for a high grade!

 

 

 

Once a jolly swagman,

Camped by an ox-bow lake.

Under the shade of a Coolabah tree.

 

.... hmmmm.

 

 

I like our version better!

Edited January 4 by monkeysarefun

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Sheila is continuing to improve, she’s not as tired as was yesterday and the sight in her left eye is slowly improving, she could even read the time on the clock on the cooker, she couldn’t even see the clock yesterday! I’ll have to admit that she is a very good patient, listens to what she has to do and then does it. But I think she is getting a little bit fed up of just lying down, but thankfully, she’s only got more day where she has to stay flat. On Saturday, she can get out of bed and stay up, she’s really looking forward that. She’s also going to try and do bit of TV watching. Right, it’s time nor for Sheila’s last set of meds of the day, so I’ll wish you all goodnight. 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[PhilJ W]

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Banished to the spare bedroom as nephews and Sydney are here for an extended sleepover as bil and sil are having a long weekend away in Poland. Hovis has joined me which is nice as she’s usually a ‘mummy’s girl’ and hopefully Sydney will feel happier having SWMBO’s and the boys full attention. I do think he feels ‘less special’ now that we have Hovis but obviously we still love and care for him just the same. At home he shares  the house with two cats and think he rather enjoyed sleep overs with us, being the only non human in the house but obviously things have changed. It may be that as he has grown up he doesn’t need our attention as much but it is still sad to see. As he’s not an alpha male he does allow himself to pushed around by Hovis so we try to compensate by feeding  and fussing him before Hovis.

Enough twaddle about Sydney, I’ve probably bored you senseless.

Not much else to say other than we walked into Penistone on the pavements of the main roads as we wanted to call at fil’s and didn’t want to arrive covered in mud. This route was much longer than our usual cross country route and ended up catching the bus home as it was 4.00pm by the time we said our goodbyes and there are almost no streetlights on the five mile journey home.

Ok, I’ve  really bored you enough now,

goodnight,

Robert

[Erichill16]

Was going to add this picture, weather looks quite dramatic but it’s really been rather a pleasant day. Locals say weather in Penistone a ‘top coyt colder than Barnsley’.

The viaduct carries the Penistone line (Barnsley to Huddersfield) towards Denby Dale ( famous for its pies) and then on to Huddersfield.

Right, Goodnight.

[zarniwhoop]

Going back to Cumbria,

 

now that I've sorted out my tax return I spent a few minutes looking at the wokipedia links I'd found - according to one of those (between general BBC dumbing-down[1] and wikipedia's varying degress of reliability I'm not sure I actually trust either) it seems that King David I of Scots was Prince of Cumbria before becoming king, and although Rufus garrisoned Carlisle it looks as if the whole area was part of the disputed territories[2].

 

Since my ancestor's on my Pa's side were "blue bunnets" in the "disputed territories[2]" (he traced us back to a man hangit for sheep stealin) and he was in contact with our chief, quite apart from the history of Rheged and the british (cymric) language ! find this fascinating and will probably be spending days following up on this.

 

1. I don't find the TV archaeology (film of people digging) fascinating, but I'm sure that the local leaders say a lot more which is iformative but ends up getting dropped from the broadcast, and I get really annoyed at the anglocentric phraseology of the Dr. Alice Roberts programs, although I find much of what she covers interesting.  For the phraseology, North can mean anywhere from e.g. Lincolnshire upwards - wearing my hat  as a Southern Man I think Crawley is the North, but North Britain is historically and politically a description of Scotland.

 

2. Not to be confused with "the Long Thin Debated Piece Hubwards of Sto Kerrig". 🤣

[Darlington_Shed]

2 hours ago, zarniwhoop said:

Since my ancestor's on my Pa's side were "blue bunnets" in the "disputed territories

 

To quote a Steeleye Span gig of distant memory, an affliction known as "the Blue Bonnet plague".

[Ozexpatriate]

For dog fans.

 

This was a local news story that got picked up nationally. Every national outlet seems to have repackaged the story.

 

Coasties to the rescue - of a Golden Retriever who fell 300' from a cliff at Ecola State Park on the Oregon Coast.

 

NBC News: Coast Guard rescues three-year-old dog after 300 ft fall in Oregon

Oregonian: Golden retriever tumbles off cliff near Cannon Beach, launching Coast Guard’s first 2024 rescue in Oregon

 

Dog has injuries, broken jaw and a collapsed lung. The tidal zone was exceptionally dangerous - with high seas and 'sneaker waves' at the time.

[BR60103]

I was asked to clean the top shelf in the laundry room cupboard today.  It has some (former) liquid which had dripped from bottles on it.  Hard part was taking all the containers out; the shelf lifted out easily.

Cleaning it was little problem. Th gunk was some sort of soapy product and produced a very clean board when done.  I touched a few bits up with model paint that happened to be on my workbench. Then I had the brilliant idea that it could be put back upside down.

SWMBO vetoed my idea of putting a sheet of perspex on it -- no cutting that makes shards of plastic.  I found some box lids that she's delighted with as they have rims.

 

Today is the coldest day of winter so far. -7C.

 

[BachelorBoy]

17 hours ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

Is this historical stuff to do with the notion of County Palatines, such as Durham, Chester and Lancaster?

Aren't you getting confused with Star Wars ? :-)

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, BR60103 said:

Today is the coldest day of winter so far. -7C

That's cold.

 

We've had a mild winter so far - December saw most days above normal - flirting with 10°C. We haven't even seen any overnight frost in weeks, let alone frozen precipitation.

 

Meteorologists are breathlessly forecasting mountain snow over the weekend but low temperatures in the valley shouldn't drop below 2°C or so.

[iL Dottore]

8 hours ago, PeterBB said:

Semantics - together with an awlful lot of so-called changes in addressing people I am 'old' not elderely or older person and definitely not a 'person with xyz' ,I have  a condition sumarised by a single word!  How this also messes with the English language and the use of  'precis' (French origin and missing the accent here!) exercises that we were familiar with in school days and which editors still use extensively.  The PC brigade is responsible for a lot of 'nonsense changes' in this language of ours.

 

Added to what has becme a rant, the use of 'think' instead of the correct 'thing' has reached the disastrous stage of being 'accepted' as earlier the use of different 'to' rather than the correct different 'from' in the latest lexicon dictionary acceptable word usage.

 

Rant over.

Oh dear, Peter, you’ve set me off….. 🤣

 

As someone who loves the English language I get more than “rather irked” by a lot of the garbage that spews out of people’s mouths nowadays - often by people who should know better.

 

“GIFTED” is the latest word I’ve come across that is guaranteed to provoke a Victor Meldrewish apoplexy in anyone who cares about the English language. What’s wrong with given/giving/was given? It’s bad enough when it’s used in a modern setting, but when it (and similar words of that ilk) are used in ostensibly “period” dramas I get a little cross (another great English word neglected and trampled under the feet of the bast*rd whoresons that pass themselves off as “English” words nowadays).

 

And I’m not talking about colloquialisms (foreign or home-grown), but just bad, sloppy and brain dead usage. The use of <Americanisms> is often criticised (justifiably so in the case of the utter b*****ks being spewed out of US Academia nowadays), but the US has provided the world with some amazing colloquialisms/phrases: wrapped too tight, day late and a dollar short, cool, dude, hip, etc.

 

And as for correct use of grammar… it does seem to be breathing its last, if not dead already. 
 

Why the linguistic decline? I can but speculate, but “trendy” education theories probably have a lot to do with it (which may explain that foreigners who really master English as a second language speak and write it better than many native speakers because they’ve had to learn it properly)

[iL Dottore]

Incidentally, my good chum, Captain Cynical, was looking over my shoulder as I typed the above and breezily informed that when he takes over the world, the use of any of the following will be grounds for immediate summary execution:

• Gifted
• Chrimbo

• Circle back

• Phraseify

• Bandwith for that

• Any ”Bizness Spik” (as in <action that> and so on)

• Train station

• Person with….

• Person of….

CC then paused for a sip of coffee and added “and that’s just for starters”

 

I think he was joking….

 

Edited January 5 by iL Dottore
Typo

[Erichill16]

4 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

For dog fans.

 

This was a local news story that got picked up nationally. Every national outlet seems to have repackaged the story.

 

Coasties to the rescue - of a Golden Retriever who fell 300' from a cliff at Ecola State Park on the Oregon Coast.

 

NBC News: Coast Guard rescues three-year-old dog after 300 ft fall in Oregon

Oregonian: Golden retriever tumbles off cliff near Cannon Beach, launching Coast Guard’s first 2024 rescue in Oregon

 

Dog has injuries, broken jaw and a collapsed lung. The tidal zone was exceptionally dangerous - with high seas and 'sneaker waves' at the time.

That story made it across here.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-67875488

[Barry O]

8 hours ago, BachelorBoy said:

Aren't you getting confused with Star Wars ? :-)

Not only is County Durham a Bishopric.. the Prince Bishop had his own Army to keep the peace and support the Ruler of the Day, and hence it was a Pallatine.. so just watch yourself poking Durham lads..

 

Baz

Edited January 5 by Barry O

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

English language and Grammar has never been the same since the start of importing and screening American Television programmes.

 

Today will involve a walk, a purchase andcollection of some bakery produced items and a fair bit of  waiting for a delivery from the Wine Society. As I am currently"alcohol free" it may be a while for me to sample the delights being delivered by the aforementioned Society.

 

I watched a programme about Korean shipbuilders yesterday. Oops the engine wouldn't fit into the engine room.. gas axes soon fettled that..

 

Time to drink my tea and gerronwithit.

 

Thoughts are with our "missing" ERs.

 

Baz

 

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Quite dull out (It was dark when I started typing this but I kept getting distracted)  but not raining at the moment.  A cloudy day forecast, breezy to start with and some bright spells later along with the chance of the odd spot of rain.  5°C now, might reach 8°C.

AWOL yesterday, other things kept getting in the way.

Usual Thursday shopping delivery received but one item rejected because it was "use by" * today so a walk to Asda was undertaken to rectify that but we had to go there anyway to return a parcel via their drop off service.  After that it was on with the removal and packing of decorations. Once I got going I decided not to delay any longer and get shot of the lot so everything is now ready to go back up into the loft.  That will have to wait until Sunday when Steve is visiting as my left peg, particularly ankle is still playing up.  It didn't like the walk earlier.  That took care of the morning and an hour after lunch and then I had a few admin tasks to sort out.

Today I'm off to Epsom at lunchtime for a pre-op assessment for my hernia procedure at the end of the month...strikes permitting.

Tonight I'll be watching the first of the weekend rugby matches - no surprise there.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

 

*It probably would have been all right but The Boss is a stickler for such things having worked at Sainsbury's for 38 years , many of them as a date code checker and also on the online order picking side.  "That should never have been sent out!"  You don't argue with her when she's in "date check" mode.  

Edited January 5 by grandadbob
Various mistooks

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Incidentally, my good chum, Captain Cynical, was looking over my shoulder as I typed the above and breezily informed that when he takes over the world, the use of any of the following will be grounds for immediate summary execution:

• Gifted
• Chrimbo

• Circle back

• Phraseify

• Bandwith for that

• Any ”Bizness Spik” (as in <action that> and so on)

• Train station

• Person with….

• Person of….

CC then paused for a sip of coffee and added “and that’s just for starters”

 

I think he was joking….

 

 

There's nothing wrong with Chrimbo, unlike your other examples!

(Its probably an Aussie coinage, so BEWARE!)

 

[monkeysarefun]

24 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

There's nothing wrong with Chrimbo, unlike your other examples!

(Its probably an Aussie coinage, so BEWARE!)

 

 

 

 

 

No way mate! I've NEVER heard it here, it is always Chrissie.

 

Chrissie dinner, Chrissie present, Chrissie card, Chrissie holiday.......

Edited January 5 by monkeysarefun