southern42

' afternoon all from red dragon land. Sunny, not too warm @5.1C. Brrr. Mind agog with family history after 2hr chat over phone last night whilst keeping up with the tail end of some coloured balls being knocked into small holes on the tv. <<Yay, he won!>> Someone has certainly been doing his homework - and, tentatively, I may be linked, somewhere along the line, to dear ole Alfred who burnt the cakes but it is a long shot. 🏹 Toot on the flute coming up to quicken up some twiddly notes as it appears, going by the beat box, some are a bit lethargic! Best get the little pinkies to speed up their act! Then it will be amassing some info from one member of the family and forwarding to the other. Take care. Be good. Keep your crown head on. Polly

[inappropriate comment, here, deleted after hearing that Babs didn’t make it. Apologies @Grizz for responding before I saw the later post.]

Nasty thing that CP. I caught it off classroom kids and just thought I had a cold, then flu, then I'm dying. The following morning the Doc said I had CP. Decades on I got the shingles jab. Mr Suvvern had to wait a year as he was just underage. It must cost/production over medical concerns that limits age accessibility because Dad was only in his fifties when he had it bad, bad, bad. Not, not, not nice at all, at all, at all. Hope granddaughter recovers soon.

We used to make our own! Amazing what you can do with old wood offcuts or stems of a bush and a piece of string! Mind you, we did grow up on doses of TV's Robin Hood, William Tell, and The Lone Ranger, and many a suitable Saturday Morning Pictures film. 🤠 Interestingly, though, in my first teaching appointment, I attended a teachers' in-service training session on children's speech. This was in London. We have the spelling and pronunciation wrong! It is Bowsanarras. All one word! ......... Morning all from red dragon land. Yellow ball up yonder shining brightly. Ground rather wet. 3.7C. Some toot on the flute and some tidying, or rather sorting and chuckin' out, in mind for today. Take care. Be good. Have a plan up your sleeve. Polly

Falling downstairs. First time was top to bottom about seven years old. Not an ache or bruise anywhere that I remember. Just got up and went to school as usual. Second time, I was on lunch in Marx and Sparx shopping with a couple of other teachers when I fell down a few steps of the staircase. A&E was next stop! Arm wrapped up in a sling, the sling was removed as soon as I entered the school gate. No way was I going to embarrass myself in front of my seven six olds. Third time, some years later, down a side stairwell in Woolies. The scariest was at home when I was expecting. Fortunately, I was ok. If you ever see me on a stairwell and I am not grabbing a handrail - let me know!

' morning all from red dragon land. Faint light streaming from the yellow ball behind the cloud behind us: land northwards bathed in golden light. A bit cold out 4.2C. Finishing off breakfast. Mr Suvvern gone to collect groceries - no afternoon slots left to book for today due to late booking! Wet weather, appointments, and school half-term down on parallel bits of metal (drawing Ray out for extra days driving) have generally upset the balance of doing things lately. Breakfast done. Time to get ready for stashing the goods away into the cupboards. Back later... Take care. Be good. Don't Panic! Polly

They no longer stock a lot of things. <<Grrrr>>

From a very young age, I was always called upon to get bees/wasps out of the house. Mum just fled. This bravery came in handy when a neighbouring student had similar in her room and when calls came from the classroom assistant when a spider was spotted in the stock room. In my own home, we get all sorts, most find themselves driven out or put outside. No lodgings here, folks! Tattybye!

The fantasy in my current reading is based on ancient prophecy and destiny, acted out by warriors, heroes, dragons, elves, goblins, trolls. All exciting stuff! Not for the faint hearted...people get scared, fight, get injured, and die. No different from Little Red Riding Hood, then, just a bit more drawn out.

Then it won't be long before it is part of the infant school curriculum (thinking back to the days when the Venn diagram left Uni and became part of our senior school maths club (too much for the Maths class) and by the time I was in College it was being dished up to the Infants).

Glad to have you back @polybear

'evening all from red dragon land. It dried, brightened and warmed up a bit today. 11C and ended with a red to violet cloud covered sunset. It seems my history and geography knowledge is expanding as family members dig up the past. On one side of the family, it seems I hail not only from East Anglia, both Norfolk and Suffolk, but as far afield across the norvvern border to a couple of Clans. On top of that, there are (unconfirmed) links to early monarchy but not Alfred, which seems odd as I keep burning or nearly burning the toast! ION Plastering of walls under the staircase and hallway to back garden by Mr.S has more or less finished, and bathroom (the place of cleaning the bucket) cleaned up by yours truly. Toot on the flute picking up in places but also showing up lots of room for improvement! Nah! It's Polly put the kettle on...no mention of air frying. I would be interested in the toad-in-the-hole though. Take care. Be good. Be imaginative. Polly

I am more your occasional fiction reader. As a kid it started with Enid Blyton adventure books and progressed onto other out in the countryside fiction adventure books. The only book I remember reading at college was Durrell's real life stories in My family and other animals. In early adult days my attention wandered off into some of the big climbs and mountaineering books of the day - having spent a couple of weeks camping on an island off Guernsey clambering over sizeable rock outcrops from one beach to another. I did go onto larger things but never what you might call very significant - though it was for me at the time! I also managed to read most of The Old Curiosity Shop, favouring the chapters of poor Nell's plight. As far as science fiction goes, the only book I remember reading is HHGTTG but they have it wrong. "42" is a Margate LSWR M7 Class thingy that runs on parallel bits of metal (see the avatar in the top left hand corner based on said item). On the other hand, that could be said to be the answer to everything. 😁 I am currently getting rather slowly through a fantasy book (I know the author so owe it to her to finish it!), although the description of the localities is real enough, taking me from the heart of one area in this part of the country to another (mountains, forests, castles, town walls, inns, etc). A few weeks time and I should have a new pair of glasses which should make reading easier. There are four more books published in the series so I will have a lot of catching up to do.

' morning all from red dragon land. Sunny sky being obliterated by wet stuff forming greyness. 9C. A bit blowy, too but not as much as yesterday. Now, there is a regret I have had to live with - not taking the subject up in the sixth form when I had the chance simply because they did not tell/show us what it was about in the first place, and I did not ask. I had all sorts of funny ideas about what it might be and they did not seem to belong in my pot of tea, thank you very much. A shame there was not a demo lesson. It was only in later life on a general art and design course when I was put in the graphic design group, and during many years of working in calligraphy and graphic design that followed, did I come to realise what it was about and how beneficial it would have been. Instead, I ended up doing the inevitable short hand and typing course thinking the former might be useful when I got to college. It was not - not enough of it to make it useful plus the need to transcribe it all into roman letters. I stuck to my own shorthand (abbrevns). The typing turned out to be really useful, though, more so these days, of course - who writes in pencil on pieces of paper, today?...Er...Hum...I do! ION Toot on the flute channelling nicely into two ragas with a clear direction, now, in both. The song (in a pentatonic scale) in one; Chapter 1, exercises based on a 7 note scale (soh to soh in English money, A to A on a Dmajor flute) in the other; and yes I do find it strange on the ear, but English money is useful when I get the intonation wrong in my head and resort to thinking in tonic solfa to correct a particular interval between notes... Doe a deer* and all that. 🦌 🌞 🧑‍🎨 🏃‍♀️🪡 🎵🫖 *Subject to available smileys, that is. Well, mugadecaf time so better put kettle on. Take care. Be good. Consider your options carefully. Polly Tea Lady

We watched it later, after the Welsh knocking coloured balls down little holes final had finished. My introduction to woodwork was building a balsa airplane when friends alerted me to bundles in a local shop going for 1/- (one shilling in old money). A few years later, only metalwork available in our school and for "boys only," <<Pah!>> but I did get my hands on some planks of pre-cut plywood to stitch and glue, clean up and varnish etc, into canoes in upper sixth only to be told we were not able to use them because the powers that be demanded the teacher gain yet another certificate on top of her teaching ones in the subject before she could take us out with them. <<Pah!>> My next venture arose with evening classes after I left college. First year began with carving a wooden plate and ended with a self designed coffee table (top surface still waiting for some cork/other option to be put on it...er...hum). Second year saw a self designed dining table, planks cut to shape (by Mr Suvvern who had access to a saw at his place of work), glued together and the top sanded and varnished. The tutor was never around when you needed him so there were long spells of having to wait around to get onto the next step etc which slowed down all of us. <<Pah!>> All the pieces came home - top, legs, stretcher, wedges - then moved up here with us and are still waiting to be finished (sanding and varnishing mainly and no room to do it) and assembled. One day... Anything else has been a lot smaller and mainly connected with things that run on parallel bits of metal, amounting to a few (wood and mdf) kits. Given the chance I may have chosen carpentry as a career. One can dream, I suppose. Talking of which, it is shuteye time. So ' night all and nos da.

' night all and nos da.

Interesting the Revolution should come up. In the last few days, I have been the recipient of some of the findings of family members who have been delving into our past history. In one line, I had been told many years ago, I had links to the Protestant Huguenots. It now comes to light that it was the French Revolution that caused a particular nth great granddaddyparrot to be brought, Moses like across the water, with his "Nanny" to nest here. (I wonder how many other young nestlings were saved this way?) This parrot later paired up with nth great grandnannyparrot, the offspring of a famous seafarer who met trouble at sea. So, it appears I come from some aristocratic and well to do parrots, far removed from my working class upbringing. So, I guess that is one way to learn about the subjects I opted out of at school! Remembering names and dates was never my strong point. Now had it been a map, picture or story based subject rather than ever increasing lists of dates, I might have a broader knowledge of what went on in the world. I did catch up a bit with History in art and music but only as it impacted on artists, musicians and composers but interesting and informative nonetheless. Now, it is my very own forebears that are enlightening me but, of course, to work out the route you need a list of names and dates! Polly Parrot

' afternoon all from red dragon land. Wet stuff has started falling from the sky. 10.8C though I doubt it feels it in the hoolie out there. Feeling a bit sorry for myself today since last Saturday's small procedure, which I was offered at the last minute, renders it inadvisable to go galavanting round the country* to see some fav flute players in concert down darn sarf. Shame because they are on a world tour. *At least two trains worth to get there, probably more the next day, plus a night away. One of my fav vids of them: To add to the disappointment, the unmentionable in a long box from the far sou'west, which was due between 9am and 1130am this morning, has not yet arrived. If it did come up, the Carrier probably saw the narrow road and quick turned back down the hill! At least my toot on the flute was a bit better this morning. 😁 Off to do a mugadecaf. Take care. Be good... and...er...what was I saying about being patient, yesterday? Polly

😁 ' afternoon all from red dragon land . Soggy landscape drying up, 8.5C. Might be warmer if the sun comes out. But that is not what the big smiley is for. Something long with flanged wheels has been dispatched from the far sou'west, no doubt itching to stretch its vocal chords. <<Poop, poop>> I was a much, much younger lass when it was pre-ordered... and even younger when I rode in the cab of the real one, and younger still when I rode in its seats for the first time. Guess I will be somewhat distracted and steamed up with expectation for just a wee bit longer... Time, now, to get sorted for the arrival of the more mundane C&C groceries later this afternoon. Take care. Be good. Be patient. Polly

' morning all from red dragon land. A big yellow ball of fire is lighting up our little bit of the world this morning. A big job on for it today, though, as it is only 3.6C out there. @45156 Wishing you all the very best, Stewart. Sorry to hear you have gone through so much. I hope you get well soon and thanks for joining us again. Toot on the flute. I am not sure I would be saying this so soon, even though the goal was there, but I got through the goalposts and started the second half of the song. Not only that but with a right banger - I found I could play it at the tutor's speed! So a new target yet again getting the right speed for the rest of the song, as well as bringing the first half of the song up to speed. <<gulp!>> It seems the key to all this is playing really relaxed which is what I find most difficult when learning something new! Something must have happened when I took the plunge because I overcame some really awkward combinations of fingering! ION I mentioned awhile back going round in circles on the phone over several months to sort out a problem that arose between two organisations. Thanks to all the assistance we had during this process, I had a phone call on Friday offering me an appointment for the next day. Job done. Now, hopefully, I can get on with the rest of my life, including some muddling! Time for a mugadecaf. Take care. Be good. Dal ati - keep at it. Polly

I am always wary because (c.1960s) mum's friend died of food poisoning from leftover food. Whether homemade or bought I do not like to push consumption times. I do consider storage and eat by times and type of product, so if the use by is short, I discard if it is over. If it is quite long, as with biscuits or tea, then a day or more over may be considered although from experience even biscuits and tea can taste stale or different even before their use by dates.

' morning all from red dragon land. Chuckinitdarn. Windy. 2.3C. Received an email this morning from the Reykjavik Grapevine (though nothing on the website yet) re: New eruption in Iceland at 0530 today. (Scroll back to find the start of it.) Multi camera with info Mugadecaf now and getting some jobbies done. Take care. Be good. Don't get (too) distracted. Polly

That tune brought back a few memories...

' morning all from red dragon land. Well, it is rather misty moisty but not actually raining. 9.2C so also a bit warmer than of late. Some twiddly bits to attend to, some ideas to gather for a couple of birthday presents, and some Mac files to sort out. I think I shall start with a mugadecaf... Take care. Be good. Don't let it pile up.

' evening all from red dragon land. Toot on the flute taking up quite a bit of my time lately all because I wanted to start adding the twiddly bits to the second half of the current song by the start of this month. First, there were a few videos to go through to identify which one would be the most helpful and, hopefully, I have chosen the best one to start with. Then there was a matter of scaredy cat standing in the way to manoeuvre round to avoid hitting the panic button and quitting. Lastly, not playing too well with the beat box at a slightly faster speed was pulling me down a bit. Outcome, in reverse order: a different type of beat on a utoob video suited my playing better so I will continue with the faster speed on the beat box and see how it goes. On adding the new twiddly bits, the angst disappeared as soon as I started learning from the selected video, the first half of the first section being an easier than expected introduction. It may not actually be easier, it might just be that I am getting a bit better at it or, at least, more familiar, more the latter, I think. The second half of this section needs a bit more work to get the fingers used to new combinations of notes and rhythms. It all sounds good but there are another six lines to go and it will be getting trickier as it goes on. The last two lines, in particular, took some sorting out just as plain notes. I shall have to remember my favourite line from a favourite TV programme - Don't panic! Pinecone pundits are promising more of the wet stuff, tomorrow, so I hope it does not darken my day. Two new mags arrived in the post this week so I shall endeavour to at least have a good flick through those. Eyelid closure beckoning so it is ' night all and nos da. Polly