Oi,oi!


Can you still get pickled gannets in here!?

oi VF, good to see you here. Dunno about pickled gannets though - sounds disgusting.

We have been watching Bettany Hughes on TV tonight with the 10 Treasures of Egypt. I am so glad that we swarmed all over the best sites and museums back in the 1990s before Islamist terrorism started to rear up. We wouldn't go there now (apart from the insurance aspect) as it's too risky.

Luxor..

Sounds great. Wouldn’t risk it myself

All the sites are fantastic (an overused word but appropriate in the case of Egypt).

There have been terrorist attacks in Luxor (at Hatshepsut's  Deir el Bahari), at Gizeh near the new museum, in Cairo itself and also pot-shots at tourist boats on the Nile. Too risky to contemplate, unfortunately.

The page has "turned": hope you saw that both nordmann and I left messages for you last night, Hatshepsut.

T.

Yes, I've just read them Temps. Boris Johnson indeed. You know how to make a gal feel bad. 

Nordmann, you and your friend are quite right - getting better is not getting back to what used to be. 

Normality can never be resumed in some cases (and it applies to me) but one learns to adjust. And no-one should feel sorry for me - I am tough as old boots and still hoping to dodge The Grim Reaper for a while. Meantime I am enjoying everything I can, including the best wines we can afford, and if I have a little nap in the afternoons, I have a jolly good excuse.

I have posted a message on the Mustardland board in the hope that it will attract more traffic here. They are a varied and spirited bunch, so we shall see if there is a positive effect. There are a few pranksters too, so (whispers this bit) let's hope we don't attract the wrong sort....

Hatsheput and Virtual Fletch,

just entered the boards, as I spent more than two hours to do research for an umpteenth white supremacy thread, not in the beginning but you see it will turn...
And I didn't find the right stuff on internet to reply, so I answered in my own words..
https://historum.com/threads/mixed-eugenics.179955/page-2

Kind regards to both from Paul.

Thank you Paul.

I shall be doing some light-weight research of my own later this afternoon. It's about sewage and sewer systems, mostly in the light of recent archaeological work in Herculaneum. I don't know where to post the info - architecture, traditions?

Oh, excellent! I love sewage systems - honestly! We once had an excellent discussion here at Res His about cess pits and the misery caused by a blocked septic tank. Makes a change from arguing about religion.

Civilisation and Community is best section for such a topic, I should think. Nothing more civilised than an efficient sewage system!

oops.
I've posted it in Architecture.

Don't think it matters at all, Hat: loos  and sewers are buildings/constructions after all, so "Architecture" is probably a more logical choice.

Been to the local shops this afternoon and I thought perhaps my heart was pumping a bit fast (not horrendously so) but I had forgotten to take my blood pressure tablet this morning (remedied now).  In one of the tests I had in the autumn of 2016 a hospital doctor wrote to my GP that I had a slightly uneven heartbeat but it appeared to have righted itself when the GP tested it.  Perhaps I need a little more exercise.  (I have been somewhat sedentary these last couple of weeks - my sleep has been patchy so sometimes I've gone to have a lie down in the afternoon).  It might not hurt to have the GP give me an M.O.T. in that department.

I envy you having visited sites of interest in Egypt when it was still safe to do so, Hatshepsut.  I'll have to be satisfied with films of such places (on YouTube etc.).

Hatsheput, and LiR,

I wanted to start this evening something about brain surgery in the old Egypt and in reply to LiR's comment on the childhood thread something about a youth experience in a Catholic college in the Fifties. This afternoon I read in the paper in a café about the testimony of youngster, now in his Fifties about the 5 years long child abuse that he was undergoing in the Sixties. I see now that in the Sixties it was still not better than in our time.
My whole evening spent reading an essay in French for a French forum about the appeasement of the British government and the reluctance to make a pact with the Soviets in 1939. It is discussed on these boards too and on Historum
http://passion-histoire.net/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=41550

https://historum.com/threads/should-bri ... 523/page-4
https://reshistorica.forumotion.com/t13 ... talin-pact
Et j'ai trouvé un lien éclairant ce que était dit sur les fora anglais...
Peut-être que le sujet est déja traite ici aussi, mais je n'ai pas du temps pour le rechercher non plus.
https://books.openedition.org/pum/17728?lang=en
https://books.openedition.org/pum/17689

That said and already after midnight overhere, it will be for tomorrow...

Kind regards to both of you from Paul.

Just entered late again. did some quick research about "ancient Egyptian surgery, sparked in the time (1954) by the big screen film: "The Egyptian". Where I saw something about brain surgery in the old Egypt. But as you know you haven't to trust a Holywood film. I read in the time the book witht he same title of the Finnish author, but I don't remember anything about brain surgery. I found some "honest" sources and no no brain surgery. The Egyptians were too sophisticated to do trepanation as the others, while it was too dangerous. Tomorrow I will start a new message in the health and care forum.

Kind regards, Paul.

Hello Paul, I have dug out a book from my shelves, "Ancient Egyptian Medicine" by John Nunn.  I will have to paraphrase due to (I expect) copyright reasons. 

What he says is that trepanning was employed in antiquity (France, Jericho and Peru mostly). It was and is still performed by African folk doctors. This means it was probably a technique known by the ancient Egyptians, but surviving papyri make no mention of it, and the evidence from mummies and skeletons is less clear. There are 'holes in the head' but this could be lethal trauma or natural thinning of the parietal bone.

The only Egyptologist to make a claim was Breasted in 1930. He reported the discovery of a trepanned skull at Lisht, from the tomb of a noble family. The hole was well healed and the smooth edges were consistent with the use of a hammer and chisel, or scraper.

Interesting subjects, Hatty, both the sewage systems and the trepanning but I don't really have the knowledge to make an enlightened comment (I could probably make an unenlightened one or even several but it/they might not be appreciated).

LadyinRetirement wrote:

Interesting subjects, Hatty, both the sewage systems and the trepanning but I don't really have the knowledge to make an enlightened comment (I could probably make an unenlightened one or even several but it/they might not be appreciated).

Lady,

as I remember from the past you made sometimes an unenlightened comment or better said a comment not fully related to the subject (as I many times do also). But that unrelated comment sparked then a new subject that sometimes was more interesting than the original one.

In that light I would say: Lady go on please...

PS as Temperance would say: I don't receive as in the past warnings on my e-mail of new posts; It is the same as on Passion Histoire, one has to look (in my case in the evening) at the site, if there is no new message arrived...

PPS as Temperance would say: I don't say "Hatty", not because it is a Lady, but more as I am a bit "formal" on the boards (as writing a "letter"). I only reluctantly changed to MM because since I know that it is a "das"

and Green George was also such a name, nearly obliged to change to GG. I prefered Gilgamesh and Urnungal...
But Lady, don't look at me, for your short names...it is perhaps more English and Hollands (ask Dirk), but in our dialect we do perhaps something similar...for instance from Joseph: the Dutch Jozef...Jef...Jeftje (Jefke) to the more derogatory (but many times also used in the normal way) "Tsjeppen"...

Kind regards to both from Paul.

Yes, Paul. Nicknames are odd. My given name - Ian - scarcely seems to need shortening, but one branch of the family insisted on shortening it to "I" (pronounced "E") whilst my cousin Kerry was always known as "Cozzy Wee". Go figure. ps - I lost "Gilgamesh" due to a computer malfunction and/or a change of isp.

Green George wrote:

Yes, Paul. Nicknames are odd. My given name - Ian - scarcely seems to need shortening, but one branch of the family insisted on shortening it to "I" (pronounced "E") whilst my cousin Kerry was always known as "Cozzy Wee". Go figure. ps - I lost "Gilgamesh" due to a computer malfunction and/or a change of isp.

George,

yes I know, you mentioned it that you lost the nickname Gilgamesh due to these tribulations, excuses for the mentioning, but I really liked Gilgamesh and Urnungal...perhaps you could chose Lugalbanda...but that sounds so Congolese...as what we learnt six years old with the nuns about "our" Congolese explorer Stanley: Bula matari (rotsenbreker, breaker of the rocks) (for the railway...)
https://shapero.com/bookshop-blog/travel/henry-morton-stanley-bula-matari/

But let us that lay aside...I am so glad to see you once again overhere...hope that all goes well in your new district (or whatever), enfin in your "public" job...
And BTW you made my evening good

Best wishes from Paul.

If I were to choose another Sumerian avatar it would probably be Enmerkar or Ziusudra. I'm glad to see you are still researching a multitude of subjects, Paul. Let us share a couple of pickled gannets, some frites and a few litres of lambic.

Green George wrote:

If I were to choose another Sumerian avatar it would probably be Enmerkar or Ziusudra. I'm glad to see you are still researching a multitude of subjects, Paul. Let us share a couple of pickled gannets, some frites and a few litres of lambic.

GG,

Enmerkar that sounds, better than Ziusudra, that difficult to pronounce (at least to me ) (of course "as I know you now a bit longer than today" I did some quick research on Wiki...you never know......with you)

"pickled gannets"...as I am always a bit cautious with that "English stuff" I did never in the last 7 years some search about what "it" was...but now once and for all because you adressed it...and unbelievable and not expected...I thought about some special pickled harengs, as MM and I described it in a thread...
But see:
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/gannet-chick-eating-championships-provoke-anger-from-wildlife-lovers-9027056.html
and even my partner's favourite Gordon Ramsey...
"Although the practice of eating pickled gannets is rare, Gordon Ramsay promoted the dish while filming The F Word a few years ago. The chef was served guga and black pudding at Digby Chicks in Stornoway during his trip to Lewis for the Channel 4 show.
And I sought what a gannet meant in Dutch, and it seems to be a John of Ghent. I always thought that that was the guy from Ghent, who went to Britain...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Gaunt

But if you don't mind, Gil, as I suppose the gannets will be with "pickles"? and some British can be hard to digest for the estomac, 


may I ask to share our typical " friet met stoofvlees" frites with stew meat (in French; they say "carbonades flamandes", but nevertheless they eat it in the South of Belgium too) and with mayonaise (not with vinigar as in Britain? or and that I am sure, with sugar as in Holland and Germany)


And that Gueuze Lambic, perhaps in your time in Blankenberge...but it can be coincidence, in my broader circle it are mostly women, who prefer the (from wiki): give gueuze a dry, cider-like, musty, sour, acetic acid, lactic acid taste. Many describe the taste as sour and "barnyard-like".. Most men in my broader acquaintance circle prefer the "other" stuff...


But Gil, in the name of our longtime friendship I am prepared to make a "stone of my heart" and share that outlandish surprise...let's come those pickled Johns of Ghent...watered by the well know Gueuze Lambic...on our, from the time of the BBC, being together


Paul.

ooh, frites with mayonnaise and a bit of steak, washed down with a good Belgian beer....what could be nicer?

Hatshepsut wrote:

ooh, frites with mayonnaise and a bit of steak, washed down with a good Belgian beer....what could be nicer?

Several things. Mostly as a sequel to the meal.

I had never had chips with mayonnaise until my son went on an exchange trip to Germany about 20 years ago, and now that is my go-to choice, (well, now I have remembered aioli) though I do still like vinegar.

Paul, thankyou for your concerned private message ... as you can see I am still around but have just been very busy with it being peak holiday season. All I seem to do at the moment, day in day out, is cleaning, ironing, making beds, hoovering and cooking. I'm running on about six hours sleep a night, sometimes much less, so haven't really had the time to post much here. Also my satellite dish for the internet must have moved a bit and so I lost all internet connection for a few days (it was only a tad off point but it still took three afternoons of work to get reconnected with the satellite). Then, after a thunderstorm, the telephone line went dead ... and it still hasn't been fixed, now, over two weeks later ... which, all in all, makes running the business considerably more difficult. 

Moreover on top of all the frantic business of the holiday season, Doggy-Dog has caused me a couple of sleepness nights too. A few days ago he accidentally got bumped by someone's car as they parked after coming back from the local restaurant. They weren't going fast but DD still got a nasty knock from their front bumper as he scrabbled to get out of the way. Suitably mortified they insisted on taking him to the vet the next morning which was very welcome because I wouldn't have been able to get away for several days. Anyway there was no serious damage beyond a sprained ankle and some bruising. However at the moment he's still limping badly and has gone rather quiet and placid compared to his usual bouncy self, although that might well be a deliberate effect of the anti-inflamatory medication he's on. 

Hatty, if one is permitted to be so informal with an Egyptian queen, it's good to see you back on the board here, and while I'm sorry to hear your news, you do seem be be resiliantly enjoying life to the full. I wish you all the very best. 

You mentioned not being able to fly and so being restricted to road or rail, ... of course Eurostar will take you straight from St Pancras to Brussels, Lille or Paris, and from there you can readily get to nearly everywhere in Europe and surprisingly quickly too. The French Mediterranean coast, for example, is just four to five hours from Paris by TGV and now that the southern tunnel under the Pyrenees is in operation trains carry straight on through to Barcelona (50 mins after Perpignan) and on to Madrid, Toledo, Seville, etc., and in considerably more comfort than a plane.

Caro, on the 'Childhood, things we remember' thread you said: "we loved lambing the sheep and I liked to dissect dead lambs", which made me smile; so much for little girls being sugar and spice and all things nice! Actually I have to admit that I too was always interested in skeletal anatomy and as a child used to dissect and prepare the bones of dead animals that I found or that we had for dinner; so things like rabbits, chickens or pigeons. Actually I still do it and indeed I've currently got a mole in the freezer (a present from one of the cats) of which I intend to try and prepare the skull (the rest of the skeleton is probably too dificult as the individual bones are very small).

Temp, my cat still hasn't produced any more kittens: I think I misread the signs in that her plump figure and prominent nipples just hadn't recovered from the previous pregnancy. However I'm sure it won't be long before there are some little kittens about the place : Tostig and Posca still seem very much in lurve. Or at least in lust.
I'll keep you informed.

I expect the manic busy season to continue for a few more weeks, but then it usually suddenly goes rather quiet for a bit in September, before things pick up again with walkers, mushroom-pickers and late holiday-takers (retired couples or those without children). I should then have the time to be a bit more active on Res Hysterica.

MM, I knew it, I knew it, as I mentioned up-thread, August is the high season in France and brings a lot of work and as for the health condition a robust guy? (robuuste kerel), un costaud comme toi...that don't "deteriorate?" ça ne "détériore?" pas
Sorry to enter that late, but the whole evening first, as I also said up-thread a controversial discussion on Historum, which would perhaps derail, a difficult reply to a certain Futurist
https://historum.com/threads/mixed-eugenics.179955/page-4
And further about a Roeland from Bruges, who survived, as one of 18, the circumnavigation of the world by Magellan
http://passion-histoire.net/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=41558

And now that there are that many people on the board again, it is nearing midnight and for some days to the grandson in Stockholm (among others his university: the Karolinska...)

And as I don't receive e-mails anymore from Res Historica, even fearing, if it was the same case with you, that you wouldn't have recieved my PM...

Kind regards from Paul.

Things are the opposite for me as regards business at work - my supply of typing work has become seriously depleted though there are other things I can possibly try my hand at (including taking work from another typing supply).  That said, there is plenty of real world work to be done in the house and in the garden.  I'm worried about my cat of course because indications are that she has something serious though she doesn't appear to be in pain.  I'm sorry Doggy-Dog has had an injury, MM, and hope he will soon be back to his usual ebullient self.  

I like chipped potatoes (as in the English meaning) with vinegar, very traditional.  There is something in the vinegar manufacturing process which renders it okay for gluten-intolerant people like myself, though I can always use cider vinegar I suppose.

I've never been a prolific beer drinker though when I was younger (20s or so) I would sometimes drink a lemonade and bitter shandy.  Males would roll their eyes and ask why I would enjoy an adulterated beer?  Gluten-free beers tend to be expensive and they aren't to my taste; if I have an alcoholic drink these days it's usually something like an "alcopop" such as J2O or maybe a gin and tonic (but not too much - they aren't cheap).

LadyinRetirement wrote:

I've never been a prolific beer drinker though when I was younger (20s or so) I would sometimes drink a lemonade and bitter shandy.  Males would roll their eyes and ask why I would enjoy an adulterated beer?  Gluten-free beers tend to be expensive and they aren't to my taste; if I have an alcoholic drink these days it's usually something like an "alcopop" such as J2O or maybe a gin and tonic (but not too much - they aren't cheap).

LadyinRetirement,

 When going for a drink next time may I suggest "a white martini and lemonade".

 You will like that one.

Dirk

Hatshepsut wrote:

ooh, frites with mayonnaise and a bit of steak, washed down with a good Belgian beer....what could be nicer?

Hatsheput and LiR,

yes, "biefstuk friet met mayonnaise" the summum of the Belgian kitchen, but in my humble opinion that is more served in a restaurant here.


The "stoofvlees"/ "carbonades flamandes" that I mentioned is perhaps a dish that one can also  have at a "fish and chips stall?", "friture (frietkot)/friterie too
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friterie


My image up-stream about "friet-stoofvlees" was, if I recall it well, picturing "stoofvlees" (stew meat?) with nearly no sauce. No, in the right thing, the pieces meat have to really "swim" in a delicious sauce (each in the different friteries with its flavour "from the house")

Kind regards from Paul.

Caro wrote:

I had never had chips with mayonnaise until my son went on an exchange trip to Germany about 20 years ago, and now that is my go-to choice, (well, now I have remembered aioli) though I do still like vinegar.

Caro,

can't it be that the reason is that in German and seemingly also in Dutch, UK and US mayonaise there is "sugar"!!!?
https://www.quora.com/Why-does-Belgian-mayonnaise-taste-different-than-mayo-in-the-US

Tom Van Lint, lives in Leuven, Belgium (2003-present)

[size=13]Answered Mar 30, 2018 · Author has 276 answers and 309.6k answer views

Mainly the fact that in US mayonnaise (but also in UK, Dutch, German recipes) there is added sugar.
[/size]
I at least had several times the sugar experience in Germany and the Netherlands. I at least would also prefer vinegar instead of "such" mayonaise.

Caro, see you again after some days, when back from Stockholm.

Kind regards from Paul.

Paul ... I see the friekot in your photo - as of course would be expected - also sells fricandelle/frikandel (a type of sausage) as it's advertised on the sign furthest to the right. Mon Dieu, that brings back some memories of België. Absolutely delicious ... only just don't ever ask what exactly is in it, neh?!

One local creperie has just started selling Belgian waffles!
(and one delicatessen in the same market town sells good, sugar-free mayo too)

Meles meles wrote:

Paul ... I see the friekot in your photo - as of course would be expected - also sells fricandelle/frikandel (a type of sausage) as it's advertised on the sign furthest to the right. Mon Dieu, that brings back some memories of België. Absolutely delicious ... only just don't ever ask what exactly is in it, neh?!

MM, just one before going to Stockholm.

Bah, fricandellen, one can make everything tasteful with the right spices...my father had even more derogatory comments...with sauces one can even make a "stront" taste well...he was the one, who, even as a fish merchant, liking the good meat, let the butcher first grind the rind?meat and then the porc? meat and then mix them together half for half adding salt and pepper, never trusting the prepared in advance one...

But yes one has to have some confidence in the supplier too...and if it tastes delicious... so what...and wait till we have the veggy burgers...

Kind regards from Paul.

All this talk of chips/frites/fries has sent me scurrying to the seaside for good old Fish & Chips. The restaurant there (Aldeburgh) has often won awards for Best Chippy in the UK.

The meal came with tartare sauce, which is (I think) a sort of mayonnaise-based caper sauce. So, although we are usually thought to prefer tomato sauce with our fried potato treats, I think we've been eating mayonnaise all the time, disguised as tartare sauce.

I had an appointment in town today and then repaired to the town Sainsbury's to buy some gluten-free and vegetarian food for yours truly and some soft food (the soupy type and some pate-type small tins) for the cat whom I have been instructed to feed little and often.  She has downed some ocean fish soupy type food anyway.  Among my provisions I bought some stuffed vine leaves - I keep meaning to try the stuffed cabbage leaves version that someone (MM?) described in the dish of the day.  Anyway, I'm okay though the lower part of my legs and feet got soaked (it's been raining all day here) so I've had to change my trousers and socks.  I hadn't been wearing socks recently with it being summer but today it felt cold again, more like autumn than summer.  Paul has mentioned vegetarian burgers and I did have a look at some in Sainsbury's but they had wheat listed in the ingredients so they were a no-no for me.

LiR, we have eaten mostly vegetarian foods for the past 30-odd years, so I can give you some foolproof veggie burger recipes. Just let me know.

We usually make a huge mound of mixture and use a burger press to form 8 burgers or more. They are easily frozen and work well as an emergency meal. The other nice burger is a baked portobello mushroom with a halloumi cheese topping, all popped into a bun. Delicious.

I might take you up on your offer about the recipes, Hatshepsut, though I'd have to tweak them to make them gluten-free.

I have spotted a wasps' nest in the garden (well to be more accurate I have spotted them going in and out of the entrance at ground level).  I got rid of one several years ago with an insecticide that came from a plant but I can't remember it's name.  I seem to remember I had to do it either very early or very late in daylight hours.  It did work though.  I've been watching some videos on YouTube on the subject - one man had posted one using soap and water (turning a hose on the entrance hole) and mentioned that he was stung four times.

Do be careful, LiR.

I would ring the local authority - some still will come and remove a nest for free; others charge a small amount. Some, however, refuse to help unless you fork out around £80 which is ridiculous. But it's worth a phone call to see. Tell them you are retired!

You may be covered on your home insurance - I was, thank goodness.

Failing reasonably-priced professional help, get a can of Wasp Annihilation Spray from B&Q - it only costs around £5. You spray it into the nest at night when the little blighters are hopefully really sleepy and settled for the night. Leave the nest alone - don't try to remove it, even if you think all wasps are dead.

Don't do what a friend of mine did. She thought getting the wasps drunk, and then spraying them would be sensible, her logic being that wasps staggering around completely blotto and therefore happy would mean they were less likely to attack. Being a kindly person, she also hoped the alcohol would anaesthetise the creatures and so would make death easier for them. Alas, her merciful impulse was ill-advised. She put out beer and cider prior to Operation Total War. What she did not know was that wasps cannot handle their drink, and are likely to go on a stinging rampage if crossed (or sprayed) while in an inebriated state. Her garden soon resembled Glasgow at throwing-out time on a Saturday night.

She lived to tell the tale, albeit ruefully.

I normally try not to kill wasps as they eat aphids and in that way are a gardener's friend. A nest close to the house, however, might present a different proposition. But good luck LiR with whatever method you decide upon.

Talking about invertebrates - we have a spider in our kitchen which seems to have gone on strike. It's only a small, adolescent house-spider about half an inch long and for that last 5 days or so has just hung in the middle of the door of one of the units refusing to do anything. It's clearly not dead because it moves occasionally but no more than about its own body length one way or the other from where it is squatting. I wish it would let us know what its demands are because then we might be able to come to some sort of resolution and move on. In the meantime, however, it just sits there somewhat sullenly and is not even bothered whenever the unit door is opened if we're in need of a bowl or a jug or some such.

Vizzer wrote:

Talking about invertebrates - we have a spider in our kitchen which seems to have gone on strike. It's only a small, adolescent house-spider about half an inch long and for that last 5 days or so has just hung in the middle of the door of one of the units refusing to do anything. It's clearly not dead because it moves occasionally but no more than about its own body length one way or the other from where it is squatting. I wish it would let us know what its demands are because then we might be able to come to some sort of resolution and move on. In the meantime, however, it just sits there somewhat sullenly and is not even bothered whenever the unit door is opened if we're in need of a bowl or a jug or some such.

Typical teenager.

Quote :

I normally try not to kill wasps as they eat aphids and in that way are a gardener's friend.

They also kill bees, and so are the gardener's mortal foe. Show no mercy to a wasp - it will show none to you.

I thought it was hornets that kill bees, especially the dastardly Asian hornets. But European hornets are a protected species, at least in France, and so while it is compulsory to destroy the nests of Asian hornets, it is illegal to destroy those of European hornets. However to correctly tell the two species apart you do have to get uncomfortably close.

Hornets are particularly nasty, it's true, but as far as I know ordinary wasps will attack bees too. Adult wasps are not particularly partial to a  bit of dead bee, but wasp offspring are. Wasp parents will try to lay siege to beehives: they test for "weak" hives - i.e. hives which are poorly defended and then raid such hives to steal honey and fight the bees. Any dead bees are borne off in triumph to feed their own wasp larvae. Wasp larvae absolutely love bee "meat"  (they are little carnivores), so much so that when provided with such meaty treats they will reward their parents with a sugary liquid which I believe they exude after feasting on bee protein.

I like bees and detest wasps, Wasps are one of God's great mistakes - or one of Darwin's success stories!

Military equipment is often called "Wasp" for obvious reasons: it is apparently a particularly popular name for warships. You wouldn't get an HMS Bumblebee though - although such a name might confuse the Iranians.

Let's have a nice buzzy bit of Rimsky-Korsakov:

Well, I forgot to get anything regarding the wasps today.  I was caught in rain again and got marginally less soaked than last time (I was full of summer cold yesterday and apart from coming down to prepare something to eat for myself and feed the cat I spent most of the day in bed).  I've had an email back in response to my preliminary enquiry from the pet insurance company but I'm not sure they assess the claim till the money's been spent.  Hey ho, will have to make the best of things.

Anyway, I can't remember whether it was in Wilko's or Sainsbury's (both of which I visited today) but one had some DIY beer kits called "Woodland Wherry".  I remember we discussed "wherries" (as a sort of boat) a while ago on this website.

Temperance wrote:

You wouldn't get an HMS Bumblebee though - although such a name might confuse the Iranians. 

Au contraire, the Royal Navy had a class of small gunboats intended for river or inshore operations all named after insects and which included HMS Bee, HMS Cricket, HMS Cockchafer and HMS Ladybird amongst others. 

Here's HMS Bee at Hankou, China, circa May 1937.



And talking of warships named after humble insects, there was also of course the famous WW2 destroyer HMS Glowworm (H92) who sank during the invasion of Norway after deliberately ramming the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper.

LiR, the beer kits must be copies of Woodfords Wherry, a nationally popular beer.

You could be right H, night be misremembering the name of the kit.

Meles meles wrote:

Temperance wrote:

You wouldn't get an HMS Bumblebee though - although such a name might confuse the Iranians. 

Au contraire, the Royal Navy had a class of small gunboats intended for river or inshore operations all named after insects and which included HMS Bee, HMS Cricket, HMS Cockchafer and HMS Ladybird amongst others. 

Here's HMS Bee at Hankou, China, circa May 1937.



And talking of warships named after humble insects, there was also of course the famous WW2 destroyer HMS Glowworm (H92) who sank during the invasion of Norway after deliberately ramming the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper.

How terribly British! I love the name HMS Glowworm - what a shame she sank. HMS Cricket is great, too. HMS Resolute, HMS Invincible, HMS Cricket or HMS Glowworm - Rule Britannia, I say. Let the begrudgers behold! The EU wouldn't argue with this lady: