Reused/unused woolly threads - plenty of those here  but some NOT easy to unravel. and often a tad thorny. Suggestions for a Res Hist motif, yes.  Crossed something (not legs.) perhaps? Members must suggest their own designs - of course I could get creative for you. Good thinking, Temps. Let's go into business...... on the other hand did you not wear a pink bobbled one on a visit to Norway? No good came of that, I suggest.

Priscilla wrote:

... on the other hand did you not wear a pink bobbled one on a visit to Norway? No good came of that, I suggest.

The pink bobble hat, although only £11.99 from M&S, was a great success, but alas the weather in Oslo was not. It was very mild and the woolly headgear was not needed. No snow - well just a couple of dirty patches - even up high where the ski-run was, just like we get here in England. It was mild all over Europe last Christmas if you remember. Terribly disappointing, but Oslo is a lovely city. Nord is very lucky to live there.

St. Petersburg this year, all being well, and we are negotiating for tickets on Christmas Eve for The Nutcracker performed by the Kirov (Mariinsky Theatre). My idea of heaven. It's already been snowing in Russia. I certainly won't be wearing a cheapo beanie to go to the Kirov - I want one of those fur things. Tickets for the Russian ballet are a tad expensive - £395 is the price quoted at the moment, but I don't care. Some things you just want to do before you die.

You do have to be careful with fur hats, though: the one on the left (below) looks suspiciously like a ginger moggy curled up on her head. I suppose Bosworth would oblige if I asked him.

Ah, the Kirov ballet and for much money. Go for it. When Russia was going through its transition phase (rubber band-like as it turned out) its major ballet companies were in a  sad mess. A friend of one the Bolshoi companies   there were two at that time,  invited them to the subcontinent on his company  jolly programme and for a  tour by twenty of them. So, one night at the club....I still can't believe it happened.... dinner included £15 and 90 mins of ballet  we had a night to remember. Not the real thing but  the performers said it was such a delight to perform again. They were also rather hungry, from what I recall of the club dance thrash afterwards. 

I was given one of those fur hat things and hate it because you don''t get tabby anything else but cats. Made in China, so reads the label.

Priscilla wrote:

I was given one of those fur hat things and hate it because you don't get tabby anything else but cats. Made in China, so reads the label.

Oh dear, if your hat has a "Made in China" label, it could indeed be genuine tabby. Awful thought. The Chinese are not sentimental about animals (or so I believe). The rest of your hat was probably served up with black bean sauce and noodles.

Aye - and just to be on the really safe side I chose Denby cereal bowls yesterday above all of the other John Lewis Made in China lines. Of course I don't really know where they get their china clay or whatever from. And though one really knows what bone china really is -  on the other hand........

I really didn't think I could be any more disappointed in Theresa M but she has managed it - a sleeveless evening dress to a formal dinner! I'm shocked. OK, I appreciate that gloves, delicately removed before dining, are long gone but surely one's shoulders at least should be covered?
Or am I hopelessly out of date?

I wasn't aware that that sort of thing was still an issue. But I think she looks lovely, if not a bit shifty with that look.

I'm more offended by who did that hem! It is puckering and whoever did the alteration didn't even press it afterward. I bet she paid a fortune for it too, Mayhem really does need taking in hand. sigh.

Not an issue? No wonder the country's going to the dogs. 'Christmas tree' is the approved dress code for that sort of thing, not 'pillar box'.

Islanddawn wrote:

I wasn't aware that that sort of thing was still an issue. But I think she looks lovely...

ID, I owe you an apology. When I saw you had posted something I thought, "Here we go - ID will say something scathing about the British Prime Minister."

But I was wrong.

It was a brave choice and she doesn't look too bad at all, given that her dress is actually very unforgiving. You need to be young and rather beautiful to get away with that colour - and not many women over 50 can expose all their arms as she does.

In my opinion Helen Mirren looks much better here - she gets it absolutely right. Same bold colour, but arms nicely covered and the silvery sleeves tone down and soften the pillar box scarlet. Mirren's dress sense is superb - either that or she has an excellent stylist: she always looks absolutely stunning. Well, I think so.

Looking at the group pic, the men have probs with choosing the right dress length for wearing with black tights; sad. What are their stylists thinking? Mayhem and going to the dogs are both apt observations. Was this a Lord Mayor Din Din? I note how they are all colour coordinated so there must have been an urgent exchange of notes.... bugger Brexit, mmm? This must be IMPORTANT.

But we have not addressed ferval's real concern: should Theresa May have worn opera gloves to this posh do (don't ask me why you wear "opera gloves" even if you are not at the opera - I dunno). I have checked in case we ever have a Res Historica formal dinner. Apparently long gloves are only required at a state banquet - otherwise they are optional. It does seem to be a "white tie" do for the men, so I think really she should have worn a pair. The other ladies in the pic are wearing gloves. Michelle Obama got it right - or the White House aides did - see photo of her and hubby with Her Majesty the Queen and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.

This surprising photo was taken at the state banquet for the Chinese President: Jeremy gets it right too (for once). It's a good thing he didn't show up in a pair of ripped jeans - now that would have been a political statement. Would they have let him in, I wonder?

ferval wrote:

Not an issue? No wonder the country's going to the dogs. 'Christmas tree' is the approved dress code for that sort of thing, not 'pillar box'.

Ah well I'm just an uncouth colonial, no idea of this sort of thing at all. Not that I'd care anyway...

The women all look like they've escaped directly from the 1950s and the men a century or two before that. Mayday on the otherhand is stunning in her simplicity, it was a wise choice for her to go against tradition (or faded pomposity to get Temp's gander up ). She has the height to carry that dress off anyway.

Temperance wrote:

But we have not addressed ferval's real concern: should Theresa May have worn opera gloves to this posh do (don't ask me why you wear "opera gloves" even if you are not at the opera - I dunno). I have checked in case we ever have a Res Historica formal dinner. Apparently long gloves are only required at a state banquet - otherwise they are optional. It does seem to be a "white tie" do for the men, so I think really she should have worn a pair. The other ladies in the pic are wearing gloves. Michelle Obama got it right - or the White House aides did - see photo of her and hubby with Her Majesty the Queen and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.

This surprising photo was taken at the state banquet for the Chinese President: Jeremy gets it right too (for once). It's a good thing he didn't show up in a pair of ripped jeans - now that would have been a political statement. Would they have let him in, I wonder?

Can't work out why Lizzy is carrying that silly empty handbag around.  She's at home isn't she? Does anyone carry their handbag around in their own house when they have guests?

Michelle looks lovely, but she always does. She has a very good stylist.

They're off to the banquet. She's got her specs (for speech), plus a spare hanky in the bag. Probably her lippy, too.

Well, for a woman of her age Mrs May has "good" arms.  I know bingo-wingitis can kick in after a certain stage of one's life.  I quite liked the dress too, ID.  As for hats, I tend to cover my head in winter.  Some years ago I knitted a (probably what we'd now call a 'beanie' type) hat and it looked quite nice when I was knitting it but when it was made up I had knitted it too loose (my tension tends to be loose when knitting and on that occasion I forgot to go down a size or knit on smaller needles).  It had ear flaps and I ended up looking like John Mcwhatzisname who does (or used to do) the racing on Channel 4.  I just hope there was somebody who could use it who visited the charity shop I gave it to......

I am quite hopeless. I confided in Priscilla yesterday that I was posting far too much and boring everyone to death in the manner of a certain old BBC poster whom I shall not name. I shall take a break, I promised her and myself.

But already several posts this morning. Too many. I really will shut up for a bit now and read my new book quietly.

Who imposed a quota? Can I rant against quotas?????

You can't opt out of the governess and tutor thread now! Not when it's just become governless tudors.

Quite right, no protectionist policies here - no Rexit either.

I'm with you about Amazon - why can't the gas people be as efficient? They've been back and forward (or not turning up) for over a week and the drip from upstairs' heating condenser is still plopping onto my kitchen floor. Now I'm stuck in waiting for another visit but at least it gives me a chance to complete attaching the mane on the wee unicorn that I've knitted.

Is this unicorn for bttdp? Being the usual site knitter - bar none - I welcome the additional help.  Er - why does he need a unicorn?

And for the record, Temps made me no promise about over posting - and I made not a murmur to prompt it or dissuade her. She gets like that you know. 

I do fully appreciate the lack of protectionist policies around here being frequently in need of them but with his nordship off playing with an ol' pal, I might be spared for a bit. (And ID I'm not really really that sorry for myself - but a bit of silent suffering gets so boring.)

Ah - the gas people are all round at my place, ferv. I didn't ask for them but I now have  smart meters. I would call them cocky actually. They come with a little TV that tells you that it just cost  you £10.89 to heat a kettle for a cup of TV. By the end of the day apparently the National Debt is all my fault. I'll send the men  on if you like.

Priscilla wrote:

And for the record, Temps made me no promise about over posting - and I made not a murmur to prompt it or dissuade her.

This is true. But let us clarify the matter. For the record, here is the relevant bit from my E-mail:

Talking of temporary disappearances – I have decided that I post far too much – staggered to see I have sent 27 posts this week. Time to step back a little, I think – one has a horror of turning into a Crashing Old Bore like poor old *****. Remember him?

Priscilla wrote:

She gets like that you know. 

Alas, this is also true.

A knitted unicorn sounds very interesting. I didn't realise unicorns have manes, like My Little Pony. I hope he isn't a bright pink, nylon unicorn, ferval. I'm sure he's not.



The horror! The horror!

These are all apparently "little ponies". I am baffled by it all - and why little girls love them so much.


EDIT: I have been reading (as a break from Storr's Solitude) all about My Little Pony. The Wiki entry includes this mystifying bit of information:

The ponies feature colorful bodies, manes and a unique symbol on one or both sides of their flanks. These are referred to in the two most recent incarnations as "cutie marks."

I do hope ferval is not now knitting "cutie marks" for her mythical beast.

ferval wrote:

Quite right, no protectionist policies here - no Rexit either.

I'm with you about Amazon - why can't the gas people be as efficient? They've been back and forward (or not turning up) for over a week and the drip from upstairs' heating condenser is still plopping onto my kitchen floor. Now I'm stuck in waiting for another visit but at least it gives me a chance to complete attaching the mane on the wee unicorn that I've knitted.

Is the unicorn for a young relative, Ferval?  Temps alluded to "My Little Pony".  That's been going for quite some time hasn't it, since the 1980s - the toy if not the TV programme (not that I've ever watched, too intellectual for me, ho-ho) - excerpts of the cartoons on YouTube seem to have flying ponies like mini versions of Pegasus even if not white as well as the Unicorns.  I actually think that MLP is far from the worst franchise there has ever been.  Harking back to the '80s does anyone remember the Cabbage Patch dolls?  Ugly as sin but there was such a fad for them that people were fighting for them at the time.  I worked for a time at a law firm which was situated near a charity shop.  At the height of the Teletubbies (mid to late '90s) craze somebody nicked some Teletubby toys out of the window of the shop and nobody noticed!  But I wouldn't have bought a Teletubby toy for my worst enemy.

As for making things - I want to do a bit of crochet but I can't find my crochet hooks.  My house is a bit like - a place for everything and nothing in its place.  I'm hoping that when I have been managing the coeliac disease a bit longer I won't get quite so fatigued and will be able to tidy up properly.  I've made several starts but always get kn*****ed before I finish.  I bought a new crochet hook but it's a bit on the small side though it shouldn't be too hard to get another.

My daughter went through a my little pony stage. Lunchbox, bottles, shoes. Not to mention utterly dominating the TV by recording every bloody episode of every series. Me, I Damn nearly developed diabetes from the sickeningly sweet dross. End rant.

Did you know that there are grown men who watch MLP? Google brony. Don't click on any of links. I didn't believe that my little pony porn was a real thing but it is.

It's for the grandwean, LiR, age 9 going on 35. The MLP stage is long gone, thank goodness, and the acres of pink plastic have been consigned to the bin or the charity shop. Here's my wee chap (I'm not sure why I think he's a chap but I do). I haven't given him wings though.







The unicorn is one of our royal beasts up here so next time I think I will have a go at replicating the Stirling Unicorn Hunt tapestry series. This should keep me busy through the long winter nights...........

Neat, ferv. My Eng Lit teacher friend knitted a full in English Breakfast on a knitted plate - with mushroom not beans - for her school fete. It was raffled at great profit from the many who clamoured for it. The two rashers of streaky were done at my place without explanation to others there; I only occasionally whispered that yes, I did have odd friends as I stuffed the fried eggs.

Oh God, nooooooo - the simpering Ms Worsley has been at the dressing-up box again and is doing Big H's Six Wives, with added dramatic reconstructions. Blood pressure tablets at the ready Temp.

Excellent piece here in the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/dec/07/six-wives-with-lucy-worsley-henry-viii-history

ferval wrote:

It's for the grandwean, LiR, age 9 going on 35. The MLP stage is long gone, thank goodness, and the acres of pink plastic have been consigned to the bin or the charity shop. Here's my wee chap (I'm not sure why I think he's a chap but I do). I haven't given him wings though.







The unicorn is one of our royal beasts up here so next time I think I will have a go at replicating the Stirling Unicorn Hunt tapestry series. This should keep me busy through the long winter nights...........

That's very nice, Ferval.  Flying unicorn too.  Is the unicorn being a Scots royal beast anything to do with the lion and the unicorn?  I'm sure I knew the answer to that once but memory like a sieve and all that - though I am very good at remembering unimportant things.  Like I can grow weeds successfully but pretty flowers or vegetables not so well.

backtothedarkplace wrote:

My daughter went through a my little pony stage.  Lunchbox, bottles, shoes.  Not to mention utterly dominating the TV by recording every bloody episode of every series.  Me,  I Damn nearly developed diabetes from the sickeningly sweet dross.  End rant.

Did you know that there are grown men who watch MLP?  Google brony.  Don't click on any of links.  I didn't believe that my little pony porn was a real thing but it is.  

I haven't been gorging out on MLP porn but last night I looked at a few videos by a YouTuber called "I Hate Everything" - via either "Your Movie Sucks" or "HistoryBuffs".  He did a video about Bronies (which I think is a name for men who like My Little Pony) and then a video reacting to the comments.  Honestly it's just a channel where a chap in - I think - his early 20s has a mini rant about things which aren't his cuppa but some of the comments, though I can't recall them exactly, were pretty rancid.  Of course there were some that weren't rancid but amazed that he didn't like My Little Pony.  Apparently there are people who dress up as characters from My Little Pony.  The whole Steampunk and Cosplay movement is something for me that I know exists but I've never looked into it that deeply.  I knew people dressed up as characters from programmes/films like Game of Thrones and the Star Wars franchise but not as personnages (animalages?) from My Little Pony.  Well you live and learn.

Oh for a pair of poo brown, 1,000 pound flaired leather trousers.

Is that what's meant by being well upholstered? The trainers are £300 as well apparently.

Be careful what you say though about them, commenting has caused a right old stushie. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/11/theresa-may-trousers-row-angry-text-exchange-nicky-morgan

The trainers are god awful with those trousers too, looks like she should be going yatching and not trying to blend into the upholstery.

Brown is not at all fashionable as a colour generally at the moment - my kids and their wives have much to say about our brown patterned carpet which I love because it doesn't show any marks - but I still like it very much, and I like what Theresa May is wearing in this picture.  (Not that I would know it was her unless someone told me. I don't really watch television news and even if I did British PMs aren't the most visible here.) 

I probably should put this on the rave section but our very charming and popular PM has resigned suddenly and a new one put in his place within a week.  I didn't much care for John Key and I suppose his replacement Bill English won't be much better for his policies, but I have always found him more upfront and honest. Though as he is a RC he has very conservative views on abortion (which doesn't affect me) and euthanasia (which might) though he has changed his mind on same-sex marriage seeing how joyfully it has affected its beneficiaries.

ferval wrote:

Oh God, nooooooo - the simpering Ms Worsley has been at the dressing-up box again and is doing Big H's Six Wives, with added dramatic reconstructions. Blood pressure tablets at the ready Temp.

Excellent piece here in the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/dec/07/six-wives-with-lucy-worsley-henry-viii-history

It's awful, isn't it? She lost me when, dressed up in that ridiculous serving-girl's costume, she commented on the peculiar outcome of Katherine of Aragon's first pregnancy, confiding to the camera as she did - while obviously trying not to laugh - that "Katherine's enormous bump had simply disappeared!!!!" (Worsley's multiple exclamation marks, not mine.)

It's not quite Hilary Mantel standard, is it? Worthy of the blessed Philomena that line.

Great job she's got though - the BBC whisking her off to Spain and to Italy for just a few minutes filming. I'm insanely jealous she got to look at Henry's letters at the Vatican. I bet ordinary folk aren't allowed...

What is infuriating is that the woman does know her stuff, but she speaks to us all as though she's teaching a Year 9 class.

Last night was the Brownie carol concert. Usually piping young voices singing the familiar old tunes warms even this cynical old atheist's heart but this time I got as far as Peace on earth and mercy mild and I choked. For the rest of the evening I swung between being so very grateful that these children at least were safe, warm and happy and wondering how anyone could possibly sincerely give voice to lyrics about the Prince of Peace without questioning why He was so absent from Syria, Yemen, Nigeria and on and on. But I bit my tongue, gritted my teeth (difficult to do both simultaneously) and smiled.

Sorry to be so downbeat but as ever this time of year brings out the desperation and the melancholy and just underlines the tragic irony of it all. It always seems to peak, for me anyway, when I affix the star to the top of the tree.
I've just done that.

Yet singing these sentiments, I hear, helps cement the notion of peace as the desired standard for everyone in these young minds, even if that sentiment is couched in specious terms and downright false assumptions. On balance it's as good a way as any for planting this aspiration in undeveloped brains, though Assassin's Creed comes close these days too (the Assassins want peace through free will whereas the nasty Templars claim to want peace too, though through control).

Mind you, bullying victims in the choir will already have started adding two and two, I reckon, regarding the Prince of Peace and his habit of conveniently disappearing when he's most wanted.

Whenever I find myself sinking into the annual festive season slough of despondency I always reach for my Tom Lehrer ...

Utter crap - deleted.

Temp wrote:

But, although you may not like me saying this, I think you and a lot of other hard-bitten atheists I know are actually "on the side of the angels".

Now you're talking, girl.

Temperance wrote:

PS We could have a quick burst of Hallelujah, I suppose. But Leonard Cohen at ten o'clock in the morning is not a good idea. This evening, maybe, after several glasses of Chablis.

Just had Mozart's version on the radio this morning ... we could all sing along with that if only we could manage the top Cs (maybe some of you can but I certainly can't) but unfortunately I couldn't find the lyrics.

Beautiful.

The Daily Rant is fast becoming the Daily Rave. Even Satan got a nice mention from Temp, which is nice - he gets such bad press usually, bless 'im.

Must be the Christmas spirit kicking in.

Utter crap - deleted.

United Arab Fanthorpe wrote:

three - Members of an obscure Persian sect - Walked haphazard by starlight straight - Into the kingdom of heaven.

Mandy wrote:

Led by a bleedin' bottle, more like!

Syria is often referred to as "The Nation of Poets" so maybe if we're doing Christmas verses set in the so-called "Holy Land" we should include this recent one from Youssef Abu Yihea, translated into English by Ghada Alatrash.

I am a Syrian.
Exiled, in and out of my homeland, and
on knife blades with swollen feet I walk.

I am a Syrian: Shiite, Druze, Kurd,
Christian,
and I am Alawite, Sunni, and Circassian.

Syria is my land.
Syria is my identity.
My sect is the scent of my homeland,
the soil after the rain,
and my Syria is my only religion.

I am a son of this land, like the olives,
apples, pomegranates, chicory, cacti, mint, grapes, figs ...
So what use are your thrones,
your Arabism,
your poems,
and your elegies?

Will your words bring back my home
and those who were killed
accidentally?

Will they erase tears shed on this soil?
I am a son of that green paradise,
my hometown,
but today, I am dying from hunger and thirst.

Barren tents in Lebanon and Amman are now my refuge,
but no land except my homeland
will nourish me with its grains,
nor will all the clouds
in this universe
quench my thirst.

If "Peace on Earth" is an option any more let's hope a little descends on Syria - a beautiful country with wonderful people, and so undeserving of their present fate.

Utter crap - deleted.

I've deleted everything I've posted today - shame I can't get rid of quoted crap.

And no, I'm not in the least bit pissed - just completely pissed off with it all.

Here endeth my first Christmas rant.

Over and out.

I need a good rant so here goes:


Many of the deaths that have occurred this year have been desperately sad but - if I hear one more person say x has passed I will chuck something hard at the radio or TV.  
Passed? Passed what? The 11+? The parcel? Wind? What's wrong with died?


Aaaah, that's better.

Ferval,

not knowing English that well...I thought it was "pass away" ...He has passed away; He has gone away...to where that's the question ...

Kind regards...and see that I don't hear about "excesses" from you on the end of the year...and a happy new year in advance, Paul.

Paul, it seems to be an Americanism and it has become increasingly common here to say 'passed' instead of 'passed away', which is acceptable and better than the other one that annoys me - 'passed over'.

Oh dear, I am becoming a cranky old bat, it will be letters to the papers written in green ink next.

ferval wrote:

Paul, it seems to be an Americanism and it has become increasingly common here to say 'passed' instead of 'passed away', which is acceptable and better than the other one that annoys me - 'passed over'.

Oh dear, I am becoming a cranky old bat, it will be letters to the papers written in green ink next.

Yes, yes, "passed over" the Styx...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_underworld

Ferval, couldn't resist...

Your Paul.

2016 saw too many of my dependables "pass over" this year. God, I hate Christmas! RIP Bjørn - you were missed at dessert.

If I had some antipathy towards Christians and their ilk before the last week or two I now have something more bordering on revulsion. American Christians who voted for Trump can at this stage quietly f*ck off. Brexiteers too. I'm so fed up with sanctimonious hatred of anything outside narrow understanding. That's not what we're (those of us with f*cking brains) are actually designed to do. We're better than that.

RIP Debbie Reynolds. That was just sad, period.

Am I on the correct rant thread?

nordmann wrote:

If I had some antipathy towards Christians and their ilk before the last week or two I now have something more bordering on revulsion. American Christians who voted for Trump can at this stage quietly f*ck off. Brexiteers too.

And what exactly is a "Christian" please? The concept of an ilk is possibly more vague, but is - if one tries to be charitable to oneself on this cold and gloomy last day of December - a marginally less hateful thing to be. Then again, perhaps not. Speaking as a probable ilk (which sounds like a suitably woolly and meek bewildered creature) I am saddened to think that anyone, especially anyone here, finds me revolting. But there you go. I just wish you wouldn't lump everyone together the way you do. It's totally unfair, extremely unkind and, what's more to the point, it's an utterly stupid thing to do. But that's possibly not what you meant by Christians and ilks. You just don't like people who are bigoted and prejudiced and so full of hate that they cannot accept other people's points of view. Reminds me of the time when I, ranting and railing against fundamentalist Christians (and their ilk) was quietly told by a Buddhist friend: "And you, my dear, are exactly like them. You always have to be right."  To which I responded, "But I am right."  We are all hopeless cases.

nordmann wrote:

I'm so fed up with sanctimonious hatred of anything outside narrow understanding. That's not what we're (those of us with f*cking brains) are actually designed to do. We're better than that.

My point exactly.

I read this and thought of you, Temp, and nordmann and MM and P and me - there's much there with which we could all concur not least with this;

We end up doing the same thing; we simply identify our compelling reasons differently – the religious bound to a divine authority; the non-religious to the simple conviction that if it needs doing, it is the right thing to do.

http://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/world-needs-christian-atheism/

Thank you ferval: you do point me - us - in some good directions.

I do hope Priscilla comes back. She is our patron saint now, and I have suggested she chooses a Feast Day - perhaps 1st January (or has that date been bagged already?)? We could then have an Eve of Saint Priscilla and have appropriate celebrations tonight. This place just isn't the same without her.

Seriously, we should all stick together you know - God (choose own word here) help us...