LadyinRetirement wrote:

I came across something on Wikipedia about a book which was published in 1956 and was written by a sociologist, C Wright Mills entitled The Power Elite.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_Elite which focuses on the interweaving of the interests of those in pivotal positions in the corporate, military and political areas.  I haven't read the book and imagine that some of what the writer says boils down to common sense. I have sometimes listened to some alternative media because we maybe don't get the whole story always from the mainstream media but have come to the conclusion that some alternative media streams (not necessarily all of them) are just speculation and more outlandish than mainstream media.  Where the notion of the corporate, the military and the political spheres having intertwined interests evolved into the idea of the rich and powerful offering human sacrifice to a Baphomet goat god I haven't the faintest idea.  I know sacrificing to the Baphomet goat god was something the Templars were accused of by Philippe Le Bel of France (they confessed under torture and Philippe wanted the Templars' money I think).  I'm not saying there couldn't be some people with more money than sense getting involved with bizarre cults and it is acknowledged that in the not so distant past children/teenagers from Orphanages and runaways were exploited (thinking of the Jimmy Savile scandal).

Anyway, I'm trying to use YouTube (when I go there) for sensible content now.  Yesterday I was somewhat sidetracked and started watching clips from Miss Saigon.  I've never seen that musical on stage but over the years there seem to have been some Filipina singers with good voices (Lea Salonga, Rachelle Ann Go to name but two).

 
Lady,

one has to be cautious that one not end in the "Protocols of the elders of Zion"...that conspiracy hoax that has still adepts in the Muslim Middle East...
And it is true that a lot is decided above our heads and that the happy few (the "Plutocarats in the Nazi terminology) have a lot of money in comparison with the bulk of the average others (a few have as much as the whole rest of the population...and yes money gives power...but it is quite a common thread throughout history and  nearly normal...and as I said in my former message it is up to the citizens of the world to push their goverments to make international binding treaties and controls to avoid tax evasion and black money and to avoid damage for the "real" industry and research. Avoid as much as possible the speculation, which is mostly dangerous for the "real" economy...but as the world exist nowadays as an intertwined capitalistic world one has to be prudent to avoid unilateral measurements without coordination with other capitalistic economic big powers...The German Merkel had good intentions, but even the EU is too small without coordination with the US, Japan, China...and the US of Trump seems...

About the Protocols:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion
https://www.amazon.com/Lie-That-Wouldnt-Die-Protocols/dp/0853035954
I read the book first in Dutch as that was the first language translated in from Hebrew...
And up to all what I searched on the net about sources mentioned in the book revealed to be true, even more than in the book was mentioned...but I don't say that the Hebrew state, as recently claimed, are all angels too...

Kind regards from Paul.

You are quite right, Paul - I sometimes feel like punching people who say they don't vote because their voting will make no difference.  (Don't worry I WON'T punch anybody - they might punch back harder). Voting is one chance we have to change matters and when one thinks how hard our ancestors campaigned for the average man or woman to get the right to vote...). I think average citizens need to remind their elected representatives answer to the citizens and not vice versa. May I ask if you mean "speculate" as in the sense of theorising or as in the sense of investing in stocks and shares etc?  I used to know a lady who added to her income slightly by wise investments but she only invested modest sums and never invested above her means.  I'm more of a stick anything in the bank or building society type of woman myself but even those are not always safe nowadays (thinking of the problems with Northern Rock circa 2007/2008 though I never had any of my modest money in that institution).

When it comes to theorising, I have read a few online articles recently about the "Kalergi Plan" with people averring that that plan is why there is much migration from wore torn countries outside Europe into Europe nowadays.  Now I don't know if the "Kalergi Plan" was a hoax or if it existed but it's just a co-incidence that some of the world's population is in turmoil.  Britain is terribly overcrowded but I guess  some migrants/refugees try to come here because a lot of them learn English as a second language.  I said before when I was ill I watched some illuminati-type videos with a sort of dread fascination though I don't believe them - and I have learned one cannot argue with a conspiracy theorist; if one disproves one aspect of their argument they move the goalposts.

Didn't Plato have some idea of a guardian group in his ideal Republic ttps://www.fff.org/explore.../economic-ideas-plato-aristotle-ancient-greeks-part-1/  Would they have been a sort of "elite"?  Then there is a the conundrum that "the glory that was Greece" and "the Splendour that was Rome" used slave labour (I'm stating the obvious again).

In England reference is sometimes made to "the old boys' network" - you will probably know that refers to connections made by former pupils of male-only very expensive schools which they used to further themselves in later life (that's over simplifying somewhat).  The effect of that network may be less in 2018 than it used to be.  I may have mentioned before somewhere that a lady I knew (older than me - deceased a few years ago who had been a secretary in the civil service had three male colleagues, two had attended very expensive private schools (or maybe even what are puzzlingly called "public" schools because it costs money to send a child there) and the third had risen "through the ranks" as it were on merit.  Anyway the one who had risen through the ranks heard the other two speaking when they didn't know he was around saying "Well, he's not really our sort" - that's probably a few decades ago but snobbery at least was around then (though being a snob and actually wielding power are two different things I realise).

Ha ha!  I'm not sure quite how the "cookies" on my computer follow me around but I touched on "speculation" in both its meanings in my earlier post.  Since I've had this macbook (which as I explained at the time was 2nd hand so it's not like I'd laid out a generous sum of money for a brand new one) I've not been able to install Adblock or anything similar and sometimes the adverts drive me bonkers.  I was sending an email to someone I know and there was an advert inviting me to invest in UK property without buying a house so I wonder if the "cookies" remembered that I had typed something about investment above.  I'll politely decline the invitation to invest!

LadyinRetirement wrote:

Ha ha!  I'm not sure quite how the "cookies" on my computer follow me around but I touched on "speculation" in both its meanings in my earlier post.  Since I've had this macbook (which as I explained at the time was 2nd hand so it's not like I'd laid out a generous sum of money for a brand new one) I've not been able to install Adblock or anything similar and sometimes the adverts drive me bonkers.  I was sending an email to someone I know and there was an advert inviting me to invest in UK property without buying a house so I wonder if the "cookies" remembered that I had typed something about investment above.  I'll politely decline the invitation to invest!

Yes Lady whenever you seek during an hour or so for instance in my case for "douche cabines" whenever I open an entry there are advertisements for "douche cabines" now. I did once research for Ferval about caps, especially while an Englishman from Aylesbury came to our factory with a Sherlock Holmes cap...and during one week all advertisements for caps...
And BTW: whenever you open a site they are asking for confirming that you agree to cookies, I suppose for the EU law about privacy mentioned lately by Triceratops...

Kind regards from Paul.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

You are quite right, Paul - I sometimes feel like punching people who say they don't vote because their voting will make no difference.  (Don't worry I WON'T punch anybody - they might punch back harder). Voting is one chance we have to change matters and when one thinks how hard our ancestors campaigned for the average man or woman to get the right to vote...). I think average citizens need to remind their elected representatives answer to the citizens and not vice versa. May I ask if you mean "speculate" as in the sense of theorising or as in the sense of investing in stocks and shares etc?  I used to know a lady who added to her income slightly by wise investments but she only invested modest sums and never invested above her means.  I'm more of a stick anything in the bank or building society type of woman myself but even those are not always safe nowadays (thinking of the problems with Northern Rock circa 2007/2008 though I never had any of my modest money in that institution).

When it comes to theorising, I have read a few online articles recently about the "Kalergi Plan" with people averring that that plan is why there is much migration from wore torn countries outside Europe into Europe nowadays.  Now I don't know if the "Kalergi Plan" was a hoax or if it existed but it's just a co-incidence that some of the world's population is in turmoil.  Britain is terribly overcrowded but I guess  some migrants/refugees try to come here because a lot of them learn English as a second language.  I said before when I was ill I watched some illuminati-type videos with a sort of dread fascination though I don't believe them - and I have learned one cannot argue with a conspiracy theorist; if one disproves one aspect of their argument they move the goalposts.

Didn't Plato have some idea of a guardian group in his ideal Republic ttps://www.fff.org/explore.../economic-ideas-plato-aristotle-ancient-greeks-part-1/  Would they have been a sort of "elite"?  Then there is a the conundrum that "the glory that was Greece" and "the Splendour that was Rome" used slave labour (I'm stating the obvious again).

In England reference is sometimes made to "the old boys' network" - you will probably know that refers to connections made by former pupils of male-only very expensive schools which they used to further themselves in later life (that's over simplifying somewhat).  The effect of that network may be less in 2018 than it used to be.  I may have mentioned before somewhere that a lady I knew (older than me - deceased a few years ago who had been a secretary in the civil service had three male colleagues, two had attended very expensive private schools (or maybe even what are puzzlingly called "public" schools because it costs money to send a child there) and the third had risen "through the ranks" as it were on merit.  Anyway the one who had risen through the ranks heard the other two speaking when they didn't know he was around saying "Well, he's not really our sort" - that's probably a few decades ago but snobbery at least was around then (though being a snob and actually wielding power are two different things I realise).

Lady,

I just entered at five past 11 PM, I wanted to elaborate a full reply about any detail, but now too late this evening...
One item nevertheless...yes we can only change it by voting...but that just works in a parlementary democracy...and even our chosen politicians aren't free either...as I mentioned the German prime Minister...and even read today in the teletext from the Dutch television...the prime minister apologizes to the public for maintaining the tax exemptions for the big multinationals, which otherwise could move to countries were there are even more tax exemptions...

PS I wonder why I have each time to correct "tax", which appears as "taks" and then the second time it remains..the same for "text" which appears as "tekst"...have they located me in the Dutch speaking North of Belgium and hence make Dutch words of my English words...the same on my French forum when I write "Jerôme"  with an accent circonflexe he correct me even on this forum with: "Jerome" and I have to add the accent a second time to let it remain unchanged...

Kind regards from Paul.

Autotext and predictive text act strangely for me at times, Paul.  Now I can be guilty of bashing my comments out and maybe not previewing/proofreading them attentively but there have been times when I have come back to a post a while after posting it and thought "Crumbs did I really write that?" and have realised it was the Autotext function which changed what I had typed.  I can't say it's ALWAYS down to Autotext but sometimes it is.  I know my recent post which mentioned the old TV show "Daktari" may not have been my most serious comment ever on this board but Autotext changed "Daktari" to Dakar - which is why this time I've put it in quotation marks rather than italicising it.

Gosh, the site is quiet at present, though I suppose with it being August many members of Res Hist are on annual leave - though I guess for Meles Meles it is very much the busy season.

I tend to use this as my "general" or my "where I post if I'm not sure where to post" thread.  Thinking about old children's programmes I remembered the character of Bengo the Boxer (about a boxer pop).  I always thought the person who drew the cartoon was Belgian but he was in fact Austrian.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Timym   www.turnipnet.com/whirligig/tv/children/other/bengo.htm  I remember Armand and Michaela Denis presenting wildlife programmes and Hans and Lotte Hass doing programmes about deep sea diving in the days before Jacques Cousteau.  In a radio show I'm Sorry I'll Read that Again from the 1960s (featured a lot of the people who went on to TV success in Monty Python's Flying Circus in due course) John Cleese played a character who was obviously based on Hans Hass - I remember there was one line about (not verbatim) about Vot is this odd-looking creature?  Lotte, (or whatever name had been ascribed to the character based on Lotte) vot are you doing try to cut off my air-supply.  Would the take-off of a German accent be allowed in these days of 'political correctness' - though I think there have been German people who have enjoyed Monty Python albeit Mr Hass was of course Austrian not German.

I spent a bit of time on YouTube yesterday looking at something sensible.  I've found some videos which describe the workings of some of the scams where people ring you up and say your computer or router is compromised - it's by "Jim Browning" and about "Tech Support Scams" if anybody wishes to look.  He also describes how to set up a virtual computer - though I will stick with disconnecting the phone call or suddenly becoming "mutt and jeff".*  Gilgamesh and maybe some other members of the board might be capable of creating a virtual computer but I'd be too scared of going wrong (I've never even made a real one - that was one of the things I was going to try when I retired though it would of course be assembling a computer from existing components rather than making anything from scratch).

* cockney rhyming slang for 'deaf' - based I think on a couple of cartoon (or comic) characters, Mutt and Jeff.
The odd-looking creature was supposed to be Lotte (though the character may not actually have been called Lotte in the spoof).

Addendum here - sorry if I didn't name anybody personally other than Gilgamesh who has the expertise to create a virtual computer. Changing subject, although I'm trying to avoid the "strange" side of YouTube these days, I had been wondering about the scope of the American "First Amendment" giving a right to free speech. For the avoidance of doubt I am all in favour of free speech if it is used sensibly but I thought surely it doesn't give anybody the right to say scurrilous tittle-tattle about folk.  I found a YouTube video about it and it does seem that in fact there are some checks and balances put on speech.  This is a video by an attorney based in California and he does say himself that it is very much a summary.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

I tend to use this as my "general" or my "where I post if I'm not sure where to post" thread.  Thinking about old children's programmes I remembered the character of Bengo the Boxer (about a boxer pop).  I always thought the person who drew the cartoon was Belgian but he was in fact Austrian.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Timym   www.turnipnet.com/whirligig/tv/children/other/bengo.htm  I remember Armand and Michaela Denis presenting wildlife programmes and Hans and Lotte Hass doing programmes about deep sea diving in the days before Jacques Cousteau.  In a radio show I'm Sorry I'll Read that Again from the 1960s (featured a lot of the people who went on to TV success in Monty Python's Flying Circus in due course) John Cleese played a character who was obviously based on Hans Hass - I remember there was one line about (not verbatim) about Vot is this odd-looking creature?  Lotte, (or whatever name had been ascribed to the character based on Lotte) vot are you doing try to cut off my air-supply.  Would the take-off of a German accent be allowed in these days of 'political correctness' - though I think there have been German people who have enjoyed Monty Python albeit Mr Hass was of course Austrian not German.

I spent a bit of time on YouTube yesterday looking at something sensible.  I've found some videos which describe the workings of some of the scams where people ring you up and say your computer or router is compromised - it's by "Jim Browning" and about "Tech Support Scams" if anybody wishes to look.  He also describes how to set up a virtual computer - though I will stick with disconnecting the phone call or suddenly becoming "mutt and jeff".*  Gilgamesh and maybe some other members of the board might be capable of creating a virtual computer but I'd be too scared of going wrong (I've never even made a real one - that was one of the things I was going to try when I retired though it would of course be assembling a computer from existing components rather than making anything from scratch).

* cockney rhyming slang for 'deaf' - based I think on a couple of cartoon (or comic) characters, Mutt and Jeff.
The odd-looking creature was supposed to be Lotte (though the character may not actually have been called Lotte in the spoof).

Lady,

thanks for your comments. I like your meandering...in fact I like it very much...
I suppose it is because I am a bit of the same "nature"...

Kind regards from Paul.

Nielsen wrote:

Regarding window cleaners, there are some around here, also in semi rural areas like where I live, and I do regularly employ one.

I've often wondered why the term 'subrural' has never really been coined in the English language. We talk of suburban areas but never of subrural ones. Maybe it's a question of gravitation. The recent downpours have meant that all that dust from the hot, dry summer has now turned to mud on the paths and streaks on the windows. So our window cleaner will have his work cut out when he next come around. So it's the August Bank Holiday weekend in the UK and in 2018 I'm minded more than ever of the words of poet Sylvia Plath:

'August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.'

An American who, nevertheless, understood the British weather better than the British.

Vizzer,

You mention "Bank Holiday" with a month preceding this, as I understand it, then nowadays the whole of England - Gt. Britain? - close down, but what is the origin of this custom and why is it so named?
Please.

Nielsen, Vizzer will probably explain things better but pro temp a couple of links to articles about bank holidays:- [url=Explainer: Thanks banks? A short history of bank holidays]Explainer: Thanks banks? A short history of bank holidays[/url]  and www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/.../The-man-gave-Bank-Holidays-Why-banker.html

Thank you, Lady, but when clicking on the thread a warning about possible phishing was showed.

Seemed to be okay for me but it's not worth you taking a risk, Nielsen.  I think Bank Holidays possibly already existed but a banker (and I think MP) from the time of Queen Victoria, Sir John Lubbock, increased the number of such holidays - I'll link the Wikipedia entry for him as I think that will be clear of phishing (hope so anyway).  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lubbock,_1st_Baron_Avebury  The number of bank holidays increased over the 20th century also (not a vast number to be honest).

Nielsen wrote:

You mention "Bank Holiday" with a month preceding this, as I understand it, then nowadays the whole of England - Gt. Britain? - close down, but what is the origin of this custom and why is it so named?

Further to LiR's points Nielsen, a 'bank holiday' does what it says on the tin. The banks are basically on holiday. And for this reason many other businesses follow suit. You're right to query whether it's only in England, as the last Monday in August is a bank holiday but only in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It's business as usual in Scotland. For some reason the Scottish August bank holiday falls on the first Monday of the month. I can't remember if it was on this thread or another where nordmann was once bemoaning the fact that Norway has the least number of public holidays of any country in Europe while Ireland has among the most. Not sure where Denmark sits in the bank and public holiday league table but from your question I'd suspect more towards the Norway end rather than the Ireland end. Would that be so?

Vizzer wrote:

Nielsen wrote:

You mention "Bank Holiday" with a month preceding this, as I understand it, then nowadays the whole of England - Gt. Britain? - close down, but what is the origin of this custom and why is it so named?

Further to LiR's points Nielsen, a 'bank holiday' does what it says on the tin. The banks are basically on holiday. And for this reason many other businesses follow suit. You're right to query whether it's only in England, as the last Monday in August is a bank holiday but only in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It's business as usual in Scotland. ... Not sure where Denmark sits in the bank and public holiday league table but from your question I'd suspect more towards the Norway end rather than the Ireland end. Would that be so?

Thank you both for you replies.

You've led me to the see and read some of the following pages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Lists_of_public_holidays_by_country 

Thus I was tempted to read unconstructed and was lost for a couple of hours.

Going by that list then it seems that Norway has 12 public holidays while Ireland has a comparatively modest 9 - so maybe I misremembered the comment made by nordamnn on this. Interesting to see, though, that southern Ireland and Scotland both have their August holiday on the same day.

Vizzer wrote:

Going by that list then it seems that Norway has 12 public holidays while Ireland has a comparatively modest 9 - so maybe I misremembered the comment made by nordamnn on this. Interesting to see, though, that southern Ireland and Scotland both have their August holiday on the same day.

Vizzer,

yes I remember the discussion, while I had difficulties with the difference between bank holidays and public holidays...

But what the heck (as I learned from Temperance), it are the holidays that my boss has offcially have to give to me and where I am paid for...all the rest is window dressing...
And see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_annual_leave_by_country

Who have the least obliged paid holidays in Europe...
Greece 24  Norway 23
The UK 28 and Ireland  29 "sit" in the average...Belgium 34...
But Singapore 18, Hongkong 19, South Korea 15 and Japan even 10.
But that is nothing in comparison with the land of freedom...no interference with the "entrepreneurs"...if they don't need you they can offer you zero holidays and as in the free market it is up to you to accept or not or to negociate.
As I learned recently about Switzerland's health insurance, no state interference...individual contract on the free market...no obliged involvment of the employer and I learned during my last visit, a "franchise" of 2,500 Euro or was it Swiss Franc (approximatively a Franc is 0.9 Euro). That means that you have to spent 2,500 on doctor's cost before you receive the first penny (no Franc)...
As I thought Switzerland followed on the whole the American model...I was happily surprized that here Switzerland is still traditional European with 27 obliged holidays

Kind regards from Paul.

PaulRyckier wrote:

LadyinRetirement wrote:

You are quite right, Paul - I sometimes feel like punching people who say they don't vote because their voting will make no difference.  (Don't worry I WON'T punch anybody - they might punch back harder). Voting is one chance we have to change matters and when one thinks how hard our ancestors campaigned for the average man or woman to get the right to vote...). I think average citizens need to remind their elected representatives answer to the citizens and not vice versa. May I ask if you mean "speculate" as in the sense of theorising or as in the sense of investing in stocks and shares etc?  I used to know a lady who added to her income slightly by wise investments but she only invested modest sums and never invested above her means.  I'm more of a stick anything in the bank or building society type of woman myself but even those are not always safe nowadays (thinking of the problems with Northern Rock circa 2007/2008 though I never had any of my modest money in that institution).

When it comes to theorising, I have read a few online articles recently about the "Kalergi Plan" with people averring that that plan is why there is much migration from wore torn countries outside Europe into Europe nowadays.  Now I don't know if the "Kalergi Plan" was a hoax or if it existed but it's just a co-incidence that some of the world's population is in turmoil.  Britain is terribly overcrowded but I guess  some migrants/refugees try to come here because a lot of them learn English as a second language.  I said before when I was ill I watched some illuminati-type videos with a sort of dread fascination though I don't believe them - and I have learned one cannot argue with a conspiracy theorist; if one disproves one aspect of their argument they move the goalposts.

Didn't Plato have some idea of a guardian group in his ideal Republic ttps://www.fff.org/explore.../economic-ideas-plato-aristotle-ancient-greeks-part-1/  Would they have been a sort of "elite"?  Then there is a the conundrum that "the glory that was Greece" and "the Splendour that was Rome" used slave labour (I'm stating the obvious again).

In England reference is sometimes made to "the old boys' network" - you will probably know that refers to connections made by former pupils of male-only very expensive schools which they used to further themselves in later life (that's over simplifying somewhat).  The effect of that network may be less in 2018 than it used to be.  I may have mentioned before somewhere that a lady I knew (older than me - deceased a few years ago who had been a secretary in the civil service had three male colleagues, two had attended very expensive private schools (or maybe even what are puzzlingly called "public" schools because it costs money to send a child there) and the third had risen "through the ranks" as it were on merit.  Anyway the one who had risen through the ranks heard the other two speaking when they didn't know he was around saying "Well, he's not really our sort" - that's probably a few decades ago but snobbery at least was around then (though being a snob and actually wielding power are two different things I realise).

I just entered at five past 11 PM, I wanted to elaborate a full reply about any detail, but now too late this evening...
One item nevertheless...yes we can only change it by voting...but that just works in a parlementary democracy...and even our chosen politicians aren't free either...as I mentioned the German prime Minister...and even read today in the teletext from the Dutch television...the prime minister apologizes to the public for maintaining the tax exemptions for the big multinationals, which otherwise could move to countries were there are even more tax exemptions...

Lady,

I had good intentions to tackle this evening the whole question, which is perhaps too big to put it in one message...but again half past eleven in the evening...

Apologies from Paul.

And Nielsen and LiR,

re: Nielsen referring to the Dutch "gekocht" (bought) as the German "gekocht" (Dutch: gekookt) (cooked)...

I mentioned yesterday to nordmann two times the expression "crystal clear"...not sure if that was the right expression as we say in Southern
Dutch: "zo klaar als pompwater" (so clear as pump water), while our Dutch Dirk will say: "zo klaar als 'n klontje" (so clear as a piece of white sugar)...

And now I wasn't sure about the English "pump water" as it was not in my paperback Collins...but found it not on internet either till I found the translation here
https://goo.gl/aXsCpU
And at the end I found in my normal Dutch-English dictionary: pompwater: pump water...
And now I see that "crystal clear" seems to be the appropriate expression:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/crystal-clear

Although they gave for the expressions "zo klaar als pompwater/'n klontje" not "crystal clear", but quite other translations...
To write in a foreign language is a difficult task, if you have not the full grasp of that foreign language (if you aren't embedded in that language on the spot and during some years...?)

Kind regards from Paul.

In the UK we do use "crystal clear" or "as clear as crystal" or "as clear as day" for something obvious and in contrast something that one can't understand "as clear as mud". Regarding a difficult to understand piece of literature or legal contract one might say "It's as clear as mud to me".  My Dutch or Flemish is non-existent so your English is better than my Dutch.  I always say I have a working knowledge of French but I had not heard of "dondaine" as a meaningful word as mentioned on (I think) the Romance/Germanic borders thread but MM knew of it as meaning a "quarrel" in the Medieval sense.  Of course languages change and develop and even a person whose mother tongue is English can find English words whose meaning has changed over the centuries puzzling.  It wasn't until I was at senior school that I learned that the word "pretender" as in the sense of the Old Pretender and the Young Pretender at the times of the Jacobite rebellions meant a claimant (as in claimant to the throne).  My younger self assumed that the British who were by the times of the Jacobite rebellions under the sovereignty of the Hanoverians considered the Old and Young Pretenders to be "pretenders" in the sense of being sham or false as in the modern sense of "pretend" https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pretend but I was wrong.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

In the UK we do use "crystal clear" or "as clear as crystal" or "as clear as day" for something obvious and in contrast something that one can't understand "as clear as mud".  Regarding a difficult to understand piece of literature or legal contract one might say "It's as clear as mud to me".  My Dutch or Flemish is non-existent so your English is better than my Dutch.  I always say I have a working knowledge of French but I had not heard of "dondaine" as a meaningful word as mentioned on (I think) the Romance/Germanic borders thread but MM knew of it as meaning a "quarrel" in the Medieval sense.  Of course languages change and develop and even a person whose mother tongue is English can find English words whose meaning has changed over the centuries puzzling.  It wasn't until I was at senior school that I learned that the word "pretender" as in the sense of the Old Pretender and the Young Pretender at the times of the Jacobite rebellions meant a claimant (as in claimant to the throne).  My younger self assumed that the British who were by the times of the Jacobite rebellions under the sovereignty of the Hanoverians considered the Old and Young Pretenders to be "pretenders" in the sense of being sham or false as in the modern sense of "pretend" https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pretend but I was wrong.

Lady,

thanks for your "it is clear as mud"...

"It wasn't until I was at senior school that I learned that the word "pretender" as in the sense of the Old Pretender and the Young Pretender at the times of the Jacobite rebellions meant a claimant (as in claimant to the throne).  My younger self assumed that the British who were by the times of the Jacobite rebellions under the sovereignty of the Hanoverians considered the Old and Young Pretenders to be "pretenders" in the sense of being sham or false as in the modern sense of "pretend" https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pretend but I was wrong."

For me it is even worser, as we use as many times in our dialect the French "prétendre"
https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/pr%C3%A9tendre/63813
And we use it in the same sense, although we conjugate it the Dutch way   Hij pretendeerde dat hij daar geweest was (He claimed that he had been there) in the same sense as the French "prétendre" and the Dutch: "beweren". Although to be honest, if we use "pretenderen" or even "beweren" it has mostly also a connotation of doubt; as in "he claimed to be Napoleon"
And in that it seems then to be equal to English:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pretend

And now they make me doubt again as they speak now about transitif and intransitif and the Anglo-French origin as the nowadays connotation...are it the French, who have during time changed from "feign" to "claim"?

And so my time is up again. No elaborated review of what I promised yesterday to you...

Kind regards from Paul.

Addendum to the previous message.

Lady,

https://www.etymonline.com/word/pretend

And it seems I can't copy and paste on this site anymore. Is that the new tendency on internet as I mentioned to Vizzer today?
In any case the French seems to have maintained the connotation of "claim" from Latin and Old French and the English too till in the 15th century where it changed to "feign"...? (French: "feindre", Dutch: "veinzen") Who said that we weren't Europeans all together ...

And transitif is "having a direct object" and intransitif without an object...

Kind regards again from Paul.

I'd quite forgotten the surviving use of "pretend" in modern English as an intransitive verb, Paul.  I think (but don't take this as gospel) it is usually used in that sense in a negative way these days - for instance, I could say about myself "I would not pretend to an expert knowledge of history but I am an interested layperson" - hope that's not too verbose.  Nigel Farage has a tendency to sound pompous.

Yesterday I was doing some mental fan casting (thinking which actor or actress should play a certain role) and I thought if the people making the show could find someone who looked like a young version of the late Romy Schneider she might suit.  I looked up Romy Schneider on Wikipedia and was saddened to learn she had had considerable sadness in her life (a son died).  I liked her in Sissi (I only ever saw the first film) though I don't know how closely she resembled historical Sissi (Empress Elisabeth of Austria) physically.  Then today I went on the Romance/Germanic borders thread and mentioned something about Merano in (a now Italian) part of the Tyrol and when I did a google search on the town there was mention of "Sissi's Path" so I thought what a co-incidence - I'd just been thinking of Sissi the day before.

I'm sure I mentioned something about a British TV series from my childhood about William Tell (which hero was in real life based in a German speaking canton of Switzerland).  Alas on a 1950s budget Wales had to double for Switzerland so unlike Lord Byron viewers never had a chance to see "the soaring Jungfrau rear"*.  I couldn't resist posting a short clip from the series - Conrad Phillips who played William Tell did most of his own stunts I think and did suffer some injuries.  It probably looks amateurish now but it was 60 years ago - he looked okay in leggings though, not all men do (and maybe not all women).  He did suffer from VPL though.  (In the underwear departments of shops/stores selling ladies' underthings a selling point is sometimes made of a pair of smalls having "no VPL" (visible panty line).  

* I think Lord Byron was referring to the Jungfrau mountain rearing high, as in a horse rearing up on its back legs, rather than the rear (back end) of the Jungfrau.  The quotation comes from the sixth line in the top verse in this link to Childe Harold in wikisources.  https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:The_Works_of_Lord_Byron...2.../427  Interesting to note that the poem makes it sound as though when Byron visited nobody had ascended the Jungfrau (so I suppose now I'll have to go and look when the Jungfrau was first climbed to the summit).  Editing a day later: having a bit of a problem with the link but Byron mentions something about the snows of the Jungfrau being untrodden (paraphrasing).  Actually I'm confused because an article in The Independent says that when Lord Byron left England for his journey during which he gazed admiringly at the Jungfrau in 1816 [url=https://www.independent.co.uk %E2%80%BA GO %E2%80%BA News & Advice]https://www.independent.co.uk › GO › News & Advice[/url] but Wikipedia says the first ascent of the mountain was in 1811 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungfrau

I know I said that I am going to try and be serious but a newspaper (The Mirror?) - it's so long since I bought a real physical newspaper rather than looking online - used, and possibly still does, to do a "Separated at Birth" feature about lookalikes.  I have to admit the likeness between these two persons (both politicians) but from opposite sides of the Atlantic had not occurred to me but someone from America clocked it.  (The still of the BJ video is not to the best of my knowledge BJ).

So - what do you think - BJ and DT separated at birth (apparently BJ was born in the USA which I didn't know before)?

Lady, the whole evening done research on the "net" (web) sparked by a thread on Passion Histoire concerning the beginning of state centralisation against the free cities. Starting with Louis of Male count of Flanders and the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Ypres they were even joined by Brabant, Hainaut and Liège...and the spark was the permission to Bruges to dig a canal between the "Brugse Leie" and Deinze at the "Leie" (the Lys), but Ghent was not pleased by that for economic and water supply reasons and the "Witte Kaproenen" (les Chaperons Blancs) (The White Chaperons)) attacked the diggers of Bruges...
And as my father was from Bruges and my mother from Deinze there were many times family disputes about the event even some 600 years later (rememberings from the childhood)
I found a lot in French and Dutch sites (even contradictory to each ohter) but nearly nothing in English to explain it to you...
I just found out in an article of the Britannica that in English it is "white hoods" instead of "chaperons" and so found something more:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-II-count-of-Flanders
"But the triumph of the White Hoods, as the popular party was called, was of short duration. On Nov. 27, 1382, Artevelde suffered a crushing defeat from a large French army at Roosebeke and was himself slain. Louis of Mâle died two years later, leaving his only daughter Margaret, duchess of Burgundy. Flanders then became a portion of the great Burgundian domain."
And to be correct it has to be "Westrozebeke" and not "Roosebeke" as in most French articles...
https://goo.gl/GE9fj1

Kind regards from Paul.

PaulRyckier wrote:

Lady, the whole evening done research on the "net" (web) sparked by a thread on Passion Histoire concerning the beginning of state centralisation against the free cities. Starting with Louis of Male count of Flanders and the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Ypres they were even joined by Brabant, Hainaut and Liège...and the spark was the permission to Bruges to dig a canal between the "Brugse Leie" and Deinze at the "Leie" (the Lys), but Ghent was not pleased by that for economic and water supply reasons and the "Witte Kaproenen" (les Chaperons Blancs) (The White Chaperons)) attacked the diggers of Bruges...
And as my father was from Bruges and my mother from Deinze there were many times family disputes about the event even some 600 years later (rememberings from the childhood)
I found a lot in French and Dutch sites (even contradictory to each ohter) but nearly nothing in English to explain it to you...
I just found out in an article of the Britannica that in English it is "white hoods" instead of "chaperons" and so found something more:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-II-count-of-Flanders
"But the triumph of the White Hoods, as the popular party was called, was of short duration. On Nov. 27, 1382, Artevelde suffered a crushing defeat from a large French army at Roosebeke and was himself slain. Louis of Mâle died two years later, leaving his only daughter Margaret, duchess of Burgundy. Flanders then became a portion of the great Burgundian domain."
And to be correct it has to be "Westrozebeke" and not "Roosebeke" as in most French articles...
https://goo.gl/GE9fj1

Kind regards from Paul.

LiR and Paul,

Your description af your parents disputes from different points of view, and of the contradictory articles in French and Dutch are among the things that makes history matter to me. [Weak pun on the title Res Historica.]
This describes imho precisely why there's no objective truth in history.

As a personal point regarding the history of the Netherlands, I regret not being able to read and understand  the French and Spanish sources and only partly the Dutch ones, as I think that comparisons of these with the German ones except and then 'just' the English ones who must - as mainly translations, thus having lost in part some the original meaning or perhaps having the translators bias imposed - be considered secondary to those named before. 
If the above paragraph appears muddled, I'm sorry.

Kind regards from me.

Nielsen, I learned some German once (NOT to an advanced level) but I've forgotten most of it now so I'm sure your German is better than mine.  My French is okay but since I haven't been to France for several years I don't know the current slang - I'm sure I said before I have to watch Engrenages with subtitles.  I have no knowledge of Dutch.  I'm learning Spanish and British Sign Language and while I'm past the beginners' stage I'm nowhere near being an expert (I'm probably nearer to beginner level than to advanced if I'm honest). I wonder if when writers of historical novels who are not themselves able to read the primary sources (if it's in a period when those are in Latin or Norman French or whatever) they stumble across questionable translations and that's why a number of historical novels have their facts hokey to say the least.  I did study Latin at school but again I've forgotten most of it.

I haven't got round to it yet but if I do get round to reviving my idea of doing a blog as a resource for shorthand writers (I know there are not so many of us now) would there be any objection if I took inspiration from any subjects mentioned on Res Hist?  I'd use my own wording and try and use public domain sites for information such as Wikipedia (and credit Wikipedia).  Just asking.

Nielsen wrote:

PaulRyckier wrote:

Lady, the whole evening done research on the "net" (web) sparked by a thread on Passion Histoire concerning the beginning of state centralisation against the free cities. Starting with Louis of Male count of Flanders and the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Ypres they were even joined by Brabant, Hainaut and Liège...and the spark was the permission to Bruges to dig a canal between the "Brugse Leie" and Deinze at the "Leie" (the Lys), but Ghent was not pleased by that for economic and water supply reasons and the "Witte Kaproenen" (les Chaperons Blancs) (The White Chaperons)) attacked the diggers of Bruges...
And as my father was from Bruges and my mother from Deinze there were many times family disputes about the event even some 600 years later (rememberings from the childhood)
I found a lot in French and Dutch sites (even contradictory to each ohter) but nearly nothing in English to explain it to you...
I just found out in an article of the Britannica that in English it is "white hoods" instead of "chaperons" and so found something more:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-II-count-of-Flanders
"But the triumph of the White Hoods, as the popular party was called, was of short duration. On Nov. 27, 1382, Artevelde suffered a crushing defeat from a large French army at Roosebeke and was himself slain. Louis of Mâle died two years later, leaving his only daughter Margaret, duchess of Burgundy. Flanders then became a portion of the great Burgundian domain."
And to be correct it has to be "Westrozebeke" and not "Roosebeke" as in most French articles...
https://goo.gl/GE9fj1

Kind regards from Paul.

LiR and Paul,

Your description af your parents disputes from different points of view, and of the contradictory articles in French and Dutch are among the things that makes history matter to me. [Weak pun on the title Res Historica.]
This describes imho precisely why there's no objective truth in history.

As a personal point regarding the history of the Netherlands, I regret not being able to read and understand  the French and Spanish sources and only partly the Dutch ones, as I think that comparisons of these with the German ones except and then 'just' the English ones who must - as mainly translations, thus having lost in part some the original meaning or perhaps having the translators bias imposed - be considered secondary to those named before. 
If the above paragraph appears muddled, I'm sorry.

Kind regards from me.

Nielsen and LiR,

the whole evening busy about this subject on Passion Histoire:
http://passion-histoire.net/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=40141&start=15
See you today a bit later! in the day...

Kind regards to both from Paul.

It's not a bad day weatherwise here so I've been trying to do a few real life (i.e. non-internet) things.  Some apples are starting to fall off the tree in the gardening so I'm wondering whether I can make some sort of an apple preserve.  They are eating apples rather than cooking applies but with some of them either birds or winged insects have taken a bite out of them so I'm trying to think of a way I can save at least part of the apple (the bit that's not been eaten).

Nielsen wrote:

PaulRyckier wrote:

Lady, the whole evening done research on the "net" (web) sparked by a thread on Passion Histoire concerning the beginning of state centralisation against the free cities. Starting with Louis of Male count of Flanders and the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Ypres they were even joined by Brabant, Hainaut and Liège...and the spark was the permission to Bruges to dig a canal between the "Brugse Leie" and Deinze at the "Leie" (the Lys), but Ghent was not pleased by that for economic and water supply reasons and the "Witte Kaproenen" (les Chaperons Blancs) (The White Chaperons)) attacked the diggers of Bruges...
And as my father was from Bruges and my mother from Deinze there were many times family disputes about the event even some 600 years later (rememberings from the childhood)
I found a lot in French and Dutch sites (even contradictory to each ohter) but nearly nothing in English to explain it to you...
I just found out in an article of the Britannica that in English it is "white hoods" instead of "chaperons" and so found something more:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-II-count-of-Flanders
"But the triumph of the White Hoods, as the popular party was called, was of short duration. On Nov. 27, 1382, Artevelde suffered a crushing defeat from a large French army at Roosebeke and was himself slain. Louis of Mâle died two years later, leaving his only daughter Margaret, duchess of Burgundy. Flanders then became a portion of the great Burgundian domain."
And to be correct it has to be "Westrozebeke" and not "Roosebeke" as in most French articles...
https://goo.gl/GE9fj1

Kind regards from Paul.

LiR and Paul,

Your description af your parents disputes from different points of view, and of the contradictory articles in French and Dutch are among the things that makes history matter to me. [Weak pun on the title Res Historica.]
This describes imho precisely why there's no objective truth in history.

As a personal point regarding the history of the Netherlands, I regret not being able to read and understand  the French and Spanish sources and only partly the Dutch ones, as I think that comparisons of these with the German ones except and then 'just' the English ones who must - as mainly translations, thus having lost in part some the original meaning or perhaps having the translators bias imposed - be considered secondary to those named before. 
If the above paragraph appears muddled, I'm sorry.

Kind regards from me.

 
Nielsen, I found the day before yesterday why the Dutch wiki about the Ghent revolt against Louis of Maele was contradictory with the French wiki...

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentse_Opstand_(1379-1385)
En français:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9vo ... ons_blancs
As the Dutch wiki used valuable sources, the French wiki used this:
Et maintenant je vois: c'est justement un livre comme celui que je voulais proposer du 19ième siècle, pour vous laisser savourer comment l'histoire était écrite dans ce temps:
And now I see: it is just a book as the one that I wanted to propose you from the 19th century to let you savour how history was written in those times:
https://goo.gl/4FpVuu
https://books.google.be/books?id=opI6AAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Now you see how certain wikis use invaluable sources in one language as opposite to the sources of other languages...

Kind regards from Paul.

Well, thanks for all your help, Paul.  I've just seen something on the news about people giving up social media for a month.  I don't "do" Facebook or Twitter though I think they have their places.  I'm trying to do so but it would be good for me to ignore the frivolous side of YouTube for a month - I can still look for things to do with learning Spanish or sign language as I've rather been "coasting" with those classes for a while.  But before the month begins I have had niggling thoughts in my mind about where certain strange ideas originated.  Anyway, I have found something on the internet debunking the "13 illuminati bloodlines" idea - https://ionamiller.weebly.com/debunking-bloodline.html  - (Edit in bold-rest original comment). N.B. I looked at this article more attentively (see my next post) and actually some of its contents are questionable; I've mentioned that in my next post.  Some of it is okay. I'm not a medically qualified person so can't verify how accurate or not the contents of the article are.  The notion (of the murky illuminati bloodlines) seems to have been written about in a book by one Mr Fritz Springmeier whom Wikipedia says is a "right-wing conspiracy theorist".  I'm a little perturbed to find out that his book is on the CIA site though which would seem to give it a (spurious?) authority.  I can't get the link to work but if anyone wants to (which nobody probably will) he or she can google "cia" and "bloodlinesoftheilluminati".  Some hoaxes debunk themselves really - I mean the old-fashioned one about having the secret to turn base metal into gold - well if that was really true and the world and his wife learned it and set about turning base metal into gold, well gold would soon become worthless wouldn't it.  I know there are certain things that gold has going for it besides its rarity value but I remember learning at school that there were fixed quotas put on the amount of diamonds mined because there was a considerable amount of ore (are diamonds mined from ore or is the raw material named otherwise*) in the mines. *I have heard the phrase "diamond in the rough" of course.

Now back to something more sensible even if it's watching "Clean My Space" videos.  "LiR get on with actually cleaning your space instead of just watching videos about it" do I hear you collectively chorus?  I have found some of the ideas the lady on the videos gives to be practical though.

I've had another look at the 'debunking bloodline' article I linked the other day and on reflection I think it is perhaps a half sensible - half a bit "out there" article.  The writer says "the author has traced her own bloodline back to Sumerian" which I didn't notice before and which made me go "harrumph".  She does disagree with David Icke though so she's not all bad.  She makes some valid points but you have to weigh through some airy-fairy stuff to get to the good bits. Anyway, I doubt if the average contributor to Res Hist believes in the 13 illuminati bloodlines in any case.

There's been a bit of YouTube drama - one lady did a "transvestigation" of another lady YouTuber and the  second lady did a reaction video (which was quite funny).  Then the second lady's fans went and commented on the first lady's channel saying she was silly and now the first lady is calling foul and saying the second lady is bullying her.  Well, the first lady threw the first punch....Without being disrespectful to genuine transgender people if somebody called me a "tranny" I'd feel like taking a lot more action than making a funny reaction video.

I read something about extending/renovating a listed building and there was something about opening up a bricked-up window.  I remember hearing something about windows being bricked up at one time because of a window tax (there may be something about it on this site but I don't feel like ploughing through the whole site at present).  In my town there is a house with a bricked up window with a cat painted in the bricked up space.  Again, going back to the 1950s there may have been mention of the tax in an episode of a BBC TV programme (they were 5 minute snippets) called Stranger than Fiction - mind you that's going back to the time of the Potter's Wheel interlude and the white kitten so I may not remember 100% accurately.

On occasion I'm going to Youtube, and that mostly to hear old music remembered from my childhood and youth, I hasten to say, but ever so often if hearing some e.g. US or German music there'll be racial and/or political comments most often less than relevant, equally so when some Eastern European nationalist brings out their political messages. I tend to avoid reading the messages and just listen to the music.
My personal point is that I think of the words of that tube as being less regulated than the output of what comes from a communal cesspit, and just about as trustworthy. 
I am aware that this is unfair to the 'good' commenters, but for pointers on political matters I've come to prefer Wiki.

Now I'll be hearing a Chech tune from 1925, here 

Niels,

 I immediatly recognized the melody from my father's time and indeed from the Czechian...
and along the wiki also Rosamunde from Germany and a French one too
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rats,_kuch_en_bonen
"Rats, kuch en bonen is een liedtekst van Ferry van Delden die wordt gezongen op de melodie van het Tsjechische Škoda lásky van componist Jaromír Vejvoda. De in die tijd bekende zanger Lou Bandy bezong er in november 1939 het soldatenleven in de mobilisatietijd mee. Het beschrijft onder andere het dagelijkse soldatenmenu. Rats heeft betrekking op stamppot van een paar dagen oud, kuch is munitiebrood en bonen waren de dagelijkse toevoeging aan het menu.
De melodie werd later vooral bekend van de Duitse versie Rosamunde, die begin 1975 in de schlagerversie van Dennie Christian een grote hit was in de Benelux. De Franse versie heet Frida oum papa en is de opkomstmars van voetbalclub Olympique Marseille."
We sang it of course in the Dutch version ....
DIRK if you are there...



Kind regards from Paul.

Addendum to the previous.

And Niels you touched there a melody that went around the world as I see it now...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_Barrel_Polka




Kind regards from Paul.

The Oktoberfest song reminded me of something I'd heard that the British music hall song Down at the Old Bull and Bush was based on an American song.  I did some looking around on the internet and crumbs it is, the original being Under the Anheuser Bush which was apparently written to promote Budweiser.  A snippet on YouTube of a 1904 version of the original and an article about the source song:- https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Under_the_Anheuser_Bush 

Some decades ago I wore a red suit and a red beret (or tammy) and was quietly confident that I looked smart though of course I didn't say so.  I was brought down to earth when somebody said "Red 'at* no drawers" ("drawers" in this sense meant a lady's undies).  Odd what random memories come back after many years.  Today I was wondering where the saying came from and found this explanation on "Me Dads (sic) Old Sayings" a thread on a Birmingham History Forum (Birmingham in this case being the UK one).  [url=birminghamhistory.co.uk %E2%80%BA ... %E2%80%BA History & Nostalgia %E2%80%BA Brummie Sayings & Language,]birminghamhistory.co.uk › ... › History & Nostalgia › Brummie Sayings & Language,[/url]** Somebody had said the saying derived from prostitutes wearing red hats as a sort of code to denote their "trade" but it's also been posited that it could mean someone who was flashy but not really having much substance.  There is a variant "Red shoes no drawers"...and I've still not found a definitive origin (or meaning) for the phrase.

* "hat" spoken by a person who dropped their aitches (letter h).
** My second attempt at linking - it looks okay when I am in typing or edit mode but when I post the comment the link does not post as a hyperlink.

http://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/me-dads-old-sayings.34719/

The ascii character codes in your link are stopping it from working. If you copy the URL and paste it into the link fields that you get when you use the appropriate button just make sure that it's being pasted without these characters.

I checked out the website, found the thread you mentioned, and inserted the link in your previous post just to see what happened. It seemed to work alright for me in any case.

Okay nordmann, thanks for the information.  I'm not sure that I noticed those characters when I posted but I'll try to be aware in future.

When I posted something about Boris Johnson and Donald Trump being "separated at birth" the other day I was of course being flippant but I hope we're not going to get an orange-haired leader of our own in this country.  I've nothing against red-haired people per se.  My late mother had something of a resemblance to the late Katherine Hepburn - though Mum let her hair go grey naturally when the time came.

Does anyone have experience of disc binding - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc-binding  I recently watched a clip on YouTube about a lady making her own notebook using such a method.  It looked like it might be a "fun" thing to do - I was thinking with regard to a homemade shorthand notebook. Sometimes doing something practical relaxes me...though it's still fairly easy to pick up a reporter's notebook still in Asda or Wilko's, (even if real life reporters have their digital recording devices these daya) or the local sub-post office so it would be a project for enjoyment rather than money saving.

"
"Rats, kuch en bonen is een liedtekst van Ferry van Delden die wordt gezongen op de melodie van het Tsjechische Škoda lásky van componist Jaromír Vejvoda. De in die tijd bekende zanger Lou Bandy bezong er in november 1939 het soldatenleven in de mobilisatietijd mee. Het beschrijft onder andere het dagelijkse soldatenmenu. Rats heeft betrekking op stamppot van een paar dagen oud, kuch is munitiebrood en bonen waren de dagelijkse toevoeging aan het menu.
De melodie werd later vooral bekend van de Duitse versie Rosamunde, die begin 1975 in de schlagerversie van Dennie Christian een grote hit was in de Benelux. De Franse versie heet Frida oum papa en is de opkomstmars van voetbalclub Olympique Marseille."
We sang it of course in the Dutch version ....
DIRK if you are there...


Yes Paul,
 I am around and that Lou Bandy brings back memories to when I was 7 years old.
Actually why they called it kuch instead of just bread has always puzzled me. I suppose just an army slang.
Btw , that kuch was quite nice when it was just baked.
And the kuch eaten by the German army was darker in colour and a bit of a sour taste.

Dirk

Dear Dirk,

my memories going back only immediately after WWII...but as a youngman I sang it too..(if you can call "my" singing, singing)
Those were the times...
How comes it that the childhood later brings back the happy memories and not the bad ones...? Even the bad ones are coloured rose...nordmann? Or was it that I had a happy childhood?

Kind regards from Paul.

I can't ignore the ingress of water in the kitchen when it rains anymore.  Somebody fixed a similar problem for me a few years ago and I should still have his phone number somewhere so will have to find the number and phone him up.  Maybe I can put some tarpaulin (over the outside of the flat roof) temporarily till it is seen to.  First I have to get some tarpaulin.

Thanks to Paul for the info about the French/German border (and other peoples' contributions).  I've bought my new fridge/freezer which will be delivered over the next few days and have contacted someone about the roof.  The bad news is  the gent can't come (i.e. about the roof) until 24th Sept as he's going on holiday tomorrow.  I've ordered some tarpaulin 4m x 10m though I think I really need a bigger sheet.  It's not coming till Monday - it's not supposed to be raining today but there's rain forecast tomorrow.  Maybe I can get some cheap and cheery plastic tablecloth stuff in the meantime (and move anything electric away from a possible leak).  It's the sort of job that would have been suitable for the hot weather in the summer but since I've had the coeliac disease I get very fatigued sometimes and forgetful.

LiR,

Re yours "... It's the sort of job that would have been suitable for the hot weather in the summer   ..."

but did you know of this calamity then, Lady?

I'd noticed a bit of damp in the kitchen but didn't realise it was as bad.  It did cross my mind to ring the chap who fixed it a few years ago to at least get an opinion but I was not 100% healthwise and forgot.  Anyway I've found a video on YouTube that might give me an idea what to do temporarily.

Editing this comment.  I've put some plastic (plastic table cloth and black plastic bag type) on the flat roof.  It was ground floor level so I climbed out of my bedroom window and had a go.  It's probably terribly Heath Robinson (i.e. rough and ready and not at all expert).  I need stronger sheeting to cover the roof really.  As I say a gentleman has said he will come on 24th September to look at it and he would have come earlier only he is off on holiday I think tomorrow for 10 days or just under.

LiR - I'd strongly advise you to get it seen to as quickly as possible. I had a small hole in a gutter that caused rain-water to dribble down the outside of the house - so no actualy water penetration - and yet I'm still, six months later, having to repeatedly paint over the black mould patches that regularly appear on the inside bedroom walls. The defective gutter was fixed months ago (February) but the effects of the original water penetration are still with me ... even on a south-facing wall and in the sunny south of France.