Green George wrote:

Ah yes - when we travelled over to Ostend (usually on the Koningen Fabiola), the Belgian franc was at 140 to the pound and the French one was about 1400. Much confusion when the New Franc was introduced - 100 old to one new - because the French continued for years quoting prices in the old currency. Even when the pound slipped into the 130s, most shops still accepted sterling at the 140 rate.

Gil,

those were the times! When Great Britain in our eyes was still great. I am not sure if one can make it great again, not sure if even Trump can make "America" (the US) great again...the times are changed...we live in an interconnected "world"...but we can always ask Nigel Farage to blame it on the EU...

Yes indeed 140 Belgian francs in the time of the Koningin Fabiola...
I was as a "commis" "moustique" in the restaurant on the Artevelde...
"Ten behoeve van het steeds toenemend autoverkeer werd reeds in 1948 een speciaal hiervoor bestemd schip te water gelaten, de Prinses Josephine-Charlotte, de eerste « car-ferry » van de Oostende-Dover-verbinding. Dit schip, met een capaciteit van 100 auto’s en 700 reizigers, maakte zijn eerste overvaart op 3 juni 1949. Een tweede vaartuig van hetzelfde type, de Artevelde, kwam in 1958 in dienst, een derde carferry, de Koningin Fabiola, in 1962, een vierde, de Koning Boudewijn, in 1965, en ten slotte de Prinses Astrid in 1968."
"Een tweede vaartuig van hetzelfde type, de Artevelde, kwam in 1958 in dienst"
a second ship of the same type came into service in 1958, the Artevelde

and I only a month on the boats...many times "zeeziek" (seasick) and with all those meals under the nose...and these carferries weren't as stable as the nowadays Stena line, dipping their nose in the water in the length, but at the same time turning from larboard to starboard and vice versa and in stormy weather even worser and that was too much for me...nowadays all kind of electronic devices to compensate the movements...
and long shifts and not in my case too much money ...so I immediately changed to work in the bricklayers branch in the school vacation...and there stable ground (had no fear of heights, fresh air and nearly three times more earnings...

One impertinent question Gil and don't answer if you find it too much personal...came you many times to Belgium in those times?

Kind regards from Paul.

I see now that it appeared twice, I think it is due to the slow reaction time of the forum. A message appears: there is sent a new message while you made your message...and then they ask "save or modify" and if you click on "save" you have it...nordmann?

We went to Belgium four or five years running - a week in Blankenberge mostly on the beach (to the accompaniment of the ice cream seller's continual "Ijsmaar - glaces - ijsmaar - glaces - ice cream" and the occasional toot on the life guard's trumpet) then a similar period in Mons and a leisurely trip back to Calais through France usually taking in Paris (which was usually closed for the "fermeture annuelle" so whatever was open was cheaper and less crowded than usual).

I'll bet you never got the beach at Blankenberge just for yourselves and as deserted as this ...



 ... the beach with the Hotel Imperiale behind - a photo taken by my Dad in March 1946 when the Imperiale was an RAF convalescence centre and he was there recovering from pneumonia.

Is the Hotel Imperiale still there?

MM - You must remember that my visits were during a period no more than 1/3rd of the way through the time between that photo and now. Yes, the tower structure seems familiar, but not sure about the rest. More bodies in my time, but scarcely any more clothing than in the photo.

Green George wrote:

We went to Belgium four or five years running - a week in Blankenberge mostly on the beach (to the accompaniment of the ice cream seller's continual "Ijsmaar - glaces - ijsmaar - glaces - ice cream" and the occasional toot on the life guard's trumpet) then a similar period in Mons and a leisurely trip back to Calais through France usually taking in Paris (which was usually closed for the "fermeture annuelle" so whatever was open was cheaper and less crowded than usual).

Thank you Gil for your personal rememberings (remembrances?) and yes August when Paris is dead and yes I remember that we discussed Mons on the BBC. And Blankenberge...In Ostend on the beach if I recall it well (not often at the beach while we lived at the beach ) it was "Frisco-o-o-o, Frisco-o-o..."  I think each "plage" had its different "mannerisms", a bit as the different factories I knew had their own "local" culture...(friendly, strict, Gestapo-like and all that )

Gil, as I see it your family and mine had not that different strategies, although we both lived at a different side of the "Channel"...

Kind regards from Paul.

Meles meles wrote:

I'll bet you never got the beach at Blankenberge just for yourselves and as deserted as this ...



 ... the beach with the Hotel Imperiale behind - a photo taken by my Dad in March 1946 when the Imperiale was an RAF convalescence centre and he was there recovering from pneumonia.

Is the Hotel Imperiale still there?

Meles meles,

"Is the Hotel Imperiale still there?"

I thought it was easy to find it immediately back on the internet, but as it don't exist anymore...and not one direct source but all indirect...as I recognized the Casino...you don't recognize it nowadays as it is refurbished...and it is already the second building from 1934...
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casino_Blankenberge

But no Hotel Impérial...found at the end an indirect source:
Zeedijk 59-60 built in 1864
And a photo:



And thank you both for your personal souvenirs.

Have to start a difficult message about Nazism and Hitler both influenced by thoughts already present and influencing each other, will now say that until now they only talked about how Hitler came to power...
http://passion-histoire.net/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=41020
http://passion-histoire.net/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=22834


Kind regards from Paul.

The only time I rode in one of those was at a place which remained under German occupation long after Blankenberge was liberated - St Helier.

I can't add anything pertinent about the beaches in either Belgium or St Helier though as mentioned previously I passed through Ostend en route a couple of times many, many years ago.  The gent who was supposed to be fixing the flat roof hasn't turned up.  I've shot off an email asking if there is a problem - I thought it was better to be tactful.

Edit: Heard from the chap - he said he thought he'd said Wednesday.  I'm booked in for my flu jab tomorrow afternoon at the doc's so I've sent another email asking if he can do the work without me being there.  Well I can be there in the morning.

My roof has been fixed at last. I rearranged my flu jab appointment because the job had a couple of interruptions when the work was disrupted by showers.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

My roof has been fixed at last. I rearranged my flu jab appointment because the job had a couple of interruptions when the work was interrupted by showers.

Lady, I am so glad for you that that problem is finally fixed. And how is it now with the "English" window that opens to the outside?

Kind regards from your friend Paul.

The window is still in need of a permanent fix, Paul.  It is in the front of the house.  I have temporarily put hardboard and plastic over the hole there.

I have been watching the BBC Breakfast programme and for once found it (or one element of it) interesting.  I couldn't find a thread specifically dedicated to the Armistice though I'm sure such a momentous incident must have been touched on previously here.  There was a feature about Nieuwpoort  in Belgium and mention was made of how the mechanics (sluices and locks) which controlled the incoming and outgoing tides in the harbour there were used to create a lake (from the outgoing tide) i.e. flooded the area to stop the German advance.  Then some school children were shown touring a copy trench that someone has made in Kent.  Then Michael Morpurgo (British author) was shown reading one of his stories aloud to some school children.  It's so easy for these events to seem remote nowadays so it pleases me if it is made interesting.

For Temperance if she sees this, a bit of trivia, before he played Jon Snow (one of the male leads in Game of Thrones) Kit Harington played the boy who owned the horse in a stage version of War Horse.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

The window is still in need of a permanent fix, Paul.  It is in the front of the house.  I have temporarily put hardboard and plastic over the hole there.

Lady, you don't believe it, but as I advised you to use putty to put the glass in your damaged window, I have done it myself now in the wrotten wood holes underneath a window and repaint it and it works.

Kind regards from Paul.

Oh, not that I disbelieve you Paul - but that particular frame isn't in a very wonderful state.  The wood itself is going.  I bought some clear fabric (or it may be a type of PVC) initially to use to patch the roof but the bin bags held until the roofers came and fixed it (the flat roof that is).  I was thinking of putting some of the clear stuff over the place where the glass has gone.  The work on the roof made a dent in my piggy bank so I want to build my finances up a bit before I do the window (or have it done).  Things had been a bit quiet on the typing front and in fact I was thinking of trying out for a couple of other online work things (not that they pay brilliantly) but the typing has suddenly picked up again.  I have put putty round windows (sometimes where the existing has got a bit thin) before.  My DIY tends to be "Heath-Robinson" (a bit rough and ready or maybe a LOT rough and ready) but I am told extra and unsightly dried putty can be filed away.

LiR - if you haven't got a blender or juicer then a sharp knife & chopping board or a julienne mandoline or a pestle & mortar (or all three) should work.

Lady,

" I have put putty round windows (sometimes where the existing has got a bit thin) before.  My DIY tends to be "Heath-Robinson" (a bit rough and ready or maybe a LOT rough and ready) but I am told extra and unsightly dried putty can be filed away."
Do you speak about putty?
And Vizzer:
"LiR - if you haven't got a blender or juicer then a sharp knife & chopping board or a julienne mandoline or a pestle & mortar (or all three) should work."

It is all Greek (Dutch: Chinese) to me: do you both speak about putty? If it is about "hard" putty, I just kneaded (I now see for the first time in my life that it is the same as in Dutch: "kneedde) some years old hard putty from a closed! plastic container to workable putty again. The trick is to press it between your hand palms doing as if you pray with crossed fingers, so you can make pressure. The same you can do with a lemon halve to bring the last drop out of it, a bit the tax collector's way...and I assure you if you are strong enough in your hands you will succeed with your putty...

Just entered the board with that many interesting subjects today to reply to, but have only 3 à 4 hours a day in the evenings for the boards and not every day...this evening in a thread for the umpteenth time in the never ending Pétain question put by a Frenchman on Historum. It came again in the actuality with 11th November and Makron

Kind regards to both from Paul.

I'd mentioned blenders et al in regards to slicing/dicing vegetables on another thread as I don't have those and Vizzer had replied to me regarding that subject.

When I was talking about things being Heath-Robinson I did indeed refer to putty.  I've watched a couple of videos on putty application and removal - for removing it some people suggested using a "knife" that to me looked like the tool used for scraping off old wallpaper.  I am willing to give Paul's suggestions a whirl regarding the putty.

LiR - if the window frame isn't so rotten as to be falling out of the wall it is best fixed with 2-part epoxy resin filler that can be purchased in any hardware store. Putty works as a very temporary stop-gap - it shrinks when it dries out, so to make it last at all one has to try to trap it beneath non-aerating sealant such as ship-strength oil-based paints or the like. Even then it's really only a cosmetic thing and not a good solution.

If you can't afford to replace the window then epoxy resin will at least render the frame serviceable again for several years - decades even if done correctly. Assuming your window isn't more rot than wood then the procedure is to scrape out all the soft rotted material and drill wide bore holes into the good wood remaining around the holes you've made (not all the way through of course). Then, when you apply the resin it will fill these bore holes too and give the mass a good grip on the frame. If you do it in a reasonably dry spell then you can let the resin "do its stuff" ( unlike putty it actually transfers residual moisture from within the frame to the air outside as it sets). Then, when it's reasonably hard, cover the wood and resin with a liberally applied oil-paint coat.

Be sure to use 2-part epoxy that you blend yourself - the other single application types you can get behave more like putty would and will trap moisture within the frame as they set - thereby making the problem only worse in the long term.

nordmann wrote:

LiR - if the window frame isn't so rotten as to be falling out of the wall it is best fixed with 2-part epoxy resin filler that can be purchased in any hardware store. Putty works as a very temporary stop-gap - it shrinks when it dries out, so to make it last at all one has to try to trap it beneath non-aerating sealant such as ship-strength oil-based paints or the like. Even then it's really only a cosmetic thing and not a good solution.

If you can't afford to replace the window then epoxy resin will at least render the frame serviceable again for several years - decades even if done correctly. Assuming your window isn't more rot than wood then the procedure is to scrape out all the soft rotted material and drill wide bore holes into the good wood remaining around the holes you've made (not all the way through of course). Then, when you apply the resin it will fill these bore holes too and give the mass a good grip on the frame. If you do it in a reasonably dry spell then you can let the resin "do its stuff" ( unlike putty it actually transfers residual moisture from within the frame to the air outside as it sets). Then, when it's reasonably hard, cover the wood and resin with a liberally applied oil-paint coat.

Be sure to use 2-part epoxy that you blend yourself - the other single application types you can get behave more like putty would and will trap moisture within the frame as they set - thereby making the problem only worse in the long term.

LiR and nordmann,

yes resin with an...


OOPS again the feared : no mode specified, when returning from Google at the end of my message for the translation into English of two Dutch proverbs...
I give them now first before restarting my lost message:
"I have the impression that our nordmann "reeds vele watertjes heeft doorzwommen" I found no translation (has already swum through many waters) or "is van alle markten thuis" (literally: is at home in all markets) I found in English: turn his hand to anything.

And now my message again:

yes resin with a hardener is much better than putty and stronger when hardened and as it is a polycondensation reaction I suppose it will take some moisture. And that of the holes to anchor the epoxy resin is also interesting nordmann. If I have the problem again I will certainly give it a go.
In the time I covered at the inside vans for fish transport for my father and other friend fish merchants. Polyester with a hardener on glassfiber fleece and on laminated waterproof wood screwed on the plate of the van. One liter polyester at a time with if I recall it well 20 cc hardener and then I had about 25 minutes to apply. But nowadays it is all in a handy kit and if one follows the instructions it is not that difficult to apply. I am sure LiR will be able to do that...
After all a very good idea nordmann, I thank you...

Kind regards from Paul.

I've a few window frames (opening ones) - the glass has only fallen out in one - where the top and side parts of the frame are sound but the bottom part of the frame is rotting (in some I think they may need replacement).  I don't know if it would be possible to take the frame out and put a bottom piece of wood in to replace the rotten one.  There is a school of DIY which gives classes in both Birmingham and Manchester.  Birmingham might be a bit easier for me to travel to but it probably won't be before the new year now.  Then there are times when it may be wiser to get someone who really knows what they are doing to tackle the job.  But thank you to both nordmann and Paul for their helpful suggestions.

As I said above, the slicing and dicing is to do with some gluten-free vegetarian recipes I want to try out - I'd mentioned it in the dish of the day thread.

I can't remember whether it had it's own thread, but I recall at one point that MM mentioned that the translation of the material of which Cinderella's slipper was made changed in translation from squirrel fur to glass.  I wonder how many mistakes were made in the past before we had the internet to check things (not saying online references are infallible).  The reason I thought about this was because today I've been typing a student assignment type of document.  I haven't had to do many of those in recent years because students type their own stuff often now they have access to computers (which can as you will all know correct misspellings more efficiently than the old typewriter).  Anyway, without divulging anything of the nature of the work reference was made to what I thought was "Hibsner" but when I checked online it was one of the "Pevsner" guides.  I checked up on one of the names of a person and I was glad I did because I had misheard it.  I can often "get my ear in" with dictation but once in a while something comes along which is a bit of a challenge.  But then again typing for a student can be a bit more interesting than run of the mill stuff.  Back in the day I know reference was sometimes made to Debrett's "Forms of Address" (now online of course) and when I worked in a legal office there were various legal tomes in the office to which reference could be made.  Since I worked in an office where conveyancing (buying and selling of houses etc) was part of the bread and butter staples, I remember burying my face in Guide to Practical Conveyancing by Edward Warner Moeran - though I don't know if that is still used in legal offices as conveyancing law has been changed to some extent in recent years.

"It was Christmas Day in the Dwight house"

This years' John Lewis Christmas ad:

This (now being banned as the Iceland Christmas Ad) seems to be getting a lot more traction than if it were being broadcast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQQXstNh45g

LadyinRetirement wrote:

I can't remember whether it had it's own thread, but I recall at one point that MM mentioned that the translation of the material of which Cinderella's slipper was made changed in translation from squirrel fur to glass.

It was on the Lost in translation thread. I had a translation breakdown myself today. I was looking for an image of Bowden nerines (the delicate pink flowers which are currently brightening up a corner of our garden during this gloomy month of November) and was puzzled when all I got were images of noses. In the end I typed in 'Guernsey lily' (a cousin of bowdenii) and realised my mistake. Nerine is spelled with an 'e'. I had been typing in 'narine' which is the French word for nostril.

Anyway - here are the nerines:

What a lovely bit of cheer you have in your autumn garden, Vizzer.

Just trying to see if I can into this site after my husband cleared some bits on our computer to get it to go faster. For me it has slowed things up considerably as I can't get into sites any more without a struggle!

I had a bit of interruption to internet access this morning, Caro, - sometimes seems to happen when it rains!  In my case I think it's probably a problem my end - or possibly with my broadband provider.

The nerines are not the only things which bring colour at this time of year LiR. They're just the most dramatic and incongruous. We also have marguerite daisies, geraniums and some sorry-looking roses hanging on as well. And there's blue hydrangea, the flowers of which were bright blue in the summer but have now faded to a mauve. They and the roses etc are due for dead-heading in the first week of December. This is all just so much Northern Hemisphere chatter though. For Caro, of course, November is really the month of May.

Well you are doing better than me for autumn colour, Vizzer. The only brightness in my garden at present is provided by the fallen autumn leaves which I must sweep up.

Changing the subject, I was looking yesterday at something on YouTube about the poetic Edda and prose Edda in ancient Norse though it went rather over my head.  A video popped into the recommendations about made-up languages (which I was musing on recently).  It answered my question about made-up languages other than Esperanto and does mention J R R Tolkien's "Elvish".  The video is not in all honestly the most interesting video I have ever seen but how could I have forgotten about Klingon?  

Well, there's always something to be done on an ageing house (and garden).  There are some steps in my front garden and one has a significant amount of concrete which has chipped away.  I wonder if that is something I can do myself - either stick the piece that has broken away back on or fill it with replacement concrete.  Or if it's something I need an expert to do.

Just lost my message again. It many times happens here and seemingly not on the other fora that I attend.

Lady, MM and others,

excuses for not attending, spent my late evening for the umpteenth time about the 18 days campaign in May 1940 on Passion Histoire for a thread that seemingly came from a person visiting another forum, who didn't fully understood, what was said on that other forum...
http://passion-histoire.net/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=41096

Kind regards from Paul.

Just lost my message again. It many times happens here and seemingly not on the other fora that I attend.

Lady, MM and others,

excuses for not attending, spent my late evening for the umpteenth time about the 18 days campaign in May 1940 on Passion Histoire for a thread that seemingly came from a person visiting another forum, who didn't fully understood, what was said on that other forum...
http://passion-histoire.net/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=41096

Kind regards from Paul.

Oh, I've lost posts before now.  Also, I had thought of something serious I wanted to post about but have quite forgotten it.  Still, if it is important I will remember it.  One good thing - I had mislaid a voucher which would have become invalid on 1st December - but after looking around I found it and have used it for something from Marks & Spencer (British shop).

Thinking about the Nordic myth about the Midgard Snake, I wonder if that's where David Icke (British ex-footballer, ex-BBC sports presenter turned conspiracy theorist) got his ideas about Lizard People - (I'm just being silly there).  Though I do seem to have a memory about a snake featuring in an Australian Aboriginal tale and of course there is the account of the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

I'm somewhat tired tonight so I am going to "turn in" early and try and get some rest.  Hopefully I'll be a bit more "bright eyed and bushy tailed" tomorrow.

More serpents?
Kundalini
Ouroboros
The serpent that eats Gilgamesh's "plant of life"
The coupling serpents of Tireisias.

Green George wrote:

More serpents?
Kundalini
Ouroboros
The serpent that eats Gilgamesh's "plant of life"
The coupling serpents of Tireisias.

Gil,

again the whole evening on Passion Histoire for the French-Belgian relations after the end of the French-Belgian accord of 1920 on 6 March 1936...
http://passion-histoire.net/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=41096

Reading two halves of different books to be sure of about what I was speaking...

Kind regards from Paul.

I never did get my wifi to work and have been using the ethernet cable since.  nordmann mentioned a device one can stick in (I think) a USB port to get wifi if the card has gone wonky but I've been through this thread and can't find the name of the gizmo.  Maybe Google will be my friend.

We didn't do anything about Dr Guillotine in French today.  One of the articles we studied was about changes that the French government are trying to invoke changes in the benefit system and the proposed changes are not popular (if the feature we studied was correct).

The rain got to me today so I'm planning to go upstairs where I can be a bit warmer.  I haven't any typing (as in work typing) outstanding today but if I had it would be useful if I could do it where I would be warmest.  If I could get my wifi to work upstairs (I did used to be able to pick up wifi signals upstairs before but then the wifi on the Macbook seemed to drop off and I don't know if it's a problem with the card or another difficulty.

Anyway, I've been a good girl and done my Spanish homework (for Thursday U3A class).  The homework was to write a text in Spanish about a composer.  I wrote about Elizabeth Lutyens (thanks to Wikipedia who I have credited though I did try to put it in my own words).  I'm not awfully knowledgeable about composers in general but I remember that Elizabeth Lutyens used to score some music for films and TV and radio.  I thought I'd write about a female composer because there seem to be less (that we know of at least) than male composers.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

I never did get my wifi to work and have been using the ethernet cable since.  nordmann mentioned a device one can stick in (I think) a USB port to get wifi if the card has gone wonky but I've been through this thread and can't find the name of the gizmo.  Maybe Google will be my friend.

We didn't do anything about Dr Guillotine in French today.  One of the articles we studied was about changes that the French government are trying to invoke changes in the benefit system and the proposed changes are not popular (if the feature we studied was correct).

The rain got to me today so I'm planning to go upstairs where I can be a bit warmer.  I haven't any typing (as in work typing) outstanding today but if I had it would be useful if I could do it where I would be warmest.  If I could get my wifi to work upstairs (I did used to be able to pick up wifi signals upstairs before but then the wifi on the Macbook seemed to drop off and I don't know if it's a problem with the card or another difficulty.

Anyway, I've been a good girl and done my Spanish homework (for Thursday U3A class).  The homework was to write a text in Spanish about a composer.  I wrote about Elizabeth Lutyens (thanks to Wikipedia who I have credited though I did try to put it in my own words).  I'm not awfully knowledgeable about composers in general but I remember that Elizabeth Lutyens used to score some music for films and TV and radio.  I thought I'd write about a female composer because there seem to be less (that we know of at least) than male composers.

Lady,

I have a lot to comment on this forum too (including to you), but again the third evening doing research, reading texts and contributing on the French Passion Histoire about the Belgian neutrality from 1936 till 1940.

Kind regards from Paul.

The board has gone a bit quiet.  Paul, I found the wifi thing by googling something like "Wifi antenna which attaches to USB port".  Also there are a few things on YouTube about using the ready mixed concrete.  I may have said this before but near where I go for the Sign Language class there is an old-fashioned hardware store so I could perhaps discuss it with the chap who runs that shop.  Either that or go to Wickes or another big DIY chain.  No need to apologise about commenting about something you feel strongly about such as the French Passion Histoire on another board.

If all goes to plan I should be going to London for the first of my Xmas (really pre-Xmas) lunches tomorrow (with the shorthand society I belong to).  Yesterday I was (literally) under the weather - I got wet coming home from the Spanish class and after I had done a little shopping, so I took a cab home.  Some of my stuff fell out of my handbag when I went to get the money for the fare.  I thought I'd got everything together okay but today I can't find my mobile phone and the old one appears to be "dead".  I might be able to get a replacement battery for the old one maybe (it's from 2006). It's useful to have the mobile phone because if the train is late I can let people know.  I rang to see if it rang in the house but it went straight to voicemail so looks as if the battery (this is the one I have lost I'm talking about) has discharged.  Mind you I just tried the landline to ring my old mobile (which as I say isn't functioning) and got the fembot voice saying that the number had not been recognised.  I would have thought the number would still be valid although I doubt there is any credit on the phone - it's probably more than a year since I tried it.  I'd bought a lego toy and I think I've dropped that somewhere out of one of the carrier bags I had.  I had a LOT of typing today so it's only now I'm paying attention to other things.  The taxi was an independent operator so I can't ring the company - I sent an email off to the taxi licensing department in case anybody has said anything to them but I won't hear either way till after the weekend now.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

Well, there's always something to be done on an ageing house (and garden).  There are some steps in my front garden and one has a significant amount of concrete which has chipped away.  I wonder if that is something I can do myself - either stick the piece that has broken away back on or fill it with replacement concrete.  Or if it's something I need an expert to do.

Lady,

I have to see it first...but from over the Channel...I would say, if the broken away piece is still intact and fits in the former piece, use frost resistant "kleefcement" (sticking cement?) but if it is broken or don't fit anymore fill with ready to use concrete (only water adding), but if I recall it well you know a bloke from a doing yourself old fashoned store. He can perhaps guide you to do it the non expert way...and from my experience a friendly smile and a heartly approach do wonders...especialaly when it comes from a lady...also in my experience...

Kind regards from Paul.

Thank you for the suggestions, Paul.  I've been in London today (as I said at a pre-Christmas lunch).  Some years I have made a weekend of it but I wanted to come home the same day this time.  Just as well, I think, because I am very tired now that I have reached home even though it's only 8.30 pm (ish) here.  Just going to watch a bit of news, perhaps have a sandwich and go to bed.

The new Irn Bru Christmas advert, sequel to the 2006 original. Social media taking the mickey out of it, as this must be the last can with the original recipe:

Triceratops wrote:

The new Irn Bru Christmas advert, sequel to the 2006 original. Social media taking the mickey out of it, as this must be the last can with the original recipe:

Triceratops,

had to do some research first about Irn Bru. I first thought that it had to do something with Spa Bru:
https://www.rtl.be/info/video/645779.aspx

But I had the same to do with Temperance's Walsingham in her Elizabeth story ...

So I know something new about the British way of life, not to say that it is that different from the continent...
BTW: Concerning our exchange about the fact (with LiR and Gil if I recall it well) that the windows open outside in Britain and inside on the continent, the grandson now for his postdoctorate in Stockholm, says that he there saw also windows opening outside and he was three times in Oslo too and saying that too, if I recall it well. nordmann?

Kind regards from Paul.

I was thinking today about some of the interesting sumptuary laws MM unearthed a few months back.  There was some mention of hair colours - some dignitary I forget which one had ordained that in one place the ladies who traded in the world's oldest profession had to have yellow hair (though wigs were okay).  For some reason the cockney rhyming slang "Tottie" ran though my head today.  (Tottie being a young lady's name here and there is nothing in the song to imply she was a lady of easy virtue).  Anyway, I have found a video where a folk singer sings the song (starting at about 1.35) and also found the words online.www.fromoldbooks.org/Farmer-MusaPedestris/tottie.html

I think some of the sayings in "Tottie" have gone out of use - I don't think "Jumbo's" for drunk is used much nowadays though I have heard "boracic" to mean in penury (boracic lint rhyming with skint).

LadyinRetirement wrote:

I was thinking today about some of the interesting sumptuary laws MM unearthed a few months back.  There was some mention of hair colours - some dignitary I forget which one had ordained that in one place the ladies who traded in the world's oldest profession had to have yellow hair (though wigs were okay).  For some reason the cockney rhyming slang "Tottie" ran though my head today.  (Tottie being a young lady's name here and there is nothing in the song to imply she was a lady of easy virtue).  Anyway, I have found a video where a folk singer sings the song (starting at about 1.35) and also found the words online.

Lady,

when I was looking with English subtitles to your youtube, for whatever reason as usual you see other interesting related youtubes, perhaps sparked by your visits of other youtubes before. (at least in my experience). And I saw in this case this related to the map history of The Netherlands (and as I already discussed with Vizzer, there is a lot of confusion of what were the Netherlands) In this case I saw it was about the hitory of the nowadays Kingdom of The Netherlands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgundian_Netherlands

Somewhere after the year 1432 there suddenly appears a Burgundian state without the County of Flanders and that is of course a mistake.

Only to say that you have to do for Wikipedia and in this fall: "Lyria Mappping" further research. And the problem is that you don't know as an outsider what the truth is. And only insiders can judge ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgundian_Netherlands



Kind regards from Paul.

I've watched some of the video, Paul, and will try and watch the rest tomorrow.  It is interesting - just I have been quite tired the last few days, though I have managed to get out to a few of my (mostly for over 60s) activities.  I usually have a brief read through the board though I don't always comment.  If I haven't anything pertinent to say, well maybe it's better to remain silent than to make a comment that does not contribute much to the thread.

I decided to look at the BBC news page before I went to bed and it seems that YouTube had deleted some channels that promoted selling "cheating" essay-writing services.  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-46468389  There's still some loony videos on YouTube though.

I consulted the chap who runs of one the very few remaining hardware shops in the area yesterday.  (We have Wickes and another big chain whose name I can't think of at the moment and of course there's Wilko).  There's actually one in the nearest local shopping centre to me but it's only open two days a week.  There is a warehouse sort of place (on an industrial estate on the bank of the Staffs and Worcs Canal) which is also within walking distance of Yours Truly but it's closed at present.  I've gone off topic somewhat.  The gentleman said if I used sand and cement mixture to fix the problem (of the broken concrete step) water ingress would soak it away eventually. He suggested I consult a builder or odd job man.