Noon at Belgrano Base, 77 degrees 52 minutes South, on the 1st August 2020. The sun is 5 degrees below the horizon. View looking North from Bertrab nunatak: Photo by Jose Damian Ojeda.

Priscilla, there is no such thing as an unworthy apple pie. They are all good.



I'm going to have a big bowl of ice cream, it is baking hot here today!!

A rave for very few readers here -- we've just won another test match! Perhaps our team gets nervous in front of a crowd and does better without. Do footballers perform better in front of a crowd? The Greeks and Romans clearly thought performance with audience necessary - even if the seats were a tad hard.

A mini-rave just for me.  As I had a mini-rant about an electricity outage yesterday I should mention that the electricity company had the courtesy to ring back to see if I was okay.  I was out when the call came through but it went to answerphone (the dial 1571 facility).  It said to contact them if there were any problems but I'm okay currently so no need to get back to them.

I get vertigo just looking at this.

Commentary by Nordmann's favourite astronomer:

Unbelievable, Trike. Never seen that in my life, unless perhaps on a steep mountain in nature.

And now suddenly I recall that I in my comments to Green George about the Grand Contour Canal project I boasted about the green advantages of it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Contour_Canal

For instance barges replacing traffic of vans along the roads propelled with Liquified Hydrogen
https://www.fuelcellbuses.eu/wiki/concept-hydrogen-refueling-station/tank-trailer-liquid-hydrogen
Yes and even Egyptians do research for the use in barges:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262602827_The_use_of_hydrogen_as_a_fuel_for_inland_waterway_units

But at the same time ecologists warned about the separation of nature and wildlife by this big connecting canals as for instance the Rhine-Danube canal that I mentioned and the Seine-North Europe canal.
But I am nearly sure that bridges over these canals can be foreseen, for the commucation of wildlife and perhaps by this wildlife also vegetation...
Even fish can be make the bridge as at a waterfall...
Seeking now for my experience on Fraser River in British Columbia about the salmon bridge upstream



nothing to find anymore...perhaps it is replaced by something else?...after all it is already nearly fourty years ago...the salmons with tens at the same time springing in an higher bassin to climb upstream...I filmed it all with a 8mm camera and have it now copied on a CD rom...

Kind regards, Paul.

Not much to rave - or laugh - about these dark, November, Covid-ridden days, but I was cheered up by a report in the Guardian that was also mentioned on last night's Have I Got News For You. Apparently former aide, Dastardly Dom, has been invited to switch on the Christmas lights at Barnard Castle, a jolly seasonal suggestion which this very important person has ignored, rather churlishly, I feel. It's thought that the glare - both of the publicity and of the twinkly lights - would be too much for Cummings' somewhat dodgy vision. He could wear an enormous pair of dark glasses I suppose...


Not everyone is keen to see the back of the prime minister’s aide. Ian Kirkbride, a town (Barnard Castle) councillor, told the Guardian he had written to Cummings inviting him to switch on the town’s Christmas lights. “I was looking for a celebrity and it occurred to me as a bit of black humour.” (Cummings has not responded to the invite.)


PS I also couldn't stop laughing at the dog statue on Have I Got News For You - the one unveiled in Turkmenistan. It's all a bit like something out of Borat.

Temperance,

you already know that I like your "language" (seen from a bilingual Belgian). And perhaps an itisy bitsy (for me) better than nordmann's and don't ask me why...perhaps a bit "warmer"? ...
As for instance:
"Not much to rave - or laugh - about these dark, November, Covid-ridden days"

Overhere the news that perhaps end December one would start with anti-corona vaccins...first the eldery and risico patients...as I!...nearing the eighties and with my immuno depressiva to take for my donor kidney...

PS: shock horror... when I looked to see if "itsy bitsy" (a little bit, un petit peu, 'n heel klein beetje) was correct on the mighty internet, I had to wade through tens on the first page of:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6895284/
PPS: glad to see you once again on RH.
PPPS: just cheered up by your message, as there are seemingly not that much "exchanges" for the moment in the (café (tumbleweed suite)...

Kind regards, Paul.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=ge9Ou3-YyqU

Actually, Paul, I'm afraid the current vaccines are't likely to be much use to you - they work by boosting the immune system. However, they are working on one which is a shot of long-life antibodies that we can only hope will be a success for those like you.

A possible alternative to a vaccine, for people without functioning immune systems, is entering its final stage of trials.
The injection was developed using antibodies - made by the immune system to fight infection - produced by a single Covid patient in the US.
It is hoped it could provide at least six months' protection for patients who cannot receive vaccines.
Trials involving 1,000 UK participants begin in Manchester on Saturday.
A further 4,000 people are involved in the trial globally, which is being organised by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.
Participants will be given either an injection containing two different Covid-19 antibodies, which have been specially engineered to last longer in the body - or a placebo.
In recent weeks there have been promising developments in the creation of a Covid-19 vaccine, which works by priming the immune system to fight off the infection.
But the UK's Vaccine Taskforce chair, Kate Bingham, estimates hundreds of thousands people might not benefit from a vaccine because they do not have a working immune system.
This might be due to an immune deficiency, or because they are taking immune-suppressing drugs, for diseases such as cancer.
"It's crucial that we leave no one behind as we move closer to finding both a vaccine and developing more treatments for Covid-19," she said.
"We particularly need to ensure those who cannot be given a vaccine, such as people who are immuno-compromised, have alternatives available that will help protect them."
AstraZeneca, which is developing the antibody injection, hopes it will offer 6-12 months' protection.
Study lead Prof Andrew Ustianowski said, while vaccines work "by inducing a person's immune system to produce antibodies that inhibit or 'neutralise' the virus", his team are investigating whether similar protection could be given to the immuno-compromised, by injecting antibodies which have been shown to neutralise the virus directly into the muscle.
This bypasses the immune system for those people who "don't respond well to vaccines, or cannot be given them".
However, the therapy is significantly more expensive than vaccination and difficult to produce at scale, so it is unlikely to be used on the wider population.
Nine UK trial sites have been identified so far, in Manchester, London, Plymouth, Southampton, West Yorkshire, Enfield, Rochdale and Preston. The first results are expected next spring.
The trial will assess whether the therapy is effective and whether it is safe.

Preventative measure

Additionally, AstraZeneca has suggested another possible use for the jab - to protect care home residents if a case is identified within the home.
Vaccines take a bit of time to build immunity in the body, but this injection should work immediately, so could be given as a preventative measure.
Its preventative efficacy will be tested in a second, parallel trial, on participants in the US and the UK.
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GG, thank you very much for this information? I wasn't aware of it.
But in any case I will have a talk with the doctor in the hospital during the 3 montly obliged visit for follow up of the donor kidney. 

I am completely ignorant about the working of the immuno depressiva therapy. But in any case the "instandhaltung" (onderhoud, maintenance) dosis is much more lower than the original dose immediately after the operation, now, after newyear, more than four years ago. And you know me, I will certainly follow the recommendations of the "knowledgeables".

Anyway as always an optimist I reach for the one hundred years...and en plus being good...I am not that demanding...and if it is another way, I will say: bad luck...

GG, thanks again for the information and kind regards from Paul.

GG's advice to Paul was most interesting - and useful for many. Then there's MM's bar chat - always of interest. I reckon he lives  along way from the nearest cholesterol test. Lucky him. Just going for a pair of glasses here has caught me into a storm of treatments and ops and stuff for conditions I  am totally unaware of. I cannot believe that they are trying to drum up trade. Never be medically interesting, my mother once warned....mmm. 

On the rave side, however, my weeping winter flowering cherry is in full flower. This has always been a bit of a daft plant. For one thing it did not read its label  and is reaching for the sky with no sign of  hang-dog weeping. It should also flower at full wow in January but not this one - and bumblebees very busy all over it when they should be hibernating I'd have thought. Perhaps we had winter and I did not notice. On the other hand, in this oh so quiet lock down life, I may have died and not realised and this then is an alternate world. Can't be. Surely you can get  Tesco delivery slots there.

PaulRyckier wrote:

Temperance,

you already know that I like your "language" (seen from a bilingual Belgian). And perhaps an itisy bitsy (for me) better than nordmann's and don't ask me why...perhaps a bit "warmer"? ...

...PPS: glad to see you once again on RH.
PPPS: just cheered up by your message, as there are seemingly not that much "exchanges" for the moment in the (café (tumbleweed suite)...

Mine might be "warmer", but his is a darn sight better, which p*sses me right off at times, Paul.

You for your part are always so friendly and polite and, were you to drop all the infuriating Wiki links, would probably be forgiven anything...

Hope you get your jab and you stay safe. This bug is no joke...

Priscilla wrote:

GG's advice to Paul was most interesting - and useful for many. Then there's MM's bar chat - always of interest. I reckon he lives  along way from the nearest cholesterol test. Lucky him. Just going for a pair of glasses here has caught me into a storm of treatments and ops and stuff for conditions I  am totally unaware of. I cannot believe that they are trying to drum up trade. Never be medically interesting, my mother once warned....mmm. 

The same thing happened to me Priscilla. Eye-test on Friday revealed new glasses required for distance vision plus haemorrhage in the front of the right eye, cholesterol build up in the left, necessitating an email to my GP.

Still waiting to hear from the Doc.



Now the rave bit, NGC 1275 photographed by the Hubble Telescope:



More on this link:

Hubble Telescope Images

Murmurations of starlings have been responsible for power cuts at the village of Airth. The weight of the birds has been causing the power lines to bounce and short out.

Temperance wrote:

PaulRyckier wrote:

Temperance,

you already know that I like your "language" (seen from a bilingual Belgian). And perhaps an itisy bitsy (for me) better than nordmann's and don't ask me why...perhaps a bit "warmer"? ...

...PPS: glad to see you once again on RH.
PPPS: just cheered up by your message, as there are seemingly not that much "exchanges" for the moment in the (café (tumbleweed suite)...

Mine might be "warmer", but his is a darn sight better, which p*sses me right off at times, Paul.

You for your part are always so friendly and polite and, were you to drop all the infuriating Wiki links, would probably be forgiven anything...

Hope you get your jab and you stay safe. This bug is no joke...

Temperance,

I hope you will have a "merry Christmas and a happy New Year"

PS: You said: "infuriating Wiki links" 
But even in the "encyclopédie" from Diderot et d'Alembert



from this wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A9die

But I didn't learn it from this wiki but read it elsewhere...
That they had "keywords" in a text that referred to broader explanations of the word on other pages, a bit as the wiki and nearly every one does nowadays in their texts (no foot notes anymore?)
But of course I don't pretend to be a "philosophe" as the ones of that time...

PPS: I miss your typical and warm language Temperance...

PPS: Only one message to hear from you...whatever...even if it is a bit...to me...

As usual: Kind regards from Paul.

Time lapse of the Milky Way over Loch More, photobombed by the Northern Lights:

In praise of whoever is responsible....... recently had my second jab. How lucky am I? Now 21 days to get through and then stand a chance. I believe we may be told how virulent and dangerous the mutant virus is tonight on the TV Panorama prog. ....    may be not..... but it is - believe me it really is. Get a jab if you can..... and take real care now. Swab, spray, wash, avoid whatever.... constantly. And let    no one persuade you differently.

Crikey, you're doing better than Her Majesty, Priscilla!

Priscilla wrote:

Swab, spray, wash, avoid whatever.... constantly.

Avoid? ... Not much chance of any contact here: I've been snowed in since Friday and even taking Dogglet for a walk has proved difficult, but he's been happy just rolling around in it in the garden. However the cats, having shorter legs, are none too pleased.

   

So much for it being the balmy south of France.

Looks beautiful - grey, drizzly gloom here. But do be careful, MM. DD looks furrier than last year.

No sign yet of jabs here in the depths of Devon, although the over 80s in the SW cities (Exeter and Plymouth) and in the bigger towns are receiving them - our infection rates are, thankfully, the lowest in the country, but that could soon change. I think priority is being given to the South East and the Home Counties where the original bug and its mutant version are rampant. They are sending patients from London down to hospitals in the SW.

I hope they do not crack down on us being allowed out to exercise. Manic walking is the only thing keeping me sane, and I do not think chatting to the sheep is a Covid risk... Lambs are due soon, and snowdrops and even primroses are appearing, so some hope for the Spring actually arriving...

Priscilla wrote:

In praise of whoever is responsible.......

The NHS, I hear, which is how it should have been from the beginning in the UK. They're doing the logistics as well as the triage on this one. The situation has got so dicey now that even the hardened criminals milking the catastrophe for all it's worth - sorry, I mean your government - aren't taking any chances with this measure.

The elderly were also getting their jabs of Pfizer here but it's been put on hold after some rather grim news concerning infection and death rates even post-jab. So your advice to remain vigilant and cautious, even if you're lucky enough to have got the boost, is well founded, P.

PS: Welcome to winter, MM. We got our first dump of the stuff bang on Christmas Day and since then we've all begun to resemble Doggie. In a peculiarly Scandinavian twist of "lockdown" I was amused when I stood in a queue waiting to get into a supermarket here on Saturday and we were all issued with "måkespader" (snow shovels) and told to make ourselves useful. As each person got admitted to the gaff all the shovels were sent one back in the queue. Call the Norwegians what you want but never call them inefficient!

Now learning for the first time in my life what a "jab" is...
For us the elderly, a jab is foreseen I think end March, April...and for me as a risico patient (donor kidney and the appropriate immuno depressiva) perhaps a bit earlier (I guess with my partner, as we are a bubble).

Kind regards to all the "regulars" and everyone of the average 20 "binnenkijkers" (they translate by "inner viewers" (peeping in ones?)), Paul. 

PS. And MM what a beautiful sights there in the surroundings of your house. Perhaps the misery is worth the joy for once as it perhaps happens only once in several years. But that is only seen from an outsider here in Belgium, with a year 2020 the hottest since the measurements I think in Uccle in 1839.

Avoid means avoid, MM. It is not fully known how the mutant virus transmits so easily..... disposable  gloves and even spray for money etc etc comes in the avoid definition. You are indeed lucky being in the added enviable precaution of total seclusion. But caution with any contact at all is advisable. The scenario here is serious... even the curtains of  a local house where it has been  have been taken down by people wearing disposable plastic.  There is a huge effort being made to avoid a panic - what  will it take for numbskulls to realise that it will eventually get them too - or so change our life styles that normal life will be an historic memory....... catch it tho on comedy mockery shows circa 2045....( Come on you lucky few   loner survivors, see if you can spot yourself in the idiot gatherings.) (Can I write the script. please?)

We (my wife and I) both were vaccinated with the first   dose of Pfizer/BioNTeck (0.3Ml ) on December 20th and were given the second dose ( also 0.3 Ml) yesterday.

Both of us had no reaction or side effects after the first dose and hope of course that there will be no side effect after the second jab.

However I have been told that there are quite a number of elderly people who are now refusing to be vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine and said they rather wait for the Oxford/AstraZeneca corona virus vaccine.

Dirk

Stupid lot. Dirk..... if you can watch  the BBC Panorama prog on vaccines tonight. The people in it really, really know their stuff.

Priscella,

 yes , they are .
 Believe it or not but they use as an excuse that Pfizer vaccine is of German origin and they have more trust in the British manufactured Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccine.

Yes, it does make you wonder if there are still people fighting  World War 2

Dirk

Part of the problem with infection after the first jab was weakness in the jab facility. Our own area  vaccination routine was superbly done - no one could fault it. I saw even chair legs wiped down every 2 minutes - I am not joking. The queue facilities in some centre looks grim compared to ours which went like clockwork and the 15 min wait in case you have shock was highly supervised by efficient volunteers with astute dedication. No one is messing about with this one.

I am not up for making political remark on this affair, nordmann. We are at war with an invisible foe. All the smarty pants who know who did what wrong and why, and what they should  did not  themselves step forward with a fool proof plan. few critics ever do. Sorting out the conflict of differing experts in their fields - and possibly sifting out their agendas is pain enough In my job I used to ask seriously  for the advice of any who were in conflict with me - and listen to it and then  discuss the weaknesses in those too. Which is fine when there is time enough on hand. However, the mutation of this virus is swift and unpredictable ... it may be changing faster than we know - and certainly faster than we can produce a counter to it. 

Vaccine  is not magic but day and night hard grind for a very few people who know what they are doing.  Governments have to try to understand the parameters and then apply them to many many millions of people in all manner of situations..... and oh yes, make sure that they have energy, supplies, education, all aspects of all ages related health,  sport, arts, homes, businesses, jobs, communications, the environment etc etc. So no, I am not going to knock a government about during this crisis... in all honesty, Dear God, what on earth could I presume to know?

Dirk Marinus wrote:

We (my wife and I) both were vaccinated with the first   dose of Pfizer/BioNTeck (0.3Ml ) on December 20th and were given the second dose ( also 0.3 Ml) yesterday.

Both of us had no reaction or side effects after the first dose and hope of course that there will be no side effect after the second jab.

However I have been told that there are quite a number of elderly people who are now refusing to be vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine and said they rather wait for the Oxford/AstraZeneca corona virus vaccine.

Dirk

   
  Dirk, My mother (aged 84) has had two of the Pfizer (I assume, since Astra Zenica isn't out in Britain yet).

  She had no effects from the first jab and a slight headache from the second, which was got rid of in an hour with Paracetomol.

 Now she is happily protected and I have to wait until May, at least, to get mine.

 Perhaps I should breathe all over her to test whether her's has worked.

And if it doesn't work then you'll not have to bother with getting your own done either. 

Well we all jest about the grim - until it hits home. One of the problems has been been that many have not had it brought home to them about how grim it really is. Which is a good thing in some ways but rather telling about how people react to stuff they do not want to hear. The erosion of freedom is a complex condition to ponder.... yeah, its raining outside again here. You can tell, can't you? Disregard this post. Bring on the gardening weather. Now.

Well said, P. Very nicely put (using "nice" in its purer sense).

What should be evident to everyone now thanks to this virus is that the recently fashionable trend to retreat into fantasy in which many so-called "developed" societies have indulged, as a way of coping with reality through ignoring it (a la Brexit and Trump too), has very real and sadly lethal consequences. Life is not a "reality show" or, probably better put, life is the only reality on show - so either accept this fundamental existential proposition or move aside and free up space for those who can.

On the Pfizer vaccine front, and something that is not being reported much in the UK, is that the clinical data suggests it is less efficacious in instances of high viral load than at first hoped. Here and in some other countries' health authorities it is therefore being withheld until a probably more effective strategy using different options can be devised, especially for extremely vulnerable people who also tend to be concentrated within environments which contribute to high loads by their very design - such as care homes, hospitals, and other indoor enclosed spaces. While the vaccine is showing increasingly better proofs of efficacy for the vast majority of people there is a growing belief that a better strategy for vulnerable people, especially those whose immune system may be compromised through age or comorbidity, is to place them on a regimen involving frequent boosts of protein subunit vaccines as opposed to RNA "whole virus" injections.

The political problem is that many countries, including the UK and Norway, have secured Pfizer first. Not rolling it out to the most vulnerable people first looks callous, even if it makes better sense from an epidemiological perspective with a view to actually eliminating the virus completely. The UK has gone for the "looks good" option. Norway and several other European countries have gone for the "wait a bit longer until we can persuade people to go for the more effective approach" approach. Norway can do this though only because it has things relatively "under control". The UK and others have lost control. So there is no universal "correct" strategy in the short term. Hopefully by northern hemisphere summer we will all have a clearer route out of this.

In praise of rain.... washing everything down, keeping bums off park seats and people indoors  another week might do it. This awful virus is not like flu - and that is bad enough - informed rumour has it that it sticks to stuff. For how long, I know not. All I know is that a corvid death house in the area is at last after 4 weeks allowed to be emptied and cleansed. Skips, bonfires, plastic coveralls and spray spray spray. But if the sun shines the hooded flouters will be out in droves close by it - a popular gathering place with cars jammed into the council car parks and pop up take-away vans. Would that a stream of funerals might weave their way through the throng there and  in its local shopping street where the unmasked linger in chatty clumps.

Yesterday I had a call cancelling my second jab.... er, you means the one I had ten days ago? I am not giving it back. Please, please get some reasonable port in the bar, Per.

This is the result of rain. Caused by flash flooding after seasonal rains, eroding the sandstone.

The Lions Head rock formation in Antelope Canyon, Arizona:
Antelope Canyon

Triceratops wrote:

This is the result of rain. Caused by flash flooding after seasonal rains, eroding the sandstone.

The Lions Head rock formation in Antelope Canyon, Arizona:
Antelope Canyon

 
Trike, thanks for this photo showing nature in all its beauty. I was there in the neighbourhood with my father on the slopes of Death Valley and landed with a Cessna in the valley. Not me of course...the pilot...
Kind regards, Paul.

Former Dr Who actor, Tom Baker, is 87 years old today.

Vizzer, you know that thanks to Priscilla in the last weeks I am in a "phase" of seeking for, as she says, a "true record"...

Yes, so are cartoons with a political background...
I said it already on this board, if I recall it well, to Triceratops...
Bojo is perhaps but the incarnation of the "true  " politician and in most cases he only seeks to collect votes for the future and so his policies are everytime to be seen in that light...as perhaps in the case of most politicians...and if his intended purposes aren't reached in the end...so be it...and a good politician has to be able to take some punches...

But here it is not fair even towards a Bojo...
I explained it already on this board about Belgium with an urban population of 98%...as the South- East of England?...
Up to now is Belgium second to San Marino...
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality
Britain only fourth in the average of Czechia, Italy...

United Kingdom	3,806,993	105,777	2.8%	159.09
Czechia	980,714	16,211	1.7%	152.56
Italy	2,541,783	88,279	3.5%	146.08

Kind regards, Paul.

Thanks for that Paul. Yes - one of Mrs V's friends got herself into a bit of a tizzy when it was forwarded to her:

"But there's no comparison between Britain and NZ ... we've got a much bigger population and are more densely populated ... and we're next to mainland Europe which is also heavily populated ... only tourists visit NZ and they're remote even from their nearest neighbour Australia which itself is remote ...  etc etc."

Mrs V then had to point out to her that it's just a social media meme and a bit of fun not to be taken too seriously.

That said - I'm glad that Johns Hopkins University is using the word 'Czechia' in its list. It's been a few years now since the former 'Czech Republic' was thus re-branded. I do think though that 'Czechia' is a bit awkward sounding to English ears. I prefer the alternative option of 'the Czechlands' which in English usage trips off the tongue much more easily being similar to 'the Netherlands' for example.

Tortoise / Turtle gets stuck on its' back. A rescuer is required:

He scores a goal and then celebrates!!!

I was pleased to find this series of podcasts on the Kew Gardens webite.  Unearthed: Mysteries from an unseen world | Kew

Triceratops wrote:

Time lapse of the Milky Way over Loch More, photobombed by the Northern Lights

2 years and 2 months later the firmament is again putting on a spectacle. The ongoing Venus and Jupiter Conjunction is impressive enuff but now we've got the Northern Lights visible in Southern Britain as well:



Aurora Borealis over Herne Bay on the north Kent coast last nite. A truly rare occurrence.

Spectacular, Vizzer.  I always seem to miss out on the really interesting and unusual phenomena.

I couldn't find the current Tumbleweed Suite thread but apparently Res Hist is ranked no. 6 on the linked website.   Top 15 History Forums in 2023 (feedspot.com)

An interesting post, LiR and a bit sad too. At its height , Res Hist was a such a great site with discussion broad and sometimes a bit heated but also very informative and wide ranging.  Age I guess has taken its toll on the few long term contributors . Sadly we never know why most stop posting - especially when the founder, nordmann simply stopped without giving reason which brought most of us to an abrupt halt. Apart from a few topics - and MM's splendid quiz, for the most part those of us who do post have no come back from others - almost ghosting one feels. There was a time when a curtsey post  would be tucked in to keep discussion alive  from several. 
I do want to record how great this site has been for me -making me think, enriching - and giving me opportunity to say my bit too - however facile it might be on occasion. We older posters are not quite in tune with new ones re content - or perhaps not relaxed enough to have contention. But anyway,  its still here and so thanks Res Hist for adding hugely to my life through other people's knowledge and generous sharing of research and opinion - and even a sense of friendship too.

Thank you, Priscilla, I can only agree on what you wrote and I miss those days as well.

As for me almost stopping posting, put a lot of it down to a health that was better then than now.

Let the two of us enjoy a little port, just as we used to do, and hope that good, informative, and thought provocative discussions may liven this place up again.

Did someone mention port? Would that be white port, ruby port, or tawny port? Or just any port in a storm type port? Or would that even perhaps be a really rough port, like Portsmouth or Gibraltar? But whatever, I'm game for any of 'em, frankly. 

But yes indeed, wherever have Temp, Trike and Nordmann gone?  Nevertheless we we stalwarts are still here. So let's drink to that.

It would  old tawny, mate but not a little as Pers suggests - gawd things are not that bad are they? Anyway there is no sun here - though a yard arm is in sight so using the larger glasses you could raise a toast, MM if you like. .... in English......I am fairly fluent in that. Anyone joining us?

Well Mm, I recently attended a local Port Wine Festival with some very good wines and quite a few not as good - in my opinion. 
But I have just opened a rather decent tawny as Priscilla requests, and am quite willing to share.

I bought a few bottles, and am intending to save at least a couple for one of my nephews where I'm invited for x-mas with his children.

Alas, I'm the destined driver, so only a little bit for the festivities ...

I'm still around but don't contribute very much since I have forgotten all the history I used to know, and now it's only New Zealand history that I know much about. I don't really drink port or anything alcoholic except a glass of wine with my dinner at night. But I could raise a glass to you all.

As a proud New Zealander, Caro, I imagine that your prandial drink would most probably be a local New Zealand wine, no? However, does the fact that the're from NZ vinyards actually make these wines any more available or cheaper for you?

When I lived in Surrey, England, I was no more than 30km from England's largest vinyard (the huge Denbies estate near Dorking) yet you very rarely saw their wine in the local shops and if you did come across it the price was typically at least twice, if not more, what you would expect to pay for an imported French or German wine of comparable quality. The nearest vinyards to me now that I'm in southern France are those on the coastal plain towards Perpignan (again the nearest are about 30km away) but their wines are readily available in all the local supermarkets; whether in proper bottles (the good stuff) or just in 3-litre wine boxes or even in 10-litre 'cubies' (for basic vin de table), which although obviously not the finest wine is still perfectly acceptable to accompany a simple convivial meal with friends of family.

It's obviously now spring for you in the southern hemisphere but here in France, with the vendage having been completed about eight weeks ago, we are just starting to see the vins des primeurs - the fresh new wines from this year's harvest - is that a thing in NZ? There was a seller for a major regional vinyard (offering free tastings, yum-yum) at our village's autumn fete/festival. This event is cannily always held on 11 November which coincides St Martin's Day - the traditional date of harvest festival as well as him being the patron saint of the village church - with Armistice Day (St Martin of Tours was a originally a Roman soldier and so he is considererd to be the soldier's saint). Which all means there might perhaps be a few extra people around the war memorial at 11 o'clock. This year for Armistice/Remembrance, while the village population is only about 250, there were still 60 of us present - so not a bad turn-out.

Back in the day when my Belgian partner was alive and we moved in a social circle that included the owners of a rather good restaurant in the centre of Brussels and a couple who ran a very up-market hotel and wedding venue just outside the city in a restored 16th century abbey, we used to get invited to the annual Beaujolais Nouveau party in Brussels (the 3rd week in November). It was always good fun although actually I'm not a big fan of Beaujolais Nouveau. New wines can be great when drunk outside on a sunny terrace in the south of France on a warm afternoon while listening to the local jazz group, but they're rather less appealing in a grand hotel's caverous conference suite on a chilly November evening in central Brussels.

So this afternoon - having successfully finished raking up most of all the fallen leaves, and as today is particularly mild and sunny - I'm having an inexpensive local (to me) red wine. It's just as a small aperitif you understand as there's still more gardening to be done ... that is provided I can muster the necessary "oomph" in another hour's time.