The wine needing 20 gallons of water is  a 1700's brew for using cowslips. And I misread sugar - it needs 25 pounds of that to which  32 quarts of cowslip  flowers are added - eventually and the 12 oranges and 12 lemons - but only a spoonful of yeast and three more pounds of sugar - and oh yes, a large cask.

The same source book has many recipes using toast and less water and familiar vegetation...... the one using comfrey looks much like the one used for making a wet compost. Any preferences, norm?

Morning all, it's still morning, isn't it?

Paul has pointed out (thanks!) that it's nearly a month since I've been around so in case you think I've abandoned you here's my excuse.

Rotten stinking virus.
Rotten stinking post-viral thingy.
The wean did something really weird to this machine so it's been away to the digital psychiatrist to get its wee brain sorted. I've asked for an appointment too. That left me reliant on my antique phone which is OK for making very short posts elsewhere but is a pain for here where there's longer things to read and more typing required.
Other family crap resulting from our loving, caring government's policies.
Etc.

However, the machine's back and I managed to rouse myself enough to go digging over the weekend so although I'm stiff as an old board I'm ready to rejoin the human race.

And Res Hist.

ferval wrote:

...

However, the machine's back and I managed to rouse myself enough to go digging over the weekend so although I'm stiff as an old board I'm ready to rejoin the human race.

And Res Hist.

I'm not quite ready yet, so "You're better man than I, Gunga Din."

How to count to 9,999 medieval style, using your fingers;

Finger Counting

I'm still up watching this, it doesn't look good. Scotland and inner London are voting solidly for Remain but other parts of England seem to be using this as a way of giving the government a good kicking. I can kind of see their point but if Leave do win I hope none of them are heading off on holiday soon as the pound is crashing off a cliff and they will have to seriously cut back on how many pints they can buy with their pitifully few euros. The stock market is currently predicted to open 5% down so a financial crisis as well.

I'd really better go to bed, possibly with a bottle of brandy.

Trike Trikessonn

Just be thankful England weren't playing Lidl.

I know, I know, we couldn't even challenge my corner shop.  

Trike Trikessonn

Just in case I have inadvertently given the impression that the entire population of Scotland is balanced, sane and in full possession of its faculties, can I tell you about 'Indy camp'?

This is a group of protesters who set up camp beside the Scottish parliament building in November 2015 and have vowed to stay there until independence is granted. So far so relatively normal but they are in court today contesting an eviction order having finally found someone to represent some of them.

The day started when they passed round the assembled press an affidavit signed "Christ, King of Scotland". It notes that "I am the lawful owner of this entire world". They obtained this when Christ visited the camp last week and gave the campers permission to occupy his land and buildings but He hasn't permitted formation of any political party.

In addition the judges must kneel and obey His law as they are frauds and criminals. The logic for this is: the Stone of Destiny is still hidden in Scotland and the one that the queen was crowned on is a fake so she has no legitimacy and so her judges are also false. On independence the true stone will reappear, be taken to Tara and the Second Coming will then occur.
And you thought we had problems already!

To be fair, they are not all clinically barking but this went on all day and if you are sufficiently interested (or bored with EU politics) then it's all here.  https://twitter.com/BBCPhilipSim

All sounds very reasonable to me. Compared to the lunacy south of the border, I mean. Everything is relative.

When was Christ elected King of the Scots, by the way? Did I miss a referendum? It brings to mind the Billy Connolly version of the crucifixion - always worth a listen ...

I'm heading off now for a few days to visit my mother who, would you believe, will be 100 on Sunday.


Shall see you all next week.

100 years old, wow. That definitely warrants a few glasses of champagne and a very big cake. Raise a glass to your mum for me.

Meles meles wrote:

100 years old, wow. That definitely warrants a few glasses of champagne and a very big cake. Raise a glass to your mum for me.

Trike,

All my best wishes for your mum.

Mm,
I this case I think the champagne ought to be Mumm's.

Trike - let her know there is even a UK website devoted to her exclusive club ...

The Centenarian

And my congrats to her too!

I missed this earlier, how wonderful. I hope she basks in all the congratulations and attention and has a marvellous day.

Watching the Germany v Italy quarter-final and very taken by the name of Italian midfielder Emanuele Giaccherini. I think that 'the Giaccherini' sounds like it should be the name of a faction from 19th century history such as, say, 'the fanatical Giaccherini wing among Garibaldi's Thousand Red Shirts'. Mrs Vizzer is more prosaic and says that it sounds more like an item of clothing or footwear.

Either way one wonders if Italy will uphold their famous unbeaten record against Germany or if tonite will be the occasion when they finally jacker it in.

I'll get me giaccherini ....

Was I the only one in thinking that Zaza's penalty was worthy of the great Gabor herself?

Trike, if she'd lived my mother would have been 100 later this year...unfortunately years of very bad rheumatoid arthritis wore her out and she died at 72 (mind you she was in so much pain I think from something she said to another patient in the hospital - she didn't say anything to me - that she was fed up and may have been ready to go in peace).  Olivia de Haviland, the actress, was 100 last Friday (if Yahoo is my friend, they don't always get everything right).  Anyway I hope your Mum had a great birthday.

Thanks everyone, we had a really good day on Sunday.

LiR, wiki does not lie, Olivia de Havilland was indeed 100 last Friday, a fact mentioned on Sunday as Gone with the Wind is one of my Mum's favourite films.

What if the Northern Line was REALLY a "northern" line?

The Northern Northern Line is funny, Nordmann, though in reference to the cloth cap, there were a couple of men I worked with when in London who wore what I think of as "Andy Cap" caps.  I'm not saying I never see 'em now I'm back in the midlands but wouldn't say they are sported that frequently - not among the young 'uns anyhow.  To be fair the chaps who wore them in London were nearer my age than One Direction's.

Now to the serious reason why I came to post. There was a newspaper hoarding last week asking about the two ladies vying for leadership of the Tory party saying "Who will be the new Maggie?" or words to that effect.  My thought was that I hoped neither - I don't vote Tory anyway but I don't think I could cope with another leader of MT's ilk in a lifetime; one was enough!  Hopefully whichever one of them wins will be her own woman.  (Incidentally, I don't think it should matter whether one has 10 [or less] children or is childless when deciding someone's qualities as a possible leader but though it goes against the grain to "white knight" a Tory politician at all, I think Andrea Leadsom was asked a leading question by a journalist - hopefully she will learn that when dealing with the press one has to be like a wise old owl and construct an answer to a question which can't be twisted).

Being a barren fig is not always a disadvantage, but it can be painful at times. Even Elizabeth I was vulnerable to the imputation that the inability to reproduce means that you have "no stake in the future". If the memoirs of Sir James Melville are to be trusted, on being told of the birth of a little Scottish prince, Elizabeth famously broke down and "sank into her chair with her hand to her face". She then burst out to her ladies who crowded around her that "the Queen of Scots is lighter of a fair son and I am but of barren stock".

Subsequent events, however, would suggest that the joys of motherhood did nothing to improve Mary's judgement or her ability to rule well. Elizabeth, meanwhile, went from strength to strength (most of the time).

To be honest, I am more concerned about Ms. May's outrageous taste in shoes and boots rather than her gynecological history. Children often just happen: you have to choose footwear. You'd never see Frau Merkel in a pair of these - would you? There's a rebel lurking in that calm, sensible woman (May, not Merkel). She may come across like Miss Grayling, the gracious and wise headmistress in Enid Blyton's Malory Towers, but I wonder. These days nothing would surprise us bemused English.

Crikey, whoever said that politics is boring? Unethical, bewildering, vicious, nausea inducing and quite, quite terrifying but certainly not boring.

Another G.E. now?

Temperance, never mind Mrs May's shoes - that tartan trouser suit she wore recently was a bit overwhelming (no insult to Scotland intended, ferval).  A tartan jacket with plain trousers picking out one of the colours in the jacket would have been better (to me at least).

I was listening to Mrs May on the radio this morning and a lot of what she said sounded very nice - wanting to help the disadvantaged and all that jazz - but then I remembered (while the blame can't solely be laid at Mrs May's door) that a lot of the disadvantaged in present day Britain are there because of Tory policies.

It was the cut of the woman's troosers that worried me, LiR, not the tartan. Should we be wearing flares, boot-cut, straight or what? May's trousers simply flapped around her ankles in a most disconcerting manner. A dreadful sight. Now this look I do like;

I was born 50 years too early. Having been really skinny all my life (not from lack of stuffing my face), at school I was called 'sparrow legs' because of my slender lower extremities, today I would have been a shoo-in as a role model. Not a real model though, I'm too short, and anyway my idea of a proper model would be someone like Barbara Goalen and somehow I just don't have the necessary elan.




I still wear a size 8 though but even that ain't what it used to be.

Oh I heard that flares were back in fashion.  I have a few pairs from last time they were around but won't be investing in any new ones.  I suppose a slight flare is okay but twice I've nearly fallen when going downstairs in flares (once in Liverpool Street Station and once at home) and it sounds daft if I say I nearly fell over because I walked into my pants - and half-mast flares look ghastly I think.  For myself I usually stick with a straight leg trouser leg because they are reasonably "safe".  I have a few pairs of leggings though they are usually either worn "ragging round" the house or in winter as an extra layer of warmth.  I did make myself a pair of (false) snakeskin leggings but not all knit fabrics are created equally and that pair - well I find I have to wear some control pants on top to keep 'em up - so as I told some friends I'm hardly "the oldest swinger in town" if I wear them.

Another reason for Mason Boyne to celebrate the 12th of July.

Never mind her taste in shoes - what the hell is she wearing? It looks as if she couldn't decide which jacket to wear so wore two. Either that or she's got the table cloth caught in the back of her waistband.

Where your women all look at ...my wife is just the same, always looking to my clothes, even when we haven't an official appointment...

Paul R and MM - so sorry to hear there has been terrorism in Belgium and France.  MM, I know you live far from Nice but still.................

Shocking through the attack in Nice was, it wasn't completely unexpected. I and I'm sure many others thought that something might well happen on Bastille Day, although I thought it more likely to be in Paris and during the morning's military parade, however small an incident, if only for the symbolism and to create the maximum chaos. Yesterday the whole country was on holiday with parades, concerts, street parties, firework dispays and crowds of tourists in nearly every city, town and village ... to adequately protect them all is impossible. Life has to go on and the country, especially toursity resorts like Nice, cannot just pull the shutters down.

At the end of the day, for all M. Hollande's bellicose words about being at war, extending the state of emergency, and his pledge to put even more troops onto the streets, what can the state do against a lone terrorist armed with just a truck? Hollande and his senior advisors will probably get the blame and be accused of complacency or ineptitude for yet another incident (he's already far from popular in France) but ultimately there is little the authorities can do other than concentrate on intelligence. The irony is of course that the nation had just that morning been watching the parade of thousands of troops, armoured vehicles, guns, drones, and a flypast of sophisticated fighter jets and attack helicopters, but all these expensive pieces of equipment are of little use against these sorts of terrorist attacks. Rather than promising to put another 10,000 troops on the streets, it could be argued that he'd be better recruiting 10,000 psychologists, islamic experts, or social workers and putting them to work in the poorer neighbourhoods ... and maybe he and his ministers shouldn't keep talking about the country "being at war", and so not help to glorify the actions of what seem mostly so far to be poorly-educated, disaffected and embittered young men from 2nd generation-immigrant, working-class families.

On a lighter note I saw there were some of your compatriots, Caro, in yesterday's Bastille Day parade:



... some of them having to march the length of the Champs-Elysées in bare feet.

Are they New Zealanders or Tahitians? If the former then that's intriguing. I know that there was an attempt at a French colony (on the South Island?) so it could be something to do with that. Does Caro (or anyone) know the significance of their participation in the parade?

A total of 86 personnel from the NZDF took part in yesterday's parade, Vizzer, including the Maori warriors;

NZDF; Bastille Day

They were Maoris, present as guest troops - there's always a contingent from another nation or two. Last year there were troops from Mexico and this year there were about 150 Australian troops and 85 New Zealand troops (representing all the services). The significance was that these troops, and particularly their regimental colours, had been present for the Somme anniversary commemoration and so also got to parade down the Champs-Elysées. The regimental standards were of those units that had been in France in 1916. Along with US Secretary of State John Kerry, the NZ Prime Minister was principal guest of honour.

Thanks Trike and Meles. Yes - the NZ colours are clearly visible. D'oh! And it's the 100th anniversary of the Somme of course. Double d'oh! Why do we sometimes seek convoluted explanations when the obvious answer is staring us right in the face?

Anyway - the weekend starts here. And I'm now in the notion for a Lion Red or a Steinlager or some other Kiwi beer to slake my thirst.

ferval wrote:

Never mind her taste in shoes - what the hell is she wearing? It looks as if she couldn't decide which jacket to wear so wore two. Either that or she's got the table cloth caught in the back of her waistband.

Better than toilet paper caught at the back....

Still it is horrible.

January 2017:

A Dark Ages royal residence has been found at Tintagel, a place long associated with the King Arthur legends;

Camelot?

"triceratops is a dummy. just look at triceratops's past"

Donald Tump Insult Generator

Triceratops wrote:

A Dark Ages royal residence has been found at Tintagel, a place long associated with the King Arthur legends;

Camelot?

Oh lor! Not ANOTHER Camelot!

What great foresight on the part of its French inventors not to name it Camefew.

nordmann wrote:

What great foresight on the part of its French inventors not to name it Camefew.

One of my pet peeves about Channel 4's (well it was made by some American company) "Camelot" a few years ago was that the actress playing Morgan Le Fay had a French accent - was I harsh on them if the legend grew exponentially in France?  I only watched a couple of episodes in any case.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

nordmann wrote:

What great foresight on the part of its French inventors not to name it Camefew.

One of my pet peeves about Channel 4's (well it was made by some American company) "Camelot" a few years ago was that the actress playing Morgan Le Fay had a French accent - was I harsh on them if the legend grew exponentially in France?  I only watched a couple of episodes in any case.

Well, C S Lewis had his Merlin speaking "a sort of Celticised Latin, sounding a little like Spanish" in "That Hideous Strength".

Well that’s it … the French summer hols are almost over as all the schools go back in a week’s time. It’s the end of the silly season and as usual everything goes suddenly very quiet for the last week of August. But the last two weeks have been absolutely manic and at the moment the house is in complete disarray. I’ve currently got a babies’ cot hidden behind the sofa, a kiddies high chair behind the PC, and a folding bed installed in a single room that I originally thought would be too small to get the extra bed into. There are pieces of Lego, crayons, colouring books, plastic farm animals and toy cars lurking under the furniture and scattered around the garden, …and piles of sheets and towels awaiting washing and ironing. But thankfully no guests until Wednesday.

So in celebration I’ve located some vintage port … although it’s still onboard the ship.



The Sally ran aground on a sand bar at Westward Ho! in North Devon in September 1769 and has recently become exposed due to shifting currents. She was carrying wine from Portugal to Bristol and although most was salvaged before she settled into the sand it’s believed there may well be some barrels still aboard. So if you fancy some 200 year-old port, you just need to dig down a bit … it’s not that far from you Temp.

The Guardian - Two century old ship in North Devon

I know Westward Ho! very well, MM. - not one of my favourite spots in North Devon though, I'm afraid. I won't be scratting about for old barrels of port there, although the story of the wreck is interesting. I hate port and sherry: I drank half a bottle of sherry when I was about seventeen and made myself very poorly indeed. The thought of any fortified wine still makes me shudder. I never touch the stuff, not even a discreet glass of Harvey's Luncheon Sherry (do they still make that, I wonder - it does sound very posh and Bertie Woosterish).