nordmann wrote:

I don't like doing "Museum Hours" over there any more since I was called a know-all.

Well, I never called you that.

But if you are on a mobile no one can expect a MH post. I'll just have to google Fuseli, but what site is going to give detailed info on the man's knowledge of art history as displayed in The Nightmare? Shame. Oh well.

nordmann wrote:

I wonder did Sister Wendy get the same grief.

I bet she got worse.

Temperance wrote:

I posted that picture on the Captions Challenge thread ages ago .....

Just to be pedantic ... I posted that picture, you posted a very good caption.


By the way what's happened to the Historic Captions thread ... I enjoyed those ... I think I need to look it up and kick it back into play.

I've recovered from the Xmas do. Face unslapped and otherwise unharmed. I can't comment on the decline of the C of E because I decided that life was a lot easier if I didn't bother. To me having lots of Gods makes much more sense anyway. I like the idea of a God of Paperclips?

Hi Minnette. Scary? I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said.

Meles meles wrote:

Temperance wrote:

I posted that picture on the Captions Challenge thread ages ago .....

Just to be pedantic ... I posted that picture, you posted a very good caption.


By the way what's happened to the Historic Captions thread ... I enjoyed those ... I think I need to look it up and kick it back into play.

MM, mon petit haricot, je vous offre mes sincere apologies. You are not being pedantic; you are being accurate. I knew I had stumbled upon the scary picture somewhere, but I honestly thought I had posted it to the Historical Captions thread. Sorry. (I'm glad you thought my caption was good - I'd forgotten all about it.)

Yes, a revival of that thread would be good - it was fun.

A guilty and worried Temperance (moi) wrote:

Well, I never called you that.

At least I don't think I did, not to your face, anyway.

But if I did refer to you thus unkindly on the excellent and informative What is Art? thread, it was only in a momentary fit of jealous pique. One hopes that, as Res Historica's own Johann, you will post again there sometime.

bttdp wrote:

... because I decided that life was a lot easier if I didn't bother.

One has to admit there is a certain wisdom in that...

I'm sure there is - if not a god - at least a saint of lost paperclips.  

There is no patron saint of paperclips as such - however Joseph, Jesus's "dad" (nudge, nudge, wink, wink), looks after office workers so I assume he retains a special interest in the tools of their trade too.

There's also St Anthony of Padua who is the patron saint of all lost, miss-placed or stolen items (I'm not kidding). You can even find suitable prayers online to try and get him to help you find your lost paperclips and all other missing items of stationary ... such as this one (from ourcatholicprayers.com):

Saint Anthony, perfect imitator of Jesus, who received from God the special power of restoring lost things, grant that I may find (mention your petition) which has been lost. As least restore to me peace and tranquility of mind, the loss of which has afflicted me even more than my material loss. To this favor I ask another of you: that I may always remain in possession of the true good that is God. Let me rather lose all things than lose God, my supreme good. Let me never suffer the loss of my greatest treasure, eternal life with God. Amen.

Ah! Yet another Benefit of Religion for the record - albeit the wrong thread. For a pair of atheists you  manage to keep the notions rolling out.

... mind you, some things of course ... once lost, gone, hidden and forgotten, are perhaps best kept, well ... lost, or at least, well lost.

Such as Pandora's box, the Ark of the Covenant, the smallpox virus ... and my old smelly socks that the dog took as his raggy-toy!

No?

I doubt St Tony has put his mind to those; restoring minds to peace and tranquility must be more engrossing. Is there a St Valium? Must be a parasaint - rather like paracetamol. Must stop, the men in white coats are back.

They haven't lost the smallpox virus. There's plenty in freezers round the world.

I have to admit with saints and their mystical powers that I have a sneaking feeling that one day some sleeping deity is going to wake up to find that not only has he been Shanghaid, he's been demoted to boot.

Saint Priscilla wrote:

For a pair of atheists you  manage to keep the notions rolling out.

I don't think Meles meles is a pair of atheists. I've always assumed the second meles simply qualified the first one. But what quaint and funny notions you religious types allow yourselves to entertain - I sincerely hope it all leads to something for you in the end.

I have been very close on several occasions to renaming the thread to which you refer to a more accurate; "Delusion - the Benefits" (even Freud noticed the truth in that one) and I am glad to see that your use of "notion" indicates that you secretly agree. But then St Mary of Egypt, the acclaimed all-singing all-dancing prostitute, springs to my fevered mind and, like her, I cross my mental Jordan to the Land of Chimera and stalwartly resist the temptation.

Delusion is fun, isn't it?

BTTDP wrote:

I have to admit with saints and their mystical powers that I have a sneaking feeling that one day some sleeping deity is going to wake up to find that not only has he been Shanghaid, he's been demoted to boot.

I will approach my shoe locker with some trepidation from now on, now that I see it can potentially contain several demoted deities. Though that explains the pong, right enough.

nordmann wrote:

Delusion is fun, isn't it?

No, it's heartbreaking.

You're being very hard on yourself. The scene above would engross a curious Martian anthropologist no end.

I say it would. Real people gawking at some plastic people in dress up with a plastic cow and donkey like they were something special.

nordmann wrote:

The scene above would engross a curious Martian anthropologist no end.

Islanddawn wrote:

Real people gawking at some plastic people in dress up with a plastic cow and donkey like they were something special.

And there we have the spirit and wisdom of the age.


ID, you make Philomena Cunk sound like an intellectual.  


I'm reminded of that bit in Wolf Hall (tele version) - the Privy Council meeting where the Duke of Norfolk and Thomas Boleyn offer their usual scathing and brutally honest remarks to or about poor old Cromwell, who simply sits there looking somewhat pained. Lord Chancellor Audley (Crum's mate) notes their comments and, turning to Howard, says politely and calmly: "Thank you for that, my lord of Norfolk." Likewise he responds to Boleyn: "Thank you for that, my lord of Wiltshire."

ID and nordmann, please consider yourselves thus calmly addressed.

I'm suddenly reminded of Dennis Healey and Geoffrey Howe ...


A meeting of the Dead Sheep Society

Never underestimate the damage a dead sheep can do.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/8127533/The-moment-a-dead-sheep-fatally-wounded-our-warrior-queen-Margaret-Thatcher.html

I'm way beyond making any sensible contributions to anything except the 'Rant' thread: I am assured that my little drip has been cured and after 3 lots of gas men and 4 lots of plumbers (not counting the ones who went to the wrong house) I should damn well hope so. Unfortunately the hole they had to cut in the ceiling will have to wait, probably until the New Year.

Then I went to Waitrose this morning - I'll say no more.

Just to wish everybody a festive Yule or happy break or whatever people want to be wished for the current festival.  I don't have a problem with wishing other people a happy Christmas or being wished one for myself but I know many people who post on this website don't subscribe to any religion whatsoever and I don't want to put my foot in it.

Talking of putting my foot in it, I was going to pay for some last minute shopping with my debit card today and found I'd lost the darn thing.  I was in the process of having some items taken off when a chap in the shop handed the shop assistant a tenner and said put the items back.  That was very nice of him. Of course if I see the chap again and recognise him I'll repay him or at least offer to and if he won't take it offer to contribute to a charity of his choice.  It was a very kind thing for him to do.  I rang up and cancelled my card and ordered a new one and managed to get down to the bank about 1/4 of an hour before it closed with my passport and get some dosh to tide me over the Xmas break.

Oh, LiR, what a PITA, but I woulddn't be at all surprised if it turns up now you've reported it missing.

It hasn't been entirely uneventful chez ferv either, not just the drip (which has gone, it was the fault that we originally thought it was, several weeks and umpteen tradesmen ago, and my ceiling didn't need opened up at all) but, as I was typing a congratulatory message to MM last night, - utter blackness. Every house in the street lost power and only some battery powered outside lights twinkled away in the darkness. The upside, I suppose, of a power cut at this time is that everyone has multiple candles distributed around the house.
It came back about  1 am. so not a disaster but nevertheless, I could have done without it.

Anyway, time to start what still needs to be done so, enjoy your day, I hope it is what you want it to be.

A relatively peaceful Christmas to everyone (relatives notwithstanding). Hope nothing too stressful comes your way.

EDIT: ferv's post arrived as I sent this. I'll rephrase the above to "nothing else too stressful comes your way" ...

Glad to hear you got some money sorted Lir - no laughing matter at this time of year when mere catastrophe can morph so seamlessly into cataclysm. And kudos to the lad in the shop too. It reminds me of a recent conversation when one who should know better (she assists in our little group's feeble attempt to provide protein, warmth and some little hope for the homeless, the junkies and indeed the homeless junkies here) criticised the "do-gooders" who volunteer their services around this time of the year and then disappear for the rest of it as being typically hypocritical religious types. To which a colleague calmly responded that Christmas comes like a plague each year and affects everyone, so what becomes evident is the "we're all in this together" mentality, one which motivates otherwise indifferent people to help ensure that their fellow victims all make it through to the other side as little damaged as possible. It should be applauded, not condemned, and has as much to do with religion at Christmas as any lifeboat service in any storm.

Speaking of which, this pagan has no qualms about calling Christmas Christmas. Dropping old religious terminology for calendar events etc is a long and slippery slope into dementia which ultimately leaves us with one day a week and only six months in the year, not to mention a severe depletion in available expletives at moments of sudden pain. For me the offensive part of "Happy Christmas" is the first word, not the second. It reeks of false assumption concerning the nature of happiness and is up there, as things wished bestowed upon us, with "nice day" in the instant "oh, shut to f*ck up" rejoinder class of false bonhomie and how it should be responded to. "Happy Holidays" as an alternative simply spreads the diseased semanticism over both words.

Thanks for your Christmas greeting LiR ... same to you and to everyone else. That was kind of the chap in the shop, it's little things like that do restore one's faith in humanity.

Ferval ... was the power cut due to the storms I hear you've been having? Here, amazingly, we still haven't had any of the usual winter storms ... so although it's now Christmas we still have the last of the Autumnal leaves on some of the trees. I haven't done a Christmas tree this year but this liquiamber in the garden looks quite seasonal, in an unseasonal sort of way ... a bit like a giant poinsettia:

I don't think so, it's been quite boisterous but something blowing in the junction box seems to be the issue.
All those lights and ovens going full blast had probably some effect.
This morning it's 13 C, (ie, Scottish summer) the temperature rocketed during the night, and wet and windy but nothing too bad. The only drawback is it's a bit too warm to use the vestibule at the back door as auxiliary chilling space.  

I've been preparing the langoustines with the cat hurling itself at the kitchen door, she's back in now but looking at me accusingly 'cause there's nothing for her to nick.

I'm about to do the prawns and smoked salmon, so all animals are banned from the kitchen, although the dog is currently occupied trying to destroy his present ... like King John (if you know your A.A. Milne, 'Now We Are Six') Father Christmas brought him a "big red india-rubber ball"!

Hang on, don't we usually have snow drifting gently down over the mast head? Has nordmann gone all bah humbug?

On second thoughts, don't answer that.

A former UK Christmas no 1

And what was Number One in Denmark at the same time, sir, before you scoff too much ...



God Jul og et hyggelig nytt år, Pippis kjæle tamme apekatt!

Ah, music from when there were dancing and that was just the sweaty prelude ...

There are times when and a bad memory and some wishful thinking make a good mix.

Regarding Hr. Nilsson he's one of the saner elements in Villa Villekulla, if I recall correctly.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

Just to wish everybody a festive Yule or happy break or whatever people want to be wished for the current festival.  I don't have a problem with wishing other people a happy Christmas or being wished one for myself but I know many people who post on this website don't subscribe to any religion whatsoever and I don't want to put my foot in it.

Talking of putting my foot in it, I was going to pay for some last minute shopping with my debit card today and found I'd lost the darn thing.  I was in the process of having some items taken off when a chap in the shop handed the shop assistant a tenner and said put the items back.  That was very nice of him. Of course if I see the chap again and recognise him I'll repay him or at least offer to and if he won't take it offer to contribute to a charity of his choice.  It was a very kind thing for him to do.  I rang up and cancelled my card and ordered a new one and managed to get down to the bank about 1/4 of an hour before it closed with my passport and get some dosh to tide me over the Xmas break.

 OOPS my message is gone again because I consulted Google for "Français de souche"...
I start again...

Lady in retirement,

"Just to wish everybody a festive Yule or happy break or whatever people want to be wished for the current festival.  I don't have a problem with wishing other people a happy Christmas or being wished one for myself but I know many people who post on this website don't subscribe to any religion whatsoever and I don't want to put my foot in it."

I have certainly no problem with wishing a happy Christmas to me...although I overtime don't subscribe anymore to any religion...but I have certainly no problem because I am part of those who are accustomed to the traditions of this country and that is one part of it...but it seems that mostly the "autochtones" are subscribing to that...for "autochtones" I heard the French speaking of "français de souche"
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ais_de_souche
goo.gl/3Me5Rl


And for the "others" many don't subscribe...and that becomes to be seen  by the "autochtones" as a mark of divide and even the French atheist autochtones, who don't believe in any religion, see it as a reason for ressentment towards the "allochtones"...
In the time I saw footage of Serbian soldiers or paramilitary, who went from house to house and put a mark on the doorway, one distinguishing the mostly Catholic Croats from the Serbian Greek orthodox (not that the Croats were that better) ones...and later those Catholics, who had not left their houses were murdered...and that happened recently in "our" Europe (not in WWII under the Nazis)...
I hope that it never come that far anymore...

And I hope that I have you not bored too much with my "depressive" thoughts in these times of light were the winter sun is everyday increasing...in fact the reason for the festivities from the birth of humanity...

Kind regards, Paul.

Reading the book pages that I mentioned:
goo.gl/3Me5Rl

I become even more depressed (not depressive as I said earlier, it is French and Dutch but seemingly not English)

as that is exactly the situation overhere in Belgium too...not with the older Spanish, Italian, Polish, Portuguese immigration but with the recent Maghreb and a bit less Turkish one...sigh...

Kind regards, Paul.

I am happy too to receive and give Merry Christmas greetings, even though I have no religious beliefs.

As a between Xmas and New Year treat yesterday to relax we decided to "go" to the races (trots to be exact), at home in front of the television and putting bets on at the computer. Something I only usually do for the Melbourne Cup and the NZ Trotting Cup. We used to go to harness racing almost weekly when we were first married, and perhaps my very favourite job was working at the tote on race days. So I put on my smart hat (after my husband said my old jersey didn't look very race-dayish) and have waited for my first collect, coming in the 6th race and paying just a little more than I had bet in that race. My husband, on the other hand, bet on the first race and turned his $11 into $110!! At the end of the day he was still about $50 up, so not a bad result.  I probably lost less than $30.

Caro wrote:

I am happy too to receive and give Merry Christmas greetings, even though I have no religious beliefs.

As a between Xmas and New Year treat yesterday to relax we decided to "go" to the races (trots to be exact), at home in front of the television and putting bets on at the computer. Something I only usually do for the Melbourne Cup and the NZ Trotting Cup. We used to go to harness racing almost weekly when we were first married, and perhaps my very favourite job was working at the tote on race days.

 Caro,

Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you too.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=trot


Indeed from French and before Germanic...
We have it in our local Flemish dialect too..."'n lange trot" (a long walk (with the insinuation of tiring)) but ours is from French...as in "trotinette"


"So I put on my smart hat (after my husband said my old jersey didn't look very race-dayish) and have waited for my first collect, coming in the 6th race and paying just a little more than I had bet in that race. My husband, on the other hand, bet on the first race and turned his $11 into $110!! At the end of the day he was still about $50 up, so not a bad result.  I probably lost less than $30."

If I understand it well, you as a family had still more than $ 20 over at the end of the evening...

We went in the time some times with my wife's brother and our sister in law to the casino and the roulette...in fact they invited us...because you had at midnight such a monumental buffet of all kind of delicatesses...
We went some four of five times with them and played as the brother only for 25 Euro in the money of that time and if we lost it rapidly, we stopped...on the average I had some 30% rate of return...it is approxematively the same as with most "lotteries"...and the brother said that he on annual base had one year an average of 100 Euros won and the other year 100 Euros lost. But the sister in law said that she without her husband went to the casino and she nearly addicted lost always some money...yes the casinos live from the average addicted ones...

But the brother was right...he had every week his excitement and en plus a nice buffet gratuit for only a mere 100 Euro a year plus or minus...but you had to be able to resist...

Kind regards from your friend Paul.

Well, thank God that's all over until this time next year.  Happy New Year to all dear friends    at Res His - 2017 must be an improvement on 2016. Here's hoping Her Britannic Majesty (note capitals) and Keith Richards both last out until Sunday.




Tried to translate "Forever woolly but not quite dead - yet" into Latin, but gave up in despair.

Yes, as this benighted year drags out its final hours, Good riddance is all I can say but I keep hearing Burns in my head -

But Och! I backward cast my e'e,
        On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I cannot see,
        I guess an' fear!

It's being so cheerful as keeps me going..........




     
But spring is on its way so here's to 2017 with a happier little mouse.

                                                                                                   

Well I love Rhubarb and was brought up eating liver, rolled breast of lamb and offal and think that perhaps the French are so good at cooking because they often have so little to work with, they become inventive and care. On the other hand lots of good food makes people lazy, if in the USA just slap another steak on the barbecue but make sure it's covered in syrupy sugar 

But if I could go back to Milton...He's a far better writer than Zwingli, Calvin and the self-denying boys in the band but we come back to the same thing, that is that anything beautiful, funny, pleasurable, joyous or simply lovingly wonderful must be bad. There must be self denial in all things and I've never understood why?  Why should we worship a God who simply stands for sad emptiness? And if He is the creator of all things then what a bastard he must be to make all these amazing things just to say, "over here! Just look, never touch or think about them, suckers!" Ergo God is not a very nice imnipotent being and I wouldn't want to worship this God anyway. 

But, if God makes all these things for us to enjoy and which are totally pointless in so many ways such as Beethoven's 6th or the Ballroom scene in Romeo and Juliet or the love duet in Tristan and Isolde or Uccello's, "Hunt in the Forrest" or scarlet, orange and cerise rolled roof tiles or the smell of damp wood smoke and ferns or Les Dawson or Jane Austen or the joy of jumping up and down on a bouncy bed or trampoline; they're all pointless and so why do they exist? They're no use to us on an evolutionary or practical basis and so we just enjoy them to be able to say, "I will ignore you." There is no logic to it on any level or basis. Such self denial just makes us twisted, nothing to be proud of surely? And why?
     
I've always loved Lorenzo de Medici and saw that wonderful carved wooden head of his at the Ashmoleon recently and it gets better whenever I see it! He is smiling at the floor as though he'd trying to stop a burst of the giggles. It's not a traditionally handsome face but a very kind one and so ..lovely. But although he'd taken Michael Angelo on as a child and survived so much more, on his death bed the famous, sanctified Savanorola refused to give him peace and told him he would burn for Eternity. We are rational beings and personally I don't understand his God and certainly don't want to worship him. Milton simply cleaned this nasty God up for c17th weirdos and they were Legion! Can't we give poor God a chance and stop blaming him for our acts of free will and judgment? Poor God.

I've been watching my boxed set of the BBC productions of Anthony Trollope's Barchester Chronicles which I was given last week by a friend who was amazed I was not a Trollope enthusiast. I am now. The production is old - 1982 - but absolutely superb, with a young Alan Rickman as the Bishop's new and insufferable chaplain, Nigel Hawthorne as the Archdeacon and Donald Pleasance as that lovely real Christian, Rev. Harding. I liked the latter's line when the loathsome Rickman tries to ban music at services (in favour of more reading from the Bible): "If there is no music there is no mystery; and if there is no mystery there is no God; and if there is no God there is no faith..."

Mind you, I also liked Archdeacon Grantly's solution to Harding's observation, "The new chaplain is indeed a problem. What shall we do about him, Archdeacon?"

Hawthorne, in true Humphrey mode, responded: "I shall destroy him."

Great stuff.

I hope "poor God" has a sense of humour, Minette. He certainly needs it.

Besides all of that, HAPPY NEW YEAR

Alas, don't we all need a sense of humour!

Minette Minor wrote:

But, if God makes all these things for us to enjoy and which are totally pointless in so many ways such as Beethoven's 6th or the Ballroom scene in Romeo and Juliet or the love duet in Tristan and Isolde or Uccello's, "Hunt in the Forrest" or scarlet, orange and cerise rolled roof tiles or the smell of damp wood smoke and ferns or Les Dawson or Jane Austen or the joy of jumping up and down on a bouncy bed or trampoline; they're all pointless and so why do they exist? They're no use to us on an evolutionary or practical basis and so we just enjoy them to be able to say, "I will ignore you." There is no logic to it on any level or basis. Such self denial just makes us twisted, nothing to be proud of surely? And why?
     

I'm not quite sure what prompted that outpouring, Minette, but I thought it a lovely, frank bit of writing, and in these rather dark and depressing times, it did conjure up some happy memories and made me smile.

Meles meles wrote:

Minette Minor wrote:

But, if God makes all these things for us to enjoy and which are totally pointless in so many ways such as Beethoven's 6th or the Ballroom scene in Romeo and Juliet or the love duet in Tristan and Isolde or Uccello's, "Hunt in the Forrest" or scarlet, orange and cerise rolled roof tiles or the smell of damp wood smoke and ferns or Les Dawson or Jane Austen or the joy of jumping up and down on a bouncy bed or trampoline; they're all pointless and so why do they exist? They're no use to us on an evolutionary or practical basis and so we just enjoy them to be able to say, "I will ignore you." There is no logic to it on any level or basis. Such self denial just makes us twisted, nothing to be proud of surely? And why?
     

I'm not quite sure what prompted that outpouring, Minette, but I thought it a lovely, frank bit of writing, and in these rather dark and depressing times, it did conjure up some happy memories and made me smile.

Yep - and Minette, don't forget Tudor brickwork in the list! You once wrote a lovely piece to Twinprobe about Tudor bricks - remember? I bet you don't! God in red bricks - definitely.

As Nielsen says, Happier New Year - and let's please keep this place alive.

Temperance wrote:

Meles meles wrote:

Minette Minor wrote:

But, if God makes all these things for us to enjoy and which are totally pointless in so many ways such as Beethoven's 6th or the Ballroom scene in Romeo and Juliet or the love duet in Tristan and Isolde or Uccello's, "Hunt in the Forrest" or scarlet, orange and cerise rolled roof tiles or the smell of damp wood smoke and ferns or Les Dawson or Jane Austen or the joy of jumping up and down on a bouncy bed or trampoline; they're all pointless and so why do they exist? They're no use to us on an evolutionary or practical basis and so we just enjoy them to be able to say, "I will ignore you." There is no logic to it on any level or basis. Such self denial just makes us twisted, nothing to be proud of surely? And why?
     

I'm not quite sure what prompted that outpouring, Minette, but I thought it a lovely, frank bit of writing, and in these rather dark and depressing times, it did conjure up some happy memories and made me smile.

Yep - and Minette, don't forget Tudor brickwork in the list! You once wrote a lovely piece to Twinprobe about Tudor bricks - remember? I bet you don't! God in red bricks - definitely.

As Nielsen says, Happier New Year - and let's please keep this place alive.

And sunsets and purring cats and good friends - including those whom you will never meet.

Not just purring moggies. This white Petit Chat goes very well with crab apparently (just been recommended on Saturday Kitchen).

Not just purring moggies. This white Petit Chat goes very well with crab apparently (just been recommended on Saturday Kitchen).


Indeed, and tabbies as well.

 
          Paul.

OOPS I meant:



And happy new year from Paul.

At least 2017 has started off here with sunshine, blue skies and it's properly chilly, such a pleasant change from the wet, windy and unseasonably mild weather we have had recently.

The filling for the traditional steak pie was cooked last night so that just needs covered before the gang arrive and the potatoes need peeled but everything else for the Ne'erday meal is ready so I can sit and read the papers.
I still can't get used to there being papers on Jan 1, nor the supermarkets and some big shops opening. It used to be the 'nothingest' day of the year and the only way you could buy alcohol then was if you had a meal in a hotel which had a bar.  That of course meant that every one who wanted a drink had to drive (probably with a hangover and still a bit blootered) because there was damn all public transport, a bit like Sundays when you were only served in a hotel and had to sign the bona fide travellers book to confirm you had travelled at least 3 miles and not solely for the purpose of having a bevvy. The concept of the 'designated driver' was still a long, long way in the future.

ferval wrote:

I still can't get used to there being papers on Jan 1, nor the supermarkets and some big shops opening. It used to be the 'nothingest' day of the year and the only way you could buy alcohol then was if you had a meal in a hotel which had a bar.  That of course meant that every one who wanted a drink had to drive (probably with a hangover and still a bit blootered) because there was damn all public transport, a bit like Sundays when you were only served in a hotel and had to sign the bona fide travellers book to confirm you had travelled at least 3 miles and not solely for the purpose of having a bevvy. The concept of the 'designated driver' was still a long, long way in the future.

Ah yes that brings back memories. For three years in a row, on New Year's Day, we did the highest peaks in Wales (Snowden), England (Scarfell Pike) and Scotland (Ben Nevis) ... and on having climbed and descended the highest mountain in the whole British Isles, and all got back safely to our snow-covered tents in a field near Fort William, we did feel rather miffed when we could find no hostelry open to serve us a wee celebratory dram.

We did finally find one ... and later after a long after-hours lock-in, we eventually all collapsed on the bar floor and stayed overnight, so we were sort-of paying guests ... especially as we were all served a superb full fried breakfast on the morning of the 2nd.

I miss a good lock-in. Long ago we were in a pub in Carrbridge, not far from Inverness, when it shut at 10 pm. We were escorted out the front door and then ushered round the rear and in through the kitchen back into the bar where we were joined by the village bobby who removed his cap and then partook enthusiastically.

Much more recently, about 5 years ago, I was staying with friends in an inn in Muthill, near Crieff. At closing time we were of course still in the bar, as residents that was fine, but no-one else left either and then mine hostess brought out several ashtrays and placed them on the tables saying that since most folk were drinking illegally anyway, they might as well enjoy a fag with their dram without standing out in the cold at the back door.

There's something very reassuring in knowing that fine old traditions are still honoured.

Minette, with apologies I misread your allusion to "damp wood smoke" as "damp wool smoke". Gilgamesh will say I should have gone to Specsavers.  I am overdue to get some new specs actually - though it is my distance vision that is really at fault rather than my near sight.

I fear I was very boring yesterday though I have something of an excuse.  I bashed my right knee on Xmas Day so yesterday I rested up most of the time.

Belated Happy New Year all and each.

A lady from a couple of doors down asked if I had a cat.  I said I had - she asked what colour.  I said tortie and white (fortunately) because it seems she has had a tabby vacating his bowels in her garden. Mine does dig a hole.  The tabby is possibly the one that sometimes nicks (or tries to) my cat's food.

Don't be daft Lady In Retirement, never boring and I function by radar! I should get a new eye test but the last I went to wasn't too good. Felt guilty about Spec Savers again, so went to an independent one. We all know that great feeling when we can SEE with new glasses but I couldn't and having bumped around thinking I was going mad for a few days I went back and was told it was me. I really couldn't agree and got testy only for them to accept that my prescription was times 2! Great to feel that I wasn't mad! When our dog was a puppy she smacked in my left eye like a bottle nose dolphin and it's never recovered.

As for cats.. I know someone who had a white, half blind and three legged cat wandering around and took it in. Then they decided they couldn't do anything for it and eventually went to the vet to have it put down. The next day a woman turned up asking for help to find Tiddles with a picture. He's been through so much how could he just be lost? And how could she tell her that she'd had him killed? Why is it so funny? I've sadly carted off quite a few much loved animals to certain death at the vets and they always ask me if I want their bodies? I kept mice and Guenea Pigs when I was young and when they died, 30 minutes after the funeral, our dog would dig them up and play with them. May Tiddles rest in peace and everyone else. Can't think why I'm not a Vegan...
Oh ferval, I wished my life was more like yours. I am reading Alan Carr's book again I really am! This is a really nice place to be in. I've been filing in forms all night...Ok some Scrabble, but it really is. I'd forgotten how nice it was.

And of course Tudor brick work should be no more than two and half inches, ask Dan Cruckshank, he is so wonderful. But there is something I've been dying to ask about the block busting, "Wolf Hall". 

I actually bought the book and then threw it aside almost immediately. I'm never keen on reading a work of History by an English novelist but...how does Thomas Cromwell's nasty Welsh relation actually walk in. "a Welsh way"? I wanted to go to Haye just to ask this. Why rub this in which she does, after the first chapter? And how does one walk in a, "Welsh way"? Are walks unique to nationalities? Oh look there 's Sven the Swede lurching to the left again! Only to be expected. Oh look there's Rupert the Malingerer of Havistock with his usual middle hop, only to be followed by Rufus with his unorthodox Cornish gait followed by Sally the Saxon is she really making a bid for the sea? 
This is what happens when you have Mantels, ..."I'll explain. My voice may sound as though I've been eating Turkish Delight all day but I have the gift of prophecy so follow me...I want you to imagine (as I have done) what may have taken place during this dramatic moment. I have no idea and neither have you what actually happened and so we can all just guess but I don't need facts or support, just...listen to my construct." English Lit and History are at odds but it's wonderful knowing people like you are here. Really and apologies.