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If you're wanting to get something off your chest, make general comments about the server, or post lonely hearts ads, then this is the place for you.
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[snorgle] *accepts and returns hugs* Thanks. Actually, upon further review, I notice that rab never said he accepted my apology....sorry for presuming as such.
Groan
I have ants in my kitchen. I suppose it was the Spring Equinox yesterday ... *grumble grumble grumble* (my fault really, I went away for the weekend and didn't clean up well enough before going)
ants
[Brendan] Put a wipe of neat lemon juice in several places across their route. It destroys the formic acid scent trail they've left for themselves and they won't find their way in to your pantry any more.
Ogre
[DrQ] I seem to have assumed ogre status. My comment entitled "me too" was supposed to have acted as an apology acceptance measure. Apologies for the lack of clarity on my part, and possibly for being slightly more grumpy than I needed to be... Group hug?
[penelope] But what about the ones that are in the kitchen when he does that? They won't be able to find their way back! They'll be lost! Do you want that on your conscience?
ants in pants
[pen]They may decide to build their own state - in the kitchen cupboard (or the underwear drawer) - the horror!

***hugs everyone***
I'm not usually this demonstrative, you know, but as we're online.. ;)

Giant ants are walking the earth
[Breadmaster] They're already dead. Very dead. And yet my concscience is clear. [pen] Cheers for the advice; unfortunately I didn't manage to work out where they were getting in (I did wait to kill them until I'd watched them running around for a while, but there wasn't an obvious entrance/exit, and then my insecticidal urges overtook me and I bludgeoned them all to death), but wiping the kitchen down with lemon juice doesn't seem as extreme as putting powder down everywhere.
more ants
[Bm]I'd rather have ants on my wipe-clean conscience than in my pants or my biscuit tin :o)
Thos were the days, my friend
Can I just say a very belated "Hello Thos" as well? Ta.
of nothing
hello. I have been in Chamonix Mont Blanc and it was loverley. Drove back to geneva airport on an uncrowded 2 lane autoroute yesterday am at 160kmh and it was a pleasure to pay the tolls (5 euros in total). The most pleasurable drive of my life - or high up there. Mont Blanc and it's sister's and brothers lit up by alpinr sun certainly beat anything the M4 has to offer. ***deeply contented sigh***
sister's
ahem. ha ha.
envious
[st d] Wow - autorouting in and around mountains ... lucky you.
Tonite
Just to let you know I won't be gracing the Chat Room tonight but only for the reason that I shall be out with my colleagues. I'm sure this announcement won't stop people assuming anyone who arrives in costume is me :)
oh yeah?
[rab] you DO tell porkies sometimes
europe
I'm off to Bella Roma on Wednesday! Yippee!!!!!
*fume*
*seethe* [zk] Lucky you. I neeeeeeed a holiday.
hunting
I had to search high and low for my post today.
Trappings
Bit quiet the mo.
Yah.
On the bright side, I just chatted with me mum in Aus. And the webcam works. woo.
hogging the space
So, not quite as hideous a day as was first thought. Still not the best.
Settling in
[flerdle] Great to see you posting from your new domicile ... that didn't take long! ... ;-) I trust all is well and Mr f is as organised as yourself.
Knackerd
1 hour to go then I bugger off home and forget all about the NHS for 13 hours.............
[widey] I hear you. After spending all night in a three-person team doing the work of a five-person team, I am about to put myself in the bed and remain there, if possible, for the next ten hours. Nasty working conditions do have an up-side, even if it's only when they end.
Greetings!
Allow me to break up the routine with a message from Rome!(Its not that boring here its just weve only just found the internet)If its any comfort to you, pen, the weather here is pretty rubbish anyway...
The rain in Rome
[ZK-o] S'ok... I have plans for a trip to Reykjavik next month (current temp: 0 degrees). I know it's getting close because I've started throwing socks into a backpack and enquiring about buying foreign currency. :o)
not *exactly*
[Dujon] Not quite in the new flat yet, so will probably still be a bit intermittent since we have no idea how long it will take to get a phone there. Until then, I'm making good use of what I have access to :-)
holidays
well, i am hoping my bruises will go down and am currently thinking of a long weekend maybe in Les 2 Alpes in late April for a bit of a glacier ski, then an unlikely but very tempting week or two in Chile in the summer for some S Hemisphere skiing and then a race camp in Austria in October. :o) All unlikely but fun to imagine....
noffink
No-one has said anything today. So I thought I might as well mention that the BIG DIET starts on Monday, and there should be a difference in me by the time we get to the Rugby pilg in May. :o)
[pen] Difference? You're not having the sex-change operation are you?
vive la difference
[pen] Woo. I hope you'll feed back your technique to me.
die(t)ing
I have a great diet! Just eat less. (Please ignore the mars bar in my mouth.)
nil by mouth
[Projoy] 'Feeding' is a word that is henceforth banished from my vocabulary. I will be existing on a series of meal replacements, (courtesy of that nice man at herbalife), caffeine tablets and cigarettes in a desperate attempt to prevent myself looking like a fat, shelf-bound spinster older sister at my younger sister's wedding in October, to be able to find something to wear for aforementioned wedding that doesn't have to come from the 'plus sizes' department, and hopefully to be able to fit into the £170-worth of linen trousers I have bought for the summer. (That's three pairs, by the way - I'm not into the huge-spending league just yet). I don't care that it relies on caffeine and soya. I just want to be smaller.
hello
[pen and all reducers] I've just finished a 60-hour week [I know it's not a lot by some standards but it was very intensive sort of work] so it's great to have time to catch up with the Morniverse. It's also quite exciting to see a reference to Rugbypilging in May. I'm going to cut out butter for the next six weeks in an attempt to rid myself of this blubbery lump around my middle. Oh yes - I'm also aiming to drink a couple of litres of water a day.
As it happens, I'm also on a diet, and so far I've lost a little over a stone.
die
Although I am drinking a remarkable amount of water, I am not on a diet, and you really do NOT want to know how much oil there is in a biryani, as taught to me by a nice Iraqi woman. Further investigations of regional cuisine will be undertaken soon.
Dieting
Here's a cheering thought: when the Allied forces liberated the concentration camps, they found no fat people. Therefore, it is possible.
You know when...
As symptoms of too much online MC go, I think starting a page of notes with the title "Slap this jammy factor" must count as one of them.
Concentrate...
[Raak] Yes, I guess it's all a matter of concentration. Where do you find a Japanese or Nazi prison guard when you need one? (And if I might say so, you speak like the enviably skinny person you are... :op)
diggings
I just found The Encyclopaedia Morningtonia here: http://www.satiche.org.uk/satiche/sat-0207.htm. Have I not been following the chat, or did anyone know?
[pen] It was mentioned in the Morniverse a while ago. It seems to have added an acknowledgement of its source since then, but the URL of course doesn't work.
unmarried ladies
I was looking at an old marriage certificate (circa 1942) at work today, and noticed that the the bride (aged 18) was described as a "spinster"! I never realised that applied to any unmarried woman (unless she was thought old to be unmarried at 18).
the spin
All first time brides were known as 'spinsters' [and possibly may still be so - but I haven't got married for a while so I don't know] and their age had nowt to do with it. It's interesting how the word now [to those aged 30 and younger]conjures up an image of a a lady past her prime.
... whereas batchelor, the gender opposite, conjures up an image of the footloose and fancy-free young blade. Life's a b*gger really, for us girlies.
Shelves
Surely not! A spinster, just like a bachleor, is someone of marriagable age (definition liberal) who isn't? I have never thought of it as otherwise.
Spinsters etc
(Chalky) You don't need to be under 30 to think of a spinster as unmarried and no chicken. The word was a bit old-fashioned even in my childhood (40's - 50's), and mildly derogatory. Its original meaning was "female spinner" (of yarn). This was presumably thought a proper way for unmarried ladies of a certain age to occupy their time, in the absence of vibrators, though who knows.
Yippppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...........
Home in 55 minutes and 5 nights off......Will the NHS survive without me, probably. Do I care if it doesn't, no!!!!!
As Rosie says, a spinster is just an unmarried woman, but it has acquired unofficial overtones of left-on-the-shelfness. If you have banns read in church before your marriage, the woman is always described as "spinster of this (or another) parish".
Spinsters
It's all part of the gender bias inherent in the English language. Get a thesaurus and look up 'manly' and 'womanly'.
bias schmias
Hmmph. It works both ways... Being left on the shelf means you sometimes get mixed up with the rejects and the returns, which sometimes ain't so bad. This weekend is an interesting one, for complicated (and unexpected) reasons. I just hope I've got enough lipstick to last me until tomorrow. BTW (and to start another subject) I bought a petrol-engined lawn mower on the web last night. It's going to be delivered to my office on a day when I'm out at meetings all day. Am I completely nuts? (On second thoughts, don't answer that)
*doesn't answer, but...*
*sends in the white-coated squirrels*

mmmm, machinery. Is that just for your patch of lawn, or are you thinking of going into business? And has the back corner managed to reassert itself, or is the forest properly under control now?
Mind you, I can't talk, I'm still slightly in love with my new fridge. It purrs...

Manly vs womanly
[Tuj] Womanly means to exude femininity or lady-like qualities, whereas Manly is a suburb of Sydney, Australia. ;)

I don't believe I've heard the term "spinster" used in America for...well...ever.
digital camera
Yay! I finally got one, that can be used to take short videos and act as a webcam, for the princely sum of £17.95, including postage! I can now use the internet for its true purpose - putting up pictures of my cats (once I get some webspace sorted - I get some free from NTL). I'm looking forward to selling shiny objects on E-bay, as well. ;)
digital knobs and dials
[Snorgle] Don't be ridiculous. The internet's true purpose is so men can chat you up by sending you pics of their tattoos and knobs and you can pretend to be impressed. (And £17.95??? Did you get the decimal point in the wrong place?)
Clocking off
Just to let you know I'm stepping into the Slovak Republic for a few days, so if you don't hear from me, that's why. Oh, and not impressed with myself at booking an 8.15am flight on the morning the clocks go forward...
[pen] For a fine selection of knobs you could do worse than look here.
knobbing it large
[rab] Thanks, sweetie. It even gave me the option of 'knobs - small, medium, large' :oD
wrong places
Nope, it was that cheap. I really didn't want anything fancy, just something to try out. It was discounted too. I actually got some nice photos today! Here it is.
go pen, GO!
[pen] Good luck on your mission to shrink. Sounds tough, but I'm sure you'll cope. I'm on a exercise mission to minimise my waistline to fit better into my bridesmaid corset and skirt, will be going to the gym later for multiple sit-ups. But only when i can prise myself out of my pyjamas!
[widey] Which bit of the evil NHS do you suffer in? I'm quite content at the moment as its my third weekend off in a row! But next week I'll be back to miserable, downtrodden Lib!
The value of the penny
pen] I'm on my 10th week of weight loss - so far I've managed about 1.5 stone. I’ve found that if I substitute my normal meals with low-fat options, I just crave the high-fat version. Low-cal stuff is often (not always) crap - so I've taken to eating really high quality stuff so that when I do eat, I've really got something to look forward to. Plus I've discovered Lebanese cooking - fabulous couscous and fresh onion salads, houmus, pitta bread, fresh mint leaf tea...
[Btd] Sounds delicious... I'll have to find a book. I'm still waiting for the diet stuff to arrive, but now I have a lurgy which isn't going to make it much fun...
the dreaded!
Oh, that ruined my last diet! I got a cold and just felt too miserable to cut down - I was drinking loads of hot chocolate, etc..
lurgy survival
pen, snorgs] Chicken soup is good for lurgy and diets. If you can wait for it, go for this one.
bob boc boc
I'm a veggie - so I'd better not.. :)
chikensoupicillin
[Btd] I make a chicken soup so substantial that it becomes a meal in itself - I ate it three nights in a row last week. Wish I'd frozen some of it now :o(
Orthographic pedantry
It's Lurgi. Think Italian. Trust me; I heard it first time round. :-)
lurgi
[Rosie] I'm snotterini too. *Atciao!*
[penelope] (back one post) Wouldn't that have been a chicken lollipop?
Quiet night in outer space?
No e-pilg tonight?
e-pilg
Sorry, DrQ, busy tonight! My brother is coming over from Canada on Wednesday, and I'm still getting his room ready..
Indeed a quiet night.
[snorgle] Yes, I see he took the cold with him. ;)
Lurgi
Has anyone heard this pantomime sequence? (don't know which pantomime) - 1st witch: Where's the fairy princess? 2nd witch: She's in bed with the dreaded lurgi. 1st witch: Oo-er! 2nd witch: Oh, I dunno, I quite fancy Italian men meself.
Sniffles
Lurgi has now struck here too...
Lurgi
Well, *I* still can't get rid of this damned bronchitis that's been bugging me since the beginning of the month. It's mostly died down but it won't go away...
*atchoo*
Was out with Mother last night, after dropping off older sister at the airport for her return to the US. I'll be there next week :o) The lurgi is steadily taking a grip... :o(
not so cute
My two and a half year old, Thomas, picked up the lurgi over the week end. Unfortunately being so little he does not quite understand the concept of blowing his nose into a tissue, with the consequent torrent of stickyness streaming from his nose. As I leave you with the wonderful picture in your mind of this shimmering gunge glistening in the soft light of spring. Ponder a few seconds further on semi transparent bubbles on the end of his nose each time he sneezes.
[pen] I don't suppose a side-trip to Da'Burgh is in your plans? :(
oops
[DrQ] Bleeeaaaauuuurgh. I meant I'll be in the chatroom next week, not I'll be in the US. I realised once I posted it how rong (that's right, R-O-N-G, rong) it looked, but was too busy sneezing to put it right.
*hangs yellow flag outside door*
I'm not coming back here until everyone is recovered!
*hands round tissues, paracetamol, cups of tea and some sympathy to all those suffering from lurgi*
I'd send some warm weather, but having a summer cold is foul.
Guarantees
[Btd] That would guarantee you a pat down search... depends what floats your boat, I suppose.
ISIHAC Pilg In Rugby In May
If anyone is interested, I've just posted here.
Get Well Soons
....and * a comforting pat * to all you poorly people. Awww.
change of subject
Sorry to change the subject and anticipating that I am about to whine --- Two and a half weeks ago I was in a car crash. A lady who reports for a local tv station zoomed through a red light and creamed me. I was lucky in that she did not hit the driver's side door. But I still hurt and I still find in idle times that I relive the event. Worst thing I've been through, although I'm sure many have been through worse. My car, meanwhile, is a total loss. So finding transportation after the rental car is done is also a concern. Just wanted to vent.
Awww!
[Tina] Sorry to hear that. *a comforting pat for you aswell *. I hope they throw the book at her.
Bumps and lumps
[Tina] Bad luck, that sort of event is never pleasant. If my experience is anything to go by those sudden memories will slowly reduce in frequency - a bit like the bruises, I suppose. I had a few bingles when I was younger (not all my fault, by the way) but maturity (?) brings sanity, adherence to speed limits and a much more alert attitude. I too had a lady fly through a red light and hit the area of the driver side rear wheel; it's a little disconcerting when one thinks about the timing! The worst thing I found is the incredible inconvenience of not having your own transport following the incident. I was fortunate enough to have a good friend who loaned me his FWD for the duration (I used to arrive at work at 5 am in those days, at which time there was no train which would allow that). Fortunately the lady involved admitted her error - I hate to think what might have happened should she have disputed my version.
Tina and sympathy
[Tina] *offers more sympathy* It's trite, but it helps to remember that it could have been worse. My most recent experience of something similar was when my collarbone was shattered about six months ago by an idiot out-of-control a****** (or, for our British readers, a*******) in a soccer match. I'm still recovering, dealing with tendonitis in my upper arm and very odd clicks in my shoulder; and even with insurance, it cost me several hundred dollars. So it still pisses me off that I bear the consequences of someone else's irresponsibility and stupidity. BUT -- and the BUT is very important... 1. I didn't land on my head and suffer a spinal injury, which I easily could have. 2. In the emergency room that evening I remember passing a legless guy in a wheelchair. That has helped me keep the incident in perspective ever since.

Truth is, life throws us some nasty experiences from time to time. If they end up being no worse than mine or yours, we are lucky. As I said, it's trite. And true.
[Tina] Ooh, ouch. I'm sure as Dujon says you'll feel better in time, but that doesn't necessarily help when you're in the middle of it, so *sympathy*.
Anyone who breaks the law whilst driving should be banned forever. No exceptions.
[Bm] Well, that takes at least 90% of drivers off the road immediately.
ty
Thanks all for the kind words. They do help.
accidents
Tina] Surely your insurance will cover you for a new car until her insurance pays out ? Are the police pressing charges (or are you?) - My advice would also be to see a Personal Injury Lawyer about it. Apparently any claim for injury/worry caused are automatically accepted by insurers if they are not over a certain limit (a few grand) when they start to check up.....I know it is not greatly helpful at the moment but I am sure that when a cheque finally arrives from her insurers it will make you feel better. I'm against stupid litigation generally, but in car accidents like this they are rarely stupid and you should also be vigilant for any signs of injury that may not be yet manifesting themselves - neck, back especially.
BM] That is an ***utterly*** ridiculous thing to say.
Cars
[st d, raak, bm] We probably don't want a repeat of the 'speeding as crime'/'stupid speed limits' argument.
[Tina] Sorry to hear about that. I've never been in a serious road accident so don't know how it feels, but I do know my sister suffered for quite some time after a car drove into the passenger side of the car she was a passenger in. Time seems to be healing her, as I'm sure it will you,
I was about to post about the fantastic day I've had belting my car around Oulton Park, but I won't, now.
'otfooting round Oulton
[Nik] At least you let all yours out on the track where it's legitimate rather than playing in real traffic. Good for you. And [Tina] *sympathy* too. What a bummer.
[Tina; following on from st d] If you do end up suing (and when something similar happened to my other half she didn't seem to get much choice in the matter, the insurance company just decided they were going to [no prosecution, though -- the police are holding the threat of same over the culprit's head to make him take some sort of How Not To Be A Complete Idiot Of A Driver course]) don't forget to mention those nasty flashbacks you've been having ... Our legal system seems significantly keener on compensating emotional distress than physical injury.
the horn, it goes "beep, beep"
All this talk of motor vehicles... I've been having the slightly surreal experience of learning to drive on the wrong side of the road. Granted, the roads here are in +superb+ condition, but everyone drives like they have some lower limb condition that prevents them from taking the weight off the right pedal. There's not so much of the crazy weaving and cutting in and tailgating (not as much as, apparently, in the UAE), it's just that they drive really, really fast. And then some. I have been doing very well (manual car, too), mainly because I'm reasonably ambidextrous, and I'm a spatial thinker, so turning things back to front in my mind (or contorting them in some other way) as required is pretty easy. The only thing I've noticed is an unconscious drifting to the right within the lane, which I find rather puzzling.

And for bizarre traffic, just one word: India

continental drift
[flerdle] The drift to the right is to be expected. You are used to driving a right-hand drive car, which means you are used to most of the car being to the left of you (equivalently, you, as an individual, are used to being on the right side of the traffic lane). Now most of the car is to your right, which means if you place yourself (your body) in the position in the lane that you are used to, the car will be too far to the right. As someone whose driven pretty extensively on both sides of the road, I actually find this is the biggest problem of adjustment -- more than actually making the mistake of turning onto the wrong side.

But you should take care in the next week or so: the dangerous time for accidentally driving on the wrong side is typically after a few days, when you stop thinking so consciously about which side of the road you should be on.

[nik] er, I think Bm was _kidding_; and I think (hope) that Raak and st d knew that.
[Breadmaster] There is a small country in which that is actually the case. I am pretty sure it's Kiribati. I remember reading they brought in a zero tolerance policy around 2000, and have since banned about half their drivers, without much effect on the economy, so I gather.
There's no reason to think it would have a major impact on the economy. In most economies the transportation sector is a pretty small fraction of GDP, and other forms of transportation typically operate as effective substitutes for private vehicles. Plus the revenue that would have gone to the transportation sector ends up being spent elsewhere, so on net the effects are going to be minimal. In fact, the impact could be positive, in that there may be stronger multiplier effects in the tradeable sectors of the economy (which is where at least some of the spending will go), and the policy would also eliminate some of the uncompensated costs, such as pollution and congestion ("externalities" in economists' lingo), from cars. Thus I might actually expect to see improvements in the balance of trade, little impact on tax revenues (and hence on the government budget deficit), and a positive (though probably negligible) effect on growth rates. Of course, this analysis presumes that the monetary authority pursues an apprpriate interest rate policy to ensure that the impact on the financial sector is minimized.
[Projoy] As Kiribati consists of groups of archipelagos spread over about half the Pacific Ocean, and none of the islands are very big, this means that (a) you can't drive any particularly useful distance in the first place, and (b) air and sea travel is much much more important.
Banning half the drivers in Britain may seem like a good idea to some (e.g. Richard Brunstrom, chief constable of Mrs Trellis' neck of the woods (N Wales)), but taking (say) half the HGVs off the roads would place an intolerable strain on the rail infrastructure, which, in any case, leaves far too many places unserved. OR you double the number of aircraft plying our domestic skies - and you'll know how much stick air travel comes in for for its alleged impact on pollution levels.
Well, maybe I was kidding a little bit. Perhaps it would be more realistic to say that anyone who breaks the traffic laws has to retest before they can drive again, with possible relaxations of the law for those to whom driving is intrinsically part of their jobs. That's as un-draconian as I'm prepared to go, though.
[Breadmaster] I'd go the other way -- if people are going to be driving a great deal, they should be subject to more stringent testing, not less. I think the only real way to make your system work would be if there was a decent public transport alternative so that people (particularly in rural areas) couldn't plead that they simply have to be able to drive. Which inevitably means subsidising it, but you get a heap of environmental/congestion/etc. benefits too ... I'll get off my hobbyhorse now.
[Projoy] It may not have affected their economy, but 75% of the car factories in Rawaki have gone out of business since the policy was introduced ...
of nothing in particular
Would anybody like to see my potograph of a little horsey who looks like MOOMIN ? Well if you do, HERE it is. :o) Moomins. I wonder what he is doing now ?
[Brendan] I think you're right. A tricky one. But as someone said, we don't want to get into this argument again.
[StD] You're right! He does look like a Moomin. Very cute.
arguments
do you like the way I am trying to divert the topic from cars to horses ?
[StD] You're doing a fine job. I think we can all agree to like horses, especially ones that look like Moomins. Even though a horse bit me once, and it darnedly hurt, I can tell you.
I think that anyone who rides a horse carelessly should be retested and banned for life. Particularly if it looks like a Moomin.
horses
PJ] Do you not think that some of the responsibility should lie at the hooves of the horse ?
Indeed...
..it surely behooves us to at least lay some responsibility at his hooves. (Now I bet you will never hear that sentence again)
[st d] I am not sure. I have never been behooved myself. Perhaps I will form a stronger opinion if I am.
[Projoy] Maybe we could resort to satyr?
Ticket
Hello. I'm back. Glad to see nothing untoward is happening, apart from Tina's accident of course for which I offer my condolences.
Hmmm
That killed the conversation...
conversation killers...
Talking of which, the new diet makes my wee green. It's worth the hideous expense and pain of meal replacements for the entertainment value. [Lib] Any explanation?
wee green
reminds me of the 14th at the Royal & Ancient. Tiny tiny tiny and surrounded by bunkers.
green pee!
[pen] I've never heard of green wee before...... Perhaps you're turning into an alien! I've come across bright red (not good), maroon (not bad) and orange (also not bad), plus the usual normal variations. The other day I saw wee akin to cottage cheese! YUM!
Lime Green Wee
Pills with chlorophyll colour my wee lime green - it looks like it could glow in the dark. BTW, when is Rugby? Have I missed it?
Rugby Ball
Bool] Rugby is on May 15th, so you've not missed it. However, I am reluctantly attending a school reunion tomorrow (03.04.04) to which I feel urged to remind you, you qualify to attend. Your company would be most welcome, especially if I get to find out why you have to take chlorophyll greenwee tablets.
chlorowee
[Boolbar] That'll be it. Chlorophyll is one of the ingredients in the formulae. I'll be photosynthesising nicely then. Dark reactions, light reactions... *forgets most plant biology*
Vroom! Vroom!
Can't hold it in any longer: Car pr0n! 15mpg....
naaaaaaaaaaah!
[Nik] You don't wanna be driving one of those! You wanna be driving one of these!. This is part of what I do... VIP passes available for my very close friends or see your local press for competition tickets closer to the date! :o)
[Nik] Golly - I do wish I lived near a circuit like that so I could give my TT a good thrash sometime.
you dont wanna drive one of those
Not Bernie...
[Btd] You didn't know? Good grief, man - get out from under that stone! But, yes, I agree!
more red carpet
After last weeks Celebdaq success of x_sugarbabe_x in reaching the top of Celebrity Mornington Crescent for the first time, it is now the turn of ffiish (aka Graham III) no stranger to the red carpet, the last time, was only in January.
Lol...I keep thinking Ronni Ancona/Lorraine Kelly stylee..."You need a pair of these!"
[pen] always glad to solve life's little mysteries. [btd] 03.03.04? But that's today! and it's 7pm! and I've nothing to wear!
daquiri
Ooh. Why thank you. Not really been paying too much attention, but it seems that Sven was a good investment. I'm in Europe at the moment (and for the next few weeks) so going to slip rapidly I think. Anyone in the Paris area, Munich area, Prague area? Would love to meet an English speaker! mail:at:graam:dot:me:dot:uk
Bollox n stuff
Offline for 7 days!!!! I have withdrawl symptoms!!!
Weather.
April 4th. Latrobe, PA: 1 C, snow flurries.

GAAAH!
Today's date is 04.04.04 and you know what? My big sis is 40 today... how's that for planning?
JUST LAUGH TO BURST
I ONCE SAW A PRODUCER OF CONDOM AT ENERHEN ROAD IN WARRI CARRYING TWO KIDS ON HIS HEAD WHEN I ASK WHY THIS ACTION? HE REPLIED MY CUSTOMERS ARE COMPLAINING OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MY CONDOMS AND THESE ARE THE PRODUCTS OF THEIR COMPLAIN. SO.....LOL......HAHAHAHAHAH. DO U THINK CONDOMS PREVENTION OF HIV/AIDS CAN MEET THE CUT OFF MARK.IF YES CONTINUE TO USE THE CONDOM,IF NO PLEASE TRY ABSTENANCE.
Fabulous.
ahhhhhhhhhhh
The British weather it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. I have 2 days off and the forecast is rain........oh joy and delight abound NOT
wetwang
[widey] Why not look at it positively? These two days are the only two days you can go out and enjoy the rain with impunity. Get your wet weather gear on, have plenty of hot water waiting at home for a long hot soak, and go out in it. Admire it for what it is - just another kind of weather, no less beautiful than sunshine or fog, but admittedly inconvenient if you're dressed for sometjing else. As they say, there's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing. Sorry. I'm on a restricted diet, you know
Mmmm. Bath.
more royal bust up
Mrs Becks shares are starting to twitch!!
daqing
I'm hanging onto Prince William due to his hopefully high divvies..
pj] Exeter.
Mmmm. Weston-Super-Mare.
Royal knockout
I'm on the Queen. She's getting loads of coverage here in Paris cos of the 100th anniversary of the entente cordiale, but I don't know whether that's being covered in the broadsheets. Half of Paris is closed today. For one doddery old woman. Makes you think. Not for very long, but it does, doesn't it?
Knocking Out Royals
I'm currently working in the 24th storey of a building overlooking Buckingham Palace, so I see HM coming and going by helicopter from the back lawn frequently. I wonder how long I'd last if I were to point a long tube towards her???
It must be one of the best views in London.
Get your Royal Kock Out!
[Projoy, st d, Chalky] You're all wrong. Chew Magna.

[GIII] You're on the Queen. I think there's a few tabloid editors who might be interested in that...

Eurostar
[GIII] That sounds like someone keen to keep on top of the Celebdaq, yours could be a wise choice as the queen will have lots of coverage and possibly even front page of the broadsheets. And tomorrow she will meet President whats-his-face of France - even more pics and column inches.
[snorgle] your a big softie.
I'm on the Queen....
sounds like something you'd overhear someone saying on their mobile phone. Or rather something you probably wouldn't.
That sounds like a cue for my Moscow story, but then again, it probably isn't.
pravda
ZK] go on tell us anyway. But keep it brief and witty.
Queenie
It's looking a decent choice, but the Beckhams' divis will be pretty high as well. Watch a space...

[rab] £50,000, exclusive. Cheap at the price...
I don't know about witty..
I was on a school trip to Moscow and I was the only russian student there, so everyone was used to me translating everything...we were walking down the Arbat and a man went past three of us, speaking loudly into his mobile phone. I quipped, "Hello! I'm on the train!" And Karoline turned round and said "Really?" ...Wrong for so many reasons....
Has the orange gone rotten?
I've been trying now and then for the last three or four hours. Has the site gone down, or is it just me?
rotten oranges
I'll check...
do not readjust your set
seems alright to me.
Orangey
[Dujon] Up as far as I know, and no reports of any downishness.
Hums
Hums (again, it seems)
It must be me. The site flatly refused to talk to my browser (I normally go straight into the site using the MCIOS skin) BUT when I attacked the site in a normal hacking manner (I am a smoker) all worked well; buzzed off to the MCIOS skin and it worked. Now I can access through my old 'bookmark'. Urrghhhhhh.

I may not be on for the next few weeks as my fourteen pounder, sitting quietly in the shed at the moment, may be called upon to do its duty.
cryptics
[Duj] Your fourteen pounder? New baby? Marrow?
Throwing weight around
Sounds like a man planning an Eddie Shoestring reboot.
Heavy metal
[Chalky] INJ is correct. It's a hammer; a bloomin' big hammer. :-o
cracking a nut with a ....
So it's a hammer. AND?
Action
Well, Chalky my dear, I'm about to find out about the 'AND' bit. Stand by.

Testing, testing

Tes(%╕Ñ▓ü▒êª╝╜┐

I felt that!
More celebdaq stats
Sometimes I think about the Celebdaq (probably more often than is good for me) and I've been wandering around and came to the stange decision that I needed more of 'it'. So now I've opened another account (Cleddau) and joined the waiting list of Celebdaq Discworld Guild Minileagues, which has 14 leagues of 30 players!! relegation and promotion !!!
There's an msn group called The Celebdaq Basements which has links to two very good tools. The one exampled is the Potential and Previous Dividends
Name Price
(Fri 00:00)		 Price
(Wed 06:00)		 Price
(latest)		 Last Div Total Gain
Last Week		 Total Gain
since Wed 06:00 		Potential Div Pot Yield
for Week 		Price Gain Pot
Total Gain
Victoria Beckham 3.43 3.89 4.15 3.28 86.91 6.68 14.23 414.87 20.99 435.86
Prince William 3.84 4.88 5.20 6.39 232.14 6.56 7.93 206.51 35.42 241.93
The Queen 4.11 4.80 5.13 5.76 178.03 6.88 8.75 212.90 24.82 237.71
David Beckham 6.63 7.40 7.89 2.97 25.65 6.62 13.65 205.88 19.00 224.89

Graham III could well have chosen right in going for the Queen instead of David Beckham tomorrow will tell. I'm almost excited ...time for a custard cream or two to settle the nerves :o)
Oh well...
Looks like Viccy B was the way forward. I'm miles off.
More vinyl
Today has been one of those rare occasions when I can dig out my albums, (some of which I have not listened to for several years) the Inkspecks have gone to stay overnight with the grandparents leaving me to decorate the living room. There's buried memories in them bits of black vinyl. Back then the music was part of what I did. Today listening to the intro of 'The Great Om Rift' by Steve Hillage made the hairs on the back of my neck rise just as it did when I first heard it,(I can still picture him on the stage of the Crdiff Uni). Tonight my task is to find some old tapes I made of the singles I bought at the time, as stopping every three minutes to 'spin the next disc' may lose its appeal very quickly.

Meanwhile over at Celebdaq and Celebrity Mornington Crescent its congrats and celebrations for Chalky who rises to No1 only question is, with which Royal family?
For the first time i've tried out the advanced trading tool which gives a very easy to read at a glance read out of which shares are moving and by how much over the last hour, three hours and since midnight, taking away much the guess work. I could work it out by the percentages.
I had bought Goldenballs some months ago knowing sooner or later he would hit the headlines. The account has been bumping along the bottom of the league for sometime, but patience has finally paid off.

html reprise
Its the second time I've made this mistake now, the "r" was missing from "href" so please insert this into the above posting ..... celebrations for Chalky who rises to No1....
chattin'
[Inkyspot] Thanks. I put all my shares on Vicky Becks even before the twitch. Also, it's only fair to admit that I'm also playing x_sugarbabe_x because the daughter lost interest in the Daq after a few weeks. In my sugary role I placed all my money on Mister Becks [the cheating b*stard]. Now I'm hedging my bets on both accounts between both royal families, but have spotted Arnie is on the rise. Wass 'e done NOW?
*note to self: must read the newspapers*.
Glad to hear you had some space to yourself for vinyl stroking.
Ommm .....
[Inkspot] Blimey, someone else who owns "Green". One great record, if you can get used to the vocals! I never saw him live, but I do have "Live Herald", one of the best live albums by anyone, ever.
Vinyl: it's the new black
Chalky] Be careful of Arnie, he picks up every Friday but his libido only lasts till Sunday, so if you need something for the weekend slip him into your top pocket. He has a rugged saw tooth profile as people throw their divi's at him on Friday morning only to cash in on Monday to transfer over to the news story of the week, so his value drops again.
So there you have it Arnie the quickie one-night-stand of the Celebdaq.
The 'vinyl stroking' went well today and has eased my pent up frustrations.

HB] I was lucky enough to see him twice during that era, the second time was when he was promoting 'Green' at a concert at Cardiff's Top Rank, they were selling the album along with all the other memorabilia. Anyway the album is a prized possesion, he autographed the record label and signed it with the om symbol. I agree Live Herald is a great album but I cheated at tea time and put the on the Live in Concert at the BBC CD.

I had my first ever, ever, ever virus today on the pc. After downloading the latest update, as usual, I ran the full scan, it discovered and removed a trojan called downloader.nex.B, I had picked it up somewhere when surfing. Although I'm up to date now, I could stumble across its like again tomorrow or the next day but unless I run my virus scan everyday I'll never know. Is this something I should seriously consider or am I becoming paranoid after one incident?

's a bit quiet in 'ere, innit?

[weather report] Another greyish day here, but no hope of rain, of course. Keeps the temperature down, though - about 31 or so most of the time here, down to 22ish at night. Am wondering when it'll start heating up properly. And planning to escape it :-)

Irritating diseases
[Inkspot] Do you have anything set up to scan everything you download automatically? I have found both Norton 2003 and McAfee (latest one) pretty good at that. You can also get utilities that sit there looking for unusual horsing around, which you can get in packages. There are, iirc, one or two free trojan horse finders which run through a lot quicker than a full system scan.
[flerdle] Might be with being Easter weekend and all.
[Dunx] Yeah. I only remembered part way through Friday. Thankfully I've avoided most of the Easter commercial hype (what a relief); sort of to be expected here :-)
locked out
I can't get into the chatroom and there's an eplig going on. *sob*
pests
Graham III] Thanks for your note on the virus and trojan scans, I have AVG and Zone Alarm running in the background the whole time which pickup things like;
The firewall has blocked Internet access to your computer (TCP Port 715) from 142.163.205.65 (TCP Port 3683)
The firewall has blocked Internet access to your computer (TCP Port 901) from 68.86.243.159 (TCP Port 2772)
which are two from tonight 68.... is a frequent caller perhaps 142 is worth a look over at Whois. The email is scanned by AVG and touch wood my Inbox has been junk free with only my expected mail from NASA, ESA and Loonies, everything else gets routed to Hotmail. However for the last three years I've been running a peer-to-peer program on cancer researh from United Devices/Grid.org. One of the sites identified this type of regular data transfer as a possible way in for the unscrupulous!
awwww
[Lib] therethere *patpatpat* next week...
googlewacking
this site is a googlewack
waspish carping
[Ich] Not any more, it ain't.
carpish wasping
Maybe we should keep track of the number of times people pop up and say that? I'm sure it happened at least once before here..
celebrity sos
Tommorrow (wednesday) we're off down to Broad Haven for a couple of days till the end of half term to stay in a caravan. With no access to the 'net could I ask please if someone from Celebrity MC could send me the page, gareth underscore penn athotmaildotcom so that I can do the usual.
I'm too excited...
Here I am, all packed, too excited to go to bed yet... will try and post somewhere into the Morniverse from Reykjavik later this week :o)
Liddle Gyser
Pen] Ah - wonderful Iceland.* envyenvyenvy *. Business or pleasure? Either way, be sure to take a bus inland to see the waterfalls. Under no circumstances miss a dip in the blue lagoon.
Half term?
Surely the Easter holidays haven't finished yet!?
Eggsellent
Easter? Oh, so that's why I had an extra day off.
Rugby ball update
Chalky has reminded me that there are only 31 more days until ISIHAC 2. Several folks have been contacting Chalky with contributions - please send them to me @nettlesoup, that is a .co.uk address and my name is bobthedog
Shattering the silence...
*trumpet fanfare* I'm very excited to announce to you all that I've bought a house! We've exchanged contracts today to move later in the month. I didn't believe that it was going to happen as its been a rough ride, but it is! Yay! I've got some piccies which I'll post if enough of you are interested.....
*cheers*
ooh, yes please.
not much convincing needed!
Click here.
House!
[Lib] Congratulations! I particularly like the matching buggies in the back...
Ah....
I notice the title of that page is out-of-date... *tweaks various knobs* Not any more!
Castles
Terrific, Lib. I hope all goes smoothly with the move and that the house and area turn out to be what you expected. Exciting times indeed - good luck!
[Lib] I remember the pain of buying a house... well done! My house is scarily similar to that in format. If I had a digitally-inclined camera, I'd be tempted to replicate the shots. On the other hand, the car pr0n seems to be killing my bandwidth, so more pictures would be a bad idea, I think.
I have a horrible case of the shakes at the moment. I can barely type. This is odd, because I've only had 2 pints of weak lemonlager, and a mere 3 cans of Diet Coke, today. Not much caffeine yesterday, either. Bizarre.
Lib's abode
It looks great Lib. [Lovely pic of you in the bedroom] An interior design tip .. in the kitchen - lose the tiles, keep the wine.
er ..
[Lib] I am assuming that IS you in the bedroom. Apologies if I've been a bit presumptuous.
I Often.....
Lose my tiles in the kitchen after drinking wine.......It should be a compulsory house purchasing sport! And on a completely different note I've just finished building a new Koi pond from recycled house bricks and it look fabulosoe...............chin chin everyone.......
Thanks or all your nice words. [Dunx] I too like the buggies in the garden, but the vendors won't let me keep them! [Chalks] That's my Mum, I was behind the camera! You'll have to wait till the superpilg to see my face!
fault lines
[Lib] Having just returned from Iceland (and having been educated in all things seismic) I think you were sensible not to buy the blurry houses on either side. Looks like they might be laying along a tectonic fault and are suffering frequent tremors. Congratulations! :o)
Boyce
I would have thought the caption might have tipped the wink as to the identity of the lady in question...
[rab] Read? Are you quite insane, sir?
[Pilg] Er, being my typical parnoid self, I'm beginning to worry about the upcoming pilg. I have vague, distant memories about confirming my desire to attend to someone (Chalky?), but what am I supposed to be doing (if anything) about accommodation? Am I giving a lift to Manchester-based peoples, or are we going by train? Yes, yes, there's almost a full calendar month left, but still.
Lib
I too assumed it were Lib, and that maybe she had a wee baby. Certainly the picture is in much shadow, but Lib's Mum looks very much like a friend of mine who is about 28, which would make Lib about 15 at the very most assuming Momma fell pregnant so early, and would still be very young to actually be buying a house....
Lib's mum and Nik's room
[rab] the words 'proud parent' could mean proud owner of new home? eh eh ...? oh alright ...perhaps not
[Nik] Yes - you're booked into hotel. Single room. JLE, rab & Lib might be in the epilg in MCiOS tonight - I know there was some talk about travel from M'chester last week. I'll be there mesself at about 9.30 pm for Q's about the hotel and timings.
Thanks for that. I will try to be in the chat room tonight, but usually forget about these things.
Spleen
I wonder if it's time for a spring clean? Mind you, from the position of not currently being very active in the games I may not be the best person to judge.
I haven't a clue. Sorry.
How did the epilg go? Any remaining questions?
Menu
[Btd] Any questions? I have thousands! What's in the line-up? Who's been really clever? How much swotting are people doing? What do we need to prepare? And what should I wear? :o)
dress code
A few pics of the venue if anyone wants to adopt a personal style in accordance with the interior ambience .. http://www.corushotels.com/hotel.asp?hotelID=54
I'm opting for a burgundy/aubergine crushed velvet gown, black lipstick, untamed long dark hair and wild, swivelly eyes.
Er .. what's all this preparing/swotting for ... do we actually have to do something when we're there?
Bansheen
[Chalky] You are Siouxsie Sioux and I claim my £5.
PENELOPE !!!
STOP HANGING AROUND IN INTERNET CAFES AT ONCE AND GET OUT THERE AND GO CLIMB A VOLCANO OR SOMETHING !! jeeez - the kids these days ?
great minds
[Chalky] Darn! Now I'll have to find something else to wear.
BTW, Is the Rugby venue a non-smoking venue? Mrs B wants to know.
fag
It wasn't smoking last time I saw it boom-boom. Seriously, the restaurant is non-smoking but it is ok to smoke in other places. My vote is that we politly ask smokers to refrain from doing so for the duration of the games.
smokers
bob] can we politely tell you to go stick your head in a bucket ?
;o)
PEN] apologies - I thought you were still in Iceland.
Spleening
[rab] Whoo-doodoo-Hitler seems to be due for retirement. A-V-M-A as well?
Concur
I certainly concur with the first, fun though it was. Not played AVMA for a while, but it may well be a good idea to lay it to rest for a while. It can always be resurrected in the fullness of time if so be required.
culling
Whoodoodoo for sure. AVMA seems to have a fanbase but I'm sure they'll speak out. But surely there are other games that have seen their best? Tell you what - let's end them ALL! [except Banter,and Long Game]
I'm still at work :-(
Alacrity
Why not?! I feel things have stagnated a little here...
Oh
The Furcation Game is unwinnable, but I can change that if need be.
Furcs etc
rab] I see no need... I may be alone on that one though!
Culling could be the way, but not a total one. Let's freshen up and stride onward, blah-blah.
mouldy old dough
It may have been mentioned here or at another of the boards after Dunx posted the "White Rose" archive that games do tend to go on beyond their sellby date, due a collective unwillingness to end games and feel the ire of players still posting. To the extent that generally I have come to only killing off games that I have created on Orange, which reminds me one of them has almost ground to a halt, time to get the sythe out again.
Although I still enjoy guessing in AVMA, it feels at times that there are only the same few of us playing and so making the winning move is a bit like musical chairs. I'll miss it when it goes but then again I also miss my mum's rice pudding with the skin on the top.
Rice pud.
Blimey, Inkspot, that doesn't half bring back memories. Loved rice pudding, whether 'runny' or 'firm'. Haven't had one since I married. I must have a go one day and see how I fare. With my culinary abilities (which run to meat and three veg.) I'll probably burn the bowl! Still, a couple of vinos before starting in order to settle the nerves and bolster the confidence should do wonders. Incidentally, to those of you who proferred information on dumplings some months ago, I never did get around to them. The main obstacle was the suet - not readilly available I'm afraid. My local butcher said he could organise some for me, but it'd take a week or so. The unusual burst of enthusiasm then waned rather rapidly.
Suet
(Duj) Suet is only flour and fat (or oil). You can make it in no time but don't overdo the oil. It's available here anyway, at least it is in Hamsey Green Co-op. Ideally, dumplings should be very slightly burnt.
Really?
I always thought suet was the scrapings from the inside of a haggis! Only kid'neyr. Burned dumplings sound like some of the nouveau riche who idolise Bondi Beach - poor misguided souls. I'm white and I'm proud of it! (To be honest it's the pain that puts me off).
suets you, sir
[Boobar] have mailed you using an address from last year - hope it reaches you
[Rosie & Duj] Sorry 'bout the interruption - suet - yes - the real thing is that solid fatty stuff that accumulates around the kidneys and omentum of the ox, sheep. etc. I believe one can no longer buy it readily because of the restrictions due to BSE, but I may be mistaken.
Suetessimal
[dumpling eaters] nope - it's still available. It's also available as a vegetable suet - it's just a solidified vegetable fat. I don't know about suet fresh from butchers... I guess it does take a couple of weeks if it's not something they produce regularly - you have to wait for the next beast to come through the slaughterhouse, I presume they throw it away otherwise as it's pretty untrendy right now. But both beef suet and vegetable suet are available in packets from UK supermarkets - I made dumplings the other day, in fact, for a beefy stew. Delicious. Look in the bakery aisle, near the flour and Yorkshire pudding mixes... (for those that know not how to mix together three ingredients... pffft!)
Haggis
DEEELLLIIICCCCCCCIIIIIIIIOOOOOOUUUUUUUSSSSSSS. Nothing else to say.
Haggis
Seconded. As indeed are fagots in gravey. Yumma.
Ahem
Faggots in gravy.
[Btd] I thought that was just serious food...
Faggots
"Fagotto" is Italian for bassoon. Can't see how this helps but it's true nevertheless.
I fagot
[Rosie]... coming from the french word for 'bundle of sticks' (fagot). Can't see how this helps either, but I always thought it was interesting.
haggis
I ate a vegetarian haggis before - it was delicious! No idea if it tasted like REAL haggis though..
faggots
does it not all come from the latin "fasces" ?
speaking of food, a colleague of mine went to THE FAT DUCK in Bray for her wedding anniversary a couple of weeks ago, and is still reeling.
Anyone fancy a bad tempered game ?
new game
st d] Yes. Get on with it.
the noo
snorgle] I am a big fan of the veggie haggis. The spices are the same as the meaty variety, so the flavour is very similar. What make the (McSween) veggie haggis so good is that it is full of real ingredients (nuts and veg) and none of that soya meat substitute nonsense.
bad tempered
if we do it, can we have RUDE swearing ;o) ?
rudity
[st d] you mean, like .. why don't you get get your effing act together and sodding well get on with it?
[st d] Well, after my Irvine Welsh effort at Orange, too much 'king swearing might stuff up people's content filters. So shove that in your cock and smoke it.
here comes a chopper ...
Apart from AVMA and Who-doodoo, which seem to have reactivated since the threat of closure was mooted, what's the favourite for the chop? I don't play many of the others ..
kill kill kill
well to be honest I think the INTRODUCING games and the LOST CONS games have been VERY SLOW recently. Also the AVMA and WHOODOODOO games seem to be trying to end naturally (one is in swan song mode.) I was tempted to just shut the feckers down but again, dont really play in them much so didnt feel I had the right. Maybe I should just go in and shut one down anyway and you can argue about it with me in the new game. If you think you are hard enough.
Now I am Bad Tempered
Okay Okay great joke ! I killed a game and now HOW DO I START A NEW ONE ?
hardness
[st d] I hate INTRODUCING - kill that one. Go on.
KILLING TIME
shall I kill that as well ? i have BLOODLUST now. I was going to but someone started a new one. It has been pretty weak recently after a strong start (just like HEDGEHUNTER in teh grand national. £20 I had on him. Bastar*)
Gutted
Finally get the chance to start a new ball in late arrivals, and find it killed stone dead less than six hours later!
bad tempered mode
{Uncle K] Tough sh*t :-)
Guts
UK] blame it all on Chalky. Vent your spleen on her in the new game.
Just tried to start a bad tempered game, wrote some wonderful blurb (it was called 'A Game to Rival PMT for Bad Feeling' - poetic, doncha think? and it had a load of stuff rubbishing StD in the intro. When I pressed the button, the sodding site wouldn't let me do it. Pffft.
Stop yer whingeing
rubbishing st d
whyever would yo uwant to rubbish me in the intro to a game is quite quite beyond me. By the way Chalky, you might want to go have a look at the !Yorkives to see GAME 736 which was the first (&last) outing of this game. It got rather carried away and I can only say far exceeded my expectations at the time. It still has me laugh out loud if I read through a lot of it. As for content filters, well......
Wahay!
[st d] Haha - just looked and how ROOD were you all? Extreme blasphemy from someone called Jacob and someone else called GRKWYK or some such fancy-arsed acronymically-challenged tosspot moniker ...
New gameage
[pen] Was that cos st d's game was started in the time it took you fill out the create game form? Did it say something like 'Don't think you can sneak a new game past me?' or similar... I think that's what's supposed to happen, but we've never had that race situation before.

[std] Ya fuckwit, didn't you spot the 'Create a New Game' button on the front page?

Oh
On the other hand, I have have surreptitiously dropped the game limit...
fuckwittedness
[rab] Actually ['though it chokes me to say this] in st d's defence - the New Game Slot didn't appear after he'd killed off GNBN. It only popped up when I murdered the Ball's Game.
Yeah
Yeah, that's what my previous posting was trying to explain. Read? It's that thing you do when you scan you eyes from left to right past some letters. Helps if the eye-brain connection is working of course.

Whoops, wrong game! I moot we restore civility on this particular forum...

civil engineering
What a fine evening it's turning out to be. Here I am, happily ensconced at my desk, playing online games with some awfully nice people. I shall be picked up at around 6.15 and taken to an excellent pub to join some chums. I intend to nibble on a packet of mixed fruit & nuts [haven't had any tea, see] and swig a glass or three of house plonk.
Bollocks.
ah - so the dog's bollocks is stirring ..
suggestion
Does anyone fancy a game of Cress?
I know I won't get any response 'til daylight 'cause this place, like, dies at this time of night, but I just thought I'd ask ...
nighty nite
[Chalky]Cress sounds good, go on its a form that's not played very often.
dreamy fillings
Mmmmmh, egg and cress sandwiches with mayo . . . .
Celebdaq
Woohoo! I'm number 1! (Again). (At last!). Were we supposed to take a screen print for someone? I want to save this for posterity..
Happy _______ day!
Happy St. George's Day.
Happy Nik's Birthday. (at the risk of offending him again)
Happy Dr. Lock's Birthday.
Happy My Birthday next week.
Happy Merlyn's Birthday next week in case I'm too pissed to say it then.
Today or not today, that is the question
Yesterday was NotmrsBobthedogs birthday. Today is Shakespeare’s birthday and tomorrow 1stchildofBobthedog is going to be a flower-girl in the Shakespeare parade.
Today...
...is spacebarofBobtheDog's holiday... :-)
Re: Cress] As good as any... we appear to have run out of suggestions (though not insults).
[DrQ] Does Dr Lock actually exist?
Oh yes, happy returns to all current birthday celebrators
Celebdaq
Congratulations on a fine effort, snorgle.

For Inkspot, whom I think wanted the chart saved; just in case no-one else did I have captured the table as a straight jpg image. It's not small (a bit over 200Kb) but if needed, it's here. I have not attempted to pretty up the page so the table is crammed in between a couple of advertisements.

Or was that last week?
Whatever. I shall clear it off the site in a week or so - or when I remember. :-(
and todays excitement is...
I *almost* got to go in an ambulance with a blue flashy light all the way to Liverpool today!
baddy pirthhay
Can I wish everyone a very happy notyourbirthday (and if it is your birthday, wait 'til tomorrow) as I am so bad at remembering peoples birthdays (including my own) that I am more likely to succeed in remembering to wish everyone a notyourbithday greeting.
[Lib] What, you mean you where clinging to the outside?
more Brazilian nuts
Late congratulations snorgle on being ay No1 . [Dujon]Thank you for the screen shot, yes it was for last week, how good are you at maths? The thing is, knowing the £ worth this week and the % gain, is it possible to calculate backwards to last weeks worth and gain . The table I have posted is from Saturday so the results are slightly wrong. If any passing mathematician is passing could they post a simple equation, I tried to do various transpositions but failed dismally.

...and another thing Dujon who do Bolton Wanderers think they are doing signing the Brazilian Rivaldo!

Mathematics etc.
You leave my lads alone, Inkspot. :-) You should know by now that we buy has-beens and rejuvinate their careers - then they nick off for more money! At the risk of incurring the wrath of everyone else - we're tenth on the table, who'd a'thought it.
I've never followed the percentage calculations on the 'Daq. They certainly don't look right at times. I've noticed that sometimes after kneecapping (when it's easy to do a quick mental calc.) the numbers don't always compute. Then again, it could be the wine. ;-)
'rejuvenate', perhaps.
...or 'prolong' ;-)
The "Start a new game" button
Is it there for a limited time only? I'd been thinking of porposing a game of Boardo, but then one sprung up over at MCiOS. Any suggestions?
new game
I made one a coupla days ago .. Inky agreed ... no-one else said anything
Rugby game
I've been considering using a game as a venue for ISIHAC pilg chat and news. Any takers?
Liverpool and Rugby
[Boolbar] Thankfully not, I had to stay at work as I was deemed to junior by Liverpool hosptial to be a medical escort. So I stayed at Macclesfield hospital and had promotion while my senior was out on the ambulance.
[BtD]Yes, yes, yes, yes!
Bob's idea
*thinks* hmmm .. I would hate to marginalise those who aren't going to be involved. I think most interested parties now go to the Pilg Game in Orange. There are of course, some people who are coming to Rugby who don't post in here, so whether they would start *looking* in here is anyone's guess. Then again, if we do do it it would only be for a month or so. [How about that? consecutive double 'do's' and 'it's'. Grammatically sound?]
not even going, but...
Valid idea, BtD, but splitting discussions and arrangements in two, in my experience, is inevitably a Bad Arrangement. So I would recommend everyone just look in The Pilgrim Game on Orange for Rugbypilg arrangments regularly, and someone involved keep posting the link to it here, or bookmark it yourself if you don't usually visit Orange.
As recommended above
Apologies for the cross posting, but details of the ISIHAC2 party in Rugby have now been posted on the Orange Pilg board. Jon Naismith, eat your heart out.
which level
junior once took his cat to skool and was asked by the teacher; teacher:junior why did u bring your cat to skool? junior:uncle,coz i heard my elders sister's boyfriend telling her that i will eat up ur pussy......hahahaahaahhh.o boy no be lie.
warri wan kill me oooooooooooo
o boy na 4 sizzlers o warri se wan woman carry small dog.after d dog don run entre nain d woman ask d security,have u seen enough?meanwhile she wear small microscopic skirt.nain security se we never see enouggh oo ur small dog?guy d babi bend down well well so tey every con dey show.nain she ask ve u seen enough?nain security answer yes we have seen more than enough........o boy no be lie.
Nice.
what the..?
What the hell is that about?
o boy no be lie
snorgs] e be de babi story bendi down for to look at me dog man yo no unnerstan? yo be crezi momma. o boy no be lie.
jokes
I got the sense of it, but I'm stuck on the word "nain".
nain
PJ] it means DWARF in french. See the poular song:-
Je voudrais etre un nain,
Pour avoir une grosse bîte,
Mais je ne suis qu'un géant,
Et la mienne est petite.
Just realised that attendance at the RugbyPilg will mean missing my mate's annual Eurovision party!
One song to the tune of the same song
UK] And your mates will be missing the Rugbypilg. Unless you invite them :o)
One song to the tune of last year's...
Btd] After swift negotiations, managed to book myself in 'round my mate's for Saturday 22nd, where we can watch the qualifiers and the contest itself (which he'll be taping), and pretend it's all happening live.

I really am a sad case...
Bollocks!
DIdn't realise the RugbyPilg clashed with Eurovision... What shall we do?
Euro-Trellis
We could perhaps have a Eurovision Break? The results of the voting are always really late - perhaps the scheduled entertainment will have finished by then, so those that need to will be clear to watch it. And I reckon we should have a sweepstake organised for the Eurovision result too... so there'll be a cash prize!!
You have to ask?
I'm sure you'll get over it, rab!
eurovision
oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear
rugbyvision
I'll make sure there's a TV in The Study, eh?
Bad news
I'm afraid that e-pilg transcriber was in a horrible browser crash last night. He sadly has no recollection of the goings-on last night.
transcrash
what a relief :-)
Buttered muffin
Loobyloo] Darn shame I'd say ;o)
Dr Q] Nice to see you back, we missed you. Would you like to contribute long-distance to the Pilg? I'd like to have a "and this one was sent in by... "section for Mcers who can not attend. Cast your beady eye over the Orange pilg game and email me with contributions.
moomintroll
I read a rather funny news story about a man dressed as a moomin being run over by a truck in Norway and I was going to post it, but I can't find it anywhere!
ignorant rude w****rs
The tetchy game seems to be going quite well, I thought.
can anyone say "oven"?
Ok, ok, the "cool" weather (22 to 32°C or thereabouts) is officially OVER, here. Just in the last three days, it's all changed. Yesterday was a stinker of a humid day. Today, it was measured at 44°C (but very very dry) at 4pm.
I wanna icecream.
On the non-avoidance of ice-creams...
flerdle] I had two today, feeling rather gluttonous!
Weather
Did anyone else catch the incredible rainstorm in London yesterday? I did - indeed, I was caught by it. I don't think I've ever been out in such heavy rain - I didn't even know it was possible. Thoroughly enjoyable stuff all round.
Whoee!
When you've had enough, post the left overs to me would you, please? What was it like? It must have been some drop to elicit comment.
Saying 'bye-bye' for a few days ... speak soon
:'(
It never rains
[BM, Dujon] I was sheltering under the portico of St Martin in the Fields at the time and it was of tropical intensity – streets and pavements were a continuous flow of water. The worst bit lasted about 15 minutes, but my guess would be that it amounted to 1-2cms in that time. I was the slightly embarrassed-looking person in the business suit carrying his wife’s yellow umbrella with the duck’s head handle!
BTW I went to SMITF to see 'ZUM' a band that plays an eclectic mixture of E. European gypsy music, jazz and Argentinian tango. Very enjoyable.
more rain
The rain continues to rain here in the north of Wiltshire, I only hope it is dry in Youlbury, Oxfordshire as Little O' is going camping with the Cubs over the weekend.
ahhhhh the sound of rain
I live in Manchester and even when its dry its raining, now figure that one out!!!
huh?
[widey] fancy that, where I am it's the exact opposite, at least so far. Two "showers", not enough to actually wet the ground.
[INJ] Ah, those tropical downpours - several every summer in Bris. Be thankful there was no hail? *pines*
Manx Cats
[widey] I didn't realise we had another Nor'westerner in our midst! I agree with you about the moistness, though.
Mancunian rainfall
Manchester isn't all that wet. The average rainfall at Manchester Airport (1971-2000) is 807 mm per year. That's less than I get here in the sunny south (Surrey), with 828 mm. (1983-2003). Cardiff gets 1112 mm and Swansea over 1200 mm, the wettest large city in Britain. The driest would seem to be Cambridge, average 554 mm. Cherrapunji (Assam) has about 11,000 mm, the total for July alone being about 1800 mm. 60 mm a day - every day. Over most of lowland Britain (i.e. where we all live) you get that amount about once every 25 years.
panda leaves
There have been one or two comments about my punctuation, but I know what I mean and it ends up legible (more or less). Today I have picked up a copy of Eats, Shoots and Leaves from the library, hopefully some of the pedants round here will see some slight improvement in the next three weeks.
As a designer and Planning Supervisor, I wade through documents from the HSE on the Building Industry, anyway today I've been reading mostly Peer review of analysis of specialist group reports on causes of construction accidents Research Report 218.
I should not make light of other peoples misfortunes but on page 98 the Description of the Incident:-
A building was being refurbished and in the course of this staircase balustrade and handrails had been removed and plastic warning tape placed around the stair well. Upholsters were working on the upper floor in the neighbourhood of the stairs and one fell down the stair. well.

Rather than falling badly?
[Rosie] Ah yes, but in Manchester it does it all the time - a constant drizzle, rather than a few huge downpours. And even when it's not raining, it feels like it's raining. The rare clear, sunny day sees industry and traffic (well, moreso than usual, for the latter) grind to a halt, with crowds of people stumbling around, faces uplifted, blinking in slightly worried confusion at the big yellow ball in the sky. Hence, it's grim oop norf.
Persistent Mancunian precipitation
(Nik) A good point. Figures for rainfall duration are remarkably hard to come by but I strongly suspect Manchester has more hours of rain per year than my back garden, despite the lower rainfall total. Sunshine figures give some clue - Manchester has 1395 hrs annually (same as Sheffield, incidentally) compared to typically 1500-1600 hrs for inland southern England and the Midlands. Eastbourne gets 1848 hrs, making the retired gentlefolk even more prune-like than ever. Places like Oldham and Burnley are a lot wetter than M/C, and have even less sun. Manchester is not uniquely awful, weatherwise, not by a long chalk.
Raining in my heart
And to continue with that thought...
[flerdle] There was some hail in the rainstorm, amazingly. I know because it was hitting me. The whole thing was like running through a lake with a few bubbles in it.
Please send it over
My location has had this rain since the start of 2004:
January - 61.5mm
February - 108mm - 80mm of which arrived on one day.
March - 44.25mm
April - 31mm

My wife's lovely garden may be about to get the chop. There seems to be no doubt that existing water restrictions (use thereof) are about to be tightened. Urk!

Oz rain
(Dujon) That's 245 mm, against my 281 mm. Seems quite a lot to me, though your higher temperatures make it less "useful" hydrologically. But laying water out to dry is a bit of an indulgence in Australia, isn't it?
I'm writing this from my lovely back yard, powered by my clever new phone. [dr q] I got to keep one of the buggies featured on my house website, yay! If only i was small enough to fit in it!
wot rain?
[BM] It's not really hail till it's the size of giant golfballs ;-)
[Dujon] Urk, indeed. What has she been growing? I think lawn can be a bit of an extravagance, but a lot of other things can be made pretty water-sparing, but that depends on what they are. My own experiments in gardening had to be stopped a couple of years ago when I could no longer get the lucerne hay I needed, because of drought (no-dig style, lucerne hay topped with spent mushroom compost. Amazingly productive). I only ever grew veges, though.

I think I mentioned before, average rainfall here is around 100mm annually. This is a slightly old (1995) but still informative report on agricultural resources. Ironically, the largest crop here, other than dates? Alfalfa (lucerne).

Four inches
[flerdle] That's a bit on the dry side! Where does water come from (and don't say the sky) - dams, next door's river? [Rosie] It does sound odd does it not. That's supposed to be our wet season though. Winter - at least where my castle is situated - tends to be the dryest time of year. We shall see. Sydney's main dam (Warragamba, about five miles from me as the crow flies) is said to be down just under the 50% capacity level which does not auger well.
I'm not going to drill for water; let's try augur.
well, actually... let's go UndergrounD
[Dujon] Next door is at least as bad, if not worse - they have to resort to desalination of sea water. Along the Batinah coastal plain there are aquifers. The water itself is very high in calcium/lime but very safe, however because of the taste and the effect on kettles etc most drinking water is bottled springwater. There is a large mountain range about 30km inland, parallel to the coast, which gets the same to three times the rain that the plain does. There is continuous replenishment of the aquifers by seepage from the mountains, and from the flash floods that race down the wadis (dry gullies) when it does manage to rain. The rain, when it happens, is in the winter. The other main source of water close to the mountains are the Aflaj (sing: falaj), which are ancient and very reliable.
MCiOS problems
Anyone else having trouble accessing MCiOS? Another website I use was down yesterday, apparently due to Mayday hacker attacks on their server. I wonder if the same thing has happened to Parslow?
[snorgle] I can't see it either.
hyperlink
Well, as it's down, I'll put this link here, because otherwise I'll forget. Just a cute ferret story, although I recently saw a cat living in a garden centre, I just assumed it belonged to the shop, maybe it was a stray.
Nip!
Has Dr Q been visiting Mrs Trellis? [flerdle] Thanks for the info.
*snore*
Was in mediocre-smelling but still decent-looking New Wilmington, Pennsylvania this weekend eating Schweinflesch and getting heavily pissed. Kinda obvious considering the event is called "Hog & Grog". ;)
New Wilmington, PA
(Dr Q) Where's that, then? Couldn't find it on my atlas. Hope you enjoyed your Pork and Paralysis. :-)
more spears
Latest news in from the daq; in Celebrity MC moreteaplease has taken back the top from snorgle, but what is this!!!! blamelewis at No2?! a stunning performance after being kneeecaped just pipping ffiish.
Oink
It's hailing cows and chickens out there...
Hail, Mary
[rab] Sure is here too in Brum. Where's you?
Weee
[HB] Moist Manchester. Chorlton-on-Medlock, to be more precise.
Likewise here in Manchester's *other* Chorlton, Chorlton-cum-Hardy...
Silly names
No hail in Woodstock today. Sunny and bright here in Clopton.
New Wilmington, PA
[Rosie] It's a tiny town between Sharon & New Castle, right on the Lawrence/Mercer county border. You may be able to find it by the artificial lake in the shape of Alabama.

And yes I did. ;)

Slightly drizzly here in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh.
I'm back in Woodstock and it is p***ing down.
now you see them...
A torrential rain and hail storm half an hour ago washed away the newly-painted car park markings. Oh, how we laughed...
Penelope's storm seems to be on its way here. The last piece of blue sky is fleeing in a north-easterly direction while black clouds arrive with faint thunder.
Places in PA and other things
(Dr Q) Found Sharon and New Castle, but no New Wilmington, or Alabammy-like lake. Must be nearly in Ohio, it looks to me. (Bob the dog) Silly names? Near me is Fickleshole, consisting of a road junction, a pub and two farms. (All) Measured nearly an inch of rain Weds morning (25.1 mm) and quite a bit more today with a bit of feeble thunder. Good reason not to cut the grass or continue with my outdoor painting job. (Warlingham, NE Surrey).
[Rosie] Golly, I am glad I;m not in Surrey!

Well, bit of a given that one, really...

Weather
It's pissing down here in Turin and has been for over a week. Apartment block-residents (self included) who do not have autonomous heating (i.e. whether the heating is on or off depends on the calendar not on whether you need heating - April 15, all central heating off!) have been freezing their nipples off for the last fortnight, as it is colder than a witch's tit.
Rain
(Dunx) What I measured was the rainfall for the past 24 hrs, which I do every morning. So, not as bad as it sounds. :-)
sigh
Come to sunny Manchester where the sun shines even when its raining, which it does 365 days a year.................(rain I mean)
sigh
I know there are places that have more rain fall than here, but we do have a naturally damp climate, hence the boom of the cotton industry back in the 19-20 Centuries. Damp air is great for spinning cotton as the fibers are less prone to break and are easier to work. The same applies to wool. Are you all asleep now?
cotton and wool
Not quite. The Lancashire cotton industry had more to do with availability of labour and the proximity of a large port (Liverpool) than any climatic factors. Besides, the woollen industry was concentrated in Yorkshire, where the air is marginally drier, but frankly it makes bugger all difference anyway. Anywhere in Britain would be quite satisfactory.
Spinning around.
I used to walk past a cotton mill on the odd occasion on which I walked between the homes of a couple of my relations. One thing that struck me at the time - and I've never solved the conundrum - was that the building was large and had a huge number of windows, albeit those little six inch panes set into a larger frame. Presumably this was to allow natural light to access the interior; but the windows were never cleaned - or at least did not appear to be so. Still, I'm talking of a town called Leigh which also had two or three active coal mines and hundreds of coal burning fireplaces so maybe it was just 'natural' deposits. The air that came out of those windows - many were hopper type, hinged at the bottom - was hot. I sympathise with anyone who had to work in that environment.
why
coz
Raak
Isn't that more of an aak or an uhk?
Raak
OK, you win. My mouth explodes with delight.
Terrible implosions of unconnectedness!
[Raak] Shades of night is a friend of RavenBlack (the Advice contributor). Not massively interesting, no, but this sort of thing always jars my brain, especially on a slightly tender saturday morning.
Rrraak!
[Raak] It sounds like the "baby" in Eraserhead.
more soap
Meanwhile....over at Celebrity Mornington Crescent ; blamelewis climbs to the top, many congratulations (what or where is The Fly Floor).
sounds; one resource I plunder everynow and then for a new mail notification noise etc is http://www.findsounds.com/ click on "Need Examples?".
Actually Rosie your wrong!!!! oo errrrr did I say that!!! It does make a difference to spinning cotton if the air is dry and not moist. I admit the close proximity of an atlantic (via the irish sea) port (Liverpool) holds some merit but its not the main reason, if it were, Bristol would have been a good choice!! As for the "labour pool" most were agricultural workers who came into the developing areas to look for work in the "new factories". The populace of Manchester pre 1750 was much the same as the rest of the country.........
Lanky cotton
(Widey) Like anyone else I can talk bollocks from time to time, and do so, but I don't think I'm that far out about the climatic factors, though you've certainly got a point about the availability of labour. You're certainly right, of course, that high humidity is helpful, but what it boils down to in actual numbers is the difference in average relative humidity between Lancashire and the rest of the country and in all honesty I don't think it is really all that much. I don't want to sound too much of a pompous old fart but I am a trained meteorologist, albeit er . . . some time ago. (1966, actually). :-)
another question?
Cool........pun not intended.......I'm only going off what has been published in my local history books so I guess there is a lot of room for error on my part, I find it fascinating though the link between climate and manufacturing. I guess the other major factor is the multitude of fast flowing streams and rivers in the local, great for the early waterpowerd mills and shops...... I would be interested to know your thoughts on the present weather situation, is it my imagination or are we having more rainfall in the uk? Also it seems to be a lot warmer earlier in the year than it ever was in the past!......
boo hoo sob
I miss missiv trellis can't we av it back, g'uvnor?
missing missive
[widey] Some of the games are very slow and would probably welcome a euthanastic shove [not The Furc Game - that's sacrosanct] If no-one objects over the next day or so ... go for it
The weather
(Widey) The average UK rainfall has gone up, but not a lot, in the last 40 yrs. For instance, my own records, made with a standard raingauge, show an average of about 830 mm annually over the last 21 years, whereas from old data and charts I would estimate a figure of 790 mm for 1931-1960 for my place (NE Surrey). The rain has become more seasonal with autumn and winter wetter and summer drier. July is now the driest month of the year over a large area of the UK whereas 50 yrs ago it was about 4th or 5th wettest, certainly in the eastern half of the country and the Midlands. Summers are better! Winters are definitely milder than the 60's and 70's. This is only slightly due to global warming but mainly because we get a lot less easterly and northerly winds than in the past. The change in the circulation may in itself be due to global warming, but this kind of shift has happened in the past so it may equally well not be. I could write pages on this but I'd better not. :-)
Droughts and Floods
[widey] There is a number of factors which directly affect our planet and its atmospheric behaviour, quite apart from our own efforts to do the same. This is an interesting article if you are that way inclined.
[widey] Yes, I'd like to see Missive Trellis back too. I missed a lot of it last time because of my access troubles.
Kill them All!
Go on, go on, go on!
Sacrosancy
*wonders if we should perform the Furcation Game on Saturday*
*very quickly realises that's a rubbish idea*
Furcating
*has thought of an interesting variation*
Dentistry
(Softers) Couldn't think of a limerick line so here's the toothypeg news. There was a hole the size of the Arizona Crater in it, with the nerve almost bare. No wonder it bloody hurt. The dentist declared it a write-off and pulled it. All is now well. :-)
Tuesday 25/05/04, Radio 4, 11.30am
Just been advised of the following by my mate at the Beeb:
No Fixed Abode, Cricklewood
Phill Jupitus talks to Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie about their early days as comedy writers and performers, and about their 1970s cult series The Goodies (1/2).
Here's a game we could play on Saturday - the Bad HTML game.
rab?
Chalky?
Just thought I'd break the silence :-)
Ah.
[Chalky] You know you're going to have to pay for that silence, don't you?
We could talk about the weather...
Same old... dull and overcast, cool, but dry.
[pen] Perfect running weather, then.
The weather
What will tomorrow bring?
rainbow skies
Tomorrow could bring the end of AVMA, and with it a new game. Any takers for "Spot Ruttborough's Ostrich"?
Yay!
Now where could that ostrich BE-E-E-E-E-E-E-E?
Frisky fish!!!
Today my Koi have been in a most frisky mood and have engaged in a mass spawning, must be the slight rise in the water temperature. I look forward to seeing their many offspring (and making a couple of quid when they mature!).
Entrepreneurs
[widey] That made me laugh! As a sprog I used to breed white mice and flog 'em. I never asked where they were going as some people feed them to their pet snakes. Nevertheless, the temperature didn't seem to make a difference at all to the production rate. ... :-)
So you were the white mouse supplier!
My Royal(Ball)Python, Oscar, used to love white mice. I used to feel a bit guilty feeding them to him, but then what the f**k they would eat us if they could!!!
What's in a name?
'Oscar' as a name for a snake?  Sounds a bit fishy to me.
FIRE!
Just ordered out of bed by an incessant beeping and the vague smell of burnt popcorn and told by the fireman standing outside our neighbouring flat to get out of the flat, whence we stood around on the lawn. Interesting start to the day, especially for the poor sods from that flat who have exams this morning and have to look forward to coming home to a water-logged, sooty kitchen, smoke-damaged flat and melted toaster.
yikes
[ZK] Lovely way to start the day.
[weather] It has slowly crept up to usually about 25-35°C here; some degree of aircon is a must now. No rain, of course. I think I'm becoming nocturnal.
ZK] Escape the smoke and examination pressure this weekend. Come to Brownsover Hall for the ISIHAC2 Pilg. You'd be most welcome! I'm sure Lib, Pen and Chalky would love to meet you too.
Indeed
excited
Blimey, that's the day after tomorrow. I now have 1 Jurassic "Radio Tymes". Most get more. Panic? Me?
excuse any incoherence; I'm only lately being introduced to Carling....
ah, sadly this weekend is much-needed time with my family; re-bonding over eurovision, Wogan-esque sarcasm and the traditional Spag Bol (ah, real food at last!!!!!). Have missed EV for inexcusable reasons these last two years, so shall be rather looking forward to catching up on the previously annual cheesefest. Otherwise, naturally, I would love to join you all. Have a good time on me. *tip of the day* beer is much nicer when accompanied by Polo mints.
Meantime, of course, the poor girls whose flat got burnt out have to live elsewhere for the remainder of the examination period, which I didn't realise.
Eurovision has nothing on what we have planned (and anyway TV can be recorded). Not so sure we can match the Spag Bol tho.. ;o)
I had the dubious pleasure of watching a semi-final of the EVC last evening. If you enjoy a few mid-teen check out chicks trying to make a quid and a heap of blokes singing falsetto (or have an injury; or aren't blokes?) this is for you.
Mind you, I wouldn't miss it for quids - it's got to be the funniest show on television each year.
Rugby Pilg
You're probably all on your way if not there already - but have fun! And make sure you get too drunk. That's important.
Seconding snorgle's sentiments
Yeh...
Hey, I loved it! The Netherlands should have won, in my opinion, but I won't complain about Ukraine...
Schwoing
[snorgle, Tuj] I certainly had quite a hangover this morning, though I understand others were more restrained. I think I good time was had by all, though I shouldn't necessarily speak on their behalf. Much kudos and fanx attack to Bob the dog (note small d).
thanx R Us
. . . . and Chalky!
Whoops, of course, and to everyone else who made the thing such a success.
Carrot
umm, Carrot?
Carrot (was it just one, or were they plural?)
And if I'm not mistaken there was a bottom too! Thank you everyone for such an excellent super-pilg. Same time next year?....
Vote 1 - Yes.
Vote 2 - YES [and I hereby volunteer to do the hotely thing]
and Bob - the Biscuit Game print is a work of art and is being framed to take pride of place alongside 'The Great Bear'. We didn't do it justice. Can we play it online pleeeez?
Vote 3 (from the Rickmansworth jury) YES.
More prepared alternative lyrics next time please. Merlyn's Bohemian Rhapsody has me in hurty squeaking stitches, as you all probably noticed (and no, I didn't have a Tenalady moment). I vaguely remember discussing American Pie with some sort of MC alternative lyric but I'm sure I wasn't volunteering. Perhaps it should be stored in the Sonnets game on Orange to see what incubates.
Vote 4 - YES. What a fantastic event, and a great location too. And what a wonderful bunch of people, who all got on tremendously well. At this stage in the proceedings, I'd also like to say carrot.
Vote 5 - YES. And is there any chance it could include a live game of "The Great Bear"?
Put me down as a YES as well. Nice venue, great company and I hardly felt any embarassment at my lack of preparation (although I will have to learn how to play a kazoo).
Oops that's embarrassment of course.
Old-fashioned MC, just like mother used to make
Chalky] The gauntlet's down - see the Lockisseum's Proving Ground.
carrot
[INJ] I think you were actually right the first time.
Great Bear
JLE] If so, I can bring my wall print of said map with me for team reference purposes.
grapefruit
[IncleKorks] Wahay - I'm there :-)
Wobbly
Just to let you know I'll be off piste for the next couple of days, as I'm travelling up to Edinburgh tomorrow for an interview. Feeling a little wobbly already... I also shan't be in the chatroom tonight for various logistical reasons.
"So, why do you want this job...?"
Good luck, rab!
Oooohhh.....
I see that there are suddenly two spare game spaces... Now, having worked out the etiquette of these things, I'm announcing my ideas for the replacements. I had a chat with Bob the dog after ISIHAC2, and we both like the idea of:
1] Playing Last Lines - inappropriate sentences that sound the death knell for a television programme (for example: The Money Programme - Has anyone got 50p for the meter? or Upstairs Downstairs - Rose! We're moving into a bungalow!").
2] Writing sales pitches for hard to sell items. The item must be described, and then the sale pitched in Estateagentese.
Well, folks - the ball's in your court. Anyone interested?
New Game
Lemon Puff
So was this uber-pilg recorded as you said it would be? Or do we have to make do with transcripts?
Recording medium
ZK] Half was recorded on to mini-disc (the second half)+ the end of games cabaret (which really was wonderful). We lost the first half due to a technical hitch :o( But I am preparing transcripts :o)
empty rooms...
9.50pm BST - is anyone going in the chatroom tonight?
Changing rooms
Sorry pen. I've been playing Lawerence Llewyellen-Bowen. 60 percent of wallpaper removed from bedroom. And thankfully all the plaster is where it should be! Fun.
[ZK] Unfortunately, the singing games and sound charades were in the first half! Still, that's all the more reason to attend next year's one!
chatroomier
[Lib] Never mind - I think we're probably all pilged out anyway. Stripping walllpaper? Wheeee! [Btd] Sorry I missed you.
Back from Richmond, VA
I'm back just in time to miss the e-pilg. Feh. Photos are here.
Rugby Photos
Darren has been kind - there are photos. Marvel at the thespery!
Or here?
Common-ents
[flerdle, PaulWay] They nicked our little badges!
Plate 40: I'm a wee bit concerned about that UFO about to alight upon LotUS' right shoulder.
Top hole, Dunx, thanks for posting them.
Did try epilg last night but it was quiet. Assume everyone sleeping off the weekends excesses.
picture this
Great pictures of everyone enjoying themselves....jealous? me? pah!
snap snap snap
Darren] Great pics - you can really see the detail on hiz nob. Dunx] Cheers for posting 'em!
Got home last night, and, as it was so hot, I decided I'd use the opportunity to run the Flymo over the lawn. I tell you - there's nothing like the smell of pureed cat poo pervading the warm air to keep you on task.
catmo
[UK] Ahh, the flymo/catpoo incident rears its ugly head. I've commented on this before, and recently remonstrated with a neighbour who doesn't believe his cat would poo anywhere but the litter tray provided. I tell you, you'd be amazed at the amount of shit one cat can produce. Starving them would seem to be the most obvious course of action.
Aaahhhhh..... NOT Bisto...
Pen] Sadly, they're my cats. As far as I'm aware, cats don't tend to toilet on their own territory, but ours never developed that quirk. At our previous house, our next door neighbour had fourteen cats, all of which used our garden, and I suppose they just worked out that the nearest patch of grass smelled right for business.
pushycats
Well, my cats nearly ALWAYS use my garden - although to be fair, one is so old she can't jump up on the wall anymore, and the other is so fat, he has some difficulty jumping up on the wall, and is quite funny to watch when he tries. So I'm always having to clear the garden, as we have a dog, too. We used to have a dogloo but it couldn't take the pressure, so now I just chuck it out with the rubbish. Lovely topic of conversation here today! :)
*dithering*
Do I take it that because there's been no comment on my games proposals (above), other than Chalks (who, I believe, would like a go at The Biscuit Game), there'd be no objection to my starting one or both...?
[UK] Go ferret, I'd say. I would suggest one tweak to the sales pitches one, which is that it might work a bit better if each person proposes the item which the person coming after them has to sell ... (a la things like Jeopardy). Then again, I suppose your structure would work more like The Book Blender on Orange, with people contributing when they thought of a cool idea. Don't know which would be better suited, tbh.
Love the pics...
[rab] a bit late, but... good luck.
[Dujon] Ooooh, they did too, the naughty beggars.
[pen, Btd] Phone line is dead, couldn't be there.
Hmmm this is interesting
Are there people living in here?
uninhabited
[Paulgeaf] We visit here from time to time - usually several times a day in my case. Have you found the other Mornington Crescent sites? They're similarly un-inhabited but there's a chat room on MCiOS, and we often camp in there on a Monday evening (BST or GMT). Have fun!
I've taken the plunge
Corporation dustcart is up and running. Winning move is a programme that I would definitely notlike to see scrapped (should be enough of a clue for anyone who knows me). If that isn't enough of a clue, it's one that Michael Grade has had a go at before.
Brendan] I'm giving some more thought to the sales pitch game, and I hope to post it in the next day or so, as long as the slot's still vacant.
nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!
There was Flanders & Swann and I missed it!
On The Slow Train...
ZK] And it was very good indeed! I have the whole F&S session recorded on my camcorder, but I have no idea how to transfer it to anything else...
[Dujon] Thanks for posting the corrected link. Safari's addition of line break characters can be pretty annoying.
life on mc server
[penelope] tanks for that. I must look around and work this place out.. I thought i was too old to find a 'new' area of communication online cheers :)
Uncle Korky's F&S Footage
[Uncle Korky] I can probably help you there - I've mailed you about it.
[Dunx] My pleasure.
[Darren] Thanks for providing the pics. I thought I'd put that in on my previous post!
exams
Woooo! One down, three to go. Then, only two more academic years before I can join the rat race and become even more bitter, twisted and cynical than I am now :)
testing times
Good luck ZK in the exams, is your time now your own? way back when, after our exams, we still had course work to do. The peer group crits took place on the last two days of term; older, bitter, twisted and cynical.
sees the light
[ZK, Inks] So that's why I'm not bitter, twisted and cynical! There's a lot to be said [which I may do, another time] for 'dropping out' of Uni, which I did for various raisins.
currantly speaking
Chalky] I hope you didn't eat them all at once;)
ZK] So come on then, which uni and what subject? (Good luck with the rest -- how well-spaced are they?)
peering
[Inkspot] What's a peer group crit? I'm imagining a ritual out of Maoist China in which each student in turn has to stand up in front of the rest and have their ideological errors stridently condemned, before making abject confession of their sins.
oh no! 'fessing time!
Classics at Birmingham. I applied to Cambridge but the bastards wouldn't have me! Shame really - I would've quite liked to be punting this time of year, but then some of my friends got into Oxford, so I'd have been forced to hate them :) I applied for Pembroke College as well, which would have been v cool cos 2 of the Goodies went there, as well as Peter Cook, I believe. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that as motivation in one of my interviews, or I might've got in :)
Back to exams, I still have Latin language to go, which is on Saturday morning, Greek language, which is next Tuesday, and my lecture exam, the following Wednesday (cram cram cram!). Luckily with the one I just took (Latin books) and Greek, we had take-home exercises which made up 40% of the grade and I did quite well. You only need 40% for the overall programme to pass for the second year, I think, which is ludicrous. [Inkspot] I hope my time is now my own, as I want to go home! :) I suspect it's all over from here, as my lease runs out on the 25th of June, and the property's managed by the university. My friend from school (same uni) seems to have finished for now, as her MSN name has read "sunbathing till September" for about the last week and a half. Jammy swine. :)

Now why couldn't I have written that much in my exam?
Question
Hello lovely people. I don't want to ask this question in MCIOS playground as the big boys are fighting. Anyway, may I just ask what people's understanding of the term "seafood" is? I've had a bit of a disagreement over it today in the jolly old office, and I'd value your opinions. Your normal service is now resumed.....
to me, anyway...
Anyfing dat comes out of da sea. Fish. Shellfish. yukky things like eels. Was it in the context of someone being allergic to it? Then it's often just shellfish.
Well, it depends what the meaning of "understanding the term" is ...
[Thos] Anything from the animal kingdom that came out of the sea. Fish, shellfish, squids, whatever ... I am far too ignorant to know what fishies live where, so in practice my definition includes freshwater beasties too. Not plant things like seaweed or little planktony things, though, even if they do come from the briny depths. The Blob-style mental image that arises for me is that of a large prawn, FWIW.
[ZK] Don't worry, you're not the only Cambridge reject in the world. ;) You'll find that 40% thing is pretty universal throughout this nation's fine universities, and indeed 40% over the whole degree will bag you an honours degree at most places ("only" a Third, but still ...)
fishyness
Hello dear Thos. We have a 'seafood' restaurant here and they serve anything that's considered aquatic, including molluscs and crustaceans. Did you know there's an edible sea urchin?
Simulposted with Brendan -but what the hell - I'll press 'submit' anyway .....
pin up time
Raak] You don't know how close that guess is. As part of the Architecture course we were given design projects which could take anything from a week to a whole term. The end of the process was 'the crit', in front of tutors and a group of students, it was inquisitorial and confrontational, others sailed through the process; me, absolutely terrified and nervous dreaded every single one. A tough crit of hard questioning gave no indication of how well, or how you had done everyone was grilled to the 9th degree.
It sounds bad, but the end result (which almost justified the means) was that you made sure the design process was robust. So, if ever you meet a building designer who seems a little (over)protective of their work....

Thos]Seafood; anything from the salt water sea? but Trout and Salmon could be served in a seafood retaurant, they may be considered fresh water river fish and therefore strictly not 'seafood'.

Unshellfishness
I've heard the term "seafood" used to refer only to shellfish and the like, and not to fishfish. I have also heard it used pretty broadly to include all fish, including those which have never been near an ocean. I think you can find precedent for whatever you want to argue
Salmon
[Inkspot] Surely the freshwaterness of salmon depends on where it has been caught? It is a fish that lives in both sea and reiver at different times in its life.

Then again, do they fish for salmon in the sea?

[CdM] This has a disturbing parallel in the number of piscivores and chicken eaters that call themselves vegetarian...

I sea food, I eat it...
Seafood, for me, is crustacean. Other stuff what comes out of the sea is 'fish'. Being descended from a fishing family (my great-grandfather and his sons were fish merchants in Aberdeen; it's probably where I get my habit of getting up too early from), I'd like to think this was some kind of official position, but it's just my usage. To me there's a clear distinction between 'seafood pie' and 'fish pie'; if the former included cod or whitebait or some such, I'd be most upset.
You shall have a fishy . . .
[Dunx] As a piscivore myself, I often describe myself as vegetarian to avoid confusion - if a restaurant/hotel can cope with veggies, then they can cope with me. Plus telling people that you are a piscivore means they lock up their alcohol.
Greetings
Hello. Nice to see about five new games have started across the servers since I went away - was that deliberate? Now I need to work on my space-time-continuum distortion device in order to find enough time to be able to play them!
Welcome back rab. I trust all went well :-) Re. your STCD device - you may need to factor in a couple of hours to catch up on the lively discussion in MCiOS - an eye opener if ever there was!

[all] Perhaps we shall find out which stance Thos adopted in the jolly old office disagreement. I was born in February - does that make me a Piscivore?

oops
I think that when I mentioned shellfish I meant things like prawns and lobsters and stuff too. My excuse is I grew up far from the sea, so I have never really gotten into fish and other watery edibles, cos they were always either muddy and disgusting from the local creek, or several days old and liable to be a bit dodgy...
Wells
[Chalky] I haven't heard the outcome yet (they're a postal organisation, and that combined with University mail systems means I have a bit of a wait on my hands, grrr) but I did enjoy myself in the interview room, even if I totally fluffed my way very badly through what might have been the killer question of "Is it new and is it useful?". Hate waiting.
Oh, and my odds are just under 30%, I understand.
All the best rab - hope they hurry up. And say yes.
[Seafood] Thanks for your answers and your discussion which almost entirely reflected the debate in my office. I personally hold seafood to be shellfish but it seems that whilst many others agree, a sizeable group also includes fish (both sea fish and fresh water fish interestingly). [Rab] Good luck
Carted
I appear to have accidentally stumbled on the winning move for Corporation Dustcart. Can it be reinstated?
Get Carted
Honestly... There I go, my first game as well, and I take the trouble to advise of the winning move further up this page too... Tut tut tut... I don't know... *mutter mutter*
endings
Raak]Is there anyway you could stumlbe across the finishing touch to Bad Tempered, Critical & Tetchy Game? or rab, could you advise what the winning move is please.
I'll reinstate the Dustcart shortly; meanwhile surely you can work out what the winning bloody move in BTC&TG is!
*phew*
Well done, rab!
And thank you rab for the clue, hehehe. What will we do with our new game slot? Missive Trellis?
Daq
I wonder if the BBC's data base has gone awry. I'm listed as sixth in the world. This cannot be correct.
I'd be proud. who do you own?
Mini cheddars
Congratulations to Darren on making me laugh at this hour - the game is usually sublime, but that move was rather fabulous :)
Puffing chest
[ZK] Calum Best. I had to go and have a look! I've no idea as to who he is and have been 'sitting' on him due to the day trading being reasonable. Mind you, not being celebrity minded and being totally ignorant of most people listed within the various categories, this is not surprising. *scratches head and disappears into the sunset*
Woo!
I got mentioned on Radio 2 embarrassing Sybil Ruscoe. Genius!
What's he been up to?
Belated comment
[Dr Q+] Thanks for the pics. Great stuff! Mind you - and I've probably said it before - the thrill of whizzing around continual left or right hand bends holds very little interest for me. Bloody frightening when one watches some of the drivers, quite apart from some of them greeting a wall with a hearty handshake :-(
That was not meant to be funny - far too many steerers have finished their careers in that manner.
more of the best
Dujon] Sixth is a great achievement (I'm envious), I think it was penelope, getting herself into a similar position in the players chart that prompted the whole Celebrity Mornington Crescent thing.

Unfortunately the daq will be skewed for the next month; Big Brother takes to the air waves yet again from next Friday (28th).

big sis
[Dujon] Yup, it was me. I got to No. 4 in the world, although I have no idea how. And now? How things have changed... I got an email from the Celebdaq people yesterday warning me that my account has been inactive for 30 days and I have only another 30 in which to re-activate it otherwise it will be lost and gone forever. :o( and yet... I still can't be bothered!
Slimming down
I feel the front page is looking very slender just now. As God intended, of course.
rab] Where I come from, we call that tempting fate ;)
...as long as the next game's nowt to do with Big Brothel...
Big Brothel
[Tuj] Perhaps a game of breathing new life into tired old TV shows or film franchises?
hellooo
I've decided to start posting on forums other than lock and orange again, so a big hi. and ZK, I'm in the throes of exams at the moment also so good luck and remember pro plus and the answer is generally option C...
[nights] How I wish I still had multiple choice questions! :) I have a bit of a thing against Pro Plus but I'll certainly remember that as an emergency option! What exams are you throeing? :)
Multiple choice exams are ok, except for the ones we had for mid-term Physiology. There, anywhere between one and all five of the options could be correct. If you missed any, or added extras, you were deemed incorrect. They were written in the most excruciatingly sneaky manner as well. It is possible that wrong answers were marked negatively ie right +1, no answer +0, wrong -1. I wouldn't have put it past him to do so.
exam excitement
well, 4500 words of essays (by after the bank holiday), two hours of french, two hours of russian, two hours of european studies, and about 20 minutes of russian oral... uuurgh. I seem to remember from combined sciences gcse that most of the multiple choice answers are C... wish I had that option now. what about yourself?
Have so far sat through two Latin exams (one 2 hours, one 3 hours) and have yet to sit my Greek exam (three hours, taking it well into "No Fixed Abode, Cricklewood") and my exam for Introduction to Greece and Rome, a further three hours. I handed in my Greek and Latin assessments in January - 40% for each of those subjects, I believe, which I thankfully already know I've passed.
On the upside, I never have to do a Latin language exam again. The downside is I have to do more literature....
Poo
I failed to stun the judges last week, but am the next on the list if someone declines an offer (which I doubt will happen). Ho hum...
...
...though it's not all doom and gloom as I've just been offered a job in Saarbrücken...
[rab] Your experiences are uncannily matching those of one of my officemates ... (first reserve after fellowship interview, [I'm assuming that's what your thing was?] ended up with a job in Germany). Good luck with whatever happens.
chuckling
oh the utter silliness of the Monday night e-pilg. Fair sets me up for the week, it does :-)
You are Number Two
[rab,Brendan] Do they say that to all the unselected candidates?
Who is Number One?
[Raak] Well, if they do, it's particularly cruel -- my colleague seemed very much under the impression that he was in with a chance (albeit slight) and was well advised not to commit to anything else until he heard back from them. I'm sure you've had sufficient experience with funding bodies to decide whether malicious cruelty is part of their makeup.
In my case I was told over the phone that if a place were declined, it would be offered to me. I can't see any reason why the lady I spoke to wouldn't tell the truth. In any case, I seem to have a contingency plan in place, so whilst I would like a Fellowship rather than an ordinary postdoc (better support, apart from anything else), I'd be happy with what I've been offered so far.
Herr Rab
There are many worse places than Saarbrücken, but you'll have to take your thermals.
monday pilg
well, I stuck my head around the door, then went and worked for an hour, and when i came back you'd all gone - kuh...
Pilg
I hope it wasn't too whiffy.
Two things...
1. Anyone else catch part 1 of the Goodies retrospective on Radio 4 this morning?
2. If any Doctor Who fans in here haven't heard, Billie Piper's been cast as the new assistant.
It raises the horrible suspicion that Chris Evans was, at some point, under consideration for the Doctor's role.
She can't possibly be as bad as
Bonnie Langford, can she?
Casting Who
How about Chris Morris for Doctor Who?
second in line -
I have a very goo dfriend who applied for a Fulbright Scholarship a couple of years ago, to study in the US from Oz. They narrow it down to 12, and she was informed that unfortunately she made it to number 13 and they were very sorry. ANYWAY, she was inLondon at the time, then heard a few weeks later that someone had dropped out and so she was in teh cut again (theyonly award one it seems) and could she get back to Sydney for an interview..... needless to say flights were booked that very day and YOU GUESSED IT, she is now at UCalifornia Davis doing a Veterinary PhD as a Fulbright Scholar......
Carrot
Absolutely pukingly drunk (flatmates far more sympathetic than anticipated!) Jesus revelations. Anyone want to share?
bedtime snifter
ZK]I'll join you with a small dram, treadmill again tomorrow. Sympathetic? bad exams?
[ZK] Film soc social night... italian then vodka revolution... martinis! sophisticated! yay! (and sick on someone's shoes, apparently)
Oh dear. I did snigger though.
exams
ZK] is this uni finals ? (you mention last exam....)
the mother of all hangovers
Unbelievably, I had three glasses of wine, about three apple sourz and one WKD blue. We'd got to the pub after my exam finished around 2, but I hadn't eaten since about twenty to nine. We thought I was a little tipsy (I'm good at being well-behaved) until I collapsed outside my friend's flat. I think the message above was written approximately 4 hours later, when I found myself inexplicably able to move around for a short period of time. I've spent most of today trying to piece together yesterday! [st d] Strangely enough, I haven't even finished my exams yet - I was merely with Annabel and Brad to celebrate the fact that they just had. Lol my flatmates are sooooo fond of me now!
[Btd] Virginia Bottomley? ;)
hangover cure
[ZK] two paracetamol, a litre of water and another hour's sleep - trust me, this had me up and about and rigging a set after a night in Moles...
Plus ça change
Good to see that student piss-artistry is still an activity pursued with some vigour. But don't think you're breaking new ground, in the broad sense. I was doing it in 1963. In those days puking it up provoked ridicule and humiliation, equivalent to "touching cloth" in a farting competiton. Does a similar culture prevail today?
If it does, I don't remember!
That being, I don't recall enough of the day to know :)
The solution
[ZK] Well, there's your problem. The trick is not to eat for at least 18 hours before you go on a binge. It won't make you less sick, but it's a lot cheaper.    ;-)
"oops, I forgot my purse"
And the joys of getting every single drink free... :)
[ZK] how'd you manage that? our cocktails-themed social cleaned me out...
Well, because it was during the day, and I'd come straight from my exam, they invited me out to the pub but I protested that I hadn't brought my purse with me. Annabel (whose last exam it was) said that was ok because she'd buy me a drink....hey presto and about 7 drinks later...oddly enough, simply by not packing cash, I managed to pull the same trick last night - I paid for a round with my card and then got free drinks all night (this time by sticking to J20) although in fairness, the guy buying them rather likes me.
But do you like him back, ZK?
Very nice lad. Not quite my type. Next time we go out, I'll be getting the drinks in...it's the way of the world :) I only accepted them all because I was skint and very, very warm.
[nights] Any more exams today?
no, just baffling exec handover. not sure why I went. it's more essays than exams at the moment, although they're on their way like so much bad news... (sighs and finishes eating pizza)
nostalgia
Crikey, I've just been looking back through the archives and realised how many games finished in my absence!
We should have one of those fabulous "cost-cutting" games...
[ZK] ?
eg "Lady Chatterly's Loofah" "Wuthering Hillocks" etc
hillocks to you, sir
I only have 2 ideas so far, but it's always seemed like a fun game :)
ho hum
No-one, looking through this place, would *imagine* that i have been hanging around on the net for waaaaaaaay too long...
[ZK] Je comprends. sp? is there meant to be an 's' on the end of the first person singular?
I think it's "comprends", although it's over a year since I stopped studying French and the net's not much help.
[ZK] I am reassured all the same. I shall spare you the knowledge of how long it is since I stopped doing French...
conjuger le verbe 'comprendre'
yes, the first singular present has an S on the end... the net is rubbish for french unless you already have a half decent knowledge of it. which lets me out...
Bonjour me sewer
My French evening class ended last night (entry level), needless to say I can confidently say I am no help to you with this at all, but if you want to say your name or go shopping I can help you pay. ("Je voudrais one of those and one of those s'il vous plait)
Le singe est dans l'arbre.
cost-cutters
3 Monkeys type of thing ? Sounds good. I might just go and start it.....
I've spent the day watching 90s french pseudo-noir film. I can swear a blue streak in french now, but I have no idea how to write my essay... [Ink] some of us still shop that way in France - "Avez vous this dans un large?"
le chat et sous de la chaise...
[st d] Changed for technical reasons to Le singe est sur la branche, because apparently otherwise one has a monkey enclosed within a tree (boo! hiss!)
[nights] It was great - I got to the airport in Rome and suddenly realised I'd completely forgotten that I'd need to learn another language. The week consisted of pointing at things and hoping they spoke English. Shocking. :)
Big bore?
All 12 housemates have arrived, strongly opinionated in the interview process I hope they still will be. The house looks wonderful, it is smaller, cramped and set up for confrontation. And tomorrow any housemate that loses the task does not get their suitcase! My expectations are high after the cosy-cosy niceness disaster of last year.
Gay people, extroverts, a posh girl, a homophobe, a man in a thong and a transsexual (did I understand that right?), most of whom seem to be students or activists of some kind, or office workers. Personally I think that Stuart, the posh blonde girl and the straight little adorable scousish lass will all get eaten alive within the first week. But I don't know if I can bear to watch to find out...
Big Punch-Up
I think there's going to be fisticuffs by the end of the bank holiday. if not on screen, then definitely between my housemates - they were a bit excitable...
Dee Wun in the Big Brooter Hoose
Indeed. I had some friends over for the launch and there was a lot of OMGing. In previous years, particularly last, I thought the producers didn't go for the obvious conflicts, going for more subtle personality clashes. This year, they seem to have though "oh feck it, let's just go hell for leather". I too predict violence this year. And that bedroom's going to be well stinky. We admired Shell's (?) nous in selecting the top bunk of a bed, rather than going straight for a double before realising there's not enough to go round. I do like the idea of the alarm ensuring everyone has to get up. The outside baths are also ominous - one wonders if they'll be shutting off the bathroom at some point...
ISIHAC back
Crossposted everywhere: ISIHAC is back on Radio 4 this Monday, 6:30pm.
Excellent.
girls on top
With only a couple of days passed, first impressions for me, I'd would like to see Kitten win with either Stuart or Vanessa to go first.
If Kitten got evicted, surely she'd refuse to leave?
Kitten annoys the hell out of me - I'm not being anti-anything (some of my best friends are lesbians) but she does seem only in it to piss everyone else off. What happened last night anyway, I was a having a four hour dinner with my housemates. From first impressions, Shell to win, Stuart to go first, the stuck up idiot. I live with a guy like him and he does my nut. OK, done ranting.
Harry Potter
Sooooooooooooooooooooooo much better than the first two movies. Go see go see!
HP
Well, POA is my fave HP book, and I think David Thewlis is a great actor (not to mention Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, &tc), so I am greatly looking forward to seeing it! I want to choose a quiet time with not too many kids, so I decided to pass on the premier weekend. Perhaps later this week, as I hope to have Friday off..(must check it's not half-term in Cardiff though).
Go see! *still jumping up and down*
Plagiarism
ANy one in possession of the current "Radio Times" (Bill Oddie cover)? There's an article in there on opera music used in adverts which shamelesly rips off "Who-do-doo-doo-doo-doo-do-do-do-do-Hitler", page 28 I think.
HP Source
I saw HP3 last night... will compose a review for Books@MCiOS later.
The eighth plague
[Bigsmith] Not seen that... on the other hand proving that it was our idea may not be so straightforward.
Potty
[ZK] Yes, I got dragged along and quite enjoyed it - better than the first two, I thought, and very atmospheric.
Yay! :)
[snorgle] if it's any help, it's DEFINITELY half term in bath. takes twice as long to get anywhere or do anything. grr.
[snorgle, nights] Half-term here too, in commuter land. It takes only half as long to do anything or go anywhere. :o)
[pen] It is indeed much easier to get to work. Now if only we could get rid of those OAPs that have to get to the shops by 9am. I can only assume that they drive so slowly, that'll take the rest of the day to get back home.
It was easier to drive in today, almost a pleasure coming to work! but why, when they all the time in the day world does Waynetta insist on dragging her brats round town at lunchtime. They are not half as cute as (For those at work with speakers on their pc BEWARE!!) Boobah, the current favoutite with our toddler; now the Bobinogs have finished.
Boobah
The mind boggles!
Separated at birth?
Inkspot] Has anyone else noticed the uncanny resemblance between two erstwhile players of MC and Children’s TV programmes? Boobah and Bob the dog are extremely similar to Boolbar and Bobinog. Are they perhaps related? I think we should be told.
Children's Hour
[Btd]Very spooky! You wouldn't have had any mix up like that in my day. Way, back in the early sixties I don't think there was much if any pre-school tv; unlike now with CeeBeebies. It is more likely back then sat around the radio to Listen With Mother.
[ZK]Time to come out of the closet, which did you have 'My Little Pony' or 'The Care Bears'?
Watching
[Inkspot] Surely "Watch With Mother" was on even in the early 60s? I can't speak from personal memory of course, but I thought programmes like Muffin the Mule were of that vintage.

OK, fifteen minutes a day hardly counts as extensive programming, but...

Watching with Mother
[Inkspot, Dunx] The Woodentops? Rag Tag and Bobtail? The Flowerpot Men? (the real ones!) Andy Pandy? Surely all that stuff was on by then? Or did it only exist on my childhood video that we watched ad nauseam? (I remember going to a fancy dress party as Looby Lou - both myself and my sister, in fact)

[Inkspot] I think I missed the Care Bear craze by a couple of years - by the time I came along we only had the magazines (which were jumble sale buys) and the movie (terrifying). We do, still, however, have all our My Little Ponies in a box in the toy cupboard, which my younger sisters still play with (and now I fancy a go cos you've reminded me! :)) We also have the video, even though I can't think for the life of me where it's gone. I'm *sure* one of my earliest memories is one of the boys in the village turning up with that as a birthday present for my older sister. Angie - are you about? Anything to say on the subject? I suspect those videos were actually made in Sweden (they had american voices)...I haven't seen it in ages but that would explain the lipsynching.

....Sorry. Went off on a nostalgic tangent there....
Rain
At the risk of raising someone's ire. [Rosie] How are we going? We had 16mm of rain during May (15.5mm of that on the 26th)
TV
[ZK] Andy Pandy and the Flower Pot Men were definitely televised in the early 1950s - regrettably I can remember them (B&W of course). ... :-(
Ah. I have no concept of time, you see. Andy Pandy ran for ages though didn't it? I liked them anyway, although maybe I just loved them so much because I got to see them over and over and over....
Rain
(Dujon) I've just read that Sydney and surrounding areas are having a something of a drought, but I don't know what your average should be, so I can't really evaluate your one-day downpour. My guess is that it's not that unusual. Here, I got 72 mm in May (normal is 61 mm) but there was a 10-day dry spell in the middle. Year's total is 351 mm, 7% above normal, so nothing dramatic.
One Fat Lady
Do you remember the job I didn't get? Well, cos I didn't get it I subsequently got a job I hadn't applied for. Well, that's now been blown out of the water because I got the job I didn't get... Are you keeping up at the back?
Counter number one
[rab]Does that mean you are going to bite there arm off; or mull it over for a day or two?
[ZK]My Little Ponies was a lucky wild guess but please say you never had a Cabbage Patch Doll surely one of the ugliest toys ever sold. Andy Pandy is still going and has been given a fresh lease of life to a young generation along with Noddy. (The things I have to watch in the name of 'bonding' and good parenting ;))
[Inkspot] Well, it beats watching EvoStik. Depends on the kind of bonding, I suppose.
[rab] What a confusing, if ironically successful, life you lead. Congratulations.
catching up ...
[rab] Is this Mccongratulations?
[Duj] Whose ire do you risk raising with your weather-talk? :-)
[Inkspot] I think I had a tiny plastic one from a jumble sale, but not a real live (so to speak) big squishy one. I think that was before my time as well. I well know about Andy Pandy's new lease of life, and Bill & Ben's (not a fan of the new looks) - I'm quite fond of the new Noddy though.

However, for student viewing it's Balamory all the way! :)
[rab] Congratulations?
Whee
[Inkspot, Dunx, Chalky, Nik] Thanks! It's a better job, so I have indeed accepted it. Which means I'll be returning to Edinburgh for three years starting November. Wow.
Edinburgh? Wow! Congrats, and Carrots!, rab.
. . . at the back
[rab] Now I understand. Horrahs and congrats!
oooooooooooh!!
congrats rab! :) what is it you'll be doing now?
On the news this morning...
I note with interest that Bob the dog has quit his post at the CIA...
Open door
With 50 ways trundled off, any suggestions for new and original games for when LbLR is completed.
golly, I go away for a couple of days
crazy how things move on here. I go back to the midlands for a family funeral, and you've all moved on. As far as children's crazes go, I'm not sure I had a childhood. I might have blocked it out though. and congrats rab on the job - well done you!

[ZK] don't tell anyone but me and my housemates are fans of Balamory also. shhhh...

Right, off to my french exam, then to brave bath city centre as I have no food again. ha ha ha ha ha.
childhood
nights] sorry to hear you wee at a funeral.
Childhood was the bit when you couldn't tie your own shoelaces - ring any bells ?
lost consonants
(that was a genuine typo, though possibly a good entry in Lost Consonants - my apologies)
[rab] Congratulations!
childhood
I couldn't tie my shoelaces last week, st d, does that count?
not if it's through alcohol, no.
How about a game involving..........
International land marks, either natural or man made.........
Widey's Arbitrary Selection
How's about a game where we all arbitrarily suggest something to be involved in a game, and that could in some way link to the next move, such as by naming the finishing move (structure a la Corporation D)...
can we have one based on car colours? I had to try and say 'cheyenne red' at work today while keeping a straight face.
completely off-topic
I seem to be unable to remember the Arabic word for "fork" (the eating implement). I have been trying all day, and now know knife, spoon, table, airplane, tree, apartment and letter, all fine.

I'm not sure why this disturbs me.

Apologies to all concerned, but I've gone and ranted all over the Limerick game. Perhaps I shouldn't have done so, but IMHO the fact is, if you allow just anything, and if you have to twist it too many times to get it even close to fitting, then what you have is no longer a limerick but freeform non-poetry and therefore not acceptable in a specifically Limerick game. Even if the ISIHAC team come up with bad (read: unfunny or the wrong kind of nonsensical) limericks sometimes, at least they *are* recognisable as limericks as far as rhyming and scansion goes...
Limerpricks
[JLE] No need for apology - you've had plenty of support and quite right too.
[JLE] When you criticse, you tend to do it strongly, which perhaps makes people who don't know you less receptive to your message. But I agreed with the message.
[JLE] I, too, agree with the point you were making. Now, of course, I'm sure someone could come up with many examples of poor scansion on my part, but I do try, and it is very frustrating to see a line show up with clearly falls short of the mark. Still, as I said in the game, if the quality dropped I'd rather go elsewhere than join in a scansion war.
Clouded in, as usual
I'm attempting to watch the transit of Venus - as usual the clouds have interfered! Urk! Currently trying through the Worth Hill (UK) site (the local CSIRO requires a program for which one needs a credit card to access ... bastards!) No success at this stage ... surely the sun rises before 05:25 GMT at this time of the year? Ah well, back to cyber viewing.
Yeah!
I've now got sunlight and a site (here)
Swing low sweet chariot
Unfortuately the sun is so low that attempting to project its image is a waste of time. The tree leaves look good, mind you ... which reminds me ...
Brilliant sunshine here
Just shot most of a reel of film through a 1000mm lens, with umpteen different exposure times. Should have results in a few days. Of course, they'll all look like a white disc with a black dot on it...
And yes, there was a sheet of aluminised mylar over the objective.
*seriously jealous*

[Dujon] Due to lack of clouds and location location location, I saw the lot, projected through binoculars. Have dodgy photos.

Venus
(Dujon) Don't worry, there'll be another one along in 8 years. June 5/6 2012 and you should be able to see all of it. Starts 2216 GMT, ends 0429 GMT. We might just see the end of it (sun rises here about 3.45 GMT). Then there are a couple in December, which would be much more favourable for you, but not until 2117 and 2125, which would not. I saw the transit here by projection, having assembled a telescope from the various lenses and eyepieces I've got lying around, plus a cardboard tube. Even so, there's a limit to the fascination of a black dot. Good weather; sunny, but with lots of cirrus, southerly breeze, temperature 28°C. Sweaty night coming up.
Sweltering in the heat.
Hello, chums and pals. How are we all? Raak, nice photo of the lense thingamy. Not an officianado of teh gadgets myself, but "stargazing" of "Venus spotting" can be interesting. I'm often given to ponder the wonder of the "up the there and yonder".

So, how are we all, people? I note with apprehension the talk of scansion problems in the Limerick game. Hope it doesn't get out of hand. It's funny, but just last night I was reading through the old "Ballykissangels" game from Mr. Wild Pants's old site, and recalling with a tear of nostalgia the uproar and chicanery the night Kezar and myself were accused of impersonating the good Dr. Q in an effort to rectify a poem that had floundered due to apparent scansion difficulties. We were both quite innocent of the charges brought against us, you understand. Though we still bear the terrible bite marks from Rosie's Lobster-torture.

Ah, the memories.

Anyway, I hope no one recoils in horror at thew thought of Evil Dr. Thrax crashing in here once again after a sort of "Black Sabbatical". I'd like to extend a warm greeting to you all - in especial, Rosie whose punishments keep me in order, Chalky whose correspondance has always been kind, and was often a source of encouragement when I felt very deeply depressed, Dujon whose appreciation of my insanity has not been forgotten, Dr. Q, if he's around, whose love of American Football I share, Korky who used to amuse with tales of uncomfortable bowel movements at work, ZK, if he is perhaps the artist(piss-artist perhaps?) formerly known as Zakalwe(I'm just guessing), and who conspired with me to turn a Pants Game into a horror story long ago, Darren who was most forgiving of bad behaviour, and JLE whose skill at MC far outstretches my own and often has me spellbound.

Greetings to you all, and to those I don't really know...I should look forward to getting to know you all better.

Well, as the Hand of Time picks the Nose of Eternity, and the Snot of Knowledge is wiped on the Trouser Leg of Fate, I realise that I've rambled on a fair bit, and feel compelled to give way to a fellow speaker.
*proffers hankie with a stern look*
Hello Thrax :o)
Blushing.
Thank you, good lady.
back for more
[Thrax] Good to see you back. Bad news by the way that not only is that chap ZK, Zoological Keeper but also a female and a student.
sparing
Where on Earth (or otherwise) have you been, Thrax?
Doh!!
Inkspot, thank you for the welcome, and for putting me straight on the identity of ZK.

Ms. Keeper, my heartfelt and humble apologies. *blushes with embarassment*

snorgle, hello there. Good to see you. Yes, on Earth I have remained. In Swindon to be precise. What joy to live in a town whose entry is "Where the f**k?" in my Atlas. How are you, Sir or Madam? (I can't remember your gender I'm afraid, and am taking no chances).
*astonished*
Welcome back, Thrax! Nice to know you're still around!
Grinning.
And good to know you're here, Sir. Tell me, are you still on The Force? I seem to recall you were one of the Boys in Blue. Still doing that to earn yer crust?
"Evening, all"
No, never been in the constabulary. I'm still sweating it out as a housing officer for a lesser London Borough, although my recent elevation to Void Management Officer means I've gone up two payscales and I no longer have to deal with the public. Whoopee!
Trying to dust cobwebs from ailing memory.
Hmmm, I seem to recall one of the Pants regulars was a copper. Thought it was you, Sir, but must've got me wires crossed. Perhaps it wasn't you who regailed us all with the "Digestion story" then either. Doh! Hey ho. So, a promotion, eh? Onward and upward. Sounds grand. Congratulations.
I was intrigued by your opening post, when you mentioned reading through the Ballykissangels game from Pants. Do you have some kind of arcane and eldritch way of accessing this sadly deceased site, or did you copy loads of text off the web?
Lamenting it.
Alas no, Korky, my friend. I saved the page out as an HTML file long ago before Pants MC closed down. Kept it for old times' sake. Had I known in advance that the site would expire, I'd have saved out many more, as some contained real gems of hilarity from many many fine MCers. Alas. A moment's silence is called for i think.
Io Thrax.
[Thrax] Quality lying, sir.
miss
I'm female, Thrax - and reasonably well (if intensely bored at my job - AGAIN!) I SO need to get a job which isn't always on the phones..
Freakout
Howdy, Doc. Pleasure to see you again, my good Sir. Life treating you well? Been enjoying the current season of ISIHaC via the net? I'm often given to wonder what your chums in Pennsylvania make of it if ever they happen to be present and hear it when you're tuned into the show. I bet they'd think we're all lunatics on this side of The Pond, what?

And greetings, Dunx. How'd you do? "Quality lying" though? Not sure I follow you. I don't believe I've told any whoppers here today, or are you referring to my moves in the "Swear to God" game?

And Snorgle, a lady, eh? *Doffs hat in gentlemanly fashion as redolent of some Oscar Wilde drama for no obvious reason other than it seems in-keeping with my character* Delighted to make your aquaintance. I recall we always had a severe shortage of female company chez-Pants. Chalky of course remained until the biter end, and your name rings a bell, but ladies were, it must be said, not merely few and far between, but also most sorely missed. Still, count yourself lucky that you never fell under the lascivious(sp? no idea), roving eye of that chimeric lothario Kezar. A fortunate escape for you there. *Ahem* Anyway, I'm sorry to learn that your job is most unsatisfactory. *Sigh* They do say work is a rotten way to earn a living, do they not?
Hi Thrax
Hi Thrax, it has been a long time!!!!
Freakout
Why, Darren, 'tis good to see you too, Sir. How are you, me old China?
[Thrax] You divine my intent correctly, sir. Apologies for any misapprehension; entirely my own fault for being insufficiently clear in my sincere wish to convey my compliments. I am very well, thank you for asking, although rather fatigued from a foolishly early start and a surfeit of exercise these last two days. But such is the burden of the long distance runner, or at any rate one who aspires to such a qualification.
Oh, and work's a bugger at the mo, but that is an entirely separate conversation to have away from these hallowed halls.
Freakout
Ah, that's all well. No apology necessary, Sir. I took no offence. So, a long-distance runner eh? Sounds exhausting but rewarding. Groovy.
ISIHAC in Pittsburgh
I have made a few converts...one of which has taken to MC like a duck to Nick Knight. ;)
[Dunx] You've given up the bike?
Hm. I seem to recall that the PantsMC regular who was a policeman was the person who went by the name of "Corkington" AFAIK.
Bike vs Feet
[Dr Q] No, but not cycling as much right now since I am in training for a marathon in the autumn (Portland, OR on the first Sunday in October - Portland, ME iss the same day as it happens). This is the same race I was training for last year but had to abandon due to injury.

The more I run the more convinced I become that I will return to cycling, but I feel vastly better than I did three months ago and I am sure that I'll get more out of whatever exercise I continue with as a consequence.

Hello, Thrax, old bean! It's nice to see that you haven't totally forgotten how to access the weird and whacky world of the Morniverse.
I'm going to have to start believing in telepathy, which to hard-nosed rationalist like myself would be a Damascene conversion, because about 24 hrs ago, before any of this appeared, I said to myself "I wonder if old (young) Thrax is OK?", and here he is, FFS. Neither Kezar or those FUCKING LOBSTERS have done for you, then, mate? Excellent. No more to say, really.
[Thrax] I'm doing OK, thanks. It's a pity you missed the uberpilg in Rugby.
[Thrax] Not a problem, rather something to amuse me after my brief absence, although similar mistakes have been made before :)
ZK] only online I hope ?
Freakout
That's great news, Doc. Does this converted duck perchance have internet access? Might he/she at some point brave the hallowed turf of this most jolly arena?

Ah! yes, once again, Jonathan, you've come up trumps with the info. I seem to recollect that Corkington was here and there occasioned the familiar soubriquet of "Corkers" - I think Chalky was initially responsible for that one - and perhaps therein lay the genesis of my little misinference. How are you, anyway?

And hello to you, Duj, my friend - or do they really use the term "cobber" down under? - I trust you are well? 'Tis indeed a glorious feeling to be back among the Morniverse, as you refreshingly term it.

Heh, you know, Rosie there are those who subscribe to the scientific principle that the human mind does generate enough brainwave energy to transmit like a radio broadcast at times, and that telepathy is indeed possible. I'm uncertain as to whether or not it can emit across the divide between Swindon and, er, Surrey wasn't it? I'm Surrey I Haven't a Clue. In any case, I tried discussing this with the FUCKING LOBSTERS, but found them to be most unco-operative. Difficult to establish telepathic communication with a creature that bears a thick exoskeleton and seems forever intent upon shooting up yer arsehole every time your back's turned. *Shudder*

I'm glad to hear you're well, Darren, my friend. Alas I knew nothing of any "uberpilg". Sounds either charmingly continental and noble, or wickedly decadent and filthy. Either way, I'm most aggreived to have missed it.

And thank you, ZK, for your most willful clemency upon my faux-pas. I am relieved. *Bows*
Uber-pilg
Thrax] Well, a large number of us all buggered off to a swish hotel in Rugby to record our own ISIHAC, and a fine time was had by all. Details are on Orange's To Be A Pilgrim game, and Merlyn has actually created a fine website with transcript and photo's. We're planning to do another one in May next year, so keep your diary clear.
Freakout
Huuuhh?! Oh I wish I'd known. I'd love to have attended and met up with you guys! I'd give anything to be able to get outside these four walls and meet people. It gets so lonely being stuck in here 24/7 on my own for months on end. Tell me, Korky, this place you speak of - do they have facilities for disabled people? If so I'd give anything to meet with you all next May. Anything!
facilities
Depends on the disability, I guess. If you're talking imparied mobility/wheelchair access then I didn't notice any bedrooms downstairs (except in the outbuildings) or lift within the main building, but perhaps others can recall better. I guess a quick phonecall to Brownsover Hall about the issue wouldn't hurt.
And, nice as it was, if Brownsover weren't accessible, I'm sure we'd all be happy to look at alternatives.
Freakout
Well, Projoy, I am indeed a user of a wheelchair, and thus a ground floor room or lift would be necessary(I live on the first floor as it happens), otherwise it's a "Fireman's Lift" situation. Regrettably there's more obstacle to be overcome though. Rugby's a fair distance from where I live, in Swindon, and I can neither drive nor load/unload the chair myself. Furthermore, all my family and friends live more than 2 hours from my abode, and I very much doubt any one of them(since they're not MCers themselves) would be willing to drive for two hours to pick me up, drop me off, make their way off home again, then come back two days later(would I be correct to infer that this is a weekend break?) and drive me back frm Rugby to Swindon then go home again.

See, there's no way I can use a train either. Not without a friend to accompany me.

I'm not really sure how it could be done, unless one of you fine fellows lives in the West Country and would be willing to give me a lift from Swindon.
OK. Not being a driver, I'm afraid I couldn't help on the lifts thing, but conceivably this could influence our choice of location. There might be places that Swindon is on the way to that are just as nice as Brownsover. Here's a list of wheelchair accessible hotels in the UK. Anyway, not for me to decide on behalf of the participants, of course, but maybe worth a bit of research.
[st d] Er...well, that mistake hasn't been made since I was about eleven or so, face to face. I was not happy, as you would probably gather, and have cultivated somewhat of an obsession with the colour pink ever since....
Shameless interruption
Morning all! [Thrax] It's nice to see you back. I must admit having only caught some of your antics during my brief tenure on Pants but it's good to see people return from beyond the Reality Point.

[Bob the dog] Thank you very much for the bottle of cider you bought me - I shall be enjoying it this evening with dinner!

wheelchair access
Thrax] would it be okay to just get you really really drunk so you could just fall asleep in your wheelchair ?
ZK] I am truly intrigued now. How come this mistake was never made before you were 11 ?
Didn't she say it was only until she was 11? Personally I was always mistaken for a girl and my sister was generally thought to be a boy. That pretty much sums up the power politics in my family.
aha !
BM] of course. I was thinking that was a bit strange. I remember people saying "what a beautiful little girl" when I was 4 or 5 and being really pissed off by it. Darn pink tutu my Mother used to make me wear.....oh well, I'm still intrigued but instead am now imagining ZooKeeper to be heartstoppingly beautiful.
cute children
My three brothers were all very blond and pretty when ickle. We're all fairly close in age and relatives/friends would cast their eye over the boys exclaiming how bonny they were and save the piteous glances for me [the brown-haired freckly girl]. It was at that stage that I decided I needed to develop a personality.
oh yes ... [Thrax] good to see you in here :-)
what a drag.
The last time I was mistaken for a girl was at the age of 23, but it was from behind and my hair was half-way down my back. The only other time I guess the lipstick and frock had something to do with it . . . .
Mistaken Identity
When I was a little chap - up to the age of 7 or 8, I was often mistaken for a girl, much to my fury at the time. If you saw me now you'd realise why the same mistake has not been made for quite a while. Even in drag I think I would be about as convincing as the late great Les Dawson - or for that matter Roy Barraclough.
PS
I suppose I ought to terminate that posting with a quick
Knickers, knackers, knockers !!!
[St D]
Somehow I imagine not just ZK but all the female Crescenteers, none of whom I have met, to be heart-stoppingly beautiful. Call me a charming old romantic, a dreamer, a visionary, or a typical male internet nerdy type whose sole female interaction comes from Tomb Raider. It's up to you. Personally I'm going for the visionary option.
Hear! Hear!
Having met 4 of the female Crescenteers (lib, penelope, Chalky & Norma), I can at least confirm some of that vision. And I'm sure that they are shining examples of the rest of Crescentdom. We can only hope that they look upon us in a similar light - despite having actually met the likes of myself :-)
changing the subject entirely, I found a version of 'Boardo' when clearing out my room in halls prior to moving out next week (sniff). Anyone mind if we play it here?
[st d, Breadmaster] Of course I'm heartstoppingly beautiful. Only today, three men looked at me and dropped down dead. :)

[st d] As to being 'mistaken', I've never quite been able to forget when I was in the balcony at the swimming pool in Wellingborough, and half a class of boys decided to try tp ask me out. Their opening gambit was "are you a girl?". Needless to say, this particular Zooological Keeper was not best pleased....and I didn't say yes...The mistake probably wasn't made before because I used to wear skirts all the time. Post 10 or 11 I was rarely out of jeans.

[nights] I'm game!
turn on your speakers
http://www.potterpuppetpals.com/sexy.swf
If you've got a minute....
Well it's fairly obvious (to anybody who has ever met me) that I could never be mistaken for a girl in real life, but my speaking voice is naturally high-pitched enough to have been mistaken for a low-pitched female voice over the phone (when I said "hello", the reply was "erm, are you Mrs Ellis? We only have a record of a *Mr* Ellis at this address"). In fact I know several women, all of them contralto singers from music college, who very definitely have lower speaking voices than I do...
The gender divide
One can feel one has truly come of age when, when you answer the telephone, people mistake you for you father rather than your mother (speaking as a male). Not sure what that'd do as a female ;)
...and on a totally different subject
Oh, and now I've won a game (hehehe) is there some sort of scoreboard? Having noticed the very old-looking one over at MCiOS, and considering that there isn't (yet) too much of an archive to wade through, could there be something of that sort for this beatifully conceived server?
potterpuppetpals
I love that site! The last time I checked, there were just 2 shows, so I assume that's a new one. Unfortunately, it's also very popular, so I'll have to wait to see it!
dreams
[Breadmaster, LotUS] Well, you haven't met me yet, but I'm sorry that your dream will be shattered if you do - either that or you will drop dead for real. :-)

[Tuj] I'm moving backwards, then. I've been mistaken for a teenage boy on the phone by telemarketers, and not just once. Perhaps it's the slightly surly business-like way I answer when I've been interrupted as well as lowish voice pitch. As I assume they're not allowed to sell to minors, I really love answering their question "Is Mum or Dad there?" with (100% truthfully cross my heart and all) "Nup. Bye."

Voice on the phone
I'm told my voice when I'm on the phone is much lower than when I'm speaking face-to-face. Not that I answer the phone with "Menswear" or anything. ;)
Rugby
Thrax] Don't recall Brownsover Hall looking particularly wheelchair-friendly. IIRC, there are steps to the front, and the rear access is over shingle/gravel. However, I'm sure that were the same location used next year, all MCers would be only to happy to assist in any area that you needed. Obviously, the staff should be able to make arrangements if they knew in advance that you were coming. Obviously, getting from Swindon could be more of a problem. I know Chalky came up from the west country, but she didn't drive. However, if we all put our heads together, I'm sure we can come up with a way.
Access All Areas
[Brownsover Hall] Mr. Brain reminds me that there was a disabled loo next to the mens and a ramp up to it. Also a side entrance (opposite the stables, near the carpark) had the words "disabled access" on a sign. I must also say that Mr. Brain is frequently unrealiable, especially after a few pints and The Biscuit Game.
Access more than you remember
[brownsover hall] IIRC, the route between the stables bedrooms and the rear of the hotel was paved and reasonably level - the outside tables were sitting on gravel, but that was only a short stretch. There was also a paved route from near the front door steps around to the rear door which is wheelchair accessible, I'm pretty sure. As UK said, I'm sure there's a way, and plenty of assistance if needed.
Back again.
Well, Penelope, UK, Boolbar et al, that actually sounds reasonable. Essentially any ground floor accommodation would be suitable, and it's only for a weekend(?), so I'm sure it shouldn't be difficult. At risk of asking for too much, I could do with a wee smidgen of assistance during the stay if anyone is willing to volunteer a hand - perhaps a workload shared between two or three? When I say "workload" incidently, I'm referring to little more than pushing me across that gravel, cutting up some of whatever meals we order and helping to slip on/remove socks and shoes. Are their any kind souls here who might be willing to chip in a bit? I'd be most grateful.

Oh, and st d, falling asleep drunk in my wheelchair is - ahem - not unprecedented.

Jonathan, They mistake you for Mrs Ellis, eh? Interesting, but when you get your regular correspondence from Mrs Trellis of North Wales(as we all do of course), for whom does she mistake you? She addresses me as "Ms. Fernandez" - the wheelchair user who was in Eldorado and The Office.

ZK - hearstoppingly beautiful, eh? Raaaowwwr. Stop it with your wicked alluring imagery or I think I'll start to experience 'Charlotte Greene' syndrome. Rosie and I both fancied her for years with no idea what she looked like. Ha!

And last but not least, Hey, there, Chalky. I've really missed you a great deal. I do hope you're well. I didn't forget you BTW. You got a personalised greeting in my opening post, but I think it may have slipped orf the page by the time you got here t'other day. How are you, anyway? Long time no hear.

And with that, I shall depart for the moment, and no doubt be back shortly. Addidas!

*Sneaks out of page singing "Voodoo Lady" By Creme Brullée*
[Thrax] Willing to offer any of that kind of help, if I'm there, which I'm fully expecting to be.
*Echoes Projoy*
Freakout
That's very kind of you folks. Perhaps a little nearer the time, we'll chat a wee bit about things just for clarity. You can email me at anthraxhirl@freakout.freeserve.co.uk Indeed I'm happy for anyone here to email me for badinage as you see fit, upon whatever subject you like. Except "Reality TV". *Shudder*
intrigue
Now that my intrigue as to the extent of ZK's beauty has been satisfied (does one satisfy an intrigue ? in fact is that even th eright word ? mmm. Anyway. Now I am intrigued as to exactly why mr Thrax is in a wheelchair, and also why he needs someone to cut up everybody's meals. Is that just a personal OCD you have ?
Freakout
LOL! Yes, st d, I have a very rare medical condition that means I can't stand the sight of everybody's meals not cut up before we all dine together. Ha. It's a rare psychological disorder, but I can't cope with anyone tucking in before everybody's orders have been not merely brought to table, but properly disected and divided up into segregated components(sometimes even quantified and noted down on a clipboard for archiving). I got so frustrated by this once, that I endeavoured to take matters in hand one evening at a dinner party, and lunged towards a butler, with a knife and fork, as he emerged from the kitchen with two plates of Duck A L'Orange. Thinking himself in great danger, the man dropped the two dishes, pulled a gun and shot me in the abdomen. Ever since, I've been confined to a wheelchair and someone has to "cut up everybody's meals", as you acutely observed, on my behalf.

I trust I've satisfied your intrigue on that matter too. *winks
Good lord, the girl in the wheelchair in The Office was the one from Eldorado? I remember seeing her on an Esther Rantzen programme a while ago (that I happened to flick into in the middle of, honest, really yeronna) in a piece about critics. She was talking about how the critics were unfair to Eldorado. The funny thing is that they had the art critic Brian Sewell on too, and she hated him. I have never seen anything like it. He was asked something like, "So what do you think of artists personally?" and he replied in his typical manner, "Oh, I just want to stamp on them like cockroaches." And she went completely nuclear - "How can you say that about human beings! How can you say that!" He just sat there twiddling his glasses with a taken-aback expression. It was lucky she was in a wheelchair really or she might have gone and decked him. Two people who simply didn't gel, I felt. But nice to see that Nessa's rages weren't entirely simulated...
Freakout
Actually, I was at school with the girl in question. I used to have lunch with her everyday, believe it or not. Hmmm, I'm not sure who should be more ashamed though, BM - Julie for being this Nessa to whom you referred in a God-awful soap about British Ex-Pats living in Costa Del Tawdry, or you for admitting to watching Esther Rantzen. Heh. I guess we'll call it a nil-nil draw, shall we, my friend? LOL!
Freakout
Oooh, I've just had a thought. Anyone up for a game of Go Johnny Go Go Go Go? I'm itching to try it out here on this server. What do you think? I take it you've all seen the famous LoG sketch?
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...............................
We often play said game here in the hospital..........LoG, gods amongst men!!
Spare Games
[Thrax] I'm not familiar with the game myself, but there are a number of game openings at Orange MC since today is the annual Orange Festival of Crescent.

[rab] Apologies for unwarranted trumpet blowing.

Freakout
Nice one, widey. Glad to hear I'm not alone around here in my appreciation of the League. Er, for the benefit of those of you who aren't familiar with the game - such as your good self, Dunx - Go Johnny Go Go Go Go is a card game that three of the characters play one evening in the Royston Vasey hosipital, St. Mary of Bethlehem. Essentially, it seems that two of the fellas have made it up on the spot - "it's a cross between Hoover and Eight Men Down" - with over-complex and nonsensical rules. They then explain them at breakneck speed to the third character, impressing upon him, "you'll pick up the rest as we play."

In essence, the game is not that dissimilar to MC, and could therefore be played on a website such as this. Instead of our moves being train stations, they could be cards, like "Seven of Clubs", "King of Diamonds", "Ace in the Hole" etc. with appropriate comments about 'scoring' and 'tactics' etc. just like how we play MC. The winning move, instead of "Mornington Crescent", could be "Go Johnny Go Go Go Go".

I could set up such a game, with a heading containing the explanation of rules(to be largely ignored, though not contradicted. Anyone up for it?

As a final thought, if you haven't seen the sketch, I strongly recomend checking out The League of Gentlemen. It's one of the best programmes I've seen in a LOOOONG time. The card game features in Season 2, and also in the DVD Live at Drury Lane, where they, like Python before them, perform some of their sketches before an audience.

So, anyone care to join me for a hand of Go Johnny Go Go Go Go? You'll pick it up as we play...
Transit pic

I don't know if that's a sunspot just above 3 o'clock, or just a speck on the film. I have about twenty more pictures, but they all look like this one. :-)

Transit pic
(Raak) Excellent pic. Not sure about the "sunspot". I don't remember seeing any when I projected the image with a small telescope. I used to be a keen observational amateur astronomer myself but not these days, but I'm one the few amateurs to know something about celestial dynamics (orbits, perturbations, 3-body problems etc). It's a guaranteed conversation-stopper.
League of their own
LoG great series, this site has many wav files including That's a Go Johnny Go Go Go Go
oooooh
Nice one, Raak. *still jealous*
Ani Miles Away
[flerdle] Griz (he's a bit sleepy at this time of the year) asked me to pass on his best regards to wallaby and also the hope that wallaby's transition is not some sort of permanent state.
??
wallaby was fine last time I checked, and sends his good wishes to Griz. She says that Griz probably needs some glasses, or a nice long snooze.
[Thrax] I am in the presence of celebrity, albeit at second remove! I offer according respect. If you ever see her again, tell her that I am not ashamed to say that I thoroughly enjoyed Eldorado. Well, not very ashamed.
[Raak] I'm sure you know that sunspots generally appear only around the solar equator and tend to come in groups, like a line of bubbles... which is pretty much what they are.
[BM/Thrax] I quite like Eldorado too, if truth be told. I detest all other soaps, however. I still play the Eldorado theme to myself sometimes, when I am alone with keyboard or guitar.
Freakout
Nice pic, Raak. Very grrovy.

Yes, well, I did find her on Friends Reunited a couple of years ago, Breadmaster, and wrote to her, but I can't recall whether or not I got a reply. Hey ho.

I never watched it myself, Darren, except for a few minutes here and there, which were enough to put me right off, I'm afraid.

So, who here watcheds the Football? Sacré Bleu!! A defeat snatched from the jaws of victory if ever I saw one.
Well what *do* you expect from a manager who substitutes our best player (Rooney) with the proven international failure Emile Heskey? Whose inept challenge gave away the free kick from which the equaliser was scored...
Zooks !
[ZK] Are you really a Zoo Keeper ? If so, what type of animal keepeth thou ? Little fluffy ones ? Scaly slippery ones ? Big bold smelly ones ? Please do tell. And at which zoo ?
On the other hand, if you aren't really a Zoo Keeper, then I'd guess with a moniker like that you must be a teacher !
Zooks!
[Blob] Student. :) The name itself derives from an episode of The Goon Show I have on tape.
Greenslade: "A flannelled fool approaches the penguin pool."
Neddy: "Aaah, good morning, zooological keeper!"

[Thrax, JLE] I'm just so gutted because we were actually playing decent football for once - every other match I've ever watched, I've been sitting cringing at our defence. And who'd really take it out on James? You could if you were feeling bitter but I'm more inclined to point the finger at Heskey and Gerrard (and then, possibly, James) Whoever was brought on for Owen though, fair enough - I thought he was particularly unspectacular. Of course, if Beckham hadn't missed the penalty, the French mightn't have suddenly summoned up the confidence to win, but, hey, there you go. *thinks* Next match, I'm getting the Doritos in. Then we'll win...I knew ordinary crisps wouldn't do the trick...
Re Becks
[ZK] Thanks for clarifying that - so, a student zoo keeper then.
[Re England/France] I think it's a little unfair to say "if Beckham hadn't missed the penalty" - he didn't miss exactly; his attempt was saved. To me a miss is when the goaly doesn't have to bother coz. the ball's gone over the net/round the side/backwards/vertically either up or down, or deflated on the penalty-takers toecap.
... panalty taker's toecap.
(Third time lucky)
... penalty taker's toecap.
Re Harmison
Hey! We won the 3rd Test [against NZ]. That makes me very happy :-)
En-ger-land
And we came second in the Le Mans 24 Hours race at the weekend - a bit more of a success than coming second in the footie (or the rugby....).
Cricket
I was elated by the cricket, shame the footie took the edge off it... Still, in some ways they were similar, very close with England just holding the edge, just one stayed with us and one spectacularly went pear-shaped.
Credit to both teams for doing well against decent / very good opposition, and to the cricketers for not only getting the whitewash but for an excellently entertaining series. Oh, and the chance to hear Blowers cut off halfway through relaying the match situation to talk about buses.
[Blob] Indeed. I retract my insensitive interpretation of the English language.
As my old mucker Mozza once wrote and sang!
I was happy in a drunken haze, but heaven knows I'm Miserable now!!
oops
Changed the words slightly, but you get the gist of what I'm getting at!!!
Widey old chap...........
I think it was something like this I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour, but heaven knows I'm miserable now and being as how I had to watch the game in france I bloody well am!!!!!
Blowers & Aggers
[Tuj] It was a great test series, capped off by the Mark Richardson v Ashley Giles epic sprint. I like the home series because BBC Radio 4 LW webcasts the match -- I can listen to all of the pigeons and Weapons of Cake Consumption while I'm at work. ;)
A slow-medium aircraft crossing the field of play...
[DrQ] There's such an English charm to it. And yes, I saw that sprint to, superb. What was Richardson wearing!?
Mark Richardson's unique attire
[Tuj] Looks like a mid-70s speed-skating suit.
And all in that lovely colour scheme. Excellent!
"I like speed and I like the thrill of it."
-- George Bush the Elder, 41th President of the United States, after skydiving on his 80th birthday
the timezone change never ceases to amaze me, it is still tonight where i am but for you guys it is already tomorow morning. where can i pick up a copy of the rule book? is it legal to play the biscut game if i have never had a true cup of tea(just that american stuff)?
cookies
[Snagandorf] Play away old thing! But just remember you won't be able to dunk.
i did once buy fifty packets of earl grey for a dollar, i put one directly in my mouth and sucked on it for half an hour, does this count as tea or did i stain my teeth for nothing? it may take an extra turn but i can still envoke the mighty coffie dunk of java. i just turned twenty one, i have only began to confront those wh call me kid, i refuse to be called old thing!
I'm not 19 till August and I love being called old thing! :) Makes one feel silly (in the dash good way), what.
Felicitous ageism
A common facetious greeting in the pub among men of my age (61) is "Good evening, young man". More, I say, more.
hahahaha(cough)
[Rosie]Nights out with you must be a scream! ;)
I remember reading in Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd that Gabriel Oak was (quote from memory warning) "of that age when people begin to stop prefixing 'man' with 'young'" - and he's then revealed to be 29. Ever since, I have thought of 29 as the age when one stops being young. That means I have nine months of youth left.
Auld
[BM] People will still call you "young man" but they'll do it to humour you.
Senility
(Boolbar) You're right; that's why we oldies do it, to take the piss out of each other.
Age
For some reason, I think of 50 as the boundary. I can see it in the distance, like a barricade across the road, rapidly getting closer.
young man is fine,but i work as a cart pusher at walmart(a job usualy reserved for those under age 18), and i get called "hey kid". when i tell my coworkers how old i am they are supprised(apparently i look quite young for my age).
has anyone tried to play chess by mornington crescent rules?
that way madness lies
[Snagandorf]Yes, and you can still hear their pitiful screams on dark winter nights..
Ageing
(All) The one difference you will all notice is that between the ages of 50 and 55 (or thereabouts) you will lose the ability to change the focus of your eyes. Regarding your eye as a camera, you could say that the lens is still quite clear and forms sharp images, the film is more-or-less as good as it was, but the focussing mechanism will seize up and there is nothing whatsoever you can do about it except get reading glasses.
presbyopia is da word for it
[Rosie] You're lucky if you noticed it that late... most people do in their 40s, though it depends on what they do, and how long their arms are :-)
roasting
It's at least 43°C, dusty outside and dry as a bone... I think I'm starting to look forward to my holiday...
Presbyopic adaptation
(flerdle) My knuckles graze the floor. This of course is why I play the trombone. Where are you, for it to be 43°C? Not Oz, at this time of the year, surely? A pleasant 18°C here. Sun in and out. Light breeze. Very British.
ook
Oman.
*sighs*
Moved out of my first-year flat today. That means I'm not a Fresher any more....time to start intimidating smaller people. At last! My time has come!
Fresh faces
I thought one was only a Fresher for about the first two weeks of first year... But I must say, I think Freshers' Week is wasted on the Freshers - much better in subsequent years.
age
You're old if you're old compared to your friends, and young if not, I think. (My friends range from 11 to 60+, and I'm nearly 29, so I get to feel young and old - and I spend my time either enviously wishing I was older in terms of experience and knowledge or younger in body).
[ZK] Make the most of it. Before you know it you'll be a miserable embittered Finalist, and then that's it. However, if you survive as a Finalist, you may have the option to become a Postgrad, which is best of all because you have less pressure, less work, more spare time and a real superiority complex. That's my experience anyway...
Wisdom
[Projoy] Having recently discussed with three of my closest mates (all of us are 40ish to 50ish) what we would do differently if we had our time over again, the answer was unanimous, unambiguous and immediate : shag more girls while we had the chance - by being (a) bolder, (b) unconcerned about rejection and (c) less fussy. (Substitute as necessary for your gender and sexual orientation) - That's the best advice our collective 200-odd years can come up with.
small comfort
[Blob] Would you and your friends please broadcast that at every opportunity? Especially the bit about being less fussy? Many thanks.
shy
[Blob] Not being bold, concerned about rejection and being fussy. I remember my 20s well. Can't say much will have changed since though.
[pen] Unfortunately the word was girls, not women...
Freakout
As someone who's never ever ever been a hit with the ladies, there's probably no one on this planet less fussy than me. However, if anyone here breathes the words, "beggars can't be choosers," they'll get a slap for preaching to the choir. Sadly. 'Tis a lonely life I lead.
[JLE] I would hazard a guess that Blob's advice also applies to those over 30 who haven't got lucky yet. Besides... there's nothing wrong with a younger man.
Freakout
You should tell that to the ladies I've had a liking for on occasion, penelope. Speaking for myself, I've been quite keen on ladies a couple of years older than myself, but tended to be rebuffed because I was too young, and they were without exception always partial to older men.
Well, I'm still trying to find someone, but I've come to the conclusion I'm going about this all wrong. It's so much easier for fish. So, from now on, I'll only date women who live underwater.
... much later
I must have done something right for a change. Yesterday I received payment for some work I have been undertaking for the last few months. No, not a lot of money, but enough to splurge on a meal out for my ever forgiving wife (and save me doing the washing up!) So we headed down to the local club and spent a few moments moaning and groaning over the extortionate prices being levied for the meals and eventually plumped for the special of the day - meaning, of course, the cheapest. On joining the queue for service and having finally managed to get within a couple of yards of the ordering station my good wife (bless her little cotton socks) noticed a sign twirling in the airconditioner's breeze. It proclaimed 'Two for the Price of One', or similar. Needless to say we had a rather rapid conflab and finished up with a wonderful chicken dish (her) and a rather good rump steak (me) both with all the trimmings. So an hour or so later we had eaten, drunk (she a lemon squash, me a schooner - that's 15 fl oz - of lager) and returned home sated. The moral, of course, is get yourself a wife/husband and, who knows, in thirty three years time you too may experience such fortune.
[Dujon] If it's late by the time I get home from work then it is always a pleasure to find that between my pockets and my wife's purse we can scrape enough pound coins together to raid the local chippy. [age and fancies] I've always found the most attractive women are around the same age as me, so in thirty years time I'll be gazing whistfully at OAPs.
. . . Oh, and I might have learnt to spell by then. Have a free 'h' on me!
musings
[Duj & Bool] 'Tis remarkable that food - whether it be the eating of, the cooking of, the shopping together for, or the spontaneous 'grab a takeaway because we can't be arsed to cook' type, just has to be one of the most joyously satisfactory elements of being in a meaningful relationship.
As for age differences ... my late husband was a couple of years older than me; my erstwhile partner was 18 years older ; my current partner is 8 years younger. No discernible pattern. Apart from the fact that they were/are all Librans and of Celtic persuasion.
[Blob] wisdom - so it's true what they say then? We only ever regret the things that we DON'T do. Hmm ... glad I got stuck in then ... :-)
mused
BTW my little pearl of wisdom above was mostly a wistful glance back to our youth. I'm happily married and two out of the other three in the aforementioned quartet are in long-term relationships. So the advice is really directed at the Young1 Free2 & Single3 amongst you.

1 Young at heart.
2 Or any price really.
3 Or as your conscience allows !

bold advice
Thank you Blob for that pearl of wisdom. I shall bow to my elders and betters on this occasion and head to Battersea tonight to watch Germany Vs Czech with my colleague Miguel from Portugal, who has revealed to me that his strategy for watching EURO 2004 matches is find a punb where there will be as many of the nationality actually playing. So tonight I am hoping for lots of German or Czech girls. I don't seem to have had much luck recently, and this I put down to a couple of factors
a. I seem to predominatly go out to the pub next to work, so hang out with work colleagues, many of whom are female, which lessens the chances of being in a position to chat someone up/be chatted up.
b. weekends I have been going home to see my mum (and until recently, dad). Again....
c. Most of my friends seem to be either married or in relationships or FREEZE up around girls.
d. No-one seems to help out really. By this I mean that if I have a single male friend and a single female friend that meet I will stir it a bit to see if anything happens - sometimes it does. No-one seems to do this back.
e. I am fat, ugly, loud, irritating and have lousy personal hygiene.
Lonely bleedin' hearts
Oh dear - there DO seem to be far too many singletons in the Morniverse ... *dons cupid wings*
Bah, humbug!
Consolations of the single life:
  • The TV remote is where you put it.
  • If you have not finished the marmalade, there is still some marmalade left.
  • You go to films because you want to see them.
  • If you burn a meal, you just get a takeaway instead.
Toast
[Raak] Point 4 works for couples as well, unless the words "Can you just keep an eye on . . ." were uttered prior to the burning.
marmalade
[Raak] And Point 3 applies only as a benefit if the marmalade is still in good condition. If it is old and clinging to the sides of the jar as only the last desperate dregs of marmalade can, and you are reluictant to buy fresh, new marmalade until the old one is finished, then having someone finish the marmalade for you is a good excuse to go out and buy a new one. Does anyone want to come over and finish off my marmalade?
[pen] You only go and see films when your marmalade is in good condition?

Oh, I'm back from a wee break in Wales, btw, off to Cornwall on Friday...

[pen] Ah, what a romantic come-on...
Freakout
I second that. A woman who invites you round for marmalade is clearly far more kinky than a woman who invites you round for coffee. I never get invited round for any marmalade. Either nobody finds me appealing, or I've never met a woman with a toaster. Either way, it's a crap life really, and I feel certain that I shall spent it lonely, unloved, and cursed with a rumbling stomach.

In addition I personally don't believe any of this twaddle about advantages to being single. If there were any, people wouldn't go on the pull and get paired off. There are of course advantages to not sticking your head in a blender, which is why very few people go and try the alternative, but not having a partner/spouse? I find it impossible to believe there are advantages to such a cursed life...with one notable exception. As a single man with no woman in my life, I can proudly say that NO ONE within the four walls of my flat has ever uttered the words "Leonardo" and "Di Caprio" in the same sentence. It is for this reason that I can also proudly say that within the four walls of my flat No ONE has ever been murdered and had her body dumped the rubbish tip less than a mile from these premises. How many married men can say that? Not many.
cat burglar
***breaks into Thrax's flat.***

Have you seen any of Leonardo DiCaprio's films? He's fugly, but I still intend to get Total Eclipse just to see him shagging David Thewlis as Rimbaud.

Thew listen
[snorg] Bit dangerous ! He'll turn into a werewolf !
oops
just realised I posted to MCiOS a follow up to a conversation goi g on in here. Very confusing.
Freakout
The three of you are clearly bonkers.

St d, any chance of a "copy-and-past" so we may learn of your wisdom here?

snorgs, help yerself on the breaking in front, I'm always welcome of a bit o' company, especially the feline variety. I used to have a cat named Dudley. He could talk you know... but he got run over. I miss him greatly.

Blob, heh, not so much a werewolf, but at university my friends often said I reminded tham of Dracula. To this day I refuse to allow garlic in my presence.
Horriday
I'm off on holiday again tomorrow. Whee.
oooh... I have to wait two weeks. Hmph.
leaving
Joining in the holiday rush. I have the day off tomorrow to go to the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The two hour journey has put me off before, but with free tickets from the Sunday Times, I'm looking forward to it like a big kid.
Goodiewoodie
I'll be there on Saturday, free tickets courtesy of work. My digital camera will be on official duties, but I won't. :o)
digital camera
Cany anyone suggest a decent digital camera for about £100 - £130? My eye has been caught by the DV5000 as a fun gadget. Any opinions?
Football
Bollocks. And that's all I have to say on the subject. Unless
a) my opinion is required or
b) my opinion is not required, but I get fed up with moaning to the rest of my friends and give it anyway.

So, age. Interesting thing. I don't always see it as a barrier, but I don't think I have a pattern...obviously when I was twelve I loved 26-year-olds because they were better looking than twelve-year-olds and had less scary voices and fewer spots. I have been known to have a penchant for an older man since but currently the objects of my affection range from 4 years younger to 28 years older (can you say worrying? Unless you're Jonathan Ross or Catherine Zeta-Jones, I imagine you can) so I reckon age doesn't enter into it. Of course this all means nothing, as I'm not part of a couple either, although because of that I can watch Euro 2004 in the comfort of my own home as opposed to in the pub (and I can bring my own snacks. Hooray! :) )
Did any of that make sense to anyone else? If not, ignore it, and normal service will be resumed shortly.
DV5000
[snorgle] I started thinking "wow!", but on reading the spec, it's a 3.1MP stills camera (I don't know where they get 4.1MP from when the spec further down says 3.1) plus a crap videocam, in the same size package as my 3.2MP stills camera plus crap videocam (a Sony Cybershot DSC-P32). Mine was just under £200 a bit more than a year ago, so £130 for the same spec now is probably about right. The only difference is that mine's built to look like a camera, which it is, and the DV5000 is built to look like a videocam, which it isn't. A real videocam would have a video output socket and give at least television quality images. The spec mentions an AV cable, but only talks of recording video to the memory card, not streaming it out to a computer or DV recorder.
football
ZK] I would like to read your opinion. What a great match though. Fantastic stuff......Also I reckon I fit nicely into your -4 to +28 group, somewheer in the middle, and have reverted to my imagining of you as a stunningly attractive girl. Ain't life grand ?
I am currently discovering that another advantage of being single is that holidays cost half as much. If, by contrast, your other half is in teaching and you are therefore able to go away only in August, they cost about 500 times as much.

Regular readers of my posts, and surely there can't be many, will be astounded to learn that last night, because there was nothing better to watch, I actually turned the football on whilst having dinner and quite enjoyed it. This may be because working in news means I am familiar with the names of almost all the players in at least one of the teams playing in that match. Plus, of course, one of them has the same psychiatric disorder as me, so I approve of him. Still, as I watched, I found a strange desire coming over me to drink large amounts of alcohol, sit with my legs very wide apart, look at pictures of young ladies without much on and perform noxious evacuations in the company of others with an expression of pride. Testosterone - too much testorerone!
Breadmaster
*cue eerie lighting effect and modulated voice*
Ahhhh... he's one of us, now...
Psychiatric Problem
BM] Are you too afflicted by Canttakeapenaltytosavemylifeitis? Re holidays though, have you not been confronted with the "single supplement" yet then ? Also you are factoring in teh idea that you have to pay for two peopl, rather than having two people pay for it....
x4
Holidays ! Wait till you have kids ! Forced to go during School Holidays (they even bump up the prices for Half Term, the bastards) - me, wifey, two kids = 4 flights. Plus the small people want a constant supply of things. And you have to go to family-friendly restaurants (o.k. this is getting better as they get older). So yes, don't complain about your "single supplement" make the most of it while you're single - or find a friend to go with you.
singlesuppleness
Ah, the single supplement thing... blind fury at being charged around 30 per cent extra for having the audacity to not be part of a couple is what forced me to try National Trust working holidays, which was one of the best decisions I ever made. Luckily I have a flatmate prepared to travel with me now, but when everyone is already coupled up and with an allergy to 'organised tours', I was left without a lot of options. So I holidayed, but I didn't travel much, which I still regret.
Hmm, not to sure how my holidays compare to other peoples. I tend to just hope work will send me to somewhere nice, and I try to blag some extra days on account of crippling jet lag, severe cramp, dehydration, headaches, and mental stress from the fact I'm terrified of flying.
holidays
All of the above
Just call me Ms T-shirt
[st d] Reverted? Was there ever any doubt? :) [Blob] Feel for my dad, he has 4....and works for the NHS.
little blessings
[Blob] Just the two litle acessories to take on hols! try three at (13, 9 and 3), mind you I am one of five, two boys and three girls. Holidays were fun; mostly.

Goody for Goodwood, wonderful, excellent; I enjoyed the whole day, like a kid in sweet shop, cars, cars, cars and ....even more cars.

[Blob] Did you say 'flights'? Presumably you don't go to Blackpool, Brighton or Margate then!
Whilst on the subject of holidays, are there still such things as camping coaches? I think that's what they were called. They're the railway carriages converted to accommodation and parked (permanently, I assume) in various areas. It's just that I have fond memories of staying in such as a child - although my parents might not agree with that evaluation - in places such as Arthog and Sandsend.
[Inkspot] Goodwood, cars - I envy you, sir.
Clarification
If I remember correctly the carriages were actually on railway lines with a full connection to the rail network but the rails surely did not look as though they had been used of late - hence my term 'permanently'.
hello all, a quick post from st petersburg, [ZK] the football was shocking, we watched on TV at one in the morning here and it was mightily depressing - as all the russians in the bar were cheering for england. bless. will post again soon. nights.
[has broken the furcation game]
all hail
[MF] So that's what you've been up to all this time!
Bravo, good sir, and extra kudos for managing to slip in a touch of nipple creep :-)
The full move can be viewed in its correctly-formatted glory here (also including the Hypearthquakes move and a lengthy Rice/Lloyd Webber/Elton John pastiche which probably did for the game)
goodiewoodiepostmortem
Yeah - it was OK - I took lots of pictures of funny faces and situations in the crowds, slightly fewer of the cars - there were just so many of them. I'm probably not the world's most fanatical car-spotter. However, I did have my picture taken with Renault's F1 driver Franck Montagny, who had his arm around me LIKE HE MEANT IT, as part of the digital-camera-loan deal with my young French trainee who was chaperoning him for the afternoon, Mwahahaah! :o)
oh, and it rained a bit, but not enough to spoil things, just enough to wet the Hill Climb course ;o)
Furcations
Well Martha, you've really Farquared that one up haven't you? Shame, it was a good move!
[MF] I go on holiday and this is what happens. I'll take my Acme HTML deodorizer to it later...
Deodorized
[Re Furcation Game] It turns out Martha's gigantic move was too big for the STEAM-powered technologies driving this site; hence I'm afraid I've taken the liberty of splitting the move up into two parts. I had to tidy up some of the HTML - the game moves should be unaffected, but do let me know if anything went awry in the rehashing.
*grin of satisfaction*
Thanks rab! Strange I got it through the HTML checker first, though (and muchos kudos for that groovy little dingus, too, without which it'd still be lounging unloved and unread in a... oh, hang on...)
goodwood
[Pen and Ink] Looks like we could have had a mini pilg as I was @ Goodwood too with my 16 year old and my 3 year old!
Grimace
[MF] If you are interested, which you probably aren't, the database that sits behind this truncates posts when they hit some, at the time it was designed, apparantly unreasonable length. I guess you exceeded that :) I should find out what the limit is and put in a warning. Glad you like the HTML debugging tool...
off to Scotland!
*boogies* I just got cast in the Edinburgh Fringe for August! This is a serious coup d'état for me! *boogies more* Finally - an audition passed (not merely given) and exciting prospects! All I need to do is learn to be an eight-year-old within a month (which may involve disguising a couple of things!)...which I'm sure I can do with study. After all, I was only eight ten years ago.....
Go me! :)
more casting couch
[ZK]Good luck in Edinburgh. I may be able to help you out with the mind set of 8 year old boys, basically; girls are yeuch!!! ;)

[plump] I'm sure penelope could arrange for some wonderful reasonably priced dicounted hospitality.

Congratulations to DrQuuxum for reaching No1 on Celebrity Mronington Crescent, sadly down to 13 following the departure of evil_edna. JJ's dividends and returns have become a very useful tool in taking the guessing out of who to invest in next. Even if Mr. Rooney was a teensy weensy bit obvious last week.

evil_edna
[INkspot] I've resurrected edna's account and will post the reference number here soon to be re-included in the league, if that's OK with all of you lot. I've been well into Tim Henman stocks for a couple of weeks now :o)
[ZK] Well done - I have several friends who have "done Edinburgh" and it sounds a pretty intense experience. Watch out with your references to "a couple of things" though - you'll have St Dogmael getting hot under the collar again...
hot collars
BM] I don't get hot under the collar. I just occasionally will raise an interested eyebrow. Oh what a joy to be a red-blooded male in his prime ! ;o)
He can get plenty hot under the collar, just so long as I don't mention what play I'm actually in (pretty easy as I don't know!) I should be fine! :) *boogies* ah, 'tis a good week, so it would seem!
Hey - good on yer ZK! Hope everything goes really well for you, Edinburgh-wise x
Oh yes, and ta to all for the congrats! :)
Congratters
To my dear friend, and as of yesterday, my maid of honour - ZK, I owe you one!
ooooh...
[AP] I know! Sadly I also owe you and yours about 45 quid, so I guess we're even...unless of course you can do me a similar favour! :)
Fringe benefits
[Zooky] Excellent - what will you be in ? Do you know the venue ?
[Blob] I have no idea! :) I'm still waiting for the script to turn up in the post, which has all the other info in it! I should imagine it's somewhere relatively small, as last time I checked I'm not sure they had very much money. But I don't know. Hoping for something nice! I'll post the details when they turn up :)
[ZK] If it's a côup d'état, does that mean you'll be taking the city by storm? :)
[Projoy] That's the plan! :)
being typically British
The weather here is bloody awful ...*$!*&
Embra
I do have a tendancy to drop in on Edinburgh during August, so maybe I could track the Keeper down :) If not this year, then one of the next three years for sure, as I'll then be living there. But first, I have to go to India. See you next week!
*waves goodbye to rab* again
Inja
[rab] Bring us back an elephant.
*waves to rab as he zooms past*
india
rab] Bring us back a couple of cricket bats and some wicket-keeping gloves...
And Hrithik Roshan!
Hrithik
[Zoological Keeper] Ooh, I'd second that if I were that way inclined. Have you read "Bollywood Boy" by Justine Hardy? Very amusing stuff... I went on a private tour of Film City in Bombay once (VIP that I am, or something) and it really is like that...
[Breadmaster] I haven't, but I will now!
Indiana
[Blob et al] I'll try :) Anyway, must go to bed now, the taxi's calling at 4.30am. Ouch.
Orange peeled
Is anyone else having trouble accessing Orange? I get message 403 Forbidden.
aha!
[Inks] me too - also the Lockisseum [which is on Dunx's server].
retracting
seems to be OK now :-)
Greetings!
Hello, can't say much cos I'm in a busy conference email room and this is perhaps a little frivolous... Anyway, I got here ok (as you can see) and am having an ok time, 75 minute rikshaw journey notwithstanding. I'll look out for an elephant for you.
[rab] Only 75 minutes? You were lucky.
Apropos of nothing...
Just over a week ago, I happened to be driving through Salisbury, and a passed a pub which had a sign proclaiming "A Goldfinch Free House". Are there many infestations of goldfinches in Salisbury?
A moment's pause, please, to remember Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, who is memorable for a number of reasons, most particularly the following:

(1) He had the silliest name of any blues singer, which is saying something. Except maybe Fird "Snooks" Eaglin.

(2) He learned to play by attaching a single string to a guitar, mastering it, adding a second, and so on until he could play all six at once.

(3) He actually wrote "That's All Right Mama".

Yes, despite Sky News' claim today that it is 50 years since that song was first recorded, old Arthur recorded it in 1946. And when Elvis stole it eight years later, Arthur didn't get a penny in royalties. In fact, he never did. Many years later, his record company finally arranged for him to be paid the unimaginably vast royalties that he was owed for this and a number of other songs that Elvis ripped off. But at the last moment, they pulled out - claiming that they would lose less money if Crudup sued them over it. So he died unrewarded, and I think today is a fitting day to remember the fact!
taking a moment's pause
[BM] such a sad story :-(
That's how you got treated by the American music industry in those days if you were black... Crudup rerecorded "That's All Right" some time later, and he had to suffer the ultimate indignity of putting a composer credit on the label to "Presley"! It doesn't get much worse than that. To be fair, Elvis' version was a lot better than Arthur's, who wrote fantastic songs but was a bit rubbish, really, at least in my opinion. But that's not really the point.
ooh ooh! I got my script! My part's really obnoxious, it's fantastic! :D I play an 8-year-old girl and am called upon to cry, scream, vomit, get drunk, bite etc. If this doesn't stretch me I don't know what will! :) i haven't finished the script yet so I'm still trying to figure out what on earth it's all about, but it's looking good! I only have a month to learn my lines, though...
drunken children
[ZK] Is it Anne of Green Gables?
lynches and finches
hmmm, I dunno - Anne was a ... nice girl, even when squiffy on 'raspberry cordial'. But if we're talking about children who deserve to be garroted at birth ... how about Violet Elizabeth Bott?
[UK] sorry - didn't see your earlier post about the Salisbury GoldFinch Plague. Dreadful stuff. Really scary. Just like the Hitchcock film [I still have the remains of one wrapped around my rear water butt]. Luckily we managed to keep it out of the news, but I fear our lives will never be the same again here in sleepy South Wiltshire ...
[Projoy] Not to the best of my knowledge, unless it's the bizarrest of bizarre adaptations. I finished the script a few minutes ago and it makes very little sense to me! It's "Archer's Goon" - you may have heard of it...My character is called Awful, which I think is absolutely superb.
This one?
[ZK] Here? Sounds rather weird and wonderful if it is!
[ZK] I think that sounds fantastic fun. Any play that contains a character called "Awful" must be pretty good to start with. Sounds to me like it shouldn't take you a month to learn the lines, though - what with all that crying, screaming, vomiting, biting etc. there can't be all that much actual dialogue too...
[Dujon] Yes, that's the book it's from - I've ordered that from Amazon..hoping for some insight I guess :) [Breadmaster] There's a fair lot of lines! Learning starts tomorrow....eep! :)
Lost!
I'm lost- i'm at norwich station and i want to get to MC Help!
Getting to MC
[NH] Try a counter strile at Thetford, then you'll need to use WAGN and six blue podumes via Peterborough I reckon. If the snoods are blonked you may have to side-straddle to Cambridge however.
[Zooky,Chalky] V.E.Bott was who sprang to my mind too. [Zooks] Sounds fun to me.
Ely wheely
[NH] As Blob says, but be wary of hitting the return loop at Ely or else you could end up being shunted to King's Lynn. Also the 'bus replacement rule' could be brought into operation making the Peterborough route costly in terms of LV. Do not stop at Manea, it is a trap.
I have to point everyone to the Hyperlink game over at MCiOS, where we are having enormous fun with a link to a Spartacus gladiators game. Buckle up your greaves and ready your trident - or do you fear the mighty Magister Panus?
New Game
Oo! Game slot!

May I suggest "Conversation Stoppers", as I described elsewhere?

To Rosie
4.5 mm of precipitation since the beginning of June. Sunny - and extraordinarily warm - days continue. Today is cooler (14.5°C as I type at 14:10 local time) although overnight temps have been down to 3° or 4° no frosts have been in evidence here as yet.
[Dunx] Yes!
No 9 bus
Conversation Stoppers, oh yes please.

[Breadmaster]I tried the site but, recieved the message;The page cannot be displayed
There are too many people accessing the Web site at this time.

Graham III as ffiish continues to break and create new records over at Celebdaq Celebrity Mornington Crescent, much kudos to you sire.

I'm glad that bitter and twisted manipulator, Seal Boy has been evicted from the BB House.
Stu is a mummbling self obsessd idiot , (the most intelligent person on BB ever - B***ocks!).
Michelle should leave Stu alone, and be herself she has more to offer as a personality without him, a mismatch for Stu if ever there was one.
Shell you can streak round my garden anytime ;)

And then Aunt Mary broke wind
[Dunx, Raak et al re conversation stoppers] That gets my vote, but it seems the slot has become blocked, sadly.

Oh, hello, by the way. Surviving, just. Have had four days of conference thus far; had a wee excrusion yesterday, saw a couple of temples. I said 108 Hare Krisnas before being 'selected' as one of the lucky people to donate 150 Rupees to the cause. I received a copy of 'The Science of Self-Realisation' in return, which I expect to give me many hours of pleasure amusement.

One more day to go (getting bored with statistical physics now), before a day trip to Mysore and some more Bollywood movies on the way home. Still no elephants, but there are a number of cows wandering around I could try and slip into my luggage instead...

Hare Rama, Hara Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare...

Archer's Goon
There was a TV version of that when I was a kid, starring Roger Lloyd Pack.
[Darren] So I discovered, on research. The last in-house production for CBBC after the bank-breaking Chronicles of Narnia (loved them!) That makes you rather young though, doesn't it?
Having just set up that COnversation Stoppers (sorry for the dodgy ƒ)
Maybe some time we should play Morgenburg Halbmond?
[ZK] Well, I'm 26, if that makes me rather young.
Rather young; by my chronology I'd placed you a few years younger with Archer's Goon. *goes imdb trolling* You were 14 when they made that then. Groovy. I'd have been 7, probably why I don't remember it. I may have even seen it, I don't remember most things I saw fewer times than twice though...
Shell out again...
Inkspot] Were you watching last night?
gloating
[Inky / Celebdaqers] Had a little chuckle when I checked the league just now in view of your comments the other day ...
Quote "Graham III as ffish continues to break and create new records over at Celebdaq Celebrity Mornington Crescent, much kudos to you sire..." Unquote.
Poor ffish has dropped from No 1 to second to last [teehee]. Is this also a record?
[snorgs] Well done. Number one again!
fiendish plan
Congrats to both snorgs, and to you Chalky. I presume it is your own modesty that prevents you saying how you occupy second and third places. I should have followed JJ's Dividends and bought Becki and not gone out on a limb with the Queen.
daqing
Oh, thanks! It was Wayne Rooney wot done it..
My 3rd persona's about to be millionaired! Yippee!
more league tpye stuff
[UK] Are you playing away from home? Is which league is this other persona?
I've been baby sitting an account for someone in the Ratcatchers Guild over at Discworld Minileagues. In all she has the same account in 24 separate Celebdaq Leagues. (Cleddau has been marooned in the Embalmers Guild for the past couple of weeks)
Multiple personalities
[Ink] I've got four accounts in all, which compete in my me-only league called Advanced Schizophrenia Ltd.
daqing along
Hmm. Got my dividend banker wrong. I would have thought that the fact that Serena Williams was mentioned in every broadsheet front page article about that Russian girl would be enough..., but even so [Inkspot] Thanks :)
Oh, and...
and I went from position 1 to position 30 in Lancre Embassy (division 15). Hope I don't get relagated - would have thought I should have been promoted last week.
Serveritude
Rather sudden I know, but I've bought, have built and am currently installing Linux on a server to replace entirely the two machines currently responsible for running angrycake.com. It's very cute, I have to say - a smaller footprint than the laptop I'm tapping this entry into. MC5 will, at some point, be temporarily going away. This will not be immediate; indeed, expect things to remain the way they are for at least another week, and probably a while longer. I'm trying to do things 'right' this time. Which is why I'm installing crucial software on it whilst drunk, obviously.
Drinkies
It's the best time in my opinion, Nik - I find that lateral thinking ability increases in direct proportion to the Alcohol per hour intake.
Dunno why I gave alcohol a capital A! Good luck with the switch by the way.
I can think of a reason, Duj. :-)
Exciting, even to us technoserfs who think that Linux is a Peanuts character. I'm sure you'll warn us of the dates of absence of MC5 when they're known (assuming they are, of course).
Woo! Off to my concert today! *goes to have fun*
Bachus
Hello. I'm back from my travels. I did see two elephants in the end, but a big sign proclaiming "Elephants can be unfriendly to strangers" suggested it wouldn't have been a good idea to bring one back. Sorry. Mind you, given how much notice people took of the "Obey traffic laws" signs posted at intersections, I might have got away with it...
Archer, Dillian, Torquil, Shine, Hathaway, Erskine, Venturus
[ZK] (sorry I missed this discussion before) Archer's Goon is possibly my favourite kids' book of all time. It's superbly crafted and unfolds delightfully. You have a great part, although I'll be interested to see how the adaptors have made it stageable (the task is a bit like creating a stage adaptation of Terry Pratchett). Where will it be on? Details, please, details...
Errrrrr the only details I have are "Edinburgh, Zoo venue 1" (strangely enough :)) It means nothing to me but I'm hoping they'll tell me when I get to Kent! :) Indeed the script is a bugger to learn and I can't make the blasted child sound annoying without whining all the time. At the moment she merely comes off as irritating, and I seem to have lost the ability to scream. I was at a concert last night (in the audience) and was made painfully aware of how quiet I really am. Any good vibes sent my way would be graciously appreciated! :)
Come to think of it, I don't even know who anyone else is playing...
[ZK] Kent ? Edinburgh's not in Kent - in fact it's a long way from Kent. I suggest you head North !!!
Not actually at the Zoo, then...
A moment's trawling finds this. Sadly, I shall be in Scotland in the last week of July. Ah, well.
Reminiscing
One of the games that I miss playing (thinking back to Pants MC) is Liff. We've got a spare game slot - anyone fancy a go?
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll Llantysiliogogogoch - the sound made before the first fag of the day
[Uncle Korky] Is this what you mean? The Even Deeper Meaning of Liff new definitions using place names. Which way is it played, do you provide your own names and definitions or do players respond to the previous posting?
Liff
Ah...happy memories of the old "Ais Ghyll". Liff was played by providing a definition of the place name set by the previous player, then setting a further place name for the next player to define.
Liff
I'd love a go at Liff again in fact I'm feeling a little chelmsford at the very idea.
Liff
(plump) At least you aren't at Loggerheads (Staffs.) I like the idea of a new game of Liff. You could say I have some Wantage in that respect. (Bigsmith) The spelling is "Ais Gill" though your version may well be the original. Looks plausible. There's nothing there, of course, except an old railway signalbox at the top of a long gradient up from Appleby, and some good mountain scenery. (End anorak display).
Ais Gill
(Rosie) Perfectly right old chap, the old memory is failing me again (plus the fact I have spent some time recently around the Old Dungeon Ghyll in the Lake District!).
Delighted
Lif? 'tis done!
*waves*
For no particular reason.
New Systems
[Nik] Oo, that sounds fun! What kind of box is it?
I've been blogging the process.
Tidy. Need to think about something along those lines myself, since my nominated server machine is (1) relatively old, (2) occasionally failing to boot, and (3) loud (much quieter with a better fan, but still quite noticeable). But that's for some time in the future.
Bye
Well, maybe. The good wife has just left on her second five day break in order enjoy the campus of Kurri-Kurri. I shall now have to do all those things which I hate; like cooking my own meals, feeding the cats, grooming the cats, watering (well!) all her seedlings, doing the washing, vacuuming the carpet, cleaning the windows, making the bed, doing the washing, remembering to do things (and when) ... some women! How inconsiderate can one be?
Ooh!
[Nik] Newer version of MySQL sounds good, means I can hopefully remove some of the workarounds I currently have in place and make a more efficient/robust system.
[Dujon] I'd be tempted to say that you only need to do some of those activities once, just before she comes back. But then I'm a slob ...
Time for a change
On browsers that show link titles, you can now find the time/date of postings by creeping your nipple over the poster's name. Needless to say this is harder to do on Internet Explorer than it is on anything else...
dating
[rab]What is the problem with IE? is it something special you have to do with the script? I had no problem with IE6, the little hand showed the time and date (10.59pm Thu-15-Jul 2004). Perhaps its just the way I grease mt nipples...
[Blob] Rehearsals for a week in Kent. [Watty] Ooh! Thanks for that! Brill.
[Inkspot] Mt Nipples? Where is Mount Nipples? And why does it need greasing?
Ta!
[Brendan] Thank you, sir. I suppose I'd better feed the cats and myself and water the seedlings othewise my inattention might become obvious. The rest has been taken on board - why on Earth I didn't think of that I will never know.   ;-)
Ooh nooh
[Inkspot] Nah, it's just I found with IE on the Mac I had to be much more fastidious with my nipple than on other browsers. Perhaps the PC version is more forgiving.
registering delight
Can I just say how delightful it is to play Codebreakers Crescent? Ay-thang-you
Shonagh Daly
And why not.
registering something
Following my remark last Friday [two up & thanx ZK] may I just say how delightfully chatty it is in here.
Usually.
chat
Well, I've got bugger all to say, really, at the moment.
What's better than the weather? ... boring, sorry.
Still, after our 4.5mm of rain in June, we've had around 14mm this month. Spread over three days. None of this could have found its way into catchment areas, the ground is just too dry. Cool but not cold, overnight temps seemed to have been constantly around the 5°C to 7°C mark, so no frosts on my little castle. Today it's a bit warmer, 14°C as I type; the last three days managed a max of 12°C, which is 'proper' winter weather. What really bothers one is the fact that the coastal areas received significant amounts of precipitation, in the form of rain, but we - and hence the dams - did not.
out of my window
Dujon]The weather here just south of the M4 in Wiltshire, its been changeable, mostly overcast, occassional showers with sunny intervals. So for Tom's third bithday party on Friday, it started cloudy threatening rain, cleared up during the party only to have heavy showers late afternoon.
One of the things Mrs Inkspot does very well for the parties is the cakes, either shaped like a number or in this case on Friday, a chocolate covered train with three candles and cotton wool smoke coming out of the funnel. The cake caused great excitement at the table when after one the candles went out, in relighting it, the cotton wool caught fire ... the children laughed and enjoyed it.
Meanwhile looking out over the metropolis, the sky has turned blue, the sun is out; today is the last day of the summer school term.
out of MY window
I have been watching a seagull's nest for a few weeks, and the chicks growing up. Suddenly, this morning, a flock of seagulls came over and made loads of noise, so when I looked out one chick was being dragged around by his neck! He managed to escape but was dragging his wing. A little later, someone else found it on the ground where it had fallen and put it into a box. We've called the RSPCA but they're taking ages to get here. In any case, I suppose they'll probably just put it down, even though it doesn't seem too badly injured. Oh, and the weather has been lovely and sunny and warm.
Gulls
Seagulls are the most evil creatures I have ever encountered and any form of natural selection that reduces the numbers of these buggers is A Very Good Thing in my opinion.
gulled
It's people's fault for leaving all their rubbish around - I still felt sorry for it being pecked to death. It would probably just be used to feed other baby gulls..
blog
Still at least I don't live next to them - like this guy..
out of my winder
I usually have the blind semi-shut, but out of my window (and a little to the side) is the Grand Union Canal with overhanging trees, flowing greenery under the water and 'peeping' moorhen chicks which have been sounding like a creaking gate for weeks now. I guess they'll soon grow out of it. The water throws that lovely rippling reflection under the eaves of the building. In the midst of this benevolent calm, I'm grappling with organisng photos of a Motor Technician skills competition that they forgot to tell me about until it was almost too late...
Where I'm from there are millions of Herring Gulls and everyone without exception loathes them. Apart from me - I like them. They're big and white and always appear spotlessly clean, as if they've just been through a whites wash on 90C, even if they've actually just been rooting through your rubbish. And they look so nice flying about. I miss them living here in London - just boring little Black-Headed Gulls, which don't even have black heads.
Nope
[snorgle] I sympathise with that chap. We had a nesting pair on our roof once which, apart from other things, made going into the garden a total no-no.
One word
Airgun.
Another word
Alkaseltzer.
one word - euthanasia
RSPCA blokey turned up (very handsome aussie surfer type!) and it's wing was indeed broken. He advised that he'd take it to the vet, but it would be put down, because it's just too expensive to keep all the gull chicks they get in. He did say if it had been older and just sprained it's wing they would have kept it until it healed, but broken wings are just too complicated. It was very cute and fluffy up close!
Hummmmmmm
We get hummingbirds in our garden. We have a feeder hanging off the deck, and these bizarre little birdies buzz up to it, flapping their wings like crazy, and suck all the lovely sugar water up. They just don't look real - they're the closest thing to a CGI bird that I can imagine, because they move so suddenly that they seem to travel from place to place by teleportation. And they make this ultrasonic chirping noise.

Weird things.

Apart from that, the only wildlife I usually see close up is dead squirrels on the road. Very colourful, especially if freshly flattened, but hardly pleasant to run past.

Worse than gulls
I REALLY hate pigeons. They are just parasitic, and fat, and nasty. Apologies to any posters here who happen to be pigeons.
Pigeons
In France, so I'm told, pigeon is regarded as a delicacy, particularly amongst foodies, i.e. most of the French, and not to do so is regarded as almost blasphemous. Hence the following Limérique:

Il y avait un jeune homme de Dijon

qui n'avait que peu de religion

Il dit, "quant à moi,

je deteste tous les trois,

Le Père, Le Fils et le pigeon".

Kazoo-ing
[Dunx] Aren't they fantastic! I don't think we have humming birds in this neck of the woods but we do have honeyeaters. They appear to have similar characteristics. Heaven only knows how fast those little wings beat, but they are nearly invisible such is the rapidity. Their spatial control is unbelievable - as you say - one moment they are there and next moment they are gone and probing their long, thin, curved beaks into a flower a foot or so away. Quite magnificent little beasties.
[penelope} That sounds rather idyllic.
[seagulls] I've always liked the little scavengers; I love the sound of them wheeling around the coast. Then again, I've never had to live with them as I've never had the pleasure of living that close to the sea.
[pigeons] The most rapid method of making a new sculpture look old.
Outbreaks of excessive whiteness.
Can you go blind from watching the BBC1 weather forecast at 10:30pm? I almost did last night. The weather lady was wearing a jacket that wasn't just white, it was whiter than white. So white it made me go "argh!" and throw my hands in front of my eyes. Pearing through my fingers I swear that it was so white it was casting shadows. Surely we should be warned prior to the start of the broadcast that sunglasses should be donned before watching the following weather bulletin. BTW, I've no idea what the weather is going to do today, but it doesn't look too bright.
pigeons
Must be an acquired taste. I tried some, but it was much too strong for my palate. The meat's almost chocolate coloured. Give me some nice crispy duck any day! Speaking of which, staying on a boat on the Broads this year, and woke up at 6am to see a duck staring in through the window!
Broads Minded
[Angus] Last time I was on the Broads, it was surprising if a duck wasn't staring through the window!

On a previous visit, I remember the swans were particularly importunate - they'd see people moving around on the boat, and then come and peck on the hull!

Swans
Well that's another matter! I swear one followed us from Norwich down as far as Beccles - and back again! He knew I was a soft touch unfortunately - I'm a sucker for a pretty face...
The Furcation Game
That slow-moving behemothis about to consume my life again... Before I devote all free time to it, is there anyone out there already concocting a move? Speak now or forever hold your peace.
Guessing
[Tuj] Be my guest...
Sacha
I was saddened to hear this morning that Sacha Distel passed away yesterday. To be honest I hadn't realised that he was 71 nor that he had been ill. Whilst not a fan of his (although some of his 'crooning' was enjoyable) I did appreciate some of his guitar work.
celeb-gloat
woohoo - No. 1 in League! And so easily achieved by leaving my paltry sum on BB5's Ahmed, so he ended up serving some purpose after all.
young whipper snapper
congtrats to x_sugarbabe_x and to Chalky in third place. This follows on from Dujon last week; I'll have to crank up moreteaplease (but about to be kneecapped). Monday will be too late to buy into for James Hewitt who according to JJ's Dividends has a potential of £10 per share!! and at only £2.60.
Shell the manipulative tart has schemed on the wedding night and now Victor has left the House, it should have been Jason out tonight *must remember its just a game*
Blushes
Thanks for the recognition, Inkspot. Congrats to those who, after me sitting in No 1 all week, grabbed a big dividend and pushed me down (way, way down) on the table of achievement. Watch out this week, children!     ;-)
*breaks three-day silence in the chat game with a loud fart*
*sprays air freshener*.
Just popped in to say I've been a bit poorly but now I'm better :-)
Oh! are you alright chicken?
Cooped up
[Michelle] I have just pandered to one of my inner demons, by ringing telephone number 09011 21 44 07 and voting for you to be evicted; a peace of mind for 25p. Its time you were released from the Big Brother House.
Indeed
Yip. She has to go.
last day at work..
Yay! I'm going to try to do NO work at all today, if possible.
shoulder to the wheel
[snorgle] Are you going on hols, or off to greener pastures?
Hummingbirds
I had a dream I was a hummingbird once. Most wonderful dream. I must say though that the expression "flapping their wings like crazy" doesn't really sum up the sight and feel of a hummingbird. It implies effort and although I have only seen them once (in carib..) they looked effortless. Beautiful - and I see what you mean about the CGI....
job
I'm starting a new job on Monday, and I'm on strike for the next couple of days. In fact, this morning a member of staff asked if my friend (who sits by me,and is a smoker) had a lighter, and a blokie said he needed it to set fire to the computer room. We laughed, and she gave him a lighter. 15 mins later and the phones went down. Apparently he was an engineer who needed to do something to the wires. I'm not even logged in now, so I don't really care! Yay!
Apologies for cross-posting: I'm off on my hols, so have fun, and I'll catch up with everyone when I get back on 10/08.
Hey UK - have a great time! I'm off in a couple of weeks. Camping. If it rains we'll be playing a lot of 'Carrot'.
campanology
[Btd] Another good one is 'Beers A-to-Z' although I don't expect the girls will be quite up to speed on that. 'Vegetable A-to-Z' might be a good alternative.
Amusing oneself in the rain
I've always found "Rude Bodypart Euphemism A-to-Z" quite entertaining. All together now - "Arse, Boobs, Crack etc. etc."
Re: Hummingbirds
Hummingbird barney, this morning - one hummer was feeding and buzzing the breakfast table, then another one came along and drove the first one away! High pitched squeaky noises aplenty. Then a few minutes later the first one came back. They look to be male and female of the same species, so we're wondering if driving each other away is hummingbird for "Get your coat love, you've pulled."
kacaknet
hoþgeldiniz
kacaknet@mynet.com
hoþgeldiniz
Astonishment
I am astonished that this play has gone unchallenged for so long...
[kacak] SPONG!!!
aha!
I raise you that SPONG!!! and counter with a vehement and thrusting FNOOOOOOOOONGA!!!
Wabam!
poo
KICKING!
more again
Whilst it is a bit quiet in here this Sunday, break out a tinny and bottoms up to Dujon forhanging onto the top of Celebrity Mornington Crescent for a second consecutive week and keeping blamelewis and DrQ at bay.
A novel way to save the NHS...
Whilst meandering around work today i found this memo, and it made me giggle for hours.... ' Dear Colleagues, As you are aware from the letter recently sent to you from xxxx xxxx Director of Nursing, we propose to discharge all patients to Nursing Homes between 10am and 11am each morning.'..... Discharging all patients is certain to solve every bed crisis!
Is that to be the foundation upon which Labour build up to the new ellection?
Followed by the proposal of regular drenchings to aid the fire service, shooting children to bypass education failures, and then arresting everybody in case they commit crime?
Wishes
[Inkspot] Much as I would like to claim consecutive terms of leadership I think you will find that x-sugarbabe-x gave me the proverbial hiding last week. I'm about to be kneecapped so have done sweet nothing. *sinks to the wooden spoon position*
Correction
This week is 'this week' last week was 'last week'. So, yes (gloats), creamed you lot 'last week' but x-sugarbabe-x (aka Chalky) still gave us all a lesson the previous term.
Sorry I spoke.
Hogging the game
I just heard one of the funniest things that I have heard in my many years as a radio amateur. A gentleman (south of Canada and north of Mexico) whose country of origin shall remain secret was just talking to a local Australian 'ham' and was trying to work out the time difference; he was quite sure that Australia was twenty seven hours ahead of his own time zone.
Shhh
[Dujon] Everyone's asleep.
[Dujon] Excellent stuff! I'm off to a country in the region indicated tomorrow so I hope to return with many amusing tales of foolishness. Almost certainly mine, but there you go.
[Breadmaster] Have a safe trip, sir. I wasn't having a go at American citizens, I talk to many such. As it was latish night at his place at the time I suspect he'd had a hard day and was simply tired - or something. It was still funny though.
chicken licken boiled
[Dujon] You are right, about x-sugarbabe-x. I was slghtly behind with my compiling and jumped a week.

Big Brother; Stu evicted !!! like whoaa, dude! ...that's like .... seriously amaaaazing.

Badgers - out of their misery
It may just be the summer season, but I was surprised that never really got going. I would start a nasty game of Acre Street, as I read that archive recently and oddly felt compelled... But we've got The Furcation Game already, and that needs a good jump start too. As soon as I get a bit of time on my hands why is this the sort of thing I want to waste it on?
And yes
...that was a non sequitur 'cause I'm not a Big Brother fan and I'm too lazy to go Celebdaqing more than half-heartedly!
No Pruning Shears Here
[Tuj] Re: choice of time wasting - because it's fun? I know that's why I keep coming back.
Has there been a game of MC played entirely in Haiku form?
[Boolbar] Not entirely sure, although I once did have a Lock Cup qualifying match against Catherine where all *comments* were to be made in Haiku form, but the move was not included in this (as according to the standard format of separating move from comment, as practiced on PantsMC).
Psycho Haiku
During my last move for The Furcation Move, Furcation O was a new haiku variation. The initial letters of the haiku formed the first line of a new haiku, so "The old writings read / In there ev'ry ancient hai / And its ku under", as well as being a (slightly odd) haiku, forms the first line "To write a haiku" with it's first letters. I can't remember quite why I came up with it, though it does remind of some very difficult limerick game we had once at !York...
Fractal Haiku
It would be very impressive if the new haiku so formed also had the property that its first letters formed the first line of another haiku. And so on.

But shall we play the
game of Mornington Crescent
in haiku form first?

waves goodbye*
See yas all in September :-)
come n sign my guest book pretty please........
Weird commnets will get extra kudos in the next sphere of life or a free cup of tea on Edgware Rd!!! http://www.papalazarus.com/page4.html
cheerios
[Chalky] Have a good hols, this could be the chance I need to get back on top of Celebrity MC *looks down at diary and curses, holiday to France imminent*. Would anyone be able to send me the Friday league web pages for 20 and 27 August? A link will follow tomorrow, but in the meantime congrats to gil (sigmundfreud).
more me again
Barging in with the link as promised, and now back to Kingdom Hospital.
three in a bed
I would normally avoid Haiku. If I break the rules of the format, tap me on the shoulder.
[Inkspot] Surely you mean...

I avoid Haikus.
If I break the format's rules,
tap on my shoulder.

And there you have the same sentiment but in the right number of lines and syllables (5-7-5)...

one or two
It is the syllables I have the problem with. Normally with each player contributing a single line, errors can jar. But by doing all three lines this will be good practice. When I wrote the second line I agonised over Amer-sham and Am-er-sham, coming down on the former, influneced by the move earlier by Dunx where to me I sounded 8 but was accepted as 7
With(1) West(2) Ruis(-?)lip(3/4); puts(4/5) me(5/6) in(6/7) spoon(7/8)
I have invited critisism of my play as my da-dee-da-dee-da seems to be a bit la la at times, but I do intend to nail this format; hopefully before the game ends ;)
As some of you know I enjoy football. This little gem appeared on the official web site of the club I follow:

"In excess of 19,000 season tickets have been sold as ******** gear up for their fourth consecutive season in the top flight, which is more than at the same stage last season."

Is this stating the bleeding obvious or am I misreading it?

Sneaking back in...
Just back from a very enjoyable week in North Wales. I'll have to go tidy up my badgers that are still roaming the tunnels...
[Inkspot] Ruislip is TWO syllables, Amersham is THREE. Unless you're going by some definition of "syllable" of which the rest of us are unaware.
19,000 season tickets
Dujon] I read that about four times, but now I get it! The clause beginning 'which' is a bit ambiguous, I suppose.
Celebdaq
[Inkspot] Looking at the 'daq today, it seems that I now have the facility to add members to Celebrity MC. Would you (or anyone else, for that matter) have any objections if I add in my other two personas?
whiching...
[Dujon, Tuj] I read it first time as I think it was intended... but I reckon the problem is that the 'which' is too far removed from the subject to which it refers... so it looks like it refers to the fourth season, but in fact it refers to the 19,000 season tickets.
more!
[Uncle Korky]Please add them to the League, we need to do something about the recent run of good luck by Dujon, you could even be onto a winner with Doris this week. According to JJ's Projected Dividends it will be close between Nadia and Sven on the divi's payout.
En route
[Inkspot] Stand by for appearances by Mavic_Chen and Johnny_McDozenlegs!
Syllabarial Variations
[Inkspot] It might be a pronunciation thing: "Ruislip" is pronounced "rye slip" rather than "roo-ey slip"; "Amersham" is always "Am-er-sham".
seven eighths
So the line does have eight syllable thingys With(1) West(2) Rui(3)slip(4); puts(5) me(6) in(7) spoon(8) and yes fair cop on Amersham, from such a low base, I can only but improve....moving swiftly along; [Uncle Korky]I love the names Mavic_Chen and Johnny_McDozenlegs ;P
They should be with us tomorrow.
Apology
[Inkspot] You're quite right. Sorry.

[Haikuen] Apparently I can't count syllables at all.

Orangeless
As I write this, Orange MC is unavailable while its host server reboots. This would normally be a quick thing, but the host server has been up for a long time prior to this and so it went into an fsck cycle. Should be back soon.
Bouncer on the door
[Uncle Korky] The accounts are yet to appear, if they need some extra persuasion either leave the details here or here: gareth underscore penn athotmaildotcom.
I know the bouncer!
[Inkspot] The particular bouncer is my corporate firewall, which won't let me access Celebdaq between 8.30am and 12.00 midday, and then between 2.00pm and 5.30pm. So, the first chance I'll have to insert 'em is lunchtime today.
recording! ding! ding! ding!
Dear I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue emailing list member, This is to let you know of the first recording date in the Autumn series of 'I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue'.
The recording will take place at the Anvil Theatre in Basingstoke on the evening of Sunday 19th September. The doors open at 7pm and the recording starts at 7.30pm Ticket prices are £12.50, £10, £8.50, £7 and £5. The number for the Anvil Theatre's box office is 01256 844244.
You will need to book early as these shows seem to get more popular with every passing year. However, if you are unlucky or Basingstoke is too far for you to travel, we do have two other recording dates, one in mid October in the North of England and the other in the South in early December. The venues have not yet been confirmed - we hope to be able to send you details of these in the next couple of weeks.
Me name's not down...
[Inkspot] I tried to add 'em in, but I'm not sure it worked. In case it hasn't, Mavic_Chen is 3402569 and Johnny_McDozenlegs is 3411069. Glad you like the names!
Red carpet
[Uncle Korky] Mavic_Chen and Johnny_McDozenlegs have entered at numbers 10 and 12, respectively. Good luck!
!
Cornwall and campsite here I come!!! See ya all in 2 weeks!
dieng of a trojan
I look up a randomn seach on trojan horse Nex.b virus and this site came up because someone had been talking about it. How did yu get rid of it
Gifts from Greece
[Malkie] That was me from a posting I made in April this year. AVG a free anti virus software found it and deleted it. As a matter of course, the system is automatically updated every two weeks. A full scan is carried every couple of days (which for 12Gb takes about 20 minutes).
Celebdaq
Oof!
[Bob] If the weather's anything like it is in Manchester at the moment you're going to have a soggy time! I'm sure the kids will love it.
Notlob
[Dujon] Congratulations, another fine win.
I see the Premiership starts tomorrow. My fingers are crossed that you have a better start to the season this year against Charlton than last years 4-0 drubbing by Man Utd.
We're in!
[Inkspot] Cheers!
Arrivaderci
Inkspot] Pah, Some of us started last week, in the "Coca-Cola Championship". Playing Derby tomorrow, the glamour...
In other news, I'm orf to Italy for a fortnight. Take care all, have fun.
[Inkspot] 1) Ta! 2) So do I. :-(
[Tuj] Good luck, safe travel. I hope the weather's good to you.
1 - 4
I must be a glutton for punishment. I have just signed up to Sportsdaq. Very similar to our old friend Celebdaq but this time it is sports pages only. First portfolio has to be Micheal Owen amd Micheal Schumacher.
news from the Fringe
Ahh, the joys of internet cafés in Edinburgh! My poor friend/stage manager drove us all the way up to Edinburgh on Friday/yesterday, starting from Kent and overnighting in Birmingham (waking up at 6 when you went to bed at five....fun!) And try parking in Edinburgh during the Fringe Festival! Let's not go into that. Show starts tomorrow (Archer's Goon...wearing my lovely t-shirt as I speak) and hopefully it should be good, cos on the last rehearsal day (Friday...arrived in Kent previous Friday for a week of intensive rehearsal...and I mean intensive....it was my birthday last Thursday [thanks for my greetings Angus! :)] and the celebrations went out of the window because we were working all day until we finished our run through at about 1 in the morning) our director said....right....we run over by about an hour and a half...and slashed all the bits out of the play they felt were unnecessary and got it down to about an hour and 30 from 2 hours 45! I now affectionately refer to it as Archer's Goon on acid. It's still really good though. If you can come and see it, please do! Money running out...bip...bip....bip...
Archer
[Zk] Wish I could be there to cheer you on, and I would definitely have enjoyed the show, but sadly, too many hundreds of miles away. Break lots of legs (well, as many as are available)! And let me know if you tour it in the SE.
[Inkspot] Whilst I expect to do poorly I've signed up on Sportsdaq. If you are going to run a league feel free to add me; details are as for Celebdaq.
daqing
I've gotten quite bored with the daq - mind you, I'm much busier in my new job - just starting my 3rd week! The only reason I'm here now is because my line manager and several other team members are off today, and I don't really have anything to do until a meeting at 1pm.
Embra
[ZK] Good luck, and good job I didn't try hunting your show down when I was in Edinburgh last weekend (officially the first proper day of the Fringe). I should be in situ for the whole three weeks next year, but I guess that's not much help. Oh, and someone walks past you very quickly with hands in pockets, do not, under any circumstances even attempt to give them a flyer. They're probably a local who's realised they're at the wrong end of the Royal Mile...
... IF someone ...
On me 'ead!
[Inkspot / Dujon] I've succumbed too... if there's no mini-league yet, I'd be happy to start one (although I'm not sure how to produce those snazzy weekly speadsheets, etc...).
C in C
[UK] Fine by me. I'd volunteer but I already spend too much time on this infernal machine; I run my own (basic) football site and co-manage a couple of others related to installation and maintenance a particular type of 'forum' site software.
Golden gongs for Aussies
[Dujon/Uncle Korky] Although I have created a mini-league I am going to see how things pan out, to see how well it keeps my interest (the id numbers are different to Celebdaq, for Sportsdaq it is 358). Celebdaq can be hard enough to sustain, with the constant round of kneecapping. But I did have a £5,000 bonus today for backing the winner of the Grand Prix which gave a little sparkle to the game, but had not a clue as to where to reinvest the money. I have my fingers crossed that the comprhensive coverage in the broadsheets will counter the football (ie the big four) obsession of the tabloids. Even if Britain were to win gold tomorrow it would be overshadowed by the ManU/Chesea rumour mill.
I gave a small cheer fo Austrailia this evening after Ian Thorpe beat Pieter van den Hoogenband claim gold in the 200m freestyle final. This is because I have been fed up with Sue Barker et al beating the drum for the American Michael Phelps and his attempt at 8 golds, and ignoring Thorpe. How will they square the circle now?
Also some of the mens gymnastics, I find it incredible what those guys do on the rings, parallel bars and other parts of the rotation.
This will be the last League for two weeks (would you be able to send the the Friday results on to me "Tools - Mail and News - Send Page")

[snorgle]Although the new job is busier, good luck, does this mean you are no longer a public servant?

Strylan limpians
Ruddy 'eck, Inkspot. You reckon Sue Barker's a bit one-eyed! You should see (though best you don't) the press down here. If you thought David Beckham's foot got too much coverage you ought to see what's been happening here regarding Jana Pittman's (sp?) knee! Fair dinkum. A young lass in the Aussie gymnastic team had to come home because of a calf tear and the only coverage I saw was a short mention that she was back in Oz! I suppose they - the press - had to find a replacement for Cathy Freeman. *sighs* As you have undoubtedly noticed Australia is extremely weak in what is termed 'Track and Field'. In fact they are hopeless - at least in the greater scheme of things.

How would you like the Celebdaq chart captured? I can easily just save the whole kit and caboodle via the 'view source' or any part of it I suppose. An image is a bit big. Let me know and it shall be done. The only other question is when? I am usually around the computer just as the dividends are distributed - is that what you're after?
Hrmph!
Right, I've just read your posting. Now I only need the timing and where to send it. I'm assuming it's gareth_penn (insert an at symbol) supanet dot charlie oscar mike.
what sports?
[Inkspot] I appear to have watched the same series of events you did, albeit commentated in French, which was both odd and a relief (see Dujon's comment). The vaulting 'horse' appears to have mutated since a couple of years ago. Weird shape.
Merkin Commentary
[Phelpsness] Golly, if you think Sue Barker's bad, try watching NBC! Ghastly. It's like there are no other athletes except Americans in the races. And watching the gymnastics last night, the only team that got decent coverage was the US. Fair enough up to a point given that the Americans were in with a shout, but they showed hardly any of the winning Japanese until the last bit where the Japanese actually secured their victory.

Is the BBC any better? Well no, not as far as mindless jingoism goes, but at least they aren't filling half their broadcast time with adverts so there is more space to show other competitors.

Question: is the BBC showing any fencing? I was hoping to see some of it, but it's only on cable here which we do not have, and there is no streaming video to speak of here either.

serving the public
[Inkspot] I'm still a civil(ish) servant - now working in the WAG - Welsh Assembly Government. I'm in a Programme Management Office - and am also managing risk. ***shrugs***
[snorgle] Don't let my father here you say you work for the Welsh Assembly, I will occassionally when we visit; it's light the blue touch paper and watch the fireworks. Last weekend I did it with hospital waiting lists and the new debating chamber.
[Dunx] They only showed the fencing during the morning update, but very much blink and you miss it. They did include an interview with the coach and the unfortunate woman who lost in the sabre.
Today they have shown the rowing and cross country horse riding. This evening being given over to the womens gymnastics; I managed to catch up on the ironing while watching CSI and CSI:Miami. Has the beach volleyball been on yet?
[Dujon] Yes that's me, please send them anytime on Friday after the div's have been paid. I will do the tables whe I return. Much appreciated.
[Inkspot] It shall be done.
WAG
(snorgle) My niece works for the Wales Rural Observatory Project, whose data apparently lands up in the WAG. She showed me her Master's and PhD theses; I couldn't understand a word, mainly because of the jargon. I couldn't say anything of course, because she's fond of her Uncle T, as I am of her. :-)
WROP
What an intriguing name. Do they sit on top of Mt.Snowdon watching Mrs.Trellis through a telescope?
WROP - CAMREC
I wonder if there are any links between the two? Could she have stumbled upon an insidious plot to subvert this doyenne of MC through devolutionary subterfuge? Or are these just the ramblings of a demented conspiracy theorist?
Surveillance
[Dujon] No sign of Mrs Trellis from the summit of Snowdon, as my photo's from Monday 02/08 testify...
61 going on 16
I'm in a state of shock! Last night my Mum revealed that she's going speed dating tonight! At first I thought she was trying to come out to me (and that would have been even more of a shock) but then it became apparant that she's going to meet lots of men! I didn't realise that speed dating had reached sleepy Shropshire, and nor did I know that there were special night for the over 50s. Anyone out there been speed dating?......
skimpy Speedos
[Lib[ I'd be interested to know how she gets on... I'm considering it myself!
[Lib] Yes - my brother!
WROP
(Dujon, LotUS, Uncle K) It's a sociological and economic survey. As for Mrs Trellis, I would have thought she lived in somewhere like Llandudno or Colwyn Bay, rather than out in the country.
Pete Strange
Humph's trombonist and arranger, Pete Strange, has died aged 65. I knew him a little. He was a tubby aimiable boozy little fellow and a very good player. There's a big obituary in today's Grauniad.
It's a bit moist out.
Trellis
[Rosie] As I mentioned on Orange when I got back from holiday, I did observe Trellis in the village of Corris.
Fenced
[Inkspot] Yes, there was a very brief bit of fencing on last night, which I assume they showed because an American won gold in it. It was nice to see, actually, although I would have liked to have the whole bout rather than the edited highlights (I mean, each point only takes a few seconds - could they not have spared a couple of minutes more?) if only because then I could have figured out the science fiction costumes a bit better. But, slight point of pride here: the winner comes from Beaverton, OR just down the road from where we live.

There's been beach volleyball on, although curiously only the women.

Mrs Trellis
(Uncle K) Surely actually seeing Mrs Trellis is the equivalent of unearthing the MC Rulebook.
Strange Pete
rosie] I hope you have played a few slow new orleans funereal bars in his honour ?
Pete
I was amazed recently to learn that Humph is generally credited with the first ever British blues record (Bad Penny Blues) - although as I type this it suddenly occurs to me that I'm sure I know of a British cover of My Man Of War from the early 1940s, so perhaps it's not an entirely accurate credit. But it was great. I suspect that Pete would have been too young to have played on it, though.
Pete's age
Yup, if he died this week aged 65, then in the 40s he was only just old enough to smoke ;o)
Not so fast
[pen] The speed dating has stalled, postponed till next week. [rab] So, how did your brother get on?
Strange Pete
(st d) He had a female friend, a singer, (not a girlfriend) who gave him a lift to the pub where he played in Carshalton every now and then. She always called him Strange Pete but it was friendly. He didn't play New Orleans style, more of a mainstream player. He was always very friendly and slightly tipsy, enough so after one gig to let me have a little tootle on his brand new horn, of which he was very proud. With an instrument like that I could be quite good. Mm . . maybe. I'll miss his cheerful face, to say nothing of his playing.
boom-tish.
Rosie] are you telling me you blew his horn ?!? (oblig.)
ow.
[st d]Thank you for that disturbing mental image. thpppppppttt!!!
fenced in
[Dunx] there was a lot of fencing shown here on French TV earlier in the week (sorry, have been too busy to say till now). The French were doing well in a couple of events at the time, funnily enough.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
Hmm, quiet in here, innit? Has anyone else read A Gathering Light? I just started it as I'm supposed to be going to a book club on Wed. I actually have found it somewhat annoying so far, but I've only read a couple of chapters. Hopefully it gets better.
Why is it I have a cold any time I come back from anywhere interesting? Foreign germs I guess...or maybe because it rained in Rome and Edinburgh only when I chose to step outside the door....well, either way it sucks! :( Reviews for our show were initially shocking! But then, they went on the first night, and going by the standards of the first night I personally think they were being very kind. (No tech & no dress rehearsals in-venue, the in-house techies buggered up all the lighting & sound, which is sort of integral really, and everyone else forgot their lines. We had to cut bits as we went along because we were so behind time - I'm not surprised they didn't like or follow it cos I couldn't either and I was on stage!) But as of Tuesday we were on fire and the people sensible enough to come after that liked us - we had 30 people in on Wednesday, which was our best night by far! Hooray! I think they said we had 120 or something during the week, which by Fringe standards isn't bad, and Fest magazine (http://www.festonline.co.uk/review.php?id=303) gave us 3 stars, which is more than they gave Ed Byrne, and recognised the genius that is my friend Brad. So, as the director's dad said when he was taking all our cast photos...."bugger The Scotsman!" :)
Although, in hindsight, we were in Scotland at the time so I hope not too many people heard us! :)
bravo
sounds like you had a good time all in all ZK. So do you have the festival bug then ?
I can't seem to play any of the games in here at the moment. *whimper*
Festen
Ah, good old Fest. The deputy editor's a friend of mine, so thank your lucky stars ZK you weren't rude about it!

[svitc] Because they're too hard, or technical problems with posting.

D'oh.

I just don't have any inspiration/wit/wisdom, nothing technical.
[small] Fear ye not, I haven't played any of the games for about 2 months. No-one seems to have noticed! :)
arrow_circle_down
Want to play? Online Crescenteering lives on at Discord