There was just no contest for the 'lead picture' today which I have just received from a buoyant sounding Rob.....What a handsome couple, all slim and elegant.The photo's author is Laura Barnes (Elaine's eldest son's partner)and congratulations to her. Typically Rob's first concern was about my health?
The answer more or less follows. A busy day.... We started off with the Xword and then I rang Staples and talked through laptops for Y.Over to Mansfield and Y settled on a very nicely specified Toshiba which she is happy with. A most helpful and knowledgeable lady called Lyn served us; the same person who I spoke to on the phone.
The eventually to the Cinema and met Jean who also wanted to see Mama Mia. She brought us a large bag of freshly picked plums !
Mama Mia is every bit as good as everyone says it is. and if you get chance ....... This link please click is the best clip I can find. But there seemed a reluctance to permit saving shots of the cast etc., during the making. Nothing would let me right-click and save-as, but they reckoned without a resourceful hacker with Scr Prt and paste in Paint facilities. I marvelled at the resourceful author who spotted that a good story could be created from Abba lyrics. All the cast were remarkably good but Meryl Street shone. ..... along with her many talents she can actually sing very well too..... I'm sure that awards will follow.
I came back 'done-for' as usual, but at least we did it. My promise to Y is that I don't aim to interfere in the matter of the Laptop. I'm not even going to be present at the unpacking and will only speak when spoken to. Had to be careful not to split an infinitive there. Incidentally Steven Fry this morning (which I haven't listened to yet) is talking about clichés. As his clip said "You won't catch me using a cliché, no way!"
Comments
Incy Wincy ...... We were all sympathising with your photo assignment in view of the weather but when the little 'dry man' emerged from the weather clock you would be snapping away!
I can well understand your tension though, till the processed films are back !
The 'lovely grub' was much enjoyed it seems.
4 ticks ..... I share your concerns for incy wincy's task and, from the picture above, I have to agree the bridge looks great.
The food also sounds terrific - sandwiches with the crusts cut off ! Well .....
Re special characters. There are lots of short cuts. One is, hold down Alt Gr while typing e and you get é. Often handy.
bungus .... pleased the raspberries are cropping well. To be honest I can't really taste a difference between the earlies and the lates.
What a disappointment over the Bramley and Blackberry pie !
Re Rob and Elaine - the picture above shows them both resplendent and emergent.
Jill ....... Y was amazed when she learnt that Murray has beaten Nadal. She thought he wouldn't even win a set. I'm sure she will be ablbe to catch up on it somewhere.
You, with a little help from Bungus, have convinced me that in future my cauliflower-cheese will be a simpler job. My old one did indeed have a touch of Shirley Conran about it.
Well done in Tesco ! You have no need to reproach yourself. You gave them lots of chances and they weren't up to the job. That is Sir Timothy Leahy's fault, not yours.
I'm sorry you didn't know about the wedding and an e-mail from me would have been correct. I deliberately didn't publish much on the blog because, with my worldwide coverage, I didn't want them to suffer gate-crashers.
Jenny is lucky to have all this caring attention but I think she deserves it. She has featured several times in the blog, to everyone's interested delight, so please give her all our best wishes.
Quotation time ........
Sleep tight - catch you tomorrow
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What a lovely picture of Rob and Elaine. Difficult to believe it was taken last Sat. given the weather!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear you're recovering and that you make it to Mamma Mia. I thought the film was very good fun and I agree that Meryl Streep has rather a good voice.
Good luck to Yvonne with the new lap top.
The picture of the happy couple was taken over my left shoulder as I was setting up the shot, I chose a landscape format to include the lovely shades in the lake and use the tree for a frame. Hope my exposures come out as good, the reprint sales will be down if everyone is as good as this.
ReplyDeleteMy wife enjoyed Mama Mia also thought it was great.
Hope your legs are getting a tad better, perhaps some go faster stripes on your wheels to go with the pico exhaust might help.
What a very nice picture of Elaine & Rob, esp considering weather conditions – very posh!
ReplyDeleteThey certainly do look stunning, Elaine in particular, quite lovely.
I sincerely hope you will be able to keep your busy little hands off Yvonne’s laptop.
Sorry, but you fail to convince me about Mama Mia. The one clip I saw of Meryl Streep dancing was enough to put me off. Mutton behaving like lamb (and I am not fond of either).
That is, of course, as I appreciate, an extremely narrow and biased view not worthy of consideration.
But the alternative would be to go and see the film and I cannot bring myself to do that.
Thanks for the Alt Gr tip. Pear Condé to all (as Delboy might say).
The only disappointment about the fruit pie was the pastry. It was rather on the hard side as was mine of a couple of days earlier – I know not whether it was to do with indredients (organic stone-milled flour and Stork) or overworking. Unfortunately, Sandra doesn’t eat pastry so did not test it for herself.
A pity Murray couldn’t go all the way but I was impressed that he refused to accept the proferred excuse of insufficient rest and gave Federer full credit.
He (Murray) has acquired a reputation for surliness and refusal to co-operate (or ‘contrariness’ as my mother would have said) but if I had to deal regularly with journalists I am pretty sure I would behave similarly – or in a more volatile way a la Frank Sinatra.
Please don’t abandon your special cauliflower cheese altogether; it sounds well worth keeping for special occasions.
Nice Jack Benny quote.
In the words of the Round Table motto, I think Sandra may ‘adopt/adapt/(but not) improve’ it for her own use.
Jill:
Pleased that you take my point about the Paralympics.
Lest I be misunderstood, I am all in favour of everybody being encouraged to compete with others of similar ability; I just think it is so impossibly uneven that it does not merit all the publicity and eulogy that goes on. That is not the fault of the competitors of course. Perhaps the 'proper' Olympics should ahve High Jump for men under 5'10" or 100 metres for women over 15 stone?
Your Tesco story is interesting and entertaining although, to me, the acne/earring bit somewhat smacks of judgmentalism (I recall my mother, who was very capable of similar judgments, falling on a small escalator in Littlewoods and afterwards being honest enough to allow that she might sometimes be at fault in this respect, a punk having helped her up and made sure that she was OK before going on his way).
I think you reacted as anyone would and, therefore, correctly regarding the change.
I am reminded of a couple of incidents, both at Sutton-on-Sea.
1) I went into the Post Office and asked to cash a cheque (remember cheques?). As I left I noticed that I had fifty pounds in one hand and the cheque in the other. I took the cheque back and the counter assistant was good enough to thank me.
2) I went into a shop and made a purchase. As I was leaving, I noticed that I had been given change for a tenner instead of a fiver, ie, five pounds too much. I went back to the counter and said, “Excuse me, I think you’ve given me the wrong change.”
“Can’t do anything about that; you should have checked before you left the counter.”
“Oh, righto then,” I said and left the shop.
PLUS: Sandra used to save up her child allowance and draw it all in December, for Xmas. One year she went into Wellow Post Office (next door but two to the Durham Ox) and drew the cash. Instead of starting spending it she went to deposit it in the bank where she found that she had been overpaid by £100. As most village people would do, of course, she took it straight back.
Surprised you hadn’t picked up on the wedding talk as Graham, Rob and myself have spoken of it frequently in these pages over the past few months. In particular, I think it very kind of Rob to have invited Sandra and myself to the evening reception, never having met us.
He can have had no idea what he might have brought upon the occasion. In the area where I have lived for the past thirty-seven years it is widely held that no wedding may be considered complete or consummated without a fight (as between John Wayne and Victor MacLaglan) and major structural damage!
I knew a nephew of Victor Maclaglan as a child, he accidentally set fire to some straw in a dog kennel (playing with matches) and six year old Chrissie Scarlett, only child of one of our neighbours, perished.
I like stuffed mushrooms but can appreciate Shirley Conran’s comment that life was too short.
Pleased Jenny is out if not yet about but, unless I’ve got it wrong, youm mke it sound as if she will always find something to grumble about, as she is entitled.
Incy Wincy:
How about Graham going ‘blues and twos’ on his trolley? That would clear his path.
PS: Just got back from consultation at King’s Mill, Lidl and Bargain Shop. Sandra forgot to take her purse and wallet so it was rather expensive for me (if the best part of a ton is expensive!).
More detail to follow tomorrow.
I will put my hand up to judgementalism, very hard not to nowadays. The acne and earrings bit was really to indicate age - if a chap around 40 or over had come, I think he would have been able to subtract.
ReplyDeleteI am always happy to be proved wrong, as was the case with your mother and the punk, and I do realise that one cannot always judge by appearance. But it is a sort of shorthand (or laziness?) to describe someone, and usually the other person immediately understands.
Jenny always finding something that displeases her, true to a certain extent, though it is usually justified. She likes things done properly, is a stickler for punctuation/correct use of English/promptness/just general efficiency/people doing their job properly/doesn't suffer fools gladly. She has always relished her freedom and independence,has been a great walker. She finds it hard being confined in a small flat, and being tagged! Probably not the easiest of patients though.
I did pick up that there was a wedding, just didn't know whose, and if they were any relation or just friends. The bride looks gorgeous, and a debonair groom. a great picture on such a wet day.
That was an especially good quote, I always liked Jack Benny.
Just one further food comment (apologies for the 2 m omelettes) was in a hurry and didn't check.
ReplyDeleteWhilst on holiday in Yorkshire the hotel provided a wonderful array of dishes with different veg each meal. The one which surprised and delighted us most was - Cauliflower which had been dunked in the lightest of batters and deep fried to crispy perfection. Superlicious!!
Thanks for the plums, haven't quite decided which way to use them yet.