Chronological order seems appropriate so we will start with daybreak out of the Office window.It was better than this but sunrises don't really give you time to go and get a camera before they've gone. 'Ephemeral' you might say, but Aunty Polly's 1922 Shorter Oxford tells me that, strictly speaking, the word means 'lasting only one day' and daybreak is shorter than that 'innit?
I think though, with current usage I would be OK, unless in erudite and pedantic company. And where would I find that ? Ha Ha!. Which leads me unerringly to my experiment with the copyright watermark. To be called pretentious by Bungus is a cross I am not prepared to shoulder. So I shall cease immediately. In the unlikely event of someone pinching any of my pictures I shall establish their provenance by other means.
Nice weekly chat to David, coughs and colds seem to be visiting Long Eaton though. As always, he said sensible things this time about my search for the perfect mobile phone. He aims to visit in the near future which will be good. Re my phone, on Tuesday there is a Carphone Warehouse near Y's 'nails' place. It isn't a firm I like but at least I can ask questions and look at some.
Reg and Maureen called in after their trip to Hayley Conference Centre... (where they are members) for a swim. The boiler had blinked, the water was cold, so they didn't take the plunge! Nesh or what ?There was a reference book Reg wanted to borrow and while here, he tried to fix me a computer problem, to do with installing a troublesome programme, but the answer eluded him too. Probably a case for Brian.
n.b..... if you open the link Reg, you will see there are 150 bedrooms at the Hayley, so your employee informant was way off the mark.
Picture 2 is a result of a find at Lidl.At the moment they have these little trays of growing mini-salad plants (several different types available). Living on the kitchen window-sill they work on the 'cut and come again' principle provided you remember to water them. Ours has Pak Choi, a variety of Frisée, and something else which I've forgotten. Tried a snipping or two last night and they're fine. The steak knife is there in lieu of a 50p piece, for scale.
Lidl have started doing Free Range Chickens too. We had one for lunch, plus all the tracklements, and it was very good for texture, moistness and flavour. £5.35p for a 3 pounder seems most reasonable. Plenty for today and another couple of meals to come, at least.
Picture 3 is the red Maple, without the sun behind it. Still attractive but less dramatic.
I also managed this morning to do some necessary National Trust work for the Committee Meeting at Jean's at 10am tomorrow, following my INR blood-test at 9am. So we are starting off busy again aren't we? Y needs to be down town at some time to buy her rail-ticket and then have her 'nails' serviced on Tuesday. Then this afternoon we had a run through the Rhine Cruise holiday stuff. Not long now !
This evening we have the results show for Strictly come Dancing which will be most interesting. Y voted for Christine & Mathew and I voted for Cherie & James. Both were quite excellent for so early in the competition and neither actually needed our votes to stay in. So I reverted to my old system of voting for who seemed best on the night.
OK it's corny, but we both love the show and vote like big kids. If you open the link , the clip is Christine and Mathew's dance.
p.s. The results were - Jessie Mathews & Darren -'out' - after a dance-off against Heather Small & Brian. The 'correct and fair' result was reached. Jodie Kidd & Ian (to their obvious amazement) were 'in' with no problem.
Comments
bungus ....... Nice joke about Sarah Paling/Palin - can't be sure which spelling is correct.
What worries me more is the report (not denied) that she sacked a senior civil servant because he would not sack a chap who had divorced her sister. If McCain (apparently with a weak heart) comes to power I hope they will featherbed him, make sure no-one bursts a paper-bag behind him, ring him up when he's asleep, or anything like that. I think for starters she would bomb Russia, at least.
I agree with you about monochrome. In film, if the story is strong, after 2 minutes you completely forget the absence of colour. Likewise with pictures. But, apart from Bridget Riley, the only monochrome which really works is Picaso's 'Guernica'. This of course, is strictly a personal choice. I am not speaking with an Art Historian's hat on, although it is generally agreed to be a work of singular genius.
You have known me long enough to realise that I don't ever take offence at honest criticism however forthrightly expressed. Mealy mouthed, sneaky, unconstructive criticism is a different matter. You were right - to add academic letters to a simple © watermark was pretentious. Only an experiment though and I shall promptly drop it.
Thanks for the 'further and better particulars' about Colin The Bark. More please ! She might like to know that an anagram is "Lick no Bather".
Beecrofts The Toy Shop was just round the corner from Angel Row Library, at the bottom of what used to be Mount Street I think. Dunno what it is now, since Maid Marian Way cut it in half. I guess Reg, with his modelling hobby, would remember it and can put me right if I'm wrong.
Jill ...... You certainly aren't being perverse by, for a change, preferring the 'colour' to the 'sepia' version. A lady's privilege !
As you point out, the merest hint of 'salivation' in Peter Jones would probably have got you chucked out. And I must point out to Bungus that the colours weren't enhanced. Except by the flash firing perhaps, under strip lighting.
Interesting piece about the knitting needles and the metal-detecting arch. And good that someone present had the authority and the common-sense to ignore it, and send you round the side. I can't imagine that you and your knitting chums looked remotely like terrorists anyway !
So pleased that your recovery continues apace. Hope you have had another quiet day of recuperation.
The 'blanket' sounds a fabulous idea and I am so looking forward to a photograph of it. It seems like the knitting equivalent of 'Consequences' do you remember the game? The link says suitable for 6-10yr olds. But I've played it at adult dinner-parties with hilarious results, depending on the amount of alcohol consumed it can hover between libellous and soft porn. This latter sentence is, of course , absolutely nothing to do with your unfolding blanket.
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This blog-post is much earlier than usual so comments may well be added to earlier posts. No matter - I shall sort them out.
Quotation time ................... Back to Thomas Fuller bless him !
Quotation time ................... Back to Thomas Fuller bless him !
"Often drunk, and seldom sober
Falls like the leaves in October"
Falls like the leaves in October"
Thomas Fuller
As I have the time today I googled Fuller in depth, but the best link, as is so often the case was this Wikipedia page.
Can't really say 'sleep tight' at 6.45pm - Anyway, catch you tomorrow !
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3 comments:
RG
Beecrofts was on Pelham Street above Boots and below Nottingham photo Centre.4 ticks will tell you more.
The Vibaphone player in our Senior moment, discovered in his dinner on Catalina Island by Benny Goodman (well in the film anyway)was ------Lionel Hampton.
Bungus A 1/72 Scale Spitfire would be Approx 6inches Span Ithink If it was a Dinky toy it was much smaller.
RG
Thanks for the coffee this morning, it was most welcome particularly as I was a little upset, to say the least, about the cold water in the pool. I've paid a huge subscription for the pleasure of using it and other facilities so I don't expect malfunctioning boilers.Thanks for the company, which I always enjoy, Y whilst the chaps were attempting to sort the computer problem. I'll be looking for the salad box in Lidl as soon as I can get there.
I could have stayed in the garden all afternoon in the sun with the scent of roses. I quite fancied doing a painting of the Echinacea as they are at present. Those fading heads have such dramatic colours right now and I wished I'd put my camera in the car.
Bungus,
Chairs.
What can I say? How kind of you to go furniture hunting on our behalf. I'll be forever grateful and we will be certain to check out your suggestions. Many thanks.
Beecrofts.
Don't tell me that none of you knew of Beecrofts, the biggest toy shop Nottingham ever had. First I heard of them they were situated on the front of the original Council House before they demolished it. Initially the shop was at the right hand corner, when facing the building, later moving to the left hand corner, having earlier,to the best of my knowledge, been in a shop on Smithy Row. They then moved to the shop on Pelham Street which was massive. The basement was where the model aircraft, railways, boats & cars etc., were to be found, part of which was bare cave where repairs to toys were carried out and had shelving racks where repaired items and Christmas club parcels were kept until paid for and collected. On the ground floor were Dinky Toys etc., Brittain's stuff such as Farm Animals, Soldiers, Cowboys & Indians, Forts & Farms etc. Dolls, Teddy Bears, Gollies, novelty toys such as the battery operated Elephant that dipped its's trunk into a cup of bubble stuff then blew down it's trunk creating bubbles. The clockwork Monkey that played cymbals. You know don't you. Bikes, Trikes, Scooters, Dolls Prams & Houses plus all accessories. Up on the 1st. Floor were Books, Games, Jigsaw Puzzles etc., and the offices. The canteen and some storage space filled the other half of the !st floor. There was also another floor full of stock for all departments. You don't get that these days. If it's not on the shelf, they haven't got it. We also had seasonal stuff like at Christmas, Easter, Halloween and Bonfire Night. These were in evidence for only about 2 or 3 weeks before the occasion. Those were the days. Old Mr. Beecroft retired when the lease on the property ran out and his son, who we had to call Mr. David, took the business into a shop on Drury Hill until they ousted everyone to demolish it to make way for the Broadmarsh Centre. The biggest mistake, along with the Black Boy Hotel, Nottingham's planners ever made. David Beecroft changed his tack and began marketing expensive wooden toys for which there was and still is a thriving trade. Was in touch for a while when we had small children and did things such as miniature, ride on steam driven puffer trains, together with David & Marian Nequest who never had children so shared ours, of Nequest's the music Shop. This was situated on North Sherwood Street by the Empire Theatre. They had rehearsal rooms above the shop and in addition there was a Stall on the Central Market, where they mostly sold records and sheet music, which was by the Huntingdon Street bus station. It was a big treat to shop there, I've never really enjoyed it since they moved it to the Victoria Centre.
Well, if you didn't know about Beecrofts before, you sure do now. Happy days.
Hope you have plenty of time because there is so much interesting stuff to comment on.
I like the sunrise although, personally, I would like to see how it looks with the shed and goalposts cropped off.
Not that I think for a minute you meant me, but, for once, I accept the modern usage of ‘ephemeral’, as I do ‘aftermath’ and a few others. As a rule I don’t mind things which give extended or even amended meanings; it is the ones that CHANGE meanings which really upset me! (there is a gateway to revenge for you).
I assumed you included the ‘watermarks’ in order to draw comment (or what, at college, I grew to accept as ‘criticism’, which included someone occasionally saying “That’s very good,”) and I carefully didn’t actually call you pretentious because that would be unfair.
I think I indicated that it might be perceived as ‘close to pretension’; a nice difference but a difference nevertheless.
Use of ‘letters’ is a dodgy area. I seem to remember that, after qualifying, I used mine on everything for a while. But, in these days of universities in every village offering degrees in floor-sweeping, they do not have the old significant weight anyway. Now I only use mine where I feel it appropriate (ie, if writing about architectural matters) or advantageous to some ‘body’ which I am supporting.
So now it is a search for the perfect mobile phone to add to the perfect computer.
Next week, look out Golden Fleece.
What mardarses that Reg and Maureen are. Yesterday was hot enough to swim in the Trent!
That is an assumed stance. I think swimming in the North Sea is right out of order at any time.
I once swam in the outdoor seawater pool at Scarborough which was awful – I swear that my friend dived in and swam a width without touching the water. I did, however, once swim (naked) in Nuthall’s Temple Lake after a thunderstorm which was wonderful (I was less happy when I learnt upon emerging that there were sizeable pike in there).
And warm, no HOT, though it was yesterday, the washing didn’t dry and nor did the paving to the north of the house.
Was the ‘troublesome programme’ Picasa3 by any chance?
I like the look of the live salad trays from Lidl but Sandra would demolish one of those for a single cob (as you know, she is no 'Two-Chive Marsden'). Better get half a dozen!
Also very much like the sound of 6-portion free-range chickens.
As well as a (bargain) rail-ticket, perhaps Yvonne should get a ‘nail-ticket’ (valid for 12 months, say?)
Unlike you, I don’t for a minute think that ‘for starters she (Palin) would bomb Russia’.
I think she would practise on Cuba first.
Having made the point about b&w films, I watched ’Hud’ last night (good film; first time I had seen it) and thought it would have benefited from colour.
It was only after he had died that I read that Paul Newman took over the roles which had been intended for James Dean. I think one can certainly see that when watching ‘Hud’.
For years and years I assumed that Guernica was in colour but never noticed/queried the monochrome illustrations (which shows that it didn’t need colour). I like Bridget Riley’s work too. And didn’t Eschler work in monochrome?
I shall try and extract a comment from Colin the Bark for inclusion in the blog but he is the Greta Garbo of Timberland.
In fact, it may have been Beecrofts, not Pearsons, that was demolished by Sandra’s father. I think it is fair to say that he was not a sentimentalist.
I did not think you had enhanced your Yorkshires (or should I say ‘Yourkshires’?) although they had risen to the ooccasion very well. They just looked rather too orange and the flash would account for it.
Nice quote. I have known several who would fit it.
I found time this morning to google Fuller. He would have been worth going to church for. The following extract from your link sums it up for me:
“Fuller's wit and vivacious good-humour made him a favourite with men of both sides, and his sense of humour kept him from extremes…
… He was known as ‘a perfect walking library.’ He had a fertile imagination and a happy faculty of illustration. Antithetic and axiomatic sentences abound in his pages, embodying literally the wisdom of the many in the wit of one…
… ‘Wit,’ said Coleridge, in a well-known eulogy, ‘was the stuff and substance of Fuller's intellect…
…and this very circumstance has defrauded him of his due praise for the practical wisdom of the thoughts, for the beauty and variety of the truths…
… Fuller was incomparably the most sensible, the least prejudiced, great man of an age that boasted a galaxy of great men’.”
Jill:
Take no notice; it’s just me.
I don’t like lamb except specific cuts prepared in precise ways, and I am very suspicious of any mince for which reason I avoid it so far as possible (ie, if Sandra can persuade me that it is exceptionally lean beef - or pork with perhaps 15% to 20% fat - from a very reliable source, I am prepared, to be sociable and with reservations, to eat a portion of homemade lasagne - or, if pork, to make my own Lion’s Head). End of story.
I suppose I MIGHT like Moroccan goatherds’ pie which is no doubt highly spiced.
Thanks for the info.
It does sound as though the building I am thinking of could well be Ally Pally. I have always thought that it should be an observatory because of its dominant position on the skyline.
I am pleased to hear that the police didn’t shoot you.
If the wrong people are reading this blog they will set out on their terrorist activities disguised as knitters. ‘Walking round the side’ sounds like the ploy adopted one of our dogs who interestedly watched me erect a fence and, when I had finished, jumped onto the coal bunker and thence into next door’s garden. Family history also records that, when I had just started to walk, my father had some ‘rustic’ erected upon which to grow rambling roses. To prevent me going down to the lower part of the garden, out of sight, he put a gate across from the end support of the ‘rustic’ to the garden hut (it was never a ‘shed’). It seems that I took one look at it and ducked down under the bottom horizontal member of the ‘rustic’ and thence on.
How odd, the ‘mystery blanket’. Who thought of that, I wonder? Great idea.
I heard of ‘knitting week’ this morning on Radio Nottm. No doubt that will keep you busy too.
Reg:
Yup; Lionel Hampton. Good stuff. Succeeded, I suppose, by ‘the little man with the little stick’, ie, MJQ, whom I saw at the de Montfort Hall (likewise Dizzie Gillespie, Count Basie).
You are right, of course, about the Dinky aircraft. Perhaps it was the army vehicles that were 1/72 (which is of course what we knew as 1/8th Scale, ie, 1/8” to 1’0”).
When playing with Dinkies I could never properly reconcile the two different scales; I suppose I must have had had an instinctive perception because the term ‘scale’ meant nothing to me then (except as on a fish or, in the plural, summat as weighs stuff).
I collected aircraft and my best friend (with whom I am still in touch) collected the army stuff.
4 TICKS:
No trouble. I was going out anyway and it was only a five minute diversion to Fat Boy;'s. Sandra suggested the Furniture Project (she bought a dining table there last week).
I think it was only me that could not remember Beecrofts, so thanks for your wonderfully detailed and evocative recollection.
But I still do not remember it except perhaps as the haziest of images (which may well be accounted for by your vivid description). I am quite sure that my mother would have taken me there (and bought me toys) on more than one of our visits from Mansfield. But that would probably have been before the war (I was just 8 when it started).
I remember going on the train from Mansfield – two lines, LNER on Central Road (to Victoria?) and LMS on Station Road (Arkwright Street?). One incident stands out in my mind from when I was just maybe three years old. I had a pair of rabbits’ wool mittens and I dropped one between the carriage and the platform, onto the line. I was (and still am) upset at not being able to get it back.
In Nottingham we ‘always’ went to the Lyons Corner House on Slab Square after a ‘pigeon stamping’ ritual. I seem to think I was puzzled because the Corner House wasn’t on a corner? Blue wall tiles.
Re ‘your’ Mr David; a friend of mine, and his brother, succeeded their father as joint MDs of Imperial Laundry at Mansfield. Even in the 60s they were known as Mr David and Mr Stuart.
I agree absolutely that the Broadmarsh redevelopment was a disaster. It was part of the Utopian postwar dream to sweep away the old and bring in the new, to which, it has to be said, most people subscribed. But the narrow steep streets that were so full of character would have been revered today.
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