Picture 1 was my bedroom window view first thing this morning. Real snow. It didn't make it through the day though. There are a few snow 'bones' left but now mostly slushy.This morning was Y's 'nails' day at Carlton. The journey was uneventful. I just hope that this evening's to Mansfield is also.
A good example how, if we didn't have to go we would be giving it a miss.
Picture 2 is to illustrate a point. We needed 'fresh' pasta for our planned lunchtime meal and bought Linguine in Morrisons.
As I have indicated in text on the picture of the pack - how can they call it fresh and then give a 'best before date' 3 weeks in the future ? I would have expected fresh pasta to be 'eat today'.
Anyway the result was fine and we enjoyed it.Comments
bungus ....... I thought Carrie's house well worth sharing with everyone. My joke about obliterating the house-number was obviously too well disguised.
Sorry about the 'junior doctor' bit lacking explanation. Max Pemberton writes a regular column in the Telegraph describing his experiences as a Junior Doctor. This piece was about a prominent neuro-surgeon who went into hospital for a hip replacement and decided to go 'incognito' as an ordinary patient to check out her experiences in a multi occupancy ward.
Even though she was booked in as Professor Mason her treatment was appalling. When Max visited her, in a private capacity , he asked to see Prof Mason. After the customary 'Don't know what you are talking about routine' the reception nurse eventually exclaimed "Oh. You mean Mary". Taking him over to the bed the nurse said, in a loud voice "You've got a visitor dear".
It was only when a consultant brought in his copy of one of the Professor's text books, with a request that she sign it for him, that the situation improved. I will scan the piece tomorrow and post a 'link' to it.
anonymousRob ..... I must stand by my punctuation throughout ! I suspect you are pulling my leg ? 'You're' is an abbreviation of 'you are'. 'Your' is the second person possessive form as in 'Your use of apostrophes'. 'Demonstrates' is the present tense of the verb 'to demonstrate'. For example 'I demonstrate', 'he demonstrates'. Demonstrate's would be completely wrong. It would mean 'something owned by the verb 'demonstrate' and an example eludes me.
Using an apostrophe to indicate a missing letter is always tricky and people, including me, often get it wrong. Isn't and can't are easy, the ' replaces the 'o'. Others can be more tricky.
You were just twanging my wires, were you not?
I enjoyed yet another haiku. Keep 'em coming - they grace the blog. Traditionally the haiku should hold a single thought and your 'captures mist' 'releases beauty' is excellent and qualifies for a Radiogandy Star
Jill ....... You are right to give me a mild ticking off for being sarcastic about the shop-window ad. As you point out, it was probably written by an elder, and that generation suffered enough without me poking fun at somebody's english.
I hinted that the practice is not PC and then went ahead and ignored my own reservations.
Can I come back in from the naughty chair please ?
...............................................
It is now after our National Trust evening lecture and we arrived home well before 9pm. Toast and tea and we caught up on Claudia's 'It Takes Two' show, thanks to BBC iPlayer. She is a bright girl and puts together a tidy show.Our evening lecture 'A twist in the tail' by Tony Hallam was about Chesterfield's famous church with the 'crooked/twisted spire'. Please click here if you would like to 'read all about it'.
He taught us a lot. I use the word 'taught' advisedly because as a retired teacher he had a tendency towards being patronising and over-emphasising his points. Having said that, his lecture was full of interest and his pictures were first class. He showed us a medieval font which looked well worth a visit all by itself. Y and I are both 'irreligious' but share an interest in church architecture and interior paintings, stained glass, and indeed everything about churches.
Tomorrow at 7.30am Peter's Joan is going into QMC to have her hip replaced. Our thoughts will be with them both.
Quotation time .........
"I am a deeply superficial person"
"Sleep tight - hope to catch you tomorrow - no WoW, so should catch up on jobs"
My favourite train must be due ------- !
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My favourite train must be due ------- !
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4 comments:
DIARY
Jessica’s class has been divided into 3 groups, each of which has been set the task of writing and presenting a pantomime. Jess (no surprise) has written and is producing her group’s revised version of Little Red Riding Hood. She has also cast herself as the narrator.
After a conventional start where Little Red Riding Hood meets the Wolf and Assistant Wolf in the forest, Gran’pa walks out on Gran’ma because she has grown old. The Wolf then enters the cottage and gets spatially confused
Wolf: "…I’m going to huff and puff and blow your house down."
He then eats Gran’ma, as the visiting Woodcutter, who is lycanphobic, drops his axe and runs for the hills. Gran’pa returns, seizes the axe, and slays the Wolf
Little RRH: "…what about Gran’ma?"
Gran’pa: "What about her?"
Little RRH: "She got eaten!"
Gran’pa: "I can live with that."
But Gran’pa is then himself eaten, along with Red Riding Hood, by the Assistant Wolf. The only survivor is the Woodcutter.
It’s like a cross between ‘Reservoir Dogs’ and ‘Hamlet’ (with jokes and allowance for audience participation).
On Countdown today, the famous Dr Phil Hammond started a spell in Dictionary Corner. He was, unsurprisingly, a bit rude and very amusing.
From Longman Dictionary:
Mitt / n
1a) a glove that leaves the fingers or the ends of the fingers uncovered
1b) mitten
etc
BLOG COMMENT
.Thanks for the snow picture. We had none at Ollerton.
I cannot answer your fresh pasta conundrum. I have never eaten any.
And apparently it is seldom eaten in Italy! They find the dried sort more convenient.
The biter well bit! Fancy me taking you seriously about Carrie’s house number!
Thanks for the 'junior doctor' explanation.
It is always a matter of personal perception, of course, but this is the sort of thing that, in my view, gets the NHS an ill-deserved bad reputation.
I do not suggest that the story is untrue, but it may well be slanted.
My own experience indicates that, although generally friendly and, for some people, over familiar, the treatment of patients by the vast majority of the professionals is kind and respectful without being servile. (Although I belive that there were some very good aspects of the old ‘matron rules the roost’ system, cleanliness for instance, I would not wish to return to it – only two periods of 2 hours a day allowed for visiting, for instance, and bedclothes pulled as tight as winding sheets).
The Revolutionary part of my brain picks up a hint (a reason why I don’t like The Telegraph or the army) that a professor should receive more courteous treatment than a dustman.
Some people are just too touchy
(perhaps I am one of them? as evidenced by my immediate reaction above, before having actually read the column! I try to be fair.)
I recall a reverse of that story.
A bricklayer friend of mine, when in his early twenties, saw a new Jaguar E-type in a posh Nottingham showroom. He entered, in his dusty jeans, boots, and sweater, to have a nosey around it. A snooty salesmen hurried over and enquired about his interest.
“I was thinking of buying it,” said my friend.
“And would sir be intending to pay cash?”
“That’s right,” said my friend, “I’ve got that to chop in.” He pointed to his own vehicle, parked by the kerb; a two year old model of the same car. (His father having died young, he was MD of one of the largest and most respected building firms in the Mansfield area, but still liked working on site).
Immediate change of salesman's tone and attitude.
I nearly reacted to Rob’s grammar too, as I did to your removal of the house number.
We’re all at it – or, should I say “were all at ‘it.”
‘Demonstrate’s’ could possibly be an abbreviation of ‘demonstraters’ (which should, of course, be ‘demonstratOrs’.
And I have picked up on your sometime blind spot with the ‘missing letter’ apostrophe – but, for some obscure reason, I have been too kind to mention it!
Although well deserved, the sight of a Gold (or yellow) star still makes me shudder, even when not of the six-pointed variety.
Right, weave both (see below) each now apologised to people’, or should that be person’s?, of our own sort of age who cannot spell or puncturate proper.
Should we now make our piece with awl greengrocer’s of any age for finding there error’s amusing?
I think of the Chesterfield spire more as a ‘wry neck’ than a ‘twisted tail’. But it is a famous landmark and there were several theories. No doubt when I ‘click the link’ all wiil be made clear.
I have always thought of you as being, like me, ‘non-religious’ rather than ‘irreligious’ in that we are both sensitive and caring beings who are generally too considerate to make light of the ridiculous beliefs of others.
Besides, who knows whether or not we shall wish to cling to that straw of comfort at the last?
The Warhol quote reminds me of one of my favourite novels, Peter de Vries ‘Comfort Me with Apples’ in which one character says of another, “On the surface he’s deep but underneath it all he’s very shallow.” (not verbatim).
Anonymousrob:
I would only hop about like a demented Brigadier at ‘similar to what the French do?’ if of what you were doing you had been unaware.
The joiner did try to send me out to purchase a rubber hammer and a box of glass nails (although I was only 15 I didn't fall for it).
Of course it is not SOLELY the smoking ban that has caused pubs to close. That is just, for many, the penultimate decisive nail in the coffin (the final one will be the banning of alcohol).
Yes, as Jill notes, it is the mizzen mast (ie, the mast behind the mainmast). In my dictionary it immediately precedes ‘mizzle’ which is an intransitive verb with two distinct meanings, 1) ‘drizzle’ or
2) ‘depart suddenly’.
Soft pearls of dew hang,
Like wisdom, from the spider’s
Web of gossamer.
Jill:
I reckon the melamine suit and the trousers must belong to a widow who is about to move into a pensioner’s bungalow. And, if that is so, it IS rather unkind to make fun of her shortcomings but I don’t think it can be blamed on the war; I’d say the spelling and grammar of ‘our’ generation (and that of our parents) is generally better than that of many who have followed.
Yes, it has become so much easier to return to learning. And what a good thing it is.
I left school at 15 (at that time only a decent School Cert was required to become a Probationer of the RIBA) and always rather regretted not having stayed on to do Higher School Cert. So, having been made redundant and pushed into early retirement at the age of 57, I went back into the the Sixth Form at our local Comp to do ‘A’ Level English, and ‘O’ Levels in Drama and Rural Studies. At the same time, Sandra did ‘A’ Level Sociology, also in the Sixth Form. And, 3 or 4 years ago, we both joined an Adult Ed course of study for a Certificate in Teaching Adult Ed (which I failed on the grounds of being 'not-quite-politically-correct-enough' in that when dividing my class into two competitive groups, I pitched women against men rather than selecting evenly balanced teams of mixed gender, age, hair colour, etc. The subjects of my two ten minute lectures were 'Arithmatricks' and 'Compiling and Solving Cryptic Crossword Puzzles').
Both Sandra and I have also attended Short Courses, in various subjects, at Wentworth Castle (Northern College), as has Graham (who, of course, also obtained an OU degree when as grown-up as he is ever going to be - that's a compliment).
I did come on a bit yesterday, didn't I, sorry G. I know R feels his lack of education keenly, and I suppose I was on the defensive on his behalf.
I can buy loose fresh pasta in a deli, that has to be eaten within 48 hours. M & S has fresh pasta, that lasts about a week, so it must have something done to it.
Of course a dustman should be treated no worse and no better than a professor. But neither of them should be called 'dearie' or 'love' unless they give permission. You must have met a superior sort of nurse in your area - the ones that my friend has had dealings with are all from overseas, with a not-very-good command of English. I don't care where they come from, but if I am ill I do not want to struggle to understand what they are saying or make myself understood. Another friend has been in Charing Cross Hospital for four days, moved around to 3 different wards (family could never find her) was told'you're lucky being moved, at least you get clean sheets' saw 3 different doctors none of whom bothered to read her notes but asked her the same questions all over again, and one she complained that she could not understand a word he said. The sister told her no-one could, they were always getting complaints. She never saw the consultant she was supposed to be under.
I don't know if the situation is worse down here? But from what I see and hear, it does not inspire confidence. Good if it is an emergency - no good for chronic things.
We've not had any snow yet - but this morning the frost was thick enough to almost look like snow. It has finally done for my lavatera/mallow pink and white plant, which is still in full flower - but the marigolds and pansies are still in bloom.
Education Desk - yes, I confess - my apostrophes, or lack of them, were meant to twang but I thought everyone would geddit because it seemed so obvious. My apologies for any rise in blood pressure.
Sports Desk - congratulations to Panthers for a splendid 6-3 win over Newcastle last Saturday. With the other teams now having played their games in hand (except Belfast) we are only 4 points, ie 2 wins, off the pace. So we're still in the race.
Well done, also, to the Stags for a well earned point at Weymouth having played most of the game with 10 men after a sending off.
Economics Desk - a publican on the radio this morning was blaming cheap supermarket booze for binge drinking. The reason for his half price drinks on a Tuesday night was to tempt people out to socialise not to get them to drink more, he said. Maybe he should be promoting house parties where people can socialise and drink cheaply. Elaine and I have reduced our pub visiting on the grounds that decent bottles of wine cost 3 or 4 times the amount we would pay in a supermarket. Not very good wine costs at least twice the supermarket price of decent wine. Having said that our nearest pub/eatery serves cheap, decent wine (£4.99 a bottle) but rubbish food so we still don't go there.
Goodbye Desk - see you later.
Rob
PS Desk - mizzen mast it is, thank you. Is it in the middle of the ship? Or boat? I know there's a difference but I don't know what it is.
I can remember reading somewhere that the reason for the twist/lean of the spire at Chesterfield was that "One day the Devil was flying over and needed to have a rest so alighted on the spire at Chesterfield and, to stop himself falling off wrapped his tail round the spire. On looking down into the town the sight of so many good people caused him such concern that he flew off in a great hurry and forgot to unwind his tail first. Thus the twist/lean in the spire.
You may believe this version for the cause of the distortion or some other depending upon your susceptibility.
JBW
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