Absolutely terrific shot, one of
My catarrhal cough persists although I feel less groggy. Hope everyone else is perking up too. See below re David.
As Jill notes below The Tom & Camilla, Strictly come Dancing story has certainly generated a lot of hot air ! Pages and pages devoted to it in the Mail. I've not created a link because, if you want to, it is easy to access miles of coverage.
Many people complain of difficulty in 'getting through' and I would make 2 points. Lots tried to phone in their vote/votes before all the dances had been shown. This 'having made your mind up without seeing the evidence' isn't good and 'multiple voting' should be outlawed. In one case a viewer had voted 200 times. Well, they deserve to have difficulty getting through in my humble opinion, plus of course, they make it difficult for a genuine person wishing to cast just one vote.
Re the word 'naff'. Like Bungus I feel the earliest user was the Princess Royal over a decade ago. My online dictionary has it thus -
naff
Show Spelled Pronunciation [naf] Show IPA Pronunciation 
Chiefly British Slang. –adjective
| 1. | unstylish; lacking taste; inferior. |
but it is clearly a word to feel, rather than pin down in OED terms.
In any case, readers should be assured that the term is completely subjective and what one person finds trite another might find delightful. One man's meat is another man's poisson as we linguists say. Ha ha !
The following please click is a Picasa WebAlbums folder of the entries so far. And, even now, one sent in by Bungus is to my eye elegant, brief and understated.
This afternoon we were entertained by Carol Singers who managed an unaccompanied version of Hark the Herald Angels. And they did a fair job of it.
It is reassuring to live in a village where parents feel OK about their girls going round singing carols on behalf of the RSPCA.
Sorry the snap is blurry but I took it in a hurry before they vanished next door and my shutter-speed wasn't fast enough to stop subject movement. It tells the story anyway.
The afternoon play on Radio 4 was Mary Norton's "The Borrowers" and I didn't realise how charming a play the book would make. If you have ¾ hr to fill please open the link and enjoy a childhood/pensioner experience. Whether you identify with Pod, or Homily, or Arietty is entirely up to you.
Comments
Jill ....... Please see above re definition of 'naff'. You could of course ring The Princess Royal and ask her what exactly she meant ?
I was in exactly the same position as you, re the matter of 'Strictly' voting. It doesn't seem quite 'cricket' to vote more than once does it? I'm glad they couldn't get through. Tom is in The Tour for which we have tickets and it would be great to actually see The ShowDance in the flesh. Please click here for details of the tour. As well as Tom, Camilla is one of the professionals featured so we might be lucky. Isn't it a super present for us fogeys. Plus Jodie Kidd ....... one's cup runneth over !
Bungus ...... The pheasant casserole sounds exquisite. Congratulations to Sandra.
I only saw the first 5 secsonds of the Larkrise opening credits and reached the same conclusion as you. Even Y who has a fairly wide tolereance for costume drama uttered the word 'twee'.
With 'analyse' I wasn't searching for elegance - just making the point because I had never heard it made before and I would like to claim 'coinage'.
Helen C...... You will just have to keep going with the 'naff' xmas card. On seeing your Rudolph my fellow judge said she didn't think it naff at all, but in fact, she liked it. Eye of the beholder and all that jazz .......
Our card from (Professor) Colin and Lyn on the other hand ....... Will be included when I amend the WebAlbum folder tomorrow. And I know for sure that his feelings won't be hurt.
Roy .... Fancy me accusing you of the comment re my failing eyesight ! Just sounded like you is all. I didn't feel offended.
And I agree about the post xmas 'teach in'. Glad you downloaded ClickSmilies. That is the main bit. The rest will follow.
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To strike an unusual note I will end with this morning's sunrise -
My EXIF data gave the time as 8.27am. But the weather station says sunrise was 8.16am. I suppose the view from my office is towards a low hill, and I guess the metereologists give sunrise as the first glimpse of the orb breaking the skyline. I must ask Tim at EPS because he works there.
Quotation time ..... Goethe knew a thing or two about life .... Another chap to add to our 'good hour in a pub with' list .....
"There is nothing worse than aggressive stupidity"
I've deliberately saved the most important news item till last. David's pleurisy is getting better but I think he realises it could be weeks. Yesterday he didn't take painkillers because he 'wanted to see how painful it actually was'. To be admired I suppose, but a different attitude to his Dad. I keep taking the painkillers, stronger and stronger, till the pain starts to diminish - not a strategy I'm proud of by the way.
Almost his closing words were 'look forward to seeing you on Wednesday'.
p.s. I have had trouble, fontwise, so if nthe blog looks unusual please be forgiving. Tomorrow should be back to normal.
Simply had to re-open the blog because of a late arriving comment from AnonymousRob. Just who has had the temerity to put the 'Sports Desk' in a corner ? I want names please because I won't hear of it.
Just whose blog is this anyway I ask myself ? The 'Sports Desk' was one of the first editorial additions and you can rely on absolute support from your editor.
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Another Hammer House of Horror photo - perhaps a couple of bats flying around would add a litle something? I much prefer the sunrise.
ReplyDeleteNaff cards, to my mind the ones that qualify as naff are:
Top row - two on left
2nd row - 1 and 3
Am quite happy with the others!
I started watching 'Oliver Twist', went over to watch 'Candleford', five minutes later back to Oliver. But I never did like the series anyway. Very little on tonight, I watched University Challenge and QI, and half-watched Panorama. So I listened to 'The Borrowers' - delightful - thanks G, and watched the show dance a couple of times....
I see the Daily Telegraph has reported what I was saying was said on the Andrew Marr Show - either someone there watches it or they read this blog....
Painkillers - I'm with you on this G. I really don't want to know how painful things are without them - I am sometimes curious about things, but pain, no.
I was in quite a lot of pain yesterday,(in spite of the Nurofen) all the side of my face ached and was swollen, today I look as if I have one-sided mumps and the bruising has moved further down. I went to doctors, to be told the first available appointment was Dec 30th, then receptionist looked up from her computer and saw my face and said 'I'll put you down as an emergency, come back at 11.15'. I saw our lovely gentle Indian doctor, who after prodding all my face took my hand and said 'You are not 21 any more, it will take at least four weeks for you to fully recover', and explained all about how the bruising etc. moves down, and I'll end up with a bruised neck.....and I have some stronger pain-killers.
I rang local Council where I fell, who smugly said they were not responsible for that bit, because it was a red route (no parking ever, at all) it came the care of Transport for London. I eventually found a phone number and spoke to a sensible woman who gave me the number and name of their insurance people who deal with claims, but it was 5.10 by then, and they had all gone home. So shall call tomorrow.
We went to M & S - absolute chaos there, they were almost out of bread and milk - long queues, and a full car-park. Did get the few bits we wanted, plus a trough of hyacinths much reduced (8 in a wicker basket thing with moss, on the point of coming out, £3.99 down from £11.99). Two are definitely blue...but I have three lovely full-out pink ones in the kitchen, not such a powerful scent as the blue, but still worth having....
PS. Forgot to say I had trouble getting on internet today, a little notice kept coming up saying they couldn't connect me because 'of non-configuration of your protocols'. I haven't a clue what that means, wouldn't know a protocol if I fell over it. I had a think about it, and wondered if they meant something to do with my identity?
ReplyDeleteDIARY
ReplyDeleteHarking back to a blog subject of a couple of months ago (but not for purposes of resurrection), a recent school project (Eng? Hist?) for Jessica (13) was Capital Punishment with particular reference to the Ruth Ellis case.
Sandra and I both thought it rather macabre at first but it is as much a part of history as, for instance, the Slave Trade or c WWII Death Camps.
Part of the project was to conduct a survey of opinions. Sandra and I were as one but I have no doubt that contrary views were expressed.
Today I skinned, drew and dismembered another brace of pheasants which had been hanging since last Tuesday. Tomorrow the hare which will have hung for a fortnight.
World's smallest art returns to Nottingham
Former Nottingham teacher Willard Wigan is bringing his microscopic sculptures back to the city.
Willard Wigan MBE makes the world's smallest sculptures, working between heartbeats to avoid hand tremors.
He taught at the Marcus Garvey Centre in 1985 and returns to the city to exhibit his incredible, microscopic sculptures.
You will be able to see 35 pieces by Willard at Friar Lane Gallery from Saturday 6 to Wednesday 24 December 2008, including the smallest Christmas tree in the world.
Willard uses tiny blades to make sculptures out of rice, as well as grains of sugar and sand, and mounts them on pin-heads and in the eyes of needles. He paints with a hair taken from the back of a fly.
BLOG COMMENT
Yes, Roy’s pic does it well. I think I even detect a bat (about a third in from left and nearly halfway down) in the branches.
Sorry RG, but MY research reveals that the word ‘naff’ derives from ‘polari’, the London gay slang of the 1940s/50s, first used to a wider audience, without the BBC noticing, by Julian & Sandy on ‘Round the Horne’ ("Oooh, 'e's bold! 'e's got the Polari off!").
Polari takes its words from a number of sources including Yiddish, Italian and rhyming slang.
Google tells me ‘Naff’, used derisively and disrespectfully, means ‘Not Available For Fondling’ (or words to that effect), therefore ‘No Good’.
No carol singers round here so far. A few years ago they used to start on about Guy Fawkes Night but, like fireworks, they now seem to restrict themselves more to the appropriate time. That is good but I would not wish these traditions to die out altogether.
Of course people are allowed multiple votes; it makes more money!
I would not deny your claim to ‘analyse’ but I thought it worth a tweak!
Nice sunrise. Have you yet noticed how the days are lengthening?
I suppose sunrise is like sea level; ie, taken at specific places like Newlyn and Liverpool.
Although I always try to be sensible, I fear that I could, on occasions, offend Goethe. (Well, ah’ll Goethe the foot of ah stairs).
I’m more on David’s side. I only ever take a painkiller in desperation, believing that hiding pain allows one to cause further damage. There are exceptional times, of course, and I shall always worship morphine.
I suspect that had I been born in the right place at the right time I could easily have become an opium addict.
Roy:
I think we should get over the Xmas cards before widening the ‘naffism’.
Let us savour the sweetness of the moment.
Rob:
The word ‘corner’, in this part of the world and Notts generally I believe, is an abbreviation for an impolite term meaning ‘urinal’.
I don’t know whether that makes it more or less apt for the Sports Comments.
But ‘Desk’ let it remain.
I would not wish to pay more than £10 for a starter and a pizza.
In Tripoli a pizza, or lasagne, or spag bol, WAS a starter, followed by Steak & Eggs & Chips or a 5-Meat Mixed Grill.
How nice to read ‘photographers’’ comments that are understandable and with which I can agree!
It is well known that the masons do not belong to a secret society; they belong to a society with secrets.
knife at throat and noose
round neck… do I swear not tell?
Oh yes, flipping heck.
Jill:
Where are these naff cards?
I have only seen 2 contenders so far.
On TV, I find the children in ‘Outnumbered’ (BBC2) quite delightful.
I see that one of the writers is Andy Amos (?) of ‘Drop the Dead Donkey’.
Please don’t think that I would deny you painkillers in your situation.
Perhaps you should take advantage of your condition and submit a current self portrait to be superimposed on one of the Hammer photos?
I eagerly await ongoing reports as the bruising moves down to your feet!
How lucky you were to find someone on the other end of the phone line with an understandable accent and appreciation of the situation. It sounds almost promising.
So far I have not been in a shop that has been busy; in spite of all the ‘loss leaders’.
’Non-configuration of your protocols' probably means that it was your fault that you tripped, that your injuries make you unrecognisable, and you are being punished for it.