The Untied Kingdom? - the British thread 2021

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  • Pakora yourself, Sir!
    :wink:

    I had to look it up - sounds rather tasty...
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakora
  • Pakora yourself, Sir!
    :wink:

    I had to look it up - sounds rather tasty...
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakora

    It is/they are :mrgreen:
  • You can use up try all sorts of vegetables in pakora. The last batch I made used parsnip, but I've made carrot
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    One of the pre-dinner nibbles at a family wedding was haggis balls rolled in something-or-other (possibly sesame seeds), served with a dip , and they were delicious.

    I did patronise the Golden Chip, and it was OK (eight scampii this time), but tbh I think I've just got myself into a rut. If there was a Chinese takeaway within easy distance I'd probably try it, but if the food's going to be cold by the time I get it home, it rather defeats the purpose.
  • shamwarishamwari Shipmate Posts: 48
    This is the end. A day where we have been closed off from all contacts, then re-established and where everything has been up for grabs.

    So I think I will simply opt out altogethger.
  • NenyaNenya Shipmate
    This sounds grim @shamwari . I hope you're ok.

    Half a bottle of white wine on top of a gin and tonic and I'm smiling my way benignly through my Zoom meeting while tiddling on the Ship on my iPad.
  • Pakora yourself, Sir!
    :wink:

    I had to look it up - sounds rather tasty...
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakora

    It is perhaps understandable that purveyors of pakora from the subcontinent found themselves quite at home in Glasgow, haven to all things battered and deep fried.
  • Piglet wrote: »
    . If there was a Chinese takeaway within easy distance .

    Bamboo Inn?
  • Wet Kipper wrote: »
    Piglet wrote: »
    . If there was a Chinese takeaway within easy distance .

    Bamboo Inn?

    Home delivery?
  • We had a chippy meal in the end. I had chicken and chips.

    Up early to relax before teaching this morning; a 2 hour session (2 lecturers sharing) plus chat either end so quite long and tiring. But it’s nice to talk with students about the module theory, especially on more ‘complicated’ subjects such as ethics in end of life care.

    Afterwards I will go for a nice long walk (weather permitting) and then potter in the garden.
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    Lots of very powdery snow this morning, I intended to take the puppy for a long free run but I think it will be shorter than intended.

    Echo, special boy, has had his call up papers, he’ll be going to Big School on the 25th of February. I’ve been telling him all about it and about all the friends of his own age, who will be up for lots of play, will be there.

  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Well done Echo!

    It looks like a rather nice but cold day here, so once I'm up and organised (I'm posting while sitting up in bed), an Expotition to Sainsbury's will be on the cards.
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    edited January 23
    I love your Winnie the Pooh references @Piglet - takes me back to childhood and Mum reading the books to me. She used to put on all the voices, my favourite books by far. :mrgreen:

    Reference - “In Which Christopher Robin Leads an Expotition to the North Pole.
    Christopher Robin and all of the animals in the forest go on a quest to find the North Pole in the Hundred Acre Wood.”

  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I'm waiting for the temperature to rise above 0° so that a trip to the newsagent will be less of an adventure.

    It's crossing roads I hate - that expanse of glassy camber with nothing to hold on to.
  • JapesJapes Shipmate
    My trip out for an early walk (pre-7.00 a.m. - I've learnt this helps me avoid most of those people who are poor at distancing) was cut short when I realised how slippery the roads were. The pavements weren't too bad - but I decided to retreat home rather than risk getting run over. The trip around the block is usually about 1,000 steps. This morning it was nearer to 2,000 steps.

    Sounds as if it's all melting now, though.
  • The temperature here is above zero but we're getting showers of sn- no wait ha- no, no sle- damnit mixed precipitation that is settling/bouncing sufficiently that we've constructed a small snowman.
  • SarasaSarasa Shipmate
    We've just been out for a five mile walk to the next suburb along and back. Nice and warm in the sun, but still a bit slippery in places.
    The rest of the day is going to be quite lazy I hope. I have a jigsaw I'm doing and my homework for my writing class to do. Both fun things.
  • Cold but bright here. I recorded tomorrow's Facebook service in the sunny but freezing cold church, then did some shopping. Muddy underfoot with sneaky ice patches to fool the unwary.
  • Teaching went well this morning. I just had time for a quick walk and to sort out the wormery and bird feeders before the heavy snow started.
    Husband is now cooking duck burgers and mash 😀
  • No snow down here, but the ground is too cold and hard to plant the 2doz winter aconites that arrived this morning. Warming up in a few days, but then probably too wet... for me, if not for the little bulbs.
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    Teaching went well this morning. I just had time for a quick walk and to sort out the wormery and bird feeders before the heavy snow started.
    Husband is now cooking duck burgers and mash 😀

    Do you use the wormery to make plant food? How is it different from a compost bin?

  • Grey and dull for our early-ish walk (8:30am) when not frozen but cold, almost cold enough for snow. We were hoping for frozen ground to access some other paths.

    I'm not all that much further south than @Heavenlyannie so I'm surprised she has heavy snow when we have nothing.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    edited January 23
    Piglet wrote: »
    I had to go to the corner shop to replenish the office milk supply this morning (ours had Gone Off), and although there were still Patches of Treachery ™, it's actually a lovely day; the sun's splitting the trees from a cloudless sky.

    Whether it'll still be like that when I'm at the bus stop may be another matter.

    Not sure whether I'll stick to my usual Friday chippy habit: last week's effort was a bit underwhelming, not least because there were only seven scampi*, where they usually give you ten.

    I thought I was going to be scrabbling about for something to do today, as there's hardly anyone else in the office, but I was actually kept reasonably busy.

    * Again, unsure of the plural - is one a scampus or scampo, in which case scampi is plural, or if it's singular should the plural be "scampii"? :confused:

    Scampo is the singular. Were Scampi a singular, in Latin I'd expect a plural of *Scampes or *Scampies (as it would have to be third dec.) If it were (as it is) Italian then I'd expect *Scampe. For a plural in Scampii the singular would have to be *Scampius.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    edited January 23
    Additional - this is why "Virii" so annoys me. If Virus were a second declension masculine noun then its plural would be *Viri. It's not however; it's a neuter, apparently uncountable, noun, meaning "poison". If it had a plural, and none is attested, that plural would be *Vira. The spurious form "Virii" presupposes a singular form *Virius which doesn't exist.
  • Boogie wrote: »
    Teaching went well this morning. I just had time for a quick walk and to sort out the wormery and bird feeders before the heavy snow started.
    Husband is now cooking duck burgers and mash 😀

    Do you use the wormery to make plant food? How is it different from a compost bin?
    It makes small amounts of very rich compost which I use as top dressing and the lower layer produces a concentrated plant food. I put all my kitchen veg waste in it.
    My wormery is about 15 years old, Wiggly Wigglers now have more trendy looking ones https://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk
  • Grey and dull for our early-ish walk (8:30am) when not frozen but cold, almost cold enough for snow. We were hoping for frozen ground to access some other paths.

    I'm not all that much further south than @Heavenlyannie so I'm surprised she has heavy snow when we have nothing.
    It lasted about half an hour. My son sent a photo to his friend in Duxford, which is only a few miles south of us, as he said it was only raining there.
  • Yes, some way to the south of Heavenlyannieland, the Sun is Shining with all its Might!

    Clouds appear to be forming to the north, though, so some precipitation is to be expected.

    Never mind - Toad in the Hole has been consumed (four Sossidges!), so all is well for the present...
    KarlLB wrote: »
    Additional - this is why "Virii" so annoys me. If Virus were a second declension masculine noun then its plural would be *Viri. It's not however; it's a neuter, apparently uncountable, noun, meaning "poison". If it had a plural, and none is attested, that plural would be *Vira. The spurious form "Virii" presupposes a singular form *Virius which doesn't exist.

    Interesting. If *Virus* has no official plural, is the common use of *Viruses* acceptable?

  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    Boogie wrote: »
    Teaching went well this morning. I just had time for a quick walk and to sort out the wormery and bird feeders before the heavy snow started.
    Husband is now cooking duck burgers and mash 😀

    Do you use the wormery to make plant food? How is it different from a compost bin?
    It makes small amounts of very rich compost which I use as top dressing and the lower layer produces a concentrated plant food. I put all my kitchen veg waste in it.
    My wormery is about 15 years old, Wiggly Wigglers now have more trendy looking ones https://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk

    I’ve put one on my birthday list!
  • Neat - and I'm pleased to see that the firm also advertises British suet balls, for, as enny fule kno, British Balls Are Best!
    :wink:
  • HeavenlyannieHeavenlyannie Shipmate
    edited January 23
    Neat - and I'm pleased to see that the firm also advertises British suet balls, for, as enny fule kno, British Balls Are Best!
    :wink:
    Wigglywiggers are farmers (they even grow some of their own bird seed) so promote British grown products.
  • Japes wrote: »
    My trip out for an early walk (pre-7.00 a.m. - I've learnt this helps me avoid most of those people who are poor at distancing).....
    I'm going to have to try that. The routes around here are far too popular at the times when I am awake.

  • NenyaNenya Shipmate
    I'm back from a decent-length walk in the cold - it's bright today, with a very heavy frost and fog first thing. We may, apparently, get snow tomorrow.

    I got Mr Nen, who had been going out anyway, to drop me at a friend's house the other side of town so that I could deliver her card and (heavy) birthday present, and she and I had a socially distanced chat with her sitting at the bottom of her stairs and me on her drive. It came out during the course of conversation that I'd got her birthday wrong as I'd thought it was tomorrow but it's actually Monday. :anguished:

    It wouldn't be so bad except that we've been friends, and exchanging birthday presents, for nearly 30 years :flushed: . I do remember thinking, when I looked in my diary, "That's funny, I'm sure J's birthday is Burns Night" but I made the mistake of trusting my diary rather than my memory! I'm getting used to a new style of diary and see now that I put it correctly into my monthly planner but made a mistake when entering it into the page-a-day bit. I still feel pretty stupid though.

    In other news, I saw some beautiful snowdrops on my way back, heard and saw several robins and as it's Saturday it's stir fry and red wine for tea. :smiley:
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    ... I'm not all that much further south than @Heavenlyannie so I'm surprised she has heavy snow when we have nothing.
    Distance (or lack of it) doesn't always seem to matter. My sister lives only about 15 miles south-east of where I live, and she's got Proper Snow, while all I've got is frost and the odd Patch of Treachery™.

    Not that I'm complaining; I had a very nice trip out to Sainsbury's, and it wasn't even too cold waiting at the bus stop (although it would have been if I hadn't flagged down the bus, which nearly went straight past me, for which the driver was profusely apologetic).

    As I've observed before, it's a bit sad when the highlight of your weekend is a trip to the supermarket, even if you do manage to score a couple of bottles of NZ Sauv Blanc at £6.25 a pop. :smiley:
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    This afternoon I spent a while butchering the Shostakovich cello sonata, largely because of very weird nightmare. I dreamed that my cello had developed a very horrible break/crack, and when I woke up I was convinced that my cello really was broken in the waking world, and that I'd forgotten about it until the dream reminded me. In the end I calmed myself down and decided it was just a dream and went back to sleep. But I wasn't absolutely sure until I'd taken it out of the case to check. It's very rare for a nightmare to get under my skin like that.

    I think there's a couple of reasons. My cello did once develop a crack that was excruciatingly expensive to repair. The luthier had to take the front off, and when he did, he found a mess inside. He thought it must have been repaired by an incompetent amateur at some point in the past. It's not the first time I've dreamed about it being broken again, and I think that's why my brain registered the dream as a memory of a real event. Very odd.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Poor cello - glad it was only in your dream!
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    There's a particularly daft bit in one of the Bond films where Bond and the girl escape the baddies by tobogganing down a mountain on her cello case. The instrument also stops a bullet at some point and at the end she is shown playing it in a concert, the bullet hole still in the front. IRL I fancy she would be bowing a pile of matchwood.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Indeed - and I suspect it wouldn't make a very harmonious noise with a hole in it!
    Having spent far too long messing about on the interweb, and eaten too many crackers and CHEESE, I decided it was too late to start faffing about making proper supper, so I'm now tucking into a BACON SANDWIDGE and a cup of tea, which have inexplicably given me hiccups.

    Maybe I should stick with the WINE. :mrgreen:
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    Yep. No way a cello's surviving that. Also, any musician knows that if it's a choice between saving Bond and saving the cello, well, I'm sorry Mr Bond, but it's time for you to die :naughty:
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Yes, some way to the south of Heavenlyannieland, the Sun is Shining with all its Might!

    Clouds appear to be forming to the north, though, so some precipitation is to be expected.

    Never mind - Toad in the Hole has been consumed (four Sossidges!), so all is well for the present...
    KarlLB wrote: »
    Additional - this is why "Virii" so annoys me. If Virus were a second declension masculine noun then its plural would be *Viri. It's not however; it's a neuter, apparently uncountable, noun, meaning "poison". If it had a plural, and none is attested, that plural would be *Vira. The spurious form "Virii" presupposes a singular form *Virius which doesn't exist.

    Interesting. If *Virus* has no official plural, is the common use of *Viruses* acceptable?

    Viruses is the only real plural form.
  • Thanks @KarlLB - an interesting (if somewhat esoteric) subject for study (nouns without plurals).
  • Piglet wrote: »
    I decided it was too late to start faffing about making proper supper, so I'm now tucking into a BACON SANDWIDGE and a cup of tea, which have inexplicably given me hiccups.

    Maybe I should stick with the WINE.
    We had some nice Argentinian Malbec, to accompany the roast beef wot I cooked. (My wife is an excellent cook, but roasts are my department). The onions came out beautifully, which they don't always.

  • My nod to (almost) Burns Night was felafel (as near to haggis as I could muster) on a pizza. Fusion?
  • No 1 son seemed a little lonely (he’s still on his own in his uni house) so tonight we had family online games session for 4 hours, using Board Game Arena, which was good fun. This mean we have only just had dinner (pasta bolognaise).
  • Proper supper of veal escalope, mashed carrot and celeriac, and runner beans, followed by damson crumble.

    Otherwise a morning of shed and garden tidying, log chopping and stacking, followed by lunch before an afternoon catching up with post (finally got some!) and 'phone calls.

    The kitchen is toasty-warm - the blessing of an AGA - and some croisant dough has just been finished off for breakfast tomorrow.
  • john holdingjohn holding Ecclesiantics Host, Mystery Worshipper Host
    Yes, some way to the south of Heavenlyannieland, the Sun is Shining with all its Might!

    Clouds appear to be forming to the north, though, so some precipitation is to be expected.

    Never mind - Toad in the Hole has been consumed (four Sossidges!), so all is well for the present...
    KarlLB wrote: »
    Additional - this is why "Virii" so annoys me. If Virus were a second declension masculine noun then its plural would be *Viri. It's not however; it's a neuter, apparently uncountable, noun, meaning "poison". If it had a plural, and none is attested, that plural would be *Vira. The spurious form "Virii" presupposes a singular form *Virius which doesn't exist.

    Interesting. If *Virus* has no official plural, is the common use of *Viruses* acceptable?

    Of course it is: words from other languages which have become english words take english plurals, not the plurals they would have in their original language. Thus the plural of arena is arenas, of precis is precises, and of forum is forums (even though one sometimes sees fora -- that's wrong if you're writing in english).
  • BF - deconstructing and thoughtfully analysing some of your posts that are possessed of a certain resonance, I find myself wondering if, when you were somewhat younger, you subscribed to a magazine called "The Young Elizabethan"?
  • So it's snowed. At least, the Plague having made us decide to close church for the month, we're saved the task of trying to decide what to do!
  • Yes, some way to the south of Heavenlyannieland, the Sun is Shining with all its Might!

    Clouds appear to be forming to the north, though, so some precipitation is to be expected.

    Never mind - Toad in the Hole has been consumed (four Sossidges!), so all is well for the present...
    KarlLB wrote: »
    Additional - this is why "Virii" so annoys me. If Virus were a second declension masculine noun then its plural would be *Viri. It's not however; it's a neuter, apparently uncountable, noun, meaning "poison". If it had a plural, and none is attested, that plural would be *Vira. The spurious form "Virii" presupposes a singular form *Virius which doesn't exist.

    Interesting. If *Virus* has no official plural, is the common use of *Viruses* acceptable?

    Of course it is: words from other languages which have become english words take english plurals, not the plurals they would have in their original language. Thus the plural of arena is arenas, of precis is precises, and of forum is forums (even though one sometimes sees fora -- that's wrong if you're writing in english).

    My radii disagree with you.
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    I’ve started doing early morning aerobics with YouTube!

    I did five minutes yesterday and ten minutes today. Hoping to build up to half an hour. Eeeep!

    I’m hopeless at fast walking - all my dog walks are strolls. Even when I promise myself to ramp up the speed I soon settle back into my comfortable pace.

    Lockdown has given my fitness a real hit, so aerobics it is!

    I will then dog walk and shower and reward myself with a lovely cappuccino. ☕️
  • Here on the fringes of Dark Blue University Land, we've had about two and a half inches of the white stuff this morning, serve me right for planning to stuff with fences and the like in the garden. Luckily I'm mostly doing half days at work at the mo, soI can probably stop at the allotment for veg in the week (though I might need my water wings).

    Almost no-one is moving outside, the gritter hasn't been by that I can see, I think I'm going to spin out the milk as long as I can, because at the moment my exit on a Co-opward direction really needs to be accompanied by the words "I'm just going out, I may be some time".
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