AS: Cool Britannia (sort of): the British thread 2019

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  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Generally though, louder was nearer. I remember the Chaucer paper of my Finals - there were, I think five, of which the last was a window rattler. They gave us an extra 15 minutes to complete our answers, though by this time I had ceased to care all that much about the Nonnes Priestes IT Consultantes Tale.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Firenze wrote: »
    ... by this time I had ceased to care all that much about the Nonnes Priestes IT Consultantes Tale.
    Ah - you must have been using the Kindle edition ... :mrgreen:
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Amazing to think now all that stuff hadn’t been invented then - no Kindles or i-anythings, no internet, and phones were things attached to the wall with wires. How did we manage?
  • FredegundFredegund Shipmate
    There were these things called books - I have reacquainted myself with them after losing the Kindle at Rhodes airport. You need a different arrangement of pillows and bedside lights; I'm out of practice.
    To redigress back to place names - anyone else know Stoke Edith?
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    I occasionally read a real book as Mr Boogs buys three a week - and one of them occasionally takes my fancy. But mainly it’s the kindle and kindle unlimited. I love it, because I can start as many books as I like and just send them back if they don’t appeal - it means I’m far more adventurous in my choices. I read three or four chapters and, if I’m not into it by then, I send it back.

    Mr Boogs books go straight to charity shops as soon as we have a shelf worth - no book hoarding here! :lol:
  • HeavenlyannieHeavenlyannie Shipmate
    edited May 2019
    I’m a book hoarder, despite also having a Kindle.
    I buy books constantly, mostly second hand: academic books, history books, craft books, books on politics, books to make me laugh, biographies, recipe books...I love reading and always have. I was the person in the English reading lesson who, when everyone else was telling the teacher they were now on p94 of their current book, said they had read 2 books since last week and were now on p60 of a new one.
    I seldom read novels anymore, I find history books far more interesting. I do still like dystopian fiction though. I hate thrillers.
    My current bedtime read is an edited collection by Roy Porter on pre-industrial lay perceptions of medicine and health! Rather niche.
  • LothlorienLothlorien Glory
    edited May 2019
    One son went to a school where for a time they had ten minutes every morning Drop Everything And Read. He was astounded how slowly some boys read. Little practice, I think. Boy next to him took three weeks to read The Hobbit. Son read it in two days but that probably included some extra time at home. He was 11 at the time. His older brother read encyclopaedias for bedtime reading.
  • HeavenlyannieHeavenlyannie Shipmate
    edited May 2019
    Oh, I could read a telephone directory! All those fascinating names...
    I was brought up in a rough council estate and there was a boy in my class who could hardly read a sentence. Yet at 15 he was fixing cars from the back of the house. His skills lay elsewhere. It takes all sorts.
  • FredegundFredegund Shipmate
    Heavenlyannie - you've reminded me to reread Religion and the Rise of Modern Science by Hooykaas. I was a historian...
  • finelinefineline Kerygmania Host, 8th Day Host
    I used to read very fast as a kid - we'd go to the library every Saturday, and I'd borrow four books, which was the limit, and read them all the same day, and then read the four books each of my sisters had borrowed, and then I'd be rereading them and getting impatient for next Saturday. Once we had a school visit to the library, when I was ten, and we were all issued library cards, so then I had two library cards, and I borrowed eight books each Saturday, until the library staff found out and took one away. I read more slowly now as an adult though.

    I think I used to read so fast because I could read without my glasses as a kid, and now I'm so short sighted, I need my glasses to read unless I put the Kindle right up to my eyes. Which I do in bed sometimes. It feels like a barrier with my glasses between me and the page. I wasn't supposed to take them off to read as a kid, but I could, so I did. They even then gave me bifocals to stop me doing this, but I still took them off.
  • Sons’ primary school used to perform a musical every year. One poor teacher would be stuck in a classroom with script and performers and was responsible for their entries etc. drove her crazy. Then she lost my two older boys. They were under a table with a book each, reading.
  • Fredegund wrote: »
    Heavenlyannie - you've reminded me to reread Religion and the Rise of Modern Science by Hooykaas. I was a historian...
    Although I lecture in health and social care, I have a history degree and do historical reinactment (roles such as a Tudor peasant with a sideline in midwifery, a WW1 nursing sister and a Victorian social reformer). So books that combine health and social history are the ones that make me really happy.
    Fineline, I also spent my childhood in the library, I was quite the introvert. As well as books I used to read Punch.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    As well as books I used to read Punch.

    Ah, but did you have the bound volumes?

    There was a bookshop in Belfast in my youth were you could get them for 2/6 each, 5 bob for a year. I acquired all of the 1890s. As social history they are fascinating, though generally about as funny as a head cold. There were occasionally gems, like the chronicles of those trendy young aesthetes the Cimabue-Browns, or a very good Ibsen parody featuring the highly symbolic character of the Varmint Bløk.
  • Firenze wrote: »
    As well as books I used to read Punch.

    Ah, but did you have the bound volumes?

    There was a bookshop in Belfast in my youth were you could get them for 2/6 each, 5 bob for a year. I acquired all of the 1890s. As social history they are fascinating, though generally about as funny as a head cold. There were occasionally gems, like the chronicles of those trendy young aesthetes the Cimabue-Browns, or a very good Ibsen parody featuring the highly symbolic character of the Varmint Bløk.
    I have 1912 and 1914 - useful for swotting up for WW1.
    I have a book on the history of fashion as viewed through Punch which has some great cartoons - the Cimabue-Browns feature.
  • Lothlorien wrote: »
    His older brother read encyclopaedias for bedtime reading.

    When my brother was of an age to have a bedtime story read to him, his choice would be The Airfix Catalogue. My poor mother (The Dowager) would be there - '24 assorted Civil War soldiers, unpainted. 2/6d'

    Then when Mr. S was his best man, he produced an Airfix catalogue to embarrass my brother :lol:

    Mrs. S, who will still read anything with print on...

  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I have 1912 and 1914 - useful for swotting up for WW1.
    I have a book on the history of fashion as viewed through Punch which has some great cartoons - the Cimabue-Browns feature.

    I’ve bought quite a few more over the years, albeit for much more than half a crown. I have a fair if gappy spread for the first half of the 20th C, up to the early 50s.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    ...Mrs. S, who will still read anything with print on...
    D's a bit like that: at the table, if there's nothing else, he'll read the label on the ketchup bottle.
    We've had a very frustrating day (see also TICTH). We decided we'd take advantage of the seniors' discount* at a nearby cafe for lunch, but they were closed for renovations, then we wasted a whole afternoon going through all the b*ll*cks described in the link.

    However, the sun is shining and it's a beautifully warm day: 21° to be exact, which is approaching the upper limit of the porcine comfort zone.

    * "Seniors" over here means anyone over 55. :flushed:
  • Firenze wrote: »
    As well as books I used to read Punch.

    Ah, but did you have the bound volumes?

    There was a bookshop in Belfast in my youth were you could get them for 2/6 each, 5 bob for a year. I acquired all of the 1890s. As social history they are fascinating, though generally about as funny as a head cold. There were occasionally gems, like the chronicles of those trendy young aesthetes the Cimabue-Browns, or a very good Ibsen parody featuring the highly symbolic character of the Varmint Bløk.

    Happy memories! The bound volumes of Punch lived in one of the downstairs loos when I was growing up. One of Papa's curates was so addicted that they had to be removed before the weekly staff meeting otherwise Thomas would be off to the loo, never to return.

  • sionisaissionisais Shipmate
    Saturday was Eldest Son's birthday so we went to a model railway exhibition accompanied by his Eldest Son, and a very good show it was too, but oh, the palavah of getting there: bus to town, train, then bus again and a 15 minute walk to the venue. We spent about three hours at the show, and a bit over five hours travelling! Heck, one can drive it in about 35 minutes! Comfortable trains and buses but we spent as much time waitingas we did travelling. Why can't the various bus and railway companies arrange better connections?

    I really can't complain though. I picked up a couple of bargains and we came home to roast beef & treacle sponge with custard, accompanied by all but one of our children and all four grandsons for the first time in ages!
  • Would that be the Thornbury exhibition? I looked at it but decided against because I knew the traffic would be hellish.
  • sionisaissionisais Shipmate
    Would that be the Thornbury exhibition? I looked at it but decided against because I knew the traffic would be hellish.

    Yes. The traffic didn't look that bad. It wouldn't have taken anything like 2.5 hours!
  • sionisais wrote: »

    I really can't complain though. I picked up a couple of bargains and we came home to roast beef & treacle sponge with custard, accompanied by all but one of our children and all four grandsons for the first time in ages!

    Personally, I would have preferred the roast beef as a dish separate from the treacle sponge with custard, but each to his own.

    Sounds like a Good Day, though, despite the long waits!

  • PigwidgeonPigwidgeon Shipmate
    sionisais wrote: »

    I really can't complain though. I picked up a couple of bargains and we came home to roast beef & treacle sponge with custard, accompanied by all but one of our children and all four grandsons for the first time in ages!

    Personally, I would have preferred the roast beef as a dish separate from the treacle sponge with custard, but each to his own.

    Sounds like a Good Day, though, despite the long waits!

    Personally, I would have preferred the beef and treacle sponge to be accompanied by something other that your children -- perhaps a salad?
  • No, no - roast potatoes with the beef, and perhaps pickled red cabbage.

    Treacle sponge and custard is OK, if you like that sort of thing, but I'm not sure about the children - would they be boiled, or fried?
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    Just served as a garnish round the edge.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    edited May 2019
    Pigwidgeon wrote: »
    sionisais wrote: »
    ... roast beef & treacle sponge with custard, accompanied by all but one of our children and all four grandsons ...
    Personally, I would have preferred the beef and treacle sponge to be accompanied by something other that your children ...
    I was thinking along those lines - Yorkshire pudding and
    roast grandson potatoes?
    Although it's quite warm (18°) it's a dull, threatening-to-be-damp day here - I could feel a few spitters of rain when I went out to put the debris from the corn-cobs in the dustbin after lunch.

    There may be nothing for it but to attack the Iron Ing.

    [cross-posted with BF and BroJames]
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    Ooh. Can I send you mine?
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Your potatoes or your grandsons?
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    I’ve got no grandsons. I could send potatoes, but it was my ir***ng I meant.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I only realised that after I'd posted! :mrgreen:
  • Wet KipperWet Kipper Shipmate
    Lothlorien wrote: »
    One son went to a school where for a time they had ten minutes every morning Drop Everything And Read.

    the infant classes (ages 5-7) at our school all have time for ERIC, I think 3 times a week
    Everyone
    Reading
    In
    Class
  • It is pouring down outside. I would like to go for a really long walk as I have some free time (I’m teaching this evening and am already prepared so planned a nice rest this afternoon). But this is definitely not a walking type of rain. I pity my son who will be trying to cycle home in it later.
    Ooh, just heard some thunder.
  • HeavenlyannieHeavenlyannie Shipmate
    edited May 2019
    Hail like marbles...
    The bbc says ‘light rain showers and a moderate breeze’.
  • HeavenlyannieHeavenlyannie Shipmate
    edited May 2019
    Posted in error
  • Wesley JWesley J Shipmate
    Perhaps say five Hail Marys?
  • I didn’t ask their names.
    The thunder storm has stopped now and back to ordinary rain. I’ve eaten some cheese to cheer myself up.
  • sionisaissionisais Shipmate
    We were due rain at 8pm but we had heavy rain, albeit for no more than ten minutes, at 1:30pm. Pleased to say that I was indoors, but it was the inaugural meet for our team walking group around the park. By my reckoning they would have been as far from the office as one could be!

    Cheese is definitely in order.
  • Torrential rain at Asda for 5 minutes. Half a mile away they didn't get a drop and the sun was shining. (And don't you dare say "microclimates").
  • FredegundFredegund Shipmate
    The car park at Sainsbury's was flooded again. I've put the heating on as I can't stop shivering.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Goodness - you're all making me feel guilty, as it's really quite a nice day here: a bit blustrous, but sunny and 13°.

    We had an extra lunchtime concert at the Cathedral today - two singers and a pianist from a university in Alabama, who I think added us on as an afterthought to a tour they were doing (I think one of the singers was local to the Maritimes, so there was a connection). I know we didn't get the chance to do anything in the way of publicity (except D. giving a bit of a spiel about it before the service on Sunday), so there wasn't much of an audience, but those who were there enjoyed it.
  • Wit and Wendy here this morning, but quite calm now. Forecast Thundery Strums seem to have missed us...

    It's 3 years to the day since my brain surgery, and I found myself recalling (at about 6pm) that I had just woken up at that time, after about 5 hours in theatre.

    As soon as I was in Intensive Care, they asked me whether I wanted anything to eat. TBTG, there was Tomato SOUP available, so that was had, and gulped down with much enjoyment.
    :grin:
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Thoroughly driech hereabouts. I made a minced lamb, lemon and olive tagine. But even backed up with a decent Puglian red, it’s not been enough to lift the mood.

    I think, having spent the last 4 months on getting someone to do the house repairs, then enduring the weeks of disruption while they were done, then frazzling myself doing the clean up - my life now seems purposeless. I need to recover the stuff I was doing before - principally a couple of novels for electronic publication.
  • Woke up to lovely, lovely, gentle rain this morning. It had clearly been raining for some time, as all of the garden was wet, even the normally bone-dry area under the forsythia. It got a little heavier, but not torrential, so I am a happy gardener. Sun came out late morning, and it was also a bit windy, so some of the good done by the rain was undone.
    Forecast indicates more rain to come during the small hours of tomorrow morning :smiley:
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I went for a little amble shortly after writing my post above, and was glad I did - although it was breezy enough that I was glad I'd put on a light sweater, there was warmth behind the breeze.

    We've just entered that delightful, but sadly short, period when we don't need to pay for either heating or cooling the house: we turned off the last of the thermostats last night, which probably explains why it's 5° cooler today than it was yesterday. :disappointed:

    It might be worth opening a book on when we have to deploy the air-con ...
  • "Firenze wrote: »

    I think, having spent the last 4 months on getting someone to do the house repairs, then enduring the weeks of disruption while they were done, then frazzling myself doing the clean up - my life now seems purposeless. I need to recover the stuff I was doing before - principally a couple of novels for electronic publication.
    Getting the novels done sounds a great goal. I could never write a novel, I really can’t do creative writing. Luckily hospital policy writing was very formulaic.
    Today is my day off and I have my yoga class this morning. I taught online for a couple of hours last night so am very tired and tempted to skip it but will summon up the energy.
  • Picked a load of last year's swiss chard on Tuesday. Still loads left, although some is bolting now. I used the leaves that evening to make a pasta dish with stilton and toasted walnuts and, this morning. made a mustard pickle with the stalks.

    Now eyeing up chutney recipes for using up some of last year's rhubarb that is still in the freezer.
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    I’m at my son’s in Bristol with my German son too and their partners. We had a lovely evening pub meal last night. This morning we went puppy visiting to my friend’s. it’s raining so this afternoon we’ll be playing board games.

    :mrgreen:
  • I was so cold last night I unearthed a hot-water bottle to make it more bearable :grimace:
  • FredegundFredegund Shipmate
    Chucking it down again - someone knows when I have a job interview and will be on the M1. Please let them offer me this one!
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    Good luck :crosses fingers:
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