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Thread: Yes, yes, let's talk about the weather! The British thread 2016
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The Intrepid Mrs S
Shipmate
# 17002
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Posted
I used to do that journey as an 8-year old - Little Thetford to Ely by bus, then train to Cambridge, then run a mile or so to get to school on time. Do it all in reverse in the afternoon.
Eeeeh, folks don't have fun like that any more!
Mrs. S, grateful that she was allowed a train ticket - unlike Sipech
![[Killing me]](graemlins/killingme.gif)
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Don't get your knickers in a twist over your advancing age. It achieves nothing and makes you walk funny.
Prayer should be our first recourse, not our last resort
'Lord, please give us patience. NOW!'
Posts: 1464 | From: Neither here nor there | Registered: Mar 2012
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
I'm very grateful that I never had to walk for more than about 10 or 15 minutes to get to school. In all weathers, mind you - I wasn't one of these pampered children who got a lift. We only lived about 5 minutes from my dad's work, and he only used the car if he was doing a school visit out in the country, and I think his philosophy was that if he could walk, then so could we.
I've had a fairly lazy day today - we made a chicken casserole last night for today's lunch, so there wasn't really anything that had to be done. Every time we cook something (or eat something for that matter) we realise that there's some implement, dish or other that we haven't got, and another visit to either Walmart or the Dollar Store is in order.
Roll on the sale of the present Château Piglet, so that we can ship all our worldly goods over here once and for all.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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The Intrepid Mrs S
Shipmate
# 17002
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
Roll on the sale of the present Château Piglet, so that we can ship all our worldly goods over here once and for all.
Amen to that!
![[Votive]](graemlins/votive.gif)
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Don't get your knickers in a twist over your advancing age. It achieves nothing and makes you walk funny.
Prayer should be our first recourse, not our last resort
'Lord, please give us patience. NOW!'
Posts: 1464 | From: Neither here nor there | Registered: Mar 2012
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
I'm very grateful that I never had to walk for more than about 10 or 15 minutes to get to school. In all weathers, mind you - I wasn't one of these pampered children who got a lift. .
My sisters and I almost always walked to and from school. My walk to both Prep and Senior school were much shorter that theirs though. We shared a pair of shoes between the 3 of us all year round, and if it were one of my days to wear a shoe, the girls would walk with me and take the shoe before I went into the grounds. I can't recall any day when we had snow to contend with.
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
I used to walk to school sometimes. Early on a summer’s morning it was tempting to set off down the roads and onto the footpath that led through a small wood, and out onto the downs, with a view over a sunlit valley, and a countrified sort of route almost all the way to school, emerging by the back of the school hockey field. It was probably 2-3 miles. I was quite a quick walker and knew I would always be on time if the bus didn’t turn up. I also sometimes walked home (via the main roads) if the buses weren’t running in the winter because of the snows.
We had no car and walking was a normal part of life. It was perfectly normal to walk about 30-45 minutes to get to the shops or town as an alternative to an infrequent and expensive bus service. These days anything over about 10 minutes seems to be considered more suitable for a car or bus journey.
You do notice more if you go on foot; simple little discoveries, but small things can be quite rewarding sometimes.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Spike
Mostly Harmless
# 36
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Gee D:
We shared a pair of shoes between the 3 of us all year round, and if it were one of my days to wear a shoe, the girls would walk with me and take the shoe before I went into the grounds. I can't recall any day when we had snow to contend with.
A pair of shoes? ![[Eek!]](eek.gif) Luxury! When I were a lad, the best we could do was tie newspaper to our feet and we only had one piece of string between 28 of us.
[ 10. August 2016, 12:27: Message edited by: Spike ]
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"May you get to heaven before the devil knows you're dead" - Irish blessing
Posts: 12860 | From: The Valley of Crocuses | Registered: May 2001
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Spike:
When I were a lad, the best we could do was tie newspaper to our feet and we only had one piece of string between 28 of us.
Newspaper‽ You lucky git.
In my day we didn't 'ave such fancy doo-dahs as newspaper. We had to make do with the leaves of a lime tree that were growin' in t' churchyard.
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
The school I went to in my mid teens was something over a mile from home. I decided I didn't like school dinners, so I would walk that distance 4 times a day. ~25 miles a week now seems a fantasy of attainment.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
When we lived in the city I was amazed at the number of people who took a bus just a couple of stops, I wouldn't dream of doing that! Here in town the bus home does a trundle round small local town before heading off to local larger town and some folks, not old fogeys like me, will get on the bus at the terminus and go miles and many minutes going 3 sides of a rectangle when they could have had a pleasant stroll of 5 or 7 minutes all for free!
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
When we lived in the city I was amazed at the number of people who took a bus just a couple of stops!
The introduction of Travelcards and the like has influenced that in many places. If you have to pay for each journey separately (say £1 or £1.50 minimum) you are more likely to walk!
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
The school I went to in my mid teens was something over a mile from home. I decided I didn't like school dinners, so I would walk that distance 4 times a day. ~25 miles a week now seems a fantasy of attainment.
From "Lark Rise" by Laura Thompson (should be Public Domain): "School began at nine o’clock, but the hamlet children set out on their mile-and-a-half walk there as soon as possible after their seven o’clock breakfast, partly because they liked plenty of time to play on the road and partly because their mothers wanted them out of the way before house-cleaning began.
"Up the long, straight road they straggled, in twos and threes and in gangs, their flat, rush dinner-baskets over their shoulders and their shabby little coats on their arms against rain. In cold weather some of them carried two hot potatoes which had been in the oven, or in the ashes, all night, to warm their hands on the way and to serve as a light lunch on arrival".
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
When we lived in the city I was amazed at the number of people who took a bus just a couple of stops, I wouldn't dream of doing that!
Similarly, I am amazed at the number of perfectly healthy people who will wait - often quite some time at busy periods - for the lift in order to ascend one or two floors, when there's a perfectly serviceable staircase just a few steps away.
I fantasize about reprogramming the lift to only stop on every third floor, but of course there are a small number of people who can't manage the stairs.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
... I was amazed at the number of people who took a bus just a couple of stops ...
About 20-something years ago, when we lived in Belfast, I went to Edinburgh for a family celebration, and I flew to Prestwick in Ayrshire and got a train to Glasgow Queen Street, then another from Glasgow Central to Waverley (the airline was doing a special deal that meant the train bit only cost £5).
Never having travelled by train to Glasgow before, and not knowing the place at all, I arrived at Queen Street, came out of the station and asked a bloke on a newspaper stand where I could get a taxi to Central. He looked somewhat incredulously at me, laughed and said, "well, you could take a taxi, but if you walk round that corner, it's right across the street".
Just as well I asked ... ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
In other news, there seems to be a little activity on the sale of Château Piglet - an offer has been made (though a bit derisory - we're hoping to make a counter-offer) and another is a sort of possibility, but less likely, as our agent thinks it's someone buying for commercial purposes and asking awkward questions about fire regulations and such things ... ![[Ultra confused]](graemlins/confused2.gif)
However, there were a couple more viewings this evening, so with any luck we might get them fighting over it (yeah, right). ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
Meanwhile, the house we were hoping to go and look at here has been sold. ![[Waterworks]](graemlins/bawling.gif)
Please cross everything crossable. ![[Help]](graemlins/help.gif)
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Fingers, arms, eyes and legs crossed for you Piglet. Hope the stress eases up soon!
The rail replacement buses are proving to be a dream. I turn up at the station and they're waiting, there are seats, I get on and it goes a couple of minutes later, I arrive either at work or home on time. It makes the normal commute look like an endurance feat.
I'm not sure what's happened to the happy bus spotters but I thought of them yesterday as a coach from "Caradoc, Saints of Travel" rolled in. Good to know we've got a bit of divine support. They seem to have sourced coaches from anywhere between Wales, Hampshire and Birmingham (and Heaven, clearly) which is probably why the poor people trying to use Southern Rail have no replacement buses - we've got them.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
Never having travelled by train to Glasgow before, and not knowing the place at all, I arrived at Queen Street, came out of the station and asked a bloke on a newspaper stand where I could get a taxi to Central. He looked somewhat incredulously at me, laughed and said, "well, you could take a taxi, but if you walk round that corner, it's right across the street".
In the 1970s there actually was a shuttle bus (not free) between the two stations. They're not that close if you have luggage (and in those days cases didn't have wheels ...).
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
I'm not sure what's happened to the happy bus spotters but I thought of them yesterday as a coach from "Caradoc, Saints of Travel" rolled in. Good to know we've got a bit of divine support. They seem to have sourced coaches from anywhere between Wales, Hampshire and Birmingham (and Heaven, clearly).
Clearly they didn't hire buses from Lewis Coaches, a bus operator in West Wales, which has just gone bust and will cease trading tomorrow. That will affect a lot of people.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
There is still a bus link between the two Glasgow stations. I believe it is free if you hold a valid ticket for a train from one of the stations, but have never used it to know. Although I may find out later today. I'm on a train into Glasgow and travelling on.
ScotRail provided replacement minibuses from Thurso to catch the train further down rather than rip up the timetable further. We nearly caught the train at Helmsdale; it pulled out as we drew into the car park. We finally caught it at Brora. That is not a journey I want to repeat. It followed a delayed and rough ferry crossing from Stromness and Scrabster.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Sarasa
Shipmate
# 12271
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Posted
I was in Glasgow last weekend, and spent rather more time than I intended on the subway replacement bus. I decided to go the long way round from the Great Western Road to Central Station where I was meeting a friend so I could take a look at the south side of the river. Two hours later I got there - I hadn't factored in a football match at Ibrox. Friend was patiently waiting, but we got rather less time to meet up than I intended.
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'I guess things didn't go so well tonight, but I'm trying. Lord, I'm trying.' Charlie (Harvey Keitel) in Mean Streets.
Posts: 2035 | From: London | Registered: Jan 2007
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
An FB post from my niece this evening seemed to suggest that the subway is back working again.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
Yeah, the tunnel and Subway all reopened earlier this week. I get ScotRail emails and there were various offers available.
Bus link still definitely there with stands outside both stations. I walked from Queen Street to Glasgow Central to the strains of pipe bands playing on Buchanan Street. There is a pipeband festival in Glasgow this week, with the finals this weekend.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
Well that was constructive.
We're desperately short of musicians/singers, so I'm holding a series of practises. Tonight, the only other person present beside me was my Mum. Oh well, at least I got to practise next Sunday's psalm on the piano. ![[Disappointed]](graemlins/disappointed.gif)
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Uncle Pete
Loyaute me lie
# 10422
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Posted
Off to Blighty tomorrow and hoping weather is a little cooler there than here. At 20:15 it is 35C with humidity.
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Even more so than I was before
Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
So I wake up early and get up and get dressed to go for an early walk and am just going downstairs when the heavens open and the rain comes thrashing down!
I think I'll go back to bed!
But last night I actually bestirred myself to sort out my carry-case and bluetooth keyboard thingy for this Tablet - wonderful! Why didn't I do this before?
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
Go back to bed? Good idea. I have dozed for the last hour after cleaning breakfst dishes. Feeling better for a while.
Son gave me new ipad as my old one was just that, old and slow. And temperamental.
It has a bluetooth keyboard which is great except that I often hit caps lock when I go to type an "a." Often not discovered till several sentences down the track.
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Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
... a delayed and rough ferry crossing from Stromness and Scrabster.
Serves you right for not taking Pentland Ferries from Gills Bay to St. Margaret's Hope. ![[Devil]](graemlins/devil.gif)
If you got stuck in Helmsdale and it was near a meal-time I hope you went to La Mirage - their food is amazing, and the quantities thereof even more so.
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
... with any luck we might get them fighting over it ...
We did! ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
The agent phoned this morning to say that when the original buyer heard that there was someone else interested, he increased his offer to something that we can work with, so we signed the agreement this evening and it'll be scanned back to our agent tomorrow morning.
Now we can start meaningful house-hunting - I'm getting quite excited, as I had very little input into buying what will soon be the former Château Piglet*, so it'll be nice to be involved this time.
Did I mention ?
* D. was already in St. John's, and I was still in Belfast selling the house there, so he bought it without me having seen it except in a couple of amateurish photographs.
P.S. Safe travels, Pete!
[ 12. August 2016, 01:23: Message edited by: Piglet ]
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
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Posted
On Monday we have a public holiday in honour of the Assumption of the Virgin*. Yay three day weekend!
On account of how I have very little holiday this year, husband en rouge has booked a weekend away. He has told me I am not allowed to look how much it is costing but it looks to me like for a long weekend he has blown the budget that we would usually spend on ten days’ holiday . We are going to a château in Normandy with a Michelin starred kitchen. Apparently I am not allowed to get used to it.
*For a secular country, France has a surprising number of Catholic holidays. They may have ditched the religion, but there’ll be revolution (again) before you take away our days off ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
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Rent my holiday home in the South of France
Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
We had a camping holiday in Normandy* at this time one summer and the Feast of the Assumption was marked by the bell in the little chapel tolling goodness knows how many times (three times 21 I believe). There was only one bell and that was off-tune such that when the Angelus was sounded it was painful, but we got used to that. On this Feast Day it was another matter entirely.
*None of your Michelin Stars, but we did make the best of the local produce. Pork Escalopes in a Cream and Calvados sauce anyone?
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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St. Gwladys
Shipmate
# 14504
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Posted
Well done Piglet!
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"I say - are you a matelot?"
"Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here"
From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)
Posts: 3333 | From: Rhymney Valley, South Wales | Registered: Jan 2009
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Sioni - a cream and calvados sauce sounds stunning to go with pork!
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
Absolutely Sioni - and I don't even like pork all that much.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
Absolutely Sioni - and I don't even like pork all that much.
Well, it's rather cannibalistic, isn't it?
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"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
Ah, you should try this stuff. I had some yesterday: porky enough to have taste but not too much, and very lean.Sublime (perhaps not to the pig, admittedly).
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Stercus Tauri
Shipmate
# 16668
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Posted
Backing up the thread a little, we lived just inside the three mile limit for a free bus pass to the grammar school, but others who lived the same distance from the same bus stop in the other direction got the pass. The theory was that we lived within walking distance, but the others didn't. That has been an aggravation for decades. But mostly, we cycled.
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Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)
Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Uncle Pete:
Off to Blighty tomorrow and hoping weather is a little cooler there than here. At 20:15 it is 35C with humidity.
I can say with almost complete certainty that that won't be a problem.
ION, Piglet.
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Ha! Wait until next week. We're set for another Spanish heatwave, hotter than the last. Ole.
Meanwhile, I have pork, I have cream, I have Calvados... this could be a plan for the weekend.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
Ha! Wait until next week. We're set for another Spanish heatwave, hotter than the last. Ole.
Meanwhile, I have pork, I have cream, I have Calvados... this could be a plan for the weekend.
Sounds good, Ariel.
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Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
Can you have done with that heatwave of yours by the time we get over there? D's niece is getting married on the 21st, and we should be heading east some time in the previous week (we're even less organised about booking flights than usual what with one thing and another).
We viewed a couple of houses today, but one of them was microscopic, and they were both rather scuzzy. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
We've noted down a couple of others for possible future viewing (the estate agent isn't going to be free until Monday), but it looks as if the options on our budget are limited, to say the least.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stercus Tauri:
Backing up the thread a little, we lived just inside the three mile limit for a free bus pass to the grammar school, but others who lived the same distance from the same bus stop in the other direction got the pass. The theory was that we lived within walking distance, but the others didn't. That has been an aggravation for decades.
My wife had exactly the same problem (although, being Scottish, hers was a High School).
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
It's been a lovely day here: 23°C but with hardly any Humidex, so really rather nice. Went to the farmers' market again this morning and got some more corn-cobs*, cheese and a few other bits and bobs and after a spot of domesticity in the afternoon we hit the Regent Mall - a really rather nice shopping centre, with some rather more interesting shops than the ones in St. John's.
* The ones we got last week were so good D. said we should have got six instead of four, so this time I got six, and we wolfed the whole lot for lunch. Heaven on a plate. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...: ... a delayed and rough ferry crossing from Stromness and Scrabster.
Serves you right for not taking Pentland Ferries from Gills Bay to St. Margaret's Hope.
Gills Bay means at least one bus taking an hour or so from Thurso or Wick, not a half hour stroll through the town exploring and half an hour along the clifftops, sadly.
The public transport route meant sleeper train to Inverness, day and night stay in Inverness exploring, 7:02 train from Inverness to Thurso arriving at 11:00, 13:15 ferry. There is a bus from Thurso to Scrabster too, which meets the ferry, or not if the ferry is delayed.
Left to my own devices, I'd probably have caught the 14:00 train to Thurso after the sleeper, catching the 19:00 ferry from Scrabster, arriving later in the day. But my daughter's joint condition is deteriorating and she is trying to do things while she can, having blown one or two options already.
quote:
If you got stuck in Helmsdale and it was near a meal-time I hope you went to La Mirage - their food is amazing, and the quantities thereof even more so.
We didn't stop in Helmsdale, just racketed into the station car park in a minibus, watched the driver get out and run for the train, which pulled out. He then turned the minibus around and continued in hot pursuit of a train - which could be seen alongside for sections of that bit of the journey.
quote:
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
... with any luck we might get them fighting over it ...
We did!
The agent phoned this morning to say that when the original buyer heard that there was someone else interested, he increased his offer to something that we can work with, so we signed the agreement this evening and it'll be scanned back to our agent tomorrow morning.
Really brilliant news that you can start settling in Fredricton.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Witnessing poetic justice is so satisfying - or was it divine intervention?
I am fairly useless with some (most) aspects of technology stuff and last night crossing the state border I had my phone switched off so this apparently complicates things then this morning had to go and buy a little box of internet time for use in this state but I still couldn't get the system to work so went back to the young man (recently out of nappies/diapers) and told him so he held/out his hand and I gave him my mobile, he went twiddle, twiddle and handed it back with an angelic smile on his face. I asked his boss permission to punch the poor, helpful and completely blameless young man on the nose and just then box fell off a shelf above him and oh so nearly hit it on the head!
People are so helpful, this same guy has been helpful to me before.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
You'd have been even more pleased for it to hit him on the head if he hadn't been able to get your interweb to work.
Absolutely chucked it down with rain this morning, and the temperature is now apparently 17°, which I think is about as low as it's been since we got here.
Nice BCP service this morning (with Piglet the Versatile singing soprano again ) - we sang a setting by a bloke called Barrie Cabena, which D. and I had never heard before. It's a wee gem - not difficult at all, but very effective. As D. said, he wished he'd discovered it years ago.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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moonfruit
Shipmate
# 15818
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Posted
Hurrah on the house Piglet!
Bit of a disaster here today - I'm house sitting for friends, and wanted to go do some shopping, so I borrowed my friend's bike because the basket on mine is broken. Went in to do my shopping, came out and no bike. Clearly some delightful person had decided to steal it. And of course, the store's CCTV doesn't cover the bike racks. Fortunately my friend was reasonably philosophical about it when I called her, so I'm not panicking quite so much as I was. Instead I'm soothing myself with a couple of large G & Ts.
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All I know is that you came and made beauty from my mess.
Posts: 180 | From: Just outside the M25 | Registered: Aug 2010
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
Moonfruit, that is a complete and utter bummer.
I don't really see why the shop's CCTV shouldn't cover the bike-racks - I know they're not their responsibility, but what's the point of them providing racks if they can't make them as secure as a bike-rack can be?
I hope the scum-bag who stole it either (a) falls off, or (b) gets a puncture.
In Xtian love, obviously. ![[Two face]](graemlins/scot_twoface.gif)
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Yet another Muslim marriage in Mysore and at another top-end venue - where do people find the money?
Or, alternatively, another poor innocent bloke sold into a life of slavery by his parents; but, as they also bought him a rather nice top-end motorbike to ease his pain, I may be a tad out of order with that comment!
There were photographers and videographers everywhere and, as there was only one foreigner there, where did they want to point their cameras? I like to be behind the camera, I don't like to be in front of it!
Upon entering everyone was handed a red rose, a nice touch and, like most Indian weddings, there were thousands there. The big reception is, I think, tomorrow as there was another marriage following the one I was at, at that venue. Some of the arrangements still strike me as very strange.
What was nice was to meet again a lad I haven't seen for 6 or 7 years - kids change a bit from 12/13 to 19/20! Still as nice a lad.
I am used to being a shawl at weddings but why on earth was a I given a coconut? What am I going to do with it? Something else to lug home, but they are useful items, we get through 2 or 3 of them a week.
Between you and I (and I will deny I ever said this) but I prefer Kerala food to Karnataka food - today they served the sweet stuff before the savoury stuff - apparently that is how it is done in this particular community.
Call me old-fashioned but...
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
I hope the scum-bag who stole it either (a) falls off, or (b) gets a puncture.
Are those mutually exclusive? Why not both?
(Although, to be mega-pernickety, it's not Mr. Scum-bag himself who will get the puncture ...).
[ 15. August 2016, 13:42: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
I am used to being a shawl at weddings ...
Intriguing.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Were you a triangular shawl, or rectangular? I trust you were knitted or crocheted lace.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
The outfit I wore to my brother's wedding involved a black crocheted shawl (with silver sparkly bits) and a full-length peach-coloured dress with a big flouncy hem.
It was 1975 and I was 13 years old, so the Good Taste by-pass was permissible.
We've booked our flights over the Big Pond - leaving here on Thursday evening and arriving at Heathrow on Friday at about 9:30 in the morning, which is a bloody sight more civilised than some of the times of day we've arrived.
D's coming back the following Friday, but I'm staying on and going up to Orkney with my sister, and then coming back from Edinburgh via a boringly long wait at Toronto airport, but at least it means I don't have to faff about going back to London again - it would probably mean changing airports, which would be a pain.
We saw another couple of houses today - one which D. really liked the look of on the web, but in the flesh it needed far more TLC than we could either afford or seriously contemplate; and one which was really quite nice, but huge, and with an enormous garden, which is a complete no-no for us - even just having that much lawn to keep in check was sending us running for the hills.
Back to the drawing-board again ...
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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