THE BRITISH THREAD II

thanks for the tip dp. But no it isnt...and I gotta go out DAMN DAMN

SPIT AND CURSE

ok it was in the pocket of my other jacket

out now, I'll clean up the spit and broken crockery later

I went out with the intention of getting my car radio fixed this morning, but I ended up getting a new radio fitted, a Blaupunkt.

It is highly satisfactory.

I decided today since the weather was still nice (it has been sunny and clear here for a few days) I would road-test my new radio, so I went for a drive up into the Derbyshire hills to enjoy the scenery and ended up near Kettleshulme and Windgather Rocks and since I thought the signal might be weaker up there I took along some CDs also, but not a bit of it, the new radio worked loud and clear everywhere; so that's an improvement on the old one. Clearer, and also louder, about 45W max power or 2 x 18W measured in the proper way. My old radio was a pitiful peep in comparison.
I also hoped for a sunset to rival yesterday's, which was magnificent, but the weather is on the turn now so it was more misty at sunset. Sunsets here for the last two days have been terrific, orange-red skies of remarkable clarity.
I also went out for a short walk on the hilltop (near Shining Tor) but it was so cold I didn't stay out long, not having my eskimo gear with me.
But I still played some CDs in the car, jazz and blues, which contrasted strangely with the landscape.

I know Kettleshulme and Windgather. I learned to rock climb there. We used to travel out in the school minibus (later land rover...the headmaster thought it more appropriate)...a quick scrabble up the top, two smokes then back in the bus. Not exactly himalayas but it served a purpose.

Also to the Roches in Staffordshire, hen cloud and the other one..

Dear oh dear getting nostalgic in my old age

Well tonight is the big one, yes a total one. Eclipse that is, of the moon. Or was it last night? Where is smorgie when you need her?

Cycled about 25 miles today for lunch with a truly eclectic mix of people. Including Deck chair Dave who rides a recumbent, and Gordon the property developer. I just went for the ham eggs and chips. Next week they have a guest ale Robinsons from...well I know do you?

So where is everybody?

Eh?

I don't think all this aimless chichat is intellectual enough for Spendy Brainfart.

Or anyone else, apparently. With the noble exception of Steve.

They serve a fine pint of Robinson's in the Red Bull on Hillgate, about 300 yd from the front gate of the brewery.
I took a notable German guest in there once.

Though that place is famous for some other reason, which happened years before and finally led to .... well, happy times. :wink:

Mac wrote-



Not at all. I can take on-



intellectually quite easily but whenever I do that sort of thing you all get uptight and defensive and my natural love of my fellow man causes me to feel deeply ashamed of myself for causing such negative emotions so I allow items of that nature to pass by without comment.

I thought you might have understood that my reasons were to do with good manners and nothing to do with anything being not intellectual enough. I learned many years ago in intellectual discussions on the institution of marriage and the DIY revolution that it is usually best to remain silent rather than causing "scenes".

Steve's paragraph represents a lost opportunity. A loss of nerve even. Proust would have done at least two thousand words on a subject of that nature and in doing so conveyed a sense of his childhood to his reader and something essential about the scene in which it was set.

He shows his desire to remember his childhood but then fails to do it any sort of justice. Which is a pity. What a chance to **** on the headmaster he's missed.

Thats right Spends, bottled out again. but if I wrote 2000 words about the interior of a school minibus, no one would read it.


Well you might, you're daft enough.

Regarding the Headmaster, yes I missed an opportunity, but then he might still be alive, and I'm a coward. Why do you think I live down here?

Regarding matters cosmological, i didnt set the alarm at 0250 to watch the moon disappear, but I woke up anyway at 0230. So I got up (feeling awful, I had had a beer or three) and espied La Lune. And there she was in all her glory with a big bite out. And then the most amazing thing happened...

the moon completely disappeared behind a cloud, and I went back to bed.

Steve wrote-



One wouldn't write 2000 words on the interior of a minibus. One would use a description of a minibus as a vehicle to amuse the reader with various things; jokes, technical expertise, social commentary, sexual politics, profiles of drivers, hints as to the financial chicanery involved in the purchase and use, events taking place inside it for which poetic licence is called for and a range of other matters.

A Sunday Times Jeremy Clarkson article is a crude version of the sort of thing I mean.

"Two smokes" alone is sufficient for a few hundred words.

One might have to be daft to read anything else.

A writer must bare his soul to some extent otherwise there's not much point. Were they single sex excursions? What age were you? What were your mates like? What was the educational function? It is impossible to do anything without it having one of those.

smorgie has done it on occasion.

Put the reader there.

well thanks for the tips spendy. You are clearly not daft sorry about that. Strange yes but not daft.

English was never my forte. I'm more of an all rounder, that is not particularly good at anything. I have been known to make people laugh, a bit, thats it really.

I did maths physics chemistry A levels which equips one for absolutely bugger all.

A mathematical chemist with a line in physicality- like Margaret Thatcher?

We're having ham & eggs tonight, that's bacon and eggs for the uninitiated, with tomato and toast. Uncomplicated soul food.

how many uninitiated live with you mct?

I was aware of that grammatical fankle when I wrote it, but was too idle to change it.
(I knew I could rely on some smartarse picking it up :wink: )

The ham & eggs was delicious, by the by.



See? Daring use of a singular verb with a quasi-plural subject. Avant-garde or what?

Posh. The Queen does it and that's really posh like Ms Lumley said in the ad when she got her slave to ring for a quote on the insurance.

Mrs Thatcher too.

Better get your frilly nightcap on Mac.

The Queen can do what she likes with her own English, s'welp me she can and that's a fact, cor love a duck and no mistike.

Hey I watched that programme on BBC4 called Caledonia Dreamin', excellent I thought, even though I had never heard of most of the bands.

Spendy I notice you never use any emoticon in your offerings.

Are you above that sort of thing?

Yes. They lack "nuance".

I can roll my eyes in hundreds of different ways and look quizical without hardly any but the most observant even noticing.

I couldn't possibly be expected to do either in a stereotypical way. I allow the circumstances to dominate and words to express my responses.

It's not a question of being "above". It's a matter of taste.

I used to like the way young ladies said "You only want me for one thing" in such a wide variety of styles.

But I'm getting maudlin' now so I had better shut up.