THE BRITISH THREAD II

No, Tico chuck, that is not the problem. If you had read my extensive posts, you would understand fully, the problem I am having with my shower head. I am now having a problem with my cooker, but that's a whole other story that I will resist boring everyone with.

x

Where did you go for your curry and what did you have?

I went for a Chinese with my daughter/granddaughter, we couldn't understand why certain roads were blocked in Manchester town centre...

How daft are we?

x

... and ...?

I had the traditional "rice and three*" and doh roti from Mallu's emporium, the This & That Cafe in Soap Street.

*spinach, lamb and chicken.

Spendy, you haven't lost the power to astonish.

When an English lady addresses a man as "chuck" Tico it is usually meant to convey an attitude of lofty disdain if not outright contempt.

Which you immediately proceed to justify with your American wit in sarcastically suggesting that there is anything further to add to smorgsie's report that she couldn't understand why certain roads were blocked in Manchester town centre.

It is a hard thing for a lady to understand and there is any amount of interest, scientific in nature, in the fact alone. It is a sign of what is called "dizzy", which we Englishmen are wont to find attractive and, in certain cases and certain places, well nigh irresistable. It would be a good line for Marilyn to have said in the Seven Year Itch and when Tom Ewell replied "...and...?" (one eyebrow raised and arrested in his movement lowering the gramaphone needle onto to record) she had looked at him as if he was daft and had no clue how to answer such a silly question. People who can't do things like that as good as Marilyn use "duh" style expressions.

Thinking that she could understand why the roads were blocked would ruin the whole evening.

A lady being hindered in her passage when all that tax is collected and experts employed to avoid such frustrating experiences is not interested why. It's inexplicable.

Yes ... I had gathered as much. I'm so misunderstood.

Still don't know why the town center was blocked. Parade? Road construction?

What ever it was it was a confounded nuisance and another example of the ineptitude of men. That is what smorgsie couldn't understand. The sheer, bloody ineptitude when every time she hears a man open his mouth it is to explain how wonderfully efficient he is.

Nothing at all - just a bit of heavier traffic:

You can see why George Orwell chose the horse as the symbol of expendable, exploitable humanity.

Stupid over-the-top security measures for the Labour Party Conference. Whole streets blocked and traffic diverted. Jams abound.

And please note, it wasn't the town center which was blocked, it was the town centre.

Now come on Mac--Americans are free to spell "centre" any way they wish. It is their reason for preferring "center" you ought to be interested in. It might be that one of the Founding Fathers mis-spelled it somewhere and they thought it unbecoming to correct him with him being so wise and all.

Tico, love,

I refer you to the last six chapters of Volume VI of Laurence Sterne's fabulous literary construction known as Tristram Shandy if you wish to get a grasp on smorgsie's failure to understand why certain roads in the centre of Manchester were blocked and presumably, she is unlikely to complain otherwise, her free passage was hindered.

Simply Google "Tristram Shandy Online" and a whole other way of seeing things might come to your attention.

"---And possibly, gentle reader, with such a temptation--so woulds't thou: For never did thy eyes behold, or thy concupiscence (a word derived from the Gallic tongue), covet any thing in this world, more concupiscible than widow Wadman. "

Until smorgsie arrived in wet through cotton nightie that is.

It has to do with the call when they plumb the river.

For a man Spendi you know too much about the ladies. All I know is the cost of a sex change operation so I can become a lingerie model. My life long ambition. Should I shave my legs ? I will only be modelling white (I am entitled...see virginity thread) and pastel colours...not black or red as I am worried about appearing cheap and nasty.

Tico, chuck,

I hold you in great esteem. The 'chuck' was a term of endearment, take no notice of the bollocks that followed.

x

Mornin', Chucks!

'They've' taken me off my job and given me another one (not through poor performance I can assure you). Called me in as soon as I arrived at work...

I'm gutted, lost sleep over it last night, which is very unusual for me. Tell you more later, if you are interested...

x

Thanks for that, Walter. Spotted me Dad on the tram...

How come Manchester looks so populous in days of yore?

x

It's because of all the people.

Of course we are interested.

(I was uneasy about that Patronage Pie)

2. Ionus was right. Clements was a sometime riverboat pilot. It is the leadsman's call, in shallow water: "By the mark...twain!" Two fathoms.