Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Now don't be too hasty spitty cos yer never know..but as we are no longer shaking hands cos of the social distancing here's a tip for die hard 3 ply user

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Having sorted out no sponger spitty wiv me bog roll tip lets hope he won't go short of em.

My very early morning shop for neccessities had been cottoned onto and become a bit of a battle ground so swapped to late night ...which worked for a few days but again great minds think alike and that to has become fraught with danger with quite savage behaviour from some which makes you ask..which is more dangerous the virus... or humans. I would plump for humans at the moment.

Now as St Paddy has seen fit to go AWOL for the time being here's a look back to last years parade Jem...so enjoy and...
may love and laughter light your days and warm your heart and home

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Thanks for supplying the parade Solo, that was very thoughtful of you.

That video of using the one sheet was one of my pub tricks in my younger days, a story went with it about a very wealthy lady who was as tight as a camels arse in a sand storm, but I’ll spare you the details, by the way she was one of those who called toilet rolls ‘Rest room tissue’.

And you don’t fancy using a sponge bob Spitty?, I was out in the shed today and made two up, one for the wife (with a painted pink handle) and one for myself, just in case , God only knows what we’ll be using before this thing is over.

I got in a few pint cans of stout in for the day that’s in it, a bottle of sherry for the missus to have a few classes, she likes a drop of “Winters Tale” on occasions. The daughter got them in the off license as we are not going out at all, the Dublin positive cases are rising very rapidly now.

A happy Patrick's day to my fellow countrymen/women wherever they may be, take good care of yourselves.


I’m sitting in the house all day
Because I have been told
A deadly bug is all around
And out to get the old.

It’s Paddy’s day today
And all the streets are bare
No family calling either
Because they really care.

But I’ve got me pint of Guinness
And the wife is by my side
Together we will celebrate
As we ride out the virus tide.

Jem 17/3/20

This fella had his own one man parade in Limerick, fair play to him.

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Don't you just love bag pipe players...they just don't give a damn do they...great picture...and great poem.

Just read that pubs will deliver to your door to keep trade going.

As nippers we could earn a few coppers from those who enjoyed a daily tipple by taking their enamel jug round to the back door of some home brewer who would turn a blind eye and fill it with beer. One of our lot risked a sip on the way back..well quite a long sip..and ended up rather squiffy which we all thought was hilarious until he got a clout for being so daft and delivering a less than full jug showing that adults that imbibe still have some of their wits about them when it comes to the drink and short measures. God knows what was in that brew though...made you wonder. Still as most of our customers were banned from pubs for one reason or the other we had em by the short and curlies so they didn't dare upset us too much...we just upped our price if they did.

Some years ago I remember George Carlin did this clip on Germs and whilst he had a certain 'way with words' he always had a good point to make

***I advise those that do not like swearing to avoid watching this clip***

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

George has some good points about the immune system Solo, but dare we tell the young about them, we’d be locked up for leading them astray. Kids used to play with muck in the old days and some actually ate the stuff, no such thing as out of date food either, as long as it didn’t smell terrible it was OK to eat.
He mentioned swimming in the Hudson river, we used to swim in the Liffey at Butt Bridge, well not exactly swimming, just going through the motions.

Short measures indeed, and that old publican trick of sticking the thumb into the spirit measures before pouring, then topping up the left over pints from Saturday night to be served to the poor unfortunates who’d be first in on Sunday morning, depth chargers we called them pints, you’d have the runs for a week afterwards. ah yes I was wise to a lot of their tricks, when some publicans asked “What’s your poison?” they weren’t joking.


I was just thinking that with so many people having to stay at home the TV stations will have to up the quality of their daytime schedules, they won’t get away with the usual daytime crap they dish out to us regulars, time they started to do their bit to relieve the months of boredom ahead of all of us eh?

Boredom is another enemy here, now take my wife (go ahead say it, I’m waiting for it ) she’s the type who loves going out to the shops to have a natter with all the other old biddies and she’s starting to get bored at home now, when I came down from bed this morning the living room was shining like a new pin and there she was in the corner painstakingly cleaning every single key on her computer keyboard, the dog was scrubbed and shampooed and he smelt like a rose, all the pots and pans were sparkling in their places, and she was waiting for the spin dryer to finish it’s cycle. I can see the household chores running out very soon and God help me then, I tried several times over the years to teach her the basics of goldsmithing but she just hasn’t the patience for it.
It’s a pity the weather is so cold as she loves the gardening stuff, I’m praying the weather will improve soon, it’s my only hope for a peaceful passage through this crisis.

I’m reminded of the words from “Busy doing nothing”

“I have to watch the river
To see that it doesn't stop
And stick around the rosebuds
So they'll know when to pop”

This old song could be the anthem for those of us in isolation.

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Being a wanderer through life boredom is not something I have ever had and as for cleaning...it gets done when neccessary. My Mother was shall we say 'House Proud' to the extreme...and I mean extreeeeme. It made life uncomfortably predictable in the fact you knew your plate was going to be whipped away and washed the minute the last crumb was mopped up. Any longer and she could do the magic table cloth trick just to let you know in case you missed the obvious hovering signs that she was itching to tidy up. Being house proud may keep one person happy but it can be hell for others that have to live with it. Swore that I would never live like that again and never have.

Shakespeare wasn't bored either...In 1606 he was quarantined in London to avoid the plague and in that enforced idleness he wrote King Lear.. Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.

Went for my quiet exercising stroll last night and I have to admit I do like this mostly deserted way of life we have at present. It has a nice calm to it which is relaxing..non of the hustle and bustle and argy bargy of loud people and loud traffic...I only met a few folk who crossed over to the other side and waved to show no offence was meant just respect for keeping the distance. How nice was that..and to make the walk even more pleasant I popped into my local shop and got a bottle of washing up liquid 69p that I was running out of. Last week this would have been no interest to anyone at all but how times change... as do some people.

Be assured Jem.. like man flu you will get through this and that water bottle on the table at the end of the clip is harder than it looks so should pass a bit of time

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

I think I’ll leave the bottle trick till around the end of July, that would take me up to Christmas, maybe even into the new year.

Seeing that I’ll be confined to the house for some time to come, and my hobby (horse racing) is called off and rightly so, although they were racing “Behind closed doors” for a few days, how you manage to race 12 horses in a 3 mile race behind closed doors is beyond me, all it meant was there was no spectators there, but what a stupid way of putting it, and these are all well educated members of the toffee nosed Jockey club, gobshites.
Anyway I decided to catch up on something that I always wondered about, the origins of music and song, and why it attracts us humans and makes us want to dance or just listen and be sentimental.

I decided to start at the very beginning with the ancient cave dwellers, not much on the net about them and music so I had to use my imagination, same as all the pre historical experts do, only they get paid for it.

I reckon as they sat around the communal cave fire, the important ones would be nearest the fire and the dogsbodies shivering at the back. The shivering intensified as the long Winter nights dragged on and then through trembling jaws came the very first song, it went “Hum ma”, and as it got colder it picked up speed and went “Hum ma hum ma hum ma hum ma…” and they all joined in, they began to move their feet to the humming and they soon discovered that this activity helped to warm them up as well.
Try it yourself in the comfort of your own home, no time like the present and no problem learning the words, you’ll find it becomes very melodious after a while.
So melodious in fact that back in the 1950’s/60’s the ‘Hum ma’ formula entered popular music in a big way, for instance we had Gene Vincent with “Be bop a lula”, then the Rivingtons and “Papa oom mow mow” and Little Richard singing in some very ancient language that has yet to be deciphered “Bama Lama Bama Loo”, there are many more examples of that era and later, the words mean nothing it’s the sound that gets us going, so we move on to accompanying sounds.

The head man who always had the biggest stick and the best rock to sit on nearest the fire had his stick next to his head and started to tap it on his empty head (the experts say all these folks was as thick as ten planks, numb skulls the lot of ‘em, well that’s what the experts say not me) to the rhythm of the chant, to his surprise it made a pleasing noise, It’s so easy to go from “Hum” to “Drum”, and the first musical instrument was born.
In fact the very first drums were the skulls of ancient relatives, with thinner body bones used as drum sticks, beat that for recycling!, pirates had them on their flags up to the early 1800’s, and we still play bones in some countries today.
Well there you have it, the history of the origin of music in a nutshell.

Next time we’ll move on to the first wind instruments, all suggestions and theories welcome.

Now here is a fine example of how the “Hum ma” style was adapted to suit the sixties, with three guitars added the sound becomes irresistible to the dancers as you can see, note the mouth contortions on Karl’s face, no mean feat to get those awkward ‘words’ out in the right order i can tell you, ya gotta be a true descendant of a cave man to do that.

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Some rethinking is required, it may be time to return to the "Bruting Room".

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Glad to see you are OK spitty...and you have a point. It is all getting a bit brutal out there to say the least

Lordy lordy it is certainly looking like the survival of the fittest or in other words who can grab the most supplies possible. Non of this compassion or fairness which gets in the way of ME ME ME first. What elderly person or tired key worker could cope with this kind of shopping turmoil.

I am seeing disgust on a lot of faces these days at how people are behaving and it would seem now that question of "How would this generation cope if there was another war"... Well you now have your answer.. plain and clear to see.

Thinking 'behaving like Neathandrals' seems rather insulting to neathandrals now doesn't it... at least all they ever did was pinch a bone or two or whack you over the head with one if you sang Hum ma hum ma hum ma hum ma too loud.

Considering what life is like at present our ancesters seemed to be a lot more civilised than how some of their descendants are behaving like these days...and I bet they would drink to that

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Funny clip that.
So true Solo, dog eat dog and it will get worse before it gets better.
We have completed our first week of isolation, and we’re still talking to each other, so far so good.

Bruting, a familiar word in jewellery stone cutting Spitty, did a bit of bruting in me day, we had a small bruiting room in the workshop just off the polishing room. it can sometimes be awkward putting a girdle on your stones, but the result is worth the hassle.

I imagine there will be plenty of domestic rows after a week or two of being isolated, people being people and used to having their freedom of movement will become irked with each other over the least little thing.

I heard two rows up the cul-de-sac yesterday, one was between a middle aged couple arguing beside their car because the man refused to wear plastic cloves, said he couldn’t control the steering wheel properly with them on, well I don’t drive so I wouldn’t know how true that is, very colourful language followed, then she walloped him over the head with her handbag, went back into the house and slammed the door living him sitting in the car like an idiot.
The other one was between two elderly gay men who’ve be living together for over twenty years, nice men and usually very polite, but the names they were calling each other was hilarious, this was at their garden gate, and one of them was pleading with the other not to go into town, but he was insistent and the row hotted up, I mean if a straight person used such names for gays they would be arrested.

I suppose living in close quarters must be even tougher, like flats and apartments, especially if one is not too fond of the other.
I remember what an old Kerryman once said to me about tolerance, he said that tolerance is like living in the same building as another person but never having to live in the same room, made sense to me.

I read with disgust Longdogs thread about the rip off by the Birmingham chemist on the box of children’s Calpol, I think it’s especially evil to target items for children, how low can you go.
Phyllis sent away to the UK for this box of football cards for the grandson who’s 7, they arrived today, not a big rip off here but a rip off none the less, since when was the euro €1.50 to the pound? (that did not include the postage by the way) The next lot will be coming from China.