Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

I came across a sign recently - and this is a real quote which personally I dislike so not my invention "The Queens Legs - Open all hours" I am not a loyalist by any stretch of the imagination but find this somewhat crude to say the least! Now that would be interesting on here a quick sharp thread that may go on for ever " Pub signs around the world"? Some that come to my mind immediately - "the pig and whistle" - don't use pubs anymore - home brewer myself - trying to think of more - strain strain: see if you can identify their origins?

The Spinifex
The Boab Inn
The King Sound Hotel

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

There’s an awful lot of Kings Arms and Queens Legs pubs in England Bret, arms and legs all over the place, two of my favourite town pubs here were called “The Elbow Inn” and “The City Arms”.
There were two pubs facing each other off Dame Street, one was “The Stags Head” and the other was “The Stags Tail”, seriously, and they used to joke about what was in the middle, "The Stags----" no need to say it.

The Spinifex could be something to do with weavers, we have an old pub here in Dublin’s Liberties called “The Wavers”, in bygone days it was used by the many weavers in the area, the bosses and the publicans were in cahoots, the weavers were paid on the premises for their work and a lot of them spent their wages over the bar, a new law had to be enacted to stop the practice of paying wages in pubs as whole families were going hungry in Dublin, Dockers were also paid in pubs back then, and they were all heavy drinkers.

I couldn’t even have a guess at number 2.

The Kings Sound Hotel, and this is only a wild guess, might have an army barracks nearby and the bugle blowing in the morning could be the “Kings sound” therefore the name?

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

We have two popular pubs in the Dublin mountains, everybody who takes a drink knows them or of them, one is “The Ring of Feathers” and the other is “The Cuckoo’s Nest”. they overlook the tiny bird sanctuary island in Dublin Bay called “Irelands Eye”, many’s the good night I’ve had in both establishments.
Lots of pubs in the vicinity of the bay have or had names called after birds of the feathered kind, we had “the Swallow”, “The Lark”, “The Seagull” etc., we even had one where house burglars hung out and fenced their goods, that was called “The Crow Bar”, honestly!, tough joint, I was only in it once and that was enough.

When the brother came over from London with his new wife in !970 they had rented a car and were off to the mountains for the day, his wife was driving the car and she said to me that she had been over here before and knew how to get to the Cuckoo’s Nest but where was the Ring of Feathers?
“Around the hen’s arse” says I, that broke the ice as it was the first time I’d met the girl.

He’s almost 20 years dead now and I still miss him, he was me best pal, but his widow has been coming over to us every year since, barring last year on account the pandemic, she was a nurse and was born and reared in London, a fine woman.

I’m getting drunk talking all about pubs, haven’t had a pint since this bloody pandemic started.

**************

I’m sure this little bit of information will be of use to someone out there, seems we didn’t descend from apes after all, we descended from Scottish fish!.

“Ancient armoured fish pioneered sex as we know it some 385 million years ago in what is now Scotland, scientists say.
The Microbrachius dicki - a bony 8cm-long fish which lived in ancient lakes - is believed to be the first-known animal to reproduce by having sex instead of by spawning.” Sky news.

I always thought it was Errol Flynn who pioneered sex as we know it, but that’s what comes of me reading too many Hollywood gossip magazines in my youth.

I must say the “Microbrachius Dicki” is aptly named, all I can see is it’s tail, here’s an artists impression of two cute dicki heads in love, what a wonderful world we live in.

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Stop being such a clever dicki.

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

"things ain't half hot Mum"?

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

well I twas just about to be givin ya some clues about the pub names and realized that ya man of few words has wot me old granny used to exclaim " come on as the cat got ya tongue? he hasn't had a go - one at a time will do spitty or the fella fruitcakes!

so a while longer perhaps but very well done Jem good try but wrong!!

omg so wez all bloody scots now - billy connolly used to tell a good tale about his sex life once? said he and pamela sex life were like a couple of pigeons - one quick jump on - two jumps about and off again!

and if that's what an ancient scottie looked like than be jamus god help us all - come to think about it and still on sex - I have never seen two kangas havin a go either - I've been in the woods [steady on steady on now] and seen way they sleep at night - lovely circular flattened grass but not sex. haven't seen dolphins do it of whales or koalas or possums - we could do a whole series on this couldn't we if we had the time but seems wez all as busy as a buzzard on a branch heh?

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

In the old days, from the 40’s up to the 70’s, Dublin’s council estates were springing up all over the outskirts of the city, families enjoyed a lot more space and all the houses had gardens, except of course the high rise flats which were a disaster and are gone now thank God.
A whole new experience for them living in a house, most having come from condemned town tenement rooms, six kids in one bed, rats and dampness type of situations.

On the first built new estates the families averaged five kids plus the parents, and in each family there was always the posh one, or one pretending to be posh if you like, we had our youngest brother and the wife’s family had an older sister Doris who spoke as if she was reading the BBC news in the early days of television. It was so out of place considering all the other girls and boys in the family spoke like newspaper sellers on a street corner.

Anyway, I’m not slagging anyone who speaks perfect English, but when in Rome etc., that was just to give you an idea of the times back then and to tell you about the first time I called to the wife’s hall door to take her to the pictures. I had known the wife from childhood, her mother and mine were great pals, but as we grew older we didn’t see much of each other till I met her at a dance and asked her out.

The wife’s family were purchasing their house while ours was rented, and it was akin to the halfpenny looking down on the farthing, I was a bit nervous but determined to stand me ground, I remember it as if it was yesterday.

I knocked gently on the door and it was just my luck that Doris answered it, she would be about eighteen at this time, I was sixteen.

“Is Phyllis in please?”

“Who are you?”

“I’m Jimmy, I have a date with her, I have two tickets for the Rialto cinema”

“Oh, I see, the Rialto? that’s the cheapest cinema in the country, well she shalt be ready for quite some time, she’s engaged in washing and shampooing hur hur”

“Shampooing her what?’

“Hur hur, I said, are you doff or something?”

“Well tell hur I’ll be waiting under the lamp across the street when hur hur is dry, thank you”

And I walked away.

When we were sitting in the cinema Phyllis asked me what Doris said, I told her, she just laughed.

“Jaysus Jimmy, don’t mind that one, she’s a pain in the arse!, she went to electrocution lessons with the Dominican nuns and now she thinks she’s the Queen mother.”

I was back on level ground again, but the contrast between the sisters was incredible, amazing what a few nuns can do to a townie young one.

To this day in our house whenever the wife is in the bathroom and a member of the family rings I always answer “She’ll be with you presently, shalt be long, she washing hur hur”

Incidentally Doris married the Belfast businessman she was secretary to, he was a two faced brandy guzzling womaniser who gave her an awful time of it, lovely house etc., but she had a terribly unhappy life with him, he died about 25 years ago in a car crash on a country road, he was drunk behind the wheel of his car and crashed into a tree, his young female passenger lost a leg in the accident.
They had no children and she remarried happily two years after his death.
I’m glad to say we get on great today, although I haven’t seen her since this covid thing, they live in Wexford.

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Ah Jem you'll be bringin tears to me eyes now ya will lad - one of their best and saddest I'd say. But a nice bit of the craic from ya too!

but back to the pubs names - yes I know you thought I'd forgotten that - wot lost ya memory laddie? I'll give eh a few clues.

spinfex - think of those black and white cowboy movies?

boab - they came from India originally and floated to oz

King Sound - ah this is the hardest of them all to be sure - think of rushin water - NO not russian water rushin water?

oil give ya 5 days to cater for the stoop!

well I was sitting under coolabah tree the other day with me faithful dog bluey waitin for the troopers to come along when I noticed the leaves were fallin rapidly - so I took out me thermometer and tested the day - sure it was 31 C midday - that's cool for these parts. must be droppin to round 20 at night for sure? Ay winters on the way, betta find meself so more work and a good billet on some farm or homestead - bones are gettin more brittle these days.

I wonder if those lads really enjoyed wearing those "mops" like that - there's lookin a bit jaded these days?

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

The Spinifex: - I thought perhaps this was something to do with sailing ships, relating to spinnaker, spinner, spindrift etcetera, but your clue now makes me wonder if it's a type of horse, or a derogatory name for a native.

The Boab Inn: - I don't know what a Boab is, but I thought perhaps an animal or a slang name for an occupation.

The King Sound Hotel: - My first thought was indeed water, as in Falkland Sound, so a pub near a large expanse of sea.

My cousin/SiL used to refer to a pub called The Disappointed Lady. I couldn't work it out. I'd never heard of a pub with that name round here, so I asked her where it was. Next time I was out that way I drove along the road she mentioned and there was the pub. It was actually called ... The Halfway In(n).

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Actually I wasn’t forgetting the pub names Bret, I just didn’t want to google the word ‘boab’ for example, after a while you’ll get to know that I never cheat by using google on any questions asked, what’s the point of cheating yourself just because you can’t figure it out?
Anyway I still haven’t a clue what boab is or means, but now you tell me it floated to Australia so that’s something for me to work on for starters, some kind of big hard nut or fruit springs to mind, I’ll be needing the 5 days though, and I’ll be back on it with another guess when or if I get a bulb moment me oul cobber.

Me brain is out of sync all day, I’ve been caught out in some heavy sudden showers (no brolly with me) and me in me new bright Summer gear wot I spent a small fortune on, there was I strolling out in the midday sun like a tourist until the heavens opened and no shelter insight.

You might say my cake was left out in the rain, I looked like MacArthur’s Park when I got home.
The wife thought she was having an optical conclusion, she just laughed, It’s a wonder she didn’t say “If I knew you were coming I’da baked a cake”

I think Fruity is on the ball there Bret, knows his onions does he, that’s one fruitcake that wasn’t left out in the rain.

MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don't think that I can take it
'Cause it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again
Oh no!

I never could figure out what that Richard Harris song was all about, I like his acting but the chap couldn’t sing for his supper.
One would need to be a confectioner to figure out the answer to that one.