Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Oh dear.. that Ethel having held her breath for so long probably farted in relief and flew off round the room when that waspy belt was removed. These poor souls that breathe in so as to look thin and the others that breathe out so that they look more muscular must enjoy pain. I have never believed in what the French say...il faut souffrir pour etre belle..one must suffer to be beautiful. (Please note I read that french bit somewhere in an article and thought 'what a load of twaddle'.)

It is interesting what gets put on stone pillars and even arches and as anyone who has driven along the very long wall on the A31 will have seen the 5 legged stag on top of the arch belonging to the Charborough Park Estate.

The fact you are usually concentrating on driving with just the occasional dodgy glance upwards at the stag doesn't give you much chance to count just how many legs that stag has so you are left with the option of returning to try and count them.. frustrated at not being able to tick that landmark off your list or convinced it's a Dorset tourist trick ....and gawd help you if it's a rainy day cos you haven't got a cat in hells chance of counting anything let alone legs.

Well that stag does not have 5 legs despite all the rumours of the old Duke driving by who could only count 3 legs ...just like the rest of us...so he had a fifth one added. Sadly wrong as it is simply a support to make sure that stag stays firmly put. Bit of a let down really but worth all the neck straining for the story alone.

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Nice one about the Stag with 5 legs, makes a change from all the three legged horses I know, and back.

I ran out of port on Wednesday and didn’t bother getting more in, but the daughter brought me two packs of Guinness draught, and I managed to halve the amount of smokes I normally smoke, which works out at 6, I never smoke more than 12 a day, but to be honest that’s chiefly because I only have 2 weeks of tobacco left and my son will not be going on his regular trips to Italy for some time to come, it’s two thirds cheaper over there and he brings me back all he’s allowed to, when that’s gone I’ll have to pay top whack for it.

I’m still doing my hour of exercises every day and thank God I’m as fit as a fiddle, Phyllis is too, and she’s out into her garden for hours on end with this lovely weather. “Her” young Robins are learning to fly and they keep her amused, when one falls the dog goes over to where it fell and barks to let her know where it is, he would never harm any of them, then she puts them back on the hedge.

Far be it for me to preach to anyone, but I think exercise is most important, daily exercise has served me well now that I am older, no creaking joints nor groans when getting up from chairs or bending down, it’s up and off like a Harrier jet for me, well not quite as fast as that, but I don’t sort of do a Lazarus and resurrect meself up like some of my fellow tipplers in the local.

I was just wondering how a policeman could arrest someone while keeping 6 feet away from them?
“I’m arresting you for murder, it’s my duty to shout you your rights, would you kindly put these handcuffs on yourself please" and he throws them over.
Criminals must think all their birthdays came together, courts shut down, prisoners being let out, nearly all premises empty just waiting to be broken into, and what have you, there’ll be the devil to pay when this is all over.
I think the CCTV cameras did away with all the old watchmen, but it’s so easy for those in the know to disable all the cameras, as they say, if someone is determined to get in they won’t be stopped.

Well the minister says we’ll be locked down/up/in/out or whatever until at lest the 5th of May, so we’ll just have to carry on regardless.

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

The world has been rather turned on it's head so's to speak and many odd things are taking place..however..so much money that is being spent on trying to support every aspect of this sorry situation plus folk self distancing and being shielded to protect the NHS

You and I may behave sensibly but I can assure you that the idiots who come down here for a bit of sun and fun behave just like that ..idiots. I'd like a penny for every drunken fool that has jumped off the pier when the tide is out..and someone has to repair that damage...idiots don't care about anyone till the damage has been done. Let the police have all the power to deal with this because they need it..respect for them has not worked in a lomg time..

Talking of exercise...in a kind of way.. I spent a very pleasurable morning sorting through and playing my old records ..or should that be 'vintage' collection of my records many of which I have carted all over the world along with whatever player I had at the time.

There was something about those singles eps and lps that stuck in your mind and recalled so many good times, places and those whom you used to dance with. Placing those records on...just holding the sides of course.. watching them drop one by one.. then the crackling sound before the first well known beat kicks in....all so very magical still.

Ok so my records have taken quite a beating over the years and are somewhat scratched.... but there again so am I.. par for the course of life be it vinyl or human.

As I sat listening and reminiscing I marvelled at the exhuberance of youth that allowed us to dance hour after hour the way we did..and still want more when it was time to close the dance hall doors...and then I laugh at the thought of even attempting a quarter of that now...no I'm kidding myself there..shall we be honest and say one dance. Reality is another lesson age teaches you.

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Yes we seemed to be able to dance forever when we were young, and so many new dances coming out almost every week, the twist, the clam, mashed potato, etc.
I was dancing with a tall girl in the Casino Hall one night and she kept flicking her right hand to the floor while jumping up and down, I said I didn’t know this dance, is it a new one?
"No, it’s just something I had in nose and I’ve been trying to flick it off my finger all night”

I found a good site for old murder mysteries from the 30’s and 40’s on youtube, great if you like that stuff and I do, the pre plastic era, for anyone who’s interested it’s called “Hastings mystery Theater” Theatre with the American spelling.

Anyway in a film I watched on the site last night I spotted a brass fender almost identical to one I had acquired from an old lady in Blackrock, it brought back to me the day I first spotted it at the side of her house.

I can’t drive so my sister drove me out to deliver an antique emerald bracelet the lady had left with me for major repair work, this would be 1998 or thereabouts, when we conducted our business and I was on me way out I noticed the 19th century brass fender at the side of her house and asked her why such a beautiful thing was left outside at the mercy of the elements, she said she was throwing it out and it was there for anyone who wanted it, well I said I would love to have it and seeing that the sister had the car we could take it there and then, so that was it.
The fender was black and grimy and in need of a good cleaning but I had all the gear to do a good job on it and it was just the right size for my fireplace, when finished it would shine like the Bailey Lighthouse and be a lovely surprise for the wife, so I said nothing to her and left it in the shed till I was ready to work on it.

I was very busy in work all that month so had no time to work on the fender, then about six weeks on I had the time so I went out to the shed to go to work on the old fender.
Well I don’t think I have to tell you what happened cos you’ll have guessed correctly that she gave it to a junk man who was going around the houses looking for scrap metal.
All I can say is that we came very close to having our first quarrel when she told me about it.
That night I went up to bed and cried meself to sleep.

This is the nearest I could find to what it looked like, or should I say what it would have looked like before fate interfered, but why worry about fate interfering when you have a wife.

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

LOL Jem Thats not a dance I would have forgotten either..but at least it was her nose she picked and not yours

I can't remember going into a house that did not have one of those brass fenders..it was all part of the hearth and somewhere to put your feet nearer the fire. Seen many a stockined foot and ankle kicking argument start over that and the only thing you knew that if you lost you were saved from your chilblains itching from the heat..so although you may have had cold toes you had your revenge in a sort of way

Reading about a French chap who was recently given a flight in a fighter jet as a retirement present. Although he would rather have not taken the flight...he did...and all went OK apart from his sky rocketing BP until the fighter did a climb scaring the living daylights out of the poor chap who panicked and grabbed hold of an handle..and by this time I can hardly read the print from laughing and sensing what is coming next.

With a bang...a very loud bang our chap is ejected tout suite..as the french say. Shaken and definitely very stirred our retiree eventually lands...and as they say in all these incidents ..heads will now roll...and lessons will be learned

Full story
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ng-2500ft.html

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

God forgive me, but I can’t help laughing at that poor pensioner in the ejector seat, I’d love to see the face on him when he realised he was slung out of the plane, that ad springs to mind “What kind of cheese was that”

I was surprised to hear there is no centenary bonus for UK citizens Solo, what a shame, to give them their fair dues here they have always looked after their old folks, all old age pensioners get a double week as a Christmas bonus, and they have extended the fuel allowance for another month on account of folks having to stay at home during the corona thing. We have free travel on all busses and trains, we also automatically receive a free TV license when we reach 65.

We used to have a “Hop” in the church hall every Saturday night, a hop as you know was when they played all the latest popular records.
All the girls would be on one side of the hall and the lads at the opposite side, when the music started it was always the girls who were first to get up to dance with each other, it took a long time for any of the boys to get up the courage to ask a girl to dance, fear of refusal was the main factor here, so one way to overcome that was to ask one of your mates to go across the floor with you and “Split a pair”, this would automatically halve the embarrassment if refused.
The real good looking girls were off limits to the likes of me and my mates so one had to sort of weigh up ones chances with the ‘medium’ looking girls if you get me. It’s laughable now but when you’re at that vulnerable age it’s a right kick in the teeth to be refused, destroys the fragile bit of confidence it took to ask in the first place.
One trick I learned from an older mate was when dancing with a girl and you wanted to ask her out on a date was to use the sure fire cover your back method, it went like this.

Boy: “Are you doing anything tomorrow night?”
Girl, with a stern face on her: “Yes I am”
Boy: “Well don’t forget to pull the chain after yeh”

This was the very first record I bought as a youth, 4/6 it cost then, a big chunk out of the 2 quid I earned as an apprentice.

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Well solo "Home is where the Hearth IS".

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

spitty...There was no doubt that a real fire and hearth made a home welcoming and If you were lucky enough to have an oven attached no cooking today filled a room the way food cooked in it did..be it bread or a good stew. Toasting bread on a long fork.. chucking chestnuts or potatoes on the coals all made for times now long gone...along with the tea leaves used to dampen down the fire at night....but the memory smells linger on.

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Jem.. Us pensioners here get a £10 xmas box (if you qualify...a winter fuel allowance and the so called free bus pass... Free TV is on hold at present till the Beeb decide which talentless celeb they want to employ with a huge payout so they will tell us they can no longer afford to give free TV to us oldies.

Any freebies we get is begrudged by those who feel the money would be better going to non working layabouts and unmarried mothers. Most pensioners exist on the Government pension and have learnt to adapt to that knowing that you got bugger all in the past and are grateful for todays generosity. Nuff sed.

All teens must have had the same insecurities we had regardless of the age we lived in. "Does this hose make my leg look good..is my crinoline on straight...Is my wimple crooked...Does this ruff make my face look fat....does this bustle make my bum look big", I think it's part and parcel of what youth is all about..accepting what you are and what you are not and how others percieve you can be painful but once you have got your bearings in life by gawd does your confidence grow...though I still mentally shrink a bit at the way I did treat some of the wanna be beaus that came my way.

Apache was my first Shadows record...sheer guitar brilliance..and at the time we also never realised Bruce would never be able to master even simple dance steps

Now you would not think a bucket would be useful in this virus age we are in but a quick thinking daughter whose Mum lives in an upstairs flat delivers her goodies in a bucket. How good is that. A rope, Mums muscles...job done. Certainly beats chucking a spud up and inadvertantly knocking a neighbour you by mistake. (mind you Mum may end up looking like a power lifter by the time this is over)

story here
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ntraption.html

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

My dear old man was in charge of everything combustible, he used paper and other stuff to get the thing going, spose you could say, the Fossil Fueled the Fire.