luckyseven
Posted a lot
Owning sneering dismissive pedantry since 1970
Posts: 3,839
Club RR Member Number: 45
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Jun 10, 2019 12:39:14 GMT
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I never quite understood the cover of The Grateful Dead's From The Mars Hotel... although it was a bit The Dead; The wilderness years anyway and rather... well, croony. Ship of Fools was an OK track though hardly what they were good at when they shook up conventional pop wisdom years before. But anyway, the cover.  What's with the mirror writing? Was that going to be the title and then they changed their mind? Rumours of what? Who knows? We should be told! ....nobody cares, do they? I'll get me coat |
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Jun 11, 2019 11:18:11 GMT
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What's with the mirror writing? Was that going to be the title and then they changed their mind? Rumours of what? Who knows? We should be told! ....nobody cares, do they? I'll get me coat That's simple. If you reflect it through six mirrors, turning the cover, anticlockwise of course, six times, whilst drinking six pints of Stella one after the other through a straw, it reads, "Murder your sister". Or somesuch. |
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Jun 11, 2019 11:18:55 GMT
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Oi! Less 'Cheggers plays Plop' and more devil dogs, flooding, Manila news and Ace Hardware girls!  Point taken! |
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Just to get a rail related pic in, here is our new Straight nearly finished, station.....There had been an "S" bend in the old one which made access difficult, restricted the speed of all through trains and had a short platform.  |
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luckyseven
Posted a lot
Owning sneering dismissive pedantry since 1970
Posts: 3,839
Club RR Member Number: 45
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Jun 13, 2019 13:23:16 GMT
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Just to get a rail related pic in, here is our new Straight nearly finished, station.....There had been an "S" bend in the old one which made access difficult, restricted the speed of all through trains and had a short platform. Also pictured...one of the last great engineering triumphs of the United Kingdom; an HST They'll all be gone soon, enjoy them while they last, every vibratory, stinky, oily moment of it |
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MiataMark
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,971
Club RR Member Number: 29
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Jun 13, 2019 17:59:46 GMT
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Just to get a rail related pic in, here is our new Straight nearly finished, station.....There had been an "S" bend in the old one which made access difficult, restricted the speed of all through trains and had a short platform. Also pictured...one of the last great engineering triumphs of the United Kingdom; an HST They'll all be gone soon, enjoy them while they last, every vibratory, stinky, oily moment of it The last one has run on the GWR Bristol to London line, pity as the new, Hitachi, trains are not as comfortable. |
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1990 Mazda MX-52012 BMW 118i (170bhp) - white appliance 2011 Land Rover Freelander 2 TD4 2003 Land Rover Discovery II TD52007 Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon JTDm
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Jun 14, 2019 13:04:09 GMT
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I liked the HST. Macclesfield to Euston was a regular and later, somewhere in London (just how many terminal stations can one place want?) to Swindon. Anyway, as we head towards the rainy season, with attendant flooding, imagine how heartened I was when, on Wednesday, Independence Day (I've explained this complicated "Day" thing before - search!) I managed to snap the very thing upon which I can depend for our rescue, should we become inundated...   Note the special issue emergency Hi-viz flowery shirt, so we can see him through the sewage and fluorescent tubes. Makes you all warm and comfortable inside, doesn't it? |
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Last Edit: Jun 14, 2019 13:06:59 GMT by georgeb
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MiataMark
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,971
Club RR Member Number: 29
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Jun 14, 2019 14:11:37 GMT
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I liked the HST. Macclesfield to Euston was a regular and later, somewhere in London (just how many terminal stations can one place want?) to Swindon. Paddington to Swindon, so compared to Bangkok how does Swindon fare? |
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1990 Mazda MX-52012 BMW 118i (170bhp) - white appliance 2011 Land Rover Freelander 2 TD4 2003 Land Rover Discovery II TD52007 Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon JTDm
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That's the johnny! So compared to Bangkok how does Swindon fare? I hate this sort of question. It's like being one of the judges at a Barangay beauty contest (and yes, I have!). How do you let the munter down gently? Well, Bangkok doesn't have a Tricentre. Actually I was trying to look for a positive for Swindon there, but on reflection, Bangkok may be the better for it. Bangkok doesn't have a direct rail connection to London. Whoops, that'll be another positive for the Thai capital. And let's ignore beer, women and weather... Ah, I give up. How does Swindon fare?  |
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Apologies to all Swindonians, or similar. Gonna have to call a temporary halt on the subject of, "Why Swindon is better than everywhere else," debate. just as it was getting going as well! And the reason? Well, I'm sitting on my balcony of a Sunday afternoon, beer and Kindle aside me as is my wont, when I heard the sound of high revving racing engines. Now, we live in a nice quiet part of town, where racing engines are a fairly rare thing, so my interest was piqued. "Let's have a wander to the end of the road," I thought. Wow, just like the Isle of Man! Except without the Dunlops, McGuinness or indeed, any safety.  Two laps of racing in the last clip, plus the whatever they call the last one where they go a bit slower. bstardchild will know the word I'm groping for, due to racing and stuff. You'll notice a slightly more lax approach to marshalling than say, Silverstone (or even RR at Goodwood), but never mind, we all had to start somewhere! Good fun and I hope it takes off. |
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Last Edit: Jun 16, 2019 9:32:34 GMT by georgeb
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Tazzy
Part of things
Posts: 114
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Jun 16, 2019 10:07:49 GMT
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Isle of Man |
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jimi
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,174 
Member is Online
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Jun 17, 2019 19:10:05 GMT
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Just to get a rail related pic in, here is our new Straight nearly finished, station.....There had been an "S" bend in the old one which made access difficult, restricted the speed of all through trains and had a short platform. Also pictured...one of the last great engineering triumphs of the United Kingdom; an HST They'll all be gone soon, enjoy them while they last, every vibratory, stinky, oily moment of it HST's are alive & well and living in Scotland  |
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Black is not a colour ! .... Its the absence of colour
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You may be aware of a recent incident where a Filipino fishing boat was rammed and sunk by an, allegedly, Chinese naval vessel, in the hotly disputed Philippine Sea. It is the latest in a long line of confrontations between the two nations in the area. This is causing all sorts of problems here, as Mr D has recently signed infrastructure aid deals worth millions of dollars with China. In addition, and following the liberal use of KY gel, he has pretty much bent over to all Chinese maritime demands, including oil and gas exploration rights, in exchange for them allowing the opening of a branch of Jollibee in the Gobi Desert. This latest incident therefore, is a mite inconvenient and embarrassing for the government, to say the least. They are desperately trying to downplay the whole affair whilst, in the meantime, the Chinese are probably curse word their sides! Fortunately, we at LfM were able to access a transcript recording of part of the secret government inquiry into the occurrence:- Important Government Lawyer: “Captain, can you tell us about the vessel that rammed you?”
Insignificant Little Fisherman: “Yes, it was Chinese.”
Important Government Lawyer: “Ah, but how do you know that?”
Insignificant Little Fisherman: “Well, it had Chinese writing on it and was flying the Chinese flag.”
Important Government Lawyer: “Tell us, have you ever seen Martian writing?”
Insignificant Little Fisherman: “Martian writing? Why, have you?”
Important Government Lawyer: “I am asking ze qvestions here! (laughter) Now, again, have you ever seen Martian writing?”
Insignificant Little Fisherman: “Erm, no, no I haven’t.”
Important Government Lawyer: “So you admit that you couldn’t tell the difference between Martian and Mandarin?”
Insignificant Little Fisherman: “If you put it that way, I suppose not.”
Important Government Lawyer: “I do put it that way. Now, can you describe the flag for us?”
Insignificant Little Fisherman: “It was red, with stars on it, like a Chinese one.”
Important Government Lawyer: “Hmm, ‘like a Chinese one.’ Are you aware that Mars is also known as the Red Planet?”
Insignificant Little Fisherman: “No, I didn’t know that.”
Important Government Lawyer: “And are you also aware that if you stood on the surface of Mars at night and look up, you will see stars, same as here on earth?”
Insignificant Little Fisherman: “I suppose that makes sense.”
Important Government Lawyer: “It does. Therefore, if we put those two things together, isn’t it possible, nay, even likely, that the Martian flag would be red and have stars on it?”
Insignificant Little Fisherman: “Well…”
Important Government Lawyer: “So, following this logic, could it not just as easily have been a Martian ship that rammed you, rather than Chinese? Is it not also safe to assume that you, you who has just admitted your gross ignorance of these matters, jumped to the incorrect conclusion because you can’t tell the difference between Chinese and Martian writing or flags?”
Insignificant Little Fisherman: “I’m…”
Important Government Lawyer: “In a nutshell, and given the above, can you be 100% certain it wasn’t a Martian ship? And I suggest you think very, very carefully before you answer this.”
Insignificant Little Fisherman: “Erm, well…maybe, no.”
Important Government Lawyer: “Thank you Captain. That will be all.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I think that concludes the enquiry. From what we’ve heard this morning, we can safely and categorically state that it was obviously the dastardly Martian’s who purposefully rammed an innocent and peace loving Filipino fishing vessel. Even worse, they not only sank it, but then callously sailed on, leaving its unfortunate crew to their fate.
“We therefore recommend to cut all trade ties with Mars and recall our Ambassador, no less. Who knows, we may even consider declaring war. They need to learn not to mess with the mighty Philippines! (Applause) “By the way, we look forward to your continuing cooperation in this matter Captain, so we’ll just hold onto your children for a bit longer, I think.”And if you find that far-fetched, the real downplay isn’t much less believable! |
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Last Edit: Jun 19, 2019 5:07:50 GMT by georgeb
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luckyseven
Posted a lot
Owning sneering dismissive pedantry since 1970
Posts: 3,839
Club RR Member Number: 45
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Jun 19, 2019 10:46:32 GMT
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 Sadly, I imagine the actual transcript was much shorter and along the lines of "do you want you and everyone you've ever met or spoken to ever to disappear without any trace of their ever having existed?" "err...no" "You hit a rock, didn't you?" "Err...yes. Thankyou for this opportunity"
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Last Edit: Jun 19, 2019 10:46:42 GMT by luckyseven
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Jun 19, 2019 11:51:37 GMT
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This is just like most honourable Chinese imperial tanks being attacked by western made bicycles in Tienanmen square.
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scdan4
Part of things
Posts: 39
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Jun 19, 2019 16:47:07 GMT
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I’ve just got here from page 1.
Thank you George, you write beautifully.
If I may, please have a look at how to introduce dogs together, gently. You had 2 lovely mutts fighting over you to win your love and now one has lost out. I could think of no better family companion for the mean streets of ankh morpork than a pibble. With your record of waif and stray collecting I’m sure it won’t be long before the next turns up.
Stay safe and please keep writing.
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Sadly, I imagine the actual transcript was much shorter and along the lines of "do you want you and everyone you've ever met or spoken to ever to disappear without any trace of their ever having existed?" "err...no" "You hit a rock, didn't you?" "Err...yes. Thankyou for this opportunity" A Rappler report today... “The captain of Filipino fishing boat Gem-Ver changed his tune on Wednesday, June 19, about the sinking of their vessel, after a closed-door meeting with Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol in a house surrounded by cops.
Backtracking on his earlier assertion, Gem-Ver captain Junel Insigne is now unsure if a Chinese ship intentionally sank their vessel in Recto Bank (Reed Bank) in the West Philippine Sea.” |
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Last Edit: Jun 20, 2019 4:42:48 GMT by georgeb
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I’ve just got here from page 1. Thank you George, you write beautifully. If I may, please have a look at how to introduce dogs together, gently. You had 2 lovely mutts fighting over you to win your love and now one has lost out. I could think of no better family companion for the mean streets of ankh morpork than a pibble. With your record of waif and stray collecting I’m sure it won’t be long before the next turns up. Stay safe and please keep writing. Thank you, very kind of you to say so. All four of our dogs arrived at different times, so all had to be (and were) successfully integrated into the "Pack", with zero issues. However, I fear the Pitbull was probably beyond successful integration, or certainly beyond my abilities, or time availability, to do so. He appears to be insanely jealous of other dogs due to his previous upbringing (had I known the whole backstory before, I wouldn't have tried. I know my limits!) and really needed a home where he is the sole centre of attention, which he now has. With our four around, that couldn't happen. Hopefully he's happy in his new home. |
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Jun 20, 2019 12:37:45 GMT
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So, of course you're all wondering how a typical weekend looks from a tropical Lotus Eater's point of view...  Last Friday night, I bade my driver good evening, wishing him a good weekend (always be polite to the help), got mugged by the dogs and had the maid (who's name is, believe it or not, Cinderella - what were her parents thinking?) carry my case upstairs, whereupon I was greeted by Madam and Tania. Madam announces she's going to see a friend of ours, who is visiting from Finland (presumably so she can get warm) and will be home tomorrow. This leaves me and Tania. We chat over a few beers. Feed pups. Early night for all. Saturday was spent just pottering with dogs, pups and a couple of cold ones until Tania, not being one to splurge on unnecessary Father's Day gifts, announces that she wants me to have a hangover for Sunday. To assist in her ambition, I buy the booze. She surely tried but, bless her, I've never sobered up long enough to have one in years. Anyway, her attempt led to a very pleasant little session on the balcony, following which, I poured her into her pit at around midnight, then slept the sleep of the just and righteous, with two dogs curled up on me feet. Sunday was a catch up on Le Mans day, and much of it was spent on WhatsApp with my son in the UK, with both of us watching the same live feed and listening to Radio Le Mans on headphones, whilst criticising everyone's race strategy. With a few cold ones, we could imagine we were sat on the bank of Maison Blanche with a cold case of 1664. No, really. Had a great day. Tania surfaced around 2pm. She has great hair after a long kip. Looks like she's had her fingers in a 220V socket. I laughed. She gave me a look. Apparently, you're not supposed to mock a 16 year old girl's hair. Who knew? Madam arrived home late Sunday afternoon. Seems her mate had plied her with Finnish reindeer antler and pine cone vodka, or somesuch, and she was incapable of speech, let alone driving home Friday or Saturday night. I can relate to mates like that. She retired to bed as soon as she'd locked the car. Tania orders chicken + rice + burger + spaghetti from Jollibee, to be delivered. That'll be the tapeworm fed then. I pay, so forgiven for the hair laugh. Says goodnight. Another lightweight. Watch the end of the race, take the pee out of Toyota's attempt at explaining why the slower car won. "Goodnight Dad, glad we caught that together today mate.' "Me too Son, enjoyed that. Goodnight." "Goodnight Madam, goodnight Tania." Silence. Had nightcap. Fell asleep, avec dogs. Then it was Monday, which we shall not talk about. Conclusions? 1) Love teenage daughters that want to out-drink the old man. 2) Love the technology that allows a Sunday like that to happen. 3) Like many others, hate Monday.  Gosh, It's Friday tomorrow. |
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luckyseven
Posted a lot
Owning sneering dismissive pedantry since 1970
Posts: 3,839
Club RR Member Number: 45
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Jun 20, 2019 13:03:17 GMT
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I fear you've got soft.... 3) Like many others, hate Monday. Gosh, It's Friday tomorrow. .... every day's a Wednesday on the railway  |
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