The Kebab & Calculator
This topic contains 1,224 replies, has 36 voices, and was last updated by Bluesqueakpip 3 years, 3 months ago.
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12 May 2020 at 09:23 #70651
@miapatrick I never really tend to go out that late. When I’m on holiday, I have been out as late as midnight sometimes, if I’ve gone to a show or at a theme park such as Disneyland Paris, but I’m way more conservative than most people. Others go out to all hours and get wasted, whereas I’m like ‘I want to stay in and watch Ant and Dec on the telly!’.
IMO the best snack to get when out for the night is a McDonald’s, because it’s quite light but just enough to put you on until breakfast the next day.
13 May 2020 at 01:35 #70652@miapatrick I have a very talkative brain myself so I sympathize and I share your insomnia. @dalekbuster523 We tend to go for pizza or Chinese food , maybe because they are both good for breakfast.
13 May 2020 at 06:41 #70654@winston – curry is the best breakfast!
13 May 2020 at 09:50 #70655@winston Yeah, you can’t beat a good pizza. Especially the ones they do in Italy. Those ones are delicious!
13 May 2020 at 09:51 #70656@miapatrick I’m more of a Rice Krispies person myself.
16 May 2020 at 19:44 #70679Hello @thane16 and all! I realized it was time to check in and see how everyone is doing. My husband and I are plugging along, both of us still working. They just reopened the beaches (with physical distancing rules in place, of course), so that’s a huge relief. Walks on the beach are one of my favourite stress-relievers. I’m looking forward to following the return of the shorebirds as they migrate back for the summer!
So far, my little corner of the world has no (as in zero, zip, nada) assigned COVID-19 cases. I don’t know how we have managed that, except that we are in a small, rural part of the province. And so somehow there has been no community spread of this virus. Because surely, if even one person picked it up from somewhere and brought it back, there would be community spread. But we haven’t seen that here. It’s a different story in the more densely populated regions of the province. And it may be a different story as temperatures warm up, and people come here, perhaps thinking they are “safe” here. Maybe, maybe not. We shall see.
@whisht Denmark! Oh, that’s one of my favourite places! Where in Denmark? My husband and I celebrated our 10th anniversary there, driving around the mainland. (He’d gone there for business travel, took one walk on a local beach and knew I’d love it. He was right!) I’m envious. I’ve always imagined living there. Of course, as is true with anywhere, vacationing there is, I’m sure, quite different from living there. So I doubt that those special trip memories would make the transition to full-time living there. But still ….
@missrori I sympathize. Believe it or not, I just read this comment on Facebook. My friend, a former co-worker in Kentucky, was complaining about meat prices. Here’s a reply to her post, quoted verbatim:
“Thank the Democrats for this fake plague… All of the meat producers have been shut down for several weeks. There’s plenty of meat, just not enough hands to process it. Prices will be stupid on meat for at least a month.”
Really, “fake plague”? And it’s the Democrats’ fault? Sadly, the Trumpsters are still out there.
17 May 2020 at 00:49 #70681They just reopened the beaches (with physical distancing rules in place, of course)
What? Really? That seems a bit risky. In Scarborough we’re telling all tourists to stay away from our beach. In fact, we’re telling them to stay away full-stop! As are Bridlington and Whitby.
18 May 2020 at 02:50 #70685@dalekbuster523 Nova Scotia beaches (especially in my part of the province) are rarely crowded. The crowds can be larger near Halifax, which is the only city in the province. Hence, the population density is higher there. But where I am, the population is sparse, and during most of my beach walks, even in summer, the most people I see are five, 10 at the most. Some beaches typically have only a few people. So it’s not at all risky. In fact, it’s far easier to practise social distancing at our beaches than almost anywhere else!
18 May 2020 at 09:41 #70686So…..I thought I’d start in the pub…And as you know I love all animals, cats, dogs, Gretchen….
Has anyone caught the German series Dark?
There’s a Gretchen loop. Tonnes of clever stuff. I can’t actually understand much of it but it seems plenty can.
Old Syzygy. Or is it Syzygy always & forever…
18 May 2020 at 15:57 #70687@nerys That must be nice. Scarborough is the complete opposite during holiday times. We get a lot of tourists usually, so if we didn’t tell people not to come it would be hard to socially distance on the beach.
19 May 2020 at 03:34 #70691@nerys Good to hear you are doing OK. I love your beaches because you can walk forever and hardly see a soul just beautiful shore birds. It is great that you have no Covid where you are, we don’t have as much as Toronto but our seniors have been hit hard and one home lost half of its people to this horrible virus. Maybe some of these covidiots who call it a fake could explain their reasons to the families of the victims .Oh well I tell my husband we have to take care of our own health in the end and rely on our own judgement to get us through. I do miss my granddaughters and their hugs but they are all healthy and that is what counts.
@thane16 I have not heard of the show but I will check it out. I hope you and the family are good and healthy. Have you picked out a door colour yet? My house is white and my door is a grey\blue colour that is very boring and I may change it when the stores are open and I can buy paint. You have inspired me to add a splash of colour.
Stay safe and sane everyone!
19 May 2020 at 23:28 #7069320 May 2020 at 00:18 #70695@winston A nursing home in Halifax has been similarly devastated. It seems especially cruel that people living out the last stage of their lives should be hit in this way, and their loved ones can’t be there with them. The COVID-19 deniers are exasperating … as are many “human nature” things these days.
I’m not sure how we’ve managed to escape the scourge of COVID-19 where we are, but I think a big part of it is because we are rural, and people can spread out rather easily. There’s not the congestion that big cities have. Now, when the summer really hits, and people feel free to travel more? And they think they’re “safe” by coming here? We’ll see if that changes. I hope not.
20 May 2020 at 04:41 #70696Things are indeed difficult at the moment, which is why we sometimes need a shot of humour. To that end (and something that will only make sense to Canadians):
Restrictions remain in place for Ontarians who can’t afford cottages
20 May 2020 at 07:41 #70697Hi all.
Have been in and out over the past few weeks, busy as always, though the lockdown has at least meant no meetings. It has almost felt like a holiday but have been trying to catch up on other work which I had been neglecting.
Good to hear all are well and keeping safe. Right now I am very glad to be living where I do. Despite our idiot government so aptly described by the chinese as a “kangaroo serving as the dog of the U.S.” we seem to be doing well, mostly because of the State Governments taking responsibility and an good health service. Low population density is a big factor too. @nerys I hope your region stays Covid clear.
We still have an expanded household which has actually been good though was difficult when there were shortages. We are now able to be in groups of up to ten so were able to have a meeting the other night. It was so nice to talk to people that everyone stood about for an hour in the cold afterwards chatting. All going well, in a month’s time pubs and cafes will open and this Saturday we are finally going to meet the “boy over the road’s” baby who was born just before lockdown. His mother has not seen her for almost two months which has been tough. (her first and only grandchild). @winston, I hope you are able to see your grandchildren soon too.
@whisht enjoy Denmark. It is a very interesting country. We only got to Copenhagen for one weekend. It rained, and rained and rained. We got soaked and spent half of one day sitting in a department store cafeteria drying out. The museum was mostly closed for renovations which was really disappointing for me, probably not for the boys who were getting “museum fatigue” by that stage.
@thane16 A wave from down south. Hopefully things are well on the way to recovery in your state too.
@blenkinsopthebrave I hope the Blenkinsop cellar is holding out. We are eagerly looking forward to being able to take a trip out to the Barossa which was in total lockdown for a while, thanks to some inconsiderate tourists.
Cheers
Janette
21 May 2020 at 03:18 #70700@blenkinsopthebrave We were surrounded by those cottagers , filling up the town and lining up in front of the stores they promised not to shop in. Apparently they feel that their taxes allow them to infect us. Ahhh covidiots. Thanks for the link.
@janetteb When I get to hug them I may never let go. Good to see that things are getting better in your area.
24 May 2020 at 21:22 #70702@blenkinsopthebrave Ha, we love The Beaverton! But, as @winston points out, it may be satire … but parts of it are all too true. Some folks wield their sense of entitlement like a bull in a china shop (at the expense of everyone else).
25 May 2020 at 04:12 #70703Where we live there are a number of neighbours who can probably afford a cottage, and their houses seem strangely unoccupied. But at least those who remain are very responsible. They wear masks inside shops, and we all keep our distance when walking to the shops, but we still manage to say hello to each other–even if it is from the other side of the street.
Fortunately, the Blenkinsop cellar is coping…
25 May 2020 at 12:33 #70706@blenkinsopthebrave It’s good that folks are being responsible. Sadly, there are some, in various parts of the world, who still believe none of this applies to them, and they are above it all. But I’m glad that’s not true where you are!
25 May 2020 at 16:15 #70707@nerys I think part of the problem is that some people think ‘It will never happen to me’. They act as though they are special, and as they are special they are immune in some way, when the sad reality is that nobody is immune from this thing.
Where I am in Scarborough, people seem to have been sensible. My Mum said she saw some suspiciously large groups the other day, but most were only in groups of two or three, and keeping two metres apart. I have seen videos of London that look quite bad however, so it’s clear that some in the country aren’t taking things seriously.
25 May 2020 at 18:19 #70709I suspect the videos have been carefully selected – at least, in my part of London people are generally being very careful and keeping apart. However I could, if I wanted to, find a large group to film, (teenage boys, usually) all suffering from ‘it can’t happen to me’ syndrome. The Thames Path last weekend was also extremely busy, and I think you could have got a camera angle that would make it look less-than-two-metre crowded, but the reality was that people were keeping their distance.
@nerys – yeah, I think population density (or lack thereof) has a lot to do with the rate of spread. Simple maths – even if only one in 400 people have Covid, but you live in an area with 4000 people per km squared, that’s ten people you can be infected by – without going out of your local area. But in a rural area with maybe 150 people per km squared, there’s quite possibly not anyone nearby to catch Covid from.
3 August 2020 at 08:03 #70867Hi all,
Hope everyone is well and getting through these tough times. The news is grim and getting grimmer. Here in Oz we are watching the headlines every day with suspended breath, and keeping fingers crossed that the border will hold but it is a very large border to patrol and Melbourne is only eight hours away. Some of our local small businesses are not reopening in case they have to close again. they are waiting things out, but overall despite the lack of rain I am glad that I chose to live where I do. The countryside is lovely still, and the sun is flooding into our garden once again.
Cheers
Janette
17 August 2020 at 13:36 #70908Hello out there. @janetteb I hope you’re doing well down in Oz, or at least better than things are up here in the United States. Not that that would be hard to do! It’s been a lot to stand up here of late, I’m pretty sure don’t need to tell you all why. On a personal level I’m okay, but sometimes life just seems like a circle of go to work (I’m one of those essential workers), go home, sleep, repeat. No conventions to go to for discussing DW or anything like that, a boyfriend I haven’t seen in months due to our long-distance relationship, etc. It’s not easy to cope, especially in a conservative household. Any advice would be welcome; I’ve caught up with a lot of old movies but a lack of positive news on anything (even entertainment fluff) is draining, and virtual relationships only go so far…
17 August 2020 at 21:10 #70911hey @missrori I hope your feel better soon about your work and relationships as the improve , this Covid 19 Crisis is awful but I hope it will end soon and we have learnt how to be kinder to each other, I find this forum and the community here to be marvelous and very caring so as I reckon you know all of us here will support everyone here no matter what, anything I can do to help your relationship with your boyfriend ?
I know it may not be my place to offer help with that personal situation as we just met but the offer is there 🙂
take care Missrori hugs 🙂
Declan Sargent
19 August 2020 at 03:46 #70918@missrori It is good to see you are okay and I feel the same as you about the endless cycle of work and isolation without some of the things that make life livable. It does start to wear on a person after awhile. Everything is cancelled or delayed or just too complicated or unsafe to bother with.Where I live in Canada (Hi! neighbor) I am already fairly isolated already but I miss my friends and family. We can only stay safe for them and cope . I am gardening and pickling and painting and all the “ings” you can think of including bingeing on movies and series.I also haunt my online library for ebooks.
Maybe try to learn a totally new skill like baking or painting or woodworking or just something you always wanted to learn like another language.Maybe something that takes you out of your comfort zone like writing a song or juggling?
I know the Covid-19 is very bad in the States and I hope that it starts to get better soon for all of you.
Stay Safe
19 August 2020 at 03:52 #70919@oochillyo I like your optimism and I also hope that when this virus goes away we will come out the other side kinder and wiser. Nice people like you will lead the way.
19 August 2020 at 04:06 #70920@winston good to see you out there!
@oochillyo welcome to Forum
@blenkinsopthebrave @nerys and… humour be good 🙂
We’re all still rumbling along in Brisbane with restrictions eased, then returned, then eased…then…then… It’s like a Tardis really. Evolving, regressing, retreating, re-reading. Or re-treading.
@winston we’re also doing lots of “ing” things. You do have to use your head, don’t you, to find new things to read, watch, meditate on & endure. I’m eating. That’s my big vice…gaining weight which is irritating…In Sydney, in March, I exercised & swam each day. The water was pretty cold for Sydneysiders -18 degrees on the best days but I loved it. In QLD, now, all pools are mostly closed. So I resort to the new pond & the hose. My pond has no ducks. Where have they gone? 😉
@janetteb we have summer already up in Bris, But I’m glad you’ve some sun flooding the garden.
If anyone has Disney, or want to, perhaps treat yourself to the fabulous Hamilton. An extraordinary must-see, imo.
-Puro the Age-d
19 August 2020 at 06:09 #70921Puro!
How brilliant to hear from you! Eating is to be encouraged, but how do you acquire it? We make the occasional furtive raid on our local grocery and wine store (suitably masked up) but the days of dining out seem to be a distant memory. Over here it is mid-summer, but being on an island, where we are, it is a very gentle summer. My God, do I remember the stifling summers of Brisbane! Back then, the word “streaming” referred to what was happening under my shirt in a Brisbane summer. In our new pandemic life it refers to our principal source of entertainment.
19 August 2020 at 06:49 #70922Hi Puro @thane16 really good to hear from you again. Glad that all is well up in Brisbane. It is like a yo yo at the moment. We are relatively relaxed here in S.A. but everyone is fearful and unwilling to make any plans. So many events cancelled. It does get a bit depressing but at least we can go out. Pubs, cafes and wineries are open and we are able to attend meetings in person. No sun in the garden today though. We are getting some very much needed rain.
@missrori it is good to hear from you and I do feel for your situation. Perhaps as @winston suggests take up a new hobby, a new challenge. Keeping busy helps fight back the “mind-clouds” I find.
@blenkinsopthebrave Your summery island sounds lovely. What I miss most at the moment is the possibility of travel. (not that we can really afford it anyway but is nice to dream.)
Cheers
Janette
20 August 2020 at 03:29 #70923@thane16 It is good to hear from you and to know you are okay. Life here is slowly opening up for those that want to go out (safety measures) but we still have not rid ourselves of Covid so for many like us seniors life is still on hold. There are about 100 new cases every day here in Ontario but it would be nice to lower that number.
I forgot to mention that with the baking comes the eating and with the eating comes the gaining. I have put on a few pounds myself! I have started to feed the painted turtles that live in our creek so they may be gaining weight too. I call it the Turtle Club and I am the only human and since I bring the snacks I am also the President. I might be suffering cabin fever.
@blenkinsopthebrave We also make an occasional raid on town for supplies and today we were giggling through the store cause it felt like we were in a video game what with following arrows down the aisles and avoiding people going the wrong way and turning around and running away from the unmasked baddie . Every trip to town for milk is an adventure.
Stay Safe everyone.
20 August 2020 at 20:38 #70926Puro; as @blenkinsopthebrave says, it’s great to see you back in the pub and to be reassured that you and yours are surviving the vicissitudes of the pandemic. At least Aus managed to cope pretty well with the initial onslaught of the virus compared with us in the UK, notwithstanding the recent upsurge in cases in Victoria.
Your reappearance has also reminded me that it is probably time that I dropped in to down a virtual pint and demonstrate (if there was anyone wondering) that I am still in the land of the living and coping reasonably well.
At the start of lockdown I expected to spend a lot of time vegetating on the sofa watching TV and catching up with box sets and programmes I had previously recorded, but in fact that hasn’t been the case. I have, however, been reading an enormous amount – many, many books from my shelves that I read years ago and wished to be reacquainted with, as well as new books on the ‘to read’ pile. I guess that it just goes to show that I am above all else a reader and always have been. Earlier this year, though, when Netflix offered almost the entire output of Studio Ghibli, I did take the opportunity to catch up on the films I hadn’t previously seen as well as some that I had.
Much as I enjoy the company and conversation of family and congenial friends, I’m generally happy in my own company, so isolation has not in itself been a problem.
Your description of playing dodgem in the supermarkets raised a smile and sounds all too familiar. According to the haematologists I’m in a fairly high ‘at risk’ category and should be shielded and self-isolating, but I do have to venture out for the occasional shopping expedition when I run out of fresh produce (and booze). I always aim to go early, so as to be at the front of the line when the supermarkets first open and there aren’t too many people about. Based on my limited experience, observance of the requirement to wear face coverings in shops and enclosed spaces is almost 100 per cent here, but people aren’t always so careful about following the directional arrows or keeping their distance, so it does sometimes call for nifty footwork.
For various reasons I haven’t been able to do much gardening lately and my patch is looking a bit dishevelled, but one afternoon I looked out of my study window and was startled and delighted to see a female Muntjac deer standing on my lawn. Muntjac are an introduced species in the UK which has become naturalised and increasingly common in this region of England. But it is still a very unexpected sight in a suburban garden less than a mile from the city centre – even though the gardens round here are well established, with many mature trees.
22 August 2020 at 18:15 #70929@mudlark. I came across this article that made me think of your past reflections on working in your garden. The longer we live in this lockdown, the more Mrs Blenkinsop and I have turned attention to our garden. Not to the degree evidenced in the article, but his story is very inspirational. It is also a great reflection on managing the trade-off between material success and personal satisfaction.
24 August 2020 at 16:13 #70933@winston We recently moved into a new house and between that and my weird working hours (I work a night shift and sleep in the afternoons) there aren’t a lot of opportunities to try baking and stuff as yet. I only go shopping about every other week now, the public library won’t open for no good reason, there’s no garden to work with, and I can’t work on most of the hobbies I do enjoy much less try new ones. And since I don’t share my folks’ conservative politics, trying to hash my feelings out in conversation is doomed to end in tears. At this point I’ll probably be okay if the current president is re-elected, because it’ll just be easier to deal with my family and stuff that way. It often feels like everybody in this country can do nothing but complain complain complain about every little thing instead of pulling together, accept that life isn’t fair, and let bygones be bygones. 🙁 I’m worrying that if this pandemic ever does end, there won’t be much left worth living for anyway. No live theater to enjoy, nowhere to have a relaxing vacation in, etc.
27 August 2020 at 02:37 #70938It is very hard to read the news these days without being confronted with American politics. And it is tiring. The more I read about where Trump is taking America the more I think of the original Star Trek episode about the mirror universe, where where all the positive aspects of the Federation had been turned into a violent, ugly world of naked power and self-interest.
27 August 2020 at 03:11 #70939@blenkinsopthebrave That episode scared me as a kid, it was really strange to see Kirk and the rest being so cruel,but evil Spock scared me the most. At a time when nobody me or my family knew wore a beard, I thought evil people grew beards.
Trump and his band of evil misfits should all grow evil little beards! I have a sister and nephews in the States and things are indeed bad there now in so many ways. As a Canadian I was always been influenced by our neighbours because of their TV , movies and music not to mention hippies and the peace movement and I once knew more of their history than our own. ( I learned my own now ) To see them try to go backwards in some doomed attempt to capture a past way of life is sad. The past was misogyny ,racial , gender and social intolerance, all the things that Trump seems to encourage now. I don’t get it, which is probably a good thing.
Stay safe.
1 September 2020 at 08:58 #70944I can’t be the only one here whose fandom stretches from Who to Marvel. And thus who woke the other day to the news that Chadwick Boseman, who played Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, had died at only 43 years old, having evidently been a cancer patient through the entirety of his work on four Marvel films, alongside his other work. I haven’t seen his non-Marvel films, but the importance of Black Panther can’t be over-estimated – it goes way beyond whether you’re into super hero movies. I wrote this about my response to the movie. (It was in a blog/talk about seeing women on the screen, doing stuff and making a difference, and how inspiring that was.)
And just to make the point, that I don’t, I really don’t, want to see nothing but white middle-aged middle-class short bespectacled women when I go to the movies, I had the same emotional response to Black Panther as I did to Wonder Woman. I wanted to weep, and to punch the air. Because ultimately, it’s not Me me I want to see there. It’s all of us. The human race in all its wild and ridiculous and glorious diversity. And if some straight white guys have to hutch up a bit to make room, well, Time’s Up, dudes.
If it was exhilarating for me, I can only imagine what that must have felt like to people of colour, those who’ve seen movie after movie where they are absent, or peripheral, or victimised, or expendable. And we all need black heroes, now especially. RIP Chadwick Boseman. Wakanda Forever.
2 September 2020 at 02:57 #70946@cathannabel I was really saddened by the news of his death, he was a great actor and more importantly a good human being. Black Panther was the black super hero we all needed and Chadwicks portrayal gave the character so much heart and soul and strength. He will be missed by all.
11 October 2020 at 18:17 #71039@janetteb Thought I would move the talk of housing over here. Yes, you are absolutely right about houses in Australia completely forgetting about the fact that it does actually get cold in winter! I grew up in one of those typical brick veneer post-war houses that seemed to be always hot in summer and cold in winter. Whereas our current house has a bunch of things that never seemed to enter builders’ minds in Australia. Things like removable storm windows. Our house is pre-war and they were an early form of double-glazing, which is a no-brainer, when you think about it. They really help to insulate the house in the winter. The other feature about many older houses here is the basement and the attic. After living most of my life in Australia where they are relatively unknown, I find they have a sort of “secret place” charm (which Canadians are bemused by as they take such architectural features fo granted).
12 October 2020 at 06:26 #71041@blenkinsopthebrave I always say that in Australia we are so focussed on keeping houses cool in summer that we entirely forget about the need to keep warm in winter, especially in S.A which has very cold winters. The early settlers built cellars and water tanks before they built proper houses. Our house originally had both but the former has been filled in. The kitchen was always separate to keep the cooking heat away from the main house. I guess they were used to cold but the heat must have been a shock to them. I can’t imagine how they survived those summers without any form of cooling and barely any fresh water.
It still makes sense to have cellars in Aus but post war housing is designed to be as cheap to build as possible with little regard for energy saving, comfort or aesthetics. I do think Australia must have the worst house design on the planet.
And another thing, (rant warning) that really irks me about Australian housing is the attitude that a house is an asset not a home. We were reprimanded repeatedly for “over capitalising” when we built an extension on our house, an extension that has enabled our children to stay at home, to have partners move in and friends to stay. (We now have seven people living in our house..) The money we spent vastly improved our quality of life but we were told we were throwing it away.
I agree re’ attics and cellars. When we lived in Sweden we had a three story house, basement, ground floor and attic level. It was not a large house but full of “secret spaces.” When we built the extension we built up rather than out, swallowing up the garden as is the trend here. Due to heritage restrictions we could not build above the original roof height but due to the ceiling height in the old house we were able to have attics. I do understand why Australians did not have attics as they get very hot in summer, even with heavy duty insulation and good air flow but for the kids it almost feels like their own place up there. We now have an “upstairs” cat. Eldest son and his girlfriend recently got a cat that has yet to leave their room, and meet the “downstairs” cat. Interesting times ahead..
cheers
Janette
12 October 2020 at 19:20 #71043When I was a teenager in the 1960s one of my favourite books was “The Australian Ugliness” by the architect Robin Boyd. It was a lacerating critique of what passed for Australian architecture, and one of the many memorable reflections he had was that suburban Australians suffered from “Aboraphobia”–the psychological fear of trees. And his comment on the role of “veneer” on the Australian psyche: “A country of…plastic veneers, brick veneers and the White Australia Policy.” Here is a pretty good (short) reflection on Boyd:
13 October 2020 at 01:56 #71044@blenkinsopthebrave Happy Thanksgiving Day! Hope you had a good one. We are shut down in Ontario and asked to stay home with only our household which means Mr. Winston and me. It also means a turkey that only he eats and a giant cheesecake (baked by me,first time!) that only I eat so…..it is track pants today.
It is a either an extremely hard or very easy year to find things to be grateful for. I am thankful for Doctor Who and the entertainment and distraction it gives me and because it gave me a chance to “meet” and talk to nice people from all around the world. How cool is that?
Have a good day and stay safe.
13 October 2020 at 03:01 #71045@winston Yes, Happy Thanksgiving Day in return! Of course, as a recent Canadian, I am still a little unknowing about the whole Thanksgiving thing in Canada. Mrs Blenkinsop tells me that it is connected to harvest time. I am willing to go with that, but that has no actual resonance for someone who grew up in Australia. What it means to me now is the necessity to find the garden rake and attend to all the “gifts” that the Gary Oaks have left on our lawn, the kerb and the street. I have to report that…strangely…I have not yet been able to locate the garden rake in the garden shed, even though the garden shed is about two metres square…
14 October 2020 at 01:58 #71046@blenkinsopthebrave Oh the “Mysterious Case of the Missing Rake” a strange case occurring all over Canada. I found mine hanging in one of our trees, no idea how it got there.
Stay safe.
14 October 2020 at 04:23 #71047@blenkinsopthebrave I know of the book though I have never read it. I do often think of the title, though I thought it was “The Great Australian Ugliness” when I look at post war houses. It seems Australian architecture is on a “race to the bottom”. Our houses get uglier and uglier. There is a street that I walk down when walking into town with some lovely colonial housing. One stone cottage would date back to the 1860s or 70s at a guess. It was recently extended, understandably as it would be no more than two rooms, but there has been no attempt made to compliment the style of the original. I just don’t understand the thinking or lack of. Even on a tight budget one can have sash windows in wooden frames, (I know..) and a rough render that won’t conflict with the stone and scream modern.
I hope you find the rake. When we lived in Sweden we had a similiar situation with the snow shovels. We did not realise their usefulness and let the boys play with them so when it snowed they were buried under the snow, disaster..
@winston Belated happy Thanks giving. Incidentally my Great, great, great grandfather moved to Moore township in Lambton County Ontario. The story is that he visited his son in Australia then went on to visit another son in Canada and settled there. I am reading this from family history so the names may well have changed over the years.
Cheers
Janette
17 October 2020 at 14:43 #71052Hmm, well I’ve reached the end of S11 with Battle of Ranskoor av Kolos. The episodes were gradually improving (Demons of the Punjab, Kerblam, It Takes You Away, and I posted my comments on them on the relevant pages) but I’m afraid Ranskoor raised a continual string of nitpicks which I won’t post since the thread for that episode had already noticed most of them.
Also, I came to this site while watching Season 10 when reading reviews of episodes I really liked, the Guardian’s reviewer gave a pointer to this place as being more positive than the Guardian’s ‘below the line’ comments pages which were full of negativity, so this site was more agreeable to me. I’m acutely conscious of the irony that with some of the S11 eps I’m actually agreeing with the Guardian ‘below the line’ comments that I previously shunned. Probably better if I don’t import it to this site.
So, I’ve still got the New Year (?) ep ‘Resolution’ to watch. After that, whether I’ll spring for the S12 DVD set I haven’t made up my mind yet, which is the first time in my progression through the eps I’ve queried that. I might break my usual no-spoilers rule and actually read some S12 reviews to see if it’s worth it.
However I also have the ‘last of old Who’ eps Ghost Light and Survival to watch; I’ve never seen a McCoy ep so that will be a new experience. From all accounts Ghost Light was really weird so it will be interesting to see if I can follow it. (Could it be any weirder than ‘Fall Out’, the final ep of The Prisoner, I wonder?)
18 October 2020 at 02:30 #71054janetteb This is one of life’s little coincidences, my husband grew up in the area that your ancestor settled in. It is beautiful country on the banks of Lake Huron which has miles of beaches and sand dunes. Even now it is a farming area with a big rural population. I hope he was happy here.
Stay safe.
19 October 2020 at 21:57 #71058testing – oh it is working. Tried on another thread & it ate my comment. Sorry for the noise
6 November 2020 at 03:24 #71079Felt the need to upload this.
Cannot imagine why I felt the need to upload this, at this particular time…
6 November 2020 at 04:22 #71080<@blenkinsopthebrave<
I think that I can hazard a guess.😊
6 November 2020 at 05:20 #71081Um. My reply just got eaten so try again.
Thank you for that link @blenkinsopthebrave A good antidote to the news, or lack of. This is torture even for us on the other side of the planet because the welfare of the planet is at stake.
Fingers crossed, toes crossed,
Cheers
Janette
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