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  • #54234
    winston @winston

    @arbutus and @puroandson   The bar I worked in had been a pub for a long time and had a walk-in cooler in the basement where the kegs were kept. but they were the kind that was under pressure. I loved that room on hot days and volunteered to change the kegs or throw up soda or bottled beer.

    Katherine Hepburn is also one of my all time favourites. The movies True Grit and African Queen are great faves of mine. The other day I watched Bringing Up Baby with her and Cary Grant and I love it more each time .

    #54235
    Anonymous @

    @winston  @arbutus (you’re very kind about my jokes!)

    Yes the lever pull! Exactly. That’s what I meant about “pulling”

    Others use “pulling” in a different way. I thought “pulling” as in getting laid (I dislike this terminology) was a new thing. I was watching a film from 1983 and there it was: “did you pull?”

    Gross.

    Winston: I’m with you: I have no taste for it. As a kid, dad would say “have a sip of this” and I would have a mouthful. I loved just that. It was icy cold and delicious. It was cold that I liked not the taste I believe. I must admit drinking a pint of anything fizzy is atrocious to my health. Even at 18, I couldn’t take more than 150 ml of a pint.

    Everyone pointed and laughed 🙂 It sounds like you prefer the sweet to the dry when it comes to alcohol, Winston?

    Microbreweries are everywhere in Canada now, arbutus? I see ads popping up all the time.

    Hepburn is wonderful in so many ways. Her mellifluous voice (well, it is to me) is just delicious: like a strong lemonade on a hot, dry day.

    To coffee: I have an urge to purchase a coffee machine for this new kitchen (a hellish hellish build). Now, which one do you have? Is it easy to use arbutus? Does it ‘do’ milk? Not that this necessarily matters as I generally have a long macchiato or a black with a douse of milk on the side 🙂

    The milk ones have troubles in Bris -ppl don’t clean them properly. Mine would sit on the bench. I know that the rich and idle of this area have the things built in to the carcass of the kitchen and they cost upwards of $5000! A little rich for me (by, ooh, about $4500 at least).

    Kindest,

    Puro’s meanderings (I stole that from Mr P -the meandering bit, not the coffee!)

    #54236
    Arbutus @arbutus

    @winston  @puroandson     Oh, yes! I forgot to add The African Queen, that’s a favourite of mine, too. I am compelled to point out, though, that Hepburn wasn’t in True Grit, she was in the sequel, Rooster Cogburn and the Lady. She was fabulous in it, of course!   🙂

    #54237
    Arbutus @arbutus

    @puroandson      We have a Rancilio Silvia. It was the smallest decent one we could get, and it’s served us well for quite a few years now. It does have a steamer, but only a single heating unit, so you have to heat up the steamer, use it, then turn it off and let the heat readjust for a few minutes to pull your shot. Mr. Arbutus has gotten excellent at it, and even Junior and I can do it now. I forget what it cost, but it wasn’t remotely $5000!

    Craft beer has really flourished all over North America, and the microbreweries are proliferating around Vancouver now. Our neighbourhood (because we live in Hipsterville) has more than its fair share. They’re kind of fun, because a) the beer is fresh;  b) a growler refill is excellent value;  c) they act like little pubs, where you can sit and have a glass or two with a snack, but because they can only serve each customer a small amount due to licensing, it never gets drunk and disorderly;  and d) they are all small businesses, which is cool.

    I’m with you, by the way, I could never drink a whole pint beer, way too filling. And nowadays, I can’t even drink a whole can of ginger ale without going into belch mode (not on command!).

    #54238
    winston @winston

    @arbutus  You are right of course ,it was Rooster Cogburn. Thanks. @puroandson  I do drink a lot of coffee.Way too much , far too much…..but I do love it so.

    Just heard that the Jays lost again. (baseball)

    #54239
    Arbutus @arbutus

    @winston     They did. I could go on and on, but I will try not to.  The game was close, they just couldn’t get their big bats going.  🙁   I’m telling myself that they just need to get back to their own sandbox, with their own fans, and get their Latin machismo back!

    I suppose you’re entitled to drink all the coffee you want, if you don’t drink beer, wine, or whisky!    🙂

    #54240
    Anonymous @

    @arbutus @winston

    Yes, of course, Rooster C!  I also thought it was True Grit 🙂  Great minds.  But they were both wonderful and the Great Lady was superb in it. One of young Puro’s favourite actresses. He doesn’t understand celebrity. Whilst he has no love for the Twilight series he appreciates the young actor, Kristen Stewart -she tends to shyness, isn’t particularly funny in interviews and finds them difficult. I get that! I don’t know how the others (mainly blokes) manage to cope with a laugh, a set of jokes, some silly light nonsense and off by limo.

    Oh those pubs sound lovely -yes, no boozing individuals!

    Your machine sounds perfect! I’ll do a google search -or a Choice Awards search which nets one interesting views on  appliances.

    Baseball: oh, no! The rules. Having said that there’s always jokes about “the off-side rule” in soccer and cricket, well, don’t start me on that. I do have a fondness for knowing to which fielder the ball was sent: mid-on, silly mid on, square leg, etc….:)

    Not a gent’s game anymore and neither of course, was soccer. The boys were watching some game today -a major British team vs…someone else (OK, that went no-where). They were shouting “oh no, that was dumb…oh get up you sook!” and on and on.

    Funny to listen to.

    Enjoy your evening, PuroSolo

    #54241
    Anonymous @

    @arbutus

    the coffee having been had, I’ve rewound our conversation:

    “my son’s three piece suit:

    It’s October….so graduation is done by now? Or he’s in year 11 no?

    So, a formal (the ‘Mericans say ‘prom’)?

    It’s “the Formal” in Bris but in other states it’s the “ball” usually at the very end of school – a week before completion.

    In Brisbane, with students obsessing about limos, makeup, gowns, dates and after-formal parties, the Formal is often in May or July -five months or more before graduation (to me that’s pointless). The premise being that once it’s over their brains will grow back sufficiently to concentrate on examinations.

    In private schools the year 11s will often have a semi-formal. It’s far less ‘expensive’ and it’s ‘in school’ only.

    Apparently good practise. My mother made me my semi-formal dress. It had a Grecian theme so no waist and in lovely diaphanous silk. All the mean girls said I looked “out of touch with fashion and pregnant.” 🙁

    High School.

    I survived.

    I realise that Puro the Young doesn’t tell me much about how nasty kids really are. He will sometimes say “oh mum they swear ALL the time. F this and C that and it’s so vulgar and boring.”

    Also no-one compliments anyone. Girls do but boys? Nope. He has one or two very good mates but most are class buddies. I think he has a lovely friend from primary school that he sees every few weeks but he’s nearly 16 and isn’t allowed out on his own at all. His mother drops him at our house constantly. It’s very weird.

     

    #54242
    Anonymous @

    @pedant

    I re-read that. The sly pedant 🙂

    “He’s male so he won’t need multiple everything”.

    Hah! Ex-kuhse me! 🙂

    I am not the regular over zealous packer.

    A wise man once said: “pack all your stuff in one case and then get another bag and take out what you  need for one night. Then throw the first bag back in the cupboard and take the second one.”

    It took me awhile but in the end I went beyond the “one on, one in the wash and one spare” to one on and one spare”

    Nobody knows you. People who do don’t give a toss and if you absolutely have nothing but wet knickers (they didn’t dry after the shower scrub) there’s always Tescos. Do they sell knickers?

    Coles/Woolworths/IGA and Aldi do! 🙂

    Anyway, people used to say “erm, where’s your luggage?”

    And I’d point to my tiny carry on suitcase about 45 cm long. It even holds a second pair of shoes. Luxury.

    thanks to those such as @mudlark etc who suggested sensible clothes for young Puro’s ‘Winter’ visit.

    To me the worst thing about travelling is the stomach churning feeling of opening a dank house and facing seventeen loads of washing. As well as what to do with all the tickets you just had to keep and the various knick-knacks from Polish grandmas.

    Still, my albums of tickets and programmes, post cards and serviettes are bulging and fun to look at years later. 🙂

    #54243
    Mudlark @mudlark

    @puroandson  @arbutus

    As @pedant indicated, ‘pulling’, as in ‘pulling a pint’ refers, in the strictest sense, to the process by which non-pressurised ale is drawn or syphoned up from the casks to taps at the bar.  This is done by means of a device known as a beer engine which consists essentially of an air-tight piston chamber operated by those tall handled levers which, if you are at all familiar with British pubs,  you will have seen on the bar.

    If the casks are at the same level as the bar, then gravity alone suffices.

    With keg beers the beer is forced up under pressure, and is poured from a small tap with a lever which opens ands closes a valve.

    @arbutus  The term is  sometimes used in a looser sense for any alcoholic drink dispensed by the pint or half pint, but I confess I have never before come across the expression to ‘pull a gin and tonic’     One lives and learns 🙂

     

     

    #54244

    @arbutus

    The Indians appear to be doing to the Jays what they did to the Red Sox. Still, at least the Sox’ll get Encarnation next year…

    #54245

    @puroandson

    It used to be claimed the 2 out of 3 British women wear Marks & Spencers’ knickers.

    No clue if there was an equivalent stat for men, but it is still my preferred undercrackers depot.

    #54246

    @mudlark

    Ah, the winter of 1962-63, the coldest of the 20th century in the UK, and one of the coldest on record a

    It like to say I remember it, but I was

    a) Two;

    and

    b) Shitfaced.

     

    (ooh – soz all – unintended post splurge).

    #54247
    Arbutus @arbutus

    @pedant     The Indians appear to be doing to the Jays what they did to the Red Sox. Still, at least the Sox’ll get Encarnation next year

    Oh, shut up. I refuse to believe that yet. Although if things don’t improve on Monday, strong drink may be required. And the Sox can have Joey Bats. I’m starting to think we won’t miss him.

    #54248
    Arbutus @arbutus

    @puroandson     As well as what to do with all the tickets you just had to keep 

    Personally, I attach mine to the fridge with magnets. Currently, I see the following: restaurant receipts from  Mexican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican restaurants in Chicago, unused Taste of Chicago food tickets, the tag from a Hawaiian pineapple bought in Oahu, and receipts from various places in southern Italy that date as far back as 2006.  🙂  These are mixed in with the official family portraits taken at the top of tall buildings, and mostly quite old photos of Arbutus Jr. in various sports uniforms. If you’re wondering whether the outside of the fridge ever gets cleaned, the answer is “Don’t be silly.”

    #54249
    Arbutus @arbutus

    @puroandson        Arbutus Junior is in Grade 12, but school runs from September through June here, so the fun has just begun. Festivities are next spring but the photo shoots are in the fall, hence the early purchase of the suit. I admit we dropped a stupid amount of money on it, but between you and me, he looks gorgeous!

    They call it “prom” here, too, although when I was in school, it was still “grad dance” or “grad ball”. Prom comes midway through May, convocation early June, and then exams and completion. Not a lot of time for the brain cells to regrow, but a bit, I guess.

    Your dress sounds lovely! My grad dress was yellow (still one of my favourite colours). I have learned only recently some of what Junior has experienced throughout high school, but it doesn’t seem to have damaged him any. They are very protective of their innocent old parents, aren’t they, these lovely boys? We’ve given Junior a fair bit of rope over the years, which he hugely appreciates now, knowing that many of his friends weren’t so lucky. I agree about the silliness of these kids whose parents never tell them to just get on a bus, for crying out loud.

    #54250
    Anonymous @

    @pedant

    Marks and Spencers -that’s the one. Tescos sells  bread.

    2 out of 3? Boy that’s rough.

    (she says this with a type of horror/awe)

    @mudlark.

    Yep I get it now. The xplanation sufficed it’s just that I wondered whether the “pull” was ONLY used for the beer being pulled up from below -clearly the xpression refers to both. This is Son typing btw -I’m takin liberties. School is a pupil free day and I’m bored already.

    @arbutus Totally: high school is rough as. I don’t mind it if the teachers aren’t too stupid but many are. Seriously.

    I’ll fail Maths because one of the teachers was sacked after marking  our tests. No h/w though AND the science teacher believes in preparation FOR each class! And then gives more H/W. I don’t do it -stuff it. I get the detention and do it there. Lunch is only 30 mins so I may as well do work instead of at home where I do 2 and half hours of soccer training on my own (looks around airly and preens -that’s Mum’s bit. I don’t know “preen” but it can’t be good).

    Anyway, I’m boring people now. No, we are mum, cripes. I unplugged my PlayStation and can’t pug it back in. Technology repels me. Or is it the other way round? 🙂

    LOL. Life.

    Puro and Son.

    #54251
    Arbutus @arbutus

    @puroandson     Hello, sweet Hybrid! I love “pupil-free day”, but surely for you, it’s a “teacher-free day”? Or maybe Puro Solo counts as a teacher? You know, the older I get, the more convinced I am that the planet is swarming with very stupid people, people who in harsher periods of history would not have survived their own stupidity. I try hard not to be too cranky about it, and I try to be nice, because I think that’s important. But really. Seriously… stupid… people.

    I wouldn’t say technology repels me, although it does sometimes render me highly irritable. Moral of the story… never unplug anything. And I find that music fixes most things (or at least, drowns them out!).

    Love, Arbutus   🙂

    #54252
    Anonymous @

    @arbutus

    Hi Miss!

    Yes you’re right, it’s a teacher free day for me and whilst I unplugged my PS, I got bored playing it. I’m no saint but my class mates always swear ALL the time. It’s let’s go the f’ing tuckshop or let’s get the f’ing C from the F’ing shop”.

    I say “Why, what’s the point?” They seem not to know!

    Yes, Mum says lots of ppl wouldn’t have survivied their own stupidity either except we’re supposed to be getting smarter? This is evolution I thought. If we’re not smarter then we die out and yet population is still exploding?

    Mind you we don’t do the things we should do to BE better. Like taking proper care of the environment, using less plastic, remembering how to have real conversations and so on.

    It’s a worry. 🙁

    Yes, I shall not unplug anything anymore without permission! Music! Yes I agree. I am into Billy Joel and Simon and Garfunkel now. Also I look up good speeches -for inspiration. I was listening to Martin L King, Winston Churchill during the war and Gough Whitlam as well as speeches from shows like “Network” where the anchor says “I’m as mad as hell” I love that speech. I have to watch that movie again.

    Today mum and I watched a David Mamet film called Glengarry Glenn Ross. It’s heavy on the language but its marvellous and very  interesting. Jack Lemmon’s in it. I think that would be the only movie he’s sworn in. He is AMAZING. Have you seen it? I think it’s about 20 years old and has a young Pacino and Ed Harris as well as Kevin Spacey who we really like from LA Confidential and The Usual Suspects.

    Kindest, Puro Son.

    #54253
    Anonymous @

    @arbutus

    Ah, my turn for post splurges.

    So, I agree a good suit has lasting capacity for enjoyment. You must be proud of Arbutus Jn. Photo shoots will be wonderful and provide a lasting memory.

    Yes, tickets on the fridge. A great place for them. I know people who put bills and other stress inducing paper on their fridges but I think the restaurant card or pictures from a recent holiday are the ‘spark’. Every day you visit the fridge there’s a sweet reminder.

    As for technology, I’ll refer back to our previous conversation: strong drink -or less so, in beer. As far as I know, beer is ‘less’ strong? Well, yes, it would be (goodness I’m coming across as one of those stupid people) and wine a bit stronger.

    In Prague many years ago my dear cousin asked during an interval at a show, “would you like cordial?”

    I was very thirsty and so nodded vigorously. A very small glass arrived (they have small glasses in Europe I find) and I chugged it only to find out that it was vaguely aniseed but a sweet, cold  drink. I honestly don’t remember what it was. I was about 21 and loved the sweetish nature of it -not so much the aniseed flavour. Was it Pimms? Nope. Ergh, can’t remember for the life of me. It was quite sticky and rich. And slightly yellow. It wasn’t calvados or Galatine (sic) nor what I would call spirits.

    Well, this IS a pub so the name will inevitably arrive. 🙂

    Sleep well, dear Arbutus.

    Kindest,

    PuroSolo

    #54256
    JimTheFish @jimthefish
    Time Lord

    With regards the Aberfan discussion of @pedant and @puroandson a while back

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2016/oct/17/aberfan-how-a-gullible-and-deferential-press-failed-the-victims

    Greenslade talking about how it was less than the Press’s finest hour. It’s depressing the amount of times the UK press has utterly failed in its responsibilities, compared to its so-called victories.

    #54257
    Anonymous @

    @jimthefish

    Thank you. I’ll read that article.  Indeed, I wonder how often the press in nearly every country has failed its ‘constituents.’

    #54258
    janetteB @janetteb

    We bought our boys matching suits for their Aunt’s wedding in Istanbul when they were 11, 9 and 5 years of age. We were in Sweden at the time and the Swedes being very sensible people. (@puroandson One of those rare places where it does seem as though people are getting smarter) don’t dress children in formal wear so had difficulty finding suits but were directed to a closing down English Department store. (Not “Marks and Sparks”.) they only got to wear formal school pants and nice shirts to her most recent wedding, the very same that they wore to a far less happy family event last week. both elder boys refused to attend the Prom do for which I was rather relieved given the expense.

    I used to wear Marks and Sparks underwear. It lasted for ages. On the subject years ago I was working as a housemaid in Mayfair for people who bought all their food at Harrods or Selfridges and all the Servant’s food from Marks and Sparks. There was two of everything, bread, coffee, milk, cream, yoghurt, etc etc, and what was in the containers was almost certainly the same. It was all about the labelling.

    @arbutus your fridge sounds rather like ours. It is covered in fridge magnets and photos. It became a “thing” with me to buy a fridge magnet everywhere we went, much to the annoyance of the family. There is the odd little bit of white showing still but that will be cured in time. (amongst the magnets are several of daleks and some very old Wallace and Gromit ones.)

    @puroandson Going way back to the conversation on pg 1 re’ education I was not criticising the current curriculum which does cover a remarkable amount. I would still like to see more early Australian history on there but they can only cover so much. My eldest learnt about the Stolen Generation several times but not the frontier war of the previous century which adds context. However he finished before the national curriculum came into place which maybe explains some of the shortcomings in that area. I was talking about knowledge in general because learning does not finish when one leaves school. Most of what I know about the world has been through my own reading and interest. I knew so little about anything other than history when I finished school, even though I read voraciously.  (actually an aside but it really surprised me to find out that a lot of their secondary school teachers were taking subjects that they had not studied/specialised in. For instance R.3s maths teacher this year originally taught P.E. and something else but not Maths, however he is now the best maths teacher in the school so no complaints there)

    cheers

    Janette

     

     

     

     

    #54259

    @jimthefish

    Yep – it gets very hard to maintain ignore that the press (written and broadcast) is now a playground for hugely motivated billionaires, rather than a bastion of freedom.  Private press != free press.

    @puroandson

    This is the Karl Jenkins piece mentioned in the article link by Jim:

    The unmistakable Welsh accent in the hymn; the horror – and the use of silence. Oh my.

    #54263
    Anonymous @

    @pedant @jimthefish @arbutus

    head voices? In 2016. Beautiful.

    Circle of 5ths. Perfect.

    Deceptively easy to conduct but the pre-coda? Tough stuff. The score has a fairly new marking used by various 12 tone composers -when you go beyond fortissimo.

    I’m analysing this to keep calm.

    The work is very intense. As you say, the horror and the silence mixed with the children’s voices had me sobbing.  Then the coda itself.  Those up swept long bows.

    I don’t really know what else to say. no point really.

     

    #54264
    Anonymous @

    @janetteb I couldn’t write this in the above post. It felt unseemly to me?

    I can’t calm down from those oboes above.

     

    OK. Curriculum.

    No, no Oh I knew you weren’t criticising the curriculum -though you should! If a PE teacher takes Maths but hasn’t taught it or ‘studied’ it, it can be very difficult. Like music or drama it’s a discipline.

    Certainly now, in Year 9  Week 4 (I know -burned into my damned memory) they study the Frontier Conflict (preens).

    Getting that in to the curriculum was nearly impossible. The people with whom I was writing had NO KNOWLEDGE of it. Yes, that’s right. No awareness at all. These were ‘bonded’ history teachers. I was working with one particular lady -a HOD at Girls Grammar – a dozen published books etc and she was bloody horrified. Her students study history on every continent (yes, the UK and therefore thru her love of social history, the knowledge of the press ………..>therefore Aberfan) for over 6 hours a week, No other entrant gains admission into the finals of the history challenge each year. She has them covered. And no, she doesn’t write them. One tough and terrifying cookie.

    In 2012 in an attempt to put together the Medieval Unit, I waltz in and say “here’s your sheet (one page took 7 hours to write) and she looked at , read it (meanwhile I’m all “hey I’m cool hand Luke here, feet on the table, hands behind my head) and said: “THIS?”

    I said “erm, yes?”

    “This is REGRESSIVE.  It’s backward. It’s secondary writing. It’s….there’s no primary evidence”.

    I ran out crying. I was over 40.

    I got over it and survived with a better idea of what she wanted.

    She and I talk a lot now. Great Lady.

    I’m still distracted by Karl Jenkins.

    #54265
    janetteB @janetteb

    @puroandson Meanwhile in the UK they are happily scrapping humanities subjects from the school syllabus. God forbid they might rear a thinking population. That would never do and it is only a matter of time before the poor deluded fools in Canberra follow suit but our kids will all know who the first U.S president was..

    REgarding media blindness i came across an interesting item while doing family history research, written early last century redressing the media’s unbalanced reporting of an incident in the “territory” involving Aborigines and white miners. The person writing the letter had been in the “Territory” and witnessed some horrible stuff ie, abduction of women by drunken miners which of course the media had failed to mention. There were several letters written in response from the kind of troll that stalks the interwebs today, showing that little has changed.

    And talking of research, I have work to do, writing, art work.. I have procrastinated enough for one day..

    Cheers

    Janette

     

    #54275
    Anonymous @

    @janetteb

    indeed “horrible stuff” -there’s a great book I purchased three years ago regarding frontier conflicts and the nature of indigenous treatment. I’ll see if I can ‘call it up’ from the depths of my brain or find it in the morass of my store room!

    You might like it for your research.

    To another matter. @arbutus @pedant and any soccer fans, the Puricle finally received an invitation to play for a Brisbane NPL (National Premier League) club in the Under 18s. The trials were three weeks long and the activities strenuous in the extreme. He’s thrilled to bits and we’re under less stress because last year he didn’t make it.

    So, I’ll shout him a beer at our virtual bar -pulled correctly, on tap, not ice cold and only a sip….Oh, what the  hell, he can have a whole mug-full!

    Kindest, Puro and Son.

    #54277

    @puroandson

    That’s brilliant news – Aussie soccer gets shown over here on BT Sport.

    (@arbutus is in full finger-chewing mode as the Blue Jays kick open the door of Last Chance Saloon)

     

    (EDIT: Ooh, sorry – even as I typed, the door slammed shut.)

    #54278
    Arbutus @arbutus

    @pedant      You must be on time delay, the door was locked and bolted a couple of hours ago.  🙂  For their sins, the Jays now get to go to a quiet place and think about how they can be better. Meanwhile, the door is still open for the Cubs, whose fans are even more long-suffering than we are up north.

    Meanwhile, @puroandson’s news is much more positive, and I prefer to be positive. Well done, Puricle! That must be down to the 2 1/2 hours a day of practice. This is in the end why we follow sport, not for the highly-paid professional athletes who at critical junctures forget how to hit/kick/shoot. If I can think of an appropriately celebratory tune, I will post on the Music Thread. Meanwhile, salut!

    (Btw, Son of Puro might be amused to know that Arbutus Jr. has embarked on a plan to educate me in the footballers of my maternal homeland, Ukraine. This week’s subject is Yevhen Konoplyanka, who plays for Schalke, although his real team is apparently Sevilla.)

    #54279
    Anonymous @

    @pedant

    thank you! It’s great you see some Aussie soccer. I shall pass your congrats to Son -and @arbutus also.

    The Ukraine? Goodness, I always thought Czech was difficult to read but Konoplyanka? Whoa, what a great name!

    My heart has gone back to normal.

    I was just on youboob where some tub of lard called LesterClaypool was bullying intensely. I made some comment about how the 70s were a time when Mum would bring dad the slippers and sherry. In two days this dood presumed to say “no, that happened in the 50s” and also women have not suffered any form of difficulty since last century and you’re playing the victim and “families with dual incomes existed so women have had equal salaries”

    Gawd. I say one innocuous comment and the weirdest ppl come out. I’m Alexandra Momentalle on youtube. Not that you’d follow me (hell, I’m boring and puricle also uses my name when talking about soccer, the law and everything else playstation-wise!).

    But I have an absolute desire to civilise youtube. I am Don Quixote on a mission to civilise. 🙂

    I’m sure, Arbutus, that Son would love to hear some music. He was singing that song from many years ago: “I get knocked down, I get up again, you’re never going to keep me down….He has a gin and tonic, he has a ….he has a cider….he has a …..I get knocked down….”

    Honestly it’s an addictive song. I cannot remove it from my mind unless I stick a pin in my eye!

    I shall civilise!!

    #54280
    Arbutus @arbutus

    @puroandson       Civilise YouTube? Even Don Quixote wouldn’t have taken that on. 🙂  You’re very brave. I make comments in very few places. I stepped out of my huddle today to post several things on a news story about the politically-motivated, undemocratic firing of the Vancouver School Board by the provincial government this week. Trying to explain to someone taking the simplistic view that if they had “done their job” they wouldn’t have been fired, that if that budget in question had been the real issue, the firing would have happened back in June. I linked to lots of people with presumably greater authority than my own saying basically the same thing- “It’s political, stoopid!”. But this is a big deal for me, I have to be feeling pretty outraged to respond to these stories. Better just to listen to some nice jazz and calm down.   🙂

     

    #54284
    Anonymous @

    in the name of all that is holy?  @ichabod

    and all you yanks 🙂  MA rated below:

    How are you coping with the Trump abomination?

    Dems are saying “we are the laughing stock of the world”.

    Another one said: “where you been? It’s been like that for a long time!”

    People will make Trump jokes forever. Except on parts of youtube where it’s “I’m 4 Trump. Rape Hillary. But you can’t coz she’s a man but wait we can sodomise her.” No shit. This is the vileness I come across. I could weep.

    Unfarkinbelievable.

    Puro definitely Solo

    #54285
    Anonymous @

    @arbutus

    I’m still reading about the Vancouver School Board issue. Far as I know only one Oz paper had a comment.

    Thank god for the internet. Or not. Depending.

    ^-_-^

    #54286

    @arbutus

    Yeah – I was slightly stymied by the attack of the bots. Again.

    @puroandson

    Go tilt at those windmills!

    #54295
    Cath Annabel @cathannabel

    I think it was this forum where we were talking about Aberfan earlier?  Apols if not, but if you want to read about it, you won’t do better than this from one of my favourite bloggers:

    https://gerryco23.wordpress.com/2016/10/21/aberfan-the-sorrow-and-anger-of-fifty-years/

    #54296
    Arbutus @arbutus

    My hero.

    #54298
    Arbutus @arbutus

    @pedant      I did mean to comment on the remarkable Jenkins piece you posted. Really, really powerful. Thanks! (And to @jimthefish for the article links, too.)

    #54347
    Whisht @whisht

    Hi all, I have a whole load of things to reply/respond to (am lurking not drowning but stuff on), but just had to say I’m so happy to Son @puroandson on the soccer trials!

    Fantastic news!

    Also – there was (now a long time ago) mention of clothing for a trip to UK in November involving thermal gloves and long johns etc.

    Are you travelling north of The Wall???!??

    You’ve already had great advice, but layers are your friend (eg t-shirts which on warmer days are fine, but fine under the sweatshirts) as well as anything that is quick drying (yep – it rains). I’ve never been to Melbourne, but I hear that it has ‘European weather’ so maybe winter there is similar.
    Anyway – travel light, don’t bring a ‘pedestrian caravan’ (if you can’t carry your stuff – you’re stuffed) and make sure you enjoy yourself!

    Got lots of music to listen to – thanks to all for that.

    #54352
    Anonymous @

    @whisht

    I know! I’ve had good advice and he shall pack an enormous bag anyway. But yes, he must carry it.

    #54398
    ichabod @ichabod

    @arbutus  Thanks for Weird Al, good giggles!

    @puroandson  re Trumpenstein — it’s all very stressful and strange.  One unforeseen effect is that people are voting early in impressive numbers, Democrats probably more than Republicans, in part to avoid becoming embroiled in, well, thuggish embroilments at crowded polling places on Nov. 8.  I doubt that Drumpf imagined any such thing when he encouraged his more aggressive worshipers to go “watch the polls” for that non-existent massive voter fraud that the Right always yells about around election time.  Turns out, of course, that “poll watcher” is an official position with its own rules and qualifications which discourage thuggery; and that local election boards are not happy to be disrespected by Drumpf as if they have no proper function; and that many more people than usual also seem to be voting using absentee ballots, which also sidesteps the obvious “poll watcher” threat that Drumpf tried to put into play.

    Which doesn’t cancel the effect of a news item a week or so ago about a local Democratic campaign HQ someplace in the South, as I recall, at which two guys with rifles took up positions outside the entrance, and when asked why, answered, “We just want them to see that we have guns”, or words to that effect.  The cops were called, but apparently under local law had no authority (and perhaps no will either) to move the gun-toters along.  Compare and contrast the GOP HQ that was apparently firebombed (perpetrators unknown), and which the local Democrats raised $13,000 to help restore.  Pretty clearly illustrative, IMO.

    My own way of coping is this: I only check the news on the computer, not the TV, when I feel like it, and I have my own absentee ballot which I will fill out and send in this weekend.  The latter tack allows me to wander over to my nearest polling place on Nov. 8 and see how the turnout is going, and whether any Drumpf “poll watchers” do actually show up or not.  Just curious.

    Sane people here are still worried that the Republicans could pull some more nonsense out of their **ses in an “October Surprise”, but I don’t think there’s much they can do to overshadow the spectacle of Herr Drumpf’s own extraordinarily repellent performance in recent weeks.  Looks as if he will end up having to go to court after all, and deal with various suits against him that election as President might have shielded him from (I’m not sure about that).  And HRC will be the target of a relentless barrage of sewage spewed by the Right wing hate machine, probably for the rest of her life.  She’s a tough, brave woman, flaws and all, and I’m proud of her and proud to be one of her supporters.  Looking forward to her Presidency keeps me sane during this count-down to getting this done.  I’m to the Left of her and I won’t approve of everything she says or does, but it will be astonishing to have lived long enough to see a Democratic woman in the Oval Office, right after a man of color who is also a Democrat.

    I wish things would slow down and calm down enough for us to just sit back and enjoy the wonderment of that for a while, but nope, no such luck.  Drumpf has galvanized the Party of Backlash, ie, The Reactionaries, and we’ll be dealing with that for a long time, I think.

    #54610
    Anonymous @

    to all.

    I’m not  huge political person but I know mum is and right now she’ll be biting her nails @craig

    On the other thread you spoke about waking up and hoping Trump’s out.

    Watching the telly right now at 1.20 pm Tuesday I think Trump could very well win.

    The guys on various channels were very arrogant this morning, laughing and saying there was a huge Latino turnout except it doesn’t seem to be helping right now.

    Blue collar working class people are overtaking them. But his own party despises him!

    If he wins he claims he’ll build a wall. All people have to do is build a larger ladder, surely? 🙂

    I worry for America if he does win

     

    #54611
    Anonymous @

    my god, he’s going to win! I can’t believe it. It’s like two parallel universes.

    It’s Brexit all over again.

    Imagine 21 million people losing health care!

    Imagine what Billy Bragg would be singing about now!

    Australia is really worried: the economy all over the world is suffering already. Don’t the American voters know this?

    How can they not?? I don’t even have a high school education yet and I’m worried.

    I’m as mad as hell!

    Poor Hillary I was sure she’d win…..

     

    #54612
    janetteB @janetteb

    This is just a nightmare isn’t it? I am going to wake up and everything will be alright. Obama will have been given a life term as President because no one could do it better, (Ok He wasn’t perfect but who could be given what he was up against?) and why have elections and get rid of someone when they are good? And the thought of Melanie following in the footsteps of Michelle makes me actually feel queasy.

    Please Doctor, the plant needs you now, urgently, NOW.

    No cheers not today,

    Condolences

    Janette

     

     

    #54613
    Anonymous @

    @janetteb

    I know -its a tragedy.

    But, the results are in and America has voted for its own stupidity.

    If the fat white males who’ve voted for Trump say “we don’t believe in government and we never have” then what else is there to think?

    I know there are good people here who are from the US and would be heartbroken so condolences too. And hugs.

    But I really think this will affect our economy -it’s like Brexit too? He’s a maverick who seems to represent the anti-govt, anti-trade, anti immigration. It sounds medieval. It’s like they don’t get history.

    Also that total cow Julie Bishop says “business should run govt” um noooo, government was never ever about business it was about the people. I don’t like the future. Not at all.

    #54614
    janetteB @janetteb

    @Thane15 I felt the same when I was your age. I see that feeling expressed on the face of my youngest now, who is your age. Somehow, and in spite of everything, we do keep hoping because me must. When I was fifteen it was the height, or depth of the Cold War and so many people really believed that the planet was about to be atomised. So many of my generation did not believe they had a future.  We just keep on battling, and speaking our minds even if no one ever listens. WE have to. It is what makes us human. So don’t despair, just hope, and whenever you hear people like Julie Bishop utter so utter nonsense, tell them they are wrong and keep on telling them.

    And if we all keep on hoping and believing in the future then there might be one after all.

    Janette

     

     

     

    #54615
    Anonymous @

    @janetteb I hope so.

    I was talking to mum about exactly that but the thing she was discussing also was the facts.

    The fact that Trump is lying: those jobs in Detroit aren’t going to reappear just out of nowhere. Also he can’t possibly work on his own as a tyrant against the Congress and Senate.

    Or can he?

    Any sympathy I had for some of the American people I’ve lost. If a lot of Latinos voted for Trump then what could possibly make them reach that opinion when Trump has no love for them? Or any immigrants! Or even trade.

    I can’t even listen to the VP: after all  I don’t think President Trump is going to be taking his advice: oh dear, I just heard God invoked “I thank god for this amazing blessing. For this amazing country. I’m deeply grateful to the American people”.

    How terrifying. America will never be the country it was in the 50s -that’s what it wants and it shouldn’t  want to look backwards.

    I want to chuck up. So sad. So very very sad.

    #54616
    Miapatrick @miapatrick

    @thane15, @janetteB- just woke up to what feels to me, here in Britain, like the sequel to Britix: Amerix: this time it’s global.

    I try to console myself with the thought that I do truly believe there were thinks Obama wanted and intended to do, but was unable because of the need of his parties support, cross party support etc, so if he couldn’t do all the good he wanted to do, then maybe Trump can’t do all the bad? In neither the USA nor the UK, do ‘the people’ have any real power other than selecting the people who have the power to cast votes. Things are getting ugly over here the more that is pointed out to them.

    What’s really frustrating is that the right seem to be going for the ‘anti-establishment’ (in brackets, people like Farage and Trump with their massive fortunes and connections are all talk about being anti-establishment) while the left keep coming up with rather more radical alternatives, then losing their nerves or undermining them.

    Centre left only seems to work if the right stay close to the centre too. And I’m getting tired of the sides I support sticking to such small, negative arguments: The Remain campaign focusing on all the Bad Things that might happen if we leave the EU, not on the benefits and disproportionate amount of sway we had in the EU. Clinton’s campaign seemed to increasingly focus on what a pig Trump was, and while the two are in no way commensurate, her husband didn’t really help there. I have a feeling by the next UK election, the Labour party will once again be putting up a candidate who is Not As Bad As The Tories. That’s not inspiring, and the population are not as enamoured of Blair as the PLP are.

    Obama was elected on a message of hope. In retrospect, there could only have been disappointment. But to go from him to Trump…

    #54617
    janetteB @janetteb

    2016 the year democracy failed the planet.

    @miapatrick and @thane15 One can only hope that Trump is as bad at being bad as the numpties attempting to “run” Oz at the moment.

    Though written by a conservative these words have resonance,

    The Best lack all conviction

    While the worst are full of passionate intensity.

    Janette

    #54618
    Anonymous @

    @miapatrick

    that’s amazing -your analysis. I hope to have that knowledge one day. All I can do is wag my thumb at telly and be frustrated. It really isn’t just about parties is it? It’s about who is where in the party system -and I don’t get that.

    I just feel tired from it all.

    I can’t imagine what all the campaigners must be thinking.

    What I don’t understand is the exit polls? And all the pre-polling which showed for Clinton? Did people lie?

    Did Trump bribe people? I mean, seriously? Who would believe that they can bring back manufacturing? What high school college drop out would really think that those days are ever coming back?

    I don’t get it. The stupid hurts. but you’re right -Hillary calling Trump a pig didn’t help and I think a few men and also some women didn’t want her to be near the White House. A lot were saying she’s done many shady things recently. They even complained about her deep voice. 🙁  How pathetic of them.

    Tell you what: I’m staying away from youtube today. God knows what people there are saying about her.

    I imagine in two years there’ll be a lot of hate for Trump. They eventually all seem to hate or have some regret for the person they voted for.

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