I have not started watching the new series either. I am waiting for it to end then I will watch it. I like to know what I am “in for”. (Yes I am one of those people who already reads the back page first.)

cheers

Janette

You are new to me if that makes sense but I find it lovely that this Community is always open to everyone no matter how long you’ve been away and its nice to have a part of the Community back 🙂

Ps I think the New Series is amazing so far hope you enjoy it too 🙂

Regards – Declan Sargent

Anyway, is there something wrong with my computer? Where are all the posts from new members who signed up to complain about diverse casting?

I think they just sent a representative.

SJW whinge: check

Cuck: Check

Erratic punctuation: Check

Poor anger management: check

Inability to get laid: implicit.

@miapatrick @cathannabel

I…

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Hey YOU! You’ve been gone a very. Long. Time 🙁

I hope all is well in the Arbutus manor?

And that reminds me of another manor!  The @idiotsavon castle!

I spent, ooh, about 3 hours last night watching Listen & reading all the comments. I’m a-watching all of the Peter Capaldi years again. How beautiful. I was reading a…[Read more]

Is Oliver Letwin the hero we were hankering after?

Hmmm. In a situation so desperate that a murmured, ‘Don’t you think she looks tired’? in an influential ear isn’t going to have the slightest effect, I suppose that even the dimmest spark can look like the light at the end of the tunnel. And when I find myself agreeing with Michael…[Read more]

Is it time to panic yet..?

Democracy was in tatters before the votes were even counted.

Quite so; and when May asserts that public faith in democracy would be destroyed if the results of the 2016 referendum were not treated as an irrevocable mandate I am torn between the impulse to laugh hysterically and the desire to scream loudly in frustration. And yes, the…[Read more]

That’s if May goes of course. I wouldn’t put it past her to cling on

Given her record of bloody minded obduracy May will have to be dragged out and will cling to the curtains and brace herself in the door frame on the way rather than go willingly.  With her it’s all ‘my way or the highway’, and her typical negot…[Read more]

@JanetteB Sorry about the cinema disaster, but sounds like you made the…[Read more]

@thane16  @idiotsavon and @mudlark  Quite a few years back my oven quit on Christmas Eve ( as they do) and I had  about 20 family members coming for dinner so there was much fra…[Read more]

There’s a reason my brother always does goose…

BTW – I should be clear that mum’s comment was generally followed by excellent advice, but still…

why are giblets bad?

There is nothing bad about them if they are used as intended and boiled up to make a flavourful stock to use in making gravy or, combined with the remnants of the carcase, to make soup.

They are not so good if the butcher has tucked them inside the cavity, possibly in a little plastic bag, and like @idiotsavon you…[Read more]

Happy new year’s to you both.  x0 x

I remember, yonks, or timey-whimeys agos, we had a Ragnarok theme during the end of the Smith era?

I’ve not watched the new ep yet. In fact, I haven’t hooked into the ABC much at all except for the occasional special from The Midwives or Foyles Wa…[Read more]

Aw shucks! I’ve been bloomin’ difficult! I have to thank everyone telling me, ooh,  5 times “no DON’T feed them” and I used to know what a troll was ! Or so I thought….

I have a clue what a sock-puppet is now –I thought it could be a good-person (I know, right?) like Cumquat who shows up once or twice and vanishes. Also @bluesqueakpip…[Read more]

Right. I’m a taaad slow. I wasn’t aware that that person had actually been on other threads -most of my thread boxes aren’t ticked. And I get it: if we respond that’s their win, not ours.

I always thought talking, nicely, would help. Would change …..something. Thing is, a troll’s a troll. L…[Read more]

I think @margaret-blaine above had some excellent points.

One of the things I found useful when joining was reading as many posts as possible -to get a sense of the site, its posters, academic or not, those who are published writers or not, involved with music as a career, or with experience in acting and script-writing.  Over…[Read more]

On a slightly more constructive direction that trying to get Twitter to work, this is a very interesting insight from a self-confessed newbie.:

Five reasons Doctor Who is the most interesting speculative series on television in 2018

For two languages to converge in any meaningful sense, surely their syntax and grammar would have to dovetail somehow – which is impossible.

English has its roots in as High Germanic, but the influence of French on it is such that it is impossible to miss and modern English would not exist as it does without a big ‘ole dash of old F…[Read more]

I don’t think the two theories are mutually exclusive – far from it.

They aren’t, I agree. The evidence suggests that the Europe, Asia and the Americas were originally populated by descendants of very small groups of modern humans who survived a bottleneck in their migration from Africa, and since we can assume these migrants and the…[Read more]

I think it’s just linguistic borrowing for the sake of economy,

Yes, that’s one of the many mechanisms of convergence.

Put two groups of people together and their languages will converge, either through creolisation or one being dominant but borrowing heavily from the other. It is even true of accents (witness the way native H…[Read more]

The TV version was really good – but it was interesting in that it almost completely focused on the second half of the story. There is little of Billy and Cathy. So, I hate to say it, but I think my version is more complex and…[Read more]

I came across this today too. Just some proof that Scotland really doesn’t effect UK elections. It’s from the same source but the facts can be checked.

Why Labour doesn’t need Scotland

How Scottish Labour's toxic hatred of the SNP has brought the entire UK to the brink of a…

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The idea that the interwoven threads in traditional stories have their origin in a prehistory common to all speakers of Indo-European languages is an enticing hypothesis. The problem, as you are clearly aware, is proving it.

Not really. It’s just convergent evolution with the admixture of complex language (the specific…[Read more]

I was a bit rushed when I posted earlier, but I have been thinking further about what you wrote and am inclined to continue the discussion, even though it means straying further off topic.

The idea that the interwoven threads in traditional stories have their origin in a prehistory common to all speakers of Indo-European languages is…[Read more]

So that might explain why the Grimm brothers didn’t confine themselves to purely German tales: they didn’t see folk tales as existing in geographical isolation

The point is that by the time the Grimm brothers were collecting them the stories had been thoroughly assimilated into German folk culture and given a regional twist, and the…[Read more]

Yes, there is always that cross connection of recurrent themes and it goes back a very long way. People don’t always realise how much traffic there was across the whole of Europe, not only in goods but in cultural ideas and material traditions, even in prehistory. This was further facilitated during the centuries of the Roman empire,…[Read more]

As always, a beautifully expressed post. And coincidentally, I was thinking last night of Buffy’s The Body and what an impeccable piece of writing it is. Possibly one of the finest 40 minutes of television I’ve seen.

I love this:

even if they were to say there wasn’t, I’d just quote D H Lawrence: Trust the tale and not the tel…[Read more]

Thanks for the kind words. And you don’t know the half of how amazing she was. She took a course in trauma rescue (whatever they call it – car crashes etc) and they asked her to become an instructor. When she couldn’t nurse, because she was ill, she became the instructor for the whole hospital on patient resuscitation (which…[Read more]

Many thanks. I actually took that photo – she was an Intensive Care nurse, so saved many lives during her short career – her colleagues say she was one of the best nurses they ever worked with. Then she decided to do drama at university (while still nursing) to see if she could maybe act – that pic was her head…[Read more]

Let’s play Finger The @Cumquat

No. Wait. That came out way more obscene than intended.

Or did it?

Let’s just say I won’t be taking any action against the hilarious cumquat – it’s not me either though, by the way.

Edit: As the new Doctor might say “Or is she?”

Really five Basset…[Read more]

@mudlark

Now, mudders! Definitely you wrote a post describing the furious winter experience from which I took a “whoa, THAT’S a serious winter. That. Right there.” 😉

Not to worry. If it was more humorous than, “awful. This is awful” awful then…[Read more]

Hm…. “Whisht End” might be even more apposite (remembering that “whisht” means “shut up!”)

;¬)

Thanks for the good wishes. They are indeed taking it seriously. Out of curiosity I looked up the record of the consultation, which can be accessed on a secure site, to see if there was anything additional to what was discussed during my consultation with the GP, and it was marked ‘cancer, fast track’. Skin cancers can be…[Read more]

If I’d had your name I’d have probably been my usual self-deprecating self by going with “Idiot Heights” but I’d have castigated you @idiotsavon for doing so!

As its my antonym I can’t really take this, but will anyone on this Forum go with “xxx Barracks” ?

;¬)

I’d love to…[Read more]

I think Bradley Walsh was or is a host on a question/answer show? mum hadn’t seen it but I used to watch it. It was pretty silly. I saw it again last night and it would be a repeat: his hair was brown and he was a bit less heavy. Not that he’s a fat guy! He just seemed younger. I wasn’t sure about him either but I like him a lot. He’s…[Read more]

I love the concept of Savon Manor. It is so evocative. The idea of Chez Blenkinsop is positively pedestrian by comparison. No Who reflections, just admiration at the thought of Savon Manor.

I …[Read more]

Thanks mate. One thing that happened was missing my “so, you’re a diabetic now” course, since I had no viable way to get there. So now I get that and my deep-retina scan all in one week.

@blenkinsopthebrave

I’ve watch a fair few dashcam vids – it is surprising how limited people’s vocabulary becomes when…[Read more]

Stiff in places I didn’t know could go stiff! On the plus side, the lad’s insurers have accepted liability so the admin side of stuff should be less tiresome that it could be.

Went to the doc earlier just be let her check me out. She’s satisfied there is nothing that is not to be expected, but did note that she has had patients come…[Read more]

But top top top person you are @idiotsavon – its the days after an incident that waves of stuff can hit.

And though sometimes I will wince at some of his comments, he now has a 5 day pass at being… [ahem] “tough” with trolls and…[Read more]

Well the other driver’s airbag deployed and probably saved his live – he really didn’t know what day it was for a good few minutes. I can’t see how he was doing less that 40mph when he hit me (the stretch of road is 60mph limit, and my dashcam has a sound like him skidding under breaking). Had he hit me more…[Read more]