@thane16

OK, here I am in the pub with a pint (actually a glass of merlot) to hand.  So where were we? Ah, yes, compost and soil health.

The basic principle is; you have to put back into the soil what you take out of it or it loses its fertility, and if you are not to spend a small fortune on buying manure and/or chemical fertilizer it pays to…[Read more]

@notoriouszero

The YouTube 50th anniversary collection doesn’t include any of the three specials in question. It is a compilation featuring the seven Doctors of the original series 1963-1989 plus the 8th Doctor, Paul McGann who appeared  in the 1996 film aka ‘the film we do not mention’ because it was so dire – although Paul McGann was…[Read more]

@Notoriouszero

The answer to you first question is yes, you do need to view the specials in order before you embark on Series 8, otherwise you might get a bit of a shock.

@thane16

Lady Hale is a judge and President of the Supreme Court of the UK.  She is known for her collection of zoomorphic jewellery – chiefly insects and amphibians, and when she read out the unanimous ruling of the SC that Boris Johnson had acted unconstitutionally in proroguing Parliament for five weeks she was wearing a brooch in the form of…[Read more]

@Notoriouszero

Welcome to the Forum.

There are only 13 episodes in season* 7, episode 13 being The Name of the Doctor. In addition to these  there are two specials for the same year; the 50th anniversary special ‘The Day of the Doctor’ which aired on 23rd November 2013, the anniversary of the day in 1963 on which the first ever episode of D…[Read more]

Lady Hale’s arachnid brooch seems to have attracted a good deal of attention, so this seems appropriate

@thane16 (syzygy the elder)

Apologies, but even after due and cautious reflection I feel an irresistible urge to indulge in a Mudlark nitpick:

our funny, celery wearing, tennis clothed Doctor

wore a cricketer’s outfit and even, if my memory is to be relied on, wielded a cricket bat occasionally. But perhaps it is insensitive of me to remind you…[Read more]

@thane16  (syzygy the elder)

Whatever made you think that I might be annoyed?  🙂

@Roger429

Welcome from me, also.

As @janetteB says, the Peter Cushing films were a spin-off from the original TV show, the first episode of which, featuring William Hartnell as the Doctor, was broadcast by the BBC on 23rd November 1963 – although the debut was s…[Read more]

@thane16  (syzygy the younger)

In a moment of absent mindedness I attached the wrong tag to the above post, sorry!

@syzygy

The argument that in the context of the times and society in the 10 century BCE David’s actions in arranging for Uriah’s death so that he could have Bathsheba to himself were excusable doesn’t hold a single drop of water as far as I can see, and I wonder at the moral judgement of anyone who imagines that it does or ever did.

In addition…[Read more]

@Missy

Commiserations and sympathy over the health problems. My paternal grandmother and my father both suffered from hiatus hernia, so I know at least at second hand what a miserable condition it can be. Since then (1960s-70s) I gather that better drugs to reduce stomach acidity have been developed, and there are now things like Gaviscon to…[Read more]

@Missy

I can understand some people might like to see it.

I don’t think ‘like’ is the operative word. Drama as safe and ultimately reassuring entertainment has its place, but sometimes it is a means of confronting us directly with truths we might prefer not to confront, and it is then  that it can be most powerful. Chernobyl does exactly that and…[Read more]

@pedant @Miapatrick @Cathannabel @JimTheFish

I bought the DVD of Chernobyl on Monday afternoon, watched the five episodes over three evenings and am left stunned. Deftly and concisely constructed almost entirely from the point of view of those involved as it happened, with all the muddle, panic and ignorance, the struggle to cope in the face of…[Read more]

@Whisht  @blenkinsopthebrave  @winston  @pedant @thane16

Sadly I didn’t see the first moon landing live, although I was well aware it was happening. At the time I was working as a supervisor on a large excavation in southern England. The hours were long, the work demanding – not to mention the after-work social life – and I simply didn’t have th…[Read more]

@thane16

Oh you are just showing off now

And the list wasn’t even complete 🙂

Sorry to hear about the fainting episode, and commiserations. It’s a horrible feeling just before you black out and, as you say, very embarrassing when it happens in public. At one time I had quite a history of that kind of thing (low blood pressure) but not so much…[Read more]

@JimTheFish

Very sad news. I remember him chiefly in Blake’s 7 in which the sardonic and amoral Avon was my favourite character by far. Anti-heroes for me, every time, and he played the part so well.

@thane16

Sublimi vertice are in the ablative singular masculine

You are, of course, correct; very sloppy of me. I think that initially it did register subliminally that sublimi couldn’t relate to sidera,  but I must have been thinking more about the sense and not paying full attention to the grammar. Anyway, I told you my Latin was very…[Read more]

@thane16  Syzygy

The above post is addressed to you, but I’m not risking an edit to rectify my having messed up the @

This site seems to have taken a dislike to me 🙁   That’s the third time in a row that it has messed up my post with code and then cast into oblivion when I tried to edit it.

@thane 16

“lofty stars will move my way”  is either a translation so free as to significantly alter the sense – which is that Maecenas approval of him as a lyric poet…[Read more]