*Sigh*  Another post lost to the ether. Try again.

@thane16

But spade and palm could be considered similar? Under Callimachus’ rules spade and palm are ‘open’ and an ‘offering’ -or so I thought…..

Not so much in this case. <i>Pala</i>: a spade i.e. a long handled tool used for digging (or, according to my dictionary, the socket in a finger ring…[Read more]

@thane16

Second attempt, the first having disappeared into the ether.

I’m not sure what you are asking here. If it is an opinion on whether or not the verse is Pindaric, I’m not the person to ask. If it is a comment on the meaning and ‘the last word’, I’ll have a go.

Although I studied Horace’s Epistles, which was one of our set books for ‘A’…[Read more]

Has anyone here in the UK been watching the latest from RTD – ‘Years and Years’?  The reviewers – at least those I have read – have been enthusiastic, though there has, been the inevitable carping BTL  -‘ third rate imitation of Black Mirror’, ‘diversity-by-numbers’, ‘BBC left wing agenda’ etc. etc.  But, since I regard the BBC as far less left wi…[Read more]

@janetteB

the historical integrity of a building ….. is always difficult to balance that against maintaining livability

The Listing system in England, when it works as intended, is supposed to accommodate this balance, and certainly isn’t intended to prevent alteration or additions, so long as Listed Building Consent is applied for and the p…[Read more]

@janetteB

I think the wooden structure is organic enough to “fit”

That was my reaction also, especially as, so far as one can tell from the photo, the structure appears to be at the rear of the building where there were probably various outhouses and lean-tos originally. The problem over planning consent has arisen, I suspect, because the bui…[Read more]

@craig

I just talk to them.

And that, and above all listening, is the first and most important thing and what the Samaritans are trained to do – not to counsel or comment or advise, just to listen. Because in many cases it seems to be the lack of someone to talk to who will actually stop and listen to them which drives people to that desperate…[Read more]

@Craig  @janetteB

I believe he was viewed as a safe pair of hands

And therein, I think, lies a problem. Because if a safe pair of hands is all the producers of the show have to fall back on Doctor Who will inevitably, whether in the short, medium or longer term, stagnate and lose the magical element which has, with a intermittent hiccups, kept it…[Read more]

@thane16  @janetteB

TV in reception areas is a menace, but in the clinics and outpatients departments in the hospital here (as far as my experience goes – six different clinics and outpatient departments and counting) the TVs in reception and waiting areas are generally tuned to the BBC News channel and have the sound off and subtitles only, so…[Read more]

@thane16

How do you solve a problem like a vinca? On the assumption that your problem plants are catharanthus roseus and you grow them as annual bedding plants I was sufficiently intrigued to look up the recommended growing conditions and possible problems. In its original habitat it grew on sandy and limestone soils in woodland, grassland and…[Read more]

@thane16  @janetteB

I have a strong suspicion that we are not talking about the same plant. The vinca minor in @pedant ‘s photo and the vinca major which lurks at the back of my shrubbery – aka lesser and greater periwinkle – are the common varieties in these parts, native to Europe and adjacent regions,  and they are low growing hardy, e…[Read more]

@pedant

Scrub my tentative identification above; it’s evident that my visual memory is becoming less reliable. Yesterday, working in the garden, I came across some Greater Periwinkle lurking at the back of the shrubbery – it rarely flowers, which is why I tend to overlook it. With that as a more immediate basis for comparison I can confidently…[Read more]

@pedant

Periwinkle certainly, but without a measure of scale it’s difficult to be certain whether greater (vinca major) or lesser (vinca minor).  Judging by the shape of the leaves alone I suspect that it is probably vinca major. The leaves of vinca minor are narrower and more lanceolate and the plant as a whole, needless to say, is smaller. One…[Read more]

@pedant

The way I’ve been feeling lately, Madlark wouldn’t be entirely inappropriate.

It’s definitely not Dog Violet, although that was my first thought until I took a closer look.  Ground Ivy was the next thing that came to mind, evoking memories of my rural childhood, but considering how long it is since I last saw the latter I did check in…[Read more]

@pedant

Judging by the photo I’m pretty certain that it’s Ground Ivy (glechoma hederacea) which is fairly common in woodland and shady places and flowers April-June (no relation of hedera helix, obviously)

@Winston  @janetteB

Bear in mind that there may have been the teeniest element of hyperbole in the description of Mudlark Manor 😉 As Puro well knows, the ‘rolling acres’ consist of a plot measuring 54ft x 54ft – about average for the garden of a mid 1930s English suburban house, but unusual in this case in that it is attached to a purpose-built…[Read more]

@Whisht

Is it time to panic yet..?

Better ask the mice. If they don’t know yet, we’re DOOMED!

@idiotsavon

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]

@idiotsavon

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]

@out1

You may be thinking of the Christmas special, A Christmas Carol, although that was the eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, not Peter Capaldi.

@Bluesqueakpip  @idiotsavon

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]