Everybody says that Boris is going to make an announcement today about possible new restrictions to combat the spread of the highly contagious omicron-variant. This casts a bit of a pall over the day, because we don't know if it'll prevent us seeing family over Christmas. "Stay at home and protect the NHS!" - that was his catchphrase: oh dear!
Even Monika, the Polish waitress at the Whiskers Coffee Stand knows all about this, and she discussses it with Lois as Lois is ordering our coffees this morning after our walk round the football field - Monika certainly has her finger on the pulse of British politics, that's for sure: by comparison Lois and I know almost nothing about politics in Poland. Perhaps we ought to do some research, do you think?
Lois discussing UK politics with Monika,
the Polish waitress at the "Whiskers" coffee stand
we have one of Monika's treacle tarts
before posting another glowing review on the TartAdvisor website
16:00 We relax on the couch with a cup of Earl Grey tea. I look at my smartphone, and scrutinise the latest opinions on the quora forum website.
In a way it's a pity that Pieter has taken a while to get this answer into a prominent place on the forum, because I had to give a presentation to a local U3A group about 2 months ago, where I highlighted the role played by the Goths in the history of the English language. To be frank I felt forced to conclude, quite correctly I feel, that their influence on English was sadly non-existent.
What happened to the Goths after their stop in the Ukraine? Well, Pieter says that in the 3rd century AD they set out to destroy all the major cities of Greece, including Athens, Corinth, Sparta and the major cities of Crete, while they were about it. This was the phase where, essentially, they were "honing their destructive skills".
The bag containing the two grouse has the slogan "See you again" printed on the side - amusing, perhaps, but a bit of a cruel joke, though: nobody's going to be seeing these grouse again after tonight, that's for sure!
So what are the fourth group (light blue)? Well Lois and I were shouting at the screen - they're all the names of sitcom dogs, of course. Cinnamon ("Big Bang Theory"), Colin ("Spaced"), Eddie ("Frasier") and Cheddar ("Brooklyn Nine-Nine").
Awwww (again) !!!!!!
I'm pleased to see that one of our favourite pundits, Pieter Buis (crazy name, crazy guy!), has been weighing in on the vexed topic of what the difference is between the Goths, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths.
I felt bad about this, of course - it is a bit of a shame for the poor Goths, who were once famously described as "walking across the stage of history, without making a mark on it".
Poor Goths!!!!
On the quora forum website Pieter describes the first stage of the Goths' long walk away into oblivion as a march south from the Goth homeland around the Polish river the Vistula, down to the Ukraine.
In my talk I had the Goths more going down to Bulgaria, which is close to the Ukraine, but not quite the same. My bad - of course I plan to issue an apology!
flashback to October: the virtual slide for my presentation
has the Goths walking away from history by settling initially in Bulgaria
After that, in the 4th century, they split into two groups. Some of them - the ones known later as the Visigoths or Western Goths - moved further westward to destroy Rome, and then pushed on further to the South of France and then into Spain. By this time they were getting a bit too old to keep destroying cities - plus the climate was nicer, so you might be tempted to sunbathe instead.
the travels of the Visigoths (Western Goths)
The rest of the Goths - the so-called Ostrogoths or Eastern Goths - joined the Huns for a while, and served under Attila. When Attila died however, they also decided to push westwards into Italy, when they finished off the bits of the Roman Empire that their colleagues the Visigoths hadn't quite managed to annihilate.
See- simples!
So now that Pieter has definitively explained the Goth world, there's no need now to refer to that awful old "guide to Goths" that many children, including me, used to be subjected to at school. Thank God for that - let's consign this misleading "picture guide" (see below) to the dustbin of history where it belongs!
the old view of Goths - thank goodness this can
now be consigned to the dustbin of history!
16:30 Bob, our neighbour, rings the doorbell, with a brace of grouse that he or some member of his family has shot.
our neighbour Bob
The delivery of this game is a bit of a blow to Lois - we now need to strip off the breasts of the poor little creatures and cook them tonight, just in case our friend Mr Mouse decides to pay us another visit. We don't think mice like eating game, but they like the feathers as potential nesting material, which is a shame.
Oh dear! And that means the existing meal plan is history, which is a pity!
I showcase Bob's latest "wood-kill"
Poor brace of grouse !!!!!
20:00 We see tonight's edition of one of our favourite TV quizzes, Only Connect, that tests lateral thinking.
Tonight, unusually, I see my own name - "Colin" - appearing in the second row of the Datawizard team's Connecting Wall, which is nice.
The Datawizards manage to solve the wall, and they put "Colin" in the fourth (light blue) group, but they're not sure why it goes there.
They understand the other connections - the top row (dark blue) are all spices. The second group (green) are the starts of names of European countries - Malt(a), Mold(ova), Port(ugal) and Germ(any). The third group (purple) are all fungi.
At last our years of watching sitcoms have paid off haha!!!!
Tim and Daisy, with "Colin the dog" in sitcom "Spaced"
- awwwwww !!!!
Poor Colin !!!!!!!
At the end of the show, presenter Victoria Coren-Mitchell reveals that "Only Connect" is considered such a difficult quiz that it's going to be featured in the currrent SkyTV documentary series, in which soap opera Eastenders' hard man Ross Kemp travels the globe looking for the world's hardest quizzes.
Tremendous fun !!!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!!
Acc. to the Google Translator: brace of grouse=nyírfajd fogszabályzója. :) It's a biological miracle. It has tooth and it gö to dentist. (At last I was successful.)
ReplyDeleteHaha! Sajnos a brace szónak sok jelentése van. Lásd a 15-ös jelentést...
ReplyDelete1. A device that holds or fastens two or more parts together or in place; a clamp.
2. A device, such as a supporting beam in a building or a connecting wire or rope, that steadies or holds something else erect.
3. braces Chiefly British Suspenders.
4. An orthopedic appliance used to support, align, or hold a bodily part in the correct position.
5. often braces A dental appliance constructed of bands and wires that is fixed to the teeth to correct irregular alignment.
6. An extremely stiff, erect posture.
7. A cause or source of renewed physical or spiritual vigor.
8. A protective pad strapped to the bow arm of an archer.
9. Nautical A rope by which a yard is swung and secured on a square-rigged ship.
10. A cranklike handle with an adjustable aperture at one end for securing and turning a bit.
11. Music A leather loop that slides to change the tension on the cord of a drum.
12. Music
a. A vertical line, usually accompanied by the symbol {, connecting two or more staffs.
b. A set of staffs connected in this way.
13. A symbol, { or }, enclosing two or more lines of text or listed items to show that they are considered as a unit.
14. Mathematics Either of a pair of symbols, { }, used to indicate aggregation or to clarify the grouping of quantities when parentheses and square brackets have already been used. Also called bracket.
15. pl. brace A pair of like things: three brace of partridges.