Would that be True Blue.
only one sorta blue dinky di true blue - the rest is just a blue haze on the horizon - mind you we’ve got huge covid bubbles floating around our screens atm trying to frighten the popn into bein good old fellas and rubbin elbows instead of suckin necks if ya know what I mean. Scary advertising “sometimes” works on special occasions - maybe in pandemics? and I know someone is makin a lot of money out of it. sometink like this?
I knew all them Chemistry Sets and Microscopes for sale in the early 70s to kids would lead to no good.
exactly - inventing diseases that don’t really exist!! these so called viruses are invisible to the naked eye and yet can kill you - one drop kick? - now what is the difference between a cold virus and a covid virus - one got small needles and the other large needles? they be insisting we all buy microscopes next to carry around with us to keep on checking body level contamination. We could finish up a world of common and garden chemists? and don’t forget the apps - we all need an app or is that a nap?
[CENTER]Decisions[/CENTER]
Have you ever wondered about decisions? - the decisions you made years ago and how they really affected your life? One of my first girlfriends during pubescence was an only child who’s father came from a long line of foundry owners somewhere in the lower northern regions of UK. She naturally was crazy about me and if I had stuck around I could be retired now living off the profits of the iron foundry - damn should have put my iron in the forge and let it glow!!
Then there was the time I met a dusky maiden from the Caribbean - Trinidad NO - Jamaica - did you? yes I did - but she wanted to rush everything - engagements - holidays to see ma and pa - I was getting rather hot under the Jamaican sun if you know what I mean and so I bowed out rather dishonourably and that was it - no more Jamaica. oh the decisions we make - they change the pathways of our lives dramatically.
then there was the young lady from the upper end of the village - we met in church I believe - her Ma was watching menacingly - They had a large traditional house set in its own grounds and I was terribly impressed with the glass conservatory - I had seen them before but this was NOT on the ground floor but on the upper levels next to the bedrooms - I always imagined it falling off the end of the house somehow. Still Mama wanted her to marry a rich local farmer and so my seeds were never sown!!
and then there was - oh well another time maybe?
I remember Smith and Jones on TV Fruity, in the introduction to each episode the narrator says,
“And in all the banks and stages they robbed they never shot anyone”
Pull the other one, who were they trying to kid?
Quote Bret: “Have you ever wondered about decisions? - the decisions you made years ago and how they really affected your life? One of my first girlfriends during pubescence was an only child who’s father came from a long line of foundry owners somewhere in the lower northern regions of UK. She naturally was crazy about me and if I had stuck around I could be retired now living off the profits of the iron foundry - damn should have put my iron in the forge and let it glow!!”
“Yes indeed, going at it hammer and tongs might just have landed you the foundry Bret, but it’s probably just as well, why give up your freedom to sweat in a foundry when you can go where you like in such a huge beautiful country, boy you certainly get around, good for you.;-)
Strange you posted that picture of that horrible little covid germ, I had a post ready to submit about germs written before yours come up, but I was so knackered that I fell asleep in the armchair and didn’t wake up till 4am.
Funny how great minds think alike and fools seldom differ ain’t it.;-)
Hammer and Tongs always raises my Hackles for some reason.
that reminds me used to drink at an old inn called the Hammer and Tongs with a hammer and tongs hangin as part of the signage - I would never walk under that sign - superititious bugger is me - I used to walk around it and step off of the pavement into the gutter - bugger me when one night I did that and a bloody cyclist came speedin along and careered right into me - had to be carried in the H&T for a whiskey to bring me around!
I asked the manager if he’d consider takin down the signage - not bloody likely he sez - that’s what brings in the passin tourists - well blow me down and cut loose a heifer; a week later the manager was walkin under it in a stiff breeze from wogga wogga when it fell on top of him like a possum out of a bunuyan tree - needed four stitches and had the thing removed. I told him to change the name to “The Possums Lookout”?
Pub signs, now there’s many an unusual one of them around.
When I was at college in Swindon, I once had a drink in a pub called the Temporary Sign. Apparently the original was away for repair or repainting or summat.
There used to be a pub called the Nelson, and the pub sign was of the top of yer Man’s column, with a little fella giving it a polish. I always liked that sign until it got taken down when the pub became one of those common or garden Muckspreader Inns or one of similar ilk. (Name changed to protect the guilty).
Fruity presses backs of wrists to forehead with fingers and thumbs splayed outward in the international sign for an Ilk.
Then there was a lovely pub in the Cotswolds called, The Old House at Home. On one side it had a painting of a City Gent with bowler hat and umbrella and on the other side was the same chap but in a soldier’s uniform carrying a rifle.
The pub changed hands and that interesting sign got replaced. Sad was I at that.
I came across a sign recently - and this is a real quote which personally I dislike so not my invention “The Queens Legs - Open all hours” I am not a loyalist by any stretch of the imagination but find this somewhat crude to say the least! Now that would be interesting on here a quick sharp thread that may go on for ever " Pub signs around the world"? Some that come to my mind immediately - “the pig and whistle” - don’t use pubs anymore - home brewer myself - trying to think of more - strain strain: see if you can identify their origins?
The Spinifex
The Boab Inn
The King Sound Hotel
There’s an awful lot of Kings Arms and Queens Legs pubs in England Bret, arms and legs all over the place:-D, two of my favourite town pubs here were called “The Elbow Inn” and “The City Arms”.
There were two pubs facing each other off Dame Street, one was “The Stags Head” and the other was “The Stags Tail”, seriously, and they used to joke about what was in the middle, “The Stags----” no need to say it.
The Spinifex could be something to do with weavers, we have an old pub here in Dublin’s Liberties called “The Wavers”, in bygone days it was used by the many weavers in the area, the bosses and the publicans were in cahoots, the weavers were paid on the premises for their work and a lot of them spent their wages over the bar, a new law had to be enacted to stop the practice of paying wages in pubs as whole families were going hungry in Dublin, Dockers were also paid in pubs back then, and they were all heavy drinkers.
I couldn’t even have a guess at number 2.
The Kings Sound Hotel, and this is only a wild guess, might have an army barracks nearby and the bugle blowing in the morning could be the “Kings sound” therefore the name?
We have two popular pubs in the Dublin mountains, everybody who takes a drink knows them or of them, one is “The Ring of Feathers” and the other is “The Cuckoo’s Nest”. they overlook the tiny bird sanctuary island in Dublin Bay called “Irelands Eye”, many’s the good night I’ve had in both establishments.
Lots of pubs in the vicinity of the bay have or had names called after birds of the feathered kind, we had “the Swallow”, “The Lark”, “The Seagull” etc., we even had one where house burglars hung out and fenced their goods, that was called “The Crow Bar”, honestly!, tough joint, I was only in it once and that was enough.
When the brother came over from London with his new wife in !970 they had rented a car and were off to the mountains for the day, his wife was driving the car and she said to me that she had been over here before and knew how to get to the Cuckoo’s Nest but where was the Ring of Feathers?
“Around the hen’s arse” says I, that broke the ice as it was the first time I’d met the girl.
He’s almost 20 years dead now and I still miss him, he was me best pal, but his widow has been coming over to us every year since, barring last year on account the pandemic, she was a nurse and was born and reared in London, a fine woman.
I’m getting drunk talking all about pubs, haven’t had a pint since this bloody pandemic started.:twisted:
I’m sure this little bit of information will be of use to someone out there, seems we didn’t descend from apes after all, we descended from Scottish fish!.:shock:
“Ancient armoured fish pioneered sex as we know it some 385 million years ago in what is now Scotland, scientists say.
The Microbrachius dicki - a bony 8cm-long fish which lived in ancient lakes - is believed to be the first-known animal to reproduce by having sex instead of by spawning.” Sky news.
I always thought it was Errol Flynn who pioneered sex as we know it, but that’s what comes of me reading too many Hollywood gossip magazines in my youth.
I must say the “Microbrachius Dicki” is aptly named, all I can see is it’s tail, here’s an artists impression of two cute dicki heads in love, what a wonderful world we live in.
https://i.postimg.cc/sgHZZ2dr/microbrachius-mating-524728-1-3563511.jpg
Stop being such a clever dicki.
“things ain’t half hot Mum”?
well I twas just about to be givin ya some clues about the pub names and realized that ya man of few words has wot me old granny used to exclaim " come on as the cat got ya tongue? he hasn’t had a go - one at a time will do spitty or the fella fruitcakes!
so a while longer perhaps but very well done Jem good try but wrong!!
omg so wez all bloody scots now - billy connolly used to tell a good tale about his sex life once? said he and pamela sex life were like a couple of pigeons - one quick jump on - two jumps about and off again!
and if that’s what an ancient scottie looked like than be jamus god help us all - come to think about it and still on sex - I have never seen two kangas havin a go either - I’ve been in the woods [steady on steady on now] and seen way they sleep at night - lovely circular flattened grass but not sex. haven’t seen dolphins do it of whales or koalas or possums - we could do a whole series on this couldn’t we if we had the time but seems wez all as busy as a buzzard on a branch heh?
In the old days, from the 40’s up to the 70’s, Dublin’s council estates were springing up all over the outskirts of the city, families enjoyed a lot more space and all the houses had gardens, except of course the high rise flats which were a disaster and are gone now thank God.
A whole new experience for them living in a house, most having come from condemned town tenement rooms, six kids in one bed, rats and dampness type of situations.
On the first built new estates the families averaged five kids plus the parents, and in each family there was always the posh one, or one pretending to be posh if you like, we had our youngest brother and the wife’s family had an older sister Doris who spoke as if she was reading the BBC news in the early days of television. It was so out of place considering all the other girls and boys in the family spoke like newspaper sellers on a street corner.
Anyway, I’m not slagging anyone who speaks perfect English, but when in Rome etc., that was just to give you an idea of the times back then and to tell you about the first time I called to the wife’s hall door to take her to the pictures. I had known the wife from childhood, her mother and mine were great pals, but as we grew older we didn’t see much of each other till I met her at a dance and asked her out.
The wife’s family were purchasing their house while ours was rented, and it was akin to the halfpenny looking down on the farthing, I was a bit nervous but determined to stand me ground, I remember it as if it was yesterday.
I knocked gently on the door and it was just my luck that Doris answered it, she would be about eighteen at this time, I was sixteen.
“Is Phyllis in please?”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Jimmy, I have a date with her, I have two tickets for the Rialto cinema”
“Oh, I see, the Rialto? that’s the cheapest cinema in the country, well she shalt be ready for quite some time, she’s engaged in washing and shampooing hur hur”
“Shampooing her what?’
“Hur hur, I said, are you doff or something?”
“Well tell hur I’ll be waiting under the lamp across the street when hur hur is dry, thank you”
And I walked away.
When we were sitting in the cinema Phyllis asked me what Doris said, I told her, she just laughed.
“Jaysus Jimmy, don’t mind that one, she’s a pain in the arse!, she went to electrocution lessons with the Dominican nuns and now she thinks she’s the Queen mother.”
I was back on level ground again, but the contrast between the sisters was incredible, amazing what a few nuns can do to a townie young one.
To this day in our house whenever the wife is in the bathroom and a member of the family rings I always answer “She’ll be with you presently, shalt be long, she washing hur hur”
Incidentally Doris married the Belfast businessman she was secretary to, he was a two faced brandy guzzling womaniser who gave her an awful time of it, lovely house etc., but she had a terribly unhappy life with him, he died about 25 years ago in a car crash on a country road, he was drunk behind the wheel of his car and crashed into a tree, his young female passenger lost a leg in the accident.
They had no children and she remarried happily two years after his death.
I’m glad to say we get on great today, although I haven’t seen her since this covid thing, they live in Wexford.
Ah Jem you’ll be bringin tears to me eyes now ya will lad - one of their best and saddest I’d say. But a nice bit of the craic from ya too!
but back to the pubs names - yes I know you thought I’d forgotten that - wot lost ya memory laddie? I’ll give eh a few clues.
spinfex - think of those black and white cowboy movies?
boab - they came from India originally and floated to oz
King Sound - ah this is the hardest of them all to be sure - think of rushin water - NO not russian water rushin water?
oil give ya 5 days to cater for the stoop!
well I was sitting under coolabah tree the other day with me faithful dog bluey waitin for the troopers to come along when I noticed the leaves were fallin rapidly - so I took out me thermometer and tested the day - sure it was 31 C midday - that’s cool for these parts. must be droppin to round 20 at night for sure? Ay winters on the way, betta find meself so more work and a good billet on some farm or homestead - bones are gettin more brittle these days.
I wonder if those lads really enjoyed wearing those “mops” like that - there’s lookin a bit jaded these days?
The Spinifex: - I thought perhaps this was something to do with sailing ships, relating to spinnaker, spinner, spindrift etcetera, but your clue now makes me wonder if it’s a type of horse, or a derogatory name for a native.
The Boab Inn: - I don’t know what a Boab is, but I thought perhaps an animal or a slang name for an occupation.
The King Sound Hotel: - My first thought was indeed water, as in Falkland Sound, so a pub near a large expanse of sea.
My cousin/SiL used to refer to a pub called The Disappointed Lady. I couldn’t work it out. I’d never heard of a pub with that name round here, so I asked her where it was. Next time I was out that way I drove along the road she mentioned and there was the pub. It was actually called … The Halfway In(n).
Actually I wasn’t forgetting the pub names Bret, I just didn’t want to google the word ‘boab’ for example, after a while you’ll get to know that I never cheat by using google on any questions asked, what’s the point of cheating yourself just because you can’t figure it out?
Anyway I still haven’t a clue what boab is or means, but now you tell me it floated to Australia so that’s something for me to work on for starters, some kind of big hard nut or fruit springs to mind, I’ll be needing the 5 days though, and I’ll be back on it with another guess when or if I get a bulb moment me oul cobber.
Me brain is out of sync all day, I’ve been caught out in some heavy sudden showers (no brolly with me) and me in me new bright Summer gear wot I spent a small fortune on, there was I strolling out in the midday sun like a tourist until the heavens opened and no shelter insight.
You might say my cake was left out in the rain, I looked like MacArthur’s Park when I got home.
The wife thought she was having an optical conclusion, she just laughed, It’s a wonder she didn’t say “If I knew you were coming I’da baked a cake”
I think Fruity is on the ball there Bret, knows his onions does he, that’s one fruitcake that wasn’t left out in the rain. ;-)
MacArthur’s Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don’t think that I can take it
'Cause it took so long to bake it
And I’ll never have that recipe again
Oh no!
I never could figure out what that Richard Harris song was all about, I like his acting but the chap couldn’t sing for his supper.
One would need to be a confectioner to figure out the answer to that one.
I always thought Urdu was an African language until I heard a Liverpudlian say the word, Hairdo.
I believe Lancastrians call hair, Urr, so pronouncing the H would definitely be considered posh in northern parts by here.
I’ve known a few people who pretended they were from or lived in an upper class part of town, but only ever known one chap who spoke as if he had a plumb in his mouth.
I was up in the control room of a government establishment and he was in a remote portable recording facility.
He would come over the airwaves, “I say, control room, Number one recording facility he-uh.”
I would reply in my best fake posh accent, “Hello caravan Chappy.”
After three days of that he got quite peed off. I wonder why. Someone asked me if he was the head of department and I said in a mock incredulous voice, “No, he’s the same grade as me. A common enginerd.”
I’m glad things worked out with you and Phylis young Jem. I likes a happy ending. Her sister’s tale was a sad one but it turned out alright in the end.
My young lady was only eleven when I met her, and I was ten years her senior. She asked me out when she was seventeen. I didn’t object.
I visited Wexford, both the county and the town, on our grand tour of the UK and the Republic. Lovely place. I got to shake hands with President Kennedy whose family came from around there.
As for you getting a good soaking, the Emerald Isle isn’t green due to lack of rainfall.