For the NFL fans, here's a curious story;

Bishop Sycamore.




https://www.axios.com/bishop-sycamore-img-football-espn-79328989-4ca8-4e05-984b-10fa864f54a6.html

That's crazy. Weird that the other team were a 'school but just for sports' - the commercialisation of kids sports over there is nuts.

Did you hear about the chaos in the Brazil - Argentina World Cup qualifier. Brazil has the UK on the Red list for Covid, so a fortnight  quarantine if you have been in the UK before you travel there.
EPL recommended players not released for the game so the Brazilians were kept back (and might miss games under FIFA rules if Brazil complain).
BUT Spurs & Villa (I think) released their Argentinian players, and they are alleged to have falsely declared not to have been in the UK before travelling.
Brazilian police & Health Officials stopped the game in the 5th minute, game ended up abandoned, Argentina went back to the dressing room, refusing to leave, presumably to avoid arrest and deportation for the 4, and ended with Argentina flying out in the early hours of this morning back to Argentina.

So FIFA have a mess on their hands, between 2 of the top draw teams. 1 argument is FIFA proscribes  political interference - 0-3 Argentina. Another is that Argentina committed fraud & broke Covid rules - 3-0 Brazil.

My money will be on a rearranged game, possibly at a neutral venue. Money spinner, worldwide interest over the backstory & FIFA are always chasing TV ratings and cash.... If anyone finds a market for bets on the outcome let me know

Devon girl, 14, finishes round-Britain sailing trek

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-58294842

Great achievement, but how can you claim to have sailed round Britain if you went through the Caledonian Canal (which goes from Inverness to Fort William)?

And from my recent trip to Scotland, how can you claim to have climbed Cairngorm if you start from the Ski Station (which is some way up?).   I have noticed this in the Lake District too.  You can climb this 800m hill from the car park 300m up.   Huh?

Who decides these things?...   and if I want to bag some lazy man Monros and Wainwrights, which have the start points nearest the summits?  

Definitely not sailed round Britain, but that bit up by Ironsides would have been a  bit risky.

Re Munros, taking the argument to an extreme should you be starting at sea level? If some are a bit easier fair enough imo.

Saw this photo on Twitter, & it took me back to my childhood.

It was my job to light the fire every morning. Crumple up some newspapers for the base of the fire, overlay it with chopped pieces of wood (from railway sleepers, which I'd pre-chopped & sliced), a little coal on top, then light the paper. Give it a few minutes, & when it did not "take", hold newspaper over the fireplace to "draw" the fire. Amazingly effective, though when the sheet of newspaper caught light, as it often did, shit got real. 

Click to see full-size image.

That was my job when we moved over to Scotland, up first in a freezing metal framed pre-fab with ice on the inside of the windows to light the fire (took about 2 years to feel warm again ). If my dad had banked the fire well enough the night before with a layer of dross to keep it smouldering it would relight straight from the embers still there, otherwise it was as you say. Also shinning up the drainpipe and getting the chimney brush thrown up for me to sweep the chimney.

This photo was taken at GUKPT Manchester last night.

Maybe I've got this mask thing all wrong, but I can't imagine a more fertile breeding ground for the virus than a cardroom.

And yet there's not a mask in sight.

Way too scary for me, but they are getting record numbers at Live venues all over the UK.


 

Click to see full-size image.

I'm not in a position to criticise I was in here:

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Was glorious being back but hope we don't see a spike on the back of it.

^ ^ ^

Palestines - the pair of you - Palestines!*


Borrowed from Monty Python and latterly the late lamented Big Laz

 

- Job you never did but wish you had. (Mine would be footballer if dreaming or policeman if something realistic).

- Thing that no-one on blonde knows about you that you can share with us now. (I cant ride a bike)

- Best decision ever made

- Worst decision

- Do you ever speak to Compo or know where he is or what he's doing these days?

- Favourite 'foreign' food?

- Poker player you found the most difficult to interview or do a show with?

- Poker player you admire most.

- What are your thoughts on the direction of blonde? Do you ever think about ways to re-ignite it a little ? It's such a great forum and has been invaluable for many of us.

I'll do an easy one today.


"Favourite 'foreign' food?"


None, I don't really eat any foreign food. I can manage a spag bol, enjoy it actually, & I've had my share of takeaways from Chinese Restaurants, but only very basic stiff - lemon chicken, sweet sour chicken, egg fried rice, that's about it. No "real" Chinese food.

Simply, I can't or won't eat anything that contains any sorts of vegetables, & I'm repulsed by stuff like onion or any types of spicy stuff.

I know, I know, boring as boring can be. Does not stop me over-eating traditional English food though so much so that I've had to battle my weight all my life. I absolutely love eating, but just have a very uncultured palate.

Whaaat.  Onions are the best.  You never had a cheese and onion sandwich ?

Before my Cholesteral levels went through the roof , the meal i enjoyed most was bacon and fried onion sandwiches.

Six rounds of well buttered bread , nine rashers of crispy bacon , and four onions fried really really slowly for a couple of hours.  Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

Good on you mate. I just can't abide onions. I don't mind the flavour of them, it's something about the texture of them. Every time I order a burger in Vegas I have to go through that rigmarole of "no onions, no relish" palaver, & they look at me gone out.

I think it goes back to my childhood. As a little boy (about 4 years old) I went to stay with an Uncle & Auntie in Wootton Rivers in Wiltshire for a few months, lovely place right by the Avon & Kennet canal. Very old fashioned couple, & Uncle George was a farmer who mostly grew vegetables. Aunty Winnie's speciality was home made onion soup, & to this day I can't bear the thought of onions. Poor Auntie Winnie later went blind but continued to cycle around Wootton Rivers daily until there was an unfortunate coming together with the local bus which all ended rather badly.  

I'm with you Tikay, no onions!! I'll use one when making a stew, but it goes in whole so I can remove it and not have bits hiding in the gravy. My pet hate is the 'handmade burger' which arrives looking great, you bite it, and they've put chopped onion in the actual burger itself - I paid for meat patty in a roll, if I'd wanted veg I'd have gone to the vegan place along the road!!

I remember you making a great breakfast Booder, but thankfully no onions

Ah fair point Red


So much camping stuff is for (very) occasional use and not up to day to day wear and tear.

One of the van-life videos I saw a van converter said he tried to avoid camping equipment as not robust enough. He went with the yachting equipment whenever he (or his customer) could afford it because they are made to last.

So, I give you:

Click to see full-size image.

https://www.force4.co.uk/item/Force-4/Gas-Ring-Toaster/FMJ?utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=base&stock=20251&gclid=CjwKCAjwxo6IBhBKEiwAXSYBswyx39ybS8LcTNlhfYJvllKKDQqJtKM4PCmJVVuYeWTok-igVVSbxhoCc_IQAvD_BwE

Drawback with the stuff made for sailing - cost....

I much prefer on the fire toast to dried up stick-like toaster toast, the problem is, these days I don't have a fire to toast on.

So, I made myself a cooker top toaster.

Before you mock let me point out that slightly burned is my preference and the bread is misshapen because it was squashed in the freezer.

Also, I just dirtied the cooker. (Mrs Red would kill me if anyone thought she left it like that)

Anyway, the toast was de-licious.



 

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I know the satisfaction of devising and building your own solution, but you know you can buy them for a fiver at Halfords?

Clarkson's Farm. Cracking telly.

Binge watched it yesterday.Was a bit sad when it ended. As you say , cracking telly.

Until now never really been a fan of Clarkson, always found him slightly entertaining but a bit boorish so had avoided this.

But I know the area well so great for a bit of nostalgia and since you too liked it I thought i'd give it a try - sold, really enjoying it so far. Loving his farmhand and the dry stone waller - quite partial to his missus too.

I love how the farmhand is genuinely totally unimpressed by Clarkson. I think the dry stone waller, (What a golden find) is his uncle.

I did a weekend of dry stane dyking (as they call it up here) in the past. It nearly killed me. A school mate of mine went into it professionally & it's taken a heavy toll in wear and tear on him. A hard job.

You've got my sympathies Red. I think you'll need to create and close the account then.

Think you need to try and log in - use lost password if you need to get in and block notifications.

Do you have the app on your phone?

Double check by going to Settings/Apps and looking for it in the app list - delete it and you should be OKThey might not allow a delete - disable it and clear data if they don't again should stop notifications -  (this is for android) similar for apple I'd presume.

Polite question: How do I make Quora fuck off?

https://clean.email/how-to-unsubscribe-from-emails/unsubscribe-from-quora-emails

[Is that flying all controlled by some bloke with a sort of X-Box controller thingie? Amazing.]

Rod may enjoy this. Drone-mounted cameras really do allow quite extraordinary footage.



https://twitter.com/AtTheRaces/status/1402204001622401028

Some great flying there. Impressive. CAn't say I fancy going to the races in a big air terminal though, far prefer Hexham  or Hamilton or the prettiest racecourse I've been at, Sligo.

Is that flying all controlled by some bloke with a sort of X-Box controller thingie? Amazing.

Agree as to that Ascot grandstand though, looks exactly like a posh airport terminal.

Probably not there as to fly through the building he'd have lost sight of it. Pilot would be using a Drone's View headset, so seeing things as if they were flying the drone.

The actual controller will have 2 joysticks and a few buttons, but sometimes for filming there is a camera operator as well as a pilot.

Rod may enjoy this. Drone-mounted cameras really do allow quite extraordinary footage.



https://twitter.com/AtTheRaces/status/1402204001622401028

Some great flying there. Impressive. CAn't say I fancy going to the races in a big air terminal though, far prefer Hexham  or Hamilton or the prettiest racecourse I've been at, Sligo.