Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[theprawnidentity]

Have you tried this quiz on grammar?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22512744

I achieved the dizzy height of 4/10

Read this sentence carefully. "I'd like to introduce you to my sister Clara, who lives in Madrid, to Benedict, my brother who doesn't, and to my only other sibling, Hilary." Which of the following is correct?

Didnt get past this question without a derail:

[doubleup]

Have you tried this quiz on grammar?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22512744

I achieved the dizzy height of 4/10

I got 7 (with two guesses) - it was quite tricky.


Don't suppose schools use Pendlebury's English Grammar these days.

[mulhuzz]

console yourselves in the fact that English is the greatest language because there are no hard and fast rules, just 'what feels right'.

makes it the easiest language in the world to learn. and the hardest to master.

[Tal]

A poem in response to the threat of prohibition in England. It isn't far off the standard post ITT: a long walk, a "cheeky" tipple and a fair old sight to be seen...



The Rolling English Road by GK Chesterton

Before the Roman came to Rye or out to Severn strode,
The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.
A reeling road, a rolling road, that rambles round the shire,
And after him the parson ran, the sexton and the squire;
A merry road, a mazy road, and such as we did tread
The night we went to Birmingham by way of Beachy Head.

I knew no harm of Bonaparte and plenty of the Squire,
And for to fight the Frenchman I did not much desire;
But I did bash their baggonets because they came arrayed
To straighten out the crooked road an English drunkard made,
Where you and I went down the lane with ale-mugs in our hands,
The night we went to Glastonbury by way of Goodwin Sands.

His sins they were forgiven him; or why do flowers run
Behind him; and the hedges all strengthening in the sun?
The wild thing went from left to right and knew not which was which,
But the wild rose was above him when they found him in the ditch.
God pardon us, nor harden us; we did not see so clear
The night we went to Bannockburn by way of Brighton Pier.

My friends, we will not go again or ape an ancient rage,
Or stretch the folly of our youth to be the shame of age,
But walk with clearer eyes and ears this path that wandereth,
And see undrugged in evening light the decent inn of death;
For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen,
Before we go to Paradise by way of Kensal Green.

[Tal]

I shall now attempt the seemingly impossible...

Click to see full-size image.

When you read the poem above, it naturally leads you to read it in seven pairs of syllables (like seven heartbeats or seven sets of horse steps) -

De-dum de-dum de-dum de-dum de-dum de-dum de-dum

With the next line rhyming at the end.

Each line is a heptameter (seven sets of de-dum).


(Where is he going with this???)


You can find a very similar structure in a much lower brow bit of art:

Benny Hill's Ernie

Now Ernie rushed out into the street
His goldtop in his hand
He said if you want to marry susie
You'll fight for her like a man
Oh why don't we play cards for her
He sneeringly replied
And just to make it interesting
We'll have a shilling on the side
Now Ernie dragged him from his van
And beneath the blazing sun
They stood there face to face
And Ted went for his bun
But Ernie was to quick
Things didn't go the way ted planned
And a strawberry flavoured youghurt
Sent it spinning from his hand
Now Sue she ran between them
And tried to keep them apart
And Ernie pushed her aside
And a rock cake caught him underneath his heart
And he looked up in pained surprise
As the concrete hardened crust
Of a stale pork pie caught him in the eye
And Ernie bit the dust

[Tal]

If you correctly guessed I was going to link GK Chesterton and Benny Hill, I'm getting predictable

[Karabiner]

Have you tried this quiz on grammar?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22512744

I achieved the dizzy height of 4/10

I managed 8/10 but thought I was cruising after getting the first four correct.

That Churchill one was a little obscure, I went for split infinitive.

[doubleup]

Have you tried this quiz on grammar?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22512744

I achieved the dizzy height of 4/10

I managed 8/10 but thought I was cruising after getting the first four correct.

That Churchill one was a little obscure, I went for split infinitive.

I might have done that as well.  I should've remembered Captain Kirk "to boldly go".

[mulhuzz]

If you correctly guessed I was going to link GK Chesterton and Benny Hill, I'm getting predictable

i didn't guess this, but it is a rather marvellous connection. wp.

[Rod Paradise]

I'm still salivating at that turn of phrase you idly dropped in.....


find yourself down the road less travelled

Jeez, that is so damn good.

 

OK. On Wednesday, as yer man tikay and I were slowly wending our way back to Brighton after spending the night at Heathrow, we found ourselves with time on our hands and adventure in out hearts.
To satisfy our lust for excitement, we left the main thoroughfare at regular intervals and braved the road less travelled. Our efforts did not go unrewarded.
As well as some beautiful iron railings, a school for the blind with an unfathomable glass annex, a miniature railway with a German name, and the lake with the aforementioned cormorant, we saw something else. Something so out of place that I had to stop and take a closer look.

Very good Tom.

Just the sort of phrase I would expect you to use, to be fair. Very unusual though, but perfectly enchanting.

That Post of yours was over FIVE years ago, but I remember the journey as it it were yesterday.

How about this.....

The iron railings were the "Brighton Regency Pavilion" pattern which is repeated all across Brighton, miles & miles of it, most notably along both sides, & above, Marine Parade. The originals, from which the pattern was taken are from the Regency Pavilion.

The school for the Blind was St Dunstans, at Rottingdean. The fascination with the glass annexe was it had such a lovely cliff-top, sea-facing view. For people who were sight-impaired.........

The German Railway was the electric railway along Brighton seafront, running from the Pier, to the Marine. called "Volks" I believe. Oldest Electric Railway in the world, allegedly.  

The lake with the cormorant (which I saw again only last week), was alongside the Hickstead Hotel, where I often liked to stay when I was pokering in Brighton. I took you there for a cuppa.

The "out of place" thing you had to stop & investigate was a 1960's style caravan, all mouldy & in need of tlc. I think you may have purchased it if the bloke was at home, I seem to remember you knocked on his door & got no reply. It is no longer there, by the bye.

It is worrying that I can remember all that, but can't remember where I was yesteday, what days I'm working this week, or what I had for dinner last evening.

I went away on Friday, & "hid" a bunch of documents indoors (just stuff for the Road Tax for my car) as the Cleaner was coming, & I don't like her rustling through my private stuff.

I got home yesterday & completely forgot where I had hidden it, & went into a blind panic, as I thought I may have thrown it in the dustbin, so I ended up rooting through my wheelie bin at midnight last night.

I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night & remembered where I had hidden them. In my briefcase.

Documents found, plot definitely lost.

That's quite amazing. Not just the level of recall, but also quality of that piece, especially consitering the time constraints.



I have little or no short term memory for certain things these days, amd there are also gaping holes in my long term memory. I could quote you a 100 examples if only I could remember them.

I was demonstrating to a potential customer how to make up the bed in the camper. I've done it a hundred times, but on this occasion I couldn't remember how.

I was pitching an idea to some funders about making a DVD aimed at older Gypsy men to make them aware of the importance of getting checked for the early signs of Prostate cancer. The trouble was, I couldn't remember the word 'prostate'. I made a complete fool of myself.

I had to take some importance paperwork with me to a meeting. I fretted so much about forgetting them that I got out of bed and put them on the passenger seat in my van.

The next day, I went to the meeting...  In Mrs Red's car.

FYP

[Tal]

Have you tried this quiz on grammar?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22512744

I achieved the dizzy height of 4/10

I managed 8/10 but thought I was cruising after getting the first four correct.

That Churchill one was a little obscure, I went for split infinitive.

I might have done that as well.  I should've remembered Captain Kirk "to boldly go".

Some people argue (persuasively, I might add) 'boldly to go' and 'to boldly go' have two different emphases, with the latter being more forceful on the boldness.

Churchill's quote was a raspberry at those who got all up in his cigar puffing grill about ending sentences with prepositions.

[Tal]

The sun has been proper grumpy of late. Not just in the sense of it hiding behind cumulonimbi, but in terms of solar flares; massive explosions in the largest nuclear reactor in the solar system. The latest looked like this, according to NASA:



This is the fourth in a few days and they are all huge, even by solar flare standards. This last one, it is believed, might glance across Earth.

We've mentioned before that the Earth's magnetic field stops us getting toasted when a blast of nastiness comes from the sun. What we get in exchange is the aurauae (Borealis and Australis) - the Northern and Southern Lights - at the Poles

If this latest solar flare gets to us, it is quite possible not just that we could see the Northern Lights, but that people in Hawaii could experience them. Hawaii, if you please!

[Tal]

Name an animal with four knees

[rfgqqabc]

Name an animal with four knees

QI busted this iirc.

[Tal]

Name an animal with four knees

QI busted this iirc.

Oh you are no fun at all.

Is the longest recorded flight of a chicken still 13 seconds?