Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[Sheriff Fatman]

Top 3 old cop shows.

The Professionals.
The Sweeney.
Hill Street Blues.

Top 3 modern cop shows
Unforgotten.
Happy Valley.
Line of Duty.

I'd put NYPD Blue in the old list somewhere (another great Bochco series, post Hill Street Blues).

I'm not sure which of the two categories it should sit in (probably modern as it aired between 2002 and 2008) but The Wire is by far the best cop show I've watched.  Just talking about it again makes me want to dive in for another binge watch, and I only did the last one about 6 months ago).

[RED-DOG]

Have you watched Better Call Saul?

Its the prequel to Breaking Bad but centres around the lawyer Saul.

You obviously get loads of back story about a lot of the other BB characters.

It is different to BB but equally fantastic.

+1 on the recommendation of Better Call Saul.  It's a fantastic series and, arguably, better than Breaking Bad.  Totally worth 40 hours of your time on Netflix to get upto speed.

Watched the first two seasons already.

[RED-DOG]

It's amazing to think that these spider webs are always there, covering almost every inch outdoors. It's only when the weather conditions are just right that you can see them, and even then the window only lasts for about 20 mins or so.

Click to see full-size image.

In this picture, taken only about 15 minutes later, the sun has burned the moisture off all but the most heavily laden strands. A few minutes more, and they will all be invisible again.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Love stuff like that Tom, it's those little things in life we don't notice that most fascinate if we happen to look & be aware.

On that topic, an unrandom random question, not a trick or anything, it's genuine, & something that always makes me think of you when I see it, because I just know you'd be fascinated by it.

To get us started on the road to this fascinately boring thing, are you familiar with the southern section of the M40?

Yup, a truly bizarre question, but bear with me. Yes or no?

[RED-DOG]

Love stuff like that Tom, it's those little things in life we don't notice that most fascinate if we happen to look & be aware.

On that topic, an unrandom random question, not a trick or anything, it's genuine, & something that always makes me think of you when I see it, because I just know you'd be fascinated by it.

To get us started on the road to this fascinately boring thing, are you familiar with the southern section of the M40?

Yup, a truly bizarre question, but bear with me. Yes or no?

I used to travel to Oxford 3 or 4 times a year but rarely further south than that on the M40.

[tikay]

Love stuff like that Tom, it's those little things in life we don't notice that most fascinate if we happen to look & be aware.

On that topic, an unrandom random question, not a trick or anything, it's genuine, & something that always makes me think of you when I see it, because I just know you'd be fascinated by it.

To get us started on the road to this fascinately boring thing, are you familiar with the southern section of the M40?

Yup, a truly bizarre question, but bear with me. Yes or no?

I used to travel to Oxford 3 or 4 times a year but rarely further south than that on the M40.

OK, well I think you'll get the point anyway.

The southern section has something called "Stokenchurch Gap", which is a cutting though chalk.

Here....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stokenchurch_Gap


The walls are almost vertical, & being vertical chalk, there was, when it opened in 1975, not a piece of earth or soil on the "walls", certainly nothing that could sustain plant life. And chalk in its natural state is, literally, rock-hard. I clearly remember it when it first opened, it was pure white - it reminded me of the white cliffs of Dover or Eastbourne.

40 years later, it supports full vegetation, plants, grass, bushes & even trees.

I can hear folk yawning here, but isn't that a miracle?

It must have begun with wind-blown earth & dust, & birds depositing seeds via droppings.  And then it gradually self-sustained.

And now it's totally & beautifully verdant.


I'm guessing the first photo was around 1990, the second 10 years later, the third probably quite recently. Today? It's totally green, in fact it supports several families of Red Kites.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[RED-DOG]

Yep, totally miraculous and it happens just as you say, a few grains of soil blown into a tiny crevice, a couple of wind-born spores take root making a trap for more soil....




Someone watch this and tell me what happens.

[booder]

Have driven through Stokenchurch Gap hundreds of times over the years.

What an amazing transformation.

[tikay]

Have driven through Stokenchurch Gap hundreds of times over the years.

What an amazing transformation.

And did you notice how, oh-so-gradually, it has changed? I only started to notice 5 or 10 years ago. Not because it changed so much, but because, with age, I suppose, I now start to notice stuff like that.

[nirvana]

Funny what the mind does to you. If you asked me how that area looked I'd tell you it was like chalk cliffs and I've definitely been through there a fair number of times in the last few years

[tikay]

Funny what the mind does to you. If you asked me how that area looked I'd tell you it was like chalk cliffs and I've definitely been through there a fair number of times in the last few years

Definitely weird how our minds work.

I imagine our memory "takes a photo" the first time we see something and uses that as our default memory. I still see you in my mind as a fairly buff middle-aged chap.

[Kev B]

Hi Tom saw this today and thought you might like it. You came to mind immediately. What a beauty.

Click to see full-size image.

Generated from my Samsung GALAXY using tools.sportscard.trade

Click to see full-size image.

Generated from my Samsung GALAXY using tools.sportscard.trade

[RED-DOG]

Nice.

When I see stuff like that i always want to know it's history. How/why did it get here, who brought it?

[RED-DOG]

Top 3 old cop shows.

The Professionals.
The Sweeney.
Hill Street Blues.

Top 3 modern cop shows
Unforgotten.
Happy Valley.
Line of Duty.

I'd put NYPD Blue in the old list somewhere (another great Bochco series, post Hill Street Blues).

I'm not sure which of the two categories it should sit in (probably modern as it aired between 2002 and 2008) but The Wire is by far the best cop show I've watched.  Just talking about it again makes me want to dive in for another binge watch, and I only did the last one about 6 months ago).

Howdy Sheriff, it's a while since you've posted in here.

Top 3 sitcoms modern?

Top 3 sitcoms pre 200?

[Sheriff Fatman]

Top 3 old cop shows.

The Professionals.
The Sweeney.
Hill Street Blues.

Top 3 modern cop shows
Unforgotten.
Happy Valley.
Line of Duty.

I'd put NYPD Blue in the old list somewhere (another great Bochco series, post Hill Street Blues).

I'm not sure which of the two categories it should sit in (probably modern as it aired between 2002 and 2008) but The Wire is by far the best cop show I've watched.  Just talking about it again makes me want to dive in for another binge watch, and I only did the last one about 6 months ago).

Howdy Sheriff, it's a while since you've posted in here.

Top 3 sitcoms modern?

Top 3 sitcoms pre 200?

Of the top of my head (which means I'll undoubtedly want to change one after some reflection):

Modern: Big Bang Theory, The League, Plebs

Pre 2000:  Cheers, Only Fools and Horses, Fawlty Towers

I've worked on the basis that South Park would count as a cartoon, rather than a sit-com.  If not it would have been in the Pre-2000 list.