Author: Janus

Hey! I'm back ...... and front

Three Ds plus one

What is it they say? Death, divorce and dimissal cause most stress and turmoil? Well, just add Disruption by Removal!

When we arrived on 6th May, all but our beds and a few essentials went into the barn – fifty boxes included! And since then we have slowly reclaimed the house room-by-room from the crew who have been re-laying floors, refitting the bathroom and installing new bits of pumbing and wiring for the kitchen appliances. It was all supposed to be done before we arrived but the best laid plans of mice and men…. The main thing is we’re more than happy with the result – a spacious, comfortable farmhouse away from the madding crowd.

And tomorrow we’re promised the arrival of this little puppy:


Continue reading “Three Ds plus one”

Sad

It’s sad that so few charioteers have so little to say these days; only a couple of regular bloggers and a handful of comments if they’re lucky. Remember that critical mass and the downward spiral always take effect sooner than you think.

Keen on riding

Princess Margaret

As my cherished reader will recall, I once had the affrontery misfortune honour of lunching in the company of One’s sister Margaret at the Ritz, cos my then-employers in the ’70s sponsored one of ‘her’ charities. And a very nice lunch it was too. Except that she hardly touched it, but nipped out at every conceivable opportunity. So I was not surprised this morning to read that: “Princess Margaret prefers meals to be as simple as possible and not to last too long. Three or four courses (including cheese or fruit) for lunch, and five for dinner are quite sufficient….,” according an honourable flunky. I presume her sallies to the powder room were to satisfy the craving for nicotine, although she might possibly have been meeting her young stud, Welsh Roddy, who was occupying much of her time in between meals. Did he lurk in the loos, I wonder?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22303871

PS Roddy’s dad, Sir Harry, was an Olympic show-jumper

Cry ‘God for Harry, England and St George’!

And raise a glass for William Shakespeare too, despite the misery he has inflicted on school-children for centuries. For today is our National Day. The Harry I refer to is of course Mr Rednapp, the architect of Spurs’ excellent season and now the undertaker for QPR. Because that’s what being English is all about. Highs and lows. Effortless superiority, born of experience unequalled among other tribes of man. They come and go, but like old Father Thames, the English go on for ever. Cheers!

Pull the other one

If you want an exercise in suspending belief, try this:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22152700

Allegedly the ultra-orthodox Jews, despite thousands of years of practice, are still unable to find out how to procreate and need a book to help them. “We wanted to give people a sense of not only where to put their sexual organs, but where to put their arms and legs,” the author says. “If you have never seen a movie, never read a book, how are you supposed to know what you do?” Well, sir, as a former schoolboy in the late ’40s and ’50s, I can’t remember my contemporaries ever being uncertain about the positions employed, despite a total lack of access to films or books on the subject. You put the right one in, the right one out, the right one in and you shake it all about. You do the okey kokey and you turn around. That’s what it’s all about. Remember, son?

Go forth and multiply, I say.