Category: General

I read Sheona’s comment about grammatical errors and opened the linked page.   I scanned it once, twice, a third time – but nowhere could I find a grammatically distorted cupboard.   Then I stopped and turned my thinking brain on.   Oh dear, silly me.

Because the subject was French, my past-its-use-by-date subconscious had translated placard to cupboard rather than retaining it in English.   Totally illogical.   There was the placard right in front of me in the photo with a glaring grammatical error, as bad as or even worse than a misplaced apostrophe in English.  I felt suitably stupid, although relieved that clarity had eventually been restored.

Recounting this gives me the opportunity to tell you all about an article I read yesterday in an Australian newspaper, which was on the subject of the Catholic Church’s response to a long list of recommendations on changes to make to deal with the large number of cases of child abuse which have been uncovered in Australia, as they have in several other Western countries.   The article suggested that changes would be needed to cannon law.

The subeditor definitely needs shooting for that one!  😎

The Viking arrived safely in Wessex. Continue reading “Wessex Prevails”

Most years my tomatoes are a flop. Each April I buy nice heathy looking plants from our local garden centre, a mixture of cherry and larger varieties. Each year I spend money on plants, fertilizer, canes, soil (in Spain it is like gold) and water. Every year I moan that the return on investment is simply pathetic. We harvest our few measly tomatoes at the time when we can get them from the market at about 50c per kilo.

It’s a joke.

But I can’t stop trying.
Continue reading “Keeping going”

One of the more tedious aspects of living in the UK in 2018 is the obsession with Europe. Continue reading “Europa, Europa”

As we all know, GMS thrust his right hand into the fire to get right up Lars Porsena’s (of Clusium) nostrils. His claim, apparently, was that it was a significant sacrifice.

Rightist Bastard. Some of us would have been more distressed, had we had to present our sinister phalanges to the flame.

Anyhoo, and this is important to me. Today is, apparently, International Left Handers Day.

Whoopee! Not sure that there are any other Southpaws out there who are still posting to the Chariot.

Whatever! I am left-handed, right-brained and proud.

Forza la sinistra, non-politically.

On behalf of my fellow afficionados, I must register the strongest possible objections to your inappropriate reference to the iconic British letter-box. Your context – the veil worn by some religious extremists – trivialises the vital role played by letter-boxes throughout the realm for centuries; and attributes undue importance to facial adornments.

An apology will suffice.

Yours etc.

British Association for Letter-box Lovers (BALLS)

 

I’ve rarely been known to refuse one. Schweppes and several fingers of gin. So it doesn’t surprise me to find that it’s now a bit of a cult – with go-to choices of both ingredients. Dwarling, you simply must try my elder-flower. Really cool, huh?

And by sheer coincidence, cool-speak is also defined by G and T. Not only is good pronounced gid but every -ing is an -in; every lot is a lo’. And most cringeful of all, like every plural subject attracts a singular verb.

Worse still we can’t point fingers at speakers of Estuary English or Brummy or Scouse. They are all at it! Like not cool at all.

 

Some of you may still remember Terrible Turk from MyT days yore. He was acerbic, at times abrasive but, in the end, a true gentleman. He was a product of the early post-war years, a man who craved moral and social certainties and certitudes. He had a good career, 30 years in the Middle East for the US Geologic Survey with sojourns into South and South-East Asia. After his retirement, he settled in small-town Virginia where he became a fixture of the local social scene.

He was on my case for years, most recently because of my preference for stepping away from academia and moving, at least partially, into private industry. He was convinced that academia needed at least a few people who weren’t certifiable Bolsheviks amongst its ranks.

You may have noticed that I have discussed him in the preterite. This is no accident. I was informed less than half an hour ago that he has passed away. After a spirited battle with cancer, one that required having his bone marrow removed and replaced, Atropos did her grim deed.