Sir Criced

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When I told my good friend, the pastoral poet Mr B Keeper, that the theme for this month’s poetry competition was animals he said that he will immediately compose one for this special occasion. This is what Poet Laureates do, he claimed. With his kind permission I bring to you his offering. Naturally, this work is ineligible for the competition. After all, Mr B Keeper is a professional poet. Continue reading “Sir Criced”

Chinese checkers

The government’s foreign policy follows the rules of Chinese checkers. They’ve always got to check with the Chinese to see if it’s alright to issue a visa.

For a third time in five years the Dalai Lama has been denied a visa to South Africa..

He had been invited to attend the 14th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates next month,  being held in Cape Town.

Report here

(cartoon recreated from today’s “Crack of dawn” published in the Cape Times)

Living with Huns

Roughly two months ago I returned to Trier. Or rather, an underwhelming suburb of Trier 10-15 minutes by train away from the city centre. Originally it was my plan to stay for two weeks before going to Karlsruhe to seek my fortune. Or at least gainful employment which would be a fortune for tax collectors. Trier, despite its aesthetic virtues is economically stagnant. It is possible, of course, to get by without too much difficulty here but it can hardly compete with Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt-am-Main or even the neighbouring mini-powerhouse, Luxembourg much less London or Hong Kong for economic vibrancy and potential for advancement. Continue reading “Living with Huns”

Animals (September poetry competition)

One of the problems of winning the poetry competition is racking the brain cells to come up with an interesting theme for the next one. I’m surprised no one has done a George C Scott and declined the award. But by Stanley, I suppose we all like wearing a little Laurel round our necks.

Down to business. I’m not sure if this is a duplicate (BEEP) from a past tournament but the subject is Animals. You can ode about ones you love, dislike, fear, respect, whatever. The choice is yours. I might even make a contribution myself. The only other rule is that you must include a foreign phrase in your poem. Something like dolce vita or achtung. This is just a little extra to make it harder and more interesting.

Closing date last minute of September (I forget how many days in it). Go for it- Quack, Woof, Baa, ROAR, oo-oo-at-at-at-at, Wrille.

I am delighted . . .

. . . to find that WordPress have finally upgraded their comment preprocessor so that images can be posted in comments by merely including their url – a facility that was always present in posts but sadly missing from comments.

I am equally delighted that a Charioteer has discovered this and used it to good effect, and published the information for the benefit of others.

WordPress are always making changes, some good, some bad – such as the recent loss of numbered comments and the quote facility, and the new post creation page.

I am somewhat less than delighted by the disparaging comments about the help – hundreds of hours of it – provided by Boadicea and me in assisting others to post images and videos and slideshows and writing easily understood guides for the Menu Bar.   We worked hard on a load of technical thingies during the early days of the Chariot and we are saddened by the ignorant dismissiveness that appears to be the contemporary meme.

To quote Old Bill from The Bystander, “Well, if you knows of a better ‘ole, go to it.”

O tempora, o mores.

😦

Olympic Rant Part II – The Legacy

The meedja is reporting tonight that it will cost the UK taxpayer an extra fifteen million pounds (on top of the the 600 million already committed!!) to convert the Olympic stadium into a football ground for Weeest Aaam Untied [sic], hardly the top flight of Premier League clubs, but of course they are in London, innit.  But so are Chelsea, Fulham, Arsenal, Saarfend and numerous others including Tottenham, etc.

By all accounts the Olympic velodrome is already up and running, as is the rowing venue, so what is it with kissball,, particularly in London.  !5 million could buy you a mediocre Ukranian/Columbian/Belgian midfielder if this year’s transfer window is anything to go by and 600 million could buy most of the foreigners (and Wayne) playing this season thirty miles east of my home town.

So is all this legacy just for West Ham and the East End, or does the rest of the country get a look in too, bearing in mind the rest of the country paid for it?

OZ

‘Testing’ for photos in comments

I have just managed to post a photo in comments…. and without following any complex instructions. SO now I shall test if I can do this again and if I can give good instructions on ‘how’ for others.

Here are two pictures, loaded in the usual way through the add media button?????????? Continue reading “‘Testing’ for photos in comments”

Results of a “Musical Turn” Poetry Competition August 2014

Well folks,  this competition seemed to draw a very quick response –  a total of five formed a queue to the back door of the theatre … making it to the auditions stage before Simon Cowell and the judging panel. If there was an X Factor factor then it was produced by the sound of the bagpipes,  courtesy of an out-of-tune bleat from Feeg. (Sorry Feeg, but I like a lone piper!)

Soutie was first to the stage reminding us of a challenge put to him by his girlfriend – that he sing ‘Unchained Melody’ in a karaoke club/pub. Supplementing his courage with  3 (or more) tequilas he won over the song AND the girl. Nice one Soutie – you score points for musicality and romance!

The curtains swished back and forth and then appeared Janus giving homage to Slacky Bottom to the Lonnie Donegan tune  ‘My Old Man’s  a Dustman.’ – a song I had sung as a teenager in a grimy church hall concert with three other pimply drainpipe trousered boys and  wearing my old dad’s overalls. Once again Janus caught the mood of the time and he included a nice reference in the song to his sister, who at the time was going out with an Elvis look-alike who’d “got more grease than a flock o’ geese.”  Nice one Janus.

Then came the unexpected reference  to the bagpipes – a verse penned by Feeg and addressed to Mr Mackie. I am convinced the syntax of the verse was an attempt by Feeg to replicate the sound of the bagpipes being played  upside down.

Indeed there was  a plaintive retort delivered by Mr Mackie from the wings of the stage – a stirring reference to the role of the piper in time of battle with appropriate video footage.

Last to the stage was the Royalist in fine cavalier garment and flashing belt and buckle. He chose a Billy Joel song “We didn’t start the blogging” – a kind of rap anthem to all respected bloggers  who ride the Chariot as well as a few on the Dark Side. Here was a brilliant portrayal of each one of us, either pin-pointing us on the global blogging map or highlighting our  particular hobbies or characteristics. His wit was as Zorro’s sword and such was the flourish of his delivery that he brought a  standing ovation from the packed theatre.

And so, in second place, Mr Mackie, for reminding us all what is good and true of Scotland, soldiers and lone bagpipe players, but completely and unashamedly swayed by the audience  reaction, the  winner is The Royalist for such sparkling entertainment. A truly great and triumphant “Musical Turn.”

NB All entries can (I think) be seen in the Competition tag somewhere on the top right of the screen.