Thanks to Gazoopi’s good taste I was made poet of the month for April.
I was listening to a nostalgia based radio program the other day (get the link?), which was basically a DJ playing lots of old records, when a song by Eddie Cantor which has been much covered by many other artists was played.
I will use this as an inspiration for the May poetry competition, so:
Continue reading “Pomes for May. The Competition”
Good morning Charioteers.
The theme for April was nostalgia, however the way I am feeling this morning neuralgia would have been more appropriate 😦
We had five sound entries, one from the Genius, Araminta and Pseu, two from Janus. Well done to all.
After a sleepless night of hard consideration over these results (actually due to the neuralgia) I am proud to announce the winner.
The winner could have been anyone, depending on the mood I am in on that day. As Hans Hofman, the Bavarian painter said “People say ‘Hofmann has different styles’. I have not. I have different moods; I am not two days the same man.”
Today I am in need of a laugh (even though it hurts) so it is a tight decision between Genius’s Curly Wurlys and Janus at Six Years Old.
Four Eyed English Genius has it. Please set the next competition.
The subject was William Shakespeare and anything that inspired you from his life, his works or his many famous quotations. The closing date was 23rd April 2014. For the avoidance of doubt, my choice of closing date was always intended to be a celebration of the 450th anniversary of his birth on or around 23rd April 1564.
Thank you for the entries. Continue reading “Third Photographic Competition 2014 – Result”
I was convinced that I heard a cuckoo a day or so ago and today the bird itself flew down into the garden. I’d never seen one in the feather before. But we’re still in Switzerland, so I suppose I can’t write to the Times about this.
By the time I’d yelled for a camera, one of the cats had emerged from the house and the cuckoo decided it didn’t want to linger in such company. Still, I shall dedicate this sighting to all Sassenach Charioteers to wish you a happy St George’s Day.
Before the 11 plus our primary school classroom would be full of the sound of children’s voices chanting their times tables, and other important facts, such as length from inches up to miles, depths in fathoms, areas in hectares and acres, weights up to tons….but most of these facts are lost to me, partly I suppose because of decimalisation, negating the need to know in so much detail. I didn’t find rote learning a useful tool, quite often finding myself speaking the ‘Nine eights are…’ then mumbling the rest. I do know of course now know my most of my times tables and have strategies for checking my memory! What I remember from those classroom days are random things like the texture of the speckled paint, the smells, the anxieties, the friendship inconsistencies, the risk of having one’s head knocked sideways for not knowing the value of a minim….
I wonder if any of the Charioteers can remember the wordings for rest of these classroom chants…. this is to do with a poetry project I’m working on. Interweb searching has not yielded results!
And just to prettify the post, here is a picture. Continue reading “Rote learning”
For each budding poet
This is just a little push
All though you may not know it
I would hate you need to rush.
THE APRIL COMPETITION ENDS IN 5 DAYS!
https://charioteers.org/2014/04/03/april-poetry-competition-nostalgia/
On the 28th of February one of my mates offered to drive me to Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport rather than see me take the coach/train combination which is offered residents of Central Minnesota. Since she was going to Minneapolis that day anyway it was not inconvenient for her. The next morning we went together laughing, joking and gossiping. At airport I met another mate who lives in the Twin Cities Metropolitan area. Well-connected politically, he gave me some insights about upcoming elections in the country and why John Kerry was appointed Secretary of State. (No, it was not that he was especially suited for the job – many in the Democratic Party saw him as dead weight in the Senate and wished to get rid of him. Making him a member of a term-limited president’s cabinet was the quickest and easiest way to let him end his political career with honour.) The rest of the day was underwhelming. Poor weather in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain Region meant that flights were often running late and experiencing turbulence. Still, I survived the flight to Sacramento and was relieved to see the ground again. Continue reading “Kangaroos and Kimchi.”
According to the BBC, this “third gender” thing is spreading and has now affected India.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-27031180
India is now instructed to provide “key amenities” for these confused people, but I’m not sure that India can provide such amenities for the majority of its population anyway.
Instead of the suggested “Bruila”, I’m tempted to use the designation “whatever”.
In case you missed it, the upcoming Weegie Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony ran into a wee bit of controversy recently. Obviously, we in Caledonia were never going have anything like the same amount of money as the reactionary Westminster junta gave to the 2012 Olympic Games. A classic example of our being starved of proper funding by the English oppressor.
We were having to make do with a miserly £14m out of the pittance which the UK Government grudgingly doles out to us. Our Great Leader has now managed to increase that to £21m, presumably by cutting back on his utterly justifiable and reasonable expenses at great personal sacrifice. Continue reading “On Your Mark! Get Set! Don’t Blow!”
Boadicea's Chariot 
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