Scrobs' Paso Doble...

 

I've never been a big fan of ballet.

In my somewhat bewildered mind, watching something about a scenario which was always going to be beyond my comprehension or enjoyment, seemed a bit of a waste of time! When I was much younger, there were more important things to think about, like beer, fags and Annie in Ashford!

But only last evening, watching a DVD of 'The Vicar of Dibley' on the show where Darcy Bussell was the star guest, I realised how much I should have admired such grace, such beauty and such charm when I was swilling pints at the rugby club and telling jokes about men's tights showing a huge bulge which their partners could use as a step to get up into the air!

How many years does it take an ageing old fart to appreciate what gorgeous, skillful dancers can do to one's chromosomes - those that are left that is...

Nest feathering...

Scrobs has discovered the way to obviate the food 'crisis'!

Buy a decent chicken!

On Sunday, the bird was well-roasted, and served up as it deserved, and all was as expected, except that I roasted it the wrong way up for a while, but no matter)!

The next day was spent stripping down the meat, getting the bones in the slow cooker for soup and making the casseroles for the freezer. The dog also had two meals from the sort of stuff you'd rather not look at...

So, for the outlay of about £10.50, (it was a Tesco 'Finest' bird, so pricier), we had a hot serving on Sunday, a cold one on Monday, soup yesterday, and now have four casseroles and three soups in the freezer! So that's about a quid a meal!

Now what does that tell you?

It tells me that whenever I buy anything new, the freezers become over-loaded and at some stage, we really should stop buying anything and use up what we already have! Surely home economics should be taught to people who think, (or are told by the BBC), that they're in a 'crisis'?

But do we stop buying? Do we heck...?

 

Now and then...

I find the-recently rebuilt song by The Beatles incredibly sad.

I understand that the latest equipment to separate a voice from an instrumental addition was a huge display of excellence, and full marks go to the people who did this, but listening to John Lennon's voice with some pretty enigmatic chord structures added later, is - to me - a bit disconcerting, and I feel a certain amount of melancholy creeping in when I hear it all. 

I love the song - it hits a spot which is so similar to the way they used to produce songs like 'Girl', 'It's just another day', 'Things we said today' and many others. I wonder if there are any more, because there was a pretty good re-structured rendition of 'Free as a bird', which I still love, and like many artists who recorded their music whenever they could, there have to be a few tapes lurking somewhere dusty...

Some years ago, when I was clearing out my dad's office after he died. I found a small Dictaphone tape from one of his talks about hop-picking for Guinness, back in the 'sixties. It's quite a long piece, and is the only recording I have of his voice! By chance, my office used to use these machines to write letters for the typists, (pre-email this), so I can still listen to a friendly family voice from all those years ago, and I should really record it onto something else, in case the machine breaks down...

A car is for life, not just for Christmas...

There's an article in The Daily Mail, which states that the second-hand price of some cars has beaten the price of gold, and also most of the stock market, in recent years!

Here it is...

Now, Scrobs is in his middle seventies - late middle age one might say - and we own a perfectly acceptable VW Golf, which has done only 17,000 miles in ten years.

It failed its MOT last month, because the rear suspension springs had broken - presumably thanks to Kent County Council's policy of encouraging potholes everywhere, and it now needs some new tyres, as we only do around 3,000 miles a year, and while they look good from the outside, at ten years old, they're begining to rot. The rear brakes need some TLC as well!

So by my calculations, I wonder if it's ever worth changing the car for a newer model, as this one does exactly what I need, the design is pretty timeless and it's comfortable, has a few bolt-ons as it was a Motability model, and it goes as fast - or slow, as I can cope with!

I could even walk to the shops a mile away, or better still, go by bike, so is there really any need to replace it - ever? The costs of servicing etc., are pretty static, it uses decent petrol as I only do short journeys and while a couple of things go wrong occasionally, the cost for repair didn't break the bank, and to quite honest, I really like driving it!

There must be some standard calculation somewhere, which tells us what the options are, and doubtless I'll get a call one day from the garage to suggest an upgrade, so that'll be fun as I like the owner, so I guess the best bet is to hang in there, and save the old pensions for a bit longer - maybe forever...

Five old boys...

Apart from the title of this post being the same as a new novel I saw on the shelves, I'm meeting four old friends and colleagues from my schooldays back in the late fifties and early sixties, so we'll all be in our seventh decade and there'll be a good deal of banter about the 'good old days...

I still have copies of all the old school magazines, plus some other material which I will take along, so at least we can check up on all the outrageous claims that will undoubtedly be made after a couple of pints of Harveys Best Bitter and a nourishing chilli con carne!

Fabulous red-headery...

Just clicking around the old Amstrad the other day, Scrobs found an amazing short article here: - 

National Redhead Day

Found In: Tilburg 
Est. Cost: N/A 

The last weekend in August is a fun time in the Netherlands, especially if you are a redhead. National Redhead Day is a major festival that draws in thousands of people to the city of Tilburg. The festival began as a small event in Asten, and it grew when more people got wind of it.

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National Redhead Day @r/mildlyinteresting/Reddit

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People travel from all over the world to attend National Redhead Day, and the festival features games, prizes, food stalls, and more. Events include workshops, “Find The Name Of Your Hair Color,” “The Power of a Redhead” lectures, bouncy castles, and other fun events dedicated to the beauty of red locks.

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I have several genuine redhead friends around here, and just love to see these delightful sights, especially around now, in the Autumn!

Winter, of course, with all that snow and ice, fits Scrobs' hair colour to a tee...

It is written...

Chatting with a daughter the other day, she mentioned a term I'd not heard before! Her new contract with her firm required 'a wet signature'! I'd never thought that such an issue would need to be explained to me, but it's quite simple really, (now she's told me in words of one syllable)! 

With so much digital traffic flying around the ether, a firm written indication of intent or proof of a document is a necessity, so one has to write one's monica on the dotted line at some stage, and not just bung off a three word text message!

You learn something every day, so please accept this hand-written post with my compliments...!