The city of Melbourne, Australia, was founded in 1835. The city of Houston, Texas, was founded in 1836. The Siege of Leningrad began in 1941 and Thurgood Marshall was confirmed as the first black Supreme Court Justice in 1967.
Celebrating birthdays today: Laurent deBrunhoff and Horace Panter. It is Rose of Lima Day in Peru.
Morning all, can't sleep. Think it's nature's way of telling me that giving up drinking isn't an option.
ReplyDeleteMorning, stoaty.
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit early for me too, but it's a lovely day!
MsChin,
ReplyDeleteHello, Good weather here too, I'm off to a boot fair later on.
My son lives in York and says it's getting cold up there.
Hope you have a good day at the boot sale, stoaty. If you make a milion form some extraordinary find there, I'll expect an invite to the party!
ReplyDeleteI've just nipped over to the Waddya thread - there's not much left of it after yesterday's debacle - but I like the idea of a piece by a 'real' working class person. What would you write about?
MsChin,
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough I've been thinking about that. Not come up with anything though.
I managed to encourage both my kids into the middle class but am still an oik myself.
I wouldn’t say it’s cold dahn sarf, but the nights are definitely getting cooler.
ReplyDeleteSummer’s almost gone
I used to love Babar when I was a kid.
It’s obviously helped to broaden my appreciation of diversity, which is why I recognise the importance of resisting homosapianism wherever I find it.
I bet JayReilly never read Babar...
andysays
ReplyDeleteYou like that new word wot you learnt, don't you!
andysays
ReplyDeleteYou seen the piece on carnival yet? I love carnival!
MsChin,
ReplyDeleteHave to go now, I'll treasure these stolen moments before the hooligan element jumped in!
andysays,
ReplyDeleteYou will be glad to hear that I have joined a feline anti ape movement. It is called;
'Cats United No To Simians' I feel at home with them. Off to bootfair see ya.
MsChin: What, homosapianist?
ReplyDeleteI should probably confess right now that I made it up.
But maybe deano can check in his philavery thing when he gets home from the wedding.
Colin: maybe you could submit a piece about boot fairs to Cif.
Surely that’s *working class* enough, but could be done as a human interest thing and therefore not too political (cos obviously we couldn’t have that).
Yeah, me Babar fan too- very middle class childhood. Remember a lovely double page spread of Babar and Celeste in a hot air balloon over French coastline.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite book as a kid was 'Captain Slaughterboard drops anchor' written and illustrated by Mervyn Peake.
Miranda says we can't have cats in the riad cos clients allergic so I've got to get rid of Elizabeth and her 2 kittens. One of them is purring on my knee as I write. What the fuck am I going to do?
stoaty
ReplyDeleteLOL. To both posts!
andysays
D'you seriously think deano will be 'fit to post' on his return from such a joyous (and comparatively rare theses days) event?
Good idea about stoat writing on boot fairs. Seriously.
Oh yeah, nice English animated strip on youtube:
ReplyDelete'somegreybloke'- check it out...
Actually, I’ve just come up with what I hope you’ll agree would be a sure-fire winner:
ReplyDeleteCif Shopping Swap
The idea is, one of the usual ATL suspects (Tanya Gold maybe) writes about her experiences at Colin’s local Sunday boot fair.
And then Colin writes about the day he went to Harvey Nicks...
It’s a sort of fish-out-of-water, how-the-other-half-lives examination of the current state-of-the-nation.
What do you reckon?
ere, stoaty, do you mean not drinking isn't an option because you can't sleep without the booze?
ReplyDeleteI can't sleep if I drink (esp red wine) and feel like shit the next day and so have now abandoned the booze for good.
I'm fucked without regular sleep...
Dan: is Babar middle class?
ReplyDeleteHe’s the King of the elephants, as I recall, he’s better than piddling middle class.
He’s even wearing a crown in the picture.
Keep the cats, get rid of the clients...
MsChin:
ReplyDeleteI’ve just been to Carnival (well, I’ve been to the thread) and left my own little message.
Thanks for advice, Andy, but clients pay. You know what cats are like- take, take, take...
ReplyDeleteActually, it's not that big a problem- I like cats and cats like me but I'm not sentimental. And we've got Gilbert and George (rescued cats) back in Italy and two's enough. So I'm going to take Elizabeth and her two adolescent offspring and dump them in another neighbourhood. I'm not going to kill them. I had to kill kittens when we lived in Andalucia- they were starving to death all around us. And dogs too. They're dumped beside the motorways and whole litters are bagged up and put in dustbins. Alive. Laika/Leica, our Italian English setter/Maramana cross was the only survivor of a litter found in a dustbin and that was in Italy.
Cats are treated really well here cos A: they keep the rats down and B: they were Mohammed's favourite animal so the cats will survive and have a riotous social life...
Please don't hate me.
And I think you know what I mean, mister andy cleverclogs- middle class readers not middle class elephants. Jeez.
And don't get me started on royalty...
'My favourite book as a kid was 'Captain Slaughterboard drops anchor' written and illustrated by Mervyn Peake.'
ReplyDeleteNow there's a funny thing - I have a first edition of that book. It's the 1939 Country Life edition, nearly all of which were destroyed in a London warehouse during the blitz. Apparently only a dozen or so survived.
Funniest thing I ever saw at a book festival was when de Brunhoff's son (excellent speaker) took questions after a talk. This very serious looking lady stood up and asked - in an oddly aggressive manner - how his dad had 'researched' the books, had he consulted experts on Africa for example?
ReplyDeleteThe son looked at her is some perplexity, then said 'Well, Babar's parents get shot in the jungle, then he walks to Paris. . . '
Dan, first editions of Slaughterboard are worth an awful lot of money - very scarce book.
RE cats we have a scabby old large and hairy cat. An amazing number of people now claim to be allergic to cats, indeed claim to collapse if they are in the same room as one.
He has a basket in which he sleeps most of the time and I like to position the allergics in the chair which hides his basket. None of the buggers have died yet. Keep the cats.
I have a mild case of cat allergy, Dan. Bit of a drag as ours likes to walk all over my face while I'm asleep. Still, a quick wash and it's gone. My solution is to get a dog. Keeps the cats to a small area of the house and dogwalking provides an excuse to nip out to the pub and escape the clients. Or the café...
ReplyDeleteEdwin- had the original as a kid- also great collection of dinky toys- all eventually derelict...
ReplyDeleteThanks for advice on cats but Miranda insists they go. And they crap in the flower beds. So we'll all be going walkies later today (followed by protracted sinister piratical laugh)
God, I'm such a BEAST...
martillo, like your thinking but dogs not good idea in Marrakech. Bigger turds, for one thing...
ReplyDeleteTaking them to live on a farm, Dan?
ReplyDeleteBabar middle class? I read it in my East End school along with Noddy and Little Black Sambo. Maybe it's the school's fault that I became upwardly mobile. Bastards!
dan:
ReplyDelete*Miranda insists they go*
Keep cats, get rid of Miranda ;-)
(Don’t know why I’m sticking up for them; I don’t even like cats that much)
martillo:
ReplyDeleteI bet you still wear a blue hat with a bell on the end and carry a green umbrella, doncha?
We need to protect our kids from this pernicious filth – some of them are scarred for life by it.
I think I feel an ATL submission to Cif coming on...
Too late, andy. Bidisha got there before you.
ReplyDeleteThe way I cook chilli con carne - with just the right balance (for a bloke) of cocoa and garlic make it a perfect breakfast dish as well as the ideal late supper.
ReplyDeleteOk time to prepare for that wedding.
dan - perhaps it's not the red wine but your diet? Your not salt deficient are you?
Awwww
ReplyDeleteI loved Noddy.
I loved Babar too.
And I think martillo would be especially fetching in a blue hat with a bell on the end.
martillo: so she did.
ReplyDeleteI’m getting sick of these ATL writers stealing my bloody ideas, and not getting any credit.
If Tanya Gold’s next piece is about her tour of the Medway towns car boot sales, that’ll be me and Cif parting company forever.
deano: is homosapianism or any similar word in your philavery?
Enjoy the wedding bash.
When are we going to hear from (or of) Mungo again? Untrusted waits with bated breath...
andy - there's homonomous and homunculus(homuncule/homuncle) and my problem humicubation.
ReplyDeleteAnd in the further philavery there is homilophobia (shared by most who write here) and what the family will wish for me later today - hopple.
Must/will write the Mungo last of summers poppies yarn and then my near miss with a lynching ('cos of Mungo) at the family summer do.
Hope everbody has a great bank holiday weekend.
Have a great day Deano!
ReplyDeleteAs in...
ReplyDeleteI wasn't always into humicubation. It kind of crept up on me and then before I knew I was into it - unconditionally.
"I’m getting sick of these ATL writers stealing my bloody ideas, and not getting any credit."
ReplyDeleteTell me about it. I once jokingly suggested a thread about how all men are bastards and now look at the place!
Sorry BB, not my style. I did get my mum to knit me a mohair Dennis the Menace jumper once though. Wish I still had it...
Well martillo revenge can be sweet - it should only be a short time before most who read here are posting something like....
ReplyDeleteIf only my humicubation didn't get in the way I would be happy to tell you to f.............
regards deano.
Humicubation? Regards to mungo...
ReplyDeleteCome on Japan - elect the reds.
ReplyDeletehumicubation - 1600+ results from google
ReplyDeleteOh, thanks deano! A fab word...
ReplyDeleteAnonymous
ReplyDeleteNow that would be an interesting turn-up for the books (although I think "reds" is a bit of a strong description of the Democratic Party). The LDP has held such a tight grip round the throat of Japan for so long now that it would be quite refreshing to see a change in administration.
I think, though, it is more about voting the LDP out than voting positively for anyone else. Which is what will happen in the UK next year, too.
I sincerely hope the Democrats can deliver on their promises.
BB - I knew you knew that. It saddens me to say that that is the truth. The blues here will not win so much as the reds here gave it away.
ReplyDeleteGet that boy the dog - when he is a man looking back he will need to make sense of his mum. If you were to get him a red setter you would shape his soul.
x
d.
Deano
ReplyDeleteHe has got his heart set on a rat now - go figure. I wonder if I could get a red-setter coloured one, though... ;o)
Andy: 'get rid of Miranda'? 'keep the cats'???
ReplyDeleteHave some kind of death wish?
We're not short of cats round here, just don't want the house to be full of turds.
And you better keep your true identity quiet if you want to avoid hospital food- Miranda doesn't take prisoners. And she's a lot better at sex than the cats.
Mind how you go, Andy...
Deano- you cannot be serious, man- red setters are barking mad/daft as brushes- all of them.
ReplyDeleteBelieve me.
BB: get a terrier- more brains. Or spaniel.
ReplyDeleteNOT a red setter.
OK?
"she's a lot better at sex than the cats."
ReplyDeleteI'm sure she'd be very proud. True dat about red setters - a dafter dog I've yet to meet. Cute though...
Babe 14 year old (future citizens dont have either hearts or minds - they develop later)
ReplyDeletedon't listen to wankers. You get the dog (pup)- you explain that it belongs to a friend who is not too well... please to help ......else your testes is likely to be found on ceiling......... she/he will be so relieved ............etc. Feg it lass you be a lawyer lass you know about these things.
Dog and boy form lifelong ......understanding of things..........what is wrong with you girl?
I want what you want - the boy to be together for ever.
Actually, I think my ideal dog would be an airedale. Lovely big brown noses and good philosophy of life.
ReplyDeleteOK, cat 1 moved to different neighbourhood. 2 to go.
BTW, Deano- tell me about sleeplessness and salt deficiency please?
ReplyDeleteDan:
ReplyDeleteI’m sure Miranda has a sense of humour (being married to you, I’d assume that was essential!) and can read my comment in the spirit in which it was intended.
I have no opinion on the question of which species or breed would make the best pet, but on purely political grounds I would be inclined to favour a red setter over a Persian blue...
Piss off you tossers the red setter is a starter dog.
ReplyDeleteMind you i'm 'pressed about ur understanding o things of dog.
Ok the red has a careless brain - but what a fegging heart AND the lad will get more shags when he walks it.
dan - you sweet warrior. Only pic of me as a babe is with an Airedale.
ReplyDeletedeano: stop being such a bloody tease.
ReplyDeleteIf you’re not going to the wedding yet, tell us about Mungo and the poppies...
(Wouldn’t a red setter get lost in a field of poppies, BTW?)
A red setter could get lost in its own basket, Andy. I prefer mongrels in any case. I'd especially like to recommend the mixture Labrador/Belgian Shepherd/German Shepherd which has resulted in Kiko.
ReplyDeleteI have no evidence or sense about salt dan - but when my tits are low I have found that a suck on rock salt finds me a bit better day after.
ReplyDeleteSeen the extraordinary journeys of elephants?
Be curious I (old man who can only....) have blood pressure problems. It don't stop me suxcking salt when me head calls I need it.
Take care - the evidence of this thread is that I am an extremest but that don't lead to any idea that I shall survive beyond the second.
Here’s a question that everyone should ask themselves before choosing a pet:
ReplyDeleteCan Your Pussy Do The Dog?
Great boot fair, lots of people speaking meekat and I bought a book. Apparently there has been some sort of cover up regarding UFOs.
ReplyDeleteDeano, I know you are right about the dog. It's the old man I have to convince too, though.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, red setters are daft as a brush, but they are lovely, and have superb temperaments.
If I had my choice, though, it would be something like a Westie, due to space constraints more than anything.
stoaty - UFO coverup? Never!
bb - FUCK this game of soldiers. You do not have to convince the old boy.
ReplyDeleteThe tale to be told is: .....
Fegg your discomforted soul/tool (husband names fits here) the fact of the matter is the boy is having a dog - this is the dog.
A Westie given your antecedants is to be understood - but we are looking for a man in is own right.
Twat head this boy will be shagged by half of (clekhudderewsfax - insert the name of your locale) is you brainless?
ere, deano, you a James Joyce fan?
ReplyDeleteIs 'deano' a pseudonym for a famous writer or are you pissed? And I ask that with great respect- gin is a noble beverage and cannot disguise the presence of genius...
This is all procrastination- must get back to my work...
BB...
ReplyDeleteHave to get me head in me shoes before I'm picked up by my very fierce lass for the wedding do. Thus I have a lot of water to sup - but....
we are talking of the child's future here - come on babe which 14 year old do you know that got a shag with a Westie at the bed end.
Grow wise child - we need a boy who when shagging his first has a dog memorabilia to write about in his yarns.
I say no finer beast than a red setter for the purpose of encouraging a young miss to divest of her underpants and it writes well .......sometime later.
Others may disagree - but they are tossers.
I will go to work on both husband and sprog to convince them, Deano. It might be a runner, particularly as said sprog has expressed a wish not to go back to France next year - phillistine! - so he might be staying with his grandad instead and, thus, able to look after a dog.
ReplyDeleteI hear what you say about red setters, though. Beautiful creatures.
Evening all,
ReplyDeleteAm sitting by the river in a little place called Froncle in the Vallee de la Marne with a cold beer at my side. It's 25 degrees and sun is shining through the trees. Am tres content after a seamless trip down from Sheffield.
Am raising a toast to you all, but especially BB as I know how much she'd like to be here.
On to the Gorge Verdon tomorrow.
Hey Sheff! Cheers, love!
ReplyDelete*raises a nice glass of Cotes de Blaye that only cost me £2,50 a bottle*
It is 19 degrees here and grey and overcast. Hope you have a wonderful time! x
BB - whatever you do do not get a Fox Terrier. They are the maddest, baddest dogs ever - well that is what the RSPCA dog psychologist told me when he came to 'cure' mine of his mental ways. I love him but he is mad. He is also a 'goddamn sexual tyranosaur'.
ReplyDeleteHe was given the snip by the RSPCA but when his 'sister' (our other baby a golden) had her first heat I heard this awful screaming - ran into the lounge to find them attached - him laid on his back and her flinging her backside around the room. I swear he was smiling - even as he hit the wall time and time again. I rang the vets in a state and they said we would have to bring her in in case she was preggers - but when I told them he had no knackers - they could not believe it. He is a medical mystery or as Mr. CC has it - supermale.
Deano - I think you could safely put the Golden Retreiver in the same pulling category as a Red Setter - maybe higher because the red setter can be a bit over friendly and bouncy and might scare a shy lass away. Just a thought.
Cheers, Sheffpixie - enjoy!
BB
ReplyDeleteAm looking forward to buying some good wine tomorrow - everything shut today. But bakery opens at 6am - so will trundle up to the village early doors for some of it fresh out of the oven. How I love La Belle France.
Princess
ReplyDeleteI have a bit of an aversion for most terriers, apart from Westies/Highlands/Cairns, due to unfortunate run-ins with Jack Russells and Fox's as a child. They can be bad-tempered little buggers.
Sheff
ReplyDeleteYou will make me cry! Stop it now! :o)
sheff: have a great holiday.
ReplyDeleteDon’t spend all your time on the bloody internet telling us about it.
For one thing, I’m sure there are better things you could be doing with yourself, but for another, I don’t think BB could stand the torture (she's in bits already).
Save your tales for when you get back, and in the meantime have some pain et vin for me...
Awww... I'll be alright, really.
ReplyDeleteI can enjoy your exploits vicariously, Sheff. Have a fab time!
Enjoy Sheff - for me tonight could just be a tad difficle. I have forced several and a few litres of water into and thro my genes.
ReplyDeleteI fear it may not be enough. My taxi has arrived to take me to the wedding do...........
Andy
ReplyDeleteKeep cats, get rid of Miranda
aw now Andy, just coz you'v thrown your relationship away that dosent mean you should be encouraging others to do the same.
okey dokey Andy - currently sitting in the shower block with the lap top plugged in along side a couple of dishy French guys who are all smiles and charm (even though I'm a haggard old bird), as we all play on our machines - can't think of anything to complain about really.
ReplyDeleteGot the new Le Carre to read when I eventually get to my pit...all is well with the world down here.
Shower block? are you mixing blogging with pleasure?
ReplyDeleteIt was full of French in Le Zoute the other week. All lean, bronzed and wearing the latest fashion - and that was just the men. And don't talk to me about Dutch women. They are all six-foot tall and look like Claudia Schiffer's younger sister.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I was lying in the baking sun trying to read "Bergdorf Blondes" when I realised it was pretty pointless as I was slap in the middle of the real thing. Even the little French children had wore designer swimwear and t-shirts.
There was this one twenty-something in particular who sticks in memory. Tanned, wearing a tiny white bikini and stunning looking with long straight black hair down to her waist. Guys your eyes would have stood out on stalks.
Doesn't half make you feel inadequate though.
Off to dry my hair now.
Bru
Oh tell me about it Bru.
ReplyDeleteI barely go to the beach these days in France, although I spent a day at the Ile de Re - France's own Snooty Le Zoute - with friends. I was very much relegated to the fat old bag league in comparison, sadly.
Ah well. My lad made me laugh the other day though. He said "why is it that all French women are really gorgeous until they are 40, then they get fat and grow beards?" ;o)
Time for some tv and then bed - night night all x
ReplyDeletegreat to see the "untrusted women" right on in there with the sexist objetivisation shit, saves the boyz keyppads i guess.
ReplyDeletebom bom
ReplyDeletegrow a backbone for fuck sake, whereever you are, whatever you do i cant believe its so bleak that you need male attention/approval THAT bad!
ReplyDeleteOh anonymous, you cheeky little minx! I love a girl with spirit. 'Boyz'! LOL!!!
ReplyDeletegirl?
ReplyDeletesprite, you love a girl with sprite? i think you can buy it any convienience store.
ReplyDeleteAnon
ReplyDeleteNo, spirit, as in vodka / scotch etc
"Boyz"
ReplyDelete"sprite"
"convienience"
Nice try, MsChin, but I think this young lady is a lost cause where spelling is concerned. Maybe you could try manners and deportment.
thanks, mine's a double
ReplyDelete