Market in Barcelona (Wikipedia)
- To all the amateur doctors, nurses, homeopaths, fortune tellers and witch doctors out there in the blogosphere, I am happy to inform you that I purchased a COVID testing kit today and the result was negative. I do not have COVID! However, I thank you for your concern.
- On Tuesday, I walked down Ecclesall Road to the roundabout (American: traffic circle) at Hunter's Bar and had an idea for a children's story. I even thought of a title for it. I put that title into ChatGPT along with one or two other instructions and "Shazam!" - within ninety seconds a version of the story was produced and do you know what - it was pretty good!
- On this day fifteen years ago, I blogged about a worldwide photo-sharing site called "Panoramio". It was overseen by Google but sadly it was unilaterally "pulled" by them back in 2016. Suddenly all of one's photos, labels and meticulous geo-locating work disappeared. My most visited picture was this one taken near Essaouira in Morocco:-
Allegedly, Jimi Hendrix visited this location back in the late sixties and I believe that explains the number of "hits" this image attracted.
- On Ian's birthday, we went for brunch at the nearby "Dysh" cafe and who should come in with her children but Sheffield's most famous daughter - Jessica Ennis-Hill. She was an Olympic gold medal winning athlete and world champion in the heptathlon. She had just got back from Paris where she had been working as a BBC TV pundit. Surprisingly, she did not ask for my autograph.
- My mother Doreen died in 2007 after spending two years in a residential home. Long before that she had an irritating habit of buying me shirts she had spotted in sales. Three of those shirts are still hanging up in my wardrobe and I still occasionally wear them. I guess they were bought in the late nineties so that makes each of them over 25 years old. In my opinion and in the name of this over-exploited planet, we should all try to make our clothes last as long as possible.
- This afternoon, I read three new books to our darling Phoebe: "Topsy and Tim Learn to Swim", "The Dancing Bug Badge" (Hey Duggee series) and "Bluey - Baby Race", By the way, Bluey is the best thing to come out of Australia since Kylie Minogue but the cartoons are much more entertaining than the associated books which can be quite tiresome and difficult to read with enthusiasm.
- As I write this, Phoebe is out swimming with her grandma and I have got my famous bolognese sauce bubbling on the hob, ready for the evening meal. As usual on a Thursday evening, Frances, Stewart and Baby Margot will be over to join us. I think it's nice that they get one midweek evening when they do not need to think about cooking. They are both working pretty hard - mostly on computers.
- Britain recently experienced several mini-riots by right wingers and mindless thugs and racist idiots following the fatal stabbing of three little girls in Southport. The authorities have come down very swiftly and harshly on those involved. I approve of that approach but I wish that the law would deal just as swiftly and harshly with tax evaders, fraudsters and other white collar criminals. Their cases seem to drag on for years.
I love Bluey although I need subtitles sometimes! Dinner sounds wonderful as does precious time with family. I think those far right rioters got egged on by one of my least favorite people in the world, EM. What a narcissistic jerk he is. Like someone else we know and despise.
ReplyDeleteBy EM do you mean Emmanuel Macron? Who does he represent apart from himself?
DeleteHeavens, no. Emmanuel is very hot (chaud). Elon Musk.
DeleteI am with you 100% with regard to Muskrat.
DeleteMy youngest grandson is a fan of Bluey. FYI: We call them roundabouts in my neck of the woods, too, unless they're rotaries, which are a little different.
ReplyDeleteI know you are in the USA Kelly but which part?
DeleteI live in the sticks of south Arkansas.
DeleteI love that photo of the market and the delicious food surrounding an equally delicious young lady. Speaking of food, I'd like to hear the recipe for your "famous bolognese sauce".
ReplyDeleteRegarding my "famous bolognese sauce", I learnt the basics from an Italian housemate when I was at university. Since then I have developed the recipe but one of the main ingredients is time! My sauce bubbles on a very low heat for three hours to soften the mince (American: ground beef) before serving. Other additions - a large bay leaf, a teaspoon of mixed herbs, a dash of red wine, a beef "Oxo" cube, pepper, a dash of soy sauce, fried chopped onions, fried chopped red pepper, crushed garlic, tomato puree, a can of chopped tomatoes and a heart full of love!
DeleteGrazie, chef!
DeleteThree hours?? You cook like my sons. Anything bubbling on my stove for three hours would be burnt to the bottom of the pan, even on a low heat. It's the most horrible stove in the world and I hate it.
DeleteI'm wondering if some BritSpeak is rubbing off on me, or the fact that my parents were married in England has prompted my brain to speak in the English tongue because I call it a "roundabout" and never call it a "traffic circle."
ReplyDeleteHowever, I have been known to call it "Places where people who don't %&$#@*ing know how to drive end up."
Washingtonian here who always calls them roundabouts. Many people here do also. I relate to your last sentence; I was one of those people the first time I experienced one, coming off Interstate 90 into a two lane roundabout. I just about lost my sanity!
DeleteIn contrast I grew up with roundabouts - they are everywhere here.
DeleteSo Bob where in England did your parents get hitched?
You cover a lot of territory in this post. They are the usual topics you deal with. I was concerned about the riots but didn't know what they were about.
ReplyDeleteI think sociologists would have a field day picking away at the reasons for those riots. Social media has a lot to answer for.
DeleteNice little smippets here. Glad you don't have covid. I try to make my clothes last as long as possible, my old ski jacket, bought on sale (I don't ski) is just over 30 and looking like it too, but it has the big pockets I like and the zipper still works so that's god enough for me. A couple of shirts should probably go to the rag bag but they're comfortable.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Phoebe is having swimming lessons, ALL children should learn how to swim. What time is dinner? I'll bring my own spoon...
Yeah, come on over Elsie - we'll save some for you. Do you want garlic bread on the side?
DeleteExtras on the garlic bread please. Love that stuff.
DeleteAn interesting and eclectic mix of things in this post.
ReplyDeleteThe stabbing and its aftermath happened while my sister and I were in Yorkshire, and we were a little worried that maybe security at London's train stations (or Leeds, where we had the first change on our journey home) would be tighter and make for longer waiting times at border control etc. It turned out not to be the case.
Of course that was our very own, very "First World" problem - the stabbing itself and the effects it's been having are much more worrying.
Social media and smartphones played a big role in sparking those outbursts. The government's response has been very heavy - seeking to discourage repeat unrest.
DeleteI too am a huge Bluey fan, a huge improvement and far more fun than Pepper Pig.
ReplyDeleteI like Peppa Pig too and have been forced to watch just about every episode!
DeleteOi you!! Shazam was my word to use for today's post, being a proper noun, written well in advance and you wrote your post after mine was published, if the usual timings apply. Don't try to play the sympathy card that you are unwell. Poor form.
ReplyDeleteI worry that I look back ten years and see I am still wearing the same shirt. But not to the nineties.
You're really pushing it today me old mate, "Bluey is the best thing to come out of Australia since Kylie Minogue". "What about me? It isn't fair...".
At least I agree with you about white collar crime.
Get back in your kennel lad and stop that barking!
DeleteIf you are trying to save the world with three 25 year old shirts in your wardrobe, why are you cooking a tomato sauce for three hours on the stove? ;)
ReplyDeleteWho has got the AGA my dear? Our burner was on a the lowest possible setting.
DeleteGlad you haven't got covid, but best to keep on checking as mine was negative to start with (even with symptoms) and then positive the next day. Dr Addy charges by the minute, so that will be £200 please.
ReplyDeleteDr Addy can take a long walk off a short pier!
DeleteGood to know you haven't caught the dreaded Covid YP.
ReplyDeleteI shall make a note of your recipe for Bolognese sauce, it sounds very tasy. I shan't have it with Spag Bol because I don't like pasta (shock horror!) but it will be just as enjoyable with brown rice.
You don't like pasta? Hell, that's weird Carol!
DeleteGlad you didn't have Covid. Where my sister lives, in Massachusetts outside of Boston, traffic circles are called roundabouts. Maybe it's because she lives in NEW England? Who knows? Your sauce sounds delicious!
ReplyDeleteOnce in a bar in Savannah GA an American visitor from Dayton OH asked me about traffic circles in Great Britain. He had heard about them but they didn't have any in Dayton.
DeleteBarcellona is an amazing market, a very special place. I was talking with a nurse the other day, and realized I have sweaters older than he is. (I have one I bought in London in 1990 that I still wear each winter.)
ReplyDeleteI could afford to purchase a new shirt every week if I wanted to but I like the comfort of old, familiar clothes.
DeleteI was surprised that you would use ChapGPT to complete your story idea. You are a writer, Neil! You could write it better yourself!
ReplyDeleteI have a wool blazer of my grandpa's that I still wear (he died in 1959!)
I like your variety of topics today!
I just used to ChatGPT out of curiosity - not to be my actual story.
DeleteMy youngest grandchildren are now firmly in the Transformer and Super Hero and Pokemon phases and I could not be less interested. How I miss the sweet stories I used to love to read them and they loved to hear.
ReplyDeletei am sure your bolognese sauce is worth waiting the three hours for.
All that media inspired stuff - I wish it wan't there for kids. It's like a kind of brainwashing.
DeleteWhen I lived in Morocco I visited that collapsing castle near Essaouira many times. I always loved walking that beach. It was maybe my favorite place in the whole country -- cool and breezy when everyplace else was stifling.
ReplyDeleteGlad you don't have Covid! I guess testing nowadays is really just a matter of indulging our own curiosity. No one's keeping tabs on it anymore, officially speaking.
When I went to that castle I met with a pack of wild dogs. It was all I could do to get away without being attacked. You are right about COVID testing nowadays. You do it out of curiosity.
DeleteKeep eating all those vitamins in the photo and hopefully you'll feel better soon. - I'd never heard of Bluey so googled him(?) and found an episode online. Couldn't really see the charm though so I only watched 3 minutes out of 7. It had Swedish voices. Either it sounds less annoying in English, or it really needs the presence of a small human child while watching. My guess is that the latter probably makes a huge difference in any language! ;-)
ReplyDeleteWell I am pleased to learn that your cultural horizons have now been widened through watching "Bluey" but three minutes is not enough!
DeleteOh, how I agree with you about 'white collar' criminals - the CPS tries hard, so I'm told.
ReplyDeleteTopsy and Tim videos are very sweet, if a little anodyne, the books more straightforward. It's lovely to have an excuse to revisit simple pleasures and a glimpse of a life that never really existed, except in our imaginations and wishings. Those days with little ones pass all too quickly.
Yes - anodyne is just the right word for "Topsy and Tim". I wonder if they'll take ecstasy tablets when they are older.
Deletep.s: there's a new Covid variant and the test for it costs £1,000 - I know, because my husband, bless his cotton socks, has just had two. (Greedy)
ReplyDelete£1000? Good heavens, you two must be very rich!
Delete