Chitchat

I need to stop the slide. This varied blog could easily morph into one that only offers quizzes - day after day... "Quiztime" ad nauseam. Time to make a stand.

Outside the wind is howling as Storm Darragh passes through our neck of the woods. Flying Debris would be a great name for a band with me on lead vocals, backing singers Meike, Jennifer and Thelma. Dave Northsider on lead guitar, JayCee on bass, Cro Magnon on drums and Coppa's Girl on keyboards. We'd do a world tour, snort drugs, smash up hotel rooms and record a best-selling album in Nashville. Life would be so fine.

Back to reality. The start of December means I need to get a Christmas parcel together for Robin - my brother in France.  His box is now filled and I have just got to post it on Monday morning. That will cost a fair penny in spite of my watchfulness.

I bought him some work gloves from B&Q where, in the very same visit, I purchased a  five foot Christmas tree. It is currently sitting in my car (Clint) ready to be put up next week. That's right - I won't be sending it to France.

We hadn't had a takeaway curry in a few weeks so this evening I addressed that by ordering one from "Bilash" on Sharrowvale Road. Onion bhajis, chicken bhuna, vegetable rice and two chapatis. Plenty for the two of us and as delicious as always. I still can't get used to the idea of food deliveries so I braved the storm to collect it.

I am trying to write a chatty blogpost that resists transforming into another "Quiztime" post. How am I doing? Oh, there goes another question.

My friend and pub quizmate Mike went away on a little adventure this weekend. He took the train up to Glasgow where he had reserved a hotel room in the city centre. Today he will have gone to watch St Mirren play Motherwell in The Scottish Premier League having found it impossible to secure a ticket for Celtic's match with Hibernian.  It will be touch and go if he makes it back for tomorrow night's pub quiz.

We have lived strangely parallel lives. Like me he was Head of English in a Sheffield secondary school. Like me he has a son, a daughter and three grandchildren. Like me he has often enjoyed short trips away on his own - including several obscure European destinations. Like me he is a lifelong supporter of one of England's less glamorous football teams. Like me he is proudly woke. Many similarities but not the same.

Shirley is currently watching "Strictly Come Dancing" on the television. It has become a national obsession but I cannot bear it. Same with reality TV programmes - often involving so-called "celebrities". To me they are so superficial and mundane and yet they attract viewers like nobody's business. Instead, give me a documentary about garden slugs, a travel programme, an intelligent quiz show or a good comedy act - any would be preferable to reality TV show pap.

Anyway, my Saturday evening chitchat is just about done. The wind has calmed down quite significantly and this hundred year old house is no longer rattling as though it was out at sea. Time to bid you adieu. Flying Debris have officially disbanded.

Quiztime

Quizzes? It is hard to pitch them right. Yesterday's quiz may have caused irritation in some quarters because the general feeling was that it was too damned easy. Please accept my sincere apologies. So, okay, let's try another quiz with "More Proverbs". This time the proverbs come from either Albania or Nigeria. You will be pleased to learn that they have been translated from Albanian and from three of the principal Nigerian languages - Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo.

Albanian:-
1) A dog that barks a lot, does not _________ you
(a) love (b) need (c) bite (d) respect

2) As long as you live, you will _____________

(a) fight (b) love (c) suffer (d) learn

3) Do not leave today’s ________ for tomorrow
(a) work (b) dinner (c) bills (d) kisses

4) Everyone builds their own _________.
(a) house (c) family (c) career (d) destiny

5) The big fish eats the _________ one.
(a) succulent (b) small (c) lost (d) biggest

Nigerian:-
6) The child of an elephant will not be a ___________. 

(a) bull elephant (b) dwarf (c) monkey (d) giant

7) What an old man sees while _________, a young man can never see - even when he climbs up in a tree. 

(a) tilling the soil (b) lying down (c) sitting in the dunny (d) watching ants

8) Whoever is patient with a __________ shell will one day have thousands of them. 
(a) groundnut  (b) bullet (c) cowrie (d) conch

9) The day on which one starts out is not the time to begin one’s ______.

(a) preparations (b) journey (c) recollections (d) return

10) One who has been bitten by a ___________  lives in fear of worms. 

(a) warthog (b) crow (c) snake (d) worm

10/10 this time?

Quiztime

Like most other blogs, this one is international. Consequently, setting quizzes can be problematic. I mean, it would be unfair and off-putting to most international visitors if I posed questions about English counties, Horatio Nelson or the history of Hull City A.F.C. (1904-2024). Even today, I am a little concerned that the proverbs that are familiar to me and my fellow citizens may be puzzling to those who dwell in distant lands. 

Yes my dear bloggoids, that is today's quiz theme - proverbs. But don't worry overmuch as I will give you multiple choice solutions for each proverb from which a single word or two has been removed. As usual answers will be given in "Comments". Good luck!

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1. "A_______ in time saves nine"
(a) sausage  (b) spanking (c) switch (d) stitch

2. "People who live in glasshouses should not throw ________"
(a) clods of earth (b) stones (c) bricks (d) tomatoes

3. "An apple a day keeps the _______ away"
(a) fruiterer (b) dentist (c) doctor (c) wolf

4. "Make _______ while the sun shines"
(a) love (b) money (c) haste (d) hay

5.  "A rolling stone gathers no _______ "
(a) moss (b) money (c) groupies (d) ice

6. "Don't judge a book by its ________"
(a) author (b) length (c) reviews (d) cover

7. "You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it ________"
(a) swim (b) drink (c) gallop (d) talk

8.  "Birds of a feather ______ together"
(a) whistle (b) squabble (c) fly (d) flock

9. "One man's meat is another man's ________"
(a) poison (b) potato (c) principle (d) porridge

10. "The proof of the ________ is in the eating"
(a) dinner (b) pudding (c) chef's talent (d) restaurant

Well? How did you do?

Twofoldness

 

1. Looking from this blog's engine room - our study. Little Margot is at the foot of the stairs and about to climb up for the umpteenth time. She's not walking independently yet but she is getting there and it won't be long. For the time being, it is safer to motor around the house on her hands and knees in the manner of a quadruped. Hurry up Grandpa! You have got to shepherd me up the stairs so I don't tumble down! "Oh dear - not again!" he grumbles.

2. This evening, following yesterday's trip to Buxton, I had another social appointment. This time it was dinner at "The Norfolk Arms", Ringinglow with the eight men who make up our main pub quiz opposition. Let me see now - there was Peter, Geoff, Tony, Dave, Stewart, John, Mike and Den. 

It was kind of them to invite me and the Christmas meal was pretty good. I had lovely, homemade French onion soup followed by a tasty turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Afterwards, there was room for Christmas pudding and custard and a warm mince pie.

The other men are aged between 63 and 77 and all very pleasant. We had some good laughs. I guess I have known them for ten years. There's always  good banter with them and friendly rivalry. To be honest, they have been winners at the weekly quiz more often than my team have been. Hell - what do you expect? There are eight of them and usually only three of us.

"The Norfolk Arms" is more than a mile from the last suburbs of Sheffield. Shirley drove me up there and Peter, who had major heart surgery earlier this year, drove me home.

It had been a very agreeable night out with good company, good food and good service. Below, "The Norfolk Arms" in the summer of 2018:-

Excursion

Today was the day of my quiz team's previously postponed excursion to Buxton. We were going there to meet up with our old pal Danny and have a  handsome lunch with a few beers. Mike's wife Jill kindly offered to drive us out there. She said she would be perfectly happy just toddling round Buxton's shops.

I was picked up at 11.45. There are other ways to get to Buxton but Jill decided to drive along The Hope Valley and then up through Winnat's Pass - shown in the top picture thanks to Google Streetview. However, as Robbie Burns wrote,  “The best laid schemes of mice and men go aft astray"  and sure enough, Winnat's Pass was closed because of road works. This meant we had to turn around and follow a detour via Bradwell and Peak Forest.

Consequently, we arrived a few minutes late at the highly recommended pub restaurant "Lubens" shown above. We had reserved a table. Beers were quaffed, happy flowing conversation occurred and our meals were duly consumed. My lunch was good but not especially memorable. I would just about give it ★★★★ out of five. I had steak pie with chips (American: fries), broccoli, red cabbage and gravy - it was the day's "special". This was followed by sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream.

Afterwards, we crossed the town's marketplace to visit "The New Inn" - shown above. Actually, the Streetview image is a bit dated as the pub enjoyed a major refurbishment just this year. Inside, it was lovely and welcoming. A log fire was burning merrily in the fireplace. Buxton is the highest market town in England and the air temperature is always two or three degrees colder there than it is in Sheffield so that fire was just the job on a chilly afternoon in December.

Jill arrived after her shopping expedition and had half a pint of "Cruzcampo" Spanish beer with us  before we headed back to the big city via Taddington and Ashford-in-the-Water. By the way, all the food we ate and the drinks we sank were paid for with past pub quiz winnings!

Precious

Sunday dinner is ahead and I am busy in the kitchen. The menu will consist of roasted chicken, homemade gravy, Yorkshire puddings, spring cabbage, roast potatoes, sage and onion stuffing, cranberry sauce, roasted parsnips and carrots.

For dessert there will be apple crumble and custard using apples from our garden. Shirley prepared it in the morning before heading out somewhere but neglected to pop said crumble in the oven and now the pressure is on to bake it along with everything else. Radio Five is playing live commentary of the Liverpool v Manchester City match in the background and the kitchen window is steaming up. Everything is under control. Yes it is.

Meantime a smiling dumpling of a baby - Little Margot is crawling proudly towards me. Where are the other three adults in the house? Phoebe is circling the downstairs doing "her work". In other words she is marching around with my desk calculator pressing all the buttons and as happy as Larry - whoever he might have been.

Then she overhears me muttering to myself, "You could have put the bloody crumble in!" 

After her next circuit, Phoebe stops and innocently looks up at me, "Grandpa! Grandpa! What's a bloody crumble?"

A precious moment.

Threesome

 
"Older Australian man with two younger men from 
India on the balcony of a high rise apartment"

Over in Melbourne, Australia kind Mr Andrew has been accommodating two young Indian men in his luxury penthouse apartment. He is the author of "From The High Rise" and you can read all about Andrew's adventures with Phyllis and Kosov over at his blog. As I didn't have a real life photo, the one above was made with Microsoft Bing Image Creator.

Here's a cartoon version of Andrew and his new chums...

And here are the three of them as Vincent Van Gogh might have seen them if he had not died  by suicide in 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise, France...

Yes, AI imagery is fun to play around with if you have the kind of mind where visualisation and the appearance of things are important to you. Visual thinking is apparently predominant in approximately 60–65% of the general population.

An older Australian man with two much younger Indian men in a high rise apartment in Melbourne would make a great basis for a new sitcom. The running title would be "Three's a Crowd" and Andrew could be played by Hugh Jackman if the production company can afford his massive salary.

Fancy playing around with Microsoft Bing Image Creator? Go here.

Bucketing

Cro Magnon amused me earlier today . When once again bragging about extolling the virtues of the city of Brighton, he declared that ice skating on the rink in front of The Royal Pavilion was definitely NOT on his "Bucket List".

This made me reflect upon the things I would not want on my own "Bucket List" - a kind of "Anti-Bucket List".  I have come up with ten things:-

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1. I would not want to swim with dolphins. They might bite or carry infection.

2. I would not want to climb Mount Everest. Such a trip would be very expensive and very dangerous too for my Sherpa guides as well as me.

3. I would not want to visit the wreck of "The Titanic" in a mini-submarine. I mean - what's the point? I can just look at photos or video footage created by someone else.

4. I would not want a tattoo of any description - not because of the pain involved but because they are all so passé - pointless and uninteresting. Whenever I see them I think of flocks of sheep.

5. I would not want dinner with Donald J. Trump in Mar-a-Lago or indeed anywhere else. The guy is a boorish, somewhat demented narcissist and his dinner conversation would be very tedious.

6. I would not want to go sky-diving - even if was for some worthy charity. I had  a tandem paragliding experience in Turkey back in 2008 and that was quite enough for me. See here.

7. I would not want to run a marathon - leaving aside the obvious point that I would be incapable of such an achievement. Running twenty six miles is so unappealing when I could simply walk it without having to don a lycra running suit and ridiculously expensive day-glo running shoes.

8. I would not want to swim with crocodiles. They have sharp teeth and are frequently hungry. To be honest, swimming with dolphins would be infinitely preferable. (Also would not want to swim with piranhas)

9. I would not want to appear as a contestant on "Strictly Come Dancing". For one thing, I am not a celebrity and for another thing, I have never been a fan of ballroom dancing. Give me traditional folk dancing any time!

10. I would not want to travel into outer space aboard a rocket ship. I don't want to bounce around on our lifeless moon like a loon and I have absolutely no interest in visiting Mars. Apart from anything else, such trips take humans away from the realities of living on Earth  and burn up aviation fuel as if there was no tomorrow... which, when I think of the climate crisis, is probably true.

⦿

Please name one item you would have on your own Anti-Bucket List

Videos

The disused church in Esk - courtesy of Google imagery

The day before yesterday, this blog went to Esk in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is a place that most Canadians have never heard of, far from anywhere and even less significant than it used to be. It is located in pancake-flat prairie land. There you can see for miles. 

I neglected to mention that a branch of the Canadian Pacific railroad passes right through Esk but these days the trains never stop. This track was once vital in opening up central Canada and transporting grain as well as mineral products.

During my investigations about Esk, I came across two amateur videos about the settlement. In the first one, the laidback narrator is often battling with the wind. At one point, he refers to the farming families that established themselves there or thereabouts. One of the families he mentions is the Kleins - later to become the Klines...

In the second video, the film maker played around with a drone. His camera work leaves a lot to be desired but it still helps to get a better sense of  Esk. The video first appeared on YouTube six years ago...

I hope you liked the videos. I think they give a sense of the remoteness and the tininess of Esk and they help you to think about the first families to settle there - how brave and hardy they were . Occasionally, Keith has referred to his early life just outside Esk and if you wish to know more about   it from his point of view, why not use the search box at the top of Hiawatha House. Type in Esk and Blogger will magically take you there.

Blagg

The picture shown above was from my long walk out of Lincoln on Tuesday. I had just passed under the Eastern Bypass Bridge which opened in late 2020. On the horizon you can see Lincoln Cathedral rising above the city. I waited for vehicles to pass over the bridge, hoping for  one interesting shot and I think I got that with the white "Blagg" van - "Blagg" being a plant hire company.

I was also pleased  with this shot that I took after descending from the northern bank of The River Witham. I especially like the shadows of the footbridge and the wooden footpath sign. The path ahead leads into the village of Fiskerton where  many ancient artefacts including The Witham Shield have been found dating back far into the mists of time along with the remains of a wooden causeway from a time when the surrounding land was not drained and rivers were not hemmed in by man made banks.

The Witham Shield dates back to around 400 BC. It is roughly a metre in height and is housed in The British Museum in London. There is a replica in Lincoln Museum. What remains is the shield's bronze facing including fabulous fine metal working on the central boss. The main wooden back to the shield rotted away long ago.

Our ancestors sing to us in many different ways and not just in the form of ruins, burial mounds, stone circles and found objects. They walked the paths that we walk today. Of course there were far less of them in those bygone days. The population of this entire planet in 500BC is estimated to have been around 100 million. In 2024 there are some 8.2 billion human beings here. The difference in just 2500 years is startling.

You could put it this way. There are over 80 people alive today for ever ancient human who was alive in 500BC.

Addendum

Yesterday, the visits counter on this blog passed four million and I am pretty pleased about that. It has taken nineteen years and five months to attract this huge number of views, averaging over 17,000 hits a month. Thanks to all genuine readers who have called by over the months and years...

Esk

The old church in Esk   ©Chris Attrell

In Canada, The Yellowhead Highway runs from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Graham Island off the coast of British Columbia. Please note that that island is not named after Mr Graham Edwards who resides on The Isle of Lewis which is not named after the F1 driver Lewis Hamilton.

The Yellowhead Highway runs for 1800 miles and right across the province of Saskatchewan through Saskatoon and on to Yorkton. Between those places there are numerous little settlements close to that vital connecting road including Elfros, Mozart, Wynard, Kandahar, Dafoe and Jansen. Between Jansen and Lanigan you will find what remains of the village of Esk.

Esk was never a big place but it grew into a farming community as the great prairie lands of North America were opened up and made profitable. At first there were small, labour-intensive farms where mechanisation was limited and horses, oxen and mules were still used by farmers. 

This was where Mr Keith Kline was born in October 1939. He is a fellow blogger known to most of us as Red and he is the author of "Hiawatha House" which has been running for sixteen years. Red now lives in Red Deer, Alberta with his Yorkshire-born wife, Jean but he grew up miles from anywhere in Esk where he attended the local school with a handful of other farming children.

To celebrate Red's recent 85th birthday, I thought I would use Google Streetview to see how Esk looks these days but I am afraid that those Google camera cars have so far avoided Esk. The best I can do is show you The Yellowhead Highway at the point where it passes by Esk...

Just five miles along the road heading west you come to a bigger settlement called Lanigan which I am sure that Red was familiar with in his early years. I asked Google Streetview to take me there. On Main Street, Wong's Chinese Restaurant is still operational, serving "Canadian" food alongside  the Chinese fayre. What is "Canadian" food I wonder? 

Lanigan is a town of only 1400 people but it has its own high school - no doubt serving other settlements in the region and bussing many children in...

Travelling three or four miles east of Esk, you come to a pretty big glacial moraine lake - Big Quill Lake which is seventeen miles long and eleven miles across. We don't have any lakes in England to compare with that. This Google view may give you a sense of its size. It's like an inland sea!

And so here's that Saskatchewan farmboy himself with his birthday doughnut, having made it to 85 just last month. Belated Birthday Greetings Red and I hope you liked this Esk-related blogpost.

East

All Saints Church, Greetwell

The empty gate house at Greetwell

I was down at our local bus stop at 8.45 this morning and as luck would have it a no.88 appeared straight away. We sped into the city centre in the bus lane and I was down at the railway station at 9.15, ready to catch the 9.39 train to Lincoln.

Lincoln is 55 miles east of Sheffield and by car without traffic hold ups you can complete the journey in  more or less the same time that the train takes. But I didn't want the driving today. It was nice to sit in a train carriage reading my book.

Once in Lincoln, I set off eastward along the north bank of The River Witham. Soon I was out in the countryside on what was a bright morning as the weather people had promised. I was heading for Fiskerton and then on to Cherry Willingham. but I made a detour at Greetwell in order to take a few pictures of All Saints Church which dates back to at least the eleventh century. 

By the time I got to Phoenix Fiskerton, time was running out on me. I needed to march to Cherry Willingham like a soldier if I was going to catch the 3pm bus back into Lincoln as planned. If I missed it, I would have an hour to wait and I then would miss the 16.17 train back to Sheffield. 

But I made it and in Lincoln I treated myself to a small burger meal with a latte at "Wendy's".  The images above and below this writing were  taken today.

St Clement Church in Fiskerton is Grade I listed

Road sign in Fiskerton

Pilings, like Grecian columns, beneath the A15 roadway

Magnificent Lincoln Cathedral still looks 

over the surrounding landscape. Once the

tallest building in the world.

Park

In all my years living in Sheffield, I have rarely visited Norfolk Park - to the south east of the city but I went there again today. Above, I am  pretty pleased with that autumnal photograph of the gatehouse at the Granville Road entrance.

It is a sprawling park of some seventy acres with woodland and open spaces. It once belonged to the Dukes of Norfolk and was part of extensive hunting grounds. Eventually, in 1910, the entire area was given to the people of Sheffield by the then Duke of Norfolk though one should not necessarily think of this as an act of generous munificence. It was more complicated than that.

Below, the arched stone doorway remains but the building it once accessed is gone. It was a tearoom and pavilion. The inscription above the doorway commemorates the official transfer of the parkland into public ownership.

On a park noticeboard, someone had affixed this sticker. It refers to a subject that is close to my heart. Badgers have been here on the island of Britain for at least half a million years and yet in the last two decades they have become something of a scourge in the eyes of certain onlookers. Badgers are blamed for spreading tuberculosis in cattle even though the evidence for this is very shaky indeed. 

The last government came up with a culling scheme that involved hiring marksmen to shoot badgers. The whole process has been deliberately shrouded in mystery but we know that thousands of badgers have been killed - or perhaps a better word would indeed be "murdered"...

In Norfolk Park, there were many fallen leaves blown into piles, all higgledy-piggledy making interesting  natural collages even though most of them have recently lain under piles of snow:-

As near as dammit, I walked the entire circumference of the park. American grey squirrels darted about and an old woman was taking her two old dogs for a slow walk even though her body was bent and she needed the assistance of two crutches. She was talking to herself and to her dogs quite loudly as I overtook her. I wondered what would happen if she fell over for I very much doubt that she could have got herself up again. Below,  a lone human was walking under the trees... 

From several locations in Norfolk Park you get  clear views of the city centre and St Paul's Tower, an apartment block which is the tallest building in Sheffield...

Dumbass

Americans have coined some pretty handy words, including "dumbass". I must admit that I was a "dumbass" yesterday night.

At nine o'clock, I jumped in Clint's South Korean cockpit and headed off to our nearest "Lidl" store. Ever since The Plague disrupted our lives, I have tended to do our main supermarket shopping late on when I can always get parked in one of my favourite spaces and there's hardly anybody else shopping.

Semi-skimmed milk, Cavendish bananas, fun-size apples, spreadable butter, carrots, a stalk of Brussels sprouts, a joint of "grass fed" roasting beef, Greek yoghurts, cosy winter socks for little girls, shower cream, smoked bacon, a bottle of Ukrainian white wine, Madagascar vanilla custard, sourdough crumpets, onions, horseradish sauce and chicken breasts...plus a few other items.

I plonked all of these things on the conveyor belt, plumped up my shopping bags in the trolley and the job was soon done. The young man at the checkout said, "That will be £71.54 please". Then your correspondent went to his pocket to pull out his wallet - but no wallet! What a dumbass! I had left it on the windowsill at home.

It was too late to drive back to our suburban mansion as the  store would be closing in ten minutes. Patiently, the young man said that my trolley could be kept in the chiller in the store room and I could pick up my stuff on Sunday morning when "Lidl" reopened. He did not exclaim, "You are a dumbass!" but he may have been thinking that. 

The "retrieve shopping" mission was successfully completed this morning and before too long Dumbass will begin preparing our Sunday dinner - that's if I can remember how to turn on the oven.

I freely admit that I have done plenty of "dumbass" things in the past, including once pouring diet cola on my fish and chips, thinking that I had just grabbed the vinegar bottle. As a small girl, Frances regularly reminded me of this act of blatant stupidity, saying, "You poured coke on your chips!" as though I had done something so unthinkable that it needed repeating over and over.

Have you ever been a "dumbass"? Perhaps you are perfect and have never done a "dumbass" thing in your entire life.

Beer

"The Tan Hill Inn" - England's highest pub

In my adult life, I have drunk countless gallons of beer - by volume,  the equivalent of an Olympic swimming pool. Beer has been a good friend to me - a faithful companion in good times and bad. Foaming pints have been sunk in pubs from New Zealand to New York and from Lands End to John O'Groats

I could always leave spirits alone. In our little drinks cabinet, I have two unopened bottles of whisky (Scottish) and two of whiskey (Irish). They have been there for a decade or more. Wine and cider are okay but beer was always my best buddy.

During the time of The Plague (COVID), there were two long spells when I didn't drink any beer at all but  we gradually got back together as old friends often do. Then earlier this year, I recognised that I had been drinking beer every evening for weeks on end and I asked myself why. I decided to give it a rest - only drinking at the pub quiz on a Sunday night.

That has been my pattern since mid-September. I am down to ten "units" a week. In October, I received the shock news that my blood pressure was far too high and I am now taking medication to bring it down. It appears to be working. What was 190/90 is now down to 165/75  and sometimes lower than that. It was pure co-incidence that I had already reduced my intake of beer before this new phase in my life began but now I am motivated to maintain the present regime for the purpose of longevity. I measure my blood pressure every day and my next  follow-up doctor's appointment is on December 2nd. Now I am living by numbers.

"The Rivelin" on the edge of Sheffield

Of course I have always loved public houses - the ambience, the unique character, meeting new people and old friends and acquaintances. They have been like homes away from home and it is there that I have sunk the majority of my pints and enjoyed lots of great times.

However, the English pub scene is now much changed. Many independent  pubs have closed their doors for good and lots that remain are "food led" and corporate. It is not the same as it once was. And pub goers have changed their habits too. Pubs are not packed as they used to be with regular drinkers conversing and laughing and sometimes singing. Nowadays, many pub customers meet up on particular nights and frequently go home long before closing time.

Maybe this is just a phase and I will climb aboard the beer train once again - guzzling like a champion - but I don't think so.  Those days are over. I do not plan to give beer up completely, it will still be there and I will still enjoy it. But it won't be taking me over. The majority of my nights will continue to be spent at home and there'll be more tea, water and hot chocolate in the space that beer used to occupy.

"The Strines Inn" - five miles west of Sheffield

November

"Winter winds they do blow cold" - Sandy Denny

Today, with a bright wintry weather forecast, I was looking forward to a significant walk in far away countryside. However, that plan was soon postponed as our road had become a skating rink over night and the few cars attempting to tackle it were spinning on the black ice. Even the five yards from our front door to the pavement (American: sidewalk) looked hazardous.

Shirley took Phoebe home at around ten thirty when the ice was still lethal. That walk normally takes nine minutes but today it took twenty five. Their carefulness paid off for they didn't fall down. It is true that one fall on an icy footpath can change your life.

I stayed indoors till after 2pm and then I  was finally motivated to get outside. The streets were still icy even though the air temperature has risen to 3°C. Sometimes walking on the road surface, I kept a sharp eye out for patches of ice. I was heading to Bert's terraced house.

I rapped on his door which is normally left unlocked during the day. Then I rapped again. There were occupation sounds from within and then a voice, "Who is it?"

"It's me Bert, Neil!"

He fumbled with the key and after a short delay I was let in. He was wearing a black thermal vest and matching shorts. Quite a sight to behold. It soon became obvious that he had only just got up. Upstairs, his youngest son - Philip was also stirring. Way past two in the afternoon and they were both just rising!

Bert explained that they had a very late night watching films on the television. Besides, on such a cold day - what did they have to get up for? It had been warm and cosy in bed.

I had brought Bert a little birthday gift - two cans of Caribbean rum and cola and a bar of Cadburys' Bournville chocolate plus a card I made myself using the only picture of Bert that I have. He will be eighty eight years old on Sunday having been born in 1936. Hell, he can still remember bombsites in the east end of London and being evacuated to  Higham Ferrers in Northamptonshire. He and his family never went back to London's docklands.

Kindly, Philip poured me a glass of Bailey's Irish cream and I stayed for over an hour chatting with them. Surprisingly, Bert seemed in better shape than the last time I saw him. You expect gradual decline in his situation but I was seeing improvement. He even went upstairs to perform his ablutions. By the way, the staircases in traditional British terraced homes are  usually  very steep and potentially treacherous - even for people who are in the prime of their lives. I hope that those stairs will not be the death of him.

Returning home as evening was descending, I called in on Frances and the girls. Stewart has been away in Sweden all week on a company work project. Phoebe was glued to children's television as though entranced and Margot was at first having her afternoon nap. Frances has a strong job lead now and there have been preliminary phone conversations leading to a formal hour long presentation next week. If I were a gambling man, I would put a handful of banknotes on her getting this job but you never know, do you?

Images

 

All I have for you tonight is four images and a song. Above, a reminder to our American cousins that in Great Britain, the word "trump" is frequently used in place of "fart". For some strange reason "trump" is considered to be more polite over here  and children are customarily encouraged to use "trump" when describing the release of bodily gases via the anus. The book cover above is not a satirical mock-up of an explanatory children's book. It is the real thing.

Below, I had another go with A.I. to produce a better cover for "The Lost Schoolgirl". This time I instructed that the idea of a mirror should be present in the design.

Finally, I admit that there is a notable absence of pictures of me in this humble Yorkshire blog so tonight you are getting two for the price of one. Here's me with my grandson Zachary - down in Fulham, London at the end of October. It was two days after his first birthday

And here I am in Portugal in May of this year, cuddling my youngest granddaughter, Margot. She was born just nine days after Zachary on November 2nd.

Both babies are developing nicely, starting to walk and to vocalise. Neither of them cry without reason and they are both much loved. They will be meeting up again at Christmastime for fun and frolics. What a blessing it is to have three grandchildren who are fit and healthy with, hopefully,  lovely lives to live in the years ahead.

Phoebe - pictured this morning (Friday) as requested by Frau Riley

As I write, Phoebe Harriet is asleep upstairs. She loves to sleep over at Grandpa and Grandma's house. We are like putty in her hands. She will be four years old on January 15th.

Time marches on.

Finally, the song. I woke one morning this week with this Richie Havens song playing on the juke box in my head. He died in 2013 at the age of 72. I invite you to listen...

Quiztime

Today's quiz questions are all about fruit and to help you out multiple choice answers have been provided. As usual, solutions will be given in the comments section.

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 1) What is this?  (a) unicorn fruit  (b) sphinx fruit  
(c) dragon fruit (d) griffin fruit

2) What is this? (a) angry fruit (b) passion fruit (c) fear fruit (d) love fruit

3) What is this? (a) tai chi (b) coochee (c) ho chi  (d) lychee

4) What is this? (a) durian (b) plantain (c) pineapple (d) melon

5) What are these berries? (a) raspberries (b) loganberries 

(c) cloudberries  (d) gooseberries

6) What variety of banana is the one most widely eaten around the world?

(a) Barangan (b) Cavendish (c) Manzano (d) Goldfinger

7) What variety of apples are these? 

(a) Golden Delicious (b) Cripps (c) Jonathan  (d) Braeburn

8) What does pomegranate literally mean?

(a) sweet little eyeballs (b) orb with jewels inside

(c) apple with many seeds (d) fruit of the gods

9) Which of these is NOT a variety of melon

(a) Christmas (b) Cantaloupe (c) Charentais (d) Clandestine

10) What type of large fruit is this woman holding?

(a) spongefruit (b) jackfruit (c) jillfruit (d) balloonfruit

That's all folks! How did you do?