June tweets

Bio: Kazoo Academy & Barrel Organ Disco/Yorkshire Almanac/translator Romance & Germanic languages & Russian/old-style jazz trombone & vocals/brass bands/allotmenteer

Sat Jun 01 18:12 Both updated Victorian houses and crinoids have their asses next to their mouth, but sea lilies don't lay Flemish bond
Sat Jun 01 18:24 Morning missed, Walthamstow marsh
Sat Jun 01 18:35 Vitalstatistix is not the only person to fear that the sky may fall on his head (tomorrow). I now know that this meme comes from a supposed meeting between Alexander the Great and the Κελτοί
Sat Jun 01 18:38 Smile is the first step to happiness, Jacquard Court, E2
Sat Jun 01 22:43 Historia de Barcelona, 2/6: * 1271: Se publican las ordenanzas de los corredores comerciales y de bolsa (11+451) * 1296: Privilegio real a Tortosa para la extracción de trigo para Barcelona (19) * 1633: Terremoto (1) * 1929: Inauguración de la Estación…
Sun Jun 02 04:58 Lichen. Maybe the cups bottom R on 1 are spore-producing apothecia, and the frozen leaf similes L some Lobaria. 2 & 3 are gloomy in different ways. Would Shakespeare have restated the third riddle in Macbeth had he known of organisms that are neither plant nor animal?
Sun Jun 02 10:05 I can't help seeing this as a mass-Santa-wedging incident
Sun Jun 02 11:33 Why doesn't @amazon provide replacement batteries for Kindles? OK, $$$, but sad to throw away a 2011 Kindle 4 which works just fine
Sun Jun 02 11:53 What happened to Morrissey, the Musical ? Also fine with Morrisons, the Musical
Sun Jun 02 11:55 Comment: Just taking the first two syllables, all I'm getting for the moment is The Smiling Lieutenant featuring Maurice Chevalier
Sun Jun 02 12:42 I can't remember the chronology, but wasn't the whole point of Trump to drown out all this?
Sun Jun 02 20:39 .@TitaniaMcGrath Are you planning to offer t-shirts in maternity sizes?
Sun Jun 02 20:41 New word: pareidolia
Sun Jun 02 20:43 Comment: A Tesco Belgian chocolate mousse just turned into a shark on me
Sun Jun 02 21:10 Tailor of Gloucester is the best Potter
Sun Jun 02 22:46 Historia de Barcelona, 3/6: * 1371: Procesiones contra la peste negra (41+15) * 1568: ¿Libros hugonotes escondidos en balas de mercaderías de Narbona? (847+56) * 1629: Cónclave internacional de los padres Mínimos para elegir Corrector General (771+322) *…
Mon Jun 03 09:24 OK, so Uber's an investor/employee/customer scam ( that increases traffic congestion/pollution, but I still love them about once a year for addressing the obesity crisis with Uber (i.e. Over) Eats
Mon Jun 03 11:22 Comment: @ibexsalad They know it's silly, so it's paywalled (1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. Victorian Era 61/2 Camp (Street), actions and gestures of exaggerated emphasis. Probably from the French. Used chiefly by persons of exceptional want of character. ‘How very camp he is.’)
Mon Jun 03 22:51 Historia de Barcelona, 4/6: * 1424: Bendicion de banderas de la armada que quiere rescatar a Alfonso V y conquistar Nápoles (24) * 1864: Primera representación, por 2.300 músicos, de una cantata nacional de Clavé: ¡Gloria á ESPAÑA, la heróica matrona!…
Tue Jun 04 06:56 Fack Island "just makes me care even less what the young think about anything or what happens to them after I am dead."
Tue Jun 04 11:30 Apparently Franco is dead
Tue Jun 04 11:48 Nitta-Jo's 1932 cocaine addiction song: Cocaïne, tu brûles mon sang. / Tu me ruines. ton poison violent / M'assassine - c'est plus fort que moi (hahahahaha!) / Cocaïne, je n'aime que toi!
Tue Jun 04 11:55 Comment: For me, in Caïn & other songs she (real name Jeanne Daflon, no Wikipedia entry?!) and the arranger anticipate Jacques Brel, as it were Sounds a remarkable person
Tue Jun 04 11:59 Comment: A short clip from a film of hers, Cendrillon de Paris/Paris Cinderella
Tue Jun 04 12:08 Comment: @ibexsalad @Pas_aimable A voice that reached out of the grave and grabbed my ankle, not as sinister-sounding as Zarah Leander
Tue Jun 04 20:34 Off on Thursday with my good friend @realDonaldTrump to the Normandy Landings Commemoration to do a spot of naval gazing
Tue Jun 04 22:56 Historia de Barcelona, 5/6: * 1918: Pla: Elimino, amb desagradables dificultats, una borratxera de pernod * 1919: Pla: Reflexionant sobre la conversa d’ahir, la gran sorpresa –a part de l’amabilitat de Borralleras– fou de constatar l’interès que Josep…
Wed Jun 05 04:14 Chuka Umunna = a nun-chum auk, or, if anagrams and swimming after fish are not his style, perhaps he could come along and sing sometime. Mr Bean really exists.
Wed Jun 05 04:18 Parsing a Tiananmen protest slogan
Wed Jun 05 04:22 Stayin' alive
Wed Jun 05 05:36 The Welsh is Peppa Pinc (pink) - alliteration over porcophilia. Fun at the fair. Still haven't found anyone prepared to say that hwyl sounds sufficiently close to Hull to be able to pun about it.
Wed Jun 05 05:53 Midler vs idler
Wed Jun 05 13:09 Comment: @justinjerez & the order returning it to France was made from Barcelona, so you'll probably find someone who says it wasn't valid
Wed Jun 05 22:54 Historia de Barcelona, 6/6: * 1320: Supuesta primera celebración de Corpus Christi en Barcelona (0+15) * 1632: Juramento del infante cardenal por virrey, pérdida de prestigio importante al quitar los sombreros para él, continuación y disolución de cortes…
Thu Jun 06 18:52 Frank Rosolino live with Stan Kenton
Thu Jun 06 20:41 Amsterdam's Westertoren carillon in Johnny Jordaan's Jofel Mokum Henri de Lagardère has the lyrics covered
Thu Jun 06 20:45 Girls' names apart from Ethelburga?
Thu Jun 06 20:53 Comment: Titborgs probably won't work either
Thu Jun 06 21:04 Comment: Running with the Saxon saints
Thu Jun 06 21:17 Comment: Songs. Come into the garden Maud
Thu Jun 06 21:20 Comment: Pseudo-Romance corporate disasters: Bankia, Tesla
Thu Jun 06 21:24 Comment: Dinah ist viel größer als meine
Thu Jun 06 21:27 Comment: Caca, fire goddess and sister of Cacus
Thu Jun 06 21:35 Comment: Old Dutch rules: First-born son is named after paternal grandfather First-born daughter is named after maternal grandmother Second son is named after maternal grandfather Second daughter is named after paternal grandmother Subsequent children were often named after uncles & aunts
Thu Jun 06 23:30 Historia de Barcelona, 7/6: * 1639: Incendio de la Cárcel Real y fuga de los presos (695+24) * 1640: Corpus de Sangre: el plebeyo y los vallesanos matan a ricos, notables, forasteros, y sus criados; queman y saquean; el Virrey muere de un infarto (es…
Fri Jun 07 07:32 Very sad about Dr John. I was hoping that under a Trump-Farage free trade deal he would become my GP.
Fri Jun 07 12:45 I think I preferred circus horse mathematicians I hope the government will control the search process to ensure that the answers are correct
Fri Jun 07 20:38 Can't beat a DM gypsy photo feature from Appleby fair "RSPCA Officers have rescued a couple of smaller animals after their attention was brought to 2 young Tits who had fallen from their nest. They'll be hand reared before being released back to the wild."
Fri Jun 07 23:29 Historia de Barcelona, 8/6: * Sábado de Pentecostés es el 08 de junio este año; en 1848 fue el 10 de junio * 1576: El Consejo de Ciento pide a los Hermanos Menores Capuchinos que vengan a Barcelona (38) * 1639: Salen 500 hombres para detener la inminente…
Sat Jun 08 05:22 Comment: @petersymon Paternal grandfather, Welsh bass-baritone, Bristol dentist. I rather wish I'd got a maternal great-grandfather - Jonah - but that might have been detrimentally mood-altering
Sat Jun 08 05:39 Unsolved murders from 2017, inc a local psycho-snitch
Sat Jun 08 06:31 Didn't know that Edith Templeton was German Czech
Sat Jun 08 23:27 Historia de Barcelona, 9/6: * Domingo de Pentecostés es el 09 de junio este año; en 1842 fue el 15 de mayo * ... y en 1848 fue el 11 de junio * 1359: Batalla naval catalán-castellano en el puerto de Barcelona con importante uso de artillería (535/i) *…
Sun Jun 09 23:30 Historia de Barcelona, 10/6: * Lunes de Pentecostés/Segunda Pascua es el 10 de junio este año; en 1848 fue el 12 de junio * 0162: El legionario Lucio Cecilio Optato deja fondos para financiar combates de boxeo (799) * 1428: Alfonso V pone la primera…
Mon Jun 10 15:41 Pet passports & Jeremy Thorpe
Mon Jun 10 16:22 I would watch Godzilla and the Aztecs
Mon Jun 10 18:09 Do all films about Adam & Eve work better at 1.5 speed? One case is Věra Chytilová's Ovoce stromů rajských jíme / Fruit of Paradise (1970)
Mon Jun 10 19:31 Story
Mon Jun 10 23:30 Historia de Barcelona, 11/6: * 0844: Capitular de Carlos el Calvo a los "godos e hispanos" de Barcelona confirmando los estatutos jurídicos otorgados por Carlomagno y Luis el Piadoso (185+47) * 1568: Asesinado el hijo de Isabel de Josa por el hermano de…
Tue Jun 11 05:57 Which reminds me: why does Godzilla never attack Germany?
Tue Jun 11 05:58 Comment: We Europeans would probably welcome it - check these European Godzilla posters:
Tue Jun 11 07:42 Mexican businessman Bernardo Domínguez sets up Spanish publisher Malpaso 6/7 years ago to exploit undervalued work, translators & other suppliers go unpaid (& Mexican implicated in Catalan money-laundering scandal). "Relax, it's only 4 grand," he says to one victim #MalpasoPagaYa
Tue Jun 11 07:51 Comment: Actually: "Don't be ridiculous! You are owed just under €4K. We understand that is an considerable amount if you are self-employed. The company suffered substantial losses in betting on failed books, and had to reorganize and restructure all its work. It happens to everyone."
Tue Jun 11 08:01 Hypothesis that Jeremy C*** arises because presenters are expecting to say Jeremy Corbyn
Tue Jun 11 08:33 "Lekker" by Gerard Overmaat
Tue Jun 11 23:34 Historia de Barcelona, 12/6: * 1630: María Ana, hija de Felipe III, tras un viajecito de prueba por la playa, se despide "de sus hermano y patria, para no verlos más" y para ser reina de Hungría (1429+23) * 1636: Un veguer de Barcelona secuestra a…
Wed Jun 12 07:51 Cask beer/handpumps: "quite a lot of handpumps are fake anyway, the handle activates a solenoid which engages a CO2 powered pump in the cellar" I thought electric yielded to hand up north because barmaids pulling pints was the closest most punters got to x
Wed Jun 12 12:34 Nationalism: grand vs gland narrative
Wed Jun 12 12:37 Killed by an omnibus — why not? So quick a death a boon is. Let not his friends lament his lot — Mors omnibus communis. — Henry Luttrell
Wed Jun 12 13:44 Amiable guy who cycles around with shears on the back of his bike in case he comes across someone cutting their hedge all on their own
Wed Jun 12 14:17 Affinity between Welsh and Hebrew, 1821 I am in no position to judge
Wed Jun 12 15:38 High density foam cut to size online is very exciting
Wed Jun 12 23:37 Historia de Barcelona, 13/6: * 1372: Martín el Humano se casa con María de Luna (19) * 1439: Los concelleres piden a varios conventos oraciones para acabar con las epidemias que sufre la ciudad (48) * 1450: La reina María de Trastámara deja Barcelona por…
Thu Jun 13 06:41 Can't imagine the ® for Hypnobabies convincing a German judge. I quite distinctly remember DJ Helmut at a techno rave near Hamburg in about 1991 dressed in a nappy & leading Teutonic chants of "Hypnobabies, hypnobabies!"
Thu Jun 13 06:42 Comment: And of course Ian Dury was first on the hypnobirthing scene with "Hypno with your rhythm stick"
Thu Jun 13 16:22 Wild Man of Wivenhoe - lovely book - apparently still available
Thu Jun 13 23:37 Historia de Barcelona, 14/6: * 1488: Reunión del Concejo de 32 sobre la peste (24) * 1497: Muere Jeroni Pau, humanista, bibliotecario, consejero del gran mafioso Rodrigo de Borgia (10+4) * 1634: El virrey no consigue acceder a las cuentas municipales, y,…
Fri Jun 14 07:25 Comment: @londonbrassband Good luck & have one for me!
Fri Jun 14 07:36 Tesco strawberries from the Busby family's polytunnels at Dearnsdale Farm at Billington, just SW of Stafford. Мога ли да получа работа?
Fri Jun 14 15:47 Turkmenistan president wouldn't last a week in Hackney
Fri Jun 14 16:57 Me
Fri Jun 14 23:42 Historia de Barcelona, 15/6: * 1533: Más de dos mil personas, algunas descalzas, andan a Montserrat para curar a la mujer de Carlos I de dolor de muelas (59+101) * 1639: Salen 130 mosqueteros para Rosellón (195) * 1841: Aprobada una reforma arancelaria…
Sat Jun 15 05:45 That old Google Docs bug of an imported image showing up blank with an exclamation mark in the middle. Nothing to do with browser / cache / doc size / image format / ... It's just a very basic word processor.
Sat Jun 15 07:13 Obstetrician talking about her pregnancy several years ago: "I got pretty emotional, but what really made me cry were the dog ads on telly. Oh no, here I go again..."
Sat Jun 15 07:15 This is very hard. I don't think Crime and Punishment is typical, and for obvious reasons the victims don't pose the question.
Sat Jun 15 13:20 Curious about the Sri Lanka brass band at #CWC19 SL vs AUS
Sat Jun 15 16:22 Guardian special on amusia. So why are they so negative about the anti-vaxxers?
Sat Jun 15 17:44 I wouldn't know
Sat Jun 15 23:43 Historia de Barcelona, 16/6: * Domingo de la Trinidad es el 16 de junio este año; en 1848 fue el 18 de junio * 1571: Juan de Austria llega desde Madrid para reunirse con la flota de Lepanto (12) * 1818: Establécese la sociedad de diligencias y…
Sun Jun 16 05:50 Tyson Fury's stool - the Gimmick King
Sun Jun 16 06:00 Comment: Robot fightback
Sun Jun 16 07:23 Archer Death in a German song from the 30 Years War: "See how grim Death with arrow keen / Takes aim at Life so treasured. / His bow he shoots both quick and mean, / By us he won't be measured."
Sun Jun 16 07:23 Comment: Der grimmig Tod mit seinem Pfeil / tut nach dem Leben zielen. / Sein Bogen schießt er ab mit Eil / und läßt mit sich nicht spielen.
Sun Jun 16 07:33 Transvestite Robin Hood in fakelore Epping Forest / River Lea shocker Lee is however obvs meadow
Sun Jun 16 07:39 Comment: Fwiw I think the Celtic etymology given in Wikipedia of Lea/Lee (the river) is hippy bollocks - the Anglo Saxon is far more likely (though less romantic) & clearly refers to the great areas of cultivable land along its banks
Sun Jun 16 07:44 Fishing with nets is a Continental abomination introduced to Sussex by Bishop Wilfred in the 7th century and should be banned #EalZeal
Sun Jun 16 11:36 Pot-pourri (not to be confused with Popery)
Sun Jun 16 23:41 Historia de Barcelona, 17/6: * 1453: Consagración de Santa María del Pino (14) * 1543: Blasco de Garay, su barco de vapor, y el tesorero Rávago (78) * 1921: Atentado contra el alcalde, Antonio Martínez Domingo (822+84) * 1963: Inauguración del museo…
Mon Jun 17 06:05 This Brexit stuff is so confusing. Man doesn't want to use his ticket to Chester races. Does that make him a racist or an anti-racist?
Mon Jun 17 06:14 Swan beak marks - if it didn't have one, it belonged to the King, or something
Mon Jun 17 06:45 The excellent Emily Lau (re Beijing meddling in Hong Kong) just called John Humphrys "My dear"
Mon Jun 17 07:28 Chinese posters for Hayao Miyazaki Spirited Away
Mon Jun 17 07:32 Strawberry jam time again
Mon Jun 17 07:43 Every time I hear it said that all men are equal, to distinguish myself I bray like a donkey
Mon Jun 17 16:52 Hackney Council to demolish Homerton High Street?
Mon Jun 17 19:48 XXL lady at the bus stop on the KM estate staggering as she takes off some very short shorts in order to put on some perforated jeans (the season's lingerie is red and lacy), but an offer to prop her up might have been misinterpreted
Mon Jun 17 23:40 Historia de Barcelona, 18/6: * 1291: Muere Alfonso II de Aragón (0) * 1481: Entra por primera vez como rey Fernando el Católico (0) * 1640: Entra el duque de Cardona, ya enfermo, para jurar como nuevo virrey en lugar de Dalmau de Queralt, ya muerto;…
Tue Jun 18 07:27 Greenland to go green again, or was Erik the Red's colonisation project a scam?
Tue Jun 18 08:51 I don't care who becomes Tory leader, as long as they're a narcissist
Tue Jun 18 10:12 What a curious idea
Tue Jun 18 11:12 "Vince falls after top edging to Dawlat" is the trillionth example of the new signification of "after" as "by (means of)" (see OED "by" 30a): Vince falls when Dawlat takes the catch, not subsequently And Afghanistan are going to beat the Windies
Tue Jun 18 11:23 Star milking it
Tue Jun 18 14:44 If only grinder vs monkey always worked out this well
Tue Jun 18 18:36 If Caribbean style sardines at Well Street Tesco were priced to account for shoplifted tins, everyone would be driven to steal them
Tue Jun 18 21:32 Comment: @justinjerez It is so hard to bury bloodthirsty dreams and accept that he was just another dodgy developer
Wed Jun 19 00:18 Historia de Barcelona, 19/6: * La Víspera del Corpus Christi es el 19 de junio este año; en 1634 fue el 14 de junio * ... y en 1830 fue el 16 de junio * ... y en 1848 fue el 21 de junio * 1525: Francisco I de Francia, prisionero de los españoles,…
Wed Jun 19 06:05 The univallate Old Winchester Hill, star of a walk over the Hampshire Downs #HillfortsWednesday
Wed Jun 19 08:24 30'-ish sounds like an explanation for something that has puzzled me for a long time: why, at a posh girls' school in southern England, the only girls to show any sustained interest in STEM subjects were those from repressive places like Malaysia. And SBC is always a delight
Wed Jun 19 13:40 No Punch, no play, so we're cheering Rory Stewart: emaciated & morgue-waxen, apparently seated on an iron spike but with some tense upper body floppiness, he's a kind of stitched together composite, a Frankinstein's puppet
Wed Jun 19 14:02 Comment: @Captain_Bionic Yeah, but how's the shed?
Wed Jun 19 14:03 Comment: @ZacharyLatif @FinancialTimes Can we agree to abolish adjectives?
Wed Jun 19 16:38 "Darling" is my strategy, but untested on anti-Semitic misogynists in funny hats
Wed Jun 19 21:10 Denis Wick to Ian Bousfield on trombosis. I remember Evan Watkin's fortissimo (Scheherazade) rather than the pianissimo
Thu Jun 20 00:23 Historia de Barcelona, 20/6: * Corpus Christi es el 20 de junio este año; en 1640 fue el 7 de junio * ... y en 1842 fue el 26 de mayo * ... y en 1848 fue el 22 de junio * ... y en 1424 fue el 22 de junio * ... y en 1320 fue el 6 de junio * 1391: Entra…
Thu Jun 20 02:34 Some 14th century Italian nicknames based on Ugo: Ugetus Ugucio Ugutio Ugollus Uguitio Ugutius Ugolinus Ugezonus Ugozonus Uguzonus Ugucionus Ugoçonellus Uguçonellus Ugilinellus Ugolinellus Ugolinucius Ugolinutius Ugolinellius Ugunzuyellus Uguitionellus
Thu Jun 20 20:25 Heather Wheeler's using tinker in our standard, inoffensive sense, but she must have a good memory: knife-grinders and pot-beaters have more equipment than your average street sleeper
Thu Jun 20 20:26 Non-vegetarian water causes bowel cancer
Thu Jun 20 20:31 Still keenly anticipating receiving the Irish passport on May 25
Thu Jun 20 20:31 Comment: 24th, but I'm tolerant
Thu Jun 20 20:44 I still haven't recovered from the theft of "grebo" by Pop Will Eat Itself etc. I haven't heard anyone speaking with the accent of the presenter of the doc about 25% in for just about as long.
Thu Jun 20 20:47 Comment: I'm still not sure whether to get excited about Indian metal or merely have an epileptic fit
Thu Jun 20 21:23 Ganovim is new to me in English, but I think geriatric Amsterdam slang still has gannef, thief, from the Yiddish.
Fri Jun 21 00:27 Historia de Barcelona, 21/6: * Esta celebración adicional es el 21 de junio este año; en 1848 fue el 23 de junio * 1461: Noticia de la Capitulación de Villafranca del Penedés, limitando el poder de Juan II de Aragón a favor de la oligarquía catalana (42)…
Fri Jun 21 06:48 Why are people ignoring the fact that the guy's a good trombonist? Conspiracy
Fri Jun 21 07:45 The
Fri Jun 21 08:09 Big rooms?
Fri Jun 21 22:07 Historia de Barcelona, 22/6: * Esta celebración adicional es el 22 de junio este año; en 1848 fue el 24 de junio * 1424: Ordinació de la Festa de Corpus (326+185) * 1525: Francisco I de Francia, prisionero, sale hacia la corte (18) * 1848: Octava del…
Fri Jun 21 22:33 Comment: @petersymon Didn't waste money on a chainsaw
Sat Jun 22 20:33 Comment: @Pas_aimable @szaulo More bludy concrete...
Sat Jun 22 22:11 Historia de Barcelona, 23/6: * Esta celebración adicional es el 23 de junio este año; en 1848 fue el 25 de junio * 1481: Fernando el Católico jura los fueros (15) * 1842: En busca de la verbena (76) * 1843: La población huye por miedo de bombardeos desde…
Sun Jun 23 22:15 Historia de Barcelona, 24/6: * Esta celebración adicional es el 24 de junio este año; en 1848 fue el 26 de junio * 1569: Entra en Barcelona Miguel de Cervantes a la edad de 21 años; versión en el Quijote (0+426) * 1826: La Junta de Comercio pone…
Mon Jun 24 07:32 It find it helps to think of Boris Johnson as a Tommy Cooper tribute act still lacking, amongst other things, a catchphrase
Mon Jun 24 07:37 Comment: All the revelations about his private life will surely be as counterproductive as when the CIA circulated to potentially dissident generals & Islamists photos of a lookalike Sukarno having sex with rent-a-blondes: Look at him go!
Mon Jun 24 07:44 Real vs artificial intelligence
Mon Jun 24 21:15 Which of these villas was built by the German arms manufacturer Alfred Krupp (1812-87) and which by his Newcastle-born rival William Armstrong (1810-1900)?
Mon Jun 24 21:23 Comment: Hint: Armstrong was brilliant.
Mon Jun 24 22:19 Historia de Barcelona, 25/6: * Esta celebración adicional es el 25 de junio este año; en 1848 fue el 27 de junio * 1639: Acude "inmensa gente" para ver la salida de 730 hombres para la guerra en Rosellón (57) * 1847: Cesa de acuñarse en Barcelona moneda…
Tue Jun 25 07:47 "Relaxing piano music" & classical music metadata Do the Germans (Austrians?) still refer to classical music simply as "Musik"?
Tue Jun 25 08:06 Curflaff ("the shock of suddenly stepping or diving into cold water") doesn't get an etymology from the Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language 1825. I don't believe the one given nowadays & prefer one I just made up < coeur de glace, heart of ice
Tue Jun 25 08:13 Comment: Other feasible French gifts to Scots: tartan < tertaine, Hogmanay < hoguinané < aguillanneuf (New Year (gift)), loo < gardyloo < regardez l’eau (or the shit'll land on your head), um
Tue Jun 25 08:14 Comment: Typo: curglaff
Tue Jun 25 10:47 Comment: @justinjerez Yup. Cragside is incredible, Villa Huegel not so.
Tue Jun 25 20:59 Can anyone tell me the correct pronunciation of Angryhaugh?
Tue Jun 25 22:25 Historia de Barcelona, 26/6: * Esta celebración adicional es el 26 de junio este año; en 1848 fue el 28 de junio * 1458: Terremoto a las seis de la mañana (0) * 1527: Noticia de la captura de Roma y de Clemente VII (0) * 1539: Carlos V ordena a su nuevo…
Wed Jun 26 06:34 Would Grace Darling have got tuberculosis if all those townies hadn't visited her? (Image: evocative bleed-through on the frontispiece of George William MacArthur Reynolds's "Grace Darling: Or, The Heroine of the Fern Islands" (1839)) Excellent RNLI museum at Bamburgh, though
Wed Jun 26 06:40 Comment: I wonder whether the story is still told in schools. Mr Harcourt's version at Portswood Primary assembly was unforgettable (along with his Aesops etc etc), but educational fashions change, tho she's clearly still very popular in the northeast
Wed Jun 26 06:45 Comment: G rim darkness veils the lurid sky, R uthless waves the sea o'erspread, A frightful storm is drawing nigh, C ontending clouds impend o'erhead- E ruptive blasts impress with dread!
Wed Jun 26 06:46 Comment: D eath rides upon the lofty wave! A father and his daughter fair R esolve to perish or to save L ives verging to a watery grave; I ncessant toil with lab'ring oar, N ine mortals waft direct to shore- G lad hearts to grateful friends restore.
Wed Jun 26 06:51 Comment: Oh, excellent, there's a McGonagall: And as the little boat to the sufferers drew near, Poor souls, they tried to raise a cheer; But as they gazed upon the heroic Grace, The big tears trickled down each sufferer’s face.
Wed Jun 26 06:55 Comment: And Wordsworth embraced the genre: "Oh, courage Father! Let us out to sea A few may yet be saved." The Daughter's words, Her earnest tone, and look with beaming faith, Dispel the father's doubts: nor do they lack The noble-minded Mother's helping hand To launch the boat.
Wed Jun 26 07:02 Comment: OK, I'll have a go at the contemporary ballad by George Lindley
Wed Jun 26 07:17 Walking to Lordenshaws today #HillfortsWednesday
Wed Jun 26 20:46 How to zap the pollen bomb - advice from a distinguished Catalan allergologist: 1) Take twice what it says on the packet 2) Fill up on paracetamol 3) Keep well hydrated ... with beer 4) Douse your garden with Agent Orange
Wed Jun 26 22:30 Historia de Barcelona, 27/6: * Esta celebración adicional es el 27 de junio este año; en 1848 fue el 29 de junio * 1833: Simulacro de torneo con motivo de la jura de Isabel II (31) * 1848: Octava del Corpus (29+44) * 1957: Lanzamiento del SEAT 600 en…
Thu Jun 27 07:48 Keats: If by dull rhymes our English must be chain'd, And, like Andromeda, the Sonnet sweet Fetter'd, in spite of pained loveliness; Let us find out, if we must be constrain'd, Sandals more interwoven and complete To fit the naked foot of poesy;
Thu Jun 27 07:48 Comment: Let us inspect the lyre, and weigh the stress Of every chord, and see what may be gain'd By ear industrious, and attention meet: Misers of sound and syllable, no less Than Midas of his coinage, let us be Jealous of dead leaves in the bay wreath crown;
Thu Jun 27 07:48 Comment: So, if we may not let the Muse be free, She will be bound with garlands of her own.
Thu Jun 27 07:51 Keats also did doggerel: Here all the summer could I stay, For there’s Bishop’s teign And King’s teign And Coomb at the clear teign head — Where close by the stream You may have your cream All spread upon barley bread. etc etc
Fri Jun 28 00:10 Historia de Barcelona, 28/6: * 1848: Otra fiesta, pero ¿de qué? (168) * 1919: Pla: Divago –hores– pels carrers dels barris baixos, districte cinquè * 1921: La sangrienta guerra entre la patronal y el sindicalismo afecta a los directivos franceses pero no…
Fri Jun 28 07:49 A la jabalí no le gustan los blancos
Fri Jun 28 07:55 Brexit to inaugurate a funambulist Golden Age
Sat Jun 29 00:12 Historia de Barcelona, 29/6: * 1375: Procesión contra una epidemia de peste de casi un año (32) * 1412: Noticia de la elección de Fernando I por el parlamento de Caspe (24) * 1529: Paz de Barcelona entre Clemente VII y Carlos I (603) * 1794: Temiendo una…
Sun Jun 30 00:49 Historia de Barcelona, 30/6: * 1478: Fiestas y procesiones para celebrar el nacimiento de Juan, hijo primogénito de los Reyes Católicos (39) * 1629: Tensión protocolaria entre flota real y ciudad, gran interés público por el embarque del duque de Alcalá,…
Sun Jun 30 11:28 Apparently there are two reasons why the airco fails on the 20-year-old carriages Grand Central bought from First Great Western: (1) they freeze solid, (2) their filters can't cope with dandelion fluff
Sun Jun 30 14:49 Comment: @Master_Plum no está mal...
Sun Jun 30 22:11 I don't self-identify as a bigot, you bigot.
Sun Jun 30 22:13 Contrary to primary school instruction, Sir Philip Sidney actually said, "Thy necessity is yet greater than mine." No wonder no one has ever laughed at my story about when he was a drunken charlady, rounded off with a need/knee pun.