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In this blogposting…
*Blog Problems
*The Five Surgeons
*Spepere
*National Anthems
En avant!

BLOG PROBLEMS
Over the last few weeks a number of devoted and loyal blogsters have tried to leave thoughts of typical truckshunter profundity in the Comments box reserved specifically for that purpose - and failed. (By the time I got to the end of that sentence, I had to go back and remind myself of how it started. I hope you’ve managed to take it all in unscathed.)

As far as I can tell, the comments have appeared eventually. But this is hardly a satisfactory situation.

I’m not sure what’s going wrong. This site is owned by Google, who have a good operating record. My computer is a Mac and therefore equally faultless. The inevitable conclusion is - Heaven’s forfend - that the error must lie in something I am doing myself.

Unfortunately, I haven’t a clue what that might be. The truckshunter blog has worked more or less without a hitch for years so I am unused to seeking assistance or guidance about it. And when I have - because of these latest regrettable hiccups - the FAQ page of the site is spectacularly unhelpful.

Which is why I am compelled to appeal for outside aid. If you have any idea what might be at fault, please get in touch. Preferably, by email (see below) - if you put your thoughts into the Comments box, you might be defeating the object of the exercise, after all.

And, in the meantime, please continue to add your other comments as usual. Experience shows that they do appear in the end!

THE FIVE SURGEONS (FOUR-LETTER WORD WARNING)
Here’s another tall tale from Eric and Jean, who run The Commercial in Tantobie - and who appear to have become our resident suppliers of Clever Stories With A Moral.

Five surgeons were discussing who were the best patients to operate on.

The first surgeon said 'I like to see Accountants on my operating table because when you open them up, everything inside is numbered.'

The second responded 'Yes, but you should try Electricians! Everything inside them is colour-coded.'

The third surgeon said 'No, I really think Librarians are the best; everything inside them is in alphabetical order.'

Then the fourth surgeon chimed in 'You know I like Building Workers. Those guys always understand when you have a few parts left over at the end, and when the job takes longer than you said it would.'

But the fifth surgeon shut them all up when he observed 'You're all wrong. Politicians are the easiest to operate on. There's no guts, no heart, no balls, no brains, and no spine, and there are only two moving parts - the mouth and the arse - and they are both interchangeable'.

Two photos from Serge's visit to the market at Montmerle-sur-Saone

SPEPERE
Serge’s blog appears to be expanding exponentially. He’s recently spent a lot of time enlarging and embellishing it, with colourful and creative results.

Last Saturday, there was a typical morning market in the village and Serge went along to take photographs. Yesterday - Sunday - he popped over the river to the lovely little town of Montmerle sur Saone (Montmerle is ‘Blackbird Hill’). It’s one of my favourite places locally and I always love visiting the Sunday morning market there.

So take a look at Serge’s blog and find out what real, tourist-free, rural French village markets look like. You could even practise your French by trying to translate Serge’s descriptions and experience of them!

Click on his icon in the ‘Followers’ box on this page; in the window that appears, click on his blog name (‘spepere’).

Or Google Search for ‘spepere.blogspot.com’ (no ‘www’ and no ‘@’).

NATIONAL ANTHEMS
Here are the stirring opening lines of ten of the world’s less celebrated National Anthems. They are ‘less celebrated’ for good reason...

*We swear by the lightning that destroys… (Algeria; the rest of it is just as violent and bloodthirsty.)
*Bolivians! Propitious fate has crowned our hopes…(Er...Bolivia.)
*Against the humiliating bondage of a thousand years… (Burkina Faso; experts in such matters suggest that Burkina Faso’s National Anthem is by far the most boring in the world; the third line talks about ‘neocolonialism and its petty local servants’.)
*Sun, sweat, verdure and sea…(Guinea-Bissau; another depressing anthem; the second line is ‘centuries of pain and hope’.)
*Where slow you see the Alzette flow…(Luxembourg; there's a picture of the Alzette flowing slowly through Luxembourg above; be warned - the second line sings the praises of the Sura.)
*O Lord, protect for us our majesty the Sultan…(Oman; one of very few National Anthems that extols a person rather than the country itself; ours is another.)
*To the peoples of unhappy America…(Paraguay; yet another anthem that depresses rather than uplifts; it also gets quite bloodthirsty later on.)
*Everyone strum your koras…(Senegal; plenty of opportunities for double-entendre here: the second line is ‘strike your balafans’.)
*The three principles of democracy our party does revere…(Taiwan; it’s difficult to see how anyone could come over all patriotic with a first line like that.)
*Eastern landsmen! Our country or the tomb!…(Uruguay; one of many anthems that threaten their singers with death or worse if they don’t sing louder.)

CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or email me: truckshunters@googlemail.com