444

In this blogposting…

* Royal Oak Quiz:  The Answers
* In Memoriam
You have been warned…
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THE ROYAL OAK QUIZ:  THE ANSWERS
Hildie - whom God preserve - supplied us with this quiz in posting 442.  How well did you do?

01  Who recorded a cover of Blondie’s One Way Or Another for the official Comic Relief song this year?
One Direction
02  Stella and Pandora are two types of what fruit?
Cherry
03  In the Beatrix Potter stories, what type of animal is Mr Tod?
A fox
04  What is the capital city of Sudan?
Khartoum
05  Diane Youdale is the real name of which of TV’s Gladiators?
Jet
06  Which US state was home to the Olympic Games in 1996?
Georgia
07  In bingo lingo, number 1 is known as who’s eye?
Kelly’s
08  Which chemical compound has the formula O3?
Ozone
09  Which actor played Screech Powers in Saved By The Bell?
Dustin Diamond
10  Who played 276 games for Wimbledon between 1986 and 1994, scoring 107 goals and now hosts the Nigerian version of Deal Or No Deal?
John Fashanu
11  In film, who has played characters called John Smith, Tyler Durden and Rusty Ryan?
Brad Pitt
12  July 14, 1789, saw the storming of which famous prison, kicking off the French Revolution?
The Bastille
13  Name any two of the original Charlie’s Angels (character names)
Sabrina Duncan, Jill Munroe, Kelly Garrett
14  Facebook was founded in which year?
2004
15  In Toy Story, who owned Woody?
Andy
16  What age followed the Bronze Age?
The Iron Age
17  Which TV series featured a president called David Palmer?
24
18  How many members were there of the 60s band The Monkees?
Four
19  According to the Beaufort Scale, at least how many miles per hour must wind be travelling to be defined as a hurricane?
74
20  Which is the first letter of the alphabet that doesn’t appear in any month of the year?
K

What are the nicknames for these football clubs?
01  Cardiff City
The Bluebirds
02  Brighton & Hove Albion
The Seagulls
03  Bristol City
The Robins
04  Sheffield Wednesday
The Owls
05  Norwich City
The Canaries

01  Who was the first person to speak to Jesus after he had risen from the dead?
Mary Magdalene
02  What occasion does Maundy Thursday represent?
The Last Supper
03  What Jewish festival takes place near Easter?
Passover
04  Which country owns Easter Island?
Chile
05  Where did the arrest of Jesus take place?
The Garden of Gethsemane

The tie-breaker question was...
In what year was the Carphone Warehouse founded?  
1989

And the ‘Snowball’ question...
How many stone monoliths have been found on Easter Island?
887

My score was 13.  Absolutely pitiful.

Yours?

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IN MEMORIAM:  MARGARET THATCHER
Along with everyone else, I feel I should mark the passing of Margaret Thatcher on the blog.

My first reaction, on hearing of her passing the other day, was one of unbridled pleasure that the world was finally free of this poisonous inhuman carbuncle who wilfully ruined the lives of countless people, who ennobled pure unadulterated avarice to an art-form, who indulged her bigotry and self-satisfied conceit in the guise of ‘political conviction’, whose pernicious policies damned selflessness and compassion to the collective international dustbin and whose sycophantic funeral - full of state pomp and circumstance - we have yet to endure.

I am, however, far too polite and respectful of my superiors to say stuff like that while the wretched corpse of the Iron Lady is only just starting to rust in the bin-bag or skip into which it certainly ought to have been thrown.

So I won’t.

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

443

 Maya Angelou

In this blogposting…
* Snow Patrol
* Happy Birthday…
* A Daft Daffodil
* Thought for the Day
Onward…

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SNOW PATROL
This posting is adorned with photos of some of the breathtaking sculptures on show at this winter’s Snow Sculptures expo at Breckenridge, Colorado.

Thanks to Eric and Jean for sending them.

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 HAPPY BIRTHDAY…

...to the wonderful Maya Angelou, who is 85 today.

Ms Angelou is a very special American ‘lady of letters’.  She is an accomplished, articulate and mellifluous writer, poet and public speaker nowadays but first achieved celebrity when the first volume of her autobiography - I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings - was published some years ago. 

The story of her truly horrendous childhood, and how she overcame it and mastered it, is as uplifting and as liberating as any tale of human suffering and eventual release can be.  It’s one of those books that, once read, affects you for the rest of your life;  I still glance at it sometimes, when I need to get things into the kind of perspective that only Maya Angelou can express.

A few years ago I had the very great pleasure of going with my Mam to see and hear Ms Angelou talk about her life in the unlikely but peculiarly fitting surroundings of St Oswald’s church in Durham City.  Her rich, deep voice added resonance to her wisdom.  It was an occasion I will never forget.

If you haven’t read her life story, you’re seriously missing out.

A very happy birthday to this extraordinary woman.

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AND FINALLY…
...here’s a splendid picture of Brenda doing her bit for Marie Curie Cancer Care’s ‘Daffodil Day’ in Northumberland Street.  How appropriate that it took place on St David’s Day!

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
‘We cannot be sure of having something to live for unless we are willing to die for it.’
Che Guevara

Incidentally, the three proverbs in Serge's posting 195 translate as:
You can't teach old monkeys to pull new faces.  'You can't teach an old dog new tricks'.
You can't be in the oven and in the flourmill at the same time.
It's better to prevent than to cure.
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CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or email me:  truckshunters@googlemail.com

442

A French art-nouveau engraving of Spring...

In this blogposting…
* The Royal Oak Quiz
* Paper Has A Future
Cry ‘Havoc!’….

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THE ROYAL OAK QUIZ
Just for fun - and to herald the slight uplift in the weather - here’s the quiz that Hildie and her mates took part in last weekend.

Round One is ‘general knowledge’ questions.  Round Two is all about ‘birdy’ football names.  Round Three is about Easter.

See how many of these questions you can answer correctly without looking anything up!

01  Who recorded a cover of Blondie’s One Way Or Another for the official Comic Relief song this year?
02  Stella and Pandora are two types of what fruit?
03  In the Beatrix Potter stories, what type of animal is Mr Tod?
04  What is the capital city of Sudan?
05  Diane Youdale is the real name of which of TV’s Gladiators?
06  Which US state was home to the Olympic Games in 1996?
07  In bingo lingo, number 1 is known as who’s eye?
08  Which chemical compound has the formula O3?
09  Which actor played Screech Powers in Saved By The Bell?
10  Who played 276 games for Wimbledon between 1986 and 1994, scoring 107 goals and now hosts the Nigerian version of Deal Or No Deal?
11  In film, who has played characters called John Smith, Tyler Durden and Rusty Ryan?
12  July 14, 1789, saw the storming of which famous prison, kicking off the French Revolution?
13  Name any two of the original Charlie’s Angels (character names)
14  Facebook was founded in which year?
15  In Toy Story, who owned Woody?
16  What age followed the Bronze Age?
17  Which TV series featured a president called David Palmer?
18  How many members were there of the 60s band The Monkees?
19  According to the Beaufort Scale, at least how many miles per hour must wind be travelling to be defined as a hurricane?
20  Which is the first letter of the alphabet that doesn’t appear in any month of the year?

What are the nicknames for these football clubs?
01  Cardiff City
02  Brighton & Hove Albion
03  Bristol City
04  Sheffield Wednesday
05  Norwich City

01  Who was the first person to speak to Jesus after he had risen from the dead?
02  What occasion does Maundy Thursday represent?
03  What Jewish festival takes place near Easter?
04  Which country owns Easter Island?
05  Where did the arrest of Jesus take place?

The tie-breaker question is...
In what year was the Carphone Warehouse founded?  

And the ‘Snowball’ question...
How many stone monoliths have been found on Easter Island?

They’re not easy, are they?

Answers in the next blog.

A BIG Thankyou to Hildie.

(And if anyone else would like to provide a quiz for the blog, feel free to email it to me - with the answers!)

I wonder why pub quizzes like this haven’t caught on in France?

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PAPER HAS A FUTURE
In general, French tv is diabolical.  But in one very important respect, it is far, far superior to ours.

British tv adverts that are supposed to be funny are almost always awful.  The joke is weak and usually embarrassingly childish.  Genuinely funny British tv ads are a great rarity.

On the other hand, French tv adverts that are meant to be funny really are funny.  They are the only reason I enjoy watching French tv when I am there.

As proof of this, I submit the following video link.  Don’t worry - you don’t need to speak French to get the joke.  The link was emailed to me recently, but I foolishly deleted the email.  So Thankyou to whoever the sender was! 

http://vimeo.com/61275290

(If the link doesn’t work, cut and paste it into the Search box of your internet browser.)

Why can’t the British make ads as good as that?  What’s your favourite funny ad at the moment?

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

441

In this blogposting...

* The Things People Say

* A Goodbye Kiss

* Advice from Sid

Every one a winner...

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THE THINGS PEOPLE SAY...
When you’re trying to learn a foreign language - like I’ve been trying to learn French over the last few years - the real difficulty is taking on board the everyday phrases that people us ‘in the street’ rather than the official, textbook version of the language.

Conjugations, declensions and grammar are tricky enough but using day-to-day street talk is what impresses native speakers the most - and presents the biggest problems.  Phrases like all’s well that ends well, no pain no gain, cheap at twice the price, more haste less speed, it’ll be alright on the night - they’re very idiomatic and pithy, and not always easy to translate.

Here are some I’ve tried to learn over the years.  There are more on Serge’s blog.

Comme on fait son lit on se couche.
You lie on the bed you make.

Il n'y a que les imbéciles qui ne change pas d'avis.
Only a fool never changes his mind.

On ne fait pas d'omelettes sans casser des oeufs.
You can’t make omelettes without breaking eggs.

Qui couche avec des chiens se lève avec des puces.
Who sleeps with dogs wakes up with fleas.
Is there an Englsh equivalent of that one?

Pluie du matin n'arrête pas le pèlerin.
Morning rain doesn’t stop a pilgrim.

Après la pluie le beau temps.
There are better days ahead - ‘after the rain comes good weather’.

Bien mal acquis ne profite jamais.
Ill got, ill spent - ‘what you acquire wrongly will not benefit you’

Heureux au jeu, malheureux en amour.
Lucky at cards, unlucky in love.

Deux avis valent mieux qu'un
Two heads are better than one - ‘two points of view have more value than one’.

En amour comme à la guerre, tous les coups sont permis.
All’s fair in love and war - ‘in love as in war; all moves are allowed’.

Il ne faut pas mettre la charrue avant les bœufs
Don't put the cart before the horse - in French, the cart before the ox.

Il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l'ours avant de l'avoir tué
Don't count your chickens before they're hatched - ‘don’t sell the bear’s skin before you’ve killed the bear.’

And my favourite - if only because of the way it rolls off the tongue so mellifluously in French...

Advienne que pourra.
Come what may.

Beautiful, just beautiful.  French really does have a truly unique sound system, doesn’t it?

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A GOODBYE KISS
I’m writing this blog during one of my periodic visits to see my friend Brian in London.  At the very start of my journey down here yesterday, something quite remarkable happened...

Platform 4 at Newcastle Central was quite crowded; it’s Easter weekend and lots of people were travelling.

As I sat waiting impatiently for the train to arrive, my eyes fixed on a middle-aged couple standing close by.  They were, I should think, in their late 40s.  The man was tall, goodlooking, slightly balding.  The woman was ‘petite’, pretty and slim without being thin.

And they were involved in a quite astonishingly loving ‘goodbye kiss’.  Their arms wrapped round each other, they were kissing full-on mouth to mouth.  They gazed into each other’s eyes, their faces almost locked together.  They kissed and kissed and kissed. 

I timed it.  Four minutes.  That’s quite a long time for a mutual, passionate embrace on a station platform on a very cold March Saturday morning.  They obviously meant every second of it - and enjoyed it immensely.

It wasn’t one of those sad, ‘farewell my love’ kisses, either.  They smiled as they hugged.  It seemed to me that their parting may only be brief and that they were using it as an excuse to make each other feel passionate pleasure - right there amongst all those people waiting for the train.

It was seriously erotic.  One of those sexy embraces that outrages maiden aunts (and bachelor uncles) from Corbridge or Barnard Castle.

And it was extraordinarily lovely to watch.  It seemed to me that, the moment they parted, they would immediately start looking forward to meeting again.

The woman sat in the same carriage as me and I genuinely found it very difficult to resist the temptation to tell her much I’d enjoyed watching that Goodbye Kiss, and how  - er....uplifting - I’d found it.

Two mature, grown-up people - shamelessly in love.  Wonderful.

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It reminded me of this advice I received from Sid...

Life is short - break the rules
Forgive quickly
Kiss slowly
Love truly
Laugh uncontrollably
And, never regret a thing

HAPPY EASTER!

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

440

In this blogposting...
* More of St Cuthbert's Forgotten Heroes
* The Piper
Proceed at your own pace...

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ST CUTHBERT’S FORGOTTEN HEROES

The story of St Cuthbert’s unmemorialised and neglected descendants continues.

In the Comments box of the last blog, Brenda suggested that Grace Darling deserves a statue or sculpture somewhere in the north-east, and I agree with her.  The only memorial to her that I’m aware of is her tomb (above) in Bamburgh churchyard - which is all very well.  But surely something that befits her truly legendary heroism is long overdue.

Brenda also mentions the Venerable Bede…

 

This is the man, remember, who not only wrote the first book in the English language but also devised the system of year-numbering which we still use today.  It’s down to Bede that we call this year '2013'.  A ‘wooden thing’ in Jarrow (or even his elaborate tomb in Durham Cathedral (above)) however aesthetic, aren't enough.

Charles Avison

A neighbour of mine has also suggested that Charles Avison, Newcastle’s own Handel, deserves to have more than a street named after him on a run-down estate.  A life-size statue outside the Lit and Phil (where many of his musical manuscripts are held) seems in order.

A splendid photo of Sir Joseph Wilson Swan

The Lit and Phil was also the venue for the world’s first demonstration of an incandescent light bulb, invented by local lad Sir Joseph Wilson Swan.  Nearby Mosley Street was the first in the world to be lit by electric light.  And yet, as far as I know, his only memorial is an almost invisible plaque on the wall of a derelict sports shop.

Peter from South Shields has suggested that statues of Jeremiah Dixon (from Cockfield) and Thomas Wright (of Westerton) should be adorning South Durham’s environment. 

 Jeremiah Dixon

Dixon helped to survey the old dividing line between the northern and southern states of the Union - the Mason-Dixon line - and is thought to have bequeathed his name to ‘dixie’-land.

 Thomas Wright

Wright built one of England’s first-ever observatories in the 18th century - now called the Westerton Folly.  Unbelievably, this early astronomy genius - the first man to properly identify the Milky Way - is utterly uncommemorated locally.

 Thomas Bewick

An unidentified emailer called ‘denizen’ has also suggested that Thomas Bewick deserves more than the small memorial bust at Amen Corner in Newcastle.

And finally, I’d like to add another two-pen’orth.  William Wouldhave and Henry Greathead (wonderful names) jointly invented one of mankind’s greatest philanthropic assets - the lifeboat.  A replica of it stands at the bottom of Ocean Road in South Shields, their home town.  But where is the monumental statue of them that should, by rights, show them looking proudly out to sea from the Sandhaven?

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THE PIPER
My thanks to Brenda for sending me this deeply moving story.  Sadly, the name of the story-teller isn’t known.

‘As a bagpiper, I play many gigs.

Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man.  He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the Scottish Highlands.

As I was not familiar with the area, I got lost and - being a typical man - I didn't stop to ask for directions.

I finally arrived an hour late and saw that the undertaker had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight.  There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch.

I felt bad and apologised to the men for being late.

I went to the side of the grave and looked down.  The vault lid was already in place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play.

The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around.

I played my heart and soul out for this man with no family and friends.

I played like I've never played before for this homeless man, and as I played Amazing Grace, the workers began to weep.

They wept and I, too, wept.

When I had finished, I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car.  Though my head hung low, my heart was full.

As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say

“I’ve never seen anything like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for over twenty years."’

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