Thanks, monster.

I haven't heard that in a while and it always brings a smile to my weary and careworn visage!
 

I saw a lad being interviewed on TV the other day and, assuming the caption was correct, whose name was 'Aden'.

Quite what he might have thought about being named after a former British colony in a war torn part of the middle east is anyone's guess.
 

Badgers and foxes are nightly visitors and it isn't unusual for the occasional guest appearance of a muntjac.
However, this scene of harmony slightly surprised me.
Perhaps the fox is wary of the muntjac and the muntjac is wary of the fox and so they co-exist in a state of tension.
OTOH perhaps neither gives a hoot!


I've had a couple of daylight sightings of the deer as has a neighbour.
There's a small paddock nearby in which self set sycamore and ash trees have taken a hold, along with other greenery, which no doubt provides excellent cover.

The Muntjac is a bit of a strange beast as they bark incessantly, thus drawing attention to themselves, but it isn't known why.
Still, they're welcome visitors.

Limey wrote:

… and I said “I’m bored with paying the mortgage and I want to buy a new caravan*, but I can’t see how to do it without affecting my future income’, and she said ….. “this and that and do this and if we and then you can pay off the mortgage and buy the caravan!”. Now. And still have the future income.
This is SUCH SPIFFING GOOD NEWS.
So I just had to share.


* yes, I fear the writing is on the wall for my Fanny.

So, it's a transport of delight, then? 😉


 

For the second day on the trot the temperature reached 38C/100F this afternoon.
The heat has been building over the past week or so and has its origins in Spain and Portugal where serious forest fires have broken out.
It seems that the worst may be over which suits me down to the ground.
I just hope that we don't get a repeat performance in the coming weeks of summer.

Amongst all the advice about how to deal with the heat was that dogs shouldn't be walked in the hottest part of the day.
Always being willing to do as I'm told, my canine guest and I only ventured out for reasons of personal comfort. The dog's, not mine.

Just as we were about to go down the steps into the back garden I spotted movement in the middle of the lawn and instinctively grabbed the dog's collar.
It was a large Grass Snake about three feet long. It casually wended its way under the Buddleia and disappeared from sight.

I don't know if the excessive heat had brought it close to the house or whether it would have put in an appearance anyway.
I mentioned it to a neighbour who said his wife had spotted it by their pond a day or two before.

They're not particularly rare but they're not exactly conspicuous either.
It's the first live specimen I've ever spotted, previously having only seen two dead examples and those were years apart.

TheNeverWas wrote:

Cock.  SFW, btw.

Tired and shagged out after a long squawk as somebody once said.
 

One's mind boggles.

In both cylinders.
 

fargon wrote:

As a wanna be cowboy said to me once "works like a windshield wiper on a billy goats ass" I still haven't figured out what he was talking about, we were talking about a roto tiller.
I guess that big hat made him extra smart.

As they say, if you want to get ahead, get a hat.
 

My creative juices have run dry so I have nothing original to offer, but one that always amuses me is 'about as much use as a one legged man at an arse kicking party'.

monster wrote:

griff wrote:

In my day street walkers actually walked streets. They didn't need any fancy horseless carriage.

They might not now, either, but what self-respecting ho is gonna give a blowie for less than a gallon of gas? ;)
 

oh hai, Carruthers, I'm sorry about ur thread.......

Not to worry. Not being familiar with the business model of the average lady of the evening, it has been educational.

That said, I did once hear that it was possible to secure certain favours for less than the price of a hamburger.

I believe it was known as 'going out for a bang, not a Wimpy'.

TheNeverWas wrote:

RF 30 minutes ago...

Gonna be a long day, Tater...

It's been 30C/86F here this afternoon and forecast to be in the region of 33-34C tomorrow and Saturday.
I find it very wearing so not looking forward to the next couple of days.
The current blast has its origins in Spain where it has been over 40C this week.
The only thing I am looking forward to at present is the possibility of a good thunderstorm on Sunday.
The trouble is that when a belt of storms moves up from France it usually hits London then splits in two so Oxford and Luton get a downpour and we, in the middle, get four-fifths of the square root of nowt.
 

I've always viewed team building exercises, motivational speakers etc with extreme scepticism.

Listen to a 'motivational speaker' and it's highly likely that you will emerge from captivity having bought a bridge or, at the very least, an industrial quantity of snake oil.

As for team building exercises, they seem to exist for the sole purpose of getting you to dislike your work colleagues even more than you did when you started.

Why are people taken in by this nonsense?

monster wrote:

....which, whilst less than what you are paying, Carruthers, is the closest I have ever known US prices to be to UK prices in my 21.5 years here......

I took this at my local (expensive!) filling station two days ago, so prices have probably gone up again since then.



In UK gallons:

Unleaded £8.56 or $10.42

Diesel £8.84 or $10.76

In US gallons:

Unleaded £7.11 or $8.65

Diesel £7.33 or $8.92


£1 = $1.22

And so it goes on...