Goodbye Mr A

One of Bess's favourite songs to sing along to is 'Goodbye Mr A' by the Hoosiers, although Bess thinks its called 'Goodbye Mr Ray' and is about the character in 'Finding Nemo'. Now I had never thought what it was really about, but this week I found out. And now I'll tell you...whether you are interested or not. Apparently its about an obscure comic book character (called 'Mr A') created by the legendary Steve Ditko.

Now isn't that interesting........(that's a rhetorical question....)

Thats absolutely vowel.....

Here's an interesting fact to amaze your friends with: Eunoia is the shortest word in English containing all five vowels. Apparently it means "beautiful thinking".

Now Christian Bok, a poet chap from Canada, has spent the last seven years writing a book called (predictably enough) 'Eunoia' which consists of five chapters - one for each of the vowels - and in each of these chapters he only uses words that contain one of those vowels. Now I thought that sounded a bit mad and probably would be a bit of a crap book, but this chap read an extract on the radio and it was really clever. An extract from chapter one (spot the vowel...):

"Hiking in British districts, I picnic in virgin firths, grinning in mirth with misfit whims, smiling if I find birch twigs, smirking if I find mint sprigs.

Midspring brings with it singing birds, six kinds, (finch, siskin, ibis, tit, pipit, swift), whistling shrill chirps, trilling chirr chirr in high pitch. Kingbirds flit in gliding flight, skimming limpid springs, dipping wingtips in rills which brim with living things: krill, shrimp, brill - fish with gilt fins, which swim in flitting zigs. Might Virgil find bliss implicit in this primitivism? Might I mimic him in print if I find his writings inspiring?"

Well I thought it was pretty clever..........seven years worth of clever? probably not.......

Isn't local news great....

...there is nothing more entertaining than local news stories. On the BBC Gloucestershire website the following headline caught my eye 'Unlocked police station burgled'. And yes a couple of blokes walking home from the pub (admittedly tired and emotional) decided to see if one of their mates had been arrested (as you do) found the cop shop unlocked and unmanned a decided to nick a load of stuff including some flack jackets and keys to a panda car. Apparently Gloucestershire Police are reviewing their security procedures.

Bunches

We Taylors are people of simple tastes. Bess was obviously very pleased with her first bunches and her dad is so proud.

Jam and Chupney

Some of our harvest this year was, we admit, pretty disappointing - a handful of peas, cabbages and brocolli that kept a generation of caterpillers well fed for the whole summer and some carrots that were barely visible to the naked eye - but we had a bumper year for raspberries and apples.

And so in true Tom and Barbara style we made jam and apple chutney (or chupney as Bess calls it). Despite burning the first lot of jam onto the bottom of Lal's newly purchased maslin pot (and then learning that rhubarb is really good at getting the burnt bits off) both tasted pretty good.

Watch out at a farmers market near you for Taylor brand jam and chupney.

Happy Birthday Bessie Boo!

Look who is 3
(well she has been for a couple of weeks!

I know, I know, get with it I hear you shout)

Bessie's first Day at Play School

. . . . . . well it was actually back on the 9th September!

Here is our very grown up Bessie Boo ready for her first day at Play School.

Where is the time going?

x

Underground Overground

Oh dear, oh dear, what is the world coming to? Bess and I have been watching more telly this week (she has got a horrid cold and the telly seems to help! Her and Me!) and today, she was really excited because The Wombles were on.

It was going really well and I was actually as excited as her - I used to love them and even had my very own Orinocco which my Auntie Christine made for me (it was much better than my brothers Tobermory). Anyway, as I said, it was all going well, that was until one of them spoke. What has happened, where is Bernard Cribbins? The theme tune was the same, a bit sneaky that, but then, good grief, there are NEW Wombles.

HELP! It feels like my security blanket has been ripped from underneath me.

Nick is in the Barbarians 22 man squad

Just wanted to shout to the world how incredibly excited and proud we are for my cousin Nick (see 23 June entry). This week he has been named in the 22 man Barbarians Rugby team to face The Wallabies (Australia) at Wembley on the 3rd December. Thats right, he has been selected into a team of only 22 men, who are picked on merit all over the entire world, no the entire universe, how flippin amazing is that.

The Team is being coached by Jake White (the Coach of the 2007 South African Rugby World Cup Champions) and included in the squad are Percy Montgomery, Joe Rokocoko, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana, Fourie du Preez, Carl Hayman, Steve Borthwick, Schalk Burger and the All Blacks captain Richie McCaw. The Barbarians website says - "The Team showcase the most exceptional players in the game and often inspire legendary sporting moments that will live in our memories forever." - Wow wee.

It is a place that is so unbelieveably well deserved (well of course I would say that) and when you look at the wonderful things that have been written about him, you can see why (Google him).

He has been mentioned on just about every rugby website there is and this is just such a phenomenal achievement and what a huge thing to happen to his rugby career and he's still only 19.

My dear Granny always believed that this day would come - and she was always right.

meeting your heroes.....

I'm still a little star struck Yesterday I met one of my heroes - artist/cartoonist Gerald Scarfe. Not socially you understand, I paid to listen to him talk at the Chelteham Literature Festival and then queued up for him to sign one of his books. (I was real cheapskate and didn't buy his new one but took along one I already had.) Meeting your heroes is a strange thing. When I did the same thing with Billy Bragg at the Cheltenham Festival a couple of years ago, despite the fact that Billy was quite happy to chat, I was completely star struck and dumb struck to the extent that Ali had a very lengthy conversation with him instead (even telling him that she had never listened to any of his music!). The same thing a couple of years ago when Ali persuaded me to queue up to get Ralph Steadman's autograph and Ali spoke to him much more than I (although I did get a wonderful drawing-cum- autograph that now hangs on the wall.)

Perhaps, because Ali wasn't in the queue with me my conversation with Mr Scarfe was rather short and not very revealing, but I got to shake the great man by the hand and thank him for giving me so much entertainment with his drawings over the years. And I can now tick another of my heroes 'to meet' list.

Next year Ali is aiming to meet John Taylor from Duran Duran.

A heartbeat away from the presidency........

I'm a bit behind in the news these days but I understand that there is a big election looming in the good old US of A. Now its hard for me to say which American should tell the rest of the Americans and the rest of the world what to do...hey, whoever does it is not going to be able to do a worse job than dear old dubya...are they? But this is a historic election - the potential for the first black president or alternatively the first woman vice president. Now Obama appears like a very likeable chap and I haven't seen anything that would lead me to believe that he wouldn't make a good President. And likewise Palin appears to be a very astute, witty, charming, knowledgeable , eloquent, entertaining, well travelled and likeable individual....oops, I'm thinking of that Michael Palin. No, of course Sarah Palin is that mad woman from Nowhere, Alaska who likes shooting Moose, naming her kids after random inanimate objects and thinks that dinosaurs were invented by Ray Harryhausen. And there is the potential that this woman will be second in line to press the nuclear button.....only in America (cliche no 435)

If you haven't seen any of the interview she did with the US news presenter Katy Couric just have a look on YouTube. I challenge you to watch the interview without squirming or putting your hands over your eyes - it is so embarrassing. If you found it hard to watch David Brent or Alan Partridge then you will be behind the sofa by the end of this.

Also she is ready made target for the satirist. On Saturday Night Live someone called Tina Fey did an very funny impression of Sarah Palin, no-one had to write funny lines they just used Sarahs own words.

I have nothing against John McCain, although he appears a little old to be in the Whitehouse (but that is, I admit, a little ageist). But you have got to question someones judgement who thinks Sarah Palin is a suitable candidate for the second most powerful job in the US. He'd have been better off choosing Michael Palin....or David Brent...or Steve MaClaren.....

Never mind America at least you don't have Boris Johnson running your capital city.

Caption Competition

A toddler in a hot tub with a kettle. Send your entries to us and the funniest will win a jar of homemade apple chutney. Second prize two jars of homemade apple chutney.

Just a thought....

On Plymouth Hoe there is a memorial to those who lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars. I always find these memorials moving - be they the Cenotaph in London, the plaques in the railway museum in Swindon that list the dead from each of the workshops in the GWR works or the stone crosses you find in tiny villages with only one or two names on. But I must say this memorial is one of the most impressive and moving. It lists, I think, 23,000 names of all those who sailed from Plymouth and lost their lives. Everyone is listed by the name of the vessel and rank, also listed are all the types of craft and the campaigns and battles. As well as some magnificent art deco lions there are some larger than lifesize statues of various seamen. It is a magnificent and fitting tribute to all those who fought in the World Wars.

Reading some of the names is sobering and inspiring, but also a timely reminder that it wasn't just the British that sailed from the port, but Austrailians, Canadians, Indians and sailors from every far flung corner of the old empire. If you're in Plymouth go and spend a few minutes there (or go and have a look at any war memorial) and you cannot fail to be moved.

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside.....

Hello Peppa Pig fans. sorry for the long gap between blogs. Time for a bit of catch up.

At the end of September we took our late summer break, and what a week to choose no rain all week and we didn't go abroad (yes you read right NO RAIN ALL WEEK!). Good old blighty did us proud.

To the narrow and steep streets (and I mean narrow and steep as our poor car's bumper and burnt out clutch will testify) of Kingsand and Cawsand in sunny Cornwall. Not much to add other than the weather was great (did I mention that it didn't rain ONCE), the coast was fantastic and Kingsand is now up there with Salcombe, Fowey and Brighton in our favourite seaside town top ten.