Stormy Weather II

[Petrushka]

I miss the heatwave

So do I. Many say how uncomfortable it was etc but I absolutely loved it.

Conversation at work and elsewhere revolved around whether the time of year you were born makes a difference in response to weather It seems that those born in winter time liked the heatwave least while I was born on a hot June day and this is my time of year. I loathe winter.

[Nick Armstrong]

So do I. Many say how uncomfortable it was etc but I absolutely loved it.

Conversation at work and elsewhere revolved around whether the time of year you were born makes a difference in response to weather It seems that those born in winter time liked the heatwave least while I was born on a hot June day and this is my time of year. I loathe winter.

Bang goes that theory: I'm from mid-Feb! It was snowing when I emerged...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Bang goes that theory: I'm from mid-Feb! It was snowing when I emerged...

I was born in February, too - at the height of a depression, which lifted the very next day into (?) an anticyclone

I dislike very hot and very cold weather, but at least in Winter I can get myself warm enough with socks, jumpers, central heating, and hot water bottles. When it gets hot, nothing short of lying in a cool bath all day ameliorates the discomfort - and I only have a shower room! Spring and Autumn and cooler Summer days for me!

[Lat-Literal]

So do I. Many say how uncomfortable it was etc but I absolutely loved it.

Conversation at work and elsewhere revolved around whether the time of year you were born makes a difference in response to weather It seems that those born in winter time liked the heatwave least while I was born on a hot June day and this is my time of year. I loathe winter.

With respect, I think the research has produced results that are bogus. I'm mid December but veer towards the Med. Most of us, though, struggled after day three of it. It's gloomy here and given that it is Sunday the buses are not great. But I've promised to take myself to the half hour's Mummers Play on the fifth of their five pub stops. Once bombed by the IRA - I could support it on that basis - it has the most chavvy reputation of the lot so I have never been in it. But it's the nearest to me and it's all I am prepared to manage today. I also need some non personal drama after two weeks of personal drama. I love the Mummers and it will be interesting to see how they go down with those who ignore our history.

[BBMmk2]

With respect, I think the research has produced results that are bogus. I'm mid December but veer towards the Med. Most of us, though, struggled after day three of it. It's gloomy here and given that it is Sunday the buses are not great. But I've promised to take myself to the half hour's Mummers Play on the fifth of their five pub stops. Once bombed by the IRA - I could support it on that basis - it has the most chavvy reputation of the lot so I have never been in it. But it's the nearest to me and it's all I am prepared to manage today. I also need some non personal drama after two weeks of personal drama. I love the Mummers and it will be interesting to see how they go down with those who ignore our history.

You're probably right there, Lat-Lit! My birthday is in June!! So I do love the warmth of summer but spring is my favourite time of year.

[Lat-Literal]

You're probably right there, Lat-Lit! My birthday is in June!! So I do love the warmth of summer but spring is my favourite time of year.

Lovely.

I did it. Such an interesting two hours that if it had been a year ago I wouldn't have experienced it. The mummers were brilliant and so amusing. I really loved it, More later!

(Home very safe and secure and only slightly worse for wear - Did I sit there silently? No I most certainly did not - People there assumed I was a part of the entertainment!)

[Lat-Literal]

OK, to cut to the chase and to get it out of my system as a commentary on the here and now. The pub was empty. The garden initially had two families who stayed. The Irish manager was personable and friendly. How ironic that he should be Irish given the history. Anyhow, I b----y had to walk there on account of an hourly bus service but it was good for me even though buses passed me unexpectedly. Once in, I explained that I had never been in there but I was possibly ten or fifteen years younger than I looked. This is always the test by way of an assessment. Do they run to the hills as soon as it is spoken - or freeze? Yes, the pro Brexit Cypriot taxi driver on Friday had said that I looked too young even to contemplate terminal illness and I really should consider having kids. But anyhow, I knew the history of the place going back half a century. By which I meant the barracks over the road, long gone, the hospital for the mentally handicapped where we had sung and especially the bomb. The barman - great - chose an earlier history while we beat around the bush. The lady who had run the joint in 1965 came back last week. Wow. She is elderly. I am here for the unusual entertainment. Oh that. Yes it's happening. Am I only the one?

Laughter. Possibly yes. I sat outside with a pint watching two girls aged 20 taking selfies of themselves. Good looking. Great looking. Ultimately a would you like to join us love. Please. Have a chat. I had been labelled the late 30-something sad loner rather than the mid fifties sad observer. Something weird is about to happen, I said. How? Are you about to have a date, said the slightly less troubled looking one. No, I said, then all of a sudden in walked blokes covered in bits of paper. One was in a Daddy Christmas outfit. There was a conservative male type - decent and learned and a couple of liberal female types - decent and friendly among the entourage along with a cameraman who I spoke with the most.

(tbc whether people like it or not)

[cloughie]

OK, to cut to the quick and to get it out of my system as a commentary on the here and now. The pub was empty. The garden initially had two families who stayed. The Irish manager was personable and friendly. I b----y had to walk there on account of an hourly bus service but it was good for me even though buses passed me unexpectedly. Once in, I explained that I had never been in there but I was possibly ten or fifteen years younger than I looked - the pro Brexit Cypriot taxi driver on Friday had said that I looked so young even to contemplate terminal illness and I really should consider having kids - and I knew the history of the place going back half a century. By which I meant the barracks over the road, long gone, the hospital for the mentally handicapped where we had sung and especially the bomb. The barman - great - chose an earlier history while we beat around the bush. Th lady who had run the joint in 1965 came back last week.Wow, She must be elderly. I am here for the unusual entertainment. Oh that. Yes it's happening. Am I only the one?

Laughter. Possibly yes. I sat outside with a pint watching two girls aged 20 taking selfies of themselves. Good looking. Great looking. Ultimately a would you like to join us love. Please. Have a chat. I had been labelled the late 30-something sad loner rather than the mid fifties sad observer. Something werid is about to happen, I said. How? Are you about to have a date, said the slightly less troubled looking one. No< I said, then all of a sudden in walked blokes covered in bits of paper. One was in father Christmas outfit. There was a conservative male type - decent and learned - and a couple of liberal female types - decent and friendly among the entourage along with a cameraman who I spoke with the most.

Come on Lat - this is like the Bonzo's Big Shot!

[Serial_Apologist]

Come on Lat - this is like the Bonzo's Big Shot!

I thought it was something to do with Mummers and maybe Poppers!

[Lat-Literal]

The sun was fading. Nature's way of enabling some relevance to the thread. I looked at the girls as the Mummers bore down on them. They looked like they had forgotten me and seemed doubly physically attractive somehow while also doubly troubled. There I said. I said something odd was about to happen. They looked tetchy and uncomfortable, love them, and started arguing coolly amongst themselves, having abandoned their joint selfies. A key character was black. I felt he needed encouragement for taking a full part in something so traditional. Total respect. So I fought to speak to him as one of the girls who was by then weighing up her options was speaking to him and into her mobile phone. Are the bits of paper on you George Osborne in the Evening Standard, I asked, This went down like a lead weight. I then went to the toilet and ignored the fact that I had misfired.

(tbc unfortunately)

[Lat-Literal]

When they got going I wasn't bothered about the splodge on my khaki shorts. Call it an oblivion of the over 50s if you will. My god how so different from earlier eras. No one gives a damn. It is hard to keep the shorts up now. That is the main concern although all the youngsters do it. I have lost weight. 60 miles of walking alone, a complete end to sweets and chocolate and trifle and a lot of digging in the garden. That may be the reason or else I really am terminal ill. The performance started. We all sang half a dozen times "I can't get no satisfaction" and did sideways glances and threw our hands in the air. Well, at least the Mummers crowd and I did. Most looked aghast while the cocky kid double speared the guy who was on the floor. A helicopter kept flying over with safeguarding and malevolent intent. It looked pretty below the sort of cloud that we have really never seen before but this is 2017.

(....and a once more, tbc)

[Serial_Apologist]

It is hard to keep the shorts up now.

I spent my first 36 years coming to terms with being skinny. Then one morning, Viv told me I was getting a middle-aged spread. Unlike me, she possessed a full-length mirror. Standing next to it sideways on in my birthday suit, I could see she was right. All my adjustment efforts had been in... vain!

[Lat-Literal]

It was brilliant and nuanced. Most of the audience kept their mouths shut. I am too shy to do that sort of thing. My frequent loud nervy injections were hardly welcomed. But my weakest moment when Daddy Christmas did a god like thing about needing to be adored was met with "what - in June?" did get a laugh. Afterwards, I made an especial point of shaking the hand of the black man and thanked him. I wondered if he was Sam Gyimah but not so. Then I thanked and shook the hand of the photographer and main talker who while older than me was clearly fancying his chances with the girls. I felt a little disgruntled about his audacity and then was delighted to see them standing up annoyed and storming off in a strop. Finally, I left with the smirk of a true loner who felt benign and even uplifted by it. Did anyone see me as mystery? Maybe - but they and I couldn't give a toss.

(hope this suffices)

Oh what the heck - time to big up the Caterham Arms - http://www.thecaterhamarms.com/ - too lively by far for me on a Friday night and with an admirably resilient history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterham_Arms_pub_bombing

[Serial_Apologist]

It was brilliant and nuanced. Most of the audience kept their mouths shut. I am too shy to do that sort of thing. My frequent loud nervy injections were hardly welcomed. But my weakest moment when Daddy Christmas did a god like thing about needing to be adored was met with "what - in June?" did get a laugh. Afterwards, I made an especial point of shaking the hand of the black man and thanked him. I wondered if he was Sam Gyimah but not so. Then I thanked and shook the hand of the photographer and main talker who while older than me was clearly fancying his chances with the girls. I felt a little disgruntled about his audacity and then was delighted to see them standing up annoyed and storming off in a strop.I then left with the smirk of a true loner who felt benign and even uplifted by it. Did anyone see me as mystery? Maybe - but they and I couldn't give a toss.

(hope this suffices)

Oh what the heck - time to big up the Caterham Arms - http://www.thecaterhamarms.com/ - too lively by far for me on a Friday night and with an admirably resilient history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterham_Arms_pub_bombing

My dad always laughed at the non-funny bits - it was one of many ways he managed to embarrass us.

[Lat-Literal]

My dad always laughed at the non-funny bits - it was one of many ways he managed to embarrass us.

Yes - it can work in various ways but I had wonderful time. The only sour note - "I am supposed to be a historian" - they don't like it up them when they imagine challenge.

Utterly ludicrous but that is, apparently, life. Mostly I avoid triggering major disgruntlement by being the insubstantial grinning goon who couldn't possibly be microscopic.