Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[Padraig]

Ah! I get it. It's a secret deal that nobody saw coming.

[LMcD]

What's the point of having racing behind closed doors if the horses have already bolted?

[Serial_Apologist]

What's the point of having racing behind closed doors if the horses have already bolted?

Stability?

[LMcD]

##5524/5:

[teamsaint]

“What we all need right now...”


Actually, I’ll be the judge of what I need thanks.

[LezLee]

STV's 'Tipping Point' has just had a question about 'Wagner's LoHENgrin'.

[cloughie]

STV's 'Tipping Point' has just had a question about 'Wagner's LoHENgrin'.

Bet that gets the rooster crowing.

[edashtav]

Richard Wagner loved a practical joke. This was recounted in the Leeds Hg during 1903
"Colliers Weekly" recalls now the great composer once played amusing trick on a newspaper and the public as well, it was in the fifties, Wagner, then still climbing the ladder of fame, was conducting the Philharmonic concerts in London for a season. Being, as remained to the end, a very ardent admirer of Beethoven, and, in fact, knowing that master’s nine symphonies by heart, he selected several of them for performance at the said series of concerts.

The first time that Wagner conducted onEvthe public received it kindly enough, but the next morning certain newspaper with very large circulation came out with rather severe criticism. The author of “Lohengrin” was condemned for directing a symphony by the immortal Beethoven without the score in front of him. Then the powerful journal advised young Herr Wagner to use a score when he conducted a Beethoven symphony again.

Well, soon Herr Wagner did, this time with a book of music open before him his desk. He was seen to turn over the leaves with a certain amount of regularity, too. His reward came the next day. The aforesaid newspaper praised him for a very much better interpretation of Beethoven than his last, due, of course, to the suggested use of the score. Whereupon Wagner announced the fact that the score in front of him the previous evening had been that of Rossini’s opera, "The Barber of Seville", turned upside down !

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well, soon Herr Wagner did, this time with a book of music open before him his desk. He was seen to turn over the leaves with a certain amount of regularity, too. His reward came the next day. The aforesaid newspaper praised him for a very much better interpretation of Beethoven than his last, due, of course, to the suggested use of the score. Whereupon Wagner announced the fact that the score in front of him the previous evening had been that of Rossini’s opera, "The Barber of Seville", turned upside down !

[Andrew]

In the old GWR days of chocolate and cream rather than dark green, stations that were some way away from the towns they served had Road tagged on, now they tag on Parkway and eg in the case of Bodmin Road we now have Bodmin Parkway. I wonder how many visitors to this land have boarded a S Wales train from Paddington, alighted at Bristol Parkway and been totally miffed at being so far from the centre of the city!

Not only the G.W.R! The old Southern Railway played the same game; My local line, from Barnstaple to Exeter once had a station called "South Moulton Road", which was, in reality, a staggering ELEVEN MILES from South Moulton itself! It wasn't until 1955-well into British Railway's tenure of our rail network, that the name was changed to "King's Nympton", which it still sports!

[LMcD]

Not only the G.W.R! The old Southern Railway played the same game; My local line, from Barnstaple to Exeter once had a station called "South Moulton Road", which was, in reality, a staggering ELEVEN MILES from South Moulton itself! It wasn't until 1955-well into British Railway's tenure of our rail network, that the name was changed to "King's Nympton", which it still sports!

You can't buy a ticket to or from Wickham Market, but if you know your East Suffolk line you can board/alight at Campsea Ashe, a mere 2 miles away. Perhaps this was the result of objections from local landowners when the line was being built who feared the sound of trains might disturb their sleep or drive their cattle mad.

[Pulcinella]

You can't buy a ticket to or from Wickham Market, but if you know your East Suffolk line you can board/alight at Campsea Ashe, a mere 2 miles away. Perhaps this was the result of objections from local landowners when the line was being built who feared the sound of trains might disturb their sleep or drive their cattle mad.

I always liked Leuchars really being Alight here for St Andrew's.


I was also amused by London Tube station announcements of the local attractions, which continued long after the said attractions would have closed for the day. I wonder if they got changed during lockdown: I have no desire to go there to find out!

[gurnemanz]

I always liked Leuchars really being Alight here for St Andrew's.


I was also amused by London Tube station announcements of the local attractions, which continued long after the said attractions would have closed for the day. I wonder if they got changed during lockdown: I have no desire to go there to find out!

MI5 had a rather anonymous office near Lambeth North tube station. I heard that as buses approached the nearby stop the conductor would sometimes announce "Anyone for the Spy House?"

[Serial_Apologist]

I always liked Leuchars really being Alight here for St Andrew's.


I was also amused by London Tube station announcements of the local attractions, which continued long after the said attractions would have closed for the day. I wonder if they got changed during lockdown: I have no desire to go there to find out!

Back when I was a small child, the lift leading from the entrance to Earl's Court tube station to the District Line platforms below and then down to the Piccadilly Line, was in all appearances one that must have been installed when the station was first builg in the 1870s. The closure of the gates and heavy metal doors with a decisive crash would be announced by a recorded man's voice, sounding as if speaking into his hands, saying "Stand clear of the doors". Decades later I had the opportunity once again to use the lift. Its interior was unrecognisable from the shabby look I had known - effectively a brand new lift; and yet, on the awaited moment of the closure of the doors, there was that same recorded voice, like a ghost, announcing, "Stand clear of the doors".

I must go back, sometime, and find out if it's still there.

[Serial_Apologist]

Probably not as immortalised as this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey96gF9LXqU

Aaaaaaah...