Category: Who Knows What

Saturday Shambles: Laufen mit dem Hund

Saturday afternoon: Thoughtful Man has gone to work, boys are otherwise engaged and I am throwing a ball for Poppy, our dachshund – a perfect opportunity for some shambling.

Dear Reader, make of it what you will and, hopefully, enjoy.

*Clicky, just links in text for this one, please. I know you like hiding them but constructing a shambles is difficult enough without any tomfoolery*

Trust me

*Hmm… Okay, go get the rainbow snowflakes…*

*******

On 13th July (13.7 or 137), I had a DM conversation with my friend Legs. I’d been loafing…

Legs and Roob converse on 137

bar

*Ha! Trust Leggy to think about the fertilizer, Clicky*

Waldi was the first proper Olympic mascot, for the Munich Games in 1972. The route of the Marathon race was based on the outline shape of Waldi, a dachshund. I’d shambled it before…

‘The considered and precise lines of the petite canine’s form are typical of Aicher’s clean modernist design and were used for the route of the marathon through the city of Munich. The various parts of the hound were represented by different areas of the city with the mouth being in the Nymphenburg Park, the belly — the main downtown street and in true German style, the rear end in the English Garden.’

If the rear (shitting) end was in the English Garden, what about the mouth (eating) end?

The 200-hectare (490-acre) park, once an Italian garden (1671), which was enlarged and rearranged in French style by Dominique Girard, a pupil of Le Notre, was finally redone in the English manner during the early 19th century by Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell, on behalf of prince-elector Charles Theodore. Von Sckell was also the creator of the English Garden in Munich.

Knot to mention, parks are considered Green (breathing) Lungs…

*Clicky…*

It’s got nothing to do with
Vorsprung durch Technik you know
(Parklife)
And it’s not about you joggers
Who go round and round and round
(Parklife)

snickers

*/rolls eyes… Okay, good one… running/jogging is movement*

In my youth, Snickers bars were called ‘Marathon‘…

1896, marathon race, from story of Greek hero Pheidippides, who in 490 B.C.E. ran the 26 miles and 385 yards to Athens from the Plains of Marathon to tell of the allied Greek victory there over Persian army. The original story (Herodotus) is that he ran from Athens to Sparta to seek aid, which arrived too late to participate in the battle. Introduced as an athletic event in the 1896 revival of the Olympic Games, based on a later, less likely story, and quickly extended to mean “any very long event or activity.” The place name is literally “fennel-field.” Related: Marathoner (by 1912).

*/Squint… Clicky, it’s now early evening and I have a lot to cover yet. I’m sensitive that this shamble will grow too big…*

compensating

*No! And that doesn’t count toward reproduction either… /sniff… I’ll continue, shall I?*

Yesterday was 22nd July (22/7) and I posted a Theorem of sorts on MEROVEE – why bad stuff seems to happen in the real world as a result of our posting online there.

Roob's Merovee Theorem

Shortly after, new poster CJ brought news of a shooting incident in Munich… the cause of much running from a man with roots in I Ran…

CJ brings news of Munich

I discussed it with Legs, later…

Legs and Roob converse on 22 slash 7

mate

*Aww, Clicky, you’ve got me… /eyes widen… No! I don’t mean in the reproductive sense… *

And then it occurred to me, I’d seen 137, π and an 8 somewhere else before… At Evergreen Terrace…

homer-boson

‘The first equation on the board is largely Schiminovich’s work, and it predicts the mass of the Higgs boson, M(H0), an elementary particle that that was first proposed in 1964. The equation is a playful combination of various fundamental parameters, namely the Planck constant, the gravitational constant, and the speed of light. If you look up these numbers and plug them into the equation,1 it predicts a mass of 775 giga-electron-volts (GeV), which is substantially higher than the 125 GeV estimate that emerged when the Higgs boson was discovered in 2012. Nevertheless, 775 GeV was not a bad guess, particularly bearing in mind that Homer is an amateur inventor and he performed this calculation fourteen years before the physicists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, tracked down the elusive particle.’

*Click, you have a one-track mind…*

god particle

*Ahh… Very clever, Clicky… /yawn and stretch… That’s enough for now, let’s have a Song…*

ketchup

*Fine, we’ll ketchup later*

 

*******

Updated – Poppy Sweetpea to the rescue…

Poppy Sweetpea to the rescue

Post title amended.

 

Re: Generation – No madder than..?

Previosly at the LoL
CLICKY: To turn, turn, turn…

It appears some Millennials are feeling frustrated at the rest of us for turning up to vote on the 23rd June, and have organised a foot-stamping event to protest.

Millennial Hyperbole
CLICKY: Who?

*Millennials, Clicky, the ‘Hero’ archetype… I was born in 1967, making me a Gen Xer of the ‘Nomad’ persuasion…*

No sir all 13

The Fourth Turning Archetype Characteristics
CLICKY: By the book

 

*/rolls eyes…*

So how is my generation described in The Fourth Turning?

‘Generation X (Nomad, born 1961–1981) survived a “hurried” childhood of divorce, latch keys, open classrooms, devil-child movies, and a shift from G to R ratings.’

‘They came of age hearing themselves denounced as so wild and stupid as to put The Nation At Risk. As young adults, maneuvering through a sexual battlescape of AIDS and blighted courtship rituals—they have dated and married cautiously.’

‘In jobs, they embraced risk and preferred free agency overloyal corporatism. From grunge to hip-hop, their splintered culture revealed a hardened edge. Politically, they have leaned toward pragmatism and nonaffiliation, and would rather volunteer than vote.’

Unless, of course, the vote actually means something 😉

‘Today, entering midlife battered by economic hardship, they ascend into political and corporate leadership roles feeling less like hailed winners than like resilient survivors, seeking out safe harbors for the sake of themselves and their families.’

*******

 

I’ve been pondering when exactly this Fourth (Crisis) Turning began because my boys were born in 2001 – What archetype are they: Millennial or Homeland?

A Crisis year begins with a catalyst – a startling event (or sequence of events) that produces a sudden shift in mood.

Was it the 2008 Financial Crash or spectacular 9/11 in 2001 that heralded ‘The War on Terror’? Perhaps it started just before, in the period immediately following the publishing of the book.

The dot-com bubble was a historic speculative bubble covering roughly 1997–2000 (with a climax on March 10, 2000, with the NASDAQ peaking at 5,132.52[1] in intraday trading before closing at 5,048.62) during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the Internet sector and related fields.

diary

*Okay, if you’re now slipping into River, Clicky, it’s probably time to finish with a Song*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turn, Turn, Turn…

Sun and planets in motion

Uno, dos, one, two, tres, quattro…

Well fancy that! Project Fear failed.

3449
CLICKY: Bow-ties are cool

*Indeed they are, Clicky. But ‘bow‘ is one of those homo-thingies – you’re mixing up the meaning and pronunciation…*

tee shirts

*Okkaay… /puffs out cheeks …shall I get on with it, Clicky?*

silence

*Thank you. A bit creepy, but thank you.*

*******

In the summer of 2012, I read a book called ‘The Fourth Turning‘ and it changed the way I looked at, not only history, but the current state of world affairs.

The Fourth Turning
CLICKY: To turn over…

It was published in 1997 and, in it, a couple of Yanks postulate that human history is a series of cycles, roughly lasting 80 – 100 years. Each cycle (saeculum) can be broken up into four distinct seasons (Turnings): Spring (High), Summer (Awakening), Autumn (Unraveling) and Winter (Crisis), and the cycle is powered along by four generational archetypes moving through the life stages of childhood, young adulthood, mid-life and elderhood.

The authors had looked back at Anglo-American history and had identified 7 cycles:

Late Medieval (1435 – 1487)

Reformation (1487 – 1594)

New World (1594 – 1704)

Revolutionary (1704 – 1794)

Civil War (1794 – 1865)

Great Power (1865 – 1946)

Millennial (1946 – 2026?)

1997, the time of publishing, fell within the Autumn (Unraveling) season of the Millennial Cycle. The next turning would be the fourth (Winter/Crisis) of the saeculum and the authors predicted:

Sometime around the year 2005, perhaps a few years before or after, America will enter the Fourth Turning.

By the time I read the book in 2012, the Fourth Turning was already underway.

A Crisis year begins with a catalyst – a startling event (or sequence of events) that produces a sudden shift in mood.

Two incidents, either side of 2005, could be considered catalysts – the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre…

911 2001

and the Financial Crash in 2008…

Financial Crash 2008

*/squints… Clicky, is there a reason you’re using anti-tobacco imagery to illustrate my points?*

CapShrug
CLICKY: 2007 smoking ban..?

*Ah… /nods sagely …and it also reminds me to mention the Fourth Turning’s ‘Gray Champion‘*

Anyhoo, back to the book. It’s very US-centric but that, I suppose, was it’s target audience. However, yesterday I was interested to read mention of it in regards to Brexit at The Burning Platform, via Zero Hedge.

Burning Platform Brexit and the Fourth Turning

And the stormy weather featured in Blue Universe Frank’s Brexit post today…

Blue Frank The Divine Wind

And he specifically mentions the Spanish Armada – The Armada Crisis is the Fourth Turning (Crisis) season of the Reformation saeculum:

This won’t have been the first time Britain has been saved by a storm. On the 4th of August 1588, the Spanish Armada, which was about to land an army on England’s south coast, began to experience an adverse wind (much like yesterday’s storm wind) that blew it east along the coast, all the way to Calais, and then all the way round Britain and back to Spain.

Bananas
CLICKY: My fair lady

*No and a bit rude, my fair Clicky. The Armada Crisis was a strictly Anglo Fourth Turning*

The Armada Crisis (Fourth Turning, 1569–1594) began when the powerful Duke of Norfolk was linked to a Spanish plot against the English throne, a discovery which galvanized newly-Protestant England against the global threat of the Catholic Hapsburgs. A crescendo of surrogate wars and privateering culminated in England’s miraculous victory over the Spanish Armada invasion (in 1588). The mood of emergency relaxed after the successful resistance of Holland and the breaking of Spanish control over France.

Interestingly Frank also posted a video of US Presidential nominee, Donald Trump, talking about Brexit on his arrival at Turnberry golf course yesterday. I dunno, he does look rather more gray than orange 😉

888

*******

*/Yawn and stretch… That’s enough for now, Clicky. Time for a Song?*

For the Win

“There’s a postcard here for you.”

Thoughtful Man stood on the doorstep, fist full of mail and an impish grin on his face. He handed me the postcard, picture side up.

I looked at him quizzically. “For me?” Who would send me a postcard?

Missouri Postcard

“Missouri? I don’t know anyone in Missouri.” The doorstep was bathed in afternoon sunlight but the squint I gave him was of the confused variety. I turned it over.

Missouri Postcard message

“Err…” My squint narrowed with suspicion. “Since when have I been Mrs W Hayward, Haywald – is Haywald even a name?”

Still grinning, Thoughtful Man plucked the card from my grasp. “The address is right and you are Win.”

“How do you make that out?” I could barely see him I was squinting so hard. “When have I ever been Win?”

Thoughtful Man’s expression of faux-shock would have worked but for the corners of his mouth, which twitched upwards. “When you won my heart and I agreed to marry you.”

amy eye roll.gif

*Tell me about it, Click*

“Yes, well not withstanding the fact that I’m the luckiest woman in the world, the postcard isn’t for me.”

“Are you sure?” Thoughtful Man squinted himself now as he tried to make out the handwriting. “‘Dear Win, in Mo now, got in last night although my case didn’t arrive’. Oh no! Missing baggage!”

I snatched the card back from the chortling bugger and read it to myself. “‘Love M xxx’. Funny, similar handwriting to Mum’s. What’s this? ‘Harry S Truman Home and Library’. Hmm…”

“Uh oh. I don’t like the sound of that ‘hmm’,” Thoughtful Man said with a sagging voice. “What does ‘hmm’ mean? Are you going to be up all night writing?”

“Possibly.” I winked. “You did say the postcard was for me.”

That’s one way to wipe the grin off his face.

*******

come on then sexy

*/rolls eyes… Well, Clicky, I was wondering what country is twinned with Missouri.*

Last night I read a fascinating post at Zero Hedge. I sent it on to my probing friend, Hugo. Big on the old nuclear connections is Hugo … No, Clicky, just the pix; no hidden extras this time, please*

roobee DMs Hugo unseen

20160613_map_0

Missouri twinned with Denmark

*Thank you*

I may not know anyone travelling to Missouri, but I do know somebody that’s presently holidaying in Denmark, and, to paraphrase Shakespeare, ‘feeling rotten in the state in Denmark‘…

Underdog rotten with man-flu

The Underdog himself…

loading wait

*That’s right, Clicky, not only does the postcard feature the home and library of the only US President to approve the use of nuclear weapons in conflict, he was also…*

Truman’s 1948 election upset to win a full term as president has often been invoked by later ‘underdog‘ presidential candidates.

Amy surprised

*Ha! Score for the win, Clicky… oh hang on, M could also mean… /eyes widen…*

Have a Song.

 

 

 

Invitation to the Theatre

“Do you want to go and see Roy’s new play?” Thoughtful Man asked earlier today whilst sat at his computer. “He’s sent me Facebook message.”

the theatre

Roy is Thoughtful Man’s oldest friend. I’ve mentioned him before.

“Oh that would be great.” We hadn’t been out together in ages…

“When’s it on? What’s it about?”

“Have a guess.” Thoughtful Man grinned his evil smile at me. “It opens next week.” He turned back to his computer and employed Clicky to give me a clue.

Thoughtful Man bobbed his head in time to the music. He swiveled back round to look at me with laughing eyes. Of course I knew that Roy’s plays predominantly feature black characters.

“No… He’s never written a musical called ‘Gaye’?!”

 

“No, but it is set in the 80s.” Thoughtful Man winked at me. “It’s called ‘Soul‘.”

‘You had better tell me what I just walked into’

On April Fool’s Day 1984, hours before his 45th birthday, Marvin Gaye was shot dead by his father in the shared family home they called the ‘Big House.’ What happened there – and whether it was murder or suicide – has been shrouded in mystery since.

Revealing what really happened during Marvin Gaye’s haunting final days and celebrating his extraordinary life, Soul is a searing portrait of the pitfalls of the American dream. Not just the story of Marvin Gaye, but of many a musical icon whose family life has been crushed by the effects of their stardom.

“Soul?” That synced with a conversation I had with my friend Hugo on Twitter last night…

This is insanely brilliant

*I know, Click, but that’s another story.*

“It’s at the Hackney Empire.” Thoughtful Man chewed his lip and scanned the webpage. “Parking will be a bitch. we’ll have to go by train.”

I opened a new tab on my PC to goo girl details of the play. There’s a LoL post in this, I thought to myself.

goo girl doo tell Elizabeth Garrett Anderson
 

CLICKY: Talk of slapping sexuality, Doctor… who?

 

*Ha! Not Hackney but still East London. Nice catch, Clicky!*

Thoughtful Man suddenly burst into laughter. “Have you found it yet? Someone from Doctor Who is starring in it.”

Soul play cast
 

CLICKY: Mother of Dr Martha Jones

 

I'm loving it

*Me too, Clicky. And we have a trip to the theatre to look forward to as well. I think this calls for a Song*

 

Posty McPost Haste: Saving Face Farce

Sew… the Government has stepped in to save the blushes of NERC…

David and the Sub
CLICKY: JoJo was a man who thought he was a woman *taps fin*

*Clicky, it’s ‘loner’…*

Jojo Tickle and Goliath
CLICKY: Jojo’s a girl…

*Oh I remember watching that with the boys when they were little. You’re right, Clicky…*

‘The series is set in Circus Town, a self-sufficient city whose cultural center is the “Big Top” tent. The story focuses on JoJo Tickle, a young female clown, and Goliath, JoJo’s pet lion. She and Goliath study at the Little Big Top Circus School, where all young soon-to-be circus performers learn under their teacher Mrs. Kersplatski. Along with her friends, JoJo explores and learns while dealing with challenging situations.

‘JoJo’s Circus relies on repetition in its structure. Each segment always begins with JoJo searching for her pet lion Goliath who is always hiding. JoJo then is presented with the situation that will occupy the theme of the show. A song, usually about the resolution of the situation, is then sung by JoJo.’

*A bit of sync that, Clicky, as I tweeted the ‘Dark Side of the Rainbow’ to Hugo & Kitty this morning…*

Hugo Kitty and Roobee on Y'Ello Twitter
CLICKY: Huge Cat that hides?

*It was in response to Hugo’s stirring seas post last night. And featured David…*

*My, the Beeb got that out early; he’s not 90 until Sunday, according to his we-key page, Click. Mind you, it’s been that kind of a year so far for celebs*rolls eyes* … Ooh that’s interesting…*

‘In May 2015, US President Barack Obama interviewed Attenborough at the White House in Washington D.C. Together, they discussed the future of the planet, their passion for nature and what measures can be taken to protect the environment.‘

*’discussed the future of the planet’, Clicky. Legs’ story of, or possible from… he is a Doctor… /drifts … Um, ‘For Whom the Bells Jingle‘. Just last night, Leggy wondered if Hugo would like to read it.*

Aten hun Hugo
CLICKY: Don’t forget the face

*Ha ha… there just had to be a face sync. Come on, Clicky, let’s finish with a Song* 😉

 

*******

*Clicky! Attention … Blue Universe Frank posted overnight about the ‘Never-Ending Craziness‘*

*Ha! Crazy wins… /rolls eyes…*

 

 

Peep ‘Ole REGN… Oo’er MRS!

*So, Clicky, ‘Pop’ was the decision. Interesting…*

LAST TIME AT THE LOL
 

CLICKY: Victoria would…

 

Receiving word that a Prince of Pop had pops his clogs so shortly after I’d popped the question, was a surprise. Thoughtful Man was the bearing of the news… again.

“You’ll never guess who’s died now?”

I hadn’t heard him come downstairs as I was still engrossed over at Hugo’s second site. I removed my headphones. “What another? Who?”

“Prince.” Thoughtful Man looked shell-shocked. He’d once queued 10 hours to get tickets for one of his concerts. In his teens, Thoughtful Man had considered Prince and his music the bee’s knees.

He slumped down onto his chair and tapped his keyboard. “Prince is dead.”

*Clicky, you’re racing ahead – Thoughtful Man didn’t show me that until following day… I told Hugo about it.*

*******

Extract from ‘A Family History for Ruth and Julia (Gawd ‘Elp Us!)’, a.k.a. ‘The Ma Papers’ by Judith Eileen Newton (formerly Shewan, née Packer)

When uncle Jack was alive he phoned me one evening to see if I could get Jeremy into John Lewis. I think he was working at the time in some kind of government office. I did get him an application form, but nothing came of it.

At that time I did not know that he was gay. Looking back on it, considering that the men’s second floor loo at John Lewis was advertised as a meeting point for gays in Gay Weekly (and that 75% of males working there were gay), I wonder if he had an ulterior motive.

After several sackings of staff for being in the loo instead of being on the shop floor, memos were fired out. Staff were banned from using them and a security man was posted on duty there at all times.

I don’t know how open I should be with you all, but what the hell you are all adults.

I went into said loo after hours, of course, courtesy of the Chief of Security. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about and it was an eye opener indeed. The toilet stalls had all been lined with stainless steel to stop chaps from making holes in the walls, but someone had brought in a drill. They all had holes in them. Apparently meetings were quite anonymous and frequent, but I can assure you that Aids had not reared its ugly head yet. When it did there were a lot of frightened chaps working there.

Before I left and moved to Southend in 94, I went to several funerals and numerous visits to hospitals, including the Lighthouse. I did a bit of buddying. Mrs Moon worked there and I became interested.

Unfortunately, because aids was new and terrifying and people were uneducated about it, any mention that you even had contact with an aids sufferer and people would shun you.  They thought it was catching. Even at Branch Council meetings people wanted a different set of cups and cutlery for gays than for straights, so we had to get training packages together and send everybody on them to allay the fears.

One particularly funny incident did happen though. One day a cubicle had been locked for some time and a security guard, on his rounds, looked under the door. He saw a pair of feet and a large John Lewis carrier bag, the cardboard type used for men’s suits or expensive frocks.

When, on a second tour of duty of those toilets, the same feet and the same carrier bag were still in the same cubicle, the security guard decided to investigate further. Inside he found two men, one of whom was standing in the bag.

After that nearly all the men’s loos were turned into standy up ones except for one with the permanent security detail.

God, I have digressed haven’t I?

*******

Later on Friday, Blue Frank posted a performance of Prince and Red Frank put up his ‘Purple Reign‘ post…

Merovee Purple Reign

 

And I took a naked selfie…

Roob Dreamy Unmade up selfie
 

CLICKY: Click the pix for another

 

*Enough, with the selfies, Clicky. I’ve have ironing to attend to and a curry to cook. Do us a flavour and please give our Dear Reader a Song*

 

Bohemian? Man, what a shambles!

It’s funny how things sync… fingers link…

Merovee The Oscar and James Bond
CLICKY: Bonding?

*Yes, Click. On MEROVEE we do it all the time. The first time, I think, was when Frank made a connection between Bond titles and news headlines… and then we all piled in* 😉

Angels feature in the latest post in the Red Universe…

Merovee Blink

Today, Angel A… Angle Cur… agreed to a Turkey… Turn Key… prosecution of a joker call Boehmermann.

Boehmer etymology
CLICKY: Customs? Like free speech?

*Collected and placed with the rest behind a muslin curtain? Possibly…*

*Filmed in Prague… /rueful smile… Never tear who apart, Click? /raises eyebrows*

Extract from ‘A Family History for Ruth and Julia (Gawd ‘Elp Us!)’, a.k.a. ‘The Ma Papers’ by Judith Eileen Newton (formerly Shewan, née Packer)

I think that Dickie may have been too young to remember Gillian, but she was a smashing girl. She was so full of life and mischief and had her fingers in a lot of pies. She was so funny and really used to make me laugh.

Gill was very sporty, playing Table Tennis and Badminton and she loved to dance. She used to go to Victor Sylvester’s in Lewisham on Saturday night.  I was officially too young to go anywhere with her (because I was only fourteen) but with a bit of splosh on my face and a mature air, I managed to get away with it.

The first weekend she took me to Victor Sylvester’s with her friend named Rita Winkle. She insisted it was pronounced Winekel but we called her Winkle anyway. Rita was older and very sophisticated and made up like a model. I really felt like a poor relation, after all they were both at work and I was still at school and a bohemian to boot. All my high ideals about bohemianism were sorely being put to the test.

What was I doing borrowing clothes and makeup, actually going to a dance and pretending that I was eighteen? The biggest problem was that I could not even dance. Oh yes I could shuffle, but this was pre-Beatles days and you either jived or ballroomed. I could do neither.

I remember that first night clearly. It was probably quite shabby but to me it was magical – little tables with lamps and a band, boys in suits… I did not know a boy with a suit.

I will always remember the smell of the ladies’ room, hairspray and perfume, whilst excited girls put on makeup and checked stocking seams, wondering who would ask them to dance with them tonight. It was a situation I had never encountered before and I was excited.

I had lied about my age and said I was eighteen. I was terrified. Gill was popular and seemed to know everyone, Rita was the belle of the ball and I felt like Cinderella.

When two blokes came and sat with us and bought us drinks, I really felt like the odd one out. Gill and Rita seemed so sophisticated and the blokes seemed so old. The evening progressed and I shuffled around with a couple of blokes.

When it was time to go home, the older of the two blokes said he would give us a lift home. Now, to have a car in those days was rare, so Rita’s eyes lit up. I assumed that the boys were taking home Rita and Gill and that I was an also ran. But when we got to Bellingham Lane, the guy stopped the car and told Rita she could walk from there because she lived out of his way. This probably sounds harsh by today’s standards but in those days things were much safer and we were used to walking. If we had not got a lift we would have walked from Lewisham to Bellingham – it’s a long way but we could not afford taxis.

Now I was really scared. Although I knew lots of boys from the youth club, I had never had a boyfriend with a car. They took us home and had coffee and arranged to meet us the next day in Catford to take us to the pictures.

One weekend with Gill and I had pulled. Bohemianism was losing its charm.

*… spare him his life for his pork sausages… doo be doo be doo be doo… Okay, Click, good choice of Song to end on*

Headbanging

 

 

 

 

…/Dons PPE* – The Packer Punch

*For Roob Noobs, PPE is Personal Protective Equipment. It’s also Purple People Eater, my first bona fide sync. This week, PPE also stands for Panama Papers Exposé… sum thing we’ve been discussing in comments on MEROVEE…
Merovee Loves the Bum
CLICKY: Simply Clicky Piccy to go there

*Thank you, Click. Have some sardines*

*******

Extract from ‘A Family History for Ruth and Julia (Gawd ‘Elp Us!**)’, a.k.a. ‘The Ma Papers’ by Judith Eileen Newton (formerly Shewan, née Packer)

One day I was thinking about all the tales that I had heard about the family and I thought It would be a good idea if I tried to write some of it down for you so that you could get some kind of an idea where you come from, and what kind of madness infects you.

I don’t pretend that this is a family tree –  I have done no research whatsoever but purely remembrances and quips.

Where do I start?

I will start with the Algers and will probably still be writing about them by next year.

Your Great Grandmother was Mary Margaret Arnell and she lived at Dockhead.

She had several brothers and sisters and I really did not know any of them except Old Aunt Anne. When I have given you an overview of the Alger set up, I will devote some space to her because her story involves SEX and I know that’s what you are really interested in.

Your Great Grandfather was Alfred Alger who also had lots of brothers and sisters and I didn’t know any of them with any certainty. But I do remember going to see some of his relations somewhere round the back of Surrey Docks; I can’t remember who they were.

Grandfather Alger (or Poppy as we kids all called him) was very tall and very handsome, and having seen his wedding pictures I can tell you he was, so I suppose he was quite a catch. His mother had a kind of a gin shop up the back of Paradise Street and his father was dock worker which is how he got to be working in the docks because in those days you had to have a ticket to work in the docks, and in order to get one you had to have a family member to speak for you.

The union was very strong so people said that if you were a docker you had a job for life, so I suppose it was not so different to nowadays – we all think we have a job for life until new technology comes along and scuppers us. It’s who you know not what you know. Look at me for instance, sitting here in Bung Hockley writing on a Word processor, retired and all that, but I digress.

I suspect that there will be a lot of that going on.

**’Gawd ‘Elp Us!’ is Uncle Dickie’s go to catchphrase. He employs it whether imparted news is good or bad. His other catchphrase ‘Go on my son!’ was developed on Saturday afternoons when he would pop round to watch the racing with Dad and Nan. It involved a lot of energetic pouffe bouncing and hitting his thigh with a rolled up newspaper. Win or lose, every race ended with an exclamation of  ‘Gawd ‘Elp Us!’

*******

*Selfie time, Clicky! …/poses*

Roobee on Pan and Echo

PPE Gun laughs on dissolves
CLICKY:  Sigmund, you’re gonna laugh son

Echo was a nymph who was a great singer and dancer and scorned the love of any man. This angered Pan, a lecherous god, and he instructed his followers to kill her. Echo was torn to pieces and spread all over earth. The goddess of the earth, Gaia, received the pieces of Echo, whose voice remains repeating the last words of others. In some versions, Echo and Pan had two children: Iambe and Iynx.

*Oh, and one of the pair of us…*

Roob and Click She shells sea cells on the shill shore
CLICKY: Another head rolls…

*…and shots fired…*

ZH Shots Fired
CLICKY: Just as you said.

*Irony, Click… Hey, that reminds me, Legs Posted ‘Passive Eating‘… It’s a thing now …/titters… and so is Passive Porking… Enough!*

*Aww… Ta Clicky… /blushes… Have a Song!*

 

 

… With one enormous chair…

 

 

LAST TIME
CLICKY: Simply clicky piccy

Dear Reader – Thoughtful Man is recuperating at home. He’d asked me knot to relay what he told Juju and eye at the hospital on Saturday evening…

Johnny Depp What a revelation

*That’s right, Clicky, but that was before today…*

*******

“Someone’s died.”

Thinking and elbows deep in warm, sudsy water, I hadn’t heard Thoughtful Man come downstairs. Startled, I turn to see his gaunt frame hovering in the kitchen doorway.

“Darling, can’t you sleep? Are you okay?”

He held his hand up to the leaky dressing on his throat to stop his Darth Vader breathing. “Someone has died. An old fella.”

I dried my hands and gently gripped his shoulders, guiding him back through to the Library.”What are you talking about? Come and sit down. Who’s died?”

“I don’t who exactly,” Thoughtful Man looked at me solemnly as he eased himself into his chair. “Someone famous, an old man. I woke up feeling someone’s died.”

“Well, we better have a look, see.” I gave him a reassuring smile and sat behind my computer, moving a snoozing Poppy, curled up in my spot. “I’ll google news. Any other clues as to who it might be?”

“No, but I feel it very strongly. A famous old man has died.”

Several taps and a click later, I was startled for the second time. “No shit!” I looked at Thoughtful Man, open mouthed.”Ronnie Corbett has died.”

Breaking Beeb News Corbett Dies
CLICKY: Status Who?

“I told you.” Thoughtful Man nodded as he sat back in his chair. “I felt it.”

*******

zoinks2

*Joker, famous for his ‘shaggy dog’ stories? Very droll, Clicky… /rolls eyes… *

DMing Legs

 

CLICKY: Monologuing?

*Well, I am fond of a monologue, Click …/wink…But that UN story we read this morning… the one I was thinking about when Thoughtful Man woke up… quite disturbing…*

UN officials say they are investigating “extremely troubling” claims of sexual abuse by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (CAR).

Last year, there were 69 allegations of child rape and other sexual offences by peacekeepers from 10 missions.

One advocacy group says it has passed on new reports to the UN that a soldier made four girls have sex with a dog.

The UN said it was looking into the “exact number and nature” of the claims.

*It says, ‘…the bestiality claims, dating back to 2014, involved a commander with French forces.’… Clicky, one in French is Un… and as for CAR…*

CAR Pointless Running Gag

CLICKY: Other Chair man

*Yes, Clicky… just a very slight difference in height  😀 *

status (n.)1670s, “height” of a situation or condition, later “legal standing of a person” (1791), from Latin status “condition, position, state, manner, attitude” from past participle stem of stare “to stand,” from PIE *ste-tu-, from root *stā- “to stand” (see stet). Sense of “standing in one’s society or profession” is from 1820. Status symbol first recorded 1955; status-seeker from 1956. Status-anxiety is from 1959.

PDVD_273

*Quite! Have a Song…*