I've moved! Please visit at ;-


A bit of this, a bit of that!

Many thanks and I hope to continue seeing you at my new location.  ¶ Friday, December 01, 2006 1 comments links to this post

  UCLA Student Brutalized and Tortured by Police

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm! Only in America, the land of the free! Well perhaps not only America but I'm still shocked at the number of videos out there showing US police brutality.  ¶ Friday, November 17, 2006 1 comments links to this post

  I'm moving! I've decided that Blogger is a bit too slow, I'm not keen on this new template and can't find one I like and frankly a change is as good as a rest so I'm off!

I can now be found, should you so wish to visit at:-

www.dchassocks.wordpress.com

I'm sorry for the inconvenience but I look forward to your continued visits.  ¶ Tuesday, October 10, 2006 0 comments links to this post

  'Tales from the chalkface' has such an excellent post up, I urge you to visit!  ¶ Friday, October 06, 2006 0 comments links to this post

  What goes on behind your back!
Just sitting here idly blogging as the afternoon ends when startled by growling from behind my left shoulder!

Can I have one too?  ¶ Friday, October 06, 2006 1 comments links to this post

  QI
For your delectation and delight I have this Friday afternoon decided to publicise my favourite TV quiz show, that is to say QI. It's to my mind the funniest, wittiest thing on TV at the moment, not that this is saying very much I know. Fronted by Stephen Fry if you haven't already seen I urge you to try it.  ¶ Friday, October 06, 2006 3 comments links to this post

  Just finished reading:-

I'd have to place this in the 'quite interesting' catagory as for the first half it kept me really quite gripped, working well as it does as a thriller. However, I'm afraid that the second half rather lost its way to my mind with a particularly weak ending. Nevertheless if you want something to read on the train, you could do worse than give this a go.

I'm tempted to say a bit of a second rate 'Da Vinci Code'.  ¶ Tuesday, October 03, 2006 1 comments links to this post

  I always said that Red Wine was good for me! I've just stumbled across the fact that red Wine is good for me!

What a relief!

Update:- Just popped by 'Wait till next year' and you know what he agrees with me! We don't like the same wine though, I'm a Fitou man myself.  ¶ Friday, September 29, 2006 1 comments links to this post

  Beijing's penis emporium In my quest to give you all a 'bit of this, a bit of that!' here's an interesting article that has frankly left me without an appetite and somewhat speechless!  ¶ Wednesday, September 27, 2006 7 comments links to this post

  Europe 18½-9½ USA What a three days, culminating in the third win on the trot in the Ryder Cup!

The team played magnificantly over all the three days, with each and every one of them pulling for each other. Perhaps this element of a 'team' was one of the crucial differences between Europe and the US.
Montgomery as the senior pro led from the front, why oh why can he not reproduce this form in a major?
I saw Ton Lehmann interviewed after Europe had won and I have to say 'what a gentleman', magnanimous in defeat, he was a credit to his team. European Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam admited that he felt under great pressure to win the Ryder Cup, but praised his team for fulfilling their winning potential, after he had got soaked in champagne and downed a pint of Guiness in one on the balcony!  ¶ Sunday, September 24, 2006 3 comments links to this post

  It's not so bad these days after all! The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:


Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water..

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying . It's raining cats and dogs.

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, Dirt poor. The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a thresh hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old..

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, bring home the bacon. They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat..

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a .dead ringer..

And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !  ¶ Monday, September 18, 2006 9 comments links to this post

  The Traveller.

My first book review. It was very good, buy it. Stay off the grid!  ¶ Saturday, September 16, 2006 2 comments links to this post

  For Mrs A and others! You will need to 'click' on the picture to be able to read it, it's worth it, a classic from yesteryear!
  ¶ Friday, September 15, 2006 6 comments links to this post

  Shumacher to retire!
So Schumacher is going at last. He's announced he is to retire at the end of the season.

Good riddence says I!

He will go down in history as the most tainted champion of any sport, which is very sad as without doubt he is one of the most talented people ever to drive a car of any description. He is a man with one focus and that is to win but he has completely failed to understand where to draw the line between the need to win and the need to win at all costs, fair or foul.

Too many times he has been foul. I shall not miss him, I am happy to recognise his great talent, but certainly he is not a great man.  ¶ Sunday, September 10, 2006 5 comments links to this post

  Not many people know this! Ernie Wise made the first mobile phone call in the UK on January 1, 1985 from St Katherine's Dock, East London, to Vodafone's Headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire  ¶ Friday, September 08, 2006 3 comments links to this post

  it "has not been our finest hour, to be frank". You're telling me as Blair admits he has less than a year to go!  ¶ Thursday, September 07, 2006 3 comments links to this post

  A new tenant has appeared! Get over to the The Foo Logs right away and see what you think.  ¶ Wednesday, September 06, 2006 0 comments links to this post