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Post by Alvamiga on Nov 10, 2012 12:10:51 GMT
Since we got Tinker, I have been feeding Tinker in one place, but he always jumps up where I am dishing out his food and I always block him from getting at it and wait until he goes away. He still doesn't seem to take it on board that he will get his food quicker if he doesn't bug me and it will always be presented in the same location!
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Post by Fr. Gruesome on Nov 10, 2012 14:19:39 GMT
I don't know, the two of you trying to train a cat ... a doomed endeavour!
I am at my desk making the final presentations for tomorrow - which is going to be another frantic day. Assuming nothing turns up overnight, I have mass at 0800, mass+Act of Remembrance 1000, baptism at 1130, staff meeting at 1600 and Healing and Blessing at 1830. That's three 'sermons' to deliver, although one of them is really a powerpoint about Great Uncle Frank who lies in Brandhoek No.3 War Cemetery outside Ieper.
How odd. I have iTunes playing random tracks in the background while I am collecting together all my bits and pieces for tomorrow - just as I typed the last sentence of the previous paragraph it started to play Het Wilhelmus and yes I did sit to attention.
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Post by tangent on Nov 10, 2012 19:21:43 GMT
For several years, our cat didn't utter any sound. We don't know why. We think it's because she's deaf. But now she meows to come in and occasionally yowls when she's freaked.
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Post by Mari on Nov 10, 2012 19:41:40 GMT
I let my students hear the British anthem as by their request. They were not impressed Perhaps the power of the Wilhelmus is the fact that it's written in an "I"-form.
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Post by tangent on Nov 11, 2012 8:42:22 GMT
Many English people are also unimpressed.
The Football Association plays the British national anthem at football matches when they want to acknowledge the English team but not the Welsh team, which uses their own National Anthem. This causes much consternation in Wales and has led to Welsh players and supporters boycotting the British national anthem.
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Post by Miisa on Nov 11, 2012 8:52:44 GMT
Why do they play the national anthem at football matches? Is it seen as a profoundly patriotic event?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2012 9:25:57 GMT
To some maybe.
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Post by Mari on Nov 11, 2012 9:58:19 GMT
We do that here too. At least, I think we also do that at normal big league games, not only international ones.
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Post by Fr. Gruesome on Nov 11, 2012 22:36:41 GMT
Why do they play the national anthem at football matches? Is it seen as a profoundly patriotic event? Because they are very naughty boys. I am exhausted. A twelve hour day ... need rest and or beer. Perhaps the power of the Wilhelmus is the fact that it's written in an "I"-form. It is also a very strong tune based in a folk tradition that is still active. Mind you, I am not sure I would want to sing quite all the verses - even if my Dutch were up to it!
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Post by Alvamiga on Nov 11, 2012 23:43:57 GMT
I have also had a busy day. I cleared the far end of the garden and laid out some (very heavy) concrete slabs (not perfectly level; one thing at a time). I now have somewhere to park my motorbike without having to push it the full length of the garden which is getting soft and undulating with the current weather. I also mowed the grass, front and read of the house, which thankfully grows significantly more slowly at this time of the year. Finally, I removed the back gate, reversed and rehung it. It now opens to the left so it is out of the way and does not scrape along the floor and all the bolts and hasps line up smoothly. I spent a good hour cursing the bodge-artist who did the job last time.
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Post by Mari on Nov 12, 2012 9:30:48 GMT
Mind you, I am not sure I would want to sing quite all the verses - even if my Dutch were up to it! Neither would I... 16 is too much for me, so let's stick to the 2 we always sing. It is kinda cool that the first letter of each verse together spell William's name.
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Post by Fr. Gruesome on Nov 12, 2012 9:41:17 GMT
Indeed it is - an 'acrostic psalm' it's called based on the pattern of Ps.119 (though mercifully not that long). I spent a good hour cursing the bodge-artist who did the job last time. A thorough cursing has a certain satisfaction to it doesn't it ... ... I am having a reading day today but must also go and see the nice young woman who cuts my hair for a bit of a shearing, I've left it too long and my head is getting overwarm!
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Post by Shake on Nov 13, 2012 3:08:14 GMT
With this post here, I believe you will have caught back up to Moose's 1000 post quest thread.
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Post by Alvamiga on Nov 13, 2012 8:08:23 GMT
A thorough cursing has a certain satisfaction to it doesn't it ... Good job too! In the week of so of riding my motorbike, I have used to word "a$£^@)e" about as many times a Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda, although in my case it wasn't my fault at all (unless you count driving at the posted speed limit as irresponsible)!
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Post by tangent on Nov 13, 2012 11:02:18 GMT
Has anyone come close to knocking you off sideways? I used to cycle one metre from the curb so that I had an escape route when drivers came too close.
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Post by Fr. Gruesome on Nov 13, 2012 14:03:16 GMT
It must be a terrible worry. The route I use to commute to the parish is along a nice straight dual carriageway road which is used by the local cycling clubs on Sunday mornings for time trials. To be honest it worries me silly that I am sharing the road with them - they have just as much right to the road as me I know, but I instinctively keep as far as I can from them.
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Post by tangent on Nov 13, 2012 16:18:02 GMT
Why do you keep as far as you can from them? Because you think you might suddenly swerve sideways into them?
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Post by Mari on Nov 13, 2012 18:02:25 GMT
Or they into you. If you look how sprinters are throwing their bike all sides when sprinting to the finish on their bikes...
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Post by Alvamiga on Nov 13, 2012 20:02:21 GMT
Most of it is about riding defensively and not letting them badger you about. This morning, for example, I was in the lane to the right of an articulated lorry and, even though traffic was in a one-way flow, turning left, I refused to just accelerate around the outside of it and kept my speed to the point where I could deal with the unexpected. It was in a position where it could have been blocking my view of all sorts of potential dangers. As long as you are progressing along the road at a reasonable speed, you are perfectly allowed to take charge of the lane (and should do). When I took my CBT, the girl who came out on the road when I went almost entirely failed for being too timid and not putting herself into the lane. It is not safe to drive slowly where everyone can overtake you all the time. I have certainly seen my share of the impatient drivers who will overtake at the first opportunity, no matter how fast I am going, but I'm starting to be able to spot them in my rear view mirrors pretty well already and am ready for them to shoot past. One did it this morning and, when I got to the next bend, he was stuck behind a huge piece of farming equipment. I had a jolly good laugh! This morning I got stuck behind a learner driver!
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Post by Alvamiga on Nov 13, 2012 20:09:32 GMT
I have, again, seen why there are so many bike accidents. I was waiting at a set of lights, in the queue and in lane. Another bike came up behind me, indicating right. I assumed he would pull up next to or behind me, but he pulled over to the right and drove past the four or five cars in front, crossing the white line and into the junction. If he had been hit and killed I would have had no sympathy for him! Another did a similar manoeuvre around the right-hand side of a keep left bollard! The problem there, of course is that car drivers then see motorcyclists as the type of idiots that behave that way and treat them all with contempt afterwards.
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Post by Miisa on Nov 13, 2012 20:11:48 GMT
One reason there are so many bike accidents is that bikers are very difficult to see. In a car you are looking out for other car-sized (or larger) objects.
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Post by Alvamiga on Nov 13, 2012 20:32:58 GMT
That is one of the main reasons for my exceptionally good jacket, but it really can't help if you are on the wrong side of the road, speeding, pulling out into traffic when you should not and so on.
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Post by tangent on Nov 13, 2012 23:58:09 GMT
I was knocked off my motor bike by a car driver pulling out at a junction once. Fortunately, it didn't do much damage either to me or my bike. She apologized saying plaintively that she hadn't seen me.
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Post by Shake on Nov 14, 2012 5:35:39 GMT
Why do you keep as far as you can from them? Because you think you might suddenly swerve sideways into them? Not taking sides here, but I have also seen some pretty irresponsible motorcycle drivers, too. I like to give them room, when I can, so as not to make them nervous.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2012 7:56:58 GMT
I know perfectly well that there are loads of irresponsible cyclists out there. In one part of the city especially, many pupils cycle home from school and at least half of them cycle one-handed while messaging on their mobile phones and not really looking at where they're going.
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Post by Alvamiga on Nov 15, 2012 8:24:22 GMT
Yes, I have also seen someone doing that on an unlit street while wearing clothes that made them very hard to see.
I had not fully appreciated until recently just how much pedestrians blend into the darkness when you are driving. In a car they must be even more difficult to see.
I was on an A road going home last night and there is a section with no street lights. It wasn't until I had completely passed him that I registered passing someone in dark clothes walking along the hard-shoulder, where there is also no pavement! Some people really have no sense!
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Post by Fr. Gruesome on Nov 15, 2012 13:47:32 GMT
Apparently, the insurance companies say that that seeing another road user but not registering the contact is the most common description of the cause of accidents.
Had a family come to look at the presbytery yesterday who are interested in buying except that their 'chain' is broken at the moment. I am quite happy to sit it out really, there is no urgency in selling as such just an ambition to be living in the Holy City of Barradurbury by the time that I eventually retire.
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Post by Mari on Nov 15, 2012 17:33:35 GMT
What is the general age for retirement when you're a priest? I will have to work till I'm 67, though there is talk already of making it 69.
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Post by tangent on Nov 15, 2012 18:46:59 GMT
If you can get work at 67.
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Post by Kye on Nov 15, 2012 18:52:23 GMT
For a priest in our diocese, the official age of retirement is 65, but one can still work until 70.
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