I'm surprised we haven't had one yet, but many happy returns to one and all for another entertaining and informative year.
There's a package under my tree that looks suspiciously like a much hinted at telephoto lens...
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Christmas is a nightmare for me, mostly. It exposes me to all as an unimaginative and stingy halfwit with a sideline in whinging and kvetching. I mean well but as it closes in I become increasingly inadequate. Guh, meh, all those inadequate noises...
The adult women are in bad moods because of all the work, but the nippers are very sweet, bright-eyed and eager, not only for what they will get as presents (although they're only human) but for how the presents they've chosen for others will be received. Even the adolescents are adorable.
A very large turkey has been delivered and is filling half of our small fridge (the big one in the other room is full of stuff already). Uniquely in my experience, it has no visible breast, just a ridge of bone with skin stretched over it. This may mean that I won't be able to eat any, although I've promised to.
I hope it won't be too bad for the rest of you though. Fingers crossed eh?
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Tue 23 Dec 14 at 17:00
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Christmas Wishes to one and all!
(Even to the moody old bat in the multistory earlier today who moaned at me for taking too long to pay, "that will cost me an extra £1" she moaned as the machine rejected my money for the second time.
She should have got to the machine before me!
I did grumble "and Merry Christmas to you too!" )
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>> A very large turkey has been delivered and is filling half of our small fridge
>> (the big one in the other room is full of stuff already). Uniquely in my
>> experience, it has no visible breast, just a ridge of bone with skin stretched over
>> it.
Serves you right for ordering the 'super model' turkey.
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Step back a few yards, you might see it better!
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Oh! and the sooner this crap is over and done with the better.
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>>and the sooner this crap is over and done with the better.
Which crap? Christmas? I love it.
I don't really understand why you don't, but if you don't then simply don't join in. Why do you feel the need to care what everybody else is enjoying?
Silly a***.
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>> Oh! and the sooner this crap is over and done with the better.
You are going to regret missing christmas when we become an Islamic state, christmas is banned and you are forced to celebrate Ramadan.
I'll see you on the next Dhu al-Hijja
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 23 Dec 14 at 20:28
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>> You are going to regret missing christmas when we become an Islamic state, christmas is banned and you are forced to celebrate Ramadan.
He'll love it. Nothing to eat from sunrise to sunset, just water.
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>> >> You are going to regret missing Christmas when we become an Islamic state,
>> Christmas is banned and you are forced to celebrate Ramadan.
>>
>> He'll love it. Nothing to eat from sunrise to sunset, just water.
>>
Or as we used to tell our staff. " Nothing but the pure air of Allah shall pass your lips from dawn til Dusk . No food, no drink, no smoking no sex!"
One year SWMBO joined me in Saudi during the whole of Ramadan and beyond.
An interesting experience. I tried to avoid flying ( being flown) during that period.
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>>when we become an Islamic state
Give me break, make that "if...."
But I case it is "when...", I may spend the time trying to understand the new copy of the Koran I have received, the third time I will have tried over the years.
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>> I'm surprised we haven't had one yet
Er, someone did back in November.
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=18549
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>>
>> Er, someone did back in November.
>>
>> www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=18549
>>
AC imitating Eeyore, I see.
Lots of nice food and drink, blazing log fires, choice of stuff to watch on telly, enjoyment of children going through their time-honoured rituals of stockings. decorations, over-eating chocolates, plus a few useful presents like garden shears and angle-grinder disks - what's not to like?
A Merry Christmas to you all, and many thanks for some entertaining and informative threads.
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Zeddo ( aka Scrooge ) said....
You are going to regret missing Christmas when we become an Islamic state, Christmas is banned and you are forced to celebrate Ramadan.
I have often been in the Middle East at Christmas and most of them do really like the Christmas celebrations with the palm trees decorated with lights and festive glitter,
I have just taken delivery of a Harrods hamper delivered with the compliments of the ambassador of an Islamic middle eastern country and am looking forward to partaking of the contents...
.....no alcohol or Ferrero Rocher included unfortunately.....
All is well in the helicopter household....,presents wrapped, son returned from Tokyo for Christmas, SWMBO is baking sausage rolls and mince pies , the Lidl three bird roast is defrosting along with the rib of beef for Boxing Day .
Time to open a nice chilled Chablis methinks.......
Best Wishes to all....
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Yeah, s'pose I'll have to join in with the good wishes ! I do hope that you motley collection of rogues and vagabond have a good break and enjoy any festivities you're involved in.
Don't forget us pensioners sharing a turkey pot noodle and trying to make the mince pie found on the floor at Lidl do for both of us while we sit in our freezing dining room, hands too cold to open presents...which is a good job as there aren't any.
Still...have good time....it'll be back to the workhouse for us afterwards !
Ted & Ann.
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....He's been!
Merry Christmas to all of you.
Off to wake Ian up now, maybe one day I'll grow up:)
Pat
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Merry Christmas everyone.
I hope that Santa has brought you everything you wanted and that I haven't got another Autoglym car cleaning kit as per the last 3 years ! :-(
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It hasn't been too bad so far. I've got some books and a few nice oddments including a posh bottle of some sort of very full-of-itself Polish Vodka.
Three presents here have been books connected with a lot of old photographs: a schematic view of the First world war in one of mine, two volumes of the great French stripcartoonist Tardi's First war stuff for my stripcartoonist daughter, and a book on the Industrial Revolution from herself to the favourite nephew.
Someone gave the youngest descendant, 6, some glittery high-heeled shoes that actually fit her, and she spent an hour or so doing a combination of tap, Irish and Flamenco among fragile objects and wrapping paper on the floor... but got away with it because she goes to dance classes and is graceful. Tired me out just seeing her.
Not too drunk or ill yet. Alleluia! Grown-up at last.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Thu 25 Dec 14 at 19:23
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>> Not too drunk or ill yet. Alleluia! Grown-up at last.
I spoke too soon. The other, main sitting room has been taken over with the screen showing some ghastly, interminable, prancing piece of ballet Scheisse. DVD or a channel, it's equally unbearable.
I hate opera too but I'd rather watch the whole Wagner Ring cycle than an hour of ballet. Perhaps not the whole cycle, but no doubt you get the point. Such as it is.
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The favourite nephew has been given a very fine toy, a 4-rotor helicopter thingy with a camera hung below it on gimbals. It and its control box contain a powerful computer and GPS, so that it can hover in one place in a wind. It seems to be steered by two 360-degree joystick things. Perhaps gentle steering effort is best at least to start with... but allegedly the thing takes over if the controller does anything too silly, and refuses to crash wildly. It also returns to base when the batteries are running out of juice. We will see.
He's stuck all the various batteries in their chargers overnight. I hope I'm awake when the thing comes to life.
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Bah, humbug, sucks !
I got nothing, nil, zilch...sod all ! Not even a card from SWM ! Just shows how the family love and respect the dominant male ! I'm off to bed when I've finished this large Scotch and will, no doubt, spend the night sobbing into my pillow !
Dinner was good though.
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I am very pleased to have been given a bottle of Hakushu single malt by my son, and a Tern tool, which is a clever multi tool for bikes, by my daughter - youtu.be/WdyHWzw98TM
The whisky has been sampled of course.
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>> The favourite nephew has been given a very fine toy, a 4-rotor helicopter thingy
Droning on again...
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I see an owner of one of these privacy invaders has been fined £800 or so for dangerous flying!
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A scarf ( yuk ) and a 12 yr Glenfiddich - good!
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I have friends who do aviation video for a living.
When they aren't doing safety vids etc for various folk, they use drones for sporting events (think golf courses) etc.
They worry that a ban to restrict drones may hit the professionals hard. All the guys with $$$$ worth of equipment normally have pilot's licences anyway, but their trade is now threatened by some bloke who gets something off of eBay, doesn't RTFM, and prangs it into a table fullof nuns/orphans at the local mall.
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I wonder how many get shot down for annoying people in the USA?
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I like being nosy about folk's houses , so would probably like one of those flying things. I do like using the Right move function on our Samsung TV smart hub to see houses for sale on a 40 " screen!
,
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>>.................. on a 40 " screen!
>>
Only 40", you poor impoverished soul. :)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 26 Dec 14 at 12:57
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>> some bloke who gets something off of eBay, doesn't RTFM, and prangs it into a table fullof nuns/orphans at the local mall.
The nephew isn't just 'some bloke' but a person keenly interested in technology, and good at it since he was quite small. I've never been able fully to understand what he does for a living, but he seems to be valued and well paid for it. And the helicopter thingy is allegedly uncrashable...
He says it's technically illegal to let it get out of line-of-sight. Its presence is very discreet: not very big and virtually silent.
No writs alleging intrusion of privacy have arrived yet, let alone MoD/CAA hit squads.
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>> And the helicopter thingy is allegedly uncrashable...
>>
>> He says it's technically illegal to let it get out of line-of-sight. Its presence is
>> very discreet: not very big and virtually silent.
>>
>> No writs alleging intrusion of privacy have arrived yet, let alone MoD/CAA hit squads.
>>
I quite fancy one of those toys but I'm skeptical about the uncrashable bit. I don't fancy having to fork out for a new conservatory roof or being presented with an eye watering bill after re-modelling a neighbours car.
Wanstead Flats in east London was (Maybe still is) a favourite place for model aircraft flyers. Back in the day I saw a free flight model make a nice big dent in the door of a parked car, followed by an "Interesting" exchange of views between pilot and car owner.
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>> I quite fancy one of those toys but I'm skeptical about the uncrashable bit. I don't fancy having to fork out for a new conservatory roof or being presented with an eye watering bill after re-modelling a neighbours car.
The eye-watering bill comes first I think!
I don't think this device would damage a car or cause any real injury to a person. It's about a foot across and I doubt if it weighs as much as 1lb. The rotors are flexible.
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>>
>>
>> I don't think this device would damage a car or cause any real injury to
>> a person. It's about a foot across and I doubt if it weighs as much
>> as 1lb. The rotors are flexible.
>>
>>
It might be small and light but I wouldn't fancy one in the mush. My skin and eyes are light and flexible too.
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>> It might be small and light but I wouldn't fancy one in the mush.
I'm told the thing can, in theory, fly into someone's face, and that could cause smallish but perhaps very nasty injuries.
So much depends on a careful, intelligent pilot. The nippers aren't allowed to play with it.
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I was brung up very close to Wanstead Flats (the other side from the aircraft area) but spent many hours there as a kid watching them. I'd forgotten that, thanks for jogging the old grey matter. I remember seeing the occasional aircraft pass over our house, by when I think they would have been out of range...
There was a lake there too where people took radio controlled boats.
And there used to be a big fairground there occasionally, where I saw my first real naked woman - in a knife throwing act. I guess I'd have been 11 or 12.
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And there were cows that were grazed on the flats and regularly found themselves down the surrounding terraced roads and in the front gardens. Used to be a regular in the Golden Fleece pub which overlooked the flats and the Holly Tree.
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>> And there were cows that were grazed on the flats and regularly found themselves down
>> the surrounding terraced roads and in the front gardens. Used to be a regular in
>> the Golden Fleece pub which overlooked the flats and the Holly Tree.
As a wee toddler used to live next to the flats, All the family is burned or buried in the East London Crem
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The City of London cemetery (& crem) was over my back fence - used to live in Wanstead Park Avenue. Massive conker trees overhung our garden, and my first summer after school was spent there cutting the grass around graves, which was quite well paid!
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>> And there were cows that were grazed on the flats and regularly found themselves down
>> the surrounding terraced roads and in the front gardens. Used to be a regular in
>> the Golden Fleece pub which overlooked the flats and the Holly Tree.
>>
A mate of my brothers made the front page of the Stratford Express when a cow wandered in front of his motorcycle along centre road. Fortunately he escaped with only a few cuts and bruises.
The last time I was in the Golden Fleece was for my mother's wake.
Re the model aircraft flying I can remember when most of the planes you saw over there were control line models, something I could never quite see the point of. Hand launched Keil Kraft gliders were popular among the less well off and free flight were the stuff of the real enthusiast. Amazing now to think that kids toys are are so far in advance of anything considered cutting edge back then, primitive radio control models being only affordable to the very wealthy.
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>> Someone gave the youngest descendant, 6, some glittery high-heeled shoes
It may be ill-mannered and boring to go on about one's grandchildren, but I've remembered that after the first course yesterday she stood up on the bench she was sitting on, waited for attention and delivered a long, quite complex Churchillian speech - sentences with properly-timed dependent clauses and so on - in a confident and friendly way. No one had primed her to do it or suggested she should do it. I can't remember what the address was about exactly, but it certainly wasn't limited to banal seasonal good wishes, and everyone listened attentively (apart from her siblings that is).
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>> No one had primed her to do it or suggested she should do it. I can't remember what the address was about exactly
It's been explained, somewhat to my relief, that the nipper had recently been present at her school speech day, and her address wasn't a piece of premature statesmanship so much as a sort of journalistic exercise in recycling. In fact I now recall that the content seemed to be a sort of recap of the past year, delivered in a briskly didactic schoolmarmish tone.
Still used the form with different content, all from memory and in correct grammar. Not genius thank goodness, but not bad either.
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Still sounds impressive AC. There's probably a literate ancestor somewhere up the family tree.
:)
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The nephew test-flew the helicopter before I was around today. This evening he showed on the 40" screen about four minutes of overhead moving footage of here. Looks a real dump from the air... but it was a fairly dull day and the colour, definition and so on were very high quality considering the camera is barely 2 inches long or wide.
Modern tat is truly amazing.
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>> considering the camera is barely 2 inches long or wide.
Astonishing peripheral vision too. Occasionally there's the edge of a rotor showing in the top right corner of the frame, attributed to wind by the nephew - the device having to lean over a bit to hold station in a wind.
I continue to be amazed.
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AND......I want one. NOW.
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"The most stunning drone pictures of 2014" - and they are pretty impressive:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30415475
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Some of those pictures are amazing. I think that the quality lies (for me) in being able to just get 'above' one's immediate surroundings say to a height of 20-50 feet.
The problem will be of course that the Idiots will spoil it for the majority, but I'll be very interested to see where this goes.
MD
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>> "The most stunning drone pictures of 2014" - and they are pretty impressive:
>> www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30415475
Under UK drone flying rules (for those without a license) most of those pictures would have been illegally obtained.
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The Obligatory Merry Christmas Thread - Armel Coussine
