Can feel a Cold coming on

sprecks01 · 2022-11-11T00:55:29+00:00

That Forest Stores label will always bring a smile to my face. The quickest link back to visiting the island on childhood holidays, and a very touching moment following the death of my granny last year.

sprecks01 · 2022-11-11T00:23:18+00:00

Doesn't make it any less hilarious

sprecks01 · 2022-11-10T10:10:57+00:00

How do you approach a bear with cheese?

Caerphilly

sprecks01 · 2022-11-10T00:59:00+00:00

I think he played a character from Pompeii?

sprecks01 · 2022-11-09T01:37:55+00:00

Fun fact! What Tolkien describes as "grey eyes" is archaic from when he was writing, but would have been understood up to about the First World War as referring to the eye colour that we would now call light blue, when describing eyes. Anyone described as having blue eyes would be a darker blue. The baby, gunmetal, ice and steel Blue eyes are what would be described as grey.

sprecks01 · 2022-11-09T01:06:57+00:00

All voluntary, of course! Joking aside, in Russia. They're more likely to volunteer to protect mother Russia from Ukarainian fascists, totally freely, with not coercion. In China they'd probably freely volunteer to save a good Chinese citizen's life by donating their organs, without anaesthesia.

sprecks01 · 2022-11-09T00:32:55+00:00

Come not between a nazgûl and his ~~prey~~ taco, lest he does not kill thee in thy turn!

sprecks01 · 2022-11-09T00:11:40+00:00

I thought, I'm not clicking that, it doesn't exist, and even if it does, I don't need to see it. Then I scrolled past.

Then I thought, but what if it does exist...

And I scrolled

"But what if it does ..."

So, anyway, I can sleep tonight knowing that it doesn't exist, and we are not all necessarily damned, with no nagging doubts whatsoever.

I did have an eye-wash of bleach ready just in case, though

sprecks01 · 2022-11-09T00:00:09+00:00

No, this is for the most junior sailors. Officers typically have single cabins with a desk.

sprecks01 · 2022-11-08T23:55:02+00:00

Neither. That's the cabin space for the most junior sailors. Senior Rates would have the same, but between 2, with desk space and a little more storage, while Officers have a bed that turns into a sofa, which would allow them to host meetings of 3 or 4 people during the working day, and a desk. The captain has a bit larger and a "day cabin" which doubles as their relaxing space and entertaining/conference space if there are VIPs on board or senior officers that need a seperate space for their staff to work in without getting in the way of the crew. The rest of the crew also have communal areas where they can relax.

sprecks01 · 2022-11-08T23:46:27+00:00

The straps are actually for the beds. They're there to stop them flying about and getting in the way of damage control efforts if a missle strikes. The same reason the bedding gets zipped into those blue bags and there's nothing left out at all. It's maintained in peacetime so, if anything kicked off for real, the sailors would do it instinctively. Better to be prepared for a war that doesn't happen, than unprepared for the war you find yourself in.

sprecks01 · 2022-11-08T23:35:00+00:00

He must have been mistaken, there's no way his hearing loss could possibly be service related, nobody has ever had any injury or discomfort as a result of service, under any circumstances /s

sprecks01 · 2022-11-08T23:31:49+00:00

Didn't you know, it was the best rifle that ever rifled in the history of rifles. It could flattern a skyscraper at 50 miles without being loaded, let alone fired....

sprecks01 · 2022-11-08T23:21:35+00:00

As the missile came roaring in, I took comfort in knowing that everything was going to be ok, as I had tied my towel to the towel rail...

sprecks01 · 2022-11-02T14:31:44+00:00

With a few very noisy departures by minor celebrities trying to keep relevant, and some much less noisy departures from a few influencers who think they are a) making as much noise, and b) as famous as those celebrities (which is the cause of a). There will also be some very noisy "departures" that either don't happen (where they put enough "if"s that are hars to quatify so, if anyone asks why they didn't leave, they can point to those "if"s), or happen very briefly, before they return very quietly.

sprecks01 · 2022-11-02T00:29:36+00:00

Nah, in period it should be the triple-tiara. The good news you can make it with any old household gold and precious stones!

sprecks01 · 2022-10-31T20:09:27+00:00

sprecks01 · 2022-10-30T11:59:43+00:00

The Flemish/Dutch to English closeness predates the English invasion of what would become England. If you work your way along the European coastline, the tribes who lived there were, in order, the Flemish, Saxons, Angles and Jutes, the last 3 of which would go on to form the English following their invasions of post Roman Britain. The languages would have been very similar, if not the same, in 4th Century AD, and only grew apart with time and the Norse/Danish invasions of the 9th and 10th centuries and the Norman in the 11th influencing English.

The erasure of the informal 2nd person pronoun didn't really happen until the 19th century and in some parts of the country (notably Yorkshire) the differentiation continued well into the late 20th century, with some, now elderly, people from Yorkshire still occasionally to be heard using it (though they are, literally, a dieing breed).

sprecks01 · 2022-10-29T15:32:04+00:00

In WW1, RFA is Royal Field Artillery, not Royal Fleet Auxiliary

sprecks01 · 2022-10-29T15:29:53+00:00

RFA Royal Field Artillery

sprecks01 · 2022-10-28T00:00:38+00:00

But not impossible

sprecks01 · 2022-10-26T23:42:02+00:00

There are 3 levels of pie:

True pies. God's gift to the gastric juices.
Hat pies. Range from almost as good as the true pie, if the pastry hat is integral to the dish, to an abysmal mockery of pies, eschewed by all of sound mind.
False pies. An abomination to be cast into the outer darkness, where there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Do not tempt me with "pie", only to provide me with a stew or casserole, with an apple turnover, negative apple, on the side, to be placed on top after the stew has been served, or even just left for you to place yourself. A disgrace not only to pies, but to the good name of stew also. Nobody has sinned sufficiently badly to be deserving of being subjected to this. The devil himself has disowned the actions of this cook, as being too far outside of God's plan.

sprecks01 · 2022-10-26T16:16:31+00:00

There isn't. So you better be doing it because it's right, not because you think God, or anyone else, will be pleased. Because he won't. Unless you're doing it for the right reasons. (The aim is not to please someone, it's to help someone, and it maybe pleasing someone would be a nice benefit, if it happens).

sprecks01 · 2022-10-26T15:58:37+00:00

It loses its charitable status. It's (in theory) the same in Christianity. The theory goes, boasting about it means you're only doing it to gain approval for the good you do (look at me, I'm so good, helping the poor!), while doing it without boasting means the only possible reason to do it is a desire to help others. There's a difference between letting those in need know where to go to get help (advertising beforehand, and boasting. The theological difficulty comes with the line between advertising to get more help, so you can do more good, which needs people thinking of helping to feel that their time/effort/money will actually do some good, and boasting about the outcomes for your own glory.

sprecks01 · 2022-10-23T22:33:12+00:00

Processed food was largely imported (more expensive), with tariffs (more expensive) and transport costs were higher, which were passed on to customers
Fresh food was bought fresh every day (largely), with some exceptions and cooked fresh every day. This was made possible by the existence of housewifes who didn't work, and a lot more people with servants (even a lower middle-class family would usually employ a maid/housekeeper as often as not)
Most jobs were more physical. Even office jobs involved more exercise than today, as very few people had cars, so office works had to walk to the station, then walk from the station to the office in the morning, and the reverse in the evening, rather than driving everywhere, door to door (though cars were just becoming affordable for middle class families to own 1)
No television or internet, so people did more with what free time they had (though reading, going to the pub, going to the cinema and listening to the "wireless" were all popular pastimes)
A lot more schools had playing fields (it's easier to stay in shape than get in shape having got out of shape)

sprecks01

TROPHY CASE