Category Archives: amusements

amusements

March Quiz Questions

This year we’re beginning each month with five pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. They’re not difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers, so hopefully you’ll learn something new, as well as have a bit of fun.

March Quiz Questions: General Knowledge

  1. Fielding and Chavannes, the inventors of bubble wrap, were originally trying to create what?
  2. Who or what are Rouge Croix, Rouge Dragon, Portcullis and Bluemantle?
  3. Three private (ie. non-state owned) companies in the world each employ over 1 million people. Name one of them.
  4. How is the clock in the Elizabeth Tower (aka Big Ben) of the Houses of Parliament regulated?
  5. Who patented the first automobile?

Answers will be posted in 3 weeks time.

amusements, personal

Unblogged February

Tue 1 Like the first of every month, a day full of tedious admin: household, literary society, patient group … It just multiplies.
Wed 2 Good grief! My chilli plants are still producing a few fruit. Picked 5 today. But they’ll get pruned back later this month so they can put up new growth and hopefully a good crop for a third summer.
Thu 3 Successfully bid for another picture at our local auction house. It’s the brother of one I already have, so really wanted, and I was surprised to get it as cheaply as I did.
Fri 4 Why do jobs always take 10 times longer than they should. A 15 minute update to a website this afternoon took over 4 hours of endlessly fiddling around. And that was just one of 10 things I was supposed to do in that time. Hello weekend – NOT!
Sat 5 So intent on slogging away at website updates this afternoon, I didn’t realise how cold I was – absolutely frozen. Unusually for me I needed a thick sweater to warm up.
Sun 6 Rain lashing down and a gale blowing all night. Wet when I went to bed, and still wet when I got up at 07:15. Awoken, of course, by a drowned Boy cat arriving at 06:15. Still, up early meant lots done.
Mon 7 Went to collect the painting I bought last week at our local auction house. First time going somewhere non-medical in almost 2 years!
The crocuses and the alder catkins are coming out, in lovely Spring-like sunshine.
Tue 8 Discovered why one of our tubs of bulbs had fallen from its position to lie on its side on the lawn below. The trail camera shows Mr Fox jumping up on it from below, making it topple over the edge. Exit Mr Fox in haste.
Wed 9 BookReceived an interesting-looking new book in the mail: Understanding European Wines by Charlie Boston. I don’t know the author, but I do know the guy who’s written an introduction about Anthony Powell and Wine. It goes straight to the top of Mount TBR.
Thu 10 Lovely trip to the dentist this morning. An hour in the chair for crown prep, but no impressions as they now have a wizzy machine which does scans instead. Sad that as I opted for a gold crown, I won’t get to see the scans printed as a crown onsite: gold has to go to the lab.
Fri 11 Actually managed to do a bit of family history today for the first time in ages. And here’s an interesting problem: my half-aunt wants a printed chart of the family line back as far as I have it. This runs to 28 sheets of A4 (14×2) so will be about 3×0.5 metres! How best to do it?
Sat 12 Family history curiosity of the day. May 1563 in Cranbrook, Kent; marriage between Reynolde Madisson and Frysweed Webb. Then in the same church in June 1626; marriage between William Unicombe and Regenerat Weekes. (Sadly none are mine.)
Sun 13 Sunday lunch of cold leftover chicken & chickpea curry sandwiches. The curry maybe even better than it was hot last night. Plus an improved loaf thanks to the new bread machine (the old one has retired after almost 10 years!).
Mon 14 How is this our 44th Valentine’s Day together? Our first (1979) was really cold; like 5cm of ice even on major roads, but the buses were still running. We were at my parents and still managed to go out (by bus) to a fantastic local restaurant: Blunk’s in Waltham Abbey (now long gone). The meal cost £50 (almost a week’s take-home) for the 2 of us!
Tue 15 Dear God! How much more rain can the garden take? We’ll soon be swimming in mud; the continual parade of muddy paws suggests the cats already are.
Wed 16 Hosted the second evening talk for the literary society. An immensely interesting talk from Nick Birns which was well attended. An hour easily turned into an hour and a half.
Thu 17 Great fun after dinner: we decided to strip down the old bread machine for recycling. Two of us and one hour to produce a carrier bag of metal/electrical parts and one of plastic parts; plus hundreds of screws; and a bonus cut finger from the brittle, heat-stressed plastic.
Fri 18 We’ve not had wind like this since the Great Storm of October 1987. The Gods have obviously forgotten about the effect of beans and Jerusalem artichokes.
Sat 19 I’ve been far too lax during the pandemic about wearing my hearing aids around home. So I’m making a concerted effort to get used to wearing them during the day. Let’s see if I can keep it up.
Sun 20 The bloody Winter Olympics are over, thank the gods! They’re not intended to be, but all Olympics have become a nauseating festival of global corruption and willy-waving.
Mon 21 What’s this? The third storm in a week? And not even any snow? Now come on, this just isn’t playing the game, even for winter in London.
Tue 22 Early evening meeting. Why are they always across food time? And how much longer can they resist meeting in person, which still worries me witless.
Wed 23 Lamb Shank & Fennel Casserole with Garlic Bread for dinner. I also cooked Chicken & Mushroom Pie (with homemade shortcrust pastry!), so we have that (cold) for tomorrow.
Thu 24 To the dentist (the only reason I didn’t have toasted garlic bread for breakfast) to get my new piece of gold mouth jewellery. Then spent a chunk of the afternoon picking oakum: demolishing some cotton string to make bird nesting material.
Fri 25 Arrggghhhh!!!!! No supermarket delivery due to IT issues. Have had to rebook it for tomorrow. Now tell me why we have a full freezer.
Sat 26 Finally got the supermarket delivery this afternoon. The the logic (or incompetence) of the pickers continues to astonish me. This week we were short 2 bunches of daffodils; but gained 1 fennel (3 rather than 2) and 3 tubes of tomato paste (8 rather than 5). OK we win but that’s a hard way to make a profit.
Sun 27 Found an error in my family tree: Elizabeth Cotton, wife of Stephen Marshall (right name; wrong identity). Stephen (born c.1763) is currently the furthest I can get my paternal line; I know where he logically fits but I don’t have the evidence, and the records seem not to exist. I now know Elizabeth Cotton’s name, but no details.
Mon 28 Absolutely no go, either mental or physical, today despite a reasonable night. So, yet again, little got done – and none of the things I’d planned.
amusements

Christmas Amusement Answers

Back on Christmas Day I posted a link to the 2021-22 King William’s College General Knowledge Paper.

The Guardian have today published the official answers at https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/feb/27/the-king-williams-college-quiz-2021-the-answers.

No I’ve no idea how well I did – except it’s guaranteed to be badly – as I consigned my answer sheet to the recycling a couple of weeks ago. Anyways round you probably did better!

amusements, music

February Quiz Answers

OK, so here are the answers to this month’s quiz questions. All should be able to be easily verified online.

February Quiz Questions: Music

  1. Which Renaissance composer wrote a madrigal entitled El Grillo? Josquin des Prez
  2. What was the name of the band formed by Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton & Ginger Baker? Cream
  3. Who composed a piano piece called the Golliwogg’s Cakewalk? Debussy
  4. Part of which Christopher Smart work was set to music by Benjamin Britten? Jubilate Agno
  5. Which astronomer is name-dropped in Bohemian Rhapsody? Galileo

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2021.

amusements, music

February Quiz Questions

This year we’re beginning each month with five pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. They’re not difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers, so hopefully you’ll learn something new, as well as have a bit of fun.

February Quiz Questions: Music

  1. Which Renaissance composer wrote a madrigal entitled El Grillo?
  2. What was the name of the band formed by Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton & Ginger Baker?
  3. Who composed a piano piece called the Golliwogg’s Cakewalk?
  4. Part of which Christopher Smart work was set to music by Benjamin Britten?
  5. Which astronomer is name-dropped in Bohemian Rhapsody?

Answers will be posted in 3 weeks time.

amusements, personal

Unblogged January

Sat 1 A new year it may be, but why does everything else have to change? Spent the whole day reorganising the date-driven irritations of life.
Sun 2 Oh bugger! The first time I eat a toffee in 6 months and what do I do? Yes, you guessed … detach one of my big gold crowns. Still my dentist will enjoy the £££.
Mon 3 So it’s a bank holiday. And yet again I spend the day working, when I should have been doing family history. Gah!
Tue 4 I don’t understand why it is that we sometimes have a dreadful night’s sleep. Last night I saw 03:30, but then slept until 11:00. Why? I can’t comprehend.
Wed 5 What a wonderful bright but frosty morning. Why can’t all winter days be like this?
Thu 6 Another wonderful bright, very frosty morning – a really hard frost too, possibly the hardest frost here for years. All clouded over and dull by lunchtime. Then at sunset there was a really odd light: at first peachy, then pinker, and finally a sort of violet/lavender, but with a pretty ordinary sunset.
Fri 7 Another nice sunny morning, but another day feeling well below par, though improved. Done several LFT in the last few days, all negative. It feels like a sinus infection – made worse by the anxiety.
Sat 8 The cats definitely had the right idea today: curled up, comfy and sleeping. All the while there’s cold, grey rain outside.
Sun 9 Tonight yet another variant on Mary Berry’s Sausage Supper. This time with a couple of jointed poussin marinaded in lemon & brandy. I did plenty of veg so there’s leftover chicken & veg for cold, or risotto, or stuffed peppers.
Mon 10 Dymo label printer is printing tape in pale grey; labels are OK. Software is up to date. Buy new printer. Same problem. Install different Dymo software. Problem fixed. Not the first time they’ve screwed their software.
Tue 11 At lunchtime today I completed my 71st year. How did this happen? I thought I had a lifetime ahead. Arrggghhhhh!
Wed 12 That tree branch is swaying about. Oh, there’s a tail. Good afternoon squirrel!
Thu 13 What a lovely sunny day for a trip to the dentist! Until I’m told I need a new crown to replace the one that came off. Even more £££ for my dentist to enjoy. Can I get a mortgage on it?
Fri 14 Amongst the little band of blue tits and great tits around our garden, there’s a female blackcap. They’ve now been joined by a handful of long-tailed tits, which are always a delight to see. And do they get through the nuts quickly!
Sat 15 Someone stole Horsenden Hill. Awoke to a very foggy morning with visibility of about 100m. Horsenden Hill 1km away might just as well not have been there. They brought it back about lunchtime.
Sun 16 Oh so nearly! Rosie cat came within a foot of getting that squirrel! Only minutes earlier I’d said to N that she was certainly fast enough.
Mon 17 Went looking for my direct ancestors on the 1921 census. I think I found them all although two entries are somewhat doubtful and will need checking when it isn’t pay-per-view and many alternatives can be examined.
Tue 18 Mist descending at 04:45 so I was surprised to awake to a bright, sunny morning. Although the mist drifted in and out until lunchtime.
Wed 19 Hosted on Zoom the first of a (hopefully) monthly series of talks for the AP Soc. which replace our abandoned 2021 conference. Audience of 50+. Seemed to go well and pretty smoothly.
Thu 20 We had a long discussion over dinner about our childhoods, our parents’ childhoods, and how this has affected us. Did we get the affection we needed as kids? No. And my parents and at least my father’s parents struggled financially which has contributed to the knock-on effects. What you see now is very much me having risen above my childhood and instincts.
Fri 21 Escrow. It’s an odd word, meaning “a deposit held in trust or as security” [OED]. Derived from the Old Germanic skraudo- (whence English shred n.) via the Anglo-Norman escrowe. Although already known in Early Modern English it seems to have passed into more regular usage via the Americans.
Sat 22 Dessert this evening: fresh strawberries with flaked white Toblerone and double cream. Yum.
Sun 23 A day of best intentions being side-lined. Why? Just because. And because neither of us could be arsed.
Mon 24 We spent the day rejigging the box files on the top shelf over my desk. Lots of boxes archived and some new ones created for the overflows & expansion. Seeing the dust & muck which ended up on my desk I can quite see how poor souls can be swamped by volcano ash.
Tue 25 One of the guys I know from school (the head boy from the year above me) is writing about the old school days. Scanned and sent him quite a few pages from my press cuttings file, including play programmes and articles from the school magazine.
Wed 26 News in the last couple of days of two friends having died around the turn of the year; one 84, the other nearer 94. They were two of life’s gentlemen. Let’s hope there won’t be a third.
Thu 27 What was I saying earlier about not understanding sleep? Last night I was asleep soon after midnight and still slept until almost 11:00. So I’ve been playing catch-up all day. Anyone would think I was still a teenager!
Fri 28 A quick, unscientific tasting of three different Domaine Tariquet Armagnacs at the end of dinner. (Two from Wine Society, one from Waitrose; but two of three are now not available!) Need to taste again, more carefully. Oldest certainly smoothest, though maybe not quite as much character – but all have a lovely bouquet of church incense.
Sat 29 I’m told that today happened. But I couldn’t be at all sure. Nothing seems to have been achieved, except I cooked dinner.
Sun 30 Why re there crows flying hither and yon at the front of the house? Ah, I see. A parliament of at least two dozen crows in yonder poplar trees. Apparently their annual Spring gathering for speed dating.
Mon 31 Went for my annual diabetic eye scan this morning. Why is it always on a bright sunny day? But again this year I got away without drops to dilate my eyes. Definite result. Awaiting the results.
amusements, topographical

January Quiz Answers

OK, so here are the answers to this month’s quiz questions. All should be able to be easily verified online.

January Quiz Questions: British Geography

  1. What is the westernmost settlement in the UK. Belleek, County Fermanagh
  2. Which city is the further west, Bristol or Edinburgh? Edinburgh
  3. Which river forms much of the border between England and Scotland? Tweed
  4. Which headland on the Kent coast is formed mostly of shingle? Dungeness
  5. On the London Underground network, which is the only station to begin with the letter “I”? Ickenham.

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2021.