Monkee

I got obsessed with the birds in my garden during lockdown. Came across a feeder my old neighbour left behind and, before I knew it, I bought about 20 different types of feeders and varying foods for each one. I’ve calmed down a bit and now have 13 feeders and 6 food types.

I get so many different birds, I love watching them - blue tits, great tits, long-tailed tits, robins, gold finch, green finch, dunnocks, sparrows, starlings, nuthatch, jays, parakeets, great spotted woodpecker, green woodpecker, jackdaws, magpies, crows, wood pigeons and gulls. I did once have a pheasant land in the garden and often see red kites flying overhead.

Just yesterday I heard screeching and managed to catch sight of some sort of predatory bird (either kite or hawk) catching a smaller bird in the garden and flying off.

I also get foxes, muntjac deer and badgers. It’s like The Animals of Farthing Wood in my garden!

I set up an Instagram account a while back to share some of my photos - https://instagram.com/wild.en5

I can’t count properly. A source of great embarrassment in certain circumstances. Can’t do my times tables except for 2, 5 and 10, can’t do equations, percentages, long division/multiplication, and struggle with listening to numbers and writing them down, e.g. if someone is telling me their phone number. I also can’t remember important numbers that I should know such as my mortgage rate. I go and do something in the kitchen when the numbers round comes on Puzzling because I can’t do those sums where you have to divide the pepperoni.

However, give me an Excel spreadsheet and I will write the most complicated formulas, functions and logic with pivot tables and conditional formatting to make stuff happen automatically so that I don’t have to do it manually. And one of my favourite rounds in Puzzling is where they have the time in the mirror or letters at the clock points. No idea is this is an ADHD/autism thing.

I can’t kneel or run. I’m right-handed, write with my right but do lots of stuff with my left hand, wear my watch on the right and do a lot of things backwards. I can’t play guitar - my brother tried teaching me but I couldn’t co-ordinate my left hand to hold the chords. I can’t play piano because I can’t make my hands do two different things at the same time.

I can’t burp either. I do these squeaky hiccup things. I used to love burping but bariatric surgery robbed me of that pleasure over 10 years ago. Also can’t swallow tablets.

I can’t drink water. It just makes me gag. Even when I’m brushing my teeth I can’t swallow any water. It feels thick and gloopy and I don’t like the taste. If I have squash then it has to be at least 3:1 squash to water. If I have ice which melts and dilutes my drink then I can’t drink it any more.

I can, however, rewire a plug, change a fuse, check the oil/water/washer fluid in my car, measure and drill holes (without making a mess), paint a wall (brush and roller), and I reckon I could do a decent job at some other stuff like wallpapering, plastering or mixing cement having watched my dad so many times. I’m also not bad at cutting hair. I enjoy watching people at work and really absorb techniques and how to go about things.

On 7/2/2023 at 3:32 PM, Egg Shen said:

How was the show Monkee? I told myself id never goto Hyde Park to see another show, but I would make an exception for a Golden Circle ticket.

It was fantastic. I was actually really impressed by Axl’s voice and his energy through the whole show. Slash really does have the charisma of a Brussels sprout though.

I actually swapped the spare Gold Circle for a VIP Terrace ticket - great view and better facilities. The guy who swapped with me had friends in the GC but, by the time he went to buy his ticket, they’d sold out and only VIP was left. So we were both totally made up with the exchange.

I don’t think I’ll ever get a GA ticket for a show in Hyde Park. I had a free ticket (Gold Circle) for Pink the other week but watched Gwen Stefani from GA with a friend. The sound isn’t as good and the delay on the screens was bloody awful.

Now that Ticketmaster and the like do payment plans on a lot of tickets, I’d rather spread the cost of a more expensive ticket than have to do GA again.

Bit short notice but I have one spare gold circle ticket for Guns N’ Roses in Hyde Park tomorrow, selling for £100 if anyone’s interested.

10 hours ago, Shy Dad said:

14 hours in a car yesterday for a 3 hour journey.

Got onto disabled camping at 2am, people still arriving at 4/5am. Fucking horrific.

Luckily nothing was dampening my mood so that worked perfect to keep my spirits up.

Hope today improved for you! I had no issues getting in today. I’m at a hotel 20mins away and it literally took that time to get to the South Car Park and drive straight into the Access area. I read about the long queue for Access wristbands too but it was less than 10mins. Guess I got lucky.

Highlights of today for me were The Bronx, Alter Bridge, Skindred and Metallica.

My bad, never mind.

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Just for clarity - I was actually trying to get into my own messages as a few times I thought I’d managed to finally log in. But every time I tried to get into MY inbox it was showing me someone else’s. I didn’t read any of the conversations I saw and have no interest in doing so.

Nah, that’s not me to call someone out like that, especially not publicly. If that’s the person they are then that’s up to them. I hope this little glitch makes people take more of a look at themselves though.

I don’t say anything behind someone’s back that I wouldn’t say to their face so if anyone saw my messages then I’m fine with that. But it was definitely interesting to see who’s being two-faced - slagging someone off behind closed doors but having happy little chats with them in private.

I was 42 different users over about 7 hours. I got a bit addicted to refreshing and seeing who else I was.

12 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

The other tag is “No reality tv bollocks”. Sorry about your shit phone. 

I’m not sorry about my iPhone 14. Sorry about your shit attitude.

11 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

You can probably use this one if it helps  - 

 

Thanks very much! This is more like the response I expected and it’s appreciated.

11 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

No, check the thread tags. 

I only see one tag for threads on my phone so if there are more than one then they’re not there. I only see “Fuck Off Duane” so if there’s another one I don’t see it. Regardless, your handbag is showing.

14 hours ago, Merzbow said:

Interview With The Vampire is surprisingly great for a modern "reboot", doesn't shy away from being horny as fuck either. The basic premise is a more mature Louis is retelling his story to the same reporter decades later and works really well.

I watched the original last night and I don’t think it’s aged well. I’m interested in seeing the reboot though and what it does differently.

On a different, but still TV-related, note… Am I allowed to mention I’m a Celeb round these parts? I have a huge crush on Chris Moyles and I’m stupidly excited that he’s going into the jungle. He’s mates with Boy George too so I’m hoping for some good entertainment there.

Premier Inn in Archway is a good shout. Even if you miss the tube there’s the N20 night bus that’s only about 15mins. Also central for anything else you might want to do while you’re there.

There’s a Travelodge in Finsbury Park as well which again is close to the tube and on the N29 bus route.

I hadn’t even heard anything about this. So my perspective - regardless of whose opinion that is, it’s nothing new. Keanu Reeves has been slated his entire career and there are no end of other actors he’s been paired against to show how bad he is. But, at the end of the day, even though that might be true, it’s obviously not affected his career (or how he’s viewed as a person) in the slightest.

In conclusion, m’lord, who gives a fuck about what anyone - particularly Matthew Perry (whooooo?) - has to say about the household name, superstar, [occasional] box office smash, genuinely all-round lovely human (totally not biased here), Keanu Reeves?

PS I’m adding this as it’s one of my claims to fame - another reason why Keanu Reeves is just so damn amazing is because he once threw me the horns when he saw I was wearing his band’s T-shirt 😎

3 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

It’s translated from a French writer as Google told me earlier!

It’s from Dangerous Liaisons (the original French text). Edit - Sorry, it’s attributed to the book but may be from another source according to my further research.

Knowledge resulting from my Keanu Reeves obsession 🙃

Info - https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/revenge-is-a-dish-best-served-cold.html

I think @Keith Houchenis referring to TERF opinions. In which case, those opinions are definitely not welcome.

@Nick Jamesthere was absolutely nothing wrong with what you said. I saw that Eddie was trending earlier today and [stupidly] clicked the link. The amount of pure bile was sickening. And it was from all angles - men, women, left wing, right wing, old, young. The language was horrendous and I didn’t even read that much.

It reminded me of what I read last week after watching Jordan Grey on Friday Night Live.

Social media makes me sick sometimes.

14 minutes ago, JNLister said:

So there's three different things here:

Aaaaah, thank you! That all makes sense.

So who then comes up with the manifesto (terminology? e.g. the things Liz Truss said she would do if chosen as leader) for each candidate? 

I guess what I’m getting at is that it seems that things that have happened recently (e.g. the mini budget thing that went down like a cup of cold sick and resulted in more U-turns) have no relevance to what was in place before. If there were things in place when Boris was in charge that didn’t quite work but just needed tweaking, then why have they now been completely scrapped or changed to be totally unrecognisable from before. Or how can one leader say they’ve allocated money to support the poorest people affected by the cost of living crisis only for another to come in and say they’re not going to do that any more and instead they’re going to invest in big fuck off “look at me” nuclear warheads or something equally as ridiculous.

I could sort of understand it if it was a different party that came into power each time but if it’s the same party then WHO is allowing the fuckery that’s going on?

Am I just being really naive here? Is this basic stuff that someone of my age should already know? If so, just tell me to go and Google it or something.

1 minute ago, JNLister said:

Entirely the party. It was a contest to choose the new party leader.

There is no election or contest for the role of Prime Minister. That just goes to whoever is "best placed to command a majority in the Commons" when the outgoing PM resigns as PM. In practice, that means the leader of the party (or group of parties) with the most MPs.

I know about how a PM is appointed and that it’s the leader of the party with the majority who becomes PM. I understand the basics… but I suppose that knowledge is based on the regular turnover that I’ve seen up until recently.

The shenanigans of the past year or so is something I’ve not seen before so that’s why I’m now realising that there’s ‘background stuff’ that I’ve never paid attention to and so I’ve never considered.

2 minutes ago, Vamp said:

There's a wonderful documentary series on British politics called Yes Minister followed by the equally good Yes Prime Minister. Sadly I don't think they apply to contemporary British politics. 

I’ll have to look for that. Is it in the on Netflix or can I maybe just search for a name, maybe like that Alec B’Stard or whatever he was called?