The Official Nonsense Thread

[Minty]

Sorry, work & real life a nightmare. Brother's baby was born a mere nine days after "inducement". Can't say how relieved I was to know they were home & safe away from that hell hole of a hospital. Now having to act as peacemaker as they've (rightly in my view) told everyone not to go inviting themselves round to see the new baby - they're tired & drained after a stressful time, & are sick of people thinking giving them a baby gift somehow "buys" viewing time at their convenience. The baby is already sick of photos, & has got a brilliant sarcastic face for the cameras.

Elsewhere, mass sackings in our work as the bosses have lost the plot.

Could be worse. Could be the Republicans trying to win back the White House with Trump

[Caspin]

Nine days, eh? Either that's a remarkably crappy inducement or the baby could tell it was probably safer in there and clung on!

I hope that everyone respects their request for a bit of time to themselves. Seems very sensible to me. Everyone can just get their daily squee by studying kittens on the internet or something. I do remember a friend, after she'd popped out her first child, asking all and sundry to turn up at the hospital on the same day - not just family either - everyone! She was really in no fit state for a public viewing and it was a very daft plan.

Sorry to hear of the sackings at work. Scary times. We've got an outbreak of resignations instead. We should just bus your lot down here to plug the gaps (although then they'd have to live here, which I frankly do not recommend).

I'm off to see the family this evening, over the Easter break, so looking forward to shooting about the country in the plastic tubes that pass for trains these days. Last weekend I spent in Stratford upon Avon, watching some plays. It was so peaceful and I felt like I'd done some excellent preparation for retirement, which is a mere three decades away according to the latest estimates!

Be sure to eat some chocolate bunnies (not eggs - bunnies).

[RoxyMiller81]

I saw "chocolate bunnies" and immediately thought of this. Enjoy!

[Caspin]

I have eaten too many bunnies and can't go on!

[Wandarine]

I haven't actually eaten any bunnies yet, only eggs and cake and... a gingerbread man. Yeah. Happy Eastermas or whatever.
Congrats on being an uncle, Minty! Can we get a name to go with the mental image of a sarcastic looking baby?

Oh, and it may not be the following monday, but I finally got those avocado pictures.


Of course, that monday, my come-in-late-so-I-can-leave-early-coworker hat the brilliant idea to start working at 6:30 in the morning, so that was that about him not noticing.
But, for what it's worth (and it's probably worth future avocados), I've noticed it started to grow again since the repotting!

[Caspin]

Nice job there, Wanda. It's a good-looking plant. I might see if I can get one of those here. There's a plant pot that's been sitting empty on a table for a while (possibly for years, I cannot even remember what used to be in there). People have started using it for non-plant-pot purposes, so maybe it is time for it to be reclaimed!

I have just about recovered from my bunny-eating binge. You'd think that by my age I'd have got over such things but apparently not. Nonnomnomnomnom!

As far as I know, I was not taken in by any April Fool jokes this morning. Either that or I just don't know yet how fooled I have been. To celebrate this complete non-event, I'm heading out this evening to attend a lecture at the British Museum about how to spot fakes, which might be quite interesting. We shall see.

[Minty]

That was a nice enough weekend, as weekend's go. Received a lovely bottle of Glenglassaugh (I'd never heard of it before) for winning a competition - very nice although it seems I ought to have timed it better as I had a touch of food poisoning later, or it could be whatever's doing the rounds.

Leicester edging ever closer to that title. I had a Leicester City top as a kid so I'm hoping they do it

I'd like to think this big financial scandal coming out of Panama is going to result in some of our lords & masters taking a tumble, but I'm not going to get my hopes up.

In better news, I've discovered the name of a tune which has haunted me for years, Sicilienne by some guy called Faure. It used to be a popular tune for episodes of all sorts of TV programmes, from TV dramas to kids TV to spooky show, turned up everywhere, but could never find out what it was called.

After figuring out the tune went like this:-

G B D F A G F G

D D C E D C F D

G B D F G# G F G

G G F A G F A# G

I was able to find out it was this:

[simspeaker4]

Those Panama papers are already causing a lot of trouble for them great leaders.
Meanwhile Spring is here but Winter really does not want to let go.

[Caspin]

Wow, Minty, that seems a deliciously geeky approach to discovering a tune's identity. I would have had no idea how to go about finding a tune without knowing its name or composer and I can't read or write musical notes so I'd be stuck attempting your method (*shakes fist at music educational deficit*) - unless I could somehow play it into one of those tune-deciphering apps, although they may only work for Justin Bieber type stuff. Anyway, well done. I shall call you "Tune Nerd" for the next week, in honour of your success. It is a nice tune btw. Sounds like something you would hear in the middle of Poirot. It's very soothing to cook to. Actually it put me in a bit of trance this afternoon and I nearly overdid my courgettes.

I have never had Glenglassaugh and am possibly pronouncing it badly in my head. Can you write it down phonetically for me? I'm thinking something along the lines of glen-glass-off. Add in my very mildly Scouse accent and it starts to sound a little threatening. What does it taste like? If you recommend it then I will add their distillery to my list for my next whisky tour. At the moment I have a nice bottle brought by a relative who visited the distillery on Arran. I like it a lot but it surprises me every time I have a dram, as it is kind of effervescent-tasting. Weird, but in a good way.

The sad thing about the Panama papers is that you would have predicted the contents. Nice of folk to leak it and all, but it's not surprising material. It's no shock that the richest rich bods are reluctant to pay tax on their dosh. I would like to see Cameron brought down, but we shall see. He survived Pig Gate with barely a ruffled feather. The people of Iceland seem much better at this sort of thing than we are - they marched their PM out of office very efficiently!

Spring is definitely here, Simspeaker. I took my winter coat to the cleaners and have not missed it. And my duvet is down to 4 togs.

[simspeaker4]

What? Justin Beiber isn't music! And that is a lovely tune, Minty. I can see why it popped up so often on the telly.
I'm so happy it's Friday, as this week was tiring. Always is after Spring Break. Just 12 weeks to go before the end of the school year!