All the news that is news

Well I'm back from GASP 2007.

As usual, a good weekend in good company, absorbing food and drink with alacrity between playing board games and watching a little TV, which in one form or another had been downloaded this year. A new face in the form of a chap called Phil who stood in at the last minute for ill regular, Jez. For once I was not the oldest person there; the main effect being that I didn't get to play first in a number of games, particularly German ones that pick on the elderly.

For a man who has two mobile phones, one pay-as-you-go expressly for use when in areas not well served by O2, I should remember to pack the damned thing. As it was, I received a particularly weedy signal if it was sunny or calm and the wind was in the west. If any other type of weather took hold, that was that. So no conversations and only occasional texts. By and large this is good for a weekend away, but I do like to be in touch, or potentially in touch. Never mind.

Part of the problem with being out of touch, is that you can bet your bottom dollar that things will happen while you are uncontactable. Thus it was that I found out that my Great Niece, Courtney, uttered he first proper word on Sunday. Clearly she follows the most intelligent branch of her family tree, sharing her first word with the Great Uncle: Bugger¹. The other problem is that it took until around midday to find out that Furtle had invoked the Gods of Clumsy and head butted the floor and then stuck her finger up the tap in an unrelated incident. I returned home to find a chilly and slightly sad Furtle at her computer wrapped in my Big Blue Blanky, trying to keep warm. I think it may be a little residual shock and she is slowly coming out of it.

Finally, I have borrowed a copy of Schott's Food & Drink Miscellany. One of the sections deals with differences in food names between the UK And the US. Some I was already aware of, like aubergine - eggplant, conserves - preserves, courgette - zucchini and so forth. Others were guessable: bap - hamburger bun, mince - ground meat, glacé fruits - candies fruits etc. I am always amused by the differences that provide tank traps for the unwary, hence the British faggot compared with the American meatball. This is generally well known, I guess, in the UK at least (along with the similar tank trap of the English slang for cigarette being a fag). Entirely new to me and providing much juvenile humour, is the difference in the meaning and usage of the word pasty. In the UK of course, a pasty is a semi-circular pastry with a savoury filling, traditional in Cornwall and Devon. In America, however, it seems that they are nipple tassels worn by strippers...

Probably best worn cold...

¹I don't know how Courtney delivered this gem of wisdom, but Mum is delighted to tell me that 48 years ago almost to the month, the infant Bryan was picked up, cooed at and then earnestly proclaimed "Bugger" to his mother.

All the news that is news

Well I'm back from GASP 2007.

As usual, a good weekend in good company, absorbing food and drink with alacrity between playing board games and watching a little TV, which in one form or another had been downloaded this year. A new face in the form of a chap called Phil who stood in at the last minute for ill regular, Jez. For once I was not the oldest person there; the main effect being that I didn't get to play first in a number of games, particularly German ones that pick on the elderly.

For a man who has two mobile phones, one pay-as-you-go expressly for use when in areas not well served by O2, I should remember to pack the damned thing. As it was, I received a particularly weedy signal if it was sunny or calm and the wind was in the west. If any other type of weather took hold, that was that. So no conversations and only occasional texts. By and large this is good for a weekend away, but I do like to be in touch, or potentially in touch. Never mind.

Part of the problem with being out of touch, is that you can bet your bottom dollar that things will happen while you are uncontactable. Thus it was that I found out that my Great Niece, Courtney, uttered he first proper word on Sunday. Clearly she follows the most intelligent branch of her family tree, sharing her first word with the Great Uncle: Bugger¹. The other problem is that it took until around midday to find out that Furtle had invoked the Gods of Clumsy and head butted the floor and then stuck her finger up the tap in an unrelated incident. I returned home to find a chilly and slightly sad Furtle at her computer wrapped in my Big Blue Blanky, trying to keep warm. I think it may be a little residual shock and she is slowly coming out of it.

Finally, I have borrowed a copy of Schott's Food & Drink Miscellany. One of the sections deals with differences in food names between the UK And the US. Some I was already aware of, like aubergine - eggplant, conserves - preserves, courgette - zucchini and so forth. Others were guessable: bap - hamburger bun, mince - ground meat, glacé fruits - candies fruits etc. I am always amused by the differences that provide tank traps for the unwary, hence the British faggot compared with the American meatball. This is generally well known, I guess, in the UK at least (along with the similar tank trap of the English slang for cigarette being a fag). Entirely new to me and providing much juvenile humour, is the difference in the meaning and usage of the word pasty. In the UK of course, a pasty is a semi-circular pastry with a savoury filling, traditional in Cornwall and Devon. In America, however, it seems that they are nipple tassels worn by strippers...

Probably best worn cold...

¹I don't know how Courtney delivered this gem of wisdom, but Mum is delighted to tell me that 48 years ago almost to the month, the infant Bryan was picked up, cooed at and then earnestly proclaimed "Bugger" to his mother.