Wednesday 21 January 2015
6 degrees, misty with sun later
Insisted yesterday that we start at 9.45 and on time. Relieved to see them ready to roll when I arrived. We headed off into a village 15 kms away to a property owned by an English couple. I have had this house for sale for a number of years and the main reason it hasn't sold is the village in which it finds itself. There are no shops there, not even a bread shop, and it is an equidistant 15 kms from the two nearby towns. Having said that, it is a charming property with large open lounge, US style kitchen and good sized bedrooms. The garden is a particular feature and is set to lawns and beautiful flowering shrubs and trees. The lady decides this is now her favourite - she isn't having financial input and it is the man and his business partner who will decide. The best option if they want to let out periodically is the town house with swimming pool and parking where you can walk into town. Apart from mistaking a free standing wardrobe for a toilet 'Jesus, my brain has gone' and thinking that the gypsies leaning out of their windows and smoking fags were traders (they probably are but not in anything she or I would wish to buy), nothing untoward was said.
I dropped them back off in my town and went home to clean as there is a visit upcoming on our house and alas it is still in an unviewable state. Discovered that the bathroom walls have taken the opportunity to grow some mould. Bastards. It did come off quite easily. I then moved onto the grouting, which was like the 'before' example in bathroom cleaner ads. Unfortunately the tile paint came off too. We decided to tell the visitors that we were waiting for a man to come and do the bathroom. We won't tell them that the man is OH... OH spent hours outside with the Karcher. Dog enjoyed being squirted too.
A number of notable deaths this week, Anne Kirkbride who played Dierdre Barlow for 44 of her 60 years; Leon Brittan former conservative MP and barrister aged 75 and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia aged 90.
Watched recording of Jules Holland's Hootenanny. Ruby Turner, Ronnie Specter, Paloma Faith and Paolo Nutini were excellent. Surprised to find that Boss Scags is not a black guy. OH says I am musical ignoramus. I challenge him to spell ignoramus. What a meany I am!
In case you wanted to know more about the origins of the word Hootenanny, and were afraid to ask:
Hootenanny is a Scottish word meaning "celebration" and / or "party", most closely associated with Hogmanay—the Scots New Year celebration which, traditionally, is the biggest celebration on the Scottish calendar.
With the Scots being one of the biggest groups of settlers in the Appalachian region of North America (bringing with them their whisky-making tradition and methods, leading to the area's "moon shining" tradition) it is not surprising that hootenanny became an Appalachian colloquialism, although it became used in early 20th-century America as a placeholder name to refer to things whose names were forgotten or unknown. In this usage it was synonymous with thingamajig or whatchamacallit, as in: "Hand me that hootenanny." Hootenanny was also an old country word for "party". Nowadays the word most commonly refers to a folk music party with an open mike at which different performers are welcome to get up and play in front of an audience.
"Hootenanny" was also used by the leadership of early firefighting battalions to describe a "meeting of the minds" of higher ups or various department heads. The term has trickled down to working companies and is now used, with some frequency, at working incidents and other circumstances that require a focused discussion between key individuals. Most recently it was adopted for use during the annual Fire Department Instructors Conference. Logistics professionals for the conference employ the word to call together the required personnel needed to accomplish the prodigious assignments placed on them. Thank you Wikipedia
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