Après Boris?

 

Having just watched Boris at PMQ's, it does look as if he is about to quit. The knives are out, and people are now 'seriously' looking to replace him.

It's a sad state of affairs as Boris, despite all his problems, is head and shoulders above most of The Young Turks who are out for blood.

However, there are plenty of heavyweights amongst the Tories. Gove, Sunak, Javid, Hunt, Zahawi, and my own favourite Penny Mordaunt. 

I just hope they choose the right woman for the job!

It's Obligatory.

On every single ex-pat table, at this time of year, you will find something similar to this (below). A big vase of Sunflars, a bowl of Olives, and a glass of Petrus or The Widow. The braying classes have temporarily quit their extensive Hampshire, Gloucestershire, or Dorset Estates for their little pile in Juan-les-Pins, Perigord, or Tuscany.

The wives all wear obligatory long silky diaphanous dresses and wide brimmed straw hats. They visit local markets where they speak in exceptionally loud voices whilst buying local delicacies at outrageous prices, and taste dainty samples of 'oh how delicious' Absinthe flavoured Alpaca Milk 'Brie'.

They exchange news about little Piers at Dragon, or Tarquin at Harrow. They talk of the new Georgian style extension to add another few bedrooms (only they're not sure how many) to their already enormous old manor houses. And they discuss tiny out-of-the-way, and still unheard-of, restaurants in darkest Gloucestershire where one can eat vegetable-foam for as little as £150 per person.

Yes, it's The Silly Season. The children have all been away in the Glasto' mud; Mrs Mop is looking after the house, whilst Mr Mop sees to the lawns and trims the topiary. Veronica pops in to feed Constance's horses and Penelope's ponies, the 'plumbing chappie' has been asked to service the boiler, and the 'roofing chappie' will look at the flashing around the main chimney on the Gate House.

They'll be back in a few weeks time, and life will continue as normal; all is well with the world.

 

Cleaning-up the Mess.

Out of sight, out of mind. There has always been an attitude amongst certain people that if some unwanted lump of metal is out of sight beneath the water, then all is OK. They can forget about it.

Then along comes caring folk like the Ocean Crusaders and they fish it all out again. Here they are on the Brisbane River taking out tons of discarded rubbish.

My daughter lives in Brisbane, and I'm proud of the fact that she gets involved with this very worthy movement.

Not all the rubbish has been wilfully thrown into the river, some is there as a result of recent flooding when over 20,000 homes were inundated and sadly many possessions swept away. 

These people do a really good and important job, my congratulations to all those who take part. It puts my collecting tiny bits of litter to shame. 

 

Decline and Fall: Redd4x - Rain ft. (Flyysoulja)

Are you fully aware of what your children, grandchildren, or even great grandchildren are listening to, watching, and possibly idolising? Here are The Island Boys once again to give some idea of what's out there.

Videos such as this are commonplace. They idolise violence, the destruction of language, crime, drugs, drug-dealing, and easy money. Rap styles such as Drill, Gangsta Rap, and Horrorcore, are designed to glorify everything that is alien to decency, learning, family values, and even the idea of employment. I don't wish to over-exaggerate this, but to the fragile mind this can be very dangerous. You only have to see how many Rap 'artists' end-up amongst the obituaries.

These two are, frankly, rather pathetic. They are pretending to be 'hard', but no-one is fooled. They'll probably come to a sticky end. I was very amused by their running like disabled Ducks, with their trousers falling down; anything but the hard gangsters they pretend to be.

If this is commonplace now, just imagine what the world may be subjected to in the future. I always said, when at school, that if The Beatles has sung a song about the conjugation of Latin Verbs (Amo, Amas, Amat, etc) that the country's youth would have learned them by heart. Music IS an extremely powerful tool.

May I suggest watching the video, then reading the lyrics afterwards. None of it makes sense, but they give an insight into a devious subculture.

Ya, i got the stick n all of the stick
N i show that a choppa it ra-ain
I got a bullet i got all the bullets
I show them they gra-ave, ya
I got a bitch and she bad
And she showing us ass, cause she making it rai-in, ya
Stick to my time n, i to keep it
Ar-15 and i spra-ay
I got codein prome-ethizine, inside of the trunk
I count up money, n yall could really see this blue in bulk
Iuh k-keep it on time, a nigga s-seen it
N now they star-struck
Keeping my time n they having some fun
While i be jus clapping the buns

Walk in the club then show them my time
And i just so fam-mous
I-ma just sing it, cause im from real gun-shine
Don't stay or you get to see uh the sun, yea-ah
Walk down on nigga, but i could just do it
Why they get so run, yеa-ah
Beggin us in it, waste all of my time
N thеy saying like niggas my son uh uhn
You gonna play, dis my time n i say, whats up oh blood-od
In this street they show to no love
You coulda sent it, lets go to get wrote
Ar 15 they play it like now
7 point 62 bullets right now

Ima just do it n show to my mamma
Lets make her just pro-oud
You better send it n im smoking uh gas
And its in it, is lou-ud, ya
You get to play with a 9, not every 10
Like n i said it again
You shoulda show us, but you don't bring friends
You show no nothing, no you show tha trend
You don't make everything, plan ain't no-seennse, ya
You don't make nothing, but you don't make nothing
But i came from nothing, and now i'm just something, ya
Yaa yaa now im a blessing, n yaa yaa having no set

Ya, i got the stick n all of the stick
N i show that a choppa it ra-ain
I got a bullet i got all the bullets
I show them they gra-ave, ya
I got a bitch and she bad
And she showing us ass, cause she making it rai-in, ya
Stick to my time n, i to keep it
Ar-15 and i spra-ay
I got codein prome-ethizine, inside of the trunk
I count up money, n yall could really see this blue in bulk
Iuh k-keep it on time, a nigga s-seen it
N now they star-struck
Keeping my time n they having some fun
While i be jus clapping the buns

{flyysoulja}
Im like ya run up, on all of them, n all of these ba-andz, ayy
All of these bitches they say that they love me
You kno-ow i be sagging
You just a want me to fuck you , cause you just a gas stop store, ya
Ima just with my brother, and we just day gaze, yaa
Im like im jus in miama, where my zaws at
We just on that gang, and we be on that gang, ya
Talk right, yea with six tight
N this bitch i got them sticks, aye
You know what it is, aye
All of my bitches they say that they love me
You know im living god, im just a blessing
You know i keep all, yahh ah
 

Release Date: September 21, 2020

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SoundCloud:

edit soundclo

Swimming.

 

I've always loved swimming, ever since I was quite small. At my Sussex Prep' School we were thrown in, and someone shouted "SWIM". If you didn't, somebody might have dived in to rescue you; but mostly boys did as they were advised. 

The pool at my Prep' School was quite large, but it was fed by a natural spring, and was not chlorinated or cleaned in any way. The water was permanently green, and there were often snakes, or ducks in it. It was always freezing, but we didn't care.

I've just come out of our pool as I write this. I've been very busy all morning, and a refreshing pre-lunch swim was perfect. I always do the same thing; 12 lengths, which is just over 100 metres. I usually do this 3 times a day. 

I cannot understand people who fail to learn to swim. Out here in the countryside it is quite common to find such people; surely, swimming is one of life's great pleasures.

One of my best swimming memories was from around 1959/60 in Puerto Soller, Majorca. Our hotel had a wonderful beach/pool/garden man. He was a man of 'small stature' (I'm not sure what we're supposed to call that these days), and would swim out into the bay, returning with half a dozen Octopi stuffed into his swim trunks. He was a wonderful man, and I used to love early morning swims in the pool whilst he swept tidied and gardened. I think his name was Emanuel.

These days my daily swims are for refreshment and exercise; mostly the latter. They do say it's one of the best forms of exercise; using all muscles. I don't really mind if the water is cold. Anything above 20C, and as long as there is sunshine, I'm in there splashing about.

What we DO NOT do is smother ourselves in sun cream, lounge about on the 'layabouts' drinking iced Pimm's through a Flamingo shaped straw, whilst wearing Hawaiian shirts. Nor do we scream when entering ice cold water!

For us, the pool is not a luxury item; it's essential. If one thinks of it as an extra room, and calculates the value of any extra room, a pool is a very good asset.

The Dumbing-Down of Lord's.

For those who know little or nothing of Cricket, the Lord's ground in St John's Wood, N W London is its spiritual home. It is in fact the home of the Marylebone Cricket Club, but is named after its founder Thomas Lord. The ground was opened in 1814.

Lord's is where all the country's most important Cricket matches are played. Test matches, County finals, and even prestigious School and University matches.

One particular schools match has been played there since its foundation, but was actually already being played ten years earlier. It involves Boris Johnson's old school against that of another Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. The two schools have always been sporting opponents. This annual 'grudge match' has been fought over since 1805.  

The MCC, in their superior wisdom, have now decided that in the name of egalitarianism, this match will no longer be played at Lord's. Instead they have instigated a Twenty/20 match which will be open to all Secondary Schools, with the final being played at Lord's instead of the one played for the past two centuries.

The traditional 200 year old annual match will, of course, continue and in future will be played at the Wormsley Estate in Oxfordshire; in fact the site of their very first rivalry match back in 1805, which featured Lord Byron.

All I can add is that I do hope that both these schools will also take part in the new competition, and do well enough to face each other in the final. Otherwise the last game of its sort was played just a few days ago on June 28th 2022. Churchill's alma mater won! 

I wonder if they are planning to stop the annual Oxbridge match as well? The Boat Race maybe? Where will this 'egalitarian' dumbing-down stop?

Poor old Blighty; high standards are no longer welcome.

39.08! McMurtry fan car breaks Goodwood Hill RECORD! | Festival of Speed...

If, like me, you were watching the Goodwood Festival of Speed on TV last Sunday, you will probably have seen this (below).

Forget all the Porsches, Ferraris, Astons, etc, this McMurtry beat the lot of them. It sounds like a jet engine car, but in fact it's an electric car with a fan-driven system, and faster than any F1 or Indy car.

I'd not heard the name McMurtry before, but it's all-English, an English driver, and made in Gloucestershire. Well done to all involved. Amazing car.