Best Of

LOL, Trump has got the USAF lining up F22s to meet Putin.

https://x.com/bohuslavskakate/status/1956416191678820441

Difficult to deny he’s showing his strength to the enemy.

I’ll deny it.
He’s a raddled old twat showing his pectoral implants to another raddled old twat. In Bone Spurs’ head the USAF is him.

Ever so slightly off topic, I was clearing out a corner of my flat this afternoon. 20 years of accumulated crap. Mostly meaningless. Admin. Paperwork. A useless printer. All purged. Yay

But then suddenly I came across a sketch book that belonged to my ex wife (who I loved very much and only split with coz she wanted babies and I didn’t). It was full of her crazy funny eccentric drawings - even pages embroidered with wool. The epic of Gilgamesh in crayon. All her creativity and wit and uniqueness in o one pad of paper

And I sat there and, I confess, I slightly cried. Just a few manly tears but they were real

What is that? I was perfectly content - happy even. Then suddenly a land mine of emotion and memory exploded in my face and I was plunged into intense sadness

What is the psychology? The evolutionary explanation for these emotions? Very strange

It’s gone now. I’m fine again. But wow

Give it to your daughter and ask her to deal with it as she deems fit. If you want to keep it, drop hints to that effect.

Er, what? Thanks for replying but this was my ex wife’s sketch pad. Nothing to do with my kids (which is a sadness in itself but another story)

It’s the mystery of consciousness. How can molecules and atoms - meat and blood - get together and make memory that makes “sadness” that makes salt water run down my face? And why? What’s the evolutionary purpose? To discourage divorce?!

And these are thoughts, not even thoughts in the moment - memories of previous thoughts….

Sorry. I assumed your daughter was both you and your ex wife’s joint offspring. I should have read your post more closely. (Checks personal IQ and finds failures.)

In fairness, it wasn't an unreasonable conclusion to jump to without a careful reading of the post and/or particularly detailed knowledge of Leon's back story.

I cried unexpectedly too today. I was (because they asked) telling the girls the story of our miscarriage before our eldest was born, and suddenly all the rawness of it came back. All is fiine now of course, and if we hadn't lost that one we wouldn't have the ones we have now - but no way of knowing that at the time.

Anyway, keeping it light, I've had a splendid day. Llandudno is wonderful. Like, I imagine, British seaside towns used to be - but somehow hasn't been killed off by cheap trips abroad like others have. And its setting is magical. The Great Orme derives its name from 'worm' in its ancient sense of wingless dragon, and I can completely see why.

Completely agree on Llandudno, they have avoided the fate of many faded resorts like Colwyn Bay and Rhyl (especially Rhyl).

It's a really interesting case study in what has gone right. It has the advantage over some resorts of setting, which is dramatic, but also the disadvantage that the main beach isn't actually that good.

We also went to Conwy - not technically a seaside resort, but also a surprisingly pleasant little town and an interesting case study in what has gone right.

Happy to report also that 20mph limits were nowhere near being the problems I had perceived - the only places I experienced them were places where 20 seemed an entirely reasonable speed to drive.

I am on the Isle of Wight this week and there is almost an inverse relationship between how good the beach is and how nice the town. Sandown is probably the best beach, but really run down, while Bembridge is really posh, but a poor beach. There are other similar examples.

It may well be that too much focus on a beach is part of the problem with British seaside resorts, it takes the focus off the town itself. It might be true of other countries too.

I think you're onto something. Rhyl has a great sandy beach and the sewage outlet pipe goes a couple of miles out to sea now which wasn't the case when I were a child. But no matter how nice the beach is, it's still the Irish Sea.

Nothing wrong with the Irish Sea.
But yes, I think Foxy may be on to something. As well as Rhyl, I would add Blackpool and Newquay as towns with really good beaches but where the town itself leaves something to be desired.

LOL, Trump has got the USAF lining up F22s to meet Putin.

https://x.com/bohuslavskakate/status/1956416191678820441

Difficult to deny he’s showing his strength to the enemy.

I’ll deny it.
He’s a raddled old twat showing his pectoral implants to another raddled old twat. In Bone Spurs’ head the USAF is him.

Ever so slightly off topic, I was clearing out a corner of my flat this afternoon. 20 years of accumulated crap. Mostly meaningless. Admin. Paperwork. A useless printer. All purged. Yay

But then suddenly I came across a sketch book that belonged to my ex wife (who I loved very much and only split with coz she wanted babies and I didn’t). It was full of her crazy funny eccentric drawings - even pages embroidered with wool. The epic of Gilgamesh in crayon. All her creativity and wit and uniqueness in o one pad of paper

And I sat there and, I confess, I slightly cried. Just a few manly tears but they were real

What is that? I was perfectly content - happy even. Then suddenly a land mine of emotion and memory exploded in my face and I was plunged into intense sadness

What is the psychology? The evolutionary explanation for these emotions? Very strange

It’s gone now. I’m fine again. But wow

Give it to your daughter and ask her to deal with it as she deems fit. If you want to keep it, drop hints to that effect.

Er, what? Thanks for replying but this was my ex wife’s sketch pad. Nothing to do with my kids (which is a sadness in itself but another story)

It’s the mystery of consciousness. How can molecules and atoms - meat and blood - get together and make memory that makes “sadness” that makes salt water run down my face? And why? What’s the evolutionary purpose? To discourage divorce?!

And these are thoughts, not even thoughts in the moment - memories of previous thoughts….

Sorry. I assumed your daughter was both you and your ex wife’s joint offspring. I should have read your post more closely. (Checks personal IQ and finds failures.)

In fairness, it wasn't an unreasonable conclusion to jump to without a careful reading of the post and/or particularly detailed knowledge of Leon's back story.

I cried unexpectedly too today. I was (because they asked) telling the girls the story of our miscarriage before our eldest was born, and suddenly all the rawness of it came back. All is fiine now of course, and if we hadn't lost that one we wouldn't have the ones we have now - but no way of knowing that at the time.

Anyway, keeping it light, I've had a splendid day. Llandudno is wonderful. Like, I imagine, British seaside towns used to be - but somehow hasn't been killed off by cheap trips abroad like others have. And its setting is magical. The Great Orme derives its name from 'worm' in its ancient sense of wingless dragon, and I can completely see why.

I think this should be an annual event. A day in summer PBers should talk about when and why they last cried

Not obligatory but a nice contrast to the macho geekery

Also sorry to hear your story, glad it turned out ok in so many ways!

Thanks, and all in the past now happily - a short, intense sadness which would have been instantly obviated had we known how the future would have turned out - and we had less than three months to wait until we conceived again, and actually most of that time was, as you would hope, the happiness of young newlyweds: but today, very briefly, I felt again the emotion, and my sympathy for 33-year-old me was acute.
I got away with it via a faked sneeze and a quick trip to the toilet and managed not to dampen the mood for everyone else.

Nicely done

Knowing how to conceal tears is a crucial masculine talent

You are allowed maybe one public and flinty tear, every few years, but any more than that and you must step outside

LOL, Trump has got the USAF lining up F22s to meet Putin.

https://x.com/bohuslavskakate/status/1956416191678820441

Difficult to deny he’s showing his strength to the enemy.

I’ll deny it.
He’s a raddled old twat showing his pectoral implants to another raddled old twat. In Bone Spurs’ head the USAF is him.

Ever so slightly off topic, I was clearing out a corner of my flat this afternoon. 20 years of accumulated crap. Mostly meaningless. Admin. Paperwork. A useless printer. All purged. Yay

But then suddenly I came across a sketch book that belonged to my ex wife (who I loved very much and only split with coz she wanted babies and I didn’t). It was full of her crazy funny eccentric drawings - even pages embroidered with wool. The epic of Gilgamesh in crayon. All her creativity and wit and uniqueness in o one pad of paper

And I sat there and, I confess, I slightly cried. Just a few manly tears but they were real

What is that? I was perfectly content - happy even. Then suddenly a land mine of emotion and memory exploded in my face and I was plunged into intense sadness

What is the psychology? The evolutionary explanation for these emotions? Very strange

It’s gone now. I’m fine again. But wow

Give it to your daughter and ask her to deal with it as she deems fit. If you want to keep it, drop hints to that effect.

Er, what? Thanks for replying but this was my ex wife’s sketch pad. Nothing to do with my kids (which is a sadness in itself but another story)

It’s the mystery of consciousness. How can molecules and atoms - meat and blood - get together and make memory that makes “sadness” that makes salt water run down my face? And why? What’s the evolutionary purpose? To discourage divorce?!

And these are thoughts, not even thoughts in the moment - memories of previous thoughts….

Sorry. I assumed your daughter was both you and your ex wife’s joint offspring. I should have read your post more closely. (Checks personal IQ and finds failures.)

In fairness, it wasn't an unreasonable conclusion to jump to without a careful reading of the post and/or particularly detailed knowledge of Leon's back story.

I cried unexpectedly too today. I was (because they asked) telling the girls the story of our miscarriage before our eldest was born, and suddenly all the rawness of it came back. All is fiine now of course, and if we hadn't lost that one we wouldn't have the ones we have now - but no way of knowing that at the time.

Anyway, keeping it light, I've had a splendid day. Llandudno is wonderful. Like, I imagine, British seaside towns used to be - but somehow hasn't been killed off by cheap trips abroad like others have. And its setting is magical. The Great Orme derives its name from 'worm' in its ancient sense of wingless dragon, and I can completely see why.

Completely agree on Llandudno, they have avoided the fate of many faded resorts like Colwyn Bay and Rhyl (especially Rhyl).

It's a really interesting case study in what has gone right. It has the advantage over some resorts of setting, which is dramatic, but also the disadvantage that the main beach isn't actually that good.

We also went to Conwy - not technically a seaside resort, but also a surprisingly pleasant little town and an interesting case study in what has gone right.

Happy to report also that 20mph limits were nowhere near being the problems I had perceived - the only places I experienced them were places where 20 seemed an entirely reasonable speed to drive.

I am on the Isle of Wight this week and there is almost an inverse relationship between how good the beach is and how nice the town. Sandown is probably the best beach, but really run down, while Bembridge is really posh, but a poor beach. There are other similar examples.

It may well be that too much focus on a beach is part of the problem with British seaside resorts, it takes the focus off the town itself. It might be true of other countries too.

I think you're onto something. Rhyl has a great sandy beach and the sewage outlet pipe goes a couple of miles out to sea now which wasn't the case when I were a child. But no matter how nice the beach is, it's still the Irish Sea.

Ever so slightly off topic, I was clearing out a corner of my flat this afternoon. 20 years of accumulated crap. Mostly meaningless. Admin. Paperwork. A useless printer. All purged. Yay

But then suddenly I came across a sketch book that belonged to my ex wife (who I loved very much and only split with coz she wanted babies and I didn’t). It was full of her crazy funny eccentric drawings - even pages embroidered with wool. The epic of Gilgamesh in crayon. All her creativity and wit and uniqueness in o one pad of paper

And I sat there and, I confess, I slightly cried. Just a few manly tears but they were real

What is that? I was perfectly content - happy even. Then suddenly a land mine of emotion and memory exploded in my face and I was plunged into intense sadness

What is the psychology? The evolutionary explanation for these emotions? Very strange

It’s gone now. I’m fine again. But wow

Is it possible to exist without a printer now?

I use mine regularly but I'm someone who doesn't want to be totally digital (and often can't be in rural Hampshire)

All Printers Are Bastards.

.

On topic, this happened to me the other day sitting on a train. Couple get on, looks like they are heading for the airport for a holiday.

She is miffed because he has walked her to the 1713 express train rather than their intended 1731 train. This means they will be early, and thus have to change mid-journey and wait 15 minutes or so to get their original train as the express one isn't stopping at their final station.

Not a full blown row, just a series of half-muttered bitter nips, jibes, barbs and non-sequiturs at each other about the fact somehow they've ended up on this slightly earlier train. Netted out they have to wait the same amount of time either way, either at the original station to get a slightly later train or mid journey to transfer to the original train, but they are guaranteed to get there at the original intended time. Still, this displeases her immensely.

I wasn't really trying to listen in or block them out either way, but was hard to avoid somehow being privy to it. I felt quite sorry for the guy. Not "it's your fault we were late, missed our train and flight and now the holiday is RUINED!!" but instead "it's your fault we were early BECAUSE YOU WOULDN'T LISTEN TO ME, now we have to change trains so that we get to the destination at exactly the original time we intended anyway".

I did wonder (a) how their holiday would go and (b) how much mileage was left in the relationship.

Bickering with a partner is par for the course. Mrs Foxy and I were bickering about the playlist while driving earlier. It's perfectly possible to bicker for decades. 36 years for Me and Mrs Foxy this weekend.

I am suspicious of couples that never argue. There's some weird dynamic usually, such as an oppressive partner, or simply extreme fragility as if one sharp word would end things. It must be so wearing to be walking on eggshells the whole time. Not universally of course, Foxy jr and his partner claim to have never argued in 8 years and seem perfectly content.

I argue with my wife fairly regularly.
My kids long since learned it means nothing; it occasionally disturbs friends, which amuses us.

Everyone has their own relationship quirks, but I had a couple of serious girlfriends before Mrs Foxy, and don't recall arguing with any of them, even including the dumping/being dumped.

Indeed it is part of the attraction to Mrs Foxy. She has always been feisty, indeed I think I realised I was in love when she was giving me a serious dressing down (fully deserved!) A few weeks into our relationship.

That’s what happens when you marry a ward matron.

Juries sometimes make mistakes.

It is better we have juries that sometimes make mistakes, than we don't have juries at all.

And sometimes juries aquit to prevent an injustice. I don't know this particular case, but it will be popcorn time when Palestine Action come before a jury.

How many of the hundreds arrested last weekend actually got charged with anything in the first place?

Three so far, though many more could be charged later. If they are not charged then the government looks ridiculous, and if they are charged even more so. We have a couple of elderly terrorists in my church congregation now.

What made them want to show support specifically for the proscribed terrorist group, rather than simply supporting international action in Palestine?

It is a basic principle. There are lots of people who do not consider what Palestine Action did to be terrorism. I have to say that I am probably one of them. What they did was certainly illegal and I suppose if you want a high crime to pin on them you might reasonably get away with calling it Treason. But a vast number of people - even those like me who oppose what they did - don't see it as terrorism.

And the really important point here is one of free speech. If I or anyone else disagrees with the actions of the Government - including their proscription of a group - we should be allowed to protest against it. As long as we are not ourselves using violent means.

That is why I think it is wrong to be arresting the protestors. Peaceful protest should never be criminalised, nor should criticising and opposing laws which we feel are fundamentally wrong. To link to another current discussion on here, to me it just seems throughly un-British.

I take a subtly different view. That the actions against the military bases were clearly terrorism, they caused tens of millions of pounds worth of damage to the King’s Army.

The government shouldn’t have proscribed the group, but they should have charged those actually damaging and planning to damage aircraft with treason, and they should be expecting to be behind bars for a decade or more

But also that the right to protest is a key facet of British law, but if this government sees fit to proscribe the terrorist group then they should be expected to throw the book at their supporters, and deal with the political fallout that entails. They’ve instead decided to formally proscribe the group but continue to let them protest basically unhindered every weekend.

Hang on.

Up until the penultimate paragraph, I'm with you.

You can support (verbally and in your head) what the hell you like. What you cannot do is cross the line into providing aid.

No, the government explicitly proscribed supporting this organisation.

I don’t agree with this, I think that freedom of speech is more important.

But if the government does proscribe the organisation, then those who turn up to support them should be remanded in custody and be expecting decade-long sentences.

What’s actually happening is that they’re continuing their protests every weekend.

The government is more interested in the performance of banning an organisation that in private many Labour MPs support. That’s the problem. Two-tier Keir.

Ever so slightly off topic, I was clearing out a corner of my flat this afternoon. 20 years of accumulated crap. Mostly meaningless. Admin. Paperwork. A useless printer. All purged. Yay

But then suddenly I came across a sketch book that belonged to my ex wife (who I loved very much and only split with coz she wanted babies and I didn’t). It was full of her crazy funny eccentric drawings - even pages embroidered with wool. The epic of Gilgamesh in crayon. All her creativity and wit and uniqueness in o one pad of paper

And I sat there and, I confess, I slightly cried. Just a few manly tears but they were real

What is that? I was perfectly content - happy even. Then suddenly a land mine of emotion and memory exploded in my face and I was plunged into intense sadness

What is the psychology? The evolutionary explanation for these emotions? Very strange

It’s gone now. I’m fine again. But wow

Is it possible to exist without a printer now?

I use mine regularly but I'm someone who doesn't want to be totally digital (and often can't be in rural Hampshire)

This evening I printed off the pace notes for my race on Sunday, to be stuck on the water bottle that will sit below my bike computer and between my arms. Not a vital task, but a useful one.

Having a printer on hand is really handy - I often print out maps of walks or runs, because I find a paper map easier to read than an electronic one, for various reasons. In fact, if it's also a combined scanner, then it's even more useful.

Totally agree