Thread 8 - TalkLair: “Brewing Russell's teapot”

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous threads (thread 7).

The new lair of JTT escapees is all cosy and homey; we have truly settled here. Outside, the garden is blooming with spring flowers. Inside, the hearth is glowing, pictures are up on the walls, rugs are down on the floors (and assorted pets curled up on them).

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

I keep my kitchen door closed when I’m not in there to thwart the curiosity of local foxes. They do like to have stuff to play with though. I found a gardening glove in the middle of the front lawn the other day that I’m assuming was delivered by a fox, possibly a fox with the ability to read.

The main thing we get delivered by wildlife is bread, which I often find in the water dish put out for the birds. It'll be jackdaws, they like to dunk bread.

Bint's creative and I hope effective WiFi use gave me a flashback to my father furiously scribbling commentary on paper napkins on a Irish sea ferry and handing them to the unfortunate cafeteria staff (who I'm sure binned them as soon as he left). I must have been 8 or 9 I think - I'd never heard the word 'rancid' before. Quite nice to see tradition still carrying on over more than half a century.

The time (nearly three centuries ago!) my fellow Dean got cross he hadn't actually made it onto the boat

^Lo here I sit at Holyhead

With muddy ale and mouldy bread

All Christian victuals stink of fish

I'm where my enemies would wish

Convict of lies is every sign,

The inn has not one drop of wine

I'm fasten'd both by wind and tide

I see the ship at anchor ride

The Captain swears the sea's too rough

He has not passengers enough.

And thus the Dean is forc'd to stay

Till others come to help the pay^

Swift I assume.

Did you see the series presented by Frank Skinner and Denise Mina about him and Alexander Pope and their friendship - if not I recommend it:

www.nowtv.com/watch/skinner-and-minas-literary.../iYEQYZHWrEf39zL75b4q3m/seasons/1/episodes/1/A5EK4nmp9qb5Xe5fspfgJ

No, didn't see that - and clicking the link shows it isn't available in my region.

Good bloke Swift, if you were poor. Less good if you were a librarian.

The food all looked perfectly nice, but was decidedly lacking labels about ingredients that might poison me (suggestion 1: allergens listed on lables, or at least a list displayed on nearby wall). And once the allergens book was dug out of the back office it turned out every single cake option was off limits (suggestion 2; dairy free cake option). Suggestion 3 moved off cake and onto the idea thatif you're going to have cannelloni on the menu it might be an idea to say what sort of cannelloni (especially when the menu has no veggie/vegan labelling).

I like to be helpful.

That all seems very fair and a good use of the WiFi!

Just got back from the new Indiana Jones film. Still processing the details, but overall I enjoyed it.

I was at the City of London crematorium and cemetery which is not in the City of London but in Manor Park in very, very east London on Tuesday and there were two foxes wandering around being all "Yeah, we live here. Off you fuck." I found their almost feline-like disdain very endearing. There is also a pond there with turtles. Having to go there meant that I had my first trip on the new Elizabeth Line which should actually be called the Lavender Line and so that's what it is now called according to me and many of my still living in London friends.

I'd hazard a guess that putting the City of London crem actually in the City might these days be considered "triggering" for those who lost ancestors in 1666.

I love foxes! There used to be some bonkers ones on Barnes Common who would trot along next to me if I'd been to the supermarket and bought any sort of meat, but especially chicken. Here they regularly use the wall between our house and next-door as a short-cut between two areas of open space. The fun starts when there's a cat using it in the other direction: it's always the foxes who back down!

We also went to see the new Indians Jones movie yesterday - absolute hokum and all unlikely action but very entertaining. They did a wonderful job CGI ing the young Harrison Ford's face for the bits set in the past. I still would now he's 80 mind you.

The foxes here tend towards bonkersness though dialling down the noise on the nighttime street fights wouldn’t go amiss. I need to replace the batteries in my trail cameras to see what, if anything, they’re up to in my garden beyond leaving their toys lying around.

I've just eaten my first blackberry of the year. Also my second and third blackberries. Very definitely the earliest ever for me - the previous record, from back in the 70s, was July 4th.

Wow Dean!That is supernaturally early, compared with Devon anyway. My raspberries aren’t even ready yet, although the blackcurrants are blackening nicely.

My brother is bringing raspberries from his allotment when he visits this weekend and he’s been busily picking blackcurrants this week. There are more brambles in my garden than I would choose but I’ve yet to see any blackberries this year (they are usually to be seen in the hands of squirrels, unfortunately).

I’ve been a bit wary of blackberries since biting one in half and finding a maggot in there. Both blackberry and maggot looked enormous, but I was only 3.

Blackberries are the one thing I'll miss about the village I lived in. There were loads of them near the bus stop and I'd wander past and eat handfuls. I left lots for the birds.

Good day for birds, today. Saw lots of cormorants and an Arctic tern from the ferry. A male bullfinch flashed across the pavement just in front of me (we have them in the garden sometimes but I almost never see them, only hear them). Driving along a ruralish road there was a large bird strolling across in the unhurried manner of a pheasant, but not the right shape - as we got up close and it casually stepped up onto the bank I realised it was a raven. And then in the evening we went for a stroll in the park and it was full of swallows, dashing about only inches above the grass, banking and turning within a few feet of us.

This weekend a very welcome visit from my son, and we took the opportunity to get to Manchester to see the new Wes Anderson flick, Asteroid City. Well, you know what you're going to get with WA, but the whimsey was a step; no, several steps too far for me this time. There's pleasure in the detail and the lovely touches, but less successful for me than some of his other films.

If it's still at my local cinema I'll be seeing it next week. I wanted to go this week but I couldn't because dog sitting. The Grand Budapest Hotel will always be my favourite of all his films as well as being in the top ten of my all time favourite films. I'd have given Ralph Fiennes an Oscar for that performance. It was sublime.

I'll probably go and see the new Indiana Jones filum as well. It looks like it's enormous fun and Phoebe Waller Bridge!

Phoebe was phab.

We took DDs to watch Asteroid City last week. They've never seen a Wes Anderson film before. They were utterly perplexed

I concur with @duc748, this was WA turned up to 11! It was an absolutely delicious visual feast, I really enjoyed watching it, but also I came out of the cinema thinking "What just happened?"

Where's your bird paradise @BinturongsSmellOfPopcorn? Are you on holiday?

Part holiday, part academic tour. MrBint has conferences, then we're looping down to visit both sets of parents. Currently Stirling, staying in a hotel right next to the 'site of the battle of Bannockburn' (archaeologists disagree about exactly where the battle took place, but the one thing they are certain about is that is wasn't at 'the site of the battle of Bannockburn'.).

that's archaeologists for you. never a parade we can't rain on.

My neighbour is killing things with his gun in his woods that surround me. Both cats are indoors, as they always are when he’s shooting, although I have no idea how they know guns are dangerous.

What shall I cook with a random bulb of fennel? Something kid friendly and not pasta.