Idyllic Photos from CR4ers

When I was In Netley, UK, I saw the Morris dancers beat themselves bloody and senseless. This was in the 60's. Maybe it's changed since though I suspect there might still be a sect of that bunch around.

I expect they were just having a light hearted debate after visiting several of the local pubs.

Possibly.......I do recall they did manage to traumatize most of the spectators.

Would you know what the meaning is behind the dance? I've heard only theories.

You'll get a different theory from everyone you ask. I think that the prevailing two are that it is the ritualistic version of pagan fertility rites to ensure that the crops grew or, that it is simply an artistic expression. It seems agreed that the dance had virtually died out before being resurrected in the form you see around now.

Morris dancing is often linked with other arcane ceremonies such as Jack-in-the-green.

Interesting.......thanks and apologies to all Morrismen anywhere and everywhere....... I suppose the Netley bunch had their own version which scared the wits out've everyone and co-incidentally was the first time I'd ever witnessed Morrismen in action. The second time was a news blip in Canada which stated that certain Morrismen had been brought up on charges for engaging in an illegal dance (always wondered about that). I mistakenly associated the masochistic elements which I now discover to be non existant....which leads me to wonder why in blazes is it illegal in Canada..........

Live and learn................

Double plus good answer Nigh. I watched a re-make of "The Wicker Man" yesterday( Ironically with Nicholas Cage) , and I have to admit it was probably the only re-make I've seen that was better than the original.

Yes, this comment is very likely to be considered to be 'off-topic'.

Oh joy, I have discovered a signature !

Do they still have the bit where the Nubiles frolic about & jump over the fire?

.......well they missed that bit with Brit Ekland, but they still burnt the dude. Oh crap, have I ruined the ending for you.

It's hard to imagine Nicholas Cage being as puritanical as Edward Woodward but I'll have to look out for the film, the original is one of my favorites.

Woodward does have that skill for Brit 'stiffness' (poker up the arse kind of thing), but Cage gives him a run for the money (The story change is good as well, unusual for a remake). Well worth a watch if you like that kinda thing. I saw Christopher Lee on TV describing it as his favourite film he'd made !

This is so off-topic, I shall wait in the Yew tree

Just saying Hi ...my ears pricked up at the mention of Yew.

Check out the swinging your arms thread, gotta be some fun there...

Del

The swinging arm thing also crops up in this thread.

LMAO ! Has Pompey moved ? Expect some lava flow in the near future. My allegiance should be with the Foxes or Magpies, but I'm too much like Golum. This has probably confused non-Brits, so I'd best post it OT. Most of the buggers seem to know the references anyway !

Sad story man. I'd be thankfull for the horseshoes you wore that day.

My own sister managed to survive after getting t-boned by a transport while driving her Toyota. I got to the hospital three hours later only to discover they were still trying to get her out of the wreck. I drove back to the accident site and saw what was left of the car. In my mind no one could possibly have survived..... but she did. Still has a bit of a limp which I attribute to the wooden leg she was born with but otherwise ok. High school teacher....ain't much out there can do that lot in.

Please forgive me for this, and take it in good part (as it is meant)... but how could anyone be born with a wooden leg?

(Anyhoo - you deserve a bit of 'stick' after your disparaging comments about Morris Dancing).

John.

The only way to be 'born with a wooden leg' is to have a particularily twisted sense of humour......or as my sister claims............having been dropped repeatedly on my head when I was a young child.

"... having been dropped repeatedly on my head when I was a young child."

Are you quoting your sister there, or was she talking about you?

Talking about me being dropped.

Art teacher.

That explains it (he said, cryptically).

I walked into that one.........funny.......very funny

"Working against time to make this into a world heritage site ..."

What, CR4?

Try taking off your "Darwin Rools" T-shirt.

How 'bout some R&B at high volume....as I pull out of the harbour and pass their outdoor ministrations..............Joss Stone with Les Paul should do it..........

That's the air force buddy. I figure two bombing runs should put a stripe through your solar aspirations.

LOL

LMAO - How do they do it ? It's always Mallards - they sit looking innocent on the nearest bit of water, then next minute they get perched on your roof ! It's kinda like how Seagulls always manage to crap on you - some evil conspiracy is afoot. Tippi whatsernsname had it right.

Oy..........seagulls need the target practice. Ducks need info.

... well they ain't short of pracatice - the number that have got me is atonishing. I'd swear they do it on purpose. Mallards I can live with, but Gulls is just plain evil. Try eating some seafood down by the harbour - they'll give you hell. Rats with wings.

I go up to Rosyth Dockyard twice a year - service trip. There's a pair of gulls bin nesting on a roof & terrorizing the area every Spring trip for the last N years. I went up a bit later this year - so escaped the dive-bombing etc., but they told me they had a guy with a cherry-picker, robbing the nests (trying to keep the population under control), with another guy on the ground with a .22 air rifle for protection!

Down here on The South coast, people have wire cages on their chimney pots - it still doesn't deter the buggers. Plastic wheelie bins have stopped them somewhat (from trying to find an easy snack). A regular visitor stomps up and down on the grass outside my house - I think it's trying to drive worms upward. It's hilarious to see this thing doing it's dance every day.

We have gulls nesting on the factory roof, we provide them with the shelter & warmth that they like, When they have chicks they get quite aggressive & will start dive bombing visitors to our premises. We've had them peck through the clear roof panels trying to get inside. Our roofing contractor reckons that he's safe from attack as long as he carries a red & whit striped umbrella!!!

I recall hearing that Skuas are bad - being ground nesting they will give hell to anyone who inadvertently walks near their brood. The red thing is curious - my neighbours car (which is red) gets hit hugely by gull crap, yet nobody else's does. It's horribly bad to clean off. Probably serves him right for feeding the things, but they must have a 'thing' about red.

If you lot think that birds are a problem you have not been blessed with the acquaintance of a North American raccoon....a cuddly ball of fur endowed with opposable thumbs and perfectly capable of picking a lock. Amongst their other endearing qualities is that they can open windows, refrigerators, make themselves perfectly at home while you're away and renovate your house right up until the point when you return.

The city of Toronto has a population of 3m humans....and, and according to gov't stats..... 700k raccoons(probably triple that).

An animal rights activist group was suing the City of Toronto for allowing the discarding of high cholesterol foods that they claim is responsible for the raccoons obesity which renders them incapable of climbing trees. They lost the case when it was discovered that the overweight coons were capable of climbing trees but incapable of selecting those branches which broke under their own weight.

That's pretty funny from my vantage point. Where's Jed Clampet when you need him? I hear they are pretty good eatin. When things go topsy-turvy I'll bet those critters will be the first ones to leave town. Of course it might be in Mrs. Murphy's Chowder.

Yo Brain......that's the best pocket shot I've ever seen. Facing NWN were you? I'll run it through my photogrammetric gizmo and let you know the size.........

Ducky, just ducky

Excellent Thepond, It was a trick shot! Unfortunately the definition of the two knuckle joints become slightly blurred due to the quick-draw, shoot from the hip while listening to 'fist full of dollars' style music approach! I should learn trigger control but I get so tense just before the shot and BANG! too late! When I see the final picture, there it is, the finger! Just too darn quick for my own good!

Anyway, if you could pass it through the old gizmo, I'd love to know how big it was!!

I would suggest mounting it differently. There are books dealing with the subject.

I guess your living in a spaghetti western rubs off.

he he.............

I spy with my little eye something beginning with 't'..................

.... The Morning Sun ... right first time !

Nope. It's tilt __________

I guess flying against the coriolis does that.............

Ah! you're after one like this ...

BTW - if you look close ...

... you can see 3 pretty little UFO's dancing.

On this trip, I got upgraded to the Executive Lounge. They have free newspapers & coffee, plus a selection of tasty stuff from free optics!

And you want horizontal? Dam' lucky I wasn't horizontal!

We've established the fact that you weren't horizontal. The question remains what specifically caused you to tilt.

Free Optics? Clue me in.

Optics ...

... like that, but nicer.

Now that's wot I call staying aloft............

It's all probably true, but I still resent Mr Brain for noshing all those Oranges over there in Spain. I have to go to a ****** supermarket to get them !

Be gratefull you have a supermarket to go to. Where I am the closest one is 200 km away.

The good thing about this place is that the fishing is great and the blueberries are delicious.

Sounds real nice ! Must be a pain if you need a hardware store or something, but the plus points must more than compensate. You have now joined Mr Brain on my 'jealous of' list !. This is starting to drive me nuts - people on CR4 who have oranges, blueberries, avocado and all sorts !

I have a spring in my garden which pours forth Adnams Ale, It's underneath the fried bacon tree.

Del

You have ascended to 1st place ! I hope Mrs Cat is understanding and brings you slices of nice bread + Ketchup for the bacon (as I mentioned on one of Andy's threads, avocado goes really nice with it). Those mices must be breathing a sigh of relief.

Did I mention the fig trees are loaded this year! Just a few more weeks to go and I'll be picking the juicy buggers off the trees on the way to the beach! Now where did I put my kiwi? That's right, next to the frosted beer!

I wouldn't let any of these ...

... near my beer!

(They've got a built-in straw, for a start. Obviously can't be trusted).

The SAS are on their way ! Ya lucky b****** ! Frosted beer serves you right - it must be lukewarm and hand pulled from a wooden cask. Pickled onions and other such savouries is a must. Your good company would probably compensate.

- it must be lukewarm.

Steady on Kris you'll upset the colonials.
If we insist on 'Cellar Cool' we may just manage to educate them

I find warm beer actually helps to keep my colonial in pretty good shape! The frosted beer is just to keep it under better control!

You are s'posed to DRINK it not use it for colonial irrigation.

Even more difficult to understand is the lack of ice and super sized soft drinks when we visit your side of the pond.

I get that "not cold beer" is historically accurate- who had refrigerators?- but sodas are meant to be large (1.3 liter is our 44 fl. oz. cup that fits in the car's cup holder)and icy cold.

My trips across the pond end up endurance marathons of soda withdrawal.

So I end up quaffing your local "cellar cool" brews.

And wondering why the shortage of icy sodas.

milo

Ya really, if you ask for ice in Europe, you get 1 cube. If you ask for a lot of ice, you get 2.

But I love their beer, even at cellar temp.

If I go to a fast food place I have to ask for soft drinks without ice, it usually takes the person serving a couple of goes to get it right. If you start off with half a cup of ice, you just end up drinking tainted water instead of the soft drink you chose.

They're very good at keeping up with yesterday hence the barbaric tradition of drinking warm beer.(ok ok "celaaar cool" if you insist).

Maybe it's a genetic imprintation thing from the time they drank warm water before discovering tea.

Colonials indeed!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL3aHB43JP0

milo

That's my wife Venus, Milo....you cad! Release her immediately or go deaf.

I've been had............

Hi ducky!

I heard her song the other night:

A Goddess on a mountain top
Was burning like a silver flame
The summit of Beauty in love
And Venus was her name

REFRAIN:
She's got it yeah, Baby, she's got it
Well, I'm your Venus, I'm your fire
At your desire

Her weapon were her crystal eyes
Making every man mad
Black as the dark night she was
Got what no-one else had
Wa!

REFRAIN:
She's got it yeah, Baby, she's got it
Well, I'm your Venus, I'm your fire
At your desire

- Bananarama

milo "She really seems to like corn"

Keep it up Milo.......keep it up........ the Royal Canadian Duck Force is mobilizing a rescue as you chuckle on......

From: The Royal Canadian Duck Force

We are offerring 5 GOOD ANSWERS for anyone capable of trashing Milos karmic pecking order.

The Force is with us

Here's some postage to help with your request:

milo

outgunned, outmanouvered, surrounded by bad art....you've been plotting this for a long time eh Custer?........

may your shadetree have pigeons.....

Hey,

You just get on away from here with those pigeons. I've got a .410 surprize for em. Bombing runs will be greeted appropriately.

Oh, the error of a duck blinded by hindsight........I assumed your bird was a pigeon with a white head.....

have a quacker...

milo

I can resist everything except temptation....................

Soda? Oh, yea, you've got lakes full of that stuff ...

Cats eat Zucchini?

Looks like a very healthy plant Del. You'll probably be dropping off free zuchini to all your neighbors.

milo

A page of colour sketches I did with varying degrees of abstraction..
The colour rendition is a bit off...it's dusk here not great light for photo's.

Del

Envy.

These surpass anything I could do.

Without Graph paper, even my letter forms distort.

The interesting thing is that each sketch really seems to feature one "detail" as the star.

milo

Blessings be upon thee. Beware the evil duck bashing Milo.