MrsDoyle

Rowing. Sport you can do sitting down.

Some friends have just moved to Carterton. It has a nice vibe for a smaller town. Plus, wine country.

Scotland and Scotland. I love it here. Even though it’s raining as I write - don’t have to worry about watering the garden.

I’ve always decided against taking my knitting with me in case they take my needles. They are usually 2.5cm circulars, and the wooden ones are even sharper than the metal ones. I could definitely damage someone with them - though I would rather not get blood on my work in progress.

Not really useless, and I volunteered it for disposal… a small LED torch. I was entering New Zealand, which has extremely strict biohazard rules. I remembered that I’d used the torch a few times while beekeeping in the UK. The risk was vanishingly small, but still a risk, so I handed it over and it went in the bin.

Rooter always sounds rude to me. ;-)

I heard someone mangling “indefatigable” in a programme the other day, they got the word “fatigue” in there.

Edit to say I think it’s VALEnce, but I could be wrong.

I’m old and this may not happen in my lifetime, but I fear the collapse of the ocean current systems. The resulting global weather chaos would have a drastic effect on my younger family members, some of whom are already struggling to make their way in the world.

The way governments everywhere are backing off green commitments and seems only interested in waging war and/or protecting the greedy makes me despair, but every single day I meet people with warm hearts and open minds, so I do have some hope.

Compared to the original it’s bloated. My friends very much enjoyed theirs and didn’t have any more issues than with any other cars. One of them drives a modern Mini Clubman now.

I stood next to a new Rav in the showroom, it seemed overly big to me. I want a small vehicle with a high wheelbase so I can drive on farm tracks.

Muttonbird.

It’s an acquired taste, but one I didn’t acquire. Preserved shearwater chick, mmm.

I live in Scotland now, where there’s a similar delicacy, guga. I have not tried it. I think you have to live on the Isle of Lewis for a shot at eating it

I was standing in front of a parked SUV the other day and I swear its grille was chest-high. I’m 5’4", I’d definitely not survive if one hit me.

Some years back, a couple of my friends drove Toyota Rav 4s. They were cute little all-wheel drive cars with three doors. This article tracks how the Rav 4 “evolved” into the ugly, massively bloated vehicle it is today. https://www.carwow.co.uk/toyota/rav4/news/8854/toyota-rav4-generations-evolution

Oh, oh, let’s have human basketball played with a goat carcass, we could call it Buzbasket.

“Vorsprung durch Technik” - not sure of the spelling, but it’s a slogan from an ad for a German car in the UK. Mercedes maybe?

Player of Games is interesting - the main character, a gamer, goes to a non-idyllic civilisation because he’s fucked up his idyllic Culture life.

I’ve had a lot of good food in Scotland, but one of the most memorable meals was in the Crinan Hotel’s seafood bar - a big plate of langoustines that had been caught that morning, served with perfect chips and aoli. On the menu they were called Loch Crinan jumbo prawns.

I was in Glasgow a fair bit during the Commonwealth Games and the locals were almost aggressively friendly, it was pretty funny. I live in Edinburgh and I like going to Glasgow for a break from all the tourists.

Excellent, thanks! I’ll be sowing those seeds in autumn.

It originates off some legend that a large team of monks gathered to meditate and pray together on a given day. The city’s crime rate drastically fell on that day.

Probably the claimed “Maharishi effect” in 1974. The Transcendental Meditation organisation (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi) said that the quality of life would noticeably improve if at least the square root of 1% of the population practised the TM technique. They claimed the crime rate fell in some cities in 1974 because of it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendental_Meditation