England's National Musical-Instrument?

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 07 Nov 08 - 05:20 AM

Ooh, that is one of my favourite poems. Look forward to hearing that.

It's up now - Here.

Ford o' Kabul River written by Rudyard Kipling in 1890 in commemoration of the 49 soldiers of the 10th Hussars who lost their lives whilst fording the Kabul River at Jalalabad in March 1879 during the second Anglo-Afghan War. The setting is by Peter Bellamy, as featured on Mr Kipling, Mr Bellamy and The Tradition, here somewhat re-imagined as an old soldier remembers. I see him sitting by the fireside in his humble fisherman's cottage in Overstrand as the November winds blow up a storm without, his only clear memories the tragic events of that terrible night 50 years and thousands of miles away...

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 07 Nov 08 - 05:04 AM

It's not Slayth-wait, then?

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 07 Nov 08 - 04:36 AM

Funny, I was just thinking about Little Britain. Maybe that is where he got the bee in his bonnet about women tennis players from.

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: mandotim
Date: 07 Nov 08 - 04:27 AM

Last time I was there, it was 'topper yebbers'. I suppose the classic one of all of these is Slaithwaite?
Tim

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Paul Burke
Date: 07 Nov 08 - 04:16 AM

Never mind Irlams o'Th'Height; how about Top o' Hebers?

Not forgetting Bessie Zut Barn.

I'd guess at topperebbers, but you'd have to go there to find out, there are no first principles. Within a walk of my place, there's a hamlet called Gotham. Even people native to within a mile of the place can't be sure whether it's really Goth- am, got-ham, goath-am or goat-ham, or even Golgafrincham.

I was once staying with a friend who used to live at Ince, just by Wigan. We went on a walk (surprisingly pleasant if you avoid trouble with the natives) which took us up the locks, and past a place he called Wutcher. He couldn't tell me the spelling or etymology, so we asked an owd lass by one of the cottages there- puzzled she was, then switched from Wigan to RP, replying "it's Woodshaw".

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: mandotim
Date: 07 Nov 08 - 04:00 AM

Fair enough Woody! Perhaps this is progress into the dark depths of WAV's mind?
I don't know if anyone has watched 'Little Britain' on the gogglebox; there are two obvious transvestites who constantly proclaim, in forced and false voices, that they are 'Ladies'. WAV's constant claims that he is 'English' strike me as similarly comedic, especially when done in a strong Australian accent.
Tim

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 07 Nov 08 - 03:58 AM

Woody - whatever you do, don't listen to the one about how he WENT walk-A-bout WITH his PEN. (He knows where the stresses are supposed to go, you've got to give him that.)

Ironically, it just goes to prove WAV right - when people lose their culture, society suffers. He's lost, or rather discarded, his own good true Australian culture - the one that he grew up in; the one in which he learned to talk and learned to read; the one that goes with the accent that he's still got and the vocabulary that he still uses. And society is suffering for it.

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: GUEST,Woody
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 06:19 PM

From: mandotim

Sadly Woody; 'northerner' is not synonymous with 'Lancastrian'!
Tim

True but as this is, to the best of my knowledge, the first case of WAV's drivel that has any corroboration outside of his own website, I thought it needed highlighting.


From: GUEST,eliza c

May my parents and I never hear your version of Cob-a-Coaling.

I hope you'll never be tempted. Save yourself while you still can!

I did listen to it and every now and again it resurfaces in my mind. Such is the horror of it that I think I've got post traumatic stress disorder. I could "go postal" any day now.

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 04:29 PM

Well it made me laugh Dan. He's already sawn a groove in the back of his recorder, a few more holes could only improve things. If I sang like that though, I'd be looking for another voice to imitate. Not that I ever sing, but Im the world's foremost authority on what I like listening to, and complete faith in my sense of pitch.

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Will Fly
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 03:14 PM

Hah! Just bought one of those - a 1920 swanee whistle made from bakelite and bone. Not a toy - and actually quite difficult to play, not just well, but at all.

I wonder what "he" would make of it... I look forward to a soundless video of him playing it on his website.

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 03:08 PM

What he really needs on his "English flute" is something like a trombone slide.

I've got the perfect thing!

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Don Firth
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 02:21 PM

My post:

". . . via mimicking my voice with my English flute."

I don't follow this. You mean you took your "English flute" and drilled new holes between the holes it came with?

David's response:

That's not funny, Don - whether I'm good or bad at it, the tenor-recorder/English flute (along with the violin/Italian fiddle) certainly is one of the best intruments for mimicking the human voice.

Okay. First of all, as smart remarks go, I thought it was pretty funny. David's sense of pitch is so precarious that about the only way he could mimic his voice with the "English flute" would be to have a whole lot of extra holes.

Actually, though, that would not really solve the problem. What he really needs on his "English flute" is something like a trombone slide.

And as to mimicking the human voice with an instrument, I have never heard of the tenor recorder (pardon me, "English flute") spoken of in this context. And just to refresh your memory, David, I spent three years in a university school of music and another two years in a music conservatory, and I've been around musicians all my life. Most of then would have considered my wisecrack pretty funny. Not particularly kind, perhaps, but pretty funny.

What you need to do, as I keep telling you, is to practice vocal exercises with a keyboard instrument (since you said you play one). Play the note on the instrument, then try to sing the note. Then, play and sing the note at the same time. Practice scales and arpeggios (broken chords), paying close attention to accurately singing the notes you are playing. Record your practice, then listen to it critically. Near misses are still misses. In short, develop your ear, then work on ear-voice coordination.

Can you do that? Of course you can. Will you do it? Of course not!

You see, David, in the real world, people learn how to do something themselves before they try to tell other people how to do it.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 01:38 PM

Pardon my spelling..

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 01:36 PM

That's about as authorititive as it gets WaV, - don't give up the day job..

"English nationalist" - Gordon Bennett, I'm lost for words.

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: GUEST,eliza c
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 01:01 PM

May my parents and I never hear your version of Cob-a-Coaling. We worked on that for ages, it is very much a family song now, and it stretches to breaking point our long-held belief that traditional music is for everyone to think that someone of your agenda could feel welcome taking it from us and singing it. Speaking as immigrants, as Travellers, as human beings, no. You do not have our blessing.

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: mandotim
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 10:47 AM

Eyup Paul lad! I'd like to admit that I'm of a very uncertain vintage! Any road up, t'Guardian hasn't bin t'same since it stopped being t'Manchester Guardian! Paper for southern softies now, tha knows...
Never mind Irlams o'Th'Height; how about Top o' Hebers?
Tim

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 10:41 AM

WAV, why do you have dual citizenship? I don't see how you can justify that within the framework of your world view. It seems completely contrary to everything you claim to stand for.

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Gervase
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 09:15 AM

But why am I taking the trouble to write this - you won't listen anyway...
Very true Will - they say that self-abuse makes one blind, but in WAV's case it's made him deaf.

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Paul Burke
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 08:17 AM

There's a certain latitude in the pronunciation. Some people elide it to Ullamzuthite, others separate it a bit more, say Ullam Zut Thite. But my knowledge of it is from over thirty years ago:

Didn't I come from Lancasheer,
It's great to come from Lancasheer,
Where women all wear clogs and shawl
And men are really men,
Myself I come from Lancasheer,
I'm proud to come from Lancasheer,
And once you've come from Lancasheer
You'll never go there again!

Ask el Gnomo for currently favoured pronunciation (if it's not been renamed Westview or something like that).

The newspaper article Woody referred to would probably have continued that Lancashire folk say by eck and ecky thump and weers me cap, theer's trouble at t't't't'mill.

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: catspaw49
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 08:04 AM

Here's an expression I like to use when encountered by complete jack-offs like Wavylimpdick................"Go fuck yourself you worthless, racist, piece of shit."

Works for me anyway.

Spaw

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 07:26 AM

You know, I've lived in M'cr for 25 years and been married to a Prestonian for most of that time, and I still don't know how to pronounced Irlam's o'th' Height (or the similar placename involving Besses and a Barn). Is it:

Irlams ut Height

Irlams uh' Height (same thing with a glo'al stop)

Irlams uth Ight

or what?

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Paul Burke
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 07:11 AM

Expressions of surprise or disbelief used in Irlam's o'th' Height included "I'll go to our house" and "Well, I'll go to th' bottom of our stairs", and "Bugger me".

Maximal is of course not English, but Latin, as are mineral, arcade, column and corridor. So the poem becomes even more minimalist, and much better:

water of on the slopes,
goes them of the limestone,
to them of the Stained-glass of the ones,
puts to the earth the of garden,
in wood the ground in a crossing,
the roads of the stone, and has had
between the to fight of the

Woody, that only proves that Lancashire isn't the right north, and that mandotim isn't of a certain vintage!

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: mandotim
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 07:07 AM

Sadly Woody; 'northerner' is not synonymous with 'Lancastrian'!
Tim

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Will Fly
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 07:07 AM

David - let me take this "poem" of yours and demonstrate, if I can, why it just doesn't work as poetry or anything else. Here it is:

Mineral water,
    Foliage-dressed wells,
Green-grass on the Slopes,
    Limestone dales,
Clay-tiled arcades,
    Plain-glass awnings,
Shaped-iron columns,
    Stained-glass ceilings,
Earthen garden-urns,
    Wooden inlays,
Soil in a cross,
    Pebble pathways,
And, had between walks,
    Combating the
Weather element,
    Plenty of tea.

(a) What's the point of all this, other than a list of things that make up Buxton? You might as well have put it all in one sentence and be done with it. Surely any poetic vision has a point. If you've listing these things - and "Mineral water" must surely be the most hackneyed and predictable thing with which to start a poem about Buxton - then why not follow that up with a conceit, a metaphor, a diagonal path, a call and response section which makes a point based on the description - for example?

(b) The first 12 lines are short descriptors waiting for a linkage. Then, for no reason whatever, comes the phrase "And, had between walks". But who or what is the "And" linking back to? Nothing and nobody. For sheer clunkiness the phrase "combating the weather element" is hard to beat - wooden and prosaic. Not poetic at all. You could have put the idea in all sorts of lyrical ways. Your way is lumpen and tone-deaf.

(c) "Plenty of tea". Just about sums it up the whole experience.

I say all this to make the points, which I doubt that you'll take, that: (1) You are not a poet and, on this showing, never will be as you have no ear, no imagination and no recognisable poetic expression (2) It follows, therefore, that to constantly refer back to this rubbish as an answer to, or as a defence of criticisms of your particular views, is pointless.

But why am I taking the trouble to write this - you won't listen anyway...

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 06:37 AM

As for the tennis-elbow remark, I actually spent most of my time in class reading various history books, novels and other stuff. Of course this bugged quite a few teachers, but I was lucky with several of them, who were happy that I was expanding my mind on my own account, just as long as I passed exams.
Still don't have a formal degree and not sure when I will, would be nice, but other, more important things popped up.
What I said had nothing to do with pedantry, as you are purposefully avoiding my question. Why do you still have dual citizenship.

Irony is a very significant English character. You can find it in most books, songs, TV and movies!!

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: GUEST,Woody
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 06:32 AM

Sadly mandotim... Guardian Oct 2007

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 06:16 AM

I have spent a good deal of my life in Lancashire too (and now live 5 miles from Buxton), and have never come across this curious turn of phrase.

Indeed if you google "I'll go to Buxton" lancashire the only 2 hits are from this thread!

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: mandotim
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 05:56 AM

Dear WalkaboutsVerse of Australia; regarding the comment 'I'll go to Buxton'. You state 'Believe it or not Mandotim of Lancashire, I have heard it from a few elderly folk from thereabouts...besides, our Pip just used it!'
Well, since you're giving me the option, no, I don't believe it, I think you've just made it up. It doesn't correspond with my observation of life in Lancashire over the past fifty years or so. How long did you live in Lancashire, exactly? I would need an authoritative source, preferably an academic study, before even considering your assertion. I'd also like to know which Lancashire dialect you are referring to, as there are many, each with their own idioms.
The reason for this distrust is your long and undistinguished track record of unsubstantiated assertions, almost all of which have been conclusively demonstrated to be both academically worthless and just plain wrong. Try building some credibility, then people might just listen to what you have to say.
I'm beginning to wonder whether you are an Australian; most Australians (and English people) are ok with irony. Pip was being ironic. Are you sure you're not American? You're certainly not English.

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 05:35 AM

Ooh, that is one of my favourite poems. Look forward to hearing that.

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 05:04 AM

(and why not leave yours on a few more days?)

The traditional way is to forget about these things the following day; Myspace is good for this because you can do just that. So my Cob a Coaling was up between Hallowe'en and Bonfire Night, and right now I'm in the process of uploading my version of Peter Bellamy's setting of Kipling's Ford o' Kabul River, which I'll take down after the 11th of November.

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 05:00 AM

Last time I checked they don't issue an ENGLISH passport, so you wouldn't be pedantic, only delusional. Why do you keep your Australian citizenship? I've asked you this question several times, and you have avoided it. I actually do know several immigrants to Israel who have given up their previous citizenship as a matter of choice and principle.

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 04:49 AM

I checked and was told anyone who is an Aus. cit. has to enter/re-enter on an Aus. passport, even if only VISITING.

Hopefully for the last time, why don't you give up your dual nationality?

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 04:14 AM

That's not funny, Don - whether I'm good or bad at it, the tenor-recorder/English flute (along with the violin/Italian fiddle) certainly is one of the best intruments for mimicking the human voice.

Jack - I, too, have enjoyed LISTENING to, but never performing/practising, some reggae over the years.

Volgadon - did you ever get tennis-elbow in class, during your school years?!..if I were that pedantic, I wouldn't have a British passport either, because I'm an ENGLISH nationalist...I at least try, rather, to be a realist. And Pip, hopefully for the last time, I checked and was told anyone who is an Aus. cit. has to enter/re-enter on an Aus. passport, even if only VISITING.

Believe it or not Mandotim of Lancashire, I have heard it from a few elderly folk from thereabouts...besides, our Pip just used it!

Thanks Stu...but there's no Dutch/double Dutch for "tea"?

Thanks IB - I'll check both those links shortly (and why not leave yours on a few more days?).

Smokey - on the day trip in question, I did indeed escape some wet weather by wetting my palette with tea, rather than beer or mead - which I've only ever found at the above-mentioned Cumberland Arms.

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Stu
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 03:28 AM

"think the majority of Derbyshire is gritstone, not limestone, but there is limestone near Buxton"

There's a large amount of limestone in the southern Peak District ( the White Peak), and to the south of Buxton are a number of large aggregate quarries still busy extracting it. The wagons loaded with limestone are frequently encountered on the roads around the town. Try taking the A6 from Buxton to Bakewell to see the dramatic effects of this industry.

Arbor Low stone circle is made up of limestone, and the reefs make the distinctive hill scenery.

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 10:18 PM

WaV, your Buxton poem is just a list of stuff... but I have to admire the sentiment of the last line. Mind you, just how 'English' tea is is a moot point, isn't it? I hope you don't mean that herbal muck... Incidentally, just to be unnecessarily pedantic, I think the majority of Derbyshire is gritstone, not limestone, but there is limestone near Buxton. I don't know how good it is for making statues.

EC - "Oh Smokey, I'm so sorry...proud Buxton falls under the pen...we will remember!"

Don't thee worry, we can look after us sens. I've often wondered about some sort of culturally defensive alliance between Derbys, Yorks and Lancs though.. I suppose we could include Northumbria if they promise to try and talk English :-)

Capt, Birdseye - "let this be a warning to all tea drinkers,you will end up inspired,you could produce such poetic gems. "

It's never happened to me, and I've drunk enough to rehydrate the Sahara.. I think the use of the word 'tea' in this context is probably just poetic licence - after all, 'beer' doesn't rhyme, any fool can see that. No, the whole intrinsic structure of the piece, not to mention the underlying metaphor, is dependent on that last syllable; it would be sheer nonsense without it.

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 07:31 PM

IB, your Cob-a-Coaling is genuinely unsettling (in a good way). Comparing it with WAV's wouldn't be fair.

when one of those singers is the truly Godlike Louis Killen, you know you're in good company!

Louis Killen? Bloody hellWell, I'll go to Buxton!

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 07:13 PM

as a dual national, I must VISIT Aus. with an Aus. passport.

And, as a British national, you could visit Australia with a British passport. What's the problem? (And what is this thread STILL doing above the line?)

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 06:31 PM

Boroughs? Jesus, am I the merry one... That should, of course, be Burroughs. Never Mudcat when you're pissed!

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 05:49 PM

Fun with on-line translators, eh? Well, here's English to Dutch, Dutch to French, French to Italian, and Italian back to English, just about...

L' water of mineral, Gebladerte-geklede sink, groen-Gras on the slopes, goes them of the limestone, Klei-betegelde to them arcades, l' afbaarden of duidelijk-glas, of the columns vormen-Ijzer, Stained-glass of the maximal ones, puts to the earth the tuin-urnen of garden, in wood inlegsels, the ground in a crossing, the roads of the stone, and, has had between the corridors, to fight l' element, d' abundance of the.

Removing the non-English words we get:

water of mineral,
on the slopes,
goes them of the limestone,
to them arcades of the columns
Stained-glass of the maximal ones,
puts to the earth the of garden,
in wood the ground in a crossing,
the roads of the stone, and has had
between the corridors, to fight of the

Which reads like a wonky translation of an Oxyrhynchus Papyrus fragment, but embodies random imagery a good deal more potent than the orginal. I particularly like Stained-glass of the maximal ones. Boroughs would have loved on-line translation engines...

Forgive me, but the obligatory Bonfire Night merlot is rather moreish..

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 05:33 PM

I think they're confusing my Cob-a-Coaling with yours, Wavy - which I still reckon has a certain naive charm by the way. See this thread for the additional verses by the way. Next year's version...

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: s&r
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 05:28 PM

In the interests of intelligibility I translated the above'verse' into Dutch and out again (Double Dutch)

Mineral water, Gebladerte-geklede wells, groen-Gras on the slopes, the valleys of limestone, Klei-betegelde arcades, the afbaarden of duidelijk-glas, the columns of vormen-Ijzer, Stained-glass ceilings, earth garden urns, wooden inlegsels, ground in a cross, the ways of the pebble, and, had between paces, fight the element of, abundance of tea.

Makes more sense and scans better

Stu

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 05:20 PM

Maybe he misheard go boil your head.

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: mandotim
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 05:18 PM

While we're at it; I've known the song 'Cob Coaling' since I was three years old, when I learned it from my Great Aunt Agnes. It sounded nothing like your version. It was in English, for a start, it had a recognizable melody, it was in 3/4 time, and it sounded quite pleasant. You claim to have worked the song out for yourself; try again.
Tim

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: s&r
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 05:17 PM

It's occasionally used by people who're going to, e.g., Buxton.

Stu

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: mandotim
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 05:09 PM

Go to Buxton? I'm a Lancastrian. I've never heard this expression anywhere. Your sources, please.
Tim

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 04:16 PM

Cob a Coaling? In the bush? A fascinating prospect, Wavy - but I doubt whinging pom-brats blacking-up would have gone down at all well with the Aborigines, but the Aussie Tradition is full of such traditional transferences, such as The Derby Ram, so who knows?

We used to sing many of these verses round the streets as nippers, and I've tried to get some of that wildness into recording I made for my forthcoming Naked Season album (Sloow Tapes, Belgium) an edited version of which has been playing on my Myspace page these past few days (and will be removed tomorrow morning, along with the squibs that fell in our backyard through the night). This is accompanied in the Traditional Manner by appropriate Rough Music, in respect of hurdy-gurdy, drum, bells, goat (sic), and suchlike mayhem & hullaballoo which is entirely consistent with the English Ceremonial Tradition; as was, as is, as will be...

Not a patch on the version sung in The Cumberland Arms on Saturday Night though, a masterful performance by Lancastrian Keith Blackburn in fine old style - ten verses at least; a calling-on song with any amount of unsavoury characters. This was at Joe Crane's legendary Come-All-Ye; ten singers and twenty students crammed into a backroom with a constant through-put of lively punters heading to the upstairs venue. A real testing ground for singers and songs alike, but when one of those singers is the truly Godlike Louis Killen, you know you're in good company!

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 03:43 PM

But why don't you give up your dual citizenship? That is what you have yet to answer.

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Don Firth
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 03:29 PM

". . . via mimicking my voice with my English flute."

I don't follow this. You mean you took your "English flute" and drilled new holes between the holes it came with?

Don Firth

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 03:24 PM

Got it.

The tune Wavy had in mind for his Buxton song was Peter Tosh's "Get Up, Stand Up".

Subject: RE: England's National Musical-Instrument?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 03:08 PM

Volgadon - hopefully for the last time, no: as a dual national, I must VISIT Aus. with an Aus. passport.
Traditionally, by the way, when a Lancastrian was in disbelief, they may say "Go to Buxton!"
Also, for only a few more days, you may hear a seasonal song from thereabouts (Lancashire/Yorkshire) on myspace: "Cob a Coaling", which I learnt from the family of a just-above critic, but for which I can't find the dots and have only just worked them out myself, via mimicking my voice with my English flute.