BS: Favourite pressies

Subject: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 27 Dec 20 - 11:25 AM

Nowt particularly folkie for me this year. I do like them all of course but suspect I will get most use out of my new slippers :-) I will likely enjoy wearing my Spiderman hoody most and get most pleasure from using my combination torch/plasma lighter when I can camp once again.

You?

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Raggytash
Date: 27 Dec 20 - 12:12 PM

I got a whisky blending kit as one of my presents from my son.

Together with a pipet and blending jar there are 50ml bottles of Chivas Regal and 50ml bottles of single malts with various notes. One is "creamy" another "Floral" another "Fruity" another "Citrus" and finally "Smokey"

You then make Whisky by blending the various flavours.

I shall have a bit of fun with this.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 Dec 20 - 12:22 PM

Under no circumstances must you blend with Talisker 10, Ardbeg 10 or Laphroaig 10. If I hear that you've been doing that I'll have a constable round to your house with a view to having you arrested...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 27 Dec 20 - 12:29 PM

My nephew and nieces indulged my penchant for puffins, so to add to my my ever-growing flock, I have 2 puffins courting each other under the mistletoe (wooden model), a puffin egg-cup, and a puffin notebook.
My own family gave me, among other things, a Christmas jumper with penguins on it. "We bought you a large size, so you could get it on over your broken arm". (Thinks - "They bought me a large size because I'm getting larger"!)

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Dec 20 - 12:47 PM

I have about 2 inches of Talisker left, and I assure you, it has not been blended with anything (BTW.. Takisker is the only one I care for that has any peat. Lagavulin, Ardbeg...etc. are not to my taste)

One of the best gifts/presents (I don't use colloquialisms...especially right after 'brekkie') was a selection of various scotches where the years added up to my age (55 at the time).

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 27 Dec 20 - 01:20 PM

I told the wife not to buy me any presents..

I've already hit the credit card too hard
for Fuzz boxes and music software,
to cheer myself up during the pandemic..

eff it.. who knows if I'll survive covid...???

.. and retaining some minimal optimism for staying alive long enough..

there's a midi keyboard I'm keeping an eye out for in the new year sales...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 27 Dec 20 - 03:02 PM

Bill, if you don't use colloqialisms, how do you rate "BTW"?

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Dec 20 - 03:34 PM

I got a one of a kind hand made full size classical music quilt from my wife. The border is a complete philharmonic orchestra with about 3,000 players...


Bill when I met you 15 years ago I thought you were 50. rough nite?

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 27 Dec 20 - 03:38 PM

I gave up drinking completely,
so this is the second xmas the wife has not been able to rely
on the easy option
of giving me the special offer reasonable quality malts from Tesco...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Dec 20 - 03:40 PM

Well maybe not 50 Bill but wise beyond your years.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Mrrzy
Date: 27 Dec 20 - 03:41 PM

And I thought this thread was about newspapers...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 27 Dec 20 - 04:28 PM

I got a box of Christmas humbugs from my grandson.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Dec 20 - 05:42 PM

Are they chocolate?

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 27 Dec 20 - 06:04 PM

No, not chocolate - traditional peppermint flavour, striped in two colours, hard boiled with a chewy centre.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Joe_F
Date: 27 Dec 20 - 08:39 PM

My best buddy Jim got Emacs set up on the laptop he had given me, which makes it a lot easier for me to control.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Dec 20 - 10:03 PM

"...how do you rate "BTW"? "

As a acronym. I never thought of it a colloquial.

Don... I'll take 50 as a compliment. I was 65, and up to then I still had decent hair with some color. "Time has made a change in me."
   
I've been lucky to have had very few medical issues and no serious injuries. Wise? Why, sure... 25 years at Mudcat will either make one wiser or tune the brain to oatmeal.. ;>)

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 03:31 AM

I'll get you a dictionary next year Bill :-)

colloquial
/k?'l??kw??l/
adjective
(of language) used in ordinary or familiar conversation; not formal or literary.
'colloquial and everyday language'

Acronym and colloquialism are not mutually exclusive. Rotflmao...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 04:45 AM

If it's an acronym, you would be able to pronounce the initials as a word (Aids, NASA, radar, SIM, UNESCO). Some authorities also define as acronyms those abbreviations that are so familiar that there's no need to spell them out in full as they are always simply spoken as their string of letters (BBC, FBI, KGB), even though you can't actually say them as a word. BTW, WTF and LOL may be very familiar, but you rarely if ever hear them in this form in speech, so they're not acronyms. I have, however, been known to say "rot my flay-o..."

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: gillymor
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 05:38 AM

Last summer I mentioned to my late half-sister's son, a pro guitarist on the left coast, that the neck pickup in my Telecaster had gone dead and that I'd been going Springsteen since, but without the talent, charisma and money. So a few days before Xmas a Rose Bourbon pickup arrived from him, I wired it up on the 26th and I'm starting to think it's the best-sounding pickup I've ever used.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: G-Force
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 06:36 AM

I quite like the gift that came out of my dinner time cracker - a clockwork sprout.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Jos
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 06:40 AM

If I had a husband who referred to me as 'the wife' - like 'the car' or 'the garden' - he wouldn't get a very good present.

(Yes, I know people say 'the children', but if they only had one I doubt they would say 'the son' or 'the daughter'.)

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 06:47 AM

I've had three mates in my life who I've known as "Jos", all three male. I've been misreading you all this time, Jos. I know it shouldn't matter, but, somehow, knowing the gender of the person I'm communicating with...

For a long time here I had the same issue with "Jeri..." Sorry, Jeri... And there's one person here who posts a lot and with who I have many an exchange whose gender I do not know...

Shoot...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: gillymor
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 07:13 AM

and another good one, a book that my wife put on my Kindle, "The World Beneath Their Feet" by Scott Ellsworth about the quest to climb the 8000 meter peaks. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the subject.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Jos
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 07:23 AM

Steve, saying 'If I had a wife ...' doesn't necessarily mean I am female. It could be 'If I was man who referred to his wife as ...', meaning 'I am a man who doesn't ...'.
I prefer to be judged by what I do and say.

[But 'the wife' annoys me as much as 'albeit' does you (and I'm with you on 'yum').]

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 08:48 AM

Yep, you got me there all right, Jos...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 08:51 AM

Also, I suppose it could have meant that you are in a same-sex marriage...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Mrrzy
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 09:53 AM

A pickup [truck] of Rose bourbon is a lot of bourbon.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: gillymor
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 10:00 AM

Yeah, I guess I picked the wrong year to go teetotal.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 10:11 AM

"BTW, WTF and LOL"

I see the point you and DtG {ooops... didn't mean to make him colloquial} are making, but I have always thought of colloquialisms as **words** that are used in local or cultural situations.

   If acronym and colloquialism are not to be considered mutually exclusive, then perhaps there ought to be a 3rd category... or a 4th, since abbreviations need to be considered.

In any case, at my advanced age, this concern about what to call BTW has never arisen before, and it doesn't change the point I was trying to humorously inject about 'brekkie'. (my spell checker just offered to change that to "Trekkie".. a genuine colloquialism)

Somehow, "tempest in a teapot" comes to mind....

Oh.. and by-the-way..Dave the Gnome.. I have 3 dictionaries, WordWeb online and a digital thesaurus called "The Sage", so you needn't bother with a 'pressie' next year.

Onward!

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: gillymor
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 10:28 AM

We're using WTF to abbreviate "Washington Football Team" this season.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 10:45 AM

It's all right, Bill. I just felt I had to get in quickly before Nigel did...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 02:07 PM

Jos - I don't care "the mrs" annoys you..

Petty pompous folks sitting on high horses annoy me...

I grew up in a progressive era of late 70s / early 80s student feminism
when language denoting possessiveness and ownership of women
was discouraged as too regressively antiquated..

So whether you are annoyed or not, I will deliberately refrain as best I can
from lapsing into writing "my wife"...

.. and tough titties if "the mrs" also annoys you...

We were together on our own terms for 20 years before
reluctantly giving-in to social norms by getting married

[for practical legalistic reasons].

.. and we have our own preferred terms of endearment,
which are definitely not socially acceptable as alternatives to "the wife / mrs"...

Yes, we all have to accept uncomfortable compromises when interacting with the outside world..



btw.. happy xmas and a good humoured new year...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Jos
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 02:18 PM

An interest search seems to suggest that, along with World Taekwondo Federation, WTF means 'Wasn't That Funny' - though I am not sure if it is meant as an exclamation at how funny something was, or a shortened version of 'It wasn't all that funny'. Either way, I have been assuming it stood for something else entirely.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Jos
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 02:39 PM

I did consider that there might be an objection to saying 'my wife' on the ground that it signified possession, but then you might feel you couldn't say 'my aunt', 'my cousin', 'my friend', 'my neighbour', 'my doctor', 'my local shop' - any number of people and things that could be thought of as close to you because of their relationship or locality.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 03:06 PM

The only one on that list I care enough about to be 'seriously' bothered how I label them..

.. is the wife...


.. ok.. and until he retired recently "that bastard Dr [name withheld]"

I really did not like him...!!!

I actually never do say "my" to any of the others..

Why would I, I know their names...???

I guess I just don't feel self important enough to claim them all as mine...

Though, maybe next door thinks he 'owns' me
since his planning permission for an extension,
was granted against our most reasonable objections..

..the smug ****...!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 05:28 PM

I coined the term "Mrs Steve" in order to get round all this. I never write "my wife." I might write "the missus."

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 06:07 PM

They can get really annoyed when you can't remember their name.. dunno why...???

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Raggytash
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 06:21 PM

Steve, I'm a tad insulted that you think I would blend a good single malt. The kit doesn't have makes apart from the Chivas Regal which I consider good enough ............. to make hot toddies for cold cures.

The rest are undefined and unnamed apart from floral, fruity, smokey etc.

Personally I think Laphroaig is an acquired taste and I don't have enough time to spend acquiring it when there are so many good Whiskys and Whiskeys about.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 06:24 PM

Thanks Bill. I'll send you summat else colloquial instead then :-D

Is "summat" colloquial or dialect?

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 08:33 PM

I see/hear (closed captions) it on "Last of the Summer Wine", so I'd classify it as dialect first.. and colloquial 2nd. It certainly isn't something I've ever heard in person. 'Summer Wine' is in Yorkshire, and I have no idea how widespread it (summat) is in general.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 08:45 PM

Just thought I'd tell you, Bill, that my sister lives just three miles away from where they filmed Last Of The Summer Wine.

Raggytash, I had every faith in your inability to use the finest Islay/island malts in your experiments. Regard my post as a general threat to the ignorant public at large that they'd better not ruin fine malts, perfect already, in dastardly experiments...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 09:37 PM

Steve.. did she live there at the time it was filmed? Was it a 'thing' locally then?
Our local PBS station has run... and re-run.. the series many times. I think I've seen every episode except several of the hour-long specials.
My wife..(you know.. Mrs. Bill)...re-reads novels. I watch LotSW for comfort in the afternoon often. I've become quite a critic of its development and character choices.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 09:53 PM

My good lady trouble and strife the mrs
was given a DIY Gin making kit
in time for xmas.

Because UK law is a bit strict about home distilling pure alcohol
[even though the copper equipment is quite affordable on amazon],
the kit says to use vodka as the base for adding juniper berries and botanicals..

The instructions insist on using cheapest supermarket own brand vodka,
because expensive vodka would be wasted,
and possibly add unwanted flavouring..

Apparently turning vodka into gin
[beat that then xmas baby Jesus, with your wimpy water into wine amateur conjuring trick]
is a legitimate 'short-cut' method employed by proper artisan gin makers...

At the moment she has two 70cl bottles on the go,
which she reckons taste just as good as a poncy gin bar in Bristol.
Bottles take approx minimum of one week to infuse...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Jos
Date: 29 Dec 20 - 04:21 AM

Did they include any sloes?

On "summat" - rather that than "sumpthing", or even "sumpthink".

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 29 Dec 20 - 06:11 AM

Bill, it was filmed in and around the village of Holmfirth, in the Yorkshire Pennines. There's a Last of the Summer Wine exhibition and a little gift shop, and you can go up the famous steps to Nora Batty's Cottage. Somewhere I have a photo of me (not a video, sadly - or luckily...) playing the harmonica theme tune outside Sid's café (lovely tune, originally played by the harmonica player Harry Pitch). Dunno whether it's changed, but when I was there there was a stuffed Compo inside the café that you could see through the window. It is a real café! It's all quite low-key and tasteful, and Holmfirth hasn't sold its soul to the devil, thankfully. It's actually quite a cultured place. We won't mention the Bamforth saucy postcards that used to emanate therefrom!

The filming stopped about 10 years ago. My sister had been in the area for some time by then.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Raggytash
Date: 29 Dec 20 - 07:08 AM

Last of the Summer Wine was mainly filmed away from Holmfirth for much of its run. The volume of tourists made filming there very difficult. A good deal of the "village" scenes were filmed in Marsden some 8 miles away.

How do I know .............. I know because quite often I couldn't get to the bloody shops because of the bastards blocking the bloody roads.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 29 Dec 20 - 08:15 AM

There was a pub in Marsden where we used to take my mum to lunch. Can't remember its name now but I seem to recall a stream out front... Nice area, but I'm more of a limestone Pennines man meself.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Raggytash
Date: 29 Dec 20 - 08:23 AM

That would probably be either the Swan or the Riverhead Brewery Tap.

The Riverhead opened in 1995 so depending when you went .......

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Raggytash
Date: 29 Dec 20 - 08:29 AM

Just a thought for you Steve as I don't know if this is national but Sainburys are selling Talisker at £25 a bottle, Cardhu as well at the moment.

As I already have 2 bottles of Talisker I bought the Cardhu

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Jos
Date: 29 Dec 20 - 09:26 AM

I rather like Talisker. I might take a look.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Mrrzy
Date: 29 Dec 20 - 10:50 AM

I have only just discovered Last of the summer wine.

Immersion blender! Made eggnog for yesterday's Singaround.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Mrrzy
Date: 29 Dec 20 - 10:52 AM

I forgot to say, I have some airplane bottles of various Irish whiskies, but when I tried to open the Bushmills Black to put into the eggnog, the bottle refused to open. I took that as instructions and switched to dark Meyer's rum.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 29 Dec 20 - 11:02 AM

Talisker - one of my favourites..

But when I decide to give up things, I'm an 'all or nothing' kind of bloke..

I don't know if I'll ever relent and enjoy a drink again,
but I just can't justify the expense..

2 or 3 bottles of malt pissed away,
equals a good piece of music equipment or software
I can keep and use for years [covid permitting..]...


Jos - btw.. the gin kit wifey was given contains a variety of botanicals.
I think makes about ten 70cl bottles of different of distinct flavours.
I can't recall if sloe is included.

The kit is pricey for what it is [equivalent to one decent bottle of malt/rum/gin],
but a good starter if she gets into it as a hobby
and looks for cheaper sources of ingredients...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Jos
Date: 29 Dec 20 - 11:11 AM

She should be able to find sloes for free (but best to avoid the ones growing near a busy road).

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 29 Dec 20 - 11:25 AM

Make sure you only buy the Talisker 10. Both Talisker Storm and Talisker Skye are seriously inferior beasts. A similar thing with Laphroaig: the ten-year-old is lovely and the Quarter Cask is pretty good, but the Select is vastly inferior. I've found on several occasions that you have to be very vigilant if it's one of those shops where the assistant has to fill the box for you at the till. The bottle labels are very similar...

I used to go for Highland Park and Macallan 10, but I'm totally confused by the way both have changed the names on the labels, so, as I don't know what I'm buying, I don't buy them any more. But my absolute favourite is Ardbeg Uigeadail. It's 54.7% but I refuse to water it. My mouth will do that. Ardbeg 10 is a beauty too. I want smoke and I want peat!

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Raggytash
Date: 29 Dec 20 - 11:41 AM

Have you tried Caol Ila, when I tried it a few years ago I thought it was superb.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Dec 20 - 12:29 PM

Steve.. I have seen many of the sites that show filming locations and synopses of plots and even interviews with various cast members. There is even one called "SummerWinos" that intended to be an analytic blog from two guys about every episode. I don't know if they ever finished it, but it stops at season 9.
   People used to comment on various aspects of the plot and characters. I have my opinions on the 'best' periods and characters, but never bother any longer with the last 3 seasons when they introduced "Hobbo" and the plots changed from silly to stupid.

I think I might have quit watching if the addition of Entwhistle hadn't perked it up.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 29 Dec 20 - 12:30 PM

I have and I liked it, but not quite as much as the other island ones I mentioned. I found it slightly one-dimensional. I really ought to try it again...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 29 Dec 20 - 12:34 PM

I really am in the mood for a nice glass of malt right now,
but there's none in the house,
so my self restraint goes unchallenged..

Time to boil the kettle again...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite pressies
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Dec 20 - 12:56 PM

I don't know how I screwed up those links.. the one that is really unclear is a reference to "Summer Winos" Maybe a mod will sort it.

[you left out one > before the name] monitor mod who just happened to look in