I've been trying to think of something French which Skylark could bring back for me, and I've settled on David Ginola.

 

Mr Yogi was watching The Lavender Hill Mob over the weekend - made him chuckle too.

 

Summer, glad you are feeling better.

I know, this picture is very much what Ben looked like as a puppy (I don't have one of him that's as good, he wasn't often still enough to take one)

 

 

Glad you are feeling better today.

Re The Lavender Hill Mob, I've got a box set of Ealing Studio films on DVD. The quality of some of them isn't great as apparently the DVD people transferred some of the films from existing VHS tapes. It's got the best known of the Ealing comedies as well as some of their films which are not obviously Ealing films such as Went the Day Well, Dead of Night, Scott of the Antartic and It always rains on Sunday.

Went the Day Well was released in 1942 and is about a village in England invaded by Nazis. Quite shocking in places and as far removed from comedy as you can get.

Dead of Night was released in 1945 and is a collection of short supernatural films. Outstanding film of its type and some of it is really really scary. Hammer did lots of these portmanteau films in later years, but this far surpasses any of those.

Scott of Antartic - self explanatory - music by Vaughan Williams.

It always rains on Sunday. Crime thriller from 1947. It was followed by 6 sequels called It Always rains on Monday, etc (not really).

 

Trust you, Yogi! David Ginola indeed 

Have seen The  Lavender Hill Mob several times. Ealing comedies were so good , you can easy watch them over and over. 

Lovely pic of what Ben wouldve looked like squiggle x 

This afternoon I listened to the Radio 4 programme "With Great Pleasure". This week it was presented by Cerys Matthews who I have a particular liking for. It's a mixture of poetry read by her and music mainly performed by her. She's chosen items which are personal to her and so it's quite intimate. It's quite a wide range she's chosen, some of it is in Welsh, some in Spanish (she worked there for a time) and some in English. It's very gentle and pleasant. It's on iPlayer for the coming 7 days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/e...sure_Cerys_Matthews/

 

Here's something you won't see often - a recent clip of Cerys leading the London Bulgarian choir in a rousing Welsh song:

 

Will watch the clip later El, got the plug in problem again, will have to restart the computer. 

Have you ever seen Cerys live, El ? 

Aaaw what a cute puppy! Squiggle you must have been completely in love with Ben! I think the only reason we get good pics of bramble is the fact that we have digital technology now, I can take 20 and only get 1 good photo..! Why have I never heard off lavender hill mob?

Lovely puppy, Squiggle, he would melt my heart.

Skylark, what can I say - I'm a sucker for a French accent.

Summer, you are right, it's so much easier with digital cameras nowadays.

Goodnight all, see you tomorrow.

Night owl hugs.

Sweet dreams yogi  

 

G'night all

Good Morning all 

Lovely morning here, the sun is shining    Must be a high pollen count tho, as i have been sneezing my head off since i had the dog out.

Enjoy the day all x 

Good morning everyone

 

Looks as if it will be rain free here today with some patches of blue sky.

 

Skylark, I haven't seen Cerys live. Although she's best known for her pop music and appearing on I'm a Celebrity and The Voice, much of the time she does small scale things and appears at various festivals. Her main interest seems to be international cultural music, traditional songs from Wales and elsewhere, and poetry. Her current project is working with a ballet group to develop a ballet atound her album Tir (which is a collection of Welsh songs). She intends to perform the songs live during the performances.

 

Summer, if you haven't seen The Lavender Hill Mob, it's worth seeing along with the other Ealing comedies  such as Kind Hearts and Coronets, Passport to Pimlico, The Ladykillers (the original with Alex Guiness, not the Coen Brothers remake), and The Man in the White Suit (which is my own favourite).

 

Good morning everyone, it's mizzling out there again but we are promised a dryish day, here's hoping.  Off to M & S to stock up soon, catch you later.

I've returned from a routine 6 monthly dental check up and apart from a scale & polish no problems. Last time my dentist was concerned about the level of plaque and I changed the mouthwash as a result, and this time she said there had been a substantial improvement

Good morning everyone. Cloudy but dry and mild weather today. Hubby has a day off so I'll pop in when I can. xx

Good afternoon a dry & pleasant morning here, hoping it stays dry during lunch so I can eat outside with bramble *looks hopeful at squiggle* El thanks for the recommendations, I will look them up on lovefilm Skylark I hope you're hayfever eases off, the pollen counts have been extra high lately Yogi I hope you & mr y. have a lovely day together

I've just received notification of how much I will get in the next couple of months when my endowment policy matures. I've been able to work out what the annual rate of return has been - just over 4.6% a year. Better than it might have been but well down over what I had hoped for when I started the policy. As you know I paid off my mortgage about a year ago, so the money will go into my savings. I'll also save not having to pay the monthly direct debit.

 

I didn't bring you anything back from M & S Summer (feels guilty now ) but I certainly hope it stays dry while you have your lunch, it's certainly cheered up here now.

 

Lovely news about your endowment policy EL, to be honest 4.6% is not bad considering the interest rates are on the floor and have been for some time.  Nice to have a nest egg tucked away.

 

(Looks hopefully at own nest )  

Yes not a bad rate El, especially these days. Good too about the dentist visit, my goodness is it 6 months already since your last visit! 

 squiggle . That nest looks a bit like mine, practically empty!

Yes hayfever clearing thanks Summer, still got a bit of a headache tho. Have had some antihistamine.  

Have a nice day with hubby Yogi x

Shame it didn't turn out more profitable El, I'm pleased you didn't make a loss though. It must feel great to have no mortgage mr summer & I currently overpay each month, we're on a mission to get it paid off!

That poor hen looks lost without a nest!

Hi Summer, i see you have lovefilm. Son changed his to Netflix, In our opinion, much better and more variety. Depends of course in your choice of films, but for £6 a month a better deal. Have you tried it yourself?

I'm relieved that I will get some return on the premiums I paid for the endowment policy. There have been people who have lost money. Although the rate of 4.6% seems reasonable at interest rates now, interest rates used to be a lot higher during the 70s and 80s and there is no doubt I would have got more by justing putting my premiums in a typical building society account.

 

I know some people have received compensation for missold endowment policies. However for many years I was living with my parents. I decided that I should build up an endowment policy whilst I was living with them rather than taking it out when I started a mortgage. As it was my initiative to go for an endowment policy I knew that I would not be able to make a claim for compensation.

 

Summer, it's good to try to get your morgage paid off ahead of time. My brother is doing the same as you. He's still thinking of moving to a better house in London but has yet to find something which appeals to him. He walks to work, doesn't drive, doesn't want to have to rely on public transport every day, so that limits his choices.

The way we see it el, we're unlikely to retire young, so if we can at least be rid of the mortgage we stand a chance of working part time until we can retire Skylark, how does Netflix work? I could be interested in that, especially if I can watch from my phone or iPad, I only get 2 DVDs per month from love film but I'm struggling to get films watched lately

Skylark, from what I've seen on the Netflix pages, the films seems to be just modern films. Lovefilm has a substantial number of older films as well and as a quick check, all the Ealing comedies I mentioned are available on DVD but not online.

I am basing my comments on Netflix as if I look at the choices shown by category I see only 18 films per category. There may be more than that but I don't see them. But with Lovefilm I can see every film they have to offer.

Summer, just google it and take it from there. There is a large selection of all movies, not just new ones and also you can view TV series, so you dont have to buy boxsets etc. Son watches it from his XBox . Lovefilm was taking money if you didnt watch the film at the time. With Netflix it is a standard rate. I am really impressed with it, TBH, plus it updates itself too. You can have a free month to see if you like it or not, no obligation x

Talking to my son there about Netflix. When you join and put in your bank details etc. You can choose you.re own genre. He has requested the whole selection. Its a quite a large selection. He has scanned it for me.A good selection, but as i say, depends on your own likes and dislikes. 

I'm going to google it and see how it compares skylark, thanks for the suggestion it would be nice to not have to remember to post the DVDs, they sit in my bag for 2 days while I annoy myself every time I pass the postbox having forgotten again 

I have to show you this! 

That has got to be one of the best pics so far, Summer.

 

I'm off to bed , see you tomorrow.

 

Hugs for the night owls.

My heart was all melty yogi I'm Off too, Sweet dreams all

Good morning everyone

 

A lovely photo, Summer

 

It's just started raining here. I think it will be quite a wet day but nothing heavy, nothing like forecast for more northern parts.

 

I saw this song on television yesterday. It's from 1968, and the quality of the graphics isn't great. If you haven't seen it before, there's nothing else quite like it. Clearly made before the Health & Safety rules came into existence,

 

Good morning all a wet start here but the sun is trying to break through now I'm just getting some chores done before I head out on my mission to see the queen, we have a few opportunities today so fingers crossed! Will report back later, have a good day everyone

Summer, I hope you get your wish to see the Queen today and that the weather is OK.

 

Good morning everyone, another horrible wet start to the day.  They have promised us it will be more like summer next week I feel like a kid who's birthday it is, how soon will it get here.  I have my oldest friends coming down on Friday for a spot of lunch on their way to Hope Cove.  She was my chief bridesmaid and we have been friends for over 50 years looks like they're bringing the sunshine with them.

 

Awww Summer my heart was all melty too, that picture!  If that isn't love then what is, bless.

 

EL I am not watching that clip, I saw it on Top Of The Pops and I had enough of that song playing that year to last me a lifetime

Squiggle, it's unlikely I ever heard or saw that song as my parents only ever listened to classical music and I never got to see things like Top of the Pops.

Wiki says:

During live performances and in the black and white promotional television clip, Brown performed the song wearing a burning helmet. The helmet was improvised with a leather skull cap onto which was bolted a metal dish that held lighter fluid or petrol. As the cap was not insulated, the heat from the burning fuel quickly conducted through the fixing bolt to the top of Brown's head, causing him considerable pain.

 

As I thought at the time Arthur Brown is an utter nutter

 Lashing rain here, in a bit of a dash, got an appointment in town