I don't think Ted's comment should be taken as questioning the future of this forum.

I wasn't referring to anything Ted had posted, El. I simply meant that people might chose to leave rather than upgrade, which might lead to the demise of the forum as we know it. It's been a lot quieter since BB ended, and I don't think we would survive another mass exodus.

I don't want to be negative, I'm just concerned.

 

I love this place and I'll need to be dragged from here, kicking and screaming.

I agree Yogi, we lost one or two I know over members becoming mods and we could certainly lose some over the VIP thing, we all have different sensitivities.  I think we are being realistic rather than pessimistic EL and it certainly doesn't reflect, in my opinion, on anything Ted has posted.  Gaga have been more than generous to us but as Yogi says it is very quiet and we have to face facts it could well be a step too far for some.

Yogi, if you look at the Happiness Forum another Hoop.la site, it is survivng with 124 members, 52 posts in the last day done by 5 members. Compare that to here where there are a lot more members and at a rough count there have been about 600 posts in the last day. So we are at least 10 times as active as that forum.

 

That has cheered me up, El, thank you.

We'll keep in touch, no matter what happens.

I see that Hoochie has become a VIP. That's encouraging news for those who get involved in the murder mysteries we have here sometimes.

That's a good point EL, Hoochie can start the PM for the murder mystery and everyone can join in as usual.  And it is very good news about the quietness of the other forum.  Having thought about it I think I will pay my fee as soon as I can afford it just to ensure that we have an assured future, doing my bit so to speak.

I saw this and thought of you Yogi

 

Squiggle, I ought to have that on a wall in my house.

You could always try this Yogi

 

http://www.zazzle.co.uk/custom/magnets

I've bookmarked that page, thanks Squiggle.

I'm currently working on the accounts of one of my clients who is a dentist and is Polish. Most of it is in English but she headed one month as Październik. I checked and it is Polish for October.

In this country the months are either named after Roman/Greek gods/goddesses etc so:

Janus, Februa, Mars, Aphrodite (that one's uncertain), Maia, Juno, Julius (Caesar regarding himself as divine), Augustus, then September onwards from the Latin for 7,8,9,10. I think July and August were added which is why the numbers and months don't tie in.

The Polish months are very different.

From January to December the equivalents are styczeń (which means touching - the months on either side), luty (meand cruel or frosty), marzec (that is the same as March), kwiecień (means blossom), maj (same as May), czerwiec (means carmine scale and was the month in which they used to collect the insects to make the carmine dye), lipiec (linden tree), sierpień (sickle), wrzesień (heather), październik (broken hemp/flax stalk), listopad (leaf fall), and grudzień (frozen clod).

 

You learn all sorts of odd things being an accountant

I think I prefer our names for the months.

I think the names, the English versions that is, are quite poetic.

 

These are quite nice

 

The Months

January brings the snow;
Makes our feet and fingers glow.

February brings the rain;
Thaws the frozen pond again.

March brings the wind so cold and chill;
Drives the cattle from the hill.

April brings us sun and showers,
And the pretty wildwood flowers.

May brings grass and leafy trees,
Waving in each gentle breeze.

June brings roses, fresh and fair,
And the cherries ripe and rare.

July brings the greatest heat,
Cloudless skies and dusty street.

August brings the golden grain;
Harvest time is here again.

Mild September brings us more
Fruit and grain, for winter store.

Brown October brings the last
Of ripening gifts, from summer past.

Dull November brings the blast:
Down from the trees the leaves fall fast.

Cold December ends the rhyme
With blazing fires and Christmas time.

Sara Coleridge


The Months

January brings the snow,
makes our feet and fingers glow.

February brings the rain,
Thaws the frozen lake again.

March brings breezes loud and shrill,
stirs the dancing daffodil.

April brings the primrose sweet,
Scatters daises at our feet.

May brings flocks of pretty lambs,
Skipping by their fleecy damns.

June brings tulips, lilies, roses,
Fills the children's hand with posies.

Hot july brings cooling showers,
Apricots and gilly flowers.

August brings the sheaves of corn,
Then the harvest home is borne.

Warm september brings the fruit,
Sportsmen then begin to shoot.

Fresh October brings the pheasents,
Then to gather nuts is pleasent.

Dull November brings the blast,
Then the leaves are whirling fast.

Chill December brings the sleet,
Blazing fire, and Christmas treat.

Sara Coleridge

I'm watching a programme on ITV called "Is Technology Taking Over?" which is asking if our over-dependence on the internet and social media could be detrimental.

Lovely poem, Squiggle.

Yes watched it too  No comment 
Lovely squiggle x 
I should be learning Polish, there are many around here. It sounds very difficult to pick up , they talk very fast!

I had to laugh when they were talking about people getting stressed when they had no internet access.

Watching Emmerdale, and Charity is being a completely heartless, scheming witch. I hope she gets her comeuppance soon.

Cant stand her  Bob was helpful wasnt he 
Oh yikes Debbie,s just got Carl,s parting shot 

Bob was a dumpling, and Jimmy didn't exactly help himself either.

 

Oh oh, looks like Debbie has received the pic of Cameron and Chas.

Re your laundry post squiggle. My son going to a gig tomorrow night and moi forgot to wash his jeans. Shock horror  Will he survive.. i shall let you know..

Oh dear!

Off to do some ironing, or my son will have no uniform for work tomorrow.

Goodnight all.

Goodnight Yogi 

I see lots of complaints about Homefront, which is on now on ITV. I thought too when i saw the ads promoting this series. it was inappropriate for this "drama",when real life was still going on in Afghanistan, to be shown or even made. IMO there is a time and place for these types of programmes. Many families are not happy and i dont blame them tbh. 


I am off too, so goodnight all  

Dobra wszyscy rano 

 

Looks as if it's going to be a dryish but cloudy day and similar for the weekend. I'm not convinced that we will see much sign of the Indian summer they mentioned for the start of next week though apart from being a bit warmer in the south it looks to be cloudy rather than sunny.

 

I didn't spot "Is Technology Taking Over?" though I know office workers seem to be more inclined to send emails and text to each other rather than talk face to face even when they are in the same building.

Isaac Asimov the science fiction writer wrote a few science fiction detective books - Caves of Steel was the first. These were based on the idea of a planet so over-populated that everyone lived indoors never going out and totally dependent on technology but somehow a murder had been committed.

good morning Very foggy here, damp but mild Thanks for your wishes y'day I do feel perkier this morning Squiggle that was a lovely poem!

Good morning everyone. Weather is dark, dismal and raining - what we Scots call dreich. El, it's worrying that perhaps that science fiction book was not so far off the mark I know in my house there have been occasions when one person has been on a laptop, another on an iPad and a third on an iPhone. Although I should add that we were chatting to each other at the same time - good at multi-tasking in my house Skylark, I have purposely avoided the drama Homefront, for the reasons you mentioned - and because I knew Mr Yogi would start ranting when they got important things wrong, as they invariably do Got to finish the ironing this morning as I only ironed son's uniform last night Have a good day everyone, see you later

Who us? Surely not!

 

I am so hoping that Charity is going to fall flat on her face but the scriptwriters (and actors) seem to love these bad characters always coming up trumps.  And what are Megan and Robbie planning to do?  I am so longing for those two to get off my tellybox

Morning 

We had a night of rain here, hopefully thats the last of  it for a few days.
Glad you are feeling better , Summer.
I agree squiggle about Megan and Robbie , its a bit daft staying on when clearly they arent welcome. Dont know where they will take the storyline with those two  
I understand where Mr Yogi is coming from, i stopped watching Casualty and Holby for the same reasons. I found myself shouting at the telly 
Got some shopping and bits and bobs to do. See you all later. Have a good day  

My ironing is done! *does a little jig*

I agree with Skylark and Squiggle about Charity, Megan and Robbie. Why didn't they murder them in the live episode?!

Squiggle, can you remember when my laptop charger was on the blink and I was getting into a right tizzy in case it stopped working completely, before the replacement arrived? I even made contingency arrangements with hubby and son for emergency use of their computer and laptops. Not that I am addicted to the internet, or anything like that.

I haven't watched any of Homefront but it's always risky when television makes a drama out of a current or recent real life event whether it's war or something like the Fred/Rosemary West murders (which you will remember I avoided as it was too close to be able to watch)

 

Yogi, I assure you that you are no more addicted to the internet than the rest of us

Not sure if that's a good thing.

I can Yogi   I first signed onto the internet nearly 13 years ago and now it's hard to imagine life without it.  I was talking about it in church with a friend whose BT internet was down and it's amazing how it affects you, you keep thinking I will just look that up, I will just do that etc and you can't because you can't get online.

That's so true, Squiggle. I'm quite pleased the days of having to look up everything in reference books, phone books etc are long gone.

I do quite a bit of Christmas shopping on the internet too - much less stressful than trailing round shopping centres.

Best of all, when Mr Yogi and I have a debate about something trivial, I can go on the internet and prove him wrong, in an instant!

Went to see a client this morning - she does a small amount of catering. Over coffee I had a fig flapjack (recipe by Nigel Slater). It was very pleasant, not as hard or over-sweet as some ordinary flapjacks.

Recipe is:

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

2. In a large pan melt the butter, sugar and maple syrup. When melted add the oats, sultanas and chopped apricots. Sprinkle over the ground almonds. Stir well.

3. Tip the contents of the pan into a lined baking tray. Press down so the mixture is evenly distributed. Thinly slice the figs and scatter over the top of the mixture.

4. Trickle a little maple syrup over the top and bake for 25-30 minutes

 

There's a short video on the BBC website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/fig_flapjacks_60233

 

Just spent twenty minutes on the phone to Virgin customer service. I told them I was having a problem with marketing calls and I wanted them to stop.

Nice young man suggested adding me to TPS list and I told him we are already registered with them. He then said he would add us to some other list which prevents calls from automated dialling exchanges. I asked if that would prevent calls from VIRGIN, because that's who is making the annoying, marketing calls with special offers we don't want or need, and I have repeatedly asked the callers to remove us from the marketing list!!

It took some time, in between being put on hold and listening to some really loud music (One Direction, I ask you!), and being told we were going to have a little chat, as the problem may take a few minutes to fix. The conversation went something like this:

Him: Are you having a good day?

Me: Not great. (Because I keep getting stupid marketing calls).

Him: What is the weather like?

Me: It's pouring.

I think he then realised that I wasn't in the mood for a chat.

Anyway, that ought to be the end of the marketing calls, or someone will be in for a real ear-bashing.

One good thing, he managed to transfer me to a nice young lady who was able to sort out a wee problem I had with 1471. Instead of telling me the number of the last caller, it told me I was connected to......my own telephone number.All fixed now and working properly.

Rant over.

Yogi, sounds like you felt much as I did the other day when I had those 4 phone calls from people trying to sell me advertising space. By the time the 4th caller rang I got just a little bit fed up with him. Oddly enough I haven't had a similar phone call since.

 

 

I'm not usually so grumpy, El but, on at least seven previous occasions, I asked the marketing callers to remove our number from their list, and they assured me they would do so - they lied!

Now that I am calm again, I do feel a tiny bit sorry for the poor guy who felt the wrath of Yogi.

I hope you continue to be marketing call-free, El.

Oh dear Yogi ! Hope all is sorted now. 
When i have tried to get through to BT about something or another its almost impossible to speak to a human. But they have no problem when they want to talk you into taking a higher package. it annoys me when they phone and say before we can go further just for security can they have my postcode and date of birth. I say no you are phoning me and its your company that supplies the line so it must be me  Or the other marketing beginner, "How are you today" 

Anyway peace in the Skylark household, son is off to his gig, its taken him all day getting ready!