Jasper

Wow, didn't think it was that bad. No senior teams at Hemel now.

Not sure what's happening at Hemel. One one hand Hemel pulled their 'A' team out of the East RL before the season started saying they couldn't raise a squad each week, and now just been told that Hemel Stags 1st team have called off their game at Eastern Rhinos in the Southern Conference League. On the other hand they are revamping their ground and doing a good job there by all accounts. Is today just a blip, anyone know? (Edit - Just to be fair, the RFL site says the game has been postponed and the Rhinos Facebook page says the game has been 'called off.')

Couple of good ones on yesterday. On Tipping Point the question was " What genre of books did John Le Carre write? Were they about Farming, Spying or Sailing?" Contestant, "Well I've never heard of him, but he sounds posh, so I'll guess at Spies." And on Richard Osman's House of Games, question "Which US state is the Devils Tower in, that featured in Close Encounters of the Third Kind?" Contestant "Never heard of Devils Tower or that Close Encounters thing... is it a film or a book or something?"

About 4" of snow has settled here in the village, not sure if it's near enough to London for 'horror of snow and ice' stories in the press though.

Bradley Walsh: "Name the television naturalist the 'RichardAttenborosaurus' dinosaur is named after." Contestant: "Erm... pass." Anne Robinson: "In the Lord's Prayer, what word beginning with 'H' meaning 'blessed' comes before 'be thy name'?" Contestant: (quietly) "Howard." Anne: "Pardon?" Contestant: (louder) "Howard." Ben Shephard: "Between 1991 and 1999, Peter Schmeichel was the goalkeeper for which English football club?" Contestant: "Germany?" Ben: "What day is Christmas Day traditionally celebrated in the UK?" Contestant: "Wednesday." Alexander Armstrong: "Who was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas?" Contestant: "JR."

This is the bit that tickled me, had a quiet giggle ... "The Rafale-B's command ejection system is meant to fire both seats if one of the crew pulls the handle. A very confused pilot, however, was still sitting in his newly canopy-free Rafale wondering what the hell had just happened. He returned to land, conscious all the time that the seat could fire at any moment without warning."

As my old mate, an ex copper says "When I joined we had a police force and a postal service. When I retired, we had a police service and a parcel force."

Really enjoyed it. I downloaded the series and watched one episode a day. It's not often I take a sharp intake of breath at the end of the series, but the last 20 seconds of the last episode made me do just that. Roll on season 2.

This morning on BBC news. The presenter, Naga Munchety, coming to the end of the news bit said " And now over to the weather forecast. Will it be cold enough to build a snowman ….. er snowoman …. I mean snow person" Cut to the weather presenter who said "I think I'd stop digging that hole now." Have we really come to the point where we have to be gender neutral, even about snowmen.

Like you I didn't think much of it for the first few episodes and was going to stop watching, but I stuck with it, and believe me it slowly creeps up on you. Wouldn't miss it now.

Search rugby sound effects - " Rugby union match in progress, crowd reaction with lots of quiet periods. "

Recommend the four part series 'Inside the Commons' from BBC2. Just finished this week but available on I-player. Filmed over the course of a year with unparalleled access to the House of Commons. Interesting and an eye opener as it follows mp's, civil servants and 'ordinary' people who work there. What struck me was how little power individual mp's have unless part of the cabinet/shadow cabinet and how unfit for purpose the house of parliament building is.

After all the hype over this series, I must say I was a bit underwhelmed. Will give it another couple of episodes, but if it doesn't improve ..........

Wow ..... can't say why, but that is one great photo.

Lovelly pic - made me smile.