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Wiltshire Warrior Dragon

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Posts posted by Wiltshire Warrior Dragon

  1. From my initial introduction to TGG in the early 1960s, Wigan -v- St Helens, Challenge Cup, 2nd round, at Central Park, on Saturday, 27th February, 1965.  A great contest before over 39,000.  Only one try, when Brian McTigue slipped a gem of a short pass to Roy Evans who galloped about 45 yards to touch down under the sticks.  7-2 to Wigan who went on to beat Workington Town, Swinton and Hunslet to take the cup.

    Nowadays, I very rarely get to see live games, so from more recent times, the gem has to be seeing Les Dracs beat Warrington at Wembley in the 2018 cup final.  There was a moment, well into the second half, when yet more Wire pressure led to a kick on the last dropping down just under the Catalans' posts.  Remi Casty jumped and took it cleanly and with an amazing look of determination on his face, which I will never forget.  I knew then that we would win.

    A highlight before the match had been in a bar near the Wembley ground where a middle-aged Wire supporter, looked at me in my Dracs' replica shirt of about two seasons before and said, very deliberately, "Do-you-speak-English?"  "Yes, I do, thanks", I said in my best Queen's English, and we had an amicable conversation about why a Brit would support a French team.  When I pointed out that, in my youth, I had been an out-and-out cherry-and-whites' fan, I think she thought Catalans Dragons was something of an improvement on that!

    • Like 1
  2. I don't usually watch the NRL, so will concentrate on the two SL matches, but, due to other commitments, may well end up watching both later on Good Friday.

    Incidentally, one of the Stanley family once said that there are only two sporting fixtures which can properly be described as 'derbies'.  One is the famous horse race in this country; the other is St Helens -v- Wigan at rugby league.  By his reasoning, I suppose Hull FC -v- Hull KR is a game of great local rivalry, but not a 'derby'!

  3. 8 hours ago, Irish Saint said:

    For reasons unknown. Good Friday ain't a holiday over here. It's the Monday and Tuesday. 

    One of those games looks like a blow-out so i shall pass on the Hull derby.

    Where is 'here', Irish Saint?  I ask because your profile details indicate you are in Belfast and the UK government seems to think that Northern Ireland has a bank holiday on Good Friday!  Here's the link:

    UK bank holidays - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

  4. Despite the grey, dank weather down here, Spring does seem to be arriving.

    In a brief, more sunny moment yesterday, a song thrush at the top of a tall tree in next door's garden was going through its stunning repertoire - guaranteed to uplift the human spirit!

    In Hampshire, in the space of a week, reports of an occasional solo sand martin (usually the first of the hirondine species to be reported back here) have given way to counts of 8 to 20 of them together.

    The chiffchaffs are apparently back in full voice, though I haven't myself heard that yet.

  5. On 14/03/2024 at 16:03, Padge said:

    Are magpies taking over the world, we have four regularly in the front garden, used to see the odd one. Now noticed everywhere we go magpies are around.

    I think the correct answer is probably 'No', Padge.  I think their numbers can fluctuate and it is easy to not be too keen on them, because we risk being sentimental about their aggressive scavenging of other birds' nests, for instance.

    As the children's song implies, they can be seen in quite large groups and I suppose heading into the breeding season, but before they have all paired up, is probably a typical time for that.

     

  6. Just now, unapologetic pedant said:

    I'll have to revisit Instant Sunshine. Perhaps their oeuvre was jaundiced by the "interlude" status. Seemed a tacit invitation to put the kettle on. Like a drum solo.

    As I recall (so could be completely wrong!), they also recorded an introductory tune for Money Box, the BBC Radio 4 programme.  That programme is extant, but the signature tune, sadly, isn't.

  7. On 08/03/2024 at 13:53, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

    Sad, but ultimately inevitable, news from Winchester.  Winnie, the female star of the cathedral's peregrine webcams, has been found dead.  Her first mate, called Chester (of course!), predeceased her about two years ago and she had mated with a younger male.  A younger female had been noted early this year and was aggressive towards Winnie, who has clearly come out second best.  It is assumed and hoped that this younger female will now mate with the male; he was given the name William when he arrived on the scene, so what price she is called Kate!

    Winnie was thought to be about 15, which I understand is a good age for a peregrine falcon.  She had successfully helped to rear 27 chicks.  Peregrines usually lay three eggs, sometimes four and very rarely five.  If more than three are laid, the last chick to hatch will often starve, as it is pushed out by its bigger, slightly older siblings.  However, the other year, Winnie and her partner amazingly successfully got all five of that year's chicks to the fledging stage - a fantastic achievement.

    My flippant suggestion that, with a resident male called William, the new female would be called Kate, has, I am pleased to report, proven unfounded.  She is to be called Mel.  Here is the explanation from the cathedral's website:

    "Mel is named after Melesina Trench (1768 –1827), Irish writer, diarist, poet and social campaigner who’s Latin epitaph is still visible opposite the North Transept today"

    So now you know!

     

  8. On 12/03/2024 at 21:35, unapologetic pedant said:

    It's struck me that in previous decades I might well have been one of the more prolific posters on this thread. I seem to have bucked the trend, listening to progressively less Radio 4 as I've got older. Covid put the final kibosh on several aural habits. Eighties was the high water mark.

    Stop the Week with Robert Robinson was a regular accompaniment on Saturday nights whilst preparing to head out. Acid House and Stop the Week were not necessarily all that incongruous a mix. Just like the sixties hippy entrepreneurial cadre, many of the organizing movers and shakers in the 80s Dance Music scene came from similar backgrounds to the STW contributors.

    Mr. Robinson was famously not unconscious of his wide erudition, making him and the programme a favourite Feedback target for the type of earthy Guardianista snobs who also wanted rid of Thought for the Day.

    One correspondent berated Laurie Taylor, Ann Leslie, and the rest for continually interrupting Mr. Robinson's 35-minute monologues. Another sent a tape of a song he'd written, entitled "Stop the Robert Robinson". Theme being that anyone wishing to stop the week had to first stop the Robert Robinson.

    For all the strictures, and the middle-class dinner party tenor, I always enjoyed STW. Only real sticking-point was the musical interlude from Instant Sunshine, a quasi Liberal Assembly Glee Club outfit, once dubbed "singing dentists" by John Peel (I think they were doctors).

    Differences in social and cultural outlook were not as heavily politicised as today. People holding contrasting viewpoints could gently chew the cud without ad hominem rancour.

    For the record, I was a Guardian reader myself back then. Sometimes wonder what the likes of Hugo Young would make of the current obnoxious crop.

    A great post, UP, and I am with you in almost all the tone and content.

    Like one or two others, I would be more sympathetic to Instant Sunshine, and, as has been noted, not all were doctors.

    Miles Kington was also the 'inventor' (or at least chronicler) of Franglais, prompting some to, of course, dub him Kilometers Kington, which in terms of alliteration is - er - miles better!

    For me, ploughing a career in the public and third sectors, the Guardian was de rigeur reading, at least on Wednesdays when all the relevant jobs were advertised to a pre-internet audience.  By happy coincidence, that was also the day of Hugo Young's column.

    I recall once saying to somebody that there were two or three journalists, whose regular columns were a brilliant lesson in how to construct a well structured piece of written English.  Hugo Young was one; Hugh McIlvanney was another and he also translated this outstanding skill to TV documentaries too.

    • Like 1
  9. I seem to be settling into a routine of watching three SL games a week rather than the previous offer of two.  An attractive fixture on another source might increase that to four on occasional weekends.  That fourth one might be on The Sportsman (as it was on Sunday for the Post Office Road clash which I watched) or one of the televised French Elite 1 games.

    So, I suppose that I am now watching more than before.  To be honest, I have too much else that I want, or need, to do to watch more than that.  I also sense I have a limit to how much rugby league I want to watch; three games usually suffices. 

    • Like 2
  10. 48 minutes ago, tiffers said:

    Maybe he had the other angle on one of his 7 cameras that no longer see in the live broadcast.

    Either way, his foot is very likely to be in touch and the video ref made his call.

    Despite whether decisions are right or wrong on the field, Derek has to realise that he is representing the game and has significant influence on the people in and around his club and community. Behaving as he did last night does nothing to promote RL in a positive light. It does a lot to undermine it. It damages it's image and promotes toxicity around the RFL, referees (name your culprit).

    He has a responsibility to that end. If he feels as he should, there are places and forums for that discussion to happen in. It shouldn't be on twitter. It's the classic "them Vs us" that gets your followers on side and to hell with the consequences.

    I had assumed that when we hear the video ref call for a particular camera, we are seeing exactly and all of what he is seeing, hence my surprise at no request for a side view.  I think potentially all the cameras can be shown on our TV screens.

    I wholly agree with you that there is absolutely no justification for the subsequent Beaumont rant.  Bernard Guasch was rightly fined when he lashed out verbally after, I think, the GF defeat against St Helens.  So consistency dictates the same for Beaumont.

     

  11. 9 hours ago, Chrispmartha said:

    Hanley had his foot in touch, his hand in touch and dropped the ball.

    You may well be right.  However, as an armchair viewer a couple of hundred miles away, I was surprised that the video ref didn't ask for anything from the side to determine whether the player's foot was raised.  From the head on view, I, for one, couldn't tell whether his foot was or was not raised and I don't think either my eyesight or my telly are that bad!

  12. Sad, but ultimately inevitable, news from Winchester.  Winnie, the female star of the cathedral's peregrine webcams, has been found dead.  Her first mate, called Chester (of course!), predeceased her about two years ago and she had mated with a younger male.  A younger female had been noted early this year and was aggressive towards Winnie, who has clearly come out second best.  It is assumed and hoped that this younger female will now mate with the male; he was given the name William when he arrived on the scene, so what price she is called Kate!

    Winnie was thought to be about 15, which I understand is a good age for a peregrine falcon.  She had successfully helped to rear 27 chicks.  Peregrines usually lay three eggs, sometimes four and very rarely five.  If more than three are laid, the last chick to hatch will often starve, as it is pushed out by its bigger, slightly older siblings.  However, the other year, Winnie and her partner amazingly successfully got all five of that year's chicks to the fledging stage - a fantastic achievement.

    • Like 3
  13. Can I thank Dave T, Worzel, Harry Stottle et al for the very civilised way in which they are making their points on this thread?  It's good to be reminded of two things.  First, quite complex and nuanced points can be put forward, dissected by others and debated in well constructed contributions.  And second - and arguably even more importantly - we are being reminded that it is perfectly possible to disagree, but do so in a constructive and friendly tone.

    Thanks guys!

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    • Thanks 3
  14. I understand that languages develop and change over time.  However, I do feel that where two words have related, but definitely different, meanings, we should not be so lazy or stupid that we assume them to be interchangeable. 

    The BBC (of all people), in at least some of their reports, are stating that tonight's Southampton -v- Preston North End soccer match has been 'cancelled' due to a major fire at an industrial unit next to the football ground.

    No it hasn't; it's been postponed.

    • Like 2
  15. 5 hours ago, JonM said:

    Curlews and oystercatchers hanging out by one of the smaller waterfalls at lunchtime. Also a couple of pheasants sat on one of my drystone walls, mouse building a nest inside the wall, and various small birds darting about with bits of moss and so on. Lots of lambs starting to appear, although the first of those were in January. Spring is here.

    Great post, JonM, which makes me unbelievably jealous!

    Since my job-enforced move south almost thirty years ago, the single sound which I miss the most from the Dales is of the wonderful burbling call of curlews in spring.

  16. 'Speaking about building a new stadium, he said: "Trafford Park is where the industrial revolution began.." '

    Mmm, an interesting claim by Sir Jim - and utter nonsense I would suggest.  The industrialisation of Trafford Park dates from the closing years of the 19th century.  If Sir Jim thinks nothing of industrial significance had happened before then, maybe he ought to enrol on a GCSE history course!

  17. 12 minutes ago, Kayakman said:

    Towhees, which sound just like their name when they sing...I don't know if you have them over there.

    I'm not sure if you have the grey catbird over there but it does, indeed, sound exactly like a meowing cat....fun to listen to.

    Interesting post, Kayakman, for which thanks.

    No, we don't have either over here.  Looking at pictures of towhees, they look like the type of bird we would call a bunting, with specific species including the corn bunting, snow bunting and very rare cirl bunting.

    We do, however, have one bird that can sound like a distant cat and that is one of our larger birds of prey, the buzzard.  As they circle overhead, they often call to each other.  Indeed, birdwatchers tend to describe their call as 'mewing'.

  18. I have seen the first reports of calling chiffchaffs in Hampshire this year.  The reporters of them seem to think they will be birds that have just migrated here, but why they conclude that I have no idea.  Apparently, nowadays, an increasing number of this species never bother migrating south in the autumn.

    Talking of chiffchaffs, I wonder how many other birds have a common, or local dialect, name based on their call.  I can think of curlew, kittiwake and the various informal names for lapwings. Peewits is quite widespread, I think, but I have also seen reference to (but never heard in use) tewits (in the East Riding) and tuets (in Airedale), while my Aberdonian mum called them teuchits, the 'ch' being pronounced in the soft, gutteral way as in the more well known Scots word 'loch'.  Teuchit appears in the text of the 'bothy ballad' MacGinty's meal-and-ale, 

    MacGinty's Meal-And-Ale (mysongbook.de)

    Any more examples of avian name onomatopoeia?

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