St Landrew

Double standards really isn't it. Perhaps Corden shouldn't stand with his hands in his pockets, as it is [apparently] a sign of being disrespectful. There are plenty of male royals who do the very same thing though. Nodoby admonishes them, do they..? No, they all bow and scrape, and that's about it. Perhaps Patrick Stewart said, on receiving his knighthood... err Maam, your offspring don't 'alf look disrespectful with their hands in their pockets, all the time. You can even see their bellies sometimes... Agreed, Cordon seems an untalented bloke, in the sense that I can't honestly see why he is on TV, but that's my opinion. I also remember some of Patrick Stewart's performances in Films and TV before he became Captain Picard, and he certainly wasn't one the best actors of a [next..?] generation, then. Neither is he now. As I said, all my opinion, of course.

totti

Large

Stu, ultimately, I couldn't give a toss about Cortese. What intrigues me is that he has has made the odd tiny blunder, according to a few Saints fans, and suddenly his worth is somewhere between Hitler and Satan. Get some perspective, peeps. The bloke got his mate to buy your beloved club from extinction. That sort of gives him the benefit of the doubt for a bit longer than 5 minutes. Or is this the way football fans go with their opinions..? Totally black or blissful white, with no grey inbetween..? If that's the case, put your football supporting head away for a few seconds, and think of what all the moaning and sniping adds up to in the grand scheme of things.

[Mr] Underhill

It's really peculiar. Every gesture the club makes is now taken as a negative. Earlier last season, Cortese went out to overnight queueing supporters and asked them if they were all right, and provided them with coffe and sandwiches. He also made the gesture of providing a lifelong season ticket to a new born baby. Those were ok, I suppose, or were they somehow perverted..? Now we have the club's old topsoil being made available. So what..? Well, I can tell, that it is half as good as the old Dell topsoil, it will be superb. In fact, it'll be better than most people would be prepared to pay out for. I do sometimes wonder how many brain cells football supporters were spared at birth.

harmless

But you can lose the whole season if you win nothing in August

I don't know about that .comsaint. Apparently, Audi's are now the new nobbers car. Agreed the Golf would be OK. Volkswagens couldn't possibly be for nobbers. But they might be for happy campers.

twister

Chortle

I read on the Honda VFR forum I go to occasionally, of an old story about a few blokes in Australia, who were driving along a very straight road in the outback. Because there was nobody around, they were bombing along, and not paying 100% attention. Suddenly, out of the bush and onto the road hopped a whole troop of kangaroos, and the blokes swerved but hit one of them. There he lay, in the road, dead. So the guys were a bit mournful, but decided, what the hell, he'd jumped out on them. They pulled the limp kangaroo upright and dragged him over into the shade. Then, just for a laugh, the driver took his jacket off and popped it onto the kangaroo, along with his baseball cap. One passenger got his camera from the glove compartment and set it up to take delayed snaps. They all crowded around the kangaroo, arms over shoulders while grinning at the camera. Meantime, the kangaroo stirred, shook its head, threw off his new friends and hopped away into the bush... ...taking the driver's cap, jacket, wallet and car keys..!

[boo ] lion

[hooray ] Paper

For ages I didn't know why people kept saying simples, when they meant simple. At one point, I asked if I wasn't hearing properly [i do have a touch of tinnitus], and was told the story of the meerkat adverts. I've seen them since. I'm not captivated by them, I have to say.

don't

Yep, been watching a few of these recently. the one you've referred to; the Omaha Beach one during D-Day; one about the Little Ships rescuing soldiers; plus Ships That Built Britain, involving the landing craft. I got a bit chin-wobbly a couple of times. So much depended upon them. Lest we forget.

That might be an offer too good to refuse.

puzzled

Wouldn't mind betting he learned to sail in a sailing dinghy. I always sail a keelboat slightly more off the wind than a sailing dinghy, even though it can probably go tighter, because I feel the dinghy can react much faster than the keelboat. Besides, a keelboat in irons, in busy waters is a bloody dangerous thing. Biggest boat I've taken charge of was 46ft. A 60 footer takes some looking after, unless set up well, I would imagine. As far as sometimes feeling as though you don't know what you're doing, we all get that feeling. I think it's a good idea not to be over confident on the water. I feel trouble is always waiting for those who are too co.cksure of themselves.

I remember, many years ago, when as a kid, I was walking along the line of products in a supermarket, and I noticed that the branded products were hugely more expensive than the non-branded products. Now, I'm no cheap skate, but I fail to see the reason for paying more than is necessary for something. Especially as, if you save the money, it means you can have more money in your pocket to buy something else. The other thing is, I'm not at all sold by someone who has been hired to promote a product, who clearly has nothing to do with it, and wouldn't be seen dead using it anyway. Besides, TV adverts are so sodding obscure these days, I'm not 100% sure I know what they are trying to sell me, half the time. And anyway, I'm just not interested. I'm not interested in having the latest or newest thing, when the item I have is perfectly usable. And another thing, there's a planet out there [i think it's called [i]The Earth[/i]..?] with dwindling resources, which we all conveniently forget about until the news media remind us with some new horror story. God knows what Virgin and SKY make of me, because I just chuck their offers, that come through the door, straight in the shredder. Advertising and Me don't go together.

Well presumably they prey on the gullible and the lazy.

I think you're being overly modest. Hardly limited, is it..?

Funnily enough .comsaint, I picked up a roadkill the other day, while out for a bike ride. Tbh, I've been waiting for the chance. The previous Sunday [not last], we were rolling along in the New Forest, not far from The Cuckoo Inn. Just off the dusty road surface, and into the short undergrowth, stuck out a bundle of something. I was at the head of the four of us, so I thought for a second, then checked and swung around to go back. Three heads turned and I know they were thinking... what the hell is he up to..? Because we all weren't in the best of moods, at that moment. I investigated, and found that it was a beautiful rooster, who had either had his head chopped off, and had run off from a nearby farm [like they are said to do, but pretty unlikely in this case], or had been run down and decapitated. It looked more like the latter, to my mind. Anyway, I checked him and he was still warm, pink and loose in the joints. Being a rooster, he wasn't plump like a hen, but more muscular. Everyone rode up. We took a photo to mark the event and then popped him in the top box inside a shopping bag. The long and short of it is that we plucked it, and drew out the offal [i remember it was still warm inside], and then put it in water to soak for a few days in the fridge. Just the other day we had Coq au Vin, the way it should be done, and it was absolutely bloody excellent. I always feel a bit of a fraud when I pop into a supermarket to pick up some meat. It's so, so easy. I feel quite a bit less so now that I've at least finally administered in the preparation, very shortly after death, of an animal or bird, cooked it and eaten it. Plus we did justice to it, by making a real effort.

Hey, I agree, as you well know, Ponty. The BBC coverage of MotoGP is absolutely average. I was watching Jake Humphries F1 video blog the other day, and someone fielded a question asking when F1 will be transmitted in HD. Jake's answer was that as soon as it becomes available, the BBC will have it. Well guess what..? MotoGP has been in HD over the whole of the World [those countries that can technically accept it] except GB, for well over a year. That's how apathetic they are at the BBC. Anyway, I digress. I came on here to update the progress on Rossi. He's had an operation on his leg and had a metal plate and screws inserted, and is doing well. Mind you, his smile was back, even when he was in the helicopter off to the hospital. he probably thought, oh well, at least now I can get my shoulder seen to. The leg injury is so bad it may take up to 6 months for him to get back at full bone and muscular strength. At 31, fingers crossed he'll still be keen.