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It was Mrs DT’s birthday on Monday, and obviously we couldn’t go out and celebrate, so all I could do is buy some champagne and order a take-a-way.

For a laugh I suggested that if we dress up in some nice clothes and eat our take-a-way in the kitchen, we could pretend that we were at a fancy restaurant.

At around 6pm I phone the order through for it to be collected, then went upstairs and put on some nice informal eveningwear ( nice jeans, smart shoes and shirt etc) then with a splash of aftershave I make my way out to go and get the food.

As I’m walking up the village street towards the take-a-way, I notice a guy walking towards me who I recognised. I don’t know him personally but I’ve seen him around in a few of the local pubs. He was wearing a 2 piece suit, complete with tie and was carrying a Tesco’s supermarket bag that smelt suspiciously of Indian food.

I reckon he had same thought as me :)
 
Small amusing one..I sat down in the living room last Friday evening and my Mother was watching Bradley & co on "The Chase". Not being a massive fan I picked up my phone and fired up the Tweetbot app to browse Twitter - not 20 seconds later I hear Bradley Walsh ask the question something like "What online service is the app Tweetbot used for?" ..gave me a bit of a smile at least.
 
Just off the phone to a friend who lives in Brazil.

A couple of years back, suffering from insomnia, he strolled onto his balcony at 3am for a cigarette.
On the road below him, a speeding car hit a curb, skied over a low wall, and ended up plonked onto the beach.
Two teenagers got out, seemingly drunk, and stumbled off into the darkness.

What are the odds of him having witnessed that?

Two days ago, he went onto his balcony for a smoke.
Relaxing in his chair, he remained undisturbed...with his town in lockdown there was barely any traffic, hardly any pedestrians, just a bit of birdsong to adjoin his inhalation.

But right in front of his eyes, the only two cars on the road for quite some some time, connived to crash into each other at a T Junction.

Beware of my friend and his balcony!
 
Sounds like a dangerous intersection. Are there usually more accidents there than other nearby places, or do accidents only happen there in conjunction with an insomniac witness and at the witching hour of 3 am?
 
Just off the phone to a friend who lives in Brazil.

A couple of years back, suffering from insomnia, he strolled onto his balcony at 3am for a cigarette.
On the road below him, a speeding car hit a curb, skied over a low wall, and ended up plonked onto the beach.
Two teenagers got out, seemingly drunk, and stumbled off into the darkness.

What are the odds of him having witnessed that?

Two days ago, he went onto his balcony for a smoke.
Relaxing in his chair, he remained undisturbed...with his town in lockdown there was barely any traffic, hardly any pedestrians, just a bit of birdsong to adjoin his inhalation.

But right in front of his eyes, the only two cars on the road for quite some some time, connived to crash into each other at a T Junction.

Beware of my friend and his balcony!

He needs to give up smoking, it’s dangerous.

maximus otter
 
Just off the phone to a friend who lives in Brazil.

A couple of years back, suffering from insomnia, he strolled onto his balcony at 3am for a cigarette.
On the road below him, a speeding car hit a curb, skied over a low wall, and ended up plonked onto the beach.
Two teenagers got out, seemingly drunk, and stumbled off into the darkness.

What are the odds of him having witnessed that?

Two days ago, he went onto his balcony for a smoke.
Relaxing in his chair, he remained undisturbed...with his town in lockdown there was barely any traffic, hardly any pedestrians, just a bit of birdsong to adjoin his inhalation.

But right in front of his eyes, the only two cars on the road for quite some some time, connived to crash into each other at a T Junction.

Beware of my friend and his balcony!
Is he in the habit of walking around naked by any chance ?
 
Is he in the habit of walking around naked by any chance ?
In the mid 70's there was a succession of crashes at a busy but small roundabout near where I worked. All happened within a few weeks and there had never been a problem before. The Police couldn't fathom it out. The last crash was bad and the driver finally confessed that he had been distracted by a young lady on one of the upper storeys of a glass fronted office block just off the roundabout who was apparently in the habit of wearing very very short skirts. The accident was the last one , so presumably the girl (who was then suspected of being the cause of the accidents) was moved or asked to wear something less attractive.
 
Son No 2 was out on his bike for state-mandated exercise on Friday, when he texted me to say he'd seen a snake. He was down on the River Exe estuary, near a pub called Turf Locks (for those of you who know the area!) and it was by the path. He considered stopping to take a picture but it was already moving away as he passed. He later identified it as a smooth snake - apparently the rarest one in the UK - and was pretty excited to have spotted any kind of snake in the wild round here.

Fast forward to yesterday, when once again he was out on his bike, and I got another text to say he has just seen a snake. However, this was a dead one on the road at Starcross; an adder this time, as he recognised the pattern on the head. Snakes - they're like buses. You wait for ages, and then you see two, one after another...
 
I had one, about 10 / 12 years ago that was a little odd.

I dreamt that I was in my early teenage years, and was hanging out with a boyhood friend called Marc. Marc’s parents were quite badly off, and as a consequence Marc was dressed in little more than rags most of the time, and he tended to be light fingered in shops and markets, but we had a great laugh together due to the scrapes he would get us into.

I awoke from the dream feeling a little sad that I hadn’t seen a lot of my childhood mates for such a long time, and spent a few hours reminiscing about my growing up years.

The next day I received a phone call from my Brother, who told me that according to Facebook, Marc had died from Cancer, I don’t go onto Facebook, so made a few calls and it was true, Marc had passed away – he would only have been in his late 30’s FFS.

Very coincidental that I dreamt about a childhood friend, and then get told the next day he had died.

Odder still, about 2 or 3 days after my Brothers phone call, I was walking past a house which was having its carpets refitted. The carpet fitter was none other than Marc’s youngest brother. It was the first time I had seen him in over 25 years.

Obviously I gave my condolences, and Marc’s brother got a little tearful, but we a good chat about Marc and the old days, and he said it made him feel a bit better – glad I was there to help a little.

Strange old world sometimes.
 
Over the last few breakfasts, I've been watching Tales From The Loop on Amazon Prime.

Just finished episode 6 - Parallel, in which the security guard Gaddis at The Loop jumps into an alternate dimension and meets himself. There's some quite intriguing interaction and dialogue between the two Gaddisses (actor Ato Essandoh playing the dual-role).

When the episode finished, I switched back to normal TV - and did a double-take, when I saw the closing scenes from another "Tales" programme.
It was the Tales of the Unexpected episode "Heir Presumptuous", featuring interaction and dialogue between two identical characters (the late singer David Cassidy playing the dual-role).
 
A coincidence not for me, but for my BOC lorry driver who had discovered his grandfather (Frank) used to work at my college in the early 70's - could I find out any details ? I asked the Head Librarian/Archivist and she reported back that not much was known about Frank because he only worked at the college for a couple of year as the Dean's chauffeur - and the Dean rarely used the School run-a-round.
HOWEVER Frank's wife, the legendary Peg, worked at my place for years as the tea-lady. She'd wheel her trolley through the research labs dispensing tea to the benches and never quite grasped the idea that not all white powders were sugar. Peg retired the same day as the Dean in 1974 and the whip-round for her was ten times more than for him.
My lorry driver didn't have a clue about his grandmother's past. The look on his face - brilliant.
 
I've just read this corker in an old copy of Focus Magazine :

On 5 December 1664, a ship with 82 on board sank in the Menai Strait. One man survived: Hugh Williams. On 5 December 1785 another ship sank in the Menai Strait, with a man named Hugh Williams as the sole survivor. In 1820, another ship sank there on 5 December. Of the 25 passengers, the only survivor was .... Hugh Williams.

http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2012/07/the-unsinkable-hugh-williams-truth-behind-the-legend/
 
My history lecturer used to set the Early History questions for Mastermind. He'd tell us the questions and the answers every week so we could impress our families with our historical knowledge!
 
Two nights ago I had a nascent sleep paralysis episode (in as much as my brain saw it coming in enough time to head it off by waking me up just before the real fun began!), which started out with me bumping into a bunch of old colleagues from my previous job at the local Magistrates Court, most of whom I haven't seen or heard from in about 8 years. This re-union quickly turned into an angry mob chasing me, and when they caught me, began to slide into the usual SP alien abduction motif. At which point I woke up.

This morning, on my 2nd day of phased return to work, who should I see but one of those very same former colleagues!

So far no angry mobs or little grey beings, though...

I have just taken to cycling to work, and the most convenient (not the shortest, but the flatest and safest (being 90% cycle paths) route takes me right past the rear entrance to the court building, so perhaps not so strange a coincidence afterall.

Maybe I'll set off early on morning, see if I can catch up ;)
 
We were cycling through the woods. I asked my wife, who rode in front:
If you see any mushrooms, tell me please.
And at that same moment I saw two Russula mushrooms.
Encouraged we drove on and I said:
If you see a bolete, tell me. I might take it for my mother.
And in that same moment I saw a bolete mushroom.
All were old and unfit for consumption. But they were the only ones I saw during our trip. 20200731_132444.jpg
20200731_132507.jpg
 
Not particularly weird, but it did make me say "oh wow! Check this out"

Over meals during lockdown, we've got used to having old series playing on the TV in the background. We've done just about every Poirot (remember to pause it before the final denouement to see if you guessed right) and then started on comedy. Been through every Fawlty Towers and recently started on Are You Being Served (can never have enough of Mrs Slocombe's pussy...).
We'd watched one of the later episodes where, in the men's department, Mr Tebbs (James Hayter) was replaced by Mr Goldstein (Alfie Bass).
When it finished, we started channel-hopping, to find a movie to watch.
One of the movie channels that specialises in older movies (Talking Pictures TV?), was part-way through showing the 1967 "A Challenge for Robin Hood".
I did a double take, on recognising Mr Tebb's unmistakable deep voice, except it was Friar Tuck. Then, Mr Goldstein hove into view:

tuck.JPG
 
Only a small coincidence but the other night I had a dream about three cats and couldn't work out the significance of 3.
Today the cousin doing the family history emailed to say that the family crest has 3 stars.
 
I'd had a stressful few days as my son kept on at me about updating my TV package and going on about extra channels and stuff. I'd stopped listening but he kept coming up with lots of reasons for why I should. I was getting well fed up of the nagging.

Then he said he's ordered a new box ...WTF? .. how did he manage that he doesn't have access to my BT account? Said he'd ordered it in his name and then when it came he'd talk me through installing it in my name. I was geting really stressed out at his high handedness and the thought that I'd lose all my saved programmes like what happened last time I'd changed the BT box. Son kept telling me I was fussing unnecessarilly and that he was sure it could be sorted.

Things came to a head this morning when he rang to say it was on it's way, kept giving me updates as to it's current whereabouts and suggested he could come round to install it for me while wearing a mask and I made myself scarce! Bloody hell it was all getting out of hand I said 'no' and that I wanted to think about it first.

Delivery blokey come to the door and said 'BT delivery?' I took the parcel in and it wasn't until I was wiping it down that I realised it was an odd shape for a BT box ..... looked tv shaped to me. Rang son and said they'd delivered the wrong box and could he contact them at once to come back for it,

'Are you sure have you opened it yet?'

'Of course I haven't it's the wrong box. BT isn't on it anywhere!' He said he'd come round but I was getting agitated thinking about the delivery blokes and was getting well stressed out with his stubborness!

So grinning behind his black mask son turns up .. to get even more earache from me!

'You still haven't got it yet have you?'

'Well I've got that you are an arrogant git and I don't think it's funny!

'When did I say I'd ordered a BT box? You assumed and I didn't correct you!! I wanted it to be a surprise that it's a new TV ie a google box!!!

So lessons to be learnt ... don't go with my first assumptions and then make everything else fit, I'd even heard delivery bloke say BT when it was TV. Son had told no lies crafty git,

Anyway that wasn't the minor strangeness I'm coming to that! Sorry for the long preamble I wanted to try and convey how very,very cross I was getting!

Son left and I put on the TV to watch a gardening programme and was so amazed at the quality of the picture that I paused it and rushed to l let my son know how pleased I was! Blimey! Hadn't realised my old one was that bad!

Carried on with the programme and the first item was the gardener planting up a:-

box as a surprise for his mum!!!

That bit of minor strangeness/coincidence would have been neat anyway but all the more special after the preceeding stress! Thankyou universe!

Sollywos x
 
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