Apologies to all.
We are still dealing with the aftermath of the weekend's flood at Munguin Towers.
You will be relieved to know that Munguin is fine (and dry) and is looking forward to seeing Nicola Sturgeon tomorrow night (although the private dinner will have to be in her hotel room, unless she fancies soggy foie gras!).
Tris is somewhat worn out having spent the last few days emptying buckets, drying wet towels and falling over dehumidifiers, including in the middle of the night. Such is the life of one of Munguin's underlings and all for the minimum wage in Burkina Faso.
Anyway, we were amused by Alex Salmond's reaction to being blown up in Lewes last night.
Incidentally, does anyone know why we have bonfire night in Scotland. It wasn't anything to do with us, unless you count the King, which we shared with the English at the time... and he would have been no loss to us, or them.
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We are still dealing with the aftermath of the weekend's flood at Munguin Towers.
You will be relieved to know that Munguin is fine (and dry) and is looking forward to seeing Nicola Sturgeon tomorrow night (although the private dinner will have to be in her hotel room, unless she fancies soggy foie gras!).
Tris is somewhat worn out having spent the last few days emptying buckets, drying wet towels and falling over dehumidifiers, including in the middle of the night. Such is the life of one of Munguin's underlings and all for the minimum wage in Burkina Faso.
Anyway, we were amused by Alex Salmond's reaction to being blown up in Lewes last night.
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Entirely separately, we thought you might enjoy this... Munguin says he's going to employ this dog for Tris, seeing as he always leaves his cell, wallet and keys when he goes out and has to come back for them...
Nice to see so many MPs turned up in the Commons to debate a living wage for ordinary people. Clearly there is no need for them to worry about a living wage. Some people have to live on less than their food allowance. Obviously it is a subject that interests MPs greatly.
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| Here, they are talking about something that matters to them... THEIR wage. |
Haste ye back, you'll be missed.
ReplyDeleteAs for bonfire night, I think it's a continuation of that, old worn out, anti catholic shite.
You'd have thought people would've stopped religious bigotry by now.
I'm not religious, so I don't understand it (the bigotry), but I suspect some of the bigots aren't either; they are just idiots.
No, Jim, I'm not going anywhere.
DeleteJust apologising for the erratic posting.
Ah... the good old sectarian thing? Probably that's it, but it seems strange to me that a foreign country foils a plot to blow up their parliament and we have to go on celebrating it here for hundreds of years.
I see, talking of sectarian, that Jim has said that he will abolish the football sectarian legislation.
OK. Has someone told him that in Scotland we have a parliament. In the unlikely event of Labour being in power, the system is set up so that it is almost impossible to get an over all majority, so "he" will be in coalition with someone. Once upon a time the Liberals were the obvious choice, but they are few and far between these days and not likely to change any time soon. He'll have to get a partner to agree.
I expect they would have to go into coalition with the Tories to get that through. There's a good game plan for a party in Scotland.
I like to think of it as Samhain or part of Halloween and nothing to do with Guy Fawkes. I can think of a few people that would do as effigies but I think that should be left to the local organizers.
DeleteI have a motto... if at first you don;t succeed.
DeleteAnyway, yes, it all seems to be pretty much tied up with the Halloween thing adn we have become part of the English thing of Bonfire night and Guy Fawkes, although we were doing all this as Celtic tradition anyway.
Lesson for you here, Tris, don't let your butler and au pair go on holiday at the same time. Perhaps you could ask Sophia to come and help you out?
ReplyDeleteMunguin assures me that the under butler and his deputy can cope quite well.
DeleteSophia? Now that's a thought. She was always good on the stairs, wasn't she?
We'll get the deputy downstairs maid to give her a call.
Greetings from the other side of the world...It is confirmed, Alex Salmond is planning to wreck havoc in Westminster. He has shot the first salvo via the Lewes bonfire reaction comment. This keeps getting better and better :) Greetings from the other side of the world...It is confirmed, Alex Salmond is planning to wreck havoc in Westminster. He has shot the first salvo via the Lewes bonfire reaction comment. This keeps getting better and better :)
ReplyDeleteAnd sorry about the flooding. Weather here is also haywire. Our bout of flooding happened more or less two weeks ago. Luckily I was on higher ground and escaped it.
DeleteThanks so much for your good wishes... It was actually a central heating pipe rather than bad weather, but we thought it was something else for two days.
DeleteSo we weren't treating the cause of the water...
Malaysia had bad flooding? Are you in Kuala Lumpur?
And yes, Eck is epic when it comes to turning things around... and it does keep getting better and better. Who would have thought losing could be so much fun...?
No I am in Kedah (a Northerner first, above all :P ). We had some bizarre rainfall last two weeks. Almost non-stop raining for a few days. Kuala Lumpur to me now is almost as good as London to you. Totally forgot they had some flash floods yesterday. Must be really heavy downpour. KL rain is something.
DeleteA fellow northerner. :)
DeleteWe rarely get that kind of weather. When it rains heavily it is usually only for a short time. I'm pretty sure if it rained for any length of time, we'd all have flooded houses. I've seen tropical rain a few times. It's actually quite scary with its power.
Stay as dry as you can .. :)
Sorry about the flood, nothing quite like it is there, mind we used to have a dehumidifier running all the time in our flat in Edinburgh, according to the builder we had a condensation problem, yes probably because we were on the ground floor on a bog. Suggestion that we left windows open were not a good idea.
ReplyDeleteHektor says he is happy that Muguin is safe, nothing should happen to the boss my boss says.
Loved the bit about the dog and lost and found, we are travelling to Amsterdam again next year so will keep an eye out but hope I do not require the service, though it would be fun.
The photo's of Westminster are just the icing on the cake, why on earth do people think it was a good idea to keep that lot. They should have been dumped on the 19th September.
Well the worst is over Helena... Thanks
DeleteTell Hektor not to worry.... Munguin is always all right... Munguin makes sure of that.
He's just getting spruced up for tonight....
Tell him he is already well spruced, Hektor always admires the dinner suit.
DeleteHe looked his best. I'll put up a photograph of him in the Caird Hall, where he was much admired...
DeleteAh floods. I remember being woken by a bang around 3am one night. I decided i had just dreamed it, and went back to sleep.
ReplyDeleteIt was a pleasant surprise when i went into the kitchen for my cuppa before work, to find my ceiling had collapsed. The upstairs neighbour had a malfunction of their washing machine. Lovely memories. :-)
I've hardly spelt for most of the week, Jutie.
DeleteEvery little noise makes me think....argh and bonfire night was the worst...
But it's over now thank goodness.
My two wee Pugs got drenched when my upstairs neighbour decided to do something about their squeaky floorboards, we came home from the beer festival to the ceiling down and wet patches down the hall and in the bathroom. We were okay, they on the other hand we over £4,000 down because he pierced the central heating pipe and they had a heck of a job finding it.
DeleteWere down, not we,,,,,,,,
DeleteI'm hoping that damage will be covered by insurance... but the gas and electricity used to try to dry the place out won;t be...
DeleteI bet it won't, and that is the trouble Mind it isn't like our car which got clobbered many years ago by our neighbours roof, act of god, and me not believing in that deity. That car was made with metal from the Titanic, when I last saw it there were more bashes on it.
DeleteOh shame about the flood Tris.
ReplyDeleteI live in a flat that overlooks Edinburgh, way too high for floods but sympathise with you having had my toilet flooded by the flat above me twice in three weeks. Water cause a lot of damage .
I trust Munguin has insurance .
Soggy foie gras - YUK.
As for wee Eck . He is a shining star compared to the black hole of WM . Can't wait for the Tory's or Labour begging for a coalition with 50 SNP seats.
Independence is certain , only a matter of time.
Hey Mr Duncan... How are you?
DeleteAt least it was clean(ish) water from the heating/water system in our case.
Fortunately it won't cost Munguin a bean, except in try to heat the place and dehumidify it.
Yes, Eck is a star.
Off to see Nicola tonight so hopefully we will get some pics and be able to tell you guys a bit about her vision for Scotland...
Independence within ten years? yeah?
Growing up in Leith, I am not sure that the Guy Fawkes thingy was as widespread as it is now. If I remember correctly bonfires were lit on "Victoria day" not 5th November, as a celebration of the late Queen.
ReplyDeleteI think that the universality of the GF "celebration" is a sad indication of how Scotland has lost many of its features, the other one at this time of year being Halloween, where pumpkins were unknown and the good old tumshie (turnip) was hollowed out for a lantern.
Ah yes, What ever happened to Victoria day? (Not that I hold with celebrating royalty, but a day off is always welcome!
Delete... how on earth could you hollow out a neep....?
Tris it is the Edinburgh holiday round the 20th May or there about. Don't know if people still get it but one of the few Public Holidays most people got left with. I must admit as a Portobello Lassie I do not remember bonfires then. We used to have the normal one on the 5th November.
DeleteThey still have the holiday, Helena? The just don't call it Victoria day?
DeleteWas sort of hoping we could call is republic day soon.
DeleteBonfire is a pagan ritual = Samhain, end of the Harvest normally celebrated end of October or halfway between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice. There are 4 seasonal pagan rituals the best known being Beltane. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain
ReplyDeleteThanks...It seems that we just attached it to an English thing....
DeleteI think we got landed with it, cultural imperialism. Never very sure if the Americans got Halloween of us and have sent it back.
DeleteSeems to be pretty Celtic in origin, Helena:
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
Tris
ReplyDeleteSharp knife. Cut off top, bore out some of the flesh, bore holes which will be needed to take the string with which you will carry the lantern. Bore out the flesh from the main part of the neep. Sharp knife to cut out two eyes, a nose and a mouth. Hollow out a base for your candle. Light candle and away you go, swinging merrily.
Use the bored out bits to make cream of turnip soup and garnish it with fried tatties, onions and haggis (just a spoonful per bowl). Uses up the leftovers.
Deletebjsalba
DeleteI was only interested in the tumshie/ neep as a lantern, and left the fleshy bits for my mother to use, which I think she did.
You'd need a really sharp knife then, Anon, and a fair bit of strength for that. I thought I remembered my dad making them out of turnips when I was little.
DeleteThat soup sounds absolutely fantastic. So much so I'm gonna try to make it. I love neeps and with tatties and onions and a bit of haggis... mmmmmm Just the job!
I am definitely going to try that soup, I have a vegetarian haggis in the freezer and was thinking of making Scotch Eggs with quails eggs with it, but would have enough over to go with the soup.
DeleteSorry aboot your wee flood, hope things get back to normal asap AYE
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your date with Nicola, I'm sure it'll be smashing AYE
That's M. I'm fed up of the smell of wet plaster... and the hum of dehumidifiers. Another two litres of water in one of them this afternoon!
DeleteNicola was awesome!
Sorry to hear of your burst not pleasant but at least you will of enjoyed the your evening with Nicola and the other 2,299 people there tonight.
ReplyDeleteIt was an amazing turnout, CH. And a brilliant night. Packet to the rafters...
DeleteMore of which later.
Nicola was inspiring and ..wow ... what a performer. Can she handle a crowd.
So I saw.
DeleteDo you know anyone able to do livestream from Dundee tris as they are looking for someone.
http://www.independencelive.net
I think there were 2000 people there. The place was rocking. I'll write a little about it tomorrow.
DeleteI don't know what it would involve, CH, but to be honest I'm not sure that I know anyone who has any kind of skills in recording or broadcasting.
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ReplyDeleteBack in the bad old days when I actually was a librarian, I worked in a newly opened branch that had six flats above it. In the first week there were a lot of snagging problems and the alarm system kept going off in the middle of the night, and yours truly had to get out of bed to deal with it.
ReplyDeleteBut that was nothing compared to the first Monday back...
I was off on that Saturday, and the kids had a field day with the inexperienced staff, generally running riot, but most importantly stuffing the public toilet with paper towels.
Remember the six flats above? Imagine a weekends worth of of water usage. Washing machines, baths, dishwater and most disgustingly, human waste, all meeting a paper towel blockage in the sewer and backing up out of the lowest point it could.
The staff toilet...
Jeeez mate... you make me feel really lucky!!!!
Delete:)
If bon-fires were pagan festivals I'll bet there was dancing involved.....!!
ReplyDeleteWell that's you out then. You're not allowed the dancing...
Delete