28 not out
I made my 28th consecutive Christmas Eve ascent of Moel Famau earlier today, accompanied by Carolyn, her sprogs, her niece, her niece's mum, and two dogs.
It pissed down for the first 5 minutes of our walk, then the sun came out and it was all rather glorious. Am I a jammy git or what?
(As I've said before, you will stop me if this becomes boring, won't you?)
See also:
Lending a whole new meaning to the word ‘personality’
Vicky Who?… George WHO?
Compare and contrast
BBC (02-Dec-2015): Prince Harry speaks out against wildlife slaughter
Prince Harry speaks of his frustration at the slaughter of elephants and rhinos, as photographs documenting his conservation work in Africa are released.
Guardian (31-Oct-2007): Prince Harry quizzed by police about shooting of rare birds
Prince Harry and a close friend have been interviewed by police after two rare and legally protected birds of prey were killed on the royal family's Sandringham estate in Norfolk last week… Sources have told the Guardian that the prince and his friend were the only people known to be out shooting on the estate last Wednesday evening, and were quickly identified to Norfolk police by the Prince of Wales's staff. It is understood both men were interviewed in person, but have denied any involvement in the incident.
(M)On geese
My kid sister this evening on the Facebook:
Watching a documentary & wondering why the plural of mongoose is mongooses & not mongeese. Anybody know?
Me on the Facebook:
The word mongoose is derived from the Marathi word mangūs. Etymologically speaking, it has no connection with the English word goose, which is derived from the Old English word gōs, which was itself derived from the Old Norse word gās, which was itself derived from the Latin word anser, which was itself derived from the Ancient Greek word chēn. Did they teach you nothing at school?
Potted nonsense
Long-term readers of Gruts might remember my occasional references to Mr Frank Key's implausibly eccentric website, Hooting Yard.
If so, they might be interested to learn that Mr Key has a new book out, entitled Mr Key's Shorter Potted Brief, Brief Lives.
I review it here.
An ideal stocking-filler.
UN-communicative
Just who the hell do the people at GMail think they are, marking as spam an email sent to me entitled ‘An important message from the United Nations’?
This is outrageous. I am seriously considering writing to Ban Ki-moon. The only thing that prevents me is the realisation that the people at GMail would no doubt mark my email as spam. They've got us over a barrel, basically.
This is how wars get started.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
Which bit of ‘No comebacks, Phil. They're not dignified’ didn't I make clear?
Memory bank
Things my bank expects me to remember when using their machines/online banking facilities:
- Account No
- Sort Code
- Bank card PIN
- Internet Banking ID
- Internet Banking Password
- Answer to ridiculously obscure security question 1
- Answer to ridiculously obscure security question 2
- Answer to ridiculously obscure security question 3
- Answer to ridiculously obscure security question 4
- Special Visa password for purchasing stuff online
- Mobile app password
- Security key fob PIN
- Where I put the bloody security key fob.
And I mustn't write any of these things down anywhere, because that wouldn't be secure.
But it's OK, because they've now simplified matters by allowing me (or anyone else in possession of my card) to buy stuff simply by waving my card at some detector by the checkout.