Thursday, November 26, 2009

Lunch

. . . is nearly ready. And , yes, it includes green bean casserole (as discussed in the comments over at Pond Parleys) because my father-in-law likes it! DD has already announced her intention not to eat it! I'd like it better without the fried onions on top. Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving tradition

A housemate of mine introduced me to this many years ago - the New England Thanksgiving tradition of listening to Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Catchphrases (2)


  1. "Ooh, Betty!" - Frank Spencer (Michael Crawford) in Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
  2. "I didn't get where I am today by . . . " - The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
  3. "Get down Shep!" - John Noakes on Blue Peter
  4. "You're gonna like this - not a lot, but you're gonna like it! " - Paul Daniels, magician
  5. "Good game, good game", "Nice to see you, to see you nice", "Didn't they do well?", and when memory fails say "Cuddly toy!" - Bruce Forsyth on the Generation Game
  6. "Ooh, you are awful! But I like you!" - Dick Emery
  7. "Boom boom!" - Basil Brush
  8. "Rassen-frassen" - Muttley in the cartoon Wacky Races
  9. "Can you tell what it is yet?" - Rolf Harris
  10. "What do you think of it so far?" - Morecombe and Wise (I think their answer was always "Rubbish!")
  11. "You dancin'?" "You askin'?" "I'm askin''" "I'm dancin'" - The Liver Birds
  12. "And now for something completely different..." "I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition!" "This is an ex-parrot!" - Monty Python's Flying Circus





Sunday, November 22, 2009

Catchphrases

Some more phrases from my TV watching past.
  1. "I didn't get where I am today by . . . "
  2. "Ooh, Betty!"
  3. "Get down Shep!"
  4. "You're gonna like this - not a lot, but you're gonna like it! "
  5. "Good game, good game", "Nice to see you, to see you nice", "Didn't they do well?", and when memory fails say "Cuddly toy!"
  6. "Ooh, you are awful! But I like you!"
  7. "Boom boom!"
  8. "Rassen-frassen"
  9. "Can you tell what it is yet?"
  10. "What do you think of it so far?"
  11. "You dancin'?" "You askin'?" "I'm askin''" "I'm dancin'"
  12. "And now for something completely different..." "I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition!" "This is an ex-parrot!"

Friday, November 20, 2009

Phrases remembered (2)


  1. "Stupid boy!" - Captain Mainwaring in Dad's Army
  2. "It's good night from me" " And it's goodnight from him" - The Two Ronnies
  3. "Que?" ("He's from Barcelona") and "Don't mention the war!" - Fawlty Towers
  4. ''You've all done very well'' (in a quavery voice), “It’ll ride up with wear”, "Are you free?" "I'm free!" - Are You Being Served?
  5. "May your God go with you" - Dave Allen
  6. "I've started so I'll finish" - Magnus Magnussen on Mastermind (Did you know he wasn't British? Lived in Britain most of his life but never took British citizenship.)
  7. "Evening all!" - Dixon of Dock Green
  8. "Exterminate!", "It’s bigger on the inside!" - Dr Who
  9. "Shut that door!" - Larry Grayson
  10. “Just like that” - Tommy Cooper
  11. “Gissa job” - Yosser Hughes in Alan Beasdale's Boys from the Black Stuff
  12. “42″ - is the answer to the ultimate question in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which was a radio show before it became a book, computer game, comic book and TV show.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Phrases remembered . . .

. . . from TV shows:
  1. "Stupid boy!"
  2. "It's good night from me" " And it's goodnight from him"
  3. "Que?" ("He's from Barcelona") and "Don't mention the war!"
  4. ''You've all done very well'' (in a quavery voice), “It’ll ride up with wear”, "Are you free?" "I'm free!"
  5. "May your God go with you"
  6. "I've started so I'll finish"
  7. "Evening all!"
  8. "Exterminate!", "It’s bigger on the inside!"
  9. "Shut that door!"
  10. “Just like that”
  11. “Gissa job”
  12. “42″
More to come . . .

Monday, November 16, 2009

Bill and Ben and Little Weed

Answers to Saturday's questions:

1. "Little weeed!" - Bill and Ben, the flowerpot men (1950's and 60's)



2. The Woodentops and their Spotty Dog. While Daddy Woodentop was busy doing 'men’s work', Mummy Woodentop was busy in the kitchen with assistance from Mrs Scrubbit. (1950's and 60's)



3. This (American) one from the 1960's was in color - but I mostly remember Stingray in black and white.



4. "Hugh, Pugh, Barney, McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grub!" The firemen in Trumpton.



5. "A house. With a door. One. Two. Three. Four." Playschool.



6. The Clangers.
(No soup dragon in this episode though.)



7.
"Making good use of the things that we find, things that the everyday folks leave behind." The Wombles - who went big time with a hit record and a movie!



Sunday, November 15, 2009

Vision On!

One of my favourite TV shows as a kid:



Tony Hart and Rolf "Can you see what it is yet?" Harris both made art look so easy!



"Jim fixed it for me!" - another cultural reference that DH doesn't get!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

The real Magic Roundabout

Lynneguist posted about Sesame Street and other kids' TV shows this week and started me thinking. She commented that "From the Flower Pot Men to Clangers to the Teletubbies, there are many British children's television characters who don't speak in discernible language." Hmm - I'd not really thought of that as a cultural difference before, but I suppose perhaps it is. I'm sure American kids like Trixie's "Aggle flaggle" in the book Knuffle Bunny though*, and incomprehensible language does provide parents with the opportunity to discuss the philosophy of language with their children. Yeah, right! [sarcasm] Of course I used Teletubbies as an opportunity to introduce my kids to the philosophy of language! [/sarcasm]

One of the things about living other than where I grew up is not being able to use catch phrases from TV shows or share memories of the strange shows I grew up with. I remember Listen With Mother ("Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin!") on the radio in the afternoons, and Watch With Mother which was a time slot rather than a specific show on TV.

The Magic Roundabout
was on right before the 6 o'clock news. In our house (when I was little at least) as soon as it ended, it was time to go and get ready for bed.

This appears to be an entire episode, except where's Zebedee saying "Goodnight! Time for bed!" Was that not in every show after all? And what is with that awful music?


I can't imagine why as a kid I thought this was interesting. Looking through the videos on YouTube, I'm amazed how bad so many of the the kids' TV shows were! I remember bits and pieces of a few of them.

Can you name the shows that go with these memories?
  1. "Little weeeeed!"
  2. Spotty Dog (who walked in a really weird way).
  3. "Anything can happen in the next half hour!"
  4. "Hugh, Pugh, Barney, McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grub!"
  5. "A house. With a door. One. Two. Three. Four."
  6. The soup dragon
  7. "Making good use of the things that we find, things that the everyday folks leave behind."
I think I've arranged them in roughly chronological order, though my memory may very well be faulty. 1 & 2 are the definitely the oldest - I think they debuted even before my time, in the 1950's. (Answers in a couple of days.)

*My favorite phrase from Mo Willems' Knuffle Bunny is not "aggle flaggle" but "going boneless" to describe a toddler who does not want to be picked up!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Plugs (and cobblers)

When I was growing up in the UK, pretty much everything that needed to be plugged in to work was sold without a plug on the end of the cord. This was because there were different plugs used in different parts of the country. At 11 or 12 years old we were taught in science class how to rewire a plug safely. Even when I went to university in the early '80s, the hall of residence where I lived had round-pin plugs rather than the flat-pin ones which are now the standard. There was a thriving trade by the Junior Common Room in reselling plugs from the previous year's graduates to the first years. Nowadays I think it is much more common to buy things with plugs attached. I got very good at rewiring those plugs every time I moved back and forth from home to uni!

I had a summer job here in the US one year where we put new plugs on lamps for college dorm rooms. (The previous year's students having vandalized the lamps.) Each packet with a new plug carried the warning "Only to be installed by a licensed electrician!" It really wasn't that difficult attaching the new plugs!

I recently needed a new plug for my iron. The cord near the plug was getting rather hot, and obviously the wires inside were damaged and a fire hazard. I couldn't simply remove the plug, shorten the wire and reattach the plug because the plug was (by design) fused to the cord. This is common over here. So I needed to buy a new plug, but couldn't find one anywhere. Fortunately, we do have in our town a man who will do small repairs like this. I think it cost me about $8 - far better than replacing my $90 Rowenta iron! Right next door to the electrical repair shop is an actual, honest-to-goodness, cobbler's. The cobbler's is not quite so cheap. $20 to resole a $20 pair of shoes is not worth it to me, though I will happily pay that to get another season out of a $100+ pair of boots. Sadly, both are run by older gentlemen and it looks as though when they finally decide they're ready to retire both will close for good. (The cobbler's store is run by an immigrant from eastern Europe who must now be in his 80's and his son who's in his 60's. The electrician commented that some of the materials he needs for repairs are simply no longer available!)

One of the advantages of the American plugs is that they are a lot smaller than the British ones. Some even only have two prongs instead of three. If you are travelling with a British device that needs to be plugged in, the plug itself is pretty bulky. The plug below is brilliant! I hope they manage to bring it to market!

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Shoot your own turkey


It must be nearly Thanksgiving! Apparently the turkey shooting is more organized than I thought - I had visions of people just wandering out into the woods to look for turkeys.
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