Quote: Ben @ August 29 2013, 6:22 PM BSTBen - and all you others - is not far from the weekend now. Reds particularly so.
Very happy it's Friday. Had a crappy end of week workwise and know Monday will be horrid. Want to spend the weekend doing nothing, but have to go visit family who live far enough away for an overnight visit.
I have just had some fairly disappointing news (work related). Rang my mum. Got a text a couple of minutes ago saying: 'I wish I could give you a big cuddle. I am so proud of you, baby. You have never let me or your dad down.'
Way to make me cry in court. 
Quote: Ben @ August 30 2013, 12:52 PM BSTBen does not understand Roscoff's vicious tongue. And I'm not just talking about his accent.
Shucks! He's so vulnerable. I just want to wrap him in cotton wool and ruffle his lovely hair.
Quote: Jennie @ August 30 2013, 12:54 PM BSTI have just had some fairly disappointing news (work related). Rang my mum. Got a text a couple of minutes ago saying: 'I wish I could give you a big cuddle. I am so proud of you, baby. You have never let me or your dad down.'
Way to make me cry in court.
I had a similar text once from my parents. It read 'What? You're a primary school teacher? What are you some kind of girl? Also, what's with this boy scout incident? Never phone us!
Quote: roscoff @ August 30 2013, 1:00 PM BSTI had a similar text once from my parents. It read 'What? You're a primary school teacher? What are you some kind of girl? Also, what's with this boy scout incident? Never phone us!
Boy primary school teachers are very sexy, it's something about the being good with children thing that appeals to our primal need to seek out an appropriate mate.
I have been doing some research on my granddad's, war record; I think I have identified him in the British Jewry Roll of Honour, a list of Jewish servicemen who fought in the Great War. At least it is the right name and the right regiment; no personnel number and the rank is wrong for the end of the war, but reading the intro they seem to have pulled the information together from all sorts of sources, so that is not perhaps surprising.
The thing is that if this is my granddad, then they got it wrong. Admittedly his name sounds a bit Jewish, but not only was he not of the chosen, he would fly into an absolutely rage if anyone suggested he was. He was fiercely anti-Semitic. (In fairness he had some personal grievances: his dealings with those of a Jewish persuasion had not been happy ones.)
I wonder how he would have felt about it if he knew he was commemorated in this way.
Quote: Tursiops @ August 30 2013, 6:14 PM BSTI have been doing some research on my granddad's, war record; I think I have identified him in the British Jewry Roll of Honour, a list of Jewish servicemen who fought in the Great War. At least it is the right name and the right regiment; no personnel number and the rank is wrong for the end of the war, but reading the intro they seem to have pulled the information together from all sorts of sources, so that is not perhaps surprising.
The thing is that if this is my granddad, then they got it wrong. Admittedly his name sounds a bit Jewish, but not only was he not of the chosen, he would fly into an absolutely rage if anyone suggested he was. He was fiercely anti-Semitic. (In fairness he had some personal grievances: his dealings with those of a Jewish persuasion had not been happy ones.)
I wonder how he would have felt about it if he knew he was commemorated in this way.
It could depend on how competent he felt the authorities were. I've just had a look to see how the roll of honour was produced. It is in a book edited by Michael Adler in 1922. Apparently he was the first Jewish chaplain in HM forces and presumably he was reliant on national records. It is probably to be expected that people then were less questioning of state accuracy but there were all kinds of anomalies. I have seen my grandmother's year of birth described on databases as 1890 and 1891. We had always felt that it was the first and my Mum was so aggravated by the doubts I was raising, she dug out her birth certificate as proof.
In other respects, I feel that there are two ways of considering predecessors' perspectives. One is that they are people who are sort of frozen in time and the other is as if they are fully aware of what is now happening. Certainly anti-semitism was once rife but many individuals would have a different opinion if they were alive today. That applies to a wide range of matters. To date, I have never abstained from voting and for most of my life I bought poppies. A key reason was the familiar argument that relatives had fought for our rights. But I did stop buying poppies when things were done which I knew my uncles who fought in the wars would oppose. I know too that many weren't at all happy with the way they were treated when alive.
Quote: Jennie @ August 30 2013, 1:06 PM BSTBoy primary school teachers are very sexy, it's something about the being good with children thing that appeals to our primal need to seek out an appropriate mate.
Sounds promising. Meet me on Tower Bridge at midnight. I'll be carrying a 1968 copy of the Blue Peter Annual and I'll be wearing a rose between my cheeks. Yes that's right, I said cheeks. Oh, and a pair of these 
Hmmm. Will you be wearing a beige mac, beloved of sex offenders everywhere?
Quote: Jennie @ August 30 2013, 7:58 PM BSTHmmm. Will you be wearing a beige mac, beloved of sex offenders everywhere?
I feel totally insulted I'd never wear beige!
Quote: roscoff @ August 30 2013, 8:33 PM BSTI feel totally insulted
How I love you all - you give me such a laugh when I need it.
It's the place where everybody knows your name, Keewik.
Now home after a week in Roman England. Ha! They didn't manage to vanquish us Picts (some would say they didn't want to).
Awake at 7.30.Dear God!
Anyone getting a next gen console? I am. I am getting a PS4.
Back from that there London to sleepy Yorkshire.
Currently being whinged at by the cats for having the temerity to fetch them back from cattery. Let the buggers stay there next time...