Category: miscellaneous

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The Loire

The Loire. Photo hosted at Flickr

The Loire. 
Originally uploaded by graybo.

The Loire between Saumur and Angers, somewhere around Saint Mathurin sur Loire, looking upriver.
Although the river here is several hundred metres across, it is remarkably fast-flowing. That blob on the right was a lump of detritus of some sort, one of many flowing downstream. They often accumulate at bridges and around the islands.

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Doctor Rip Off

I caught the first ten minutes or so of the Doctor Who Christmas special. Was it really necessary to rip off Quatermass and The Pit so much?

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Quiz

As given to our family. No prizes, just the satisfaction of knowing you got some of the questions right. Answers in the comments please. I’ll publish the answers next week somewhen. And remember that you’ll get no satisfaction if you use Google.

REVIEW OF THE YEAR

  1. Name all of the orignal declared candidates for the Tory party leadership.
  2. England won the Ashes series 2-1. Give the results (win, lose or draw for England) in the correct order for all five tests.
  3. Charles Kennedy became a dad during the election campaign. What name did he and his wife give their child?
  4. Lucy d’Abreu, the oldest person in the UK, died this year. How old was she? (just the years!)
  5. Name the other three teams in England’s group for the World Cup.

CHILDREN’S ROUND (easy questions for the kids!)

  1. Name the lion in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
  2. What sport do they play at Hogwarts?
  3. Name Wallace’s favourite cheese.
  4. How many colours of the rainbow are there?
  5. What’s the name of the policeman in Balamory?

CHRISTMAS ROUND

  1. In the Twelve Days of Christmas, what did my true love give to me on the fourth day?
  2. What gifts did the Three Wise Men bring to the infant Jesus?
  3. Charlie Chaplin died on Christmas Day – in which year?
  4. What do you traditionally do at Christmas under Viscum album?
  5. There are three verses in the carol Deck The Halls With Boughs of Holly. How many “la”s are there in total in the whole carol?

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE ROUND

  1. If Doe is a deer, a female deer, what is Te?
  2. If petrol costs 90 pence per litre, how much does it cost for an imperial gallon? (within 5p either way will be considered correct)
  3. In which year was the original King Kong movie made?
  4. According the the Office for National Statistics, what are the number one names for girls and boys born this year?
  5. Name the capital of Pakistan.

TIE-BREAKER: In which year was the last Dodo seen alive? (nearest answer wins).

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Christmas

Last year, my Israeli clients all seemed to make a point of sending me emails on Christmas day, as if to say "Ha! Makes no difference to us!". It’s not a tradition that I wish to see encouraged.
So, having put together our quiz for the family for tomorrow (goodness knows why we have to do this sort of thing – I’d rather eat loads of food and then sit around being bloated than have to entertain people), wrapped all the presents (there were lots – and I only had to do the ones that I’m giving to H, as she has taken care of gifts for everyone else – delegation is the name of the game), stocked up the food and fuel stockpiles in case of unexpected snowdrifts (60% chance of snow on Monday and Tuesday could render Ruralville isolated if the gritters don’t make it out to us on Bank Holidays), we’re now fully prepared for whatever the next few days throws at us.
Expect quiet here for the next few days (though you probably won’t notice much difference from normal) except for automated posting of the quiz here tomorrow (can’t do it today in case the in-laws read it). Whatever you’re celebrating, I hope you have a good time.

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Speelchuck

Note to Microsoft – the correct spelling of Seamus is Seamus, not Shamus. Please update your spellcheckers.
That is all.