Forum Topics

Good home for kitten's- for free

let me know if you feel like you want little lovely kitten in your house.

Andzelika Zygarlicka ● 6662d2 Comments ● 6650d

A cock and bull story

A cock and bull storyMeaningA fanciful and unbelievable tale.OriginIt is widely reported that this phrase originated at Stony Stratford ("The Jewel of Milton Keynes"), Buckinghamshire, England. Visitors to Milton Keynes might feel the bar for 'jewel' status is set rather low in that region, although Stony Stratford is indeed a rather pleasant market town. Stony Stratford (the stony ford on the Roman road) is located on the old Roman road of Watling Street, now the A5. In the height of the coaching era - the 18th and early 19th centuries - Stony Stratford was an important stopping-off point for mail and passenger coaches travelling between London and the North of England. This coaching history is the source of the supposed origin of the phrase 'cock and bull story'. The Cock and the Bull were two of the main coaching inns in the town and the banter and rivalry between groups of travellers is said to have resulted in exaggerated and fanciful stories, which became known as 'cock and bull stories'. The two hostelries did, and still do, exist. By now, you may have noticed the 'widely reported' and 'supposed' adjectives above and picked up that I don't believe a word of it. Although it is an appealing story, regrettably, it is little more than that. There's no evidence whatsoever to connect the two inns with the phrase, apart from the coincidence of the two names. Whisper it not in Stony Stratford if you want to get out alive, but it's more likely that the phrase comes from old folk tales that featured magical animals. The early 17th century French term 'coq-a-l'ane' was defined in Randle Cotgrave's A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, 1611 as:An incoherent story, passing from one subject to another.This was later taken up in Scots as "cockalayne", again with the same meaning. The first citation of 'cock and bull' stories in English is from Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy, 1621:"Some mens whole delight is to talk of a Cock and Bull over a pot."This reference to 'a cock' and 'a bull', which is duplicated in all the early 17th and 18th century citations of the phrase, lends support to the view that the stories were about cocks and bulls, i.e. fanciful tales, rather than stories told in the Cock or the Bull. The early date doesn't entirely rule out the coaching inn story, as coaches were used for transport in England prior to 1621 and both establishments were in business before that date but, in my view, that derivation is a 20th century invention.What is missing from the Stony Stratford tale, and this is commonplace in folk-etymological sources that attempt to connect language with a particular place (see by hook and by crook, for example), is any link between the supposed origin and the meaning of the phrase. Why should patrons of the Cock and the Bull have been any more likely to make up fanciful tales than anyone else? Neither the Cock nor the Bull has distinguished itself in the making of the English language. The Bull now languishes under the outrageous 'InnFamous Bull' pun on its inn sign. The Cock, in addition to the 'cock and bull story', has another cock and bull story all to itself. It is said to be the source of the nursery rhyme line 'ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross'. The story goes that horses were hired at the Cock Inn by travellers on route to nearby Banbury. Again, this is tosh. A cockhorse has been a nursery term since at least the early 16th century, as this citation from Sir Thomas Elyot's The Image of Governance, 1540, indicates:"The dotyng pleasure to see my littell soonne ride on a cokhorse."It isn't clear whether cockhorses were originally sticks with horses' heads that children played with or a reference to children being bounced on the knee of an adult. What they were definitely not were horses hired from a pub thirty miles away. I must close now; the paramilitary wing of the Stony Stratford tourist office is on my tail... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Copyright © Gary Martin

Peter Wright ● 6650d0 Comments ● 6650d

NHS 60th Celebration Event - TODAY!

Ealing PCT has organised a NHS 60th Celebration Event at Trailfinder Club today starting at 2pm (until 6pm).Everyone is welcome and its FREE!

Jim Wong ● 6650d0 Comments ● 6650d

Warning of virus in email purporting to come from UPS

I just came home to one of these... Apparently if you open the attachment that comes with an email about an unsuccessful parcel delivery, you lay your system open to a virus.I did but haven't found the damage yet.The advice from UPS is to delete without opening the attachment

Sara Nathan ● 6652d9 Comments ● 6650d

Does anyone have a backpack we could borrow?

My daughter si going to Fiji for a month, island hopping (!!!) and has just realised that a huge suitacse won't be very practical. Does anyone happen to have a backpackers rucksack which we could borrow unti, the end of August? Thanks v much.

Penny Crocker ● 6652d3 Comments ● 6650d

Perfick dawn

I've just been out in my back yard, looking at a peaceful settled sky with the still dawn just about to break and there's a thrush(or blackbird) singing it's heart out in a neighbouring tree. As Pop Sidney Larkin might say - "It's just perfick!"

Gerry Tan ● 6653d4 Comments ● 6651d

Play Date for new kids starting at Southfield Primary School?

Hi,My daughter is starting school at Southfield Primary School this Sept, I would really like her to get to know any of the children starting in reception as she doesn't know anyone. Would anyone in the same situation like to get together over the summer hols?My number is 0208 896 2776Email is puiling@btinternet.comThanks,Pui

Pui Parmar ● 6653d0 Comments ● 6653d

Fitted Furniture in the loft

Dear AllI thought I had posted this the other day but couldn't find it...so apologies if I'm just being dense and double posting.ANYWAY - we've just had a loft conversion done and to help us make the most of the space available we're going to get built-in furniture installed.Does anyone have any experience of Hammonds and / or SpaceMakers?  Or indeed anyone else?I'd also appreciate any tips anyone can offer in maximising the space - we have one of those small dormers due to our bizarre planning regulations and the fact that the former owner of our house decided to build the biggest and least damp-proofed extension possible...Thanks in advance for any help and advice you can offer

Leon Markham ● 6655d7 Comments ● 6653d

Comedy Festival

Had a great time at the  comedy festival last night but .... having rushed to get there in time for the advertised start time of 7.30 we were told it didn't actually start till 8 - and that they get everyone there earlier to maximize bar takings. Only there weren't really enough bar staff to cope AND  you could take your drinks in with you anyway! Am I being dim (don't all shout at once)

Viv Ellis ● 6654d0 Comments ● 6654d

HEALING IN CHISWICK

Tomorrow is the 2nd Monday of the month again so healers will be at the London Buddhist Vihara, The Avenue, W4 1UD between 11am and 1pm ready to welcome and give healing to anyone who turns up.  We look forward to seeing you tomorrow.Healing helps any condition, through from stress to physical illness.  The healing takes about 20 minutes.  There is no charge made for the healing (all the healers are working on a voluntary basis, although a donation is most welcome- all donations are given to the Vihara).You do not need to make an appointment or book and the maximum waiting time, if any, is 5-10 minutes.  If you want any further information before coming please give me a ring on 0788 189 6449.

Pat Smith ● 6654d0 Comments ● 6654d

New Veg stall at Acton Market tomorrow.

Not only is it Acton Carnival tomorrow (and you can see the procession from Acton Market at 1pm as it travels down the High Street), but we have a NEW VEG STALL. George Klat, trading as Roots, Fruits and Leaves. He's quite local to the market (Hammersmith), but has a smallholding near Maidenhead, Bucks. He has a great stall, with a small but delicious range of veg. He uses traditional organic methods, but is not certified organic, because the costs of certification are prohibitive for a small producer like George. This weekend, he will be bringing along courgettes, cucumbers, marrow, ox heart cabbages and fine summer cabbage, cos lettuce, red, white and blue potatoes, garlic, onions, shallots, sugar snap peas, french beans and a few other specialities depending on what is ready for picking this weekend. Later in the year, George will bring along sweetcorn, root veg, various salads, a great array of brassicas, outdoor tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, plus small quantities of soft and top fruit, and some interesting things like wild coriander and other gourmet herbs. The Acton Market is located on King Street/The Mount, Acton W3, outside Morrison's. The Acton Market is open Friday, Saturdays and Sundays from 10am until 5pm. The Saturday Farmers' Market is open from 9am until 1pm every Saturday.

Michelle Laurie ● 6656d1 Comments ● 6654d

Gad the RAIN !

I'm utterly fed up with all this rain! So far, this summer's been as bad as last year. What's happened to all our lovely summers of picnics in the cornfields and skylarks cheeping their little hearts out in the warm and sunny skies?  I think we'll move to Benidorm! Bah, where's my blinking brolly!  :-(

Gerry Tan ● 6658d17 Comments ● 6656d

Mad  Mad World

What is happening to law and order in this country, are the elderly and vulnerable meant to be kept prisoners in their homes. Is it any wonder that feral youths are now in charge of our streets. What are thr police thinking of.......any ideas, What should he have done when his family were under attack?"A pensioner who used a plank of wood to chase off yobs throwing stones at his home is facing jail after being arrested and charged with possessing an offensive weapon.Father-of-two Sydney Davis dialled 999 when his home came under attack, but was forced to take action himself when officers failed to arrive more than two hours later."He grabbed a section of wood from a broken-up old sofa in his front garden and chased the youths down the street - just as police officers finally arrived.But to his horror, the officers arrested him while the group of youths ran off down the street.

Andrew Michael John Atkinson ● 6657d2 Comments ● 6656d

Brentford Boat Yard

I was cycling past the canal the other day and came across the boat yard.The place looked very spooky and to tell ya the truth I was glad to cycle away from it. Does anyone know anything about it? does it have any spooky history

Mark Yates ● 6664d2 Comments ● 6656d

CONCERT IN ST PETER'S CHURCH, HAMMERSMITH

The concert, on Saturday, 12th July, is to raise funds for Leukaemia Research organised by Alun Watkins who lost his father and 18 year old cousin to the disease.A Welsh based concert headed by Cwmbach Male Voice Choir, one of the longest standing and best known choirs in Wales, and accompanied by tenor Marcel Scerri. International harpist Keziah Thomas will also perform as the choir sing a varied repertoire of both classical and modern music including several special arrangements for the night, mezzo sopranos Sophie Gopsill and Charlotte Shorthouse will also both solo, duet and accompany the choir in a range of works.Alun’s father sang with Cwmbach Male Voice Choir and all of the performers are donating their services free of charge.6pm drinks reception; 7.30pm concert.  Tickets £25, available at the door, in aid of Leukaemia Research.  www.concertinthesquare.co.uk

Pat Smith ● 6656d0 Comments ● 6656d

Fight fire with fire

Fight fire with fireMeaningRespond to an attack by using a similar method as one's attacker.OriginWhen we 'fight fire with fire' we are likely to employ more extreme methods than we would normally do. That was also the case with the actual fire-fighting that was the source of this phrase. US settlers in the 19th century, who originated the phrase, attempted to guard against grass or forest fires by deliberately raising small controllable fires, which they called 'back-fires', to remove any flammable material in advance of a larger fire and so deprive it of fuel. This literal 'fighting fire with fire' was often successful, although the settlers' lack of effective fire control equipment meant that their own fires occasionally got out of control and made matters worse rather than better. One such failure was recorded in Caroline Kirkland's novel, based on her experiences of frontier Michigan in the 1840s, A New Home - Who'll Follow? Or, Glimpses of Western Life (written under the pseudonym of Mrs. Mary Clavers):The more experienced of the neighbours declared there was nothing now but to make a "back-fire!" So home-ward all ran, and set about kindling an opposing serpent which should "swallow up the rest;" but it proved too late. The flames only reached our stable and haystacks the sooner,The method has continued to be used however and foresters now routinely create roads or unplanted areas to act as fire-breaks in woodland that is at risk of fire. The term 'backfire' is now more often applied to plans that fail in a way that weren't intended. It wasn't used in that negative sense until the early 20th century and probably derives from the popping explosions that used to be commonly heard from the exhausts of faulty motor vehicles, not from forest 'back-fires' which ran out of control.The earliest usage of 'fight fire with fire' that I've found in print is in the US author Henry Tappan's 1852 reminiscence A Step from the New World to the Old, and Back Again:Smoking was universal among the men; generally cigars, not fine Havanas, but made of Dutch tobacco, and to me not very agreeable. I had some Havanas with me, and so I lighted one to make an atmosphere for myself: as the trappers on the prairies fight fire with fire, so I fought tobacco with tobacco.

Peter Wright ● 6657d0 Comments ● 6657d

Car Body Shop

Can anyone recommend a car body repair shop in the Ealing/Hanwell area?Thanks in advance

Piero Vitelli ● 6659d1 Comments ● 6657d

'Spanish Practices' at Boll(er)o House

For the info of Piccadilly Line users (and for that matter all taxpayers)  -  item in current Private Eye:- "A leaked report on working practices among drivers on the Piccadilly Line of the London Underground makes unnerving reading for travellers."The unpublished report for the trains functional council, joint management-union body, was prepared by two senior officials of the RMT and Aslef unions. It says “serious safety questions” are raised by the fact that the records off shifts worked by 281 drivers working out of Bollo House, a major Tube depot at Acton Town, are in many cases works of fiction."Shift records were not “properly recorded”, often being “manipulated”. Some “employees are receiving overtime payments for spurious reasons” while others “are working six days a week and are failing to record what they are doing”."The doctored records, as well as enabling pay and time-off fiddles, make it impossible to establish if drivers are taking proper rest periods before transporting thousands of commuters. Tube drivers are not allowed to drive trains for stretches longer than 4 hours and 15 minutes at a time. The report suggests this rule may regularly be flouted."A spokesperson for Transport for London told the Eye the report made “a number of recommendations... these included a programme of audits to ensure compliance across the system”. TIL would not confirm whether the top recommendation — that one “syndicate leader” [lead driver] responsible for many of the irregular rotas be removed from a position of responsibility - was ever taken up. Sources at the depot say no, so the drivers will no doubt continue to take the piss. Mind the doors!"

Chris Veasey ● 6657d1 Comments ● 6657d

Sad news

One of our occasional posters, Malcolm Todd (husband of Marcel who owns the Craftworks shop in Northfield Avenue) has died. I know some of you have conversed with/may know Malcolm.

Penny Crocker ● 6659d1 Comments ● 6657d

Recommendations for nursing homes?

I am looking for a nursing home for 1-2 months post-surgery for someone who will need help in feeding, bathing and physiotherapy.  Would very much appreciate any recommendations for caring, competent and clean facilities.  Thanks!

Emily Sun ● 6658d1 Comments ● 6658d