pilgrim

I think it was an NCB /railways thing - if it worked do it again and don't bugga about wi it!! - pity the council cant learn that!!

as I previously posted = post beeching - the sidings at choppington station were used to store the steam engines prior to scrapping -- boychilds dream lol

seems very odd - as I was born 55 and all the embankment was grown over when I used to adventure there. am wondering if was during some refurbishment but is suppose that it would be another 2 yrs before I ventured forth there on my own -- those were the days - 7 yr olds being ok to wander miles wi the dog (mine was a golden retriever) and no thought of the coming to any harm!!

I heard it said that corbyn has a certain coloured cat only to swing over the postal unions ....

tremendous picture !! I am assuming from the timbers lying about it was taken when the bridge was completed the engineering is remarkable in that it hasn't changed since roman times!!

used to have a pentax me super, then Nikon 601's, then canon range, now using a canon eos digital (mainly cos I could use most of my old lenses!!!) digital is brilliant but it makes a lazy snapper!! but again you can catch the moment by getting one lucky shot in a 100 you take!! I put off going digital for a long time because the best quality you could get was half page magazine unless you spent £15000!!! Use a little polaroid now to carry as its shock proof and waterproof si ideal for kayaking and walking the dog

ref the gates -- when they started building new housing at the hall a few years back the gates were taken away by the developer for 'cleaning and restoration' never to be seen again! at the same time there were a lot of complaints about build quality and faults in some of the housing and I think the  'developer' was never seen again?

the brick building mentioned is still there along towards morpeth on the north side of the road. (it is mistakenly listed as an raf building on another site which puts it as part of Cramlington  aerodrome

certainly stone from the quarry was used in London as well as the hall and at sometime there was a dwelling built into the wall of the quarry on the section just below the wall on the left of the road going towards morpeth from the bridge. the cutouts for the support timbers can still be seen in the rock face..

I forgot to add - I recall Dr HICKEY and Dr Ivory. There was mention on another thread about a pilot and I recall Dr Ivory had been a pilot in fighters. When he retired he moved to a bungalow in Cramlington, but haven't seen him for many years.

I recall playing on the 'black bridge' as we called it, on the way there was a small wooden bridge where the stream led from under the embankment of the railway and further on from the black bridge was a bed in the stream which was deeper and good for paddling in! UP the bank was the pit yard where you could sneak in and build all sorts of dens from the props stored there.

alack and alas - we have found the answer but find it has been subverted by malefactors lol - i always did like the soliloquay of the gatekeeper in macbeth, when he rumnates on alcohol -- its gives one the urge but takes away the performance

perhaps we should all link hands and sing - 'oh happy days' whilst being bathed in a rosy glow

interesting article i found today - it may shed light on the origin of fluff question..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35237863

As far as i recall the halfpenny woods had a toll becuase the Ridley estate had no problems with access, but the toll of the minimum amount (apart from a farthing - remember the wren) was so that the pathway could never be considered a right of way due to usage - its a bit like the modern thing of certain houses having to open up the grounds or the house 1 day every year. It kept the land within the full control of the estate and didn't compromise their full control in perpetuity.

what all those (clever  expert folk ahem ) missed was going to the site and listening to the language of the local folk - it isn't some cryptic code or higher meaning - tis life and language - lay back have a glass of local wine and speak the text as it was written with the populace it was written for - then you will understand

Robert Frost, Maggie! One of my favourites. Love the open ending of The Road not Travelled.

Pilgrim, if you but knew the hours I'd spent labouring over various interpretations of sections of TDC you wouldn't be surprised at my recognising it. Because they are so numerous the many and diverse interpretations provide what linguistics professors deem to be an unending source of material for probing the depths of syntactical influence on semantic content. There was a time when I could recite passages in my sleep! Not any more but odd lines can ring a bell.

the search for a rural bus ticket is similar to the quark or the higgs boson - (one has more change of finding the jabberwocky than a rural 'bus service) we suspect they exist but no one has seen any evidence.. as we speak the child is watching cider with rosie at my insistence and loving it -it reminds me of the darling buds of may. war and peace is being broadcast over the next few weeks and I have told her that its like downton abbey in Russian which sort of interests her - one can only hope!!

I find that the halls of academe are populated by those that can and those that are oooo so bitchy 'cause they didn't think of it first lol.

now silver is an interesting thing -- do you know that it is a very effective treatment for bacterial issues??? it has been used in dressings and is now coming back into use (its worth a look up on latest thinking) its like a lot of stuff - many years ago I mentioned to the other half about the use of pot permanganate and she looked at me as if I was some sort of alchemist, but now its being prescribed, but only north of the border. I was with a local dr last yr and mentioned it - and would ya believe he is a believer !!

anyways - I am away to wyre and gimbal in the wabes -anon xx

to me a literary masterpiece can be a segment of a much bigger piece of sh**e, but if it sums up the emotion of a moment or describes something that i could not have expressed as well it does it for me - its like art - its art if it serves no purpose but is ridiculousy expensive.. but as i explained to the child - art is the non verbal expression of emotions. i think it was nicely put into context by an ex colleague at oxford - he would tell his secretary - no calls today i'm reading a book .. now thats what i call class!!!!!!!!!!!!

re the bus ticket thing -- it would be more worthy of research to analyse the DNA on them or perhaps the prevalence of proscribed substances (the data on such on bank notes is horrendous!!!)

good literature shouldnt need to be laboured over, but grasped with both hands and an open mind and relished!! a sad reflection of so many 'literati' that are so far up themselves! - laurie lee's - when I walked out one midsummer morn â€‹was wonderful (lol probably have that wrong - but you know who I mean)

BRIAN CROSS - this all your fault -- learn and weep -- never post a Christmas card on here again or suffer the consequences!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dante wrote 'inferno' as a result of inspiration from doing a 'hermit' thing in a cave. many years ago i tracked down the cave and it was fascinating - agnostic shrimp, white spiders and it meanders on and on from the valley floor up to the top of the ravine you got the feel of the unknown journey.

and well done for spotting the reference.. we all travel many paths, often without a guide or a sense of direction, or even knowing what awaits and at the end is always the darkness ... but its life and its fun!!!!

rule maker? rule breaker?  - no .. just a simple seeker after truth, hence the name  -- in the middle of the journey of my life i came to a place in the darkwood where the straight way was lost.............

as if !!!! wash my mouff out if i wuold dare to !!!!

............ bringing in a different thread ... DOH...

maggie -- ignore the rules rules - the world is made a much better place by those who question and ignore the rules -- martin luther (both of them) did a splendid job!!

the string of this thread (that looks very odd when typed and may be an oxymoron or indeed sum up the paradox of the whole Santa question)  has nicely, as usual, spread along many and different pathways, however, I believe that Pratchett could have solved the matter, but as he is no longer available in this multiverse, I had to consider other means.

Two of my old school friends now hold chairs in very prestigious universities, so I thought I would ask them. One was recently appointed a fellow of the royal society, so I thought that would be a good place to start. When I posed the difficulties in trying to plumb the depths of the belly button/toe fluff problem and explaining the theories put forward on this very site he looked somewhat blank, (or maybe he just blankly at me) but then again his field is bio chemistry and obviously the multiverse concept was beyond him, so I will forgive his ignorance.

The Santa thing did trigger some recognition, so his cognitive powers have not yet descended into a sea of port at high table, and he may have the answer to part of it regarding the consumption of offerings laid out for Santa.  Apparently this matter was resolved by Pythagoras and we have overlooked the answer beneath our noses!! he explained it is quite simple -- Pi=pastry over meat (savoury or otherwise) and all pies follow this rule so we do not need a definition for the 'mince pie' as it has been there all along, otherwise it would be a quiche!!

On the NCC meeting question -- he suspects there is no answer within this universe to council meetings, as they seem to be 'otherworldy' and suspects the answer is to ship them all off to another universe where apparently they live already (I think this was originally postulated in the Hitchhikers Guide and applied to telephone hygienists and certain others. he will raise the subject within the Royal Society, but suspects that the greatest minds in the universe will never be able to fathom council meetings - and suspects an alien conspiracy as College meetings and others seem to go the same way.

perhaps propaganda is too strong a word .. disinformation is perhaps more acurate. the press inflate incidents and denigrate their responsibilities by falsehoods ( nice to see the witch-hunt  regarding a memo on the Broadwater riots, which at the time was a valid opinion and comment - I note that the same newspaper has not published its redline banner headlines from the same period, nor the many other reports over the years)

the question you have to ask is - what do they know that I don't? and how reliable is that and do I trust these people? (the press I mean and I suppose most politicians)

this present situation will not go away (although - actually it will as all things do) its how we deal with it now and in the best way.

do we grasp the opportunity to alienate a huge swathe of our population which we rely on or do we embrace the opportunity to be inclusive?

I would be interested to see what level of security clearance those who are most vociferous on the subject have.................... 

it is also the absolute and only word that sums up and can be used to express the feeling that you get when having verbally performed the ultimate 'faux pas' - that moment when you achieve the pinnacle that all contortionists dream of, of being able to put both feet into your mouth at the same time. we must thank the tinternet for this, and the invention of the mobile 'phone -- that moment when you press send with a message for your other half describing her mother and the dreaded moment of self doubt when you realise you have sent that mss to her mothers mobile. that moment immediately after you press send on 'tinternet' for a 'social networking' site and realise - bugga that wasn't put into a private mss.

I was at a social drinks thingy with neighbours last week and one of them was a bishop (another neighbour), the drinks were welcome and flowing, all was well in the world and most convivial, with good food and company, I said to her - ya not a bad looking lass and I like ya way of thinking -- the reply was -- don't get ya hopes up - I'm a lesbian.. and the world fell silent with only the falling of snowflakes sounding like thunder... a double DOH.

Eggy I must thank you for the poster - which gives the most definitive explanation of 'DOH' ever - its a head in the hands moment, an, 'I wish I was a time traveller', moment - a one of those - ok I had a drink last night but did I really say that? and of course we all know that with drink only the perpetrator can not recall the event, but no matter how much drink has been consumed by other parties they can all recall every detail!!!

perhaps the 'DOH' is the modern version of the godguilt thing which makes us all behave and mend our ways..............until the next time - the 'DOH can only be viewed as 'humbling' and we all suffer from it at some time