| Lochalsh
|
This referring to "a curry" as a gastronomical event is new to me. Here, we say we're going to have beef curry, chicken curry, shrimp curry, but never just curry, and hold the indefinite article, please.
It reminds me of my dearly beloved, a Spaniard, who would always speak of "a soup." An apple, a kumquat, a Tootsie Roll, all those I understand, but "a soup"? Why not just say a cup of soup? You can count walnuts, but you can't count a steaming liquid. Ah, well, sociolinguistic stuff, I guess. You probably know the rationale. I know nothing.
At any rate, Lesley, our dear little cabbage, I'm glad you like having a curry once in a while. I do, too.
Reply #1001. Aug 04 10, 2:15 PM
|
| lesley153
|
Thank you, I'm feeling quite good.
I would be feeling even better if the dustbinmen of Bedford weren't such stroppy pigs, who seem to be incapable of doing their jobs even with a supervisor supposedly supervising them. They seem to have a sixth sense for what they can do to cause me maximum discomfort and inconvenience, but I'm probably paying them too much of a compliment by crediting them with the ability to think, or to tell the difference between any two customers.
How much brain does it take to
- wheel a bin to a lorry,
- hook it to the mechanism that lifts it, turns it upside down and empties it and brings it down again and turns it the right way up,
- unhook the bin,
- put it back where you found it,
- and close the lid?
Not a large brain, I suggest. Less intelligence than it takes to learn to play with a Fisher-Price sorting toy, I suggest.
Perhaps the dustbinmen of Bedford have missed their vocation and would be better employed as crash test dummies.
That's these:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crashtestdummy-computersimulation.jpg
not these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crashtestdummies.jpg
although a Bedford dustbinman might have trouble telling the difference.
Sorry, what was the question again please? Ah yes - curries.
What we normally do is go to a restaurant that specialises in curries, and choose when we get there. Anyone who knows what they're going to have before they get there either orders the same thing every time, or wants to show off that they're having the strongest curry ever created.
Could it be that "a soup" is a way of saying "one of many varieties and flavours of soup"? |
Reply #1002. Aug 04 10, 2:56 PM
|
| Lochalsh
|
Could be. Beloved, I think, translated "una sopa" with 'a' rather than 'some' and thus missed the English partitive.
Je sais que tu sais French and understand the concept, so I'll drop my pedantry.
Best curry I've ever had was in Edinburgh. Had great tapas in London, and fine Chinese food in Alicante, Spain. It's a small world, after all.
A cross-pond hug for you! (((((Lesley)))))
Reply #1003. Aug 04 10, 3:12 PM
|
| lesley153
|
We were in a Chinese restaurant in Paris many years ago. The proprietors asked us where were were from - London - ah then perhaps you will know our friends in Birmingham? It's a small world but not that small.
And I've written more than once about the French couple who were prepared to believe that they could be on a train for an hour and still not be at the British Museum in central London.
Best fish - Portugal.
Best chips with mayonnaise - Belgium.
Best ice-cream - thinking - Jahn's ice-cream parlor on the Bronx, or Italy. Um... |
Reply #1004. Aug 04 10, 4:17 PM
|
satguru 
|
Best curry- Bobby's in Harrow (may still be there but was 25 years ago...). It had fresh seeds and spices straight from the herbs in the sauce. Very unusual to find that.
Best most other food- my mother (she has the knack but reduced the menu since becoming semi-vegetarian).
Best dessert- the chocolate or hazelnut meringue in a cafe in Hatfield, which closed down soon after I found they made it.
We're turning into the hobbies board now...
Reply #1005. Aug 04 10, 4:46 PM
|
| lesley153
|
| That's OK - most people like food. I only ever knew one person who said, many years ago, that eating was a waste of time and he'd rather get his nutrition from pills, astronaut-style, but before astronauts were invented. Perhaps that was a reflection on his mother's cooking. |
Reply #1006. Aug 04 10, 5:11 PM
|
| Lochalsh
|
In an Indian restaurant in London, the proprietor asked me whether I knew his cousin in Chicago. I was living in the Midwest at the time, but not in that big city.
Then again: that restaurant in Alicante? I moved to Austin about ten years later and became friends with the Chinese son and Spanish daughter-in-law of the owner.
Lesley, somehow I can't imagine you in the Bronx. Of course, I picture you as a sort of brunette Helen Mirren, proper, literate, well-behaved and all that. Ah, stereotypes.
I'm here to claim my prize for the 1000th post: let us meet in Edinburgh for a dinner of salmon as we look out over the North Sea from whence the fishie came. Everyone here's invited. Oh, and how about haggis for breakfast earlier that day? (Burp.)
Oh, and I'm a brunette Vanessa Redgrave, improper, literature, and not always so well-behaved, but golly gee whiz am I talented!
Reply #1007. Aug 04 10, 5:43 PM
|
| Lochalsh
|
literate, not literature. Sheesh.
Best therapist on FT: David
Best grower of cherry tomatoes on FT: Deunan
Best mother of a beloved son named Jonathan on FT: Lesley
Best Valley Girl on FT: Honeybee (no, not *that* valley)
Best makers of walnut fudge anywhere: my late mother, then my ex-hub. I divorced him, anyway.
Okay, I'm hijacking. It's the 105 F heat here ....
Reply #1008. Aug 04 10, 5:50 PM
|
honeybee4
|
Not that I am overly fond of my ex-mother-in-law, but she was the best cook in the world, bar none. Her divinity was the best. Oh, in my younger days I was a brunette Elizabeth Taylor and, depending what I wore, my eyes were violet or royal blue. Awe, for the younger days.
Reply #1009. Aug 04 10, 6:18 PM
|
honeybee4
|
Sorry, I said ex mother-in-law because she died in 1990. Does that make her my ex or once mother-in-law?
Reply #1010. Aug 04 10, 6:20 PM
|
| veronikkamarrz
|
I'm whatever color grabs me at the shelf, but I am trying to let the grey grow out a bit, to see if it's a nice color.
Just because I like to think the best of people, and offer another side...Is it possible your trashmen leave ALL the lids open to air out? Ya think? :)
Reply #1011. Aug 04 10, 6:26 PM
|
| Lochalsh
|
I think you'd say your *late* mother-in-law, wouldn't you?
I have a similar problem with expressing Richard Nixon's relation to the president. I prefer to use 'ex-president' since he left the job against his true will, but others often call him "former president."
Lesley would know--there's a reason she has such a well-posted blog--but let's hope she's asleep at 2:30 a.m. Shhh!
Reply #1012. Aug 04 10, 6:27 PM
|
| Lochalsh
|
vm, I have let my hair grow out, and, so far, it's a very nice silver. If it were that yellowish-gray one of my grandmothers had, I'd go red or blonde or whatever I was last time I faced the shelf. :)
Reply #1013. Aug 04 10, 6:29 PM
|
| Lochalsh
|
Well,if they're trash*men*, they're just used to leaving a lid up. :)
Reply #1014. Aug 04 10, 6:30 PM
|
| veronikkamarrz
|
HA! That's good! Well, besides the 'lid up' thing, it is something Lesley will have to answer...
Reply #1015. Aug 04 10, 7:44 PM
|
| lesley153
|
Lovely - I went to bed and you carried on chatting. Don't stop!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Helen Mirren? I would love to have a scrap of her talent but well-behaved? I don't think she's ever been well-behaved! (And I try not to be.) But, unlike Vanessa Redgrave, the sight of Ms Mirren doesn't put me off my food. Redgrave is talented, it says here, but that's not always enough.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please do! Me in the Bronx sitting down for a snack, and being immediately greeted with a smile and glasses of iced water, one each for me and for my companion, who was probably my nice young cousin, and not being ignored with a scowl, as I'd been accustomed to in London. Asking for a burger, expecting a piece of over-cooked beef in a damp, flabby white bun, and getting a nicely-cooked burger surrounded by a load of skinny chips and a mound of salad, with a huge choice of sauces and chutneys and pickles. Brilliant.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Salmon sounds good, and I've never been to Edinburgh, so that would be good too. Haggis - what do you think? try or pass?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Judy - violet or royal blue eyes - sounds fabulous! Hair colour changes - I was always dark brown but now am bottle brown, although a bit silvery and faded recently because I haven't had the energy to do my roots for weeks - but my eyes are still the greeny-brown they've always been. Eye colour doesn't change, does it?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was trying to remember what I called Richard Nixon, and the answer was: Richard Nixon, because everyone knew who he was - the president who resigned in 1974 because he wasn't a crook. When would you need to decide to describe him as an ex- or former president?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here's what the dustbinmen have been doing. Sometimes I can cope with it. At the moment I can't.
I've had a "service call" for about ten years. That means they collect bins from my front path, and I don't have to leave the bins on the pavement and bring them back in again when they've been emptied. All the dustbinmen have to do is take the bin to the lorry and empty it, close the lid, and leave the bin where they've found it.
Sometimes they leave it in odd places, sometimes they leave the lid open - preferably when it's been raining or snowing, and I haven't got the strength to up-end a full-size wheely-bin to empty three inches of water that has collected in it - and sometimes they just pass it by.
So I ring the council and ask for a return visit. I did that a couple of months ago, rang on Wednesday morning, then rang a couple of days later when it was full to the brim and starting to sweat. I was told that they had pronounced the job done, file closed. I think they're laughing at us.
On Wednesday morning this week (yesterday), they emptied it but decided to leave it on the pavement. I rang and said I had come home with express instructions not to lift anything heavy, and not to push or pull anything - not even a shopping trolley. Yes please to their offer of getting someone back to bring it back to the house.
On Wednesday afternoon, I looked out to see if they'd brought it back yet. At first I couldn't see it - the rubbish bin is half-size and black all over, which is a good excuse for pretending you can't see it, even though they are told which houses have service calls, and they are supposed to go on the path and look for it. I don't have any trouble with the recycling bins, which are full size, with a green lid on the garden one and an orange lid on the everything-else one.
I looked out again, and spotted it, jammed up behind the green bin, with the opening edge jammed under the green lid. To get rubbish in it, I would have to walk about ten feet down the path, drag it from under the green bin, turn it round and drag it to the front door. I have been told clearly not to drag anything.
So I rang the council again and said I was starting to get upset now. It was as though the dustbinmen were deliberately doing what they knew would cause me maximum inconvenience. I forgot to mention stress but I probably didn't need to.
This sort of thing is totally and completely pathetic when you're fit and able-bodied, but quite overwhelming when you aren't. I hope the dustbinmen never find themselves recuperating from anything like I've just had. No, wait - I do. |
Reply #1016. Aug 05 10, 10:39 AM
|
| Professer
|
You should go to Edinburgh Lesley you would like it there is some fabulous sites to see and great food to be had have to say i did try a small bit of haggis in april not sure if i like or dislike it.
One place i reccomend is gullianos it is a delightful Italian where the food is delicious and happens to be opposite the Theatre so is extra good.
Reply #1017. Aug 05 10, 10:59 AM
|
| veronikkamarrz
|
Well, it sounds a lot more complicated than letting the bins 'air out'. Why can't you be put on a special care list (with I'm sure many others) due to medical issues? Wouldn't that be nice? :)
I would absolutely try Haggis, given the opportunity. Sounds a little odd, but you must at least try, right?
Reply #1018. Aug 05 10, 11:30 AM
|
Deunan
|
Lesley, it appears your bins people and our trash people are all trained the same. Living bins open in the pouring rain or heavily falling snow. We finally just put out the bags and left the bins in the garage.
Unfortunately, the bins people often return the can/plastic bins to places they do not belong. After being "chewed out" by the owner of a bin as it was behind our garage door, we spoke with the driver (actual bin person did not speak English) and explained the blue plastic bin goes behind a certain garage door and please place it there. There has been no issue since. This was after calling the office twice and getting nowhere. Perhaps, if possible, you could have a chat with the actual people who pick up the bins, or place a note on top of the bin, you may have more success.
Good luck!
Reply #1019. Aug 05 10, 11:38 AM
|
Deunan
|
Leaving...for goodness sake.
Reply #1020. Aug 05 10, 11:38 AM
|
Legal / Conditions of Use
|
Play Now! 
: 
