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Elle, I missed a bit.
The same carry on every single year from the year dot.
The vast majority of the folk in Norn Iron are great.
Same as us, bringing up families etc. trying to make their way in the world.
But their are certain areas, usually deprived, where a wise man would not stray. Very easy to spot, all painted and their "flegs" all over the place. "Flegs" are very important to them. At the bonfires there were SS flags and Confederate flags have appeared this year.
It is bonkers! Alarmingly so!

It is St Swithins day and it s raining here,We could do with some rain but not 40 days.Our male Robin is moulting and looks very tatty,he cannot fly well as he has lost his tail feathers,his chicks are all doing well

Good morning everybody,

Very nice hot one here, already!

Is your St. Swithins day the same as our St. Medard (8th June this year), by which if it rains on that day, we are supposed to have rain for 40 days onwards, unless St. Barnabe (11th June) litteraly ' cuts the grass from under his feet' - in other words neutralizes the curse?

Re Le Tour - Going to be extremely hot down there, well over the 30C, and the Tourmalet is no little hill !
Have you anyone in mind Rusty, (or anyone else) ?#

Wonder if Froome is going to repeat yesterday's performance ! If he did, he would then become the big favourite to win the Tour - But perhaps the other climbers kept all their energy more for today ?

Morning, Rusty!
Warm and dreich first thing this morning - but now it's sunshining! so fingers crossed for a lovely day!
How is it with you? Did you get rained on going for your paper? or do you have a bright and sunny day?
I hadn't appreciated that you were so young when you moved to Scotland. I'm rather surprised then that you still basically think of yourself as Irish?
After all, you have spent almost all of your life in Scotland ( all of it in Dundee?)
Do you not feel more allied to the Scots?
My cousin was born in England -English father, Scottish mother - and moved to Kirkintilloch when he was three years old - but he always said very firmly that he was Scottish! (and always spoke with such a strong Glaswegian accent that it took me years to recognise more than my name in a sentence!)
Is it a bacon roll with Miss L-Plate this morning? When does she get her exam results? They are usually out around the beginning of August, I think?
Don't forget to watch Bahrami playing the two Macs!

Re St. Swithins day- yes, I thought about that this morning.....we had a miniscule amount of rain, only a light (ish) drizzle - does that count towards the forty days rain?
Dog and I got damp this morning but it's now sunshining and I've been rash enough to hang out the washing!

Hello, Elle!
.
I am very happy to be taken for Scots.
My accent may be, but I am not!
There is a strong anti-Irish element in the West of Scotland.
The "best wee country in the world", it is not.
It is two weeks since Glasgow had an Orangefest.
Using public money to help put on an event by on openly anti-Irish, anti-Catholic organisation. How do you think my family and me feel about that. How do you think the Irish in and around Glasgow feel about that? How do you think they feel when they see this going on, but are denied a St Patrick's Day parade, when the whole wide world is celebrating the occasion?
And you think I should be Scots? Not a hope!
In the year 2015 Glasgow put on an openly bigoted, sectarian, weekend. And this, not long after they welcomed members of the Commonwealth to celebrate the Games here, making out it was a great place..
They have more faces than a multi-faceted diamond.
This is the city, where at job interviews, the first question is "Which school did you go to?".
Say the the school they despise and that's your interview over!
And they continually refuse to permit a memorial to the thousands of Irish who came here to escape the Great Famine.
Compare and contrast that attitude, with the attitude of the United States of America, who gladly took in our starving poor arriving on the coffin ships.
Do you know that during the famine, when the Irish were dying, one of the only people to help, were the Choctaw Native Americans. Almost nothing from GB, and Ireland was part of Britain at the time.
Thank you, the Choctaw nation..
My language as a little boy was different, and I was mocked and bullied. "Welcome to Scotland!"
But I grew up in a large Irish family, who worked extremely hard to settle here, and more than paid our way. Not one of us has ever claimed dole money.
It is not, and never has been easy for immigrants, of whatever race..
So, there is your answer. I am a very proud Irishman who comes from good people.
The East of Scotland is vastly more tolerant than Glasgow and the West coast.
.
Now, Elle, please take this in the friendly way it is meant.
I have answered your numerous questions on my heritage in an honest fashion.
I will not say another word on the matter.
You are probing too much and I do not like it.
And I do not believe that my views on race and intolerance etc is what Norah intended this thread for.
So, if anyone reading this post is uncomfortable with this post, please accept my apologies.

Hi, Rusty!
I am so very sorry- I never intended you to be upset and I never meant for this to go so far.
Nor did I mean to "probe".
It was just a friendly semi-joking remark - asked, I can see now, out of ignorance and insensitivity to what might lie behind the scenes.
I should have thought before I 'spoke' and with
with hindsight, I should never have made the remark, but this is being 'wise after the event'. It was meant teasingly.
And I'm a complete and utter thoughtless idiot.
You know I wouldn't upset you for the world!
Please forgive me for any distress I may have caused you?

Hello Kenyatta !

I have just received my tea cloth - have you received yours?

I read it several times, giggled a lot, but of course I'm none the wiser - it was not really the purpose!

I am going to try and translate it for some friends of mine; I say 'try' because even though it is very easy to translate litterally, I would like to find a French version in the same spirit as the original, ie play on words 'in' and 'out' etc, while keeping it concise.

The book 'And God created Cricket' should not arrive until next week.

Hello Rusty!
I haven't seen many of the stages so far ( work commitments etc etc!) nor even the highlights. My brother, also a keen cyclist, has copied some of the stages so far onto dvd for me (the cobbles were excellent viewing with Nibali constantly attacking but unable to make any time) but by the time I've watched them I'm a couple of days behind! Looking forward to todays Tourmalet climb (which I'll see on Saturday!) think this will be the one that will give us the best idea who the overall winner will be!
Hi Pigale! Yes, there could be an element of the other riders (my fingers are crossed for Contador!) pacing themselves to reserve energy, but from what I've heard about yesterdays stage there was no-one able to keep up with Froome!
Barring accidents or Acts of God (!) he's looking more like the winner with every stage!

Hi Therogue,

I agree with you regarding C.Froome - If he makes it today, (or even second), I reckon he is likely to be THE winner.

I give him my support, but I would like to some other riders involved if only to keep some interest going in the race !

As to the French riders, well you probably have an idea of what I think about them in my comments to Rusty yesterday !

Is it not possible to listen to the last ten last Kms on radio ? (Radio Monte Carlo do a live coverage - OK it's in French and they speak at quite a speed, but it would give you an idea on the day itself).