Bah, humbug. Why was January chosen to be the first month of the year? It put its hand up first. Why does the Chinese New Year not start until February? Jet lag. What’s the point of eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day? What’s the point of eating black-eyed peas any day of the year?…
From December 2014, a grumpy old man rant about a common song lyric trope… Asked and answered “Ask a simple question and you’ll get a simple answer” I was always told when I was a child. Sound advice too, I’ve always thought. The posing of a question is one of the most frequently used of all…
This week’s Song Lyric Sunday challenge is to feature a song that refers to a state, a country or just a place. That’s certainly a huge area full of potential choices. This version of ‘House Of The Rising Sun’ is certainly, from a UK perspective, the seminal one. Released in 1964 it caused something of…
From way back in 2012, a playlist… Life: The Soundtrack Yesterday’s Daily Prompt struck a chord (as it were): “Put together a a musical playlist of songs that describe your life, including what you hope your future entails.” I guess that this is something many people think about doing but don’t actually set about it…
Homophones, homographs or homonyms? Or none of the above? What is a palava? More trouble than its worth. What is a pavlova? Food sacred to antipodeans. What is meant by purge? Something that gives everyone a good feeling – except the purgee. What is meant by purse? According to Iago, stolen trash. What is a…
The key prompt words for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday are, rather morbidly, ‘death’, ‘kill’ and ‘murder’. I’m no fan of death or thrash metal, so I suppose that’s a fair part of the pool of possibilities ruled out. Some others that came to mind also had to be ruled out on the basis that…
Pull the other one…. What does Hg represent on the Periodic Table? Heavy Goods. Which actress said ‘Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night’? Jessica Tandy; she didn’t trust Morgan Freeman’s driving. What is the coloured part of your eye called? Iris Murdoch. What is the currency of Laos? Not worth…
I do like the occasional idle flight of fancy (to be fair, you had me at ‘idle’) and today’s Daily Prompt sent me off on one, since it involves two subjects close to my heart: technology and travel. I’ve written about both before but – as far as I can recall – never the two together.…
We watch quite a few TV quiz shows of varying Ievels of intellectual rigour – from ‘Mastermind’ and ‘Only Connect’ to ‘Tipping Point’. One sad common characteristic of them all, however, is the diminishing awareness among the contestants of The Beatles. For goodness’ sake, being from Merseyside we almost literally grew up with them. However,…
Vraiment?… What is a running stitch? That pain in your side when you foolishly embark on a Couch To 5K. What is the collywobbles? A deservedly obscure Irish folk group. What is a tea caddy? A box of bags. What is a stick of words? An unfortunate stammer. What is a flash drive? A golf…
From 2014, a response to a question about tattoos… Tattoo? Me? According to the infallible oracle that we call ‘the internet’, you are statistically most likely to have a tattoo if you are (a) female and (b) in the 30-39 age group. Being a male and – in my head at any rate – only in my…
This week, we’re asked to present a song about running water – be it stream, brook, creek or, indeed, river. My initial thought was to go with ‘Black Muddy River’, one of my favourite Jerry ballads by The Grateful Dead. However, I was mortified when I checked back in my contributions history to discover that…
Oh aye?… Imbroglio How an Italian monk introduces himself. Ish A headless marine creature. Insouciant Oh, who cares? Inanition Residency of a country with a large population of Pediculus humanus capitis. Infamy They’ve all got it… Impugn Recognition that one is not the most handsome of individuals. Impecunious Boasting about one’s personal finances. Inveigle To…
Today’s WordPress Daily Prompt asks us to answer the ten standard questions that James Lipton asks his guests on ‘Inside The Actor’s Studio’. For those unfamiliar with the programme, it was an American talk show that ran from 1994 to 2019. It’s basic format was that James Lipton, the host, would interview a single guest…
This week, we’ve been asked to feature a song that’s appeared on a ‘Greatest Hits’ or ‘Best Of’ compilation album. Given that any artiste(s) worth their salt will have had at least one of these released at some point, the pool of potential choices is certainly both wide and deep. Rather than plump for something…
the only deadhead in the hameau 