whimsy

    the last nesting place for mammoths in the whole of Wessex - Flanders and Swann on Stonehenge

    I’d not heard this before. Flanders and Swann were a duo I just about remember that did comic monologues and songs

    This is their take on Stonehenge. It’s in the genre of posh people lampooning less posh people, but funny anyway. YMMV!

    Well wot’s this then? You’re not going to put up these great ugly stone blocks ‘ere, are you? You can’t do that! I’ve got Ancient Lights on my cave! Well, what is it anyway? A henge? Well, what’s a henge? You may call it megalithic culture, I call it vandalism! I suppose you realise this is about the last nesting place for mammoths in the whole of Wessex?

    The whole thing is here:

    YouTube - Built-up Area - Flanders and Swann

    …and I got the words from: Ian Kitiching website - Built up area

    My words or the day from 2015 to 2022, from absurd to yonder

    ILike a poor man’s Suzie Dent I used to post a ‘word of the day’ on Twitter. They were words I liked the sound of, or the meaning of, or words that just kept popping up in my brain

    I’ve just now cobbled together some powershell commands to pull stuff out of my downloaded Twitter archive. This list is the first fruit of that dubious achievement πŸ˜ƒ

    • ramshackle
    • skullduggery
    • mawkish
    • rigmarole
    • discombobulate
    • happenstance
    • skedaddle
    • gush
    • ruffled
    • amok
    • chortle
    • edible
    • reverberate
    • shuck
    • musty
    • impinge
    • bosky
    • dawdle
    • curdle
    • staunch
    • wobbulator
    • rigmarole
    • rambunctious
    • the vig
    • higgledy-piggledy
    • Laggards
    • haunch
    • gizzard
    • shtick
    • tatterdemalion
    • interstitial
    • skulduggery
    • hugger-mugger
    • scamper
    • ruffian
    • genial
    • bramble
    • truffle
    • hankering
    • scrimp
    • absurd
    • flounce
    • flummox
    • extrusion
    • scramble
    • pestle
    • rancid
    • scrofulous
    • saunter
    • wondrous
    • befuddled
    • spud
    • machinate
    • resonate
    • gratitude
    • scruple
    • besmirch
    • tardy
    • slumber
    • dimple
    • bustle
    • befuddled
    • sinister
    • husky
    • razzmatazz
    • tingle
    • crepuscular
    • gesticulate
    • frazzled
    • tamp
    • grapple
    • truckle
    • rigmarole
    • amicable
    • gargle
    • griddle
    • gusty
    • modicum
    • miscreant
    • dumpling
    • liniment
    • chevron
    • snigger
    • merge
    • wrought
    • gumption
    • rabble
    • ponder
    • maritime
    • surge
    • meander
    • blustery
    • bliss
    • rowdy
    • pith
    • damp
    • machination
    • chirpy
    • engrossed
    • ocelot
    • frisson
    • triumph
    • drench
    • griddle
    • shudder
    • quandary
    • gloop
    • ping
    • furlong
    • squirm
    • reverie
    • camaraderie
    • lunge
    • patter
    • jaunty
    • trundle
    • linnet
    • agog
    • flounce
    • brisk
    • froth
    • tinge
    • lagoon
    • curdle
    • fizzle
    • glee
    • burst
    • finagle
    • pernickety
    • stipple
    • miscreant
    • flummox
    • tumble
    • mellifluous
    • stooge
    • wry
    • precipitate
    • hirsute
    • rascal
    • wistful
    • manky
    • chaff
    • skittle
    • quench
    • nuzzle
    • ineffable
    • poodle
    • vestibule
    • mishmash
    • twelve
    • chivvy
    • snooze
    • flannel
    • giggle
    • gusty
    • parish
    • vanquish
    • startle
    • muffle
    • mischief
    • pebble
    • roughage
    • jibber-jabber
    • gabardine
    • perspicacious
    • munch
    • quandary
    • crumble
    • reckon
    • .
    • merriment
    • slobber
    • musket
    • mumble
    • ragwort
    • resurgence
    • glimmer
    • turnbuckle
    • perch
    • halcyon
    • drizzle
    • ethereal
    • curdle
    • shoestring
    • bungalow
    • skittish
    • dream
    • kelp
    • reverberate
    • mitigate
    • miscreant
    • jittery
    • gleam
    • shimmer
    • convivial
    • marmalize
    • groove
    • ochre
    • swelter
    • skirmish
    • oblivious
    • sprinkle
    • moreish
    • hankering
    • pundit
    • amok
    • happen
    • mulch
    • flutter
    • brunt
    • sprightly
    • happenstance
    • baffled
    • prattle
    • crumple
    • scatter
    • sinew
    • cherub
    • abundant
    • autumnal
    • bedraggled
    • fisticuffs
    • trickle
    • jaded
    • crinkle
    • lucid
    • melody
    • dozen
    • muffle
    • expunge
    • rubble
    • mirage
    • cribbage
    • palaver
    • corroborate
    • scrawny
    • jot
    • heft
    • crepuscular
    • digit
    • scruffy
    • embroiled
    • guttering
    • smudge
    • rummage
    • ado
    • balustrade
    • cattle
    • stubble
    • askance
    • wanton
    • jostle
    • capacious
    • scamper
    • adamant
    • frost
    • purloin
    • crackle
    • tinsel
    • kindling
    • dunk
    • mariner
    • gist
    • mollusc
    • growl
    • chirpy
    • exuberant
    • mumble
    • creosote
    • gesticulate
    • hocus-pocus
    • sprout
    • satsuma
    • stroll
    • schism
    • skew
    • trickle
    • ditto
    • scrimmage
    • middling
    • epitome
    • tabernacle
    • spruce
    • rickety
    • mooch
    • mishmash
    • tomfoolery
    • diffident
    • twill
    • crumple
    • febrile
    • chrysalis
    • styptic
    • griddle
    • machinate
    • swarthy
    • wrinkle
    • ceramic
    • chipper
    • antiquity
    • stirrup
    • thistle
    • sanguine
    • rife
    • sprinkle
    • pithy
    • frothy
    • nebulous
    • truckle
    • resin
    • mulch
    • hunkering
    • batten
    • codger
    • shiplap
    • fricative
    • blossom
    • desultory
    • grinning
    • skint
    • valve
    • behest
    • parish
    • filibuster
    • dazzling
    • snout
    • malleable
    • daub
    • jettison
    • tumultuous
    • sombre
    • nincompoop
    • hillock
    • grizzled
    • chuffed
    • stockade
    • hue
    • outwith
    • jovial
    • glitch
    • mulch
    • drizzle
    • myriad
    • flange
    • fiddlesticks
    • divot
    • russet
    • gravel
    • albeit
    • dunk
    • totter
    • Blighty
    • guttural
    • slumber
    • foible
    • cusp
    • jettison
    • effervescent
    • yonder
    • trot
    • simmer
    • clavicle
    • behest
    • manifest
    • stickler
    • fickle
    • calypso
    • tingle
    • stove
    • temper
    • incorrigible
    • peregrine
    • bickering
    • smidgen
    • musty
    • vestibule
    • tryst
    • glitch
    • drowsy
    • aghast
    • luminous
    • divulge
    • shimmering
    • mull
    • cadge
    • stanchion
    • cleft
    • hubbub
    • tryst
    • stymied
    • combustion
    • squat
    • squabble
    • festoon
    • resplendent
    • raddled
    • natterjack
    • swelter
    • gormless
    • schmuck
    • toggle
    • scamper
    • giggle
    • wallop
    • balustrade
    • sparrow
    • lilting
    • sniff
    • hustings
    • slake
    • parsnip
    • raddled
    • nobbled
    • paraphernalia
    • hankering
    • sizzle
    • fricative
    • smattering
    • scant
    • warble
    • qualm
    • buddy
    • heft
    • waif
    • dromedary
    • batten
    • froth
    • conkers
    • gladden
    • ribbon
    • purport
    • dithering
    • scurry
    • fume
    • knuckles
    • autumnal
    • turmoil
    • slouching
    • wreak
    • foist
    • follicle
    • raucous
    • speckled
    • tustle
    • gabardine
    • commensurate
    • paradiddle
    • muffle
    • chilly
    • piffle
    • harbinger
    • bangle
    • gantry
    • caper
    • saunter
    • vacillate
    • tardy
    • banjaxed
    • hoik
    • minion
    • tousled
    • nostrils
    • amalgamate
    • garnish
    • skiff
    • tad
    • declamatory
    • plinth
    • rumbustious
    • stucco
    • strum
    • hush
    • bubble
    • plangent
    • rankle
    • lustre
    • mulled
    • tinsel
    • ponderous
    • footfall
    • tidings
    • swaddling
    • eggnog
    • myrrh

    In a week of controversy, I hesitate to post this in case it sparks a pineapple-on-pizza level of division and rancour.

    Chilli is better with broccoli in it

    A soup pot is filled with a mix of broccoli, red kidney beans, tomatoes, and other vegetables.

    Happy 'Boys from the County Hell's day to all those celebrating it today

    On the first day of March it was raining

    It was raining worse than anything that I have ever seen

    I drank ten pints of beer and I cursed all the people there

    I wish that all this rain would stop falling down on me

    And it’s lend me ten pounds, I’ll buy you a drink

    And mother wake me early in the morning

    The Pogues (or possibly Pogue Mahone when this originally came out, I don’t remember) - The Boys from the County Hell

    youtu.be/XQKETnoQQ…

    Pet hate: the phrase ‘pension pot’

    #TodayILearned that 'Bouncing Babies' by the Teardrop Explodes has been streamed 516,716 times, but 'I can't get Bouncing Babies by the Teardrop Explodes' by The Freshies has only been streamed 24,393 times

    Cover of 'I cant get bouncing babies by the Teadrop Explodes' by the Freshies<img src=“https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/139254/2025/16772316772303-3.jpg" width=“300” height=“300” alt=“A vinyl record label featuring the text “bouncing babies” and “The Teardrop Explodes” with a yellow triangle design.">

    A new entry for The Meaning of Liff, IT Workers Edition

    Fugglestone. Noun

    The state of mind when your old password is still locked in your muscle memory, and one half of your brain realises the old one won’t work any more but the other half doesn’t yet realize that it’s got to remember the new one

    Annual-ish tweet / toot / post

    The crocuses, or possibly the croci, are out in the Shire

    Crocuses in the park

    Proposed new entry for the Meaning of Liff, IT Workers Edition

    Bullock’s Horn - the situation in which you find yourself when someone asks you to help with something, and you go to consult with someone else who you think will know about it, and they direct you back to the person who asked for help in the first place

    Wikipedia - The Meaning of Liff

    map showing Bullocks Horn in north Wiltshire

    Mark Thomas's Pet Hates

    I thought these were funny. Comedian Mark Thomas’s pet hates, from The Irish Times , quoted by Colin Murray on Midnight Meets Midnight Meets

    The way Desert Island discs doesn’t play the full song.

    The smug class-ridden blather of [Radio Four’s] Today programme.

    Anything that involves Piers Morgan and an absence of violence.

    Harley Davidson motorbikes and the over 50-year-olds that ride them.

    Anyone who has been in a gymkhana.

    Any film with Josh Grogan.

    Litter and the people who complain about litter.

    The Proms.

    Christmas markets.

    Dyson, the man not the machines.

    Ageing.

    The BBC notion of balance and inpartiality that invariably sides with the overdog and the establishment, but still manages to say “well we’ve had complaints from everybody, so we have probably got it about right”.

    My children β€˜borrowing’ my clothes.

    News about the Royal Family.

    S**t coffee that costs Β£2.50

    Buying water in plastic bottles.

    Macaroni cheese.

    Having to throw away half of the weekend papers.

    People talking about their piercings.

    Garden centres.

    John Lewis Xmas adverts and the coverage thereof.

    Q and A’s

    (NB: Tories, capitalism, sexism and racism come under serious hates.

    There was a very ‘Radio 4’ exchange on the radio just now

    • what was the last gig that you went to?

    • it was one of the Gallagher brothers…but I can’t remember which one

    The Christmas Radio Times is now defunct…..goodbye old friend

    A festive magazine cover features clay characters in a Christmas setting promoting holiday TV specials.

    Back to work thoughts. As they almost said in The Go-Between “2024 is a foreign country. They did things differently there”

    Gratuitous seaside postcard

    A cartoon depicts a bread delivery person joking with a woman at her door, with a humorous exchange - 'will you be round tomorrow'....'no, I'll be the same shape'

    Like weekends, December is too short

    By my calculations, it’s only 15 sleeps until Gavin and Stacey

    Gavin and Stacey cast

    This is a lovely Christmas wreath on a lovely Salisbury building…but it looks a bit out of proportion - as if there’s been a Spinal-Tap-Black-Sabbath-Stonehenge type confusion between inches and feet

    A large festive wreath decorates the exterior of a building with Tudor-style architecture, displaying a sign that reads The Salisbury Orangery.

    it’s windy out

    windy miller and his windmill

    Many of the COVID signs, warning people to keep their distance, are fading now

    I wonder when the last one will disappear from view

    A pavement marking displays figures and the message Stay Safe Stay Apart to encourage social distancing.

    I’ve never seen Back to the Future.

    I only realised today, when I saw this poster, that the name of the band ‘McFly’ is a Back to the Future reference

    A promotional poster for Back to the Future: The Musical with the slogan Sing Song Merrily McFly. Image pinched from X
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