"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

[r8shell]

+1 :thumbup: Keep your chin up mate :thumbup:

An appropriate phrase in Meako's case Frank, while it goes back at least to WW2, and is possibly much older, the non-cod Latin version was the motto of the original angry young man Arthur Seaton in Alan Sillitoe's 1958 novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, as played by Albert Finney in the 1960 film. Seaton worked in the Raleigh bicycle factory of Meako's native Nottingham, as seen here in the film's opening scene :thumbup:

You hang in there too Paul! :thumbup:

I'll have to look for that movie, Jack, though I might need to watch it with the subtitles on. I have one of those bicycles!

Meako, I don't know what to say. Sometimes the frustration level just gets overwhelming. I try to think of another quote: 'Everything will be all right in the end. If it's not all right, it is not yet the end”

 

[screened porch]

Or "while we still can say 'this is the worst', this is not the worst."
Seriously, Meako, congratulations on your major award and thank you for your service to humanity.

 

[pertinux]

I had a career first this week. Was involved in a case of an alien abduction survivor. Interesting.

More information is needed.

Were you alone on a highway near a cornfield (wearing overalls and a ballcap, natch) when you first saw the bright light...?

We're glad you, I mean, the subject of the abduction, survived. :thumbup:




~ P.

 

[Jack Black]

I'll have to look for that movie, Jack, though I might need to watch it with the subtitles on. I have one of those bicycles!

It is a really classic post-war British film r8shell, but indeed you might need to put the subtitles on! :thumbup:

 

[screened porch]

I had a Raleigh Triumph 10-speed English racer. And I remember when English racers were 3-speed.

 

[leghog]

I had a Raleigh Triumph 10-speed English racer. And I remember when English racers were 3-speed.

Spent a year going to university then work then home daily on a Raleigh ten speed. Probably about 50-60 miles daily.

 

[r8shell]

My Raleigh is marked "Hercules" and was sold in the US at Western Auto stores. No speeds, coaster brakes. I still have it, and this discussion makes me want to take it out this weekend. I wonder if the tires still hold air?

 

[meako]

Thanks all for the good words.
Jack -my dad worked at Raleigh -circa late 50s early to mid 60s. He was involved in early kind of plastic moulding and casting.Which kind of took off later and now everything is made of it. They made toys as well as bikes. I bet he worked with Arthur Seaton. We are off up there today to look at holiday snaps:yawn: from their recent sojourn to guess where? Nottingham.I'll ask him. He told me about the guys who worked with bronze. Open vats of molten bronze and the fumes they breathed in gave them what was termed the bronze shakes. A typical euphemism of the times for being slowly poisoned.I remeber being taken to meet him out of work with mum. I was about 3 or 4 at the time. They had finished worked but the hooter hadn't gone and they were milling at the massive iron gates -locked in basically. The hooter went and the gates were opened and we nearly got trampled in the stampede of hundreds of men running for the bus ,train,pub or wherever they went.

Paul-we need to hear more about the Scottish aliens-perhaps when the courts have finished with it?

 

[Jack Black]

Meako, I thought that you'd said your dad worked at the factory, but couldn't remember for certain. It was all bikes and fags there back then. That's funny they have just been back, hope that you enjoyed looking through the snaps. I bet your dad knows some of the blokes that were in the film :thumbup: Nottingham has certainly changed a lot since then, Saturday Night and Sunday Morningwas of course a notoriously gritty film, but the last time I watched it, I was also struck by the optimism of the final scenes, it harks back to a time when young working people could earn good wages if they worked hard, and could own their own home. I don't think many young people have those opportunities here today

 

[meako]

Jack It certainly was a pioneering type of film.groundbreaking they'd call it today
Spoke to my dad and Alan Sillitoe lived across the street from his mate Benny in Radford.close enough i reckon.
Thankfully the holiday snaps were not many:thumbup:
They also made a hub geared 4speed which was the premium bike of its time .cost about 80 quid when a weeks pay was less than 40.

 

[Jack Black]

Small world my friend, Sillitoe was certainly a local lad :thumbup: Finney is also quite tremendous in the role of Arthur Seaton :thumbup:

Being invited round to look at mum and dad's holiday snaps is an occasion I'm sure many can relate to!

 

[leghog]

A day at one of the local the battlefields. Spent another few hours today a few miles from my home at Chancellorsville Battlefield where Robert E. Lee basically handed Fightin' Joe Hooker his ass in early May 1863.

What's left of Catharine Furnace (base of one of the stacks) where Jackson's march was discovered but not that Jackson's march was to flank Hooker's unsecured right flank.

Route of Jackson's flanking march. Much wider than in 1863. So narrow Jackson's force stretch 6 miles along this route which was about the distance from Catharine Furnace to where Jackson began his attack on Hookers right flank.

Hazel Grove. More than 30 Confederate cannon and rifled guns pounded the Union Center and HQ from this point. You can see a 10-pound Parrott Rifle in the center of this picture.

 

[Old & In The Way]

leghog - I thought that furnace looked familiar. My wife and I toured most of the battlefields in that area just a couple years ago. Fortunately we drove Jackson's route rather than marching it.

 

[meako]

I hope you took a little bacon and a little beans. I know -wrong battle.Fascinating history though. cheers.

 

[Old & In The Way]

Well done meako! Wrong battle indeed, but good for a laugh.

 

[sturzi]

Hi everyone,
I've been on a biketour for the last three weeks through the south of France, so I thought I'd post some pictures in case anyone is interested.

Starting point was in the canton of Wallis in Switzerland.

Just below the Mont Blanc massif near Chamonix.

Making my way southwards...

...through huge canyons...

...and deserted valleys...

...to Monaco.

 

[sturzi]

Then along the Côte d'Azur, here the Corniche de l'Estérel, where the red mountains drop straight down into the deep blue Mediterranean Sea.

Then through the Camargue (the delta of the Rhône river), with lots of flamingos...

...and beautiful sunsets.

In Avignon visiting the impressive papal palace, from the time when the pope was located in Avignon for a while instead of Rome.

There are some beautiful old villages in the Provence, often seated on top of some rock.

This place is famous for its ochre, with rocks and sand spanning from white through yellow and orange to deep red.

Early in the morning on top of Mont Ventoux, with a beautiful view and the sun shining through the mist between the mountains.

Another typical thing in the Provence, the huge lavender fields.

Out of the flat Rhône valley, again through beautiful valleys and canyons back north.

There are some impressive caves in these limestone mountains.

Now it's just a couple of days back to Switzerland.

2200 kilometers and 25000 meters of altitude, now I'm back at work resting my legs .

 

[Jack Black]

Wow Sturzi, those pics are fantastic, what a great journey, looks like you travelled pretty light my friend :thumbup:

 

[sturzi]

And an interesting monastery, with a graveyard where they carved the graves right out of the rock.

For some reason it was impossible to submit the previous post when this was included, but on its own it works .

 

[Peregrin]

What a feast for the eyes! Wonderful pictures! Thanks for sharing your adventure with us.