1. The grounds here at Schloss Immel are not very substantial infact some may say they're nothing more than an oversized back yard. Nonetheless, we have enough space for a little herb garden (pictured) which provides a nice variety of greens throughout the summer and dried herbs throughout the winter. So, WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE (EDIBLE!!) HERB.Oh, and extra prizes (a virtual bouquet garni) for identifying any of the herbs in my garden.
2. The Grand Entrance Hall at Schloss Immel is bedecked with photographs of various world locations that either myself or frauimmel (or both of us) have been to on our travels. So, WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE FOREIGN CAPITAL CITY? I'll be generous and allow former capital cities which aren't neccesarily the administrative capital now (i.e. Amsterdam, St. Petersburg etc.)
3. I love history and geography. So, IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME JUST ONCE, WHICH ERA AND PLACE WOULD YOU WANT TO GO BACK TO TO OBSERVE? Ever-so-Worthy comments about going back to prevent some major disaster will lose points! You're meant to go back to have fun!
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE TV QUIZ - PAST OR PRESENT?
5. WHAT IS YOUR PROUDEST PERSONAL SPORTING ACHIEVEMENT? It does have to be something you've done yourself (so cheering on Liverpool from the sofa doesn't count) but it doesn't have to be winning cups or trophies. Running for the bus without collapsing in a wheezing heap does count if that's the best you've ever done.
74 comments:
Ok, before answers to questions, Mrs Frod wants to jump in and take the Great Immel Herbery Quiz.
Her answers:
Back Row (L to R): Rosemary, Dill, Parsley (Trad.), Chives, Mint.
Front Row (L to R): Bluebell (inedible), Unidentified (poss. inedible), Mint (again), Dill (again), Oregano, Tulip (dead, inedible), Pot Marjoram.
She awaits her score eagerly.
I had to edit that a few times to get it right so sorry if you commented and the comment disappeared ( I don't really know what I'm doing here, you see).
Also, just to clarify, the herbs are only in the 'middle terrace'. Not every plant in the photo is a herb - incase that tulip stalk is driving you crazy
Bloody 'ell Snad, that was quick!
Not all correct mind you...
We've only the one dill plant. There's no mint on the front row. 'Unidentified' is edible. And you've missed one infront of the marjoram. And if you're so clever, a few more details on the mint, please!
1. My fave? Fresh coriander, no question.
Our best back garden herb? The chocolate mint.
Does exactly what it says on the ... er ...
And from a TOTAL gardening idiot, my guess at your back row, L-R, is:
Sage/dunno/parsley/chives. Now you know how crap I am in the garden, Gordon! How many points do I get for those guesses?
2. I'm not at all well travelled to capital cities, so I'm backed into a corner somewhat. Was New Orleans ever the capital of a territory before the US settled down? If not I think I can only choose between GB & I. How crap is that?
3. I want awe! So I wouldn't go back to prevent a major disaster, I just want to see one and survive. The Meteor strike that did for the dinosaurs would be a jaw-dropper, but have the timemachine revved and ready to get out of there, won't you?
4. Pop Quiz. Yes it was utter pants, but given that we only had three channels, and no chance to see our pop stars outside of performing, it was a must-watch.
5. Cheshire County U14 Fencing Champions (Foil). I never told my ridiculously proud mother that we were the only under-14s to turn up on the day due to a pile-up on the M6. Seriously though, it was the following year's school football team. Raging hormones created a monster-sized striker pairing, we had two great wingers, and as goalie I benefitted from a telepathic understanding between the back four in front of me meant we only lost one game all season, and I didn't play in that one!!!
Aaaand as for my answers...
1. Normally it would be basil, sometimes it is very fresh coriander (cilantro for those of that sort) but right now, inspired by a fantastic Sardinian restaurant we went to in Stoke Newington a few weeks ago, it is Rosemary. In everything. Especially really rich tomato sauces.
2. I haven't actually been to that many capitals, mainly sticking to the provinces and the countryside/seaside. Of the ones we have seen, though, I am going to plump for Krakow, which was the ancient capital for many many years and whose Wavel is still the historic seat of Polish government. I have never been so impressed by a city having expected so little. A pierogi and Zywiec soaked gem.
3. I think I'd like to go back to the day of the first performance of King Lear. Just to be there and see how it all worked. Plus, I'd hang around for the dress rehearsal and convince William to cut down the Mad Tom scene, which is a bit cack. Do I lose points for disaster aversion?
4. We have decided not to count The Crystal Maze (Richard O'Brien vintage) as a quiz, so the winner is probably (and I reserve the right to change this later on) Blockbusters. Pure.
5. Hole in one. The short eighth hole. Adlington golf course. Many years ago. That will never be beaten.
@ Darceysdad, that's precisely the sort of answer to Question 3 I'm after. Good One.
WRT the herbs, dig out your 'Beginners Guide To...'
Okey dokey. It isn't me that's clever, it's Mrs Frod (I got rosemary and dill, might have got marjoram and that's it...), so I've unleashed her on it again.
Here we go...
She's shooting with Fennel instead of a Dill and now it is starting to frustrate her. Interesting.
Nope. Defeated. You have some interesting herbs, Herr Immel. Very interesting. *Twirls moustache*
1 Fresh coriander, yesyesyes...
2 Hmm, haven't been to many...I'd like to go to Havana, for the cars not the cigars; but for those I've visited I'll pick Funchal, the capital of Madeira, with its frangipani and jacaranda trees.
3 Easy - London in Shakespeare's time, so I could go to the theatre a LOT. And see what the acting was like.
4 I'm not a fan of quizzes but I quite liked Never Mind the Buzzcocks after Mark Lamarr had lost the quiff. (Because it irritated me.)
5 I only have one...briefly being in the school netball team, presumably because it was such a small school. Stanbridge Primary School in Bedfordshire, since you ask. Usually I was that person who got picked last.
@ snadfrod, fennel is correct (on the back row). I'll leave other answers for others to have a go.
Herbwise I think I'd have to join the coriander bunch- there are just so many delicious things to do with it.
Foreign capitals is an equally tough question- if we're taking the former capital option I'll go for Istanbul, otherwise Rome. I find the connections between these two cities fascinating, from the architecture through to the people and the fantastic cuisine, as well as the overlay (OK- PALIMPSEST. There, I said it) of thousands of years of history.
I think with your era-place question, you might have let us take part rather than just observe- but if it's just observation, I think I'd like to have taken a peek at the Mayans, just before they got obliterated. That might not sound like fun, with all that disembowling and rendering of fat, etc, but I think it would still have been very interesting.
I'll pass on the TV quizzes, as I'm not really the TV sort.
My proudest sporting achievement would have to have been the goal I once scored from the halfway line in a schoolboy match, playing from left back. In fact, it was the only goal I ever scored in a competitive match, except for a scrambled goalline effort in a uni match. Although in a perverse way, I am also quite proud of the day I gave away three (3!!) penalties in one match.. you should have seen the other guy..
1. Fresh coriander, any day, I'll eat it off the stems with pleasure.
So Gordon, why haven't you deadheaded the tulip?!
2. I could say London as it's originally foreign to me, but I'd rather go for Havana .
3. I'd go back and try and prevent them from naming a boy Hardicanute. That's just cruel. I actually don't have a good answer at the moment, let me think about it.
4. Questions Pour Un Champion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmrZKTlGlIg
5. Scoring NINE goals indoors in PE during my year in school in England. Bearing in mind I never played football before that year. Needless to say, it's been downhill ever since.
5b. Spitting my gum out and volleying it in the bin about 15 metres away. I actually raised my arms in celebration in the middle of the street.
Good questions Gordonimmel. Funnily, your garden looks quite a bit like our garden, size & shapewise. I'll post a picture some day.
1. I couldn't pick one favorite herb, I love so many, and I like combinations of them, too. Cilantro, basil, rosemary are probably top, but I also like thyme, oregano, I'm learning to like savory, I like fennel, ground coriander...I like them all!
2. Hmm, a tough one. I'm not always sure which city is the capital (you know how New York City isn't the capital of New York State? I always wonder about other cities that way.) I've liked London, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Barcelona--are any of those capitals? One time I was riding the underground in London, and this woman said to her friend "any AMERICAN would think that London was the capital of England." That really confused me.
3. I have to think, I'll be back with this one.
4. I don't know if I've ever really watched any TV quizzes. I saw some Never Mind the Bullocks on youTube that were amusing.
5. Getting the boys' legos into the right bin from across the room. I'm very good. I played basketball and softball in my youth, but I don't have any successes to boast of.
Having the luxury of an early night in with you good people in the midst of all the festivities down here.
1. (Sybil Fawlty voice) Basil!!!
2. Cross between Amsterdam which is drop dead gorgeous and (Sourpus will hate me) I'm very fond of Budapest. Because it rhymes with "ruder pest".
3. Berlin cabaret scene in the 20s. With a sharply cut bob and red lipstick. Magic.
4. I'll have a "P" please Bob.
5. Runner up in girls tennis doubles at Skool. chizz chizz
1. Chives. I sprinkle it on everything for that cheffy look!
2. Washington D.C. because of the Smithsonian.
3. Er, you mention going back but, er, um is this a return trip?
(Reminds me of the old joke: My mother-in-law won a free trip to Siberia. She's there now trying to win one back. Ba doom ba.)
Geez, the other questions were pretty straightforward, except the last which I wouldn't answer cause it would involve bragging (if I had anything to report of course), but this is tough 'cause most of history was so cruel and there's no guarantee I wouldn't get the plague or be mauled by lions or trussed up and eaten or something. Plus I am well aware that age 49 was old age for most of history, and I might end up going back just to die.
I guess the coolest thing I can think of is to be in the first space flight where you could see the whole earth and realize just what a little biddy part of the universe we are.
4. Jeopardy. Sorry, I meant What is Jeopardy?
5. When I was 11, there was this one day that I wasn't the last kid picked for something.
Herbs would be basil first, thyme second tied with coriander and tarragon third, I grow em all plus more. Basil, several varieties, 'cos I always grow several large bushes and Gina makes tons of pesto every year. A good tip is to pour it into ice cube trays and then freeze it in zip loc bags and have it year round. We went to a Vietnamese restaurant recently, they served a sprig of a very different basil as a plate decor, I brought it home, stuck it in a tiny vase on the windowsill and it's now got very substantial roots, it'll be in the garden in a couple of days. Thyme I like in food but also to just touch in the garden and release that lovely fragrance. Gina cooks a lot of Thai so we use a lot of coriander but it goes to seed so fast and I'm always planting fresh batches. French tarragon I love, I have a large bush that must be protected every winter, it's very frost sensitive; I wrap it in a blanket. It's very good for gifts, a sprig in a bottle of olive oil or vinegar does wonders.
I like catnip just because my cat goes ecstatic in it, I grow a bed just for him.
Probably Paris and London; I'd love to live in London six months of the year and to visit Paris regularly.
Favorite capitals that I've never been to would be Madrid, Istanbul and Prague.
I might join Nilp on a visit to Tikal around 900AD, I've been there several times and it's always interesting as are all the other Mayan centers in that area, plus we'd be close enough to Tenochitlan to hitch hike there and check out the early Aztecs.
Maybe we could take a couple of jazz CD's with us and plant some seeds early!
I'll pass on the last two.
@tincanman,
As Darceysdad had it in his reply, assume that your time machine is revved up and ready to go whenever it gets a bit too hot!
Great comments so far, everybody. I'll probably chuck in my own answers tomorrow.
1. Fresh Coriander - I live in a very "multi-cultural" part of Steel City and on some days the smell of cooking Coriander drifts around the streets , tormenting my nostrils...
2.Berlin - can't get enough of this wonderful place oozing with history (recent brutal admittedly) and real interesting corners (Kreuzberg is a buzz), being on the "Fan-Meile" for Euro 2008 final along with half a million others (mainly Germans) and NO TROUBLE when they lost - Berlin was NOT smashed up! This event was after spening the morning and some of thwe early afternoon at the Wannsee lake (see if you can guess why) - fantastic place.
Marrakech is not really a capital but it's like nothing I've seen since or before...what a medieval place within the Medina walls and around Jemaa al-Fna...
3.I'd go back around 1640-50 and be a "True Leveller" or "Digger" and in true revolutionary style say "fuck the Roundheads".
4. There are 2 : All-time fave UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE.
Present fave : "Unbelievable Truth" - with David Mitchell (of "Peep Show" fame) , where funny people have to lie about funny topics. It is very funny.
5.Played North-east Counties football(in Donny before going to Uni) , played in Deutschland (Vfr Aalen) and earned £10 game as 20 year old in '86. Now coach with oldest club in world, developing female side of game as well as successful U18s lads team(3rd this season, so promotion to Premier next...). Well you did ask!
OK - good questions Herr Immel apart from the fact that I was planning to do it this week, and, to really rub it in, your question five is one of the three that I had already planned to ask!!! Curses!
1. Thyme - I'm not a big herbalist but this would be ToffeeGirl's #1 choice. Oh, and by the way Steenbeck - that's herb (with an 'h').
2. Paris - no question, although Berlin blew me away when I visited a year or two after the wall came down.
3. I thought about and discarded a number of far too worthy, scholarly moments in history (witnessing the Oxford debate between Bishop Wilberforce and Thomas Huxley would have been fun) but I think what I'd be most interested to witness would the arrival of Eric the Red in Vinland.
4. Out of loyalty to big brother, I would have to say, Have I Got News For You.
5. A few to choose from but I'll go for scoring the winning run, off the last ball of the innings, with the last man in at the other end (West Herts 3rd XI - ca. 1983). I also have a number of proud moments as a school football coach - and watching the littlest MissToffee playing for the Under 13s in her County Cup Final last season is right up there.
So it would seem coriander is catnip for humans then ....
;o)
Christ, just the mention is making me hungry.
1. Another in the coriander camp, although have you ever tried a strawberry wrapped in a basil leaf (or a celery leaf, for that matter)?
2. It looks like a four-way tussle between Rome (the city that ruined me for life as far as cappucino, ice cream, tiramasu, saltimbocca, breadsticks, buildings and night skies were concerned); Madrid (given its capital city status, I love its lack of self-importance); Berlin (amazing sense of being in a place where they got everything wrong but have now got everything right); and Havana (not one mundane moment or square inch). But because it was the best gig I ever had, I'll delight the bookies by going for Dhaka.
3. I think I'd have dug knocking round with Lorca, Dali and Bunuel when they were at university in Madrid, late 1920s.
4. Got to be University Challenge, not fussed if it's Gazza or Paxo's era but it'd have to be the old version of the theme tune.
5. I came on as sub for my primary school team during a 3-0 win over local rivals, Rockmount, and the kids from the year below got all our autographs, even though our fingers were so frozen, the autographs weren't even recognisable as letters on the page, but that's not it. Nor is it my top score of 7 or record figures of 2 for 8 for the Under-14s cricket team. My choice would be a perfectly executed, not vicious but entirely gratuitous trip on James Borley, in a five-a-side game in the school gym.
1) Ganja (although it's been a while).
2) Paris or Amsterdam (see 1.).
3) Can we go forward not back, the past is likely to be smelly? No? Then ancient Rome as they have the plumbing sorted.
4) Numberwang.
5) 23 tequila slammers.
My two penn'orth:
1. Another vote for cilantro/coriander. And then oregano (but I don't know if that grows here).
2. I've seen a fair few capital cities and most of them are a disappointment, as they struggle (or not) to balance the old with the new. Rome and Prague are my favourite Euro capitals and Vientiane in Laos has a pseudo Arc de Triomphe (unfinished) at its impoverished centre that I found appealing for some reason. But Cordoba used to be the capital of Islamic Andalucia and its old town is fantasically evocative. So, I'll choose Codoba, Brian.
3. As has been pointed out, this is on an armour-plated fly-on-the-wall basis only. I'm intrigued by the Mayans too. A civilisation so sophisticated and yet so barbaric at the same time. Their end seems to have been due to drought, as far as I can remember, so I don't know that I'd want to witness that. But the crowning of a new king or even just a ball game would be good++. But I'd actually like to be at the time and place that either Christ is supposed to have risen or Muhammed is supposed to have flown up into the ether. I'd need a camcorder, obviously, so I could say: 'See - nothing happened!'
4. I'm with TB on this one: HIGNFY. And I have no family ties. It's remained funny for a very long time.
5. I once took part in a semi-final football match for my Primary School. We lost 1-0 to Button Lane. And I was part of a gym display for the Queen when she visited omy Secondary School. So, no; no proud sporting moments I can think of...
1. Fresh basil
2. Berlin, been there before the wall fell, just after (when the first [and last] free elections were held in the GDR), and a couple of years ago, just great to see the evolution of that city....
3. 1954, World Cup Final in Bern, would love to see "das Wunder von Bern", Germany winning the World Cup, beating the Hungarion wonder team of that time...
4. University Challenge, or on Dutch TV: "Het mes op tafel", a nice & relaxed combination of general knowledge, bluffing and gambling, not involving large sums of money...
5. Being part of the Eindhoven Student Cricket Club, playing some legendary matches against the Birmingham Polytechnic as a left-handed fast bowler in the late 70's
Well, let's see...
1. If cinnamon is a herb, then it's cinnamon. If it isn't then it's nutmeg - sprinkled on rum and eggnog at Christmas, of course.
2. Haven't been to many capital cities that I can think of, but we just visited Barcelona and Lisbon on our vacation, both beautiful cities...I'll give the nod to Barcelona, capital of Catalonia.
3. Ancient Greece would be interesting. I like Greek philosophy and Greek mythology. Would be fascinating to be there in their heyday.
4. Favorite TV Quiz? - Jeopardy. (I auditioned to be on the show once but didn't make the cut.)
5. I'm not particularly athletic and never have been. I guess the proudest moment I can remember is in elementary school when I was able to climb to the top of the rope. Not too many kids were as good at climbing as I was.
Just went to dinner with my musician mom and historian dad, and I ran a few of these interesting questions by them. #3 in particular, as I can't answer it yet myself...
My mom, instantly, with barely a moment's thought, said Leipzig 172* (can't remember exactly). She wants to hear Bach, and specifically the first performance of the St. Matthew's Passion.
My father said (abahachi might find this interesting, as he knows what my father writes about) Athens at it's height. He said it more articulately than that and had his reasons, but I'm tired.
And David said, though he wasn't committed to this...a theater afterparty in the 18th c., with Garrick and Boswell and--he named others.
I'm still (overthinking) but DsD has sort of planted the seed in my head that...I'd really like to see dinosaurs or very early mammals. Yes, I am thinking like a 3-6 year old boy. Sigh.
Great questions!
1. Rosemary is the last herb left standing on our balcony, Mrs J makes some ace roast potatoes with it that smell and taste delicious!
2. I love Stockholm - modern, vibrant, safe to walk around, classic architecture, sea, a palace, an excellent metal record shop , it's got it all. Bloody freezing in winter mind you!
3. Heian period Japan (11th century). The imperial court was centuries ahead of it's European counterparts, culturally at least. I'd like to just hang around under a cherry blossom, compose a "tanka" or two and watch all the pomp and ceremony come and go. For an excellent description of the times check out the classic alleged "world's first novel", "The Tale of Genji".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Genji
4. Without a doubt, Fifteen To One. William G Stewart is a god!
5. hmm...I did come about 6th place in the East Sussex all schools cross country running competition. And I have a couple of medals from doing Judo when I was about 5 or 6 years old. that's about it.
Hmmm. I can make out rosemary, fennel, parsley (?) and chives at the back and it looks like oregano (?), (?), basil and marjoram at the front but that's about it. I thought the tulip was an allium of some sort!
1. Favourite herb would be basil or fennel - I like fennel with fish.
2. Haven't been to any foreign capital cities but I quite fancy Paris if anyone's paying.
3. I'd like to go back to the 1920s when my parents were growing up and see what life was like for them and their respective families.
4. Call My Bluff with Frank Muir and Partick Campbell (probably before your time!)
5. I won first prize for "Woman with the healthiest lifestyle" when I was in my 30s. It was a work-based event. I'm not sure it was entirely warranted but they obviously didn't find out about the drinking and drugs orgies, etc.
Oh yeah, and there's some mint in the corner. Is it chocolate mint?
@ToffeBoy, sorry for apparently jumping into the queue ahead of you but you see, I was just pipped to it last week and I was being told, in various international behind-the-scenes ways to get my questions up.
I'm happy to nominate you as next in the queue if everybody else agrees.......?!?
Back later with my answers to my own questions although I must admit some of your answers are making me think again.
@ steenebeck
re: I'd really like to see dinosaurs
I'll email you my pic
Oj how could I forget Rome?
Now I've thought a little bit about 3, I think I would sit on the hill where our house in Cameroon is, and observe the trench that served as a tunnel during wars.
I like the Jesus thing too. Dinosaurs would be cool, provided my time capsule is Pterodactyl & Tyrannosaurus-proof. Oh ancient Athens would be interesting.
Ooh...interesting questions, Gordon.
1. The Coriander Club seems to be packed out, so I'll say fresh basil.
2. Berlin. I had a lost-distance love affair with a girl from Berlin in my youth and visited several times both before and after the wall came down. I'd never tire of this city, it just has everything: culture, history, nightlife. You also can't beat staying in a city with someone who actually lives there, as opposed to just visiting as a tourist, for really getting to know a place. It also now houses my favourite building in the world, Daniel Liebeskind's Jewish Museum.
3. Chris has just beaten me to it, but as someone who makes Richard Dawkins look like the Archbishop of Canterbury, I'd love to go back to the time of the supposed resurrection of Jesus and, excuse the pun, nail that belief for good.
After that, I would jump into my Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure-style phone booth and do a whistlestop tour of all the great gigs I was too young to go to.
4. Cheggers Plays Pop ;-)
5. I was pretty sporty in my youth and was Manchester under-15s 100m champion as well as holding the Manchester Grammar School records for 100m, 200m, long jump and triple jump. My athletics career was tragically foreshortened around the age of 16 by a burgeoning interest in sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll and discovering The Hacienda. Random drugs testing would've put paid to me in the end so it's probably best I got out while I did!
Just a quizzy coda - if we weren't restricted to TV quizzes (and notwithstanding its brief but not-quite-the-same-thing TV incarnation), my favourite quiz in broadcasting history has to be I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
1. Very tricky; coriander, basil and rosemary, obviously, and flat-leaf parsley, but I have tremendous affection for various obscure things that I grow in the garden and add to salads like lovage and mace. So that'll be another one for coriander.
2. Berlin; dearly wish I'd visited before the Wall came down, just to have experienced its transformation. Fantastically exciting city.
3. Excluding anything with any professional connection, i.e. going back to prove that rival historians have no idea what they're talking about... If I can be guaranteed immunity from prosecution, Revolutionary France. If I can be guaranteed an invitation to their salon, Weimar in the era of Goethe and Schiller.
4. Fifteen to One.
5. Um. Never won anything at all in any competitive sport (hockey, badminton, sailing), but did once score a goal for my college hockey team. If non-competitive stuff counts, probably doing fifty miles in under four hours around the Somerset Levels last year on sponsored cycle ride. Would aim to beat record this year, except that I'll be having to stick to Mrs Abahachi's considerably more sedate pace.
1: Parsley the friendly lion is my favorite herb.. not kids TV from 1968? oh, usually a mix depends what I'm cooking..At the moment a Lemon balm and mint mix to make a really refreshing pasta, eaten outside in the sunshine.. it also works well in a little vodka and a lot of ice!
2: Too many, so I'll go with the last visited: Istanbul, beautiful place.
Berlin gets an amazing memories big up.
Amsterdam because of a mis-spent youth there.. you know you have to leave when everyone becomes Jodie Foster, it weirds your head out!
And Harare was a what the f**k experience a couple of years ago..
.. in fact they are all great in their own idiosyncratic ways.. except....
3: I love to meet Native Americans before the Americas were 'Discovered' and just listen to the stories... and I want to see pyramids built, Aztec and Egyptian.
(do we get a Babel Fish to take with us)
plus- on a not so grand scale- I'd be fascinated to see the Factory at work and how obnoxious all the beautiful people were.
4: Buzzcocks and HIGNFY get us both sat down at the same time, so they'll do.
5: There are long answers and short answers to this so:
Getting to within 50 points of snadfrod in the UNIDOND league with one game to play (he had a head start sir.. s'not fair!) must be the answer...
ok may1366, maybe we can help you remember. Any clue, no matter how small, may help us.
tin - OK, you're on kazoo, and I'm up the swanny.
shane - when you talk about everyone turning into Jodie Foster, are you talking Silence Of The Lambs, Bugsy Malone, The Accused, Taxi Driver, Contact or Panic Room? Because, you know, such details can make a BIG difference to that anecdote...
I've finally got time to write the answers to my own questions except that some of these may not be my original answers because alot of your replies have got me thinking.
Nonetheless:-
1. Sign me up to the coriander club aswell. This is ironic since the picture I used to show my herb garden actually cuts off the clump of coriander at the bottom right of the patch.
2. I like Berlin for many of the reasons given above. Reykyavik is the quaintest capital I've been to aswell as having some of the most amazing landscapes in the world on the doorstep. But standing head and shoulders above them all (and the reason that I added the 'historic capital cities' clause) is ISTANBUL. It's got the lot. Byzantium to Constantinople to Istanbul. Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Turkish. Capital of The Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. A noisy smelly modern city standing at the junction of Europe and Asia with spectacular mosques and views onto the Bosphuros and Golden Horn. You can't spit without it landing on some ancient ruin. Marvellous.
3. Difficult, this one. As a military historian I'd want to go back to some epic battles to witness their horror firsthand - Verdun , Stalingrad and Kursk spring to mind. Or maybe go to Waterloo on 18th June 1815 to not only encourage 'Old Nosey' to hang on till the Prussians arrive but to maybe track down my great great great grandpappy and make sure that he gets that thigh wound seen to before it goes sceptic, otherwise I'm a goner 150 years before I've even got going.
But no, if I had only one choice then, like some of you, I'd go back to Judaea in 30AD (Saturday afternoon - about tea time!), not to prove or disprove a certain historical event but to get a feel for the place and the people and to search out this Galilean preacher Rabbi Yeheshuah Ben Yosef to see if he's all he's always been cracked up to be.
4. Fifteen To One definately. I used to be a bit obsessive about it, setting my video every morning before going to work and then watching it as soon as I came in. I've got alot of good films on video which are suddenly interrupted by episodes of Fifteen To One because I'd forgotten to put the right tape back in the machine. I was devestated when it finished and nothing has really equalled it yet.
5.I've not done alot in terms of winning trophies so I have to go back to age 10 when I was goalie in Sandiland School's third Year Football team. We had trampled all before us but in a friendly against a very good team of 11 year olds we were behind 3-1 when I pulled off a couple of saves which made me feel like Gordon Banks and Jim Montgomery (this WAS 1974) rolled into one. The team were lifted and went on to win 4-3. Unfortunately, I soon fell out with the sports teacher (don't know why) and was dropped from the team. I've not been interested in team sports ever since.
Oh and May's glorification of an iniquitous trip reminds me of an equally dubious sporting achievement of mine.
When I was about 10 my younger brother was winding me up (as usual) to the extent that I went for him but he ran away (as usual) off down the garden. Now I've always been rubbish at any sort of throwing sport but on this occasion I picked up a handy garden cane and executed a perfect javelin throw with it right into the back of my brothers head, cutting it open. Aah, brotherly love!
And finally the answers to the herb quiz, whilst people are still even remotely interested.
In the picture, at the back from left to right there is rosemary, fennel, parsley, chives and mint (spearmint and peppermint AFAIK). At the front, left to right, is sorrell, St John's Wort, dill, oregano, a non-deadheaded tulip (thanks ejd), sage and marjoram. Hidden by these herbs we also have horseradish and rocket.
Just out of shot there is also coriander and lemon balm and on the window cill in the house is a rather sorry looking basil plant and a healthy looking thyme plant, which is going out in the herb garden just as soon as it stops raining!
An update, if I may:
1. Nope, no change there. Coriander for ever!
2. I'd forgotten about Barcelona as the Catalan capital. I'll take that over London/Edinburgh/Cardiff/Dublin EVERY time. Rekjavik tops the DsD list of capital cities I want to visit, but I'm not sure why.
3. On reflection, how's this one? I'm gonna stuff all the DsD valuables I can fit into my pockets, go back to January 3rd 1950, knock on the door of 706 Union Avenue TN38103, and ask that nice Mr. Phillips if he needs a business partner for his new little venture ...
4. Shooting Stars, before they disappeared up their own arses. DsMam & I went to see the live show, memorable for Ulrika-ka-ka being forced to down a pint of bitter in one, which she then promptly threw back up again at the side of the St.Georges Hall stage.
5. Getting round Riddlesden's ridiculously sloping course with nothing worse than a gross 6 on my card. Them were the days! Or also golf-related, winning the Dave Adams Memorial Shield ... twice.
Good questions, Gordon.
Erm, have you had a chance to read The Big Match thread yet? Hm? Hm?
[Tee-hee!]
So you're an Old Boy, too, BalearicBeat? I suspect you are not as old as this one, though: I was there from 1964 to 1971.
Despite my nonchalant statement about capital city visits, I've never been to Berlin, Istanbul or Rekjavik. I'd better get the travel list out again, by all accounts.
Chris: Blimey, this blog keeps on getting smaller. Yes, I am an Old Manc, but indeed not as venerable as your good self. I was there from 1980-1987. Sapere aude an' that ;-)
DsD: "Rekjavik tops the DsD list of capital cities I want to visit, but I'm not sure why". Rekyavik has long been the city I've always wanted to visit, based spuriously on the idea that it will be like stepping into a Sugarcubes or, latterly, Sigur Ros video and the undoubtedly misguided belief that all the women are goddesses and the men look like trolls. I've hitherto restrained myself from going, so as not to shatter the illusion.
OK, if ps's are allowed I have one prompted by Aba's tale. When I was 16 I LIVED on my bike, a Dawes I'd bought with my paper round money. We lived in Barnehurst in Kent and I'd spent the war years with my Granny in Sheffield, one day I told my dad I was going to ride to Sheffield "How long does tha think that'll take thee" he asked, 'Oh, I think I could do it in a day' I said, 'Not bloody likely' quoth he,' so the bets were on!
Well I only made it to Leicester that day, I made Sheffield the next day, but the following year I vowed I do it again, this time in one day [it's about 190 miles] I set off at about 3.30am on a Sarurday and have a vivid image of pedalling the length of a deserted Oxford street and then making a right turn up the Edgeware road which became the A1.
I arrived at my Granny's house at about 6pm, sat and had a cup of tea and a chat and then went out for a quick spin around the local Derbyshire moors before it got dark.
Plus I used to play table tennis for the Dunlop Rubber company in Liverpool. I didn't think either of those counted as 'sporting acheivements'.
May1366
just Jodie Foster.. if I'd started thinking of them as characters she played.. I'd never of been let out of the lock up... I really needed to leave. (but I see were your coming from!)
And I'm finally going to get in on the 'Have we met before?' act.
The best result of the Chester King's School football season I described above was a 4-4 draw against Manchester Grammar; a game so wet and muddy I came off the pitch uniformly brown over my entire body, and weighing about half-a-stone MORE than I did when I went on. But it was a year between Chris' departure and Balearic's arrival at MGS, so neither of you ever kicked lumps out of me personally!
;o)
I thought it only fitting that I be the one to top last week's question of the week posts total.
My fault, I asked a music question, which isn't allowed and I forgot.
But one learns from these things. Next time it is my turn, all 5 questions will about pets and herbs. You'll be begging me for supplemental questions.
oh oh oh, can I change my answer to #3? I'd like to go back in time a week and ask a herb question. Or a cat question. It's always tough to know which way to go in these things.
DsD: I do remember playing at King's School, Chester, but regardless of the year, I never kicked lumps out of anyone, being very much a pacifist on the sporting field. Apart from the (obviously non-contact) athletics, I also surprisingly excelled at rubgy, where I was MGS's leading try-scorer for several years, based purely on my ability to run like buggery, whilst avoiding coming into contact with anyone biggger, fatter or uglier than me. It worked for a while until I got slower and they got bigger and uglier and I had a moment of epiphany on a field in Preston, wearing shorts in a snowstorm.
I feel sitting at the back of the bus listening to The Smiths on my Walkman instead of singing "Four and twenty virgins" had something to do with it too.
@balearicbeats : here's the repeat of a comment re. what you said about John Thompson ...any comment?
" - sounds like you were about to say something bad about the bloke: brings us to the following questions :
1. Should you judge someone on hearsay?
2. At what point do you cease to listen to their music / watch their films etc because they are @#*^#@$%*+ s ?
I have my own personal boycotts - the one that pissed me off the most was when I had to stop listening to "Noir desir" because that "#@8 of a singer murdered his lover. They did some great stuff too, but hey misogynistic murder is just what it says on the tin..."
I'm curious because you just cleared off after making your comment and we don't all know superstars...
@ gremilnfc
Point taken and addressed in the other thread.
Anyway, getting back to the Main Feature , I meant to say before that I like Japanther's idea of going back in time and place to the ancient Japanese court although maybe a bit later. I really loved Clavell's 'Shogun', I've played 'Shogun Total War' and read a bit of serious stuff about that time, so on the condition that I'd not be 'invited' to commit seppukku, I'd opt for Tokugawa Ieyasu's court around 1600AD
btw, Japanther, moving onto the old capital's theme but staying in Japan, have you ever been to Kyoto, and if so, what do you think?
& did you drive there in an Accord?
@ goneforeign - that's mighty impressive. Kent to Sheffield in one day on a bike. Wow!
I once cycled from Watford to Clerkenwell on a Saturday morning (to raise money for my daughters' school) - it was only 18 miles but it took me a couple of hours and I put the bike on the train on the way back.
Pedant alert! Edgware Road = A5. Just like to get these things right...
@ gordonimmel - no worries. I'll just have to think up a couple more decent questions (let's see, pets - yes, gardening - yes, music - no). I'm nearly there.
Right.
1. Not such a foodie, but I always thought Lady Rosemary had to be wearing stockings
2. Tough, TOUGH call, omg! Im right behind the Barcelonists and the Pragueites, there with the Amsterdammers and the Parisienees, not to mention the Istanbulers..and still quite fond of London - at least the one from all my memories - but, only partly to be different, i'm gonna go for vibrant Belgrade.
I'm a big fan of all the former Yugoslavian main cities (Zagreb is cool, Ljubljana is beautiful, etc) but Belgrade, on a hot night in June, is the wickedest, wildest, rockinest city I can think of - and best of all, those Serbs, they love cool music; genuine connoisseurs. They would know everything on this blog and more. And I havent even mentioned the ladies yet, have I? Holy moly!! Dont even get me started!!
3. I know its sleazy, but I'd really fancy CBGB's on a cold night in November, around 1974/75. Television, Ramones and Blondie in prospect, as well as soaking up that vibe. And when I was done, I could take an aeroplane back to Blighty and give my 11 year old self a good kick up the arse from the future.
4. Anyone else remember Yorshire Televisions, 'Pop Quest' - always remember pitting myself against the long haired trivia merchants on there. It was really tough as well..
5. I once had an opportunity to slide one past Peter Shilton at a Charity event laid on by Filbert Street's memorial foundation...only kidding..but I did once come third in the whole school at javelin...and the two what beat us were county level, so ner ner na ner!
FP, ??????? are you quite mad, young lady??? :P
@gordonimmel
Ieyasu's Japan would be a good choice too. The country was finally united after centuries of feudalistic civil war and the people (not just the imperial family and the shogunate) started to gain a tiny bit of prosperity, the arts flourished and there were planty of Samurai and ninjas and cool stuff like that too.
I haven't traveled as much as I would like to have in Japan, but I have been to Kyoto. As soon as I stepped off the bullet train I was greeted by real life royalty in the form of the unimpressive crown prince (Naruhito) and his much more elegant, intelligent, worldly and taller wife, Princess Masako as they passed through the station. We were shepherded into a corner by special police and given a "hi no maru" (Japanese flag) to wave by opportunistic journalists as they passed by. Much like our very own Princess of Hearts, Masako's modern ways of being a woman who can actually think for herself and who has the temerity to be unable to produce a male heir hasn't jarred well with the old emperor and she has been suffering chronic depression for a number of years.
Anyway, Kyoto is exceptionally beautiful. Well preserved (or at least authentically re-built, earthquakes and fire being a big problem over the centuries) with lots of small winding streets and more temples than you can shake a (bamboo) stick at. It doesn't suffer from the overcrowding and ostentatiousness of Tokyo and Osaka which gives it a much slower pace of life and a much more pleasing "wabisabi" (the concept that true beauty lies in simplicity and frugality) aesthetic. I'll hopefully get the chance to go back this year and explore a bit more the places I missed out on the first time around.
1. Dill.
I just like the word. Dill.
2. Edinburgh.
But it stopped being foreign after I'd lived there for 7 years.
3. The Severn Road Bridge, February 1995.
Just to get an answer
4. Shooting Stars.
Toffee: In the late '40's Edgeware was the A1, and was comicly referred to as 'The Great North Road', all 3 lanes of it all the way to Edinburgh. Totally clogged with lorries and very dangerous for attempting any overtaking. I did that ride three times back then but I literally went everywhere on my bike, 12 miles each way to school everyday so I was pretty fit and I enjoyed it.
I had forgotten about Harare, we spent a week there in '88 and I thought it a fabulous city, I was seriously thinking of retiring there!
Dill is a fabulous word, Blimpy, you're right.
Would make a good band name.
As would Linctus (heavy metal band) and Dung (mixed gender Americana/country/folk band)...also fine words
There was a Vancouver band I really liked called Dal Dil Vog.
Sounds simple but close this window and try to remember it in the right order.
They mix Indian traditional with western pop, and it worked very well. I saw them years and years ago an an outdoor festival and liked it a lot. Dunno what became of them, if anything.
@ goneforeign - I know there are more important things in life to worry about but the Edgware Road was never the A1 (nor the other way round). The Edgware Road was (and indeed still is) the A5. I've been sadly fascinated by the whole road numbering system since I was far too young to take an interest in such matters.
The A1 is indeed the Great North Road but it leaves London at Islington. The Edgware Road starts at Marble Arch and heads out of London via Kilburn and Cricklewood.
A1A5Sadly, I am also interested in paper sizes ...
Let's just try those links again:
A1
A5
Toffee: Then I stand corrected, thank you. From what you said I thought that sometime in the last 60 odd years they'd re- numbered the roads. I definitely went up the Edgeware road and it must have then led me onto the A1. Do you know of Seven Sisters rd in that area, one of my earliest memories from when I was about 3-4 involves going there and for no reason at all it's stuck all these years, I can even visualise the interior of the house there.
@sourpus - i can't say dill without smiling!
when i got up this morning to make a cuppa, there were little birds flying around my playroom. bloody cat!
@ goneforeign - Seven Sisters Road forks off (if you'll excuse my French) the A1 in Holloway, not far north of Arsenal's new ground, the Emirates. The start of the Edgware Road is some 5 miles away due south-west. It would be a strange way to leave London if you were bound for Edinburgh!
Toffee: 7 sisters and Edgeware are two totally separate memories.
PERSONAL SPORTING ACHIEVEMENT - East Cheshire under 14 shot putt champion. The games teacher made me take part because the real contestant had gone home. Now, I'm very happy if I get to a mile in the pool on a Sunday, but I usually make do with half a mile ;-)
Hmm. most of my post went AWOL. My other answers were:
HERB - Sorrel, salad or soup...
FOREIGN CAPITAL CITY - Rome... or maybe Teheran - Topkapi Museum.
BACK IN TIME - Alexandria, with Marc Antony in town? Actually, although it's not quite saving the planet, I'd like to change a couple of family glitches that still hurt generations on. If they were fixed my folks would be a lot happier, and I might have had a lighter life.
TV QUIZ - I'm a radio girl, sorry. Late arrivals at the musician's ball: "the Operetta family with their daughter who's in public relations - she's a smooth Operetta"
I'm always late at the 'Spill party so miss getting to know y'all better. Will try harder ;-)
Thought I'd completely missed out on this, but I'll just sidle in behind Ms. Cauliflower...
1) I love coriander and I really like basil, but, just to be different, I'm going for sage. I live with a Growing Boy who'd like meat with every meal, and I find the addition of sage makes pork a lot more palatable for me (not really a big fan of pork. I like bacon, though) Also, sage is good for sore throats, of which I seem to be having more than my fair share. AND I love its furry bunny-ear-ness!
2) Tallinn in Estonia (again, mainly because no-one else has mentioned it yet). I was there in 1991, just before Independence, and I didn't get the chance to explore properly (I was on an exchange visit to a town almost on the Russian border, and I think we only had the last day in Tallinn. We also went to St Petersburg for ONE day, including at least 4 hours' bus ride each way, which I found extremely frustrating)
3) I'm a lazy sod sometimes. Hamburg, where I currently reside, when the Beatles came. Were those vibes for real?
4) Did there used to be a quiz on TISWAS, where people got custard pie'd or soaked when they answered? Cos that would be the one.
5) Archery practice aged about 8, the only girl there, and the only one to get an arrow in the gold. Yay!
I shall be in Hamburg this summer (early July). The drummer from my ex-band just moved there to live and work and we will get together on a new music making project shortly. Looking forward to it immensely now.
Im also guessing that you must have been based in Narva (Estonia) were you? It would be a bit daft to organise a one day trip to StP from there because you would get to see hardly anything - Maybe a walk up and down Nevsky Prospekt and round the palace square and that'd be about all you had time for, no?
Hey, sourpus!
I'm not really reading messages on here, because I've got about 2 1/2 weeks' work to fit in before Deadline Monday (it's now Tues evening), but 2 full days at the day job, school sports day* etc to get through first
* I am praying for rain; preferably torrential...
Your guess wasn't far off, but it was Kohtla-Järvä (sp? It was a long time ago), twinned with the town where I used to live. A square-dance troupe was going over and had seats left on the coach, so I grabbed a ride. God, those people had to be seen to be believed (there was a lot of fuss a couple of years later about charitable donations made by the German twinners never turning up in Estonia - as in, went to pay the Germans' travel costs whenever they went over) - the 2-hour visit to Petersburg remains one of the highlights (I don't think)! I used to go with the Estonian kids on their crappy old coach, and we would pass round strictly illegal bottles of vodka the Head of Party must never catch you with; it was a bit like being on a school trip - especially because they were only sealed with foil, like a milk bottle, so you HAD to down the whole lot...
How long will you be staying over in Hamburg? Our little festival's on July 10th and 11th - and if you think you might get bored, I desperately need more help with the childrens' festival on the Saturday afternoon. What's that... You've got to help your mate watch paint dry that afternoon? What a pity! Come and have a beer anyway.
Cheers!
debbym, hey, rock n'roll. The vodka with milkbottle tops sounds like a party to me. Almost made me wish i'd been there. Its a shame you didnt get to see much of StP. I know some people think of it as a fake town - wedding cake dropped on a swamp, practically forced labour, nothing organic, etc. - but I lived there happily for more than three years and, crikey, did I enjoy it. I had a flat that my work colleagues referred to as 'the third level of Tomb Raider' but it was almost on top of the Anikov Bridge and so I never missed a trick. Night times were the grooviest - ive never partied so hard; and I used to mix it up pretty good when I lived in Blighty.
I shall be in Hamburg in the first couple of weeks in July - sorting the tickets now. Indeterminate length of visit, although I reckon it will be about 10 days altogether. I WILL be around for your children's festival and I WOULD actually be curious to see how it all fits together. Pint of Lowenbrau, please!
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