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Hi Jigjag - hope you enjoyed the holiday!

Didn`t get to York but it was a big success - apart from the result!
The crowd was 2,560 on the 1st day and 3,021 on the 2nd. With the (dreaded)`100` competition being played at Headingley next year it looks as though York will stage another County match.

I went down to Chelmsford for our 4-day game with Essex and had a great time down there - the natives were quite friendly and seemed to like their `real ale` as much as yours truly! Off to Scarborough in 2 weeks time and Donny`s 1st league game is this Sat so it`s a bit hectic at the moment 😃

A good example of the "migrating subject" that makes me wince every time is Jeremy Paxman on University Challenge saying "With an average age of 22, let's meet the team."

Tyke

The holiday was great thanks. Visited 2 sports stadiums in USA but did not see a game.

Those were good crowds at York. Hope there is one next year. I wont be going to the 100 either. I have never been to Chelmsford but I went to the Ilford festival every year when I was a student in E London. My next match is "Roses T20 at Old Trafford" It was terrific last year and my son wants to go again. I dont mind it on Friday night, but object to it on a Sunday afternoon.

I had forgotten about football, but you have reminded me it is about to start!

Jigjag

While in Essex I visited Maldon on the Blackwater Estuary. It`s a lovely old town with antique/craft shops on the High St and Thames Barges on the quayside - very interesting.

I only watch T20 games on TV - the recent `Roses` game at Headingley took place in furnace - like conditions ... not sure fire & pyrotechnics were necessary but I suppose the marketing people insist on giving the public a `Blast`.

Tyke

I am glad you keep out of the Blast Furnace. The fire stuff is completely inappropriate at cricket. I was at Edgbaston 2 years ago and in the wind, it was quite dangerous.

Malone, Grunger

You were kind enough to say that you enjoy reading about my trips to the market. This morning, I went to see to the Cockney greengrocer, Ivan Napple, who seemed very happy with life.

“You’re in a good mood today, Ivan” I said.

“Never better, haven’t you heard - that posh geezer who comes in here has got a job in the government. He’s going to change the law so we have to use proper English measures”.

Of course. Jacob R-M has instructed his staff to use imperial measurements. Pedants will recall that Ivan was one of the greengrocers taken to court by Trading Standards for selling bananas by the pound.

“Great bloke – he actually paid my fine and has been ordering in pounds and ounces ever since. He told me his greatest pleasure in life is to go into Subway and order a foot-long submarine – cheese and tomato, very English. You see, ordering a 30.48 centimetre one would be pretty stupid. Funny how Subway have never been done for using feet and inches.”

“Yes, and we will soon be back to gallons of petrol, and pints of milk”, I suggested.

“You mean after this Breggsit – don’t get me started on that” he replied.

Jigjag, thanks for your tofu and market posts. The latter was, as always, very entertaining. I thought the foot-long sub stuff was terrific (and far better than the product itself, not that this would be difficult.)

Like you, I've been pretty busy with various things. One of these was sitting by the phone and standing guard by my letter-box... I was sure that Jacob R-M would be getting in touch, keen to add some like-minded pedants to his pool of staff. (I would have remained tactfully silent if he came out with any 'Esquire' nonsense.) The call never came, so I am exacting my revenge by using only one space after a full stop, using 'get', 'got' etc at every available opportunity and feverishly trying to expand my knowledge and use of 'weasel' words and phrases.


Thanks for reaching out to PU members. Your posts are important to use and will help us to move forward.

Worryingly, I have something in common with J R-M: I put two spaces between sentences. Oh dear ... (Presumably, he would not allow his name and the word 'common' in the same sentence!)

Meanwhile, part of the headline of India Knight's Sunday Times column today is "It's manners, not how you told your napkin, that's important." The online version of the article has a rewritten headline, so maybe someone noticed.

jigjag

I too thought it was a great report, very amusing. I have been wondering if Ivan had any views on Brexit. I have grown up in metric but I must admit I prefer imperial. I seem to weigh a lot of kilogrammes but 8 stone 6 feels OK to me.

When I read that we had 120 millimetres of rain last week, I have no idea how much that is. If they said 2 inches, I would know.

Similarly, I dont know how far a kilometre is, except that it is less than a mile. Strangely enough, I was happy with metric in the physics lab, but don't like it in real life. Oddly enough, I have bought cheese in pounds (weight) in Holland.

grunger - I share your views on metric v imperial: I was never properly converted. (I was never happy in the physics lab, or any other lab, though!)