We had a fun Eurovision thread last year, in which Reg and I kindly gave our assessments of the various acts taking part. I'll be away this weekend but I'll probably take a lappy and may well be able to do something similar on Saturday.

Quote from: Fishy on May 10, 2023, 01:27:51 PMEurovision.. why ffs .. why?

I like the Eurovision Song Contest, but I have to wonder why a city where the locals regularly boo the National Anthem was chosen to represent the UK. On a similar note, I can't quite understand why Nicola Sturgeon wanted Glasgow to represent the UK either, but that's a moot point now.

Wordle 690 4/6

⬛⬛🟨⬛🟨
🟨🟨⬛🟨⬛
⬛🟨🟨🟩⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Gah.. about half an hour, nearly all finding a third word to fit.

I went to quite a few Rush gigs in the '70s and early '80s, and I can say for certain that none of them ended with a cloud of dry ice. Actually when the old CO2 was deployed (only during Xanadu I think) it would tend to cling to the stage. At Newcastle City Hall it used to flow off the front of the stage like a waterfall.

Does Pete mention meeting me at Manchester Airport in 2006, or haven't you got that far yet?

129: Bilko's Formula Seven

One of Bilko's men, a wrinkly-looking hillbilly called Jenkins whom we haven't seen before, brings a jug of Applejack - some sort of illicit Kentucky hooch - into the motor pool garage. When Bilko insists that he gets rid of it, before one of the officers finds it - he pours it into the crankcase of the Colonel's jeep.

He subsequently drains it out again, and gets oil and Applejack all over his face under the jeep. But when he washes it off .. he appears to be ten years younger! The wrinkles have gone!

Has Bilko happened upon a lucrative formula for a skin rejuvenating product?

The recipe for Applejack, as outlined to Bilko, is highly implausible. It becomes highly alcoholic overnight. In any case, needless to say, Bilko's path to riches does not run smoothly.

Mrs Ritzik features prominently in this one. Always a guarantee of a good one and this is no exception, even though I could see the payoff coming a mile off. And there's a very funny little gag at the end.

At one point, Colonel Hall receives some of the moonshine / motor oil treatment, and he does end up looking substantially younger. This is achieved, theatrically speaking, with makeup and a subtle hairpiece as far as I can tell.

Beatrice Pons, who plays Emma Ritzik was 52 when this was made, though Mrs Ritzik is claimed to be 38 years old.

Quote from: Matt2112 on May 09, 2023, 08:08:29 AMThe Met royally fcking up their handling of anti-monarchy protestors.

I was disappointed by that. On the flipside though, they did deal with the Just Stop Oil nutters quickly and efficiently.

Storm clouds over North-West Leicestershire. A thunderstorm followed about six minutes later.

Wordle 689 6/6

⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛
🟨⬛⬛⬛🟨
⬛🟩🟨🟨⬛
⬛🟩🟩⬛🟩
⬛🟩🟩⬛🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Well that was an odd one .. about 30 minutes, ten of them even after I had three green letters. I didn't realise my fifth effort was even a word, was just going through possibilities.

128: Bilko's Sharpshooter

One of Ritzik's platoon, a young man called Pete Masters, is a very talented marksman. Ritzik has made a tidy sum from taking bets on him.

But someone who's just arrived at Camp Fremont in Grover's platoon turns out to be even better. Can Bilko wangle the new recruit into his own platoon so he can outdo Ritzik?

Initially his prospects of doing this don't look too promising on the second count, because Bilko misidentifies the sharpshooter. Needless to say the young man that Bilko manages to transfer under his own charge is absolutely hopeless. The brilliant shooter is actually a young WAC.

Genuinely hilarious. Really heartening to see an episode of this quality in the final series. There's an absolutely bravura performance from Silvers in a scene between Bilko and his colonel, in Hall's office. Top five easily.

We see the admin office in this one, and funnily enough it looks exactly the same as the office at Fort Baxter.

At one point in this episode, desperate for a favour, Grover offers to build Bilko a colour television, with stereophonic sound. In 1959? Really? Well, believe it or not the first colour broadcast in the USA occurred in 1954, though most programmes were recorded and broadcast in black & white for some years to come - certainly including The Phil Silvers Show. But stereo TV definitely wasn't a thing.

This is another episode in which Bilko's relationship with Joan doesn't appear to exist, since (as part of a devious plan of course), he tells Colonel Hall that he's engaged to the sharpshooter WAC.

A dry day, warm in the afternoon with a light wind from the west was forecast for yesterday. Sunset at 8:44pm. A perfect day really for a Wales trip, especially on the sixth anniversary of my first ride there and back.

I set an alarm on Saturday night for 04:45, but woke at 04:30 and was out of bed a minute later. I set off at 05:48.

This was my third ride to Wales and back. I'd chosen a substantially different route this time. My destination point just to the west of Whitchurch was the same, but the last 30 miles to get there would take me through Eccleshall, Loggerheads and Market Drayton, to the south of the usual route. I'd also planned to go a different way for a short stretch of the route between Handsacre and Colton, to bypass Rugeley.

Cool for the first couple of hours after I set off, but I was wearing adequate clothing and was comfortable. All went very smoothly until I powered up my Garmin eTrex handlebar-mounted navigation unit to guide me through the new stretch past Rugeley.

The first problem was that its batteries were dead. I transferred the AAs from my DAB personal radio. The second problem was that the new route I'd transferred to it wasn't available from the GUI. Even in files of the same protocol there can be minor differences in format and I can only assume that the Garmin didn't like the particular GPX file that I'd generated in a route-planning app.

Of course, I should have checked the eTrex before I set off. Oh well - I only needed the assistance of a mapping tool for a relatively short part of the route and found my way easily enough using Google Maps, but it was a pain to have to stop and consult a phone. I did use the eTrex in its basic mapping mode and that was useful to a degree. So I left the batteries in it and bought some more AAs at a petrol station a few miles further on to power up the DAB again.

To be honest, a decent phone with a GPS navigation app is a much better proposition in most cases than an eTrex. The screen is always bigger and clearer on a modern phone and you can easily buy handlebar mounts for them. However - on a long ride, I like the fact that the eTrex takes conventional batteries, because you can buy them at any petrol station and they hold a longer charge than the rechargeable unit in a phone. But I'm starting to think that taking two phones, or perhaps a power bank might be a better bet.

The road through the village at Eccleshall had been closed for a Coronation street party, but I guided the bike carefully through the barriers and weaved a careful path through the celebrants. At Market Drayton, a road race was taking place and once again the road was closed. Once again I just ignored this, so I had to dodge oncoming athletes before finding a detour. Annoying.

Just outside Market Drayton there's a brand new housing estate, with the front doors of gleaming new properties bearing a sign saying "I could be your new dream home". But directly across the road, there's a site with a huge sign that announces "GYPSY / TRAVELLER SITE COMING SOON, PLANNING PERMISSION APPROVED". New nightmare home, more like. You couldn't pay me to live there.

By 1100 or so the sun was out and the temperature had climbed very nicely, so I removed a layer of clothes and sealed them in a plastic bag. I packed them into a camouflage pattern nylon drawstring bag which I then stashed in a hedge just off the road next to a farm gate. Much better than carrying them around in a backpack for the next 40-odd miles.



I arrived at my destination, the border between England and Wales, at around 1330. I pedalled across it for about 150 metres then turned back. Interestingly the sign on the other side of the road reads "Welcome to SHROPSHIRE" rather than "Welcome to ENGLAND".

On the whole I wasn't really that impressed with the new route. It was OK, but a little busier and less scenic than my traditional Wales route. I probably would have come back the old way if not for the need to pick up my clothes on the way back. I'd thought the traffic would be quiet on the middle day of a public holiday weekend but no, not really.

By the time I reached Eccleshall again the street party was in full swing, with a band belting out Cranberries covers from the side of a truck. A bit harder to weave through the revellers and I had to resort to riding along the pavement.

I didn't much like the detour I'd taken around Rugeley on the outbound part of the route, so I didn't bother with it on the way back. But I missed a turn for Kings Bromley and gave myself a few more miles to do.



Beautiful out there in the warm sunshine on the way back, especially with a light tailwind. Newcastle vs Arsenal kept me entertained for a couple of hours in the afternoon. I also listened to the Rolling Stones' ludicrous (if interesting) 1967 psychedelic bandwagon-jumping album Their Satanic Majesties Request. There are a couple of good songs on it. I like 2000 Man, which was covered by Kiss on Dynasty. But mostly it's terrible.

Back on 151.27 miles, a few minutes after sunset. 261 done this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/9030329145

About three minutes.

Wordle 688 4/6

⬛🟨🟨⬛⬛
🟩⬛🟨⬛⬛
🟩⬛🟩🟩⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

127: The Colonel's Promotion

Colonel Hall is up for promotion to Brigadier General. Naturally, he's keen to ensure that Bilko doesn't ruin his chances. So he keeps a close eye on his motor pool sergeant, which of course hinders Bilko's various gambling arrangements.

Bilko has the brilliant idea of fitting a "radio transistor" into the colonel's pen, so he can keep an eye on the old boy's whereabouts, by radar. He intends to "bounce sound waves off it". That's not quite how radar works in real life, but hey.

Sadly, the Colonel is turned down for promotion and he decides to retire (at the age of 54, as we find out during a conversation with his wife). Mrs Hall is alarmed by this prospect, so she decides to solicit help from "the one person who can twist the colonel around his little finger".

Of course, there follows a devious plan.

A famous golfer called Claude Harmon appears as himself. He died in 1989.

It's not bad but the original idea about Bilko and Hall trying to keep tabs on each other fizzles out half-way through, and the idea that follows it (Bilko wangling a promotion for the colonel) isn't really that funny.

Wordle 687 3/6

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛🟩🟩🟩⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

A minute! Which is good because I don't have a lot of time this morning.

Jerry Paper - Free Time

126: Viva Bilko

Bilko and three boys from his platoon are in Mexico for a few days, on leave. Paparelli, Zimmerman and the Doberman have paid their sergeant $25 to arrange hotel accomodation, transport and his own services as a guide.

I could have done without the bullfight footage, but remarkably enough, they do all have a good time.

Until they get caught up in a robbery at a bar. The criminals involved are fantastically stereotypical Mexican bandits, with huge sombreros, ponchos and ammunition belts slung over both shoulders. Their uniforms and papers get stolen, which unfortunately results in a very hard time getting back over the border.

To make matters worse, one of the Mexican bandits is an exact double of Doberman. Yep - a well-worn trope for a farce, but the writers definitely squeeze some juice out of it in this one.

There's some dark humour about Mexican "wetbacks" being exploited for cheap labour, but perhaps that sort of thing wasn't considered quite so dark by American TV audiences in the late '50s.

Unusual one in that there's no convoluted plan on Bilko's part, no devious scheme to make money. He's pretty much a hapless victim of unfolding events.

But it is a good one. Although the Mexican Tourist Board wouldn't agree.