What's made your day today?

[Matt2112]

What gets me is the speed and efficiency of setting up/dismantling the huge equipment used for various stunts that are often heart-stopping and where safety/safeguarding is ensured within what must be a pretty small margin of error.

And how how unobtrusive all that is is directly proportional to how entertaining the clown is while all that is going on. And the clown is absolutely superb, even taking part in one of the tightrope acts.

It's all profoundly impressive, but of course the main objective is to put a huge smile on kids' faces; on that score alone it was a resounding success.

Though the noise from the bikes was too much for some. 🙂

[Fishy]

Just back from a glamp  in Mull which included a trip to Staffa to see Fingal's Cave  and some puffins ..

[Slim]

[dom]

That's mad - looks photoshopped 

[Slim]

I actually thought it was photoshopped for a joke, or Daniel was standing next to a cardboard cutout. But Rishi is 5'6" and Daniel is 6'9", it's completely real. There's a cropped version of the same pic on his own website: https://www.daniel4shrewsbury.co.uk/news/hospital-transformation-programme-discussions-prime-minister

[David L]

I actually thought it was photoshopped for a joke, or Daniel was standing next to a cardboard cutout. But Rishi is 5'6" and Daniel is 6'9", it's completely real. There's a cropped version of the same pic on his own website: https://www.daniel4shrewsbury.co.uk/news/hospital-transformation-programme-discussions-prime-minister

If Sunak is only 5'6" why can he not get a pair of trousers to reach his shoes?

[Slim]

New guitar arrived. This is from Fender's "paranormal" range, made in China under the Squier brand.

https://www.andertons.co.uk/brands/squier/paranormal-series/squier-paranormal-strat-o-sonic-electric-guitar-crimson-red-transparent

It is a "Strat-O-Sonic". It's a bit of fun in which Fender have recreated the aesthetics of a Gibson Les Paul Special - the P90 pickups, the translucent cherry finish, the single tailpiece bridge, the minimalist pickguard, the black plastic knobs and the toggle pickup switch - and have applied them to a guitar shaped like a Fender Stratocaster.

These days Squiers are made in China and Indonesia. The Indonesian ones aren't bad but this one has reinforced my opinion that the Chinese ones are better - I honestly can't fault this. Beautifully finished and constructed. Whereas my Indonesian Strat is not finished quite so well and needed a bit of work after I got it - the frets were a bit rough and the fret ends were a tad sharp.



This one plays really nicely out of the box. I thought the nut might need a bit of attention - sometimes they're cut a bit too shallow in the Far East, but nope it's spot on.

It feels a lot like a modern Strat, with a flattish fingerboard radius. Has vintage style frets (not "narrow tall" as the Andertons site claims). The volume and tone pots both have push-pull switches for series/parallel and phase switching - that's pretty sophisticated for a budget guitar and wasted on me (these days I just play the neck pickup on everything).

It's very light. The body's made from Okoume; I think it's a two piece.

Check out the neck - by chance, it's been made from a rather nice chunk of subtly-flamed maple. Most Strat-O-Sonic purchasers won't be this fortunate.

[Thenop]

Looks gorgious! Love the colour on this. Almost like a SG tone, fantastic.
Good to hear these play well as they don't break the bank.

[Matt2112]

My grumpy post today actually reminded me of a segment on Radio 4's Today broadcast from the other morning that serves as a substantial antidote: an interview with writer and critic Tomiwa Owolade, author of the book This Is Not America: Why Black Lives Matter In Britain.

His remarks on race issues in our nation were so supremely astute, insightful and eloquently expressed, they almost had me punching the air in jubilation as I drove to work; his book looks an absolutely essential read so I will be acquiring it asap.

[Thenop]

Not sure to post it here or in the grumpy thread but the Dutch cabinet of ministers has resigned.
Most of you probably know the system over here is a bit different from yours which means when the prime minister resigns he takes his whole cabinet down with him or her.
So, new elections it is, probably in November.
The grumpy part is that the country will come a standstill until we have a new team of ministers which will probably be no sooner that February or March next year.

Don't we all just love politics...

[David L]

Not sure to post it here or in the grumpy thread but the Dutch cabinet of ministers has resigned.
Most of you probably know the system over here is a bit different from yours which means when the prime minister resigns he takes his whole cabinet down with him or her.
So, new elections it is, probably in November.
The grumpy part is that the country will come a standstill until we have a new team of ministers which will probably be no sooner that February or March next year.

Don't we all just love politics...

Hasn't Rutte been a bit of a knob? Not least over covid?

[Thenop]

Not sure to post it here or in the grumpy thread but the Dutch cabinet of ministers has resigned.
Most of you probably know the system over here is a bit different from yours which means when the prime minister resigns he takes his whole cabinet down with him or her.
So, new elections it is, probably in November.
The grumpy part is that the country will come a standstill until we have a new team of ministers which will probably be no sooner that February or March next year.

Don't we all just love politics...

Hasn't Rutte been a bit of a knob? Not least over covid?

Covid has been a non issue the past year. We have all moved on mate.

[David L]

Not sure to post it here or in the grumpy thread but the Dutch cabinet of ministers has resigned.
Most of you probably know the system over here is a bit different from yours which means when the prime minister resigns he takes his whole cabinet down with him or her.
So, new elections it is, probably in November.
The grumpy part is that the country will come a standstill until we have a new team of ministers which will probably be no sooner that February or March next year.

Don't we all just love politics...

Hasn't Rutte been a bit of a knob? Not least over covid?

Covid has been a non issue the past year. We have all moved on mate.

Good for you, still front and centre here

[The Picnic Wasp]

Received a very nice marketing email fro Julian Richer, MD of Richer Sounds. Rather than just the usual "we're brilliant" blurb, or even worse, asking me to complete a survey, he described in detail the difficulties his, and other high street retailers are facing. He states quite clearly his opinion of the role the government play in all of this and although he mentions that he has been a Tory donor in the past, he doesn't hold his punches and is clearly very unhappy about the amount of unpaid tax affecting the UK economy. It's a fairly long commentary detailing many of the problems faced by the poorer in our society and quite uplifting to hear a voice with conscience from within the business community.

[Slim]

Good for you, still front and centre here

To be honest I'm not sure it's getting the attention it still deserves here. It hasn't gone away. My main concern is that the false impression that it has might deter people from getting their boosters in the Autumn.