Pump am y Penwythnos / Friday Five - 13/04/2018

Bore da! I’s a misty morning up here on the Uwch Gwyrfai common, but I hope it is brighter and warmer where you are? It’s certainly promising warmer weather next week - I for one am greatly looking forward to it. Here are this week’s questions. Happy weekend to you all! :slight_smile:

1) Name five unusual things you can see from where you are sitting.

2) What is the most memorable experience you’ve had a a spectator/audience member?

3) I was up at 4am with terrible head pains related to an ear infection. Today I am mostly seeking comfort. Name the following things which give you comfort -
a. something to watch
b. something to listen to
c. something to eat
d. something to drink
e. something to wear
f. a smell

4) Something few people know about you.

5) Today is Friday the 13th - what really frightens you?

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1) Name five unusual things you can see from where you are sitting.

  1. A doghouse with a small Snoopy in top (Our school is called Ressu, which also happens to be Snoopy’s name in the Finnish translation of Peanuts)
  2. A sign that says “Oppilaat saavat olla loma-ajan koridorissa” which translates to “The students can spend the holidays in the corridors”. It’s unusual because we can’t actually spend time inside the school on the holidays and also because the Finnish sounds very old (nobody would use “koridori” for corridor nowadays)
  3. This wall decoration with greetings written on it in different languages
  4. A painting of Snoopy with a smaller drawing of Snoopy on top of it
  5. My friend Qingxin.

2) What is the most memorable experience you’ve had as a spectator/audience member?

Seeing Calan perform in Sesiwn Fawr Dolgellau last summer. I had heard some of their music before but it was so amazing live.

3) I was up at 4am with terrible head pains related to an ear infection. Today I am mostly seeking comfort. Name the following things which give you comfort -

a. something to watch
Right now I’d pick this stream called “Gill and Gilbert” because it’s just so wholesome and nice but also very funny and with a great community.

b. something to listen to
“Look Up” by The Altogether and “Lle Awn Ni Nesa” by Patrobas

c. something to eat
Homemade bread

d. something to drink
Orange juice with sparkling water

e. something to wear
Big hoodie

f. a smell
Spearmint or lemon

4) Something few people know about you.

I sing a lot when I’m alone. My neighbours are probably the only people who know it

5) Today is Friday the 13th - what really frightens you?

Today specifically or in general? I don’t think there’s anything today really. In general mostly spiders (I think they’re cool but I don’t want to see them, other insect-like creatures are fine) but I’m not a fan of needles either.

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1) Name five unusual things you can see from where you are sitting.

Hmmm… it all looks pretty usual to me.

Okay, I’ve got a kiwi with little bits of shell… oh, damn it. This lovely little fella:

Then… a noise-cancelling pillow sitting on top of the PC.

A 45 year old toy car which I’m not sharing with Beuno.

A Sri Lankan drying up cloth with a picture of an elephant on it.

And a 2017 calendar promoting Scottish independence.

2) What is the most memorable experience you’ve had a a spectator/audience member?

Anthony Sher in Richard III.

  1. I was up at 4am with terrible head pains related to an ear infection. Today I am mostly seeking comfort. Name the following things which give you comfort -

a. something to watch

Currently the Big Bang Theory.

b. something to listen to

Mozart.

c. something to eat

Thick crust pizza.

d. something to drink

Cold water.

e. something to wear

Um. Anything? Or a sarong.

f. a smell

Wild lavender.

4) Something few people know about you.

The scent of wild lavender reminds me of visiting my grandfather near Marseilles.

5) Today is Friday the 13th - what really frightens you?

The prospect of back surgery.

1) Name five unusual things you can see from where you are sitting.

Given that I’m sitting in an office…
An unopened bottle of absynthe.
A clown costume
A double bass
An electric drill
A broken garden gnome

2) What is the most memorable experience you’ve had a a spectator/audience member?

Involuntarily taking part in a comedy routine with Eilir Jones during a perfomance at an eisteddfod.

3) I was up at 4am with terrible head pains related to an ear infection. Today I am mostly seeking comfort. Name the following things which give you comfort -

a. something to watch
The musical ‘On The Town’ with Gene Kelly & Frank Sinatra
b. something to listen to
Any track sung by Ella Fitzgerald
c. something to eat
chocolate eclair(s)
d. something to drink
hot Bovril
e. something to wear
cosy fleece jumper
f. a smell
elderflower

4) Something few people know about you.

I was born with dysplasia of the hip

5) Today is Friday the 13th - what really frightens you?

Being in a huge crowd of people or driving in a big city.

When we were taken over by an American multinational, we were told that bringing alcohol into the workplace was an instant disciplinary offence. I think it’s because parts of the company are involved in manufacturing and heavy industry where health and safety is the absolute top priority, and because the company operates a “if it’s good enough for the shop floor it’s good enough for the boardroom” policy on rules.

Drinking it in the workplace would no doubt be frowned upon, but in a TV production office a prop is a prop! :wink:

I could have chosen “1920s typewriter”, “toy grand piano”, “mini hob”, “frying pan”, “piece of polystyrene brick wall”… :joy:

So I’m presuming usually it would be opened, right?.. :wink:

Possibly - if it was a bottle of anything else it probably wouldn’t still be hanging around, but given the reputation of absynthe,maybe there’s no-one here brave enough to drink it!

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1) Name five unusual things you can see from where you are sitting.
My body
A wall full of books - remember them. :smile:
Feynman’s Lectures on Physics (not unusual for sad retired Physicists)
A Framed photo of Maureen on our wedding day (unique not just unusual)
The Bible, Mao’s red book, the Koran and the Book of Mormon cwtshed up rogether on the bookshelves.
2) What is the most memorable experience you’ve had a a spectator/audience member?
Darcey Bussel in any of her ballet roles

3) I was up at 4am with terrible head pains related to an ear infection. Today I am mostly seeking comfort. Name the following things which give you comfort -
a. something to watch - the view of the Cambrian foothills from the window
b. something to listen to - Most chamber music
c. something to eat - tripe and onions (only permitted when M’s away from home)
d. something to drink - Talisker and/ot Laphroig with a splash of water
e. something to wear - Maureen’s … no scrub that - Chanel Pour Homme :laughing:
f. a smell - honeysuckle - evokes memories of my first teenage love.

4) Something few people know about you.
I can say the alphabet backwards

5) Today is Friday the 13th - what really frightens you?
I’m terrified by how many people in the world are superstitious.

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Ahem, yes, I hoped it might be too, but …

1) Name five unusual things you can see from where you are sitting.

Oh my goodness!

(a) well I’ve got my pens in a container that apparently had “salted caramel” somethings in them, and (call me old fashioned, but) to me, the idea of “salted caramel” anything is downright weird, let alone unusual.

(b) I’ve got a blood pressure monitor next to my monitor (don’t ask…).

© If I look to my left I can see a shelf that contains books & other material in 3 languages, in addition to Welsh and English (but to be honest, that’s hardly unusual in this select gathering :slight_smile: ).
(and that doesn’t include programming languages, come to think. :slight_smile: ).

(d) I have to turn round, but in one corner, there is a mouse deterrent gadget plugged in to a wall socket (and it definitely works (despite my son’s cynicism) and it also works for unicorns…we’ve not had a single one of those little perishers round since I plugged it in…)

(e) We’ve got some aloe vera leaves sprouting roots in a glass of water on the window sill. We brought them back from Fuerta Ventura, when on a visit to an aloe vera museum/shop/factory.
Probably high time we did something with them…

2) What is the most memorable experience you’ve had a a spectator/audience member?

More embarassing than memorable, but at a TV studio recording, there was a very funny warm-up man whom I enjoyed immensely. But unfortunately, as talking to the audience was part of his shtick, after he talked to me, from time to time afterwards he would keep referring to me and asking my opinion for some reason. It was quite funny and hugely embarrassing at the same time. Goes with the territory, I guess.

3) I was up at 4am with terrible head pains related to an ear infection.

Oh dear…do take care of your ears.

Today I am mostly seeking comfort. Name the following things which give you comfort -
a. something to watch

Lots of things ,but sometimes an old B&W “noir” film on DVD, like “Double Indemnity”.

b. something to listen to

Again, lots of things, but e.g. Rachmaninov’s piano music from Brief Encounter, or
Bach’s Toccata & Fugue in D Minor on the organ

c. something to eat
d. something to drink

If we’re talking purely comfort here, and not health, it would probably be chocolate Hobnobs or Digestives (but they are very bad for me) and coffee.

Alternatively a very fruity scone or hot-cross bun. Or bara brith, of course.

e. something to wear

Anything that was both not too tight around the waist and which didn’t fall down!
(This garment has not been invented yet, at least not for a male d’une certain age and build…

f. a smell

Anything that reminded me of Spring and Summers outdoors when I was young, especially when spending summers at my grandparents house in the country.

4) Something few people know about you.

When I was younger, I used to like making working model sundials. I was more interested in the science behind them than for their decorative effect, so they weren’t pretty, just functional (well, supposed to be). I’d like to have had the skills to have been able to make them attractive as well, but hey…

I was young and optimistic then. Now I’m old and cynical and know that there’s never enough sunshine to make it worth doing… :wink:

5) Today is Friday the 13th - what really frightens you?

Thunderstorms, especially when outside. From what my mother has told me, I was terrified of them as a child, and I suppose it never really left me.

I’m not superstitious though. Well, not really superstitious…

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1) Name five unusual things you can see from where you are sitting.
The downs, which curve here in an unusual fashion.
A round stone tool made in ancient style by a modern flintknapper.
Two small red pipestone turtles made by a visiting Native American.
Four small knitted sheep leaning up against a couple of Chinese pots.
An elaborately decorated Welsh lovespoon.

2) What is the most memorable experience you’ve had a a spectator/audience member?
Seeing The Who in their prime, at Manchester University in 1970 - I’ve never forgotten it, despite having been at many other gigs since.

3) I was up at 4am with terrible head pains related to an ear infection. Today I am mostly seeking comfort. Name the following things which give you comfort -
a. something to watch
Robin of Sherwood series from the '80s.
b. something to listen to
Mostly anything by Neil Young.
c. something to eat
Beans on toast!! (I have a very simple palate.)
d. something to drink
Any cider, but especially if it’s cloudy.
e. something to wear
An old blue pullover that I’ve had for 35 years+ and will probably outlast me.
f. a smell
Bread or cake being baked.

4) Something few people know about you.
I was brought up in the army - or rather as my mother used to say, in the ‘married quarters’, moving from one to another wherever my dad was posted.

5) Today is Friday the 13th - what really frightens you?
The news.

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  1. Name five unusual things you can see from where you are sitting.

A turkey saddle
A roller and ink to make lino prints
A bottle with formula for poorly lamb
An incubator full of turkey eggs
Left over raddle powder

  1. What is the most memorable experience you’ve had a a spectator/audience member?
    The first time I was taken to London as a child to see the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company.

  2. I was up at 4am with terrible head pains related to an ear infection. Today I am mostly seeking comfort. Name the following things which give you comfort -
    a. something to watch
    Sense8
    b. something to listen to
    Debussy
    c. something to eat
    Chocolate
    d. something to drink
    Baileys
    e. something to wear
    Old baggy fleece
    f. a smell
    forest after rain

  3. Something few people know about you.
    I was on Jim’ll Fix It

  4. Today is Friday the 13th - what really frightens you?
    The thought of not being able to fulfil my dreams.

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A box of needle felting wool
A humidor
A dvd of Hardboiled, an amazing chinese action film, with Chow Yun Fat
My uncles old navy rum ration cup
A clay pipe

Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Leicester DeMontfort Hall, early 80s

Pans Labyrinth
Dub reggae
Sausages
Cider
Jeans and a T
That dusty road smell after a shower

I love opera

Bland music

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1) Name five unusual things you can see from where you are sitting.

  1. A large family of stuffed dragons, Gladabouts, and Wish Fishes, called Zugglesnooks, made by a local lady named Nadine Suhrbier. Here are just a few of them on my Pinterest board (I wish the striped one was mine, but he’s not :pensive:)

  2. Several polymer clay critters made by George Heath of Funkermarket. The head of this particular family bears the moniker of Sid the Fairy Godfather. I even have a dozen “Beetle Grubs” in an egg container.

  3. Three potholders painted by Cayce Moyer, from illustrations she did for the book Curiouser and Curiouser: Pool of Tears.

  4. A whole raft of Captain Barbossa action figures. One is holding a green apple; another has real feathers on his hat. And just for the record: I think he’s the true captain of the Black Pearl, not Jack Sparrow!

  5. Vinyl, porcelain, and plush Scrubbing Bubbles, which were (and still are) used in advertising for a foaming bathroom cleaner.

  6. Four colorful acrylic columns by the artist Vasa.

  7. Several William the Hippo figurines and other items.

  8. The Cheshire Cat grinning at me from every corner of the room

  9. A blue plush Sandra Boynton Zippopotamus purse (I bet Aran-and-Catrin’s Angharad would love it!). In addition to the normal opening along the back where you can put your stuff, the mouth opens wide with a contrasting-color zipper; hence, the name. There’s a patch on its backside that says “Guaranteed Not to Bite.” :grin:

Shall I go on?

2) What is the most memorable experience you’ve had as a spectator/audience member?

Live classical anything. Especially opera.

3) I was up at 4am with terrible head pains related to an ear infection. Today I am mostly seeking comfort. Name the following things which give you comfort -

a. Something to watch — The dinner scene from Babette’s Feast. Or the dinner scene from Big Night.

b. Something to listen to — Goa Trance or Psytrance. Or Senbonzakura played by Marasy8 and H Zett M (the pink monkey’s name is Saru). H Zett M is the one with the blue-painted nose; it’s his trademark.

Or opera. I’m particularly fond of Dialogues des Carmélites.

c. Something to eat — A grilled cheese sandwich on egg bread, with a single dill pickle slice in the middle.

d. Something to drink — Hot chocolate with cinnamon and a pinch of cayenne.

e. Something to wear — A floor-length and hugely-oversized Lanz flannel nightgown.

f. A smell — Lilacs. Or lime. Or bay rum.

4) Something few people know about you.

I used to be a radio traffic reporter for Metro Traffic; and, for about six months, I was the person who flew in the helicopter (“Yellow Thunder”), looking down on the roads and relaying what I saw to the studio. Then I was grounded and had to be the producer. Ugh.

5) Today is Friday the 13th - what really frightens you?

Errr… buggy things with eight legs. It’s a true phobia; I can’t look at them or even say the name — runs screaming from the room

Second on the list is telephones. I don’t have a cell phone, and wouldn’t even have a landline if it weren’t necessary.

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  1. Name five unusual things you can see from where you are sitting.

Well, I am on lamb watch, so the laptop has a link to the camera watching the sheep pens. One is nesting, so I gave up on the idea of bed, in favour of a glass of wine, and some TV, and a long night keeping tabs on if she decides to start pushing ! The others are asleep, and the ram is snoring.

The living room has 2 large Welsh dressers, which look daft and fill up a lot of the room. Once the dining room is “done”, one can move. Until then, it looks like a fashion/design fail of great magnitude.

My knitting. I can only do knit stitch. No other stitches, not even perl. So its an odd looking scarf. Still, I only started a week ago, so it can only improve…right ?

My office. Due to room shortage ( 4 rooms in whole house ) the office go condensed into a large tub trug. See the nicely arranged files, and neat organising skills. Why did I even need a whole room ?!

The remote reader for the temperature monitor in the poly tunnel. It says 8 degrees ! Gotta be something odd going on there !

  1. What is the most memorable experience you’ve had a a spectator/audience member?

Watching a horse trainer work with a very difficult horse, and seeing the horse relax, and visibly sigh in relief that suddenly things made sense, and he didn’t need to be scared and feel the need to fight.

  1. I was up at 4am with terrible head pains related to an ear infection. Today I am mostly seeking comfort. Name the following things which give you comfort -
    a. something to watch = any cookery program
    b. something to listen to = Queen or Pink Floyd
    c. something to eat = not really a food eater, but strawberry sandwiches with black pepper
    d. something to drink = coffee
    e. something to wear = fleece
    f. a smell = puppy paws

  2. Something few people know about you.

My feet are the same size now, as when I was 12 years old. And I have a pair of Doc Martins that I got on my twelfth birthday, that I still wear.

  1. Today is Friday the 13th - what really frightens you?

Hairdressers. No offence to the people - it isn’t them - it is the concept. Proper freaks me out.

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  1. hwyaden (duck) pale blue with fluffy yellow wings, pink feet and beak and big bulging eyes
  2. A green and purple snake wirh an elephant’s trunk
  3. A brown monkey with fluffy hands.
  4. A red ball with a fish’s face.
    (amazing toys they make for small dogs!)
  5. A sleeping red dragon in the fireplace (mine).
  1. Name five unusual things you can see from where you are sitting.

A Christmas ornament, consisting of two white, antlered deer that we leave out all year round.
A picture of a smiling baby taken at a couple of days old.
Our TV. Unusual because it’s off!
A bottle of colour magic car polish.
A shirt. Unusual because it’s been ironed!

  1. What is the most memorable experience you’ve had as a spectator/audience member?

Too many to mention, but the most poignant was listening to Meinir Williams from the village where I grew up (Rhoslefain) singing solo in Schleiden Cathedral (Schwarzwald - Black Forest area of Germany) during Easter Mass, 1976. Our school choir were there on an exchange visit - we did a number of concerts. After she had finished singing, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place and we really had to rely on our conductress and Music Teacher par excellence Mrs. M. Washington-Jones to pull us together, which she did of course, being an inspirational leader. I’d give a lot to hear a recording of that song…

  1. I was up at 4am with terrible head pains related to an ear infection. Today I am mostly seeking comfort.

(Sending you all the comfort I can muster - it’s impossible to scratch that kind of itch.:worried:)

Name the following things which give you comfort -
a. something to watch

The Waltons.

b. something to listen to

There are a few pieces of music that I’ve always listened to that take me back to teenage years. Guess I just want to be secure and to know I’m loved.

c. something to eat

Peanut butter and Marmite sandwiches. In the same sandwich I mean. :yum:

d. something to drink

Hot chocolate, all milk.

e. something to wear

One of my Welsh rugby shirts, but a little while ago I visited Melin Teifi and ordered a wool shirt, made to measure and it’s catching up fast. It’s hand-made, collarless, has three buttons at the neck and is a traditional pattern. Couldn’t tell you whose tradition…

f. a smell

Food, when I’m hungry! (Needs to be familiar food, mind…but pretty much any!)
When I’m not hungry, lying on grassy ground is pretty special, especially in a forest.

  1. Something few people know about you.

I took the lead of Portsmouth Command’s entry in the annual Royal Navy’s Theatre Festival in 1982 while I was training at H.M.S. Sultan in Gosport as an “Acting Leading Hand”:- that meant I was only two ratings above the lowest in the Navy. Our play was “Ring around the Moon”, a farce by Jean Anouilh and I played twin brothers. The man who played my twin off-stage (looking through the lattice-work part of the set furniture) was a Midshipman whose surname was Winter. Mid Winter - really lovely chap. The Officer in overall charge of training (ranked Commander) was in the cast, as were several other officers, as well as a few senior ratings:- Warrant Officers and Chief Petty Officers. I was the only Junior rating. I answered an advert on “Daily Orders” put out by Sub-Lieutenant Uff, a female officer who was our producer. “Do you fancy yourself as a handsome, dapper, young man?” I told her that two out of three wasn’t bad and I guess I had the right attitude…

  1. Today is Friday the 13th - what really frightens you?

Not being able to summon enough courage to overcome fear.

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Think you’re looking for a Djebella…

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A polo ball
A Lego octopus
A wooden foot with a pointy handle
An ancient opium pipe
A Sylvac crying onion wearing bunny ears

Can’t decide - either happening across a secret gig in Austin Texas and seeing Robyn Hitchcock entirely by mistake, or watching a compassionate animal behaviourist gain the trust of an ‘uncatchable’ horse.

Prisoner of Azkaban

The Liquidator, Harry J All Stars. On repeat.

Jacket potato… no, fried egg sandwich… NO, roast chicken and gravy!

Tea.

Absolutely aged jumper I bought from Cancer Research when I was 16 or 17. It might as well be a Blankee.

Patchouli. Ponies. Toast.

I like watching the washing machine go round.

Apart from the fact my youngest turned five on Thursday??
Fish.

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Fingers, battered or just generally?

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