Welcome. You went to woodhenge? Where is woodhenge? Come to that wtf IS Woodhenge? Why not Avebury?
By Friday evening, I will be a total wreck, for pubbing purposes. Please make it somewhere easily accessible from Kings Cross
There's an irony in that the 'scale' model in This is Spinal Tap is indeed to scale: 1:1.
Eddie Izzard:
And the Welsh were helping the druids carve the stones out of the very living mountain! "Fantastic! Building a henge, are we? That's a fantastic idea. It's a marvelous religion the druids have got, yes. A lot of white clothing, I like that." They'd smash out a huge stone and then they'd put tree trunks down to roll it along on..."Help you push 'em along, all right? It's not far, is it?" And the druids going, "Heave, everyone, heave, well done everyone. You're doing very well. You'll love it when you see it, I've seen some of the drawings already, it's very special." After 200 miles, "You fucking bastard! You never told us 200 miles! Two hundred miles in this day and age? I don't even know where I live now!... I wish the Christians would hurry up and get here!" And they set all the stones up and the druids are still tinkering around. "Ok, that stone and this one, can we swap them round?"
Woodhenge! Fucking hilarious. I am very very impressed with your friends that they had the nerve to take you to such a ridiculously uninteresting place. For those who haven't been there - which I think is probably the whole world apart from C, me, LB and family, and her friends - Woodhenge is a layby with some concrete posts where bits of wood used to be. Avebury's much nicer.
There was supposed to be a link there
Via Wikipedia, the fate of the child's body buried at the center of Woodhenge: Unfortunately after excavation its body was destroyed in London during The Blitz. Something a bit historically unsettling about that.
Are youse heading to Oxford or environs on Wednesday? Or is it somewhere else touristy?
Always great for a Yank to be in England on Independence Day weekend.
One of the houses across the road had fireworks going off on the 4th, and some people were drinking beside our little lake and yelling. However, by the sounds of their voices, they were mostly of the big-haired English variety.
Carhenge delenda est!
In some kind of henge-demolition-dARby.
11: I asked an Aussie yesterday if people in Australia were aware of the way Americans celebrate the Fourth, and she laughed at me.
To be fair, I wasn't asking out of some misguided Americentric ignorance; I was curious how much of our Independence Day narrative had made it over. (Which reminds me of the Chilean I met who was absolutely fascinated by Thanksgiving and gave a pretty funny and pretty accurate summary of the holiday as she understood it.)
9 - we're going to meet the Breaths in London and go on the Eye. For starters.
re: 14
Cool. I can't quite work out if the pub choice has been settled for Friday, yet. The Sir Richard Steele was mooted, I think.
Although looking at reviews it might be a tad noisy .. but mebbe someone who drinks there can advise ...
There's a bit of a shipping forecast quality to the OP. "Dogger, mildly tipsy. German Bight, also pleasant."
OT; Interesting new poll from the Pew Research Center on the economy. Excellent charts if you click through.
A few notable points:
*More than half of the adults in U.S. labor force (55%) have experienced some work-related hardship -- be it a spell of unemployment, a cut in pay, a reduction in hours or an involuntary move to part-time work.
* More than two-in-ten (21%) of all homeowners say they currently owe more on their mortgage or other home loans than they could sell their house for in today's market. In real estate vernacular, they are "underwater."
And I thought this was interesting:
[B]lacks, Democrats and, on most questions, younger adults are more likely than whites, Republicans and older adults to hold positive views about the national economy and their personal finances, regardless of their income, education, gender or whether they have had difficulty paying their bills, making mortgage or rent payments; getting or paying for medical care; or have had to cut spending during the recession.
One likely explanation for these seemingly counterintuitive patterns is that in an age of highly polarized politics, Democrats and Republicans differ not only in their values, attitudes and policy positions, but, increasingly, in their basic perceptions of reality.
The above is accompanied by a particularly vivid chart showing Republicans' and Democrats' perception of the economy over the past 15 years.
I like how the Pew folks are careful not to suggest that one party has an actual view of reality -- just two choices, either one of them just as plausible as the other!
(And in all fairness, I think that might be true -- it's just that Republicans generally think tax cuts for rich people do or will apply to them, and Democrats generally don't.)
Someone pick a pub for Friday? I'll show up anywhere.
I think the consensus seems to be settling round the Sir Richard Steele? Perhaps if it's not, the dissenters can speak up?
It's further from Paddington than I'd like (says she lazily) but I can't stay out late anyway, so not really a problem.
Sir Richard Steele it is, unless there's a more vehement protest.
OK. It's a biggish pub with several rooms. You'll all be wearing your Mineshaft badges?
re: 24
I worried a lot about that last time. So I brought an identifying camera, but it turned out everyone was sitting right by the door. Not sure what the odds will be of that again, though.
I imagine some people's faces will be familiar to each other anyway?
I imagine, as a Scotsman in a pub, that I'll stand out as a sheer oddity.
If the first in make straight for the big table (ask for the "club room" or look for the sign saying "psychiatric boardroom") we'll know where to find each other and have a big table.
Are Scotsmen normally too drunk to drag themselves to pubs, or something?
I think it's that they are too cheap to buy beer by the glass.
I'm going to try to get there early as I think I'm able to get away from work a bit early on Friday, but that depends a bit on the vagaries of public transport. But I can try to get there and cadge the 'big table' if it's not occupied.
Sixish? I'm not sure when the workday ends for most people. But sixish works for me. And I'll post what I'm wearing so I'll be identifiable.
I should make 6. That's fairly early, so I imagine [I think?] that others might turn up in dribs and drabs.
Doubt I'll be able to make it before 6.30. But I shouldn't be too much later.
I'm in Bromley earlier in the day and not sure exactly when free but will certainly be there by 7; a non-unf'ed friend will possibly join me/us later too. I know what the UK people look like now, and I haven't changed either.
My friend will be in a drib but I will be in a drab.
I know what the UK people look like now...
Racist. They don't all look alike.
LB at 33, "And I'll post what I'm wearing so I'll be identifiable"
You remembered to pack your XL Who Wants to Sex Mutombo t-shirt!