Tales of Home [9]

Uhuh ! I may be as thick as a builders bicep but, I thought it moved slower ?

If it doesn't move fast enough the dwarves can't shoot the rapids in their little ore boats.

{{{ A typically Scottish reaction to our recent seemingly unending glorious weather }}}

bloody lightweights, its 25 degrees IN MY HOUSE AT NIGHT which means that's hotter than Hotland has EVER been!!
outside its 35 degrees and rising. last year it got up to 49.

{{Taken by the international space station-



That glare is 5 million peelywally Scots taking their tops off to try to get a tan all at once }}

Its no better here in the South East. There's no grass left, its pale yellow crunchy straw now, gardens are wrecked & dried out. Cats are hiding in the shrubbery for days on end, no one walks their dogs & the few die hards that are going out are moaning about how hot it is. We are now begging for rain or at least be a lot cooler. I am surprised we haven't had at least one storm ? Forget the Summer of 76 this tops it by miles I reckon Don't forget we're British we have to moan about something, we'd moan if there wasn't anything to moan about !

where I am you have to be inside by 10.30 in the morning, no kidding its in the 90s by 11.00. barricaded behind shutters until 6pm, and then its still mad hot. the only time you can go out is at night. bloody horrible climate.

This was nice.

did you see the Spitfires?

Yes...

Oh, I thought them were birds.

...... no. No them weren't.

{{ No disrespect to your photographic skills Lance but this is a nice one from the press showing the formation of the 100 years celebration better. Envy you getting to see it though.  }}

I suppose that is the difference between a professional camera underneath them versus my phone from across the river.

Also, mine was a gif originally but it didn't upload properly!

It's just a better angle. I was wondering why that first one didn't look perfectly square, and almost made a snippy comment about it.

Servimg doesn't seem to like GIFs. Would have probably put it in to better context if it had uploaded properly.

that is the difference between a professional camera underneath them versus my phone from across the river.- Lance

{{I assumed you'd had to get what you could as best as possible from your work Lance- wish I'd seen it, particularly the spitfires- loved those planes.

But thought it just wasn't clear enough what the formation was marking out (and how perfectly it is being flown) especially for the ex-colony lot on here, some of whose countries arent much older than our air-force and might have missed the significance   }}}

Pettytyrant101 wrote: especially for the ex-colony lot on here, some of whose countries arent much older than our air-force and might have missed the significance   }}}

HEY!!!

The Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps (1907–1914) was the first heavier-than-air military aviation organization in history and the progenitor of the United States Air Force. A component of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, the Aeronautical Division procured the first powered military aircraft in 1909, created schools to train its aviators, and initiated a rating system for pilot qualifications. It organized and deployed the first permanent American aviation unit, the 1st Aero Squadron, in 1913.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeronautical_Division,_U.S._Signal_Corps

David - The RAF was the first independent air force. It was an amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps (army) and Royal Naval Air Service (navy).

I believe your example was a division of the US Army although it is true that it was formed before the RFC and RNAS.

That's true Lance. Our Air Force was technically the United States Army Air Force until late in 1947 when they got their own secretary and were allowed to drop the word "Army". It's hard to deny that those WWII flyers were the real deal though.

{{Besides, now I've got Petty in a bit of a box. If he's not willing to accept that our Air Force is older than his even though it technically reorganized at some point, he's got to allow that the the first REAL Masonic Lodge is in London, not Scotland }}

So for the last year I was under the impression that the first jazz bar I had ever visited in Harlem had closed: every time I wandered by it was shuttered. but last night I passed by and saw it wide open, so tonight I went back to find the same band playing I saw the first night I had stopped in 11 years ago.



This is a true Harlem neighborhood bar (note the hats) where you don't need to go with a friend, you'll do just fine talking to the folks next to you. The old guy next to me was busy outlasting me. We gave some advice to a Columbia student: she was young and had an unrecognizable but European accent: she should assume she could do whatever she wanted and folks would be accepting.

The bartender refreshed my drink: it was Jack and seven up, but she replaced it with Jack and Coke. I had studiously avoided this combination in the past, and one sip only confirmed it. Why anyone would mask good whiskey with a cola is beyond my ability to comprehend. In fact the very thought makes me irate, yet "Jack and Coke" is a thing. The idiocy of the human race eludes me.

But the band and the company on both sides of me were superb, so I still cherish the night at my favorite bar, which despite all rumors is not dead, and I couldn't be happier.

Oooh, you went thru a time warp Seeing the same band ? Tricksy stuff that. And is that you, the white fluffy bobble in the centre foreground ? You had a perm specially didn't you ?

Well, I had to be ready for my close-up. It's the weekend after all.