Keeping in Touch
While we are in shutdown due to the COVID-19 we thought it would be a good idea to have a place on our website where we could, on a regular basis, keep you informed, provide fun things to do, excite your mind, provide links to interesting places, inject some humour, share some ideas and generally brighten up your day. So, on a regular basis while we are all sitting at home, our webmaster, Ian Handricks, will update this page for you and he would welcome your input, ideas and anything else you might like to share on the page and he will do his best to include your ideas in the next post. Ian can be contacted on ianhandricks@gmail.com - Click on buttons below to go to a specific day or scroll down for a journey through the days
n.b. When viewing the videos use these controls ... click on in bottom left of video to start video and
click on in bottom right of video to expand to full screen
Day 24
Yorkshire Puddings
Funny You Should say That!
Air Conditioning!
A to Z of Interesting Words You Should be Using
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Agastopia n. – admiration of a particular part of someone’s body
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Bibble v. – to drink often; to eat and/or drink noisily
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Cabotage n. – coastal navigation; the exclusive right of a country to control the air traffic within its borders
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Doodle sack n. – old English word for bagpipe
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Erinaceous adj. – of, pertaining to, or resembling a hedgehog
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Firman n. – in Turkey and some other Oriental countries, a decree or mandate issued by the sovereign
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Gabelle n. – a tax on salt
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Halfpace n. – a platform of a staircase where the stair turns back in exactly the reverse direction of the lower flight
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Impignorate v. – to pawn or mortgage something
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Jentacular adj. – pertaining to breakfast
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Kakorrhaphiophobia n. – fear of failure
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Lamprophony n. – loudness and clarity of enunciation
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Microsmatic adj. – having a good sense of smell
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Nudiustertian n. – the day before yesterday
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Oxter n. – outdated word meaning “armpit”
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Pauciloquent adj. – uttering few words; brief in speech
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Quire n. – two dozen sheets of paper
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Ratoon n. – small shoot growing from the root of a plant
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Salopettes n. – high-waisted skiing pants with shoulder straps
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Tittynope n. – a small quantity of something left over
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Ulotrichous adj. – having woolly or crispy hair
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Valetudinarian n. – a sickly or weak person, especially one who is constantly and morbidly concerned with his or her health
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Winklepicker n. – style of shoe or boot in the 1950s with a sharp and long pointed toe
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Xertz v. – to gulp down quickly and greedily
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Yarborough n. – hand of cards containing no card above a nine
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Zoanthropy n. – delusion of a person who believes himself changed into an animal
...and speaking of books ... book your next flight with these folk!
Don't Judge Too Quickly !
Batteries not included!
The Splendid Beauty of Travel
The next few videos show the magnificent landscapes of Greenland, Iceland, The Faeroe Islands and Norway - also some amazing daredevil flying suit jumpers free falling down treacherous rocky mountainsides!
Iceland
Norway
ree Flying down a rocky mountain
How do you say that again?
A collection of unusual place names for around the world (click on any photo to see it larger)
Curious Inventions
Someone's getting a raw deal?
Anoushka Shankar (Ravi Shankar's daughter and Norah Jones' sister)
Anoushka Shankar - Traces of You
Angry Wife - new manicure!
A virtual tour of Kew Gardens (above)
and
Claude Monet's Garden (below)
Reedsy
Access to talented professionals, powerful tools, and free educational content for authors. Reedsy has a network of world-class publishing professionals and helped produce over 10,000 books.
Medium
Medium is an online publishing platform with a hybrid collection of amateur and professional people and publications, or exclusive blogs or publishers
Marine Traffic
MarineTraffic is the world’s leading provider of ship tracking and maritime intelligence.
The Gardens at Waddesdon Manor
Keukenhof Gardens, Amsterdam, Holland
Keukenhof Gardens, Amsterdam, Holland
Summer at the Chicago Botanic Garden
Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden
How to Pass the Salt While Maintaining Proper Social Distance
Get your skates on!
COVID-19 Guidelines
In case anyone is confused about the guidelines herewith below is a summary of the advice, for full clarity. Any questions.....
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You MUST NOT leave the house for any reason, but if you have a reason, you can leave the house
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Masks are useless at protecting you against the virus, but you may have to wear one because it can save lives, but they may not work, but they may be mandatory, but maybe not
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Shops are closed, except those shops that are open
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You must not go to work but you can get another job and go to work
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You should not go to the Drs or to the hospital unless you have to go there, unless you are too poorly to go there
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This virus can kill people, but don't be scared of it. It can only kill those people who are vulnerable or those people who are not vulnerable people. It's possible to contain and control it, sometimes, except that sometimes it actually leads to a global disaster
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Gloves won't help, but they can still help so wear them sometimes or not
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STAY HOME, but it's important to go out
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There is no shortage of groceries in the supermarkets, but there are many things missing. Sometimes you won't need loo rolls but you should buy some just in case you need some
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The virus has no effect on children except those children it effects
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Animals are not affected, but there is still a cat that tested positive in Belgium in February when no one had been tested, plus a few tigers here and there…
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Stay 2 metres away from tigers (see previous point)
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You will have many symptoms if your get the virus, but you can also get symptoms without getting the virus, get the virus without having any symptoms or be contagious without having symptoms, or be non contagious with symptoms...
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To help protect yourself you should eat well and exercise, but eat whatever you have on hand as it's better not to go out shopping
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It's important to get fresh air but don't go to parks but go for a walk. But don't sit down, except if you are old, but not for too long or if you are pregnant or if you're not old or pregnant but need to sit down. If you do sit down don't eat your picnic
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Don't visit old people but you have to take care of the old people and bring them food and medication
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If you are sick, you can go out when you are better but anyone else in your household can't go out when you are better unless they need to go out
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You can get restaurant food delivered to the house. These deliveries are safe. But groceries you bring back to your house have to be decontaminated outside for 3 hours including Pizza...
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You can't see your older mother or grandmother, but they can take a taxi and meet an older taxi driver
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You are safe if you maintain the safe social distance when out but you can't go out with friends or strangers at the safe social distance
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The virus remains active on different surfaces for two hours ... or four hours... six hours... I mean days, not hours... But it needs a damp environment. Or a cold environment that is warm and dry... in the air, as long as the air is not plastic
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Schools are closed so you need to home educate your children, unless you can send them to school because you're not at home. If you are at home you can home educate your children using various portals and virtual class rooms, unless you have poor internet, or more than one child and only one computer, or you are working from home. Baking cakes can be considered maths, science or art. If you are home educating you can include household chores to be education. If you are home educating you can start drinking at 10am
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If you are not home educating children you can also start drinking at 10am
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The number of corona related deaths will be announced daily but we don't know how many people are infected as they are only testing those who are almost dead to find out if that's what they will die of… the people who die of corona who aren't counted won't be counted
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You should stay in locked down until the virus stops infecting people but it will only stop infecting people if we all get infected so it's important we get infected and some don't get infected
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You can join your neighbours for a street party and turn your music up for an outside disco and your neighbours won't call the police. People in another street are allowed to call the police about your music.
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No business will go under due to Coronavirus except those businesses that will have already gone under.
Yum Cha!
Dribble!
Pack 'em In
Planes, passengers and pandemonium!
"Rev her up, Roger!"
"Any spare seats?"
Otava Yo
Otava Yo is a group of professional folk musicians from St. Petersburg, Russia. They perform new interpretations of Russian folk music and revive old favorite Soviet tunes blending into them a "Russian beat". Some call them "modern buffoons", others describe the music as "communal flat groove", and both are true. Otava Yo serves up its music in a vigorous manner with a good dose of humour, mixing up overdriven traditional Russian instruments with a stereotypical Russian look, which simultaneously frightens and attracts the tourists. Witty song introductions emerged with the music, livening up already energetic performances. The band is very popular in its home city of St. Petersburg, playing some 80 concerts a year at various venues and events. The band members are: Alexey Belkin - vocals, Russian fife, gusli (Russian psaltery), bagpipe; Dmitry Shikhardin - vocals, fiddle; Alexey Skosyrev - vocals, acoustic guitar; Petr Sergeev - darbuca, bass drum; Yulia Usova - vocals, violin and Timur Sigidin - bass guitar
The Street Cleaner
Pique la baleine (песня про китобоев)
Sumetskava
Oh Dusya, Oh Marusya
It's easier to use the front door?
Out of the mouths of babes!
In Germany they are preparing for the crisis by stocking up with sausage and cheese. That’s the Würst Case scenario!
Breaking News : World Health Organization has issued a statement that animals can not transmit Corona and that all animals, including dogs, should be released from quarantine. ‘WHO Let the Dogs Out!
Things you should know, but knowing you, probably don't know unless you do know, then of course you'll be in the know - know what I mean?
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The hashtag symbol is technically called an octothorpe.
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High heeled shoes were originally created for men.
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China owns nearly all of the pandas in the world, even the ones you see at zoos. They rent them out for about $1 million a year.
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Lasting only 38 minutes, the Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 is generally considered to be the shortest war in history.
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Bubble Wrap was originally intended to be used as 3D wallpaper.
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The heart of a shrimp is located in its head.
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A group of flamingos is called a “flamboyance”.
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Since 1945, all British tanks have come equipped with tea making facilities.
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The medical term for a gurgling stomach is “borborygmus”.
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A single cow can make roughly 200,000 glasses of milk in a lifetime.
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The Cookie Monster has a real name. It’s Sid.
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Barry Manilow’s hit, “I Write the Songs”, wasn’t written by him.
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In 2009, Scottish scientists searching for the Loch Ness Monster found 100,000 golf balls instead.
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There’s a village in Norway called Hell, and it freezes over every winter.
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A pluot is a hybrid between a plum and an apricot.
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Barbie doll’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts, from Willows, Wisconsin. Her birthday is March 9, 1959
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Sliced bread was first manufactured by machine and sold in the 1920s by the Chillicothe Baking Company in Missouri. It was the greatest thing since … well … unsliced bread?
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Canada is south of Detroit, USA (just look at a map).
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Polar bears have black skin and their fur is not white, it is transparent
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Mosquitoes are the deadliest animal in the world: They kill more people than any other creature
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Psycho was the first movie to show a toilet flushing
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It’s impossible to hum while holding your nose
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Hawaiian pizza was created in Ontario, Canada, by Greek immigrant Sam Panopoulos in 1962
Eastman's Genealogy Newsletter
The most popular online genealogy magazine in the world, as measured by Alexa. Includes weekly new free Historical Records on FamilySearch e.g.
Listverse
A website dedicated to lists ... Top 10 Ways To Stay Fit Using Only Household Items, Top 10 Job Titles Held By Cats etc. Great fun!
Scottish Register of Tartans
Fully searchable database of Scottish tartans including histories, uses, design variations etc.
Stationary Cycles
Ana Vidovic plays Asturias by Isaac Albéniz
Helvetica and Times New Roman walk into a bar.
"Get out of here!" shouts the bartender. "We don't serve your type."
Top Secret Drum Corps - Edinburgh Military Tattoo 2012
Luca Sestak - Blame Game
Smoking Time Jazz Club - "Percolatin' Blues"
Yesterday I saw a guy spill all his Scrabble letters on the road. I asked him, "What's the word on the street?"
Two donkeys are standing at a roadside, one asks the other: So, shall we cross?
The other shakes his head: "No way, look at what happened to the zebra."
What do Alexander the Great and Winnie the Pooh have in common? Same middle name!
Will glass coffins be a success? Remains to be seen.
Day 25
Geriatric Gyrations
A new twist on things!
He's 94 and she's 91 !!!!!
Greenland
The Faeroe Islands
Flying through a Glacier
Day 26
Whimsical Wisdom
A garden of delights
More Curiosity Clicking
A collection of interesting websites worth a visit (click on black button to visit site)
Day 27
Looking Good
Collected Thoughts
Remember When
A collection of memorabilia from not so long ago (click on any photo to see it larger and a description of what it is)
Day 28
Day 29
Senior Moments
Shaking the family tree and watching the nuts fall out!
Yet More Curiosity Clicking
A collection of interesting websites worth a visit (click on black button to visit site)
The Quill
The Quill is an on-line writing website that lets you write stories, your autobiography etc. It has lots of interesting and useful writing tools including
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Character profiles
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Dictionary & thesaurus
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Predict completion dates
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Track word counts
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To do lists
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Secure autosave & backups
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Rearrange chapters
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Search anywhere
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Continuous spell check
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Automatic smart quotes
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Write and review anywhere
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Leave comments for later
Click on link below to get to website (log in with your Google account