Povey Prattle

Apologies to my U.K. friends who have previously seen this on the Beeb.

1. Where there's a will, I want to be in it. 2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on my list. 3. Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak. 4. If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong. 5. We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public. 6. War does not determine who is right - only who is left. 7. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. 8. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research. 9. I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you. 10. In filling out an application, where it says, 'In case of emergency, Notify:' I put 'DOCTOR'. 11. Women are not as stupid as men: they do not believe they  can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy. 12. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice. 13. I used...

I've been sleeping a lot this past year. I often have had 8 1/2 hours of uninterrupted sleep at night. But I have awakened feeling very tired, and have frequently taken two long naps during the day, falling to sleep within a minute or so of relaxing on a reclining chair. My good primary care physician has tested me for any  blood conditions which may induce lethargy (e.g. diabetes), but all blood tests in every area come up good. With all that in mind I took myself today to a medical Doctor who is Board Certified  by the American Board of Sleep Medicine. For the first forty five minutes I had a consultation with a young medical student. He asked me a thousand and one questions, and also did a brief physical examination. This student was entirely thorough. After his time with me he reported at length  to the M.D.,  who then talked with me, did some more physical exams, and declared that it's almost certain that I am experiencing sleep apnea.  (This did n...

If and when anoles get into my condo I consider them to be fair game for my cats. The cats have a lot of fun batting the anoles around the lanai, or carrying them around. After the feline fun the confused anole becomes snack food for one or other of the cats  (usually Ada). But the anole heads  are never eaten.  Instead they are left on the rug as a kind of trophy, a sign of feline prowess. If I could find an anole-head taxidermist I would make and use a trophy display case, and would thus honour the immense bravery of Adelaide and Ada. Anole pals  Creating more anoles

 I had been through London as a child   when my Mum took me by long distance coach from Bristol to visit relatives in her birth place of Lowestoft in Suffolk. It's hard for me to remember my age at the time of that trip. It was certainly before 1958, the year  when the original 'bus/coach station was opened in Bristol.  When we took that trip our coach (the U.K. name for long distance buses) left from Princes Street, before the 'bus/coach station was opened. So maybe I was aged ten or eleven. For some reason or other (so far as I can remember), my twin sister was not on that trip, but I think that my brother Andrew (born 1950) was with us. Memory is tricky.  I can only be certain that we began our coach trip on Princes St.in Bristol, and that it took all of ten or twelve hours to travel the 240 miles between Bristol and Lowestoft, via London. It's the London bit that I remember.   We left the Victoria 'bus station on the second leg of our tri...

Bristol was bombed often during World War II -  as a result of which the old medieval centre with its nine churches  almost ceased to be.  Wine Street was badly damaged, and never recovered post war. St. Mary-le-Port Street and Castle Street just about ceased to be. Corn Street survived, as did Broad Street which runs west from the north end of Corn St.  Broad St. also has some   treasures as you will see. NOTES 1.  "Council House" (pronounced "counts louse" in Bristol dialect) refers to the local seat of civic government.  I have heard (to my dismay) that the counts louse in Bristol has been re-named in American style as "City Hall"  blah. It was built in 1900 by Henry Williams , with the Pre-Raphaelite style facade by William Neatby , who was the chief designer for Doulton and Co. , as the main works for the printer Edward Everard . Most the building was demolished in 1970 but the facade was preserved as it is the largest decorati...