Picture(s) of the day....

[mickthemaverick]

First entry for your competition Alec:

As wild as I get

[Gibbo2286]

Similar to you, Mick. I had to learn the bloody thing for Eng Lit 'O' Level.

I could have taken the easy option and posted up Albert Ross by Fleetwood Mac over on the P.E. Jukebox.... but where's the fun in that ?

You lot had it easy, when I was eight I had to learn The song of Hiawatha and recite it to the next door class.

https://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poem.php?pid=296

[CitroJim]

I'm aghast you can all remember stuff like this.

I know I did English Lit at O Level and passed it but the specifics have long since been deleted to make way for more valuable stuff. I found (and still find) the subject all a bit abstract, arty and entirely pointless in my life except as a passport to my future via the required six O level passes...

I never read, watch or listen to works of fiction, poetry or stories. Real life in the present is what it's all about.

[Armidillo]

Well this is real life Jim - 6 year old grand-daughter's birthday cake! Our son chose well - his wife's a genius when it comes to creating these sort of things. The party was outdoors (at a free council water park) so all the school friends & their brothers & sisters could come.

The cake started as a slab cake, about 12" x 18". It is (naturally) a beach scene - the water is blue jelly and the sand is yellow sprinkles.

[mickthemaverick]

I never read, watch or listen to works of fiction, poetry or stories. Real life in the present is what it's all about.

I find that rather unfortunate Jim!! I am equally interested in today but history is where we came from and mine included a huge volume of reading, both fact and fiction. I am not keen on science fiction but I do enjoy fact based fiction which has educated me a lot over the years. For example I learned a lot about Jamaica, USA, Turkey, Switzerland and of course the UK from reading Fleming. My love of sport has brought a huge amount of pleasure from reading stories both biographical and fictional over the years involving one or other of my sporting repertoire.

So with this thread I find no better justification of the phrase ' A picture's worth a thousand words' but the picture doesn't have to be on paper or a screen, it can live inside your mind retaining huge volumes of knowledge which an encyclopedia could never offer. Don't rebuff it Jim, embrace it, absorb it and enjoy it. Your life will be even richer than it is now. Here's a good place to start:

Milton Keynes Central Library with proper cars in the car park!!

[mickthemaverick]

I appear to have 'gained' a new role for the charity I support. Our bountiful leader has decided to run coffee mornings with a twist. She is offering people the chance to come and swap jig saws with each other to hopefully encourage attendees. I think the plan is to charge for the coffee and cakes while providing another social gathering opportunity for Hertford's gentle folk. However she needs a stock of jigsaws to get things going so SWMBO has been trawling the charity shops for cheap simple ones that will appeal to the gentle folk. I have been coralled into checking they are complete. Only one way to do that for sure so I began yesterday:

My first test

[CitroJim]

I like the idea of a jigsaw coffee morning a lot Mick I may have some in my attic I can donate as it may not surprise you to know I don't think I've ever done a jigsaw in my life!

As for the comments in your earlier post, I read a lot of non-fiction, often of a historical nature and right now I'm reading a detailed account of the history of cycling road racing. My previous bedtime book was a deep insight into Japanese running culture. And as for a library, I have one, which I frequent, a mere half mile away

Don't be sad, I lead a rich, happy and most satisfactory life that's full of fun and huge enjoyment

Alec, I love that birthday cake

[NewcastleFalcon]

Owl of the Day

Andrew M own work with some serious gear

Robin Of the Day

Falcon Own Work
Surprisingly inexpensive and effective Victure Trail Cam, bit of wild bird food, a picnic table and some colour enhancements from a free online image editor

Neil

[Gibbo2286]

I like the idea of a jigsaw coffee morning a lot Mick I may have some in my attic I can donate as it may not surprise you to know I don't think I've ever done a jigsaw in my life!

As for the comments in your earlier post, I read a lot of non-fiction, often of a historical nature and right now I'm reading a detailed account of the history of cycling road racing. My previous bedtime book was a deep insight into Japanese running culture. And as for a library, I have one, which I frequent, a mere half mile away

Don't be sad, I lead a rich, happy and most satisfactory life that's full of fun and huge enjoyment

Alec, I love that birthday cake

This one one I've read and I think today's youngsters should read but I doubt they'd go the course, it's long and detailed full of facts and figures but written from the inside
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is a book by William L. Shirer that chronicles the history of Nazi Germany from the birth of Adolf Hitler in 1889 to the end of World War II in Europe in 1945 1. The book was published in 1960 by Simon & Schuster in the United States and was a bestseller in both the United States and Europe 1. The book is based upon captured Nazi documents, the available diaries of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, of General Franz Halder, and of the Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano, evidence and testimony from the Nuremberg trials, British Foreign Office reports, and the author’s recollection of his six years in Germany (from 1934 to 1940) as a journalist, reporting on Nazi Germany for newspapers, the United Press International (UPI), and CBS Radio 1. The book is widely recognized as a comprehensive historical interpretation of the Nazi era.

[myglaren]

It is a long time since I read it but a similar book was "The Scourge Of The Swastika" by Lord Russel of Liverpool.
I do recall it being very tough going.

Best-selling account of German war atrocities Based on evidence submitted to the Nuremberg Trials Written by an expert with experience of the prosecution of war criminals This factual account of German war crimes of World War II is a formidable indictment of Nazi brutality and of the monstrous organisation which so terrorised occupied Europe and murdered at least 12 million civilians. Along with The Knights of Bushido: A Short History of Japanese War Crimes by the same author, it was a phenomenal best-seller when first published. Drawing on documentary evidence submitted to the Nuremberg Trials and brilliantly written by an expert intimately connected to the prosecution of war criminals, this searing condemnation of the Third Reich's crimes is factual, objective and unstinting in its efforts to expose the truth behind real or alleged atrocities. It examines Hitler's instruments of tyranny - the SS, Gestapo and Army - and repression; German crimes against prisoners of war; outrages committed on the high seas; crimes against civilian populations; the mass use of slave labour; the concentration camps; and the 'Final Solution' of the Jewish question. Lord Russell's text examines such infamous crimes as the execution of 10,000 prisoners per day at Auschwitz; the massacre at Lidice; the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto; the death of 4 million Soviet prisoners of war in German hands; the lynching of Allied airmen; the Malmedy massacre; and presents damning evidence against individual German officers and the merciless regime which oversaw their evil activities. Lord Russell of Liverpool served in World War I and II and acted as Deputy Judge Advocate General for the British Army of the Rhine, giving legal advice on the prosecution of war criminals in the British zone of occupied Germany. He also wrote The Knights of Bushido.

£28 from Amazon, only one left. Not on Kindle but there is a paperback for three quid.

[mickthemaverick]

My rat guardian.

[bobins]

A couple of random car photos from me for today. 2x Trabants. I had a drive of one of the ones in the photos - I'll let you guess which one

Trabant estate - own work

Military Trabant (Kübel) - own work

[CitroJim]

I've been doing what makes me properly happy today

After timekeeping at the UK's 2nd biggest Junior parkrun I went for a 17 mile run, part of which took me around Willen Lake...

The crocuses are out

Some lovely scenery around the Peace Pagoda

And some very lovely sunshine

All very properly magical

After the run I then went straight out for a bit of Time Trialling on the bike as part of my duathlon training

The perfect way to spend a day

[Rp0thejester]

Reading books on cycling would put anyone to sleep. Sci fi is the future!! Star Trek for example, automatic sliding doors, flip phones to communicate, Bluetooth badges didn't quite work but we got ear pieces, VR headsets are the early version of Star Treks hologram rooms. If it can be thought of it can be done apart from teleporting at the moment.

[Huskyxantia]

Have you done the London marathon Jim ?