Uk virus alert!!!!

[moonwitch]

"If Bob can keep his head, when all around him are losing theirs...
He has simply not understood the nature of the problem! (Apologies to Rudyard Kipling.)"
I assume that is an attempt at humour.

Keeping your head while all around are losing theirs is a sign of maturity (paraphrased from the same Kipling reference)

[cambrensis]

[QUOTE=moonwitch;1717757]"If Bob can keep his head, when all around him are losing theirs...
He has simply not understood the nature of the problem! (Apologies to Rudyard Kipling.)"
I assume that is an attempt at humour.

Keeping your head while all around are losing theirs is a sign of maturity (paraphrased from the same Kipling reference) [/QU

Oh dear! It's in quotation marks as I was quoting a source, quite well-known I thought, which is NOT and is quite evidently not Kipling! So far as I know Bob may be somebody's uncle! Also, it was deemed to be a sign of masculinity rather than maturity, typically Victorian in outlook although Kipling lived well into the 1930s. Parodies of Kipling's jingoism, especially relating to "If" have been around since before his death.

Anyway, my quotation was intended to bring a wry smile to those who remember, rather than the reverse from those who have never come across it before. Why wry? Because he lost his own son in WWI and was never the same again.

[crafters_corner]

Government going to ask all over 70's to self isolate in the coming weeks.

We are due to have a kitchen fitted in two weeks' time

[cambrensis]

Government going to ask all over 70's to self isolate in the coming weeks.

We are due to have a kitchen fitted in two weeks' time

Easy! You won't be ble to use the kitchen during that time, anyway. Just leave "the makings" for the lads with some gel handy...

The whole thing is getting just a little ridiculous. If a man sports a beard he should remove it. Hmmm...without touching his face, I presume.

I am just back from Mass. Just check out this lot:

1)No Holy water (mentioned before);
2)Basket placed for monetary collection as we entered (normally part of the offertory). Most of us donate in a numbered envelope so that tax may be claimed back from the government. This means that the envelopes will be opened by the group on duty and logged as usual, so that 4 or 5 people have handled thousands of envelopes and, worse still, handled the notes and coinage contained.(Fr Paul pointed out that money would not be collected, then added with a grin:"Don't forget this is a Catholic Church, so we have found a way around that!")
3)Hymn books not to be used. Instead, hymn sheets were passed around. If insufficient, then share...
5)No sign of peace (I'm afraid I did take the hands of those next to me as usual...and noticed many doing the same. The sign was not mentioned during the "ordinary" of the Mass). As we left we simply nodded and spoke to each other.
6)Speaking with Fr Paul, I asked would it not be simpler to have "spiritual communion", a rite which is well known and often used with the sick, anyway. The only conclusion we could come to was that it might frighten people...Dunno!
7)Communion itself was under only one kind, the wafer, although of course the priest took the wine. The wafer was given in the hand only....one hand placing a wafer into hundreds of hands ...

When I think of the many forms of meetings of all kinds in any country, not simply religious ones, I do wonder at all this. In fact, I said to the priest as I left : "I wonder what the authorities are really trying to hide. From what are we being distracted?" Fr Paul grinned and asked if I were a secret member of the IRA!!! I shall stand back and watch to see who is about to be invaded next...

[crafters_corner]

Easy! You won't be ble to use the kitchen during that time, anyway. Just leave "the makings" for the lads with some gel handy...

This is true, but with us both being very elderly and OH having health issues, we really don't want men working here. They may be okay, but who knows what contacts they may have had.

Just hope Avanti will postpone.

[cambrensis]

Just hope Avanti will postpone.

I take your point. I have heart issues (not romantic ones!) and am now over 80. My general handyman is due this week to finish some painting he started before this virus reared its head here. He is just back from Spain...he goes over with friends a few times a year and they race their motorcycles on a track there.
I shall not put him off as I want the work finished, and I've found a few more jobs for him to do for me anyway. He brings his own coffee as he prefers "instant", so there'll be no "makings" for him. If he's prepared to come, I shall just let him.
Were the authorities to give us the figures of deaths from other causes alongside the reported deaths from this virus I'd be more inclined to take notice. Unfortunately, they do not, and such information is not readily available. I am not a disbeliever in statistics, but they do have to be placed in a proper context, including comparison with other years. We all end up guessing like mad and "knee-jerking"as we are never given the full information on anything of any importance. I assume they think we are unable to understand...I shall not comment on my own supposition!

Please note: My reference to "knee-jerking" was not intended to include genuflection!

[cheaver]

Government going to ask all over 70's to self isolate in the coming weeks.

"Shielding the elderly" my foot! The spin doctors are at it again......

Reserving inadequate resources for others is more likely!


.

[moonwitch]

[QUOTE=cambrensis;1717763]

"If Bob can keep his head, when all around him are losing theirs...
He has simply not understood the nature of the problem! (Apologies to Rudyard Kipling.)"
I assume that is an attempt at humour.

Keeping your head while all around are losing theirs is a sign of maturity (paraphrased from the same Kipling reference) [/QU

Oh dear! It's in quotation marks as I was quoting a source, quite well-known I thought, which is NOT and is quite evidently not Kipling! So far as I know Bob may be somebody's uncle! Also, it was deemed to be a sign of masculinity rather than maturity, typically Victorian in outlook although Kipling lived well into the 1930s. Parodies of Kipling's jingoism, especially relating to "If" have been around since before his death.

Anyway, my quotation was intended to bring a wry smile to those who remember, rather than the reverse from those who have never come across it before. Why wry? Because he lost his own son in WWI and was never the same again.

Kipling's 'If' is one of my favourite poems.

I have seen your quote many times before but having been someone who has understood the original poem, have not understood the joke.

[cambrensis]

[QUOTE=moonwitch;1717789]

Kipling's 'If' is one of my favourite poems.

I have seen your quote many times before but having been someone who has understood the original poem, have not understood the joke.

Most of those who know the poem do not know the events which led up to its composition. I refer of course to the (in)famous Jameson Raid of 1896. Jameson and Kipling were friends which contributes to an understanding of the poem. As we all know, I should think, Kipling, born in India during the Raj, extolled military prowess although he was never a soldier himself. He "pulled strings" among those he knew to get his son into the army as a Lieutenant, despite the fact that he had been classed as unfit owing to his very poor eyesight. He served with the Irish Fusiliers* and was lost (I.e. was never found) at the Battle of Loos during WWI. His letter (epitaph) to his son afterwards, takes the form of an apology to the lad.

* I'm working from memory so may have the regiment wrong! Am pretty sure it was an Irish regiment though. Another exampleof irony perhaps.

The poem, like the equally famous "Gunga Din" (which is largely plagiarised) was first published in the United States, where Kipling lived for some years after his marriage to an American.

In any case, the Jameson backgound explains why he refused a knighthood as well as other honours.

[cambrensis]

"Shielding the elderly" my foot! The spin doctors are at it again......

Reserving inadequate resources for others is more likely!


.

​Agreed wholeheartedly!!