Yes, cd, so long as you're measuring upwards, in which case it's just under two: circumferentially, the waist is still just about under one ... The 's' word could also mean 'capable of being rendered rigid with a fish-bone based paste' as well, though here, as in the States (though with one fewer 'e') it's usually understood as 'fairly large'. Compared with with many, around here at least, Big Ron might give an unreliable impression of something towards the gargantuan, which despite the inevtiable spread due to advancing years and a slightly more sedentary lifestyle, I sincerely hope has (as yet) been avoided.

Me, I'm off work today and have been playing the piano and listening to music and generally realaxing.
Great stuff!

I'm happy, or I would be if I wasn't so tired. Almost 7 hours on motorways in the rain is not fun, and I wasn't even driving! This was from Norfolk, where I've been staying (one of my sons has a cottage there, miles from anywhere). Managed to get in two concerts! Emma Kirkby recital at Gresham's School in Holt (see the Emma Kirkby thread) which was wonderful, and Imogen Cooper in the Marble Hall at Holkham Hall - very bad piano, or acoustic, or both, though I'm sure she played all right really - Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert. We got lost trying to find our way out of the Holkham estate, driving miles to find the gates locked, but got out in the end.

Otherwise we (that is my friend Anne and I) looked round a few ancient churches - Wellingham, Rougham, Mileham, Great Ryburgh. These wonderful buildings are in every village. In one of them (Mileham, I think) there was a little trapped great tit, which I managed to catch and let out!!!

Great Ryburgh church:

 Much pleasure in The Happy Room tonight as I watched Classic Britannia; a new 3 part series on BBC4, which uses archive material, from 1945 onwards, most effectively.  The programme began with the post-war, first performance of "Peter Grimes" and I still recall our music teacher talking about the impact of this new opera and a coastal communitity in Suffolk, based on the poetry of 18th century poet George Crabbe.   "The more vicious the society, the more vicious the individual" remains firmly lodged in my mind.

Seeing Britten, Vaughan Williams, Walton; John Barbirolli, Malcolm Sargent; alongside footage of the Festival Hall (1951) and particularly Coventry Cathedral, 10 years later with the premiere of the "War Requiem" - and several participants adding their comments almost half a century later, - was almost a kaleidoscope of  my own emerging years and I was deeply touched.

I also recorded the Prokofiev October Cantata on R3 to round off the evening with a single malt.

I look forward to the rest of the series.

Teacher Teacher!

You called?!!

 # 1822  "Just the one, Stanley?"

Yes, Ron, you've reminded me of Thomas Mitchell as the Doc in "Stagecoach" (1939).   A real lush.   Every opportunity was met by "Just one more".

To be sure.    To be shure!    

When my knees and I were younger, we used to do a lot of exploring by bike, which is much the best way to discover all sorts of extraordinary places tucked out of the way. I have fond memories of a painted barn (no talent but oodles of enthusiasm  ), some quite surprising houses, and even a village Hi-Fi specialist. And the names of some of the places bespeak their history too, like Wagga Hall.