Tattoodave

It's not one you trip over everyday, there's a plethora of them if you investigate.

I think you'll find it's "hear, hear", it has to be used with a comma, so in fact at least one person knows, and he failed "O" level English

If you search for "inosculation" and go to images you'll see that it can be from just about anything. Multiple trunks are usually from damage early in the trees life, rarely do several seedlings survive if they germinate so close to each other, there's always a faster grower. My father makes walking sticks.

With some forethought it is possible to create something uniquely beautiful, this is a simple example...

It happens quite naturally Philippe, it's called inosculation, trees will grow into each other if they have branches that are close enough and rubbing together. Honeysuckle does it a lot with anything that it climbs through, much sought after by walking stick makers.

That was a sharp intake of breath moment!!! Must get on, first client of the week is due for three hours of pain at 12.30.

I now own far fewer hats than I did, storage in my uncles basement in Kitchener, Ontario ruined a lot, thankfully not the vinyl that is still there. I've given up trying to look smart, I prefer to dress casual, which most of the year for me is short, tee and sandals, I'll wear a suit for a funeral, but that's it, I'd sooner be seen as uber-eccentric. I collect vinyl, amongst other things, so I'll stick with my OVO policy. This is one that is frequently played in the studio, though I'm still looking for an original.

You'll never change my mind over pork pie hats Joey, they should be confined to Melton Mowbray. I'm sure there's a name for a straw trilby, but the name escapes me, again as far as I'm concerned it's a hat to keep the sun out of your eyes and should be confined to summer informal wear, where a proper trilby is worn to accentuate ones suit or semi formal attire. Like I would never wear a check shirt with a check suit, it's simply not the done thing, or carry a brolly whilst wearing a hat, unless it was a bowler. It's what makes us all quite different and difficult. I'm a little too set in my ways to ever re-evaluate most things, I can't re-invent memories on someone else's say so, although my mind plays some wonderful tricks on me, I tend to trust it, though never 100%. I agree with you about the sound, rather than the record, but I'd sooner listen to a warts and all original than a boot, be it a 70's, 80's, 90's or more recent boot.

Where do I start? If baseball caps should be worn by just Yanks and children then Pork Pie hats should be worn by people from Melton Mowbray, flat caps by Yorkshiremen and berets by the French, I wear what I like on my head, and it's usually a baseball cap as it keeps the sun from my eyes (maybe this week excepted, not a big problem in the UK since the summer of 76), I wouldn't be seen dead in anything named after a meat product, not just because of that, but because I think they look hideous. Trilby's are OK if you're wearing a shirt, tie and suit, but then I'd sooner see a Brown Derby or grey Bowler, they are far cooler. I'm not into the 70's dress code, I couldn't carry it off then, so there's no hope of me doing it now. I have no problem with people wearing what they like, as long as they don't piss about on the dance floor. I'm afraid I failed English "O" level but I'm sure my idea of alliteration is decidedly different to that described, I think you might have meant allusion, but then again I'm not a scholar of the English language, which in itself is mostly made up of foreign words. I must have played my part in the downfall of Northern Soul, perhaps I can do a Spike Milligan and write a novel like his "Adolf Hitler: My part in his downfall", but who would want to read pages of drug addled dross as my teenage years were blurred at the best of times, I did my exams on speed, and on the whole didn't do too badly. Conjecture is a wonderful thing, opinionated views are going to be just that, someone else's wrong ideas unless they just happen to overlap, or even to coincide with what one thinks is right and proper. There's a lot of good tunes out there, and some unadulterated garbage, and we'll never agree on which belongs in which pile. Now, on to OVO, I would expect anything but a local soul night to be OVO and stick to that policy, saying that, I'm sure there are some local soul nights that also stick to that policy too, it's not elitism or the mega rare tunes that are being played but proper vinyl, warts and all, I wouldn't attend a non OVO night either, not because of snobbery, but because I like to hear what other people have in their collections, not bootlegs, but cherished originals, maybe not big hitters, but overlooked and half forgotten gems. I own a few boots, but wouldn't play them out, and don't expect anyone being paid to do so either. At a Crossfire allnighter where the live band had just finished they put on a CD whilst they got the decks sorted, I went to the R&B room, I wouldn't dance to a CD anywhere other than my kitchen, with an audience of Happy, my dog, and he would look on in disgust. Must get on, need a shower before I go and hurt someone.

Prickly pear is Opuntia, lots of species all or most of which readily hybridize, so are always difficult to name, their flowers are incredibly different to agave and vary immensely in colour, they produce small fruits, which are the edible prickly pear, much praised by Baloo

You're pretty spot on with it, and the cherry flavoured Absolute. I currently have eight label stickers from litre bottles of Absolut on the fridge, I keep a score as to how many I drink in a year, there's been a couple of litres of Tanqueray too, and facts and figures can come hazy, even to a genius.

It's a very common plant in Spain, and has something to do with the production of tequila, though probably quite remotely. Travel broadens the mind, but I guess there's nothing like traveling inside your own, and many people don't ever try that, shame on them.

OK, I'll reveal it now, it's the tip of the flower stem of Agave americana, they push up a flower stem up to 9m tall.

there's no answer to that, but I see where you're coming from!

getting closer Pete, but not close enough.

Not as such!

Quite right Pete, you are wrong!!!

A strange one for you to try and identify...

And a botanical one, Cyperus papyrus, known as paper sedge.

Spot the imposter!

Donkey

looks like Berberis darwinii to me Steve, not remotely related to gorse, a nice family of shrubs which bees, hoverfly and other insects enjoy.

The Sheppards for me, how do I like it?

I used to sing "Septicemia" instead of "Sad sweet dreamer", twisted laces, twisted mind.

That's a shame, the Spanish ones are bullies and will muscle in anywhere they can.