Amsterdam Russ

Sent…

Happy to. Let me have an email address and I'll send scans to you...

A car came off the road last night and somehow ended up in the canal that runs alongside the building in which we live. Happily, both people in the car - a man and a woman - escaped unhurt. We didn't see how the woman got out. The man, being rather rotund by Dutch standards, struggled to get free but was eventually pulled through the open window by a fire crew. A Police diver later aided in putting straps under the car so that it could be lifted out by a crane. Some pics of the drama... Must have been a day for high drama here as about lunchtime half a dozen fire engines went speeding up the same street to tackle a blaze in business unit.

I hope someone's keeping a note of these for the benefit of future generations. They're to good to lose. I though 'Scribbling Lark' was obscure enough, but what's the logic behind 'Spuggies'? Sounds like a melding of 'Sparrows' and 'Budgies', but that's a wild guess on my part.

Absolutely fascinating! How did you guys learn these names? I mean, are/were they in regular use locally, are they part of the local/regional dialect, are they taught in schools locally? One of the reasons for asking is that I knew that a Mistle Thrush was also known as a Storm Cock. I think I learnt that from the Observer Book of Birds c.early 70s. Does that mean it was a common name that's just fallen out use or did it somehow gain greater prominence through something like a poem or a story?

I'm neither for nor against "Northern Soul dance classes", but what gets me is that every time I watch one of these videos I just don't recognise the dance style. What they're doing is nothing more than the "disco here, disco there" style of dancing you see at family weddings and stuff. Northern Soul used to have a unique dance style that went with the unique music. What happened to it?

I grew up in Kent during the 2nd half of my childhood. A friend's grandfather had a broad rural Kentish accent - something that I think had almost completely disappeared by that time. It was difficult to understand what he was saying. Mind you, he lost all his teeth when he was kicked in the face by a horse in WWI, so that might have had something to do with it! False teeth aside, I remember asking for directions when we were out in the Kentish countryside one time and really didn't understand a word the guy was saying so thick was his local accent.

Excellent, and how eccentrically British!

Ah, I thought there might be other, local, names! Thanks for that. Any idea how that description came to be??

Just trying to remember from my days as an enthusiastic young ornithologist... Lapwing = green plover = peewit... Is that right? Any other names to add?

Front and rear view from our apartment today. As you can see, it snowed.

I see 'em!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007tcw7

Worth a look, I guess...

Starling singing it's little heart out. Love it when they do this - they sing in a most marvelous way at the top of their voice and flap their wings about like a crazy thing. A number of starlings had nests under the same section of the shed roofing you can see in the pic, so I'm not entirely sure whether the display is made to attract a mate or to define territory. Either way, the performance is a great thing to behold.

I've had this problem before and it is annoying. Last time it was with seven purchases from the same seller and it all got very complicated. Someone did tell me that you can add items to a shopping cart and pay for multiple purchases (and get combined shipping) in just one hit. Thing is though, the cart isn't always available - and therein lies the problem.

Definitely a modern day recording in a "Northern" style.

Wish I could say the same. Played Tony Milton's 'Comin' home baby' at a night last week and now the thing's got a jump in it that I can't get rid of!

Pretty much how I'd describe "My name is Caleb N. Ginyard", the biography of one of the members of the Golden Gate Quartet and other spiritual groups of the day. His childhood years on the rural South are quite informative, but once he gets to the musical adventures the story goes very flat and very matter of fact. Given how trailblazing the group were, I expected so much more.

Sadly, yes. I know they've moved in recent weeks, and are in the process of opening up a record shop. Even before then they've always been slow at dispatching items. You'll probably get a free copy of the Colemine cd as apology for the delay. I've three of them now!

And readily available on Amazon.co.uk! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hidden-Man-Story-Unfulfilled-Dream/dp/1505582180/ Will have to get me a copy of that. Thanks for the tip!

The last bottle I got from the chemist was 70% pure and that worked a treat. Worth mentioning to those who haven't used this stuff before - don't use it to clean acetates.

Amazon - 99.9% pure isopropyl alcohol: £19 for 5 litres of the stuff! That would just about last a lifetime of record cleaning. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00ECZJEPQ

Get down to your local chemist and ask for a bottle of the stuff. They should stock it for cleaning wounds and the like and it's generally cheaper than sources who sell it as a specialist computer-cleaning or record-cleaning solution.

My condolences.