Tuesday night our team was ready and waiting when the quiz started. We made good progress, including getting a perfect score on three of the eight rounds, finishing with a respectable 84 points. Alas, our rivals at the next table came in with a score of 85 points! So near and yet so far.
Oh well, there's another couple of weeks until the Christmas break, so watch this space.
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Wednesday the last of three days of ferrying stuff to K's place. I am glad for his sake that we got it done, but I'm grateful that there isn't any more stuff to shift. Always happy to help a friend in need, but there are limits. Checked my road map to remind me how to get to Royal Yacht Club for Mission Group's Christmas lunch tomorrow.
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Lunch at Wrest Point on Friday to celebrate Helena and Julie joint-birthday. Half a dozen of us dined in the Boardwalk room, then sat outside enjoying the sunny afternoon, admiring the view of the river and talking. A pleasant time to meet up with old friends and discuss old times.
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Friday night I finished writing up the quiz questions for the next day. Saturday lunch time we all gathered at the Croquet Club and enjoyed a two-course lunch in the open-air with the annual Christmas quiz at half-time. I kept it fairly simple, just 12 true-or-false questions about the Christmas season. And I advised players "If you don't know the answer, have a guess. You've got a 50% chance of being right."
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BATTLE OF THE WORLDS [1961] available on You Tube.
A stray planet, on a collision course with Earth, instead slows and takes orbit around our blue marble. After careful examination - and a few near-fatal accidents in space - what seems like a dead planet suddenly launches a fleet of flying attack saucers. Professor Benson and his team, along with the space fleet, must figure out how to destroy the invaders. In the end, the frustrated professor is forced to weigh the sacrifices that are required to save the citizens of Earth from certain doom.
These Italian space opera movies always look stylish, though the scripts sometimes don't hang together too well. Claude Rains, as Professor Benson, seems to be channeling the character he played in THE LOST WORLD, Professor Challenger. Indeed, I have seen the American trailer and it even (ahem) declares "See Claude Rains in his most challenging role" !
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I didn't check my e-mails on Saturday night, so I missed an update from the church office. I thought I was reading from the book of Matthew, but when the minister introduced me, he said I'd be reading from chapter 9 of Isaiah. I looked calm as I walked up to the lectern, but inwardly I was anxious to open my Bible and see what I was about to do a "cold read" from. I opened the Bible and scanned the passage while I announced the passage I'd be reading, then launched into reading aloud from the Old Testament. I was lucky - there were almost no complicated names on that page and I got through without any visible problems.
A friend nodded to me afterwards and said "Good reading this morning." I responded with "You have no idea!"
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Watched the "mockbuster" movie BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES, made by Asylum studios to cash in on the release of the Columbia movie BATTLE: LOS ANGELES. Lots of running and shooting doesn't compensate for the confusing plot. Strange to see Nia Peeples as a Xena-style swordswoman who comes to the aid of the heroes.
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Monday and Wednesday I spent the days relaxing, with no calls on my time to make me leave the house. Tuesday I got in one game of croquet at lunchtime, then out to the final quiz night of the year. We shared a good dinner, paid for by the prize money from the last twelve months, then ended up being narrowly nudged into second place by the people at the next table who won by a single point.
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Thursday I was having a quiet day at home, watching the weather to see if we could fit in our last game of Bocce for the season. Unfortunately friends descended on me and quizzed me about how my feet were going. When I finally showed them, they were very concerned and insisted on calling a friend who runs a "foot nurse" service. There went my chances of getting to Bocce but I did finish the day with a nice pedicure.
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I must remember to check these things before I sit down and tune in a movie on You Tube. Tonight I started watching the movie THE EYE CREATURES thinking it was the American title for the well-regarded British movie THE TROLLENBERG TERROR. Alas it's not; I was thinking of THE CRAWLING EYE. This one was a really dire flick about a couple who run over an alien invader on their way back from Lover's Lane and (surprise) nobody believes them. I don't think I've ever said this before, but there's not a single thing of interest in the whole movie.
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A columnist in the WASHINGTON POST mused on Richard Whateley’s satirical pamphlet, published in 1819, “Historic Doubts Relative to Napoleon Buonaparte.” In it, this future archbishop proves that there’s no way to be absolutely sure that Napoleon, who was then still alive, wasn’t actually a myth. Whately’s intent was subtly religious: He wanted to mock those who questioned the evidence for Christ’s existence.
[Today we'd probably call this a work of "alternative history"!]
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They have some dumb things on-line trying to get you interested in watching You Tube videos. One trumpeted "Lucille Ball's grand-daughter looks just like her!" - what a surprise. Another asked "Why was the coffin closed at JFK's funeral?" - well, it could be something to do with him being shot in the head.
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Have never seen any Mexican horror T, though I know there are some, so WORLD OF THE VAMPIRES (1960) was something new to me. Filmed in black and white, it used the old plot of the vampire count who seeks revenge on the family whose ancestors wiped out his family. The twist is that the family have a guest, a music expert who has just returned from Transylvania, where he discovered which musical notes repel vampires. This is actually quite an interesting little movie.
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The Light Programme radio show has now moved to https://www.mixcloud.com/The_Light_Programme/
I'd been wondering what had happened to them, since their website seemed up to date.
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