Michael Booth

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Posts posted by Michael Booth

  1. My sister phoned me yesterday and told me that she'd been to see her doctor to get some test results. The hospital tests had shown that she had lung cancer as they'd found a small piece in the lower corner of her lung. I was devastated as I help my wife with her own cancer. My sister then told me that they are going to do keyhole surgery to remove it within a few weeks. The test results also stated that there was no other cancer anywhere so she's very lucky that they caught it in time. It just shows the importance of seeing your doctor when you have a problem and not just thinking it will go away. 

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  2. I can remember the Toyota cars at the City Ground, HSR. Forest have started the season with a new manager and a number of new players. They'll need a little time to gel and I'm sure they'll improve with every game. I don't think they played too bad against West Brom and the two goals against them were goalkeeper errors.

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  3. I will tell you a tale that is true and will once more bring to mind one of Nottingham's forgotten characters. The man in question was the late and sorely missed Albert Gristle.
    Albert was a dweller in Narrow Marsh during the 1890s when the reputation of "the Marsh" was at its worst.
    Albert was a man who once seen was not easily forgotten. He had a wooden leg, black and burnished by the elements, since Albert never slept anywhere but beneath God's good sky.
    He had a black and bushy beard and on his shoulder he had a stuffed parrot. This parrot had been his companion when Albert sailed on the seven seas, although Albert could only remember five of them, except when he was drunk. The parrot was long dead but Albert had formed such an attachment to it he had had it stuffed and kept it close by him at all times.
    His leg had been lost, so he said, in an encounter with a shark off the Goodwin sands. Sharks are not normally seen off the Goodwin sands but this shark was a rare Halibut shark, the most deadly and rarely seen of all that dreadful class of fish.
    Because Albert was unfit for work in the nearby mills he had become the knocker-upper for those who rose each day before dawn to start their 20 hour shift at the mills in the Lace Market.
    Every morning he would sway and curse his way along the narrow alleys that made up the Marsh waving his knocker-upper's pole aloft like some wooden badge of office.
    His gait was awkward and slow and his aim with the pole was even worse because of his unsteady state. Often he would take several attempts at each window before he could strike it and call out the customary "Are ya up me lad".
    His walk was so slow that before long those he had woken would gather behind him in a sullen crowd and watch his antics, well there was no telly in those days.
    Often as he tired he would take so many swings at each window that the occupant of the house above would already be awake, roused by the laughter of the crowd who stood around the lurching, cursing figure of Albert.
    If this happened Albert's pole would strike the head of the unfortunate occupant as they looked out of the window to see what all the noise was about. In this event the crowd would call out to prevent such a calamitous collision "DUCK".
    On these occasions Albert's cry would be rendered as "Are ya up me... DUCK" and raucous laughter would accompany Albert's journey to the next house.
    It became quite the joke in all the mills and pubs in the marsh to call out to anyone passing "Are ya up me DUCK" since this would invariably bring the recipient of this cry to tears of laughter.
    And so it remains today, just try it yourself. Walk around any city in any country in the world and call out to passing strangers "Ay-up midduck".
    Most will stare at you as if you are mad but anyone from Nottingham's fair city will instantly smile and laugh and return that greeting.
    It's in our blood dear people of Nottingham so shout it loud and remember the dear departed Albert Gristle who is still putting a smile on all our faces

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  4. I've been a member of Nottstalgia since 2011 and have always had a lot of respect for Cliff Ton. He's done his job as a Moderator in an  unbiased and friendly way when other members became a little confrontational or posted inappropriate content. I'd recently been away from Nottstalgia for a couple of months and when I returned found that there'd been some problems but in all my time as a Nottstalgian it's been a very friendly place to come to share our memories of growing up and living in Nottingham. Thanks for all you do Cliff Ton.

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  5. https://i.imgur.com/mUVLnlm.mp4

    A pair of rare multi-coloured blanket octopuses have been caught on camera during a night dive off the coast of Romblon, Philippines. In the incredible high-definition clip, captured on April 5, one of the octopuses puts on a vibrant light show for cameraman, Joseph Elayani, as it glides through the water shifting through the different colours of the rainbow. The rapid colour change is thought to be a reaction to the different light levels from the camera, or as a defence mechanism against would-be predators. The blanket octopus can be seen in the video transforming from pastel blues and purples to glimmering reds and oranges. At the end of the footage, a second octopus also comes into view. It is thought to be extremely hard to capture these bizarre creatures on camera in crisp, high-definition as it is rare to come across them in the wild. When threatened, they stretch their arms out, creating a blanket-like silhouette meant to frighten would-be attackers away. They are always in the open ocean—in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as in Info-Pacific waters—and so never rest on the seafloor. They need all the defense they can get. The blanket Octopus is called as Tremoctopus is a genus of pelagic cephalopods,

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  6. Hello, Trogg. I've just read your post and see that you're having an op to remove a kidney today. I wish you well and hope everything goes ok for you. When I was in my early  twenties I had a pain in my lower back and had it checked out at the hospital. I was told that it was just a cold in my kidney and was I aware that I only had one kidney from birth. I didn't know but was told to just carry on with my life normally and to this day that is what I've done without any problems. I've mentioned this to reassure you that you'll be ok after your kidney op.

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  7. Origins of some old “sayings” -

    1. In the 1400s a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb.
    Hence we have 'the rule of thumb.'

    2. Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled 'Gentlemen Only...
    Ladies Forbidden'... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

    3. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:
    Spades - King David,
    Hearts - Charlemagne,
    Clubs -Alexander the Great,
    Diamonds - Julius Caesar

    4. In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on.

    Hence the phrase......... 'goodnight, sleep tight.'

    5. It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink.
    Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.

    6. In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts...
    So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them 'Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down.'
    It's where we get the phrase 'mind your P's and Q's'

    7. Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service.
    'Wet your whistle' is the phrase inspired by this practice.

    8. In 1696, William III of England introduced a property tax that required those living in houses with more than six windows to pay a levy. In order to avoid the tax, house owners would brick up all windows except six. (The Window Tax lasted until 1851, and older houses with bricked-up windows are still a common sight in the U.K.) As the bricked-up windows prevented some rooms from receiving any sunlight, the tax was referred to as “daylight robbery”!

    Now, there you have the origin of these phrases.
    Interesting isn't it.

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  8. I also wonder why the McCann's receive so much time and money in the search for their daughter.

    Over £12 million have so far been spent on the probe since 2007 and it's ongoing.

    Thousands of other missing children just get a brief mention in the news and are then forgotten about. It was a terrible thing that happened and you have to hope that one day Madeleine McCann will be found alive and well.

     

     

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