General Random Conversation..

[Howmanheyman 43923]

That's great TP.

 

PS how were carol Kirkwood's bristols?

[Gemmill 63149]

26 minutes ago, Howmanheyman said:

That's great TP.

 

PS how were carol Kirkwood's bristols?

 

All questions through his agent, please. 

[Renton 27766]

Had a conference day at the Ethiad. Never been before, obviously the ground was empty but was impressed with its dimensions, felt snug for a large ground, especially for one that used to be an athletics stadium. They let us use the boxes for lunch time meetings which was good.

 

 

The meeting was themed and the dress code was "football shirts", so I got my Alan Shearer 2006 testimonial one out, the first time I've worn a footy shirt in 20 years. A couple of other people I knew from Newcastle University did the same, and out of the 150 or so other delegates, nee fucker else did! Except one from Blackpool, the chief honcho who suggested it. Honestly, this would have been a mackems wet dream. "Lewk at them jawdees man, probably county Durham mags an'arl, wearing their gravy stained tops to conference marra. Not classy like us's. FTM." .

 

 

 

 

Edited September 25 by Renton

[Renton 27766]

Also, im back to going to Manchester several times a year now. I'm not keen on it as a city but fuck me the place is buzzing compared to Newcastle. The median age of the population seems to be about 17 and it's pretty vibrant. Whole place stinks of hash like.

Edited September 25 by Renton

[trophyshy 9002]

Themed meetings though. 
 

[Gemmill 63149]

You should have just worn one of your NUFC dress shirts. 

 

 

[strawb 5423]

18 minutes ago, Renton said:

Also, im back to going to Manchester several times a year now. I'm not keen on it as a city but fuck me the place is buzzing compared to Newcastle. The median age of the population seems to be about 17 and it's pretty vibrant. Whole place stinks of hash like.

If you want any recommendations let me know

[Renton 27766]

35 minutes ago, strawb said:

If you want any recommendations let me know

 

Cheers. I think you need tips from locals like, I have been out in Manchester before with friends who were  residents (a long time ago) and it was great, but as a tourist, meh. But usually only an hour to kill city centre nowadays. Fuck me it's busy though. And the weed smell is like meadowell.

[strawb 5423]

1 hour ago, Renton said:

 

Cheers. I think you need tips from locals like, I have been out in Manchester before with friends who were  residents (a long time ago) and it was great, but as a tourist, meh. But usually only an hour to kill city centre nowadays. Fuck me it's busy though. And the weed smell is like meadowell.

Yeah it’s class here tbh, loads to do if you know where to go and pretty much always busy enough.

 

Lots of good stuff happens in the suburbs too which is nice for old fuckers like me.

 

Ive lived all over and it’s probably my favourite, although I still have a soft spot for Edinburgh from my uni days. 
 

You get used to the smell of weed

[wykikitoon 28531]

I like Manchester. It's got some beautiful architecture. Whenever I visit Salford I'm still staggered about the quays and how it was all built by hand. It was all hand dug. Mental.

 

I was walking through Leeds today and that is ripe with weed too 

[wykikitoon 28531]

7 hours ago, Toonpack said:

All done, wonderful thing, place was mobbed, loads of locals and two battlefield tour groups, the padre reckoned over 200 there, no pressure for my reading !!!

 

the Newcastle Tramway’s buttons that helped identify him. 
 

Got me emotional that TP. You must have been immensely proud. Thanks for sharing

[Alex 42148]

7 hours ago, Howmanheyman said:

That's great TP.

 

PS how were carol Kirkwood's bristols?

Shipshape 

[ohhh_yeah 3629]

 

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/sep/24/huntingtons-disease-treated-successfully-for-first-time-in-gene-therapy-trial

 

[RobinRobin 14500]

13 hours ago, Howmanheyman said:

PS how were carol Kirkwood's bristols?

@Howmanheyman

@Monkeys Fist has hacked your account 

[Toonpack 15578]

8 hours ago, wykikitoon said:

Got me emotional that TP. You must have been immensely proud. Thanks for sharing

Cheers Wyki, it was emotional but in an incredibly happy way, which may sound bizarre, but Gordon’s home, the buttons did their job ❤️ 

 

BBC documentary is on iPlayer, not seen it yet, will watch when I get home tonight - 

 

[wykikitoon 28531]

When I go to Belgium I always stay in the same hotel.  Because it's in Ypres you get a lot of WW1 tours around there.  The artifacts etc they're still finding in the fields is crazy.

[wykikitoon 28531]

'I was shaking when I read the letter'

'I thought fuck me man, they know I'm old bill and a total snake like'

 

  

[wykikitoon 28531]

14 hours ago, Toonpack said:

Cheers Wyki, it was emotional but in an incredibly happy way, which may sound bizarre, but Gordon’s home, the buttons did their job ❤️ 

 

BBC documentary is on iPlayer, not seen it yet, will watch when I get home tonight - 

 

Watch that without crying. It's Impossible.

 

When I'm going over next year I'll go via Loos and pay my respects 

[Toonpack 15578]

12 hours ago, wykikitoon said:

'I was shaking when I read the letter'

'I thought fuck me man, they know I'm old bill and a total snake like'

 

  

 

I thought you were an engineer ??

[Toonpack 15578]

7 minutes ago, wykikitoon said:

Watch that without crying. It's Impossible.

 

When I'm going over next year I'll go via Loos and pay my respects 

Thank you, we'll be going back.

 

I've now got to find a case to hold/display a geet big union flag (folded), felt sorry for the soldiers as it was pretty cold and you could see them struggling to take the pins out holding it on the coffin with bloody cold hands.

Edited September 26 by Toonpack

[Toonpack 15578]

@wykikitoon written article now on BBC news website (Scotland bit) and BBC1 have just run the whole film on BBC breakfast 😱😱 - Best of it is, the two BBC lads who made the film didn't know BBC1 were running it until I told them it'd been on this morning 😂

Edited September 27 by Toonpack

[Alex 42148]

On 26/09/2025 at 06:18, Toonpack said:

Cheers Wyki, it was emotional but in an incredibly happy way, which may sound bizarre, but Gordon’s home, the buttons did their job ❤️ 

 

BBC documentary is on iPlayer, not seen it yet, will watch when I get home tonight - 

 

Added that to my watchlist so I don’t forget about it but here’s the link too for anyone interested:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002kj31

[Toonpack 15578]

48 minutes ago, Alex said:

Added that to my watchlist so I don’t forget about it but here’s the link too for anyone interested:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002kj31

 

The Padre, you'll see in the film, was a lovely bloke, started of as an infantryman but (as he put it) he carelessly stepped on a landmine (a small one) in Afghanistan and when he recovered he wasn't fit enough to stay in the infantry so he became a Padre.

[wykikitoon 28531]

It was the bagpipes that got me. I've watched the last post at The Menin Gate countless times. One year as we were waiting this bagpipe band came up to the gate playing it's a long way to Tipperary and as they got closer they played Amazing Grace. It was stunning.

[Toonpack 15578]

42 minutes ago, wykikitoon said:

It was the bagpipes that got me. I've watched the last post at The Menin Gate countless times. One year as we were waiting this bagpipe band came up to the gate playing it's a long way to Tipperary and as they got closer they played Amazing Grace. It was stunning.

 

Aye, the piper played a lament and as he was playing he walked away and up the Hill 70 memorial then just as the sound faded to nothing, as he got further away, the bugler kicked in with the last post, destroyed me that bit, it was magnificent to feel/hear it though.

Edited September 27 by Toonpack