Marty

That's the main reason I've only been thinking of doing it, clo. I'd never forgive myself if I caused harm to any of my friends as a result. (The other reason being that I'd be afraid of offending public decency - some of the images I found leave very little to the imagination.)

I'm tempted to do a Gary.... A bit like his daily pictures of hot muscle men (usually with lots of facial hair)... I'm thinking daily speedo guys...

And if you stick an umlaut over the 'u' it becomes a German City (Münster)

Ireland is divided into four provinces; Leinster, Munster, Connacht, And Ulster. Ulster is composed of nine counties: Down, Armagh, Antrim, Fermanagh, Londonderry,Tyrone, Monaghan, Cavan, and Donegal. The first six of those counties make up modern day Northern Ireland; the other three are in the Republic of Ireland. Most nationalists in the North prefer to call Londonderry by it's original name of Derry, which comes from the Gaelic word Darach (meaning: Oak). The six Counties of Northern Ireland: The nine Counties of the Province of Ulster: Hope all that's of at least some use, Albert.

I really love trying to decipher some of young Albert's posts to this forum. They're almost as much fun as some of Bob's Whatever you do, Albert, please don't ever change!

Only about one of your brothers? You mean she never said it about your good self?

I look forward to it, Gary Hi yourself, Page!

Morning, clo Have to head out now. Chat yous all later!

Thanks for the kind words, @Geron Kees Don't worry, it's possible Danny might still be wondering about Danny, as well... And there's another case of not hearing song lyrics correctly! I always thought Summer in the City started with the two words: "I found". I've actually just Googled the lyrics and realised I've had that wrong for the past 50-plus years...

I don't know why, but this discussion reminds me of when I started catholic primary school. Although from a nominally catholic family, we didn't say any prayers at home. At the beginning of the day at school the whole class was expected to stand up and recite various prayers (like the Hail Mary and The Lord's Prayer) before lessons started. Never having heard the prayers before, and trying to learn the words by listening to the childish chanting of the rest of my classmates, I believed that Mary was a blessed nun swimming, Jesus was the fruit of her wound, and that Our Father's name was Hello....

The long commute is definitely not ideal. Danny would probably buy himself a small motorbike if he had the money. We'll hopefully find out how the group dynamics sort themselves out in future chapters. I'm not really expecting any bad guys this early on in the story, but I wonder if it could be at all important that Danny mentioned the fact that Nick had red hair? Does he perhaps have a ginger fetish? Thanks for commenting, @Daddydavek

Cheers, @dughlas! I think Danny is just too nice a person to start stealing his roommate's underwear. He might also be a little bit worried what signal might be sent out if the fact that he was stealing that type of male apparel became known around the university. Interesting plotline for me to think about, though...

Thanks, Gary! We do know from an earlier chapter that that Danny is worried that he may be one of those poofs (or homosexuals) that everyone seems to make fun of. Perhaps interacting with girls more, now that he has left the all boys' grammar school, may remove that worry. Then again... (Sorry, I'm trying not to give any spoilers.) I tended to be fairly good at working out lyrics to songs. Although I do remember back in the 80's, when the Bee Gees' song Islands in the Stream first started to get a lot of airplay on the radio, I thought its title was actually Ireland's Industry - until one day I wondered just why anyone would write a song with such a weird title, and actually stopped to listen to it properly.

Much of this part of the story is based on my own recollections of my first year at university. And I also had a nearly 10 mile bus journey into the university every day. Thanks for the comment, @drpaladin

Morning, all! Interesting fact...... Every post made on page 950 of this forum was made by @Dmrman. (Maybe it's time the doctor's changed your meds, Bob?)

Border Collies are, without doubt, the most intelligent breed of dog going. And very good it is too! It actually looked to me as though he was trying to keep something down, rather than lifting anything... <Waves to everyone> 👋 Hi gang! Can't stay long. It was a busy day, and it's now after midnight.

Love the sentiments, Gary! Some nice reflections on life. If I had to make one small criticism, it would just be that the use of a capital letter at the start of every line, accompanied by a complete lack of punctuation (except for the occasional question mark, and the final full stop) actually made it difficult for me to get the rhythm of the verses correct in my head at times. For example, in the third verse I initially heard in my head that never feeling safe was your companion. It was only when I read the next two lines that I realised that Never feeling safe was a sentence to itself, and that Was my companion actually belonged to the next two lines. I hope that makes sense. And once I had read the poem through once, I found that I didn't stumble in making sense of the sentence structures the second time.

One of the nice things about modern digital cameras is that you can take many, many images. Unlike in the days of film photography where you were limited by the cost of the film. Sometimes I have to take well over a hundred shots of the same scene before I get that one shot that makes it all worthwhile. Back forty years or so ago I had a friend who did portrait photography. He would sometimes get through 5 rolls of film (36 shots to the roll) just to get that one shot that both he and the client were happy with. And, of course, he couldn't preview the images on the back of the camera, but would have to wait until the negatives had been developed and printed before he could be even sure he did have that one shot. Things are certainly a lot easier nowadays.

You say the nicest things. Gary...

I'm going to try this one again (as it lost the above quote the first time)...

Well Menmaids sounds like emasculated men to my ears, and I prefer my men to actually be men.

We call them mermen here in Ireland, Bob That photograph is of Lough Allen, which is the first large lake on the River Shannon waterway. Its Irish name is Loch Aillionn, and it is named after the goddess Aillion who, according to legend, still dwells beneath the waters of the lough. So, no mermaids or mermen, but seeing as it's a freshwater lake, and not the sea, that's hardly surprising (the mer part refers to the sea). (Here endeth the lesson for today)

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Clo.