Tuesday 3 June 2008

On an Overgrown Path

Dear readers,


Q: What do the following towns - Wallingford, Tamworth, Stafford and Newcastle-under-Lyme - have in common?


A: You will not pass through them en route from our house to No Good Boyo's ancestral tree-trunk in Mid Wales, as they are far far away.


Unless you are No Good Boyo, of course.



14 comments:

Gorilla Bananas said...

A sense of direction is the hardest thing for humans to master, Mrs Boyo. It doesn't matter whether you're Lewis Hamilton or Jeremy Clarkson behind the wheel. Can we have a quiz on who the greatest Welsh Formula-1 driver was?

Mrs Boyo said...

I believe Noreen has a video clip of the latest Welsh Formula One tournament here, Mr Bananas:

http://emeraldbile.blogspot.com/2008/06/driving-cart-to-music-short-film-by.html

Gyppo Byard said...

Oh for crying out loud! Welshpool-Shrewsbury-TelfordM50-M5Southbound-M42-M40, off at Lewknor-Watlington-Nettlebed-Castle Boyo. What could be simpler?

Tchah! Or does the Boyo's Twm-Twm satnav system only work west of Offa's Dyke?

M C Ward said...

I recall a TV commercial where a handsome young couple (the Boyos?) gently argue about who's going to drive that evening, as an ironic variation on couples NOT wanting to drive so they can drink themselves clueless and be chauffeured home.

Clearly easily manipulated by the advertising industry, Pappa Boyo is exhibiting similar tendencies, is he not?

Mrs Boyo said...

Gyppo, our notional route was Welshpool-Shrewsbury-TelfordM54
-M6Southbound-M42-M40, off at Lewknor- Watlington- Nettlebed-Chez Boyo. Close to your version, it's true. Bear in mind, however, that Boyo isn't not permitted by ancestral tradition to live in lay-bys, ignore the direction of traffic or treat the tax-disc as an optional accessory.

No Good Boyo said...

M6 Toll. (shudder)

Mornington Crecent!

Gadjo Dilo said...

This is two consecutive parallel moves followed by a forward triangulation. I realise that Stovold has been challenged of late, but this was really going too far. I'm suprised that you ended up at Chez Boyo and not in knip.

Gadjo Dilo said...

p.s. are you by any chance a fan of the composer Janáček, Mrs Boyo? If so, I salute a fellow enthusiast.

Mrs Boyo said...

Dear Gadjo, I am very fond of Janáček, especially the chamber works. These were ideally suited to a socialist society, as most of our orchestras returned from international tours with just enough players to equip a string quartet.

Boyo believes that the organ solo in the Glagolitic Mass was written by Jeff Lynne "out of" ELO. It was more likely to have been the keyboard player, Richard Tandy, but Boyo will not budge.

Gadjo Dilo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gadjo Dilo said...

Oh, Mrs Boyo. To think I could have gone to live in an Eastern European country (i.e. yours) where people have a sense of humour AND an appreciation of music that doesn't involve Julio Iglesias.... but, no, I had to come to this one. I could list the numbers of Janacek's pieces that have made my cry, but it would make me sound a bit gay.

Boyo may be half right: I've always thought the earlier "unrevised" version of the Glagolitic Mass recorded by Mackerras and some Danish hippies in 1993 sounded like the work of Jeff Lynne out of ELO.

Gyppo Byard said...

M6? I wouldn't recommend it. The M5way takes you through West Bromwich and past the beautiful Lickey Hills at an average speed of 55-70 mph. The M6 takes you through Birmingham and spaghetti junction and past the NEC at an average speed of 15 mph. Going *through* Birmingham needs you to have written your will in advance.

Gyppo Byard said...

Is it just me or does 'glagolitic mass' sound like some eye-watering medical condition? As in "he had to go into hospital to have a glagolitic mass surgically removed from his rectum"?

No Good Boyo said...

I'll consult Dr Linstead's invaluable "The Wounds of Capt Scot 'Scotty' Scott" (Delhi, 1947), volume 37 of which ("The Colon: Organic Matter, Insertion, Involuntary") deals with something along those likes.